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Cinema Stupido
In Pyongyang's state film studio, the director always pleads to play it again Kim, because the Great Leader is not only the liberator of this self-proclaimed People's Paradise, he's also the only leading man for the paranoid but productive propaganda unit
By Ron Gluckman /Pyongyang, North Korea
MICHAELS CAINE AND DOUGLAS ARE OUTDISTANCED every day, and even strongmen Stallone and Schwarzenegger combined couldn't hold a candle to the Great Leader, who is the world's leading-est leading man. He has every juicy part, every great line. No matter whether the script is for a western, war flick or modern movie, the outcome is always the same: the Great Actor wins every time.
In the hills a few miles west of North Korea' capital, time and sense are scattered. Students riot in the streets of a South Korea university. The proud, courageous Korean rebels still battle the brutal Japanese oppressors. Workers overthrow the capitalistic labor lords. And, invariably, the same hero prevails in every story.
Outside North Korea, he may be unsung, but on his home turf, Kim Il Sung the world's longest reigning dictator, has total script control. At the Korean Feature Film Studio, overseen by Sung's son and dictator-in-waiting, Kim Jong Il, who has added the humble title of "Genius of the Cinema" to the official one of Dear Leader, papa Sung is the star of nearly every state-produced film, an Asian Erroll Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Johnny Weismuller all rolled into one.
But make no mistake, these are no mainstream dramas. The title list includes "Sea of Blood," "The Fate of a Self-Defense Corps Man," "Flames Spreading Over the Land," "The County Party Chief Secretary," "Five Guerilla Brothers" and "The Path to Awakening."
The studio turned out its first feature film, "My Homeland," in 1949, three years after Kim Il Sung assumed power in North Korea. Nowadays, the sprawling studio west of Pyongyang produces about 40 films annually, with six other facilities wrapping an additional 40 features every year.
State-run studios run on schedules that would make Steven Spielberg swoon. During a visit in July (1991), actors were engaged in a landmark 30-part series under the working title of "The Nation and the Individual Fate," the most ambitious presentation of Kim Il Sung's personal philosophy, known as the Juche ideal. The director said they would wrap all 30 segments within two years.
Of course, there is no overtime in an industry where roles and scripts are dictated by the dictator's son himself. Kim junior has visited the studio 340 times, according to its administrator. He reportedly eschews sleep so he can rewrite scripts overnight that miraculously emerge as masterpieces, according to local lore. Nobody knows if the tantrum of stars are one-way tickets to the extensive labor camps closed to the outside world.
In fact, stars have no promotional tours to attend. When the final cuts are completed, the actors move to the nearby farmland and help harvest the crops, according to the "Guide to the Korean Film Studio," which praises the process thusly: "Film artists go into reality. They help farmers in their work at the rice-transplanting season."
This is Hollywood fantasy played to its farthest reaches. Whether there is even a shred of truth to the tales is difficult to ascertain, since contact with the actors is only allowed in the presence of party officials. "We are lucky to be doing our part to contribute to the culture and enjoyment of the people," says one through a tourist translator.
"Actors work eight hours per day," says studio administrator Ri Jong-Duk. "We combine work with relaxation, so they have very good conditions, much better than in the West."
North Korean films seldom circulate outside the country, although many have been screened at socialist film festivals. Yet they are widely seen within the country, either in the state-run cinemas or repeatedly upon the nation's two television channels. No outside television programming is allowed in North Korea and all radios are sold with dials fixed to state stations.
Jong-Duk says directors can view western films, but are not influenced by outside techniques or themes, which he termed inappropriate. "Any feature film that contributes to people's lives is good, but those that do not represent the ideals of the people, such as those that talk about robbery or despair, are not accepted."
The expansion of the North Korean film industry results from a mandate from the Dear Leader, who dictates the direction of the state cinema. "Films should be popular and national in content and form as required by the era of independence when the people have emerged as masters of the world and that the system and method of its creation should be renewed in our own way," Kim is quoted in the June 1991 issue of Korea magazine.
"His theory of film making is famous," says Jong-Duk. "The Genius gives his personal guidance to everything we do. Before his guidance, our films were like Russian feature films, like Chinese feature films. Under his guidance, we have created Korean feature films. He invented new theories that changed the cinema."
The formula is straight forward. Koreans are always the good guys, triumphing over evil outside repression. The villains are the Japanese, the Americans, the south Koreans or the Chinese, depending on the time frame.
All that changes is the set and the approach to the same subject. The largest set is an old frontier town full of pubs, barber shops and girlie bars. It measures 750,000 square meters and sports 220 buildings. Signs can be changed from Korean to Japanese and facades altered to fit the particular piece.
Another set is a row of ancient thatched huts, while in the hills nearby are a block of modern buildings used to depict the corruption of European or American life. The interiors, with hideous tile and carpets, would suit any horror flick.
The studio also has a railroad that can be dressed for any period. The rail is functioning and serves to supply the studio.
Everything is well maintained, with 1,200 workers in constant motion, sweeping, shoveling, pruning and cutting grass by hand.
Editing and sound production are likewise labor intensive. Equipment tends to be primitive, with much of the machinery of patchwork construction. The editing room, for instance, features a control board with knobs and dials stuck through holes cut in a common card table.
The studio's viewing room has the feel of an old gymnasium, with a few stuffed chairs lined up for VIPs. The films themselves, though, are of decent quality, if one ignores the predictable plots and savage scene cuts. One sample shown was an upcoming blockbuster about a South Korean uprising, full of action with tanks in the streets and blown-up buildings.
Two actors always portray the Great Leader, according to Jong-Duk. Kim Il Sung never plays a part himself. "Maybe in America, perhaps, where the president is an actor," he says, interjecting the only note of comedy observed at the staid North Korean studio.
Ron Gluckman is an American reporter based in Hong Kong, who roams around the nether reaches of Asia for a variety of publications, including Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Discovery, the Sydney Morning Herald, Los Angeles Times and Asiaweek, which ran this story in September 1992. For other stories on North Korea, click on Last Tango in Paradise, Great Escape, or On the Border.
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SYNOPSIS: It had to happen sometime: Ash gets his first crush. Now May and Brock compete over can give him the best romantic advice. Poor Ash.
DISCLAIMER: The concept of Pokemon, and the characters featured in the Pokemon TV series, do not belong to me. I am only using them for the sake of storytelling. The character of Amy, however, does belong to me. This fanfic takes place during the Battle Frontier season.
It is lunchtime, and Ash, Brock, May, and Max are sitting on a group of rocks eating another one of Brock's tasty stews.
"Hi there!" they hear a cheerful voice say. The group turns and sees a young girl with shoulder-length red hair, a sleeveless light blue top, white shorts, and a white derby hat with red trim. "I'm Amy, from Saffron City. Are any of you pokemon trainers?"
"Uh, yeah, I am," said Ash, quickly getting up after putting down his lunch. He was eager for a battle now since it had been days since he battled his last Frontier Brain. "I'm Ash, from Palette Town."
"Wait, Ash," protested May, tugging on his shirt sleeve. "I've got a contest next week, I could really use the practice."
"No, May, I'm battling this time," insisted Ash, a little rudely.
"Okay, fine, Mister I-wanna-be-a-pokemon-master," said May grumpily, a little hurt. She crossed her arms and silently fumed as Ash walked over to Amy.
Brock stood in the middle to referee. "This will be a three-on-three match, with no time limit. The match will be over when all of either trainer's pokemon are unable to continue. Everybody ready?"
"Yes," said Amy and Ash at the same time.
Brock raised his arms. "Begin!"
Amy took out a green and white Safari Zone pokeball. "I hope you're ready for a good match, Ash," she said, smiling. "Rhyhorn, go!"
Ash grinned. "A rock type, huh? That should be easy." He tossed one of his pokeballs and said, "Grovyle, I choose you!" Then his face fell when he realized that he had sent Swellow instead. "What?!"
"That's new," Brock commented.
"I wonder why Ash sent Swellow out instead of Grovyle?" May asked, confused, forgetting that she had been angry with Ash just a few moments earlier.
"I think we should've made him finish lunch first," said Max.
Ash groaned. "Well, I gotta make the best of it," he said to himself. "Swellow, use aerial ace!"
Swellow spun in a circle in the air, disappeared briefly, then hit rhyhorn square in its rocky chest. The blow was good enough to make rhyhorn stagger slightly. "Yeah! Good job, Swellow!" said Ash, pumping his fist.
"Wow, Ash made it look like he planned that all along," said May in wonderment.
"That's pretty good, Ash," said Amy as her rhyhorn quickly recovered, "but rock types are always better than flying types." As Swellow took to the air again, Amy commanded, "Rhyhorn, use rock blast!"
Rhyhorn stomped the ground with his feet, sending several good sized rocks up in the air.
"Dodge them!" Ash quickly told Swellow. Swellow dodged the rocks as best he could, but one finally knocked Swellow down. "Swellow!" said Ash, concerned. Swellow fell to the ground on his stomach, and struggled to try and get up again.
"Now use stomp!" said Amy. Rhyhorn planted his foot on Swellow's back, making Swellow cry out.
Ash groaned. "Swellow, return!" he said, putting his pokemon back in its pokeball since it could still battle but needed a better opponent.
"Got any more interesting pokemon for me, Ash?" asked Amy, a smug grin on her face.
"You bet I do, and this time I'm getting it right," said Ash, taking out another pokeball. "Corphish, I choose you!" Then he groaned again when Grovyle came out.
Max face-faulted. "Ash is really off his game today," he said.
"Pika pika," Pikachu agreed, nodding.
May sweatdropped and giggled nervously. "Yeah, but at least he got the pokemon he wanted in the first place."
"This should be good," said Amy. "Rhyhorn, takedown!" Rhyhorn started charging forward.
"Grovyle, dodge and use bullet seed!" said Ash quickly. Amy gasped as Grovyle jumped high in the air to avoid rhyhorn, then hit it with a strong shower of bullet seeds. "Now, use leaf blade!" said Ash. Grovyle's arm leaf glowed, and he hit rhyhorn with one swipe to the chin, knocking the pokemon out.
"Rhyhorn is unable to battle," said Brock. "Grovyle is the winner!"
"All right! Way to go, Grovyle!" said Ash as Grovyle landed and prepared for more battling.
"Rhyhorn, return!" said Amy, recalling her pokemon. "That was pretty good, Ash. Now, I cho-" Then her beeper suddenly went off, and she said, "Oh, excuse me one sec." Then she gasped when she looked at the monitor, and blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot I have to meet my friends for lunch. I have to go."
"What?!" said Ash, shocked, his face falling. The rest of the group was stunned too. "But we're right in the middle of a battle!"
"Sorry, Ash, we'll have to finish it later," Amy said. She gathered up her purse. "I'll be in Mauve City if you want to meet me later." She took off running. "I'll see you, Ash!" she called back.
"Bye," said Ash softly, a little disappointed.
"Well, that was a great battle," said Max, a little sarcastically, as Brock and Ash walked back. "What's with you, Ash? You should've beaten that rhyhorn easily!"
"I don't know," said Ash. He looked back where Amy had run off.
"Well, she was a pretty good battler," said Brock.
Ash then blushed. "Yeah, she was pretty."
"Oh boy," said Max with a knowing sigh. "I knew it."
"What is it?" asked May.
"Ash has a crush," said Max.
May was taken aback. "Are you sure?" Pikachu was confused.
"After seeing you and Brock, I'm pretty familiar with the signs," said Max. May was a little disappointed, though she wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone.
Brock rushed back over to Ash's side. "So, Ash, you have a crush on this girl?"
Ash recoiled in horror, like Brock had just accused him of something bad. "What?! No I don't."
"We can tell you do, Ash," Max called out.
"Really?" asked Ash, sounding genuinely surprised.
Brock put his right arm around Ash's shoulder. "Don't worry, Ash. I'll give you some advice on how to handle her. By the time you see her again, you'll be an expert."
May rushed over. "Oh yeah, and what's makes you such an expert, Brock? I haven't seen any girls flocking around you." She grabbed Ash away from Brock and started leading him away. "I'll help you out, Ash. I can give better romantic advice than him."
"Now wait a minute!" said Brock, chasing after them.
Max sighed and got up to follow, along with Pikachu. "This can't end well."
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A few notes about this fanfic, including some inevitable questions:
1. I do not intend to take a jab at any established Ash shippings with this fanfic. I'm sure you'll notice my little nods to both Ash/May and Ash/Misty. The reason I have him falling for a random character is simply because of logistics. Since Ash has been around one of two girls for 99.5% of his journey, I think he's more likely to fall for someone new first before he'd fall for May, Misty, or any other regular female character. I know my first-ever crush in grade school was on a boy 3 years older than me, THEN I became interested in boys my own age. Being around the same people all the time kind of makes one less interested in them at first, I believe. Besides, if he finally starts having feelings for girls now, he could discover feelings for May, Misty, or anyone else down the line.
2. There will NOT, I repeat NOT, be a mention of Giselle from "The School of Hard Knocks" in this story. I haven't forgotten her. The reason is because, she was the only girl Ash even showed any remote interest in in the whole history of the show, it was years ago, and I seriously doubt Brock would even remember Ash had a crush on her since he did at the same time and that was Ash's only previous crush. So no Giselle mentions, PERIOD.

