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July 12, 2019 Mark Morris Dance Group at Mostly Mozart
June 27, 2019 Amanda Selwyn Dance Theater: Crossroads at New York Live Arts
June 21, 2019 Longtime Artistic and Executive Directors of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem announce their retirement, following the 112th Bach Festival.
June 20, 2019 Guitarist Christoph Denoth plays South American Repertoire at SubCulture, June 10, 2019
June 20, 2019 Handbagged by Moira Buffini at 59 East 59
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Poor Behavior, Written and Directed by Theresa Rebeck at the New Ohio Theater
February 20, 2019Mari S. Gold
Filed UnderFilm
A Scene from Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior
Poor Behavior
written and directed by Theresa Rebeck
New Ohio Theater
A Weekend in the Country
Teresa Rebeck, writer of Broadway's Bernhardt/Hamlet, NBC's Smash and more, is one talented lady but her film directorial debut, Poor Behavior, left me scratching my head. Set in a Vermont country house, it deals with two couples from New York spending the weekend together. Everyone drinks a lot and fights incessantly, goading one another into increasingly bad behavior. However, not one of the characters is very interesting nor are the barbs they trade particularly clever.
Early on I anticipated a punch-up between the two husbands and that at least someone would drive away (wrong, two people do.) There's no back (or front) story—what do these people do when not swilling wine and being unpleasant? We get the country house with some outdoors scenes (in the talk-back, Ms. Rebeck spoke of how "freeing" being outside was), talk of food and evidence of grocery shopping (but no eating) and the joy of hot showers but the whole is one dimensional, sort of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf minus zingers and fleshed-out characters. The dialogue feels improvisational although Rebeck said there wasn't a great deal of improv during the seven days when she shot the entire film that employs herky-jerky camera work which doesn't do anything to enhance the action.
There is one terrific scene in which Alan Smith as Ian, the Irish ex-pat husband with Blarney in his voice when he wants it there, stands on a country road as a somewhat sinister-looking older man drives by. Is he a reminder of Ian's father who may or may not have recently died? A hint of the devil? Ian's fear of being judged? (In actuality, he's Rebeck's Vermont country neighbor but never mind.) The moment has a touch of menace that's welcome as it's one of the few genuine emotions in the film.
What about those "disgusting" muffins, with pretentious flavors that Ella (Katie Kreisler) picks apart to the annoyance of Peter, her husband (Brian Dykstra)? Are they a metaphor signaling that many things that look good at first sight really aren't? This ties-in to how Ian feels about his wife, Maureen, (Heidi Armbruster) whom he claims to have loved early on but now finds a manipulative nut job. Maureen is so difficult, even when trying not to be, it's hard to understand how anyone would want to be her friend much less her husband.
At the talk back, Rebeck spoke in half-sentences and bits of phrases punctuated with shrugs. Many audience members seemed to find her fascinating, probably because the theater was larded with film-makers and wannabe auteurs. It was a "you had to have been there" experience making me feel like the sole American in a roomful of Latvian speakers fresh from a group visit to Disneyland.
Somewhere in the deliberate chaos, the film explores goodness and modern marriage, both of which are tested and found wanting. However, it lacks subtlety and ends up close to an extended sit-com which I doubt was what Rebeck intended. She's both prolific and skilled so I hope she goes on to write and direct works worthy of her abilities. As for this poorly behaved foursome, good luck.
Tagged WithNew Ohio TheaterTheresa RebeckVermont
Mari S. Gold
Mari S. Gold is a freelance writer who contributes to many magazines and websites. Her blog, But I Digress… , on cultural events, travel, food and other topics is at www.marigoldonline.net. She lives in New York City.
I Will Look Forward to this Later at the New Ohio Theatre
No-Win Productions presents the World Premiere of Georg Büchner's Woyzeck, FJF, at the New Ohio Theater, February 28 – March 21 (closed)
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Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra conducted by Killian Farrell, Nathan Aspinall, and Andris Nelsons, with Thomas Rolfs, trumpet soloist; July 8, 2019: Iconoclastic Shostakovich, plus Bombastic Tchaikovsky, Ingenious Glanert, Giddy Berlioz: the TMC Orchestra's First Concert of 2019
The job of a critic has two elements: the first is to report the facts of a performance: what was played, by whom, and what the music and performance were like in objective terms, as far as possible (never fully successful); and the second is to offer some judgments about the quality of both music and performance. This second part is fraught with difficulties: judgments are necessarily subjective, and yet in order for them to be useful to the reader, they need to be justified in terms of the values upon which they are based, especially since the critic is fully aware that his/her long-held prejudices (euphemistically called convictions) are not necessarily shared by readers.
Tanglewood's Boston Symphony Orchestra Opening Night, Friday, July 5, 2019: Mozart Piano Concerto in E Flat, K. 482 and Mahler's Fifth Symphony
On Friday night as evening approached, a quintet of wind players from the Boston Symphony, joined by excellent pianist Jonathan Bass, set the mild summer air of Ozawa Hall in motion with an elegant program of wind music well-suited to assist listeners transition from the pleasures of a perfect day in the Berkshires to the orchestral depths of tragedy, passion, and triumph by nightfall. Mozart initiated both programs with elegant, joyful, and subtly profound works composed at the apex of his career: the piano and winds quintet, which he professed to be his favorite among works composed to that point, and the concerto, no. 22, which (along with no. 23) stands unostentatiously between better-known works on either side (nos. 20 and 21 preceding, nos. 24 and 25 following).
Stockbridge: Summer 1966, A memoir of the Berkshire Theatre Festival's inaugural season — Part III, Conclusion
A memoirist is like one of those blind men in the fable, famously describing an elephant, or like one of the witnesses to murder in Akira Kurosawa's film Rashomon. Each person experiencing an event sees things from their own perspective, drags his or her own baggage to the place of recounting. Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto, in his study of Kurosawa, says "Memory of a single person cannot be trusted completely because of a human propensity for using memory as a means of self-justification." Of course. I was there in the summer of '66. I kept my eyes open (I was wide-eyed as only a young theater person can be),listened, took notes, and, like everybody else, carried my own baggage. I still do, stowing it overhead, seldom checking it at the gate, for fear it will get lost. I have the soul of an archivist, the heart of a librarian and the instincts of a packrat. Now and then I unpack and, as best I can, try to remember what happened.
Stars Crossing in New York's Electric City
It is simple enough to dismiss the once vital Schenectady New York, with the dwindling fortunes of General Electric. The town with a hard-to-pronounce name famously malapropped in Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New Yorkwas once the seat of the largest employer and economic force in the upstate New York region. The fates have been unkind, and its poor environmental record coupled with challenges transitioning to renewable energy has dealt a fatal blow.
Stockbridge: Summer 1966, A memoir of the Berkshire Theatre Festival's inaugural season — Part II (of 3): George Tabori's Production of The Merchant of Venice, set in a Nazi concentration camp
As soon as the Wilder play opened, rehearsals for The Merchant of Venice began. Viveca Lindfors had already been rehearsing The Cretan Woman for two weeks and directors Tabori and Martin Fried would share the actors who were in both plays. Tabori's task was an immense one, almost impossible. He and his actors dealt in rehearsal with three levels of reality at once. His production was based on legend, on the rumor that Shakespeare's play had been performed by actors in an internment camp during the second World War. In this "model" camp, created by the Nazis to show the world that they treated their prisoners with kindness and compassion, imprisoned theater artists had approached their warders and proposed a theatrical production. The commanders of the camp had said "All right, but you must perform that anti-semitic play The Merchant of Venice." George said to us "I don't to this day know the production was done in the death camp, where, or by whom, or how, or ever. But the legend persists, unconfirmed and haunting as legends are. This spring, a Hungarian magazine carried an item, suggesting that the play had been presented, at the command of the Nazis, in Terezin, already famous for a performance there of Verdi's Requiem."
Stockbridge: Summer 1966, A memoir of the Berkshire Theatre Festival's inaugural season — Part I (of 3): Beginnings and Arthur Penn's Production of The Skin of Our Teeth, with Anne Bancroft
Arthur Penn saw his chance in a proposal that the Hungarian writer/director George Tabori and his wife Viveca Lindfors made to the board of directors of the Berkshire Playhouse in Stockbridge, where Penn and his friend and colleague William Gibson happened to live. The Playhouse had operated for decades as a typical summer stock theater, often featuring stars in leading roles, but what was known as "The Straw Hat Circuit" was fading in popularity and the theater's board of directors, hearing Tabori and Lindfors' proposal, decided to try a different approach to summer theater.
A Crop of Recordings XXV: Gliere, Respighi, Lortzing, Antheil, and Wagner
Reinhold Glière was fortunate to thrive under Soviet Communism. A long-limbed bardic style, featuring haunting melodies evoking the Russian ecclesiastical past, ruffled no political feathers. Nor did velvety explorations of Scriabin-influenced chromaticism. He was never purged. But Glière paid a price for fame in the world of democracy and commerce, it would seem. His greatest work, the 1912 Mahler-length Symphony No. 3, "Il'ya Muromets", was deemed "too long" for the concert hall in America. To ensure its presentation, Leopold Stokowski persuaded the composer to pare it down drastically, and it was in this incomplete condition that the work took root in Philadelphia and in American ears.
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with the help of my wonderful mum, my lovely boyfriend and friends Fiona and Hannah.
It was a really challenging, interesting, worthy, exciting, exhausting and fun experience.
I met lots of lovely people* who loved my cards and even got some commissions which is more than I was expecting and SO flattering!
*and one strange lady who thought my 'we wish you a beary christmas card' said 'beery' and was encouraging people to drink beer... even though there's bears on it, but she bought them anyway!
In "AE1", "Christmas", "Craft Fair", "black and white", "boy", "cards", "for sale", "friends"


