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Universal: A Journey Through The Cosmos – Book Review
A brief review of Universal: A Journey Thtpugh The Cosmos
I found a copy of this book, by Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw when the mobile library called near my bungalow.
A WHISTLESTOP TOUR OF THE COSMOS
I found this book a thoroughly excellent read. It manages to be stimulating and intellectually challenging without ever making one feel out of ones depth. The material is beautifully laid out, and for me the ambition of covering 13.7 billion years of history in one smallish volume is achieved.
The book is also superbly illustrated, with the colour plates at the back particularly worth seeing. I have photographed a number of the illustrations and the colour plates but not all – after all I think that you should read the book and look at the pictures yourself.
Author ThomasPosted on March 5, 2019 Categories Book Reviews, Photography, ScienceTags Book Reviews, Brian Cox, Cosmology, Jeff Forshaw, Mobile library, Photography, Science3 Comments on Universal: A Journey Through The Cosmos – Book Review
Book Review: The Mitford Murders
A review of "The Mitford Murders" by Jessica Fellowes.
I was in King's Lynn Library on Friday when I saw a copy of this book, by Jessica Fellowes, on the shelves and decided to take a punt. The fact that today is the following Monday and I am posting this review gives a clue as to what I made of the book.
THE SETUP OF THE BOOK
This book is based on a real life murder, that of Florence Nightingale Shore, god-daughter of "The lady with the lamp" and like her famous godmother a war-time nurse. At the heart of the story is a fictionalised account of goings on in the aristocratic Mitford Family. The heroine is Louisa, who takes a job in the household helping to look after the children. Crucial to the development of the story is the friendship she forms with Nancy, the eldest of the Mitford children (16 when the story opens to Louisa's 18).
Spanning just over two years, and taking in two countries the story is developed with expert touch, and the revelation of the true murderer is a gobsmacker.
This is a splendid story, combining its other merits with giving a panoramic view of immediate post WW1 life, covering the full range of society.
I understand that a second book in the series is due soon, and I say "Bring it on". I follow that by saying that if you see a book with Jessica Fellowes' name on the cover you should definitely pick it up. Rating *****.
Author ThomasPosted on August 27, 2018 Categories Book Reviews, Photography, UncategorizedTags Booke Reviews, Books, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Florence Nightangale Shore, Florence Nightingale, Jessica Fellowes, Photography, The Mitford Family2 Comments on Book Review: The Mitford Murders
Beyond The Ice Limit (Book Review)
A review of Douglas preston and Lincoln Child's "Beyond The Ice Limit" – an example of the best kind of science fiction.
Welcome to my review of this recent book by the team of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. As so often with books reviewed here I found it courtesy of a library (in this case Fakenham library, which is a couple of minutes walk from where I work).
PUTTING THE BOOK IN CONTEXT
Beyond The Ice Limit is a sequel to the The Ice Limit, and also an addition to the Gideon Crew series, but has also been carefully crafted by its authors to work as a stand alone novel.
The phrase 'ice limit' refers to those latitudes in which there is sea ice all year round (at least until climate change renders it meaningless).
As this story starts, an alien life form has been slowly developing on the floor of the Southern Ocean for a period of five years, and Eli Glinn, who was inadvertently resonsible for the alien life form taking root, is now leading a mission to kill it before it can destroy the world. One of those who he ropes in is Gideon Crew, who has only a few months left to live.
Glinn and his team head south on a huge research vessel with a two-part plan – first find out whatever they can about the alien life form, and then use that knowledge to destroy it. The reason for this approach is because the 'seed' from which this alien emerged was actually a huge meteorite, weighing 25,000 tons, and there is only one such 'seeds' could be dispersed into space – by the destruction of the host planet (yes, this alien is the ultimate parasite).
Among their equipment are the components for a nuclear weapon (the explanation for how they have acquired such is that in certain former satellite states anything is for sale if you have sufficient money).
Since the creature is living two miles below the surface of the sea they also have four DSVs (Deep Sea Vehicles – more sophisticated versions of the bathyscaphe) for carrying out research. These for DSVs are painted yellow on the outside, and hence have been named George, Paul, John and Ringo.
Eventually they discover that the alien, dubbed The Baobab, has no brain of its own, but instead commandeers the brains of others (the first clue comes when they decode messages put out in the form of blue whale calls, which translate as "kill me" – a message that the current brain being used by the Baobab manages to put out). They also discover that deep below the sea floor are six egg-like structures which at their centers appear to have human brains. Five of these they can account for, because three headless bodies were discovered in the wreck of the Rolvaag, the ship that was carrying the meteorite when it broke open, and two of their own people have been taken by the Baobab, and an autopsy of one revealed that her brain had been extracted.
Gideon Crew gets launched on what he fully expects to be a suicide mission, to trigger the nuclear device directly above the Rolvaag in order to cause enough of an explosion to destroy the Baobab in its entirety, just before infected crew members (the Baobab sends out parasitic worms which take up residence in the brains of those they infect, causing them work for the Baobab) seize control of the ship.
Unfortunately another infected crew member is in the only intact DSV other than the one Gideon is piloting, and so Gideon prevented from carrying out his intended plan, but the nuclear device ends up on the Rolvaag, and the explosion is (apparently) sufficient to kill the Baobab.
With the Baobab dead, the parasitic worms also die, and the brain of the alien that it had commandeered is finally released, and sends a thank you message to the people of who have released it before it too dies.
While the manner of its arrival and emergence makes it clear that the Baobab is a product of a process that has destroyed at least one planet already (by breaking it up so the 'seeds' can be dispersed) there is a question of whether this parasitic system has accounted for even more planets (either because the planet from one of whose inhabitants the Baobab commandeered a brain was not the first to have been subjected to this process, or because some of other 'seeds' from that occasion did hatch and destroy their new host planets). The second part of the question is clearly unanswerable, but I would incline to the Baobab being a 'second generation' of its type because there are a couple of things that would have made it even better at what it seeks to do than it is:
Although it is somehow able to commandeer brains to make up for its own lack of such it is not able to completely subdue said brains to its requirements – remember the message that the alien brain manages to get to the team.
Although the worms work perfectly in terms of getting everyone they infect to act on behalf of the Baobab they have no capacity for identifying the significance of those they infect – had their first victims been Eli Glinn and Gideon Crew then the mission would almost certainly have been doomed to failure.
This book represents the very best of science fiction: there is nothing that definitely flouts any laws of science, and none of the events are impossible to believe. The story is never less than compelling (I have actually read it twice in the space of a week, and the second reading was at least as satisfying as the first, and with a memory like mine there could have been nothing new in that second reading), and the actual scientific theories that come for discussion are well and interestingly presented. I believe that given its component parts this book could not have been improved on, and hence were I permitted to review in the place where reviews carry a star rating (I am not because the copy I read was not purchased through them) I would unquestionably give it the full five stars.
Author ThomasPosted on April 23, 2018 Categories Book Reviews, PhotographyTags "Beyond the Ice Limit", aliens, Book Reviews, Books, Douglas Preston, Eli Glinn, Gideon Crew, Ice Limit, Lincoln Child, Meteorites, Science Fiction6 Comments on Beyond The Ice Limit (Book Review)
Rachel Caine's Great Library Novels
A review of Rachel Caine's series of books featuring the Great Library.
There are three novels under consideration in todays post, and they form a series.
These books are an exercise in "Alternative History". They are set in the 21st century in a world in which the Great Library of Alexandria did not get destroyed, but instead ended up as a global power, not merely a centre of learning. For some centuries a conflict has raged between the forces of the Library and rebels known as Burners. Also, since the Great Library have decreed that no books shall be privately owned there is a third group in the mix, the smugglers who for a price satsify the cravings of those who in defiance of the law still want to own books.
BOOK 1: INK AND BONE
In the opening pages of this book we meet Jess Brightwell, then 10 years old, and already running contraband books as part of his father's smuggling business. Jess performs a mission which leads him to an encounter with an 'ink eater' – a man who in this instance eats the pages of the only known copy of a book by Aristotle. The effect witnessing this has on Jess sets the scene for the subsequent story. We skip forward six years and Jess's father has entered him (at vast expense) for the Great Library entrance exam, considering that it would be useful to have someone on the inside. Jess manages to pass and finds himself bound for Alexandria along with 30 or so other scholars. Among his fellows are Thomas Schreiber, a German with massive talents for engineering and inventing, Khalila Seif who has achieved the first ever perfect score in the entrance exam, Glain Wathen, a tough Welsh girl who has an eye on a place in the High Garda, the Library's security force/ army and Dario Santiago, from a wealthy and influential Spanish family.
These and the other postulants find themselves being put through their paces by Scholar Christopher Wolfe, a very harsh judge. Twelve of the postulants have gone by the end of the first week, and their numbers continue to fall regularly. One new person arrives on the scene, Morgan Hault, who it turns out is an obscurist, and as such vital to future of the library. Her unwillingness to suffer the obscurist's usual fate of being confined in the Iron Tower is one of the causes of conflict between these scholars and the Library. The other direct cause is Thomas Schreiber's passion for inventing – he designs and creates a printing press which would enable the bulk production of books, not realising that various previous scholars have been harshly punished for the same invention, as the Library will tolerate nothing that might reduce its power. It further harms Thomas' cause that Christopher Wolfe is one of those scholars who have previously been punished for this offence.