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In a 2013 post, Culture and Metaculture, I quoted a lengthy passage from the late Leszek Kolakowski's Modernity on Endless Trial, in which he explains the way radical multiculturalism causes what I will call a kind of historical "stenosis". As more cultures are added to the mix, all of which must be given equal weight, the area of "overlap" — the foundation of possible commonality in the new metaculture — becomes smaller and smaller. Because culture is heritage, the effect is that history is "tied off", like a newborn's umbilicus. (I've touched on this often, for example in my post Simple Common Sense About Diversity And Immigration.)
In Culture And Metaculture I wrote:
What remains of the high culture of the West in our new, barbarian metaculture is shrunken, withered, pecked by crows. As for the metaculture itself: what are its pillars? Where are its heroes, its mythos, its religion, its language, its great literature? Where are the commonalities that bind its people together? Gone, gone, gone.
Worse: where is its history? Not only gone, but despised. Our new "culture" has lost its sense of extension in time. Under modernity's ascendant doctrine, the long history of the West is only a litany of sins, deserving not propagation, but repudiation. We have no legacy, no heritage, to cherish for posterity; we have pulled up our own roots. If our new American "culture" has any history worth remembering at all, it is no more than a few decades old, and consists almost entirely of the destruction of the past.
In our "brave new world", then, we are cut off from both past and future, imprisoned in the present as no generation of people has ever been before. We have lost — jettisoned — both our rudder and our compass, and are unmoored and adrift.
In short, we have lost our sense of extension in time. Until now, every generation of every civilization saw itself as a living bridge between past and future — as heirs and beneficiaries of the productive labor of their forebears, and stewards of that treasure for children yet unborn. But now, having pulled up our roots (and salted the earth from which they sprang), we have no inheritance to cherish and preserve; that which we have not simply squandered, we have taught ourselves to despise. We have, therefore, nothing to offer our posterity, and so if we think of it at all, it is only to turn away in guilt, and to focus on what we can take for ourselves right now. If that weren't enough, we also find ourselves in a time of exponential social and technological change. Even those of us who do seek to preserve our inheritance can hardly imagine how.
It's often been said that civilization is, at bottom, the organization of "low time preference": the deferral of present consumption to take advantage of the increase of the relative value of future goods. But in order for that strategy to work, one has to be confident in a stable future. When things change too rapidly, and we can no longer be sure that our efforts today stand a reasonable chance of bearing fruit in later years, it drives time preference toward the present. And that, in turn, undermines the very foundation upon which civilization is erected.
So when a civilization becomes unstable, or when the pace of change becomes too rapid, there is a cascading time-preference effect, a kind of negative-feedback loop that begins to take hold.
All of these things, then, work together: multiculturalism, through a process of historical "stenosis", severs the past; this loss of heritage, in turn, diminishes a society's sense of obligation to its ancestors, and stewardship for its descendants; rapid technological and social change diminishes the surety of the future. All of this drives time-preference toward the present — which manifests itself in hedonism, present consumption, loss of social cohesion (why pull together when there's nothing to pull for?), and declining birth-rates. Finally, the foreshortening of time-preference attacks the bedrock of civilization itself, in an accelerating, destructive cycle.
It is the daunting task of the new Right to break this cycle, somehow.