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Israeli Startup Finds Holy Grail of Garbage Disposal: Converting It Into Products
DATE : Apr 16 2019 /SOURCE : Haaretz
Garbage is a blight. It gets collected by the city — or in some cases even by the mafia —, which pile it up, burns it or dumps it illegally somewhere else, contaminating land and sea. Rich countries export theirs to poor ones, which burn their own, fouling the air even more. Recycling is a sop, not a panacea: the World Bank estimates that global municipal solid waste will grow from 2.01 billion tonnes a year to 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050.
No large-scale solutions for trash have ever been found, aside from returning to the Stone Age — until the Israeli startup UBQ invented a way to turn garbage into something extremely useful: a new composite material that looks like plastic, acts like plastic but unlike plastic, is fully recyclable.
All garbage? "With the food residue too," boasts co-founder and CEO Jack "Tato" Bigio, a member of the extremely experienced executive and advisory team, which includes Nobel laureate Roger Kornberg. The company, which has reached 33 employees, is working on converting trash into bricks and pavement too.
Why plastic? Itself a blessing and a blight too, it was invented in the early 1900s and hailed for its indestructability, then bewailed for that very characteristic. We assuage our consciences by tossing one of every hundred containers we use towards a recycling bin, but recycled plastic quickly loses its features. UBQ's composite includes cellulose from foods and wood and can thus be recycled indefinitely, the company explains.
Using a patented conversion process, UBQ turns unsorted garbage into thermoplastic pellets for plastic manufacture. Existing manufacturers can use the pellets without retrofitting, says Bigio.
Manufacturers can use this new material to make things like panels and pipes by extrusion, or to make bins, pallets, boxes and flower potsby injection molding.
The pre-plastic pellets are made from more finely chopped trash; road materials and bricks are being developed from coarser trash. The only input into both processes: garbage. The only output: plastic precursorand water vapor that escapes from the drying garbage itself.
Crucially, the company's process it is massively carbon-negative, Bigio explains.
It does emit greenhouse gases (GHG) when transporting trash to UBQ conversion plants, and from the power to run the plants. But while making one tonne of polypropylene produces more than two tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions (and the feedstock is fossil fuels), and producing a tonne of polylactic acid from corn generates 3.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide, UBQ claims that each tonne of its composite reduces carbon dioxide emissions by about 15 tonnes, in net terms.
How? "Because of the GHG emissions from garbage," Bigio explains. "One tonne of solid waste emits about 7 to 9 tonnes of GHGs a year."
Founded in 2012, UBQ operates out of a WeWork office in Tel Aviv and an industrial plant in the Negev Desert.
"At this stage, we are focused on the plastic applications (which are the more complicated and also profitable) while developing the next generation: bricks, stone, pavement," Bigio says. "I believe it will take us between one to two years to be out with that product."
Asked how durable the bricks are, Bigio couldn't be sure; but Haaretz held one. It looked like a brick, it felt like a brick and we will know soon enough.
The company isn't profitable yet, because of investment in R&D, personnel and factories. "It really depends on us. I believe it will take a few years," Bigio says.
The company's process can even handle electronics, which people know perfectly well they shouldn't junk, but do anyway. Electronics get crushed and chopped with the rest of the garbage, and heavy metals get removed with metal elements in the trash, by applying magnets and metal detectors to the trash throughout the conversion process.
The recyclability of UBQ's material is also greater than that of conventional plastics, leading us closer to a truly viable circular economy, right now, Bigio says.
So the company has invented a patented method to convert our crap into a novel patented thermoplastic substance (i.e., it melts when heated) that looks like plastic, behaves like plastic, has the tensile strength of plastic, and can be 100% recycled. It emits no waste, just water vapor.
The price of its composite is competitive with ordinary plastic, he says. Anyway, collecting and dumping trash is expensive too. As for the future production trash conversion plants into bricks and roads, the company intends to sell whole plants, and points out that in the case of needy countries, organizations such as the World Bank or UN could help with funding.
It's a solution for everybody: everybody produces garbage and wants plastics and needs building materials.
One rub. If UBQ's product ends up in a landfill or the sea, it behaves like all other plastic. It isn't compostable like the alternative plastic made by companies such as Israel-based Tipa, or biodegradable. On the other hand, if we recycle at all, it can be recycled, and people do like their Tupperware and "rubber" duckies.
This article is being published as part of Earth Beats, an international and collaborative initiative gathering 18 news media outlets from around the world to focus on solutions to waste and pollution.
Keywords: UBQ , Earth Beats
Upcycling: Turning Old Clothes Into Something New
Manuela Donati / Apr 17 2019
Chinese Rare Earth Producers Join Forces to Stabilize the Market
Yicai Global / Aug 09 2016
Chinese Regulator Urges Orderly Quotes, Firm Self-Discipline to Rein In Runaway Rare Earth Prices
Xu Wei / Aug 09 2017
China's Zhongke Sanhuan to Make Magnets for NEVs With China Southern Rare Earth
Tang Shihua / Apr 22 2019
China's Rare Earth Industry Has Achieved Remarkably, Baotou Deputy Mayor Says
Tang Shihua / Aug 30 2017

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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A sign outside Cisco Systems headquarters in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) (Paul Sakuma)
How workers took a bite out of Silicon Valley's wealth gap
Widening class disparities in San Jose generated a powerful political response: A higher minimum wage
Check out this article! https://www.salon.com/2013/08/12/how_workers_took_a_bite_out_of_silicon_valleys_wealth_gap/
August 12, 2013 8:29PM (UTC)
In her excellent long read on the successful fight for a higher minimum wage in San Jose, Nona Willis Aronowitz describes the heart of Silicon Valley as kind of ground zero for "wealth gap" class disparities.
...[F]ood stamp participation is the highest it's been in 10 years. The homeless population, residing in San Jose's perennially raided tent encampments, rose 20 percent in two years. The average income for Hispanics, who make up a quarter of Silicon Valley residents, fell to a new low of about $19,000 a year in 2011. Meanwhile, the rich have never been richer, and prices are rising along with their salaries. San Jose's median home price is almost $600,000, and rents average just under $2,000 a month.
Aronowitz recounts the tale of how San Jose State students, themselves struggling to make ends meet while working minimum wage jobs, organized to do something about the wealth gap. Inspired by San Francisco's minimum wage hike in 2003 (along with data bolstering the case that San Francisco's economy wasn't harmed afterward), the students gathered signatures, got an initiative -- Measure D -- on the ballot, and prevailed in November 2012, raising San Jose's minimum wage from $8 to $10: "the single largest minimum-wage jump in the nation's history." It's a great story of grass-roots activism and organization. (Unfortunately, the story is also paywalled, so if you want to read it, you will have to fork over the equivalent of 12 minutes of minimum-wage compensated labor.)
San Jose is the home of long-established pillars of the tech economy such as Adobe and Cisco. But the minimum wage fight was won without any help from the lords of Silicon Valley. The Chamber of Commerce and San Jose's mayor actively opposed the wage hike. From Aronowitz's telling, the tech companies hardly even noticed the issue.
And why should they? "... for the San Jose tech sector, Measure D was as relevant as Uber and $20 BLTs were to minimum wage workers."
Several Silicon Valley tech networks I reach out to have no comment on the matter, and a few engineers and coders I speak with barely know about the measure. The general consensus seems to be that when it comes to the civic life of the city, the tech industry remains completely separate.
"Almost any minimum wage job at a major tech company has surely been outsourced to some other company," San Jose Mercury News business columnist Mike Cassidy writes in an email. In terms of politics, "the valley does exude a certain progressive social consciousness, but ironically it's often at a 35,000-foot level, rather than at a down-the-street level."
However, the measure passed with a solid 60 percent majority of the vote, which suggests that at least some of San Jose's tech workers recognized a larger interest in their community's welfare than their own immediate corporate horizons. That "progressive social consciousness" isn't completely evanescent. The bottom line: The growing wealth gap spawned a potent political response in the heart of the tech economy. Could that be a sign of things to come on a national level?
Class Warfare Income Inequality Minimum Wage Silicon Valley Tech Economy Wealth Gap
2020 Dems must refute Good Economy myth
More programmers fired for unionizing
Yelp is turning customers into managers
Video game workers walk out


