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Kate of Mind
Kate Sherrod blogs in prose! Absolutely partial opinions on films, books, television, comics and games that catch my attention. May be timely and current, may not. Ware spoilers.
Justin Robinson's CITY OF DEVILS
First of all, look at the cover. Just look at it! Isn't it the most pulptastic thing you've seen since those covers Kelley Jones did for Steve Niles' Edge of Doom a few years back? Serioiusly, if that cover doesn't make you want to drop everything and go get you a copy of City of Devils, I... I question your capacity for joy in this life!
OK, I'm going to calm down in a moment here, I promise. But, you know, this is the new novel from Justin "Mr. Blank" Robinson, so a little gushy excitement on my part is entirely in order.
This time around, Robinson has taken a page from Angry Robot's team playbook and come out with a classic bit of genre mashing. There have been plenty of crime/noir-meets-fantasy/horror novels in the last few years, but did we really need yet another one, however good?
Well, yes, yes we did. Because this isn't just horror noir, this is movie monster horror noir, you guys. Campy movie monster horror noir, even.. As in the world in which this novel is set is one in which, sometime not long after World War II came another gigantic and world-changing war as the result of a violent unknown event* that transformed a sizable portion of humanity into real-world movie monsters of every kind, from mummies in cheesy faux Egyptian regalia to wolfmen to werewolves (there's a difference, you know) to Frankenstein's monster (which I guess now should be plural) to witches to gremlins to doppelgangers to... you get the idea. And not only are movie monsters now real, but each and every one of them has the power to make more monsters -- by "turning" ordinary humans into whatever monster the turning monster is. Which all of the monsters are very keen to do. Really really keen.
This results in a Los Angeles, ca I'm guessing the late 1950s or early 1960s, in which plain old human beings are a persecuted minority, hunted and despised, and in which there is exactly one human private eye left in the city: our man Nick Moss. Who just got hired by a famous movie star/doppelganger to find her missing husband, a prominent and powerful mummy.
Of course Mr. Moss uncovers a much deeper and more intricate plot than just a missing husband, as we quickly learn when his fellow (hee) humanitarians start getting bumped off one by one.
The resulting book is dense, deeply silly and a whole lot of fun. As a follow-up to Mr. Blank it comes off as something of a lesser work but pretty much anything would probably seem that way, though, nota bene for those who got annoyed by some of the gender/body image politics that crept into Mr. Blank (as I did, slightly), who will be happy to learn that there is none of that to be had in City of Devils.
And in its place is loads of crazy, inventive over-the-top fun as Mr. Moss escapes from werewolves, phantoms (as in "of the opera"), wolfmen (remember, there is a difference), a lovesick pumpkinhead who dreams of connubial bliss after he's turned Moss into another pumpkinhead, ogres, giant crawling eyeballs, gremlins, cops and movie studio executives. Some of whom fill more than one role.
Ridiculous good fun, this!
*Wink, as always, at the Peter Greenaway fans out there.
Posted by Kate Sherrod at 8:53 PM 0 comments
Labels: Candlemark and Gleam, city of devils, crime fiction, Justin Robinson, monsters, pulp, silliness
Sigrid Undset's THE WILD ORCHID
Wow, does it seem criminal that this book, and its sequel, The Burning Bush, seem to be out of print, at least in English. I know Sigrid Undset is best known for her great sprawling historical fiction (Kristin Lavransdatter, The Master of Hestviken, etc) but she didn't just get a Nobel for being the Dorothy Dunnett of Scandanavia, you guys.*
The Wild Orchid is little read now, I suspect, because its theme is very much out of fashion. It is, at bottom, the first half of a novel of conversion, specifically conversion to Catholicism, which was just re-establishing itself as a valid, legal religion in Undset's native Norway during her lifetime. As such, it's perhaps more than a little autobiographical, this book, in spirit if not in fact. Undset herself converted to Catholicsm as an adult, after years and years of dwelling emotionally and mentally in the pre-Lutheran Norway of her most famous novels.
About a third of the way through the book, she presents what I think must have been her own feelings about her decision in a nutshell, as her protagonist witnesses a historic event, somewhat bemused:
"If one could only reach out with one's soul and come in contact with an invisible one -- who would help one to a deeper or higher vision of all that was irritating and disturbing, to look past the stupidity and platitudes and ridiculous expressions, into what was valuable in those one associated with, a common charity, a common vow which bound one to them."
Hell, it's enough to make me miss organized religion myself!
But a religious journey isn't the only thing that's going on here; The Wild Orchid, first volume of a two part novel published as The Winding Road (the second book, The Burning Bush, is one I'm planning to read very soon, if not indeed right away. We all know what a fickle reader I've become) is also a portrait of its age, the turn of the last century (ca. 1905 as the novel opens), that is, perhaps startlingly, not all that unfamiliar to a 21st century reader.
Paul Seller is the child of divorced parents. His father remarried a blowsily bourgeois woman for whom Paul has no respect, preferring his own mother, Julie, who is a distractingly awesome character that surely any son would prefer to a fussy, conventionally motherly showoff like Paul's stepmother. Julie, finding herself divorced with four children to raise, cheerfully struck off for the country, found a nice plot of land, built herself a house and furnished it very simply, and set about planting and raising crops and carpentering and turning herself to all sorts of other traditionally masculine tasks, never once, it seems regretting not having a man about the house to whom she didn't herself give birth. Oh, I would gladly read a novel just about Julie Selmer! But as it is, she merely serves as background, as the early example of womanhood against whom Paul will compare other women, to their detriment; more importantly, as establishing Paul's starting position of regarding religion as a quaint folly of days gone by, not to be taken at all seriously.
At times The Wild Orchid, in its long passages of dialogue between its hero and various avatars of Catholocism, chiefly a woman of his own age whom he has known since childhood who grew up in the faith that he only ever observed from the outside, reads almost like a religious tract as the woman holds forth for pages and pages about the necessary role dogma plays in human society and how non-Catholics are always more interested in the one priest who breaks his vows than in the 200 who uphold them and how it wasn't really the Church that burned heretics but Society. A reader with zero skin in that game, as I am, is challenged to read through such passages with patience and sympathy, but it's good to make that effort once in a while, no?
And that effort is quite often rewarded, in this book, for it is still Sigrid Undset after all, which means lovely prose and an infectious love and enjoyment of her native land, its seascapes and wildflowers and saeders and farms and little towns and pieces of folk art and buildings old and new, which she shares with her characters and thereby with her readers. I now want to visit Norway almost as much as I want to visit Iceland. Fjord.
*Though really, chronologically, I suppose Dorothy Dunnett was kind of the Sigrid Undset of Scotland?
**It's pretty hard not to think of Scotland's current efforts to secede from the United Kingdom, reading about this. I don't think Scotland will offer to take on, say, Prince Andrew to be their replacement king the way Norway took Hakon, though.
Posted by Kate Sherrod at 10:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: 20th century literature, literary fiction, Open Library finds, religion, Scandanavian literature, Sigrid Undset
Ramez Naam's CRUX
As was true of its predecessor, Nexus, there is a wonderfully thoughtful, speculative exploration on the real world implications of a technology that can connect human minds to the internet of things and to each other buried within Crux.
Deeply, deeply buried to the point of almost being lost.
Which is to say that Crux could have gone one of two ways: it could have fully embraced the neuro/cyberpunk genre it had so much potential to be the greatest new example of, or it could have sunk to the level of techno-thriller with some trace transhuman elements for color.
Crux is, for all its concern with the fate of several groups of cybernetically and neurologically linked children (the Nexus technology, street drug and brain operating system in one, having been seized on early on as a breakthrough therapy for autism, causing thousands of parents to become rogue Nexus users that they might finally communicate and share with their offspring), an action thriller. And a bit of a hot mess of one at that, once it gets going.
For where Nexus contented itself with telling a few people's stories, chiefly Kade's and Samantha's and, to a degree, Su-Yong Shu's, Crux frantically struggles to tell all of the stories, cramming several novels' worth of narratives and ideas (all of which deserve to have been developed at a more leisurely pace, such potential for greatness do they have) into one book and switching, ADD-style, rapidly between storylines, jumping from character to character for just a page or two at a time until the frustrated reader has lost track entirely of what any of these people might remotely have to do with each other except Nexus. They all have something to do with Nexus. Yeah. OK. But wait, what? Who is this person again and why do I care? I thought this chapter was about this other person two continents away? No seriously, who is this person and why do I care?
It got so frustrating I had to put this one down for a while, because I was even losing track of, and sympathy for, the main characters from Nexus. And, of course, tapping my foot through the protracted and frequent bouts of ACKSHUN! Which, admittedly, Naam writes well enough. If you like that sort of thing.
But, I was still curious to see where things were going. And, after all, I liked Nexus enough to name it as an honorable mention for my Definitive Top Ten All Time Desert Island Works of Speculative Fiction list. And the story of Su-Yong Shu, revealed as the first stable uploaded human who had just been walking around in a cloned body in Nexus, and her daughter Ling, was still really moving and compelling and I held out the hope that sooner or later the narrative would get back to them, maybe once everybody else was done shooting everybody else. Which it did, spectacularly if swiftly, setting up a whole new threat for the next novel.
For ultimately, most of what bugged me as I read Crux arose from classic middle chapter problems. The Fellowship, once established, gets broken and everybody has to have his own adventures for a while before the battle at the Black Gate and Mount Doom and the Eagles. The reader must just have faith that all these stories are going to knit back together in the last volume.
Maybe I'm just sick of everything being a trilogy?
Anyway, Crux isn't what I'd hoped it would be, but it's still a cracking good techno-thriller if you're in the mood for one. It's fast paced, full of fighting and explosions and dire threats and drone attacks and stealth goggles and unlimited bandwidth (for me, living in a Wyoming that is still riddled with spots where one can't even get first generation cell service, perfect global connectivity seems the most fantastic element of all) and hey, for what it's worth, no romance, which gives it an extra star right there, from me.
Posted by Kate Sherrod at 10:07 AM 2 comments
Labels: Angry Robot Books, cyberpunk, neuroscience, Ramez Naam, science fiction, thriller
Margaret Atwood's THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD
Not so much a sequel as a side-quel to Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood is one of those books that kind of makes me incoherent when someone asks me whether I liked it or not. Kind of like the first book did.
I can understand certain conceits and compulsions in post-apocalyptic fiction. One is telling the story, generally, of the survivors, so the focus is going to be on those survivors, on their lives before Disaster X, on how they survived it and what they do afterwards. And there aren't a lot of ways to do this; most post-apocalyptic fiction goes one of two ways: it either focuses on a group who knew each other before and survived and continue to survive by sticking together, or it tells individual, disparate stories up until the different characters meet and band together -- if they band together -- either during or after Disaster X. To do anything else risks my eye-rolling at its implausibility.
Guess which route Margaret Atwood has taken here?
Well, I've done a lot of eye-rolling.
For the MaddAddam books, Atwood has chosen to go a third way, that of improbably Dickensian coincidence, which, when coupled with overlapping love triangles, makes for a lot of narrative annoyance for this reader. For all The Year of the Flood's leaping about in time, a device that propelled me through Oryx and Crake very satisfyingly as narrative questions kept getting posed and answered all the time, slowly and judiciously, its cleverness is overshadowed by what felt to me like a rookie-caliber blunder, as far as maintaining my willing suspension of disbelief goes.
The Year of the Flood's characters come together -- indeed mostly start out together -- years before the human-engineered pandemic plague created by Crake in the first novel. They are all God's Gardeners, a hippie-ish eco-Catholic cult of sorts*, heavy on the homegrown/DIY ethos, vegan, venerating their own calendar of saints that includes figures like Dian Fossey and Stephen Jay Gould and Euell Gibbons who taught the sort of whole earth/we're all one doctrine that shames bathing and washing too often (waste of water), throwing things away (waste of everything), stepping on beetles, etc. Their leader, Adam One, warns of a coming "Waterless Flood" that will wipe out all human life, waterless because God promised Noah he'd not do that kind of thing again but may have crossed His fingers a bit, and the need to prepare and preserve against it. So, as a group of survivors go, so far, so plausible.
But of course God's Gardeners have enemies, both of the big, soulless corporate and of the nasty, brutish and personal sort, and the group's downfall predates the actual Waterless Flood (the plague) by a good span of time, so everybody gets separated and winds up having to weather the waterless tides as best they can. Which they all do. And this is not much of a spoiler, because all of this novel's jumping around in narrative time pretty much gives that away early on.
So far this stretches but does not break the bounds of plausibility, for me. But then, and again, this is not much of a spoiler, they all find each other again! Amid giant world-wide catastrophe, amid forces that have already pulled them all pretty far apart (one character winds up half a continent away with the plague hits, but still, yep, winds up back in everybody's orbit), and despite the fact that pretty much all of their preparations** were for naught and a bunch of chance miracles were what actually saved them (eye rolling), the heavy hand of fate shoves them all back together again. And again. And again.
But at least Atwood didn't pull a Stephen King and send her characters a bunch of dream prompts and whatnot to make them dance to her tune. For which I am grateful.
But you know what? I read this pretty much compulsively and non-stop, mostly in one long go, despite the eye-rolling. This is mostly because of the world-building, which is still top-notch. Atwood's double-dystopia, as I discussed when I read Oryx and Crake, is as plausible and chilling as her plot is ridiculous, a fascinating wasteland of abandoned Idiocracy-flavored franchise business complexes, decaying gated communities and fabulous gene-engineered mutant animals and plants. Bunnies that glow green. Half-lion, half-lamb hybrids. Big, beautiful moths developed to eat kudzu but fonder of garden vegetables. Vicious, intelligent pigs. Sheep that grow long, flowing manes of lush human hair in a rainbow of vibrant colors. And somewhere, only hinted at in this novel, there are still the Crakers, the gentle, sexy, pellet-pooping human replacement species created in the previous novel. Atwood has one hell of an imagination, and she let it run wild. But only on the world building.