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The Five Fingers of Brighton
So, you made it! It's going to be another crazy weekend in Brighton. This weekend the town comes out and shows its true colours. There will be fun and games aplenty.
But if you are here for the first time, there are a few premiere spots you should take a look at. We've put together a slightly sideways look at the city : The Five Fingers of Brighton.
The Pier
You can't leave without walking along the pier: it's against the rules. As daft as it sounds, the pier is great fun. So, after a night of festivities grab a deckchair, and put your feet up on the rails and snooze. But if you're feeling more energetic, try the dance machines or the rackety mousetrap roller coaster. It doesn't make 21st century sense, but who cares? Enjoy!
The Beach
Everybody packs into one section of the beach. Makes no sense. But do it anyway, even if it is just for a bit. Why? Because, here's where the heart of Brighton can be found. A little boozy, at times a little rowdy, but it is a snapshot of the Brighton tribe: Students in awe of their new home, hippies feeling the vibe, commuters trapped in the stones; it's the town's home from home.
North Laines
Defies description, but let's try: Hotchpotch carnival of headshops, cafes, music stores, tattoo parlours, dental surgeries, yes dental surgeries, health shops, guitar shops and people visiting the few remaining regular shops – those that have somehow dropped below the radar of time. Populated by fashionistas, dropouts, walkthroughs, shoppers, freaks, dudes, emos, goths, bboy 80s revivalists, etc.
The South Lanes
A rabbit warren of high-fashion boutiques, jewellery stores and restaurants. The South Lanes connects the city to the sea: at the bottom there's the prom; at the top there's Sydney Street, which leads to Churchill Square; the far left fringe borders West Street and the far right almost connects to the North Lanes. The Lanes are more cousins than twins; the south is prim and proper, while the north is rough and ready – to be explored…
The Pavilion
An oddity of architecture, the Pavilion is a tourist magnet. That said, and as is the case across Brighton, the expected tourist throng just gets assimilated into the hubris. The Pavillion should be a horrendous trip bus postcard fest, but somehow even this landmark has sufficient style to shrug off conformity. A palace fit for a mad king, left behind after a colonial high tide. It's a palace fit for Brighton. Nice teacakes too!Share on Facebook


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Ashes 2013: First Test - England v Australia
Join Lizzy Ammon for live over-by-over commentary on the first Ashes Test between England and Australia at Trent Bridge.
This is the view for those who cannot take the tension #Ashes #Bbccricket pic.twitter.com/fm9CMMDWm5by Matt2590 via twitter 7/11/2013 3:56:59 PM
Over 22 England 48/2 Cook 20* Pietersen 20*
Big discussion about the mid-off who is so fine he's nearly standing next to the non-striker.
Siddle is bowling full and straight to KP who is itching to cart one over mid-wicket but restrains himself to defend the over
The wicket is very slow and England need to be very watchful.
@BumbleCricket makes good point about v straight silly mid-on, and Cook entitled to run in front of him backing up. Clever stand-offby kevinmitchell50 via twitter 7/11/2013 4:03:27 PM
Love this - @StuartBroad8 looking at Ashton Agar thinking 'who is he?!' He knows now! pic.twitter.com/GcbPVgbc5Nby Rob Jones via twitter 7/11/2013 4:07:07 PM
Over 24 England 49/2 Cook 20* Pietersen 21*
Pietersen gets a thick outside edge and can jog through a single from the first ball of Siddle's over.
Second ball shapes away from left handed Cook and he is being patient - leaving everything that is good length outside off.
Fifth ball is fuller and on the stumps but Cook brings his bat down straight and defends.
Time for K.P. to show what a maestro with the bat is. Time for Captain Cook to grind out an innings too. The Aussies top order fell at the ask, and we shouldn't be downhearted by their bottom order having got to terms with our bowlers. We still have more class than they can even dream of having in a team.
Glorious days #cricket #ashes #england #australia #beersby Sam Goold via Instagram 7/11/2013 4:22:44 PM
Over 26 England 50/2 Cook 21* Pietersen 21*
Siddle is bowling a good length, coming in wide and angling into Cook who defends into the covers or leaves anything that is not going anywhere near the stumps. Absolutely no desire from either of these two to be aggressive. Good restraint.
Cook gets an inside edge to bring up England's 50.
ECB are seeking clarification from the ICC over Trott DRS. They believe you can't overturn on-field decision if all tech not workingby Chris Stocks via twitter 7/11/2013 4:28:24 PM
He is so loose, he reminds me of how a lot of champion athletes move. You see that in his batting and fielding, as well.'' - Langer on Agarby chloejane32 via twitter 7/11/2013 4:35:41 PM
Over 29 England 57/2 Cook 24* Pietersen 25*
Starc is back into the attack to Pietersen. Pietersen still restraining himself and defending everything back up to the bowler with the full face of the bat. Another maiden
It seems the ECB have asked the ICC about Trott's dismissal - they are protesting that you can't overturn on field decision if all the technology is not working.
Over 30 England 62/2 Pietersen 29* Cook 25*
Star of the day Agar is back into the attack. Cook gets a single
There's a very slim chance as KP hits off the face of the bat into Haddin's pads. It's followed by a drive for four by KP and there's no fielder there for the drive. Half hearted appeal for LBW but not out.
England trail by just 3 runs now.
Over 31 England 63/2 Cook 26* Pietersen 29*
Appeal on the 3rd ball of the over but it pitched outside leg and it was missing the stumps. So didn't have much going for it. But Cook is, again, happy to defend everything from Starc. He takes a gentle single from the final ball of the over. England trail by just 2 now.
Over 33 England 67/2 Cook 30* Pietersen 29*
Australia are trying to find reverse swing but it's eluding them at the moment. Starc flights the 3rd ball in full but Pietersen just knocks it away for no run. The 4th ball is wider and KP drives it but straight to mid-off for no run.
It's another maiden and England are effectively 2-2
Over 35 England 68/2 Cook 30* Pietersen 30*
This is attritional stuff now. Cook and Pietersen are both eyeing up a big long knock so they won't mind at all about the run rate and there's a lot of time left in the game.
Good stop in the covers from the second ball as Pietersen drives a good length ball from Starc.
The third ball comes angling in and hits Pietersen on the stumps but it is going down the legside - it would have had to straightened a great deal to be hititng the stumps.
Over 36 England 76/2 Pietersen 33* Cook 35*
Agar to Pietersen and he drives on the up but it goes wide of mid-off for a single. A shorter ball from Agar sits up and Cook waits for it and cuts it behind square for a rare boundary. The next ball is flicked with quick hands by Cook towards square leg for just a single
The next ball finds KP's inside edge on to his pads. Really promising stuff from Agar
Over 40 England 79/2 Pietersen 34* Cook 37*
Agar continues to probe away on Cook's off stump (and the rough outside it) but the England captain is resolute in defence. Agar drifts onto the pads with his final ball but Cook finds the fielder at square leg. Another maiden.
Cricket - it's a funny old game. What. A. Day. #bbccricket #ashesby Adam Dickens via twitter 7/11/2013 5:21:02 PM
Over 42 England 79/2 Pietersen 34* Cook 37*
Shane Watson replaces Ashton Agar. He's only got time for one over before the close. He fires his first ball in full but Cook turns it safely away. Clarke brings a man in close on the offside but it doesn't rattle Cook. Solid defence is the order for the remainder of the over, our fourth consecutive maiden.


