text:
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I am so grateful that you came to visit me this weekend. I couldn't have been happier when you walked down the ramp and I saw your eyes for the first time in a month. If I seemed a little sad yesterday it was because I was thinking of you leaving. I look forward to the day that we can be together. The prospect of living in the same town (or closer in any fashion) is something I dream about often. I love you so much, and I am doing my best on selling the island living to you. I can't picture a life in the future without you in it. You mean the world to me, and dominate my thoughts. When you read this I will be gone to work. Once again I love you, and I hope you have a safe trip back to Prince George. Please text and call often. When I hear your voice or receive a text it puts a smile on my face.
Sincerely Yours,
Trevor Lansdell
Karoline: I am so grateful...
Takk for at du har lovet å ta deg av R pt s.
Du vet hvor du skal se den 01/03.
Finn ut hvor R befinner seg, og ta kontakt
Vi må ordne dette rask, ingen tid å miste.
Hei, Takk for at du har...
Our hearts like a passport, let our journey begin
Memories like trinkets from places we've been
Snapshots tell our story-didn't know at the time
The traveler beside me would forever be mine
Our greatest adventure will commence with "I do"
A dream destination- forever, with you
Anthony & Patricia Sigala
April 8, 2016
"Traveler" poem by Elena Serna...
Our hearts like a passport, let our journey begin
Memories like trinkets from places we've been
Snapshots tell our story-didn't know at the time
The traveler beside me would forever be mine
Our greatest adventure will commence with "I do"
A dream destination- forever, with you
Anthony & Patricia Sigala
April 8, 2016
"Traveler" poem by Elena Serna...
We have been in New York for about three weeks now. I found a job as a roofer for a local company. my boss was impressed with my skills, and i told him that i was a roofer back in Germany. The pay is not as good as my job in Berlin but we live. We got Anna into a school. She came home today and told us she made a new friend. Martha is teaching Erich how to read and write so he can start school soon. Until next time - Gustav
6/28/1906We have been in New...
6 July 1991
Happy birthday baby, you are now a big girl and I am hoping we meet in Copenhagen in August when you close school as mama is going to take you on a Scandanavian Cruise and spoil you in compensation of my not being there all the time, Chichi mama is getting stronger now so don't worry or cry it breaks my heart, you are a fearless beautiful young woman and I know the future only has success and happiness for you, Forever my little girl, I love u. Mum
I look forward to hearing from you soon
6 July 1991 Happy birthday...
6 July 1990
Dear Chichi, so its that time of year when both dad and I spoil you rotten for the many blessings that continue to be added to your life annually, Washington is quite sunny now which is refreshing considering the winter just gone, Im sorry that mum can't hold you when you cry and miss me but always know that you have a special place in my heart and I love you regardless, this is the last birthday for you in Zimbabwe and I hope you are excited to move and meet grandma and grandpa. Enjoy your present pumpkin. Ég samna þín Mum
6 July 1990 Dear Chichi,...
6 July 1989
Chichi, 7 years have gone by so quickly and it seems like yesterday that i was singing Góða nótt to you in my arms, your father tells me the tooth fairy took your teeth and gave you a wonderful surprise, Happy Birthday and I hope you are counting down the days because I am, see you in 5 days and I will be bringing your favourite noi sirius.Ég samna þín Mum
6 July 1989 Chichi, 7 years...
6 July 1988
Til hamingju með afmælið my dear I am so in love with you school picture that daddy sent me, Happy 6th birthday my love and hope to see you when I come to Harare in September, I hope you love the Carebears teddy mummy sent, I love you always know that.
Love Mum
Ég elska þig
6 July 1988 Til hamingju...
To my Dear wife Jen
Yet another birthday I have the honor in spending with you and with each that passes, the more I value their true meaning. Today you turn twenty eight and my love I must say you don't look a day older then eighteen. We have been through this amazing voyage together and with every moment that we share together, I build true and beautiful memories that I will cherish until the day that I seize to exist. I know that when it comes to being perfect I am far from that but I do know that the love that I have for you will never tarnish. This has literally been a crazy year for the both of us filled with ups and downs but yet again we have managed to make it through side by side. I know that life always has some kind of unexpected twist up its dark sleeve but trust me when I say that things will get brighter and what I have in store for our future will make all these past hardships worth every minute. I love you with more with every beat my heart makes, and that I am sure of. Happy Birthday my Queen.
To my Dear wife Jen ...
He will cover you with his
and under his wings you will find
his faithfulness
will be your shield and
Pslam 91:4
Pslam 91:4
Ben, Moni,
I want to express how much I love you. I've never been more myself than when I'm with you. You help me grow everyday. You bring so much light in my life. My heart is so full of love. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and spirit.
Thank you
His willingness to labor for others, his uniformity of charity and disposition, meek lustre of a piety that neither blazoned ostentatiously at one time nor wavered and sunk at another, but shone serenely and steadily on, make him deservedly the favorite of all who knew him.
–J.B.Y. Sommers
23 May 1848
His willingness to labor for...
We've spent 5 crazy amazing years together. We've had our ups and our downs. Through everything I have never stopped loving you. In fact, I love u more now than ever and my love for you continues to grow everyday. We have built a life, a home, and a family together. One that I value more than anything. I know I can be difficult. I know that I have pushed you to the edge more than once but no matter what you were always there for me. You pushed for us to make it. You never gave up. Because of you we have overcome it all. You've seen me at my worst and continued to love me through it. You are an incredible beautiful woman. You are hardworking, funny, confident and strong. You are the best mother a child and father could ask for. Declan, Annabel, and myself are so very lucky to have you. I want to continue to build our lives together. I want to continue to watch our family grow together. I want my future to be with you. I am not perfect but I promise that I will be the best man, father, and partner that you could ever dream of. I will be patient loving and kind. I will be by your side through anything and everything. I will be your shoulder to lean on, cry on, or just to hold on to. I will never give up on you, on us, or on our family. I love you with all my heart......
We've spent 5 crazy amazing...
To my dearest love, Gloria. You will never believe or understand what it is I've been through. You will never understand what it's like being soldier during the World War. Ive been living in a trench for the past 40 days with little movement or land being take. Ive seen my friends and brothers shot at. The propaganda back home is exactly as I've mentioned its propaganda nothing but fake news, the germans are much worse than we imagined they have buried bombs an and shot at us with chemical bombs. It amazes that i am able to stay sane. I have visited the infirmary multiple times,I've seen men get written off as crazy or go through the state of shell shock. This state makes them dazed and confuse. they loose their nerve they become afraid of their own shadows. I am afraid of whats going to happen to me. I don't know whats going to happen once i return to the trenches.
To my dearest love, Gloria...
Dear Stephen,
This has been a letter that I have been trying to find the words to write for a long time. I am 17 now and enrolled in the Toronto College of Art, I finally believe I am old enough to tell you as you are old enough to accept what I've been through. You are probably busy in California studying Astrophysics so I will try not to write you a novel. Anyways, to get to the point, while I was in elementary school at Queen Mary's Public School, I was tormented by my so called "friends" Cordelia, Carol, and Grace, mainly Cordelia. I thought for tremendous amounts of time the reason why I was bullied and now know why, I was "different in some way" (Coloroso 1). Before we moved to Toronto I pictured what young girls were like, innocent, friendly, and caring. I remember thinking "I don't think about what I might say to them if I actually meet some" (Atwood 32) because I figured everything would work out perfectly, but I was wrong. I do not know why I did not realize how vulnerable I was. Cordelia grew up with two older sisters so she knew how to act around girls while I grew up hanging out with you. Cordelia's sisters Perdita and Miranda controlled and ridiculed Cordelia, and I think Cordelia needed someone to control as well, unfortunately that became me. I knew I was different because when I first met Carol at Queen Mary's, I thought "Carol Campbell is a sissy" (Atwood 55) especially after she refused to pick up the "jars of lizards and ox eyeballs" (Atwood 55) at the Zoology building Dad works at. When I began hanging out with Cordelia, Carol, and Grace, I began to feel like "an imitation of a girl" (Atwood 57). I liked picking up things like ox eyeballs or examing worms, it did not gross me out. The games we played were new to me, so I did not know how to respond when we drew drawings and were supposed to say how bad each of ours were, even when I thought mine was good. It was all a game. Eventually, Cordelia and the other girls
Dear Stephen, This has...
