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Easy Honey Garlic Shrimp made in one skillet with just five ingredients in just 10 minutes, this dish will replace your favorite Chinese takeout restaurant!
I had a pound of shrimp without a plan, so I just did a quick scan of my pantry and realized I had all the same ingredients I needed for Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken.
Easy Honey Garlic Shrimp
Easy Honey Garlic Shrimp is done in just 10 minutes! Plus other than the shrimp all of your ingredients are probably in your pantry RIGHT NOW.
That's one of the best parts of shrimp recipes, they're easy. Since shrimp cooks in less than 5 minutes, I like to keep it simple and create flavors in the sauces. Easy shrimp recipes are a win for us because we save them for days we know we're going to be busy.
30 minute weeknight meals:
- Shrimp: Shrimp recipes can be ready in as little at 10 minutes, quick Asian recipes are a natural fit for shrimp. Shrimp scampi is another easy option.
- Slow Cooker Recipes: Slow cooker recipes usually take just 15 minutes of prep time and can be made ahead the night before or the morning of the day you want to enjoy them.
- Ground Beef Recipes: Recipes like Ground Mongolian Beef or Korean Ground Beef are a good example of how easy ground beef recipes can be made in under 20 minutes.
- Side Dishes: Rice cookers and steamers make side dishes for these main courses above a breeze.
- Roasted Vegetables: On a high heat, at around 425 degrees, you can roast off most vegetables with little active work and dinner is still on the table in 30 minutes. My favorites are Roasted Root Vegetables.
We love pantry dishes like this. The first time we made this dish we were looking for shrimp recipes online because my husband bought more shrimp than I needed for a recipe. I absolutely hate reheating shrimp so I only cooked what we needed.
We love this recipe so much now we actually make a quick "takeout" meal a couple times a month of this recipe and my favorite takeout copycat, Mongolian Beef. Both recipes and the steamed rice are done in just 30 minutes, less time than it takes our local place to deliver.
Easy Shrimp Recipes:
We love Honey Orange Firecracker Shrimp, Bonefish Grill Bang Bang Shrimp, and Panda Express Honey Walnut Shrimp. But none of them are as easy as this recipe.
You may notice in the pictures the tails are still on the shrimp. This is for two reasons. 1: It looks prettier and you all enjoy pretty pictures and 2: We often make this dish then stand around the skillet grabbing shrimp and eating them with our fingers like tapas/appetizers.
If serving with rice or on a plate of food for your family go ahead and remove the tails before cooking.
How to peel and devein shrimp:
- To peel raw shrimp, tear away at the shell above the first segment of the shell (the tail segment).
- Take a paring knife and make a shallow cut along the spine of the shrimp (the back of it).
- Using the paring knife or a fork, gently remove the black strip of intestines.
- To remove tails just squeeze the shrimp out from the bottom of the tail segment.
Make this a meal:
- Add steamed rice or fried rice.
- Add a quick Classic Chinese Chow Mein
- Serve it over your favorite steamed vegetables or even cauliflower rice.
Tools Used in the Making of this Honey Garlic Shrimp:
Honey: The best deal on honey you're going to find online that you know for sure is real honey, only $4 a pound. Or buy it in the store for even less!
Wok: Great for high heat, quick cooking. This wok is a great addition to your kitchen if you love cooking Chinese food or stir fries in general.
Large Frying Pan: I use this Cuisinart for most of my non cast iron cooking unless I am going with a stainless steel option, then I choose my All Clad.
Easy Honey Garlic Shrimp
- Yield: 4 Servings
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Course: Main Course
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Author: Sabrina Snyder
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 pound shrimp peeled & deveined (21-25 count)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons lite soy sauce
- sesame seeds optional
- parsley optional
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
Add the canola oil to a cast iron skillet or wok on medium high heat.
Add in the shrimp and cook for 1-2 minutes on each side.
Remove the shrimp, add in the garlic, cook for 30 seconds.
- Add in the honey and soy sauce, and whisk together.
Cook for 1 minute until reduced and add back in the shrimp to coat before serving.
- Garnish with parsley and sesame seeds if desired.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 4 Servings, Amount per serving: 248 calories, Calories: 248g, Carbohydrates: 18g, Protein: 24g, Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 285mg, Sodium: 1385mg, Potassium: 129mg, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin C: 5.4g, Calcium: 168g, Iron: 2.7g
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.


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It has happened to every presenter.
You were told that you had a full hour but for whatever reason things are running late. You will only have half the time.
Nothing affects a presentation more than having to hurry through it. You are not able to properly tell the story or make your point.
The other alternative is to whack off whole chunks of the slide show. This is not necessarily bad; what makes it terrible is that you have very little time to decide which parts should go. The end result is often not pretty.
There is one sure way to address this "less time than we thought" issue and it is very simple.
When you prepare the presentation, try to make it fit in 75% of the allotted time.
A lot of good things will happen.
You will be forced to focus on key issues and eliminate the fluff. This always a good thing
You will have plenty of time for a Q&A session at the end. This is often where you will be able to tie up loose ends and make your sale.
You will have a good chance of ending early which lets everyone get on with their business.
In the world of presentations, early endings are often happy endings.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ethiopia must lift internet outage in eastern region – Coalition
A group of internet rights bodies, #KeepItOn have appealed to the Ethiopian government to restore internet access to areas in the country's eastern region.
Their call was contained in a joint letter published in the wake of reports that cities across Ethiopia's Somali regional state were in a state of internet outage following security skirmishes between the federal and regional authorities.
"We are writing to urgently request that you ensure the stability and openness of the internet. We have received reports that your government has shut down the internet in Jijiga, Dire Dawa, and
Harar cities in Ethiopia.
"On behalf of the more than 150 organizations from over 50 countries that make up the #KeepitOn Coalition, we implore you to keep the internet on in Eastern Ethiopia," their letter read in part.
Access Now, one of the key members of the coalition defines Internet Shutdown as: "an intentional disruption of internet or electronic communications, rendering them inaccessible or effectively unusable, for a specific population or within a location, often to exert control over the flow of information."


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Call of Duty Mobile – Play with Friends in Multiplayer Mode!
As the game called Call of Duty Mobile is available on the android platform so you must required the internet connection in order to play the real-time battles.
Basically, the game is smartly designed and made for the mobile users. It doesn't matter your phone is handling the smart graphics or not, if you understand the way of customizing the graphics of the game then you can easily handle everything.
Therefore, simply visit at the setting and customize the graphics according to your choice. Consequently, it will give you better outcomes and you are able to play the battles without any hustle or bustle.
Furthermore, plethora kinds of weapons are available in the Call of Duty such as sniper, assault rifle, and many more, so simply start working on the use of the weapons. You can earn these weapons in the game as you level up and gain points easily. Here are some call of duty mobile cheats to earn cod points as well as level up faster for you.
If we are talking about the multiplayer mode in the game, then you will gets chance to play along with the squad members like other players those know everything about the match.
We can say that it becomes very easy to communicate with another player while playing in the multiplayer mode because the game allows the players to use this feature wisely, so be ready to take its advantages.
Here are some more facts related to the multiplayer mode of the call of duty in upcoming paragraphs.
Also Read – Plants vs Zombies Tips and Tricks
Multiplayer Mode in COD mobile game!
In the Call of Duty mobile, the main mode that players can easily start playing along with their friends is the Multiplayer mode.
Therefore, it will automatically give you a chance to play against other player's in short game mode that will be pulled from the COD franchise.
Here are some great example of these mode has been explained in the upcoming paragraphs-
- Frontline – You need to earn the points by killing the hostiles in this match. Therefore, be ready to play this multiplayer mode that you will always Respawn at best. When you counted in the first to 10 points, then you will win automatically.
- TDM – TDM or you call it team Deathmatch that is counted in the top and amazing multiplayer modes, so is ready to play it and team up to kill other team members for earning the points. The team which makes the 30 points first will be winning team.
- Domination – You can easily capture the objective in order to earn the steady slew of the points. Therefore, if you reach the first score limit, then you will consider as the winning team of this mode.
- Search and destroy – another great example of the multiplayer mode is the Search & Destroy that work in the team to destroy enemy objective. In case you die first, then you will Respawn.
- Practice Vs. AI – last but not the least is the Practice Vs. AI is the most advanced and effective mode that is played by millions of players.
Finally, we have covered all the great aspects related to the Multiplayer modes of the game, so be ready to take its advantages and experience the real graphics of the COD game.


text: I never questioned the dairy industry; after all, the government says it is our main source of calcium and makes you grow big and strong, right? I'm going to try really hard not to make this an issue with our government here but when it comes down to brass tacks, we have been mis-informed. Not…Read More


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This session was freezing thanks to some extra wind, but this sweet girl is ALWAYS a ray of sunshine to work with! I enjoy every single visit with R and her parents. And although the weather wasn't on our side, it only proved that all you need for a successful session is some pretty light, … Continue reading Lil Miss Sunshine | Fall Family Photography
Tag: babyphotography
In-Home in Atlanta | Baby Boy
While I still enjoy meeting families at parks and fields, my personal favorite type of session will always be an at-home session, combining lifestyle and posed images. Especially with babies under 1 year. I love the personalization of these, and capturing them in their element. This little 9 month old was a dream to work … Continue reading In-Home in Atlanta | Baby Boy


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Easter Long Weekend
The Easter long weekend is a popular time to get away with family and friends. Too many lives have already been lost on NSW roads, with speed and fatigue the two biggest risk factors.
This long weekend get plenty of rest before you head out, avoid driving after midnight when your body normally sleeps, plan regular rest breaks, make sure children are busy to avoid in car distractions, watch your speed and drive to the conditions to help make sure your loved ones get to their destinations safely.
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Babies and Kids
Girl's Boho Crochet Vest
My oldest LOVED this Boho Vest that I made her. It's cute, fun, sparkly, and fringe-y. It's hard to seeRead more.
Ruffled Crochet Skirt
Who doesn't love summer fashion? It's all about skirts, bright colors and having fun with what you wear! IRead more.
Easy Toddler Sun Hat
This Easy Toddler Sun Hat is a great beginner hat project and only uses a single crochet. It worked greatRead more.
Sunshine & Roses Crochet Floppy Hat
This Sunshine & Roses Floppy Hat is bright and beautiful and the perfect addition to any girl's summer closet. The hat isRead more.
Crochet Circle Vest
I love circle vests! They're such a fun accessory. For this Crochet Circle Vest Pattern I wanted to use a CaronRead more.
Red, White & Blue Crochet Dress
I made this Red, White & Blue Dress to celebrate the summer holidays. But I might make another one in oranges andRead more.
Pretty in Purple Crochet Dress
This Pretty in Purple Crochet Dress Pattern is so easy and a great beginner pattern. Only basic crochet stitches areRead more.


