Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)


Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)

Dame Iris Murdoch DBE (15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her first published novel, Under the Net, was selected in 1998 as one of Modern Library's 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 1987, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2008, The Times ranked Murdoch twelfth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".[1]



Quotes·Quotations by Iris Murdoch


Art

¶ All art is a struggle to be, in a particular sort of way, virtuous.

¶ Art is the final cunning of the human soul which would rather do anything than face the gods.

¶ But fantasy kills imagination, pornography is death to art.


Happiness

¶ My happiness has a sad face, so sad that for years I took it for my unhappiness and drove it away.


Love

¶ Falling out of love is chiefly a matter of forgetting how charming someone is.

¶ Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes.

¶ We can only learn to love by loving.



[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_Murdoch


N. D. Stice


N. D. Stice


Quotes·Quotations by N. D. Stice

Appearance

¶ Like a prune, you are not getting any better looking, but you are getting sweeter.

Number Six

Number Six

Six or Number Six, also known as Maren Elizabeth (formerly "Sheila," "Kelly," and "Veronica"), is 16-years old. In I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Six's Legacy, her Cêpan Katarina names Six as a Warrior. She is perhaps the most developed in both battle technique and military strategy of the Garde we have met thus far, due to the need to fend for herself for the last three years, but is a close tie with Nine. She is the only other Lorien child in I Am Number Four apart from Number Four/John Smith.

Six is described as very pretty, with long dark hair, olive-toned skin, hazel-grey eyes, high cheekbones, a wide mouth, and being two inches shorter than Number Four/John Smith. In The Rise of Nine preview she dyes her hair blonde. Her Cêpan, Katarina, died three years before the novel begins. It is later revealed that she was once called Maren Elizabeth, though John and Sam still call her Six. Both boys like her, though it is unknown who she prefers. She confessed that she liked both the boys and kissed John on his lips and Sam on his cheeks before she left. At the end of the second book Six, Seven, Ten (Ella) and Ten's unofficial Cêpan Crayton's goals are to locate Five, Eight and their Chimaeras, then meet Four and Nine in America. In the third book, Six and the others discover Eight and try to have him teleport to New Mexico, but are separated. Stuck in New Mexico Six is captured and to a underground base controlled by Mogs and the FBI, where she is forced to fight Setrakus Ra, the leader of the Mogadoriens, and is defeated. She also meets Sarah, who was also held captive, and understands that Sarah was the truly the one for John and did not turn him in. They girls are reconciled and mend their friendship. During her confrontation with Ra, he transforms into her and has Six pinned up on the wall covered in a black rock. After the Garde, with the exception of Five, manage to hurt Ra, Six escapes her prison and reunites with her friends, swearing to kill Ra the next time they see him. Six meets nine for the first time. Her Legacies include:

Invisibility - Her first Legacy, developing in a Mogadorian dungeon, which she used to escape. In I Am Number Four, she uses it to find John in the school by sneaking around the Mogadorians. It can also be used to turn other people and objects invisible via touch. John's grandfather had this power.

Atmoskinesis - The ability to control the four basic elements Earth, Fire, Water and Air, together they can be used to create, manipulate or control the weather. John's father had this power.

Telekinesis - Like all Garde, Six can move objects with her mind.

Enhancement - All Garde possess enhanced physical strength, speed, reflexes, endurance and durability.

Six is portrayed by Teresa Palmer in the film adaptation.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lorien_Legacies_characters#Number_Six

Number Four

Number Four

Number Four, or John Smith (formerly known as "Daniel Jones"), is 16-years old (as of The Power of Six). He is the protagonist and narrator of the first novel, I Am Number Four, and half of The Power of Six and The Rise of Nine. John is Number Four in the sequence protecting the ten Lorien children living and hiding on Earth. He is described as being a fit, very attractive young man with dark blonde hair. He has three circular scars on his right ankle, symbolizing the three dead Lorien children, and a scar similar to the pendant all the Lorien children wear, signifying the charm that protects them. John falls in love with high school junior Sarah Hart in the first book. In The Power of Six he develops feelings for number Six as well, although these subside in the third book, and his feelings for Sarah take over. Four also has a friend named Sam Goode who travels with him and Six in a search for his father who he believes to be a prisoner of the Mogadoriens. His Cêpan was named Henri, who dies at the end of the first book. At the end of the second book, Four and Nine go North in an attempt to find Six. It is also revealed in the third book that he may be the Garde who inherits all of Pittacus Lore's powers, with Nine and Eight as the other two possibilities. His Legacies include:

Lumen - The ability to produce fire, heat, and light from the users hands, and a resistance to heat, fire, and burns. John's grandfather had this power.

Animal Telepathy - The ability to communicate with animals. He discovered this Legacy last, near the end of the book one despite it being his first Legacy, happening before the timeline of the book.

Precognition - Ability to see the future (John has shown this ability a couple of times, though it is unconfirmed whether or not this is one of his Legacies)

Telekinesis - Like all Garde, Four can move objects with his mind.

Enhancement - All Garde possess enhanced physical strength, speed, reflexes, endurance and durability.

Area Healing - He learns this while in the fight in The Rise of Nine, when Sarah and Ella are shot and dying, he concentrates on how badly he does not want Sarah or Ella to die and heals them.