I did not know, I did not understand, I did not see what love was. Now as we stand here ready to commit and submit our lives to each other....I contemplate, I reevaluate. I open my heart to the possibility of us together forever. You are my best friend. You are my lover. You are my confidant. I seek to know you more. I commit my life to you and only you in the eyes of God. My wish is to create a family with Christ as the head and you as my heart. Johnna Davis, I stand here vulnerable. I will honor you. I love you. Forever. Daniel
I did not know, I did not...
My dearest husband,
Two years ago we crowned our love with the magic of marriage. I had no idea what marriage is or what kind of journey it can turn into.
Oh, how much I had to learn from that moment on. I have grown so much by your side that sometimes when I think about that I can't help myself but be proud and thankful. Proud of myself for learning and thankful for having you as my husband. You helped me grow and mature as a woman. You thought me that life is short and every day should be lived as if it was the last. You helped me see the world from all different angles. From you I learned to forgive and move on. I also learned to compromise. You showed me how deep love for someone can really be. You encouraged me every time I was feeling low. You hugged me when I was lonely. You comforted me when I was sad. You gave me the best advice when i asked for one. You held my hand when I was weak. You held me tight when I was cold. You were watching over me when i was not feeling well. You kept me grounded all this time and the best of all you still do.
There is no words to describe how much you really mean to me. You are my one and only now and forever and that is why I am giving you this special gift in hope that it will show you what I can't find words for.
Yours forever,
Little Snow Bunny
My dearest husband, Two...
My Dear Elyse,
I thought about what you said about having a tradition for our anniversary, and I have an idea I'd really like to do. I'm going to keep it a surprise for our actual anniversary day, ok?
Since it doesn't involve a date, per se, I'd really like to take you to dinner on Saturday, at the Glen Gardner Inn.
Would you be so generous as to accompany me?
Forever your loving husband,
My Dear Elyse, I thought...
My dearest beloved,
I apologize for the delayed response to your previous letter, the severity of this war is larger than any of us could have predicted. I am cold, hungry and quite frankly, scared for my life. I don't mean to upset you my darling, the only thing that has kept me going thus far is the memories of you that I cherish more than you will ever know. From the softness of your hands, the warmth of your embraces and the love in your heart, not a moment has passed where you have slipped my mind even for a second. Unfortunately my love, I am unsure of the next available moment where we may speak again, but for now, just remember the strength you have provided me to keep on going.
I love you more than words will ever be able to describe my dear.
Love always and forever,
My dearest beloved, I apologize...
Chère Paquita, je n'essaierai pas de vous peindre, par des paroles, la passion que vous m'avez inspirée. Si, pour mon bonheur, vous la partagez, sachez que j'ai trouvé les moyens de correspondre avec vous. Je me nomme Adolphe de Gouges, et demeure rue de l'Université, no 54. Si vous êtes trop surveillée pour m'écrire, si vous n'avez ni papier ni plumes, je le saurai par votre silence. Donc, si demain, de huit heures du matin à dix heures du soir, vous n'avez pas jeté de lettre par-dessus le mur de votre jardin dans celui du baron de Nucingen, où l'on attendra pendant toute la journée, un homme qui m'est entièrement dévoué vous glissera par-dessus le mur au bout d'une corde deux flacons, à dix heures du matin, le lendemain. Soyez à vous promener vers ce moment-là, l'un des deux flacons contiendra de l'opium pour endormir votre Argus, il suffira de lui en donner six gouttes. L'autre contiendra de l'encre. Le flacon à l'encre est taillé, l'autre est uni. Tous deux sont assez plats pour que vous puissiez les cacher dans votre corset. Tout ce que j'ai fait déjà pour pouvoir correspondre avec vous doit vous dire combien je vous aime. Si vous en doutiez, je vous avoue que, pour obtenir un rendez-vous d'une heure, je donnerais ma vie.
Dear Mi Gordita Hermosa,
Mi amor quería escribirte esta carta para agradecerte por hacer de mi vida la mejor posible en todo el mundo. Eres una personita increíble y no puedo esperar a tenerte a mi lado otra vez! Me haces una falta increíble pero también me hace feliz que estés con tus papas y que vayas a ver a todas la personas importante en tu vida en estos dos mesecitos que faltan para estar juntos mi amor!! Vas a estar con Lucky, Tatis y nacho y con tus papas y tu hermana! Eso me hace feliz porque te hace feliz!! Aprovecha mi gordita hermosa y prepárate para estar conmigo aca por un bueeen rato!!!! Me muero de la emoción mi vida preciosa! Otra vez, gracias por los mejore 46 meses de TODA mi vida mi amor!! Te amo con todo mi corazón!!! MUA MUA!! Eres el amor de mi vida!! MUA!!
Dear Mi Gordita Hermosa, Mi...
Give them all of my dear love and a kiss. Tell them I think of them by day, pray for them by night, and find my best comfort in their affection at all times. A year seems very long to wait before I see them, but remind them that while we wait we may all work, so that these hard days need not be wasted. I know they will remember all I said to them, that they will be loving children to you, will do their duty faithfully, fight their bosom enemies bravely, and conquer themselves so beautifully that when I come back to them I may be fonder and prouder than ever of my little women.
All my love,
Little Women
This is a test
This is a test
RAC1 fa 15 anys, i des d'amicsrac1 hem volgut col·laborar amb l'esdeveniment posant a disposició del públic la nostra fonoteca, amb talls de so de la programació de RAC1 dels anys 2001-2010.
La fonoteca es mostra tal i com estava en el moment que vam enretirar-nos de l'escena pública, d'això fa ja uns anys, d'aquí el seu nom "Vintage". No s'ha optimitzat ni la cerca, ni el disseny, ni el programari. Si en feu un ús intensiu és probable que caigui el servidor i haureu d'esperar a que es torni a aixecar..i pobret ja és una mica vell i ves a saber quan ho podrà fer. Tracteu-lo amb "carinyo".
Entre els més de 18000 talls de so hi ha autèntiques perles. Només cal tenir paciència i saber buscar una mica.
Que la disfruteu!
RAC1 fa 15 anys, i des d'amicsrac1...
a somnambular existence, and I lie to myself pretending to fake a smile and think that by tomorrow everything will be fine. I still hope it will… With Tom, there is no way to go wrong. He is my true love, my true destiny and all I can ever think about from now on. Gatsby was only a delusion which resulted of my blindness to see that the dreams I had were nothing more than dreams; imperfect and impossible in reality. A fantasy whose funeral occurred when I wasn´t even able to be present.
I hope to see you sometime in the near future,
a somnambular existence, and...
still have the same beautifully cherished place I used to have in your heart, and that all the memories and ethereal moments we shared are still intact in my mind patiently waiting to someday find a chance to be revived with the aid of your precious company.
Looking back I repent so much about leaving; the fantasies I had, the love I waited so long to revive, the opportunity of leaving the man I so dumbly married, and wishing to run away from this shallowness that surrounded me. Everything was gone. However, I am now aware that even with all the strength of my heart I couldn´t have returned, because after all, Gatsby´s illusion was merely that, a hiraeth that invaded what little mind I had.
Women still have no choice, or well, no better choice than being fools. And at least in this aspect I can admit being smart enough to be the best one I could possibly be. Marrying Tom will always be my most foolish decision, and hence one that could be better in no way possible. With him I have everything I need; company, a wealthy life, tranquility of
still have the same beautifully...
Dear Nick:
I am so sorry I left without any warning my lovely cousin. Especially because I am completely aware that if there is someone I deserve to give an explanation to, that, is you.
I am convinced too that by now, we both know extremely well the truth behind all the unfortunate events that occurred, and my first desire is to begin by saying that it was extremely necessary for me to run away, as all this chaos was overwhelming and exhausting me; I wasn´t myself anymore. I couldn´t wait any longer. And so, I had to leave, no time for good-byes or over-thinking, no time for regrets.
You must know too, that I´m proud of myself, as I finally gathered the strength necessary to write this letter and apologize for leaving you behind. I did wanted to contact you, and I haven´t forgotten you. I just lacked the strength, and in present times when I realize I do have it within, it´s my best interest to communicate that I hope to
Dear Nick: I am so sorry...
