text:
Alexandra P.
What inspired you to write about immortality in Elantris?
Brandon Sanderson
Honestly, it was zombie stories. I wondered what it would actually feel like.
Found 280 entries in 0.127 seconds.
What inspired you to write about immortality in Elantris?
Honestly, it was zombie stories. I wondered what it would actually feel like.
Elend in the Mists after Vin Leaves
I wanted to include a reference to mistwraiths in this book. They're a minor world element, but aspects of their origins are a piece of the puzzle that gets explained further. . .in book three.
The mists are indeed coming earlier in the day, and they are staying later in the mornings. They're getting stronger, you might say. Elend doesn't know this, but some of the very outer parts of the empire already have mists lingering almost to the afternoon. The answers to why are coming. . .in book three.
The mist spirit doesn't want Elend to go to Luthadel. And yes, it was using Allomancy on him. (Influencing his emotions, as it's done several places through this book.) It doesn't work very well. The thing doesn't have much of a mind remaining. The answer to why. . .yes, you guessed it. Book three.
As you can tell, I'm using this last section of the book to set up The Hero of Ages. I didn't want to do this–I wanted all three books to stand well on their own. However, the events in the third book are just too large to deal with in one novel, so they spilled over into the end of this one. I actually began foreshadowing a lot of these things in book one–they were just easier to hide then.
By the way, the scene where Elend stands there, looking into the darkness, hearing leaves rustle and thinking how frightening it is. . .well, that's a scene from my life. Nothing big, but one night I was just walking past a darkened backyard and I heard rustling like that. I stood for a while, looking into that darkness, realizing just how creepy it was to stand in shadowed light and stare into the void without knowing what was back there. I had to put that in a book.
Where did you get the idea of the Elantris magic system?
The drawing glyphs is based on Korean and Chinese writing systems. I'm Mormon, I served a mission in Korea for two years, loved the writing system and the language. It was part of what inspired me to do that. There is this really cool thing where in Korea they used Chinese characters to write for a long time and they are very difficult to learn because you just have to memorize them and there was a great king, named Sejong, who said, "My people are being mostly illiterate because this is so hard and we don't even speak Chinese, we are not Chinese. We use their characters, can we develop a language, a writing system that will allow us to do this" and his scholars got together and devised Korean which is a way to phonetically write Chinese characters kind of? It's their own thing. You write them in little groups to make little Chinese characters, it's the coolest thing ever. But you can write most Korean things, not everything, most you can write as a Chinese character or as a phonetic Korean construction of three letters that create that Chinese character sound and I liked that idea and it spun me into the idea of the Aons and the Aonic language and things like that.
<Where do your inspiration comes from?>
It's very different based on the book. Is there a specific... like, ask me a specific *inaudible*.
Way of Kings.
First idea was Dalinar which is: brother of king who... the king gets assassinated and the nephew is a bad king and where does that leave you? The second idea was storms shaping the world. Spren were based on Shinto Kami, the Shinto religion. Kaladin was based on the conflict between a surgeon learning *inaudible*. Different ideas for different things.
Do you get any of yours [inspiration from mythology]? Like I know you mentioned sciences and physics.
Yeah a lot of science and physics is where it's coming from. A lot of, I mean, having lived in Korea for two years, and speaking Korean, a lot of my linguistics come from Korean, and the idea of Spren comes from Asian mythology: the idea that everything has a soul. So that's an inspiration.
I want to look into ancient Asian culture, and it sound like something to do.
There's that. I would bet that the three kingdoms stuff has some influence on me, and Sun Tzu's Art of War has been an influence on me, and things like that.
Were any aspects of Elantrsi at all biographical? In my case, at least, my writing is often unintentionally reflective of my own experiences. Is this the case for you as well?
Every book is a little autobiographical. You can't separate yourself from your work, though I try not to include intentional messages in my writing. (That doesn't mean I'm opposed to my books having meaning; it just means that I don't tent to approach them with the idea "I want to teach something in this book.")
Each of the characters is a little autobiographical, something that is most noticeable to me in retrospect. Raoden represents my belief in the power of optimism. I'm an optimist. I can't help it; it's just the way I am. And so, a hero like Raoden often grows to represent my beliefs. His conflict–that of being cast into the most horrific place in the kingdom–is an outgrowth of me trying to devise the most hopeless situation I could, and then make the conflict for my character the attempt to retain hopeful in the face of that.
Sarene represents an amalgamation of several people I knew in my life, most notably Annie Gorringe, a friend of mine in college. Not that Sarene acts just like her, of course–but that some of the conflicts in Annie's life, mixed with some of her personality quirks, inspired me to develop a character that ended up in my book.
Hrathen is as much a piece of me as Raoden. I served a mission for the LDS church, and while I did so, I thought often about the 'right' way to share one's beliefs mixed with the 'wrong' way. It seemed to me that focusing on the beauty of your message, mixed with the needs of the individuals you met, was the way to go. When you start to preach just to be preaching–or to convert not because of your concern for those around you, but because you want to seem more powerful–you risk beating the life out of your own message. You also get in trouble when you focus on putting other religions down (or challenging others on their beliefs) instead of just talking about what makes you believe like you do.
So, in a way, Hrathen represents my fears of what I could have become–a warning to myself, if you will.
Chapter Three
I chose to use Shallan as my other main character in Part One, rather than Dalinar, because I felt her sequence better offset Kaladin's. He was going to some very dark places, and her sequence is a little lighter.
She is the only "new" main character in this book. Kaladin (under a different name) was in Way of Kings Prime, and Dalinar was there virtually unchanged from how he is now. The character in Shallan's place, however, never panned out. That left me with work to do in order to replace Jasnah's ward.
Shallan grew out of my desire to have an artist character to do the sketches in the book. Those were things I'd wanted to do forever, but hadn't had the means to accomplish when writing the first version of the book. I now had the contacts and resources to do these drawings, like from the sketchbook of a natural historian such as Darwin.
One of the things that interests me about scientists in earlier eras is how broad their knowledge base was. You really could just be a "scientist" and that would mean that you had studied everything. Now, we need to specialize more, and our foundations seem to be less and less generalized. A physicist may not pay attention to sociology at all.
Classical scholars were different. You were expected to know languages, natural science, physical science, and theology all as if they were really one study. Shallan is my stab at writing someone like this.
The High Priest Tells Siri She Needs to Produce an Heir
Note that in a previous section where I said that I couldn't delve as deeply into Siri's plot in this book as I could have in one where there was only one viewpoint character, I didn't mean that I didn't intend to give her a lot of political intrigue and plot twisting. I only meant that I decided it was best to keep things a little more focused for her, rather than adding a lot of subplots.
I've been wanting to do a story like this one, with a woman sent to marriage in a politically hostile country, since I wrote Elantris—where Sarene arrived and found out her wedding couldn't happen. Again, this is an attempt to turn in a new direction for me, but the inspiration is the same. Sarene arrived and found that her fiancé had died and the court didn't care about her. Siri arrives and does get married, then has far too many people paying attention to her.
What was it that inspired you to write a superhero series in which all the super-powered heroes had become so corrupt?
What made you think about people with superpowers that could destroy the world, since most people make people with super powers the good guys?
I did it exactly because I hadn't ever seen anyone do it! I've enjoyed the superhero genre quite a bit during my years, and as a writer I'm generally looking to do something similar to stories I've loved in the past. At the same time, something in me rebels at just doing "the same thing" again. This is the conflict of fan against artist inside me and the result is usually that I spend time thinking about a genre of stories, and try to find a take on it that feels fresh and original. It's like eating my cake and having it too! I feel that I can add something to the genre, giving people a new story, yet also incorporate some of the things I love about the genre the things that make it really work.
Is Slowswift an Allomancer?
No. Slowswift is a cameo for Grandpa Tolkien.
I know you went on mission in Korea, as did I, did anything come from that?
Yeah, quite a number of things have been influenced by it. I'd say the biggest influence is Elantris, the writing system is based on the idea of Korean and Chinese mixed together. But Asian philosophy, like the kami and things like that are also common in Korea, that belief that everything has a soul. So yeah it's had a huge influence on me, just the way I worldbuild-- I mean just the fact, I don't know if you've read The Way of Kings… I don't know if you know but everyone's Asian, right? Like Szeth, the white dude, is the one that looks weird them. And that's just because-- It was partially influenced by that.
I have a question in regards to the soulstamps… When Shai is creating it she blows flakes off of it. Are those flakes able to be enchanted and do they have any power?
Do the flakes that Shai blows off the front of the soulstamp have any hidden power? The answer is, no. I'm sorry, nice theory. The blowing off is actually just related directly to my experience. Soulstamps come from--
I lived in Korea for two years as a Mormon missionary, and then I went back to Taiwan to visit because there's a huge Brandon Sanderson fan base in Taiwan. For those who don't know, what happened is the publisher who got The Emperor's Sou-- No, no, the publisher who got Mistborn in Taiwan, published it the same month or so that Hunger Games came out, and everyone who was looking for-- read The Hunger Games wanted something like it ended up buying Mistborn. So actually-- *laughter* It's one of those things over here, like The Maze Runner or one of these other YA dystopians are what took off in the kind of halo of The Hunger Games. Over there, Mistborn was in the halo of The Hunger Games. It actually sold about as well in Taiwan which is-- So we just sold tons of copies in Taiwan. So I went back and it was really fun-- by the way you can go to my timeline on Facebook and whatever, and here, people like to ask questions. A lot of the superfans like to have a question and things like that. There, the superfans like to get pictures. And so there are like 5,000 pictures of me and teenage schoolgirls *laughter over Brandon* just all over Facebook from that period. But I went and visited the palace museum.