The final volume of this trilogy, MaddAddam, has just been released. I was really looking forward to it, even though I'd yet to read this second volume until just now. But now? My eagerness is diminished. I'm sure I'll get hold of it and read it sometime, because even with the stale soap opera taste (overlapping love triangles, eww!) The Year of the Flood left in my mouth, it was still loads better than most of the dreck out there, and that's a rarity.
But for now, other volumes beckon. And other tasks. It's autumn, and I've quite a harvest to preserve; I've discovered canning. And I do prefer my food to actually be food. I'd make an okay God's Gardener, actually. I'd just be one of those who tapped my foot through all the rituals and prayers and hymn singing. And I'd probably miss showering kind of a lot.
*Which, ware hokiness (oh, the hymns!) and ware preachiness as well. These are exactly the kind of super-earnest passive-aggressive college hippies you thought you left behind in college. The ones who are basically right about a lot of things, and whose practices you are probably actually following more than not, but who just won't shut up about them. The ones who want to lecture you about the importance of recycling even as you're trundling your recycling container to the curb for pickup. Because really, if you actually cared about the earth, you'd put all those cans and bottles and pieces of junk mail on a trailer and hitch it to your bamboo-built bicycle and pedal the eight miles to the recycling center yourself, and then stay to lecture the staff there about how they really should be using wind and solar power to process the stuff, dude.
**Yes, they made Mormon hoard-type stashes of food and scattered them around in places, but really, they hid them so well that nobody else found them? Nobody? Or are we really just supposed to believe that our little band really were the only survivors in the whole wide world after the plague, which Crake hid in a sex pill? Because only this tiny, tiny band of eco-hippie cultists would eschew a sex pill. Riiiiiiiiiight.
Labels: annoying females, dystopian fiction, Margaret Atwood, post-apocalyptic fiction
Dorothy Dunnett's THE RINGED CASTLE
I could just make this a three word review, you guys. Lymond in Russia. Got that? Lymond in Russia. LYMOND IN RUSSIA YOU GUYS okay that is five but maybe you get it.
But The Ringed Castle, being a Dorothy Dunnett novel and a volume of the Lymond Chronicles, of course has even more than that going on. And a lot of what is going on concerns Lymond only indirectly; it may be all about him, but the action, the intrigue, the driving force, mostly comes from the great and mighty Philippa nee Somerville, his child-bride-on-paper, whom he has sent along back to the British isles while he has moved on to Russia, there to train and equip Ivan the Terrible's army. As one does when one is a mercenary captain, sort-of-nobleman and stubborn Renaissance Man of whom no one is the boss.
Philippa has landed on her feet, back home in England, by which I mean landed a position in the court of Bloody Mary. She's a first-hand witness to that sad queen's phantom pregnancy, frustrating marriage, paranoia about her sister Elizabeth, and all the intrigues of court life ca. Mary Tudor's reign -- but that's not what interests Philippa. No. What interests Philippa is the strange case of Marthe, who traveled with Team Lymond last novel, caused lots of ruckus in her own right, then totally upset the spinet cart by revealing that actually, she's Lymond's sister. But she, ah, didn't grow up in Culter, did she? And she looks pretty much exactly like a female Lymond, so no one thinks she's just an illegitimate half-sister. Something funny was clearly going on in the Crawford family a generation ago. And Philippa is hell-bent on finding out. Go Philippa! The Renaissance Nancy Drew!
Meanwhile and far away, Lymond. Oh, Lymond. For all the magnificence and splendor in which he sets himself up in Russia (with a lot of help from Guzel, former bosswoman of the Suleiman the Great's seraglio) and all the magnificent busy work he get up to trying to bring Russia kicking and screaming into at least the middle ages if not the Renaissance, Lymond is pretty much just sulking. He's got very good reason to sulk, to shut himself down, to withdraw -- the events at the close of Pawn in Frankincense would fell, emotionally, far greater heroes than he, if indeed there are any. But still, he's lost his sparkle, exercising in Russia a mere competence. Admittedly, his mere competence is still far more than most people could hope to strive for, but still. He needs a miracle. He needs Philippa.
But still. This is Lymond. So, even though he's down at the mouth and wounded and scarred and pissed off, he's still making things happen. Politics, social change, sex, action. Oh my goodness, action. Like a midnight hand-to-hand bout in an aviary-cum-orangerie at the top of Lymond's Kremlin palace. Like a moonlit, reindeer-powered sledge race above the Artic Circle brought to fast-paced ruin by the untimely release of Lymond's hunting eagle.* Which just happens to hunt deer.
You're not even coming close to imagining the brilliant chaos of that scene.
But Russia and all of it's crazed and gory glory is only part of the story, which is really and mostly about how Lymond almost gets sucked into the dynastic politics of, that's right, England. Ivan the Terrible decides to send him there to bully negotiate a shipment of weapons and men to teach Russia to make weapons. And Lymond is now the Tsar's man. So off he goes, to the England of Mary Tudor and her consort Phillip, poised to become Elizabethan England, maybe with the help of a little of that Lymond magic? Which no court in Europe can do without? Except of course, Lymond wants just to be left alone to be Lymond, divorce Phillipa (no!) and go back to Russia to play tinpot general and not be married to Guzel. Right?
Oh, things are never so simple where this guy is concerned. We know that, now, surely?
But we also know is that in Phillipa, Lymond has finally met his match.
*Yes, eagle. Lesser men train and hunt with falcons. Lymond has a golden eagle, eight-foot wingspan and all.
Posted by Kate Sherrod at 3:02 AM 1 comments
Labels: Dorothy Dunnett, historical fiction, Lymond Chronicles
Ben Marcus' THE FLAME ALPHABET
I have the great and mighty SJ, aka Popqueenie*, to thank for this one, and thank her I do. She's recommended many a good book to me over the course of our friendship, but this is the best one you guys. The very best one. At least so far.
It is also quite undeniably terrible, not in the sense of its being of low quality, but in the original sense of that word "terrible": exciting intense awe or fear. Those who describe The Flame Alphabet as an intellectual horror story hit the mark very well indeed. It should be shelved somewhere between Jose Saramago's Blindness and Tony Burgess' Pontypool Changes Everything.
As in the latter, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong with spoken language, but where in Pontypool language is a symptom of a disease/disorder/form of zombie-ism, in The Flame Alphabet language is the disease, but only, at least at first, as it is produced by children: a kid's simplest utterance is an assault; over time, exposure to children's speech produces a horrible degeneration of the very fabric of an adult human's being, hardening and drying out tissues, weakening or dissolving muscles, slowly killing the individual. Parents suffer this first and worst, but eventually everyone feels it, because it's almost impossible to completely avoid children, even if one is a happy spinster. And before the first act of the story is over, this language toxicity has spread to adult speech as well and we discover that children are merely immune.
And like in Blindness, the origin of this situation is somewhat mysterious, misunderstood, sudden. But Marcus locates his disorder squarely in the Judaic/Talmudic tradition, rather than Saramago's inchoate science fictional causelessness. Language, and in particular spoken language, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, created the world; as my beloved Diotallevi observes in Foucault's Pendulum, "god created the universe by speaking; he didn't send a telegram." And there are, apparently (I'm not much of a Biblical scholar, so this was news to me) lots of hints in scripture about speech becoming destructive or dangerous generally, and children's mouths producing poison specifically. Which all makes a certain amount of sense. If the world was created via speech, why would it not be destroyed the same way? But then how might that happen?**
We experience this devastating, horrific situation alongside a father, Sam, who along with wife Claire is barely clinging to life after clinging to their daughter Esther long past the time when most adults have abandoned their children out of self-preservation. Interestingly, Esther's speech is really kind of toxic even before this strange outbreak; she is a sharp, critical, demanding and altogether unpleasant girl, the kind only a mother or father could love but even the most loving parent probably, if he or she were being honest, couldn't really like that much, as shown in this passage that is really describing the situation before the epidemic of poisonous speech:
"What she said was bitter, and we sipped at it and sipped at it, her mother and I, just ever so politely sipped at it until we were sick, because this was the going air inside our house, our daughter talking and singing and shouting and writing... Whatever we thought we wanted, to hug our kiss our daughter, to sit near her, it was our bodies that recoiled first. We cowered and leaned away from her words, we kept our distance..."
This is something I don't often see in fiction (but then, I don't read a lot of fiction about parenthood), this honest admission that sometimes parents don't like their children, but I bet it's a fact of life more often than most of us think. Which makes The Flame Alphabet a very brave as well as a very terrible book.
Later acts in the book reveal Sam as a bit of a Jack Isidore-esque crap artist as he joins the effort to fight language toxicity and sets to work cooking up a lot of quacky remedies, palliatives and, later on, new writing systems. All, needless to say, to no avail. But while he's been faffing around in his play-laboratory, others are actually getting results, though via rather unpleasant and cruel means.
Slyly, this novel comments on -- indeed mocks -- the very hunger for stories that brings readers to novels, especially to speculative fiction novels, swamping us in gorgeous prose, vivid imagery and narrative self-loathing even as it drives home, oh so brilliantly, the point that language might actually be bad for us. We think in it. We preserve thoughts with it. We transmit those thoughts to future generations with it. We've accomplished so much with it. And most of those accomplishments have been as bad for the world as the symbolic salty residue of speech that is overtaking the soil and surface waters of Marcus' fictional world. It's as is we've talked ourselves into the worlds of The Sheep Look Up, of The Road.
This is not comfort reading, not even sort of. But it's very, very good reading, the kind that wins prizes and leaves readers breathless with awe and envy even as they want to take a mental shower to cleanse away its ideas. I'm impressed.
*Who had this book on her Definitive Top Ten All-Time Desert Island Works of Speculative Fiction - Novels list. And it might have to go on mine as well.
**Fascinatingly, the movement of Reconstructionist Judaism plays a huge role in Sam's and Claire's experience of this plague of language. Their religious practice is idiosyncratic and private, consisting of the pair of them retreating to a secret location to listen to radio sermons transmitted by what seems to amount to a form of carrier current radio, in complete privacy. "The rules of the hut were few but they were final. Claire and I were only to go together. We could neither of us attend this synagogue alone. The experience would not be rendered in speech, you could not repeat what you heard, or even that you heard anything... You would not know who else received worship in this manner, neighbors or otherwise... Curiosity about how others worshipped, even others in your family, even Esther, was not genuine curiosity; it was jealousy, weakness." Being a WASPY white girl from Wyoming, I have no way of knowing how much of this represents a genuine practice and how much might have been concocted for this novel -- it suggests so strongly a cause and remedy in one for the novel's overall problem that it almost feels too neat -- but even if it's all just a Borgesian concoction, it's an effing cool one.
Labels: horror fiction, Jose Saramago, Judaism, literary fiction, religion, science fiction
Patrick O'Brian's DESOLATION ISLAND
So I have final and ultimate proof that Patrick O'Brian is good for what ails you, especially when you're reading the Aubrey/Maturin novels in sequence and just happen to come up on one of your favorites just when you need it the most.
I'd been in another sneaky hate spiral, rage-quitting everything I picked up at the slightest provocation, even books to which I'd been looking forward. I was pretty sure this had nothing to do with their quality, or at least not very much, and everything to do with me. After all, I had just had to put my faithful companion of over 11 years, the Collie of Follie, to sleep and there is still a giant border collie-shaped hole in my home and my life and when I'm home and reading I've always had one hand on her fur.
But so cue Desolation Island, which is, as I've said already, one of my favorites in the Aubrey Maturin mega-series. This novel brings us one of Jack's most memorable ships (the horrible old Leopard), one of the crew's most interesting chases (fleeing the Dutch ship Waakzaamheid), one of the more interesting missions (to Australia, to help deal with the infamous Rum Rebellion against Governor William "Bounty" Bligh and introducing thereby the theme of mutiny, which delicately looms through the novel's various crises without ever really becoming overt), and one of Stephen's most interesting opponent/victims, Louisa Wogan, she of the slight resemblance to Stephen's faithless love interest, Diana, and of the "absurd gurgling laugh" and of the career as a sort of low-rent Aphra Behn.
It is around Wogan that most of the plot revolves; an American spy who got caught, she is sentenced to be transported to Australia, but the powers that be suspect she still has more valuable information to yield up, so instead of chucking her into an ordinary transportation hulk, she is to go on a Royal Navy ship -- the Leopard, under Jack Aubrey's command -- with enough additional prisoners to give her cover. En route, our man Dr. Stephen Maturin, naval surgeon and intelligence agent, is to be set to trick or otherwise extract this information from her. Sounds simple enough, and should be a piece of cake for our man Maturin, except for one giant fly in the ointment: gaol fever, aka typhus, brought on board by some of Wogan's camouflage-prisoners, quickly fatal to all of the people charged with the prisoners' care, including their doctor, and taking its toll on the Leopard's crew as well!
Nor is this their biggest problem as they make their ill-starred way to Australia. Undermanned and underprepared, they run afoul of the aforementioned Waakzaamheid, which I mention again just because it's fun to type "Waakzaamheid" and other hazards, leading them to the titular island and more peril! But it's all just a vehicle for Jack and Stephen to prove their ingenuity, their fitness to survive and command in their separate spheres, their ability to make do with whatever meager resources are at hand, their sheer awesomeness as characters and Men of the Early Nineteenth Century. Hooray!
Labels: Aubrey/Maturin, Beat Boney, historical fiction, military fiction, Patrick O'Brian, sea dogs
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Winston Graham's THE ANGRY TIDE
As I joked recently on Twitter, I can always tell when a new batch of episodes of Poldark hits American or British TV because all of a sud...
Timothy Zahn's HEIR TO THE EMPIRE #OneBookAtATime
What a strange thing it is, to be spending time with Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Artoo and Threepio after all these years. I've not read ...
SUNS SUNS SUNS: Shadow of the Torturer 1-5
It's interesting, isn't it, how Severian the Great almost forgets to tell us the important early detail of his having been rescue...
Olaf Stapledon's LAST AND FIRST MEN #OneBookAtATime
I'm not gonna lie, folks; of all the books I've tackled so far this year, Last and First Men has been the toughest challenge to m...