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As I suspect is probably the same for teens today, my teen years were the period when I was most reluctant to venture outside my comfort zone. Whether to say hello to a newcomer or try a new craft or sport. Even to help in a way I'd never helped before.
To trust—in myself, in family, in God.
Adults often find it difficult to encourage—let alone convince—teenagers to trust, to reach out, branch out, think courageously or outside the box. But story can sometimes do the job we are unable to do.
This holiday season I recommend a few books that might help. Most are newly released novels, and one is an anthology of short stories in case a teen won't sit still long enough to read a novel. 🙂
I've read and enjoyed them all. Full disclosure: The anthology contains a short story of mine, and all its stories contain strong Catholic elements. One of the novels is mine as well, and the character lineup includes deaf and Jewish teens.
All these books can be enjoyed equally by boys and girls. So, take a look. You might find the right gift for a teen you know this Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Hanukkah.
First up: Roland West Outcast (West Brothers series) by Theresa Linden, who was raised in a military family, where she developed strong patriotism and a sense of adventure.
Shy Roland West, who fears speaking up, attends high school with gossips and troublemakers. After panicking in speech class and becoming the subject of gossip, his best friend, Peter, pushes him to uncover the vandals of an outcast's house before they strike again.
My review: How I rooted for Roland to find his voice in this book! But Peter . . . he surprised me by becoming my favorite character of the West Brothers series. To quote him: "You can't act on your impulses just because you love someone." Therein lie the strength and beauty of the story message. Sometimes, like some of the characters in Roland West Outcast, young people believe that their feelings justify their actions. The results can be harmful to themselves or to the ones they love. Both Roland and Peter prove what pure, unselfish love can be. And they are put to the test in defending their faith and demonstrating it, in spite of strong criticism, while solving a mystery and righting a wrong committed against a new girl at their school.
Next: Where You Lead by Leslea Wahl, who strives to write fiction that will inspire readers to use their own talents and gifts to glorify God.
Sixteen-year-old Eve's lonely existence changes in an instant when visions of a mysterious stranger haunt her. Certain God is calling her for a mission, she bravely says yes and begins her quest to meet this young man. Thousands of miles away, Nick has been dealing with his own unusual experience, an unwavering certainty to convince his father to run for political office.
My review: This is my favorite of Leslea Wahl's novels so far. The setting of this mystery is Washington D.C., and the historical and geographical references flavor the backdrop in just the right amounts. I immediately connected with Eve, and both Eve and Nick are not only likable characters but endearing. The balance of description, narrative, and dialogue makes this novel a smooth read. This story could be the start of a good series. It is clean with Christian/Catholic elements that are used in a natural way for the characters.
And: 3 Things to Forget (Bird Face series book four) by Cynthia T. Toney. That's me! In Alaska, Wendy thinks she's left behind the problems resulting from her mistakes in Louisiana, at least for a while. But starting the summer at her friend Sam's house and volunteering with wildlife conservation bring not only strange surroundings but also strangers into her life. And those strangers have a secret involving a troubled girl who threatens Wendy's friendship with Sam. As Wendy struggles to understand the Alaskans she meets and gets to know, will she be able forget what she hopes to, or will her new challenges teach her the importance of remembering the past?
The anthology: Secrets: Visible & Invisible by seven authors of CatholicTeenBooks.com. This fiction anthology is a great way to get a taste of seven very different authors and their writing styles. It includes contemporary, dystopian, historical, mystery, romance, and more. Here are the nutshell descriptions of the stories:
1. In a dystopian future, an innocent picnic turns deadly!
2. Elijah knows nothing of the elderly stranger's secret past–until her disappearance changes everything.
3. A mysterious, ever-changing painting alarms a group of teens.
4. The cannonball took Dario's legs . . . Will he lose his soul too?
5. The arrival of a mysterious girl challenges everything about Jason's life.
6. An unlicensed driver. His dad's truck. What could possibly go wrong?
7. An old tale of murder and forbidden love leads to a modern day treasure hunt.
So, I hope you or a teen you love finds inspiration or motivation within one or more of these books. Have a beautiful holiday season!
anthology Bird Face series books for boys books for girls Catholic Catholic Teen Books fiction Judaism new release parents teens Uncategorized YA fiction Young Adult
It's Release Day and I awoke to a nice surprise!
This morning I awoke to find The Other Side of Freedom at #9 in its category of books for children in Mysteries & Detective stories. So I'm very excited today for a number of reasons. 🙂
This is the book I wrote while waiting for publication of my very first book, Bird Face, which later became 8 Notes to a Nobody and started the Bird Face series.
My inspiration for The Other Side of Freedom:
"Possibly orphaned but definitely impoverished, one of my great-grandfathers journeyed from Sicily to America as a young boy with a family not his own, and he grew up with their children. He established the strawberry farm that inspired the setting for this novel."
If you are a fiction writer, my advice to you is: Always have a manuscript in progress as you work to get another book published. You never know which one will become your favorite or the favorite of your readers!
book release books for boys books for girls Catholic Teen Books Christian crime drama family fiction friendship genre fiction historical fiction middle-grade mystery suspense teens Tweens Uncategorized YA fiction Young Adult
The West Brothers series … Standing Strong
Standing Strong is the fourth and most recent volume in the West Brothers contemporary Christian teen fiction series by award-winning author Theresa Linden. I've read the first three books to completion and am in the process of reading the fourth. I recommend this series containing spiritual, uplifting messages, especially for teens.
One of the most interesting characteristics of this series is that each book has its own unique flavor, in my opinion. The first has a strong anti-bullying message, the second is more romantic, and the third contains a battle between angels and demons. The fourth book, Standing Strong, goes like this:
Having just confessed his sins to his priest–more sins than a kid his age should have–Jarret jumps in his Chrysler 300 and races to the outskirts of town. Overwhelmed with emotion, he pulls off the road and flings himself face down behind an outcropping of rocks. Ever since that life-changing night in the canyon, Jarret has felt the presence of the Lord in his soul. Now that presence is fading. Is it his fault? How will he remain faithful without it when he still struggles against the same temptations?
Meanwhile his twin brother, Keefe, questions whether he has a calling to religious life. He's gone along with Jarret's bad schemes for years. Is he worthy of such a calling? What would he have to give up to pursue a vocation? Keefe reads everything he can about St. Francis and the Franciscans, but he's afraid to talk to his father about the Franciscans' upcoming discernment retreat because his father seems closed to faith. Is he ready to go all in?
And because we enjoy knowing how stories come about, here's some background on the series from the author:
While writing another story from Roland West's point of view, I received an email that changed my writing plans. I learned about a teen who finished reading Battle for His Soul in two days and who texted his teacher (a nun) to find more of my books!
The nun wrote, "This is a young man who does not like reading, and who is not the type to text nuns for a half an hour on a Sunday evening! But he is so ecstatic about this book."
That totally made my day and inspired me! Then the nun shared her ideas for the next story. She thought it would be great to read a novel about the converted Jarret West. Although he would want to do the right things, he would still have temptations and struggles to deal with and a lot of tough lessons to learn. "It's great for modern youth to have examples of how to deal with the everyday struggles they have."
After considering this nun's suggestions concerning Jarret West—and knowing his twin brother's unfinished business from Battle for His Soul—the storyline for Standing Strong came together! The book was written in record time too! It's a story that offers hope for those struggling with temptation. And it's a story for those who wonder if God might be calling them. And it's just plain fun! I hope that my readers find Standing Strong entertaining as well as encouraging. And I can't wait to find out how this young man and other teens feel about this story!
Follow the West brothers as they struggle through temptations and trials, down paths they can barely see, toward goals they desire in the depths of their hearts.
Standing Strong is available for pre-order. It releases October 4th in paperback and ebook on Amazon and in ebook on Barnes&Noble and Kobo.
An avid reader and writer since grade school, Theresa Linden grew up in a military family. Moving every few years left her with the impression that life is an adventure. Her Catholic faith inspires the belief that there is no greater adventure than the reality we can't see, the spiritual side of life. Visit her website: TheresaLinden.com. Follow Theresa Linden on Facebook and Twitter.
author feature book release books for boys Catholic Teen Books relationships suspense teens Uncategorized unusual plot YA fiction Young Adult
Coming Soon! 1920s Historical Novel for Tweens and Teens
Something new is coming in October, and it's
My first historical novel
My first crime drama
My first novel with a male protagonist
When the reward is the most costly sacrifice of all …
In a southern farming community in 1925, thirteen-year-old Salvatore and his Italian immigrant father become involved against their will in a crime that results in the murder of an innocent man and family friend. Will Sal keep the secrets about that night as his father asks, or risk everything he and his family cherish in their new homeland, including their lives?
Amidst bigotry, bootlegging, police corruption, and gangland threats, Sal must discover whom he can trust in order to protect himself and his family and win back his father's freedom. Sal's family, their African-American farmhand, and the girl who is Sal's best friend find their lives forever changed as dreams are shattered and attitudes challenged in a small community called Freedom.
Let's visit the 1920s like you've never seen them before! I hope to meet you there!
book covers books for boys books for girls Catholic Teen Books Christian crime drama family fiction friendship genre fiction historical fiction middle-grade mystery relationships romance setting suspense teens Tweens Uncategorized unusual plot values YA fiction Young Adult
Battle between Darkness and Light: author Katy Huth Jones
Note from Bird Face Wendy: I've read two of this author's books (including the one featured below) and recommend them for teens and adults. Now for Katy …
Since I was a young girl, I've been aware of the great battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. In the 1960s, Communism embodied the darkness in my mind, because that's what my parents talked about. They had met while working at the CIA and saw current events filtered through what they'd learned, things that the average citizen did not know. Other turmoil of the sixties added to my realization that all was not right in the world.
Later I came to realize that the physical battles were but a reflection of the great spiritual battle taking place all around us. I discovered books about real people standing valiantly against the forces of darkness, even when they often lost their lives doing so. The Diary of Anne Frank and The Hiding Place were two stories that made a profound impact on me at a young age, and I wanted to emulate the heroism demonstrated by Anne Frank and the ten Boom sisters.
One historical person came to embody this great spiritual battle in a personal way for me. The story of Saint Wenceslas (Good King Wenceslas, as you may know him) touched me so much I had to know everything that was knowable about his life of faith. Even as a very young man, his fervor for light and truth shone in the midst of a dark and evil time (the early 10th century, the Dark Ages). Wenceslas stands as a beacon of hope not only to the people of his time, but to those of us living today. I wrote his story as Treachery and Truth: A Story of Sinners, Servants, and Saints.
My two YA fantasy series have similar themes of finding hope and light in the midst of darkness, though one is more overtly Christian than the other.
In all my books, I show through my characters how young people can demonstrate courage and faith while struggling to make sense of the turmoil of our current times, just as I did in the sixties.
Katy Huth Jones in costume similar to a 10th century woman's in Bohemia
Katy Huth Jones grew up in a family where creative juices overflowed and made puddles to splash in. When not writing or sewing or drawing or taking photos, Katy plays piccolo and flute in The Symphony of the Hills. She lives with her husband Keith in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Their two sons, whom she homeschooled, have flown the nest and live creative lives of their own. Best of all, she is a cancer survivor.
Visit Katy's blog at http://www.katyhuthjones.blogspot.com or contact her on twitter @KatyHuthJones
author feature books for boys Catholic genre fiction historical fiction romance Uncategorized values YA fiction Young Adult
A Christmas Sampling of Good Books
Over the past several months, I've probably read the largest variety of books for children and young adults ever for me. It was hard to narrow down a selection of only a few to include in this post. Out of fairness, I chose works from authors I've never before featured on this blog. And they happen to include books for audiences ranging from young children to college-age. I hope you enjoy learning about them and consider them for Christmas gifts this year!
FINDING PATIENCE (Adventures of Faith, Hope, and Charity)
The author, Virginia Lieto, describes her illustrated book: For children, waiting for anything seems endless! Faith Livingstone, age eight, would agree, having just moved to a new town and about to enter a new school. Faith wants so badly to make new friends and feel like she belongs in her new surroundings. It all can't happen fast enough for Faith! Journey with Faith as she struggles to make new friends and learns an important lesson in the value of the virtue of patience.
The author's website: http://virginialieto.com
My reaction to this book: This story is so sweet, I almost cried! It can help children understand that their needs won't (and shouldn't) always be met immediately. Some things they want and need are worth waiting (and praying) for. The ending is perfect and took me by surprise, which is not easy to do. I recommend this book as a gift any time of year, and if you purchase it well before Christmas, it may help a child practice patience before receiving other gifts.
PALACE OF THE TWELVE PILLARS (Book one of the series by the same name)
The author, Christina Weigand, describes this novel:
The Peace Summit was in shambles, the prince kidnapped.
When the rival king realizes he kidnapped the wrong prince, hostilities escalate. Loyalties to each other and country are tested for the twin princes of Crato, Joachim and Brandan.
Joachim, captive of King Waldrom, faces deception and betrayal as he struggles to find his way home. Brandan, at home with a father focused on rescuing Joachim, wrestles with his own demons as he searches for his place in the world and the favor of his father.
Torn from the safety and peace of their childhood, they are thrust into a world where bonds of family, brotherhood and roles as heirs to Crato are tested. Through war, spiritual journeys, death and marriage, will they choose the path of good or evil? Who can be trusted, as the world they know slips into a whirlpool of chaos?
The author's website: www.weigandchris.com
My reaction to this book: I like a number of things about this novel to make me recommend it. And bear in mind that I seldom read fantasy. 🙂
This author uses character and place names that I can pronounce in my head and remember. Many times I've tossed aside a fantasy novel because the names were too odd, complex, or similar to one another.
I enjoyed the plot. It holds just enough action and romance for my tastes.
I appreciate that the language and writing style are simple and straight-forward, and the novel is shorter than some in length. I'm always on the lookout for books that teen boys might be interested in reading and would stick with, and this is one I think they'd like. And so would girls who enjoy reading about princes.
A SHEPHERD'S SONG: A Christmas Romance
The author, Janice Lane Palko, says this about her story:
Tom Shepherd is anything but a hero. A senior physics major at Three Rivers University in Pittsburgh, he just wants to make some easy cash. On the last Sunday in November, he arrives to sell the Christmas season's hottest toy, So Big Sammy, for three times its retail price to a buyer, but a snafu lands him in the middle of a bone marrow drive benefitting four-year-old Christo Davidson, who has leukemia. When everyone there—including the media covering the event–assumes that Tom has come to give the toy to the sick boy, Tom has no choice but to give it away.
Lauded by the media as a hero and bestowed with the nickname The Good Shepherd, Tom finds himself an overnight celebrity. As a toy scalper and liar, he knows he's unworthy of the honor. When Gloria Davidson, a fellow student and Christo's relative, seeks out Tom to thank him for being so kind to her little cousin, Tom, bewitched by her beauty, embellishes his character and lies to further impress Gloria, portraying himself as a big-hearted philanthropist. Tom asks Gloria out, beginning a relationship that will lead him to examine everything he believes or doesn't believe. On Christmas Eve, Tom finds himself facing choices that will affect not only himself but also Gloria and Christo. Tom must choose between sacrifice and honor, love and loneliness, life and death.
The author's website: http://www.janicelanepalko.com
My reaction to this book: Although this is a Christmas story, it could simply be a great story that takes place any time of year. The Christmas setting and Christian/Catholic elements make it more special if you are a Christian or enjoy Christmas-theme fiction. I love that Ms. Palko tells this tale from a male point of view only. I get right into the main character's head and stay there. She makes college student Tom Shepherd believable, and she has him grow from a character the reader might at first dislike, but then pity, and finally find endearing. This novel is more than a Christmas romance, and I recommend it for older teens/young adults and new adults in particular.
author feature books for boys books for girls Catholic Christian teens Uncategorized YA fiction Young Adult
Exciting Adventure Series for Young People and Adults
Mark Adderley, author and baker (that's right!), told his adventure stories first to his children. Now they are a series of novels labeled YA (young adult) but great stories for adults, too.
The main character, McCracken, has been described as "Indiana Jones with a rosary." That sounds interesting!
McCracken—inventor, engineer, big-game hunter, and Catholic—along with his team, dive to the ocean floor or sail through the skies, ply through steaming jungles or wrestle with sharks and crocodiles. Steamships, trains, aeroplanes and airships abound in these fast-paced adventure stories.
Addrley's latest release (May 2016) is McCracken and the Lost Lagoon. McCracken has a new family and wants to give up the life of adventure. But adventure finds him when his old friend, Nicolas Jaubert, goes missing, and McCracken must complete Jaubert's work by finding the Corkindrill, a secret weapon that could help Britain and France win World War I. This thrilling new adventure story brings McCracken face-to-face with assassins, crocodiles, and Amazon warriors, carries him through strange civilizations and steaming jungles, and finally pits him against a diabolical villain whose evil plan is world domination.
An excerpt, with permission from the author:
My face was just a few inches from the grimacing face of the dead bandit. Fire-ants, some of them an inch long, swarmed over his back. I could hear their jaws and legs clicking faintly, beneath the roaring of the river.
Calavera cackled with laughter. He grabbed my hair and pushed my face towards the ants. I strained against him, but he had the advantage of height and weight, and I knew I could not resist long.
"Buenas noches, Señor McCracken," said Calavera. "Be a nice meal."
But then he gave a sharp cry and released me. I squirmed around to look. Blood trickled down the side of his face—something had hit him in the head. I wrenched myself from under him and leaped to my feet. He struggled upright, shaking his head. on the ground nearby lay a knife. I stole a glance upwards. José stood at the top of the ravine, his hand clutching his wound.
"More luck than accuracy, Señor McCracken!" he cried out.
Probably—and he had only distracted Calavera for a moment, not incapacitated him. But I drove my fist up into his stomach, where I had hit him before, and with a grunt he stepped backwards.
Right onto an ant-mound.
In his terror, he spun away from the swarm of little red devils and overbalanced. He fell over a slick rock and into the shallows beyond. I followed him, fists at the ready. For a few moments, we traded blows, neither of us moving backwards or forwards. I circled about in an effort to find a good opening, but found none; and now, my back was to the raging river. I could feel the cool spray over my back.
Calavera was impatient. With a howl of rage, he rushed at me. I dropped to one knee and, when he was close, shoved him upwards, my biceps screaming a protest, so that his momentum carried him, spiraling, over my head. With a terrible splat! and a bit of a crunch! he landed behind me. I spun round. He lay among the rocks at the very edge of the shallows, but from the waist down he was actually immersed in the river, which foamed white all about him. His fingers scrabbled at the slick rocks, and I knew he could not hold on much longer.
For a moment, while time seemed suspended, a debate raged in my soul. I wanted very much to let him be swept away to his death. I watched his fingers clutching, his eyes widening. I thought of the poor villagers he'd terrorized for ten years, of the profit he'd made from their poverty. What could be more fitting than to see him engulfed by the river?
But that wasn't my job, I knew.
If you enjoyed the excerpt, look for Lost Lagoon as well as these earlier titles in the series:
Author Bio: Like the famous Cat, Mark Adderley was born in Cheshire, England. His early influences included C. S. Lewis and adventure books of various kinds, and his teacher once wrote on his report card, "He should go in for being an author," advice that stuck with him. He studied for some years at the University of Wales, where he became interested in medieval literature, particularly the legend of King Arthur. But it was in graduate school that he met a clever and beautiful American woman, whom he moved to the United States to marry. He has been teaching and writing literature in America ever since and is now the director of the Via Nova Catholic Education Program in Yankton, South Dakota.
Visit Mark and learn more about his books at http://www.mccrackenbooks.com
author feature book release books for boys Catholic teens Uncategorized YA fiction Young Adult