Dear Diary,
My confrontation with Montag has yielded the desired effect. I feel that I have set him on a byway to self-doubt and bothersome discontent with his knowledge of the halcyon days of literature. It is now clear to me that he has indeed omitted my admonition in regard to his tenure of those paperbacks he embezzled from the women who flouted our book possession legislatures. That makes him ripe to be the next beacon of hope in this abhorrent world we live in. I cannot bare with the burden any longer. I have done my best to obscure my true nature from society, but THEY are surrounding me, shadowing my every move, my detention for my crimes is impend. I hold true that if I tell him candidly, he probably be startled and would denounce me. If I were to be erroneous of his true character, I would be evoked as a nitwit, and most likely be executed. I must indirectly make him realize what his true calling is, to pass down my commission. I was once in his situation, where I had to conclude whether or not I would bequeath posterity with the knowledge of literature. One day I was having the morning meal when a meager and decrepit man stumbled upon my reserved eating section of the venue. He had slithered a small square strip of perfectly plucked paper with exceptionally astonishing calligraphy into the small opening in my uniform´s overcoat that depicted, "You can read? Why do you not read something more significant than this note, perhaps a book?" I was bewildered by this note, but I did not react, nor did I have the eagerness to surrender him to the authorities, I simply pondered on what he was implying. Subsequent to that encounter I found the old timer once more in the town park, he seemed to be nourishing the pigeons, which to this day I regard an eerie action. We did not speak, we studied each other from afar, his eyes pierced right through me, and mine through him, he glanced at my fireman uniform and then back at my face. He reached into his overcoat and slightly pulled out what seemed to be a book. How could a man dare, to upon a fireman pull out a book from his mantel? He must have speculated that I was different from the rest, but what had he seen in me? He must have noticed my lack of response at the eating venue earlier that month, he must have assumed that I was intrigued by his cryptic offer. But moments after, he was restrained by the authorities and was executed that very eve. I felt it was my duty to pass on the wonders of literature that he had implied me to embrace. So I studied them, and hid them from those who would not understand them. I was too apprehensive and afraid to tell anyone, so I kept it to myself and continued my routine life. Montag must be able to envisage his own purpose, not be guided by any external factors that would befuddle his true intentions, just like I was all those years ago. Only by escorting him to the residence of his infraction will it be possible for him to recognize his true mission to society. We are arriving to the dwelling of infraction, I now realize what I am compelled to do in order to make him comprehend. I got it.
Dear Diary, My confrontation...
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text:
The hippogriff or hippogryph (Greek: ιππόγρυπας), is a legendary creature with the front half of an eagle and the hind half of a horse.
It was invented at the beginning of the 16th century by Ludovico Ariosto in his Orlando Furioso. Within the poem, the hippogriff is a steed born of a mare and a griffin—something considered impossible.[1] It is extremely fast and is presented as being able to fly around the world and to the Moon. It is ridden by magicians and the wandering knight Ruggiero, who, from the creature's back, frees the beautiful Angelica. Astolfo also borrows the hippogriff from Bradamante to go search for Roland's wits.
Sometimes depicted on coats of arms[example needed], the hippogriff became a subject of visual art in the 19th century, when it was often drawn by Gustave Doré.
The word hippogriff, also spelled hippogryph,[2] is derived from the Ancient Greek: ἵππος híppos, meaning "horse", and the Italian grifo meaning "griffin" (from Latin gryp or gryphus), which denotes another mythical creature, with the head of an eagle and body of a lion, that is purported to be the father of the hippogriff.[3][4] The word hippogriff was adopted into English shortly before 1615.[5]
Of the heraldic representations of the hippogriff, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies states that hybrid fantastical creatures' depictions are "ugly, inartistic, and unnecessary. Their representation leaves one with a disappointed feeling of crudity of draughtsmanship."[6] John Vinycomb states that the hippogriff is not used in the British heraldic tradition.[7]
Ludovico Ariosto's poem, Orlando furioso (1516) contains the following description (canto IV):
No fiction wrought magic lore,
But natural was the steed the wizard pressed;
For him a filly to griffin bore;
Hight hippogryph. In wings and beak and crest,
Formed like his sire, as in the feet before;
But like the mare, his dam, in all the rest.
Such on Riphaean hills, though rarely found,
Are bred, beyond the frozen ocean's bound.
Drawn by enchantment from his distant lair,
The wizard thought but how to tame the foal;
And, in a month, instructed him to bear
Saddle and bit, and gallop to the goal;
And execute on earth or in mid air,
All shifts of manege, course and caracole;
He with such labour wrought. This only real,
Where all the rest was hollow and ideal.
According to Thomas Bulfinch's Legends of Charlemagne:
Like a griffin, it has the head of an eagle, claws armed with talons, and wings covered with feathers, the rest of its body being that of a horse. This strange animal is called a Hippogriff. The hippogriff is said to be an evil spirit resting and possessing its soul in that of a horse and griffon.[8]
Beliefs and symbolism
According to Vidal, a Spanish historian, this creature was supposed to live near Céret, in the County of Roussillon of modern-day France, during the Middle Ages. Claw marks were found on a rock near Mas Carol.[9] The belief in the existence of the hippogriff, such as Ariosto describes, is fiercely attacked in a scientific essay on religion in 1862, which argues that such an animal can neither be a divine creation, nor truly exist. The Book of Enoch quite clearly details how Satan and his fallen angels created various hybrids by admixture. The Sphinx is the best known such hybrid. The hippogriff is supposed to be a mixture of several animals and the author notes that in order to support its weight, the wings would be so heavy that flight would be impossible, which proves—without question—that it does not exist.[10]
In some traditions, the hippogriff is said to be the symbol of love, as its parents, the mare and griffin, are natural enemies.[10] In other traditions, the hippogriff represents Christ's dual nature as both human and divine.[11]
Modern representations
- Artist Max Klinger used the hippogriff amongst other objects in his drawing Fantasy and the Artist to note his disparagement for artistic work that relies on out-worn and clichéd symbolism.[12]
- In a hoax initially perpetrated in 1904 in Lake George, New York State, tricksters used a fake "monster" which became known as "The Hippogriff". The creation had a head of a bird of prey, teeth, and two large horse ears, which could be controlled from below. The pranks and sightings faded until 1999 when several people staying at the Island Harbour House Hotel stated they had seen a sea monster at night. The old hoax was uncovered by the Daily News and the Lake George Historical Association Museum, which created a copy of the original wooden monster to display to the public in August 2002.[13]
- The hippogriff appears in various works of fantasy, such as works of E. Nesbit[14] and E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros (1922).[15] It's also regularly alluded to as a fearsome monster by Bertie Wooster in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves stories.
- The fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons includes a version of the creature, which is described as having a horse's "ears, neck, mane, torso, and hind legs" and an eagle's "wings, forelegs, and face". According to the game's rules, the creatures are closely related to griffins and pegasi. Hippogriffs, pegasi, and horses are all hunted by griffins as the latter have a strong attraction to the flesh of horses.[16]
- As with many ancient mythical beasts, a hippogriff named Buckbeak (subsequently "Witherwings") features prominently in Harry Potter.[17] Peter Dendle says that the portrayal of the treatment of Buckbeak in the novels is one example that demonstrates "[t]he emotional need to express domination symbolically"[18] as well as being one of the episodes that allows Harry to be shown as the "perennial liberator of all manner of creatures."[18] Al Roker calls the creation of Buckbeak in the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban "one of the most magnificent and realistic creatures in film history."[17] The character was used to create the theme for a roller coaster called Flight of the Hippogriff at the Florida amusement park The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in which the cars are wicker covered and pass by a statue of a hippogriff in a nest.[19] Stefano Jossa has reconstructed the web of relations of Rowling's hippogriff.[20]
- In the Digimon franchise, there is a Digimon called Hippogriffomon.
- Hippogriffs appeared in the 2017 film My Little Pony: The Movie, where they were transformed into seaponies. They were also featured in the season 8 premiere of the show, with the reoccurring character being Silverstream.
- In the anime Fate/Apocrypha, the Servant Astolfo, also known as Rider of Black, is able to summon a hippogriff that they use a mount with their Noble Phantasm Hippogriff. The hippogriff is considered to be a Phantasmal Species.