Nepal's development dilemma entails many complex sides of economic administration. The country lacks sufficient resources to boost economic growth, jobs and social security schemes. Mostly it depends on foreign loans, aid and grants to enhance the economic sector as a whooping amount of budget goes to meet the recurrent expenditure of the state. Amidst this tight scenario, the country faces a fiscal irony – it lacks the institutional capacity to spend the development budget. Every year, the state mechanisms fail to meet the target of the development expenditure. A large portion of budget remains idle or frozen only to deal a blow to the public expectations. Many parts of country are in dire need of infrastructure development and public amities. As the development budget is not well spent, the economic cycle is disrupted with rise in unemployment, inflation, poverty and other social ills. Now the situation has become more challenging as we are practicing federalism with three-tier government –federal, provincial and local governments. Scores of political, economic and administrative rights have been devolved to seven provinces and 766 local body governments. This requires that the three-layer of governments work in close coordination to spur development through judicious allocation of resources and incomes.
Against this backdrop, the federal government has stepped up efforts to collaborate with the provincial governments to increase capital expenditure. According to this daily, Finance Minister Dr. Yuba Raj Khatiwada sought to meet economic goal through the activation of the Intergovernmental Fiscal Commission and Inter-province Council. He also held interactions with Economic Affairs ministers of provinces to this end. This is right step towards implementing the fiscal federalism as all provinces and local units need sufficient budget and its effective spending. The Intergovernmental Fiscal Commission is expected to define the economic jurisdiction of provinces while the Inter-province Council seeks to establish sound relations between the federal and provincial government. Now it has become urgent to operationalise these two vital mechanisms in order to set the federal system in motion. The Council should hold its meeting to minimise the misunderstanding between the centre and provinces. Economic Affairs Ministers of provinces should work in tandem with the Finance Ministry to increase the development budget. Even the local governments should update the status of the development expenditure in order to have accurate data on it. This year there is improvement in the capital spending compared to the last fiscal year.
The capital expenditure of the government till Sunday was 10.92 per cent, which is almost 3 per cent higher than of the same period last year. The government has earmarked Rs. 313.99 billion for the capital expenditure for the current fiscal year. While it is praiseworthy initiative on the part of the Finance Minister to mobilise the constitutional instruments to increase the development spending, the stress should also be given to the people's participation in the development works so as to ensure transparency, integrity and inclusiveness. At the same time, development projects should be effectively monitored to check possible irregularities.


