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Jim Lee (Sort Of) Returns To Marvel With X-Men Gold And Blue Variant Covers
Eric Joseph Mar 16, 2017 1:31 pm 2017-03-16T13:58:23-05:00
Transformers Lorem ipsum
Although legendary comic book artist Jim Lee technically got his start at Marvel with Alpha Flight in the late 1980's, it was undoubtedly his work with Chris Claremont on the relaunched X-Men series in 1991 that effectively put him on the map, as the debut issue shattered sales records to pieces.
In the time since, he co-founded Image Comics with the likes of other industry heavyweights such as Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld, among others. Later, he also founded Wildstorm Comics before illustrating such definitive works for DC like Batman: Hush and Justice League: Origin, finally settling into his current role of co-publisher there.
Although we've all learned to never say never in this lifetime, it doesn't look like Lee will be producing any original artwork for Marvel any time soon. Still, the House of Ideas know full well how synonymous his name is with mutants and simply can't ignore that fact as they plan to launch a bevy of X-Men related titles this spring.
As such, they've tapped Morry Hollowell to recolor some existing pieces of Lee's art to serve as variant covers for X-Men Gold #1 and X-Men Blue #1. Marvel SVP Sales & Marketing David Gabriel had this to say about the bold move:
"Few artists are as synonymous with the X-Men, and specifically the Blue & Gold era of the X-Men quite like Jim Lee. We wanted to do something extra special to commemorate these two new titles, and we're excited to bring Jim's unique vision of Marvel's merry mutants back to the fans for these two remastered variant covers!"
X-Men Gold #1 is set to arrive in comic shops on April 5, with X-Men Blue #1 following on April 12.


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BtBS Daily
Daily Box Score 8/8: Unconventional Thinking
By Tommy Bennett Aug 8, 2009, 12:44pm EDT
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One of the reasons I suspect unconventional thinking is so rare is because of the payoff schedule faced by decision makers. Take, for example, a young general manager who would like to trust late innings of games to a young but promising bullpen with no fixed closer. He will face howls of scorn if the plan does not payoff. He will almost certainly never have a job again. If it works, he might expect a few blogs on the internet to notice. It's sad but true.
So unconventional thinking is rare. That can mean it is often romanticized--"if only people would think outside the box," we lament. But it's important to remember that some unconventional thinking is ill-advised. It is to that unconventional yet uninspired thinking that today's box score is dedicated.
The Managerial Decision
The Contract Clauses
Prospects as Junk Bonds
Discussion Question of the Day
Take, for example, this FanHouse headline:
Walk Pujols With the Bases Loaded? It's Not as Crazy as It Sounds
My first thought was, "OK, let's give it a go. Maybe there's some reasoning here I hadn't considered."
It sounds ludicrous, I know. Why would you walk a run in on purpose? How does giving the other team a run help your team? Good question. Here's a better one. How does throwing pitches over the heart of the plate with the bases loaded to Pujols -- who netted his fifth grand slam of the season last night -- help your team? Isn't it better to give up one run than two, three or four? Do you play Russian roulette with five bullets instead of one?
The author goes on to cite the statistic (which you've no doubt seen) that Pujols is 7-9 this season in bases loaded situations, and that he has 5 HR in those same situations. So my second thought was, "Nope. It's precisely as crazy as it sounds."
Keep in mind that intentionally walking Pujols with the bases loaded guarantees one run will score, and it does nothing to change the base/out state. There is simply no player, no matter how good, who is worth more than a run over any other player over the course of a single plate appearance.
The author goes on to say:
So, go ahead, managers of the baseball world. Buck tradition. Throw caution to the wind and walk Pujols with the bases loaded.
If nothing else you'll infuriate La Russa.
I can't claim to be privy to the inner monologue of Tony La Russa, but I also can't imagine the emotion involved would be infuriation.
There's some great stuff at Cot's Baseball Contracts. It's well worth your time to browse around for a while. But it turns out, if you look long enough, you'll start to notice some very unconventional thinking. Jorge Says No! did just that, and the results are highly entertaining. Here are some highlights:
Roy Oswalt: contract also re-worked 10/05 to allow Houston owner Drayton McLane to give Oswalt a bulldozer for winning Game 6 of '05 NLCS
AJ Burnett (Jays): deal includes 8 round-trip limousine trips per season between Toronto & Burnett's Maryland home for his wife
As funny as these contract clauses sound, I think they may be an example of intelligent unconventional thinking. It reminds me of when, on Deal or No Deal (which forms one end of the Ideal Game Show spectrum), the banker offers some prize that is related to a contestant's personal interests (think VIP tickets to a concert), but that almost certainly does not carry a cash value significant enough to affect the expected value calculation but makes the contestant much more likely to accept.
It's not that I think these players have been duped, but rather they put a lot of value in the item they are receiving. Plus, how cool must it be for Oswalt to say, "I got this tractor for winning Game 6 of the 2005 National League Championship Series."
The Wall Street Journal has always catered to the investor class, offering top quality market and business news. So it's understandable their writers and readers look at the world through the lens of price-to-earnings ratios, hold-to-maturity prices, and loan-to-value ratios. So I wasn't entirely surprised when I saw that they had enlisted former Pepsico CEO and author of Diamond Dollars Vince Gennaro to write a piece on prospect valuation.
What was somewhat surprising to me was his methodology, which was based on the way investors value non-investment grade bonds (colloquially, they are known as junk bonds). These bonds do have some similarities to baseball prospects: the promise of high payouts with a concomitantly high chance of busting out altogether.
His subject, of course, is Stephen Strasburg:
Based on a valuation model I've developed that considers all aspects of a player's expected performance, as well as his age and position, Mr. Strasburg's value in baseball's version of an open market—free agency—is $44.5 million over the next six years. But since he's a draftee and can only sign with the Nationals this year, he's likely to earn $20.4 million in salary—not counting his signing bonus.
Sounds like a no-brainer for the Nats, right? But wait! An important part of junk bond investing is accounting for the risk of no payout whatsoever:
Before the Nationals shell out any money, they'll have to do what any seasoned asset manager does: build in a discount based on the risk of default. In the past two decades, 25% of baseball's top pitching prospects never panned out—which makes these skinny kids about as risky as a below-investment-grade Triple C bond.
I have tried to reverse engineer this valuation, which is very difficult since Gennaro does not provide his methodology. At first I presumed it he applied the discount rate (note that this is unrelated to the amount the team could earn by investing the same amount of money, which is how Victor Wang came up with 8%), compounded annually, like this:
$24.1/(1.29)^6 = Discount value
Where $24.1 is the surplus to the Nationals in millions, 1.029 represents the discount rate Gennaro cites, and six is the length of the bond in years. However, this results in a valuation of just $5.23 million, less than half of the $11 million dollars Gennaro derives in his article. I am also not sure if the 25% default rate is the yearly risk of default or rather the risk that a top prospect never pans out of the course of his career. If any of you are financially savvy and care to help, I'm all ears.
Let's take the Strasburg example and ask two related questions. How much do you think Strasburg will actually receive in total dollars? Secondly, how much would be the maximum the Nationals could pay and still reap some surplus from the deal?
Intuitively, $11 million strikes me as a bit low. What do you think?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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El Comité de Responsabilidad Social es un grupo interdisciplinario conformado por un número impar de representantes de una empresa que direcciona y trabaja el proceso de mejoramiento continuo en responsabilidad social.

Funciones del Comité de Responsabilidad Social

Elegir un líder que oriente el cumplimiento de los objetivos en responsabilidad social.
Diseñar el plan de mejoramiento continuo en responsabilidad social basado en los principios del pacto global
Evaluar los compromisos en responsabilidad social.
Comunicar a los diferentes stakeholders los resultados de las actividades de responsabilidad social.

Referencias

Responsabilidad social

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


I decided to apply for one, I think it was Just Answer. I have 25+ years with MSOffice specializing in Excel and Access, an MCSE. I started filling out the profile and it told me to give a brief description of my skills but to be sure to pay attention to grammar and spelling. I put in the sentence above and was told it was 'too long' but not how long it should be. I started editing, one character at a time, until it accepted the description. In hindsight, that probably should have been my first clue. Next I took a test on my skills. Then they wanted a head shot. If you're not an actor, who has that? While I was hunting around for something that might be suitable, note that I had not completed the profile yet, I got an e-mail that they did not find me suitable. Oh, well.