text:
e-retailer Alibaba to buy 28% stake in mapping firm AutoNavi for $294m
Chinese e-Commerce giant Alibaba is set to acquire 28% stake in digital mapping company AutoNavi for $294m in a bid to improve its competitveness by expanding its product lineup.
Following this stake purchase, Alibaba executive vice chairman Joseph Tsaif and Alibaba mobile products division president Eddie Wu are to join AutoNavi's board of directors.
AutoNavi and several entities affiliated with Alibaba have also agreed to form a strategic alliance to jointly explore and develop location-based e-Commerce opportunities.
Through this they plan to share data including AutoNavi's map data and location-related information of the merchants on Alibaba's e-Commerce platforms – Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com.
Further, the Alibaba plans to promote its products and services leveraging AutopNavi's data pertaining to map engine, location search, navigation and cloud computing services.
Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma stated that this partnership is in line with company's plan to extend its services to mobile internet.
"We're pleased to work with partners such as AutoNavi to develop terrific applications and services that bring more convenience, fun, and joy to our users. We'll continue to work toward this goal with tireless enthusiasm," added Ma.
AutoNavi chief executive officer Congwu Cheng said the alliance with Alibaba highlights the importance of map applications as a key entry point for mobile services in the age of smartphones.
"With Alibaba's support, AutoNavi will be able to establish a massive platform of points of interest ("POIs") related to the kinds of services our users seek every day. The alliance will also enable us to create an innovative monetization model by providing consumers with a one-stop service application that integrates merchant information with POIs search, data mining, payment, and other e-commerce activities," he added.