Team USA was fortunate on the 2nd day of the 48th annual Youth Sailing World Championships held in Corpus Christi Bay. The American sailors successfully achieved 4 out of 9 classes. Boys and Girls 420, Boys RS: X and Girls Laser Radial had a combination of newcomers and veteran sailor who led the way. In the Girls 420 Class, Carmen and Emma Cowles, the gold medalists of the U.S did not quite make it in the 1st race, but bounced back to achieve victory in the 2nd race with a huge margin. As they were finishing more than 3 races, they are allowed to discard their worst finish. The Cowles will count 3 first-place finishes and will be leading the class with 4 points over Emilia Boyle and Vita Heathcote of Great Britain.
Carmel Cowles said they crossed the line a bit in the 1st race. Only if they remain cool in the boat, things would be just fine. The event is not over as yet and hence the team needs to be very careful especially on the start line. Last year, the Cowles twins won by 26 points, including all firsts and seconds and leaving aside the disqualification. Cowles said they are trying to remain focused to keep the bow down and take the pressure. Carmen is managing well with all the right controls and also ensuring that there is sufficient power.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


What's your favorite type of massage?
Is there any place in Toronto that does like in this video?
Does anyone know how to make Nuru Gel from scratch?
What is Switter and how do you use it?
WILD WEDNESDAY @ @secretmasagespa 7 drop dead gorgeous ladies in today until 9pm.


text:
About Us Careers Contact Us EN FR
HomeHealth
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CONNECTED CARE
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Connected Care/
Connected Care - Mississauga-Pyschotherapy/
During Mental Health Week, CBI Health is acknowledging the clients we have helped at home through Virtual Care / Telehealth services who are facing different mental health issues. This includes providing psychotherapy services to clients such as *Dev, who our team in Mississauga, Ontario treated for depressive symptoms and helped get back to work after an injury.
Dev was referred to CBI Health due to a shoulder injury that caused pain in his arm which resulted in depression. The injury left him unable to sleep, eat, shower, shave, or do any chores around his house. Most notably, he was upset that he could no longer play his guitar, which was a huge part of his life as he played in bands and performed regularly on weekends.
A CBI Health psychotherapist assessed Dev and discovered his pain was causing him to feel extremely frustrated, angry and bitter, and that these emotions were affecting his relationship with his family. They noted his negative thoughts about his self-worth and his feelings of failure.
Dev told them that he felt like crying and worried about his job as he felt he could not perform his duties at the same level as before the injury. He feared he would be unable to go back to work—his job was in tech and required a very high level of attention to detail as well as the ability to carry computer equipment. He stressed about being able to lift anything due to the limited use of his arm. As a result, he feared that his employer would fire him, and his colleagues would look down on him.
His psychotherapist had phone sessions with Dev, where they worked on making him feel validated, valued, respected. They used Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy techniques to identify Dev's triggers and worked on getting him to accept his thoughts with breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness techniques. His team also gave him adaptive exercises to do at home for his arm and created a Gradual Return to Work plan.
Since receiving treatment, Dev has demonstrated improved motivation, consistent adherence to his exercise routines, improvement with his daily living activities, and reduced anxiety. He says he is feeling more productive and good about himself and is even starting to slowly play the guitar again.
He officially began his Gradual Return to Work plan this week and has resumed some of his job duties remotely.
*Client's name has been changed
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© 2019 Canadian Back Institute Operating Limited Partnership. All information is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment. You should seek medical care immediately for any specific health issues. Use of this online service is subject to the Disclaimer and the Terms of Service. Read CBI Health Group's commitment to online protection of personal information. Images on our website depict actual staff of CBI Health Group and its affiliated companies. In some cases, models have been used to depict our clients.
Book an appointment or make a referral

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
News Sports Opinion Life Obituaries E-Edition Legals
Carol Conley
Reader Submitted
MUNCIE - Carol Conley departed on Monday, July 20, 2015 after a long illness.
She was born on October 26, 1947 to Jack and Ella Faye (Wynn) Upchurch in Paris, Tennessee. The family moved to Muncie, Indiana when Carol was four. She graduated from Muncie Central High School in 1965.
She worked as the secretary at Garfield Elementary School for over ten years before moving on to Chevrolet. She would work for General Motors until her retirement from Fort Wayne Truck and Bus in 1991.
Carol leaves to cherish her memory and tell her story four children, Anthony, Jerome, Renee, and Marq (Natashia); three grandsons; three granddaughters; one brother, Donald (Dorothy); five sisters-in-law, Ida Mae, Sylvia, Ida, Rita and Myrna; one brother-in-law, Richard; an aunt, Delores Jackson; a host of nieces and nephews, cousins, and too many friends to name.
She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Billy, William and Larry, sister, Peggy Upchurch Berry.
Funeral services are 11:00 a.m. Saturday, July 25, 2015 at Union Missionary Baptist Church.
Calling hours are 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Saturday at the church.
Bishop Royce Mitchell will be officiating. Burial will be in Gardens of Memory Cemetery.
Arrangements entrusted to Gholar & Gholar Funeral Services 900 East Kirby Avenue Muncie, Indiana.
Online condolences at www.gholarandgholarfuneralservice.com.
© 2021 www.thestarpress.com. All rights reserved.


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text:
Salina teen has good attitude as she battles cancer
Lloyd Call
Lexi Nielson maintains a positive attitude as she battles cancer.
By Linda Petersen
SALINA—As school draws to a close this week, many local kids are looking forward to summer to sleep in, hang out with friends and just generally kick back.
Lexi Nielson, an eighth grader at North Sevier Middle School, is looking forward to it for a different reason.
At the end of June, she will complete a grueling 38-week chemotherapy regimen.
Then, if she's blessed to get a clean bill of health, she might be able to think about normal summer activities.
Lexi, 14, was diagnosed with stage 4 rhabdomyosarcoma, a very rare childhood soft tissue cancer, after finding what doctors initially thought was a cyst on her body.
When the cyst did not respond to laser treatment, her Gunnison doctor referred her to Primary Children's Hospital. After extensive testing, the doctors there came back with the bad news—it was cancer.
Since that time Lexi has been in the fight of her life.
"We're just hoping for the best; we're living day by day," her mother, Kandice Nielson, said.
Over the course of the last eight months, along with the chemotherapy, Lexi has endured three weeks of five-days-a-week radiation and a blood transfusion.
While she was initially scared when she found out she had cancer, she said, "It's a lot easier now that I know what's going on."
She has good days and bad days, but she is doing remarkably well, her mom said.
Lexi has mostly been unable to attend school over the months of treatment although she goes occasionally when she feels good. She has completed schoolwork at home as she has been able.
Her class recently made a video of "Fight Song" to show their support for Lexi.
Lexi generally stays home and travels to Salt Lake City weekly for her treatments. It's a tough schedule for her and her mom—a single mom who has two other children, Ryan, 17, and Jake, 7.
Along with caring for Lexi and her brothers, Kandice has been there for her own mother, Sandra Nielson, who was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer herself within weeks of Lexi's bad news. Sandra has also undergone chemotherapy and had 60 percent of her right lung removed. A recent scan showed she is now cancer free.
Kandice, who works at her mother's daycare center, said it has been a tough road, but she's enjoyed a lot of support from family, friends and the community.
In February, benefit was held that many local businesses and community members donated to, bringing in some money to help with expenses.
Family and friends also considered launching a GoFundMe campaign but had to abandon that idea when they discovered that doing so might jeopardize Lexi's Medicaid benefits.
If things go well, Lexi should be able to return to school in the fall. Since she was a 4.0 GPA student before being diagnosed, school officials feel she won't need to repeat eighth grade and can move on with her peers, Kandice said.
For now, the teen is staying strong for the remaining weeks of chemotherapy. She has a pretty philosophical outlook on the experience.
"I've discovered I'm tougher than I thought I was. I never thought I could deal with anything like this," she said. "I feel like I've matured a lot from it. I've learned to deal with things being so scary."
Both Lexi and Kandice are hoping a PET scan at the end of treatment will give Lexi the "all clear" to resume her life. If so, she wants to spend time with family and friends, go camping and maybe even go shopping for makeup with her cousins.
Looking into the future, she hopes to attend Southern Utah University and to someday be a model.
A fund has been set up in Lexi's name at Zions Bank in Salina. Contributions will not impact her Medicaid benefits.