- Hippogriffs are ridden by the Knights of Bretonnia from the tabletop game Warhammer Fantasy, and also appear in the video game adaptation Total War: Warhammer.
See also
- ^ "Hippogriff | legendary animal". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
- ^ Française, Académie (1843). Complément du Diction sire de l'Académie française (in French).
- ^ Sevestre & Rosier 1983, pp. 16–17
- ^ Wagner 2006, p. 124
- ^ "Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2011-02-28.
- ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (2007). A Complete Guide to Heraldry. Skyhorse Publishing Inc. pp. 232–. ISBN 9781602390010. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Vinycomb, John (1969). Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art With Special Reference to Their Use in British Heraldry. Library of Alexandria. pp. 123–. ISBN 9781465552556. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Thomas Bulfinch, Legends of Charlemagne, 1863.
- ^ (in French) Bo i Montégut 1978, p. 219
- ^ a b Poulin, Paulin (1862). A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven; et al. (eds.). Qu'est-ce que l'homme ? Qu'est-ce que Dieu ? Solution scientifique du problème religieux (in French). p. 223.
- ^ Sax, Boria (2013-10-15). Imaginary Animals: The Monstrous, the Wondrous and the Human. Reaktion Books. pp. 195–. ISBN 9781780232133. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Morton, Dr Marsha (2014-07-28). Max Klinger and Wilhelmine Culture: On the Threshold of German Modernism. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 34–. ISBN 9781409467588. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Radford, Benjamin; Nickell, Joe (2006). Lake monster mysteries: investigating the world's most elusive creatures. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 101–109. ISBN 9780813123943.
- ^ Briggs, Julia (2000-11-07). A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit. New Amsterdam Books. pp. 220–. ISBN 9781461636229. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Weinstock, Professor Jeffrey (2014-01-08). The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. pp. 329–. ISBN 9781409425625. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
- ^ Doug Stewart, ed. (1993). Monstrous Manual. TSR, Inc. p. 190.
- ^ a b Roker, Al (2004-06-11). "Behind the Magic of 'Harry Potter'". NBC News. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
- ^ a b Heilman, Elizabeth E. (2008-08-05). Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter. Taylor & Francis. pp. 201–. ISBN 9780203892817. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ^ Miller, Laura Lea (2011-10-20). Frommer's Walt Disney World and Orlando 2012. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 273–. ISBN 9781118168042. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
- ^ "Ariosto, Harry Potter and Hippogriffs: Weaving textual webs".
Works cited
- Bo i Montégut, Georges Dominique (1978). Légendes populaires des villages du Roussillon (in French). l'Horta del monastir. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
- Sevestre, Dr Jacques; Rosier, Nicole Agathe (1983). Le Cheval. Larousse. ISBN 978-2-03-517118-4.
- Wagner, Marc-André (2006). Dictionnaire mythologique et historique du cheval. Cheval chevaux. Éditions du Rocher. ISBN 978-2-268-05996-9.

subset: commoncrawl


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Remember 3D TV? People made a big deal about it a few years ago, but not only did it never catch on, but movie goers barely care about paying a little extra to see a 3D film on the big screen. Just as 3D TV never lead to more innovations before hitting a dead-end, virtual reality faces many similar problems.
Virtual reality's challenges may be overcome at some point. But the tech community gets excited about plenty of innovations that the general public never cares about, and VR might fall into the same category. One edition of an email newsletter about VR, published today, features a commenter's argument against VR, through the lens of 3D TV's respective failures. Here are the three points he makes.
VR Is Gimmicky
Virtual reality, according to the "Inside VR & AR" newsletter respondent John, "requires some serious investment to enjoy. 3D TV showed us the allure of enhancing the experience in that way wasn't appealing enough, and there wasn't enough must-see content, to make the cost worth it."
It's similar to something I've said in the past: VR needs a Pokemon Go-level product to convince people to hop onboard. 3D TV never got one. And so far, VR hasn't had one either.
VR Can't Mimmick the Way We See the World
In addition to making some people sick, VR has a major problem. It can't replicate the actual way humans experience reality. We move our eyes to look at different areas in front of us, but VR only tracks the movement of our heads in order to present a different viewpoint.
Sure, eye-tracking technology can continue advancing in order to solve the problem. But at the least, it means that the general population's acceptance of VR won't happen for a little while longer than the industries' roll out of headsets indicates they're banking on.
Barrier to Entry Too High and the Reward Too Low
VR headsets and glasses cost, at a minimum, hundreds of dollars. Look at the success of Pokemon Go: No one needed anything. It's a free app, and everyone already had the smartphones to run it on. Since VR has a high barrier, with a low reward thanks to the above issues, they'll never get their Pokemon Go moment.


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Two University of Washington graduate students from Iran are taking President Donald Trump to court, after they say his temporary travel ban has hurt their ability to pursue research and internship opportunities and could damage their careers.
The two are part of a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday challenging Trump's executive order that temporarily banned travel in the U.S. by nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington state announced on Tuesday.
The suit aims to represent those with valid student and work visas, according to an ACLU press release. The suit also includes the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which says that the travel ban has harmed its refugee program.
One of the students, identified only as "John Doe," is a doctoral candidate in Aeronautic and Astronautic Engineering who also participates in joint research with the Chinese Academy of Science. The student had been planning to travel to China in 2017, but now fears he will not be allowed to re-enter the United States, according to the ACLU's press release.
Another graduate student, identified as "Jane Doe," is studying for a Master's degree and plans on working on international issues, according to the ACLU. She had been pursuing international internships for this summer, but canceled her interviews for fear that she would not being allowed to re-enter. The lack of international internships could hurt her employment after graduation, according to her lawyers.
Both students hold F1 student visas and have family in Iran, according to the ACLU.
The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia — which is based in Seattle — was also part of the lawsuit, saying that five refugee families that it was assisting had to change their plans abruptly. The change not only caused the families distress, according to the court documents, but the church group spent additional resources to cope with the sudden changes, which harmed its ability to fulfill its religious mission.
On Jan. 27, Trump signed a 90-day travel ban of citizens from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. But last Friday, U.S. District Court Judge James Robart blocked the travel ban with a temporary restraining order after a lawsuit filed by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
The Trump administration filed an appeal of Robart's ruling in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard arguments on Tuesday afternoon.


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The city of military glory and the UNESCO World Heritage Kronshtadt will become more open and attractive for tourists and residents of St. Petersburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of an autonomous non-profit organization, called upon to form a tourist-recreational cluster in the Cradle of the Russian fleet. This will increase the number of tourists visiting the city to 5 million per year, and in Kronshtadt itself there will be up to thousands of new jobs. Start of work — the summer of 2019.
The founders of the autonomous non-profit organization should be the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the city of St. Petersburg. Under the governor of St. Petersburg, a working group on the tourism and recreation cluster will be formed for interdepartmental cooperation. It was decided that the project will be included in the Federal Target Program "Development of domestic and inbound tourism in the Russian Federation", developed by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia in the restoration of the following objects of cultural heritage of the federal level: forts "Peter I", "Alexander I" and "Kronslot" and a mooring wall in the Coastal Harbor. At the same time, the implementation of the main part of the project is planned through private investment.
When creating the concept, the best world experience of military historical parks and memorials that are popular with tourists was studied, among them: The battleship memorial "Arizona" (in the harbor of Pearl Harbor, USA) and the "Peace Museum" on the island of Okinawa (Japan), which are dedicated to individual events of the Second World War, as well as the sea museums "Cutty Sark" (London, UK) and "Vasa" (Stockholm, Sweden). Now in Russia it is planned to create the most ambitious project dedicated to the history of the navy!
Details of the project will be presented at the SPIEF-2019. It is already known that the first stone for large-scale construction and reconstruction in Kronshtadt will be symbolically laid on the Day of the Navy of Russia, July 28. The park itself, which is scheduled for full completion in 5 years, will be opened to visitors in stages.
Part of the concept of the Kronshtadt tourism and recreation cluster was presented at the Admiralty during the December extended meeting with the participation of interim Governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. The construction of the park is planned in the territories alienated by the military department in favor of the autonomous non-profit organization.