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'I didn't know they were prostitutes' (…and other lame excuses)
Posted on March 3, 2012 by Nigel Farndale
Badly behaved luminaries have perfected the art of making excuses. Find out who said what in our quiz.
Opinion is divided as to whether Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the IMF, has come up with the best excuse ever made, or the worst. When asked about his alleged participation in a series of orgies with prostitutes in Brussels, Paris and Washington, DSK (right, with his wife Anne Sinclair) said he didn't know they were prostitutes "because they were naked".
On the face of it, this remark might seem rather insulting to prostitutes. It's the equivalent of saying that all prostitutes dress like, well, prostitutes. But perhaps his point is more esoteric (he is French, after all). Perhaps he means that without clothes we are all the same, even if some of us do have more tattoos and navel piercings than others.
Some excuses have become so famous they have entered the language. It is hard to look at Bill Clinton without the words "but I didn't inhale" floating to mind — his excuse when it was revealed that he had smoked cannabis as a student at Oxford. Again, it is hard to work out whether this is a good excuse or a bad one. Legally, it might seem to get him off the hook, but at what cost to his reputation? Confessing that you don't know how to inhale smoke is like saying you don't know how to chew gum.
In his long and colourful career, Clinton went on to turn excuse-making into an art form. "I did not… have… sexual relations… with that woman… Monica Lewinsky," he said, slowly and haltingly, so that there could be no ambiguity. Being a lawyer, what he meant was that oral sex is not the same as sex-sex. When asked "What is your definition of sex?", he answered: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
Excuses come so thick and fast among the rich and famous these days it is easy to lose track of who said what. Try this quiz to see if you can recall the correct excuse, or match the excuse to the celebrity who said it. We'll start with an easy one that is still fresh in our memories.
1 What excuse did Captain Schettino give for abandoning the Costa Concordia?
a) 'I was only obeying orders.'
b) 'Look, I'd been a having a bad a week, OK? My wife she was a giving me a hard a time back at home, and my mistress was a giving me a grief on the ship.'
c) 'I tripped and fell into a lifeboat.'
2 In 1975, Jeffrey Archer was accused of shoplifting two suits from a store in Toronto. What was his excuse?
a) 'I thought they were being charged to my account.'
b) 'I'd wandered into another shop through an interconnecting passage.'
c) 'Poppycock! I could afford to buy that store three times over, why would I want to steal their suits?'
3 What excuse did Jack Straw give for shaking the hand of the dictator Robert Mugabe at the UN in 2004?
a) 'He seemed like a nice man.'
b) 'It was quite dark.'
c) 'I thought he was Nelson Mandela.'
4 In 1999, a chauffeured car was used to transport John Prescott (left) and his wife 300 yards from their hotel to the venue of the Labour Party Conference, where Prescott gave a speech on how to encourage people to use public transport. His excuse?
a) 'We were late, now stop asking such daft, bloody questions.'
b) 'It was just an opportunity that presented in a limited way and that happened and as soon as we were there I didn't deny it I just said 'that's it' and I had to go and explain it where they went out in.'
c) 'My wife doesn't like her hair blown about.'
5 Which celebrity failed to report the alleged theft of his property with the excuse: 'The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me.'
a) Tiger Woods
b) OJ Simpson
c) Woody Allen
6 Dick Cheney dodged the Vietnam draft in the Sixties. What excuse did he later come up with?
a) 'I had other priorities.'
b) 'I was a pacifist back then.'
c) 'I was exempt on account of my flat feet, and, er, my colour-blindness. Yeah, that's right, I remember now. Colour blind. You can check my files.'
7 What excuse did the leading 'Stop Global Warming' activist Laurie David give for flying in a private jet?
a) 'There were no other flights out of there that day.'
b) 'The truth is, I'm not perfect. This is not about perfection.'
c) 'Look it's not my plane. It's my husband Larry's plane. Take it up with him.'
8 Which celebrity gave the excuse 'I didn't have a professional bodyguard' after failing to appear in court on a drug-possession charge?
a) Whitney Houston
b) Snoop Doggy Dog
c) Courtney Love
9 When Winona Ryder (left) was arrested in 2001 for shoplifting more than $5,500 worth of designer clothes and accessories from a store in Beverly Hills, what was her excuse?
a) 'I was doing research for my new movie.'
b) 'I was intending to pay for them but I got distracted.'
c) 'I thought they were giving them to me for free in return for an endorsement.'
10 'I was just giving her a ride home.' Which film star gave this excuse after being pulled over by the police for picking up a transvestite prostitute?
a) Eddie Murphy
b) Charlie Sheen
c) Hugh Grant
11 In 1998, what excuse did the Labour MP Ron Davies give for going back to a stranger's flat after meeting him late at night on Clapham Common, only to be mugged at knifepoint?
a) 'He said he had some etchings he wanted to show me.'
b) 'He invited me back for a meal.'
c) 'He said I could use his phone to report the theft of my wallet and mobile.'
12 When the Sri Lanka cricket team lost the 2001 ICC Champions Trophy final to Pakistan, what excuse did their captain Sanath Jayasuriya give?
a) 'There was bad light. The umpires admit they should have offered us the light.'
b) 'Our clothes were too tight.'
c) 'Shoaib Akhtar had been tampering with the ball.'
13 Liverpool goalkeeper David James came up with a bizarre excuse for letting in three goals against Newcastle in 1997. What was it?
a) 'I was getting carried away playing Tekken II and Tomb Raider for hours on end.'
b) 'My girlfriend distracted me.'
c) 'My gloves were too big.'
14 In 2003, five years after his 'moment of madness' on Clapham Common, married MP Ron Davies was revealed as having visited a well-known gay cruising spot near a motorway lay-by. What excuse did he give for being there this time?
a) 'I was picking daffodils.'
b) 'I was asking for directions.'
c) 'I was badger-watching.'
15 What excuse did Janet Jackson give for exposing her breast during a dance routine with Justin Timberlake in the Super Bowl half-time show in 2004?
a) 'I did it to get some publicity because I have a new album out.'
b) 'That wasn't my nipple, that was Justin's thumb.'
c) 'It was a wardrobe malfunction.'
16 Which manager gave the following excuse when his team went 3-0 down: 'The jerseys were causing bad luck.'
a) Alex Ferguson
b) Harry Redknapp
c) Fabio Capello
17 In 1972, during the Vietnam War, Jane Fonda went on a trip to North Vietnam and was photographed wearing a helmet and sitting on an anti-aircraft gun that North Vietnamese forces otherwise used for shooting at American planes. How did she account for this?
a) 'Someone led me toward the gun and I sat down. It had nothing to do with where I was sitting. I hardly ever think about where I'm sitting. The cameras flashed.'
b) 'They kept calling me Hanoi Jane so I thought, what the heck, why don't I start acting like Hanoi Jane?'
c) 'That was a gun? It didn't even look like a gun. I thought it was some kinda big telescope.'
18 At the Masters snooker final at Wembley in 1997, Ronnie O'Sullivan built up an 8-3 lead, then lost seven straight games and the match. His excuse?
a) 'I had the wrong contact lenses in.'
b) 'A streaker broke my concentration.'
c) 'I suddenly realised what a pointless game snooker was and lost the will to carry on.'
19 What excuse did a naked and intoxicated Charlie Sheen (left) give in 2010 for smashing up his hotel room at The Plaza after a hard night's partying?
a) 'I had an adverse allergic reaction to some medication.'
b) 'I was looking for the book I'm in the middle of reading. The Brothers Karamazov. Have you seen it anywhere?'
c) 'When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.'
20 After Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of a hotel window, he gave what excuse?
a) 'I wanted to teach him that there is no need to fear heights.'
b) 'What can I say? We are the world. We can touch the sky.'
c) 'I got caught up in the excitement of the moment.'
21 When George Michael was arrested in 1998 for committing a lewd act in a public lavatory, what excuse did he give?
a) 'It comes from, I think, an abandonment issue… if I feel a mistrust, then… all my cards go down.'
b) 'I didn't know it was a gents. Honestly. I thought it was an underground nightclub.'
c) 'The cop enticed me into a game of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours''.'
22 Which sportsman, upon failing a blood test for doping, said: 'I have two kinds of blood because my twin died in utero'?
a) Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson
b) Olympic cyclist Tyler Hamilton
c) Olympic swimmer Michelle Smith
1) c, 2) b, 3) b, 4) c, 5) b, 6) a, 7) b, 8) c, 9) a, 10) a, 11) b, 12) b, 13) a, 14) c, 15) c, 16) a, 17) a, 18) b, 19) a, 20) c, 21) c, 22) b
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Fiction Feature Films
En Attendant Godard (2009)
Afterimages (2010)
Common Ground (2012)
The New Hope (2015)
Ur: The End of Civilization in 90 Tableaux (2015)
Roehampton Guerrillas (2011-2016) (2016)
The Benefit of Doubt (2019)
This is Cinema (in post-production)
The New Hope 2 (in post-production)
Documentary Feature Films
#randomaccessmemory (2017)
China: A User's Manual (Films) (2013)
Selfie (2014)
Circle/Line (2016)
Letters to Ariadne (2016)
Vladimir and William (2018)
La Belle Noise (2019)
Music Videos and Shorts
Screenplays and other writings
Who We Are (Behind the Camera)
Who We Are (The Talent)
Don't Look Now: A Film Beyond Measure
Blogpost, British cinema, Film reviews, Uncategorized
I was recently invited to write an essay on "Don't Look Now" for a catalog to accompany a recent exhibition of work by Martin Erik Andersen at Holstebro Art Museum in Denmark.
Always one to be persuaded by flattery, I naturally accepted, and subsequently spent a fair amount of time conducting research, watching and thinking about the film, and then writing this essay.
Alas, however, the below essay was not what they said that they were looking for – in that does not provide a 'mathematical' analysis of the film. Rather than waste the c30 hours of work that went into this, though, I figured I would post it here.
Spoilers.
"Don't Look Now" seems to have it in for wizened old dwarf women, since the one who features in Nicolas Roeg's film turns out to be a murderer who ultimately slays John Baxter, played by Donald Sutherland, and who is the central protagonist of the movie.
We have to start with a spoiler, though, because it is only by getting to the end of the film that we can begin in certain respects to make sense of it. For, as we shall see, "Don't Look Now" offers up a conception of space and time that suggests that in many respects we are always already dead – and that it is simply an anthropocentric conceit to organise, or indeed to contain, space and time into measurable units, or indeed to measure space and time at all.
I should refine my last sentence and say that it is not simply an anthropocentric conceit to measure space and time (to divide space and time into measurements). Rather, it is quite specifically a tendency or a trope of what we might term capitalist man to do this (with the gender implications of the term 'man' being allowed to remain, with whiteness and western-ness also being qualities that remain consistent with such hegemonic practices, or practices of domination). In short, capitalist white man (who could almost certainly be specified via further adjectives) seeks to dominate nature by subjugating nature to measurement. By making our world finite and ordered. To bring order to chaos.
Why does man seek to do this? Because he wishes to halt time, not to die, to live forever, and to escape from the perceived cruelty of nature, which cruelty amounts basically to taking it as an insult that he does not live forever in the first place. That is, man seeks to do this out of narcissism. To prove that he is above the animals and 'better' than nature.
But what does this have to do with "Don't Look Now"?
It has everything to do with "Don't Look Now", because (capitalist western white) man's wrangles with the chaotic universe become the very fabric of Roeg's movie, both as a documentary and as a self-consciously composed (fiction) film
What on earth do I mean when I describe the film as a documentary?
Well, what in particular I mean is that humans don't have to go very far with a camera in order to find signs of humanity's attempts to dominate nature/the world/chaos via what I am terming measurement. As it turns out, Venice is an excellent venue for this because it is a space where the straight lines and measurements that humanity imposes on the world (including the delimitation and naming of space that is calling this particular place 'Venice') come in direct contact with—and are reflected in—the chaotic waters on top of which that city is built (and into which it is slowly sinking, about which, more imminently).
But even if Venice provides an excellent visualisation of how a certain kind of humanity (patriarchal white society, with the Christianity business at its core) tries specifically to build itself upon water in order to subjugate that water, you could basically point a camera anywhere these days and what you would film would include the straight lines and geometric patterns applied to and/or covering over nature by humans, as well as signs of that nature itself in the form of tendrils, vines, blades of grass, trees, rain, clouds, and anything else that is not manmade. In this sense, pretty much all films document the ways in which humans try to, but in many ways cannot, pave over nature and create a measured and measurable world of order, and of which we can make easy sense. We simplify nature, making order of chaos, and in so doing we mark our separation from chaos, giving to ourselves a sense of our own specialness within the universe.
Except, of course, that this endeavour is all vanity—and Venice will indeed sink into the quagmire as churches will fall into disrepair, humans will die, and so on. At least, this will happen until humans do discover the elixir of eternal life (and preferably eternal youth rather than ageing forever but not dying). That is, humans will do this until they do finally become gods—a pursuit that even today many believe possible thanks to the powers of 'science,' i.e. thanks to the powers of measurement itself. We seek the bottles or other containers that will bring about eternal life, be those augmented bodies, computer avatars, elixirs that we can drink, space ships to take us to the stars and many more ideas, as often faddish as foolish.
Cinema and photography, as technologies that can in some senses preserve human life, including beyond what we typically refer to as death, are part and parcel of this endeavour. And yet, cinema can also, like many humans, be at war with this embalming impulse and it can also open itself up to and find regeneration in chaos. Rather than being a tool for eternal life, cinema can also let chaos and death into its system.
And so if "Don't Look Now" documents man's vanity as he attempts to cheat death (just look at Venice; such vanity is the very architecture of the place), it also consciously explores this contradiction, and thus it emerges as a work of art that actively works with chaos rather than trying to pour concrete over it.
Indeed, the opening shots announce as much: rain and the shuddering water of a pond—accompanied by a zoom that creates a pattern of almost televisual static. We dissolve to patterns of light on a black background, as light filters through cracks in a blind. The blind may keep out the light, but as the film will tell us, the blind can also see, and in seeing, show us aspects of our world that we otherwise miss.
After these opening seconds, we will repeatedly have flowers, vines and tendrils creeping into the frame. Indeed, in cutaway after cutaway, Roeg deliberately speaks the iconographic language of the still life, where the straight lines of the human world are juxtaposed with the sinewy mess of nature. Furthermore, pigeons will repeatedly emerge into frame to disrupt the geometry of the city, while cats meow from behind metal grates (which is not to mention dogs barking and children crying offscreen throughout the film).
Even when we do find ourselves in relatively geometric spaces, the human itself emerges as a force of chaos rather than one of control. We can picture John and Laura, framed by drawing tubes and hotel room furniture, and yet they themselves both have curly, barely controlled hair, spiralling out of their heads (and out of John's lip)—a sort of cinematic Kandinsky consisting of monochromatic straight lines coming up against inconsistent spheres.
John is at the centre of this tension between order and chaos. If the blind seer Heather can tell that John also has visions, John tries as best he can to deny them. Even as he knows that he is restoring a fake church, something that he admits to Laura over dinner, he still is invested in the project of halting time and bringing about the restoration and eternal youth of this floating city.
Indeed, the tension that John feels is clearly reflected in his consideration of space. For, John has written a book called Beyond the Fragile Geometry of Space, which we see next to Laura on the sofa of their English home at the film's start. We are not given access to the book's contents, but from its title we might surmise that John can indeed see beyond space as geometric, that is, beyond space as being made of fixed and measured/measurable coordinates.
Let us dwell a while on this idea. For, the Greek term for measurement is metron, which for Reza Negarestani is
found etymologically encrypted in English words such as Dimension (from dimetiri: measure out), meter, etc. Keeping well in mind the famous doctrine of Pythagoras, 'Man is the metron of everything' (pantōn chrēmatōn metron anthrōpos), metron can be translated as scale, measure, standard, and value. According to Sextus Empiricus, metron expresses criterion (scale, measure) but Heraclitus and Sophocles saw it as certifying dominance, a domination over something. Therefore, metron indicates that both measures and dimensions inter-connect with power, judgement and reasoning. The critique of metron explains how dimensions (namely metron) bring power into effect, mobilizing and propagating it. (Negarestani 2008: 233)