text:
Photo by Daniel Hughes
The show had its debut at The Edinburgh Fringe 2017. 'Hopeless' was nominated for the Amnesty International Freedom of Speech Award, The New Voice Award Brighton, shortlisted for The Prague Fringe Performance Award and was runner up in The Saboteur's Best Spoken Word Show.
It has already taken audiences by storm selling out several shows in Camden People's Theatre London, Glasgow at the Tron Theatre, Migration Matters Festival Sheffield, Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle, Summerhall in Edinburgh in association with The Scottish Poetry Library, The Prague Fringe and The Brighton Fringe.
Through quick-fire poetry and dark comedy, Leyla asks whether we can really make a difference or, if in fact, everything is broken beyond repair. Audiences can expect a fiery collision of theatre and spoken word, all tied together with a powerhouse performance.
The show follows Leyla as she realises the news brings nothing but despair, causing her to feel hopeless. She stays in bed all day, eating full Viennetas and asking herself the question 'what is the point of starting the day when things are so bleak?' The show examines Leyla's personal struggles about feeling useless, as well as the 'annoying' indifference shown by many of her peers, she speaks about time spent at a refugee camp in Athens, her great-great grandfathers journey to Scotland and how hope is a weapon we must use wisely.
Hopeless shines light on these miserable times we find ourselves in, and will try to stir up hope even in the most cynical of audience members.
Praise for 'HOPELESS'
'Loved Leyla Josephine's poetry in Hopeless…taking action in a world that seems beyond hope.' – Lynn Gardener
'A fascinating journey' – British Theatre Guide
***** 'This show has a real poignancy and it is obvious when it hits the audience, who, rightfully so, gave it a standing ovation at the end.' – Broadway Baby
***** '…she is always magnificent. The ability to stun the audience to tearful silence moments after having them laughing heartily is a skill that is deployed expertly.'- The Wee Review
**** '…hopelessness is not what you shall be left with by the end of this new solo piece' – The Skinny
**** "Hopeless" is an exceptional debut from an already brightly burning UK star. Already a force of stage, theatre, and screen, you should race to say 'I saw Leyla Josephine first.' – ScotsGay
**** 'Leyla made the show come to life with her humour, poems and reflections on her own life, all which lead to one important message: Hope can't stay in bed.' – Voice Magazine
**** 'Leyla's performance is relaxed, welcoming, and effortlessly entertaining, and her prose is mesmerising and muscular. She's a fantastic storyteller' – Prague Youth Theatre Reviews
Site by Julia Frances Design


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Travel Institute of the Pacific
Travel Institute of the Pacific is a Private (for-profit), Less than 2 years school located in Honolulu, HI. It is non-degree granting school.
The 2020 tuition & fees at Travel Institute of the Pacific is $14,373. 62% of the enrolled undergraduate students have received grant or scholarships and the average aid amount is $5,790 at Travel Institute of the Pacific.
The school has a total enrollment of 66 and student to faculty ratio is 8 to 1 (12.50%).
The average earning after 10 years of graduation is $23,200.
1314 S King St Ste 1164, Honolulu, HI
Un-Known
For undergraduate school, its 2020 tuition and fees are $14,373.
The average earning in 10 years after graduation from the school is $23,200.
Travel Institute of the Pacific 2020-2021 Estimated Tuition Costs Chart
The 2020-2021 costs are estimated by the school directly.
The average graduation rate is 91%. Total 66 students are attending at the school and it does not possess campus housing facilities (i.e. dormitory and residence halls possessed by the school). Key academic stats for the school are listed in next table.
12.50% (8 to 1)
66 (all undergraduate)
Travel Institute of the Pacific does not offer online classes (distance learning opportunities) for any degree program. Next table summarizes the special learning opportunities.
Next table illustrates special characteristics of Travel Institute of the Pacific.
No Campus Housing Facilities Provided
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University of Hawaii at Manoa
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See & Compare Best Colleges in Hawaii
Most Considered Schools in Hawaii
University of Hawaii at Manoa Public, 4 or more years located in Honolulu
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Hawaii Pacific University Private (not-for-profit), 4 or more years located in Honolulu
Chaminade University of Honolulu Private (not-for-profit), 4 or more years located in Honolulu
Hawaii Medical College Private (for-profit), 2-4 years located in Honolulu
University of Hawaii Maui College Public, 4 or more years located in Kahului
Paul Mitchell the School-Honolulu Private (for-profit), 2-4 years located in Honolulu
Kapiolani Community College Public, 2-4 years located in Honolulu
Pacific Rim Christian University Private (not-for-profit), 4 or more years located in Honolulu


text:
Hong Kong imposes tougher quarantine requirements on arrivals from Taiwan
May 18, 2021 in Thaiger News
The Hong Kong government has confirmed that residents returning from Taiwan will face stricter quarantine requirements, effective immediately. The move comes as a result of the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in Taiwan, which reported 333 new infections yesterday, its highest ever. The authorities say anyone who has spent 14 days in Taiwan before flying to Hong Kong must show evidence of a negative Covid-19 test, no older than 72 hours before departure. Passengers will also be required to show proof of a booking at an approved quarantine hotel in Hong Kong. On landing, they will be taken to a dedicated "test […]
The post Hong Kong imposes tougher quarantine requirements on arrivals from Taiwan appeared first on Thaiger News.


Our "supersharers" series highlights people in various cities around the world who are who are deeply involved in projects that allow people to share various resources with each other, including makerspaces, community gardens, coworking hubs, art collectives, and worker cooperatives. We're thrilled to introduce you to Esther Ekong from Lagos, Nigeria. Here's some background about Ekong's work, in her own words.
Shareable: Where are you based?
Esther Ekong: I am based in Lagos, Nigeria.


Leaders are employed to drive change. But it can be easy to waste energy and resources if an initiative is not effectively or sustainably implemented. At this workshop we will discuss the latest ideas around change leadership, hear from guest speakers and establish practical actions to drive change.
Leaders are employed to drive change. But it can be easy to waste huge amounts of energy and resources on an initiative if it is not effectively or sustainably implemented.
At this workshop we will identify the common factors that hinder the progress of change and explore how our brains play a pivotal role, depending on their response. Informed by brain science, we will also establish practical actions that leaders can take to communicate reassurance and generate trust across their teams.
We will have the opportunity to discuss the latest ideas around effective change leadership processes and hear first hand experiences from our guest speakers.
The event will start with an evening meal on the 11th December, allowing you to meet your fellow attendees in a relaxed environment. A full day workshop then follows on the 12th December. This Foundation will be at Barnett Hill Hotel, Surrey. We hope you are able to join us!
Event ticket £295+VAT. Tickets include a three-course dinner, overnight accommodation, full-day workshop, refreshments and lunch.
The First Ascent Foundation brings senior leaders together to share and discuss the latest ideas and solutions around a contemporary leadership subject.
Foundation workshops create the opportunity for new learning and sharing of experiences amongst like-minded people, who are committed to leadership excellence and excited about progress and improvement. Launched in 2009, the Foundation is a not-for-profit initiative and presents several events every year, each themed on a relevant, contemporary aspect of leadership.
Watch our short video to find out more about the Foundation event experience.
You can follow @FirstAscentGrp on Twitter and tweet about this event using #FAFoundation.


