It can take some plastic items hundreds of years to biodegrade.
Helium balloons in particular are a hazard to seas and to cattle. In exchange for a short and 'beautiful' release, the balloons return to earth to pollute even the most remote of places. There is currently no ban in this country, but some counties are considering it.
In the UK many plastic bags are now biodegradable and thanks to single-use bag tax, the use of them has declined by 86% (stat from UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs , Dec 2018).
Emma swam the English channel to raise awareness of Endometriosis. Her swimming coach told her to always be ready for the call to swim. The channel conditions were not ready for her swim for 3 months. I took photos of her #waitingforthecall.
"Endometriosis is a condition that affects 1 in 10 women and it still takes to this day an average of 7.5 years to diagnose. 7.5 years! I've taken part in fundraising activities pretty much my entire adult life, so my events would now raise funds for Endometriosis UK.
Most of the homes I have lived in throughout Germany and England have been next to railway lines.


The Pandas are taking over! All that Blizzcon information about Mists of Pandaria has proved too much for poor Rich. He's started wearing heavy eye shadow and eating only shoots and leaves. Actually that isn't that different from how he normally acts, but we're pretty sure the kung fu is a new development.
What's black and white and read all over? The selection of PC gaming news you'll find inside!
Bastion is only £5.74 on Steam right now, totally worth it for a game we gave 92% in PC Gamer 232.
Dan Marshall points us to Roadeo , the racing game where one player plays at the car and the other plays as the track.
The Washington Post compare Occupy Wall Street with Bioshock Infinite.
While we're getting political, the CivFanatics forums have produced a Civ 5 mod that replaces all world leaders with current UK politicians. You can see the diplomacy screens here .
Over on Kotaku Leigh Alexander says she's tired of being a 'Woman in Games' rather than just a games journalist.
Limbo developer Playdead's Dino Patti tells Eurogamer the retail model "has always been and still is broken".
Dead End Thrills has some amazing shots of Portal 2.
RockPaperShotgun inexplicably decides to write the Game Industry's guide to poaching an egg. I contribute, despite having never actually poached an egg. I'm such a fraud.
What do you think of Pandaria readers? Will you be rolling a Pandaman?


text:
China's block on new game approvals could last up to another six months
September 12th, 2018 - 10:24am
By Natalie Clayton, Staff Writer
Chinese developers could be waiting another 4 to 6 months before the country's block on new game approvals lifts.
That's according to a government source speaking to The South China Morning Post, changes to video game licensing are likely to take almost twice as long to implement as the two-to-three-month period some analysts were expecting.
The block on game approvals allegedly began back in March. Developers in China need to apply for a license with authorities to release new titles, but a government restructure and reconsolidation has locked down any new approvals.
Whenever game approvals do begin to restart in China, expect them to come with heavier regulations. Games have long faced internal criticism from party officials due to their addictive nature and often violent/sexual content, but another issue may be behind this continued restriction - China has a real problem with short-sightedness (myopia) among children and teens.
The block has had a severe effect on the Chinese sector, which is normally a booming space for games. Mobile games, whose developer typically require a larger output of new titles, have been hit the hardest - with the long development cycles of PC and Console games granting them a little more leeway.
The block's effect on publishing giant Tencent provides a good insight into how the region has been affected. The company's value dropped a staggering $20 billion over a day, and flagship mobile title Honor of Kings is now far more restrictive on younger users' playtime in order to comply with government regulations.
Natalie Clayton
Natalie Clayton is an Edinburgh-based freelance writer and game developer. Besides PCGamesInsider and Pocketgamer.biz, she's written across the games media landscape and was named in the 2018 GamesIndustry.biz 100 Rising Star list.
News Aug 31st, 2018
$20bn cut from Tencent value over Chinese games regulator nonsense
News Sep 20th, 2019
Tencent hoping to capitalise on games success for cloud business
News Aug 23rd, 2019
Tencent and NetEase online games made $743 million between them in H1 2019
News Jul 31st, 2019
Free-to-play Rocket League gets the greenlight for China launch
News Jul 18th, 2019
Here's why Dragonest has teamed up with Tencent to publish Drodo Auto Chess in China

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A Guide to Taking the First Steps - Liza H. Leal, M.D.
Over 100 million people in the United States alone suffer with chronic pain.
Live Well with Chronic Pain shares practical steps that all of us can take to face our challenges, manage our pain and enjoy a better quality of life. For anybody who has been overcome by pain and lost their way, this book will inspire them to Live Well.
Dr. Liza Leal knows something about pain, both professionally and personally as a patient. Dr. Liza lives with rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic, aching inflammation of the joints. Her personal experiences provide a unique perspective that strengthens her professional commitment to treat patients with compassion, understanding and education.
Leal began experiencing searing, persistent leg pain during her junior year of medical school. She completed medical school and began her residency—in a wheelchair. Today, Leal is out of the wheelchair—thanks to her unique comprehensive approach to pain management, which lead her to the understanding how opioid dependence is misunderstood by many in healthcare. Her passion is to bridge the education gap, evoke conversation between healthcare providers and pharmaceutical industry to help build long-term relationships through caring conversation.
Leal is the Chief Medical Officer and co-founder of Meridian Medical Dental Healthcare. As a family physician, Leal offers patients a comprehensive range of services of integrated medicine. She is well known for her development of training webinars and was featured in the Bronze Opus Award "On the Road to Joint Pain Relief" as the medical expert in the 30-minute infomercial. She has developed specialized training for sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies including Searle, Pfizer, Ligand, Organon and Cephalon. Currently she is the spokesperson for the international infomercials for Aloecure and Aloederma.
Leal earned a B.S. in Biology (Pre-Med) at the University of Dallas and a medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center Medical School at Houston. She completed her post-graduate training at St. Joseph Family Practice in Houston and is certified by the American Academy of Pain Management. She also is certified to treat patients who suffer from substance abuse and addiction. Leal sits on the faculty of the American Academy of Pain Management and the American Academy of Family Practice.
She regularly gives presentations on arthritis and depression, understanding opioid dependence, nutrition in pain management, and arthritis in the bedroom. She has served as consulting correspondent for the UPN and Telemundo networks as well as national satellite tour with Eric Estrada for the "Attack Arthritis" campaign with Pfizer.
Copyright 2015, Liza H. Leal, M.D.