In other words, metron is humanity's attempt to control an otherwise dimension-defying reality and to become a god by measuring it out, by applying to it a fixed number of dimensions, and thus by dominating/subjugating/simplifying it. No wonder it is that we see a bust of Socrates' note-taker, Plato, as John inspects a slide also at the film's start. For, via his engagement with ancient Greek thought, John understands that measurement is nothing more than man's attempt to control nature, and that it must therefore be fragile. What, however, lies 'beyond' this fragile geometry of space…?
Beyond the fragile dimensions that humans construct via walls, pavements and other straight, hard surfaces, which all eventually will crumble into the sea, man is lost—as John and Laura experience even within Venice as they wander its alleyways at night. Without illumination and thus without the visible markers or measures of space that man has created in order to navigate it, space is simply a labyrinth, and space simply swallows up man and demonstrates that his meaning and order, his straight lines and his religious myths, are mere consolations against the impermanence and complexity of the world. Even a frozen lake is not flat/straight, as Laura explains. And so the human world tries to be permanent and thus is carved in solid materials like stone, but even these become covered by moss and broken down, and even these give way to mud and water, which in turn drown humans and bring them back to the ever-shifting earth.
If "Don't Look Now" pits an ordered solidity against chaotic liquid, then clearly humans contain within them the tension between these two states. For, humans are of course themselves mostly liquid, as is made most clear when blood flows forth from humans in injury and death—and monthly in the female human for as long as she might biologically generate new life. Humans thus create bottles for liquids in order to contain their chaotic power, much as humans bottle themselves up in order to keep the same chaos at bay (unsurprisingly, then, John is aghast when he vomits, which he claims not to have done in 10 years, since he prides himself on keeping everything inside).
And yet, if humans create and become bottles, glass nonetheless smashes on several occasions in the film: Laura and John's son, Johnny, cycles over glass just before Christine drowns in the pond, while glass smashes as Laura faints in the restaurant, and John is covered in broken glass as he nearly falls from inspecting the mural in the Church of St Niccolò dei Mendicoli. Meanwhile, blood spills from John and Johnny at the moment of Christine's death—and the water beneath Venice is always there to remind us that chaos can only be bottled briefly, if at all.
But still (western) humans persist in shutting themselves off from the outside and in seeking eternal, bottled and contained life. Indeed, "Don't Look Now" anticipates, or at the very least positions itself as being part of a cultural logic of computation when little Johnny's headmaster at Porton School is revealed as being called Babbage. Clearly an allusion to Charles Babbage, the progenitor of digital culture, his role as an educator clearly suggests that the logic of mankind as exempt from nature (with digital technology having since the film become the talismanic technology that will make this aspiration come true) is one that is inculcated in western humans from an early age, such that they go on to internalise this logic of separation-from-reality, and assume it to be real.
What is more, humans resist the outside world not just by building walls (even as doors fly open by themselves/at the power of the wind), but also by covering themselves with clothes—with "Don't Look Now"being especially a treatise on gloves. It is as if humans want to avoid direct contact with as much of the world as possible, including with each other. In addition, humans cross their legs (John) in order not to let out the yonic energies that emanate from their genitals, and humans try to maintain sure and still postures. (Notably, Laura is told to uncross her legs when Heather tries to get in touch with Christine from beyond the grave.)
The awkwardness of Donald Sutherland running towards the pond where Christine drowns is one of the most important images in "Don't Look Now", since it conveys the imperfection of human movement—while at the same time working within the film to suggest that humans try otherwise to move as little as possible, to turn themselves into perfect statues and thus to live forever (in photographs?). This stillness involves a suppression of desire that is at odds with the openness to other dimensions that Heather experiences, shuddering and juddering as she communes orgasmically with the beyond… and which orgasmic shudder has clear echoes with the film's 'controversial' (or at least for many people memorable) sex scene, in which John and Heather remain (alas, all too tastefully?) nude for what seems like a prolonged period.
To shudder and to quake is to be in touch with the infinite and to generate new life, much as the mud and the water generate new life and the continued evolution and change of life on earth. John Izod sees the brooch worn by Heather's sister Wendy as a symbol of fertility (Izod 1992: 108), and in some senses he is not wrong; but when we get a close up view of it as Laura inspects the brooch while visiting the sisters in their hotel room, we see more clearly that it depicts a mermaid—as if these women were indeed from a chaotic water element, and thus also outside of the geometric world of masculinist stone.
In identifying the film as western, as well as by quoting an Islamic scholar in relation to measurement above, we perhaps have wandered far from the film's intended/suitable critical framework. And yet, the film also contains seeds of such a 'dewesternising' critique. 'The deeper we get, the more Byzantine it gets,' says John to Laura just before he confesses to restoring not a real church but a fake. Not only is the western world in some senses fake as a whole because of its fundamental and wilfully illusory separation from nature/reality, but it also is one built upon a history of theft and a subsequent denial of that theft (with western man seeking no depth whatsoever, since to enter the murky depths, to enter murkiness as depth, is indeed the remit of the Byzantine/other; no wonder western man tries to surround himself with mirrors, which surfaces "Don't Look Now" also consults repeatedly).
At one point, John comes face to face with a grotesque bust on the side of the church that he is restoring. Not only does this suggest that John himself is grotesque, but it also brings to mind the way in which the grotesque is itself a marginal form that is perhaps marginal precisely because it regularly blurs the boundary between the human and other species/the rest of the world, with grotesques (and its explicitly non-western cousin, the arabesque) regularly seeing the figure merge with the textual in the form of a flourishing vine. In other words, the grotesque reminds us not of the separation of man from world, but precisely of the interconnection between man, animal, plant and the rest of the material world (see also Marks 2010: 96-98). In the Islamic pictorial tradition, the grotesque and the arabesque both also bring to mind the autonomous life of the line; that is, as the line is freed from the burden of representation but instead becomes its own expressive force (flowing as it wishes and not because it must outline, say, a face), so does it move beyond the realm of the visual (this is a picture of a face) and into the realm of the haptic (you can feel the force of the line). It is not through vision that we can understand the world, but through touch, even as western humans put on gloves to avoid it.
But as the line comes alive in the grotesque and the arabesque, so might we also understand how colour, in particular through a Venetian history of art, also connotes hapticity. Laura U Marks can help to illuminate once again why Venice is such an apt venue for "Don't Look Now":
of course line and color are interdependent, as in the labile quality of the contour and the mercurial technique of chiaroscuro. It is notable that the Venetians, and their coloristic heir in the nineteenth century, Delacroix, were influenced by Oriental contact. Haptic space began to push to the surface of their paintings, while the linearists were still keeping the abstract line in check… Artisans began to emphasize flow over form. The tendril decoration inherited from Greek and Roman art quickly lost its naturalism and became what we call the arabesque. (Marks 2010: 54)
And so with its emphasis on red, "Don't Look Now" similarly enacts an attempt to divorce colour from form, to give to colour a life of its own, as is made especially clear by the blood that floods the image during the climax of the opening death sequence. This haptic aspect of the film thus helps viewers to get beyond simply what is represented (here is a person in a red coat) and to access other dimensions hidden within these normal/normative ways of seeing (but of course the bearer of the red coat turns out to be a grotesque, old, murderous woman, since the grotesque, the old and the female are all antithetical to the myth of eternal youth that patriarchy seeks, promises, and narcissistically fools itself into believing it can realise; the woman does not bottle up life, keeping it for herself, but instead she bleeds and gives life).
If "Don't Look Now" in some senses consciously places itself within artistic, pictorial and/or painterly traditions, then it is also knowingly a film. If for Mary Shelley the Promethean endeavour to establish eternal life led to the creation of Frankenstein's monster, then Christine's death clearly evokes the moment in James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) when the monster throws a little girl, Maria, into a pond, causing her also to drown. Indeed, perhaps this allusion makes clear how John himself is a creating a monster in trying to resurrect a fake. Or rather, in trying to be Prometheus, John already is Frankenstein's monster himself.
Meanwhile, "Don't Look Now" of course follows hot on the heels of Luchino Visconti's Thomas Mann adaptation, Death in Venice (1971), which itself tells the tale of how human desire cannot be kept straight, and how man will indeed only ever fail in his attempts to prolong his life. Finally, the moment when a dead body is fished from the water recalls a similar moment in Michelangelo Antonioni's L'Eclisse (1962), in which a car is similarly fished out from the Tiber—as if that tale of human alienation were in some senses continued here. A poster of Charlie Chaplin further clarifies the film's lineage: the tramp equally is alienated from the machinic world of capital.
But much as "Don't Look Now" revels in its status as a film, it is and must also be in rebellion against that very same status. For if cinema is anything, it is perhaps, as mentioned, a technology for preserving human life beyond death. In this way, it is part of the Promethean project, while the very and inevitable existence of the frame means that cinema only ever 'bottles' or 'boxes' space, offering us the Euclidean coordinates of a framed reality. Cinema is like Venice in that if the latter is, as Heather suggests, a 'city in aspic,' then cinema likewise puts the human body in aspic, preserving us in polyester.
If this is so, then it is against the frame of cinema itself that Roeg will consistently reframe, zoom and blur the images that we see. As with the performances, in which lines are mumbled, and the sound recording, in which sometimes the dialogue is hard to follow, Roeg thus deliberately makes a technically 'dirty' film, reminding us regularly that we are watching a film, a fake, a story that is not necessarily to be believed. Indeed, the use of quotation marks in the very title of the film ("Don't Look Now") suggest a second-hand rather than an original story.* And it is a story that at times we literally cannot see very clearly; one that on occasion leaves us baffled as to what exactly is happening.
What is more, Roeg's radical editing, in which we can jump from different times to different spaces and back again within what we would traditionally refer to as a 'scene' ties in with the film's use of cinema not to affix time but to demonstrate its interconnected nature. That is, as the dimensions of space are attributes that we affix to 'raw' space so as to conquer it (and so as not to get lost), so do we do the same with time.
Clocks and watches abound within "Don't Look Now", with these technologies themselves being ways for humans to regulate and thus in some senses to control time. And yet time itself is not linear, as the love-making scene itself exemplifies; we jump back and forth between John and Laura engaging in coitus and the two of them getting dressed/covering themselves back up for dinner. What was formless and naked becomes formal once again—but the edit mixes the chronology up suggesting that the past, the present and the future all co-exist simultaneously. This is why John can see his own funeral, why Heather can foresee the future and why John is in some respects (always) already dead: as space is deeply, or fundamentally, dimensionless, so, too, is time.
(To "look now" is thus perhaps not to see; one cannot look now, or at least the film encourages not only to look at the now, but to see how the now/the present is intertwined with the past and the future. If we truly could see the "now" we would not see it isolated from other moments in time, but entangled with them.**)
If it is the destiny of all humans to fall, as John imagines at one point that he does in the church amidst a shower of broken glass, then gravity will bring all humans to the grave. And in that muddly hole, worms will devour us and vines will emerge from that mud in a new sprouting of life. In the mud, space is dimensionless, but, so, too, is time, with Roeg's cinema travelling through edit 'wormholes' to connect up what would be different spaces and times as if they were all connected. Not extended geometrically into a manageable pattern—but all together all at once. The vanity of man is to live forever; the reality of the universe is that we do live forever, but we also die forever, too. The vain and Promethean endeavour of man is to separate life definitively from death; the destiny of the human is to realise that life is inseparable from death—even as this leads to life defying gravity and emerging from the grave. It is at La Fenice where the sisters are staying by the film's end; they are thus like phoenixes, transcending the distinction between life and death via their embrace of immanence and rebirth, as John canters (awkwardly again) towards his own death in Venice (Fenice?) because he will not accept a world without measure.
When the corpse, which bears a remarkable similarity to Heather, is retrieved from the Venetian canal, we see the open-eyed actor playing that part suddenly blink. No doubt an 'error,' the moment nonetheless demonstrates that the world of life without death is a world of impossible unblinkingness, one of permanent light in which paradoxically we cannot see. It is only when we blink, or when, like Wendy, we have something in our eyes (including mud, which perhaps explains why John begins to drink—here's mud in your eye!) that we actually do see. True reality is marked by invisible dimensions that perhaps we can feel through senses other than vision; to be limited only to unblinking vision is to close oneself off to those alternative dimensions, spaces and times that we might dismiss as fantasies, dreams or hallucinations, but which in fact are real.
But what is it that we actually are not seeing? Perhaps of particular note is that "Don't Look Now" features a second book in addition to Beyond the Fragile Geometry of Space, and that is Rolf Hochhuth's stage play, Der Stellvertreter (1963), which regularly is translated as The Deputy. Der Stellvertreter explores the way in which Pope Pius XII failed to speak out or take action against the Holocaust. What remains invisible, then, is the way in which National Socialism and the Catholic church both—in their attempts to control the world—lead to genocide, both within Europe and further afield. This blood, more than the Venetian lagoon, is the true chaotic liquid that has been spilt for the purposes of creating the western and patriarchal world of walls. And it is a blood that cannot be shown, but only alluded to, much as a black hole cannot directly be seen, but which can only be felt as a result of its gravitational and grave effects (everything falls towards it).
It is quite typical of 1970s art house movies to offer up many different signs, and yet which on the whole remain hard to decipher. "Don't Look Now" is no exception, and there remain numerous details that I have not been able to mention, including the role of the police ('The skill of the police artist is to make the living appear dead'); the way in which the camera always lingers on Signor Alexander, the owner of the hotel at which the Baxters are staying, after the other characters have finished talking to him; the way in which Laura is referred to as Mrs Baster at the airport, as if the family might be bastards; a poster about Boris Godunov; the prominence of a pair of neon glasses and a sign for an ottica, or optician's, as John and Laura emerge from the darkness and back into familiar and lit alleyways in the Venetian night.
But of course if "Don't Look Now" made total, coherent sense, then it would too much have subjugated its details to meaning; it would too much have made order out of chaos. In part, "Don't Look Now" must remain chaotic on purpose, full of details that elude interpretation, and thus coming alive like the line and colour of the arabesque and/or the grotesque. In this way, it suggests an infinity beyond the finite world of walls and stone. An invisible world of blood unleashed. But also a world of life beyond death, of life in death, of dimensions beyond the measure of western capitalist man. Maybe the measure of a man, and the measure of this film, is that it seeks to go beyond measure, and to put is in touch with that infinite. Such an infinite reality can never be spoiled—except by the greed of men who seek to live forever.
* I overheard British Film Institute librarian Sarah Currant making this point during an induction session for students in the BFI Library. My thanks to her and my apologies for purloining the observation.
** This point was suggested to me by Mila Zuo. My thanks also to her for her help with this.
Izod, John (1992) The Films of Nicolas Roeg: Myth and Mind, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Marks, Laura U. (2010) Enfoldment and Infinity: An Islamic Genealogy of New Media Art, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Negarestani, Reza (2008) Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials, Melbourne: re.press.
October 12, 2019 September 1, 2020 wjrcbrown Tagged arabesques, BFI library, Charlie chaplin, death in venice, don't look now, Donald sutherland, frankenstein, grotesques, holstebro art museum, James whale, John izod, Julie christie, Laura u marks, Martin Erik andersen, Michelangelo antonioni, Nicolas roeg, reza negarestani, venice	Leave a comment