text:
FIBA Americas: Ginobili, Argentina roll over Uruguay
By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina — Spurs guard Manu Ginobili made only three baskets in Argentina's 86-51 thumping of Uruguay on Thursday, but Spurs fans will be delighted to know two of them were emphatic dunks.
The spring appears to be back in Ginobili's legs, even after a hard, month-long training camp.
"I'm feeling great," Ginobili said. "The team is doing good. We had a long month of training camp where we practice twice a day almost every day. I am feeling good and in great shape.
"The team is rolling, so I have no complaints."
All three Spurs-connected players in the event were in action on the second day of the FIBA Americas tournament, which will qualify the top two teams for the 2012 Olympics in London. Center Tiago Splitter helped Brazil hang on for a 69-57 victory over Canada, with Spurs draftee Cory Joseph playing 24 minutes for Team Canada.
Splitter scored only five points, but had 10 rebounds and three assists.
Joseph made 4 of 10 shots and scored eight points, with two assists.
Ginobili's presence was needed in Argentina's victory for only 16 minutes and 17 seconds Thursday, but he used them efficiently. The two-time NBA All-Star had seven points, two rebounds, two steals and two assists.
The fun of playing on his national team, Ginobili said, is in the passing.
"I am having a lot of fun setting up my teammates," he said. "Especially against these kind of teams, you don't need to score 20 or 30 points. We have enormous talents, especially offensively. Sometimes I'm playing with players, like (Andres) Nocioni, who are great scorers. If I find them open, they're going to finish, so I'm enjoying it.
"There is no better team, and everybody on our team is feeling good about themselves."
Houston Rockets big man Luis Scola scored 18 points to lead the Argentines.
Splitter said Brazil's two close encounters should steel the team for the elimination round beginning Sept. 5.
"The two close games we didn't expect, but we know that now is the time to play," he said. "Now the games really matter, but I think today we figured out how to defend better. That is our key. Coach (Ruben) Magnano wants us to have good defense and then run the fast break."
The Dominican Republic, coached by Kentucky's John Calipari, also improved to 2-0 as did Brazil and Puerto Rico.
Al Horford, who plays for the Atlanta Hawks, had 19 points for the Dominican Republic in a 92-89 win over Venezuela.
At the European Championship, Spurs guard Tony Parker had 31 points Wednesday to help France beat Latvia 89-78 in Siauliai, Lithuania.
Author katadminPosted on September 14, 2011 Categories In the NewsTags Brazil, France, In the News, Puerto Rico, San Antonio Spurs, Uruguay, Venezuela
Previous Previous post: Brazil hands Argentina first FIBA loss
Next Next post: FIBA a reminder what game all about


This artwork was commissioned by the Sunshine Coast International Readers and Writers Festival Inc as our signature art 'logo' for this iconic inaugural and annual festival. Jandamarra Cadd's artwork was funded by the Sunshine Coast Council's Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) program. Hearty thanks to Sunshine Coast Council's RADF grants officer Saffron Drew for her guidance and support.
Jandamarra Cadd (b. 1973) is an award-winning Aboriginal Artist with his origins being the Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Warung People in Victoria. He was introduced to painting at the age of 15 and credits this tool of expression as his survival from a challenging childhood treated as a second-class citizen in his own land. Jandamarra uses a variety of styles and mediums, favouring oil on canvas, with his unique blend of traditional aboriginal art techniques along with a contemporary and inventive portraiture. Painting has been a way of life that has enabled him to express his creativity and storytelling of the universal truth of connection. In many of his paintings of the human condition, he seeks to be a peaceful voice for the oppressed and minorities. His focus is to use portraiture in a way to allow the viewer a glimpse into the depths of humanity and the expansive expression of the individual soul.


text:
Дитячий пісенний конкурс Євробачення 2003 — перший дитячий конкурс пісні Євробачення, який відбувся 2003 року у Копенгагені, Данія. Учасниками першого Дитячого Євробачення стали 16 країн. Згідно з правилами конкурсу, усі конкурсанти мають бути не старші 15 років. Переможцем Дитячого Євробачення 2003 став Діно Єлушич, який представляв Хорватію з піснею «Ti si moja prva ljubav».

Організатори вирішили, що країна, яка перемогла у конкурсі, не повинна обов'язково проводити наступний конкурс на відміну від дорослого Євробачення, де країна-переможниця майже завжди проводить наступний конкурс. Таке рішення було спрямоване на зменшення тиску на учасників. Перед проведенням конкурсу 2003 року було оголошено, що наступне Дитяче Євробачення відбудеться у Великій Британії (хоча в підсумку цього не сталося).

Формат конкурсу

Місце проведення
Данію попросили провести перший Дитячий пісенний конкурс Євробачення після вже наявного досвіду проведення подій дорослого Євробачення та організації власних внутрішніх конкурсів для дітей. У листопаді 2002 року Копенгаген був затверджений як місто-господар конкурсу.

Місцем для проведення конкурсу була обрана арена Forum Copenhagen, що функціонує як конференц-центр, концертний зал та крита арена. У 2002 році на Forum Copenhagen відбувся Дитячий MGP.

Голосування
За традицією Євробачення країни присуджують 12, 10, 8-1 балів своїм фаворитам. Для визначення найкращих 10 учасників були використані голоси телеглядачів.

Учасники

Результати

Див. також
 Дитячий конкурс пісні Євробачення

Примітки

Джерела
 Офіційний сайт дитячого конкурсу пісні Євробачення

Дитячий пісенний конкурс Євробачення
2003 у телебаченні
2003 у Європі

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Shame Lady shares her experience of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in an article published by MAPS.org, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies.
I used to think I was afraid of anger. But now I know it's 'just' shaming anger that scares me. Separating shame from anger frees me to claim my anger - anger that is necessary for me to hear my inner "No!"
Even at times in my life when I've thought I was keeping my emotions to myself, I realize that I've been wearing my emotions in and on my body.
Our culture has an ideal of "perfect mental health" - either have it or pretend that you do. The truth is that just as there is a full spectrum of physical health, there is also a full spectrum of mental health. In a new film, I reveal that I do not fall in the "pefect" category. Revealing this is a sign of strength, not weakness.
Did you know that focusing on the breath is a common trauma trigger? Learning to work with this fact is how I found my way out of feeling shame around my struggle to establish a meditation practice.
In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I'm offering up my own story of why I stayed in unhealthy relationships – ones in which my self-esteem took a nose-dive.
Gender Equality: Don't Forget the Guys!
Men should ______ . How we fill in this blank points to what ideals "we" believe men "should" live up to, and if they fail, they "should" feel shame.
How would you fill in the blank? And once you write it, how do you really feel about it?
Lately I have felt so inspired by people who learn this way of working with shame, and carry it forward. If I'm lucky, I get to witness a 'housecleaning' of sorts: people doing a systematic review of the ideals that are held by the groups they belong to.
Why do group ideals matter? Because shame arises when we are failing to live up to these group ideals. Yes, even when we think our shame is all about us, shame really has more to do with our need to belong.
Shame was like a heavy coat I wore for most of my life.
So what does shame really mean? The Shame Lady uses an in-depth definition courtesy of cognitive scientist Charles M. Jones.
I feel like a bit of a shame heretic by saying that shame does not mean "I am bad."


Travelling to the beautiful Cotswolds countryside, the team paid a visit to the Cotswolds Distillery, ready to sample and select items for the menu. First opening its doors in 2014, the distillery has since welcomed visitors to come and try their spirits, gins and whiskies.
Cotswolds' whiskey is at the heart of the distillery and the team didn't take much convincing before deciding it was a winner. Rich and fruity, with notes of honey and butterscotch, the single malt whiskey is made using local 100% floor-malted barley.
Next, onto the gin. Cotswolds' Dry Gin is distilled with nine botanicals, giving it an aromatic twist. Juniper, coriander seed, angelica root, local lavender, bay leaf, hand-peeled fresh lime and pink grapefruit zest, cardamom and black peppercorn, are all distilled in a copper pot, resulting in a rich and robust, award-winning gin.
There's also Cotswolds' Hedgerow Gin (rich, fruity and full-bodied) and the warming Baharat Exotic Gin (aromatic cardamom and a hint of cumin), both of which went down well.
The team were all impressed with the wide variety of fantastic local produce available, along with the time, effort and care that went into distilling by the team.
Keep a look out for Cotswold Distillery produce on our drinks menu very soon, especially the team's favourite cocktail, the British Bramble.
Made using Cotswolds gin, White Heron Cassis, lime and mint, British Bramble is sure to be popular.
If you'd like to be one of the first to sample our tasting menus or carefully sourced drinks, why not book a table at Larder?


As Audrey mentioned in the previous post, we had a wonderful turnout at the farmer's market last Saturday! We are working hard to add new things to this week's show, including some pen & ink sketches I've been doing today. I love them so much that it will be hard to see them go (but not too hard, wink wink). We also appreciate all the ideas and inspiration people have been giving us! Keep them coming :) It makes our work so worth while to see other's excited about what we can produce.
These are my favorite sketches I've done so far today! I love the subtle Americana feel they have.
These would be a great gift for the man in your life!
...but you may have to fight Pippa for them.


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BORYSZEW SA (84/2017) Purchase of own shares of Boryszew S.A.
MEDAPP SA (16/2017) Conclusion of the share purchase agreement for Telemedica Sp. z o.o.
EGB INVESTMENTS SA (46/2017) List of shareholders holding at least 5% of the number of votes at the Extraordinary General Meeting of EGB Investments S.A. on November 27, 2017.
ART NEW MEDIA SA (2/2017) Notification on disposal of part of shares held.