E&E Foods | Pacific Star Seafoods, Inc.
>Home >Production and Sourcing >Pacific Star Seafoods, Inc.
E&E Foods, Inc. has been selling Pacific Star Seafoods' high quality salmon products since 2002, and acquired the company in 2005. Pacific Star Seafoods is located in Alaska's pristine Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska.
The cold, glacier fed waters of Cook Inlet annually produce abundant runs of all five species of wild Alaskan Salmon: king, sockeye, coho, pink and chum. Pacific Star Seafoods works with over 50 independent fishing vessels outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment to ensure the highest quality product. Pacific Star Seafoods' finished product, whether fresh or frozen, is available within hours of delivery to the plant.
product forms. Fresh-frozen products minimize shrinkage, keeping yields and margins high.
Pacific Star Seafoods, through E&E Foods, is a Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified supplier.
To ensure quality, Pacific Star operates in compliance with all state and federal regulatory bodies, holds QMP certification through the U.S. Department of Commerce and NOAA Fisheries Seafood Inspection Program, has an FDA approved HACCP plan (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, pronounced "Ha-sip") and European Union Control File Number (CFN) for seafood shipments to Europe.
For more information and to place product orders, please contact our sales team. We look forward to fulfilling your wild salmon and seafood requirements while exceeding your expectations for price, service, quality and yield/recovery.


Enhancement Request: Please increase number of available CHARACTERS in "Request to Mark Person as Living" from 260 (±5) to, at least, 1500.
No way to see reason for rejecting a dismissed hint on a person's profile record.
Major FAULT/FLAW: You (ie. "FamilySearch") have "BROKEN" the "Possible Duplicates" Tool!?
FAULT/FLAW: Appearance/Display of DATES when Records have been made has all of a sudden CHANGED from "dd MMMM yyyy" to "MMM dd, yyyy". NO!?


text:
Q: Large Training Set For NER I have a project that involves taking property descriptions and labeling key data elements. I decided to use spaCy in an effort to train my own NER pipe since these descriptions are not written like conventional sentences. However, when I go to train it gets to about 20% and then crashes and i am unable to find an explanation.
How it's set up
Below is a sample of my JSON. The full JSON is 2.6 MB and contains >1000 descriptions ranging from 40 - ~500 tokens. The file contains ~54000 tokens in total. (Be advised the below data has been changed to not reflect the actual property)
[{
    "id": 1, "paragraphs":
    [{
    "raw": "Lots 1 and 2 of Block 1, in the City of Santa Clarita, County of Los Angeles, State of California, as per Map recorded in Book 1, Page 1 of Miscellaneous Maps, in the Office of the County Recorder of said County "
        , "sentences":
        [{
            "tokens":
            [
                        {"id": 1, "orth": "Lots", "ner": "B-LOT"}
                        , {"id": 2, "orth": "1", "ner": "I-LOT"}
                        , {"id": 3, "orth": "and", "ner": "I-LOT"}
                        , {"id": 4, "orth": "2", "ner": "L-LOT"}
                        , {"id": 5, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 6, "orth": "Block", "ner": "B-BLOCK"}
                        , {"id": 7, "orth": "1,", "ner": "L-BLOCK"}
                        , {"id": 8, "orth": "in", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 9, "orth": "the", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 10, "orth": "City", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 11, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 12, "orth": "Santa", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 13, "orth": "Clarita,", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 14, "orth": "County", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 15, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 16, "orth": "Los", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 17, "orth": "Angeles,", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 18, "orth": "State", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 19, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 20, "orth": "California,", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 21, "orth": "as", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 22, "orth": "per", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 23, "orth": "Map", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 24, "orth": "recorded", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 25, "orth": "in", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 26, "orth": "Book", "ner": "B-BOOK"}
                        , {"id": 27, "orth": "1,", "ner": "L-BOOK"}
                        , {"id": 28, "orth": "Page", "ner": "B-PAGE"}
                        , {"id": 29, "orth": "1", "ner": "L-PAGE"}
                        , {"id": 30, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 31, "orth": "Miscellaneous", "ner": "B-MAPTYPE"}
                        , {"id": 32, "orth": "Maps,", "ner": "L-MAPTYPE"}
                        , {"id": 33, "orth": "in", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 34, "orth": "the", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 35, "orth": "Office", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 36, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 37, "orth": "the", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 38, "orth": "County", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 39, "orth": "Recorder", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 40, "orth": "of", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 41, "orth": "said", "ner": "O"}
                        , {"id": 42, "orth": "County", "ner": "O"}
            ]
        }]
    }]
}]

I took the Train.py file that comes with spaCy in the cli folder and created my own version for this process. I left the core functionality of the file in tact and just added a few things such as some new labels for my data set and a custom tokenizer that works with white space instead of the conventional tokenizer. The function is below:
def NERTrain(lang
          , output_dir
          , train_data
          , dev_data
          , n_iter=30
          , n_sents=0
          , parser_multitasks=''
          , entity_multitasks=''
          , use_gpu=-1
          , vectors=None
          , gold_preproc=False
          , version="0.0.0"
          , meta_path=None
          , verbose=False
          , newLabels = None):
    """
    Train a model. Expects data in spaCy's JSON format.
    """
    util.fix_random_seed()
    util.set_env_log(True)
    n_sents = n_sents or None
    output_path = util.ensure_path(output_dir)
    train_path = util.ensure_path(train_data)
    dev_path = util.ensure_path(dev_data)
    meta_path = util.ensure_path(meta_path)
    if not output_path.exists():
        output_path.mkdir()
    if not train_path.exists():
        prints(train_path, title=Messages.M050, exits=1)
    if dev_path and not dev_path.exists():
        prints(dev_path, title=Messages.M051, exits=1)
    if meta_path is not None and not meta_path.exists():
        prints(meta_path, title=Messages.M020, exits=1)
    meta = util.read_json(meta_path) if meta_path else {}
    if not isinstance(meta, dict):
        prints(Messages.M053.format(meta_type=type(meta)),
               title=Messages.M052, exits=1)
    meta.setdefault('lang', lang)
    meta.setdefault('name', 'unnamed')

    pipeline = ['ner']

    # Take dropout and batch size as generators of values -- dropout
    # starts high and decays sharply, to force the optimizer to explore.
    # Batch size starts at 1 and grows, so that we make updates quickly
    # at the beginning of training.
    dropout_rates = util.decaying(util.env_opt('dropout_from', 0.2),
                                  util.env_opt('dropout_to', 0.2),
                                  util.env_opt('dropout_decay', 0.0))
    batch_sizes = util.compounding(util.env_opt('batch_from', 1),
                                   util.env_opt('batch_to', 16),
                                   util.env_opt('batch_compound', 1.001))
    max_doc_len = util.env_opt('max_doc_len', 5000)
    corpus = GoldCorpus(train_path, dev_path, limit=n_sents)
    n_train_words = corpus.count_train()

    lang_class = util.get_lang_class(lang)
    nlp = lang_class()

    if "ner" in nlp.pipe_names:
        nlp.remove_pipe("ner")

    ner = nlp.create_pipe("ner")
    nlp.add_pipe(ner, first=True)

    meta['pipeline'] = pipeline
    nlp.meta.update(meta)
    if vectors:
        print("Load vectors model", vectors)
        util.load_model(vectors, vocab=nlp.vocab)
        for lex in nlp.vocab:
            values = {}
            for attr, func in nlp.vocab.lex_attr_getters.items():
                # These attrs are expected to be set by data. Others should
                # be set by calling the language functions.
                if attr not in (CLUSTER, PROB, IS_OOV, LANG):
                    values[lex.vocab.strings[attr]] = func(lex.orth_)
            lex.set_attrs(**values)
            lex.is_oov = False
#    for name in pipeline:
#        nlp.add_pipe(nlp.create_pipe(name), name=name)
    if parser_multitasks:
        for objective in parser_multitasks.split(','):
            nlp.parser.add_multitask_objective(objective)
    if entity_multitasks:
        for objective in entity_multitasks.split(','):
            nlp.entity.add_multitask_objective(objective)
    optimizer = nlp.begin_training(lambda: corpus.train_tuples, device=use_gpu)
    nlp._optimizer = None
    nlp.tockenizer=WTok(nlp)
    other_pipes = [pipe for pipe in nlp.pipe_names if pipe != "ner"]

    if(newLabels != None):
        for l in newLabels:
            ner.add_label(l)

    print("Itn.  Dep Loss  NER Loss  UAS     NER P.  NER R.  NER F.  Tag %   Token %  CPU WPS  GPU WPS")
    try:
        train_docs = corpus.train_docs(nlp, projectivize=True, noise_level=0.0,
                                       gold_preproc=gold_preproc, max_length=0)
        train_docs = list(train_docs)
        with nlp.disable_pipes(*other_pipes):
            for i in range(n_iter):
                with tqdm.tqdm(total=n_train_words, leave=False) as pbar:
                    losses = {}
                    for batch in minibatch(train_docs, size=batch_sizes):
                        batch = [(d, g) for (d, g) in batch if len(d) < max_doc_len]
                        if not batch:
                            continue
                        docs, golds = zip(*batch)
                        nlp.update(docs, golds, sgd=optimizer,
                                   drop=next(dropout_rates), losses=losses)
                        pbar.update(sum(len(doc) for doc in docs))

                with nlp.use_params(optimizer.averages):
                    util.set_env_log(False)
                    epoch_model_path = output_path / ('model%d' % i)
                    nlp.to_disk(epoch_model_path)
                    nlp_loaded = util.load_model_from_path(epoch_model_path)
                    dev_docs = list(corpus.dev_docs(
                                    nlp_loaded,
                                    gold_preproc=gold_preproc))
                    nwords = sum(len(doc_gold[0]) for doc_gold in dev_docs)
                    start_time = timer()
                    scorer = nlp_loaded.evaluate(dev_docs, verbose)
                    end_time = timer()
                    if use_gpu < 0:
                        gpu_wps = None
                        cpu_wps = nwords/(end_time-start_time)
                    else:
                        gpu_wps = nwords/(end_time-start_time)
                        with Model.use_device('cpu'):
                            nlp_loaded = util.load_model_from_path(epoch_model_path)
                            dev_docs = list(corpus.dev_docs(
                                            nlp_loaded, gold_preproc=gold_preproc))
                            start_time = timer()
                            scorer = nlp_loaded.evaluate(dev_docs)
                            end_time = timer()
                            cpu_wps = nwords/(end_time-start_time)
                    acc_loc = (output_path / ('model%d' % i) / 'accuracy.json')
                    with acc_loc.open('w') as file_:
                        file_.write(json_dumps(scorer.scores))
                    meta_loc = output_path / ('model%d' % i) / 'meta.json'
                    meta['accuracy'] = scorer.scores
                    meta['speed'] = {'nwords': nwords, 'cpu': cpu_wps,
                                     'gpu': gpu_wps}
                    meta['vectors'] = {'width': nlp.vocab.vectors_length,
                                       'vectors': len(nlp.vocab.vectors),
                                       'keys': nlp.vocab.vectors.n_keys}
                    meta['lang'] = nlp.lang
                    meta['pipeline'] = pipeline
                    meta['spacy_version'] = '>=%s' % about.__version__
                    meta.setdefault('name', 'model%d' % i)
                    meta.setdefault('version', version)

                    with meta_loc.open('w') as file_:
                        file_.write(json_dumps(meta))
                    util.set_env_log(True)
                print_progress(i, losses, scorer.scores, cpu_wps=cpu_wps,
                               gpu_wps=gpu_wps)
    finally:
        print("Saving model...")
        with nlp.use_params(optimizer.averages):
            final_model_path = output_path / 'model-final'
            nlp.to_disk(final_model_path)