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Chapter 4 : La malchance
|Rating: Mature
|Chapter Reviews: 9
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Fleur de Lys
La malchance
Fleur furrowed her brow in concentration and sighed as she continued to mix what was supposed to have been pancake batter and what was now a lumpy mess. "Gabrielle? Ees eet supposed to look like zis?"
Gabrielle looked up from where she sat at the kitchen table flipping through a French fashion magazine. "Non," she said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "Eet ees not supposed to look like vomit."
"Well, you do eet, zen," huffed Fleur, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I never said zat I could make pancakes," said Gabrielle, holding up her hands.
Fleur sighed, dumping the contents of her pancake batter into the trash.
"Cereal?" asked Gabrielle, smirking. "All you need to do ees add meelk so I'm sure zat you can't mess zat one up."
"Ferme-la," said Fleur, a hint of a smile playing at her lips.
Just as both sisters sat down to eat breakfast, they were interrupted by a sharp tapping sound that came from the window.
"I'll get eet," said Gabrielle, running out of the room.
"Ees eet from maman?" asked Fleur, looking up from her cereal.
"No," said Gabrielle, holding out a scarlet envelope. "Eet's from ze banque."
Fleur felt her stomach knotting due to her nervousness. She knew that this job was her last option. She took the envelope from Gabrielle and opened it with shaky hands.
Miss Delacour,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted for a post at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. Although it was not your original choice, we would require your services in the post of Janitorial Staff. We would like you to come in as soon as possible.
Griphook, President of Gringotts Wizarding Bank
Two words stopped Fleur short: Janitorial Staff. She could not be a janitor. Fleur set the letter down and tried breathing calmly. Except it now seemed impossible to do so.
"So," said Gabrielle. "What deed eet say? Did you get ze job?"
"Sort of," replied Fleur.
"What do you mean, 'sort of'?" asked Gabrielle impatiently. "Eets either yes or no."
"I got ze job as janitorial staff," said Fleur.
Gabrielle furrowed her brow in confusion. "You mean like, to clean?"
"Yes," sighed Fleur, burying her head in her hands.
Gabrielle gasped. "How could zey make you a janitor?"
"I don't know," said Fleur.
"But… why? You were wearing five-eench fuchsia stilettos!" said Gabrielle.
"I don't know," mumbled Fleur.
"Well," said Gabrielle. "Maybe eef you do a good job as a janitor, you'll be promoted!"
"I don't zink eet works zat way," said Fleur, gloomily.
"Well, you just 'ave to zink zat zere ees always a silver lining!" said Gabrielle optimistically.
Fleur shot her an annoyed look.
"Look," said Gabrielle. "You just 'ave to make ze best out of ze situation. We'll go right now to Gringotts. Show zem zat you are smart and… on time. Zey'll zink zat you are interested in your work!"
Fleur got up from the table and walked towards her room, Gabrielle trailing after her. "Fleur, come on," continued Gabrielle. "Be positive."
Fleur crawled onto her bed and Gabrielle headed to her closet, rifling through Fleur's many robes. She pulled out the brand new light blue robes that Fleur had bought last week at Madame Malkins. "You should wear zese," said Gabrielle.
Fleur looked up. "Zose were for when I got a job."
"Exactly! So get over 'ere and put zese on!" replied Gabrielle.
Sighing, Fleur got off her bed and grabbed the robes from Gabrielle, walking off towards the bathroom.
"Should I peek out your shoes?" asked Gabrielle. Fleur did not reply but slammed the bathroom door.
"You look very belle," said Gabrielle.
"Zank you," replied Fleur. She was dressed in her light blue robes and black pumps. Gabrielle had dubbed her outfit 'simple chic.'
Gabrielle pushed Fleur towards the steps of Gringotts and waited until she'd reached the door. Fleur turned back just as she pushed open the doors to see Gabrielle giving her the thumbs-up. Shaking her head, she pushed open the doors.
Walking into the lobby of Gringotts felt like déjà vu. Sighing, Fleur walked to the nearest counter. "My name ees Fleur Delacour and I am 'ere for ze job of Janitorial Staff."
The heavy-lidded goblin nodded and left. He returned with another goblin dressed in a black working jumper.
His eyes stopped on Fleur's elaborate black pumps. "You're Fleur Delacour?"
"Yes," replied Fleur, standing up straighter.
"Human Resources suddenly has an odd sense of humor," said the goblin. "Follow me."
Fleur frowned but followed the goblin down the stairs. They entered a large broom closet and the goblin began taking things off of shelves. "My name is Hildon. I'm the head of Janitorial staff."
Fleur nodded. "My name ees Fleur."
"You'll start tomorrow and then I'll have someone show you around." Hildon handed Fleur two pairs of black working jumpers.
"Oh, I almost forgot," said Hildon, turning back towards the closet. He pulled out a pair of plain rubber boots and dropped them at Fleur's feet.
Fleur's eyes widened. The only rubber boots she owned were designer and too pretty to even walk in the rain with.
"Right, well, I'll see you tomorrow bright and early," said Hildon, turning to walk away.
"Wait," said Fleur. "What time ees bright and early?"
Hildon raised an eyebrow. "Seven."
Hildon walked off and Fleur found her way back to the lobby. She struggled to hold the uniform that Hildon had given her as she tottered on her high heels.
"Miss Delacour!"
Fleur nearly tripped over her shoes. She stopped and turned around to who had called her. Coming towards her was Bill Weasley. Merde. Her life really was getting way too cliché.
"Hi there. I thought I saw you." Bill's eyes trailed on Fleur's janitor uniform. "What brings you to Gringotts?"
Fleur blushed. "I – I 'ad to peek somezing up." For some reason whenever Bill was around Fleur became tongue-tied. And she was not about to admit to him that she was becoming a janitor where he worked.
Bill smiled and his eyes fell on Fleur's heels. "I swear it's like everytime I see you you've got a different pair of shoes on. How many do you even have? Like, three thousand?" He laughed easily, and looked down to meet Fleur's eyes with his own.
"I don't 'ave tree thousand pairs of shoes," said Fleur, laughing. "I 'ave nine 'undred and fifty-six."
Bill's smile faded once he realized that Fleur was serious.
Fleur inwardly cursed herself. Why did she have to say something so stupid? And why was it that she always felt like an idiot in front of Beell Weezlee? Why did Beell have to be so handsome and why did his smile make her knees weak?
"Right. Well, then," said Bill, clearing his throat. "I guess I'll be seeing you."
"Yes," replied Fleur, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. A rubber boot fell from the pile she was holding and Bill picked it up and handed it back to her.
"So, do you wanna tell me why you've got a pair of rubber boots with you?" asked Bill.
The side of his mouth twitched in amusement and Fleur felt her cheeks heating up. Why did his crooked smile make her forget everything and stutter like a giddy schoolgirl? There was something curiously familiar about Bill Weasley but Fleur couldn't put her finger on it.
"Forget I asked," he said, his dimples popping up on either corners of his mouth. "Goodbye Miss Delacour." He turned and walked away leaving Fleur utterly transfixed as to what had just happened.
Author's Note Thank you all so much for all the encouragement that you guys gave me in the last chapter, I really appreciated it! I've recieved some questions asking if I'm including that Fleur has already met Bill (at the Triwizard Tournament) and about sticking to canon. The answer is yes, I'm sticking to canon and it's all coming later in the story. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter :)
ps. If the spacing comes out weird in this chapter it's because I don't know how to use this new editor.
Ferme-la — Shut up. belle — pretty
Thank you all for reading!
chapter image by Camila
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I am a PhD student at the school of Electrical and Computer Engineering in Georgia Tech. I work in the Computational Perception Lab under the supervision of Dr. Irfan Essa. Before coming to Georgia Tech, I did my undergraduate from LUMS School of Science and Engineering in Electrical Engineering.
Research Interests:
I am highly interested in the areas of Computer Vision and Machine Learning. In particular, my interests include time series anaylsis, acitivity recognition and deep learning. My current project is aimed at developing different algorithms for assessing the quality of a certain action or procedure being performed, with focus on surgical skills assessment.
You can find my CV here and visit my LinkedIn page here.


text:
Barbara I'd join a patriotic/July 4th LAYER CAKE swap. Not sure about hosting though, a lot going on here between now and July :/
Piece, Love, Quilt
ok thanks Erin, I may just do it myself but will wait and see if anyone else wants to . So I'll keep you all posted . Barbara
I would love to be included in a patriotic July 4th swap but prefer FQs. I'll do layer cakes if that's what everyone wants. I've been saving up patriotic fazbric to make a quilt and most of it is FQs.
"I'm just a poor soul who's intentions are good. Oh, Lord, Please don't let me be misunderstood."
Debbie (dear1953)
Barbara, I would like to participate in a patriotic swap. Fat Qtrs. or layer cakes, either one is ok with me. Susan
Well it seems like there is some interest in doing a July 4th swap , I will work on getting the particulars together and get a thread posted in a couple of days. Barbara
Barbara, I would love to be a part of this swap. I have never hosted one before so if you could guide me, I would volunteer to host it also.
Bonner Springs, Kansas
Phyllis ,if you want to that would be great ,The best thing I can tell you is look at Susie's introduction and info ,she does a great job . You would just need to modify it to fit the needs for this swap . think it over and let me know by tomorrow and I'll open a thread for you .. Barbara
Open it when you are ready. I'll host
Phyllis, OK ,I'll go do it now .. Thanks for hosting this, It really is not hard, Just let me know if you need any help with anything, Barbara
Phyllis ,I sent you a private message as well .Barbara
Phyllis ,if you want to that would be great ,The best thing I can tell you is look at Susie's introduction and info ,she does a great job . You would just need to modify it to fit the needs for this swap . think it over and let me know by tomorrow and I'll open a thread for you .. Barbara
Barbara--you are just too sweet! I only set mine up based on what you told me at the retreat last year.
Chicagoland, Illinois
Susie, you do a great job of explaining your swaps , that's why I always tell the new hostess to check yours out, thanks for letting them use yours as an example .Barbara
Hello Everyone!
I am thinking of doing a swap. My idea is a Pillow Case Swap. Hopefully 15-20 people would sign up. I would draw the names for everyone. I would let you know and give you that persons information. You will make 1 set (2) of pillow case for the person you have the name of. I am thinking I would like to have it be a Christmas themed pillow case and we will have this be due by the end of July. We will have Christmas in July.
What does everyone think??????? I am excited. Let me know.
Karen Hollis
Texas Girl
Karen sound like it could be fun. I'd do it .Barbara
I am in!! I really think this would be cute on a bed with a Christmas themed quilt. My grandkids would love them too or what a great gift this would be for friends or a Secret Santa
Round Rock, TX


text:
Europe could lose most of its $1 trillion (£600 billion) chemicals industry within the next decade unless it can overhaul its competitiveness in the face of American and Chinese rivals, Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe has warned.
In an open letter to European Commission president Josè Barroso, Ratcliffe said chemicals was a "jewel in the crown" of the EU economy and urged political leaders to protect it from impending extinction.
The industrialist, who almost closed Ineos' huge Grangemouth petrochemical plant last year before unions agreed to his demands on pay and conditions, said the shale gas revolution in the US meant American factories enjoyed far cheaper energy prices.
He said: "In the US, cheap shale gas has led to a massive expansion of the petrochemical industry. The United States is expected to become entirely self-sufficient by 2020. In contrast, Europe announces closure after closure.
"I can see green taxes, I can see no shale gas, I can see closure of nuclear, I can see manufacturing being driven away. I can see the competition authorities in Brussels blissfully unaware of the tsunami of imported product heading this way and standing blindly in the way of sensible restructuring."
Over the past three years, Ineos' profits in Europe have halved, Ratcliffe said, whereas its US profits have tripled.
Even BASF, the world's largest chemical company, has for the first time announced a strategic cutback in European investment.