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RD.COM Knowledge
If You See a License Plate with a Gold Star, This Is What It Means
Van Van CleaveUpdated: Jan. 17, 2023
MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images/Getty Images
The embellishment is a meaningful honor of the sacrifice of service members and their families
In America, license plates can serve as an extension of a person's identity, whether that's simply where they're from, or their favorite song memorialized on a personalized plate. Eagle-eyed drivers may also notice particular symbols or honors, such as a gold star, often accompanied by the phrases "Gold Star Family" or "Gold Star Mother." This embellishment has a rich history among American military families and honors their enduring patriotism.
What Does a Gold Star on a License Plate Mean?
A gold star signifies that a family member of the driver has died in the line of military duty. This military duty could include wars, terrorist attacks or peacekeeping operations.
The gold star was originally envisioned as an alternative to mourning garments, to provide a respectful celebration of the fallen service member's dedication and character. According to American Gold Star Mothers, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to aiding veterans, "[t]he idea of the Gold Star was that the honor and glory accorded the person for [their] supreme sacrifice in offering for [their] country, the last full measure of devotion and pride of the family in this sacrifice."
The History of the Gold Star Program
The gold star program evolved out of the blue star program, which was founded by World War I Army Captain Robert L. Queisser of the Ohio 5th Infantry in 1917. His two sons served on the front line, and he developed the "Blue Star Service Banner" to honor them. This traditional banner featured a white background with a red border and a blue star in the middle for each service member. Captain Queisser displayed it proudly in his window, and soon other local military families did too, in their homes, churches, businesses, and schools. By September 1917, Ohio's adoption of this service flag was formally codified in the Ohio Congressional Record.
The following year, the Women's Committee of the Council of National Defense proposed that women—particularly mothers—wear a black armband with a gold star for each fallen service member. President Woodrow Wilson approved this proposal on May 28, and a decade later in 1928, 25 mothers went to Washington, DC, to officially form American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. These mothers and numerous other families amended the blue-starred service banners with gold stars to signify the sacrifices of their fallen relatives. In 1936, Congress declared the last Sunday of September "Gold Star Mother's Day."
Both the blue and gold star programs have stood the test of time, with numerous appearances in the modern day. For example, the American Legion provided service banners to families in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In 2011, President Barack Obama amended "Gold Star Mother's Day" to "Gold Star Mother's and Family's Day." And, of course, gold stars still adorn license plates.
How to Apply for a Gold Star
If one of your family members has died in the line of duty, you may be eligible to receive a gold star on your license plate. Different states have different requirements; for example, California allows grandchildren to apply for a gold star, while Tennessee and Vermont only allow spouses, siblings, parents and children.
To discover the requirements for your particular state, look it up in this chart from Gold Star Mothers, Inc. Note that in order to apply you will need to prove relation to the fallen service member, as well as their passing in the form of a DD 1300.
Moreover, if you are struggling financially or emotionally in the wake of a loved one's passing, consider reaching out to a Department of Defense Gold Star and Surviving Family Member representative. Other helpful organizations include the American Widow Project and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
How to Help Gold Star Families
If you would like to support gold star families and thank them for their sacrifice, there are numerous ways to do so. Consider donating or volunteering through any of the below nonprofits:
Angels of America's Fallen
Believe with Me
Helping Hands for Freedom
Honor and Remember
A Soldier's Child Foundation
Travis Manion Foundation
Tunnel to Towers Foundation
United Heroes League
Vet Tix
Each organization listed provides a unique opportunity to help gold star families, whether that's connecting them with the larger community, covering some of their bills, gifting them a memorial flag, putting them through training programs, or providing legal help to those at risk of deportation. However you choose to assist, know that you're giving something tangible to the loved ones of those who have given their lives for this country.
Emma Kapotes/Rd.com
Phrases That Originated in the Military
Mike Flippo/Shutterstock
Famous People You Didn't Know Were Veterans
John Francis Peters for Reader's Digest
Why Are Military Families on Food Stamps?
Gold Star Moms
American Legion: Blue Star Banner
Library of Congress: Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense
Obamawhitehouse.archives.gov: Presidential Proclamation—Gold Star Mother's and Family's Day 2011
California DMV: Chapter 21: Special Plates
Tennessee Department of Revenue: Blue Star Family
Vermont DMV: Gold Star Family and Next of Kin
What Exactly Does TL;DR Mean, and How Should You Use It?
These Are the Strongest Hurricanes Ever to Hit the United States