Before Thomas Schreiber gets hauled over the coals there are major clues that all is not rosy in the garden. As a final exercise the postulants are sent to Oxford to retrieve some rare books gthat have come to light there, and the only way to get them there in time is to use a technique called 'translation', which is fraught with danger. One of them, Guillaume Danton, dies while being translated, which generates suspicion. Then, when they have barely escaped from Oxford with their lives and are being returned to Alexandria on the Archivist's personal train they are ambushed by Burners who have somehow found out their whereabouts.
This book ends with Morgan Hault confined in the Iron Tower, Thomas Schreiber in prison, with the others having been told that he is dead, and all the other main characters having been assigned various positions.
BOOK 2: PAPER AND FIRE
This book follows on directly from the end of book one. It deals with the discovery that Thomas is not dead, merely in prison, and the subsequent quest to break him out and escape from the Library's clutches. In the Iron Tower, above the levels occupied by the obscurists, the Black Archives are revealed to us for the first time. The Archivist (boss of the whole library) has ordered the Artifex Magnus to destroy them, but the rebel scholars get away with a quantity of the most important books and head for London, Jess Brightwell's home town. They then find themselves betrayed and sent to the Burner city of Philadelphia. It is also in the course of this book that we see how the automata (I dropped a hint about these in this post) that the Libfrary uses in addition to the High Garda can be switched off. Thomas, with the help of Morgan Hault the obscurist, manages to change one of the automata so that it works for them.
BOOK 3: ASH AND QUILL
Thomas Schreiber creates a version of his press from materials available in Philadelphia, which works sufficiently well to impress the Burners but not to end his usefulness. He also makes a weapon that will ultimately be used to make a hole in Philadelphia's walls so that he and his band can escape.
Meanwhile, having previously kept the city under siege for a hundred years, the Library having discovered that their rebel scholars are there have ordered the complete destruction of the city.
While the city is being destroyed, Thomas Schreiber's weapon creates enough of a hole in the walls for the scholars to escape, and one of Jess' smuggler acquaintances gets them back to Britain. London is now off bounds, having finally fallen to the Welsh forces who have been attacking it for some time, but Jess' father owns a castle in the north of England.
While hiding there Thomas builds a sophisticated press which is immediately put to work churning out bulk copies of previously concealed works, and he also creates a better version of the weapon he used in Philadelphia to make a gap in the walls. The book ends with Jess, disguised as his brother, about to visit the Archivist. It is fairly clear that whatever happens in that meeting only one of those two will emerge alive (at most).
THE EPHEMERA
Interleaved with the story proper are regular sections titled Ephemera, which give as insights in to the history and development of the Library. We learn through these, and through discoveries in the Black Archives, that the first Archivist with a view to making the Library a military as well as an intellectual power base ("using the sword as well the pen") was Zoran who saw in a conflict between the Roman emperor Aurelian and the eastern queen Zenobia the opportunity to bring this about, that the first scholar to suggest a printing press was a Chinese man in the year 868, and the scholar Gutenberg was punished for the same "crime" some six centuries later. Thus we can trace the corruption of the Library, and the view that its power counted above all else back at least to 868AD, almost 1,200 years before the action in these books takes place, and possibly all the way back to the scheming Archivist Zoran half a millennium before that.
These books are excellent, the story being thoroughly gripping. Although a couple of minor errors slipped in to the history ("Scholar Plato", which reference is made during the story is incorrect, since he lived and died before the Great Library was created, and Archimedes of Syracuse lived a century and more earlier than Heron of Alexandria, not vice versa) they are not sufficient to detract from the overall quality of the work, which is excellent. I really enjoyed reading these books and hope that there are more to come. You can find out more about Rachel Caine from her website and on twitter. Also, shrewd observers will have noted that my pictures are of Library books, so I finish this long post about a library system that went badly wrong somewhere along the line by thanking a library system that is still working nicely, Norfolk Libraries, through whose good offices I gained access to these books.
Author ThomasPosted on February 14, 2018 Categories Book Reviews, Photography, UncategorizedTags Alternative History, Ash and Quill, Books, Ink and Bone, Libraries, Norfolk Libraries, Paper and Fire, Photography, Rachel Caine, The Great Library4 Comments on Rachel Caine's Great Library Novels
The English Civil War Novels of Stephen Deas
A joint review of The Royalist and The Protector, both by S J Deas. Please note that I never review or make direct comments about books that I have not actually read.
This is a specialist post about a new literary find for me, courtesy as so often of Norfolk Libraries. There are two novels so far, and I certainly hope there will be more:
FINDING THE BOOKS
I actually came across these books in reverse order, finding and reading The Protector first and then having made a mental note of this author as one to follow up on borrowing The Royalist a few days later. There is a developing trend among authors of historical fiction set in the 16th and 17th centuries using their initials on the front cover rather than a full name (I believe C J Sansom was the first, while S J Parris and S G Maclean are other examples).
These stories are set right at the heart of the English Civil War period, in the 1640s. It is already fairly clear even by the time of the first novel which way the war is going, the question being when the Parlimentarians will win (though the war in question still has over two years to run by the end of the second book, the final outcome is obvious, it is merely Charles I's stubbornness and arrogance that will prolong the agony).
William Falkland, the character at the heart of both books, is a former Royalist solider who owes his life to Cromwell and therefore cannot refuse when that worthy seeks his assistance. He is also, when not performing dangerous errands at Cromwell's demand, searching for his wife and family who have disappeared.
The poet John Milton, a man of great importance to the Parliamentarians, is angry because his sister has been abducted and he wants her returned and her abductors caught and punished. Falkland is tasked with bringing this about. The general view of the others involved in the case is that the abductors must be royalists (Milton, portrayed as bad-tempered and arrogant, is particularly determined on this point), but Falkland does not allow himself to be so blinkered, and his investigations ultimately bring home the crime, as part of a much greater crime that is being planned, to a group of extreme anti-royalists.
THE ROYALIST
In this, the first book in the series, Falkland has the task of unravelling a series of deaths by (non-judicial) hanging in Thomas Fairfax's New Model Army. There are powerful people who do not want him getting to the truth, and at times his life is in considerable danger, but eventually he is able to provide an explanation as to what has been going on, and at the end of the book he is free to resume his search for his wife and children.
I very much enjoyed both of these books, and look forward to reading more about William Falkland's adventures. If you see a book with the name of S J Deas on the cover pick it up – it will be worth reading.
Author ThomasPosted on January 29, 2018 January 29, 2018 Categories Book ReviewsTags Book Reviews, Books, Charles I, John Milton, Olibver Cromwell, S J Deas, The Proctector, The Royalist, Thomas Fairfax, William FalklandLeave a comment on The English Civil War Novels of Stephen Deas
Detective Fiction Meets Ornithology
A review of a new find – Steve Burrows' Birder Murders, with some Norfolk bird pictures of my own for company.
This post concerns two books by a writer I discovered in the last few days:
MAKING THE DISCOVERY
When I saw these in the library there was never any doubt about borrowing them – detective stories set in Norfolk and heavily concerned with birds looks a darned good mix.
There is much of interest about birds and about North Norfolk in these books, and the strikingly different characters of each of the police officers makes for some good interplay between them.
In the first of these two books, "A Siege of Bitterns", the first victim is actually a birdwatcher. The second victim is a suspect in the first case until he is found dead. It eventjually turns out that the first case was not murder but suicide, and that the murderer in the second case was the MP.
In "A Cast of Falcons", the hero's boss, DCS Shepherd, is shown up in a very poor light when she initially refuses even to entertain the notion that the exceedingly rich Sheik who has bought an old dairy farm for his pet project (research on method of carbon capture) could be guilty. She shows herself to be more concerned with not annoying someone who is rich and powerful than with justice, which given her job is entirely unacceptable.
There is a third book in this series that I know of, called "A Pitying of Doves", and it is sufficient comment on just how good these two books are that I have reserved a copy (costs 60p) and am awaiting it's arrival at King's Lynn library.
If you get the opportunity to pick up a book with the name Steve Burrows on the cover please take it!
SOME NORFOLK BIRDS
To finish this post here are some new pictures of Norfolk birds…
Author ThomasPosted on September 18, 2017 Categories Birds, Book Reviews, Nature Photography, PhotographyTags Birds, Book Reviews, Books, Cormoranrs, Crime Fiction, Detective Fiction, Gulls, Magpies, Moorhens, Nature Photography, Norfolk Birds, Ornithology, Photography, Steve Burrows, Terns1 Comment on Detective Fiction Meets Ornithology
The Quorum: Book Review
A review of Kim Newman's "The Quorum".
For this post I am reviewing a book I read recently. When I review books I do so because I consider it worth doing – I gain no pecuniary benefit at all.
HOW I DISCOVERED KIM NEWMAN
I first came across Kim Newman a couple of years back when I saw a copy of Moriarty: Hound of the D'Urbervilles in Norwich Millennium Library. I enjoyed that book, and the kept the author's name in mind for future reference.
HOW I DISCOVERED THE QUORUM
I was in King's Lynn library on Monday, as I often am when not at work when I saw the book. I checked out the back cover to see if I could glean more about the story, and decided it was worth borrowing. On Wednesday, with the beginnings of this post already in mind I returned it having read and enjoyed it…
King's Lynn library, donated to the town by Andrew Carnegie
The prime mover of the story goes by the name of Derek Leech, and the story starts with him emerging from the muck and slime of the Thames (even today, half a century after Leech's supposed emergence and after considerable efforts to clean it up the Thames remains fairly slimy and mucky). The other principal characters are four schoolfellows who end up in a situation whereby three of them become very rich and successful courtesy of Leech, but they have to stuff up the life of the other as part of a Faustian deal.
