text: Part of the problem with what you're asking is that for some time some people thought there might really be a scientifically verifiable form of psychic power and did scientific research to try to back that up. The idea caught on with a number of SF writers. When JMS was all over the online world promoting Babylon 5, he described it as the most scientifically accurate SF TV space opera ever, saying he was going to leave out a lot of the unscientific stuff from the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars. When I asked why the most scientifically accurate SF TV series was going to have characters with psychic powers, he said, basically, lots of good classic SF has characters with psychic powers and it's accepted as a standard SF idea. In other words, he didn't answer the question. If you're talking about TV series rather than, say, a science fiction novel, you have two issues to deal with. First, not too many TV writers know anything about either science or science fiction; they just go for the "weird shit." See, for example, the writing career of Brannon Braga. Second, if you're doing a couple of dozen stories a year for several years, eventually you're either going to get lazy and fall back on this kind of stuff, or you're just going to want to put your own spin on the ideas everyone else has already done. TV just isn't the place for pure, rigourous science fiction.


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Paris is set to host the 2024 Olympic Games. When the Games begin, Olympic visitors in Paris will see the first post-car city, according to the Financial Times.1
Picture a city where traffic congestion is a mere blip on the radar, where serious accidents are as rare as a leap year, pedestrians rarely miss a transit connection, drivers quickly locate an open parking space, and traffic officials know precisely where and when to dispense road crews. A fantasy for now–but perhaps not for too much longer. Information and communications technology is poised to revolutionize transportation, potentially spurring vast improvements in mobility, safety, and environmental outcomes in the next decades. What will these developments mean to cities and their revenue streams, and how will all this connectivity be funded? The road is far from being clearly marked, but some signposts have started to appear that may help communities sketch out their course.
From here to there
The future of transportation will likely evolve around the three following vectors:
- Make cars drive themselves (Automated Vehicle Systems or AVS)
- Connect cars to each other (Connected Vehicle Systems or CVS)
- Connect cars to the infrastructure (Intelligent Transportation Systems or ITS)
Today's cars increasingly feature driver-assisted components such as collision avoidance and blind-spot detection that rely on cameras, radars, or light-based sensors to help drivers navigate the roadways. As innovative as these features now seem, they are likely to be viewed as distant forerunners of the autonomous vehicles of the future.
Wireless connectivity like cellular, Wi-Fi, and dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) can be used to connect cars to each other and allow vehicles to seamlessly "talk" to other vehicles without the drawbacks of camera or radar sensors that rely on line of sight. Wireless technologies will allow vehicles to receive data faster and over longer distances than other technology.
The technology can also connect vehicles to the infrastructure. We will see the rise of intelligent transportation systems in which electronics, communications, and information processing are used to improve the efficiency and safety of a surface transportation system.2 ITS would likely be developed and operated by a public or quasi-public organization.
Planning for Connected and Automated Vehicles: Greater Ann Arbor Property Initiative; Prepared by Public Sector Consultants and Center for Automotive Research, March 2017
Whether connected, autonomous, or both, the goal is to develop a vehicle that can use technology to improve safety, efficiency, and mobility. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety applications could eliminate or mitigate the severity of up to 80% of non-impaired crashes, including crashes at intersections or while changing lanes.
Data-rich information about changes in traffic lights, congestion, or accidents, which can keep traffic moving, could put a dent in fuel consumption and time on the road. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute estimates drivers in nearly 500 urban areas spent 5.5 billion hours of extra time and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted fuel sitting in traffic in 2011. Information about parking availability could also reduce needless circling to find an open space and help lower the transportation's contribution to greenhouse gases, which was 27% of the total in 2015.
Happening now
Testing of self-driving cars in a structured environment has already started. Some speculate that by 2020 highly autonomous cars are expected to be on the road, auto ride sharing is expected to be a fixture in some limited locations like college campuses, and urban planners will need to consider different types of transportation.
Federal officials have also gotten behind this technology. In 2016, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued a proposed rule that would mandate V2V communications in light vehicles and promote, though not mandate, the use of DSRC as part of federal motor vehicle standards. NHTSA has also developed a policy statement for safe testing and deployment of new auto technologies, which includes a 15-point safety assessment for manufacturers and developers of automated vehicles and a model state policy to distinguish between state and federal responsibilities. In January 2017, the Federal Highway Administration released guidance on V2I.
Activity at the state level has varied significantly. Nevada was the first state to authorize the operation of autonomous vehicles in 2011. As of October 2017, 21 states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation related to autonomous vehicles.3
Whether the nation's transportation system develops into a seamless network of roads and highways crisscrossing the nation where cars can travel unimpeded or in isolated corridors of traffic patterns may depend on funding as much as technology. The National Highway System, which includes interstate highways as well as those of strategic importance, does not have the authority to mandate the design of state and local roads. But for states and municipalities to receive federal funds, they must comply with federal road standards, which could serve as an additional incentive to adopt connected and automated technologies.
Impact to the local community
Enormous improvements in transportation are within reach, but for these gains to be fully leveraged, local municipalities will need to start considering a range of issues that cut across technology, infrastructure, budgeting, zoning, social balance, and risk management among others.
- Connected vehicle infrastructure. These elements typically focus on deploying roadside communications equipment, installing a fiber backbone in roads, implanting street and traffic signals with sensors or other connective devices, expanding broadband capacities, developing detailed road mapping services, and having data services to collect and process vehicle data.
- Zoning and land use. As shared ownership and on-demand ride services become more popular, the space needed for parking could decline, but the need for pick-up and drop-off areas could increase. Further, fully automated vehicles that can park themselves tightly together may mean that smaller parking facilities will be required in downtown or congested areas. Municipalities may be able to repurpose these facilities or rezone them for other commercial or business use.
- Changes in revenue streams. Revenue from moving violations and parking may also fall as connected and automated vehicles with system controls linked to motor vehicle laws and speeds come on the road. Municipalities that depend heavily on these sources of revenue will likely need to rethink their funding models, perhaps shifting to sources other than the transportation industry or to more mileage-based user fees, congestion pricing, and/or use of tolls.
- Staffing. With safer connected and automated vehicles that less frequently stray from motor vehicle laws on the roads, fewer on-the-beat police will likely be needed to patrol the roads, but more human resources would be needed to support back-office and in-the-field traffic and system operations.
- Condition of current infrastructure. Municipalities with well-maintained road stock have an advantage over their counterparts that have pot-holed and poorly marked roads, which have and continue to be an obstacle to developing fully automated vehicles.
- Legal and regulatory issues. While federal and state officials unravel issues related to CAV safety standards, cyber risks, and privacy, local officials will also have to grapple with more grassroots issues such as determining procedures for ticketing an automated or driverless vehicle.
- Public benefit. For a city's entire population to benefit from advances in transportation, municipalities will also need to make accommodations for bike and ride sharing and on-demand rides–services on which mass transit users typically rely.
- Planning. Because of the long lead time to full automation, planning needs to be flexible. For example, a 30-year municipal bond issued today to fund a parking garage may not deliver on the revenue stream if only current use patterns are considered in modeling the revenue streams. Likewise, transportation needs and vehicle miles driven could be affected by the adoption of financial incentives like pay-per-mile driving, increased vehicle occupancy from shared rides, increased appeal of public transit stemming from new first-and-last mile solutions, the public's willingness to commute longer distances in hands-free automated vehicles, increases in empty passenger or cargo loads on return trips, or reduced bundling of trips.
Many cities have taken the first steps. In June 2016, Columbus, Ohio, won a $40 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation in a Smart City Challenge, supplementing the $90 million the city received from private partners to implement plans to fully integrate the city. Among the other finalists were Austin, Denver, Kansas City (Missouri), Pittsburgh, Portland (Oregon), and San Francisco. As part of its commitment to creating a smart city, Las Vegas became the first city to give the green light for the use of V2I technology, connecting its traffic signal network to the vehicles of a major automaker. Beverly Hills, California, which has set its sights on being a leader in application of autonomous vehicle technology, has already started building its "fiber to the premise network." Dozens of other cities have started to install sensors and cameras to track traffic, participate in autonomous vehicle pilot programs, develop mapping, and form partnerships with technology companies and automakers.
The road to these cleaner, safer, smooth-flowing cities, however, is likely to be bumpy and not without accidents. The likely hurdles may include overcoming disparate and fragmented traffic control systems, consumers' acceptance of automated vehicles, dilapidated infrastructure, and cyber and privacy concerns among other technical and regulatory issues. Those cities that require their prospective private transportation partners to deal with a dozen or more agencies to gain approval may lose out to more regulatory-friendly counterparts.
Despite these issues, the degree to which cities successfully deploy technology to move citizens to their jobs and recreation may define their competitiveness and ability to attract people and investment in the years ahead.
Ready, set, go
Funding for connected and autonomous infrastructure may come from sources not traditionally associated with transportation. For example, a municipality may be able to tap into state or federal funds more broadly allocated to ITS if the connected infrastructure project aligns with the requirements of the ITS funding program. Aimed at improving safety, mobility, or environmental outcomes, connected technology projects may likewise become eligible for funds designed to reduce congestion or emissions, though not specifically earmarked for CAV technology.
Municipalities may also be able to leverage detailed road mapping or other proprietary traffic or road information into revenue streams to support connected infrastructure development and maintenance. One of the most common current private-public arrangements now involves an exchange of information such as information on road closings or planned work for crowd-sourced data on traffic jams, accidents, or other traffic information. Other models that generate revenue may emerge providing municipalities an opportunity to develop a clear set of priorities.
The year 2045 is only a stone's throw away for planning purposes. Over the next three decades, municipalities will need to make some tough decisions on land use, zoning, budgeting, and infrastructure that will set the stage for their future competitiveness. The challenges are not insignificant, but the benefits of smart transportation can last for generations to come.