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Of the issues I've reviewed so far— and the series as a whole, as we catch up— I think I can safely say that chapter 15 is my favorite. It barely wins out, the whole series is excellent. But in terms of ingredients coming together, things really cooking, and seeing how the progression of time lets things unfold... it is gorgeous. I give you chapter fifteen. (Spoilers below.)
Things get off to their usual abrasive start with Countess Robot X, encountering our semi-aquatic reporters, Upsher and Doff. They're all straight to the point, they're investigating Alana. She was a soldier under the Countess, and was reprimanded for hesitating to follow orders. The conversation is cut short when sniper fire cuts through Upsher's shoulder like paper. Never one to employ half measures, the Countess has the crow's nest obliterated from orbit. (It's the only way to be sure.)
On Quietus, Alana folds laundry. Her domestic duty's interrupted by Izabel, floating through the wall. Marko's laughing. Visibly happy for the first time since his father's death, Marko watches as Oswald and Klara stumble their way through Nun Tuj Nun, the "greatest board game in the universe." Alana joins in, making it two against two.
On the paradise planetoid, an anthropomorphized fox and a colossus with a welding torch finish repairing The Will's ship. (I love this comic.) The Will is curt to the point of rudeness, so
Slave Girl Sophie offers the fox man a snack for the road: a roasted skewer of local flora and fauna. The Will ignores The Spectre!Stalk that's been trying to talk him into staying put for the last two issues. He's going to finish what he started.
Gwen is pleased. The Spectre!Stalk, less so. The Will notes that Sophie's wandered off. Gwen volunteers (with Lying Cat) to go find her. Her body language suggests she's softened to him considerably, since they first met. "Smile for fuck's sake," she says. That won't end well. (No, really.)
Back on Quietus, Alana barely beats Klara at arm wrestling. It's a much-needed bonding moment, Klara would have been offended if Alana let her win. Now for the Psych-Out Round. While they appear to be taking a break, Klara talks down to Alana (because of course she does) about her domestic duties, playing house vs. finding a job.
Oswald agrees. He's happy to offer them a place to rest, but it's by no means a permanent solution. They'll need to find jobs, work, a proper home. (A nice jab from Oswald, by way of his work: "That's what you got out of my 435-page novel? The one I spent three years writing? That I want people to do nothing?") Like it or not, Marko and Alana have a family to think about, now. It's enough to send Alana storming off in an outrage...
Leaving Klara and Oswald to declare victory. "Nun Tuj Nun." Sneaky bastards.
Elsewhere, Sophie devours berries by the handful... at which point her long-lost mother arrives, from out of nowhere. What.
Klara's gone for a think, and Marko joins her. She tries to seduce him with promises of fellatio. He suggests she's using sex to avoid a painful subject, she disagrees. I'll be honest, this is one of my favorite scenes. Not because of the promises of sexual gratification, but the very fact that sex is still a part of their relationship. On top of the rampant hotness, Alana and Marko talk through their problem and agree to tackle it together, as a team. Leaving time besides for... things. *tries not to blush*
It's all fine and lovely, before that bastard Brian K Vaughan suckerpunches us with the finale. So, the ship's good to go. The Will gets a call from the service company that patched up his ship. Turns out both repairmen started tripping balls after Sophie's proffered snack. A parasite called Heroine alters the brain chemistry of anyone who consumes it, appearing in their mind as apparitions, talking them into sticking around (and joining the new ecosystem). It's insidious, it puts the last few chapters in a new light... and it goes a long way to justify why Sophie stabs The Will in the neck with her paring knife.
Damn, dude. I do't know what's creepier. The fact that a) the situation happened at all, or b) Fiona Staples did such a perfect job of illustrating a six-year-old stabbing a grown man in the throat.
At least the knife is still IN the wound, so it'll take that much longer for The Will to bleed to death. The apparition stands behind her— half her mom, half The Stalk, cheering her on. "Now stand on the bad man's neck until he stops moving."
That, dear readers, is what we call one hell of a cliffhanger. It's also an absolutely splendid twist... which may explain why this issue's my favorite.
Anyway. That was fucked up.
We're gaining on the series proper, delivering reviews in realtime. Just a few to go. So stick around. I plan to.
Casey Jones is an author and a voiceover artist. He has never stabbed anyone in the throat, nor is he looking to.