Along the way we are told much about the various ways in which the three who have been granted success. One is a TV presenter and best selling author. In his capacity as an author he names characters after London Underground stations, so we encounter Colin Dale (look near the northern end of the Edgware branch of the Northern line), Ken Sington (South Kensington – District, Circle & Piccadilly, High Street Kensington – District & Circle, Kensington Olympia – – District), Mai Da Vale (Maida Vale, Bakerloo line) and Barbi Can (Barbican – Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan) are all mentioned in the book as names used by Michael Dixon for his characters. Of these names only the first really passes muster. The s in Kensington is pronounced as a z not an s – Ken Ington, losing an N from the name of that Northern line hub station would have been better. Mai Da Vale is a mishmash of a name – a clearly oriental first name and surname with an Italian prefix, in addition to which were Vale a recognised Italian name (I do not believe it is) it would certainly pronounced as Var-lay in that language. Barbi is not usually spelled without the e, and I have yet to come across anyone surnamed Can. However, I credit Newman with selecting these names as a way of indicating just how undeserved Michael Dixon's best seller status is.
The kicker moment comes late in the plot, after Neil, the 'loser' in the bargain finally concedes defeat. It turns out that he as the person whose pain has been feeding Leech's "device" is far more important than the other three, who having driven him to utter the dread phrase "I give up", have now ceased to be useful to Leech.
I enjoyed reading this book and recommend that you read it too.
END NOTE: THE LINKS
FROM THE CHARACTER NAMES
All the links in my information about Michel Dixon's dodgy character names are to posts on my London transport themed website, www.londontu.be. South Kensington has two links because there are two posts about that station, written at different times.
Author ThomasPosted on April 9, 2017 April 9, 2017 Categories Book ReviewsTags Books, characters named after London Underground stations, Kim Newman, King's Lynn Library, Libraries, London Underground, Moriarty: Hound of the D'Urbervilles, Norwich Millenniujm Library, Photography, The QuorumLeave a comment on The Quorum: Book Review
Conclave – Book Review
A review of Conclave by Robert Harris.
I received a copy of Robert Harris' latest work, Conclave, as a Christmas present from my sister. I included mention of Robert Harris in the post I created to mark my fifth anniversary as a blogger, the title of which was borrowed from the second volume of his trilogy about Marcus Tullius Cicero. I also mentioned the possibility of reviewing Imperatorm the third volume in the Cicero trilogy, in a couple of other posts but did not actually do so (it is a splendid finale to the trilogy btw).
A BOOK ABOUT CHOOSING A NEW POPE?
The whole of Conclave is devoted to telling the story of the election of a new pope. The scene is set with the announcement of the death of the old pope. To be elected a two-thirds majority, and it often takes several votes for a front runner to emerge. This being a novel, there are of course some extra twists. Four people in total are front runners at various stages of the process but do not win. Two of these people have their chances spoilt when details of past transgressions are revealed to the assembled cardinals, a third makes a speech which effectively rules him out and the fourth is hoping someone else gets elected. At the end a newly appointed cardinal who had gained one vote in the first ballot is elected at the eighth ballot (while I do not know of anyone in real life winning after getting only one vote in the first ballot, Cardinal Wojtila got very few votes in the first ballot of the second Conclave of 1978).
The winner then has to accept the office and choose a papal name. In this case he goes for Innocent, a papal name that has been used 13 times before but not in the last three centuries. There is of course a vast range of possible papal names – very few of those previously used would be unacceptable, while a choice of a previously unused name could also work. There are two papal names I do not see being claimed any time soon however: Pius XIII because of the character of Pius XII, and Peter II because of the sheer hubris involved in choosing that name (although Steve Berry in The Third Secret has someone choose the name Peter II, and yes that person does then come to a sticky end).
Although all the action takes place within the confines of the world's smallest independent country, the book never flags or lacks interest. An excellent novel and one I heartily recommend.
The front cover.
A map of the are within which the action takes place.
Author ThomasPosted on January 4, 2017 Categories Book Reviews, UncategorizedTags Books, Conclave, Maps, Marcus Tullius Cicero, papal names, Photography, Popes, Robert Harris, The Vatican2 Comments on Conclave – Book Review
The Four Legendary Kingdoms – Book Review
A review of Matthew Reilly's latest masterpiece.
Welcome to my review of Matthew Reilly's latest thriller. The book is a continuation of the Jack West series, which started with The Seven Ancient Wonders, The Six Sacred Stones and The Five Greatest Warriors.
A NEW TWIST
Previously in this series we have seen the re-erection of the capstone of the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the rebuilding of a great machine which saved the world from the Dark sun. In the first adventure West and his team faced two sets of foes, a catholic church led group and a US led group. Having been beaten in the first quest, the catholic church played no role in the second, but a new set of foes in the Japanese, determined to end the world, appeared.
Now, eight years on the world faces another threat – a potential collision between the Hydra Galaxy and the Milky Way. The four kingdoms of the title are four shadow kingdoms who rule the world between them, Land, Sea, Sky and The Underworld.
The first stage of the process to save the world from the Hydra Galaxy is the staging of the Great Games of the Hydra, for the fourth time in history (the three previous champions being Osiris, Gilgamesh and Hercules). West is kidnapped so that he has to compete in these games on behalf of the Kingdom of Land.
This means that he faces a series of challenges (along with 15 other competitors) that passed into legend as the Labours of Hercules. It transpires that among the other challengers is Captain Shane Schofield of the US Marines, aka the Scarecrow, whose participation is also not voluntary.
Eventually West and the Scarecrow face each other in a fight to the death (West wins, but Schofield has taken the same drug that Caesar Russell used to cheat death in Area 7…). West then has to take on the younger son of the king of The Underworld plus Mephisto, Fear and Chaos all fighting on behalf of their king's son. He emerges victorious from this fight, and then faces the final challenge of delivering Cerberus to the king of The Underworld, which he accomplishes by dint of asking permission to so.
He then prevents his own king from receiving hidden wisdom that will make him all-powerful. To save the world and prevent it from being in the grip of a tyranny West mus now find the three hidden cities (there is the title of the next book in this series ready made) and extract their wisdom. I did not see any pointers to the the title starting with two, but I would be fairly confident in reckoning that the last book in the series will be titled The Omega Event.
Given that Scarecrow has put in an appearance in this book what of other Reilly leads? Well I could see roles for William Race and possibly C J Cameron somewhere along the line. Another possibility would be a now grown-up Kirstie Hensleigh (from Ice Station) playing a role somewhere along the line.
This is a fabulous book, which I heartily recommend to everyone.
Before showing some internal illustrations a final speculation: I reckon the Japanese still have a final intervention in them before this series is done. For more on Matthew Reilly's books check out this post.
Author ThomasPosted on November 9, 2016 Categories Book Reviews, UncategorizedTags Books, Jack West Jr, Matthew Reilly, The Four Legendary Kingdoms, The Hydra Galaxy, The Scarecrow4 Comments on The Four Legendary Kingdoms – Book Review
The Great Zoo of China – Book Review
A review of Matthew Reilly's latest, "The Great Zoo of China"
Matthew Reilly is one of my favourite contemporary novelists. He writes action adventure stories in which the pace of said action is never in any circumstances below greased lightening. His latest novel, The Great Zoo of China, has all the usual features and a few more besides.
THE GREAT ZOO OF CHINA
Dragon myths are a global phenomenon, and pretty well every where dragons are described the descriptions are very similar. All have four legs and a pair of wings. Although the book describes this as being hexapods it is not necessarily so, since the Malaysian Flying Lizard has four legs and a pair of wings, the latter being supported by an extended ribcage. Other reptiles which have evolved an extended rib cage for structural support purposes are turtles whose carapaces are supported by their ribcages.
The back story is that the reason for dragon myths being global is that dragons really exist, and each myth documents an appearance of a dragon who hatched out from the egg and came to the surface to see if the planet was warm enough for them to survive. Behind even this is the survival of the dragons, winged archosaurs who survived the great extinction at the end of the cretaceous because their nests were protected by being beneath nickel deposits. The Chinese located a nest beneath their second largest nickel deposit, and captured each dragon as they hatched. This gave them 88 dragons. A breeding program using female saltwater crocodiles as incubators for dragon eggs boosted this tally to 232.
The Chinese believed they were ready to unveil their great creation and arranged for a two select groups of important visitors to be shown the zoo. One of these groups was made up of Americans, including the hero the story, Cassandra Jane "CJ" Cameron, an expert on large reptiles. The other consisted of high-ranking politburo officials, who were being shown the hunting area of the zoo.
The dragons were being kept confined by means of electromagnetic shields, so it looked as though they were moving freely, while the humans were supposedly protected by ultrasonic shields that the dragons could not approach closely because of their sensitive hearing.
It turns out that some of the red-bellied black dragons (there are four groups of true dragons and one group of hybrid dragons produced from the crocodile experiment's early days) have torn out their own ears so that the ultrasonic shields don't bother them, and that the dragons have worked out how to bring down the inner of two electromagnetic domes, and have decided that this day, when there are two groups of guests is the day to attempt a break out.
Additionally for the human visitors, the Chinese are determined that no word of the disaster can be allowed to spread and that therefore no independent witnesses can be allowed to live.
To conclude this post here are some pictures to give you a better idea of the book:
The book is divided into seven sections called "evolutions" – something Reilly frequently does – in Ice Station they are "incursions", while in The Seven Ancient Wonders they are "Missions" etc.
This is an excellent story, and although the notion of a species surviving in deep hibernation for 65 million years seems a trifle far fetched there is very little in the back story about the dragons that is actually flat out impossible – a further plus mark as far as I am concerned. If you get an opportunity to read this or indeed anything else with Mr Reilly's name on the cover make sure you take it!
Author ThomasPosted on November 14, 2015 Categories Book ReviewsTags "The Great Zoo of China", Archosaurs, Books, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Malaysian Flying Lizards, Matthew Reilly, Photography, Turtles2 Comments on The Great Zoo of China – Book Review