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The wild, wild seventies - experiments in all areas and of course in music! This decade has stretched the borders of technology and expanded the sounds and styles in a wide range. It is not without a cause, this decade has been sampled most by producers and DJs. Rare Grooves exactly offers this feeling but on a legal base.
Rare Grooves focuses on the early era of Funk where groovy soul-beats and energy-charged rock-elements still had an impact on this genre.
Review releasetime.de Rare Grooves Vol 1 Rare Grooves is a creativity package that is open for song and sound experiments of any kind.
Rare Grooves brings the time and the feel of magnetic tape recordings into your DAW. Due to financial and technical limits of smaller studios of that era, sound experiments were a crucial part when finding one's personal sound. Among the favored stylistic devices were tape saturation up to the VU-meter's limits, lurching tape-delays, unusual reverbs, amplifier feedback an of course a good portion of overdrive - real garage sound.
Rare Grooves focuses on the early era of Funk where groovy soul-beats and energy-charged rock-elements still had an impact on this genre. This makes this library the perfect choice for hip-hop, breakbeat, crossover- and dance-tracks; be it for music production, mix tapes, soundtracks or advertisements.
Rare Grooves consists of 10 construction kits with a total of 734 loops. The kits cover a tempo range from 78 to 122 BPM. Kits 1 to 9 include intro, parts A and B, break and outro. Construction kit 10 contains 9 tracks of different classic breaks designed to be used in all other kits.
All instruments are available on single tracks with that appropriate raw sound, allowing you to use grooves as a whole or integrate single instruments into your own tracks.
The drum sets are categorized into bass drum, snare drum, hihat, ride, crash, toms, tambourine and overheads. We also added complete mixdowns of the beats which are useful for fast work as well as for perfect reproduction of that seventies sound - just like getting a vinyl-sample.
For the real groove, this library only uses typical funk-instruments, being recorded with the matching vintage-effect processors: Rhodes electric piano, electric bass and guitars, strings, brass and synthesizers.
Rare Grooves is a library of character, equally suited for music production, film- and television dubbing and games. In short: whenever you need the unique black-music-sound of the early seventies, Rare Grooves is your choice.
Ueberschall's Elastik player is the ideal tool for DJ-based production in your DAW environment. Integrate full grooves or single loops into your own tracks. At the same time, you can modify any loop using effects such as filtering, format tools, reverse playback or resampling. Also, immediate time-stretching is possible, using zplanes advanced élastique pro algorithm.
All Elastik libraries use a clearly arranged browser using attributes for fast searching of loops and instruments across all installed construction kits and libraries. The best premise for crossover-productions.