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Mini-Review: 'Iron Lights' by Felicity BanksPosted: March 23, 2019 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: AWW, AWW2019, reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
Emmeline Muchamore was respectable once. Her sweetheart, Matilda Newry, certainly put a stop to that. But when Emmeline gains magical insight into a disastrous future battle, she weaponises her wild reputation in order to draw trouble and death away from her adopted home … risking everything and everyone she loves in the process.
Iron Lights is a steam-powered tale of honour, love, magic, adventure, and mechanical spiders.
This will be a short review, because it's of the third book in the series, and I always feel like people would find the reviews of the first — or even the second — book more useful. Also, everything I said in those reviews is true of Iron Lights (except that the back matter isn't a story in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure but a series of of letters from side characters in the main book).
I really enjoy Emmaline as a main character. She's the sort of intellectually curious scientist and adventer that I can't recall seeing much of in fiction (even if she does lean a little towards the "mad" variety of scientist, if I'm honest). She's also unfailingly polite; devoted to her sweetie, Matilda; and capable of coming up with the most harebrained schemes I think I've ever seen! I wonder if it's because she gets the science of things, but not necessarily the humanity of them. Seriously, some of her schemes in this book were never going to end well!
I love the world that Iron Lights is set in, with its magically activated metals, clockwork soldiers and cyborg-ish creatures. I also love Banks's writing style. It's beautiful, and is a large part of how Emmeline's pure Britishness is conveyed. I'm always left wanting more, wishing the stories weren't quite so fast-paced, because I don't want them to end.
If you enjoy alternative worlds and steampunk, and would like to see both of those things in a colonial Australian setting, then check this series out.
Review: 'Dreadnought' by Cherie PriestPosted: August 29, 2018 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
Nurse Mercy Lynch is elbows deep in bloody laundry at a war hospital in Richmond, Virginia, when Clara Barton comes bearing bad news: Mercy's husband has died in a POW camp. On top of that, a telegram from the west coast declares that her estranged father is gravely injured, and he wishes to see her. Mercy sets out toward the Mississippi River. Once there, she'll catch a train over the Rockies and―if the telegram can be believed―be greeted in Washington Territory by the sheriff, who will take her to see her father in Seattle.
Reaching the Mississippi is a harrowing adventure by dirigible and rail through war-torn border states. When Mercy finally arrives in St. Louis, the only Tacoma-bound train is pulled by a terrifying Union-operated steam engine called the Dreadnought. Reluctantly, Mercy buys a ticket and climbs aboard.
What ought to be a quiet trip turns deadly when the train is beset by bushwhackers, then vigorously attacked by a band of Rebel soldiers. The train is moving away from battle lines into the vast, unincorporated west, so Mercy can't imagine why they're so interested. Perhaps the mysterious cargo secreted in the second and last train cars has something to do with it?
Mercy is just a frustrated nurse who wants to see her father before he dies. But she'll have to survive both Union intrigue and Confederate opposition if she wants to make it off the Dreadnought alive.
This is the second book in the Clockwork Century series (I reviewed the first book here). You don't need to read the first book before this one, though it wouldn't hurt and will give you some of the backstory around characters we only see in passing in this one.
The series is an alternative version of the American civil war, but with steampunk tech and zombies. It's basically made for me, you guys!
I really liked the first book, Boneshaker, but I loved Dreadnought. Part of that is because it's not a split point-of-view book — I don't mind those, but they aren't my favourite. Another part is that we don't have a sometimes-annoying teenage boy as one of the point-of-view characters. (Sorry, Zeke.) A third part was that the zombie threat is mostly the "creeping dread" kind than the teeming horde kind, which was sinister and chilling and kept me hooked.
Mercy was a delightful leading lady: a young nurse who is by turns ladylike and swears like a trooper (learned in the hospital, no doubt). She isn't afraid to take charge when direction is needed, and she has a bedside manner that is both disarming and tough when it needs to be.
She knows how to shoot a gun, but almost all of Mercy's involvement in the story's action revolves around her nursing others as best she can in a war zone (or a zombie apocalypse). I found that part of the story fascinating and disturbing in turns — we aren't exactly talking modern medicine here. And the story is so action-packed that Mercy definitely gets a lot of chances to work her trade.
Briar, the main character in Boneshaker, is still my fave due to the single mother solidarity thing, but Mercy runs a close second.
This series hasn't contained any romance so far (though I've already started the third book and there a charming development brewing). But if you're okay with that and love spec fic, Dreadnought is definitely worth checking out.
Review: 'Boneshaker' by Cherie PriestPosted: June 5, 2018 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska's ice. Thus was Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.
Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenaged boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.
His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive.
I can't remember how I added Boneshaker to my TBR shelf on Goodreads, but I was recently looking for inspiration for something new to listen to on audiobook and came across it. So I gave it a go.
Boneshaker is an alternative history steampunk with zombies, which you can pretty much get from the blurb and is frankly what sold me on the book in the first place. It's also a lightning-paced story with very little downtime or introspection, and a badass leading lady.
Let me just say how much I enjoyed Briar Wilkes. She's had a rough life — a father who's renowned throughout Seattle's outskirts (ie the remaining part of the city, outside the zombie-filled walls) as being a criminal cop who conducted a jail break right before his death. Even worse, she's the widow of Leviticus Blue, the man who unleased the Blight in what people think was an attempt to rob the banks in the heart of the original city. As a result, she's the most despised woman in the outskirts, and it's made her hard.
She's also a fiercely protecitve single mother to a slightly brash and reckless teenage boy. And that was my favourite thing about her. I can't recall the last time I read a piece of genre fiction where the main character is a mother to an older child. (Briar is in her mid-thirties.) She's not a robot — she gets scared and feels sad, though she's been conditioned by the world not to show it. More than anything, she's scared of losing Zeke.
I feel that.
Zeke himself is more frustrating. For a boy who considers himself to be worldly, he is at times incredibly naive — and his tendency to backchat when he's unsure of himself did make me clench my teeth more than once. But he's at heart a good kid, and I can't for a second argue with the characterisation, even if I did want to smack him at times.
The story is fast-paced; the characters rarely get to rest, and the zombie scenes are good enough that it was a mistake listening to one as I was wondering through the mall, let me tell you! (I was wearing headphones, at least, so I only scared myself.) The dialogue is at times a bit stilted in the way it's expressed — not so much the lines themselves but the way they are presented, the order of ideas. I don't know if this would've annoyed me more on paper, but in the audiobook format it wasn't too bad.
I love quite a few of the side characters, especially the other two female ones (Angeline and Lucy), as well as Swakhammer. I'm hoping that the other books in the series let us catch up with them all, because they deserve more page time.
If you like rollicking adventure/survival stories set in a highly polluted city where the air can kill you and super-fast zombies want to eat you, then definitely give Boneshaker a try.
Review: 'Leviathan' by Scott WesterfeldPosted: November 27, 2017 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, steampunk, young adult Leave a comment
Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.
With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.
I can't remember how Leviathan crossed my path. I think it might have been a sale on Audible? Regardless, I read some of the reviews and decided — despite my usual distaste for war fiction — to give Scott Westerfeld's steampunk YA alternative history a go. The audiobook is narrated by Scottish actor Alan Cumming, whose accent gives the perfect voice to Deryn, an awesomely competent young adult heroine who shines as a new recruit in the British Air Service. But he also does an excellent Austrian accent for Alek, and his various British accents are also great.
Before I more talk about the characters, I have to mention Westerfield's alternative world. Germany and Austria are "clankers", countries that have embraced steampunk-type technology: oil-guzzling, smoke-blowing machines of various fantastical designs. Great Britain, Russia and a few other countries that are mentioned in passing are "Darwinists" who, instead of using technology, use genetically modified "fabricated" creatures in the same sorts of roles. (PETA would not approve of any of the Darwinist creations, and perhaps especially the Leviathan air ship, which is a huge whale modified to host bacteria that produce hydrogen so it can float, carrying humans underneath and within it. I shared Alek's grossed out reaction to that last part.)
Anyway, moving on: when Deryn gets whisked away on a rogue Huxley (a hydrogen-breathing floating squid — I'll let that sink in) and is rescued by the Leviathan, she is drawn into a government diplomatic mission to Istanbul (not Constantinople *snigger*), to try and stop the Ottoman Empire from taking sides in the war.
The fact that Deryn is secretly a girl isn't the focus of the story, by any means, which was a relief. For the most part, she is a member of the crew, invested in her ship's wellbeing and surviving one disaster after the next. Because this is young adult and it'd be a rare book indeed that didn't have some romance, she also slowly develops a crush on Alek that she doesn't know what to do with.
I also enjoyed Alek's point of view chapters. He spends the first little while being incredibly naive and somewhat foolish, but under the circumstances that was entirely believable and relatable. Over the course of the story, with the guidance of his cunning fencing master, Count Volger, and patient master mechanic, Master Clopp, Alek comes out of his over-protected shell and starts to make his own decisions — often ones that Volger doesn't like.
There is a lot of action in this book, but the large-scale action sequences that I find boring in most war books aren't present here. The chapters stay very tightly focused on either Deryn or Alek, so while there might be other things going on in a battle, we only see what they see. This approach — and the novelty of conducting a war using modified hawks and bats instead of small planes — kept me engrossed where other war fiction loses me.
My only real gripe with the story is that the ending seemed rather abrupt. But luckily, I bought the first two books in the trilogy at the same time, so as I write this I'm already halfway through the sequel. Yay!
Review: 'The Rithmatist' by Brandon SandersonPosted: October 14, 2017 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity's only defense against the Wild Chalklings—merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing—kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics—and their world—forever.
"Brandon Sanderson writes yet another novel full of amazing worldbuilding and story misdirection." I fear I'm starting to sound like a bit of a broken record when it comes to his work, honestly. But it's truuuuue.
Things that make The Rithmatist stand out from Sanderson's usual fare are the target market (young adult) and the consequent reduction in the plot's complexity from the typical Sanderson thousand-page monster. There are fight scenes, a little blood, and descriptions of some scary events, but otherwise this book would be suitable for younger teenagers.
The thing I loved most about The Rithmatist was the magical system, and … okay, yes, that is another pretty standard response from me when it comes to his work. In this case, the magic is derived from empowered geometry and art, drawn with chalk. Different shapes (circles, lines, sine waves) have different effects and can be combined in various ways depending on the strategy of the rithmatist. And simple creatures can be drawn that come to two-dimensional life and follow simple instructions. From such a straightforward premise emerge a quite complex series of strategies used in duelling and combat against the wild chalklings.
I have never been so excited about geometry in my life!
Joel is a glorified maths nerd. He has no particular interest in or aptitude for drawing chalklings (just as well, given he is also not a rithmatist) but is excellent at understanding and drawing the different patterns. He tends towards laziness and emotional insensitivity at the start of the story, but does improve as the tale progresses. Melody, a rithmatic student who is prone to overblown dramatics and is a master of chalklings but awful with rithmatic lines, is shunned by the other rithmatic students due to her incompetence (and, let's be honest, her trying personality). I liked both of them, but was more fond of their introverted, kindly and conflict averse professor, Fitch.
Despite what you might assume, there is no romance in this book. Sanderson usually has a romantic plotline (although he tends towards awkwardness and the hottest anything might get is a chaste kissing scene), but not in this case. I suspect that Melody and Joel may get together down the track, especially given how regularly he notices that she's pretty, but they at least become friends first, which I heartily endorse.
The mystery is of the whodunnit variety (I fell for the red herring; I'll guess right next time, Sanderson, I swear). The Rithmatist isn't as dark as his other young adult series, The Reckoners, but I preferred its mystery feel to the latter's car chases and gun fights.
I definitely recommend this one!
Review: 'Heart of Brass' by Felicity BanksPosted: November 6, 2016 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: AWW, csfg, reviews, steampunk 4 Comments
Emmeline Muchamore is a well-bred young lady hiding explosive family secrets. She needs to marry well, and quickly, in order to keep her family respectable. But when her brass heart malfunctions, she makes a desperate choice to steal the parts she needs to repair it and survive.
She is unable to explain her actions without revealing she has a steam-powered heart, so she is arrested for theft and transported to Victoria, Australia — right in the midst of the Gold Rush.
Now that she's escaped the bounds of high society, iron manacles cannot hold her for long.
The only metal that really matters is gold.
I nabbed this when I was at Conflux last month, partly because it's Australian-set steampunk by a Canberra author but mostly because it's a seriously beautiful-looking paperback. (Yes, I am that shallow!) Happily, Heart of Brass was worth the gamble.
In the space of a couple-hundred pages, we get to see Emmeline go from proper society lady who conforms to (most) social expectations while chafing at the restrictions they impose to convict and criminal rebelling against an unfair system. For the most part, her transition seems entirely natural, although there's one particular incident that did have me raising my eyebrows a little — I just wasn't convinced that such a bright young lady would do something so spontaneous and poorly thought out. Maybe it was that colonial influence.
I loved seeing all the steampunk elements in what could otherwise be considered historical fiction — everything from practical devices to silly fashion (wheels for shoes?! I'm so clumsy I'd break something for sure). The elements are well-integrated into the world rather than seeming strapped on. There's also an element of magic; metals have different properties that influence the world around them in one way or another. It's a little bit Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn in that regard, without seeming derivative.
Basically, this combination made me a happy, happy girl.
On the romance front, there isn't much to speak of — Emmeline is attracted to different characters, but it would go very much against her character to see her shack up with someone early on. Still, it was obvious to me that she was bisexual from fairly early in the story, even though she doesn't seem to realise it. I loved that element too.
In terms of what I didn't love, there was really only one thing — this book is kinda short. I read it in paperback, and although I knew there was bonus material at the back, I didn't expect that bonus material to be almost 100 pages. So when I got to the end of the story, I felt a bit like I'd had the rug pulled out from under me. I wanted moooooooore. Obviously this is a good thing, as I will definitely be buying the sequel. I want more Emmeline, Matilda and Patrick.
As for that bonus material, it's a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure story that tells the tale of one of the bit characters in Heart of Brass, the real-life champion of the Eureka Stockade, Peter Lalor. Although I was disappointed it didn't show me more of the main characters' and their story, I did spend a fun hour or so following up all the different story options and reading the Easter Eggs.
I'd definitely recommend Felicity Banks. She's one to watch. (Also, as a side note, this is the most professionally produced book by a small press that I've ever seen. Odyssey Books definitely have game!)
Review: 'The Alloy of Law' by Brandon SandersonPosted: June 15, 2016 Filed under: Reviews | Tags: fantasy, reviews, steampunk Leave a comment
Centuries after the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is on the verge of modernity — railroads, electric street lights, and skyscrapers. Waxillium Ladrian can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After 20 years in the dusty Roughs, in the city of Elendel, the new head of a noble house may need to keep his guns.
The Alloy of Law is the fourth book (of six) in the Mistborn series, but — because the series is divided into two trilogies — it's actually the first book in the second trilogy. As a result, you don't have to have read the preceding three books in order to make sense of this one (though the religious references won't be as interesting if you don't).
I'm in more than a little awe of Sanderson. The first three books were a somewhat traditional (though not really) epic fantasy series. The Alloy of Law is set 300 years later in the same world — a world where technology has advanced to something resembling the 19th century. There's still magic, in the form of Allomancy and Feruchemy, the metal-based Mistborn magic system. But there are also guns, trains and electricity. As a result, in some ways this book defies characterisation. Is it steampunk? Fantasy? An alternate world Western set in the big city? I don't know … and that's always an exciting thing to find!
Wax is your traditional Western action hero (with superpowers): highly competent and with a tragedy in his past that means he shies away from love. Wayne is a hilarious and crass master of disguise who "trades" for things rather than stealing them (although the trades generally occur without the other party's consent). Both of them are fun characters, though I didn't enjoy them as much as Sazed, Breeze or Elend from the first three books.
Lady Marasi, the noblewoman who is studying to be a legal attorney, is a lot more interesting, to my mind. She's easily embarrassed but also a crack shot with a rifle, and she has a crush on Wax from before she meets him. She and he are well-matched in terms of both their interests and their intelligence, so Wax's denial of the fact she's clearly perfect for him is a little frustrating.
Overall, this was a fun book, though a little bit more predictable and less compelling than the first trilogy was. There was only one plot twist I didn't see coming, and I wasn't as invested in it as maybe I should have been. (That could be a result of the fact I listened to this book on either side of my son breaking his arm and spending a night in hospital, though — I had other things on my mind!)
Still, I enjoyed The Alloy of Law and have already started on the next book, Shadows of Self.