And anyway, I remembered a time in Korea where I'd seen someone carving these and he would do a little of this and blow it off, do a little bit and blow it off. Kind of the old-school carver. Now most days it's actually-- they're actually made by machines. You load in a design, you lock in your little tojong into the machine, and it goes and it will carve it out to look like the little computer design. But you see occasionally old school people carving them hand-- That's why I made it do that, because I'd actually seen someone carving one. There is not supposed to be any hidden magical meaning, other than the fact the stone that they're using is a traditional type of stone, which may or may not have Invested properties.
How did you come up with The Stormlight Archive's gem magic/technology?
One of the things to keep in mind is I that developed this book before Mistborn was published. I do wonder if sometimes people are going to say, "Oh, he did metals before, and now he's doing crystals." But the thoughts arose quite independently in my head. You may know that there is a unifying theory of magic for all of my worlds--a behind-the-scenes rationale. Like a lot of people believe there's unifying theory of physics, I have a unifying theory of magic that I try to work within in order to build my worlds. As an armchair scientist, believing in a unifying theory helps me. I'm always looking for interesting ways that magic can be transferred, and interesting ways that people can become users of magic. I don't want just to fall into expected methodologies. If you look at a lot of fantasy--and this is what I did in Mistborn so it's certainly not bad; or if it is, I'm part of the problem--a lot of magic is just something you're born with. You're born with this special power that is either genetic or placed upon you by fate, or something like that. In my books I want interesting and different ways of doing that. That's why in Warbreaker the magic is simply the ability to accumulate life force from other people, and anyone who does that becomes a practitioner of magic.
In The Way of Kings, I was looking for some sort of reservoir. Essentially, I wanted magical batteries, because I wanted to take this series toward developing a magical technology. The first book only hints at this, in some of the art and some of the things that are happening. There's a point where one character's fireplace gets replaced with a magical device that creates heat. And he's kind of sad, thinking something like, "I liked my hearth, but now I can touch this and it creates heat, which is still a good thing." But we're seeing the advent of this age, and therefore I wanted something that would work with a more mystical magic inside of a person and that could also form the basis for a mechanical magic. That was one aspect of it. Another big aspect is that I always like to have a visual representation, something in my magic to show that it's not all just happening abstractly but that you can see happen. I loved the imagery of glowing gemstones. When I wrote Mistborn I used Burning metals--metabolizing metals--because it's a natural process and it's an easy connection to make. Even though it's odd in some ways, it's natural in other ways; metabolizing food is how we all get our energy. The idea of a glowing object, illuminated and full of light, is a natural connection for the mind to make: This is a power source; this is a source of natural energy. And since I was working with the highstorms, I wanted some way that you could trap the energy of the storm and use it. The gemstones were an outgrowth of that.
Yeah, I figured I hadn't given Alan a cameo, and I wanted to. So, I named a mountain [in Mistborn: The Final Empire] after Morag.
Was Roshar mythos inspired by Shinto or Japanese mythology?
Yes, it was. There is definitely a large part of Asian mythology, specifically Korean. So less Shinto and more Korean but there's a deep relationship there, and I lived in Korea for two years as an LDS missionary.
This short story actually has a very interesting backstory.
If we flash back to January 2006, we find me having been dating Pemberly (her real name is Emily, but she goes by Pemberly online) for about two months. Our relationship was still quite new, and we weren't exclusive yet. (Though I wanted to be. I was pretty sure I wanted to marry her by that point.)
Well, at one of our dates, Pemberly told me an amazing story. It seems that one of her eighth grade students—a girl named Matisse—had done a book report on Elantris. Now, Matisse didn't know that her teacher was dating me. She didn't even know that Pemberly knew me. It was just one of those bizarre coincidences that happens just to prove to us all that the world is a funny place.
Now, when I say book report, that doesn't get across the scope of what Matisse did. Being a clever, creative girl, she went the extra mile. Instead of a simple write-up on the book, she did a Dragonology-style book on Elantris. This thing is amazing; it has sketches and bios of the characters, strips of Elantrian cloth stapled in as examples, little pouches filled with materials from the books, all of that. A total multisensory experience dedicated to the novel, all handmade. Pemberly showed it to me, and it was honestly just about the coolest, must humbling thing I'd ever seen. Matisse had obviously loved the book very much.
That set me thinking of something I could do as a thank-you surprise to Matisse, who still didn't know that her teacher was dating one of her favorite authors. I'd had this idea itching in the back of my head.
Who is Vin modeled after? Is she modeled after a real person?
She was not... I don't think there was a specific model for Vin.
So, I'm entering a portion of my current book [Mistborn] where I have to devise a lot of names. Anyone want a Cameo? I could throw in something close to your name, or perhaps a version of one of your usernames, if you wish. Firstcomers get speaking parts.
Well, Lord Rian Strobe just got added to the book. He's even got a line! (He asks a young lady to dance.)
OutKast: Elariel is a good fantasy name--won't have any problems with that.
Tekiel: Can probably use that one straight-up, if you want.
Okay, 'House Erikeller' just got mentioned as one of the major noble houses in the book. They probably won't have a big part, but they are weapons merchants, which I thought you might appreciate.
Gemm, I didn't so much as give you a character as base an entire cultural dialect off of your language patterns. They're a bunch of underground street punks who like to speak in a slang that (intentionally) confuses everyone else. There is a character in the book from that culture, though he's a few years younger than you.
Well, House Elariel and the Lady Stace Whiten just got cameos. House Elariel throws a party that some characters attend; Lady Whiten is a young woman that is supposedly one of characters' dates, but he ditches her. (Sorry. He's kind of like that.)
Okay, busy night.
First off, House Tekiel showed up in the book. In connection with that, I managed to work in House Geffenry and House Izenry.
My favorite for the night, however, is the appearance of Lord Charleir Entrone. He shows up only as a corpse, having been stabbed in the back while in a drunken stupor, but he has a reputation of being a twisted connoisseur of underground bloodfight gambling.
On The Orville, the enemy space aliens are called the Krill - any connection there?
Maybe? The word Krell is one of those ones that pops up in SF now and then, as an homage to The Forbidden Planet. (Which is why I chose it.)
I can see a network being more worried about using the actual name, and making the creators go with something similar but not the same. You'd have to ask them.
In The Rithmatist, you mention that Joel actually sneaks into the classroom, is that a spin-off of what you did?
I actually had a teacher once ask, "Who are you?" One of them actually picked me out. Fortunately, that was one that my roommate was going to, so I was able to [pretend I was just there with him].
Will you tell us a little about the sword from Warbreaker?
Nightblood is a weapon that I devised. He is partially inspired by my love of Michael Moorcock's writing. He was built into the cosmere using many of the foundational cosmere magic system things that exist on multiple worlds.
Lightsong's Climactic Scene, with His Vision of the Boat
Lightsong's vision and eventual death in this chapter are another of the big focus scenes. In fact, I'd say that this little scene here is my absolute favorite in the book. It's hard to explain why, but I get a chill whenever I read it. It's the chill of something you planned that turned out even better than you expected. (As opposed to the planning for the Siri/altar image, which turned out poorly and so had to be cut.)
I worked hard to bring this scene in my head to fruition. No other section of the book has been tweaked more in drafting—everything from changing it so Lightsong grabs the God King's hand as opposed to his foot, to reworking the imagery of the ocean. (That imagery, by the way, came from my honeymoon while standing on the cruise ship at night and staring into the churning white froth above deep black water.)
Many people on my forums called this event ahead of time—Lightsong healing the God King. I'm fine with that. It did seem like a very obvious setup. One character with powers he cannot use until healed, another with the power to heal someone one time. Sometimes it's okay to give people what they expect—particularly when the result is this scene. I hope they didn't expect it to be as powerful as it is (assuming readers like the scene as much as I do). I want this one to be very moving.
It's the final fulfillment of Lightsong's character. Note that even in the end, his sarcasm and irony come through. He told Siri not to depend on him because he would let her down. Well, Lightsong, you're a better man than you wanted us to believe. There's a reason why so many are willing to rely upon you.
So, where did you get the name Roshar from?
I have no idea. It's been twenty years that I've been calling it that. I don't know what my specific inspiration was. It's just one of those words that just felt right.
What kind of research did you do?
Mainly, it was about fighter pilots and what they go through, what g-force feels like, stuff like that. I'm indebted to a couple of real-life fighter pilots for helping me to get it right. Also, I had to research what it's like to live in societies where the machine of war grinds people up out of necessity to keep the country alive, what it does to them. I took inspiration from real-world regimes to create an amalgamation, which still doesn't go as far as it could have. I just included subtle markers to the reader to suggest the sort of stress they live under.
What was your inspiration for Wit, or who?
Hmm. You know, the closest thing I've been able to say is the court jester from King Lear, he's one of my favorite literary characters. But I'm not sure if I can, you know, if I can point to anyone specific other than that.
How did you come up with the geography on Roshar?
The geography on Roshar was developed as a natural outgrowth of the highstorm, which was the first concept for Roshar, which was inspired by the storm of Jupiter, which was me wanting to tell a story about a world with a continual magical storm. And then I built the ecology and all of these things up from that. Roshar had to grow up--I had to find a mechanism by which stone was deposited by rain, because I felt that the constant weathering over that long of a time would leave no continents. So the crem was my kind of scientific-with-one-foot-in-magic hack on keeping the continent. So the continent does drift. They don't have plate tectonics. The continent actually moves as it gets weathered on the east and gets pushed that direction over millennia of time.
The Kandra were my favorite part of the Mistborn series. What was your inspiration for them?
For the kandra, I started with the idea that a thieving crew would need a good "inside man" type, who could do costumes. None of the powers fit this, but I knew I also wanted to foreshadow Hemalurgy. From there, developing them was an organic process digging deeply into the history and worldbuilding I was doing.
The idea of the wolfhound kandra appealed to me a great deal before even starting the first book, and was where I targeted my plotting after it struck me.
What was Skyward inspired by and how long have you been working on it?
I've been working on it since about 2012, on and off. It was inspired by my love of stories about kids finding dragon eggs.
How did you get the idea for The Rithmatist?