So, Kronshtadt should become the largest island-museum in the world dedicated to the history of the Navy: great battles, outstanding commanders-in-chief, unique ships, with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the atmosphere of time and place. On the total area of 80 hectares there will be a historical park, which includes museum, educational and tourist components.
In the park there will be educational routes dedicated to the great battles and commanders, ships and even maritime specialties. A trail dedicated to significant geographical discoveries will be developed jointly with the Russian Geographical Society.
The famous forts of Kronshtadt will become an open part of the island-museum Fort "Peter I" will take historical reconstruction, there will be recreated the image of the old city of the XVIII century. There will be authentic taverns with old Russian cuisine, fairs and souvenir shops. At the "Alexander I", where the funicular will deliver guests all the year round, there will be an opportunity to hold performances, the audience of which will be able to become participants. "Kronslot", the first fort of Kronshtadt (built in 1704), will allow to hold ceremonies according to the canons of the time of Peter the Great. Thanks to the inner marina of the fort, which is planned to be reconstructed, it will be possible to go there on yachts and boats.
The main exhibition, of course, will be located in the coastal part of the island of Kotlin. The museum "Timeline" includes themed halls where historical events of different years will be presented. A lecture hall will also appear here to show short films about modern military naval equipment, military developments and humanitarian operations (the Syrian campaign, the Arctic, etc.).
Here is also the Hall of Maritime Glory. Leading maritime powers will have the opportunity to present a gift to the museum. In addition to Russia, the USA and China, these are Japan, India, Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, the countries of the Persian Gulf, etc.
In the tourist-recreational cluster, it will be possible to climb aboard active warships that can come here for open doors. And the attraction "Sea Battle" will allow its visitors, thanks to virtual reality, to feel like a pilot of a jet plane taking off from a heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser!
Those who wish can also visit the museum on board the first Soviet nuclear submarine "Leninskiy Komsomol" (originally K-3, the third in the world).
According to the concept of development, the largest oceanarium in Russia should appear in Kronshtadt, which was so expected in St. Petersburg. There are not only rare species of inhabitants of the deep sea and show-programs. There will be research laboratories, as well as a children's technology park — to get acquainted with the maritime professions. Next to it there will be a diving center with an outdoor pool.
You can fully soak up the salty sea air: tourists will be offered to see the entire park and the Gulf of Finland from a bird's eye view, rising into the air on the airship. On the land — cafes and restaurants will present the naval and sea cuisines from around the world. And it will be possible to stay at night, if desired, in hotel complexes of various price categories: from 3 to 5 stars. Visitors will have the opportunity to spend the night in the only hotel in the world aboard a warship, as well as spend the night at the fort "Kronslot", where it is supposed to equip several rooms in a maritime style, named after eminent admirals.
It will become much easier to get to Kronshtadt, thanks to the project. River passenger boats will begin to arrive directly from the center of St. Petersburg. The journey will take only 30 minutes. The "Meteors" will connect Kronshtadt with Peterhof, which will create a single tourist route. The possibility of launching a high-speed passenger ferry from Helsinki is also being explored. Kronshtadt should become a new "window to Europe"!


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Family Values for Life, in partnership with Union Gospel Mission and St. Paul Midway YMCA, will distribute FREE Thanksgiving dinner boxes on Tuesday November 26th. Each box has groceries for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Frozen turkey included! One per family. Quantities are limited.
Sign-Up for the Thanksgiving Box Ended October 30th. If you missed the deadline please fill out the form below, or call 651-774-6663 to get on the Wait list for a chance to get a Thanksgiving Box.
(Event Passed, Sign up Close)


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Functional communication app using real images
Suitable for adults and children, image2talk can be completely customised to meet the communication needs of individuals with communication disorder such as Autism, Aphasia, Down Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Stroke or any type of disorder where verbal speech is impaired.
Unique to image2talk is that it completely eliminates the effort of having to navigate through menu or category pages. image2talk is based on the professional experiences of Fiona Wilson, a teacher working with teenage students with autism and learning disabilities.
Tap and make images talk
- tap the image - e.g. tap an orange
- the image shows - see an orange on the screen
- speaker output emits response - 'I want an orange'
image2talk is designed to involve a minimal response effort to communicate and make it simple.
Overview with rows for different topics
When the image2talk icon is tapped, the basic overview appears. It consists of rows of images in categories such as food, objects, places, clothes, etc. The range of standard imagery is based on Fiona's daily experience.
Images within each row can be easily ordered in the settings so that the most preferred images appear first - or last if a goal is to develop visual discrimination skills.
Combine standard imagery with your own images
Create your own rows by deleting or reordering standard imagery and adding your own images via the iPads Camera roll. Or import complete rows from the gallery of your own Dropbox folder. If required, start off small and build up number of rows and images over time.
Automatically generate speech
After adding images, text labels and speech will be created based on the file name and the speaker output will be generated automatically. Edit the text labels and the speaker output in the settings.
E.g. if you want to add the 'real' bed as an image you can take a picture, add it to the relevant stream, and type the words for speaker output – ' I want to go to bed'.
Effective time delay
The time delay is a really neat function as it eliminates the need for the user to press a back button. After an image is tapped, the image enlarges, the speaker output is emitted and after a set time delay the basic overview will reappear. If appropriate, the time delay can be increased to give users opportunities to develop reader and speaker skills.
image2talk was created out of a frustration. We needed a way to follow our RSS feeds of images and share images in a fun and simple way. It works wonders for staying inspired while creating.
Features from image2talk
- Simple overview screen eliminating the need to navigate through category and menu pages
- Basic rows (yes/no, food, objects, clothes, etc) are already in image2talk
- Choose an image - it appears and speaks
- Easily customise image2talk at source to meet individual needs
- Import your own relevant imagery from the iPads Camera roll
- Create your own rows
- Save an image from the internet, computer or regular camera and import from Dropbox
- Any text entered can be generated as spoken text
- Set time delay for basic overview screen to reappear
- Choose to show text labels over the image
- Turn voice on/off
- Set time delay to meet individual needs
- Set a PIN to settings to prevent unwanted changes
- Display any number of rows
- Display any number of images within each row
- Change the order of rows
- Change the order of images within each row
Fiona Wilson has been teaching students with specials needs for over 5 years and prior to this has 10 years of teaching experience in mainstream primary schools in Scotland and Ireland. She lives in Ireland with her partner and two sons.
Do you have questions or suggestions for image2talk?
Please send us an email at email@example.com.


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Elaborately Embellished Heart Sculptures by Ema Shin Reflect On the Anonymous Legacies of WomenMay 4, 2022
A rare Van Gogh letter about the Sunflowers will go on displayMay 5, 2022
#acrylic painting#art history#clothing#painting#portraits#textiles
Traditional Portraits Are Reimagined in an Exploration of Concealment and Identity by Shawn Huckins
May 5, 2022
Kate Mothes
A new series of paintings by New Hampshire-based artist Shawn Huckins (previously) proposes thinking about how we wear clothing and textiles in a fresh light. Dirty Laundry continues the artist's interest in re-interpreting 18th- and 19th-Century European portraiture, an artistic tradition steeped in symbolism and subtle commentary about wealth and class. The garments donned by the subjects of painters like John Singleton Copley or Adriaen van der Werff reflected their status and sense of self through apparel and accessories. Jean-Léon Gérôme's depiction of a Bashi-Bazouk, a soldier of the Ottoman Empire, is a prescient comment on the nature of clothes and uniform, as those enlisted were often unpaid and dressed in a haphazard mix of pieces they acquired while on the march.
Huckins puts a playful, contemporary twist on the notion of expressing one's identity through fabric by obscuring his subjects' faces almost entirely, prompting the viewer to consider what it means to be cloaked or exposed. The artist recreated the compositions in the studio by draping a model with a variety of garments, mimicking the direction and temperature of the light in the original works in acrylic paint.
With their faces covered completely, the sitters are identified only through objects such as a string of pearls, a beloved dog, or a handful of fruit. Huckins says in a statement that "anything more that might be known about these people remains hidden beneath piles of cloth and clothing so ubiquitous it could be our own." Utilizing modern fabrics like buffalo plaid or gingham, the artist considers how we all dress to convey information about ourselves.