128 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
time thus brought before me, something like a dream. These utterances were those of an impulsive young man; but of one who felt the duty of controlling his inclination to express himself passionately. I wrote with a motto from Locke always at the head of my political essay,—"This is a question only of inquirers, not disputers, who neither affirm, nor deny, but examine." This motto often held my hand. I had a notion that rapid composition was a test of ability. I used to task myself to write a leading article in a given time. The habit has been of value to me in after life; it is of infinite importance to the journalist. But it is of more importance that what he writes should not at some future day rise up in judgment against him, "trumpet-tongued," and convict him—not of the suppressio veri, for that is incidental to his profession, as it is to the barrister's—but of the assertion of opinions which were the exact contrary of his own convictions. Let me not, however, be held to imply that what is called political consistency is a virtue in the man of advanced age—that the rash judgments of his youth are to be preserved in his maturity. The mind that is not open to the teachings of time, and that chooses to stand upon its own "ancient way," and not look around to see "which is the right and true way," is worth little as a guide for the formation of opinion.
ambition. These rush upon my memory as I look upon my old "folio of four pages," and think of this my first venture upon a dangerous sea.
The newspaper stamp was then fourpence. The advertisement duty was three shillings, subsequently raised to three shillings and sixpence. The blank paper was to be stamped at Somerset House, the payment being in cash, with a discount. It will be seen at once how these taxes pressed upon the capital to be devoted to such an undertaking. No article of consumption, with the exception of salt, was so highly taxed as the Newspaper. The circulation of a country journal was not a simple operation like that of a London journal, which was, and is, a wholesale transaction between the newspaper proprietor and the newsmen. The established custom was this: the country proprietor had agencies in the larger towns, who had their own retail customers; but the greater number of the papers were delivered, by newsmen specially employed, to the subscribers, whether in the place of publication or in scattered country districts. These had quarterly accounts, which often grew into half-yearly or yearly settlements. Thus the return of the capital was very slow.
130 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
essential that it should contain the latest news from the metropolis. The "London Gazette" was then published on a Saturday afternoon. How was the "Gazette" to be obtained, and also the late editions of the evening papers? For this object the long-established "Salisbury Journal" had an express direct from London to that city. By an arrangement with the London agent of that journal, its express was to bring our despatch to Staines, from which place we should have a branch express to Windsor. It would arrive about three quarters of an hour before our post departed. Then there was to ensue a scurry of editor, compositors, pressmen, to complete enough papers to fill two bags, which we were allowed to send to the receiving post-offices at Staines and Maidenhead by the mail-carts from our town. All this could not be accomplished without the most strenuous exertions and the most perfect division of labour. It was to be calculated that in the beginning of the undertaking the machinery would be often out of gear.
be delayed in publication till almost noon. If this occurred on a Saturday, the "Times," or the "Post," or the "Chronicle," or the "British Press," not reaching Windsor till six in the evening, another leader would then have to be written. Sometimes the "Times," upon which most reliance could be placed for the latest news, did not come at all. During the excitement of the great war-time the demand outran the supply, for it was not till the end of 1814 that the "Times" was printed by steam machinery.
Our journal being once safely at press, there would come the arrangements for its distribution through the rural districts, in addition to the small number which had been sent off by post. The hamlets and scattered farm-houses and gentlemen's seats could not be reached by the post, at a time when not one village in twenty had a post-office—when letters and newspapers remained with the postmaster of the market-town till they were called for by the inhabitants of the surrounding district. Many a populous parish was thus left to chance for the receipt of its private or its public intelligence. Our new paper would have to meet this difficulty by our own express-carts, which were to travel long distances, and by pedestrians, who would have many a weary mile to trudge over unfrequented roads. These deliverers would seldom receive payment from the subscribers. The debts would accumulate, requiring to be collected at periodical visits. Remittances in many cases could not easily be made; in some cases they would be impossible, for the system of postal money-orders was a quarter of a century later.
132 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
every case, sevenpence. The wages of mechanical labour were high, keeping pace with the price of wheat, which in 1812 was 150s. a quarter. Paper was extremely dear, the duty being threepence a pound, and the cheapening by the paper machine, now so efficient, being then one of the visions of the projector. In the absence, besides, of all the modern appliances of civilization such as I have recited—which have so lessened the cost of a provincial journal, and have increased the demand in a far greater ratio than the doubling of the population—the number of country newspapers was comparatively small. Throughout England there were less than a hundred. There were not a great many of them which ventured upon original writing; but the leading article had become a feature with those of the higher class, such as the "Leeds Mercury," after the beginning of the century. To express strong opinions upon gross abuses was, however, a service of danger which most editors avoided in the days of ex officio informations.
134 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
which he was called "an Adonis in loveliness"—that this Adonis was "a corpulent gentleman of fifty." The ex-officio information against John and Leigh Hunt, for a libel in the "Examiner" of March 24th, 1812, resulted in a fine of a thousand pounds and the imprisonment of each for two years in separate prisons. Mr. Brougham had again defended the brothers, and had the satisfaction to be told by Lord Ellenborough that he had imbibed the spirit of his client, and seemed to have inoculated himself with all the poison and mischief which this libel was calculated to effect. It was undoubtedly strong language for the "Examiner" to designate the Prince as "a violator of his word, a libertine over head and ears in debt and disgrace, a despiser of domestic ties, the companion of gamblers and demireps, a man who has just closed half a century without one single claim on the gratitude of his country or the respect of posterity." Posterity has not given such an answer as would put to shame this daring appeal to its judgment. But the dispassionate lookers-on of that period could not think it seemly that such harsh truths should be told of him who stood in the place of a king—who, as chief magistrate, ought to claim from the people all respect and reverence.
not till thirty years after 1812 that Lord Campbell's Act gave to the journalist the power to plead, in any action for libel, "that such libel was inserted in such newspaper without actual malice, and without gross negligence; and that before the commencement of the action, or at the earliest opportunity afterwards, he inserted in such newspaper a full apology for such libel." Imagine, at the present day, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Queens Bench trying an action for libel,—with two leaders, such as Mr. Denman for the prosecution, and Mr. Scarlett for the defence,—the alleged libel being the report in a country newspaper of a flagrant case of cruelty which was a notorious subject of local indignation. The libel consisted in terming that "a brutal assault," upon which the assailants were held to bail. Imagine that the persons whose characters were thus defamed were a pig-keeper and his wife, who let lodgings to poor people; and having a dispute with a family of which the mother had only been confined a week, threatened to pull the bed from under her, and turn her into the street. Imagine a London jury finding a verdict for the plaintiff, with 50l. damages. Imagine a second action for the same libel being brought by the wife. Imagine ten several actions against ten London papers, for reporting the trial in the King's Bench with a few words of just comment upon the scandal of such litigation, when there was no "private malice" or "gross negligence." Imagine a hungry attorney, prowling for prey, at the bottom of all these actions, who had no object to attain but the heavy costs which he pocketed. These verdicts cost me 500l. in 1825. Is not the newspaper press in a better condition than it was in, forty years ago?
136 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
trial of the Hunts) met with no pity in the eyes of the rigid Queen Charlotte.
The political atmosphere was not very bright on the 1st of August, 1812, when the Windsor newspaper struggled into life. The 29th of July was a day of gloom, for the intelligence arrived that the United States of America had declared war against Great Britain. Wellington had advanced into Spain in June. His position was a very difficult one. The English army and the French army were on opposite banks of the Douro in the early part of July. Marmont was expecting a large accession of strength in the junction of King Joseph's army from Madrid. Wellington was disappointed of the arrival of reinforcements under Lord William Bentinck. There was a wide-spread conviction that the Government at home was feebly supporting the one great captain whose genius appeared likely to retrieve the disasters of a long series of "warriors" not "for the working-day." Parliament was prorogued on the 29th of July. The speech of the Prince Regent was in no degree a jubilant prophecy of a glorious future. It tamely expressed a trust that the independence of the Peninsula would be secured; and hoped that Parliament would duly appreciate the importance of the struggle in which the Emperor of Russia had been compelled to engage.
138 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
ment of the hour; amidst the elevation of spirit which invested the technical details of an Extraordinary Gazette with no little of the splendour of an epic poem, not to forget that there was a battle to be fought at home—social wrongs to be inquired into, popular ignorance to be combated, rude assaults of democratic violence to be resisted, antiquated fallacies in political economy to be exposed. No one who belongs to a later generation can properly estimate the national feeling of half a century ago, when the war was for life or death, for liberty or slavery. But, with all this enthusiasm, the grandeur of the crisis through which we were passing could not then be fully understood. The journalist might present the multifarious details of this mighty war with fidelity. He might lose no opportunity of keeping alive that spirit which had sustained the country through twenty years of unprecedented danger. But for a philosophic comprehension of events amidst which the finger of Providence might be dimly descried pointing to a better future, he must watch and wait, till his vision should be enlarged by the lapse of time into something like a historical perception of these aspects of Mutability.
140 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
* Windsor Express, August 22, 1812.
supposed, on his post, and who proved his fidelity by maintaining that he had heard St. Paul's clock strike thirteen, which it was ascertained to have done, according to the legend. As a boy, I have listened to stories of a black dog walking on the Terrace, wearing a large chain which he fearfully clanked. After the King's seclusion in the apartments looking upon the North Terrace, such stories became more common. On the night of the 29th of September, the corporal's relief-guard found beneath the window of a private room under Queen Elizabeth's Gallery, a brave fellow of the 29th Regiment, who had been wounded twice at Talavera, prostrate with his musket, his bayonet and his cap by his side. Taken to the guard-room, he related how he had seen a figure in black approaching him; how he had challenged it, but was unanswered; how having brought his musket to the charge, and advanced towards it, the figure disappeared; and how after an interval of more than an hour, the figure again appearing, he cried out, "I'm lost—I'm lost." Even when a mischievous artist was, shortly after, compelled to leave his pleasant apartments, carrying his phantasmagorian devices with him, it was difficult for many to comprehend, in our somewhat benighted town, that optical deceptions were not difficult to manage.
142 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
the return of Bonaparte to Paris, and containing the famous twenty-ninth bulletin which could not conceal the almost total annihilation of the French army, rendered that joyous festival one of unusual solemnity. However great might be the national gladness at our apparent deliverance, it was not in the spirit of Christianity that we should read with unmixed exultation the frightful narrative of the extermination of half a million of men. It was a solemn judgment upon "the vanity of human wishes," when those who a few months before were conquering invaders, were finally to perish in a hasty retreat through a dreary and desolated region—the stronger, who fell beneath the unsparing sabre of a pursuing enemy, happier than the weaker who died by the wayside under the inflictions of Heaven which their leader had hoped to evade—the biting frost, the arrowy sleet, and the blinding snow-storm.
144 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
The fields were so white and the sky so blue.
the "place which he must go to" was to be determined by a purer and higher wisdom than the passions of his enemies, however just might have been their original hostility. I have seen this bitterness subside with some into a maudlin feeling of admiration—a prostration before Power, enslaving the mind even more effectually than a blind patriotism.
146 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
By headless Charles see heartless Henry lies.
It moves, it reigns—in all but name a king.
In him the double tyrant starts to life.
148 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
partizans. But when he was an ingrate to the Whigs, and deceived the Tories about Catholic Emancipation, he became, to most men, a mere Sybarite, unworthy of a throne. Will dispassionate History be more tender?
150 PASSAGES OF A WORKING LIFE: [Ch. II.
The paradox now was, that Wellington was deficient in boldness because he bided his time. Yet in one short month he marched from the frontier of Portugal to the opposite frontier of Spain, and on the 21st of June he won the crowning victory of Vittoria. The consequences of this signal triumph were so manifest, that people throughout the kingdom gave themselves up to one tumult of joy, and abandoned for ever their doubts of the great general who was now regarded as the hope of Europe. We quickly passed, too, into a more confident feeling that the naval supremacy of England was not utterly destroyed. In the same pages in which I had to comment on the great victory by land, I had to record that wonderful sea-fight of a quarter of an hour between the Shannon and the Chesapeake, which lifted our flag as effectually out of the disgrace of 1812 as if a whole American squadron had been carried into Halifax. In August, arrived the news of the battles of the Pyrenees and the fall of St. Sebastian. The armistice in Germany had come to an end. In the same month the battle of Dresden had been fought, and Moreau was killed. Some journals still doubted the ultimate result of the mighty continental struggle.
many of the dwellers in towns—would turn this year with deep anxiety to the wondrous hieroglyphic which was to exhibit the destiny of the nations. When "Master Moore," as the good folks called him, uttered his mystical sentences under the awful heading of "Vox Cœlorum, Vox Dei, the Voice of the Heavens is the Voice of God," how small sounded the mundane reasonings of the newspaper writers. If the great astrologer prophesied disaster, few would be the believers in success. There was scarcely a house in Southern England in which this two shilling's worth of imposture was not to be found. There was scarcely a farmer who would cut his grass if the Almanack predicted rain. No cattle-doctor would give a drench to a cow unless he consulted the table in the Almanack showing what sign the moon is in, and what part of the body it governs. When, on the 3rd of November, the guns were fired for the intelligence of the mighty victory of Leipzig, few would believe that the war would have a favourable termination till they had read "the Signs of Heaven" in the mysterious picture which might haply foreshadow the fall of the Beast in the Revelations. It was more than probable, in the rapid march of events in that great time, that the Almanack of Francis Moore, Physician, which, from the large number printed, went to press in June, might prescribe something very unsuited to the diagnostics of the body politic at the time of its publication in November. But as the "skimble-skamble stuff" would suit any turn of fortune, if rightly interpreted, it would be easy to believe that the prophet had foretold the passage of the Rhine by the Allied Armies on the last day of the year.
Emperor Alexander I of Russia (1777-1825) Following the assassination of his father he was tsar of Russia (1801-25).
Augusta, duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1737-1813) The daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales and mother of Queen Caroline; in 1764 she married Charles, prince of Brunswick.
Lord William Henry Cavendish- Bentinck (1774-1839) He was governor of Madras (1803), served in Spain, was governor of Bengal (1827) and the first governor-general of India (1833).
John Campbell, first baron Campbell (1779-1861) Barrister and biographer; he was a liberal MP for Stafford (1830-32), Dudley (1832-34), and Edinburgh (1834-41); created Baron Campbell (1841), lord chancellor (1859).
Sir Vicary Gibbs (1751-1820) Tory MP and attorney-general during the Portland and Perceval governments (1807-12); from 1812 he was a judge in the court of common pleas.
Sir Henry Halford, first baronet (1766-1844) The second son of James Vaughan MD of Leicester; a court physician, he was created baronet in 1814 and was president of the College of Physicians (1820-1844).
Antoine-Henri Jomini (1779-1869) Swiss general who fought in the Swiss, French, and Russian armies, and published a series of important books on military tactics.
Edward Law, first baron Ellenborough (1750-1818) Lord chief justice (1802) and speaker of the House of Lords (1805); he was part of the "All the Talents" ministry (1806).
Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, duc de Raguse (1774-1852) He succeeded Masséna in Spain only to be defeated by Wellington at the Battle of Salamanca; having gone over the Allies in the Battle of Paris he became a nobleman upon the Bourbon restoration.
Jean Victor Marie Moreau (1763-1813) French general who defeated the Austrians at Hohenlinden (1800) and was later exiled by Napoleon.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) English novelist; author of Vanity Fair (1848), Pendennis (1850) and Henry Esmond (1852).
Sir Anthony Van Dyke (1599-1641) Flemish painter who studied under Rubens and spent the last decade of his life as a court painter to Charles I.
Scipion Victor, marquis de Chambonas (1750-1830) Mayor of Sens, brigadier general, and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis XVI; he fled to London where he was employed as a goldsmith before returning to France in 1814.
The Leeds Mercury. (1718-1939). Edited by Edward Baines, 1801-27.
The London Gazette. (1665-). The official organ of the British government, published twice weekly.
The Salisbury Journal. (1729-). Continued into the nineteenth century under various titles.
George Gordon Byron, sixth Baron Byron (1788-1824) "Windsor Poetics" in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers . . . Suppressed Poems.. (Paris: Galignani, 1818). An epigram composed in 1813 and not acknowledged during Byron's lifetime.
Robert Southey (1774-1843) "The March to Moscow" in The Antijacobin Review. Vol. 46 (June 1814): 623-24. Published anonymously; written in 1813. Originally printed in The Courier?