The Rithmatist started with the drawings. I did the little doodles first, of all the defenses and things. And I just started drawing and drawing and drawing. And I drew all those out, and I thought, "Okay, I'm gonna write a book around this idea." I wanted to do something where people played a sport with magic, rather than only using it for, like, war and things.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Talking Horses that Talk about Their Feelings
A fun story about this chapters beings by me admitting that I didn't come up with the "TenSoon digests a horse" trick at first. I tried writing this scene with Sazed clinging to TenSoon's wolfhound back as they ran to the south. It was awkward to describe, even more awkward to imagine, and it never worked that well.
Eventually, while working on a solution to the problem of getting Sazed south to the Homeland, I realized that TenSoon could just digest another body and use that. Easy fix, and one that fit marvelously with the magic and setting.
This intersects another story relating to my friend Nate Hatfield, one of the guys in my writing group. He's a big fan of Dinosaur Comics, a webcomic that often deals with philosophy or literary criticism. Years ago, he brought a comic to the group where one of the characters in the comic strip complains that fantasy books are all about talking horses that talk about their feelings.
All through the writing of book two of Mistborn, Nate took delight in the Vin/TenSoon scenes as they were about a talking dog who talks about his feelings. He never let me live that connection down.
And then, almost just for him, I had TenSoon take on the body of a horse for a few chapters. I doubt I'll ever hear that end of that one. At least he didn't end up saying much about his feelings. ;)
Is Re-Shephir related at all to the Midnight Essence in Aether of Night?
Yes. It's me, like-- Related in that Aether of Night isn't canon, and I really liked how that worked in the cosmere, and I ported it to this instead. So that's like--
So you're not gonna write Aether of Night?
Aether of Night, I might eventually write, but the Mid--
It may be different?
What influenced the creation of the writing system in Warbreaker?
I'd been writing a lot of kind of grungy books, Mistborn and Elantris are both sort of grimy, and my editor pointed that out and suggested I write something colorful.
Where did you get the idea of a world ravaged by fierce storms?
The original seed of an idea was the storm of Jupiter, this massive persistent storm. Of course, that's a gas giant. The physics are very different. But I remember one day staring at a picture of Jupiter and thinking about a storm that circled the world that was massively powerful. That was one of those seeds that stuck in my brain. This sort of thing happened over months and years until that seed grew and developed and mixed with other things I was thinking of, and the result was Roshar.
This is a question I was wondering when you did Steelheart. When you were developing the story did you ever think of what kind of Epic you would be?
*laughs* Uh, no, I didn't really. My-- The Alcatraz books were kind of focused on dumb things I do. Steelheart I was really just kind of looking at comic book lore, and dealing with, you know, tropes from comic books.
Thank you.
But in that car, where you thought, "If I had super powers..."
Oh yeah, that's true!
What were you going to do to that car?
I was gonna blow up the car.
So there's your answer.
Yeah, blow up the car, yeah.
Captain Goradel, by the way, is named after my friend Richard Gordon.
How did you develop M-bot?
M-Bot grew out of many different inspirations. I love quirky and odd robots and so you can go all the way back to some science fiction history and you'll find all my inspiration.
When Jasnah takes Shallan on as a ward, she teaches her a strategy for research. Is that strategy you use when you are doing research?
No. It's a strategy like the one they tried to teach me in college, and I was never good at.
So you used it as a-- You used it intentionally because of?
Not that I don't like it. My brain doesn't work the way that note-taking methodology worked. I know it worked for some people, and probably if I had spent more time on it, then I would have. But I work in a different way.
I've seen a lot of forum posts about the mistcloaks themselves. What is the standard wear underneath those?
So there isn't a lot of standardization, because Mistborn are rare and each Mistborn commissions their own cloak. Most of the time, I think you're going to find that they would wear a buttoning shirt with short sleeves. Probably something dark would be my guess, probably a dark gray. But it just really depends on the person.
Okay. I was thinking about working up a Mistborn cosplay--
My theme for clothing other than miscloaks was a look a little of-- Dickensian London was my inspiration, so.
Which bit of Magic lore inspired Davriel?
Mostly me thinking about what I'd do if I were to write a story (I started thinking about this years before I got the chance.) I'd say the biggest influence might have been Umezawa, as I really liked the way a black-aligned hero played in that story.
We've seen some hints of the over-arching cosmere story arc, what was the inspiration behind that story originally?
I had an idea for a book when I was fifteen and just getting into fantasy novels—just getting into meaning, reading everything I could get my hands on and diving in face first—and I developed that idea over the next few years. I started writing and realized I was just no good as a writer yet. Which was okay, it wasn't a big deal to me. I realized this story was beyond my ability to approach, it was a vast, enormous story. And so, years later when I was writing Elantris I thought "Well let's just pretend I wrote that book and it was awesome and it's the prelude to what's going on here." That expanded into something much larger and much greater.
I've mentioned before, part of my inspiration for this was the fact that one of my favorite writers, Asimov, later decided to connect two of his main story universes, the Robot books and the Foundation books. It was really cool when he did it and I felt what would happen if I started doing something like this from the get go. I've known several authors who do it at the end of their careers—well I guess Stephen King's not even at the end of his career, in the middle of his career—saying let me tie a bunch of these things together. What if I seeded all of this from the get go and use this story, this awesome story, that I wasn't able to write when I was younger as a foundation for it.
So, could you give us some examples of how the ideals that spren represent work in other magic systems, like we have Forging where you get plausibility, or Returned how they're beautiful or any other systems?
Okay, one more time on that.
Okay, so you know the ideals the spren are manifestations--
How-- Do those have impacts on other magic systems?
Yes, yes, in the same way the Returned- that's the exact same system at work there.
Is it the same reason why the Lord Ruler has to die of old age, and why you can't heal yourself into being an octopus or something?
Um... Yes, that is all connected in the exact same way.
Okay, so it's all like these highfalutin Spiritual ideals?
And are there like, median Cognitive ideals that gradually kind of influence these, or--
Yeah, they transcend between the three. I mean the original concept for the Three Realms is Platonic philosophy.
So it goes up *makes absurd reverse-waterfall hand gesture*
Yeah, it goes up and it comes back down. A lot of the Cognitive is-- So like, the Cognitive has a bigger effect on how you can heal and things like that. Does that make sense?
But the power to heal is a actually a Spiritual thing.
So it's like the Spiritual says "I want to be like this" and the Cognitive is like "Okay I'll try really hard to be like that, but I have a limit."
Right. Right. Filtered through how you see yourself, yeah.
By the way, I took the bit where Sarene judged Raoden's height from real-life experience. My friend, Annie Gorringe, always used to talk about how her near 6' height sometimes made it difficult for her to find men to date. Often, the first thing she'd do when she was interested in a man was judge his height compared to her own.
Watch out, folks. If you know an author, you have to watch your tongues. Anything you say is fair game to be used in a novel, as far as we're concerned.
Where did you get the idea for the gemhearts.
So, I wanted-- in the books, I wanted there to be an economic component to the magic, like, something that was based on the money in the world. And I knew I wanted to use the gemstones, but I also knew they would be used up really quickly by the magic, with Soulcasting. So, I built something into the creatures of the world, so that we could renew the gemstones, so they wouldn't all just be gone after a few hundred years.
Skyward question! The light line is mentioned as using two fingers to shoot it out. Are they the middle two fingers, and was this inspired by any jovial community arachnid folk?
First draft didn't have specific controls to shoot it out, and during revisions, I thought, "Oh, what the heck. It's not a big part of the story anyway." So yes. :)
In the summer of 2010, my wife and I visited New York. My editor, Moshe, is a life-long New Yorker and a repository of details and facts. (I've found this is a common thing in a lot of editors; they tend to be the type to pay attention to details.) The result of this was him towing us all over the city, telling us little tidbits about this building or that one.
Well, one of the stories he told us was about the early days of skyscrapers, and how people would race to build the highest building. He talked about some of the famous rivalries; I think that's the first time I began to envision a cool Allomantic fight taking place in the heights of an unfinished skyscraper. Five months or so later, I wrote this scene.
Hoid has… a lot of things influencing that. I liked the Robots story in Isaac Asimov's Foundation books, I wanted to have a character that moved behind the scenes of each story like that.
How often do your dreams ever influence your books?
Once in awhile.
Once in awhile.
Yup. […] writer you have a cool dream […] something there […] Usually there's not but once in awhile there really is something and it turns around in your head and eventually ends up in the books.
Chapter Thirty-Four - Part Two
Kelsier saving Elend in this chapter was indeed something of a homage to Les Miserables. It is one of my favorite classics, and Elend's own character—with his group of idealistic noble friends—was partially inspired by Marius and his cohorts. I wasn't originally going to have Elend in this scene, but I decided to throw him in and give Kelsier the opportunity to save him, partially as an inside reference to the story that inspired him, and partially to let Kelsier do something truly selfless as a final send-off before he died.
Was much of the Shattered Plains inspired by the beach?
A lot of the life on Roshar is inspired by tide pools.
Chapter Thirty-One
Vivenna Visits the Idrian Slums
Vivenna probably should have expected what she would find here. She knows that the slumlords, who are Idrians, run whorehouses and illegal fighting leagues. However, she deluded herself into assuming that they employ Hallandren whores or that the fights aren't all that bad.
I think this would be a hard thing to come to grips with. It's happened repeatedly throughout history—a poorer segment travels to a new country and becomes part of the lower, working class. In Korea, they were always complaining about people from Burma coming in and stealing their jobs. I remember hearing the Japanese saying the same thing about Koreans. I've heard Americans complain about all three. Things like this have far less to do with culture or race and far more to do with relative economic standing and fluency with the language/culture.
Knowing it happens, however, wouldn't make it any easier to find your own people in such a state, I think.
Notice that the Idrians here often wear dark clothing. This is partially to hold to their old ways of avoiding colors, but they tend to wear clothes that are black and dark instead of light. (Though there are some who follow the more traditional way.) However, by wearing these dark colors, they completely defeat the original stated purpose of dull clothing—that of removing color to keep Awakeners from using their art.