Work is already underway on this significant investment portfolio with individual projects at various development stages. There is significant potential for investment across all of the portfolio.
The University is developing a £650m masterplan centred on its City Centre estate which will bring together its internationally recognised centres of expertise to create a geographically compact campus.
The Edinburgh BioQuarter is an £800m shared vision between the University of Edinburgh, NHS Lothian, the City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise to bring together academic scientists, clinicians, nurses, patients and industry, in world-class facilities, on one site. The four partners continue to advance their 10 year capital and infrastructure programme, estimated at £800m, to deliver 150,000m2 of development.
The King's Buildings campus is a leading science and engineering establishment and a major focus of University activity. The master planning exercise has been completed and sets the scene for developing the campus over the next 10 years.
Easter Bush has the largest concentration of animal science related expertise anywhere in Europe is now in the seventh year of a 20-year master plan. The next 3 years will see £60m of investment in the form of a new innovation centre, campus staff and student facilities, leisure and sport facilities, infrastructure and a new large animal surgery. Further development beyond 2018 is in planning of circa £150m including a Large Animal Research & Imaging facility, teaching building, infrastructure, expansion of animal hospitals and more animal support facilities.


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EXPANDED WORLD POOL MASTERS RETURNS
by Paul · October 1, 2018
EXPANDED WORLD POOL MASTERS RETURNS TO GIBRALTAR, MARCH 29-31
The World Pool Masters returns to Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar next March 29-31 with more players, more matches and an even bigger prize fund.
After 25 years of being 9-ball's biggest invitational tournament, the World Pool Masters expands again for its 26th edition with 24 of the world's best players set to battle it out for their share of a $100,000 prize fund with the winner in line to take home $25,000. Tickets will be on sale from midday (Gibraltarian time) on Tuesday, October 2nd.
For the first time there are now eight pre-determined spots in the World Pool Masters, with a further 15 players invited by tournament promoter Matchroom Multi Sport and the final member of the field selected by you, the fans.
The eight pre-determined players will be seeded straight into the last 16, with the remaining 16 invited players – including the Fans' Choice – contesting the preliminary round.
The World Pool Masters will again be staged at Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar. The tournament will commence on Friday, March 29th with the eight race-to-seven preliminary round matches played across two sessions – an afternoon session from 1pm and an evening session beginning at 7pm.
The Last 16 will take place over the two sessions on Saturday, March 30th before finals day on Sunday, March 31st sees all four quarter-finals in the afternoon session. The evening session sees the two semi-finals played as a race-to-eight before the race-to-nine showpiece final determines the destination of one of pool's most sought-after titles.
Among the eight players seeded into the Last 16 is defending champion Niels Feijen, reigning US Open champion Jayson Shaw, European Champion Konrad Juszczyszyn and Asian champion Ko Pin-Yi.
The four remaining seeded players will be the WPA World No.1 male and female players (as of December 31st, 2018), the 2018 World 9-Ball Champion and the MVP at this year's partypoker Mosconi Cup.
The first two unseeded players have already been confirmed by promoter Matchroom Multi Sport. They are two-time World Pool Masters champion Shane van Boening, and current WPA World No.1 Eklent Kaci.
Should Kaci remain as World No.1 at the end of the year he will take up his place as one of the seeded players.
For more details including prize fund break down on the 2019 World Pool Masters, visit www.worldpoolmasters.com. Further players will be added to the line-up on a weekly basis. For all the latest World Pool Masters news follow World Pool Masters on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Tickets go on sale at midday Gibraltarian time (11am UK) on Tuesday, October 2 priced at just £7 for afternoon sessions and Friday evening and £12 for weekend evening sessions. Daily tickets are priced at £10 for all day Friday and £15 for Saturday or Sunday. A season ticket including admission for all six sessions costs just £34.99. All tickets will be available from www.worldpoolmasters.com.
John Alicea Wins His First Predator Tour Stop at Master Billiards
Hohmann takes Down #1 Van Boening: Hunter Slays Alcano at Championship Cloth Pro Classic
One Man's Opinion: Bonus Ball Makes History