subset: commoncrawl


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Angler Toby Grantham caught his share of fish during a 48-hour trip aboard a Carteret County headboat earlier this year, but it only took one to establish a new state record.
Angler Toby Grantham caught his share of fish during a 48-hour trip aboard a Carteret County headboat earlier this year, but it only took one to establish a new state record.
Grantham caught the 27.6-pound scamp Sept. 25 while fishing off Atlantic Beach aboard the Continental Shelf and quickly learned from Capt. Dave Tilley and others that it was a fish worth weighing in.
�I�ve done mostly inshore fishing previously, but over the last year or so I�ve been fishing offshore,� he said. �I�ve caught a few scamp, but I didn�t realize he was as huge as he was.�
Grantham learned late last week from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries that his catch was one of two recently certified as new state records.
�I�ve had citations, but I�ve never had a record before,� Grantham said.
While he lives in Knightdale, Grantham said his family has a place in Beaufort and he does a lot of fishing off Carteret County.
Grantham caught the fish with a Shimano Stella 8000SWPG reel and Black Hole Cape Cod Special 54S 250g rod, using a Blue Water Candy Roscoe Jig on 50-pound line test.
The fish measured 40 inches in total length and had a 26.25-inch girth.
It also came close to the world record 29-pound, 10-ounce scamp caught off the coast of Alabama in 2000.
North Carolina did not previously have a state record scamp. To establish a state record fish, the angler must submit an application that is reviewed by Division of Marine Fisheries staff and a N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament Advisory Board, the division said.
The fish must be exceptionally large for North Carolina waters and within a reasonable range of the world record.
North Carolina also has a new state record for gag grouper.
Tim Gallimore of Ocean Isle Beach caught the record 46-pound gag grouper May 1, 2011, on live bottom in 200 feet of water southeast of Ocean Isle Beach.
It wasn�t until Saturday, however, that he learned his catch is now the state record.
Gallimore�s catch was previous to and replaces the record 43-pound, 8-ounce fish caught May 12, 2012, off Morehead City by David Abernathy of Newport.
North Carolinadid not have a state record gag grouper on the books until Abernathy�s catch. Gallimore had received a citation at the time of his catch but didn�t pursue trying to establish a record in the category. However, he followed up with the state after learning a record was established by a fish smaller than his.
Gallimore said Abernathy�s catch was an admirable one, but he is excited to have his catch on the record books.
�It�s a once-in-a-lifetime record,� he said.
Gallimore�s fish measured 44 inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail and had a 28.5-inch girth. He used live pinfish for bait on 80-pound braid line test with a Shimano TLD 25 reel on a Penn Standup rod.
The world record gag grouper weighed 80 pounds, 6 ounces, and was caught off the Florida coast in 1993.
Contact Daily News reporter Jannette Pippin at 910-382-2557 or email@example.com.


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Dear Em.
Now I will explain about some of the trash I hustled together in my last letter, which I didn't mail until I got back today, and which I wrote while on post.
You see the Fifth Regiment, which is doing great work here, have been patrolling all along the border in this vicinity for the last fifteen days. This means, that they broke their camp at Camp Cotton and each company was detailed to a sertain place to releave the regulars, who have been doing this since the trouble with Mexico started. Now we are doing nothing more than releaving the Dandy Fifth. Now this camp where we are now is just (Gee I get a lot of nouns in my letters don't I? the same as the Camp at Cotton only each company is separated anywhere from a mile to twenty miles, and we have a great deal more work than at Cotton. For instance Co. M is about seventy miles from us. Company L from Laurence is here with us for there are a lot of railroads and bridges at this point, which, by the way is a cement factory, and a big one too. Well picture two lines of tents, one for each company, in a small strip of land between the Rio Grande river and the main road to El Paso.
From where we are we can count two very high trestle R.R. bridges and four other railroads that run along side of the river and are finally lost winding off through great gourges. I think I explained our experience in crossing one of these bridges to get to our post. Just below us on the banks of this brown muddy stream is a settlement of Mexican and say, the rottenest family that lives in the North or West end of Boston live like kings in comparison to these poor people of Mexico. The most of the Mexican families that I have seen, live in what is called dobe huts, a substains that is made from the soil here mixed with water into block about one foot square and about four or five inches thick. Of coarse they use a little straw to make it hang together. These are placed flat one above the other, and a hole is left for a window, a hole in the roof to let smoke out, and a place in the middle for a door. I haven't seen one yet that was more than the size of the kitchen in which you are reading this letter (some guess what.) and they are never more than one storey high. In this room for that is all the most of them consist of, they cook eat, bathe, sleep, and I have seen pigs and chickens being fead. Now this is the average mood of living of a Mexican family. But, oh this settlement here is terrible. We are not allowed to talk with them, and to go near any of the dwellings, unless so ordered, by an officer, in line of duty is a military offence. It is said that ninty percent of the population of this dump has tuphus, a desease most dreaded by an army. We are forbidden to drink any water whatsoever unless it is brought to the kitchen twice a day.
I looked into one of these holes and in one corner there was an old woman all bent over, looking at, I dont know what, a girl about seven years old was playing with a baby on the floor, and there must have been two feet of empy cans, old clothes, paper, and filth thrown up in one corner, the children rolling around in some other dirt, that I guess hadn't happened to blow up into the corner where so much had been collected. You would hardly beleive this but it is only what Ive seen. Some of the other fellows have more wierd stories of which I will not relate.
From this camp, one of the two companies are sent out in different directions, in small detachments and are stationed, some place, (like I was yesterday about one and one half miles from camp, others are farther. One company does this one day, the other doing it the next. When we leave it is to stay for twenty four hours, and are given rations for three meals. A fire is built on which we cook our bacon potatoes, warm our beans and corned willie, and make coffee. This cooking buisiness sure does make a fellow hungry, and we eat more while doing this duty than we do in camp but it seems we don't get half as much. (Part of the game.)
It is very strict here as far as getting out is concerned although I could get off all I want to if I want to, that is on the day that we are not on duty. I just went to the gate with three of the fellows to get them by for no man can leave his company street with out a sergeant or corporal being with him. We have shower bathes here and an electric light for each tent. (Some class I tell you) We also have a mess hall, which is a square shack put up with benches and long tables on which we can eat out of the sun and flies, it being all screened in. Some better than Camp Cotton beleive me. We are getting an awful sand storm even here, but say if we were in Camp Cotton the air would be as dense with sand as a heavy fog.
I have read many stories of this country, and places like it but you can't get the full benifit of any book the way you can if you climb one of these small mountains and gaze off over a valley of the Rio Grande and low rising hills running up from it and in the distance still larger and larger mountains. I ran across some cactus bushes yesterday and I cut up one of them with the idea of carrying it back to show the rest of the fellows but the fellows on the post with me tried to get some water out of it and spoiled it. I expect to get another one soon for I am a great one to roam around in the vallies and hills. I have the excuse that I am observing my surroundings if the officers of the out gaurds should visit our out post, and ask for me. Well Ill write again as soon as I find time. Hoping you are all well I remain
P.S. How is every body? I am tip top.
© Copyright 2008 by Richard Landers, All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without permission.