What I've Done
When the attempting to run the full JSON file failed, I attempted the same with a smaller sample of 100. The process was able to run all the way through with no issues. Now before I go chopping up my dataset into bite sized chunks of 100 (which i really don't want / shouldn't have to do) i wanted to see if anyone could take a look and see if this is possibly some sort of 1. limit in spacy i have somehow hit, 2. memory issue, 3. or some sort of code issue i overlooked.
Please be advised that this process is being run on my local machine which is speced as follows:
PC specs
Windows 10
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6600U CPU @ 2.6GHz 2.81 GHz
16.0 GB Ram
Python 3.7.4
spaCy 2.0.16
Any help would be greatly appreciated thank you
EDIT 1:
After i asked this question, i figured in the mean time i would attempt to process my files in small batches of 100. Interestingly enough, one of the files caused the process to crash. Immediately i thought it was a data issue, so i added a "print" to the training function so i can see which text was causing it. But after i added the "print" the file completed without error. I am not sure what to make of this but just some added information.
EDIT 2:
I was finally able to get an error message related to the crash.
Unhandled exception at 0x00007FF8EB9E2BE2 (ner.cp37-win_amd64.pyd) in python.exe: 0xC0000005: Access violation reading location 0x000001C4213D1FE4. occurred
The error is marked on invoke_main() within exe_common.inl
I've attempted to find more information about this error and only found very little. It appears to be some kind of Windows error? Any help is appreciated.

A: In the end this turned out to be version incompatibilities between some of spaCy's dependents. This appears to have been caused by several uninstalls and re-installs of older and newer versions of spaCy. I got a fresh environment made and installed only the most current version of spaCy and everything works great. If you are using Anaconda Navigator i would not trust the package installer from the UI. It appears to be linked to older versions and you are much better off using PIP from the terminal.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Bertha Boyington
14 February 1869–13 February 1959 (Age 89)
Prentiss Plantation, Penobscot, Maine, United States
The Life of Bertha
When Bertha Boyington was born on 14 February 1869, in Prentiss Plantation, Penobscot, Maine, United States, her father, Elias William Boyington Sr, was 49 and her mother, Mary Jane Thoms, was 44. She married Jesse E. Osgood on 6 April 1889, in Prentiss Plantation, Penobscot, Maine, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 daughter. She lived in Greenbush, Penobscot, Maine, United States in 1900 and Oakland, Kennebec, Maine, United States for about 28 years. She died on 13 February 1959, in Waterville, Kennebec, Maine, United States, at the age of 89, and was buried in Oakland, Kennebec, Maine, United States.
Learn about Bertha's homeland.
Put your face in a costume from Bertha's homelands.
Marriage: 11 August 1894
Henry Carter
Fred Carter
June Madeline Carter
Raymond Carter
Elmer LeRoy Carter
Kenneth Walter Carter
Male1897– • Male
+1 More Child
Elias William Boyington Sr
Mary Jane Thoms
Susan Boynton
Mary J. Boyington
Elias William Boyington Jr
Persis Boyington
Isaac Boyington
+13 More Children
1870 · The Fifteenth Amendment
Prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It was the last of the Reconstruction Amendments.
1870 · Giving all the right to vote
The Act was an extension of the Fifteenth Amendment, that prohibited discrimination by state offices in voter registration. It also helped empower the President with the authority to enforce the first section of the Fifteenth Amendment throughout the United States. Being the first of three Enforcement Acts passed by the Congress, it helped combat attacks on the suffrage rights of African Americans.
1896 · Plessy vs. Ferguson
A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities if the segregated facilities were equal in quality. It's widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history.
Boyington
English: variant of Boynton .
Bertha Bedzingter in household of Elias Bedzingter, "United States Census, 1880"
Bertha Carter in household of John Carter, "United States Census, 1900"
Bertha Ellis in household of Elmer E Ellis, "United States Census, 1930"


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Cities to Visit when in Europe
Rome, Prague, Amsterdam, London, Vanice, Budapest
Ankit S.Maharishi, founder of writers together
It won't be unfair to quote Europe as the most eye pleasant continent of them all that exists. The continent attracts millions and millions of tourists towards its beautiful cities every year, irrespective of the seasons.
The continent leaves its tourists awestruck with its jaw-dropping scenic views, historically rich heritage, Culinary melange and diversified artists. The continent witnesses an increase in the number of travelers annually. The widely famous tourist spot has a varied choice of natural and environmental beauty for all its sightseers in its absolute raw and grounded form.
1. Rome
Rome, the birthplace of Ceaser and the capital of Italy, is the most visited city of Europe. Showcasing its beauty via all the historical attractions of more than 2500 years, Rome is a treat to eyes and a scenic satisfaction to experience.
Visiting there comes along with your travel guide for Rome. Allured with venues like Vatican City, Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, Palatine Hill and many more, Rome is said to be formed in 753 BC while the locals are supposed to be settled even much earlier as per the archeological studies.
2. Prague
Also known as the Czech Republic, Prague is no lesser than any other in Europe. Fully-equipped by the Gothic finesse, Renaissance architecture, world-class museum's, byzantine elegant churches and bridges, the city is divided by the Vltava River.
The city offers an exploration of the medieval thoroughfares under the sunshine and meandering around the riverside at dawn. Just in case you get tired because of wandering through the streets, you can just relax have some Czech cuisine and any of the best lagers in the world.
Besides being an explorer, the city offers you to be gamer with a lot of variety in gaming alongside some jazz music, puppet shows, and many other entertaining hookups.
3. Amsterdam
If you have that studios bug inside you, Amsterdam would be the perfect go-to holiday in Europe for you. The capital of the reign of the Netherland is the most popular destination among the travelers in Europe.
Flooded with academies and research institutions and universities, the city offers an expedition of more than 40 museums along with those countless theatres and other amusement places. It is the country's foremost cultural center for a reason.
Also known for its historical data, the city has some of the most historic preservation in its entirety. The Jewish Historical monument, The Museum of the Tropics and The West Church are a few among the many others which display the rich historicity of the city.
4. London
How can you talk about Europe, and not think of London? A dream for many, the city is the most frequently visited amongst all the others of Europe. Britain's capital, the city is one of the world's top tourist attractions.
The city had more than 15 million visitors per year. A vibrant and dreamy center of entertainment and art, the city offers the globe's greatest concentrations of cultural heritage. From the people's parliament to royal palaces, the city has every bit of nature's creation in it's most ecstatic form.
You can enjoy a giant Ferris wheel for all those breathtaking and relief views. Museum and Churches are just are a topping on your platter of holidaying in London. Perks of being there are incredibly increased when you come to know that many of the popular places to enjoy and visit are free.
5. Venice
In this city of water or the city of bridges, the best way to explore and experience Venice's glorified tourism is to simply wander around the enchanting and mesmerizing lanes of the city. At every other turn, you will find something or the other to get imprinted in your memories forever.
In fact, it would be impossible for you to not capture them into a photograph. Two of the most important landmarks of the city is Piazza San Marco and the Grand Canal which are the easiest to find in the city, no matter wherever your expedition takes you.
6. Budapest
Also known as the "Paris of the East", Budapest is home to those innumerable UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This shimmering capital of Hungary came into existence in 1872. Since prehistory, the city is famous for the use of thermal springs in the therapeutic cause.
Mounted at the River Danube, the city has its famous views embellished with impressive architecture and vital reminders of 20th-century history. The city is also rich in its vivacious cultural and entertaining shows, basked with street rockers and classical concerts in those peaceful churches.
Europe is a hub of rich cultural heritage. The continent once witnessed the rise and fall of the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece. From the birthed the Renaissance to the Industrial Revolution Europe has it all for its addressees.
Numerous kingdoms, republics, and empire went away leaving the continent with various archaeological sites, old town alleria and grand cathedrals on the planet for the coming generations to explore. The continent has some of the most romantic destinations for all the lovers around the world to make their lives memorable just by a single visit.
— Published on August 2, 2018
Travel and Adventure,
Lord Shiva is the destroyer of negative thoughts in my mind, I worship him and he is bestowal me the power to write and bright.
Community// January 3, 2019
Happiness on Wheels – Top 5 Road Trip Destinations That Will Inspire You
by Stella van Lane
Unplug & Recharge// November 9, 2017
7 Reasons You Need to Visit Rome This Fall
by Anna Johansson
Community// December 26, 2018
Unique Cities In Europe
by Hannah Lapine


Very bright abstract floral painting with bright blue background and vibrant red, beige, orange, pink, blue and yellow drips contrasting. For this piece I use mainly palette knifes and bold paint drips over and over again. lots of energy in this piece and very contemplative feel.
Ready to hang – This Original Fine Artwork Includes a Certificate of Authenticity signed by Nestor Toro to protect your investment in this emerging artist!


