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#LuvSoFab Contest: Win 1 of 2 Trips to SoFabU on the Road

Do you want to win a free trip to SoFabU on the Road?

Introducing the #LuvSoFab Contest! Over the next ten days, we will be running a contest to give two people a free trip to SoFabU on the Road Brooklyn or Chicago.  Two lucky winners will receive:

In order to apply, all you have to do is post on your blog or on any one of your social channels and tell us why you want to come to SoFabU on the Road.  This contest is all about creativity: write a blog post, film a video, paint a picture, sing a song, it’s up to you!

Once you have finished your post, you are required to fill out this Google Form. We ask you to please share your entry across different social channels. The SoFaU on the Road team will choose a winner based on originality, spirit, quality and the items listed below.  The deadline submission is April 22nd at 11:59EST.  We will announce the two winners on April 26th.  Don’t miss out on this great opportunity for a free trip to SoFabU on the Road!

You must incorporate the following:

 We can’t wait to see your creative ideas!

Please view the official rules and regulations here:

  1. CONTEST PERIOD: The #SoFabU On The Road (the “Contest”) begins on April 12, 2016 at 12:00 A.M. Eastern Time (“ET”) and ends on April 22, 2016 at 11:59:59 PM ET (the “Contest Period”). No purchase is necessary to enter or win the Contest.
  1. SPONSOR: Collective Bias, Inc. whose address is 1750 S. Osage Springs Drive, Suite 100, Rogers, AR 72758.
  1. ELIGIBILITY: The Contest is open only to those bloggers who are: (i) members of the Social Fabric® community, (ii) legal residents of the fifty (50) United States, the District of Columbia or Canada (excluding Quebec), and (iii) who are at least 18 years old. The Contest is open only to (i) and (ii) who are at least 18 years old. Employees of Sponsor and/or any of their parent and affiliate companies as well as their immediate family (spouse, parents, siblings and children) and household members of each such employee of such entities (collectively, “Contest Entities”) are ineligible to enter. The Contest is subject to all applicable federal, state, municipal and local laws and regulations. Void in Puerto Rico, the United States Territories and Possessions, Quebec, and elsewhere where prohibited or restricted by law.
  1. AGREEMENT TO OFFICIAL RULES: Participation in this Contest constitutes Contestant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Official Rules and Sponsor’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters related to this Contest. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. These Official Rules form a binding legal agreement between the Contestant and the Sponsor with respect to the Contest. Winning a prize is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements set forth herein. The Sponsor’s computer will serve as the official clock of the Contest.
  1. HOW TO PARTICIPATE: During the Contest Period, Contestants must visit the SoFabU on the Road website http://ontheroad.socialfabric.us/ (the “Website”). Contestants will be required to click on an icon for this Contest. The Contestant must post a blog post, creatively stating why they want to win. The post must contain the hashtag #LuvSoFab (an “Entry”) on any one of the following sites: Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, or on a blog post on your own website. The Contestant will then submit their blog and social links in this Google Document, which they will be required to complete in order to enter the Contest.  Only one (1) Entry per Contestant during the entire Contest Period. If an Entrant submits more than one (1) Entry, only the first Entry submitted will be considered for the Contest and all subsequent Entries will be invalid. See below for Required Representations and Warranties for more information about requirements of this Instagram entry process. Failure to complete any step outlined in, or to follow any of, the Official Rules will result in disqualification of attempted entry.
  1. GUIDELINES: To be eligible, all Entries must comply with the following restrictions:

(i)         Each video or image must be an original image, created and shot by and/or featuring Contestant; must not have been previously published, released or distributed in any form; must not have been entered into any other drawing or competition nor won any award; and must not infringe the copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other personal or proprietary rights of any person or entity. Modification of an existing image does not count as original for purposes of this Contest

(ii)        Each Contestant represents that he/she has the express consent of any identifiable persons appearing in the image to their likeness being used in the ways set out in these Official Rules, including Sponsor’s right to use the image for any future commercial purpose without restrictions. Upon request, you will obtain written consent of any such persons for Sponsor. If any person appearing in the image is under the age of majority in their state of residence, the written consent and signature of a parent or legal guardian is required. The image must not contain any personally identifiable information of any person.

(iii)       Excepting those of Sponsor, the image must not contain or reference any names, products or services of any company or entity or any third party trademarks, logos, trade dress or promotion of any brand, product or service.

(iv)       The image must not be lewd, obscene, sexually explicit, pornographic, disparaging, defamatory, libelous, violate any laws or otherwise contain content which Sponsor in its sole discretion decides is inappropriate or objectionable.