text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
 - Created by Mahmoud Shaheen
 - Project: Medox
 - Licence: MIT
-->

<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:gravity="center_vertical"
    android:orientation="horizontal">

    <ImageView
        android:id="@+id/photo"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:src="@mipmap/logo" />

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/timeView"
        style="@style/Base.TextAppearance.AppCompat.Small"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginLeft="10dp"
        android:gravity="center_vertical"
        android:textColor="@color/colorPrimary"
        tools:text="00:00:00" />

</LinearLayout>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Winning an Oscar is priceless, but selling it gets you exactly $10
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has strict rules limiting the sale of Oscar statues, whether by winners or their heirs.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
By Stephen Ceasar
For those who win an Academy Award, that gleaming, iconic Oscar represents a validation of filmmaking excellence that money can't buy.
Or can it?
If Oscar winners or their heirs ever try to sell the gold-plated statuette bearing their name — be it Robert DeNiro, Jennifer Lawrence or Meryl Streep — they will hear from the academy's lawyers.
And the attorneys will make them an offer they can't refuse: Sell it back to the academy for $10.
If they don't, the Oscar goes to ... court.
See more of our top stories on Facebook >>
Attorney John B. Quinn, the academy's general counsel, said it is important for the academy to prevent anyone from trying to exploit the significance of the award and dilute its artistic value.
"They shouldn't become items of commerce that can be purchased and sold on the market," he said.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences places strict rules on those who are bestowed the honor and has aggressively pursued anyone who tried to sell the Oscar. It is part of a broader strategy to protect the Oscar brand by attempting to quash all attempts to infringe the Oscar's copyright and trademark.
The approach has resulted in critics accusing the academy of using "strong arm" tactics to legally bully people into submission.
The academy has shut down party rentals of 8-foot faux Oscar statuettes, sued a North Hollywood chocolatier for making candy in the shape of an Oscar and forced websites that use the Oscar moniker, such as trivia site Oscarwatch.com, to change its name or shut down.
The efforts were bolstered by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 1991 that the award was protected under federal copyright laws and was not part of the public domain.
"We conclude that the academy's sleek, muscular gold statuette known as 'Oscar,' which is recognized worldwide as a distinctive symbol of outstanding achievement in film ... is entitled to protection," the ruling said.
As for the sale of statuettes, the academy won a major legal victory last year when a Los Angeles County judge affirmed an academy rule that forbids any winner (or whoever comes to possess a statuette) from selling the trophy without first offering it to the academy for the tidy sum of $10.
During nearly 30 years, Quinn and his Los Angeles law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, have filed about a dozen lawsuits on behalf of the academy to halt sales of Oscar statuettes. The firm has also sent about 100 letters to would-be sellers; some are gentle reminders of the rules and others are cease-and-desist demands, which usually do the trick, Quinn said.
Since the first Academy Awards in 1929, 3,001 Oscars — officially known as the Academy Award of Merit statuette — have been handed out at the star-studded annual celebrations.
"The academy, its members and the many film artists and craftspeople who've won Academy Awards believe strongly that Oscars should be won, not purchased," the academy said in a statement to The Times asking about its legal stance.
Every recipient since 1951 has signed an agreement that gives the academy the right of first refusal. That agreement was also made part of the academy's bylaws so that every Oscar winner who has been an academy member is subject to the same rule, no matter when he or she received an Oscar.
That in turn has sharply narrowed the supply of Oscars that legally can be sold, even while the demand among collectors and others remains intense.
The 1939 best picture statuette for "Gone With the Wind," for instance, was bought in 1999 for $1.54 million by Michael Jackson. The 1941 best screenplay Academy Award for "Citizen Kane," presented to Herman Mankiewicz, was sold in 2012 for $588,455.
Magician David Copperfield bought the Oscar won by director Michael Curtiz for "Casablanca" and kept it in his bedroom for inspiration before later selling it.
Steven Spielberg, a multiple Academy Award winner in his own right, bought three Oscars to donate them back to the academy.
In 1996, he paid $607,500 for Clark Gable's best actor Oscar for 1934's "It Happened One Night." He also bought a pair of best actress Oscars awarded to Bette Davis, paying $578,000 for the statuette won for the 1938 movie "Jezebel" and $180,000 for the award given for the 1935 film "Dangerous."
In 2007, three heirs of Mary Pickford, the silent-movie star known as "America's sweetheart," attempted to auction the best actress Oscar presented to Pickford in 1930 for the melodrama "Coquette."
The three people who inherited the Oscar — along with another honorary Oscar that Pickford received in 1975 — came into possession of the statuettes through the estate of their aunt, the second wife of actor Charles "Buddy" Rogers, who was Pickford's husband when she died in 1979.
The academy sued, arguing that because Pickford signed the agreement after receiving the honorary Oscar, and because she remained a member of the academy until her death, the 1930 Oscar fell under the rule retroactively.
In court papers, an attorney for the heirs said that under the guise of protecting the Oscar statuette, the academy uses "threats and heavy-handed litigation to bully the heirs of academy members" and has "strong-armed" heirs of Oscar winners.
The heirs were obligated to fulfill the terms of their aunt's will, which directed them to donate the proceeds of the Oscar's sale to charity, the attorney wrote.
A Los Angeles County jury sided with the academy, barring the sale.
In 2014, the academy sued Carol Surtees, daughter-in-law of the late cinematographer Robert Surtees, who won the cinematography award for the black-and-white film "The Bad and the Beautiful" in 1953.
The academy accused her of attempting to sell the statuette on eBay for $40,500. In an interview, Surtees said she mentioned to a friend that she had considered selling the Oscar for retirement funds. The friend then listed the statuette on eBay without her knowledge, she said.
Surtees and the academy reached a settlement in which she kept the Oscar and agreed not to sell it.
The statuette now sits on an end table in her living room, Surtees said.
But the academy won perhaps its strongest weapon to guard against the sale of Oscars last year, when it fought to halt the sale of the 1942 award for color art direction given to Joseph Wright for his work in the film "My Gal Sal."
After his death in 1985, the Oscar was transferred to Wright's nephew, who consigned it to Briarbrook Auctions, a Rhode Island auction house. The statuette was then bought by Nate D. Sanders Inc., a Los Angeles auction house, for $79,200.
The academy sued both Briarbrook and Nate D. Sanders Inc., alleging that the auction house intended to sell the Oscar for a higher price in Los Angeles.
The academy argued that because Wright remained an academy member until his death, his Oscar fell under the 1951 rule. The rules apply even after a statuette is inherited or otherwise given to someone else, the academy's lawyers said.
A judge agreed.
"Now we have the law on our side," Quinn said.
In the lawsuit, the academy's attorneys wrote that Nate Sanders, the owner of the auction house, was well aware of the academy's rules because he was sued years earlier for attempting to sell an Oscar awarded to Judy Garland in 1939, a miniature statuette given for her work as a juvenile actress, including her iconic role of Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz."
The sale of that statuette, the academy wrote, was stopped.
stephen.ceasar@latimes.com
Twitter: @sjceasar
Oscars 2016: Who will win the acting categories? Count on Leo. In the other three ...
'Revenant' vs. 'Spotlight' vs. 'Big Short': Best picture front-runners sharpen their Oscar pitches
Why the Oscars keep disqualifying Alejandro Iñárritu's movies from its original score competition
Stephen Ceasar
Stephen Ceasar previously covered California's civil courts for the Los Angeles Times.
Richard Madden's fans are none too pleased about his Emmys snub
Actor Richard Madden was shut out of Emmy nominations on Tuesday, but his show "Bodyguard" was honored. Cue the Twitter backlash and memes.
The 2019 Outfest film festival casts a spotlight on L.A.'s queer scene past and present
Outfest returns this year with centerpiece screenings focused on the LGBTQ experience in L.A.
Kumail Nanjiani and other celebs send Trump a message: 'We won't go back'
Trump's inflammatory tweets that congresswomen should go back to their countries fired up actors Kumail Nanjiani, Padma Lakshmi and George Takei.
Baz Luhrmann finds his Elvis Presley: Austin Butler nabs coveted role
Harry Styles, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller and Aaron Taylor-Johnson also reportedly auditioned for the role in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming biopic.
Scarlett Johansson gets dragged into the casting mud yet again
Actress Scarlett Johansson, who's had her share of casting controversies, is defending her right to play diverse roles.
'Spider-Man' lands on top again at the box office, 'Toy Story 4' comes in second
Sony's "Spider-Man: Far From Home" continued to dominate the box office in its second weekend of release, adding $45.3 million (a hair above analyst predictions of $35 million to $45 million and a small 51% drop over last week) for a cumulative $274.5 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.