text:
Infinite and Transfinite Numbers
Date: 5/28/96 at 13:49:24 From: Richard Adams Subject: What is difference between infinite and transfinite? Can anyone explain to me, in a simple way, what transfinite numbers are and how they're different from infinite numbers? I seem to recall reading that someone (Hilbert?), found a way to do math with infinites and transfinites - how does that work? How can you subtract an infinite number from another infinite number and get any sort of reasonable answer? Thanks in advance! :) --Richard E. Adams
Date: 6/14/96 at 01:12:05 From: Dr. Tom Subject: Re: What is difference between infinite and transfinite? Hi Richard, The word "infinite" in mathematics is a little dangerous, since it is used in many ways. For example, I can ask, "What is the limit, as x -> infinity, of (x+1)/(x-1)?" In this case, I can translate the problem into a form that doesn't use the word "infinity" as follows: "Find a limit L such that given any epsilon > 0, there exists an M > 0 so that if x > M, then |(x+1)/(x-1) - L| < epsilon." The concept of infinity is also used to answer questions like, "What is the area of the entire plane?" Clearly, whatever finite number you name, you can show that the "area" of the plane must be bigger than that. But there's another very precise use of infinity, and it has to do with counting. The set {A, B, C} has three elements, and I can prove it by constructing a one-to-one correspondence with a set that's known to have 3 elements. In fact, often the natural numbers are defined as sets: 0 = {} (the empty set) 1 = {0} 2 = {0,1} 3 = {0,1,2} and so on. In general, n+1 = n union {n} The nice thing about this is that I can show that a set has 5 elements if I can find a one-to-one mapping of the elements in the set with the elements in 5 (where we think of 5 as the set {0,1,2,3,4}). So what is the set: {0,1,2,3,4,...} that is, the set containing all the natural numbers. This is usually called "aleph-nought" (written with the Hebrew letter aleph, with a subscript of 0. Since I can't type Hebrew letters on my computer, I'll call it A0. This set is clearly infinite - it can't be matched up in a one-to-one way with any of the finite numbers. So what's A0+1? Well, why not do the same thing: A0+1 = A0 union {A0} In that way, we can get A0+2, ..., and if we take the union of all of those, we get what is called A0*2, et cetera. This process of unioning can be continued, in principal, forever, and the class of "numbers" generated is called the class of (transfinite) ordinal numbers. I could write about this for a long time, but let me make a few observations (some of which are not obvious): A0 and A0+1 are different, but they are the same size. There is a way to match up all the objects in A0 one-to-one with those in A0+1. There are ordinals, larger than A0, that cannot be matched one-to- one with the elements of A0. For example, the set consisting of all the subsets of A0 cannot be matched one-to-one with the elements of A0. Look up Cantor's famous "diagonalization" proof. The first time an ordinal is bigger than all those below it, it's called a "cardinal" number. Cardinal numbers measure the size of sets; ordinals are more closely related to ordering. There are more real numbers, for example, than there are natural numbers. But the question of whether the cardinality of the reals is the first cardinal greater than the cardinal A0 is undecidable - it is not invalid to assume it is, and it is not invalid to assume it is not. Paul Cohen proved this back in the 1960s using a method called "forcing". Just as you know that certain operations do not make sense in the natural numbers (for example, you cannot always divide one by another and stay inside the system of whole numbers), there are operations that do not make sense in the transfinite ordinals. In fact, addition and multiplication there are not commutative, and subtraction and division do not always make sense. -Doctor Tom, The Math Forum
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text: >>>>> "Martin" == Martin Peschke <firstname.lastname@example.com> writes:Martin> I would be happy to exploit an API that may result from thatMartin> discussion. I would plead for exporting such an API toMartin> modules. I don't see how to implement statistics forMartin> latencies, otherwise.Martin> Any other hints on how to replace my sched_clock() calls areMartin> welcome. (I want to measure elapsed times in units that areMartin> understandable to users without hardware manuals andMartin> calculator, such as milliseconds.)You may wish to look at the microstate accounting patches athttp://www.gelato.unsw.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/cvs/kernel/microstate/I made the clock source configurable.It's acually rather difficult to find a reliable cross-platformmonotonic clock with good resolution. And different statistics maywant different clocks; for my purposes a cycle counter is best(because I'm running on a machine that varies the clock speed forpower management reasons), other people may want nanoseconds.-- Dr Peter Chubb http://www.gelato.unsw.edu.au peterc AT gelato.unsw.edu.auhttp://www.ertos.nicta.com.au ERTOS within National ICT Australia-To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" inthe body of a message to email@example.com majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.htmlPlease read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/


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text:
I went back to school. Shocking I know, but that's what happened. It is not as bad as you think – I am actually enjoying it. Anyway, last week we had an interesting discussion in class.
Let us consider the following scenario. You're an investor. You have some 5 million shillings that you want to invest somewhere. You are a Kenyan living in Kenya. Now, the last assumption is important because we all know what all your friends and family will tell you to do: buy a house, get paid rent monthly.
So let us say that you buy a 5 million house in Mlolongo. How much rent can you get for such a property? I would argue that you will get nothing more than KES 25,000/- per month for a house in Mlolongo that costs KES 5,000,000 to buy. Am I wrong? Contest that in the comments below.
So you'll be getting 25000 x 12 = 300,000 a year. 300k per year is a 6% return on your investment. Nice eh? Nope. It is actually a shockingly bad return on investment.
Right now (the link leads to a PDF document) you can invest in a Kenya government bond which will give you about 12% returns per year. DOUBLE what you get from a rental real estate investment. This is crazy.
Government bonds are generally thought of as "risk free" investments because the government will always, always pay up. This may not be true everywhere in the world but you get what I mean, right? if an investor is a rational investor (i.e. not stupid) then they will never invest in anything if it returns less than the risk free government bond. Why would you take any risk anywhere if you have a guaranteed 0 risk investment as an option?
If you follow this train of thought then it means that any other good investment simply HAS TO yield a higher level of returns than the government rate. Why? Because it is higher risk. A house can burn down but the government can never "burn down"… see what I mean? Why would you invest in something higher risk, for less returns? It simply doesn't make sense. Any right-thinking person would never ever do it.
And yet Kenyan "investors" do it all the time. Why is this? Are we crazy??
Small note
I know, I know, there exists governments out there (maybe even in here) that can and do default. But: 1) we're assuming this is not the case and 2) if a government defaults then all the houses and other investments in that country also go up in smoke.