Softball - We have a softball team that plays in a local church league from May to August every Tuesday night. We play most of our games on our home field. Practice starts in April.
Golf - We are involved in a local church golf league that plays every Thursday night from May to September.
Basketball - During the winter we have open gym basketball on Thursday nights.


'Arrow' Unthinkable: Is That A Creepy Spider In Thea's Hair?
Okay, we're pretty sure this is just some freaky clump of hair and a fingertip, but once you see a spider, you always see a spider. Thanks to Redditor faywashere for spotting this and posting it to the Arrow subreddit.
Around the 18:16 mark when Roy embraces Thea — an object with appendage-like whisps comes into focus for an instant. The creepy crawly-esque entity appears to be about the size of a dime and hangs much like a spider would, upside down, presumably from a strand of silk.
Watch for yourself and leave a comment. Don't blink it's really quick!
The jokes are flying about a Spider-Man tie-in, but we're not holding our breath for a Marvel/DC crossover.
Will the "spider" make a return? Watch "Arrow" season 3 this fall on CW50.


Interesting information about our four-footed counselors and the usefulness of using dogs to relieve stress or to assist in therapeutic interventions, and how this practice has come to be accepted by mainstream psychological, educational and medical practitioners.
"It was quite early in my career, in the 1960's, and I was attending the American Psychological Association meetings in New York. Because of my interest in dogs and their relationship to humans, I was caught by the title of a talk to be given by a child psychologist, Boris Levinson, who was at Yeshiva University. This would turn out to be the first formal presentation of animal assisted therapy given before a national audience in North America. Levinson was working with a very disturbed child and found, by chance, that when he had his dog Jingles with him the therapy sessions were much more productive. Furthermore, other children who had difficulty communicating seemed more at ease and actually made real attempts at conversation when the dog was present. Levinson gathered data from several such cases and this formed the basis of the paper that he presented at this APA meeting.
The ultimate validation of animal assisted therapy would come from psychologist Alan Beck and psychiatrist Aaron Katcher. They used direct physiological measures to show that when a person interacted with, or even was simply in the presence of, a friendly dog, there were immediate changes in their physiological responses. Breathing became more regular, heart beat slowed, muscles relaxed and there were other physiological changes suggesting a lowering of sympathetic nervous system activity. Since it is the sympathetic nervous system which responds to stress, this indicated that the dog was clearly reducing the stress levels of the people in its presence. There is a bias among psychological researchers, in that they tend to use physiological measures as if they are the "gold standard" for the validity of a concept. Since they could now see the direct effects that pets were having on the physiological indexes of stress, the notions associated with animal assisted therapy became much more acceptable."


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Q: How to get a program's GUID in .NET 4 I want to uninstall a program using a C# code. I can simply do it by using msiexec.exe but in order to use it, I need to have the GUID of the program I want to uninstall. If the only thing I've got of this program is it's name then how can I find it's GUID?

A: You can't do that reliably, you would need more information - applications can have the same 'name'.
Use an installer/uninstaller that is the package of the program.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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in Android
Sony Xperia XZ Premium with Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4GB RAM, 4K HDR Screen announced
by Adam Parnala March 6, 2017, 12:54 AM
Sony isn't one of the major competitors in the smartphone market, at least not outside Japan, but the company has continued to mesmerize with its advancement in display technology.
This has once again come to play as Sony has unveiled a new smartphone that is reputed to be the world's first smartphone with 4K high dynamic range (HDR) screen, improved camera, and the ability to download large files at super-fast speeds. The Xperia XZ Premium was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona and it marks Sony's continued bid to play in the premium end of the market against the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei.
The Sony Xperia XZ Premium comes with a 5.5-inch 4K display with approximately 801 pixels-per-inch. It is not an OLED display but one made from LCD. The phone is not Google DayDream VR ready as a result of the LCD display but Sony now has a partnership with Amazon for 4K HDR content. It will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor which is coming as a bit of a surprise and makes the Xperia XZ Premium the first smartphone to pack Qualcomm's latest chip. The smartphone features Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back of its all-glass body and utilizes metal antenna band.
Related: Sony releases its superb A6500 mirrorless camera in PH
The Xperia XZ Premium sports a 19-megapixel rear camera said to be of broadcast quality and it can shoot at a whopping 960 frames per second. This translates literally to the camera's ability to shoot videos in slow motion. There is also a 13-megapixel front-facing selfie shooter on the smartphone.
The phone comes with IP68 level of water and dust resistance and packs a generous 3,230mAh battery. There is also a fingerprint sensor integrated into the side-mounted power button as usual. In addition, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium is capable of downloading at a speed of 1 GB per second (depending on the carrier). This means films can be downloaded in a matter of seconds. The flagship also packs a much upgraded high-resolution audio system.
Sony Xperia XZ Premium Specs
5.5-inch 4K HDR Triluminos Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Display
X-Reality, Dynamic Contrast Enhancement
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 64-bit processor
64GB UFS storage, expandable p to 256GB microSD
Gigabit LTE
IP68 certification
19-megapixel Exmor RS Motion Eye rear camera with hybrid autofocus
Super slow motion 960fps video capture
SteadyShot with Intelligent Active Mode and 5-axis stabilization
13-megapixel Exmor RS front camera
GPS, A-GPS
We don't know yet when will Sony release the Xperia XZ Premium into the market but it's expected to come by Q2 of 2017.
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List of Sony Xperia devices to get Android 8.0 Oreo
Sony Xperia XZ Premium now available in PH, priced
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SonySony Xperia XZ Premium


Access to Leeds is another admissions scheme which accepts purposes from individuals who could be from low income households, in the first generation of their immediate family to use to higher training, or have had their research disrupted. Trying to lap within the rays of luxurious in your subsequent trip to Washington DC? Take a look at this fab and fancy motels you may verify into!
With a purpose to learn fluently, a pupil needs to be able to recognize the phrases in a passage easily, be capable of pronounce them accurately at a rate that conveys the circulate of the passage, and results in an expressive supply. This can be a sophisticated job that takes time and apply to master. Early fluency is desirable, but let's be trustworthy; we are all nonetheless studying new words, and frankly some of the required texts floating round out there challenge knowledgeable and novice alike.


Dice the peppers and scallions and put in a mixing bowl, adding the mayonaise, sour cream, tabasco, dill, and garlic powder.
Check the crabmeat for big shell pieces and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice, squeezing it all over the surface. Toss the crabmeat into the bowl of mayo etc. Use forks to lift the crab and fold loosely in the mayo.
Break or cut apart the english muffin halves and arrange on a cookie sheet cut side up, in rows. Spoon even amounts of crabmeat over the surface, until the bowl is empty. It should be a little chunky. Sprinkle the grated cheeses over the top, and cook in your oven like you are making a tuna melt. I preheat my convection oven to 400. A standard oven temp, would be 425.
Bake until bubbly, about 15 minutes before you want to serve them. Using a pizza cutter, wheel through the middle of the english muffin halves, making an X, creating 4 pieces from one muffin half. These triangles are easy to pick up, and if you have used the proportions I give here, usually are not so messy that you can't pick them up and eat them with your fingers.


At the individual level, everyone should respect the rights of others. Human rights are the inalienable, indivisible, and material possibilities of the individual guaranteed by the state to possess and use specific benefits: Providing freedom, the state makes the emphasis on the free, as much as possible independent self-determination of a person in some spheres of public life. It provides the freedom of the person primarily by non-interference of the country itself, and of all other social subjects.
Consequently, freedom is the independence of social and political subjects, expressed in their abilities and capabilities to make their own choices and to act in accordance with their interests and goals. The task of the state is not only to guarantee the human rights and freedoms, but also to minimize the adverse effects of its intervention in social and economic processes.
This task is quite contradictory. On the one hand, the excessive activity of the state in its relations with civil society can lead to a significant narrowing of the range of rights and freedoms of citizens.
The most extreme situation is totalitarianism, under which the freedom of individuals and groups is not available, almost all social relations are regulated by the state. On the other hand, reducing the number of state functions and even the destruction of the state itself, as the anarchists propose can lead to the loss of stability in political relations, conflicts and crises. That is why a balanced policy of both the state and other political actors is required.
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You will get rid of the boring task, and you will enjoy your free time while our qualified team will write the essay on human rights for you. Visit our website for more details. Essay About Human Rights: Rights And Freedoms In: What are human rights? Universalism and inherence The human rights universality principle forms the basis of the international law of human rights. Interdependence and indivisibility The human rights are a single unit, they are interrelated and interdependent.
The principle of equality and non-discrimination The principle of non-discrimination is a universal principle of international law on human rights.
Rights and duties The recognition of human rights is not only a right for their implementation, but also the performance of certain obligations. Classification of the human rights Personal rights right to life, personal dignity, the right to freedom and security.
Political rights freedom of speech and the media, right to information, right of association, the right to hold public events, the right to participate in government, right to appeal to the government, private property rights, labor freedom, the right to entrepreneurial activity, right to health and medical care, right to housing, right to social security, right to education. Economic Human Rights right to private property, the right to inherit. Social human rights right to social security, the right to housing, the right to health.
Cultural Human Rights right to education, access to cultural values, free participation in the cultural life of society, right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress, right to the freedom of creativity in all spheres of human activity: Intellectual property as a creative activity product is protected by law. Basic human rights Recognition of human rights and freedoms as the supreme value, a person has them from birth.
Implementation of human rights and freedoms without infringement of the rights and freedoms of others — equality of all before the court and the law.
Equality of men and women. Priority of generally accepted international standards to the laws of a state. Strictly defined conditions that allow the restriction of the rights by the law. Prohibition of the use of the rights and freedoms for the forcible change of the constitutional order, incitement to racial, national or religious hatred for propaganda of violence and war.
By democratizing access to justice through P. By judicial-monitoring of State-run Institutions like Jails, Reformatory homes, juvenile homes, mental asylums, Police Station and the like. Chief Justice of India as its first Chairperson. Ananda is leading the NHRC at present. It has five members, of whom one must be a judge of the Supreme Court, another must be a Chief Justice of a State High Court, and two others must be chosen from among persons having knowledge of or practical experience in matters relating to Human Rights.
The Chairperson and other members of the Commission shall hold office for a period of five years or till they attain the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. The Commission enjoys autonomy from the method of appointment of its members, their fixity of tenure and other statutory guarantees so assured to them. The Commission also enjoys financial autonomy. The Chairperson and the members of the Commission are removed from office by the President on the grounds of proved misbehaviour and in capacity on an inquiry conducted by the Supreme Court.
A retired State Chief Secretary Sr. SM Patnaik has been taken as one of its members. While conducting inquiry into the complaints received by the Commission, it shall enjoy all powers of Civil Court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, The Commission can summon and enforce the attendance of witnesses, receive evidences on affidavits, requisition any public record, produce any document and issue Commissions for examination of any witness. It may also hold its own inquiry, if no response is received from the concerned Government and Authority.
After the inquiry is completed, the Commission may take any of the following appropriate steps: It is clear that the NHRC enjoys no power to take any binding decision. It has to depend on other agencies like the Supreme Court or High Courts, or concerned Central and State Governments to enforce its recommendation.
The Commission also faces several limitations. It has made Commendable work in matters like Police and Prison reforms, improvement of Juvenile Homes. Problems of refugees and emigrants and Kidnap victimization. The Commission in the SLP has sought further investigation by an independent agency and has sprayed for setting aside the impugned judgement in the Best Bakery Case.
The Times of India, August 1, The Sardarpura Case relates to the asphyxiated death of 33 people in a room in Sardarpura Village in Mehsana distinct. In the Golbarga society case, 39 people including Ex-MP.
Ehsan Jafri were killed. The TOI, August 9, Here the role of the NHC has strengthened the cause of protection of human rights against arbitrary violation and miscarriage of justice, if only. Its vigilance and alertness have enhanced public awareness of the importance of the Human Rights. It has taken note of promptly ensuring safeguard of rights. Through Seminars, workshops, and media- publicity, the Commission has educated Public and Government officials including Police, Jail, para-military and army-personnel to ensure effective promotion protection of human rights, keeping away all kinds of physical and mental torture.
Secondly, the NHRC has also encouraged NGOs to take up the cause of the poor and distressed in safe enjoyment of their rights as human beings. Thirdly, the Commission has left no stone unturned to make the Central and State Governments answerable accountable and responsive to all human rights issues and to take appropriate action against the human rights violators. Fourthly, the Supreme Court and the High Courts have made significant contributions, through their directives issued to the Governments in PIL matters in addressing public grievances against violation of human rights caused by acts of State-arbitrariness and Government excess.
PIL actions in India have been effective and commendable in several important human rights violation cases, such as: This list is only illustrative and not exhaustive. Increase in terrorist and Naxalite activities have a serious consequential impact on Human Rights in India.
The most serious flaw of human rights lies in an absence of enforcement-mechanism. The powers to enforce human rights are weak and thus, of no use. Hence, a delayed justice violates human rights. Lastly, the best safeguard of human rights lies in the positive role of the Media publicity which generates public awareness and builds up an alert and vigilant public opinion.
The media-reports on starvation-death in Kalahandi District in Orissa and sale of infants by the tribals in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are the eye-openers relating to violation of human rights. The human rights movement has always a brighter prospect if the people of India are assured by their right to information. They must know what is happening around them. Such a mechanism to ensure right to know if rightly developed, can ensure both promotion and protection of human rights and prevention of their violation.
We have to wake up to this expectation. Reservation System in India.