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I'm trying to find all primes below a certain number, which is the square root of some original number. By finding all the primes below the original numbers square root and dividing the original by the found primes, you can tell if the original number is prime (for people that didn't know that). So... here is my function to find all the prime numbers below a certain number. However, I am getting a runtime error and the program needs to close whenever I try it. I'm not quite sure on what is happening, and maybe I've stared at it too long. Does anyone see anything that is either out of bounds, a problem, or a fix etc.
Code:bool FindPrimes(int upper, int values[]) //upper needs to be square root of the original number { int index = 0, pRet = 1, loop = 0, ret = 0; bool bRet = true; //automatically assume first number is prime, which is 2 anyways for(loop = 2;loop <= upper; loop++){ //start the loop at 2 since it is the first prime bRet = true; for(int i = 0; i <= index; i++){ ret = loop % values[i]; //check if there are any remainders, remainder = 0 means not prime if(ret == 0){ bRet = false; //the value was not prime break; } } if(bRet){ values[index] = loop; //add the loop value to the array of int's if it is not divisible by any prime thus far index++; //increase the index count } } return true; }


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Greensboro Library, NCHome Menu
Coffee & Create
Holiday Cards
- Date: 12/07/2019 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM
- Location: McGirt-Horton Branch Library
2501 Phillips Ave.
Greensboro, North Carolina 27405
- CostFree
Why should kids have all the fun!? Come to McGirt-Horton for a morning of activities like paper crafting, finger knitting, and coloring! Sip a cup of coffee while tapping into your creative side!Return to previous page >>


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City Council moves ahead with Villa Hills mayor removal hearing
Mayor faces 9 counts of misconduct and neglect
The Villa Hills City Council voted to move ahead with a hearing to have Mayor Mike Martin removed from office.
Martin faces nine counts of misconduct and neglect. Council members accused him of ordering employees to burn documents.
Council members also accused him of having an employee use city time to print "Vote Yes for Property Tax" fliers, authorizing an employee to open a safe with a backhoe and retaliating against the police chief by placing an unsigned and unsubstantiated reprimand in his file.
The council's decision to move ahead with a removal hearing left a crowded audience divided.
Loraine Braun opposes Martin, and said whether he remains in office should come down to fairness.
"I think in fairness of everyone, especially the community, these facts need to come out, so I'm in favor of the hearing and if it is proven that the mayor has broken laws, then he does need to go," she said.
Sharon Ballman supports Martin, and said the opposition has worked hard to remove him.
"He beat their friend, the ex-mayor, and ever since January 1 when he took office, they've been out to get him," Ballman said.
Two council members did not attend Friday's meeting.
A removal hearing is set for Oct. 8. All council members must vote at the hearing, and only a unanimous decision would oust Martin.


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In the realm of public transportation and dwindling governmental financial support, efficiency has become key. Such is the story for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), which is continually looking to improve the safety and experience of its riders and cut costs wherever possible.
Recently, WMATA made some strides in upgrading its facility lighting to save in long-term costs and increase safety for its riders.
First, WMATA looked to replace high-pressure sodium lamps in its 25 parking garages. It recently awarded a 10-year performance lighting contract to Philips.
The lighting manufacturer will convert the more than 13,000 lighting fixtures to a custom-designed light-emitting diode (LED) solution that will reduce energy usage by 68 percent or 15 million kilowatt-hours per year and provide real-time data on energy consumption.
The new system will not only make the garages brighter and safer for 66,000 customers, but also prevent more than 11,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The best part for WMATA is that Philips will monitor and maintain the lighting solution, which will be financed through energy cost savings, requiring no upfront capital costs for WMATA.
The Philips system will cover both the interior and exterior lighting of the parking garages and will include Philips' G3 and EcoForm luminaires. Both feature a modular design that can be configured to the needs of each garage. An adaptive motion- response system and wireless controls will allow the system to dim when no one is present.
In another move toward more modern, efficient lighting, WMATA General Manager and CEO Richard Sarles announced a project to upgrade the lighting in all of its underground stations.
New station lighting replaces old, "coffee-can" styles, and WMATA said it has achieved greater efficiency, better light distribution and a higher color rendering index. The retrofits will achieve a lower lifecycle cost through longevity, meaning maintenance savings.
Five stations are already completed, and the remaining 42 stations will be finished by 2015.


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ABC has given a six-episode order to Sing Your Face Off, TVGuide.com has confirmed.
The reality competition series will see five celebrities transformed and trained to perform as a different legendary musical icon, including hours in the makeup chair and days of training with choreographers and vocals trainers. Casting has begun on the series, though a premiere date has not yet been set.
Fall TV Scorecard: Renewed or canceled?
The series, executive-produced by America's Got Talent's Georgie Hurford-Jones and Endemol USA, is based on Spain's Your Face Sounds Familiar. The show has since been sold to 20 different countries across Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Which celebrities would you like to see on the series? And which musical icons should they portray? Hit the comments!


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Artist: Maurine H. Smith (1922-2009)
Biography: Born in Tenaha Texas. During WWII met and married a man from Bear Lake Valley. Maurine and her husband came to Cache Valley about 1948 to attend USU. Maurine started painting in about 1965 inspired by the beauty of the mountains and skies of her adopted home. Studied with several local artists. She eventually returned to her hometown and died there in 2009 at the age of 87.
Notes: Gift (2012) from the Smith Family and Melanie Liechty, daughter of Maurine Smith and library employee
Description: Oil, 29x24, 1969-70
Location: Library


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ESPN reporter Erin Andrews spilled to Oprah Winfrey this week that being secretly filmed while nude in a hotel room was a "nightmare" that she'd never forget.
Andrews told the talk-show host in an interview set to air Friday, Sept. 11 that having secretly taped video footage of her on the Internet was a surprise that terrified her -- and that when the video rocketed across the Internet, she was heartbroken.
"[I] opened up the computer [and] could feel my heart pounding," Andrews said on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Andrews' attorney said Andrews, a sideline college football reporter for ESPN, will seek legal action against whoever shot the video, filmed at a hotel. The blurry five-minute video shows Andrews fixing her hair after getting out of the shower.
Andrews said on the "Oprah" segment that she's eager to get back to work now that her life has settled down after the ordeal.
"It's really going to help me heal my wounds," Andrews said.
The interview will air as part of the "Summer Headlines" show, previewing the 24th season of "The Oprah Winfrey Show."


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Speculation is something that's never in short supply in the automotive business, an observation that seems doubly true in the case of the next gen Toyota Supra. First, the Toyota FT-HS was totally going to be it. Then someone tried to convince everyone the FT-HS was the next generation Toyota Celica or AE86. Most recently, a Toyota exec hinted that the FT-HS could be a vision for the "Toyota Supra of the future." Yeah, sure. Now everyone's favorite scanned Japanese automag, BestCar, has some renderings of a very FT-HS looking Supra. Grains of salt all around. One more scan below the jump.
This time we get the rear view which, JPCN points out, sadly differs from the attractive version of the concept. But this is all in someone's head... we think. Hey buddy, can you spare some speculation? [BestCar via Japanese Performance Car News]


text: Find all BizBen news, tips, articles, and events relating to buying and selling businesses below. We update and add to these posts frequently (usually daily) so please visit this page often. If you have a news item, tip, an article, or an upcoming event that pertains to buying or selling businesses, please contact BizBen Customer Support at 888-212-4747 to discuss getting your info on this page!