text:
However, these people don't usually end up on my doorstep -- and my beautiful mother will be the first to attest that I'm very impatient. I've definitely tried some unconventional methods in order to grab people's attention in business, which has probably made me seem a little crazy. (Then again, as this old commercial by some fruit company says, "the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.")
But the technique I use isn't unconventional at all. Instead, I turn to what I call my "bread and butta" method: cold calling (read: cold emailing). Here's how.
1. Be unique -- even a little crazy.
In late December of 2011, while browsing the Internet, I came across an article about a random reporter who obtained the email address of a famous billionaire by conducting a simple Google search. He sent him an email and was astonished to receive a reply within 15 minutes. Shortly after reading that article, I thought to myself, "Why not?"
Within the next 10 minutes, I wrote an email to the same billionaire explaining who I was, what I do, and my goals for my company. I also let him know that I admired his tough journey to success and stardom. To my surprise, within 30 minutes of sending that email, I too received a reply. I had low expectations, so you can imagine the cheesy smile I had on my face. This is what I put in the subject of the email to grab his attention:
"Insert cliché attention grabbing subject here: HEY (NAME), LOVE THE (COMPANY)! THIS IS A LONG SUBJECT FOR AN EMAIL HUH? HOPEFULLY IT STANDS OUT!"
I immediately hit "send" after I wrote that subject line, because I didn't want to sit there and talk myself out of it. I am sure this billionaire receives hundreds of emails per hour, so mine had to stand out somehow.
Bold or crazy, whatever you want to call it, it's one of the main reasons I got his attention. And before I knew it, we had over 90 informative email exchanges about my company. He offered me some great advice on how get to the next level. If our paths ever cross in the future, I'll be sure to reference this bizarre subject line so he'll instantly remember who I am. It'll make for a great ice-breaker!
2. Be informed, but be yourself.
I keep some important things in mind whenever I approach individuals with that first cold call or cold email, namely:


text:
Continued from page 2
Gellert asks candidates to tell him about the projects they've taken on proactively during the interview process and says its important to flesh out that conversation to really determine just how much of a doer the candidate really is. "Don't just accept answers and move on. Dig in," he says.
The test continues when candidates are brought in to work with the team. For example, instead of asking developers to write code based on instructions from the team, Gellert asks candidates to come prepared with ideas on how to improve GateGuru's app.
During the project, a candidate is tasked with explaining the problem, what needs to be changed and why, and how the team should go about fixing it. Instead of the candidate writing the code, he or she instructs the team on what code to write. "This way, the recruit it focused on the code and not being in front of a keyboard," says Gellert.
With this challenge, Gellert is looking to see if the candidate is the type to choose low-hanging fruit to improve upon or tackles the more difficult problems that aren't as apparent.
"Determine ways in which your company has a competitive advantage and use that," says Gellert. "Are you willing to pay more than others? Offer more equity? Better benefits? More responsibility? Do you have a better hiring pipeline than any other company? Find what your company is best at and exploit that. Without that, you will never hire exceptional people."
Essentially, the goal is to figure out why a talented development, for example, would want to work at your startup, instead of Facebook, Tumblr or Foursquare, he says.
"For iOS development, pay is not our advantage," says Gellert. He did some competitive research, looking at developer salaries at large New York startups and found that GateGuru wouldn't be able to compete on that basis.
Salary isn't the end-all, though. Gellert realized that his startup's competitive advantage is its ability to offer lead roles. "You can be a cog in the wheel at these large startups, as the seventh or eighth guy on iOS development. And all you do is fix bugs," he says. "Or you can come to GateGuru and be the guy on iOS development. That gets people excited."
Heck, allowing pets can even be a deal maker, he says, so go with what you've got!
Gellert says he "always goes for the person that has the higher upside in the long-run," and sometimes that means taking chances.


text:
Name/year of graduation: Maria Heath'14
Hometown/residence: Mt. Carroll, Ill.
Major: Comparative literature.
You may have seen me: Hanging out in Pearsons, especially during Ballroom Dances.
What are a few of your favorite things? Books, chocolate, polished stones, calligraphy pens, ballgowns, stolen hats, digital cameras, balloon flowers, climbing trees, my spoiled cats, RPGs, vanilla tea, anime, languages, pretty/colorful/shiny things, making people smile.
Favorite meal? Steak fried with onions and my mom's cheese-filled pasta covered in her canned tomatoes and fresh garlic and cilantro. Hot tea to wash it down, and chocolate chip cheesecake for dessert.
What can't you live without? Oxygen. Also friends, family, and chocolate.
Any advice? Learn to bake. There's no faster way to make friends. :)
What do you do in your free time? Free time? What's that? Just kidding, I fill most of my free time with extracurricular activities (like SPIEL, AST, Chamber Singers, and Ballroom Dance Club/Team) so I keep pretty busy. When I'm not running around like crazy, I like to watch movies with friends or listen to music and read in my room.
What gets you up in the morning? Desire to do well at things I've committed to doing and to not let people down. Also, an annoying dubstep version of the Lost Woods song from "Legend of Zelda" playing on my phone.
Who are your heroes? My parents and their friends, and anyone who is able to live life to its fullest.
Which talent would you most like to have? The ability to learn to speak any other language fluently.
What's the number one thing on your bucket list? Skydiving.
What are you most looking forward to? My next family camp-out! I don't get to see my extended family enough, so our annual camp-out at one of the family farms is one of the weekends of the year I look forward to most. Also Christmas, for the same reason. :)


text:
Tourism CourseKalindi College
Price on request
Important information
|New delhi
|1 Day
- Course
- New delhi
- Duration:
1 Day
Course programme
In accordance with the guidelines provided by the University of Delhi, Kalindi College offers a few Short-Term Add-on Courses with the objective equipping the students with skills that give them an added benefit and an edge in the intensely competitive job market of today's globalizing world which may potentate their knowledge received through the formal, mainstream education system at graduate and post graduate levels. The specialized, career-oriented courses will empower the students for self-employment and can be pursued along with their degree-level formal education as they are designed in a way that ensures a co-ordination between the two in terms of time-schedule and orientation. At the of three years, the students will be equipped with a Certificate/ Diploma/ Advanced diploma in an Add-on Courses with a conventional degree in Science/ Arts/ Commerce.
Eligibility Requirement for Add-on Courses
1. The minimum qualification in passing in 10+2 examination
2. All short term Add-on Courses are available to Kalindi Students.
3. Admission form of Rs. 50/- can be purchased from the College Office during office hours or can be downloaded from College website (www.kalindi.du.ac.in) in which case Rs. 50/- will be charged at the time of admission.
4. Fee may differ form course to course depending on the logistic and other requirement of each course. All fees will be deposited in the Canara Bank branch at Kalindi College. A Bank Draft of the stipulated amount can be drawn in favour of Principal, Kalindi College.
5. Principal, Kalindi College, will be the Ex-Officio Director for all Add-on Courses and her decision, in case of any dispute shall be final.


text:
WASHINGTON -- There is no evidence to support concern among some dentists that toxic mercury found in tooth fillings is a health threat, a U.S. government panel reports.
However, the 14 university scientists also agreed yesterday that additional study is needed before the mercury component of "amalgam" -- the gray metal that is packed into millions of tooth cavities in America every year -- can be confidently declared safe.
The committee said numerous reports connecting use of amalgam with nervous, psychiatric and allergic conditions had not been scientifically confirmed.