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Most hospitals in the United States today are aware of the trend of abuse among anesthesiologists. In recent years, hospitals have stepped up efforts to help personnel realize when coworkers might be abusing various drugs, including fentanyl. Due to necessity, anesthesiology staffers have become especially adept at observing signs of addiction in their coworkers. Assistance is covered under most hospital healthcare insurance plans. This is due to the high number of addicts within the hospital community and the harm that can come to patients if a doctor's addiction is left untreated.
Addiction requires a user to get help from professionals. A person is considered an addict if they continue using a drug despite adverse consequences or if they cannot go without the drug. There are numerous opiate detoxification programs in the United States that can treat abusers, though their methods vary. The traditional method for treating opiate addiction is by detoxification. This means clearing the body of the drug and giving small amounts of methadone to help curb some of the desire for the drug. When the desire is diminished to abuse drugs and the withdrawal symptoms have subsided, the person can be released. This is a very long and tenuous process. Some have questioned its success rate as many "rehabilitated users" return to abuse.
There are a small but growing number of institutions that are beginning to use an ultra-rapid opiate detoxification program. It is still considered an experimental practice with techniques varying from site to site. However, there are three main differences between traditional and ultra-rapid opiate detoxification. In traditional programs, a patient attempts to function normally while fighting the heavy withdrawal symptoms. In ultra-rapid detoxification, the user is put under anesthesia and is thus able to sleep through the pains of withdrawal. The amount of time varies between institutions, but usually lasts a day or two. A drug called naltrexone is given, which accelerates the onset of withdrawal. Some doctors believe that naltrexone only be given to a patient who has been free of opiates for seven days, which means that a user still must face severe withdrawals. Opiate Mockers are given upon release of the program, which has been found to suppress both desire for the drug as well as some lingering withdrawal symptoms.
The first three days of the treatment are the most difficult for the abuser due to the highly intensive withdrawal pains. During this time approximately 30% of opiate-dependent abusers in a traditional detoxification program quit the program. Some of the withdrawal symptoms the user faces include runny nose, tearing, sneezing, insomnia, loss of appetite, depression, irritability, severe abdominal cramps, pain in the muscles and bones of the back, sweating, nausea, tremors, increased heart rate and blood pressure, and weight loss due to dehydration.
Removing the drug from the user's system is only the first step in an ongoing process regardless of which technique is used. For an addict, the drug has become a part of his or her lifestyle. That lifestyle must change in order for that person to remain clean. Twelve-step programs such as Narcotics Anonymous have proven very helpful to many in the everyday battle to avoid relapse.
This creates a very difficult situation for anesthesiologists who are recovering from an addiction to fentanyl. Since it is used so often in their work, they must handle and administer the drug that they have abused. This is why the risk of relapse is especially high among opiate-addicted anesthesiologists who decide to return to their profession. Among those who do have a relapse, the incidence of death from overdose is high.
In a May 2001 newsletter, the American Society of Anesthesiologists offers seven questions that an anesthesiologist who is a recovering fentanyl addict should ask themselves before trying to return to their jobs. An abbreviated list follows: If you were a freshman in college and could choose any profession with the wisdom you have now, what would you consider pursuing? If you could not be in anesthesiology, what other possibilities would you consider? What are some positives and negatives of practicing anesthesia? What is stressful for you in the practice of anesthesia? Since the relapse rate is so high, why would you put yourself and your patients at risk? How does your significant other feel about the risk you would be talking returning to anesthesiology? What safeguards would you put in place to avoid a relapse?
Depending on recovering addict's honest answers to these questions, it is often suggested that they find a different field. However, former abusers are allowed to return as long as they are not currently using.