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523-308 Lester St (University Ave And King St N)
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RE/MAX Realty Specialists Inc., Brokerage


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Strife and Celebrations in Springfield
By Nicholas Everard One of television's most famous families is set to celebrate yet another milestone this weekend, despite being caught up in controversy. The Simpsons first began in 1989,
World Parkinson's Day
By Erin Archer Every 45 minutes an Australian is diagnosed with Parkinson's, a complex neurodegenerative disease that impacts more than 80,000 people around the country. Parkinson's affects people both
By Nicholas Everard The New South Wales State Government is implementing extensive reforms to current child sex offender convictions and punishments, following recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institution Responses


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Review Guide
Table of Contents
The Magic of Channel Bonding
Speedify is a VPN focused on security, speed, and reliability. Our magical channel bonding technology lets you use all available Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, and wired connections at the same time to speed up everything you do online.
What is a VPN?
A VPN or "virtual private network" is software that encrypts everything you send or receive from the internet so no one can listen in or spy on your traffic.
Security without Compromising on Speed
Depending on device support, Speedify utilizes bank-grade AES or a ChaCha-based encryption algorithms to keep your data safe and secure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Download and Install Speedify
Speedify is available for Mac, PC, iOS, Android, and Linux. We'll optimize your first 5GB of data usage every month for free – no account needed!
The Speedify UI
Let's get you oriented in the interface. From the Dashboard, you can click the Connection Bubbles in the top section to see your Connection Settings and control how Speedify helps you.
- Cellular Connection – Access Connection Settings for this connection.
- Wi-Fi Connection – Access Connection Settings for this connection.
- Connect / Disconnect – This switch can be used to quickly toggle Speedify on and off.
- Server/Connection Settings – This section shows the server to which you are currently connected. You can click the gear icon to manage Settings related to Servers, Sessions, Notifications, and Privacy.
- Account Settings – This section shows information related to your Speedify plan, like whether you have a Free or Unlimited Plan. Click the account icon to manage settings related to your account, like signing out and upgrading.
- Speed Graph – This graph shows you what Speedify is doing right now. The colored bars represent each connection, and the grey line represents the total data sent and received. When the grey line goes above the bars, that means you're getting a real speed boost!
- Pane Toggle – You can click the arrow to see more graphs and statistics.
- Connection Label – Connections are color-coded. You can click the label to bring up detailed stats and settings for that connection.
- Test Speed Button – Click this to see how well each adapter is performing over the current network, as well as how Speedify is performing.
Adding Connections
Speedify can use any Internet connection that works with your device. On mobile that typically means just Wi-Fi and Cellular (although some devices also support Bluetooth tethering, ethernet via an adapter, or have multi-sim capabilities).
On Desktop the list is much more expansive – if it can get you online, Speedify can bond it. If you're already on Wi-Fi, there are lots of ways to get additional connections:
Adding Connections on PC
Adding Connections on Mac
Adding Connections on Linux
Let's Take it for a Spin!
We're going to test Speedify's ability to bond multiple Internet connections during a large download. Then we will manually disconnect from one of the connections in the middle of a file transfer and watch Speedify intervene and save the download by seamlessly moving it to your other working connection. For the purposes of this explanation we're going to assume that at least one of your Internet connections is a Wi-Fi network – but know that any connection(s) will work.
- Launch Speedify
Go to the main screen in Speedify, also known as the "Dashboard." Verify that you have two Internet connections by looking for their adapter "bubbles" at the top of the screen. If you need help getting a second connections follow the steps in the section above. If you wish, hit the "Test Speeds" button to have Speedify evaluate your current connections.
- Start a Download
Now, let's get some data flowing. To see Speedify in action, lets start up a large file download.
On Desktop you can try downloading: Test files from ThinkBroadband or TurnKey Internet, large application installers such as Google Chrome or Firefox, or just a large file from your personal Google Drive or Dropbox account. On Mobile, head to the App or Play Store and download a large game.
- Return to the Speedify Dashboard
Back in Speedify, you can see the data from the download flowing on the graph. Assuming you have a good Wi-Fi connection, it should put most or all of the data on to the Wi-Fi. If the Wi-Fi is slow, it may use a bit of data from your second connection to get the download going. Speed boosts are indicated by the thin black line that rides along the top of the graph.
- Turn off Wi-Fi
Now to see how Speedify makes your Internet more reliable, let's manually disable Wi-Fi in the middle of the download. On iOS you can just slide up the Control Center from the bottom of your screen to access the Wi-Fi toggle. On Android, you can go to Settings to turn Wi-Fi off. On Mac or PC, turn off the connection from your network settings panel.
- Return to the Speedify Dashboard
Instantly, the lines that represent the Wi-Fi in the graph disappear, and the lines for your second connection surge. Speedify detects the loss of Wi-Fi and seamlessly moves the download over to the other connection. The application doing the download does not get cut off, the same download actually moves off of Wi-Fi without interruption. For people doing online gaming or stock trading this can be a lifesaver.
- Turn Wi-Fi On
Now, let's turn the Wi-Fi back on.
- Back to Both
Speedify sees that the Wi-Fi is back, and starts using it. Look carefully at the graph as the Wi-Fi returns: Speedify does not yet know how good the now-returned Wi-Fi is, so for a few seconds it uses both connections. It spreads the download between the two, until it determines that the "less expensive" Wi-Fi is working well, and then it shifts the download completely over to Wi-Fi, using no more data than is necessary on your second connection.
Use Cases
In addition to providing comprehensive online security, Speedify enables everyone from Amtrak commuters, to hardcore gamers and Twitch streamers to enjoy a more reliable Internet experience throughout the day.
And in the off-chance you happen to have 10 smartphones lying around, you can bond them all together into one super connection!
VPN Comparison Testing with Pingify
Simultaneously test the latency and reliabiliity of wifi, cellular, and VPN connections on your iOS device with Pingify!
Pingify is a free utility for testing network coverage, Internet reliability, and VPN dependability. It provides location based reporting as well as the ability to compare and export test results for further analysis.