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Motorhome/Caravan security intruder alarm
I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor (http://www.
Window security for motorhomes
com One of the greatest problems faced by motorhome.
Motorhome Security Titanium
Advanced Motorhome Security System - Outsmart the Thief Ltd http://www.
Motorhome Security Automatrics MTrack, Motorhome Tracker
Securing Motorhomes is a constant worry, Motorhome alarms and Motorhome door locks can help but nothing will stop a determined thief.
Top Tips for Keeping Your Motorhome Secure
Heading away on a motorhome holiday can be an incredible experience thanks to the combination of freedom, affordability and comfort that it offers, but there .
Motorhome Window security without drilling
This film shows a window security system for motorhomes which secures the plastic pane to the inside of the motorhome preventing it from being forced open .
RV Security at Home or on the Road
Today I discuss personal RV security whether on the road, at an RV park, or at a home base.
RV Life: Window SECURITY SCREENS installed!
I have always hated big windows in RVs for major security and insulation issues.
Security for motorhome sliding windows
com/ One of the greatest problems faced by motorhome.
Motorhome being stolen CCTV Video
This is a video of our Swift Suntor 630L Motorhome, Reg WX09 FKL, being stolen on Wednesday 21st Jan 2015 from a Secure compound in the Chandlers Ford .

subset: commoncrawl


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So it would seem as though I have forgotten about this page for quiet a long time. I can not believe that it's been 4 years since the last time I logged on. I guess what they say is true, time really does fly when you're having fun.
The Co-writer on this blog reminded me today of its' existence. I have some more paranormal fun things happening that I'd love to share with you all. Those of you who basically forgot to unsubscribe anyway. LOL
Let me fill you in on all the current details. On 12/28/2017 I was in a bad car accident. One of the types of accidents that you wouldn't normally walk away from unscathed. T-boned on the parkway at 65MPH, spun a few times banging off both the center divider and the car that hit us kind of accident. The girl hit my side of the car. Luckily enough the driver and myself walked away with minor injuries. I have a concussion and some vertigo issues now. I'd say I was pretty blessed. It's not one of those accidents where you hear it could have been worse, it was one of those its a miracle and SHOULD have been worse type incidents. Anyway, the reason I'm telling you all this as it's led up to last nights events.
For the last few weeks I have been waking up in the middle of the night panicked like I'm late for work. Look at the clock and 9 out of 10 times its right between 3 & 3:30 am. A few other times it was around 2 or 4 am. After speaking with my therapist we thought that maybe I would roll over and the dizziness would cause the panic. In an attempt to get to the bottom of it I set up a camera in my room last-night. However the reason I woke had nothing to do with rolling over in my sleep. I did wake up panicked and looked right at the clock. What I did not hear until I got up later was 2 strange voices. You can hear a small boy as I am getting up, and (be-careful I cough and if its really loud it will hurt your ears) after the cough you can hear a male voice. I will not tell you what I think they say, you tell me what you think they say.
BTW please excuse the mess, I am in the process of rearranging my bedroom and it's in shambles. lol
I'm going to keep recording and posting the videos, I'll let you determine what you think you hear.
Another interesting little tid-bit about this video. I texted it to my mother (who lives with me) Every time she attempted to watch the video her phone rang as if I called her, simultaneously my phone rang as if she called me. We both ended up with 5 missed calls in the end. She was unable to watch the video until she went out to her car, at that point we had another 2 missed calls and she gave up only seeing a small portion of it. She was able to finally view the video in its entirety after she left my neighborhood altogether. The video was sent twice text and once via Facebook messenger, it did not work on either platform until she was completely away from the house.


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February 7, 2008 - ECRI Institute will serve as an unbiased expert, offering equipment-purchasing clients updated information on the medical equipment, as well as present a technology session and assist on-hand as an expert resource during the upcoming Computed Tomography (CT) Live Group BuyCT, slated for March 26 to March 28 in Dallas, TX.
ECRI Institute will provide event participants insight into: The state of the marketplace: What technologies are available now and where are they heading; Key clinical issues: What issues are most important when considering a purchase; and Recent technological advances: How do these advances impact performance and value?
The Broadlane Live Group Buy process allows participants to determine and weight the criteria used to evaluate the equipment and suppliers. Participants then rate supplier technology, identify key operational support components, participate in live negotiations and ultimately make a contract award.
For more information: www.broadlane.com, www.ecri.org


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Many of us have been introduced to SOA via webinars, articles and books published by SOA vendors. The promises made bythe SOA evangelists seem easy to achieve and are every CTO's dream. But it is during the implementation phase that reality surfaces. Each SOA promise is in reality an enormous challenge. Let us have a quick look at some of the common challenges we have come across, while implementing SOA, over the recent past:
Multi-layered complex architecture makes it tough to isolate defects.
Agility – Enabling faster change leads to increase in integration and regression testing.
Integrated Systems – More points of failure result in more defects.
More Reusability – More problems in security and performance.
Managing people across geographies in disparate teams.
Heterogeneous technologies – Expensive to test, and manage a wide variety of systems.
Testing processes that span across multiple systems create complex test data needs.
Some of the challenges SOA brings for the testing teams are that they have to learn new technologies, processes and new tools that are being used. Many testing teams often check if they can continue to use classical tools and processes in the new SOA environment. Once they begin SOA testing, they quickly realize that this can't be done. Let's look at some of the reasons and questions that lead to this realization:
Modern Tool Requirements
SOA has a unique architectural ecology.
• Can classical tools test non-UI components?
• Can these tools cope up with subscriptions to brokers?
• Can they interpret messages that flow across an ESB?
SOA has its own set of unique protocols.
• Can the current automation tools handle protocols such as SOAP, WS-Security etc.?
• Can classical tools take you through a web of component invocations for defect isolation?
Methodology Changes
• A new architecture brings the need for a new approach. Current black-box lifecycle processes and tools cannot cope with the sudden need for deep grey box testing. For example, we need to test the UI and the components behind it.
• SOA lifecycles are agile and iterative. This in turn increases the importance of automated regression testing. How does one enable continuous integration testing where manual testing is impossible and classical tools do not work?
End To End Business Process Testing
• Can current tools handle orchestration of multiple tools that span across technologies? For example: UI automation, middle ware testing, service testing and database querying.
• End-to-end process testing can create some complex TDM requirements that non-SOA monolithic systems would not require.
Restricted Access Systems
• Per – use SaaS (Software as a Service) systems can drive up the cost of regression testing.
• Some systems such as mainframes may not be easily available or accessible for testing.
Information was collected and provided by Infosys http://www.infosys.com/


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Suffer from shine but don't like looking caked? Read on for our favourite powder foundations…
The words face powder instantly recall those teenage years of trying to cover bad skin and ending up looking caked, don't they? Don't let that put you off; though we inwardly cringe too at the memories, we have come to embrace the not so humble power of mattifying, blurring, skin-perfecting powders.
Here are our top picks…
By Terry Hyaluronic Powder, £42
The holy grail of face powders. It's ridiculously finely-milled and will therefore never look caked. The finish? Slightly mattified skin that looks ever so subtly perfected without any chalkiness. The beauty desk definitely think it's worth skipping Friday night drinks in order to be able to afford it.
Burberry Fresh Glow Compact Foundation, £38
While we would never admit to any bias based on the gorgeous silver packaging, we were seduced into trying it on the basis of it's looks. We're very glad to report that the insides are every bit as good as the outside – a light dusting provides a velvety finish. If you need more, just use a damp sponge for the appearance of airbrushed skin.
Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Powder, £33
An ultra fine pressed powder that manages to give a luminous, soft matte finish, without shrouding any natural luminosity. The ultra silky smooth texture feels wonderful when swept across the face, and its perfect to apply on the go thanks to the handy compact format.
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder, £38
This finishing powder makes blemishes and fine lines appear minimised thanks to the hazy veil it draws over the skin. The key thing to remember when applying this, is that less really is more – a few swoops over the face will revitalise dull looking skin leaving it glowing – not shiny. We love that we can now turn up to work looking fresh faced at 9am.
Jurlique Rose Finishing Powder, £26
A firm favourite of the beauty desk, this translucent powder is perfect for oily skin; the lightweight formula feels amazingly silky when sweeped across the face with a brush (chuck away the powder puff – it's ineffectual and collects dirt). It also is a godsend for easily-congested skin: though it smells of rose, it's all natural ingredients and rarely irritates skin.
Mac Studio Sculpt Defining Powder, £22
Sheer, lightweight, gorgeous on: everything we've come to expect from MAC. While its strength lies in setting make-up, this one can just as easily be used to even skin tone and conceal minimal blemishes.DiorSkin Nude Air Loose Powder, £36
This little wonder is one of our favourite new finds – the loose powder evens out the complexion and slightly mattifies while feeling weightless and looking sheer.
Urban Decay Naked Skin Ultra Definition Powder Foundation, £26
For those of you who are looking for a powder with slightly more coverage, this is the one for you. It's still buildable and a touch can be applied for those of you who need just a little help on the t-zone, but a second layer will act as a foundation and powder in one. And for more foundations suited to your skin type and tone, with your preferred coverage, check out our sister site Powder to get your own bespoke product recommendation.
Top Tip: For more control and a more modern finish when applying powder, use a smaller brush than you might ordinarily do to allow you to only apply it where necessary. Try Mac 109 Small Contour Brush, £28, to apply powder sparingly where needed.