text:
Q: Bug overwriting resized images in Cloud Storage from Cloud Functions Current Situation
I'm storing profile-pictures in my cloud storage. Everytime one gets added/updated I'd like to produce a resized thumb of it.
So in my cloud functions I added this trigger:
import { Storage } from '@google-cloud/storage';
import * as functions from 'firebase-functions';
import * as fs from 'fs-extra';
import { tmpdir } from 'os';
import { dirname, join } from 'path';
import * as sharp from 'sharp';

const gcs = new Storage();

//Thumb will not override previous thumb.

export const generateThumbs = functions.region('europe-west1')
  .storage
  .object()
  .onFinalize(async object => {
    const bucket = gcs.bucket(object.bucket);

    const filePath = object.name;
    if (filePath) {
      const fileName = filePath.split('/').pop();
      if (fileName) {
        const bucketDir = dirname(filePath);

        const workingDir = join(tmpdir(), 'thumbs', Date.now().toString());
        const tmpFilePath = join(workingDir, fileName);

        if (fileName.includes('thumb@') || (object.contentType && !object.contentType.includes('image'))) {
          console.log('exiting function: ' + fileName);
          return false;
        }
        await fs.ensureDir(workingDir);

        await bucket.file(filePath).download({
          destination: tmpFilePath
        });

        const sizes = [256];

        const uploadPromises = sizes.map(async size => {
          const thumbName = `thumb@${size}_${fileName}`;
          const thumbPath = join(workingDir, thumbName);

          await sharp(tmpFilePath)
            .resize(size, size)
            .toFile(thumbPath);

          return bucket.upload(thumbPath, {
            destination: join(bucketDir, thumbName)
          });
        });

        await Promise.all(uploadPromises);

        return fs.remove(workingDir).then(() => {
          return fs.remove(bucketDir);
        })
      }
    }
    return null;
  });

Each user only has 1 profile picture and I don't need to keep the previous profile pictures, so for example, the user id = 25, I upload his image with filename '25.jpeg', the thumb-image 'thumb_256_25.jpeg' gets created correctly.
Problem
Now the user changes image, I overwrite the previous '25.jpeg' with a new image (this works as expected), and my cloud function trigger runs. It does upload a new thumb-image on 'thumb_256_25.jpeg'. Very few times the newly uploaded thumb is an actual thumb image of the newly uploaded 25.jpeg image. More often it's either sill the previous one which got re-uploaded, or it's an even older one.

A: Debugging is really hard, but I found that the only viable, working solution was to give the workingDir a unique Folder-name like this:
const workingDir = join(tmpdir(), 'thumbs', Date.now().toString());
I've tried several things with fs.remove and fs.unlink, but none of these worked. For me the problem is that the workingDir and therefore the thumbPath and even the tmpFilePath file isn't correctly removed after the function runs. Therefore, on the next run, either sharp is resizing an old image present in tmpFilePath or it's resizing the new downloaded one, but uploading an old one. Though it's weird 'cause I remove that folder at the end of the function.
If anyone has an explanation or another solution, be so kind to share it.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
News | General
Philanthropists Need to Save Advocacy
Thursday, 28th May 2015 at 9:35 am
Lina Caneva
It's important that grantmakers respond to the Inquiry into the Register of Environmental Organisations to save advocacy rights in Australia, writes Esther Abram, from the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network
It's important that grantmakers respond to the Inquiry into the Register of Environmental Organisations to save advocacy rights in Australia, writes Esther Abram, from the Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network.
Did you know that philanthropists played an important role in steering the Charities Act 2013 through the Federal Parliament? The passage of the Charities Act was incredibly significant for so many reasons, not least of all the fact that it moved us on f om the definition of charity as enacted by the Statute of Elizabeth in 1601.
The new statutory definition of charity was also a huge advance in certainty around the issue of advocacy (which includes research, developing policy solutions, community development and education, communications and marketing and working to influence Government and business decisions) for funders and charitable organisations alike. But fast forward two years and there is fear that we are about to take a step backwards. The Federal Parliament's House of Representatives Environment Committee has announced a new Inquiry looking into the Register of Environmental Organisations.
There are some worrying signs the Inquiry is aimed at restricting the types of environmental groups that can get deductible gift recipient status (DGR) and the activities organisations on the register can undertake. It appears to be implicit in the terms of reference for the Inquiry that 'on-ground environmental works' should be the main activity that DGR environmental organisations can conduct.
However, the AEGN believes that there are many different approaches which philanthropy and the charities it supports needs to adopt in order to protect and enhance our natural environment. 'On-ground environmental works' are certainly important. However the provision of information or education, carrying out research, and undertaking advocacy are equally important and depending on the environmental problem seeking to be addressed, they may be a more suitable practical approach to adopt than focusing on 'on-ground environmental works'.
With public comments suggesting a large number of groups could lose their DGR status, based on their activities beyond 'on-ground work', environmental organisations are understandably nervous. But the impacts of this go far wider than the organisations on the Register.
Funders too will be impacted by any changes and the prospect that grantmakers could have their choices further limited are not welcome. The Register includes fewer than 600 environmental organisations and there are thousands of groups without DGR, many of them doing useful environmental work, that can't be funded directly by PAFs or PuAFs. Nor is the idea of more red tape attractive to grantmakers. Most importantly, organisations that conduct activities beyond 'on-ground environmental works', including those that use advocacy activities are often the most effective groups to fund to achieve environmental protection.
Losing these organisations from the Register would significantly diminish the ability of philanthropic funds to effectively protect and enhance Australia's natural environment.
It is very important that grantmakers respond to the Inquiry and defend the ground gained by the Charities Act 2013. This legislation gives charities (and philanthropy) confidence to use (or fund) advocacy to further their objectives, by incorporating the 2010 High Court of Australia decision on Aid/Watch v Commissioner of Taxation.
The High Court ended years of debate when it found that activities that aim to change government laws and policies are charitable. This is because our democratic system relies upon freedom of communication between Government and the community.
The Charities Act makes it clear that charities can engage in a wide range of advocacy activities to further their charitable purpose. It also clarifies the fraught area of advocacy during election campaigns. Charities are not allowed to have a purpose of "promoting or opposing a political party or a candidate for political office", but they are allowed to distribute information or advance debate about the policies of candidates or political parties.
Members of the philanthropic community are well aware that Australia has a complicated tax framework for deductibility. That's why philanthropy needs to respond to the Inquiry and prevent it being further complicated by changes to the environmental register.
The Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network and Philanthropy Australia both made submissions to the Inquiry, due on May 21. For more information please contact esther@aegn.org.au or Krystian Seibert at kseibert@philanthropy.org.au
This article was first published on Philanthropy Australia's 'Our Voices' blog.
Lina Caneva | Editor | @ProBonoNews
Lina Caneva has been a journalist for more than 35 years. She was the editor of Pro Bono Australia News from when it was founded in 2000 until 2018.
Tags : Opinion Opinion article,
Coalition and Labor Moving On Worker Exploitation, But Potential Loopholes Remain
Tess Hardy
Monday, 23rd May 2016 at 11:29 am
Saving the ACNC
Tuesday, 26th May 2015 at 11:21 am
Making a Noticeable Contribution to Foreign Aid?
Thursday, 2nd October 2014 at 10:45 am