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Welcome to my patio!
This is a story of one man learning how to destroy plants, and photographs, one at a time.
These photos in this set are all from my humble patio in Brooklyn, NY.
© 2011-2020 A Patio In Brooklyn All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright


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Tuesday, April 27, 2010
New Release for 04/27/10
3 comments:
- Paula R said...
Hey Liza, I picked up my copy at Walmart today. I ordered from Amazon too, but I couldn't wait for it to get here. I can't wait to settle down and read it. I have a feeling I will be up all night.
I love Xhex too. She kicks some major butt, and I think that her and JM are a great pair. Can't wait to see why Rehv had to do what he did for her.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
- April 27, 2010 at 4:46 PM
- mslizalou said...
I wish I could have stayed up all night to read, but I had to be at work today. Did read until almost 11 last night. Hope to get a big chunck finished tonight. I'm totally loving this book and only about 150 pages in.
- April 28, 2010 at 11:51 AM
- Paula R said...
I had to go to work too, but I still went to bed at around 2:30; one of the advantages of not being a good sleeper is that I get a chance to read. I have about 150 pages to finish. I love it too. I LOVE Xhex! The WARDen did a great job of revealing her past without getting into too much detail. I still sensed the horror and anguish she must have gone through in the past and when she was kidnapped by Lash. Happy reading!!!
Peace and love,
Paula R.
- April 28, 2010 at 2:44 PM


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The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, on October 31, 2017, is finally over. For many Catholics, the 'celebration' may have been a bit drawn out. The plethora of articles both praising and criticizing Luther and the Reformation that lead up to the anniversary, although not entirely unexpected, was a tad much.
Crux Editor John Allen wrote, on the day of the anniversary, that in the opinions of "two experts on each side of that Catholic/Lutheran divide" there is now a strong desire to reunite Catholics and Lutherans. Maybe high up the chain of command, the desire is there, but in all likelihood, the many pro and con articles that preceded the celebration did very little to bring lay Catholics and lay members of any of the Protestant denominations closer together. It's even possible the divide may have grown at ground level.
For example, my elderly, widowed, devout Catholic mother-in-law has an equally elderly and widowed, devout Lutheran male friend. In October they agreed to attend each other's Sunday services. After attending his first Catholic Mass ever, my mother-in-law's friend was fairly critical of the Mass. But my mother-in-law didn't even make it to the end of his church's service. She got up and walked out just before the end of the minister's sermon – a 15-minute diatribe against the Catholic Church. Not much reuniting here.
And of the many articles that appeared prior to Oct. 31, one article, in particular, stands out as a perfect example of why the divide won't be closed anytime soon. The article, "The 500th Anniversary of the Reformation and What It Means Today" attributes pretty much everything good that has happened since 1517, to Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Reformation.
"If there had been no Reformation, there would be no United States as we know it today," says author Scott Powell, a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute.
"American history from the very beginning — with the Anglicans settling Virginia, the Puritans and Presbyterians settling in New England, the Reformed Dutch settling in New York, and the Quakers settling Pennsylvania to name a few — is inextricably linked to the Protestant Reformation."
Influences on the Founders
Okay, the USA was settled mainly by Protestants and it is a predominantly Protestant country. And most of the Founding Fathers responsible for writing the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were Protestants as well. No news there. But then the author credits Martin Luther's "radical notion of human equality in a "priesthood of all believers," with the notion that "liberty of conscience and equality of all believers, regardless of class, was the proper basis for religious and political life."
Many historians generally agree that the biggest influences on the Founding Fathers were Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, David Hume, and especially, John Locke. And since Thomas Jefferson, the man who penned the Declaration of Independence, did not prescribe to any organized religion, it's a pretty big leap to suggest that Martin Luther influenced Jefferson's line, "all men are created equal."
In fact, as Gordon S. Wood, professor of history at Brown University says in an article at the American Enterprise Institute, Jefferson was probably thinking more along the lines that freedom and property ownership were the keys to establishing the new republic. "Indeed, his original draft for the Declaration of Independence stated that all men are created free and independent," notes Wood.
Calvin or St. Thomas Aquinas?
Powell also credits John Calvin's "resistance theory" for justifying "the people's right to disobey unjust rule." Resistance theory, he says, "would later find expression in the Declaration of Independence."
Of course, long before Calvin, St. Thomas Aquinas had a few things to say about just and unjust laws. So were the ideas expressed in the Declaration from Calvin, or is the real source St. Thomas?
And, let's not forget that by the 1700's Catholics and Jews were also present in the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. One of the original 13 colonies, Maryland, was even chartered as a Catholic colony. And three of the Founding Fathers were also, in fact, Catholic.
But why should any of this stand in the way of some good spin?
Powell does end his article lamenting the sad state of the culture in the U.S. today. But this sad state, he says, is only because, ". . . the Reformation that ushered in an unprecedented appreciation of both freedom and equality, as well as a deeper and more personal relationship with God the Father, has not completed its destiny."
Thinking about what the Powell contends, however, does make one pause. Would there really be "no United States as we know it today" without Luther, Calvin and the Reformation? In all likelihood there would still be a United States, but, yes, it would probably be a somewhat different United States. But then, too, the entire world might be different as well.
A Bit of History
Taking a closer look at history around the time of the Reformation from a different angle provides some perspective for these thoughts.
Long before the Declaration of Independence was written, the Catholic King and Queen of Spain financed a Catholic named Christopher Columbus in his quest to find a shorter trade route to the east by sailing west. As everyone knows, Columbus ran into the New World – the Americas. The Reformation was still 25 years away.
The same year that Columbus set sail, Catholic Spain finally succeeded in driving the last of the Muslim invaders from their stronghold in Granada back into North Africa – the end of the Reconquista. Even so, the Moors or Saracens, as the Muslims had come to be called in the West, had not yet given up trying to conquer all of Europe.
The Islamic Threat
For the next 70-some years, the Muslims were busy building ships and organizing and training an army. They were still determined to conquer Europe in the name of Allah.
By 1565, some 50 years after Luther posted his 95 Thesis, Sultan Selim II (the Islamic Caliph was called the Sultan once Egypt fell to the Turkish Ottoman Empire in 1517) was ready to give conquering Europe another shot.
In the years following their expulsion from Spain, the Muslims continued to launch numerous attacks by sea on the Northern shores of the Mediterranean in an effort to enlarge their coffers and acquire galley slaves for their ships. But thanks to Martin Luther, Christendom had been fractured and a divided Europe was something that worked in Selim II's favor.
Another Attempt
By 1565 the Muslims were ready to launch major simultaneous attacks on Europe by land and by sea.
A land attack was launched through the Balkans in Eastern Europe. The goal of the land attack was to advance into Slovakia, Poland, and what is now Germany. This would enable the Muslim army to encircle Italy from the north and cut off all aid to Italy. Once they had Italy the rest of Europe would be ripe for the taking.
Two separate massive naval attacks were also launched against Malta and the island of Cyprus. The Malta attack was repelled by the heroic Catholic Knights of Malta, but Cyprus wasn't as lucky.
Cyprus was then part of the (Catholic) Venetian empire. The man in charge of the island's fortress of Famagusta was General Marcantonio Bragadino. He held the fortress of Famagusta for as long as possible but was finally forced to accept the terms of a 'peaceful' surrender offered by the Muslim victor, Alfa Mustafa. The surrender turned in to a bloodbath.*
The Holy League
Luckily Pope Pius V had been sounding the alarm about the Muslim fleet build-up for some time. Finally, he sent an envoy to the Catholic King of Spain, Phillip II, asking that he join with the Venetians and the Genoese, under the papal banner, to form a Catholic 'Holy League' to repel what he foresaw as a coming invasion. Phillip agreed and put his younger but illegitimate brother, Don Juan of Austria, in charge of the Holy League fleet of over 200 Spanish, Genoese, and Venetian ships.
When all was ready, Don Juan ordered the fleet to set sail. He found the Muslim fleet of over 300 ships in the Greek Gulf of Patras on October 7, 1571, and attacked. What followed, is one of the greatest sea battles in history – the Battle of Lepanto. Don Juan's fleet completely destroyed the Muslim fleet in about four hours, and the Muslim navy was never a threat to Christendom again.
But even though the Muslim navy was no more, the Muslim army was still slowly advancing on land.
The Protestant countries of Western Europe paid little attention to the Muslim advance. They saw the Muslim army as a problem for the Catholic nations to deal with. Some evidence exists that the leaders of the Protestant countries were even paid off by the Muslims. Muslim envoys also assured the Protestant leaders that since they no longer recognized the authority of the pope that Islam did not consider them enemies!
A Muslim Blunder
Regardless, the then Sultan of all Islam, Mehmet IV, instructed his general, Kara Mustafa, not to attack Vienna. He was concerned such an attack would unite Protestant and Catholic Europe against Islam. Italy, not Vienna, was the objective. But for some reason Mustafa disobeyed Mehmet. On July 7, 1683, he decided to attack Vienna with his army of more than 300,000 infantry and cavalry. The commander of the Viennese defenses, General Lubomirski, had only 20,000 or so soldiers with which to defend the city.
When news of the attack got out, despite Mehmet's concerns about Protestants and Catholics coming together, a Catholic Holy League relief force was assembled, led by the Catholic King Sobieski of Poland. The relief forces headed to Austria and late in the day on September 11 King Sobieski's army engaged Mustafa's army.
The decisive Battle of Vienna was concluded the very next day. After long hours of furious infantry fighting, King Sobieski finally released his fearsome Polish Hussars cavalry that he had been holding back. The Muslim line broke and the siege of Vienna was lifted.
The Holy League army pursued the retreating Muslim army south through Hungary, retaking city after city. By 1686 the Holy League had retaken most of Hungary. The Muslim plans for the conquest of Europe were at an end.
Some Speculation
Given this bit of history, it's not unreasonable to speculate about what might have been had there been no Reformation. What if there had been no fracture in Christendom? Would the Muslim army have been allowed to march all way to the walls of Vienna? Or would the nations of Europe have said 'enough already?' Might a united, Catholic Europe have dealt with the Islamic threat differently? Would it maybe have even taken the war to the gates of Istanbul? Would a Holy Roman Empire army then have taken the war into the Middle East and possibly into North Africa? Possibly.
Taking this speculation further, had there been no Reformation, would there still have been an Enlightenment (1685-1815)? The Catholic mathematician Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) was a key individual between the Renaissance and the development of modern science. The scientific revolution then kick-started the 'Age of Reason' – the Enlightenment.
And one of the key figures of the Enlightenment, Jean Jacques Rousseau, started out in life as a Calvinist, converted to Catholicism (he even spent time training to become a priest), and then went back to Calvinism to regain his Geneva citizenship. So what influenced the thought processes behind his contributions to political philosophy and moral psychology? His view that human beings are good by nature and corrupted by society is certainly more Catholic than Protestant.
So it's not unreasonable to speculate that an 'Enlightenment' would still have taken place.
Revolutions and wars
Taking this speculation further still, the United States would still have been colonized. And given the treatment the colonies received from King George, they probably would still have broken away from England. And it still might have become the Democratic Republic. But it would be a Catholic country today.
Let's take the speculation even further. Would there have been a French Revolution, a Russian Revolution, or even a WWI and a WWII? How about a Korean or Vietnam War? Would the Iranian Hostage Crises have taken place in 1981? Or would maybe Iran and most of the Middle East now be mostly Catholic? Would maybe even China be a Catholic country today with a democratic or parliamentary government?
What Might Have Been
And to get even more current, would there have been a September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center? Would Europe be so secular now? Would there be so many "no-go zones" in many European countries? And would we need to be concerned about radical Islamic terrorists today?
Such speculation is interesting, but when all is said and done, it's probably pointless. At the same time, attributing all the good things that have happened since 1517 to Martin Luther, John Calvin, and the Reformation is just plain stupid. Especially since what might have been just might be a lot better then what is.
* Michael Novak recounts the gruesome details of what happened at Famagusta and also describes the Battles of Lepanto and Vienna in some detail in an excellent article written in 2014 here at the National Reporter.