Dirty Laundry is also the title of the artist's upcoming solo exhibition with Duran Mashaal Gallery in Montréal, which opens on June 2. You can find more of his work on his website and Instagram. (via Creative Boom)
#acrylic painting#art history#clothing#painting#portraits#textiles
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Boomerang is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Turner Broadcasting Systemsubsidiary of Time Warner. Originating as a spinoff of Cartoon Network (which originated Boomerang as a programming block in 1992), Boomerang specializes in a blend of classic and contemporary animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives with a family-friendly approach, including Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby-Doo, along with repeats of shows still in production on Cartoon Network like The Amazing World of Gumball and Sonic Boom.
As of February 2015, approximately 43.6 million households (37.5% of those with television) receive the channel.


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This article was published:
Frederick May (1840-1897), engineer and manufacturer, was born in Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England, eldest son of Henry May, copper miner, and his wife Mary Ann. His formal education was meagre and he worked in the mines from an early age. He sailed with his parents, four brothers and a sister for South Australia in the Melbourne and arrived on 6 December 1858. The family settled at Burra, a copper-mining centre, but moved to Wallaroo soon after copper was discovered there in 1860. May was employed at both places on the construction and installation of mining machinery. At Wallaroo he was appointed engineer of the smelting works and at 23 superintending engineer at the Moonta mine. This mine became one of the most efficient and technically sophisticated in Australia, a tribute to May's ability as well as the intelligent management of the company and Captain Hancock.
In February 1874 May became a partner in James Martin & Co. at Gawler. The firm's expansion into mining machinery and general engineering owed much to May's skill. In March 1885 the partnership was dissolved and he started his own business with his brother Alfred as manufacturers of agricultural implements, but specialized in mining and smelting machinery, the demand for which rose rapidly with the discovery of Broken Hill and Western Australian mines. In the 1890s the firm employed up to 250 men. May devoted himself to improving machinery for separating the sulphide ores mined at Broken Hill and his concentration machinery with its patent plunger jigs was widely adopted. After extensive trials Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd chose May's machinery for its new concentration plant in 1896. His firm also supplied much of the machinery and equipment for B.H.P.'s smelters at Port Pirie where a branch factory was established.
May had a keen interest in technical education and served on the council of the Gawler School of Mines. He was also a councillor in the Gawler Corporation and a vice-president of the Gawler Agricultural Society. He was twice married: first, at Bingo mines on 14 September 1862 to Mary Ann Mitchell (d.1896) by whom he had five sons and three daughters; and second, at Laura on 14 October 1897 to Margaret Maxwell Dick. May relaxed from oversight of his works but died of a heart attack at Semaphore on 15 December aged 57. He was given an impressive burial in Willaston cemetery.
J. B. Hirst, 'May, Frederick (1840–1897)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/may-frederick-4177/text6709, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed online 10 December 2023.
This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, (Melbourne University Press), 1974
View the front pages for Volume 5
Perranzabuloe, Cornwall, England
15 December,
(aged ~ 57)
Semaphore, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.


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Sohee Lee, MD, Cho Rok Lee, MD, Seulkee Park, MD, Haiyoung Son, MD, Jung Woo Kim, MD, Sang-Wook Kang, MD, Jong Ju Jeong, MD, Kee-Hyun Nam, MD, Woong Youn Chung, MD, Cheong Soo Park, MD
Department of Surgery, Yonsei University College of Medicine
With the application of da Vinci robot system, surgeons can complete a secure thyroidectomy without a noticeable scar in the neck. The aim of this study is to compare the surgical completeness of transaxillary robotic thyroidectomy(RT) with conventional open procedure(OT) in papillary thyroid cancer(PTC) patients.
Methods and procedures
From April 2009 through January, 2011, 71 patients with PTC underwent bilateral total thyroidectomy with central node dissection at the Department of surgery of Yonsei University Health System. All patients performed 30mci radioactive iodine(RAI) ablation and diagnsotic RAI scan after ablation. We compared the patient's clinicopathologic characteristics, and surgical completeness between two groups prospectively.
Thirty-seven patients were OT and 34 were RT. Mean age was significantly yonger in RT. Tumor size, the frequency of capsular invasion, multifocality, bilaterality and central nodal metastasis showed no differences between two groups. Stage III was more frequent in OG due to different age spectrum. There was no significant difference in number of retrieved central node, and the incidence of postoperative complications. In terms of surgical completeness, there was no significant difference in RAI uptake ratio in both 30mci RAI ablation and diagnostic scan between two groups. In terms of serum Tg level, both TSH-suppressed and TSH-stimulated Tg showed no significant differences between two groups.
Transaxillary robotic thyroidectomy can be done as effective and the results are as complete as conventional open total thyroidectomy in papillary thyroid cancer patients.
Session: Podium Presentation
Program Number: S032


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"A good leader knows the way, goes the way and shows the way."
– John C.Maxwell
Great leaders lead by setting an example. One great leader that comes to mind is when George Washington rode into battle with his troops, earning full respect and a legacy which has remained.
By definition, a leader is in the front, ready to take the heat when something goes wrong. The leader will not blame his followers but will take the blame and address how to correct the problem. So, how can you lead your team to greatness?
Here are five practices of a true model leader are:
Modeling the way
Your behavior earns you respect. You stand up for your beliefs and practice what you preach. The balance of words and actions builds integrity.
Inspiring a shared vision
A key to true leadership is to inspire a shared vision among your followers. Prior to conveying your vision, you must develop it, live it and model it from your behavior.
Challenging the process
Make every project an adventure. Take risks and treat mistakes or failure as learning and growth opportunities. Remember we are at our optimum when we have a chance to change things.
Supporting others to act
As a leader, you know you can't do it alone. Therefore it is imperative to build trustworthy relationships that will then establish strong grounded teams. Your main aim is to empower others.
Encouraging the heart
It is essential to recognize not only the team's achievements but also an individual's. Celebrate these accomplishments. To be a leader, you must see yourself as a leader first and remember experience is the greatest teacher, and there is no substitute.
"We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors,
and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience."
– George Washington
(The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes & Barry Posner – Fifth Edition)
At Eton Institute, professional training and management education can be delivered in different formats, ranging from short, practical workshops, to longer, modular courses for select topics ranging from leadership, sales skills, negotiation and much more. To book a consultation, drop us a line at email@example.com


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A question that I can't answer right now either. But we are excited to find out on the 10th (which is coming up REALLY soon!) I am very excited to find out. It better be a little girl! But, I guess I can find it in my heart to love another little boy too! :)
This week has been a great week, not that the kids or life was perfect- far from! But I have been working very HARD to just be positive and leave all the stress and garbage at school. My wife said she has even noticed a difference for quite a while. That made me all glowy and warm inside.
Another good note is that I will be done with tutoring tomorrow at 10am! I will be glad to be done, not because of the student (per say) but just to have one less direction to be running! That is ALWAYS a good thing. I am ready for a quiet weekend. We won't be doing any family trips to the geyser or anything, but a nice relaxing at home will sure be nice. (Although I do have to spend a few hours at the school getting everything in line for next week- especially with Pi day coming). Well, i have planning to work on, kids to love, and food to eat!
Happy Friday!
Thursday, March 05, 2009
A baby BOY or GIRL? That is the question
1 comment:
I'm surprised your wife doesn't know already. I knew my first one was a boy; swore my second one was twins (turned out to be a single birth, girl) and then my third I didn't really know because it was such an easy pregnancy and just no worries. Used to be able to tell by the way women carried themselves when pregnant whether they were having a boy or a girl but with the way women are so different these days, can't really rely on that.ReplyDelete
Whichever it is you know you will love it with all your heart. Looking forward to being back in class and finding out what is happening in your little corner of the world - talk soon - E :)
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The ultimate escape
Since St James's Club Morgan Bay became a part of the Elite Islands portfolio there have been some big changes. While it was special before, the recently-completed multi-million pound upgrades have improved it from a great beachside resort into something truly magical.
The resort is perfect for families and couples who want to lose themselves in the glow of the St Lucian sunshine. Children are warmly welcomed and can enjoy some extra fun at the Kids Club. It's part of the all-inclusive package and means that you get unwind while they get to enjoy themselves with fun activities and playgrounds. Walk on the sun-drenched beach, dine in style or rest poolside – your experience will be defined by two words: serene and content.