As the early stages of the 2016 presidential race begin, state legislatures are already considering hundreds of laws that could determine voters' access to the ballot. Since the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, and as of May 13, 2015, at least 113 bills that would restrict access to registration and voting have been introduced or carried over in 33 states. Over the same time period, at least 464 bills that would enhance access to voting were introduced or carried over in 48 states plus the District of Columbia.
For the third year in a row, bills to expand voters' access to the ballot box outpace those to restrict voting, both in terms of introduction and enactment. This strong show of support for making the ballot accessible has not necessarily put voters ahead of where they have been in recent years, because some recent restrictive legislation continues to make it harder for citizens to participate.
Of the 113 bills restricting access in this legislative session (including bills carried over from last session), 6 of them are active in 5 states, in that there has been legislative activity beyond introduction and referral to a committee in 2015 (such as hearings, committee activity, or votes).
Note: If a state falls into more than one category, the map reflects the legislation that has advanced furthest in the legislative process.
Voter ID remains at the forefront of the voting wars, but enactment has slowed. Nearly half of the voting bills introduced so far this session that restrict access are aimed at establishing voter ID requirements or tightening pre-existing ones. Voter ID remains largely a partisan issue. Of the 52 restrictive ID bills introduced so far, most have Republican-only sponsorship. Only one state, North Dakota, passed a voter ID bill this legislative session — all others failed. Nevada, a Republican-led state without an existing strict photo ID law, had a rancorous fight. Arkansas and Missouri,where state courts struck down ID laws, had renewed efforts this session to put ID requirements before the voters as ballot questions. Voter ID bills also failed in Maine, Nebraska, and New Mexico.
Only one restrictive bill has been enacted thus far. This session, North Dakota passed a bill making its already-restrictive voter ID law even more onerous for voters. Thus far, this is the only restrictive law passed and signed, and it is noteworthy that it exacerbates existing restrictions rather than imposing a new one. This stands in contrast to recent prior years, which saw numerous burdensome voting bills at around this time of year. As amended, North Dakota's new law allows for only four forms of ID: a current North Dakota driver's license or non-driver ID card, a tribal ID, and a long-term care certificate. Persons stationed or living outside of the country can present a current military ID or passport. The ID requirement applies to absentee voters, with a narrow exception for voters with disabilities unable to travel to get an accepted ID. In those instances, a disabled voter may obtain an absentee ballot without ID, but only if another eligible North Dakota voter confirms in writing that the absentee voter is eligible to vote.
As court battles continue, state legislators are also waging wars against voting restrictions. There are ongoing lawsuits over new voting restrictions in Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas. In a few states, legislative battles happened alongside those court fights. The most interesting example comes from Texas, which has a high-profile court battle over photo ID. The Texas legislature enacted a bill that would provide a certified copy of a Texas birth certificate free of charge to a voter who states she is seeking it to obtain an election identification certificate, a minor adjustment. More impactful ameliorative bills failed to pass. More alarming, a bill passed by the Texas legislature would exacerbate the restrictive ID law by eliminating non-expiring photo identification cards for the state's senior citizens. There are also bills pending in North Carolina — which has a trial beginning this July over new voting restrictions passed in an omnibus law in 2013 — to restore some early voting hours cut by the challenged law and to expand the list of IDs accepted to vote, but neither is active. In Arizona, where there is an ongoing suit over a requirement that voters present documentary proof of citizenship before registering, legislators introduced bills to repeal or mitigate the burdensome law, but the session expired with none of the bills progressing.
Legislators from both sides of the aisle introduced and supported numerous voting bills expanding access to the ballot box as well. Of the 464 bills enhancing access that have been introduced or carried over this legislative session, 33 are active in 16 states.
Oregon triggers a surge of automatic registration bills. In March, Oregon passed a breakthrough law to modernize voter registration by automatically registering eligible citizens who have driver's licenses (and do not ask to remain unregistered). Soon after Oregon's bill was introduced, 14 additional states — Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Vermont — plus the District of Columbia introduced bills that would automatically register citizens who have, apply for, or update driver's licenses, and that information would be electronically sent over. In some states, such as Georgia, Illinois, and Ohio, the legislation would register citizens who have conducted business with other government agencies as well. The bills vary as to the specific mechanism by which individuals are registered, and other details — for instance, when and how an individual may opt out of registration. But all seek to reduce the burden on individual voters and instead require the government to ensure eligible citizens are registered.
Online registration continues to pass with bipartisan support. As in recent legislative sessions, several states — Florida, New Mexico, and Oklahoma — enacted online registration on a bipartisan basis.
Other reforms are gaining bipartisan support. In Vermont, a bill to establish Election Day registration was enacted on a bipartisan basis. Indiana enacted a bill, with bipartisan support, to allow state agencies that issue SNAP and TANF benefits to electronically transfer voter registration information to election officials (which is currently in place only at the DMV). A bill to restore voting rights to people with past criminal convictions passed the Maryland legislature in April by a substantial majority and with some bipartisan support, but was vetoed by the governor. The legislature will have the opportunity to override the veto when it is back in session; the bill passed the State Senate with enough votes to override a veto and the House only two short of the necessary amount. In Minnesota, a bill restoring voting rights with bipartisan co-sponsorship advanced before being defeated.
Also see our roundup of voting law changes in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
These voting law changes come amid a high-pitched battle over voting rights.
Since the 2010 election, 21 states have new laws making it harder to vote — ranging from photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions — and 14 states will have them in place for the first time in a presidential election in 2016. Those 14 states are: Alabama, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
There has also been some positive momentum to improve voting. After long lines marred the 2012 election, 23 states plus the District of Columbia passed new legislation to improve access to the polls.