text:
Title: Heartless (2016)
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Extent: 464 pages
Release Date: November 8, 2016
Rating: ★★★★☆
Goodreads Description
Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland, and a favorite of the yet-unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere. A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend and supply the Kingdom of Hearts with delectable pastries and confections. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next Queen.
At a royal ball where Cath is expected to receive the king's marriage proposal, she meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction. At the risk of offending the King and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship.
Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans.
Heartless is my first Marissa Meyer book, and boy, was I excited to get to it! I originally wanted to read The Lunar Chronicles first but decided against it because of its representation problems, but this book, being loosely related to Alice in Wonderland, takes the cake for me. 😍
Heartless takes us back to the life of the Queen of Hearts before she was the Queen of Hearts and is just an ordinary girl named Catherine. Cath is a talented baker and has dreams of opening her own bakery, except that her standing in society — and the King of Hearts' interest in her as his bride — results in a lot of rules and regulations that forbid her from doing what she wants.
"A heart, once stolen, can never be taken back."
I'll be honest: I personally don't particularly care for Alice in Wonderland, but I am familiar with it, and this book gets that Alice in Wonderland feel just right. Reading it was like reading a dark fairytale: it was whimsical and dreamlike, there were wishes that need to be paid, the characters were good or evil. The world-building felt thin, but fairytales often are, and it was good enough that it kept me going.
I loved Catherine as a heroine, but I can't deny that I got frustrated with her at times. In a way, I suppose she was realistic — she was quite likable and easy to root for, but she was also flawed, and I did enjoy that she had ambitions to live a different life than what she was prescribed to. I thought that part of her personality was very relatable, especially given that her challenges — disapproving parents, societal expectations — are challenges many people face in real life.
"But hoping," he said, "is how the impossible can be possible after all."
Jest, on the other hand, felt quite one-dimensional for me. He had his own goals and motivations, but he never felt fully fleshed-out. His relationship with Cath felt like an insta-love relationship to me, since they fell in love first in a dream. Since that happens very often in fairytales and Heartless is kind of one, though, I could get behind this couple enough to enjoy the story.
Other than that, Meyer's writing was relatively easy to get into. The plot was evenly paced with not a boring moment in between, and the descriptions of all the baked goods Cath makes only serve to make my reading experience more enjoyable. While I didn't find the book particularly addictive, I found my reading momentum pretty much as soon as I started the book, and overall it was a good read.
* I received an ARC of HEARTLESS from Pan Macmillan. Quotes included in this review may be subject to change.
REAL RATING: 3.5 stars.
Heartless Blog Tour
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text:
Get Your Free Audiobook
A History of the Middle Ages
Publisher's Summary
This great history starts with a survey of Christianity, then continues with an exploration of the "dark ages" following the fall of Rome, before proceeding with an explanation of how Europe coped with, and absorbed, the barbarians who overran the Empire. It goes on to trace the development of feudalism and Islam, and describes the harrowing survival of Byzantium throughout the brutal chaos that swirled about the Eastern Roman Empire during the 9th and 10th centuries. Discover how national monarchies and the modern nation state came into being, how the West responded to the Islamic invasions, and how Christianity penetrated into the farthest reaches of Northern Europe. Understand the dramatic repercussions of the Great Schism in Christianity and how economic change in the West almost destroyed the church. Finally, discover the events which gave rise to the magnificent flowering of the Gothic Age and the explosion of knowledge which subsequently paved the way for the Renaissance. The Middle Ages were the precursor to everything which we in the west consider "modern." This beautifully written history tells you why.
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What listeners say about A History of the Middle Ages
- Aaron
- 04-12-04
This rather long history is absorbing from beginning to end. It is actually an outline, and as such succeeds brilliantly. The long period it covers (over a thousand years) is broken out in more or less chronlogical order, though there are a few chapters that jump backward or forward depending on the geography being covered. The reviewer named "zuff" is way off base in regard to content. The authors of this mid-twentieth century text were ALL very highly respected Ivy League professors of note. You can find their historical works and papers scattered across numerous famous institutions, including Columbia University. If you are looking for politically correct history, you will not find it here. Also, this is serious history, so if you're looking for "popular history," this is just not going to light your fire. This is academic history for people with patience who can listen carefully and want to get a good grasp of what the middle ages were about. But it is not difficult to understand. From my standpoint, this audiobook is simply magnificent.
The narrator has a very clear and persuasive voice that is easy to understand. It is somewhat British sounding and very pleasant over long periods of time. Merely listen to the sample.
For anyone wishing to know something about the middle ages, whether highly educated or not, you can do no better than this great work.
50 people found this helpful
- Theresa
- 17-06-04
A Stunning Achievement
The middle ages is one of those cloudy subjects that most people, including me, usually steer clear of. It doesn't seem to have the dash and intellectual allure of the classical periods that preceeded it. Bu that was merely my perception. This long and detailed history of the 1,000 years of history spanning the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance was honestly one of the most entertaining pieces I have ever listened to. Call me ignorant, but I just did not know how interesting this period actually was. I note with amusement that some listeners objected to the chapter on Christianity, though for the life of me I don't understand their objections. I was brought up a Christian but have not practised any religion in several decades. However, I found the explanation of how Christianity developed to be incredibly fascinating. It's hard to really understand the passions and disputes that occurred in the middle ages without some compass of what made those people tick. I also found the chapters on Islam and Byzantium extremely informative, as well as the chapters that covered the establishment of nationlist monarchies and the achievements of the late Gothic period. All in all, I was hugely impressed by this great work and would recommend it to all but the few zany anti-religious types who probably would never get past the first chapter anyway. There is also wonderful medieval music here and the narrator, Charlton Griffin, is truly superb.
70 people found this helpful
- Lt. William Calley
- 21-03-07
About half the book is good audio
A History of the Middle Ages (2004) - Brinton, Christopher, and Wolff ****
This work seems to be only available as an unabridged audiobook (rather than a book also). The information is useful and enlightening, and well worth the time. About half the book is perfect for the audio format. However, much doesn't lend itself well to the audio format, and charts and diagrams showing interrelationships of the discussed civilizations would help. There is insufficient explanation about what the structure of the book is, and how each section relates to the others. In some parts a bewildering barrage of specific information is provided, assuming a familiarity which many readers don't share. The parts that lend themselves well, however, to this format are valuable and interesting, and changed my understanding of the world for the better.
21 people found this helpful
- Chris
- 27-09-05
Excellent for bed
I too didn't realise just how interconnected everything was in Europe - and how the seeds for recent wars (from WW1 to Kosovo) were sown over 2,000 years ago when the Roman Empire collapsed. Even the Cold War and Russia's/Moscow's view of its position in the world dates back to the end of Rome. An excellent book for bedtime - I keep it running and dip in and out as I wake up during the night
15 people found this helpful
- James
- 06-05-04
An astonishing epic
Wow! This one really pushes the gray matter! I had no idea of the complexity of the middle ages. This really shot my preconceptions right out of the water. It's a little scholarly in places, but for the most part, I thought it was incredibly interesting. I've already gone back to hear some of the more interesting parts again. The opening chapter about Christianity was very well done. Highly recommended! Nice narration, too.
55 people found this helpful
- Robert Amis
- 17-09-05
Surprisingly good
After buying this I did not read it for some time being put off by the length and the pompous narrative style I had found in a 5 minute preview. Once I tried it I stuck with it (this does not always happen) and learned a lot in this very wide subject.
The book is well structured with good introductions and it is therefore easy to keep up with the overall narrative (not always true with audiobooks if you are driving)
14 people found this helpful
- James W. Fox
- 09-07-07
real history
This is beautifully done, using music and other sound effects to transition from one section to another of this extremely well-written volume. But the expert in history will value it more than the amateur, for the detail will likely cause the mind of the ordinary reader to wander.
16 people found this helpful
- Joseph
- 25-09-09
Some of it good, some of it bad.
There are two basic ways to write history books. You can do your own research, or you can read a lot of other historians' books and compile what they wrote into a textbook, ideally by integrating all the other works into one consistent theory. This book is the latter, but without the integration.
It seems to have been compiled from sources written at different times, because some of it is current on medieval research, while parts are outdated. For instance, it seems more to describe modern than ancient or medieval Christianity while seeming to defend the religion more than to analyze it. Later, the authors have no problem rejecting Islamic religious tradition to write that history. This inconsistency is present in other areas than religion, but it's harder to illustrate. For instance, the authors take at face value the stories of the wicked Merovingian kings while more objectively analysing Emperor Justinian's biographer.
Overall I'd say this is a bad history book. Parts are outdated, parts are poorly researched, and parts seem to be written with only a slight knowledge of the subject, as if the writer were paraphrasing other textbooks.
I gave it three stars instead of two because of its range. It tells the history of Rome, Europe, Byzantium, Russia, Eastern Europe, and the bare basics of Islamic history, and while it tells them wrong sometimes, many books don't even attempt that.
The narrator is another story. He is so dramatic it's almost farcical at times, and he even makes otherwise mundane passages seem controversial with the emphasis he puts into them, as when he describes Jesus as having "iron." He's almost as funny as the narrator of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Just don't take him too seriously and try to see past his tone to the text beyond.
27 people found this helpful
- Neil Chisholm
- 19-12-11
Foundations to our modern times
What made the experience of listening to A History of the Middle Ages the most enjoyable?
While this is not a general history but quite a learned text its depth is not overwhelming. It is broken up into chapters and parts that concentrate on different geographical areas eg England, France, Byzantine Empire and compares and contrasts them. It is exciting to discover that the Middle Ages were a time of dynamic change and the foundation of our modern times.
What other book might you compare A History of the Middle Ages to and why?
Having just listened to The Popes by John Julius Norwich it was fascinating to hear the secular side of the most turbulent age of the papacy.
What three words best describe Charlton Griffin's performance?
Pompous irritating annoying
Any additional comments?
Charlton Griffin had a very annoying accent and habit of mispronouncing words which spoiled my enjoyment of the book although the content remained of great interest to me. Sometimes the mispronunciation would cause me to lose the thread of the discussion and I would have to go back and relisten to a section - if I hadn't been so interested in the subject matter I think I might have given up purely due to my annoyance at Charlton's performance. HIs accent is a very curious mix of BBC English, Yorkshire and something I haven't identified but it leaves you with with the wish he would have a sherry, relax and not be so pompous!
12 people found this helpful
- Mark
- 15-04-08
Insightful and Informative
Yes, this book starts out with what sounds like Christian propaganda. And yes, Charlton Griffin's voice can be distracting in its theatricality (he often sounds like J. Peterman from Seinfeld). And yes, this book moves very quickly. Get past these minor irritations and you're left with a comprehensive and at times mind-boggling survey of economic, political, and intellectual movements spanning the 1600 years from the Roman Empire to the rise of Early Modern Europe. If you've ever wondered where the bourgeoisie came from, why leaders call themselves "Czar" and "Kaiser", or even if you'd like to impress your friends by knowing the difference between a Realist and a Nominalist, this book is worth your time. Skip it if you're looking for a story about knights in shining armor.
32 people found this helpful
- Vaughan
- 15-02-11
A very good book ruined
I was housebound at the time and I was looking forward to learning something of my favourite historical period. I still have some text books from my youth, but this seemed likely to be more thorough and informative.
Unfortunately, and I have to say this, the reading was so appalling that it was difficult to absorb anything and having to continually 'rewind' an MP3 player was a frustrating exercise.
Part of the problem is that a book of this type does not lend itself to spoken cross references to narrative which has already been read or which appears later in the book. On the printed page this would be easy enough to follow but not so in an audiobook. This is one of those occasions where some care should have been taken to edit the book to make things easier for the listener.
I also regret that the narrators voice and quite unnecessary attempts to introduce 'drama' (I can only think that this is what he was trying to do) into the work was both irritating and unsuccessful.
I have given up on the audiobook and may now go to the library and borrow the printed work.
9 people found this helpful
- John
- 25-02-10
Reasonable book, ruined
Any audiobook is a game of two halves. The first part is the text written by the author and the second the narration.
The first part of this book is fine, well researched if a little pro-Western, pro-Church stand point. It is a little dated in places but otherwise excellent.
The downfall comes with the narration which at best sounds like Hugh Denis doing his best pompous voice but most of the time is dreadfully dull and precisely the tone that puts so many off history. At point one I really did wonder what was going on as he mispronounces even the simplest things dan-e-geld is actually dane-geld (gold paid to the Danes to go away). The patronising, condescending and frankly turgid tones were eventually enough even for me and I couldn't face the final part. My view is that it was a good book ruined. There are many good books on audible, this just isn't one of them. My advice, get Caesar's Legion instead and cracking book and an excellent narrator.
13 people found this helpful
- Rogayah
- 12-08-08
The roots of modern European history
We forget the past, but that does not mean that it is not important for understanding the present, or even the future. The Medieval period is also known as the Dark Ages, not because nothing happened, but because so little documentation still exists. It was a period of looting, raping and pillage as well as burning of towns and monasteries, where much of the documentation for the period would have be housed.
This history from the mid 5th Century to the 17th Century, ending at the start of the early Modern period, is an interesting glimpse of how modern European bounderies were drawn and more importantly, why. However, perhaps because it is in audio form, at times it seems confusing. You have to struggle without maps for some mental picture of the part of Europe being described is being divided or fought over by various parties.
Overall it is interesting and absorbing enough to stay to the end. The chapters are divided by music, mainly extracts of beautiful plainchants, evoking the monks at their devotions; Christianity playing such an important part in the development of Europe and the Near East during this period, not only for the Crusades but for the Christianization of Eastern Europe and the schism between the Catholic and the Orthodox churches.
The narrator, however, affected some of the oddest pronunciation I have ever heard. Where was he from with his plummy accent yet was unable to pronounce 'Salisbury', and irritatingly 'orften' and others. I know this was written by American, for American too presumeably from the annoying asides about the US and its history, but did the narrator have to have such affectations? Due to him, my enjoyment was diminished and it was hard work to listen through to what. by the third part, seemed like the bitter end.
So if you accept the narrator, and his voice does not stick in your craw, I would say this book because of its subject is worth discovering
11 people found this helpful
- SeaEagle1453
- 02-06-14
The worst audiobook EVER
Would you try another book written by the authors or narrated by Charlton Griffin?
The authors yes, the narrator No, I would rather stick needles in my eyes.
What did you like best about this story?
The period and the writing are fine
How did the narrator detract from the book?
He was quite simply dreadful. Pompous, slow and technically incorrect. He speaks like he is an alien that he never heard the English language spoken by a real human being. Is it any wonder that so many people hate history if people like this are responsible for delivering it.
You didn't love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?
The content is fine but it should tell you something that i binned it. It was in the days before you could exchange books on Audible so that alone speaks volumes I refused to waste another moment of my life listen to this butchery of the English language and associated history. If you can cope with the narration you will be fine.
Any additional comments?
DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! It is dreadful thanks to he narrator. Try 'The time traveller's guide to Medieval England' if you are interest in the period. Alternatively Steve Dando-Collins 'Caesar's Legion' which is excellent.