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Campaign for statutory recognition of a staff association for the British Armed Forces
Written on 28 April 2010 . Posted in Forces Personnel News
(Apr 2010) BAFF launched in September 2008 its ongoing campaign for statutory recognition of a staff association for armed forces personnel. This was followed by a successful parliamentary reception in May, 2009. By request, we will publish a representative selection of the replies from MPs to the letter below. Also available: BFBS Forces Radio interview about launch of recognition campaign 26/09/08.
BAFF letter to every Westminster MP:
Statutory recognition of a staff association for the British Armed Forces
During the next parliamentary session, as a staff association, we will be pushing for statutory provision for the recognition of a staff association for serving members of the armed forces. I am writing to ask for your support.
Our Armed Forces are now more widely committed than at any time in recent history. We recognise the efforts that have been made by the chain of command and the Ministry of Defence in dealing with a limited budget, but problems remain, including poor - sometimes appalling - living conditions, fighting personnel being sent into combat with sub-standard kit, and those discharged as a result of serious injury being inadequately compensated and left to the NHS post-code lottery.
Some argue that the Military Covenant has been broken beyond repair: a report by the defence select committee in July 2008 called for urgent action.
We believe that the real needs of our Armed Forces have been overlooked in recent years, resulting in an urgent requirement to change the law to allow collective representation via a staff association fully recognised by the government.
Unlike the police service, our armed forces are prohibited from joining a union or having any staff association to make representations about pay and conditions and offer support on work-related issues. The defence select committee report underlined the negative effect this lack of collective representation has on morale, commitment and retention of high quality military personnel at all levels.
We are calling for there to be recognition of a staff association in the armed forces similar in status to the Police Federation. This would enable representation for different groups and ranks, a statutory right to be consulted and protection for representatives and for the recruitment of members. We would expect the staff association to be prohibited from calling any industrial action or causing disaffection and we would also expect it to be banned from commenting on or questioning operational decisions (indeed such prohibitions are already reflected in our own constitution).
Many senior officers privately agree this should change and they accept the concept of a staff association, yet most will not publicly support the idea nor do they encourage membership by serving personnel. Neither has the MoD encouraged such an organisation, sometimes allowing the Army to provide links to our website but sometimes presenting the establishment of a staff association as undermining the chain of command.
The defence select committee said in their July 2008 report that they were open-minded about the benefits of such an organisation, but were concerned that the MoD is not. The committee recommended that "the MoD considers more constructively the possible benefits which may be gained from an independent Armed Forces Federation, and encourage the MoD to consult with the British Armed Forces Federation. " Ironically, despite it coming from such an influential cross-party committee, the MoD left it to their media staff to reject this reasonable recommendation.
As our record during the past two years demonstrates, we in BAFF are keen to support the chain of command in its efforts to improve the lives of service personnel and their families. We did not form BAFF to undermine the armed forces, but to improve terms and conditions of service for all.
We believe the time is right for change. By ensuring our armed forces have a staff association, there can be a safety valve for services concerns, a voice for service personnel in consultations and, where necessary, a public mouthpiece.
I urge you to support our campaign for statutory recognition of a staff association to ensure fair and equitable treatment for the hard-pressed members of our armed forces.
Douglas Young
Armed forces personnel representation / Armed forces representative body
Serving or ex HM Forces? Not already a BAFF member? Click here to join today


Give your skin a makeover in time for winter!
When you are sitting in front of the fireplace during the holidays or posing in dazzling party photos, you want your skin to glow – not show obvious signs of damage, redness and blemishes brought on from summer. Getting photorejuvenation at Ottawa skin clinics is a quick procedure that will have you enjoying results as soon as the next day. This time of year is the perfect time to get a photofacial given Ottawa's harsh, cold winters. Anything with "rejuvenation" in its name should be a fresh, new way to start the season after all.
Ottawa clinics complete the photofacial procedure by using fluorescent pulsing light on the surface of the skin to attack problems on the inner layers. Since most skin problems, such as acne, scars, wrinkles and capillary damage start underneath the upper layers of skin, photorejuvenation helps restrict blood vessels and produce more collagen. You may have heard of some of the benefits of collagen for your skin because it helps it remain firm, elastic and supple. So what are the benefits of getting a photorejuvenation in Ottawa treatment?
The photofacial treatment itself only takes around 30 minutes. You could even go on your lunch hour or in the evening after work. There is no need to stay in a hospital for hours or book an afternoon off for photorejuventation; you can return to work or go back home right away. The number of treatments you receive depends on the treatment plan you choose. To get ready for an appointment, you may need to stay out of direct sunlight for a few days beforehand, as well as after, to enhance the results.
Most people find the photorejuvenation process at Ottawa clinics to be painless. But those who are worried can apply topical cream or cooling gel on their skin before the procedure. The aesthetician will also give you some sunglasses to protect your eyes from the light. Instead of painful peels, exfoliation, or needles, non-invasive photofacial treatments are just pulses of light that help to make the skin look healthier and smoother. Nothing actually physically touches your face when you're getting a photofacial in Ottawa. You may experience some redness or swelling on the skin right after the procedure, but your skin should start to look its best a few days afterwards.
Another major benefit of photorejuvenation treatments in Ottawa is the immediate recovery and results. This also works if you have a busy schedule leading up to holiday party season. When irregular skin tone, scarring and redness are reduced, you will look better and you will feel better too! You can go back to your normal skin care routine and makeup application immediately – no extra, expensive creams and lotions required. Your aesthetician may suggest using some SPF cream or sunscreen after the photofacial treatment to help reduce more sunspots from appearing.


The 338BA by Master Piece Arms is a 338 Lapua Magnum bolt action rifle. This rifle features a cerakote black finish, Timney trigger along with an adjustable cheek piece, adjustable length of pull, barrier stop, one five-round AICS magazine, and a monopod. Weather you are shooting targets, or competing in a competition, this 1/2-MOA accuracy guaranteed rifle is a great choice for your line-up.


Jordan is responsible for partnering with Beacon Pointe's investment and financial planning teams to provide the firm's clients with a personalized service experience. Her duties include portfolio maintenance, onboarding of new relationships, database management and client service. Prior to joining Beacon Pointe, Jordan graduated from California State University Fullerton with a major in Economics. During her time at Cal State Fullerton, Jordan was a member of the Women in Business Leadership program which provides training and teaches creative problem-solving techniques for women students to prepare for advancement in leadership positions. Additionally, she is a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon – the international Economics Honor Society. Jordan is originally from Laguna Beach, CA and outside of the office enjoys film festivals, body surfing and cooking Italian food.


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The term chat bot (or sometimes just bot) can also be used in the meaning of an automatic chat responder program. The article How to Create a Chat Bot for Yahoo Messenger written by Chelsea Hoffman, explains how quick and easy it is to create a Chat bot responder containing unique and accurate responses to general phrases, words and questions that are used in Yahoo messenger.
Bots are also used to buy up good seats for concerts, particularly by ticket brokers who resell the tickets.[12] Bots are employed against entertainment event-ticketing sites. The bots are used by ticket brokers to unfairly obtain the best seats for themselves while depriving the general public of also having a chance to obtain the good seats. The bot runs through the purchase process and obtains better seats by pulling as many seats back as it can.
Evie's capacities go beyond mere verbal or textual interactions; the AI utilised in Evie also extends to controlling the timing and degree of facial expressions and movement. Her visually displayed reactions and emotions blend and vary in surprisingly complex ways, and a range of voices are delivered to your browser, along with lip synching information, to bring the avatar to life! Evie uses Flash if your browser supports it, but still works even without, thanks to our own Existor Avatar Player technology, allowing you to enjoy her to the full on iOS and Android.
In one particularly striking example of how this rather limited bot has made a major impact, U-Report sent a poll to users in Liberia about whether teachers were coercing students into sex in exchange for better grades. Approximately 86% of the 13,000 Liberian children U-Report polled responded that their teachers were engaged in this despicable practice, which resulted in a collaborative project between UNICEF and Liberia's Minister of Education to put an end to it.
The simple fact of the matter is that, as an Internet marketer, you need something better than artificial link building and pages of useless, jumbled nonsense to get long-lasting traffic referrals from major search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo. Google in particular pays special attention to your visitors' behavior. So if visitors are quickly navigating elsewhere because your site is full of junk content, then you will get fewer traffic referrals from Google over the long run.
Have you ever dreamed about creating your own chat bot that asks users a few simple questions and, based on human replies, creates new questions to continue the conversation, possibly an endless conversation? Have you thought about putting this chat bot on your Facebook page? Nothing simpler than creating a chat bot by reading and following this step-by-step guide Writing your first Facebook chat bot in PHP using Jaxl library written by a PHP developer Abhinav Singh.
Boibot's capacities go beyond mere verbal or textual interactions; the AI utilised in Boibot also extends to controlling the timing and degree of facial expressions and movement. His visually displayed reactions and emotions blend and vary in surprisingly complex ways, and a range of voices are delivered to your browser, along with lip synching information, to bring the avatar to life! Boibot uses Flash if your browser supports it, but still works even without, thanks to our own Existor Avatar Player technology, allowing you to enjoy her to the full on iOS and Android.
Reports of political interferences in recent elections, including the 2016 US and 2017 UK general elections,[3] have set the notion of botting being more prevalent because of the ethics that is challenged between the bot's design and the bot's designer. According to Emilio Ferrara, a computer scientist from the University of Southern California reporting on Communications of the ACM,[4] the lack of resources available to implement fact-checking and information verification results in the large volumes of false reports and claims made on these bots in social media platforms. In the case of Twitter, most of these bots are programmed with searching filter capabilities that target key words and phrases that reflect in favor and against political agendas and retweet them. While the attention of bots is programmed to spread unverified information throughout the social media platform,[5] it is a challenge that programmers face in the wake of a hostile political climate. Binary functions are designated to the programs and using an Application Program interface embedded in the social media website executes the functions tasked. The Bot Effect is what Ferrera reports as when the socialization of bots and human users creates a vulnerability to the leaking of personal information and polarizing influences outside the ethics of the bot's code. According to Guillory Kramer in his study, he observes the behavior of emotionally volatile users and the impact the bots have on the users, altering the perception of reality.
ALICE – which stands for Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity, an acronym that could have been lifted straight out of an episode of The X-Files – was developed and launched by creator Dr. Richard Wallace way back in the dark days of the early Internet in 1995. (As you can see in the image above, the website's aesthetic remains virtually unchanged since that time, a powerful reminder of how far web design has come.)
Since 2016 when Facebook allows businesses to deliver automated customer support, e-commerce guidance, content and interactive experiences through chatbots, a large variety of chatbots for Facebook Messenger platform were developed.[35] In 2016, Russia-based Tochka Bank launched the world's first Facebook bot for a range of financial services, in particularly including a possibility of making payments. [36] In July 2016, Barclays Africa also launched a Facebook chatbot, making it the first bank to do so in Africa. [37]
Creating a comprehensive conversational flow chart will feel like the greatest hurdle of the process, but know it's just the beginning. It's the commitment to tweaking and improving in the months and years following that makes a great bot. As Clara de Soto, cofounder of Reply.ai, told VentureBeat, "You're never just 'building a bot' so much as launching a 'conversational strategy' — one that's constantly evolving and being optimized based on how users are actually interacting with it."