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|About · Contact · Help · Desk · ⚙ · 3,388 articles
|Contents · A–Ž index
World of Art: School for Contemporary Arts
From Culture.si
|Svet umetnosti
|Metelkova 6, SI-1000 Ljubljana
|386 (0) 1 431 8385
|386 (0) 1 430 0629
|SCCA-Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts
|Simona Žvanut, Programme Director
|Miha Kelemina, Coordinator
- 8 June to 10 June 2015
A presentation of DIVA Station and World of Art: School for Contemporary Arts by Barbara Borčić (SCCA-Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts) and an exhibition featuring the works of artist Petra Varl at the 2nd CEE Countries Contemporary Art Works Exhibition and CEE Countries Art Museums Curator Forum at Ningbo Museum of Art in Ningbo, China
- 10 May to 11 May 2012
Saša Nabergoj from World of Art: School for Contemporary Arts at Applied Exhibiting international conference at University of Applied Arts Vienna in Vienna, Austria
- 25 August to 4 September 2011
Saša Nabergoj, head of the World of Art: School for Contemporary Arts lectures on laziness and participates at the Summer Seminars for Art Curators in Yerevan, Armenia
The programme was introduced in 1997 on a premise that future experts (critics and curators) need and should be taught the necessary skills and methods to gain knowledge of the critical and theoretical apparatus to self-confidently approach the complex matter of the world of art.
The thirteenth version (2010/2011) will feature an exhibition at the Alkatraz Gallery, one of partners of the school. The current programme began in April 2010 and contains 11 students working with tutors Nevenka Šivavec and Jože Barši, along with Zemira Alajbegović Pečovnik, Branislav Dimitrijević, Neven Korda, Petja Grafenauer, and Suzana Milevska as workshop tutors and Jana Intihar Ferjan, Alenka Pirman, Branka Stipančić, Miško Šuvaković, and Rebeka Vidrih as lecturers.
Within lectures of the spring semester (April–June) the latest edition in 2010 offers also an overview of 20th-century artistic practices, trends, socio-political contexts and key shifts in the understanding, thematisation, analysis and historical positioning of fine arts. Beside paying attention to the lectures on the structure of the art system in Slovenia and its correspondence with the international context, the World of the Art also opens topics of video as a tool and strategy of artistic expression. Beside visits of exhibitions and artists studios the school offers also the workshop to improve and familiarise the students with the history and theory of art criticism and curatorial concepts.
In addition to Alkatraz Gallery which features the final exhibition of the school, gallery partners of past editions were ŠKUC Gallery and Kapelica Gallery) in Ljubljana. Additional lectures were also held in Nova Gorica Arts Centre and Celje Gallery of Contemporary Art. In the latest edition World of Art also collaborates with the Department of Art History at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts. The Models of training and collaboration in contemporary arts project runs in collaboration with ECM, educating, curating and managing studies at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Postgraduate Museological Curatorial Studies at the University Jagiellonski Krakow and KURZIV, Platform for Culture, Media and Society Zagreb. The project is part of Leonardo da Vinci partnership within the European Lifelong Learning Programme.
The joint project ATOM2 (A je TO! uMetnost, phAntom TO Mindset) was developed in 2010 in collaboration with the Postgraduate Curatorial Studies of Institute Cultural Studies in the Arts (Zürich Art University) and is funded through the Slovenian-Swiss cooperation programme to reduce economic and social disparities within the enlarged European Union.
See also
- SCCA-Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts
- SCCA-Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts Library
- SCCA-Ljubljana Centre for Contemporary Arts Project Room


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EVENT: Kids and Parks Project
As a park-poor, working class community in Southern California, the City of El Monte suffers from some of the highest childhood obesity rates in LA County. El Monte only has 0.4 acres of open space/ 1000 residents, a dismal amount compared to the national average of 6 acres/ 1000 residents. Our children NEED open space and parks to play in and to nurture their imaginations.
With your donation, you can help fund a field trip to take 40 4th graders from Cortada Elementary School to Eaton Canyon Park, at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.
There, volunteer docents will lead small-group hikes. Students will learn about native plants, environmental justice and more. It will be the first time for many of them to visit the San Gabriel Mountains, which was declared a National Monument by President Obama in 2014.
Please donate today so our El Monte kids can experience nature in their own backyard, the San Gabriel Mountains. Thank you!!!
This event is a collaboration between The Sierra Club and Day One, a public health non-profit with 25+ years of creating healthier, more vibrant communities in the San Gabriel Valley.


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The best decision
Research has shown that knowledge of more than one language increases cognitive skills in children, providing them with greater mental flexibility and allowing them to use these skills to understand mathematical or linguistic concepts and problems.
At Darwin House the boys and girls are constantly spoken to in English, they listen to their teachers over and over, at the welcome, in the greetings, in the morning assemblies, in class, in the garden games. They quickly adapt to the new language, they absorb it like sponges.
At early ages it is essential to speak a lot with the child, until they understand the language and their teachers, before beginning with the processes of reading and writing.
Early years
All of our students are admitted to the school, either to Beagle or Darwin, between the ages of 1 and 3, which allows us to stand out from other schools as we work and make progress in languages with the same group of children from a very young age, and avoid other students joining the group in later years that did not start with us, and therefore could hold back or delay the progress of the groups.
When they reach the end of their school years and are faced with university, the students become fully and immediately aware of the excellent decision that their parents made by allowing them to learn languages as small children. What for some people is an unsurpassable barrier (languages), for them are tools that launch their careers.


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All the loans include different options reminiscent of various rates of interest, payment phrases and circumstances, borrowing limits and even the eligibility standards. These directories show you the non-public lenders who will provide massive unsecured loans and offers you rankings as to how they've handled their past customers. If you already have a working relationship with a bank or credit score union in your space, you should speak with them first about getting a working capital mortgage or line of credit.
Beneath this program the small business corporations can get a short-time period mortgage of up to $35,000. One draw back to getting an unsecured business mortgage through a bank is that many banks will require that you have a deposit account with them to apply.
You may apply for time period loans, strains of credit and cash advances via this lender. These loans are provided by participating lenders, which mostly comprises of American banks as well as some non-bankers who are associated with SBA 7(a) program. If you want to perceive the qualifications for a mortgage approval, you have to look at the varied sorts of loans obtainable to you.
The wisest factor to do is to look online, there are a lot of on-line lenders providing very reasonable interest rates and you'll be able to get quotes from them and evaluate rates and fees before making a call. Shopping for property for your small business is likely one of many largest bills you will incur as a business proprietor.
Fortunately, industrial mortgages offer aggressive rates of interest because the loans are secured by the actual property you are buying. Many of the lenders would possibly even reject the functions on seeing a spotty credit score. The number of small businesses started by ladies has grown at a fee faster five instances quicker than the national common since 2007.