text:
Case study on economic return on investments for safety and emergency lighting in road tunnels
While planning a double-hole road tunnel with a length higher than one km, it is important to pay attention to the safety factor if an accident occurs. If there is a power outage, in order to avoid critical situations that could jeopardize the safety of the people present (facilitating the stream coming out from the tunnel and the arrival of the emergency personnel), it is really important to guarantee uninterrupted lighting of roadways, mandatory emergency lay-bys, and ways of escape. Uninterrupted service of the lighting systems supply must be guaranteed, in accordance with the current regulations, through the exertion of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and power units. During tunnel construction, such devices represent a cost that must be amortized. In this case study, which takes into consideration a section of a road tunnel characterized by emergency lay-bys and ways of escape, emergency and security lighting were planned and installation and management costs were evaluated. The goal of this research was the creation of a cash flow thanks to the energy generated by photovoltaic panels, in a way that the service life of the system (25 years) coincided with the amortization of the costs of the backup electrical equipment installation (complying with the regulations). The possibility of over-dimensioning the UPS and providing it with a proper photovoltaic panel surface (235 kW<inf>p</inf>) to generate and exchange electric energy with the grid was taken into consideration.
Salata, F., Golasi, I., Bombelli, E., de Lieto Vollaro, E., Nardecchia, F., Pagliaro, F., et al. (2015). Case study on economic return on investments for safety and emergency lighting in road tunnels. SUSTAINABILITY, 7(8), 9809-9822 [10.3390/su7089809].
Titolo: Case study on economic return on investments for safety and emergency lighting in road tunnels
Salata, Ferdinando
Golasi, Iacopo
Bombelli, Emiliano
DE LIETO VOLLARO, EMANUELE
Nardecchia, Fabio
Pagliaro, Francesca
Gugliermetti, Franco
de Lieto Vollaro, Andrea
Citazione: Salata, F., Golasi, I., Bombelli, E., de Lieto Vollaro, E., Nardecchia, F., Pagliaro, F., et al. (2015). Case study on economic return on investments for safety and emergency lighting in road tunnels. SUSTAINABILITY, 7(8), 9809-9822 [10.3390/su7089809].


Well, this months' topic proved to me that I really need to work on reading more books by black authors. I have a few, but a lot of the hyped books are still on my TBR and have been on my TBR for way too long – I'm thinking about Angie Thomas, Nic Stone, Tomi Adeyemi, Justina Ireland, Dhonielle Clayton and more. Looking forward to all the recs this month!
That said, I do love and adore my own pick of the month and highly recommend it. Not only is it a fun contemporary by a black author, it also features a gorgeous black heroine (on the cover!) and has amazing biromantic ace rep. BIROMANTIC ACE REP! Let's Talk About Love is definitely an underrated gem.
What's your favorite book by a black author?
I haven't even heard of this one, but the model on the cover is absolutely gorgeous! Looks interesting.
Ooo, I haven't heard of this one before, but it sounds really sweet! Great pick!


text:
Frank Smoll was interviewed for a TIME magazine article about goal setting.
How to Set Goals You'll Actually Achieve
BY AMANDA LOUDIN JANUARY 4, 2021 8:55 AM EST
Whether you want to run a marathon, eat more healthfully or just get off the couch a little more, "for the majority of people, setting a goal is one of the most useful behavior change mechanisms for enhancing performance," says Frank Smoll, professor of psychology at the University of Washington. "It's highly individual," he says—there's no one way to achieve a goal. But these goal-setting strategies will help you stay the course.
Pick a specific, realistic goal
People often start setting goals with a little too much gusto, trying to overhaul many aspects of their life at once. But that can quickly become overwhelming and backfire. "It's better to have a systematic approach and identify the one or two that are the most important," Smoll says.


I went for treatment following surgery for a torn meniscus in my right knee. Dan was my Therapist. I was experiencing a lot of soreness, swelling and stiffness in the knee as well as limited range of motion. After 3 months of therapy he helped me strengthen the muscles around my knee and also bring back full range of motion. He was able to find the source of the pain and treat that. The entire staff was nothing but friendly and professional. Thank-you S.D.
Received treatment for my ACL Reconstruction from Tar and Dan. They did a great job. My knee feels great and I feel it getting stronger. Both Tara and Dan are very knowledgeable and push me every session. A.S.
I came to Panetta after surgery and in a lot of pain. Joe and the staff helped relieve my pain and care for my injury in a professional and caring manner I am unable to move my left arm and shoulder. After time my pain lessened and the therapy helped heal my shoulder. I feel the time at Panetta was what I hoped for in my recovery. I have almost full use of m surgically repaired should and am looking forward to getting back to my activities that I was unable to do before surgery. I want to thank Joe for giving me back my physical ability I need to do the things I want to do. D.S.
The treatment for my knee was successful, although painful at times. Joe kept pushing the limits on my range which led to a great range of motion. I now walk without any limping, or pain. I am very pleased with the treatment I received and would recommend Joe and Panetta for anyone who has had a knee replacement. J.P.K.
I came here, post-surgery on my right knee, barely able to bend it or put weight on it to walk. Through Physical Therapy I am able to do everything I was able to do prior to the knee pain. I am able to resume riding my bike and am planning on running a 5K race. I am thrilled that I can resume playing with my son like a normal father. It is in no small part due to the great work by the staff at Panetta Physical Therapy that I can get my knee back to a normal state. C.A.
In the past year and a half, I have been treated for rehabilitation on my right shoulder ( total shoulder replacement) and my right hip revision. My therapist Phil Caruso, has done a fantastic job in getting me back to normal activities. I am truly grateful. G.C.
Thippt-Snap! That was the sound I heard when I broke four bones in my ankle and lower leg. Waiting for the ambulance I remember thinking, oh great now I'm going to need a cast for six weeks. If only life were so simple. The next day I woke up from a morphine induced haze in a hospital room face to face with a man I never met before-or so I thought. He explained to me that he was my surgeon and that my surgery went well. But he added ( you never want to hear a doctor say but) I had a long road ahead of me in terms of recovery. Modern medicine in tis ever improving march to relieve my misery had given me the tools to walk normal again, but now it would be up to me and my physical therapist to put it to work.
I had previously gone to Panetta PhysicalTherapy before and was impressed by the knowledge and caring of their employees. For close to four months now Phil Caruso and others have labored to assist my recovery. I went to from a walker to crutches to a cane to a pronounced limp to barely a noticeable limp. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now and I am truly thankful for the people at Panetta Physical therapy for giving me the things is most important in life – QUALITY OF LIFE. F.S.
..is an extremely inadequate comment for the fabulous change Panetta has brought in my life. When I arrived in great pain and despairing of improvement I did not know what to expect. Your very talented and professional staff have changed my quality of life. Their treatment and skilled ministrations, caring warmth and cheerful demeanor have brought me to a happy recovery. Special mention to my skilled therapist, Nicole Banks. Her earnest and highly professional treatments, limitless patience and caring understanding have changed the quality of my life. Thanks also to Diana for always cheerfully arranging my comfort. D.S.


text:
Fact Mandu
Jacqui Lambie
Quick Facts of Jacquiline Lambie
Celebrated Name
Jacquiline Louise Lambie
Former Australian Senator
Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia
Devonport High School
John Milverton
Bobby Lambie
Who is Jacqui Lambie?
Jacqui Lambie is an Australian politician who is the leader and founder of the party Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) and retired military. She served as a Senator for Tasmania from 2014 to 2017
What is Jacqui Lambie Best Known for?
She is best known for her leadership in the political party Jacqui Lambie Network.
How was Jacqui Lambie's Early Life?
Lambie was born as Jacqueline Louise Lambie on 26 February 1971 in Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia. Her parents separated when she was 13, and she was raised in a public housing estate in Devonport, attending Devonport High School until she left at Year 11. Her nationality is Australian and she is a Catholic. Her zodiac is Pisces. She took a year off before deciding to apply to join the army but fell pregnant with her first child shortly before her enlistment.
How is Jacqui Lambie's Career?
Initially, Lambie served as a military for the Australian Army where she served for over ten years starting in 1989, first in the transport corps, and subsequently as a military policewoman. She held the rank of Corporal. During a field exercise in July 1997, Lambie suffered injuries that resulted in severe back pain and was retired in 2000. Lambie's political involvement began in 2008 when she began working for Tasmanian Labor senator Nick Sherry Jacqui Lambie served as Deputy Leader of the Palmer United Party in the Senate from 1st of July, 2014 to 19th November 2014 and as a Leader of the Palmer United Party in Tasmania from 25th August, 2013 to 13th March, 2014.
She was succeeded by Kevin Morgan. She worked as Senator for Tasmania from 1st July 2014 to 14th November 2017. She was succeeded by Steve Martin. She is a part of Jacqui Lambie Network and she has joined the political party Jacqui Lambie Network. She was elected to the Senate in the 2019 Australian federal election.
what are Jacqui Lambie's Achievements?
She held the rank of Corporal while she served as a military policewoman for Australia Army. In April 2015, Lambie applied to register a political party called the Jacqui Lambie Network. She is the two time Senate for Australian Federal Election in 2013 and 2016. She was elected to the Senate in the 2019 Australian federal election. She is an advocate for veterans with the Returned and Services League of Australia and is involved in fundraising with the Burnie Chamber of Commerce, the Country Women's Association and Rotary.
How is Jacqui Lambie's Personal Life?
Jacqui Lambie is single at this time but she was married in the past. She was dating her high school boyfriend when she was enlisted in the Army. She gave birth to her first son and named him as Bretyn. She was only 18 years old at that time. She then started dating John Millerton and married him. Her husband John Milverton and she had a de facto marriage. Sadly this relationship also did not work out. She gave birth to her second son with John and she named her son as Dylan.
She also adopted another child Brentyn when she was with John Millerton. She likes to spend time with her sons and she is a very responsible mother. She is a foodie and she has posted pictures of her enjoying food in her Instagram account. She is a traveler and enjoys a new location as well.
How Tall is Jacqui Lambie?
Her height is not known yet. she weighs around 62 kilos. She has brown eyes and hair.
What is Jacqui Lambie's Net Worth?
Her net worth is still not disclosed. she used to receive $199,040 as her salary as Senator.
How popular is Jacqui Lambie in Social Medias?
She has 42.8k followers on twitter, 16.3k on Instagram and 269k on Facebook.
On 14 November 2017, Lambie announced her resignation from the Senate, after revealing she held dual British-Australian citizenship She has also authored a book called Reber with a Cause: You Can't Keep a Bloody Lambie Down- My Story from Soldier to Senator and Beyond. The Parliamentary Library of Australia includes Lambie on its list of Indigenous parliamentarians.
Canadian actor
Canadian Dancer
American model
Yolanda Hadid
American political consultant
British Ex-Army
Jon McEwan
Anna Seavey