The front side of 14ers Map 1 shows access to Mount Evans via the Mount Evans Toll Road, Summit Lake Park as well as from the Chicago Lakes area via Echo Lake Park. Mount Bierstadt access is shown from Guanella Pass Trailhead, and trails connecting to Mount Evans and to Summit Lake area are included.
The back of Map 1 shows access to Grays and Torreys Peaks from the north via Grizzly Gulch and Stevens Gulch and from the south via Chihuahua Gulch. Also included on this side are the trails to Mount Sniktau and Grizzly Peak from Loveland Pass, the Lenawee Trail and a long stretch of the Continental Divide Trail over Argentine Pass. This is Map 1 of 16 14ers Maps covering all Colorado 14ers.


text:
King Solomons Mines - ebook/epub
Autor: H. Rider Haggard Liczba stron: 250
Kategoria: ebooki >> dla dzieci i młodzieży >> literatura przygodowa
King Solomons Mines is the first English adventure novel, which takes place in Africa. Allan Quatermain the protagonist of the story, an ambitious and courageous guy who is ready to give a helping hand to difficult times. He recruits the same adventurers as his assistants and the group advances in search of the missing brother of one of the detachments. As a result, readers can watch not only the rescues of Allan Quatermain, but also the interesting adventures of a group of adventurers in an uncharted part of Africa.
H. Rider HaggardKing Solomon's MinesWarsaw 2018
ContentsAUTHOR'S NOTEINTRODUCTIONI. I MEET SIR HENRY CURTISII. THE LEGEND OF SOLOMON'S MINESIII. UMBOPA ENTERS OUR SERVICEIV. AN ELEPHANT HUNTV. OUR MARCH INTO THE DESERTVI. WATER! WATER!VII. SOLOMON'S ROADVIII. WE ENTER KUKUANALANDIX. TWALA THE KINGX. THE WITCH-HUNTXI. WE GIVE A SIGNXII. BEFORE THE BATTLEXIII. THE ATTACKXIV. THE LAST STAND OF THE GREYSXV. GOOD FALLS SICKXVI. THE PLACE OF DEATHXVII. SOLOMON'S TREASURE CHAMBERXVIII. WE ABANDON HOPEXIX. IGNOSI'S FAREWELLXX. FOUND
AUTHOR'S NOTEThe author ventures to take this opportunity to thank his readers for the kind reception they have accorded to the successive editions of this tale during the last twelve years. He hopes that in its present form it will fall into the hands of an even wider public, and that in years to come it may continue to afford amusement to those who are still young enough at heart to love a story of treasure, war, and wild adventure. Ditchingham, 11 March, 1898. Post Scriptum Now, in 1907, on the occasion of the issue of this edition, I can only add how glad I am that my romance should continue to please so many readers. Imagination has been verified by fact; the King Solomon's Mines I dreamed of have been discovered, and are putting out their gold once more, and, according to the latest reports, their diamonds also; the Kukuanas or, rather, the Matabele, have been tamed by the white man's bullets, but still there seem to be many who find pleasure in these simple pages. That they may continue so to do, even to the third and fourth generation, or perhaps longer still, would, I am sure, be the hope of our old and departed friend, Allan Quatermain. H. Rider Haggard. Ditchingham, 1907.
INTRODUCTIONNow that this book is printed, and about to be given to the world, a sense of its shortcomings both in style and contents, weighs very heavily upon me. As regards the latter, I can only say that it does not pretend to be a full account of everything we did and saw. There are many things connected with our journey into Kukuanaland that I should have liked to dwell upon at length, which, as it is, have been scarcely alluded to. Amongst these are the curious legends which I collected about the chain armour that saved us from destruction in the great battle of Loo, and also about the "Silent Ones" or Colossi at the mouth of the stalactite cave. Again, if I had given way to my own impulses, I should have wished to go into the differences, some of which are to my mind very suggestive, between the Zulu and Kukuana dialects. Also a few pages might have been given up profitably to the consideration of the indigenous flora and fauna of Kukuanaland. Then there remains the most interesting subject– that, as it is, has only been touched on incidentally–of the magnificent system of military organisation in force in that country, which, in my opinion, is much superior to that inaugurated by Chaka in Zululand, inasmuch as it permits of even more rapid mobilisation, and does not necessitate the employment of the pernicious system of enforced celibacy. Lastly, I have scarcely spoken of the domestic and family customs of the Kukuanas, many of which are exceedingly quaint, or of their proficiency in the art of smelting and welding metals. This science they carry to considerable perfection, of which a good example is to be seen in their "tollas," or heavy throwing knives, the backs of these weapons being made of hammered iron, and the edges of beautiful steel welded with great skill on to the iron frames. The fact of the matter is, I thought, with Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good, that the best plan would be to tell my story in a plain, straightforward manner, and to leave these matters to be dealt with subsequently in whatever way ultimately may appear to be desirable. In the meanwhile I shall, of course, be delighted to give all information in my power to anybody interested in such things. And now it only remains for me to offer apologies for my blunt way of writing. I can but say in excuse of it that I am more accustomed to handle a rifle than a pen, and cannot make any pretence to the grand literary flights and flourishes which I see in novels–for sometimes I like to read a novel. I suppose they–the flights and flourishes –are desirable, and I regret not being able to supply them; but at the same time I cannot help thinking that simple things are always the most impressive, and that books are easier to understand when they are written in plain language, though perhaps I have no right to set up an opinion on such a matter. "A sharp spear," runs the Kukuana saying, "needs no polish"; and on the same principle I venture to hope that a true story, however strange it may be, does not require to be decked out in fine words. Allan Quatermain.
I. I MEET SIR HENRY CURTISIt is a curious thing that at my age–fifty-five last birthday –I should find myself taking up a pen to try to write a history. I wonder what sort of a history it will be when I have finished it, if ever I come to the end of the trip! I have done a good many things in my life, which seems a long one to me, owing to my having begun work so young, perhaps. At an age when other boys are at school I was earning my living as a trader in the old Colony. I have been trading, hunting, fighting, or mining ever since. And yet it is only eight months ago that I made my pile. It is a big pile now that I have got it–I don't yet know how big–but I do not think I would go through the last fifteen or sixteen months again for it; no, not if I knew that I should come out safe at the end, pile and all. But then I am a timid man, and dislike violence; moreover, I am almost sick of adventure. I wonder why I am going to write this book: it is not in my line. I am not a literary man, though very devoted to the Old Testament and also to the "Ingoldsby Legends." Let me try to set down my reasons, just to see if I have any. First reason: Because Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good asked me. Second reason: Because I am laid up here at Durban with the pain in my left leg. Ever since that confounded lion got hold of me I have been liable to this trouble, and being rather bad just now, it makes me limp more than ever. There must be some poison in a lion's teeth, otherwise how is it that when your wounds are healed they break out again, generally, mark you, at the same time of year that you got your mauling? It is a hard thing when one has shot sixty-five lions or more, as I have in the course of my life, that the sixty-sixth should chew your leg like a quid of tobacco. It breaks the routine of the thing, and putting other considerations aside, I am an orderly man and don't like that. This is by the way. Third reason: Because I want my boy Harry, who is over there at the hospital in London studying to become a doctor, to have something to amuse him and keep him out of mischief for a week or so. Hospital work must sometimes pall and grow rather dull, for even of cutting up dead bodies there may come satiety, and as this history will not be dull, whatever else it may be, it will put a little life into things for a day or two while Harry is reading of our adventures. Fourth reason and last: Because I am going to tell the strangest story that I remember. It may seem a queer thing to say, especially considering that there is no woman in it–except Foulata. Stop, though! there is Gagaoola, if she was a woman, and not a fiend. But she was a hundred at least, and therefore not marriageable, so I don't count her. At any rate, I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history. Well, I had better come to the yoke. It is a stiff place, and I feel as though I were bogged up to the axle. But, "sutjes, sutjes," as the Boers say –I am sure I don't know how they spell it–softly does it. A strong team will come through at last, that is, if they are not too poor. You can never do anything with poor oxen. Now to make a start. I, Allan Quatermain, of Durban, Natal, Gentleman, make oath and say –That's how I headed my deposition before the magistrate about poor Khiva's and Ventvogel's sad deaths; but somehow it doesn't seem quite the right way to begin a book. And, besides, am I a gentleman? What is a gentleman? I don't quite know, and yet I have had to do with niggers–no, I will scratch out that word "niggers," for I do not like it. I've known natives who are, and so you will say, Harry, my boy, before you have done with this tale, and I have known mean whites with lots of money and fresh out from home, too, who are not. At any rate, I was born a gentleman, though I have been nothing but a poor travelling trader and hunter all my life. Whether I have remained so I known not, you must judge of that. Heaven knows I've tried. I have killed many men in my time, yet I have never slain wantonly or stained my hand in innocent blood, but only in self-defence. The Almighty gave us our lives, and I suppose He meant us to defend them, at least I have always acted on that, and I hope it will not be brought up against me when my clock strikes. There, there, it is a cruel and a wicked world, and for a timid man I have been mixed up in a great deal of fighting. I cannot tell the rights of it, but at any rate I have never stolen, though once I cheated a Kafir out of a herd of cattle. But then he had done me a dirty turn, and it has troubled me ever since into the bargain. Well, it is eighteen months or so ago since first I met Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good. It was in this way. I had been up elephant hunting beyond Bamangwato, and had met with bad luck. Everything went wrong that trip, and to top up with I got the fever badly. So soon as I was well enough I trekked down to the Diamond Fields, sold such ivory as I had, together with my wagon and oxen, discharged my hunters, and took the post-cart to the Cape. After spending a week in Cape Town, finding that they overcharged me at the hotel, and having seen everything there was to see, including the botanical gardens, which seem to me likely to confer a great benefit on the country, and the new Houses of Parliament, which I expect will do nothing of the sort, I determined to go back to Natal by the Dunkeld, then lying at the docks waiting for the Edinburgh Castle due in from England. I took my berth and went aboard, and that afternoon the Natal passengers from the Edinburgh Castle transshipped, and we weighed and put to sea. Among these passengers who came on board were two who excited my curiosity. One, a gentleman of about thirty, was perhaps the biggest-chested and longest-armed man I ever saw. He had yellow hair, a thick yellow beard, clear-cut features, and large grey eyes set deep in his head. I never saw a finer-looking man, and somehow he reminded me of an ancient Dane. Not that I know much of ancient Danes, though I knew a modern Dane who did me out of ten pounds; but I remember once seeing a picture of some of those gentry, who, I take it, were a kind of white Zulus. They were drinking out of big horns, and their long hair hung down their backs. As I looked at my friend standing there by the companion-ladder, I thought that if he only let his grow a little, put one of those chain shirts on to his great shoulders, and took hold of a battle-axe and a horn mug, he might have sat as a model for that picture. And by the way it is a curious thing, and just shows how the blood will out, I discovered afterwards that Sir Henry Curtis, for that was the big man's name, is of Danish blood. He also reminded me strongly of somebody else, but at the time I could not remember who it was. 2. Mr. Quatermain's ideas about ancient Danes seem to be rather confused; we have always understood that they were dark-haired people. Probably he was thinking of Saxons.–Editor. The other man, who stood talking to Sir Henry, was stout and dark, and of quite a different cut. I suspected at once that he was a naval officer; I don't know why, but it is difficult to mistake a navy man. I have gone shooting trips with several of them in the course of my life, and they have always proved themselves the best and bravest and nicest fellows I ever met, though sadly given, some of them, to the use of profane language. I asked a page or two back, what is a gentleman? I'll answer the question now: A Royal Naval officer is, in a general sort of way, though of course there may be a black sheep among them here and there. I fancy it is just the wide seas and the breath of God's winds that wash their hearts and blow the bitterness out of their minds and make them what men ought to be. Well, to return, I proved right again; I ascertained that the dark man was a naval officer, a lieutenant of thirty-one, who, after seventeen years' service, had been turned out of her Majesty's employ with the barren honour of a commander's rank, because it was impossible that he should be promoted. This is what people who serve the Queen have to expect: to be shot out into the cold world to find a living just when they are beginning really to understand their work, and to reach the prime of life. I suppose they don't mind it, but for my own part I had rather earn my bread as a hunter. One's halfpence are as scarce perhaps, but you do not get so many kicks. The officer's name I found out–by referring to the passengers' lists–was Good–Captain John Good. He was broad, of medium height, dark, stout, and rather a curious man to look at. He was so very neat and so very clean-shaved, and he always wore an eye-glass in his right eye. It seemed to grow there, for it had no string, and he never took it out except to wipe it. At first I thought he used to sleep in it, but afterwards I found that this was a mistake. He put it in his trousers pocket when he went to bed, together with his false teeth, of which he had two beautiful sets that, my own being none of the best, have often caused me to break the tenth commandment. But I am anticipating. Soon after we had got under way evening closed in, and brought with it very dirty weather. A keen breeze sprung up off land, and a kind of aggravated Scotch mist soon drove everybody from the deck. As for the Dunkeld, she is a flat-bottomed punt, and going up light as she was, she rolled very heavily. It almost seemed as though she would go right over, but she never did. It was quite impossible to walk about, so I stood near the engines where it was warm, and amused myself with watching the pendulum, which was fixed opposite to me, swinging slowly backwards and forwards as the vessel rolled, and marking the angle she touched at each lurch. "That pendulum's wrong; it is not properly weighted," suddenly said a somewhat testy voice at my shoulder. Looking round I saw the naval officer whom I had noticed when the passengers came aboard. "Indeed, now what makes you think so?" I asked. "Think so. I don't think at all. Why there"–as she righted herself after a roll–"if the ship had really rolled to the degree that thing pointed to, then she would never have rolled again, that's all. But it is just like these merchant skippers, they are always so confoundedly careless." Just then the dinner-bell rang, and I was not sorry, for it is a dreadful thing to have to listen to an officer of the Royal Navy when he gets on to that subject. I only know one worse thing, and that is to hear a merchant skipper express his candid opinion of officers of the Royal Navy. Captain Good and I went down to dinner together, and there we found Sir Henry Curtis already seated. He and Captain Good were placed together, and I sat opposite to them. The captain and I soon fell into talk about shooting and what not; he asking me many questions, for he is very inquisitive about all sorts of things, and I answering them as well as I could. Presently he got on to elephants. "Ah, sir," called out somebody who was sitting near me, "you've reached the right man for that; Hunter Quatermain should be able to tell you about elephants if anybody can." Sir Henry, who had been sitting quite quiet listening to our talk, started visibly. "Excuse me, sir," he said, leaning forward across the table, and speaking in a low deep voice, a very suitable voice, it seemed to me, to come out of those great lungs. "Excuse me, sir, but is your name Allan Quatermain?" I said that it was. This is a free sample. Please purchase full version of the book to continue.
Autor: H. Rider Haggard