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freenode/#clim - IRC ChatlogSearch
11:17:43 jackdaniel writing tests reveals a lot of issues
11:17:56 jackdaniel i.e draw-text has some off-by-one error for strings starting with a newline
11:18:11 jackdaniel (draw-text* pane (format nil "~%foo") 10 10) ; leads to out-of-bounds array access
11:20:47 scymtym i agree. writing tests for eclector (and especially aiming for 100 % coverage) has revealed a ton of bugs - a few even in the implementations running the tests
11:23:00 jackdaniel scymtym: there is a meme fitting what I wanted to say: "Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well" (https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/man-of-culture-meme/ :-)
11:24:29 jackdaniel as of testing, a curious fact I've heard from somebody is that statistical research shows, that usually most interesting bugs (in quantity and impact in published software) come from connection of two orthogonal modules (not in one module nor in more than 2 modules; some bugs in such combinations occure too of course)
11:24:47 jackdaniel occur*
11:25:13 scymtym idiomatic use seems to refer to more "depraved" (the article's word) activities than testing and finding bugs, though
11:25:55 jackdaniel well, this link I've provided is wrong, my intention and understanding of this meme is different (i.e w/o irony etc), but the image is correct
11:26:24 jackdaniel I just wanted to link to the picture, but noticed explanation and assumed, it will match my expectations, which it did not :(
11:26:26 scymtym no worries, i get it
11:27:57 scymtym regarding interesting bugs. in my experience, even simple unit tests reveal interesting bugs if ones goes for full coverage. case in point, .. is illegal, .||. is a symbol
11:28:22 scymtym i had to redesign a part of the eclector reader to fix that
11:32:16 scymtym (i must admit that the article gets pretty funny at the end)
11:51:58 jackdaniel this is interesting failure: i.imgur.com/y5twKoL.png
11:52:06 jackdaniel both pane are both application-panes
11:52:11 jackdaniel they have exactly same display function
11:52:25 jackdaniel but the first one has :scroll-bars :both and is put on layout as is
11:52:44 jackdaniel and the second one has :scroll-bars nil and is wrapped in scrolling in layouts section
11:53:09 jackdaniel in the first application pane when I scroll design ink remains stuck to a position relative to a viewport
11:53:15 jackdaniel while in the second it scrolls as desired
11:54:00 jackdaniel (screenshot doesn't show this, but both are scrolled by 10px by clicking a scrollbar button)
14:39:07 jackdaniel here's a sketch of word-wrap for multiline draw-text* which works on both seos and raw mediums: http://hellsgate.pl/files/draw-string.txt (it trims outer spaces)
14:39:41 jackdaniel when I'm done with patterns I'll think whenever we can integrate it with current codebase
14:40:39 jackdaniel http://i.imgur.com/ARO8H21.png
14:46:26 beach But the text is not rearranged when the pane is resized, right?
14:50:30 jackdaniel it depends on pre-set margin
14:50:34 jackdaniel so resize doesn't change anything
14:50:43 beach Right.
14:51:13 jackdaniel if it were depending on pane-size, then that would depend: if pane is not an output-recording-stream, then it would be repainted, so it would readjust itself
14:51:34 jackdaniel otherwise, if it is an output-recording-stream that would depend on whenever pane is redisplayed on resize or not
14:51:45 beach I see.
14:52:12 jackdaniel either way this is just a sketch which I needed for my demo
14:52:37 jackdaniel I'm testing on both basic-panes and extended-output-streams, and that is a good idea, because I was able to spot a few more bugs
14:53:02 jackdaniel because one depends on raw draw functions while the other on replaying output records
14:54:13 beach OK.
15:17:48 jackdaniel this is how demo/tests look right now: http://i.imgur.com/sEgU8qk.png
15:20:25 jackdaniel empty space on the right pane in the middle is due to use of the with-room-for-graphics with reversed y-axis, which doesn't work on master at all, and works badly on my branch (but I plan to make it work reasonably later)
15:20:52 jackdaniel doesn't work when used on non-seos-pane that is
16:51:13 loke jackdaniel: I submitted a pull request to remove code that was lying around that was used by the noe-defunct optimised scroller.
17:30:41 jackdaniel loke: doesn't clx-fb use that? sheets may be larger than maximal x11 mirrors
17:31:08 jackdaniel also I've found some problems with scrolling, but I need to investigate that (see the screenshot above)
17:34:28 jackdaniel also, according to commit with before change to %note-stream-end-page it was queued due to potential race issues
17:34:46 jackdaniel I don't see how making this operation immediate avoids the then-prevented race


text: Oncofertility: From Bench to Bedside to Babies LocationLeonard Deacon Lecture Theatre Medical School DatesWednesday 7th December 2016 (17:30-18:30) Download the date to your calendar (.ics file) ContactJanice Saul Register for this event We are delighted to welcome Dr Teresa Woodruff, the Thomas J Watkins Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecologyand Vice Chair of Research (OB/GYN) at Northwestern University to give the Sir Arthur Thomson Charitable Trust Distinguished Professor Lecture entitled 'Oncofertility: From Bench to Bedside to Babies.' Facing a cancer diagnosis at any age is devastating. However, young cancer patients have the added burden that life-preserving cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, may compromise their future fertility. The possibility of reproductive dysfunction as a consequence of cancer treatment has a negative impact on the quality of life of cancer survivors. The field of oncofertility, which merges the clinical specialties of oncology and reproductive endocrinology, was developed to explore and expand fertility preservation options and to better manage the reproductive status of cancer patients. The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comprehensive overview of how cancer treatments affect the female reproductive axis, delineate the diverse fertility preservation options that are currently available or being developed for young women, and describe current measures of ovarian reserve that can be used pre- and post-cancer treatment.Prior to the lecture, Dr Woodruff will also be receiving an honorary degree at the College of Medical and Dental Sciences degree graduation ceremony. REGISTER NOW


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Product Description
High quality durable plastic industrial quality decal sticker. Buy-it-now and have delivered to your door with Free Shipping. Sale price is valid for a limited time only.
- See Product Information Below
As in Pic
- Size: 30cmx60cm (all stickers will fit into this area if put as close as possible)


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In his October 15, 2014 piece, NY Post's Joel Sherman outlined why he felt free-agent-to-be Nick Markakis would be a nice fit with the New York Mets.
Fans: ignore Joel Sherman. Continue reading
In his October 15, 2014 piece, NY Post's Joel Sherman outlined why he felt free-agent-to-be Nick Markakis would be a nice fit with the New York Mets.
Fans: ignore Joel Sherman. Continue reading
Jenrry Mejia has been a solid ground-ball pitcher in 2014. But since developing a sports hernia on around July 22, Mejia's already solid 45.0 percent ground-ball rate has spiked to an elite 57.9 percent level. Given the 12.9 percent bump in grounders, is it possible Mejia is actually pitching better with the sports hernia? Continue reading
Being six games under .500 and eight-and-a-half games out of first place, the 2014 New York Mets still have a decent chance to not be a bad team this season. Especially if Jenrry Mejia's recent comments in his SNY.tv interview are indicative of the team's ambitions, it's quite possible the second half of 2014 could at least be enjoyable for fans.
But if the organization's true vision is be competitive in 2015—not this season—then general manager Sandy Alderson has about four days to decide if the Mets will be buyers or sellers at the July 31 trade deadline. And if the latter, Bartolo Colon should be playing elsewhere in August.
Colon has been solid for the Mets in 2014, posting a 4.03 ERA (versus a 3.50 FIP), park-adjusted 87 ERA+ and 5.26 strikeouts-to-walks ratio over 126.2 innings. The right-hander's 1.3 walks-per-nine-innings ratio also ranks near the league's finest.
The veteran's value to pitching-starved, playoff-hungry teams is undeniable. In addition to averaging 6.2 innings-per-start in 2014, the Mets have also displayed a willingness to eat part of the $14.5 million Colon is owed between this year and next, according to NY Daily News' Andy Martino–making the veteran that much more affordable.
Then again, Colon's inconceivable durability and success at age 41 in many ways makes his trade value a bit more enigmatic than your average veteran pitcher. In an attempt to evaluate the potential return Colon could net the Mets, below are six summer deals (dating back to 2009) that involved non-ace, veteran starting pitchers.
Posted in Closer Looks, Trade Deadline
Tagged Bartolo, Bartolo Colon, Bartolo Colon Mets, Bartolo Colon Rumors, Bartolo Colon Trade, Bartolo Colon Trade Deadline, Bartolo Colon: So What's The Trade Market For a 41-Year-Old Pitcher?, Ben Berkon, Colon, Colon Mets, Colon Rumors, Colon Trade, Colon Trade Deadline, Mets, Mets Colon Rumors, Mets Trade Bartolo Colon, Mets Trade Colon, Mets Trade Deadline, New York, New York Mets, The Beanball, Trade Deadline
Within the New York Mets' community, Daniel Murphy is a polarizing figure.
Amongst those who lean on descriptors such as "grinder," "gamer" and "gritty" to base their opinion of a player, Murphy is a poster child for the banal "how the game should be played" proverb.
After all, the 29-year-old owns a career .291 batting average (and a park-adjusted 109 wRC+) at a position that rarely sees such offensive output. And despite his overzealous—albeit, very poor—antics in the field, Murphy does take his defense seriously.
Yet, for the detractors who prefer to belabor Murphy's career 6.3 percent walk rate and minus-31 DRS (Defensive Runs Saved) at second base, his oft-dirtied jersey isn't reason enough to peg him as a "core" player.
Regardless of where a fan falls on the #ImWith28 spectrum, however, Murphy's short-lived future with the team has little to do with his positive or nonexistent skill sets. Instead, the mistreatment of Daniel Murphy—a player that, if he played in a normal environment, would be a notable role player and asset—is yet another unfortunate product and casualty of the Mets' financial woes. Continue reading
Posted in Closer Looks
Tagged Ben Berkon, Dan Murphy, Dan Murphy Mets, Dan Murphy Mets Rumors, Dan Murphy Trade, Daniel Murphy, Daniel Murphy Mets, Daniel Murphy Mets Rumors, Daniel Murphy Trade, Mets, Murphy, Murphy Mets, Murphy Mets Rumors, Murphy Trade, New York Mets, The Beanball, The Mistreatment of Daniel Murphy
Going into 2015, the New York Mets will be faced with a unique situation: The team will have far too many starting pitchers.
In addition to Matt Harvey and Jeremy Hefner returning from Tommy John surgery, the Mets will also sport at least two additional major league-ready pitching prospects in Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero. And if you're a believer in Jacob deGrom as a starter, he would bump that number up to three.
With the likes of current rotation mates Zack Wheeler, Jonathan Niese, Dillon Gee, Bartolo Colon and, to a lesser extent, Jenrry Mejia, all under contract next season, the Mets will possess 10 very viable starting pitchers for just five rotation slots in 2015.
Assuming the Mets front office will look to improve the team's collective park-adjusted 88 wRC+ for next season, dealing at least one of their starting pitchers only makes sense.
Below details the likelihood of each pitcher's chances of locking up a 2015 rotation spot, getting relegated to bullpen duties or possibly being shipped elsewhere. Continue reading
Posted in Closer Looks
Tagged Bartolo Colon, Ben Berkon, Bleacher Report, Dillon Gee, Jacob deGrom, Jenrry Mejia, Jeremy Hefner, Jon Niese, Matt Harvey, Mets, Mets Pitching Prospects, Mets Rotation, New York Mets, New York Mets: Who Is Going to Crack Their 2015 Rotation?, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, The Beanball, Zack Wheeler
When the New York Mets signed Bartolo Colon to a two-year, $20 million contract this offseason, it seemed like a prudent acquisition. In many ways, signing the 41-year-old starting pitcher to a comparatively reasonable deal was the very savvy, Moneyball-esque free-agent move many Mets' fans had been waiting for Sandy Alderson to make.
I'm okay with this! /// RT @Ken_Rosenthal Sources: #Mets, Colon in agreement on two-year, $20M deal, pending physical.
— Ben Berkon (@BenBerkon) December 11, 2013
But Colon has been a bit more vulnerable in 2014 than over his past three seasons. The right-hander has pitched to the tune of a 5.65 ERA (versus a 4.42 FIP) and park-adjusted 60 ERA+ in his first six starts in orange and blue. By comparison, Colon combined for a far superior 3.32 ERA (versus a 3.60 FIP) and a 119 ERA+ from 2011 to 2013.
Yet, perhaps the most worrisome signs of the Dominican native's cold start have been the rate and distance of his home runs allowed. Continue reading
Posted in Closer Looks
Tagged Bartolo Colon, Bartolo Colon Mets Struggling, Bartolo Colon New York, Ben Berkon, Colon Mets Struggling, Mets, Mets Bartolo Colon, Mets Colon, New York Mets, New York Mets Bartolo Colon, New York Mets Colon, Should the New York Mets Be Worried About Bartolo Colon?, The Beanball
The other night, I received a seemingly cryptic email from my older brother. The subject was, "This is idiotic." I opened the email to uncover exactly what I thought I'd find: a smack-my-head worthy link about the New York Mets. It's a long-withstanding family tradition to share these types of things, after all.
According to NBC Sports' Bill Baer (via The Star-Ledger's Mike Vorkunov), Terry Collins and perhaps the Mets too apparently feel that center field is a wide-open competition.
Specifically, per Collins:
We've got three guys that can play center field that we know of and by gosh the best one is going to be out there because it's a big position.
One can only assume he means Chris Young, Eric Young Jr. and incumbent Juan Lagares. But since Chris Young was inked this offseason to a $7.25 million contract—and is projected to play a corner—it appears as though only one of EYJ or Lagares will be a starter. And this, folks, is silly. Continue reading