Entries that do not comply with the above requirements may not be eligible and, if submitted, may be removed at any time in Sponsor’s sole discretion. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to disqualify any entry that it believes violates or potentially violates any of the foregoing requirements or otherwise fails to comply with any provision of these Official Rules. Contestants agree to reimburse Sponsor and Sponsor Affiliates in full in respect of any losses, damages, and expenses, including reasonable attorney fees that they may sustain from the breach of a representation or warranty made by the Contestant or the use of any rights granted by the Contestant to Sponsor hereunder. By entering, Contestant warrants that the submitted image complies with the entry requirements set out above including those at (i)-(iv) above. By entering, Contestant grants to Sponsor a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, sub-licensable, assignable license to reproduce that image and to otherwise use, exploit, copy, modify, adapt, edit, publish and display the image in any form, manner, venue, media or technology now known or later developed for any and all purposes, including, without limitation, for purposes of trade, advertising, and promotion as Sponsor and its licensees or assignees determine, without further compensation, notification, or permission. Further, by entering, the Contestant hereby waives any moral rights the Contestant may have in the image in favor of the Sponsor. At Sponsor’s request and in its sole discretion, Contestants may be required to execute an assignment and release transferring all rights and ownership of their image to Sponsor, the form of such assignment to be determined by Sponsor.

  1. JUDGING AND SELECTION OF THE WINNERS: On or about April 27, 2016, all eligible Entries received during the Contest Period will be judged by a panel of qualified judges selected by Sponsor (“Judges”). The Judges will score each Entry according to the following weighted judging criteria (collectively, “Judging Criteria”): (1) Originality – 34%, (2) Spirit/passion for the SoFabU On The Road – 33%, and (3) Overall quality of the Entry– 33%. The two (2) Entries the highest overall scores will each be named a potential winner. In the event there is a tie, the tied Entries will be reviewed by the Judges and the Entry with the highest score in criterion (1) (“Originality”) will be named the potential winner. In the event there is still a tie, the tied Entries will be reviewed by the Judges and the Entry with the highest score in criterion (2) (“Spirit/passion for the SoFabU On The Road”) will be named the potential winner. In the event there is still a tie, the tied Entries will be reviewed by the Judges and the Entry with the highest score in criterion (3) (“Overall quality of the Entry”) will be named the potential winner. In no event will there be more than two (2) winners. All decisions of the Judges and Sponsor are final and binding. The selected winners are each considered to be a potential winner, subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Official Rules.

A.      PRIZES: Each prize shall consist of the following: a three (3) day/two (2) trip for each winner to attend the SoFabU On The Road Conference either (i) in Brooklyn, New York from Friday, May 13, 2016 – Sunday, May 15, 2016 or (ii) in Chicago, Illinois from Friday, July 8, 2016 – Sunday, July 10, 2016. The prize will include: [i] roundtrip coach/economy class airfare for the winner between the major commercial airport closest to a winner’s residence (as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion) and the selected Conference location (if a winner lives within 250 miles of selected conference city, airfare will not be provided but the winner will receive $150 Visa pre-paid debit card for reimbursement for millage); [ii] ground transportation between the airport, hotel and SoFabU On The Road Conference; [iii] room accommodations consisting of a single occupancy hotel room at a hotel selected by Sponsor in its sole discretion; and [iv] an access badge to SoFabU On The Road.

All prize-related travel arrangements will be administered by Sponsor’s authorized designee. All travel must be booked prior to departure. Prize travel is subject to capacity controls, availability, weather, seasonal influences, and certain other restrictions, all of which are subject to change. No changes will be made to travel details once any element(s) of the travel arrangements have been booked, except at Sponsor’s sole discretion. All airline tickets issued in conjunction with a prize are not eligible for upgrades, frequent flyer miles or any other promotional benefit. Sponsor will not replace any lost or stolen tickets (including any event tickets or admission passes), travel vouchers or certificates or similar items once they are in a winner’s possession. Sponsor will determine flight itinerary in its sole discretion. Once hotel and flight arrangements have been confirmed, no changes will be allowed except by Sponsor in its sole discretion. No refund or compensation will be made in the event of the cancellation or delay of any flight. Travel is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in these Rules and those set forth by Sponsor’s air travel prize supplier, as detailed in the passenger ticket contract issued by such supplier.

All costs and expenses not specifically included herein are solely a winner’s responsibility as are all federal, state and local taxes. A winner is solely responsible for obtaining any desired or necessary travel documents (including government-issued photo identification or passport if the winner is a Canadian resident). A winner hereby acknowledge that Sponsor has not and will not obtain or provide travel insurance or any other form of insurance for any part of the trip. It is the responsibility of each winner to arrive at the designated gateway airport in time for each flight.