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text:
Almost a month after receiving plan, governor signs bill
Nearly a month after a $1 billion electric rate relief plan reached his desk, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed it into law Tuesday at the DuQuoin State Fair in deep southern Illinois.
The measure is meant to help customers of the Ameren Illinois utilities and Commonwealth Edison, who saw their power rates rise dramatically this year after a long-standing electric rate freeze expired. Ameren customers in southern Illinois were among the hardest hit.
Some lawmakers and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who helped negotiate the $1 billion relief plan, had urged the governor to act on the legislation soon after he received it on July 31.
But Blagojevich, whose office didn't participate in the negotiations, repeatedly said he would take his time to review the complicated measure and try to ensure it offered a good deal to consumers. The state Constitution gave him 60 days to consider any legislation.
The new law gets rid of the "reverse auction" process that was used last year to set 2007 electric rates. The newly created Illinois Power Agency now will be charged with planning for Illinois' energy future.
In a news release, the Democratic governor called the electric rate relief plan "a good starting point."
"After carefully reviewing it, I believe it will provide immediate relief and put us in a position to keep working on longer-term electricity issues that need to be addressed to ensure that electricity in Illinois is affordable," he said.
The relief plan consists of various components. For instance, part of it calls for giving Ameren and ComEd customers credits on future power bills to diminish the size of rate increases that took effect this year. Ameren customers also could receive rebate checks, as long as they are not too far behind in paying their bills.
Another part of the legislation calls for long-term contracts aimed at keeping future electricity costs as low as possible for consumers. One of the five-year contracts is between the Ameren Illinois utilities and Ameren Energy Marketing, and the other is between Commonwealth Edison and Exelon. Both concern buying power at locked-in prices.
The Ameren contract already has expired and been renegotiated at least twice. The ComEd/Exelon pact has a Sept. 5 expiration date.


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text:
In the first study, the scientists found that if you drink diet soda – instead of the sugar variety – you could still have a much higher risk of vascular events compared to those who do not drink soda. In findings involving 2,564 people in the large, multi-ethnic Northern Manhattan Study, the researchers said people who drank diet soda every day had a 61 percent higher risk of vascular events than those who reported no soda drinking.
"If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes," said Hannah Gardener, Sc.D., lead author and epidemiologist in the Department of Neurology at the Miller School.
In separate research involving 2,657 participants, also in the Northern Manhattan Study, scientists found that high salt intake, independent of the hypertension it causes, was linked to a dramatically increased risk of ischemic strokes, in which a blood vessel blockage cuts off blood flow to the brain. In the study, people who consumed more than 4,000 milligrams per day of sodium had more than double the risk of stroke compared to those consuming less than 1,500 milligrams per day.
At the start of both studies, researchers assessed diet by a food frequency questionnaire.
The Northern Manhattan Study is a collaboration of investigators at the Miller School and Columbia University in New York launched in 1993 to examine stroke incidence and risk factors in a multi-ethnic urban population. A total of 3,298 participants over 40 years old (average age 69) were enrolled through 2001 and continue to be followed. Sixty-three percent are women, 21 percent are white, 24 percent black and 53 percent Hispanic.
In the soda study, researchers asked subjects at the outset to report how much and what kind of soda they drank. Based on the data, they grouped participants into seven consumption categories: no soda (meaning less than one soda of any kind per month); moderate regular soda only (between one per month and six per week); daily regular soda (at least one per day); moderate diet soda only; daily diet soda only; and two groups of people who drink both types: moderate diet and any regular, and daily diet with any regular.
During an average follow-up of 9.3 years, 559 vascular events occurred (including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by rupture of a weakened blood vessel). Researchers accounted for participants' age, sex, race or ethnicity, smoking status, exercise, alcohol consumption and daily caloric intake. And even after researchers also accounted for patients' metabolic syndrome, peripheral vascular disease and heart disease history, the increased risk persisted at a rate 48 percent higher.
In the sodium research, 187 ischemic strokes were reported during 9.7 years of follow-up. Stroke risk, independent of hypertension, increased 16 percent for every 500 mg of sodium consumed a day, the scientists calculated. Those figures included adjustment for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, alcohol use, exercise, daily caloric intake, smoking status, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and previous heart disease.
Only a third of participants met the current U.S. Dietary Guidelines, which recommend daily sodium intake below 2,300 mg, or about a teaspoon of salt, Gardener said. Only 12 percent of subjects met the American Heart Association's recommendations to consume less than 1,500 mg a day. Average intake was 3,031 milligrams.
"The take-home message is that high sodium intake is a risk factor for ischemic stroke among people with hypertension as well as among those without hypertension, underscoring the importance of limiting consumption of high sodium foods for stroke prevention," Gardener said.
At the start of both studies, researchers assessed diet by a food frequency questionnaire. The fact that participants reported their dietary behavior is a key limitation of both studies, Gardener said.
In the soda study, investigators also lacked data on types of diet and regular drinks consumed, preventing analysis of whether variations among brands or changes over time in coloring and sweeteners might have played a role.
Miller School co-authors for the soda and sodium studies are Tatjana Rundek, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurology and vice chair for clinical translational research; Clinton Wright, M.D., M.S., associate professor of neurology and scientific director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute; and Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., professor and chair of neurology and president of the American Heart Association 2010-2011.
Funding for both studies was provided by a Javits award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute.