We are excited about our new venture offing Greenville and the event industry a great location for everyone to premiere their services. Just like any other new business, we are cautious of who we do business with. We will require a good reference from The Cigar Warehouse prior to your approval.
Additionally, we will send you a full Vendor Agreement once we receive your information. Once approved, we will need a Certificate of Additional Insured (COAI) on file naming The Venue at Falls Park, LLC as a holder 30 days before the event.


The competition closes this Saturday at midnight, UK time.
The PC Gamer Weekender 2018 returns to Olympia London on February 17-18, bringing with it the first ever OMEN by HP Bootcamp. With a focus on Blizzard's hero shooter Overwatch, dedicated sessions will showcase what it takes to become a professional esports player.
We're giving away an Overwatch Collector's Edition for PC, as well as free tickets to the only event dedicated to PC gaming in the UK. The competition ends on Saturday 2 February at midnight, so get your entries in fast.
Alongside the game's Origins Edition—which comes with surplus skins and Overwatch-themed content for a number of Blizzard's other games—the Collector's volume includes a Soldier 76 statue, a SteelBook DVD Case, and a full colour artbook. To win that, plus a free pair of Weekender tickets, simply fill in the survey located here. Winners will be selected at random prior to the show.
A selection of lucky runners-up (50 pairs are up for grabs) can also win two full weekend tickets to the PC Gamer Weekender. Read the competition's terms and conditions here, and learn more about what's on at the show in this direction.


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Twierdzenie Rainwatera – w analizie funkcjonalnej, twierdzenie mówiące, że ciąg ograniczony  w przestrzeni Banacha  jest słabo zbieżny do pewnego elementu  wtedy i tylko wtedy, gdy dla każdego punktu ekstremalnego  kuli jednostkowej przestrzeni sprzężonej  zachodzi warunek
 .
Innymi słowy, twierdzenie Rainwatera mówi, że w celu badania słabej zbieżności ciągu w przestrzeni Banacha wystarczy ograniczyć się do sprawdzania słabej zbieżności na punktach ekstremalnych kuli dualnej. Twierdzenie zostało udowodnione przez grupę matematyków publikujących pod wspólnym pseudonimem John Rainwater.

Zastosowanie do przestrzeni funkcji ciągłych
Niech  będzie zwartą przestrzenią Hausdorffa oraz niech  oznacza przestrzeń Banacha rzeczywistych funkcji ciągłych na  z normą supremum. Punkty ekstremalne kuli jednostkowej przestrzeni sprzężonej  są postaci  gdzie   Z twierdzenia Rainwatera wynika, że jeżeli ograniczony ciąg  elementów przestrzeni  jest zbieżny punktowo do pewnej funkcji ciągłej  to jest on zbieżny do  w słabej topologii przestrzeni .

Przypisy

Bibliografia

 Marián Fabian, Petr Habala, Petr Hájek, Vicente Montesinos, Václav Zizler, Banach Space Theory: The Basis for Linear and Nonlinear Analysis, Springer-Verlag New York, 2011. .

Rainwatera


text:
Q: How to create page that reads a div from another page AND IT FOLLOWS the value changes of it Here is my code
No. of logs:
Counter

My problem is that when the value of the div of the other file (refresh4.htm) changes, the displayed value is the same (actually is the first value that this div has predifined).
Where i can find what other options i have exept .html() and attr(). Is there an equivelant as .innerHTML or .value?

A: Make a new ajax request each time each reasonable period of time.
var previousResult = null,
    desiredField,
    refreshData = function() {

    jQuery.ajax({
        url: "refresh4.htm",
        success: function(result) {
            //Obtain the field of the html
            desiredField = result.find(".desired-field").html();
            if(!previousResult || desiredField !== previousResult) {
                previousResult = desiredField;
                //Done whatever you want with desiredField
            }
        }
    });

}

setInterval(refreshData, 4000);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Wayne Visser
Jarie Bolander 15.Aug.2022
We Could Be So Much Smarter: Wayne Visser and Building Businesses for a Thriving World
Support the Show. Get the AudioBook!
Now on to my guest for today. Dr. Wayne Visser, a "pracademic," is a professor at Cambridge University and Antwerp Business School, and the author of 41 books. His forthcoming book is Thriving: The Breakthrough Movement to Regenerate Nature, Society and the Economy. He's also a consultant who has worked with numerous companies and served as Director of Sustainability at KPMG. Wayne is also a published poet, and shares one of his poems on the show.
Wayne's interest in sustainability and business was sparked when he was an undergraduate in Cape Town and when the largest gathering of heads of state took place in Rio, resulting in a lot of questions and efforts around incorporating more sustainable practices into business. Wayne has since made it his mission to find ways for businesses to become more sustainable.
In Thriving, Wayne explains, he observes that the movement for sustainability has ultimately failed. His book provides a different paradigm: thriving. Part of the problem is that the end goal of sustainability is not enough for people and businesses to get excited about. We need a bigger target than just surviving.
Despite this assessment, Wayne does see a lot of positive change happening. We've now reached a point, for example, where solar and wind energy are cheap and widely available. He also believes entrepreneurship is key to innovation toward helping to turn the tide and make the world more environmentally sustainable. Wayne sees change as happening on multiple fronts: in the use of resources, in how something is made, in the distribution of wealth, and the need to cultivate resilience in the face of crisis. He believes that entrepreneurship and business are best poised to lead the way to solve these problems and make a better world.
Below is some of Wayne's advice to entrepreneurs who want to make a difference:
"It's no longer enough to make customers happy and make money," says Wayne. Strive to be part of a solution to a bigger problem. When developing your product or service, consider the impact environmentally and socially, and how you can build a company that can not only survive but also help make things better.
Wayne recommends looking at the various systems that need changing, then focusing on one or two areas to make improvements.
For a solution to take hold it must be as convenient, affordable, and high quality as current solutions.
Wayne Visser's Website
Wayne Visser on LinkedIn
Wayne Visser on Facebook
Wayne Visser on Twitter
Wayne's Podcasts: Thriving and Purpose-Inspired
Book or Blog or Twitter or LinkedIn or The Story Funnel
authorsustainabilitythrivingpodcastepisodes


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The brief was to do a viral campaign for HP during the period of the World Cup but, because they were not official sponsors, we weren't allowed to mention football. We created our own sport of fingerball to rival the World Cup action. Our hero had a blog updated during the World Cup to show off his finger skills, to explain more about his passion and showing people how to get involved themselves. The blog attracted 10 million visitors to date and inspired lots of copies on YouTube.


text:
package com.huawei.esdk.fusionmanager.local.impl.autogen.vm;

import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlAccessorType;
import javax.xml.bind.annotation.XmlType;

/**
 *
Java class for BSParameterSet complex type.
 *
 *
The following schema fragment specifies the expected content contained within this class.
 *
 *

 * <complexType name="BSParameterSet">
 *   <complexContent>
 *     <restriction base="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}anyType">
 *       <sequence>
 *         <element name="bsSize" type="{http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema}int" minOccurs="0"/>
 *       </sequence>
 *     </restriction>
 *   </complexContent>
 * </complexType>
 *

 *
 *
 */
@XmlAccessorType(XmlAccessType.FIELD)
@XmlType(name = "BSParameterSet", namespace = "http://response.model.vm.soap.business.vm.north.galaxmanager.com/xsd", propOrder = {
    "bsSize"
})
public class BSParameterSet {

    protected Integer bsSize;

    /**
     * Gets the value of the bsSize property.
     *
     * @return
     *     possible object is
     *     {@link Integer }
     *
     */
    public Integer getBsSize() {
        return bsSize;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the value of the bsSize property.
     *
     * @param value
     *     allowed object is
     *     {@link Integer }
     *
     */
    public void setBsSize(Integer value) {
        this.bsSize = value;
    }

}