Each winner is responsible for all in-room charges (e.g., mini-bar, movies), telephone calls, meals, beverages, gratuities, upgrades, personal incidentals, amenities, and any other fees and expenses not specifically mentioned in these Rules. Each winner will be required to provide a major credit card upon hotel check-in and all in-room charges will be charged to the credit card. Any damage to the room attributed to a winner will be the responsibility of the winner.

Sponsor bears no responsibility if any event, element or detail of a prize is canceled, postponed or becomes unavailable for any reason. Should any event, element or detail of a prize become unavailable, the Sponsor shall have no obligation to a winner aside from providing the travel portion of a prize, minus any unavailable event, element or detail. In the event a winner is removed or barred from any ticketed location for any other reason, the Sponsor is not responsible and no further compensation or award will be provided.

B.      ARV: The ARV for each prize is $1,500. The ARV may vary due to costs in airfare, hotel, and other considerations.

C.      Prize Conditions: All benefits and payments are personal to each winner and are not redeemable for cash and are neither assignable nor transferable. Each winner is responsible for paying all taxes. The award of a prize is subject to applicable withholding requirements. Each will receive an IRS Form 1099 reflecting the actual final retail value of his/her prize. . No substitution or transfer of a prize except with Sponsor’s permission or where required by law is allowed. If for any reason a prize becomes unavailable, Sponsor may award a substitute prize of equal or greater value. Award of a prize is subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with all rules.

  1. HOW TO CLAIM A PRIZE: The selected winners are each deemed a potential winner pending verification of the winner’s eligibility and compliance with the Rules. On or about April 28, 2016, each potential winner will each be notified via e-mail and telephone by Sponsor or its authorized designee at the e-mail address and telephone number submitted when entering the Contest (“Notification”). Before being confirmed as the winner, the potential winner must complete and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, a Liability Release, a Publicity Release (where permissible), and a tax acknowledgment form (“Documents”), which will be sent with the Notification. The potential winner must also select whether to attend the Brooklyn New York Conference or Chicago, Illinois Conference. For Canadian residents, a Declaration similar to the Affidavit will be sent along with the other documents. As part of the Documents, the winner acknowledges that he/she will be granting all of his/her rights in the winning Entry, including the cocktail recipe and all photographs, to the Sponsor and the Sponsor’s client. The completed Documents must be signed and notarized, where applicable, and returned to Administrator for receipt within five (5) business days from the date it was sent to the potential winner or the Prize may, in Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion, be forfeited. In the event that any e-mail is returned as undeliverable, or if no response to the Notification is received within the allotted three (3) business days from the date of receipt of Notification, or if the potential winner does not comply with these Official Rules, the prize may, in the Sponsor’s sole and absolute discretion, be forfeited. In the event the Prize is forfeited or not awarded for any reason, the Sponsor may award the prize to the Contestant with the next highest score as set forth in Section 7.

 For Canadian residents only, to be declared a winner, each potential Canadian winner must answer correctly, without assistance of any kind, a mathematical skill-testing question in the Declaration. If a selected potential Canadian winner fails to correctly answer the question, he/she will be disqualified and another entrant will be randomly chosen.

  1. ELIMINATION: Any false information provided within the context of the Contest by any Contestant or any other non-compliance with these Official Rules or the like may result in the immediate elimination of the Contestant from the Contest. Any Contestants suspected of or found by Sponsor to be entering or having people click through people by automatic, programmed, script, bot, third-party or otherwise fraudulent method, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, will be disqualified and all points received by such methods will be discounted. If a Contestant is suspected of submitting fraudulent points or of inciting others to submit fraudulent points on his/her behalf such points will be discounted and that Contestant may be disqualified, in Sponsor’s sole discretion.

Sponsor reserves the right to disqualify any person found or suspected of tampering with the point process or the operation of this Contest, to be acting in violation of these Official Rules, to be acting in a non-sportsmanlike or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.