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The more I learn, the more I get
angry, depressed, frustrated, empowered.
From: http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=24867
Emphasis in red are mine.
"Jewish banishment and The "City" of London
By Daniel Krynicki
1 – Anyone thinking very logically and simply would simply ask one question: Why have Jews been banished from so many different countries and cultures over the centuries; by peoples who have never had the opportunity to conspire against them because of vast distances between the countries who have banished them, yet all of these people have, at different times throughout history, felt it necessary to do just that for no reason? Do all of these cultures just have some racial hatred of Jews?
There's no logic in it. The only common denominator which permeates throughout these banishments is that of money and usury. Henk Ruyssenaars' article on July 10th 2006 drew attention to the book "Descent into Slavery" by Des Griffin in which the real meaning of the term "City of London" is explained. The following is an excerpt from that article.
"To the majority of people the words "Crown" and "City" in reference to London refer to the queen or the capital of England."
This is not the truth. The "City" is in fact a privately owned Corporation – or Sovereign State – occupying an irregular rectangle of 677 acres and located right in the heart of the 610 square
mile 'Greater London' area. The population of 'The City' is listed at just over four thousand, whereas the population of 'Greater London' (32 boroughs) is approximately seven and a half million.
2 – "The Crown" is a committee of twelve to fourteen men who rule the independent sovereign state known as London or 'The City.' 'The City' is not part of England. It is not subject to the Sovereign. It is not under the rule of the British parliament. Like the Vatican in Rome, it is a separate, independent state. "The City", which is often called "the wealthiest square mile on earth," is ruled over by a Lord Mayor. Here are grouped together Britain's great financial and commercial institutions: Wealthy banks, dominated by the privately-owned (Rothschild controlled) Bank of England, Lloyd's of London, the London Stock Exchange, and the offices of most of the leading international trading concerns. Here, also, is located Fleet Street, the heart and core of the newspaper and publishing worlds.
The Lord Mayor, who is elected for a one year stint, is the monarch in the City. As Aubrey Menen says in "London", Time-Life, 1976, p. 16:
"The relation of this monarch of the City to the monarch of the realm [Queen] is curious and tells much."
It certainly is and certainly does! When the Queen of England goes to visit the City she is met by the Lord Mayor at Temple Bar, the symbolic gate of the City. She bows and asks for permission to enter his private, sovereign State. During such State visits "the Lord Mayor in his robes and chain, and his entourage in medieval costume, outshines the royal party, which can dress up no further than service uniforms."
The Lord Mayor leads the queen into his city. The symbolism is clear.
The Lord Mayor is the monarch. The Queen is his subject. The small clique who rule the City dictate to the British Parliament. It tells them what to do, and when. In theory Britain is ruled by a Prime Minister and a Cabinet of close advisers. These 'fronts' go to great lengths to create the impression that they are running the show but, in reality, they are mere puppets whose strings are pulled by the shadowy characters who dominate behind the scenes. As the former British Prime Minister of England during the late 1800s Benjamin D'Israeli wrote:
"So you see… the world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes"
(Coningsby, The Century Co., N.Y., 1907, p. 233).
3 – Rothschild gold bought supplies for the Duke of Wellington before Waterloo, financed Disraeli's purchase of the Suez Canal and bankrolled 19th century Imperialism This fact is further demonstrated by another passage from Menen's book:
"The Prime Minister, a busy politician, is not expected to understand the mysteries of high finance, while the Chancellor of the Exchequer is only expected to understand them when he introduces the budget. Both are advised by the permanent officials of the Treasury, and these listen to the City. If they suspect that some policy of the government will back-fire, it is of no use their calling up British ambassadors to ask if it is so; they can find out more quickly from the City. As one ambassador said: "Diplomats are nowadays no more than office boys, and slow ones at that. The City will know. They will tell the Treasury and the Treasury will tell the Prime Minister."
Woe betide him if he does not listen. The most striking instance of this happened in recent history. In 1956 the then Prime Minister, Sir Anthony Eden, launched a war to regain the Suez Canal. It had scarcely begun when the City let it be known that in a few days he would have no more money to fight it; the Pound would collapse. He stopped the war and was turned out of office by his party. When the Prime Minister rises to address the Lord Mayor's banquet, he hopes that the City will put more behind him than the gold plate lavishly displayed on the sideboards.
The British government is the bond slave of the "invisible and inaudible" force centred in the City. The City calls the tune. The "visible and audible leaders" are mere puppets who dance to that tune on command. They have no power. They have no authority. In spite of the outward show they are mere pawns in the game being played by the financial elite.
It is important to recognise the fact that two separate empires were operating under the guise of the British Empire. One was the Crown Empire and the other the British Empire. The colonial possessions that were white were under the sovereign –i.e. under the authority of the British government. Such nations as the Union of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were governed under British law. These only represented thirteen percent of the people who made up the inhabitants of the British Empire. All the other parts of the British Empire – nations like India, Egypt, Bermuda, Malta, Cyprus and colonies in Central Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong and Gibraltar were all Crown Colonies. These were not under British rule. The British parliament had no authority over them.
4 – As the Crown owned the committee known as the British government there was no problem getting the British taxpayer to pay for naval and military forces to maintain the Crown's supremacy in these areas.
The City reaped fantastic profits from its operations conducted under the protection of the British armed forces. This wasn't British commerce and British wealth. The international bankers, prosperous merchants and those members of the aristocracy who were part of the "City" machine accumulated vast fortunes.
About seventy years ago Vincent Cartwright Vickers stated that: "…financiers in reality took upon themselves, perhaps not the responsibility, but certainly the power of controlling the markets of the world and therefore the numerous relationships between one nation and another, involving international friendship and mistrusts… Loans to foreign countries are organised and arranged by the City of London with no thought whatsoever of the nation's welfare but solely in order to increase indebtedness upon which the City thrives and grows rich…"
In "Empire of the City" E. C. Knuth said:
"This national and mainly international dictatorship of money which plays off one country against another and which, through ownership of a large portion of the press converts the advertisement of its own private opinion into a semblance of general public opinion, cannot for much longer be permitted to render Democratic Government a mere nickname. Today we see through a glass darkly: for there is so much and it would not be in the public interest to divulge."…
The battle for power and riches is an ancient one, but any attempt to make sense of the present world situation where the bulk of humanity is being herded like sheep into a corral without some knowledge of history is a difficult if not impossible task. At present names have been replaced by groups, capitalists, republicans, democrats, terrorists, corporations, NATO, UNO, NAFTA, EMI, ECB, ASEAN. They are names that are spewed out like confetti in an endless list of anonymity. In spite of modern technology the figures in the background remain blurred. Mention the word "Jew" or "Conspiracy" and everyone with few exceptions will turn away. Why? Fear? Of what? What is the magic talisman which makes the mention of these co-religionists a no-go area? Is it because they have infiltrated every aspect of human activity? Is it they who are pulling the strings which are leading the world on its downward slope?
The Jew has been mistrusted since way back. But what is apparent now is that any attempt to offer an answer to the question is clamped down upon. What does that indicate? Above all it indicates that these shadowy figures fear more than anything else the truth.
5 – Professor Jesse H. Holmes, writing in, "The American Hebrew," expressed the following similar sentiments:
"It can hardly be an accident that antagonism directed against the Jews is to be found pretty much everywhere in the world where Jews and non-Jews are associated. And as Jews are the common element of the situation it would seem probable, on the face of it, that the cause will be found in them rather than in the widely varying groups which feel this antagonism. In Europe and Russia alone, the Jews have been banished 47 times in the last 1,000 years: Mainz, 1012; France, 1182; Upper Bavaria, 1276; England, 1290; France, 1306; France, 1322; Saxony, 1349; Hungary, 1360; Belgium, 1370; Slovakia, 1380; France, 1394; Austria, 1420; Lyons, 1420; Cologne, 1424; Mainz, 1438; Augsburg, 1438; Upper Bavaria, 1442; Netherlands, 1444; Brandenburg, 1446; Mainz, 1462; Lithuania, 1495; Portugal, 1496; Naples, 1496; Navarre, 1498; Nuremberg, 1498; Brandenburg, 1510; Prussia, 1510; Genoa, 1515; Naples, 1533; Italy, 1540; Naples, 1541; Prague, 1541;
Genoa, 1550; Bavaria, 1551; Prague, 1557; Papal States, 1569; Hungary, 1582; Hamburg, 1649; Vienna, 1669; Slovakia, 1744; Mainz, 1483; Warsaw, 1483; Spain, 1492; Italy, 1492; Moravia, 1744; Bohemia, 1744; Moscow, 1891. (Excerpted from The Synagogue of Satan by Andrew Carrington Hitchcock.)
Of what were these people guilty to arouse such a reaction from so many diverse people? Well, in England, it's very interesting. IT ALL STARTED with The Edict of Expulsion of 1290 AD. The Jews would have us believe that their expulsion from England by Edward I (reigned 1272-1307) was due to their money lending endeavors. The real reason was due to the Jews' crime of blood ritual murders.
The Orthodox Christian historian of the 5th Century, Socrates Scholasticus, in his Ecclesiastical History, 7:16, recounts an incident about Jews killing a Christian child:
"At a place near Antioch in Syria, the Jews, in derision of the Cross and those who put their trust in the Crucified One, seized a Christian boy, and having bound him to a cross they made, began to sneer at him. In a little while becoming so transported with fury, they scourged the child until he died under their hands."
Here are a few examples which led to the English expulsion of the Jews in 1290 AD: 1144 A.D. Norwich: A twelve year-old boy was crucified and his side pierced at the Jewish Passover. His body was found in a sack hidden in a tree. A converted Jew to Christianity named Theobald of Cambridge informed the authorities that the Jews took blood every year from a Christian child because they thought that only by so doing could they ever return to Palestine. The boy has ever since been known as St. William. 1160 A.D. Gloucester: The body of a child named Harold was found in the river with the wounds of crucifixion.
6 1255 A.D. Lincoln: A boy named Hugh was tortured and crucified by the Jews. The boy's mother found the body in a well on the premises of a Jew named Jopin. 18 Jews were hanged for the crime by King Henry III. 1290 A.D. Oxford: The Patent Roll 18 Of Edward I, 21st June 1290 contains an order for the Gaol delivery of a Jew named Isaac de Pulet for the murder and bloodletting of a Christian boy.
Only one month after this, King Edward I issued his decree expelling the Jews from England. (See Sources #1 Below)
JEWISH BANKERS FROM AMSTERDAM led by the Jewish financier and army contractor of Cromwell's New Model Army, Fernandez Carvajal and assisted by Portuguese Ambassador De Souza, a Marano (secret Jew), saw an opportunity to exploit in the civil unrest led by Oliver Cromwell in 1643.
A stable Christian society of ancient traditions binding the Monarchy, Church, State, nobles and people into one solemn bond was disrupted by Calvin's Protestant uprising. The Jews of Amsterdam exploited this civil unrest and made their move. They contacted Oliver Cromwell in a series of letters:
Cromwell To Ebenezer Pratt of the Mulheim Synagogue in Amsterdam, 16th June 1647:
"In return for financial support will advocate admission of Jews to England: This however impossible while Charles living. Charles cannot be executed without trial, adequate grounds for which do not at present exist. Therefore advise that Charles be assassinated, but will have nothing to do with arrangements for procuring an assassin, though willing to help in his escape."
To Oliver Cromwell From Ebenezer Pratt, 12th July 1647:
"Will grant financial aid as soon as Charles removed and Jews admitted. Assassination too dangerous. Charles shall be given opportunity to escape: His recapture will make trial and execution possible. The support will be liberal, but useless to discuss terms until trial commences."
Cromwell had carried out the orders of the Jewish financiers and beheaded, (yes, Cromwell and his Jewish sponsors must face Christ!), King Charles I on January 30 1649. Beginning in 1655, Cromwell, through his alliance with the Jewish bankers of Amsterdam and specifically with Manasseh Ben Israel and his brother-in-law, David Abravanel Dormido, initiated the resettlement of the Jews in England. (See Sources #2 Below )
WILLIAM STADHOLDER, a Dutch army careerist, was a handsome chap with money problems. The Jews saw another opportunity and through their influence arranged for William's elevation to Captain General of the Dutch Forces. The next step up the ladder for William was his elevation by the Jews to the aristocratic title of William, Prince of Orange. The Jews then arranged a meeting between William and Mary, the eldest daughter of the Duke of York. The Duke was only one place removed from becoming King of England. In 1677 Princess Mary of England married William Prince of Orange.
7 To place William upon the throne of England it was necessary to get rid of both Charles II and the Duke of York who was slated to become James II of the Stuarts. It is important to note that none of the Stuarts would grant charter for an English national bank. That is why murder, civil war, and religious conflicts plagued their reigns by the Jewish bankers. In 1685, King Charles II died and the Duke of York became King James II of England. In 1688 the Jews ordered William Prince of Orange to land in England at Torbay. Because of an ongoing Campaign of L'Infamie against King James II contrived by the Jews, he abdicated and fled to France. William of Orange and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of England. The new King William III soon got England involved in costly wars against Catholic France which put England deep into debt. Here was the Jewish bankers' chance to collect. So King William, under orders from the Elders of Zion in Amsterdam, persuaded the British Treasury to borrow 1.25 million pounds sterling from the Jewish bankers who had helped him to the throne. Since the state's debts had risen dramatically, the government had no choice but to accept. But there were conditions attached: The names of the lenders were to be kept secret and that they be granted a Charter to establish a Central Bank of England. Parliament accepted and the Jewish
bankers sunk their tentacles into Great Britain.
MAYER AMSCHEL BAUER OPENED a money lending business on Judenstrasse (Jew Street) in Frankfurt Germany in 1750 and changed his name to Rothschild. Mayer Rothschild had five sons.
8 The smartest of his sons, Nathan, was sent to London to establish a bank in 1806. Much of the initial funding for the new bank was tapped from the British East India Company which Mayer Rothschild had significant control of. Mayer Rothschild placed his other four sons in Frankfort, Paris, Naples, and Vienna. In 1814, Nathanael Rothschild saw an opportunity in the Battle of Waterloo. Early in the battle, Napoleon appeared to be winning and the first military report to London communicated that fact. But the tide turned in favor of Wellington. A courier of Nathan Rothschild brought the news to him in London on June 20. This was 24 hours before Wellington's courier arrived in London with the news of Wellington's victory. Seeing this fortuitous event, Nathan Rothschild began spreading the rumor that Britain was defeated. With everyone believing that Wellington was defeated, Nathan Rothschild began to sell all of his stock on the English Stock Market. Everyone panicked and also began selling causing stocks to plummet to practically nothing. At the last minute, Nathan Rothschild began buying up the stocks at rock-bottom prices. This gave the Rothschild family complete control of the British economy – now the financial centre of the world and forced England to set up a revamped Bank of England with Nathan Rothschild in control. (See Sources #4 Below )
9 ALL ABOUT THE JEWISH VATICAN (As much as that is possible given Rothschild secrecy)
A PRIVATE FINANCIAL CORPORATION exists today in England known as "The City." It is also known as The Jewish Vatican located in the heart of Greater London. A Committee of 12 men rule The Jewish Vatican. They are known as "The Crown." The City and its rulers, The Crown, are not subject to the Parliament. They are a Sovereign State within a State. The City is the financial hub of the world. It is here that the Rothschilds have their base of operations and their centrality of control:
* The Central Bank of England (controlled by the Rothschilds) is located in The City.
* All major British banks have their main offices in The City.
* 385 foreign banks are located in The City.
* 70 banks from the United States are located in The City.
* The London Stock Exchange is located in The City.
* Lloyd's of London is located in The City.
* The Baltic Exchange (shipping contracts) is located in The City.
* Fleet Street (newspapers & publishing) is located in The City.
* The London Metal Exchange is located in The City.
* The London Commodity Exchange (trading rubber, wool, sugar, coffee) is located in The City.
Every year a Lord Mayor is elected as monarch of The City. The British Parliament does not make a move without consulting the Lord Mayor of The City. For here in the heart of London are grouped together Britain's financial institutions dominated by the Rothschild-controlled Central Bank of England. The Rothschilds have traditionally chosen the Lord Mayor since 1820. Who is the present day Lord Mayor of The City? Only the Rothschilds' know for sure… (See Sources #5 Below )
Sources #1: Ariel Toaff, Bloody Passover-Jews of Europe and Ritual Homicide, 2007 Click Here; J. C. Cox, Norfolk Churches; Victoria County History of Norfolk, 1906; Arnold Leese, Jewish Ritual Murder In England; Henry III, Close Roll 16; Joseph Haydn, Dictionary of Dates.
Sources #2: Isaac Disraeli, Life of Charles I, 1851; Hugh Ross Williamson, Charles and Cromwell; AHM Ramsey, The Nameless War; Lord Alfred Douglas, Plain English, 1921; Geoffrey H. Smith, The Settlement Of Jews In England
Sources #3: John Harold Wood, History of Central Banking in Great Britain; Gustaaf Johannes Renier, William of Orange
Sources #4: Frederick Morton, The Rothschilds; Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby
Sources #5: E.C. Knuth, The Empire of The City; Des Griffin, Descent Into Slavery In 1875, the Khedive of Egypt, forced by financial stringency, was anxious to sell his interest in the Suez Canal. Disraeli must have known of this at once through his friend and master Rothschild. A Mr. F. Greenwood, Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, received private advices that the shares might be acquired for England, and patriotically refusing to make a journalistic "scoop" of the information, hastened to Lord Derby with the news. Lord Derby consulted with his Hebrew Prime Minister, and the latter then bought the shares. Parliament was not sitting at the time, and Disraeli borrowed £4,000,000 from his colleagues the Rothschilds, who made a profit of about £500,000, which no doubt earned for Disraeli a considerable commission. It was, of course, to the Jewish interest that Britain should hold the Suez Canal (until the Jews got Palestine out of the Great War). Disraeli had written to the Queen saying, "We have scarcely time to breathe, we must carry the matter through." He was very, very anxious that Rothschilds should handle the loan! Now, read this extract from a letter from the Hon. G. M. Kinnaird to The Times dated 20th March, 1930.
11 Nathan Mayer Rothschild also funded Cecil Rhodes in the development of the British South Africa Company and the De Beers diamond conglomerate. He succeeded him as General of the Society of the Elect and later administered Rhodes's estate after his death in 1902 and helped to set up the Rhodes Scholarship scheme at Oxford University. He worked as a partner in the London branch of the family bank NM Rothschild and Sons and became head of the bank after his father's death in 1879. During his tenure he also maintained its pre-eminent position in private venture finance and in issuing loans to the governments of the USA, Russia and Austria. Following the Rothschild's funding of the Suez Canal a close relationship was maintained with Benjamin Disraeli and affairs in Egypt and the Middle East.