In the film adaptation, Number Four is portrayed by Alex Pettyfer.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lorien_Legacies_characters#Number_Four

Kate Bush (1958- )

Kate Bush (1958- )

Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush on July 30, 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer; sister of John Carder Bush



Alchemy

@ What a lovely afternoon
On a cloudbusting kind of day.
We took our own 'Mystery Tour'
And got completely lost somewhere up in the hills.
And we came up on a bee-keeper,
And he said "Did you know they can change it all?"
They got alchemy.
They turn the roses into gold
They turn the lilac into honey
They're making love for the peaches.

And they'll do it,
Do it for you.

Kate Bush, in "You Want Alchemy" (B-side of "The Red Shoes" single) (4 April 1994)

***

@ Artists shouldn't be made famous. You know... they're just ... as important as... um doctors, and priests ... or maybe not as important sometimes, and yet they have this huge aura of almost god-like quality about them, just because their craft makes a lot of money. And at the same time it is a forced importance — you know, football stars and theatre stars — It is man-made so the press can feed off it.
Profiles in Rock interview (December 1980)


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush

Ha-Joon Chang

Ha-Joon Chang

Ha-Joon Chang (born 7 October 1963) is a Korean development economist.


http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ha-Joon_Chang

NOWgNOY


NOWgNOY


Quotes·Quotations by NOWgNOY

Life

¶ Life is more beautiful than you thought... if you do not give up.

Norway


Norway

Norway i/ˈnɔrweɪ/ (Norwegian: Norge (Bokmål) or Noreg (Nynorsk)), officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres (148,747 sq mi) and a population of about 4.99 million. It is the second least densely populated country in Europe. The majority of the country shares a border to the east with Sweden; its northernmost region is bordered by Finland to the south and Russia to the east; in its south Norway borders the Skagerrak Strait across from Denmark. The capital city of Norway is Oslo. Norway's extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea, is home to its famous fjords.

Two centuries of Viking raids tapered off following the adoption of Christianity by King Olav Tryggvason in 994. A period of civil war ended in the 13th century when Norway expanded its control overseas to parts of the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland. Norwegian territorial power peaked in 1265, but competition from the Hanseatic League and the spread of the Black Death weakened the country. In 1380, Norway was absorbed into a union with Denmark that lasted more than four centuries. In 1814, Norwegians resisted the cession of their country to Sweden and adopted a new constitution. Sweden then invaded Norway but agreed to let Norway keep its constitution in return for accepting the union under a Swedish king. Rising nationalism throughout the 19th century led to a 1905 referendum granting Norway independence. Although Norway remained neutral in World War I, it suffered heavy losses to its shipping. Norway proclaimed its neutrality at the outset of World War II, but was nonetheless occupied for five years by the Third Reich. In 1949, neutrality was abandoned and Norway became a founding member of NATO. Discovery of oil and gas in adjacent waters in the late 1960s boosted Norway's economic fortunes. In referenda held in 1972 and 1994, Norway rejected joining the EU. Key domestic issues include immigration and integration of ethnic minorities, maintaining the country's extensive social safety net with an aging population, and preserving economic competitiveness.

Norway is a unitary parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, with King Harald V as its head of state and Jens Stoltenberg as its prime minister. It is a unitary state with administrative subdivisions on two levels known as counties (fylke) and municipalities (kommuner). The Sámi people have a certain amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament and the Finnmark Act. Although having rejected European Union membership in two referenda, Norway maintains close ties with the union and its member countries, as well as with the United States. Norway remains one of the biggest financial contributors to the United Nations, and participates with UN forces in international missions, notably in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sudan and Libya. Norway is a founding member of the United Nations, NATO, the Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council; a member of the European Economic Area, the WTO, and the OECD; and is also a part of Schengen Area.

Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, fresh water, and hydropower. On a per-capita basis, it is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East, and the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the country's gross domestic product. The country maintains a Nordic welfare model with universal health care, subsidized higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. From 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 through 2011, Norway has had the highest human development index ranking in the world.



Norwegian Proverbs

Food·Dieting

¶ Cookies are made of butter and love.

Hero

¶ Heroism consists in hanging on one minute longer.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway

Northern Ndebele people


Northern Ndebele people

The northern Ndebele (Northern Ndebele: amaNdebele) are a nation and ethnic group in Southern Africa, who share a common Ndebele culture and Ndebele language. Their history began when a Zulu chiefdom split from King Shaka in the early 19th century under the leadership of Mzilikazi, a former chief in his kingdom and ally. Under his command the disgruntled Zulus went on to conquer and rule the chiefdoms of the Southern Ndebele. This was where the name and identity of the eventual kingdom was adopted.

During a turbulent period in Nguni and Sesotho-Tswana history known as the Mfecane, Mzilikazi regiment, initially numbering 500 soldiers, moved west towards the present-day city of Pretoria, where they founded a settlement called Mhlahlandlela. They then moved northwards in 1838 into present-day Zimbabwe where they overwhelmed the Rozvi, eventually carving out a home now called Matabeleland and encompassing the west and south-west region of the country. In the course of the migration, large numbers of conquered local clans and individuals were absorbed into the Ndebele nation, adopting the Ndebele language and culture. Historically the assimilated people came from the Southern Ndebele, Swazi, Sotho-Tswana, and amaLozwi/Rozvi ethnic groups.


Northern Ndebele Proverb

Fortune

¶ Amajodo awela abangelambiza.
Translation: Fortune favours the foolish.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ndebele_people

Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960)


Norman Bates from Psycho (1960)

Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The character was inspired by murderer and body snatcher Ed Gein.


Quotes·Quotations by Norman Bates

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates from Psycho (1960)

A boy's best friend is his mother.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Bates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Perkins