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How Much Will Frankie Giveaway? Frankie has been trying to figure out how much cash he can give away! What do you think Portland? How Much should Frankie Give Away?
Tag Archive: Cash Blast Clue
Jun 24
Cash Blast Alert – Test Blast!
Jun 23
Cash Blast Clues to Begin Soon
Jun 22
Frankie May Be Hiding Cash Near You!
Jun 21


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Chennai Informations
Chennai Airlines Contact Details
Chennai Ambulance Services
Chennai Call Taxi
Chennai Couriers
Chennai Electricity
Chennai Fire Stations
Chennai GAS
Chennai Hospitals
Indian Railways
ISD Codes
STD Codes
Chennai Telephones
Chennai Tourist Places
Chennai Tourist Places
Amir Mahal
Anna Zoological Park
Connemara Public Library
Fort Museum
Guindy National Park
M G M Dizzy world
Rippon Building
Theosophical Society
Anna Nagar Tower
Birla Planetarium
Crocodile Bank
Fort St. George
Government Museum Complex
Horticultural Gardens
Marina Beach
Muttukadu Boat House
Snake Park
Amir Mahal
This palace called " Amir Mahal" belongs to the Royal family of Arcot. Situated on an area of approx. 14 acres, Amir Mahal was built in 1789 and came into possession of the Arcot Royal Family in 1870. Located in Triplicane entry is allowed with permission only.
Timings: 10:00 - 18:00, No Holiday. Ph: 28485861
Anna Nagar Tower
This is the highest and biggest park tower in chennai, located at Anna Nagar Park. It has cyclic stairs. Full view of the city can be seen from Top of the Tower.
Timings: 09:00 - 18:00, No Holiday. Ph: 26412646
Anna Zoological Park
The sprawling 1,265 acre Anna Zoological Park is the biggest in South Asia. It contains a superb collection of tropical mammals, birds and reptiles amongst others.
Timings: week days 11 am to 7 pm. Sunday and Holidays 10 am to 8 pm.
Birla Planetarium
Built in memory of B.M. Birla, the well known industrialist and visionary, the Planetarium is considered to be the most modern in the country. This modern planetarium is housed in a hemispherical theatre. It is located at Kottur near Anna University.
Timings: 10.45 am - 1.45pm and 3.45 pm. Holiday Sunday. Ph: 24416751, 24410025
Connemara Public Library
One of the countries National Libraries, it has the largest collection of books and periodicals Touch screen computers have been installed recently to make operations easier. Located at Pantheon Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008.
Timings: 09:30 - 19:30, No Holiday. Ph: 28193751
Crocodile Bank
Not far from Mamallapuram, 42 km from Madras, this crocodile breeding and research centre is run by Romulus Whittaker. It was set up in 1976. This bank was started to protect India's dwindling crocodile population and to preserve the Irula (Snake catching), tribe's way of life. This bank has already produced more than 6,000 crocodiles. There is also a snake farm where anti - venom is produced. Several species of Indian and African Crocodiles and Alligators bred in captivity are kept here in open pools. The snake venom extractions are a great attraction to the visitors and it help the Irulas (tribe) to maintain their way of life.
Timings : 10:00 to 16:00. Wednesday to Monday. Tuesday holiday.
Not far from Mamallapuram, 42 km from Madras, this crocodile breeding and research centre is run by Romulus Whittaker. It is a unique Heritage village situated at Muttukadu on the new Mamallapuram Coastal Road, 20 Km from Chennai. It offers the visitor an unforgettable and authentic insight into the lifestyles of the diverse people of South India.
The Arts and Crafts village, Dakshinachitra narrate the story of the South Indian Culture. The Tamil history, language and way of life can be experienced with a guided tour. Architecture of the past 200 years is represented in the real rural setting. Every house is typical of its own professional group. Traders, potters, weavers, and others working in the traditional way make exquisite pottery, baskets, and carved stone items, some of which are for sale. The center is now developed to include the cultural replicas from all four states of South India. The folk and classical dance performances can be seen here. For a arranged tour you can contact : The Madras craft Foundation, G3, 6 Urur Olcott Road, Besant Nagar, Madras 603112.
Visit : Monday and Wednesday to Friday.
Time 09:45 to 18:00, Saturday and Sunday time 10:00 to 18:00.
Fort St. George
It is at Kamarajar Road. It is the first British fort build around 1653 by the British East India Company. It has a 20 feet thick wall. The present structure, a fine example of 17th century British military architecture, was mostly built in 1966. The country's tallest flagstaff is here, thought to be over 300 years old. The 24 black Charnockite pillars are those reclaimed by the British in 1762 of the original 32 which once formed the colonade of the present Secretariat building. It remains the symbol of the British Raj. Now it houses the Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly.
The best time to visit is on a Sunday. Tel: 2566566
Fort Museum
It is at Fort St. George. Museum has 10 rooms displaying the documents of Indian History. The old uniforms, coins, padlocks, old prints and palanquins are displayed here. The banquet hall upstairs has a collection of paintings of the governors and officials of the British regime.
Timings : Saturday to Thursday from 10:00 to17:00.
Government Museum Complex
It is situated in Pantheon road. This is not for its exquisite collection of more than 2000 Indian bronzes and Amaravathi marbles. Three great buildings of architectural value - the Museum Theatre, the extension hall and the Connemara Public Library are in this complex. The present Museum has several sections, four galleries- Hindu sculpture gallery, the Amaravathi gallery, the Bronze gallery and the National art gallery constitute the main attractions.
Visit : Tuesday to Saturday from 09:30 to 17:00.
Guindy National Park
This is the countries only Wildlife Sanctuary within a city's limits. This park spread over an area of 27.6 sq. km. Raj Bhavan, the Governor's mansion, occupies one end of the park, and at the other is the beautiful forest - girt campus of Chennai's famous Indian Institute of Technology. The nearest rail head, airport and town is Chennai, at a distance of 5km. The park was set up in 1976.
Horticultural Gardens
Sprawling over an area of 22 acres, with rare trees, shrubs, flower beds and bonsais, this garden is situated at the heart of the city, near St. George's Cathedral on Cathedral Road. Seeds, seedlings and plants are on sale. The annual flower show enthuses hordes of visitors.
Entry free. Timing : 8 a.m. to 12 noon & 1.30 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Thursday holiday.
Located : Cathedral Road, Chennai - 600 086. Tel : 28111758
The first theme amusement park is Kishkintha near Chennai. Situated 28 Km South of Chennai near Tambaram spread over 110 acres, Kishkintha park offers exciting rides and attractions.
Timings: week days 11 am to 7 pm. Sunday and Holidays 11 am to 8 pm.
Marina Beach
Lining the east of the city is the famous Marina beach, at Kamarajar Road, 3 Km away from Chennai. This is supposed to be the second longest beach in the World and runs to a length of 13 Km. On the beach there is the Anna Park, named after the founder of D.M.K (Dravida Munnetta Kazhakam) Anna durai and the tomb of M.G. Ramachandran who was a film star and the charismatic Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the Statue of Labour is a splendid sculpture depicting the efforts of a team of labourers who are at hard manual labour. The beach can be ideally visited in the early mornings or in the late evenings when the area becomes a virtual ground; with food stalls and other entertainments.
M G M Dizzy world
This amusement park is situated at Muttukkadu enroute to Mamallapuram.
Timing: 10.30 am to 9 pm.
Muttukadu Boat House
Situated on the edge of backwaters, this place has facilities for boating and wind-surfing. A windsurfing regatta is organised in Muttukadu, in February every year. Competitions in windsurfing and other water sports are also held. Training and demonstration programmes are held for youth.
Rippon Building
Another pride of Chennai city, this building was named after Governor Lord Rippon, the father of Self-Government in India. The Chennai Corporation and its council are functioning in this building. Now the Mayor of Chennai Corporation is elected directly by the people. Opp. to Park Rly. station. Chennai - 600 003.
Time : 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Holiday : Sat., Sun. Tel : 25384510
Snake Park
It is at Sardar Vallabbai Patel Road. There are more than 40 species of common snakes of India here. The crocodiles, chameleons, monitor lizards and tortoises can also be seen in their natural setting.
Visit : Wednesday to Monday from 08:30 to 17:30. Tuesday holiday.
Theosophical Society
It was founded by Madame H.P. Blavatsky and Col. H.S. Olcott of U.S.A. to study religion & philosophy. In 1892 the society moved to Chennai and was set amidst a vast expanse of woods on the estuary of Adyar. Above all, the largest Banyan tree several a hundred years old is found on this campus. It spreads its branches and roots covering a space over 40,000 sq.ft. giving a serene ambience. Adyar, Chennai - 600 020.
Entry free. Sunday Holiday. Timings : 8.30 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tel : 24912474