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Quick links... Sports Buffalo Bills Buffalo Sabres College High School
SportsBuffalo Bills
Bills agree to terms with safety Dean Marlowe
David Dermer/AP
Buffalo Bills' Dean Marlowe during the first half of an NFL preseason football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Bills are bringing back another member of their defense. On Friday, the team agreed to terms with safety Dean Marlowe on a one-year contract.
Marlowe, 27, joined the Bills in 2017 as a member of the practice squad. He's appeared in 11 games since then, starting two of the nine games he played in last season.
While also getting time on the special teams unit, Marlowe most recently filled in for the injured Taron Johnson as part of a tandem with safety Siran Neal.
Get Bills game updates the Monday after each game by signing up for our Monday Morning Quarterback newsletter.


I love the look of custom/semi custom jewelry. Not many others will have the exact item you have. I have a gorgeous bracelet that Jon got me for Christmas in 2010 from Kay Jewelers. It's one of those bracelets, with all the beads and you can customize what style your bracelet looks like.
He bought me some things he KNOWS I like. There's a Snowflake and Treble Clef. Then he bought Avery's initial, a May birthstone (Avery's and Mine) and some other cute charms as well. I love this bracelet and cherish it because it's ME! It explains who I am.
I was contacted by Chamilia and knew I wanted to say yes!!! I knew I could add the charm to my existing bracelet OR just start a whole new bracelet. I received the 7.1" bracelet along with the Entwined Jewels- Clear and Blue Swarovski charm.
I love love love how this bracelet works. It pops open (fairly easy to do with just on hand), and then the other end snaps in place and then you close it.
The other end snapped in place.
It is a gorgeous bead. I love that it's Swarovski crystals.
They have some really truly beautiful beads on their site.
I love the way the bracelet opens. It's easy enough to do it with one hand, but also if it pops open on it's own, the ends are snapped in place so it would be hard to lose the bracelet.
On my other bracelet I have 2 stoppers on it that are tight on and have all my beads in the middle, I have added this bead to that bracelet. Emerson was born in December and this is a VERY close match to his birthstone, so it works out pretty perfectly for that (And Jon's birthday is in April, which is diamond, so it kind of symbolizes him as well).
I do love the way the bracelet works and I've been wearing this bead on my bracelet on and off for a few weeks now and have had no issues with lost stones or any damage whatsoever.
Price: The bead I received is $60, the one above is $70. The bracelet is the silver snap and it's $65. They have beads as low as $20 too though!


Hey guys, I have a Samsung C9 Pro right now and wanted to get a new phone. I will have to keep the next phone atleast for 3 years. Which do I go for? Software updates are a big deal for me. And I don't know if I'm gonna miss the earphone jack if I go for 6t. The only gaming I do on my phone is Steam LInk(atleast for now) Which do you guys recommend?
To start: remember that you're only going to get major updates for a maximum of two years because you're using Android.
Of the two, I'd go for a OnePlus 6T. It has faster hardware, the interface itself is faster, and you won't wait six months to get an OS revision. You probably won't miss having a native headphone jack unless you insist on listening while you charge. When I was using wired audio with my iPhone I just left the adapter attached to my headphones, plugged it in and stopped worrying about it.
No chance, a Midrange beats a Flaggship.
Why would you miss the headphone Jack? Oneplus 6T has a USB C -> 3.5mm Adapter included. There is nothing to miss out (btw: i am someone, who uses ONLY wired headphones, and would never use wireless trash).
You actually need at least a Samsung Galaxy S9+ to beat a Oneplus 6T.
Main sensor is a 24MP Camera. Can't really find specific sensor details, but i doubt, a Midrange phone will get a Flaggship sensor. So i doubt, this one will be better than OP 6T's Camera. Maybe similar, maybe worse. But better? Nah. It needs to be a modern flaggship sensor for this.
Next one is a Telephoto Lense with x2 optical Zoom (10 MP).
And the 4th one is useless decoration - because it's only for depth information. That's why Oneplus 6 and 6T are basicly single camera setups. the secondary Sensor is useless.
Basicly... what you gain over the Oneplus 6T is a Wideangle lense, and a Zoom lense in addition.
GSM Arena is disappointed in A9's Photos.
And for my eyes, the Oneplus 6T crushes the A9. Even the Pocophone F1, which lacks an Optical Image sensor, beats the A9.
The difference gets smaller with good Light, but it's still visible.


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MPI Livestream
Children & Family Policy
Multimedia Tabs
Video of The Ukrainian Displacement Crisis: A Conversation with the European Commission's Director General for Migration and Home Affairs
Monique Pariat, Director General for Migration and Home Affairs, European Commission
Meghan Benton, Director, International Program, MPI
Introduction by:
Andrew Selee, President, MPI
As of November, more than 12.7 million crossings had been recorded into the European Union from Ukraine, with 4.5 million registered under the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) or similar national protection. The exodus of those fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine beginning in February exceeded that of any recent humanitarian crisis in speed and scale and represents the largest displacement in Europe since World War II. European policymakers, the general public, and volunteers mobilized rapidly to respond.
Across the European Union there has been a generally strong welcome for those displaced from Ukraine, including the first-ever activation of the TPD, which opened quick residence and work rights. Recently, the European Commission extended TPD until March 2024.
But as winter approaches and the brutal conflict in Ukraine drags on, Europe is facing another set of challenges related to longer-term protection and integration for the newcomers. During this armchair discussion, Monique Pariat, the European Commission's Director General for Migration and Home Affairs, reflects on Europe's rapid and unprecedented response to the crisis; the tangible outcomes of TPD activation for Ukrainians and host societies alike; Ukrainians' access to labor markets, education systems, and housing; and reform of the European asylum system.
Registration deadline for this event has passed.
Senior Events Manager
The Ukrainian Conflict Could Be a Tipping Point for Refugee Protection
Ukrainian Immigrants in the United States
Welcoming Afghans and Ukrainians to the United States: A Case in Similarities and Contrasts
The Next Generation of Refugee Resettlement in Europe: Ambitions for the Future and How to Realize Them
Refugee Sponsorship Programs: A Global State of Play and Opportunities for Investment
Briefing on Ukraine: Avenues to Safety and Meeting Immediate Needs
Andrew Selee is President of the Migration Policy Institute. Full Bio >


Home »News»Memo online / A Political Economy of Reconciliation and Reconstruction in the MENA?
Memo online / A Political Economy of Reconciliation and Reconstruction in the MENA?
The Middle East Directions Programme is delighted to share this MEMO that summarises the key points highlighted in the roundtable debate that took place in Florence at Villa Schifanoia on 13 April 2018.
Click here to open the MEMO.
Click here for the workshop's programme.