text:
239 Separated
byAdmin - December 10, 2022
If you are looking for 239 Separated you are coming to the right place. is a Webnovel created by . This lightnovel is currently . Hajime glanced around as he and Kaori gathered their bearings after being flushed down what appeared to be a giant toilet. They appeared to now be on a beach with a jungle behind them with the ocean seemingly stretched out before them. Hajime glared at nothing in particular and growled,
"If I ever get to meet Meiru Melusine in some way I'll pay her back for flushing us like that!" Kaori laughed hesitantly and said,
"There's no way you'll get to meet her Hajime, I doubt she survived like you said Miledy did." Hajime had to agree with Kaori's words and figured that if Meiru did survive as well Miledy probably would've told them about it before. He then instead turned back towards the still wet Kaori and said,
"You should change into dryer clothes before something happens, I can't detect anyone else so it's possible that they got washed away to a different area altogether." Kaori said the affirmative that she would start changing, while Hajime turned his back so that he could focus on using his drones to observe their surroundings. As she stripped off her wet clothes however Kaori recalled one particular piece of information Hajime said and smiled mischievously as her panties slid down her legs.
"So you said no one is around with us?" She asked somewhat coquettishly. Hajime noticed difference in her tone and hesitantly said,
"...yes, I further confirmed it with the drones." The words were barely out of his mouth when he heard an excited squeal from behind him,
"HAJIMEEEE!" And turned to see a naked Kaori flying at him. He ended up getting a face full of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as she pushed him down into a mounted position, and started moving in a provocative manner.
"Kaori we can't, we're still in a labyrinth here." He said to stop her advances, but Kaori didn't seem to listen to him and answered,
"So Alex and Yue can do it in the sub, but we can't here?" As she spoke a large magic circle spread below them before solidifying into a barrier around the two just in case something did happen. With the addition of the barrier along with his drones for surveillance and her argument regarding Alex and Yue, Hajime decided what the h.e.l.l and indulged in the meal before him. Coincidentally when enemies somehow magically appeared and did try to interrupt the twos s.e.xy time, they were destroyed with extreme prejudice by both people.
Standing on a rooftop overlooking an entire metropolis, was a certain black haired woman with cat ears and three tails swaying behind her as she watched the carnage going on below her with a grimace.
"Of everyone out there, why did I get stuck with the dumb berserker bunny~Nya?" Kuroka whined to herself in self pity, even as Shia mindlessly rampaged in the city below her. They had appeared in the middle of the ruined city and were looking for the way out, when suddenly the city seemed to come to life around them along with the ghosts of the people that used to live there, and the ones invading them. As the first rude person charged at her while ranting about some G.o.d or other Kuroka had swiped with her claws to end the man, only for them to phase right through him. She then tried a spell and found that the phantoms could only be destroyed by magic power. Shia then coated her hammer with magic power and started charging through the ranting fanatics, only to slowly enter her berserker mode, now she was rampaging around the city while Kuroka watched aimlessly. She figured that when there was no more enemies to take care of she would try and use a mild poison to subdue Shia before snapping her out of her berserk state, then she would try to find Alex afterwards. With her plan decided, Kuroka started relaxing in one of the most dangerous places in Tortus while a rabbit rampaged below her.
Meanwhile clear across the city another duo were slowly and leisurely making their way towards the sound of ma.s.s destruction, eliminating everyone that tried to bar their way in the process.
"This one doth believeth that it wouldst be faster to fly above the city itself, no?" Tio inquired towards the one that she naturally considered on the same level as her master, Grayfia. The ever stoic maid however groaned as she had enough of being alone with Tio and replied sharply,
"If we did that then we'll have to bother to either dodge or block all the spells they're throwing around up there, though it would probably be easier if I used you as a meat shield." Though she meant her words to be like an insult, Tio still wiggled grossly in joy and said,
"This one wouldst be honored to be thine meat shield! Oh, but then the ropes master gave this one might be ruined, better not." Tio then continued walking down the street as if nothing happened, while Grayfia froze as her mind tried to work out what Tio meant by ropes. She then decided it was better not to try and think about as she hurried to try and find anyone else to travel with instead of just this pervert.
At the base of a mountain that one could see the ruins of an old temple at the top, there was a trio of girls there trying to decide their next course of action, well two were and the third was trying to mediate.
"AND I SAID THAT WE SHOULD GO FORWARD ALREADY AND WE'LL MEET UP WITH THEM LATER!"
"...and I said that we should look for everyone and ensure they're not here before moving on!"
"YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO COME UP WITH A DIFFERENT PLAN THAN MINE TO BE A PAIN IN MY b.u.t.t!" Find authorized novels in Webnovel,faster updates, better experience,Please click for visiting.
"...of course."
"Um big sis Rias, Yue, maybe we shouldn't fight right now and just try to figure out where we should go..."
"SEE ASIA AGREES WITH ME!"
"...shes your servant anyways, just because she agrees with her master doesn't mean you're right."
In that way Rias and Yue were bickering back and forth as they came up with different plans, just for the other to reject it in order to antagonize the former. This went on until the temple seemed to be magically repaired, and people started making their way down the mountain towards them and another group started running towards the mountain to meet them in combat.
"PROTECT THE G.o.dS TEMPLE! DON'T LET THE HERETICS DESECRATE IT!"
"DESTROY THE PAGON G.o.dS TEMPLE!"
Both groups moved to fight the other right where the three girls were still arguing, completely unaware of what they were about to interrupt.
"(...)SHUT UP!"
They both shouted as Rias directed a ma.s.sive blast of destruction towards the mountain temple, and Yue sent a cyclone of air that would put a tornado to shame towards the invaders. Asia could only watch patiently as the landscape around her was being rearranged.
"Oh Gasper you've really become more manly lately."
"Valerie, you're gonna make me blush!"
As the two flirted Gasper carried Valerie in a princess carry and they repeatedly acted in ways that would make anyone who might've seen them call them an idiot couple, or a bakacouple. What didn't match their lovey dove atmosphere however was the ma.s.s of darkness behind them as all sorts of nightmarish monsters wreaked havoc on the previously warring people, and the fact that the big muscular man that was carrying Valerie was dressed in a sailor outfit with even a skirt. They then proceeded to explore the place they ended up while still flirting and ignoring the chaos around them, as well as Anne who was following behind from a ways away to not ruin their flirty atmosphere.
Shizuku dreamed that she was drowning. She was under water and was looking up to see the surface and even the sunlight reflecting off of it, but no matter how close she thought she was and no matter how much she tried to swim she could not reach it. Instead she could only feel herself drifting down deeper as the water around her got darker, and her lungs grew more desperate for air. As she started giving up and felt the cold creeping in, a hand suddenly seemed to break the water surface as it shot down towards her. Shizuku knew that if she wanted to live she needed to take the hand, and reached with everything she had to grab onto it before it started pulling her towards the surface. The moment her face broke the surface though the dream ended.
"Cough cough!" She expelled the water that had been in her lungs while she had been drowning, directly into Alex's face which had been right above hers. He didn't say anything about it though, and just went to clean himself off while Shizuku continued trying to catch her breath after getting the last of the water out of her lungs. As she started calming down Alex finally asked,
"Are you alright?" She nodded silently before saying a moment later,
"Thank you for saving my life, again." Alex told her not to mind it before he started looking around and examining where they were. They had appeared in the middle of a ship graveyard which had what seemed to be several hundred destroyed warships around them. While he was examining their surrounding however, Shizuku's mind was in chaos as she thought about what just happened. Not only had Alex saved her in Orcus when she fought the monster called Ahadot, but he then saved her from drowning just know. As she thought about it Shizuku recalled how you saved one from drowning and that Alex's face was above hers when she woke up, resulting in her entire head turning Crimson as she hesitantly asked him,
"D-did you do artificial respiration on me?" Alex nodded his head without looking at her and confirmed,
"Yep, I had to since you weren't breathing and I'm not that skilled at using magic as an alternative." Shizuku nodded her head slowly and mumbled half to herself while gently brushing her fingers against her lips,
"So you not only saw me naked, but right afterwards you even took my first kiss..." Though she spoke in barely more than a whisper Alex heard her and sighed before replying,
"I did warn you before I put on my gla.s.ses so if we're pointing fingers that ones on you, even if it was Kuroka playing a prank. As for the kiss CPR doesn't count, otherwise lifeguards would probably have a monopoly on first kisses." Shizuku understood what Alex was trying to say, but her maiden heart still wanted to blame him for seeing her naked and "kissing" her while she was unconscious. Seeing as she was still being quiet about it, Alex then continued,
"If it bugs you that much-" Shizuku looked up to look at Alex when he continued talking, only to find her lips suddenly sealed by his own. At first she tried to pull away out of shock, but when his hands grabbed her waist and kept her from moving she gave up and let him kiss her. Though she was stiff and clumsy at first, when Alex continued to lead with the vast experience he had acc.u.mulated by now she began to follow along and was responding to his movements. After what seemed like forever but was actually only a little more than ten seconds, Alex separated from her slowly and asked,
"Was that better?" Shizuku nodded shyly while her face was still Crimson, which made Alex smile from how cute she was acting. He then said,
"As much as I don't want to ruin this moment for you, we are still in a labyrinth so we should probably focus." As if she was no longer capable of speech Shizuku only nodded once again and started following Alex as he took the lead in exploring the shipwrecks. As he looked around she was over thinking about the kiss and all the possibilities Alex implied through it, and if it meant he considered her his woman now. When this thought crossed her mind she didn't notice her own lips curl up slightly at the edges, and was confused about the giddy feeling she felt in her stomach. Her happy moment was interrupted however when the s.p.a.ce around them started warping and all the destroyed battleships were suddenly repaired and floating on the ocean, and they were surrounded by several people that weren't there a moment before shouting,
"KILL THE PAGANS WHO WORSHIP THE FALSE G.o.d!"
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My design layout is to maximize the circulation space within the bedroom. The space is narrow and it is long, I decided to layout the furniture in favour of the long distance so that the room can feel spacious. I have counted for the possibility of the children growing older so that the space may be effecient in size. You can now easily fit in 2 people in this room comfortably.
I chose the bunk bed system as it is economical in obtaining space for two people. The material is a steel frame, I feel that this material should be durable compared to maintaining wood.
The Wardrobe is big enough for adult size clothes and it has a fixed mirror which is very useful. The width of the wardrobe is 380mm, this is simply the best size. Anything bigger you will have difficulty moving the furniture in and making space.
The desk was chosen based on its suitability for work/study functions and it has a light feel in the bedroom. It has no unnecessary bulk, it is simple and it is neat/clean.