text:
So many wonderful home styles evolved during the first half of the 20th century, it seems like a good idea to put them into some kind of context. The following is not intended to be comprehensive ... it's just an outline of the many styles and some of our thoughts about them.
In 1900, American homes were, on average, about 1000 square feet of living space. The most common styles included:
In addition, people built rowhouses, apartments, and duplexes or triplexes incorporating these styles. Boarding houses were another common type, often found in neighborhoods where immigrants tended to land.
Regional interpretations of these prevailing styles created a huge subgroup of what might best be called eclectic.
At the end of the 19th century, there were a number of progressive social movements. Labor, which had been working tirelessly since the Civil War, continued pressing for worker rights, women were working hard for suffrage, and socialists, artists, and intellectuals supported causes that celebrated the value of the craftsman and the high quality of the handmade product.
The Industrial Revolution spawned a powerful backlash in England, which has come to be called the Arts & Crafts Movement. Philosopher-artists like William Morris and Walter Crane worked hard to develop a new style that drew on natural materials worked according to the traditions of the artisanal past. The fear at the time was that these crafts would be lost as a tide of low-quality, poorly designed and executed goods flooded the market. Unfortunately for the entrepreneurs of the English movement, the costs associated with production and labor often restricted their goods to the upper-middle and upper classes. Handcraftsmanship was unaffordable for the workers who produced the goods.
Concurrent with the English A&C movement was the Art Nouveau design movement in Continental Europe. Rather than being as socially progressive, it was more focused on Nature as a source of design inspiration. Other international influences included the opening of Japan to the West as well as early Modern design ideas in Europe.
Many American architects, designers, and builders were profoundly influenced by the English Arts & Crafts Movement. Men like Elbert Hubbert, Gustav Stickley, and Frank Lloyd Wright went to England and Europe and came home bursting with fresh inspiration.
In the United States, this design and social fermentation process yielded a broad spectrum of innovation and radical social ideas. One of the most potent was that everyone should have a home. A home was the cradle of happy humanity. It was the place children were reared, families communed, and health and social benefits were born. Land was relatively cheap and raw materials stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
A home would not need to be big or ostentatious to serve its purpose. All it needed to do was be well-built, tidy, and functional. Coming at the Americans, from East and West, was the small Asian-influenced house of the Indians and its adaptation by the English. The tea houses of the Japanese, shown at the Chicago Exposition, were low and elegant in their simplicity; they strongly influenced many young architects including Wright and the Greene brothers, who later became famous for the Prairie style and early Craftsman homes.
Little houses for simple living were the order of the day. Such houses were shown in the earliest years of the 20th century as summer cottages or bungalows. It wasn't until 1907, that Gustav Stickley declared them suitable for year-around living.
Through assiduous marketing efforts, Stickley, Elbert Hubbard, Henry Wilson, and many others got the bungalow bandwagon moving. By 1910, hundreds of companies were publishing plans and building bungalows from sea to shining sea.
The public was split roughly in half with respect to house design preferences. Traditional folks preferred the symmetry of the Colonial styles, which included the very attractive Dutch Colonial with its characteristic gambrel roof. The modern progressive loved the bungalow in all its permutations from the high style of the Greene & Greene hand-crafted bungalows to the tiny kit homes offered by Sears, Montgomery Ward, Aladdin, Gordon Van Tine, and many others.
The two most prominent modern styles during this period were the bungalow and the Prairie Style that is most closely associated with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. Though Wright is the most prominent (because of his design genius and astute self-promotion) there were many others of substantial talent and design skill like George G. Elmslie, William Purcell, George Maher, Robert C. Spencer, and Francis Barry Byrne.
The Prairie Style often shares characteristics of the bungalow including the open floor plan with long interior views unbroken by walls and doors, and an easy flow between interior and exterior spaces. Lots of light and cross ventilation were considered essential to healthy living for both styles.
Though both styles could be considered "modern" for the period, the bungalow is now considered homey, artistic, quaint, and comfortable. The Prairie style, however, continues to evoke a sense of timelessness by virtue of its modernity and often remains startlingly contemporary.
A contemporary style that evolved from multiple sources during this period is the ubiquitous Foursquare. Depending on the source, some writers think they evolved from the Prairie style, while others claim that they were a Colonial subtype. I tend to think they were a vernacular style: there is almost nothing exotic about them.
The most common Foursquare is a cube with a pyramidal roof. They have a large front porch; the most common expression is the full width of the façade. The main floor comprises the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The stairway leads to the second floor with the bedrooms and a bathroom. Each floor is roughly divided into quarters. The Foursquare was easy to build and provided a plenty of living space for the money.
Beyond this, the Foursquare lent itself to innumerable variations ... not surprising considering the simplicity of the style. Colonial Revival Foursquares had classical elements like Ionic columns, six-over-one double hung windows, and dentil moldings or modillons at the eaves. The floor plan was often more traditional too. Instead of the "open" style, rooms could be closed off with French or pocket doors. The entry was often more formal opening into a hall with the stairway to the second floor and a doorway leading to the living room.
A Prairie Box, so-called for its broad eaves and bands of windows, has a more modern character. Like it's bungalow counterpart, it often opened directly into an entry that flowed into the living room from which the dining room was visible. The stairway to the second floor is a prominent architectural detail for the interior, not merely a necessity.
The Craftsman-style Foursquare has "artistic" details that may include exposed rafters, knee brackets for service porches, clinker brick fireplaces, and craftsman-style windows, for example. Though the pyramidal roof is a definitive characteristic of the Foursquare, the Craftsman-style subtype may have a gabled roof, knee brackets, and exposed rafters. (Arguably, some people describe them as two-story bungalows.)
Revival or Romantic styles were built throughout the US from the late 1800s to the 1950s, but the peak of their popularity was from just after WWI to WWII.
American architects and builders took their inspiration where ever they found it. Many looked to the past styles of Europe or the Western US for ideas. The range of revival styles include:
The styles listed above were the most common; however, there were other styles built though in much smaller numbers.
Most revival-style homes have the open floor plan that characterized the bungalow style and they were often referred to as bungalows back in the day — for example, an "English-style bungalow." In this context the reference would have been to a small English-style cottage with an open floor plan, not to a bungalow as we typically think of them now.
One interesting aspect of the Revival styles — indeed of most styles during the 1920s — was that people were interested and knew what style their house was. Magazines of the period including American Home, American Builder, and House & Garden ran many articles about specific styles with lots of design details and illustrations. One publication that had a huge reach into the middle-class market was Ladies Home Journal and as a consequence probably did more to popularize the bungalow than any other single media source.
Modern was defined as the Prairie or Craftsman bungalow during the first two decades of the 20th century. From the 1920s to 1940, homeowners were influenced by a brand new concept of modernity.
World War I fundamentally changed the way Americans looked at the world. The colonial past was over and new, international influences were taking over. Technology was changing the way Americans lived. In 1900, more than 70% of the nation's population lived on farms and in rural communities. By the 1920s, the younger generation was leaving the farm for life in the big city. Electricity and automobiles lengthened the day and extended peoples' reach to far away counties and states.
Residential architecture expressed that change. After 1920, almost all house plans featured a bathroom, central heating system, and electricity. Ice boxes were replaced with refrigerators, and homemakers coveted toasters, vacuum cleaners, and dishwashers.
The bungalow style of the 'Teens was replaced by a new "modern" style with cleaner lines. Revival styles fused with traditional elements and simplified forms to create a new category of Modern American homes. Many were small but grew in average size throughout the 1920s with amenities that were undreamed of twenty years earlier.
These simple forms were easily decorated, if not outside, then inside with textiles and wallpapers that captured Art Deco themes. Egyptian motifs tended to fit in well too. Design details during the 1920s went from practical to ornate with gilt, exotic tile and wood, and expensive fabrics by the end of the decade.
As the Jazz Age limped to a close with the onset of the Great Depression, much of that design ebullience fell by the wayside. The middle- and working-classes felt the pain more acutely and homes became simpler and smaller.
During the 1930s, Art Deco themes changed from complex motifs to the cleaner Streamline forms as espoused by the Art Moderne, Bauhaus, and Industrial Design practitioners like Raymond Lowy. Art Moderne style homes took advantage of new materials and technologies like glass block and aluminum and stripped away virtually all ornamentation.
Extremely modern styles were greeted with skepticism by the general public however if the number of articles explaining that, really, it wasn't a "fad" were to be believed. Much more popular were the small, but "modern" influenced cottages that often had their roots in one revival style or another.
The result was the Minimal Traditional style home. These were derived from the traditional shapes of the Colonial Revival and fused with the forward gables of the small English Revivals of the 1920s. The design details were modest, eaves were narrow with a medium roof pitch. For twenty-some years, until the mid-50s, this was about as "modern" as many people were willing to go. The size of such homes was typically quite small, often under 1000 square feet. Most had two bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room. They might have an eat-in kitchen, a dining alcove, or a small dining room.
Though we typically think of the Mid Century as very modern, that "modern" era really didn't begin to take off until after 1955. The most common styles included:
From 1940 to the end of 1941, homes were still typical of the 1930s ... they were often small cottages in either a Minimal Traditional or Colonial style, including the increasingly popular Cape Cod. Pronounced Revival styles tended to be hinted at without the amount of definition common during the 1920s. Modern homes were usually architect-designed and built by those with deeper than average pockets.
During the War years from 1942 through 1945, materials became scarce and new construction ground to a halt as everything from copper to rubber was diverted to the war effort. Architects, engineers, and designers of the masculine persuasion either joined or were drafted for service in the military; their feminine counterparts contributed to the defense industries at home.
The combination of economic depression followed by war served to whet the appetite of an entire generation used to making do or doing without. Within months of the War's end, magazines were running articles touting the benefits of products that would soon be on the market. Women who had tasted the benefits of earning a paycheck were eager to spend their War Bonds. Service men and women, enabled by the GI Bill, were able to go to college and buy homes. Though the years immediately after the War were tough because of the transition, they did set the stage for the rollicking optimism of the 1950s and 60s.
Homes built immediately after the War tended to be small. It wasn't unusual to rework pre-war plans and add a second small house to a large lot. Tract, pre-fab, and kit homes each fulfilled a need for a population bent on marrying and reproducing at a prodigious rate.
Innovations included contemporary styles, which were typically modern and often included things we think of now as "green-building" technologies including passive solar and radiant heating. Large windows with dual (thermal) panes, extra insulation, indoor-outdoor living rooms were not unusual.
Ranch-style homes were first seen during the 1930s and designers like Cliff May were instrumental in their evolution. They first began to appear in small versions that were low to the ground and lengthened versions of some of the later Minimal Traditionals. They incorporated a variety of different elements from the modern California Ranch of Eichler to the Storybook Ranch with it's exposed rafters and Dutch doors. Ranches were not considered by many architects to be great style, but the public loved them and by the mid-50s were one of the most popular home styles.
Though not generally categorized as ranch style per se, split- or tri-level style homes have many of the characteristics seen in ranches.
Modern style continued to be the favored style of architects and designers. Clean lines and classic forms made for some spectacular houses. That said, the majority of home buyers continued to prefer more traditional styles that lent themselves more to comfort than cutting edge architectural style.
Of the many styles seen during the first sixty years of the 20th century, the one style with the most staying power and greatest popularity was beyond a doubt the Colonial and its several subtypes. From the early traditional symmetry of the Salt Box to the Cape Cod, the Colonial has proven to be remarkably resilient.
From 1900 to 1960, after the bungalow, minimal traditional, and various modern styles had ebbed, the Colonials continued to be popular.
The Colonial Revival subtypes include:
© 2008–2015 — Antique Home Style