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Едо Родошек (; 21 березня 1932, Новий Сад — 7 лютого 2021) — словенський письменник, автор науково-фантастичних творів, професор, перекладач-любитель.

Життєпис
Едо Родошек народився 1932 року в Новому Саді як молодший із двох дітей Антона та Алойзії Родошеків. Після батькової смерті повернувся в Любляну, де ще із середньої школи брав участь у виданні двох учнівських газет. Своє захоплення він ділив між літературою та будівництвом. Вирішальною виявилася матеріальна сторона життя, оскільки завдяки своїй стипендії студента будівельного факультету Люблянського університету він міг фінансово допомагати матері. З дипломом інженера-будівельника займався найрізноманітнішими роботами (проектування, нагляд за будівництвом, викладання). З 1972 р. викладав за сумісництвом на факультеті будівництва і геодезії, через кілька років здобув ступінь доктора, влаштувався на посаду доцента (обраний у 1977 р.), 1981 р. закінчив докторантуру, а в 1983 р. став професором. Він також заснував кафедру оперативного будівництва, початки якої сягали 1972 р., коли Едо Родошек почав за сумісництвом викладати предмет «Організація будівельних майданчиків».

Автор понад десяти професійних публікацій та більш ніж сотні опублікованих доповідей, статей і рецензій у галузі планування, технології, організації та економіки в будівництві, чимала частина яких має міжнародне значення. Усі ці роки він читав художню літературу, насамперед велетнів світового письменства. У 60-х рр., у добу, коли наукова фантастика переживала розквіт, став її палким послідовником. Перекладав як аматор такого роду тексти з англійської та писав власні короткі оповіді.

Видані твори

Збірки оповідань
 Temna stran vesolja (): фантастичні та науково-фантастичні історії, Домжале, (1997)
 Čar iskanja (Чари пошуку), Любляна, (1997)
 Sence neznanega (Тіні невідомого), Любляна, (1998)
 Spokojni svet (Мирний світ), Любляна, (2000)
 Nauči me sanjati (Навчи мене мріяти), Любляна, (2000)
 Geneza (Генеза), Любляна, (2000)
 Obračun (Обрахунок), Любляна, (2000)
 Pravici je zadoščeno (Право задовольнили), Любляна, (2001)
 Dolgo iskanje (Довгий пошук), Любляна, (2001)

Романи
 Feniks, mogoče (Фенікс, можливо), Любляна, (2001)
 Skoraj enaki (Майже той самий), Любляна, (2003)

Джерела
 Edo Rodošek. Onstran zaznave: znanstvenofantastična kratka proza. Ljubljana: Tuma, 2003.

Письменники-фантасти Словенії
Уродженці Нового Сада
Словенські педагоги

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Company Running at a Loss? Insolvent?
My business is running out of money and bills are piling up. What can I do to become profitable again and where did I go wrong?"
If you're unable to get an accurate and reliable picture of what operating costs will be each month it can be difficult to avoid hardships caused by unexpected expenses. On the other hand, a business with efficient budgeting practices has the foresight and preparation skills to "take a detour" when confronted with what would have been an unforeseen obstacle had they not taken the time to account for everything. This is the basic relationship between accounting and budgeting – you keep a thorough account of every bit of expenditure and income (accounting), and then analyse that account to devise a spending plan that will make the most optimal use of your available funds (budgeting).
The majority of failing businesses simply do not have enough clients/customers to buy the product or service that they're offering. Logical progression dictates that the primary reason why a struggling company has a shortage of customers is because not enough people know about them or are interested. Therefore, poor or insufficient advertising and marketing efforts are without a doubt the number one reason why a business fails. If you want to stay competitive in this day and age you need to promote brand awareness and give people a reason to choose you over all available alternatives.
Finally, perhaps the most obvious yet most troublesome affliction that the majority of business running at a loss have in common is an overburdening volume of debt liabilities or monthly financial obligations. If you want to restore profitability the first thing you'll need to do is reduce operating costs and overhead. Have a meeting and determine which expenses are not absolutely vital to the continuity of the company, and then expeditiously eliminate or decrease those expenses one by one using a combination of debt consolidation, creditor negotiations, and management/planning techniques.
What can you do if your business is not making any money?
You need to asses whether there is a true prospect of recovery. If you feel that the business has a chance of becoming successful again but it is currently severely indebted then you may want to attempt formal negotiations with creditors through a company voluntary arrangement (CVA), which is essentially a binding contract that prevents your creditors from being able to take legal action against you while also fetching revised repayment terms to reduce minimum monthly payment amounts.
If your business is losing money and you're looking for a solution that will restore your operations to a state of profitability, you may want to consider some professional guidance. Our licensed insolvency practitioners are legally obligated to provide honest and accurate advice. Call us on 0800 644 6080 or email us for a free comprehensive consultation.


"My Portfolio" page contained the list of latest 10 buy/sell transactions.
All the buy/sell transactions since the start of the service (July 30, 2016) are now present on the portfolio page.
As on date (January 27, 2017), the list contains 33 transactions, including 32 buy transactions and 1 sell transaction.
A new 2 years subscription option has also been introduced.
Now subscribers may choose from the 1 year or 2 year subscription option while taking fresh subscription or renewals or for extending the subscription period even during the middle of the existing running subscription.
The portfolio composition details as on July 30, 2016 (based on closing prices of July 29, 2016) have been disclosed at the "My Portfolio" page.
Original portfolio composition at the start of "Follow My Portfolio" service along with the buy/sell transactions would help all the investors understand the dynamic progression of the portfolio over time.
This would especially help the investors who have joined the service subsequent to July 30, 2016 as the latest portfolio composition keeps on changing with every transaction.
This premium service was commenced on July 30, 2016. The portfolio had generated annualized return (CAGR) 73.25% from the start date of portfolio August 8, 2011 up to July 30, 2016 (at closing prices of July 29, 2016).
The total annualized return from the start date of portfolio August 8, 2011 up to January 27, 2017 stands at 64.27%.
It is highly recommended that investors read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at the subscription page to understand the terms & conditions and contours of this service.