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The Link, Summer 2019
| by Josie Newman |
When Debra Bannister was in high school, her art teacher allowed her to take tubes of oil paint home for the weekend, where she would study books by portrait artists such as Thomas Gainsborough, and paint to her heart's content.
"I was always captivated by people and their portraits. I loved painting with oils because they stay wet longer than acrylics and they're more malleable," reflects the Buckhorn artist. "At one point, I thought I would be a fashion designer, though, because I loved drawing clothes that I imagined certain people wearing."
"I work anywhere between realism and abstraction, depending on what I am trying to say through my painting."
As a teenager, she was the first female to join the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment army reserves, a group of reserve soldiers with the Canadian Armed Forces who can be called to various assignments at any time. "We were trained, just like the regular soldiers, and could have been called to war. I got to travel all over and meet a lot of interesting people," says Bannister, who worked security support at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Bannister's parents were military personnel, so she was used to the lifestyle. Her two brothers recently retired from careers in the Army.
Her fascination with people and their activities is not surprising, considering how friendly and talkative Bannister is. In fact, it is how she made the unanticipated shift from oil to watercolour painting in 2006.
"My husband and I moved from Kitchener to Six Mile Lake near Buckhorn because he got a new job. I would frequently walk along the lake, and it was there I met a woman who was part of a watercolour painting group in Lakefield. After we'd talked a few times, I decided to visit the group," she recalls.
Once Bannister joined the group and started painting watercolours, she never looked back. Now she spends three days a week painting everything from portraits of people and animals, to cottage country landscapes and nature, as well as still lifes of plants.
"What I like about watercolour painting is it is challenging. You have to be good at planning and executing the watercolour pigments on the canvas, whereas oil is more forgiving. What I really love, though, is the fluidity of watercolours which is how you can exploit the medium," says Bannister.
That fluidity suits her modus operandi of painting, which is to express her feeling about the subject she is painting, rather than trying to paint it accurately. "I work anywhere between realism and abstraction, depending on what I am trying to say through my painting."
Some of her portraits reflect the abstraction Bannister speaks about. For example, hair can flow sideways or upwards, and faces can be slightly distorted or undefined. "I do that to depict a characteristic, like freedom or softness, I pick up on in the subject's personality."
At the Back Door, the painting on this magazine's cover, is based on Bannister's English garden, which she created in her backyard in Kitchener, as a retreat from the stress in her life at that time. The painting is a riot of colour, with contrasting light and shadows.
"I was a medical lab technologist for 20 years, and I managed a hospital's lab in Kitchener. When you do that kind of work, you can never make a mistake, so I took up gardening because it was so relaxing and it doesn't really matter if you put one of the seeds in the wrong spot," she explains.
When Bannister's two children, Lee and Heather, were growing up, she did not paint but made stained glass windows because they were easier to work on in the hectic environment created by young children.
In addition to painting, Bannister teaches at the Art School of Peterborough, and conducts workshops on various painting topics at the Art Gallery of Bancroft, the Kawartha Artists' Gallery & Studio in Peterborough, and a workshop location in Lindsay. Most recently, she was asked to paint all 21 illustrations for a children's book.
Debra Bannister's work is available for purchase by contacting her online, or at the art festivals and galleries which are listed on her website, debrabannisterart.ca
Josie Newman, a previous full-time journalist who now works freelance, is a lifelong writer and lover of the arts. She lives in Oshawa, in an older house surrounded by antiques, plants and cats.


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SAN FRANCISCO, California – In the humid chill of a barrell room, Adam Franscioni wedged himself between the stacks to reach the summit.
With a wine thief in one hand and a glass in the other, the Roar winery manager provided enough barrel samples for a thorough preview of the 2016 vintage. The samples were so pure, full of flavor and diverse in character traits, they could be bottled and sold immediately.
That won't happen for several months, but, on a recent Sunday afternoon Franscioni began to pull samples. Later that night, his father Gary Franscioni and winemaker Scott Shapley would visit the winery to begin the final blend.
If what I tasted is any indication, 2016 is going to be a stunner of a vintage.
Winemaker spotlight
Adam Franscioni is on the move.
He'll soon trade the majestic rolling hills and hustling city life of San Francisco for the family vineyards in Salinas. While the change is dramatic, it will allow Franscioni to edge deeper into the family business as he will farm the Sierra Mar vineyard. He will still manage the winery, but will now be entrusted with the most challenging of the family vineyards to farm.
It's a far cry from his first vintage when he admits to stumbling around in the dark to find enough berries from different blocks to sample during harvest. There's only starlight and the moon in the Santa Lucia Highlands during the overnight hours when harvest takes place, but he's learned his way around and is ready for the new challenge.
Everything from row direction to clonal selection in the Sierra Mar was done with absolute precision. While it's the most expensive vineyard to farm because it requires water to be pumped for three miles for irrigation, the wines are consistently amazing.
The "Tiger Block" barrel sample was an expressive piece of the puzzle. Like much of the 2016 vintage, the berries were small and led to very concentrated juice.
"It was a good vintage," said Franscioni about 2016. "We had a lot of small berries. On the new sorting table we have a slot that the little berries will pass through and fall onto a tray. I remember emptying that tray often."
Another all star block was "The Shop," a Pisoni clone thusly named because of its proximity to its namesake storage facility on the property. Interestingly, when doing a replanting, Franscioni reached out to clients to see if there was a particular clone with which they'd like to work. Clone 23, a Swiss Pinot Noir clone, was continually mentioned. It grows with very tight clusters and, out of the barrel, was wild and bold, almost like a Syrah.
The appellation wines at Roar are a great value, they over deliver for their price point. The 2013 and 2014 Roar Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnays retail for $36 and the Pinot Noir $42. While the single vineyard bottling Pinot Noirs from Gary's and Rosella's ($56) cross the $50 threshold, they reward with a full mouthfeel and complex set of memorable flavors.
From the Soberanes vineyard comes a Pinot Noir that has been Franscioni's favorite vineyard. He's been "digging it" the last couple of years because of its fruit forward nature.
"The fruit is has so many blueberry flavors that I love it," Franscioni said. "Gary's can bring in some earthier notes because the vines are a decade older."
While 2016 will bring some new customers into the fold, famed Pinot producer Josh Jensen of Calera will produce a wine from the Gary's Vineyard for the first time. Budwood from the Calera clones had a very elegant nose and subtle, blue fruit complexity.
"We're usually waiting for the acids to catch up to the sugars in the Santa Lucia Highlands," Franscioni said. "We are lower acid. That's what's cool about Pinot. There are maybe eight regions in the world that could grow the grape. Yet, each one of them is so different. From Oregon to Lompoc there's really some good stuff."
Wine 101
A long barrel of Grenache rested alone, on the opposite side of the room from the Pinot Noir.
Floral aromas, light in color and body with delicate strawberry and tea flavors, Franscioni asked what I thought of the wine they'd produced for the first time. It might end up in a blend he said. No one was quite sure. My suggestion was 25 cases, $42 per bottle and a bet that it would sell out upon release. We'll see when the fall wine offering is made.
• James Nokes writes a bi-weekly wine column for the Daily Chronicle. He's been tasting, touring and collecting in the wine world for several years. Contact him at email@example.com.


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Ep 40 - Better with Butter
Ep. 40 Better with Butter
It's the most wonderful time of the year… more stress than ever before, so that means we need BUTTER! We have our own holiday party on the bench, with day drinking, snacks and writing prompts. It's epic! Remember, keep calm and put some butter on it!!
Shoutout #BenchWriteClub from @frigay13
New PATRON: Kelly!! #WriteItBitch
Promo by @boobiepodcast / boobiepodcast.podbean.com
New name for our listeners – BENCHLINGS! Thank you @Kayla_Trapeze and everyone who voted!
Follow us on:
Email us at email@example.com
Become our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/2girlsonabench
Buy us a snack at https://ko-fi.com/benchsnack
Our official home: The Podfix Network @PodFix , https://www.podfixnetwork.com


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Empty Bexleyheath community hall could make way for flats
PUBLISHED: 07:00 17 April 2019
An empty community hall in Bexleyheath could be set for a new lease of life as flats, under a recently emerged scheme.
Developer Jones Town Planning has put forward plans on behalf of Amazing Grace Church to bulldoze the vacant property in Devonshire Road in place of an apartment block.
The Harold Stevens Memorial Hall has been used as a nursery and church hall, but is now unused.
According to the plans: "The children's nursery closed down in 2015. It could not compete with other nurseries which had opened in the area.
The property remained empty between 2015 and January 2017.
"In January 2017 the Amazing Grace Church were granted a one year lease on the basis that the church intended to redevelop the land.
"The church has subsequently stopped using the building and the property is now vacant.
"Given the residential nature of the area and desire to increase housing provision in the borough it is considered that a residential use would be the most appropriate in this location."
The developers plan four apartments, mixed between one, two and three bedrooms, spread across two floors.
The scheme is currently being assessed by experts at the council with a decision expected in the coming months.


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Cowboy Cones
Lake Charles
- Lake Charles, LA 70609
- (337) 853-4316
- Website
Cowboy Cones is shaved ice on wheels! Our trailer rolls anywhere that needs a cool treat on a hot day! Look for us at the baseball park, soccer fields, and neighborhood pools - or make a BIG splash and book us for your next event! With flavors kids (and adults) will love, Cowboy Cones is guaranteed to put a smile on your face!
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday: 2 -7 PM
Saturday: 12 -5 PM
Sunday: Closed
- Price Range: ($-$$$)
- Hours of Operation: Monday-Friday: 2 -7 PM


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One of the youth led Bible study at Chazown this week, and it was great! We read about Peter denying Jesus in Matthew 26, and something new stood out to me – in verse 73 a bystander comes up to Peter and says, "Certainly you are one of [the men with Jesus], for your accent betrays you."
Peter was a Galilean, and the way he spoke made it obvious, even when he was trying to blend in with the crowd outside the courtyard. I don't think Christians should try to keep their faith a secret, but there are many times it may not be possible or appropriate to preach and evangelize. For those times, I hope I will live with an ever-strengthening accent: a humble attitude, gracious spirit, and integrity of character – all testifying to the work God has done in me, so that no matter what my words happen to be, bystanders will recognize that I belong to Jesus.
Me too!
Such cool thoughts!!! I like you. We should date sometime
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What you need to know about Ring Fit Adventure: price, release date, Ring-Con accessory, and more
Heard about that new Nintendo 'thing'? There's a game called Ring Fit Adventure and a new accessory called the Ring-Con. But, then, it's also known as the Nintendo Switch Ring Fit? It's really not the most intuitive sounding of names. That's OK, though, because we're on hand to decipher everything you need to know about it.Read more about this deal


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This versatile snap off knife by Trojan is ideal for precision cutting of the most flexible to the most resistant materials (paper, cardboard, plastic, leather). Suited for use in the modern workplace, DIY or in the construction industry.
We will gladly assist with returns and exchanges of this product in accordance with our returns and exchanges policy
Where you find a competitor's lower price on the same stocked item, we'll beat it by10%
Excludes trade quotes, stock liquidations, commercial quantities and MarketLink products. Same in-stock item available for same-day delivery or collection, including GST and delivery charges.