The resort has four restaurants, with casual meal time options as well as gourmet – the choice is yours. With a friendly and attentive team, you can rest assured that your experience will never feel like anything other than a pleasure.
Don't miss out
You can save £450pp with this cracking deal from Tropical Sky, staying at 4* St James Club Morgan Bay, All inclusive. Seven nights in a Premium Double Room from £ 1,171 per adult (May 16 deps) Child price (flight and transfer) from £599
If you book by 30 Sep and 1 child stays free when booking a Premium Double, Beachfront or Family Suite room for stays completed between 3 Jan '16 – 20 Dec '16.
*Deal runs until the end of September
Find out more: tropicalsky.co.uk


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This asset is part of a seriesNext >>
What is lost and what is gained?
Copyright ©2023 Adventure Pictures. Some rights reserved. Non-commercial use of text and images in which Adventure Pictures holds the copyright is permitted, with attribution, under the terms and conditions of a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License.


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The Club is proud to be supporting Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign at Saturday's fixture at the Mem against Rotherham.
All 92 League Clubs have been supporting Stonewall's initiative with various activities including rainbow-coloured captains' armbands, laces and programme adverts over the past week.
In a league first, EFL Clubs will also be proudly displaying rainbow-coloured corner flags at matches this weekend. The Premier League has introduced bespoke rainbow branding to its ball plinths, pitch flags, handshake boards, and timing boards. PGMOL will also be showing their support across the four divisions, with all match officials wearing rainbow laces.
Stonewall's Rainbow Laces campaign aims to make sport everyone's game with national teams, leading clubs, professional players, fans and grassroots players from across football showing their support for LGBT people in sport.


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Equipment Review
May 200447 Laboratory Model 4704 PiTracer CD Transport
by Marc Mickelson
Among manufacturers of audio electronics, a diverse lot to be sure, 47 Laboratory stands out. This small Japanese company produces decidedly uncommon products that nonetheless have quite a following. 47 Lab electronics are physically small, in contrast to the big boxes that most North American companies produce, and employ many purist touches, such as exceedingly short signal paths and separate power supplies (comically named Power Humpty and Power Dumpty). A few years back I auditioned a 47 Lab digital combination consisting of the 4713 Flatfish transport and 4705 Progression DAC (both deriving power from a single 4799 Power Dumpty). The sound was wonderful -- in some specific ways the best digital sound I had heard.
But this earlier brush with 47 Lab digital equipment didn't prepare me for the company's Model 4704 PiTracer CD transport. I feel confident in saying that there is not another digital product quite like the PiTracer. First, it costs $25,000 USD, which represents the uppermost reaches of current CD-transport pricing. Second, its method of extracting data from CDs is unlike that of any other CD transport made today. A way of summing up the PiTracer is to say it's like a conventional CD transport turned inside out -- much of what normally happens inside the chassis is out in the open for full view.
But even so, the PiTracer has the same functional goal of all CD players and transports: to read faithfully the digital data on a CD. CD players and transports do this rather like the mechanism that reads data from the hard drive of the computer you're using right now. Data is data, so the old saw goes, and therefore all a transport has to do is extract it from the disc and send it along to the digital-to-analog converter, where it's turned into an analog signal. Theoretically, the sound of various transports shouldn't vary for the same reason that identical data read from two different hard drives should be identical -- it's digital data, a static series of 1s and 0s. However, we audiophiles know that transports sound different, perhaps because of the way some deal with jitter-induced timing errors in the datastream, perhaps because of the differences in their power supplies.
Or perhaps because CDs are not perfect. Some are slightly off center, while others are severely so, making them more difficult for the transport to read. PiTracer addresses this with a specially designed moving head mechanism that reportedly reads a CD's pits with the laser at a constant 90-degree angle to the disc. According to 47 Lab, the PiTracer compensates for off-center CDs not by changing the angle of the laser, as conventional CD players do. Instead, the entire head unit, which houses the laser, moves over the top of the CD, which is tightly clamped to an acrylic platter, maintaining the 90-degree relationship to the CD and adjusting to any centering anomalies too. This is an ingenious solution, and one that took Junji Kimura, the design mind at 47 Laboratory, ten years to devise and perfect. It's also why the PiTracer costs $25,000 USD -- it's a radical design that prohibits mass production.
There are three main parts to the PiTracer: the platform on which the CD spins, the moving head unit, and the power supply. Each is isolated from the other -- another design goal. The chassis elements of the platform and head unit are machined from aluminum billets to add mass and cut down on vibration transferred from the spindle motor to the laser. The power supply, a 47 Lab Power Humpty, is housed in a round aluminum case about the size of a large can of tomato juice. It powers the platform and head unit via separate umbilicals. For maximum sound quality, you can use one Power Humpty for the platform and another for the head unit, a trick that will cost you $1800, the price of an additional power supply.
The head unit moves over the platform on highly polished wheels, these guided by highly polished rails. Both the wheels and rails are manufactured to very high tolerances by Bishop-Wisecarver, a California-based company that specializes in "guide wheel technology." The head unit's movement is controlled by a series of gears, including a worm gear that you can see fluttering away as a CD is playing to correct for any off-centeredness. With most CDs, this gear jerks quite a lot (just watch the small dot on top of the worm gear to see how much), but with some that are nearly perfectly centered, its movement is barely more than a minute quiver -- and in a few cases nothing at all. The head unit is connected to the mechanism that controls its movement by a special Kevlar-core thread chosen because it doesn't stretch over time.
There is much more that can be said about the design and manufacture of this fascinating and unique product, and there's a paper online that spells out most of it. Visit the website of Sakura Systems, 47 Lab's US distributor, to read further. Even if you think that PiTracer is the CD transport that Rube Goldberg would build, it's hard not to respect the originality of its design.
Connection and use
The system in which I used the PiTracer included components whose prices are similarly stratospheric: Wilson Audio WATT/Puppy 7 and MAXX Series 2 speakers, Lamm ML1.1 and M1.2 Reference mono amps, Atma-Sphere MA-2 Mk II.3 mono amps, Lamm L2 Reference preamp, and Atma-Sphere MP-1 Mk II preamp. For decoding duties, I connected the PiTracer to a Zanden Audio Model 5000 Mk III DAC via i2digital X-60, Stereovox HDVX or DH Labs D-75 BNC-terminated digital cables. As I've remarked in past reviews, the Zanden DAC sounds its very best connected from its BNC output to a BNC-equipped transport, no matter the digital cable. The PiTracer comes equipped with pairs of one RCA and one BNC S/PDIF digital output. One pair is AC coupled (for use with most DACs on the market today) and the other DC coupled (for use with 47 Lab's own Progression DAC). All outputs achieved lock with the Zanden Model 5000 Mk III, so I switched between the two BNC outputs for my listening. Don't ask me which sounded better -- I can't say.
Shunyata Research power cords were in liberal use -- Anaconda Vx and Anaconda Alpha, original Taipan and Python -- as was the company's Hydra Model-8 power conditioner, into which I plugged everything, mono amps and all. Interconnects and speaker cables were also from Shunyata Research (Aries and Andromeda), but Nordost (Valhalla) and Siltech (Signature G6 Forbes Lake and G6 Eskay Creek) cables were also used. The PiTracer sat either on a Townshend Seismic Sink that itself rested on a sand-filled Bright Star Big Rock base, or one of Harmonic Resolution Systems' gorgeous aluminum-and-granite M3 isolation bases, with which I preferred it. For comparison, I used a Mark Levinson No.37 transport, which also rested on the Seismic Sink/Big Rock combo or the HRS base.
Using the PiTracer is more involved than the drop-the-disc-and-push-play rhythm of using just about any other CD player or transport. With the PiTracer, you put the CD with its face side up onto the unit's acrylic platter, affixing it with the matching acrylic clamp that screws to the PiTracer's spindle. Push the top-mounted play button and you're off, although the head unit takes a few seconds to move into place before any sound emanates. This all probably sounds like more work than it is -- it becomes second nature pretty quickly.
However, I do have some serious criticism of two of the PiTracer's features. First, the transport's display is a small LCD type that can't be viewed in a darkened room at all or in a well-lighted room from more than three feet away. It is therefore of no use unless the transport is right next to your listening seat. Second, the PiTracer's remote control is a cheap and flimsy generic plastic rectangle. Yes, it controls the transport adequately, but it's utterly insubstantial. The display and remote are not befitting the PiTracer's $25,000 asking price -- or even a small fraction of it. I expected more.