C7 Corvette Grand Sport Lloyd Floor Mats are the very best trunk mats you can buy for your Corvette. These trunk mats have a deep rich pile that looks and feels super nice. These cargo mats come with the slits cut into them to allow the pass-through of the hooks in the floor of your Stingray. Lloyd Mats has been manufacturing floor mats since the 1970's and is the leader in the automotive industry. RPI sells the Lloyd "Ultimat", the Ultimat is a heavy duty mat, much heavier than the factory GM mats. The C7 Corvette Ultimat also comes with a lifetime warranty. We offer these Stingray cargo mats in three colors, with multiple logo choices. Please see below. Because of the custom nature of this rear cargo mat, please allow 3-4 business days for production.
Please note: JET is the GM Black, so if your interior is Black, you'll want to order JET.
2014-2019 C7 Corvette Grand Sport Embroidered Front Floor Mats. Sold as a set of two mats.
2015-2019 C7 Corvette Lloyd Carbon Fiber Flag with Corvette Lettering Double Logo Cargo Mat.


Dark and brilliant work of fiction. I read this in about 5 days, only because I had to pause to savor the words and the plot a 'lil bit longer than usual.
Anywho, "My Sister, the Serial Killer" is about two sisters living with their mother in present day Lagos, Nigeria. Ayoola, the younger sister, is a beautiful fashion designer with a bad habit for murdering her boyfriends. Korede, the older sister, works as a nurse in a local hospital and resigns herself to a life of boredom and covering for her sister when another one of her paramours winds up dead. When a handsome doctor at Korede's hospital ends up falling for Ayoola, the sister's worlds are turned upside down.
This is not so much a story about murder and mayhem than it is about modern Nigerian life and the pitfalls of familial obligation and tradition. Ayoola does not feel remorse for her victims and neither of the sisters are particularly likable. However, you come to understand that Korede is fully overshadowed by Ayoola, so much so that you can't help but to empathize with her as she is dragged closer and closer into her sister's murderous web. Each takes their turn manipulating one another and allowing others in their orbit to be manipulated. Overall, it's a fun story and I honestly enjoyed this book.
I definitely look forward to the next book that Oyinkan Braithwaite writes.


InRhalgar's Reach, you can get a couple more minions but you might also purchase Grade VI battle materia too! Scenario B is the option. Each time you run the Void Ark, you're receive a Mhachi Farthing.
Desynth will be helped with by leveling crafters. Your weapon is now the most important. Only armor doesn't exist.
Again, the main portion of this whole document could just be the bit about cross-class skills. This section is offered by means of a redditor Deatkrox and details some good paths to follow as a way to acquire gear as swiftly as possible. Better gear doesn't make a terrible player fantastic, but it makes a very good player better, every excess stat point can be harm, but your main responsibility for this finely-tuned content is to learn your course, and the way to do at your finest.
Pay to win is whatever it's possible to spend real money on that offers you an kind of advantage. Players may now decide to become Frontline freelancers, letting them support other Grand Companies who have trouble securing the numbers they ought to mount an offensive. Players aren't advised to grind solely on Heavensward FATEs since there are better ways to get experience now.
A lot of recipes are added, and some present recipes are tweaked. It appears to me that there may be times where it would be more advantageous to switch the new Ballad off, for example if there is a phase where a great deal of prolonged dodging is necessary. Everybody earns Allied or Centurio seals based on their degree of contribution.
This gave me the first-time bonus, and a chance at gear to increase my baseline. Consequently, you need find hunter-scholar and a few hints to track off your prey in every area. Get the most out of these to get you ready for harder fights without needing to be concerned about other men and women.
Look, I really like FFXIV, I believe that it's the very best MMORPG on the marketplace at the moment, and I'm almost surely going to keep playing it, if simply to compose more goofy class guides on reddit. The dungeons themselves are a powerful direction of gaining Tomestones of Legislation, particularly if you factor in a first-time bonus. There are seven kinds of snacks.
These rideable creatures are popular with gamers and for that reason, are something you will probably wish to understand ways to get once you jump into the new expansion. Void Ark also drops 8 parts of equipment for each complete run. You may utilize Divine Seal to make certain that it does.
This weapon guide will have the ability to help you. By selecting what you need to wear in the drop down Change each bit of the three armor slots. During the very first stage, you have to concentrate a single leg down and enable your tanks to soak exploding balls.
Wherever you like to visit unwind, we would like to see it! Without retainers, there's no doubt that Clan Hunts are among the most significant means of creating gil in the game. To begin with, start with a class you believe you'll like!
Creating a quick PF and announcing it in yell is also a amazing method to have a party quickly. Others can last up to five minutes. Currently as it's a weekly limit, only one can be gotten each week.
Since the game is patched, I'll pick out new entries so they are simpler to see. Adhere to the applicable quests to be sure that steps are completed in the perfect order at the suitable moment. Powerlevel and get in front!
You will have to do a bit of legwork. If not one of these apply to youthen the answer might still be capable yes. After you are 60 you're able to collect law tomes.