Valluvar Kottam, yet another architectural marvel was built recently in memory of poet-saint Thiruvalluvar, who is believed to have lived 2000 years ago. The saint authored a didactic book of epic proportions called Thirukkural consisting of 1330 couplets under 133 headings. The memorial is shaped like a temple car with an auditorium to accommodate upto 4000 spectators. The temple car structure is carved in granite with intricate details using the Dravidian Architectural style. Each chapter of Thirukkural is chiselled in a bas-relief. The auditorium is said to be the largest of its kind in Asia.
Entrance Fee : Adult Rs. 2/-, Children Rs. 1/- Timings : 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. No Holidays.
Location : Valluvar Kottam High Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai - 34. Tel : 28172177
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Spring break peaking around the corner and the countdown to summer has begun! The freedom, sun, being tan, and joy of hanging out with friends. For some their focus is on getting their summer body ready for the beach, the pool, or just being outdoors. People have their own ways of preparing themselves for summer; some more practical and healthier than other. What most do not realize is that there are easy ways to "jump-start" a healthy routine that will make being healthy and fit easier. You don't need to spend hours at the gym…Although it is recommended to get some cardiovascular work in everyday (because it helps boost your metabolism), however concentrating on what you eat goes a long way. With that…Here are the 15 TOP diet tips to help you get ready for summer:
- Drink plenty of water or other calorie-free beverages. The calories we consume while drinking (non-alcoholic) is often overlooked. If you are looking to diet, it is best to either drink water or if you do not like water you can always add in a drink mixture (try brew infused teas such as mango or peach).
- Think about what you can add to your diet, not take away. A starting place to check your diet is your servings of fruits and vegetables. Focus on getting the recommended 5-9 servings. It seems like a lot, but a flat stomach isn't completely made in the gym but in the kitchen too.
- Consider whether you're really hungry. Whenever you are hungry look for the physical signs of hunger. Hunger is your body's way of telling you that you need fuel, when you get a craving that isn't from hunger eating won't satisfy it. Keep your portions reasonable, only eat what you need and you should not feel stuffed, bloated, or tired following a meal or snack.
- Be choosy about nighttime snacks. After dinner always seems to bring about mindless eating. Often we sit down in front of the TV or computer and nonchalantly grab a snack even though we are not hungry, this is often called eating amnesia. Try closing down the kitchen after a certain hour and if you do feel the desire to snack, look for something that is low in calories.
- Enjoy your favorite foods. Cutting out your favorite food, in the long run, won't help. Once you "treat" yourself to it, you will end up overeating. Instead, enjoy your favorite food in moderation.
- Enjoy your treats away from home. Rather than keeping treats in the house, plan a day out and get that treat you desire. This eliminates the temptation of eating that same treat when it is in the house. Plus…going out will help increase your activity and encourage weight loss.
- Eat several mini-meals during the day. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. If you find yourself constantly hungry however, eating fewer calories can be challenging. Try dividing your daily calories into smaller meals or snacks, eat more in the beginning of your day and let supper be your last meal.
- Add protein to every meal. Protein is more satisfying than fats or carbohydrates. Getting enough protein helps preserve muscle mass and encourages fat burning while keeping you full. Good sources of protein are yogurt, cheese, beans, or nuts.
- Spice it up. Add spices or Chile peppers to your food for a flavor boost to help you feel more satisfied. Foods with a lot of flavor stimulate your taste buds and are more satisfying so you won't eat as much.
- Stock your kitchen with healthy convenient foods. Ready-to-eat snacks and meals-in-minutes sets you up for success. Having food ready will help curb your desire to hit a drive-thru and grab a quick, unhealthy snack. Try loading your kitchen with frozen vegetables, prewashed greens, canned beans, whole-grain wraps, precooked grilled chicken breasts, and other items that can be simply thrown together.
- Order from the children's or senior's menu. When eating out, ordering a child or senior sized portions are an easy way to cut calories. Restaurant plates are proportional to portion sizes and this can cause us to overeat. Another trick is to use smaller plates; this makes the portion size look smaller and tricks your mind into being satisfied sooner.
- Eat foods that are in season. Seasonal fruits are more flavorful and satisfying. You may not like a particular fruit or vegetable but try it when it is in season and you may just change your mind.
- Swap a cup of pasta for a cup of vegetables. By eating less pasta or breads and substituting more vegetables, you could potentially lose a dress or pant size in a year. You can save roughly 100-200 calories if you decrease the amount of starch on your plate and increase the amount of vegetables.
- Use non-food alternatives to cope with stress. Instead of turning to food for comfort, try another alternative that works for you; reading a few chapters in a book, going for a walk or run, listen to music, write in a journal, or just practice deep breathing techniques.
- Be physically active. Being physically active boosts your metabolism, makes you feel good, helps you sleep better at night, and gives you more energy throughout the day. Whether you're trying to lose weight or not, physical activity is beneficial. However, do not use exercise as an excuse to eat more or as a punishment for eating. Eating healthy and working out go hand-in-hand and help you manage your weight! A little exercise goes a long way! So get on out there and put your body to work…You will feel much better afterwards.
These are just a few helpful hints to help kick-start a healthier, better you! There are tons of websites out there that offer tips for eating, working out, and being healthy. Try womenshealthmag.com and menshealth.com. Both provide coverage on fitness, health, nutrition, weight loss, and much more! Once you get a better understanding of the steps you can take to be healthy and fit, it will be easier for you to succeed at achieving that body or lifestyle you have always wanted!
"Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live." ~ Jim Rohn


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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 24, 2016
Asha Dornfest, the voice behind the award-winning blog ParentHacks.com, just released a new book "Parent Hacks: 134 Genius Shortcuts for Life With Kids". Kids in the House spoke with her to find out more about her personal parenting style and what it means to be a minimalist parent.
"Being a minimalist parent is about really embracing the fact that there are certain things that matter to you. Not everything in the world has to be perfect in your life in order for you to be a perfect parent to your children," says Dornfest.
When you become a parent, your priorities change, but who you are as a person remains the same. As much as you love and cherish your new baby, you don't have to take on an entirely new personality based on what other people think a parent should be.
But how do you go about that, exactly?
Start by identifying the things that matter to you most. What do you enjoy or excel at that you would be happy to participate in or teach to your child?
"If you are a playful person, be playful with your kids. If you're a strict person, that's okay too," says Dornfest.
Drop the guilt
Dornfest says she has learned to let go of the guilt by understanding that she has her own unique gifts to share with her children.
"I know for me, I am not a particularly crafty parent. I just am not. I'm not doing art projects with my kids. I'm not making homemade this and that. I know a lot of people really love to do that and so for them it's a great use of their time. For me, it's not," explains Dornfest.
Trust Yourself
"I think the most important thing that I've been able to do is to finally use my own wisdom as my first go to place when I'm trying to make a decision." says Dornfest.
A successful parent is one who loves and cares for their child in a way that is comfortable, relatable, and enjoyable for the whole family.
For more on the Minimalist Parenting Style, check out Asha's tips on how to Simplify a Hectic Family Life. Meet Asha and watch her videos here.
Asha Dornfest is the author of Parent Hacks: 134 Genius Shortcuts for Life With Kids," the co-author of Minimalist Parenting: Enjoy Modern Family Life More By Doing Less and a featured expert on kidsinthehouse.com.
Kids in the House is the biggest online parenting video library. With a searchable database of over 9,000 parenting videos, parents can easily access solutions to the full range of parenting challenges that occur between pregnancy and college.
Learn from over 500 top experts, including doctors, educators, professional athletes, business leaders, celebrities, best-selling authors and parents like you!