Of greater concern, however, was mistracking that occurred with a few CDs. Most of us have taken for granted that CD players and transports nowadays will track any disc inserted into them, and that's because in essentially every case they do. Not the PiTracer, which emitted an audible series of static-like clicks or simply refused to play two or three CDs with which my reference Mark Levinson No.37 had no trouble. These discs showed no visible signs of mishandling -- no scratches or other blemishes. This problem could be a matter of the PiTracer sample sent to me for review -- a well-traveled demo unit -- showing some signs of wear and tear that a brand-new PiTracer would not. It tracked flawlessly every CD-R I listened to, something that is the Achilles heel of other CD players and transports. Even so, I once again expected more.
Words don't fail me
Over the course of my time as an audiophile, I've owned a few exceptional CD transports, including both Wadia 8 and 20 models as well as my current reference, a Mark Levinson No.37. These transports didn't sound identical, but all were designed and manufactured to very high standards and performed better than other models I was able to audition, even those that cost much more money.
Given the experience that comes from owning other high-performance transports and especially the operational issues I encountered with the PiTracer, I was not hopeful when I put the first CD onto the acrylic platter and secured it with the screw-down clamp. I had a backlog of negativity to overcome, but I take seriously this job of reporting on the sound a component produces, so I cleared my mind as best I could and began to listen.
I can't say that with those first few CDs I was knocked out by the PiTracer's sonic presentation. There was no immediate sense of wow and wonder, no fireworks or razzmatazz. Instead, the PiTracer's sound was self-effacing, portraying music with poise and intimacy. The sound was very liquid, and the PiTracer displayed remarkable proficiency at reproducing low-level and inner detail -- the sorts of things that more boisterous components don't do as well because they lack the refinement necessary to capture such subtleties. As I observed about the Atma-Sphere MA-2 Mk II.3 amps I reviewed earlier this month, the PiTracer excels at presenting music as a complete entity, not merely an amalgam of sonic qualities.
Nonetheless, I'll talk a bit about sonic qualities -- they're what I have at my disposal for describing the PiTracer's overall performance. I noticed right off that with the PiTracer in my system, transients had more snap. However, this was not a matter of a presentation that emphasizes the leading edge of notes. Instead, the PiTracer heightened the contrast between transients and the musical mix from which they emerged, sounding both unforced and lively. This was most apparent with up-front and highly detailed recordings such as Buddy Guy's Blues Singer [Silvertone 01241-41843-2], but even with the more subdued And Serenity [Sony Classical/Legacy SK 90538], a compilation of Glenn Gould solo-piano performances, the PiTracer presented the music with both ample ease and abundant detail. Its sound was quickly addicting.
In keeping with this, strings, brass and especially cymbals had a delicate, shimmering quality that exposed the sophistication of the PiTracer's treble. And in the midrange, the PiTracer rendered voices with this same quality -- not a tubey sweetness or fullness, but instead a mixture of fine detail and low coloration. Actor John C. Reilly's voice on "Mr. Cellophane" from the soundtrack to the movie Chicago [Epic/Sony Music Soundtrax EK 87018] was beautifully resolved amidst strings whose overtones seemed to decay forever and a panoramic soundstage. The same goes for Victoria Williams' fragile voice on "Moon River," from her recent collection of covers Sings Some Ol' Songs [Dualtone 80302-01126-2]. Here, though, there was also a good deal of natural reverberation from the space in which Williams sings. The PiTracer captured it all, and presented it as an unpretentious and continuous soundfield, albeit one with certain characteristics that are so well done that they are nearly impossible to ignore.
I never completely grasped what pace, rhythm and timing sound like until I heard the PiTracer in my system. These are not a matter of tighter or weightier bass, for instance (in these strict terms, the PiTracer falls a bit short of other CD transports I've heard); instead, the music's rhythmic elements are more naturally paced, less choppy and mechanical. Ani DiFranco's Evolve [Righteous Babe RBR030-D] sounded funky and propulsive via the PiTracer, but there was more to the reproduction of this music than that. The bass was neither overwhelming nor anemic, so there was little to which I could call attention. Instead, it just sounded right -- flowed at the right pace along with the rest of the music.
Again, I think this has to do with the wholeness of the PiTracer's performance, as though every sonic element is present and in proper proportion. To use a visual analogy, a color copy can look very good, but you can always tell in some way that it is a copy -- the matrix of dots that make it up is detectable even without a loupe. The original is what it is -- the real thing. The PiTracer sounds like the original; there are no dots but rather the flow of true, saturated colors that constitute the image. This makes the PiTracer very easy to listen to -- it sounds human and has soul -- but difficult to capture with words. You'll know it when you hear it, however.
37 vs. 47
When comparing the PiTracer to the Mark Levinson No.37 ($4500 when available), I considered not only the over-$20,000 disparity in terms of their prices but also how different the two are functionally. I won't go into the No.37's circuit highlights, but I will point out that the No.37 is a joy to use. Its display is large and easily readable from 20 feet or more (it's adjustable to four levels of brightness, including completely off). Its remote is well made and heavy, and its commands always hit their mark. The No.37 is a classy package, and while the PiTracer certainly isn't chopped liver (it's a more openly creative design than the No.37 and essentially all other CD transports on the market today), it's not nearly as user friendly as the No.37, which also tracks every disc inserted into it, even those with minor damage.
However, sound is a different matter, and in this regard, listeners who believe that CD transports either don't sound different at all or have only subtle sonic differences should hear both the PiTracer and Mark Levinson No.37. It's shocking to discover how distinct these two transports sound.
It's hard to fault the No.37 for its conspicuous resolution -- its detailed and somewhat showy presentation. Images from the No.37 are large and prominent (but their outlines are not as strong as those of the PiTracer). The No.37's soundstage is larger and airier, leading to a more grand presentation. There are even sharper leading edges -- cymbals in particular have a crisper, more tinny sound -- and chunkier bass. In short, just about all of the traits we audiophiles value are addressed in a positive way by the No.37.
However, the No.37 lacks the PiTracer's wholeness, which leads, at least to my ears, to a less involving and enjoyable presentation. One track I listened to that showed this well was "Crowded Town" from astroPuppees wonderful Pet [HighTone HCD 8105]. SoundStage! named this collection of finely crafted pop art one of the best recordings of 1999; if you are looking for a fix between Fountains of Wayne albums, give Pet a listen. On "Crowded Town," a cover of a Marshall Crenshaw tune, the guitar in the right channel sounded more evident through the No.37 and also less integrated, giving the presentation something of a disjointed character. Through the PiTracer, that guitar, all other instruments and the singer sounded cohesive and whole -- as though there was some connecting element of the music that the No.37 was missing, a sort of sonic mortar. The No.37 certainly didn't make this track sound wrong, but the PiTracer made it sound more right.
I own the No.37, and I will continue to use and enjoy it. But I wish it sounded like the PiTracer.
The 47 Laboratory Model 4704 PiTracer is an inspired piece of audio equipment. Its nearest relative in terms of design is an analog turntable, which also isolates the mechanism that spins the disc from the mechanism that extracts musical information. But the PiTracer is a CD transport, and one whose goal of maintaining a 90-degree relationship of laser to disc only adds to its complexity -- and may be responsible for its terrific sonics. The PiTracer's sound is an amalgam of ease and inner detail, a refined treble and midrange, and bass that flows in a natural, unshowy manner. None of these, however, overshadows the effect of the PiTracer's overall presentation, which is complete and involving.
Would I buy a PiTracer if I could afford one? When I consider PiTracer's functional deficiencies, its $25,000 price is obscene (I chose this word carefully). But as I listen to music with the PiTracer, the definition of obscenity becomes cloudy. The PiTracer is the best-sounding CD transport I've heard by no small margin, and it represents a very enjoyable way to listen to CDs for those who have the considerable means required to buy it. That isn't me, but it may be you.
In the end, the $25,000 spent on a 47 Laboratory PiTracer buys both a lot of musical bliss and a bit of functional disappointment. Which is more significant is for you to decide.
...Marc Mickelson
Copyright © 2004 SoundStage!
All Rights Reserved