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BC's Lynch School of Education to host academy for new teachers this week
The Lynch School of Education at Boston College will host a three-day annual enrichment program this week for new teachers.
The 2012 New Teachers Academy will feature a special two-hour workshop about responding to bullying and cyber-bullying, the school said in a statement.
It will be held from Aug. 7 through Aug. 9 at the university's campus in Chestnut Hill.
The program is designed to prepare novice K-12 teachers from throughout Massachusetts for the start of the school year and the start of their career in the classroom, according to Boston College.
The conference will be led by faculty from the Lynch School and other experts, including a mix of veteran public, private and Catholic school teachers, who will teach classroom strategies, the release said.
To cover material costs, the program charges a $35 fee per day for each participant, officials said.
To register, visit www.bc.edu/nta. For additional information, contact Amy Ryan at 617-552-1016.
E-mail Matt Rocheleau at firstname.lastname@example.com.
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text: The 2013 Grammys are fast approaching, and we're counting down the days until we get to see the hottest award-show red carpet of them all! This year, AOL Music has recruited the talents of fashion industry experts and asked them what designer looks they think the biggest musicians should rock to the golden gramophone celebration. Click here to check it out!


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Season's greenings
Even the smallest of changes - send one fewer Christmas card, for example - can make a big difference environmentally.
By Judy Stark, Times Homes and Garden editor
Published November 24, 2007
Christmas has always been a recycled holiday, and that's one of the best things about it. We retell the old stories. We sing the old carols and songs. We look forward to the foods - the cookies! - without which it just wouldn't be Christmas.
When we trim the tree, part of the fun is rediscovering the ornaments we've been using over and over: the angel, the star, the decorations the kids made in kindergarten and now they have children of their own.
Reusing and recycling? Most of us have been doing it for years. We just call it tradition.
This year, celebrating a "green Christmas" takes on new urgency as we become aware of climate change and the need to protect this fragile Earth, our island home.
A green holiday is a way "to share your beliefs and environmental consciousness with family and friends in a very celebratory way," said Jennifer Hattam, lifestyle editor at Sierra magazine, a publication of the Sierra Club. More creative gift-giving "adds to the celebration rather than taking away," she said.
It's also appealing to those who think Christmas has become too commercialized, with pressure to spend a lot of money and give lavish gifts. "People are responsive to a message where you're doing a lot of wonderful, celebratory things but not focusing so much on buying, buying, buying," Hattam said.
"We need to change the mind-set" that sustainable living means depriving ourselves, shivering in the dark, says Robyn Griggs Lawrence, editor in chief of Natural Home magazine.
"Our most precious commodity is time," Lawrence said in a phone interview from her home in Boulder, Colo. "If I give a gift of something that's my time - not bought with a credit card online - that's a more valuable gift."
One year, Lawrence recalled, her mother made scrapbooks out of "boxes of memorabilia I couldn't deal with. Mom organized it. She put that kind of time into it.
"That can mean more in a day and age when we have everything we need materially. It may be the greenest thing you can do."
It's easy being green
How can you make this a green Christmas? Some suggestions:
- Plan your shopping so you're not making endless trips back and forth to the same stores or malls - and wasting gas, not to mention your time and energy, suggests Debra Lynn Dadd of Clearwater, an author, consumer advocate and sustainability expert. (Her Web site is www.debralynndadd.com.)
- Take reusable tote bags to the store and decline their shopping bags. Every American uses 520 plastic bags a year, or 10 a week, and we throw away 14-billion of them annually. That's a lot of petroleum to waste.
- Cut back on your Christmas card list. Send recycled cards if you must go the paper card route, or make your own. E-cards are another option, but some recipients may find them too impersonal. Create a Web site with holiday wishes, news and images. Then e-mail the link to friends and relatives instead of mailing out the annual family newsletter.
- If you give a gift that requires batteries, (a) include rechargeables, and (b) give a battery charger as part of the gift.
- Entertaining? Use fabric tablecloths and your usual china, glasses and flatware rather than disposables. If you do go the paper plate route, use recycled/recyclable/reusable plates. Choose paper towels, toilet tissue and cocktail napkins made with recycled fiber. At parties, provide separate trash containers for glass, plastic and metal.
- Wrap wisely. Buy recycled gift wrap. Or use something else: color comics, maps, kids' artwork, magazine pages, recycled gift bags (you do save the gift bags you receive, right?), fabric remnants, scarves.
- Make the wrapping part of the gift. Buy a reusable bag at the supermarket and put a gift inside. The recipient can use the bag for every trip to the grocery store.
For the handyperson on your list, tuck a gift inside Home Depot's new reusable orange bag (13 by 22 by 14 inches) with a locking handle ($1.99). Or package a gift in Wal-Mart's $1 bag, made from recycled materials including plastic soda bottles. The black bag bears the message: "Paper or Plastic? Neither."
- Recycle what you replace. If you get a new cell phone or computer, pass the old one on to someone who can use it. Some retailers, like the big-box office-supply stores, participate in cell phone recycling programs to keep mercury, cadmium and lead out of landfills.
- Have a regifting party: You and friends bring the gifts you never liked (some no doubt still in the original packaging) and trade them for things you like or want to give to others.
- Choose a real tree. After the holidays, watch for announcements about where and when your county or city will pick up trees to be turned into mulch. Buy a potted tree you can reuse year after year, or, if you've got room in the yard, buy a live tree you can plant after Christmas.
- Select soy candles, which burn clean, rather than paraffin candles. Paraffin candles are made from a petroleum residue that produces soot and pollutants. Use battery-powered or LED votives, which are both cleaner and safer than an open flame.
- Give presents that require minimal packaging and wrapping: tickets to performances, sports events, movies; gift certificates, gift cards, coupons for services or activities. Take someone on a dolphin cruise or a boat ride, Dadd suggests. "Invite the recipient to spend time with you having fun, and you make all the arrangements."
- Honor gift recipients who already have everything with gifts to others. Send farm animals, seeds, clean water and health care to people in developing nations. Adopt endangered animals or a piece of the rainforest. The Heifer Project (www.heifer.org), the Rainforest Alliance (www.rainforest-alliance.org), the African Wildlife Adoption Center (www.awf.org), Oxfam (www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.org) and the Alternative Gifts Foundation (www.alternativegifts.org) and other faith-based groups are among many charities and nonprofits that offer this option. See what you can give for the price of a baseball cap or a Barbie doll. The organizations provide cards you can send to the gift recipients indicating what you've bought in their name.
- Shop from fair trade and sustainable sources where the workers are paid a decent wage and labor in decent surroundings. Check www.fairtradefederation.org for a list of merchants.
- Don't waste a lot of paper wrapping a big, bulky item like a bicycle or a sleeping bag. Put on a bow and a tag and be done.
- Recycle packaging. Drop off extra packing peanuts at private mailing centers. Call the Plastic Loosefill Council's Peanut Hotline toll-free at 1-800-828-2214 for the names of local businesses that reuse them.
- Reuse the colorful shredded paper that comes as padding in packages when you wrap your own gifts. Got a shredder? Turn used gift wrap or other colorful paper into your own shreds to use as filler in gift bags and boxes.
- If you have heirloom items, consider giving them to family members now. Pass on Granddad's fountain pen to a grandchild. Give Grandma's hand-crocheted tablecloth to a daughter.
- Do you have Christmas decorations you no longer use? Assuming they're still in good condition, pass them on to a charity, shelter, your kids' school, your son or daughter in a first apartment, a senior center. Do the same with those unused cards left over from last year that you no longer want to send, or the free cards you get from charities with their annual appeals.
- After the holidays, give your cards to groups that use them for craft projects. Watch our Reader Exchange column in January for the annual list of those who will be glad to take your old cards.
Information from the Sierra Club (www.sierraclub.org/holidays) and the Center for a New American Dream (www.newdream.org) was used in this report.
Fast facts
-- The 2.65-billion Christmas cards sold each year in the United States could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we'd save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
-- Americans throw away 25 percent more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25-million tons of garbage, or about 1-million extra tons per week.
-- If every family reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.
Source: www.use-less-stuff.com