text:
Rahul Rawail is an Indian film director and editor in Bollywood known for his films like Love Story (1981), Betaab (1983), Arjun (1985), Dacait (1987), Anjaam (1994), Arjun Pandit (1999) and the recent one Jo Bole So Nihaal (2005). He was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Director twice. He is son of renowned film director H. S. Rawail. Rawail has launched a few of the Bollywood actors through his films like Kumar Gaurav and Vijayeta Pandit in Love Story, Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh in Betaab, Kajol in Bekhudi (1992), and Aishwarya Rai in Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997).

In his book "Raj Kapoor The Master at Work", he goes down memory lane to document his revered 'front row seat' as an assistant director to him, the immortal master of Indian cinema. The book is as told to Pranika Sharma. In English the book is published by Bloomsbury and in Hindi by Prabhat Prakashan.

Career and personal life
Rahul Rawail is son of film director Harnam Singh Rawail (often credited as H. S. Rawail) who is known for his films Mere Mehboob (1963), Sunghursh (1968), Mehboob Ki Mehndi (1971) and Laila Majnu (1976). Rawail paid tribute to his father's 1968 film Sunghursh by titling one of his films as Jeevan Ek Sanghursh (1990). Rahul's son Bharat Rawail is an upcoming director, who had assisted Yash Chopra for the film Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012).

Rawail began his career as assistant to Raj Kapoor  and debuted as director with 1980 Bollywood film Gunehgaar starring Parveen Babi, Rishi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, and Asha Parekh. His first two films were not successful but his third film  Love Story (1981) starring débutante Kumar Gaurav and Vijeta Pandit was a turning point for his career. The film was a musical love story and was a commercial success. Since then, Rawail has directed seventeen films and two television series. He has often collaborated with actor Sunny Deol who worked with Rawail on six of his films, including his debut film Betaab (1983) with Amrita Singh. The film was appreciated for Rawail's "breezy treatment" of the débutantes. Rawail launched two successful actresses of Bollywood, Kajol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, through his films Bekhudi (1992) and Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) respectively. Both the films did not do well commercially. He was nominated for Filmfare Best Director awards for the films Betaab (1983) and Arjun (1985).

In 2010, Rawail started an acting school in collaboration with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, New York City. In spite of famous Bollywood personalities like Sunny Deol enrolling their children to the academy, it was shut down after 2 years in 2012.
Rawail released his book "Master at Work" a biographical work written on his mentor Raj Kapoor at the 52nd International Film Festival of India in Goa 2021. He has been appointed as Jury at the Moscow International Film Festival 2023

Filmography

References

External links

1951 births
Indian male screenwriters
Punjabi people
People from Bandra
Living people
Hindi-language film directors
20th-century Indian film directors
21st-century Indian film directors
Film directors from Mumbai

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


"The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Hence by that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one. For the good of the spouses and their off-springs as well as of society, the existence of the sacred bond no longer depends on human decisions alone. For, God Himself is the author of matrimony, endowed as it is with various benefits and purposes. All of these have a very decisive bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal development and eternal destiny of the individual members of a family, and on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family itself and of human society as a whole. By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown. Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:ff), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them.
Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His union with His Church. For as God of old made Himself present to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the Spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.
We have now taken a look at six of the seven sacraments over the past year and a half. In the new year we will be examining the final one, the Sacrament of Holy Orders.
Sunday: 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m, 11:00 a.m.
Monday - Friday: 6:30 a.m.


text:
What is PageRank?
PageRank is a mathematical algorithm that was created to evaluate the quality and quantity of links that a webpage has pointing to it. This evaluation helps determine a relative score of the page's importance and authority on a scale of 0–10.
Each link from one page to another increases the page's score. However, the weight of the score that a page receives depends on the scores of the pages that are linking to it.
And those pages' scores depend on the scores of the pages that are linking to them, and so on.
If a page had a score of nine, and it links out to three pages, the theory is that each page would get one-third of its value. Meaning, they would each receive a score of 3 out of 10 from that single link.
This scoring becomes a lot more complicated when you consider that the number of links each page has can change all the time, and this change impacts every other page down the line. There can also be an issue with valuing pages that have gained more than ten points.
For example, consider this scenario:
Page A has a single link pointed to it, but that link is from a page with a score of 10, and it's the only one that the original page has linked to.
Which means page A's score is 10 out of 10.
Page B has one hundred links pointed to it, all from pages with a score of 8, and they've all only linked out to two pages.
Which means page B's score is also 10 out of 10 (100 x 8/2 = 40, and the max score is 10).
Should these two pages really have the same authority? Of course not. Which is why the formula is much more complex than it may first appear.
In reality, Google has to use a lot of complicated math to translate all the possible scores into a simplified 0 to 10 rating scale.
PageRank history
PageRank (PR) is a calculation that was invented by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Initially, these scores were made public through the Google Toolbar, and they based them on the formula above.
However, on April 15, 2016, Google officially shut down the Toolbar PageRank Data to the public. Which means that the ranking formula is now confidential.
PageRank uses
PageRank is meant to help Google return search results that are relevant, accurate, and trustworthy.
If a page has a lot of credible sites linking to it, then it's more likely to be a reputable page, containing valuable information.
Which means that sites with a high PageRank are more likely to be shown on page one of Google. But, of course, this is not the only factor in rankings.
PageRank misunderstandings
A high PageRank doesn't guarantee top rankings in Google, because PageRank is only one factor in the algorithm.
It's also important to understand that the value of the page linking to you is crucial. Just having more links is not enough. When it comes to links and PageRank, the key is quality over quantity.
In fact, poor quality or spammy links can kill your search engine rankings as Google will penalize them. Fear of potential penalties has caused lots of site owners to not only stop link building but start link pruning instead.
The best scenario would be to gain links from pages with a PageRank score of 10 out of 10. However, there are only a handful of domains with this score.
These include USA.gov and Twitter.com. One reason for this is that they have the highest volume of inbound links of any sites on the web.