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The flooded area at Robinson's Place Bacolod that stalled traffic for hours Saturday afternoon.* ( Kristine Tan photo )
Heavy rain coupled with the onset of high tide flooded many areas in Bacolod City and forced some residents to evacuate to higher ground Saturday.
The heavy downpour also caused flooding in several major streets of the city that stalled traffic and left many angry commuters stranded for hours.
Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
Office head Aaron Bais yesterday said the water level in low lying
areas in several barangays of the city reached almost two meters high.
Twenty-five women mountaineers from various parts of the country, one of whom was injured, were rescued from Tinagong Dagat in the mountains of Barangay Campuestohan, Talisay City, and finally brought to safety at 8:30 a.m. yesterday after a 15-hour operation made treacherous by heavy rain, slippery terrain, and zero visibility.
Injured was Noreen Grace Cañasa, 33, of Cebu City, who slipped on a stone and suffered a fractured tibia above her left ankle, Geoffrey Gutierrez, Talisay City Rescue and Disaster Assistance Network (Radiant) incident commander, said.
Gutierrez said the rescued women, who are experienced climbers, are members of the Philippine Women's Mountaineers who sought help after Cañasa was injured, making it difficult for them to make the return trek.
|Why the STAR shines
|Green and open spaces for Bacolod
Mayor denies link to drugs
Neophyte Mayor Fritz Diaz of Siaton, Negros Oriental, denied that he is into the illegal drugs trade.
He said he was informed that his name is included in the second "narco list" that will be made public by President Rodrigo Duterte soon, and this prompted him to verify with the Negros Oriental Police Provincial Office recently if indeed, he was on the list.
He said he found out that an anonymous letter-writer made untruthful reports about his business to Duterte, the PNP, the Department of Interior and Local Government, the Bureau of Customs, and other government agencies...


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I have to admit, I am always a little hesitant to try new brands. You can say I am a creature of habit, and I tend to stick to whatever I'm used to until (a) I get to try a new brand/product, or (b) change is forced upon me. In this case, change was definitely not forced upon me. The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 was gifted to me about a week and a half ago, and in that time I've been using it as a second phone. In a lot of ways, this particular phone has acted more like a first phone because its battery life far exceeds my old phone's. You see, my old phone has the tendency of dying on me after two to three hours of non-stop use, which is why I've resorted to carrying an external battery pack with me at all times. This is essential, and when my external battery pack begins to wane, I am already panicking. For the first time in years I had no such problem with battery life, and it was so refreshing. I couldn't believe I was putting up with this problem for so long that it almost seemed normal. There is such a thing pala as going home after a long day and having your phone battery be less than halfway finished. This is a huge deal for me, because I use my phone A LOT. I switch from one app to the other, checking social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, my blog, and apps like Whats App and Viber, countless games and of course, I use it for calls and texts. This phone's battery is a remarkable 4,100mAh, which lasts for 17 hours from a full charge. Impressive, really.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, because the phone is packed with all sorts of amazing things. I am probably the least technical person around and I rarely understand specs and numbers, but my husband is really into tech (he used to work in I.T.) so he's my go-to guy for deciphering these things. Okay, so first off, the Mate 7 has an octa-core processor, made up of two quad-core units. This apparently is really impressive–it is probably just as strong as your computer, or stronger. Bottom line is it is very powerful. And I could really see it in how the phone handles my indecisive switching from app to app (I tend to switch A LOT). It is quick and it handles my brattiness really well. Carlos borrowed it from me one day and used it for gaming and watching HD movies and he said he loved how the phone performed. We are now kind of sharing this phone (I use it during the day and him at night when were relaxing in bed) and so far its been great handling all that use between both of us.
Okay, let talk about the display, which is another thing I looooove about this phone. The Mate 7 is huge (certainly bigger than what I am used to)–it has a 6-inch screen and has full HD resolution, which makes it a joy to use. The display is crisp and well-defined, thanks to its 1,920 x 1,080-pixel display. Instagram has suddenly become a different experience because I could actually see the photos I am looking at. And reading articles from Facebook and even editing my blog is made easy with its amazing display. Design-wise, I am completely happy with it. The unit I got was in light gold, which I love, because it looks so luxe and pretty. It has a smooth, sexy overall design that fits comfortably into my hands.
And it has all these features, like a 13-megapixel back camera with 5-MP lens for the front camera, 4G LTE, and a fingerprint scanner. This is is really a power-packed phone minus the hefty price tag. I'd gladly make this my first phone, but it seems I have to share it with my husband. I am definitely impressed, and I'm very happy Huawei sent me this amazing, amazing phone.


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Today was mostly spent making the assistant support v6 repositories. That was harder than expected, because I have not touched this part of the assistant's code much in a long time, and there are lots of tricky races and edge cases to deal with.
The smudge branch has a 4500 diff from master now. Not counting documentation changes (Another 500 lines.) The todo list for it is shrinking slowly now. May not get it done before the new year.


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This week's keyword is thanks to Penny K. Moss. She suggested arches, and I figured I'd get a better turnout from the singular, so here we go: arch, as seen on Flickr.
"Arch Rock, Point Reyes National Seashore"
This one is just a wonderful shot and puts me in the mind of campers/hikers waking up and getting water and coming across this beautiful scene. Makes me want to write outdoor sex!
Despite the fact that this picture is taken during the day, it has an oppressive feel to it and the lighting is just… nngh! So awesome. And someone just made a quick getaway there, by the ripples on the water. What were they running from? Were they running at all? Did they notice the frightening beauty inherent in the bridges, or is it an everyday sight for them? Will they be back? By choice or by force?
I like this picture because this is one of those places where you normally see lots and lots of people, and yet the picture is virtually barren of them. It makes me wonder what's kept them away? The notations on the photo say that the platform is closed, but then, what happens when it gets closed for a long time? How long before plants begin to grow between the tracks; how long before all of that nice, flat floor becomes crumbled?
I guess I just like reminders that life is fleeting, and even great creations like this station can be trumped by nature.
"A medieval appearance of the Predjama Castle in Slovenia"
When I saw this picture the first thing I thought was, "The mountain grew a castle!" and then I thought, woah, what if the mountains could grow things? What if nature was able to construct things and still be alive? What if human and nature were intertwined in this process, working together to create something in a way that isn't wasteful? And doesn't pit humans against nature. It would be an interesting world to live in!
This picture is not only breathtaking, but it presents to me a sort of interesting ideal: nature as a cathedral. A natural cathedral. How would one worship, in this religion? What would the characteristics of the higher power–or powers–be? It makes me want to try and translate Christian-esque ideals onto the natural world… or the opposite! How would Darwinism work as a religion? So many questions!
When I was spamming Penny with photos from her wonderful keyword last night, Penny said something on the lines of "I can hear the screams echoing off the walls in this one" and it's so true. It's amazing to me every time how areas that are so large–and so obviously large, too, even without things to properly scale the photo, you can tell that it's big–can be so horribly oppressive.
If this picture doesn't inspire you to think of all of the horrible things that your characters go through, I'm not sure what will!
As someone who owns and loves Asian ball-jointed dolls, this picture has a special place in my heart! Itś both heartwarming and creepy. On one hand, the doll/puppet's expression is warm and caring. On the other hand, it's a giant fucking doll and the little girl looks a mite bit uncomfortable.
But what if that were the world? Giant dolls/puppets who run things! And are benevolent at times and awful at other times. It'd be neat to have a world where humans are not the biggest thing around, and know it, and yet are not enslaved by this other race. Most of the time. Sort of like animals are for us! They live in the wild or they're domesticated, or some mix like the kind of animals who live in cities because there's food there.
Domesticated humans… what a fun idea :D
And on that note, I think that's my seven for the week. See y'all again next Monday!


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A 7.5-100 horsepower, factory direct blower package from the trusted solutions provider to the PD Blower and Vacuum Pump marketplace. The IQ blower package is a blend of proven results and innovation for the future. The IQ blower package will provide intelligent design, quiet operation, innovative features and Gardner Denver quality.
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Air Smart Controller offers 3 stages of protection
You get total product support now and for years to come from our dedicated international team of professional distributors, our Master Distribution Center with its extensive genuine replacement parts inventory, our Remanufacturing Center, and our skilled, factory-trained technicians.


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Scripture text: 1 Peter 2:13-17 Preacher: Rev. David Sutherland Date: 15 April 2018
In our continuing study in 1 Peter, today the Apostle Peter turns to the subject of submission by Christians to those who govern our nation.
From the text, the sermon examines the meaning of the command to submit and the reasons Peter gives for obeying it, and considers how such submission relates to our Christian doctrine and duties.
Submission to Government


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MAGIC is a research and innovation programme and non-profit initiative within the health sector, working to improve the creation, dissemination and dynamic updating of clinical practice guidelines, evidence summaries and decision aids.
MAGIC has been realised using GRADE methodology and through international collaboration, combined with the latest web technology, intuitive design and emphasis on open and linked digitally structured data.
MAGIC objectives:
To develop a conceptual framework, methodology and technology for GRADE guidelines to allow efficient authoring, optimal presentation, customized processes for adaptation and dynamic updating, and tools for shared decision making. We perform research, and create frameworks and software for others to use.
MAGIC is a non-profit organization:
MAGIC as research project was conceived in 2009, by Per Vandvik, Linn Brandt and Gordon Guyatt, but has grown considerably in scope since then.
In order to develop formal collaboration with organizations who wish to collaborate with us and use the tools we develop for their own purposes, we have established MAGIC as a non-profit organization.
MAGIC organization was established as an Norwegian independent non-profit organization (ideell forening) registered in the national business and organization registry in Norway, in 2013.
MAGIC has the Organization number: 911 647 834
Link to the official registry site: https://w2.brreg.no/enhet/sok/detalj.jsp?orgnr=911647834
All MAGIC intellectual property and software is owned by the MAGIC non-profit Organization.
The current members of the MAGIC organization board is:
Per Olav Vandvik (head of the board)
Linn Brandt
Gordon Henry Guyatt
Thomas Agoritsas
The overall goals of the MAGIC organization as stated in the official registry (in Norwegian, here translated into English)
Better diagnostics and treatment of patients in all countries by offering healthcare professionals access to reliable guidelines developed with the GRADE system.
The MAGIC Association will:
The MAGIC team:
We are all Physicians and /or methodologist by training, but for the tool development we have designers and application developers as part of the team.
How can what we do help you?
See Our approach or contact us
How can you engange, start collaborations, join research or discuss topics with us?
Simply contact us.