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You've Got to See it Before You Can Read it! Making Ancient Texts and Images Available on the Web
June 20, 2013 at 6:25 PM ET by William Noel, Ph.D., William Noel
William Noel is being honored as a Champion of Change for the vision he has demonstrated and for his commitment to open science.
I was one of those people who found their passion early. When I was about six, my Dad gave me a book called The Nursery History of England. It started out with "Little Men and Big Beasts," and it ended with Queen Victoria. Not that I spent much time at the end of the book. I got bored when the book reached 1381, the date of the Peasant's Revolt. I just read the beginning, with pictures of Alfred the Great and King Canute and King Harold and the Battle of Hastings, over and over again. I was hooked on medieval history.
My expensive English education only confirmed my life path. My history teacher was sublime; my science teachers were terrible: Physics was taught by a man who fenced for England, biology by a man who jogged across the United States, and chemistry by the UK hockey coach. But they couldn't teach the sciences, and if I had any latent interest in science, it totally died.
Fast forward 25 years and I was the curator of a wonderful collection of illuminated medieval manuscripts at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. I knew nothing about the digital revolution that was about to explode, and neither did the museum. And then a private collector left on my desk an old book called The Archimedes Palimpsest. Its important texts - which included unique works by the ancient Greek mathematician - were erased in the thirteenth century, and the private collector charged me with making them legible. This developed into a worldwide project that involved multispectral imaging in Baltimore and X-ray fluorescence imaging at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. It also involved the work of scholars of Greek texts throughout the world. It was a cool project, we discovered neat things, and I finally got to realize that science – ancient and modern – was actually incredibly cool.
The importance of the project in this context, however, is that the owner of the book insisted that we publish the raw data as a set of flat files on the Internet, for anyone to use however they liked, and for free. I thought this was a nutty idea. How were people actually going to read the book: Would they have to open up each of the files in turn? Why were we not building an interface for people to conveniently view the book? Surely that was what was needed...
As so often in this project, I was wrong. The point is that anyone could build an interface, anyone could do with this data exactly what they wanted. They could ingest it into their own institutional repositories, they could further process the images, and they could create interfaces to read the text. And that is exactly what has happened. The dataset is now replicated in libraries around the world, and the images are being enjoyed by all sorts of people in all sorts of different context. The project is over, but the data and its manipulation live on in an open environment.
This experience fundamentally transformed me as a curator of rare materials. With a wonderful crew of people, and with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH,) I started to digitize the illuminated manuscripts under my care and present them on the web in the same form as the Archimedes data. The result is that images from these manuscripts are now the easiest images to find of medieval manuscripts on the web: just try finding them on a Google image search! The traditional audience for these materials is grateful, and entirely new audiences have been reached.
The great problem in my field is that so few repositories of ancient books make digital images of their material available in truly useful ways: the data needs to be free, it needs to be published at the resolution at which it is captured, and it needs to be presented outside any fancy interfaces so that others can ingest it and use it as they like with the least "friction" possible. The web of medieval manuscripts in the future isn't going to be built by institutions; it's going to be built by users who are going to present the data as they want to present it, to answer the questions that they want to ask. The institutions need only provide the data – but they do have to provide the data! I now direct The Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies at The University of Pennsylvania, which is in part dedicated to making this happen.
I want to use this opportunity to talk about another fascinating dataset created by the same team that created the Archimedes Palimpsest data. Like the Archimedes manuscript, this one too is a palimpsest – with the important text scraped off. The erased text was written in the ninth century, and it is by far the fullest witness to a Syriac translation of Galen's On Simple Drugs by Sergius of Res 'Ayna. There could well be other texts in the manuscript that have yet to be identified. A group of Syriac scholars is working on this, but the text was much more thoroughly erased than the Archimedes text, and what is needed is a campaign by people who can process the raw data to create legible images for these scholars. So, if you are an image processor and feel up to the Indiana Jones Challenge, have a go at it, and send me the results. I'll put you in touch with the right people! Here is the dataset.
William Noel is the Director of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, and the Director of the Special Collections Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
William Noel, Ph.D.
Director of the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies at The University of Pennsylvania
The Final State of the Union
Watch President Obama's final State of the Union address.
Read what the President is looking for in his next Supreme Court nominee.
Take a look at America's three newest national monuments.


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Part 1: DirectX 11 Gaming And Multi-Core CPU Scaling
By Chris Angelini published 21 October 16
We test five theoretical Intel CPUs in 10 different DirectX 11-based games to determine what impact core count has on performance.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor & Rise of the Tomb Raider
Page 1: Comparing 2, 4, 6, 8, And 10-Core CPUs In DX11
Page 2: Ashes of the Singularity & Battlefield 4
Page 3: Grand Theft Auto V & Hitman (2016)
Page 4: Interview with 4A Games & Metro: Last Light Redux
Page 5: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor & Rise of the Tomb Raider
Page 6: Interview With Slightly Mad Studios & Project CARS
Page 7: Interview With Ubisoft Massive & The Division
Page 8: The Witcher 3 & Conclusion
In terms of average and minimum frame rates, Middle-earth is perhaps the least-interesting title in our suite. But the frame time variance charts tell a different story: mainly, the 10-core CPU exhibits strange yet repeatable spikes throughout the run. Intel's Core i3-6320 has issues of its own, but they're nowhere near as severe.
Flip back over to the average frame rates, though, and you see every CPU from two to 10 cores exceeding 150 FPS. Given the title's Core i5-750 minimum requirement, you'd think a Core i3 with HT disabled would suffer more.
A presumed lack of optimization for multi-core CPUs results in average and minimum frame rates that simply do not change as you pile on host processing resources. However, the move up to 2560x1440 does afflict our eight-core -6900K with the same issue that affected Intel's Core i7-6950X at 1920x1080. Incidentally, the 10-core CPU still demonstrates frenetic frame times through Middle-earth's built-in benchmark.
The story changes little from 2560x1440 to 3840x2160—five processors perform similarly, as the highest core counts exhibit odd frame time behavior.
MORE: Best CPUs
MORE: Intel & AMD Processor Hierarchy
MORE: All CPU Content
Officially, Rise of the Tomb Raider requires at least a Core i3-2100. Although our Core i3-6320 is significantly faster, remember that we turn off its Hyper-Threading technology to isolate just the physical cores for our experiment. As a result, we're limited to two threads rather than the four you'd get from a stock -2100. Perhaps that's why we couldn't get a successful run out of our dual-core setup at 1920x1080.
The other four CPUs are fairly evenly matched, on the other hand. Intel's Core i7-6700K does achieve the highest average thanks to a burst of performance during the last quarter of the run. But it subsequently drops to a lower minimum frame rate than the eight- and 10-core CPUs.
Interestingly, the -6700K also suffers the worst frame time spikes through the run. They aren't frequent, but you'll certainly "feel" 100 and 300 ms hiccups.
Two cores do make it through our test at 2560x1440, though the low minimum frame rate is a good sign that the frame time results won't be pretty. Sure enough, exaggerated peaks and valleys illustrate the Core i3's plight.
Everything else is once again comparable.
By 3840x2160, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080 is shouldering most of the workload. Superficially, the dual-core i3's Skylake architecture benefits from this, jumping into a first-place finish in average frame rate (or at least a five-way tie with the other CPUs). Its minimum frame rate isn't even a red flag. Flip over to the frame time graphs, though, and it's evident that smoothness is still an issue.
As we saw in our 2560x1440 results, the other four processors behave similarly.
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