text:
indbooks
Read book online
Prev. Contents Next
Journal #605
The one thing that consistently allowed my employer to triumph over his adversaries was their utter inability to escape their preconceived notions. In business, this ability to "think out of the box" was at least given lip service, although a true innovator often met more obstacles than rewards. But in the Space Legion, especially among the officer corps, any notion that hadn't been held by generations upon generations of legionnaires was suspect. So the reaction of a typical Legion officer to one of my employer's schemes was completely predictable.
I am informed that within military circles this inflexibility is considered an asset. Perhaps it is just as well that I was never tempted to follow that career myself. It was all I could stomach to watch the operation of the military mind at a safe and comfortable distance…preferably several kilometers away.
"Major, we have a mutiny on our hands," said Lieutenant Snipe, bursting into the command center.
"Mutiny?" Botchup snarled. "These damned incompetents couldn't organize a barroom brawl, let alone a mutiny." Then he frowned. "What are you doing away from your post?"
"The supply sergeant sent out a message, and he wouldn't let me look at it first!"
"Huh, I just got that damned message," said the major. He handed Snipe a printout. "What the hell do you make of this?"
Snipe squinted at the printout for a moment, then said, "I don't understand. This says that all full members of the Church of the New Revelation are to report to the supply shed at once, orders of Captain Jester. What in the world does he want with them in the middle of an attack?"
"Uh, that'll be me," said the legionnaire behind the console.
"You'll stay right where you are," Major Botchup grunted. He turned to Snipe and said, "I want to know what he's doing sending the supply sergeant to transmit the message when he ought to be bringing it here in person. Maybe you're right. We just might be looking at a conspiracy, Snipe."
Snipe rubbed his jaw, thinking fiercely. "That makes sense, Major, he might be trying to open a door to the very invaders we're digging in to repel. What other motive could he have for pulling essential personnel out of our defensive lines?"
"Exactly," said Botchup. "It looks as if our friend Jester is about to sell us out to the very enemy he was sent here to suppress. I'm not surprised that he's doing it, but it is a bit of a shock that he'd be fool enough to put it on record. This'll be all the grounds we need to expel him from the Legion-and clap him into prison for a good long term, as well."
"It'll serve him right!" agreed Snipe. "In fact, I wish they'd…What's that?"
"It's the distant motion detector alarm, sir," said the legionnaire at the command console. "Something really big seems to be approaching the perimeter."
"Seems to be?" said Botchup. "Seems to be? Is it approaching, or isn't it?"
"I dunno, sir," said the legionnaire, pouting. "Whyn't you take a look if you think you can tell any more than I can?"
"I'll do just that," snarled Botchup, and he elbowed the legionnaire out of the seat and slid in. The legionnaire said nothing but began sidling toward the exit.
Botchup fiddled with a control, muttered something foul-sounding under his breath, switched to a different control, hit a couple of buttons, cursed under his breath, fiddled some more, and then fell silent. Gradually his mouth began to fall open, and his hands began trembling. After a long silence, he gave a low whistle and said, "Great Ghu, how can anything that big not show up on visual?"
"I don't know," said Snipe. "But it sure is moving fast-"
"Told you so," said the legionnaire, smirking, just before he dodged out the door. But Major Botchup sat staring at the console, not even noticing the young man's departure. That was when Snipe really began to worry.
"What's the story, C. H.?" Rev looked at the supply sergeant, then at the group of legionnaires, all with variations on the same face, the sideburned, full-upped face with the Grecian nose that he himself wore. By his quick calculation, every member of the Church of the New Revelation-the Church of the King, as it was also known-was here by the supply shed in response to the cryptic message calling them all together at this tense moment.
"I'm just the dude carryin' the message, Rev," said Chocolate Harry. "The cap'n's the only one knows the whole story, and he said he'd be here to fill y'all in as soon as he got one other bit of work taken care of. So be cool, and I reckon he'll be along when whatever's happenin' is ready to happen."
"I can wait, sure 'nuff," said Rev. "Only thing that worries me is, I don't see where the major's signed off on whatever we're doing. That could get mighty touchy if the major decides we're away from our posts in the middle of an emergency-"
"Let me worry about that," said a familiar voice.
"Cap'n!" said Chocolate Harry. "Glad you're here. Looks like we got everybody you asked for-"
"That's right," said Rev. "Every single one of my flock is here, waitin' t' hear what you've got in mind."
"Good work, both of you," said Phule. "Now, here's what I want all of you to do…"
"What are we going to do, sir?" Snipe peered over Major Botchup's shoulder at the command center's combat situation screen. "What are we going to do?" The screen showed a large, amorphous blip sitting in the desert immediately outside the camp. But reports from the lookouts on that section of the perimeter reported nothing unusual.
"I still can't believe that none of those idiots can see anything out there," muttered Botchup. "Instruments don't lie, damn it." The major sat, staring at the screen and rubbing his chin a moment, then turned and looked at his adjutant. "Snipe," he said.
"Yes, sir?" said the adjutant. Then he saw Botchup's expression and said, "No, sir! You can't be thinking-"
"Don't you let me down, too, Snipe," said Botchup, a growl in his voice. "There's something fishy going on here, and I don't dare take any chances. Either these moronic Omega Company clowns are even more grossly incompetent than they've been up to now, or Jester's talked them into deliberately refusing to report a hostile incursion. I need somebody out there, Snipe, and you're the only one I've got."
"Sir," said Snipe resignedly. "What do you want me to do.
Botchup put a hand on Snipe's shoulder. "Get out to the perimeter in Blue Sector," he rumbled. "That's where the trouble seems to be-and tell me what's going on. And be ready for anything, Snipe, anything. When in doubt, assume the worst. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, sir," said Snipe, his face a mask of discontent. He patted his hip, where a side arm rested in its holster. "I'll be ready, sir." He came to attention and saluted smartly, then turned and headed for the door. It would have been a very smart exit had he not misjudged his step and tripped over a heavy power cable on the floor. He landed flat on his face and lay there a second, then pulled himself up, saluted again, and headed for the door.
He almost made it this time, except for colliding with a legionnaire coming in as he went out. The legionnaire managed to get an arm around Snipe and prevent him from falling again. "Sorry, Lieutenant," she said. "Ah'll be mo' careful next time."
Snipe stared at her-an oval face with thick dark hair in a high pompadour, with locks combed into sideburns. Her thick lips had an expression somewhere between a sneer and a pout. "Didn't you just leave?" he said. He stared at her name tag, which read "Tupelo."
"No, suh, ah'm just at the start of mah shift," said Tupelo. "That must've been Private Sandbag."
"Oh, yes, I guess you're right," said Snipe. "Well, sir, I'm off." He turned abruptly and made a dash for the door, and this time he managed to find the way out.
It took Lieutenant Snipe a moment to get his bearings in the dark; too late, he remembered that he had a pair of night vision goggles back in the Comm Center. But the major was in a hurry for answers; no time to get the goggles now. His eyes would just have to adjust.
Now, which way was Blue Sector? Snipe remembered that the incursion had reportedly begun somewhere near the supply depot, which was to the…to the left of the exit he'd taken from the MBC? Yes, that must be right. He'd looked at the screen before leaving the command center but wasn't sure just how it was oriented in relation to his present position. Well, the encampment wasn't that large. He'd find it soon enough.
He jumped as a voice behind him said, "Excuse me, sir, can I help you?"
He turned to see a legionnaire with a dark pompadour, sideburns, and night vision goggles hanging around the neck. "Aren't you supposed to be on duty in the command center?" he asked.
The legionnaire grinned. "No, I wish I was. Working there's got to be a lot more fun than running around in these stupid drills."
From the voice, Snipe realized that this one was a male. Obviously not the same as the one he'd just seen…except the face was uncannily close. Snipe shivered, then said, "I need to inspect the perimeter in Blue Sector. And don't assume it's a drill, either. This is a war zone, you know."
"Uh-yeah," said the legionnaire, whose nameplate Snipe couldn't make out in the dark. "Blue is over that way, sir"-he gestured to the left just past the supply depot, if you know where that is. I'd take you there, but I've got to get to my post."
"That's good enough," said Snipe, and he set off in the direction indicated. His eyes were beginning to adjust to the dark. Above him, the desert sky was full of brilliant stars in unfamiliar constellations-not quite enough light to see by, but perhaps enough to help him avoid crashing into objects the size of a hoverjeep. He made his way gingerly, wondering just what he was supposed to be looking for.
After a short distance, he made out a vague shape ahead of him: the supply depot, he assumed. He moved purposefully toward it, but barely had he covered half the distance when a hulking figure loomed in front of him and said softly, "Who goes there?"
Snipe drew back a pace, noting even in the dark that his challenger was aiming a large weapon toward him. "Point that thing the other way," he said. "It's Lieutenant Snipe, on orders from the major."
"Oh, sorry, sir," said the legionnaire. A small red light appeared in his hand, briefly illuminating Snipe's face-and his own. Snipe got a momentary glimpse of a dark pompadour, long sideburns…
"I thought you had to go the other way," said Snipe, beginning to wonder if this legionnaire was following him for some reason.
"No, sir, this is my post," said the legionnaire, just loud enough to be heard. Then he drew closer and whispered, "Say, if you don't mind telling me, sir, are we going to see action tonight? Seems awful long for a drill."
"I'm damned if I know what's going on anymore," said Snipe. "That's why I'm out here. Have you seen any sign of action?"
"No, sir," said the legionnaire. "Quiet as a mouse, right here. You're the first person I've seen."
"I see," said Snipe. "Wait a minute. I hear something over there!" He pointed toward the dark shadow he assumed was the supply depot.
Before they could react, a group of dark figures dashed up to them. Snipe felt what had to be the muzzle of a weapon pressed against his midsection. "What are you doing here?" growled a low voice.
"L-l-lieutenant Snipe," he managed to stammer. "M-major's orders."
"Snipe? Not bloody likely," said one of the newcomers. "He's probably sitting in his soft bunk while the real legionnaires run the show. Give me a light, here."
Again a soft red light gleamed, and in its brief flare Snipe saw the legionnaires around him. After the first instant of shocked recognition, he gave a terrified shriek and fainted dead away.
Major Botchup paced, stopping occasionally to look at the Command Center console over the shoulder of the legionnaire on duty. What was taking Snipe so long? The approaching…entity that showed, now larger than the Legion camp itself, on the Command Center's screens, surely must be visible from the defensive perimeter. Even Snipe must be able to see it.