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I've always hated the American Music Awards the least of all the music awards shows. It doesn't showboat as much as the Grammys, it has less screaming and Twilight than MTV's VMAs, it somehow seems slightly less pointless than the Billboard Music Awards -- it's just perfectly innocuous, hanging out there at the end of the year, minding its own business.
This year's show does actually seem to have some special stuff going on, though. Yes, Taylor Swift will win everything, and that has become quite tiresome, but in addition to that, Adam Lambert is performing, and promising that it will be very "sexy" (gasp!), Miley Cyrus is not, JLo will be performing, and so will Whitney Houston, and they're always hilarious, and my little country artists who could, Gloriana, actually have a shot at Best Breakthrough Artist, so overall I have little to complain about in regards to the AMAs. I'm still watching football instead, but good for you, American Music Awards! I didn't have to resort to making up crap about you to fill out this post.
The American Music Awards are on ABC tonight at 8 PM.
For more from Television Without Pity:


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YouTube Supersizes Its Uploads. Do You Have 15 Minutes You Want to Share?
This is one way to get longer-form content on YouTube: Google's (GOOG) video giant has just increased the maximum length of uploads on the site from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
What prompted the change? Here's the site's explanation, via product manager Joshua Siegel:
Well, we've spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art Content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners. Now, all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels and over 1,000 other global partners use Content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today.
I'm not sure I understand that. And perhaps someone from YouTube will take another crack at it down the line. But here's my best guess at translating: We used to cap videos at 10 minutes in part because it made it harder for people to upload entire movies or TV shows to the site, and that made copyright owners less mad at us. Now they like us a lot more, so we're bumping up the limit by 50 percent.
Bumping up that limit also increases bandwidth and storage costs; theoretically the longer clips will also give the site more chances to sell more ads. Wonder how this impacts Google sales chief Nikesh Arora's recent pronouncement that YouTube "is on the verge of imminent profitability."
Meanwhile, I don't think I watch many clips on YouTube that approach the 10-minute limit, anyway. But I do like this long clip (so much that I think I've embedded it twice before): Six minutes and 27 seconds of Stevie Wonder jamming on "Sesame Street":


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Turner, Bellew honored on all-ACHA DI national teams
June 6, 2013 | Lynchburg, Va.
Two Liberty University American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I men's hockey players — one senior and one freshman — were recognized in May for their performances during the 2012-13 season.
Senior forward Rick Turner, who ranked fourth in the league with 75 points on the year, was selected to ACHA DI All-American first team and freshman defenseman Steven Bellew was honored on the ACHA DI All-Rookie Team.
"It is exciting for both of them," Flames head coach Kirk Handy said. "They both worked hard in order to be successful this season. We look forward to having Steven back for another three years and wish Rick all the best as he moves on to try to continue his playing career."
Turner, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound speedster from Auburn, Mich., blessed with an even faster slap shot, netted 43 goals, including three game-winners, and 32 assists to finish his career as the Flames' fourth-leading all-time scorer. He also won the shootout competition and placed second by one-tenth of a second in the fastest-skater event at the March 16 ACHA DI All-Star Game hosted by Ohio University in Bird Arena in Athens, Ohio, and scored a goal for the winning side in the 12-9 triumph.
Turner was in elite company on the ACHA DI first team that also featured fellow forwards Tyler Pilmore (Ohio) and Kale Dolinski (Arizona State), defenders Andrew Amodeo (Adrian College), and Phil Wendecker (Davenport), and goalie Wyatt Waselenchuk (Minot State).
|Steven Bellew (96) is a physical defender who also added to the Flames' scoring punch as a freshman.
Bellew, a versatile 5-11, 180-pounder from Hingham, Mass., who netted 10 goals and assisted 16 others on the season, was joined by Stony Brook goalie Brendan Jones, ASU defender Jordan Young, Adrian forward Senate Patton, Illinois forward John Olen, and Oklahoma forward Jordan Greenberg on the rookie team.
"Bellew has the offensive skill, but is a very tough D to play against," Handy said. "We expect big things of him this year."
The Flames (24-14-2) finished last season ranked No. 13 nationally after being eliminated by Ohio in the second round of the ACHA DI national tournament at The Edge Ice Arena in Chicago.
"As far as our team, obviously it is another indication of the quality players that we are able to recruit to Liberty," added Handy, who has added two Junior A players from Canada, Brandon Mistal and Robert Ward, to next season's team in recent weeks.


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by request: star trek (j.j. abrams, 2009)
Saturday, March 31, 2012
I have a backlog of requests (thanks to all who made suggestions), but sometimes requests are more spur of the moment. This time, our friend Doug came over, wanting to watch something "science fictiony action". Which is how we ended up watching Star Trek.
More than two years ago, I wrote:
I've never really watched any of the TV series, and only saw one of the movies prior to this one. … I approached this as I would any other sci-fi epic, or at least, I thought that's what I did. When the movie started, I understood that even a non-fan is aware of the basics … I knew the names of the main characters, knew some catch phrases, stuff like that. So it's silly to say I'm totally outside the Trek universe. How did I like the movie? It was OK … the science part of the plot didn't reward any deep consideration, so I avoided that. The action scenes were ok, nothing special, the acting reasonable. … It was a nice way to spend two hours; don't think I'd go farther than that.
I feel a bit more kindly to the film now. It is indeed a nice way to spend two hours; what is especially nice is that two hours is all it takes … this isn't the typical bloated two-and-a-half-hour blockbuster of the 21st century. I'm also a bit surprised that I didn't mention the time-travel angle in my earlier post, because this time, I found it the most intriguing part of the plot. It's not exactly trend-setting … it's more like Grade-B Phil Dick … but it offers enough head-scratching confusion to make it interesting (I mean "head-scratching" in a good way).
I also found myself obsessing over the way we all knew these characters before the movie even started. There was nothing wrong with the first 40 minutes or so, but at some point, I realized that most of those minutes could have been cut, since the majority of them was spent letting us see for the first time characters we already knew. By the end of the movie, I didn't feel I knew much more about the characters than I did before it started, which means the film ultimately stands or falls on those action scenes (OK) and acting (reasonable).
Still, as I say, I feel more kindly now. Previously, I had given Star Trek 6/10, but I'm going to up that a bit. 7/10.


text: Bruce Lowell is a 27-year-old IT technician by day, master Lego builder by night. His specialty? Mini replicas of everyday objects, many with a DIY theme. While other Legoficionados piece together elaborate -- yawn -- Star Wars scenes, Lowell got over that phase long ago and now immortalizes domestic grunts like tape measures. Visit his site, follow him on Twitter, and look for his latest creations on Flickr.Nothing more inspiring than a blank sheet of paper! "I think a lot of people think of creativity as something different ... but the difference can be in that it's just something simple or mundane. As long as you have your own mark on it, and most of all you enjoy building it, that's what it's all about at the end of the day." Lowell told the Look at Lego podcast.Lowell tweaks scale and context to great effect. For instance, the blue handle on this water cooler is the same brick used as the notebook's wire coil on the previous image.The recipe for this "macaroni and cheese" contains just unassembled parts in a gray bin. No big deal, right? But there's an inside joke. Legoheads will catch that the round pieces (part #3063) are informally called "Macaroni" while the seemingly out-of-place orange triangles (part #50746) are called "Cheese Wedges."Lowell was comissioned by Adafruit Industries to create a diorama depicting their workshop. It features a laser cutter, Kanban bins, and a soldering iron. It's also the first known Lego set depicting a 3-D printer, though not the first 3-D printer made of Legos. A subtle difference, but of major importance, if you care about such things. The Adafruit set awaits your thumbs-up or -down vote at Lego's Cuusoo crowd-sourcing site. Another 8,000 votes and it will be considered for production.We're a long way from seeing the Adafruit play set at Toys R Us, but in the meantime, builders can make approximations using Lowell's detailed diagrams.By manipulating scale and context, Lowell transforms a couple pizza tiles into the insides of watermelons smashed by this minifig of prop-comedy pioneer Gallagher.It's hard for Lego artists to stay away from pop-culture references entirely, but Lowell takes those nods a step further. Notice the reddish-brown bricks in the base of the image and the way he subtly captured the brick pattern from the game in Lego form? The rounded head of the plant uses an innovation called the "Lowell Sphere," a design feature he invented that is now widely used in the Lego community. It may not be an innovation on the scale of the Higgs Boson, but at least we can see it!Lowell uses bricks the way painters use brush strokes. In this case he contrasts a flat facade with a sculpted mushroom cloud (using the Lowell Sphere), two very different techniques that create a dynamic image when combined.Lowell has an enviable garage workshop full of parts organized by color and type to draw from. But he also uses Lego CAD programs to experiment with designs virtually. "Most of my designs are built freeform, but occasionally if I want to mock something up quickly when I'm away from home or if I don't have enough of a piece in a particular color I'll use CAD until I can actually build it," he says. "It's also a great tool for making instructions for future reference or for estimating the amount of parts I'll need for a given project."