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This post is part of the series on Deep Learning for Beginners, which consists of the following tutorials :
- Neural Networks : A 30,000 Feet View for Beginners
- Installation of Deep Learning frameworks (Tensorflow and Keras with CUDA support )
- Introduction to Keras
- Understanding Feedforward Neural Networks
- Image Classification using Feedforward Neural Networks
- Image Recognition using Convolutional Neural Network
- Understanding Activation Functions
- Understanding AutoEncoders using Tensorflow
- Image Classification using pre-trained models in Keras
- Transfer Learning using pre-trained models in Keras
- Fine-tuning pre-trained models in Keras
- More to come . . .
In our previous tutorial, we learned how to use models which were trained for Image Classification on the ILSVRC data. In this tutorial, we will discuss how to use those models as a Feature Extractor and train a new model for a different classification task.
Suppose you want to make a household robot which can cook food. The first step would be to identify different vegetables. We will try to build a model which identifies Tomato, Watermelon, and Pumpkin for this tutorial. In the previous tutorial, we saw the pre-trained models were not able to identify them because these categories were not learned by the models.
Transfer Learning vs Fine-tuning
The pre-trained models are trained on very large scale image classification problems. The convolutional layers act as feature extractor and the fully connected layers act as Classifiers.
Since these models are very large and have seen a huge number of images, they tend to learn very good, discriminative features. We can either use the convolutional layers merely as a feature extractor or we can tweak the already trained convolutional layers to suit our problem at hand. The former approach is known as Transfer Learning and the latter as Fine-tuning.
As a rule of thumb, when we have a small training set and our problem is similar to the task for which the pre-trained models were trained, we can use transfer learning. If we have enough data, we can try and tweak the convolutional layers so that they learn more robust features relevant to our problem. You can get a detailed overview of Fine-tuning and transfer learning here. We will discuss Transfer Learning in Keras in this post.
ImageNet Jargon
ImageNet is based upon WordNet which groups words into sets of synonyms (synsets). Each synset is assigned a "wnid" ( Wordnet ID ). Note that in a general category, there can be many subcategories and each of them will belong to a different synset. For example Working Dog ( sysnet = n02103406 ), Guide Dog ( sysnet = n02109150 ), and Police Dog ( synset = n02106854 ) are three different synsets.
The wnid's of the 3 object classes we are considering are given below
- n07734017 -> Tomato
- n07735510 -> Pumpkin
- n07756951 -> WaterMelon
Download and prepare Data
For downloading Imagenet images by wnid, there is a nice code repository written by Tzuta Lin which is available on Github. You can use this to download images of a specific "wnid". You can visit the github page and follow the instructions to download the images for any of the wnid's.
However, If you are just starting out and do not want to download full size images, you can use another python library available through pip – imagenetscraper. It is easy to use and also provides resizing options. Installation and usage instructions are provided below. Note that it works with python3 only.
Download CodeTo easily follow along this tutorial, please download code by clicking on the button below. It's FREE!
# Install imagenetscraper pip3 install imagenetscraper # Download the images for the three wnids and keep them in separate folders. imagenetscraper n07756951 watermelon imagenetscraper n07734017 tomato imagenetscraper n07735510 pumpkin
I found that the data is very noisy, i.e. there is a lot of clutter, the objects are occluded etc. So, I shortlisted around 250 images for each class. We need to create two directories namely "train" and "validation" so that we can use the Keras functions for loading images in batches.
Load the pre-trained model
from keras.applications import VGG16 vgg_conv = VGG16(weights='imagenet', include_top=False, input_shape=(224, 224, 3))
In the above code, we load the VGG Model along with the ImageNet weights similar to our previous tutorial. There is, however, one change – include_top=False. We have not loaded the last two fully connected layers which act as the classifier. We are just loading the convolutional layers. It should be noted that the last layer has a shape of 7 x 7 x 512.
Extract Features
The data is divided into 80:20 ratio and kept in separate train and validation folders. Each folder should contain 3 folders belonging to he respective classes. You can change the directory according to your system.
train_dir = './clean-dataset/train' validation_dir = './clean-dataset/validation' nTrain = 600 nVal = 150
We will use the ImageDataGenerator class to load the images and flow_from_directory function to generate batches of images and labels.
datagen = ImageDataGenerator(rescale=1./255) batch_size = 20 train_features = np.zeros(shape=(nTrain, 7, 7, 512)) train_labels = np.zeros(shape=(nTrain,3)) train_generator = datagen.flow_from_directory( train_dir, target_size=(224, 224), batch_size=batch_size, class_mode='categorical', shuffle=shuffle)
Then we use model.predict() function to pass the image through the network which gives us a 7 x 7 x 512 dimensional Tensor. We reshape the Tensor into a vector. Similarly, we find the validation_features.
i = 0 for inputs_batch, labels_batch in train_generator: features_batch = vgg_conv.predict(inputs_batch) train_features[i * batch_size : (i + 1) * batch_size] = features_batch train_labels[i * batch_size : (i + 1) * batch_size] = labels_batch i += 1 if i * batch_size >= nImages: break train_features = np.reshape(train_features, (nTrain, 7 * 7 * 512))
Create your own model
We will create a simple feedforward network with a softmax output layer having 3 classes.
from keras import models from keras import layers from keras import optimizers model = models.Sequential() model.add(layers.Dense(256, activation='relu', input_dim=7 * 7 * 512)) model.add(layers.Dropout(0.5)) model.add(layers.Dense(3, activation='softmax'))
Train the model
Training a network in Keras is as simple as calling model.fit() function as we have seen in our earlier tutorials.
model.compile(optimizer=optimizers.RMSprop(lr=2e-4), loss='categorical_crossentropy', metrics=['acc']) history = model.fit(train_features, train_labels, epochs=20, batch_size=batch_size, validation_data=(validation_features,validation_labels))
Check Performance
We would like to visualize which images were wrongly classified.
fnames = validation_generator.filenames ground_truth = validation_generator.classes label2index = validation_generator.class_indices # Getting the mapping from class index to class label idx2label = dict((v,k) for k,v in label2index.iteritems()) predictions = model.predict_classes(validation_features) prob = model.predict(validation_features) errors = np.where(predictions != ground_truth)[0] print("No of errors = {}/{}".format(len(errors),nVal))
Let us see which images were predicted wrongly
for i in range(len(errors)): pred_class = np.argmax(prob[errors[i]]) pred_label = idx2label[pred_class] print('Original label:{}, Prediction :{}, confidence : {:.3f}'.format( fnames[errors[i]].split('/')[0], pred_label, prob[errors[i]][pred_class])) original = load_img('{}/{}'.format(validation_dir,fnames[errors[i]])) plt.imshow(original) plt.show()
We will try to improve on the limitations of transfer learning by using another approach called Fine-tuning in our next post.
Deep Learning with Python Github Repository
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If you liked this article and would like to download code and example images used in this post, please subscribe to our newsletter. You will also receive a free Computer Vision Resource Guide. In our newsletter, we share OpenCV tutorials and examples written in C++/Python, and Computer Vision and Machine Learning algorithms and news.


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Last week was marked by an important release: our first Progressive Web App built for publishers with React JS & Semantic UI.
One of our older apps – Mosaic – was rebuilt from the ground up. It uses the WordPress REST API to retrieve content such as categories, posts and pages.
Compared to v1.0, the new Mosaic comes with:
- Better performance. The loading of the content from the API and rendering speed have greatly improved.
- Integration with the latest version of the WordPress REST API.
- Offline mode. This feature will soon be available for pre-order in the PRO version.
The PWA was built using the following tech stack:
- Create-React-App for bootstrapping the project.
- React-Semantic-UI (the official React integration for Semantic UI) for adding UI components such as buttons, grids, forms, etc.
- React-Router for navigating between screens.
- React-Slick for the categories and posts carousels.
- Redux for managing the app state.
- Jest for unit testing.
- Eslint and the Airbnb coding standard.
We have a 85% code coverage rate with unit tests and we're working on improving this rate. While we do our best to catch any bugs out there, we are aware that some of them might escape us. Please reach out if you happen to come across a nasty one 😊.
If you would like to see the PWA in action, you can find a live demo here: https://demo-mosaic-react.wpmobilepack.com
Currently, the production version of the Mosaic mobile PWA can be used through the free Progressive Web Apps plugin available on wordpress.org.


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A blog about Database Administration, Exadata, DBA tutorials, Database troubleshooting and new Development in Database area. The views expressed are my own and not necessarily those of Oracle and its affiliates.
Oracle Exadata Tutorials
Labels: Exadata
Levels in Database Administrator profile
Labels: Fundamentals
What is system global area (SGA)
Labels: Fundamentals


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The mission of Adlink Technology is to provide advanced technology products for the computer-based data acquisition with an excellent price-performance ratio. Focused in the segments of industrial control systems and testing solutions, Adlink has developed more than 150 products including cards and data acquisition systems that are used in thousands of applications around the world. Adlink products are compatible with the software environments LabVIEW ™, MATLAB ®, Linux ® and Windows®
Adlink products are available at the following link: https://www.contradata.it/en/data-acquisition