He'd tried paging the lieutenant on the communicator, but the interference that had plagued communications ever since he'd arrived on this planet had suddenly increased again. He suspected sabotage. It had to be sabotage. Not even Omega Company could rise to this level of incompetence. The camp was in a state of siege, the enemy was gathering its strength for a final assault, and now the enemies were boring from within.
"Try him again," he snapped.
Obediently, the legionnaire at the console went through the routine of trying to hail Botchup's adjutant, but the speakers kept up an unrelenting rumble and rattle of white noise. Or was it noise? Botchup could swear there were patterns in it, but the cryptological analysis devices in the company's arsenal could detect no meaning in them. Either the code was subtler than anyone expected, or…He didn't want to think about what the alternatives might be.
Suddenly the door to the outside burst open. He turned to glare at the intruder. But his heart sank when he saw Captain Jester come through the door along with Lieutenant Armstrong. Supported between them was the limp, pale form of Lieutenant Snipe.
"What the hell?" said Botchup, as Jester and Armstrong maneuvered the unconscious Snipe to a seat.
"Stand back, sir, let him have some air," said Armstrong. He stepped over to the water cooler and filled a disposable cup and brought it back to Snipe. "We think he'll be all right, but he's got to get a few moments to breathe."
"Yes, yes, but what the hell happened?"
"He appears to have passed out," said Phule. At least now he was in proper uniform, Botchup noted absently. "He was found on the ground out in Blue Sector. It could have been the heat, or it could have been sheer terror…"
"Terror?" Botchup asked, his brows going upward at least an inch. "Terror? The man's a Legion officer. What in the world could have frightened him?"
"There's something uncanny going on out there," said Phule. "Something's lurking just beyond the perimeter. Look at your readouts! It's there, all right, but nobody can see it. It's the reason the Zenobians called us here."
"I don't believe one word of it," said Botchup, jaw firmly clenched. "Invisible menaces are the stuff of bad holodramas-something to scare babies with. Whatever's out there-"
"He's waking up," said Armstrong, hovering near Lieutenant Snipe. "Here, try to drink some of this water," he urged, holding out the cup he'd filled.
"Good, maybe now we can get some sense out of him," said Botchup. He walked over to Snipe and barked, "Wake up, man! What did you see out there?"
"Dark," muttered Snipe, his eyelids half-open. "Dark. That face…looking at me…"
"Face?" said Botchup. "What's he talking about?"
"I haven't the foggiest idea," said Phule. "Or perhaps…No, that can't be. It's just a native superstition."
"What native superstition?" growled Botchup. "Out with it, man! There may be lives at stake."
"Captain Clown!" The door burst open again, and a diminutive lizardlike creature came scrambling in, dressed in what was obviously a uniform. It stopped when it noticed the major and made a complex gesture-a salute, apparently. "Major Snafu! It is my onerous duty to report to you!"
"Who the hell is this?" said Botchup.
"It's our native liaison, Flight Leftenant Qual of the Zenobian military," said Phule. "He'll know what's going on, if anyone does. What's happening, Qual? Our instruments show something out there, but nobody can see anything."
"Ah-hhh," the Zenobian hissed. "It is as I feared, Captain Clown. The Hidden Ones come, and we shall be powerless against them."
"Powerless?" Major Botchup smirked. "You underestimate us, Flight Leftenant. A Space Legion company is nothing to sneeze at, and even considering the sorry shape they were in when I came on board, I fancy I've got these fellows in pretty decent fighting trim by now."
"With all respectability, it is not so effortless, Major Snafu," said Qual. "The Hidden Ones appear to be where one can strike at them, but when one strikes, the effect is as of nothing. I have seen it. We Zenobians have concentrated the fire of an entire Swamplurkers battalion on them, without consequence except the expenditure of munitions. And when they become agitated, they begin to play tricks on the mind."
"Tricks on the mind?" Botchup scoffed. "Now you're really telling fairy tales. Invisible bogeymen that you can't shoot and that play tricks on the mind when you annoy 'em-go tell it to the Regular Army!"
"It is quite true," insisted Qual. "They cause the victim to become unable to distinguish between persons. It is as if everyone in the world were hatched from the same egg."
Botchup laughed, a harsh braying laugh that conveyed no warmth. "Pardon my Vegan, Flight Leftenant, but that's bullshit, plain and simple. If I had a plot of tomatoes to fertilize I might buy some, but until then, I'll pass."
"Hey, it looks as if I've found the party," came a jaunty voice from the doorway. It was Phule, dressed for a night on the town, with a half-full martini glass in one hand.
Major Botchup turned and stared. "You!" he snarled. Then his eyes flicked back to Phule, standing there in Legion uniform, cool and correct as a recruiting poster, and a sudden doubt crossed his face. "Two of you?"
"Excuse me, Major?" said the Phule in uniform, with a carefully neutral expression.
"We could use a few babes to liven things up," said the Phule in the tuxedo. "I know the answer to that. It's ladies' night in the hotel disco. How about we go down there and check out the action?" He whirled and was out the door before anyone could stop him.
Oblivious to the entire episode, Armstrong had been helping Lieutenant Snipe get down a glass of water. Now at last Snipe managed to sit up straight and to look around. "How did I get back inside?" he said. "Thank goodness for the light-and for a friendly face. I was beginning to think-"
"Easy, now," said Armstrong. "Why don't you tell the major what happened?"
"Excuse me, Major, we've got somethin' new on the screen," said the legionnaire sitting at the console. He swung around to look over his shoulder.
In that instant Snipe saw his face. "Oh my God!" he screamed. "He's everywhere! He's everywhere!" His eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell back unconscious yet again.
There were four officers in the command center, now. Major Botchup, Phule, Lieutenant Armstrong, and Flight Leftenant Qual. Snipe was back in his own quarters, under sedation, with a large, sympathetic legionnaire outside the door to make certain nobody disturbed him. Externally, Botchup remained calm; but he kept casting a suspicious eye toward the other three officers, as if expecting them to metamorphose into identical triplets.
"The Hidden Ones are upon us," said Qual mournfully. "It remains to be seen whether we can escape utter madness."
"I know what you mean. Damn it, my adjutant's already close to the edge," said Botchup. "For a while there, I was beginning to think I was seeing things myself."
"Well, sir, it's a good thing that didn't happen," said Armstrong. "We need a sound mind at the helm, if you'll pardon a naval metaphor, sir."
"Yes, I suppose so," said Botchup glumly. He turned to Qual and asked, "The thing is, if these, uh, Hidden Ones, keep up the pressure, how long can we, uh, hold out against them?"
"That alters according to the specific, Major Snafu," said Qual. "They do tend to focus their attention on the leaders. But a strong-headed sophont such as you…There is no reason to believe you could not withstand it for hundreds of hours." He flashed a toothy grimace and waved a foreclaw toward the console, which still showed the mysterious presence beyond the camp's perimeter. "In any case, they are present, and we shall undoubtedly learn the answer."
"Yes, I suppose we will," said Botchup glumly.
"Yes, sir," said Armstrong. "Omega Company is lucky to have a commander who's willing to take these risks for his people."
"Not as if I have much choice," said Botchup. "The only way I have to get off-world is the landing shuttle. That'd get me up to orbit with some power to spare, but there's no way to get me to an inhabited world. I'd starve waiting for another ship to come."
"Oh, it is not so difficult as that," said Qual. "You may not be aware-in this same system your Alliance has a large space station, easily reached in one of your landers. Lorelei, I believe your name is for it. But of course that does not signify, since you intend to stay and fight the Hidden Ones."
Botchup raised his brows. "Lorelei? The resort station? You mean Zenobia is in the same system as Lorelei?"
"Yes, we were very surprised to learn that," said Phule. "Of course, nobody had any notion this world was inhabited. It's not one we'd have settled for ourselves. It wasn't until after the Alliance signed a treaty with the Zenobians that we found out where their home world was located."
"A sensible precaution, with the other party's intentions unknown to us," said Qual. "Of course, now we are allies together, and we trust you to know these things."
"Lorelei," mused Botchup. "You know, poor Snipe might need to be evacuated-"
"That's a very humanitarian thought," said Armstrong. "Of course, he couldn't pilot the lander himself. Somebody would have to go with him. I'd be glad to-"
"Let me think about it," said Botchup. "This isn't the kind of decision that should be made on the spur of the moment. If Snipe recovers, it wouldn't be necessary. On the other hand-"
The door opened and in came Phule, dressed in a tuxedo. "Just a reminder," he said. "Free breakfast on the casino floor!" He waved his martini glass and ducked back out.
Botchup turned several shades paler. "You know, I think I have the most experience piloting that particular shuttle model. We really need to get Snipe to safety."
"Sir, that's a dangerous voyage," said Armstrong. "Shouldn't you let one of your subordinates take the risk?"
"Major, I think you should send the most expendable officer," said Phule. "That's obviously me…"
"Oh, no, you don't!" said Botchup. "I happen to know that you own the biggest casino on Lorelei! You'll run off and check into a luxury hotel suite and live the life of leisure. We're wise to your tricks, Jester. You're not taking that shuttle, not on your life."
"Very well, Major, I'm sorry you trust me so little," said Phule. "But if we're going to evacuate poor Lieutenant Snipe, who's to take him?"
The door opened to admit Chaplain Jordan Ayres, better known to Omega Company as Rev. "'Scuse me, gen'lemen, I reckon we got to talk about the morale problem here…"
Major Botchup's jaw dropped. He stared at Rev for fifteen seconds, then abruptly said, "Get Snipe ready to travel! And send a man to my quarters to pack up my personal belongings! I'm taking him to Lorelei myself!"
Armstrong said, "Sir, I admire your courage, but you need to designate someone to command in your absence-"
"Jester can do it," snarled Botchup on his way out the door. "He's half crazy already. Let the Hidden Ones have their way with him! I'm going to get off this crazy planet while I still have a few brain cells left!" He stormed out and left the other four staring at the doorway.
It was Flight Leftenant Qual who finally broke the silence. "It is a pity he was not more adamant. We did not even get to deploy our most interesting effects."
"That's all right," said Armstrong. "We can save 'em in case General Blitzkrieg ever visits."
But Rev stood there with a puzzled expression. "I guess y'all are gonna have to let me in on the secret sometime," he said. "I could swear that feller took one look at me and jes' flat-out lost his cool. I didn't think there was anything that disturbin' about my face."
Phule grinned. "Rev, I'm not going to explain it until later, but I will say that I've never been gladder to see your face than right now." Armstrong and Qual joined in the laughter.
← Chapter 16
→ Chapter 18


Introducing the elegant new The Britney Calligraphy Script!
For those of you who are needing a touch of elegance and modernity for your designs, this font was created for you!
letters have been carefully crafted to make your text looks beautiful.