  1. INTERNET: Sponsor is not responsible for electronic transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission. If, for any reason, the Contest is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or any other causes which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Contest, Sponsor may, in its sole discretion, cancel, terminate, modify and/or suspend the Contest. In the event the Contest is canceled, terminated, modified and/or suspended, Sponsor will review the points received up until that time and, provided there are enough eligible points to conduct the Contest, will proceed with the Contest as defined herein.
  2. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY:   IN NO EVENT WILL THE CONTEST ENTITIES, THEIR AFFILIATES, SUBSIDIARIES AND RELATED COMPANIES, THEIR ADVERTISING OR PROMOTION AGENCIES OR THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES AND AGENTS, BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES. Sponsor assume no responsibility for undeliverable e-mails resulting from any cause, including any form of active or passive e-mail filtering by a user’s Internet Service Provider and/or e-mail client or for insufficient space in user’s e-mail account to receive e-mails. By participating in this Contest, Contestants on behalf of themselves agree to release and hold harmless Contest Entities, their affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents (collectively, the “Releasees”) from any and all liability for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind to persons, including death, or property arising in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, use or misuse of a prize, participation, or inability to participate in Contest, any points pertaining to the Contest or any Contest-related activity. Releasees are not responsible for printing errors or for lost, late, unintelligible, misdirected, incomplete, damaged or garbled points/click throughs or any other documents. Releasees are not responsible for any: (a) telephone, computer, hardware, software, programming or interrupted or unavailable network, server or other connections, network malfunction, or other technical failures or errors, or failure to properly process points; (b) communication disruption or other forces beyond the reasonable control of the Sponsor, including inability to access the Contestant’s blog, make click throughs/secure points or other disruption related to Internet traffic, virus, bug, or non-authorized intervention; (c) damage caused by computer virus or otherwise resulting to any computer concerning Contestant’s blog or the URL given to the Contestant, whether human, mechanical or electronic; or (d) incorrect or inaccurate information whether caused by users or by any of the programming or equipment associated with or used in the Contest. Releasees shall not be liable to any Prize Winner or any other person for failure to supply a prize or any part thereof, by reason of any acts of God; any action(s), regulation(s), order(s) or request(s) by any governmental or quasi-governmental entities (whether or not they prove to be valid); equipment failure; terrorist acts; earthquake; fire; flood; war; explosion; unusually severe weather; hurricane; embargo; labor dispute or strike (whether legal or illegal); labor or material shortage; transportation interruption of any kind; work slow-down; civil disturbance; insurrection; riot; or any other cause beyond Sponsor’s sole control. Releasees shall not be liable to any Prize Winner or any other person for damage to such person’s computer or its contents.
  3. DISPUTES: The Contest is governed by, and will be construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of MICHIGAN, and the forum and venue for any dispute shall be in THE STATE OF MICHIGAN. If THE controversy or claim is not otherwise resolved through direct discussions or mediation, it shall THEN be resolved by FINAL AND binding arbitration administered by AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION, in accordance with its Arbitration Rules and Procedures or subsequent versions thereof (“AAA Rules”). The AAA Rules for selection of an arbitrator shall be followed, except that the arbitrator shall be experienced and licensed to practice law in THE STATE OF MICHIGAN. THE REMEDY FOR ANY CLAIM SHALL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL DAMAGES, AND IN NO EVENT SHALL ANY PARTY BE ENTITLED TO RECOVER PUNITIVE, EXEMPLARY, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING ATTORNEY’S FEES OR OTHER SUCH RELATED COSTS OF BRINGING A CLAIM, OR TO SEEK INJUNCTIVE OR ANY OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF.
  4. GENERAL: All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. Sponsor reserves the right, to disqualify any Contestant found, in its sole opinion, to be tampering with the operation of the Contest; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; or to be acting in an unsportsmanlike manner or with the intent to disrupt the normal operation of this Contest. Any use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed, third party or like methods to participate in the Contest will void any attempted participation effected by such methods and the disqualification of the individual utilizing the same. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE ANY WEBSITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST IS A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, THE SPONSOR RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SEEK DAMAGES OR OTHER REMEDIES FROM ANY SUCH PERSON(S) RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ATTEMPT TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW. All materials submitted become the property of Sponsor and will not be returned. In the event of any conflict with any Contest details contained in these Official Rules and Contest details contained in Contest Materials (including but not limited to point of sale, television, and print advertising, packaging, and other Contest media), the details of the Contest as set forth in these Official Rules shall prevail.
  5. WINNERS’ LIST: For the name of the prize winners, those interested print their name and address on a 3″x 5″ card and mail it in an envelope to: #SoFabU On The Road Contest, c/o Collective Bias, 1750 S. Osage Springs Drive, Suite 100, Rogers, AR 72758. Winner List requests will only be accepted after the Contest’s end date (listed above) and requests must be received no later than June 30, 2016.

These Official Rules may not be reprinted or republished in whole or in part without the prior written consent of Sponsor.  All rights reserved.

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on January 22, 2010 by Matthew Horridge in Under Review, Comments (5)

OWL Syntaxes

There are a variety of syntaxes for persisting, sharing and editing OWL ontologies. These syntaxes range from the officially recommended RDF/XML exchange syntax, that any OWL compliant tool must support, through de facto standard syntaxes that virtually all OWL tools and APIs support, to bespoke syntaxes that are designed for particular purposes and applications. What ever syntax is used, it is important to realise that the OWL language is not defined using a particular concrete syntax, but is defined in a high level structural specification which is then mapped into various concrete syntaxes. Although the OWL World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Recommendation specifies RDF/XML as the default exchange syntax there are a variety of alternative syntaxes with tools support that can be used for concrete representations of ontologies. Some of these syntaxes are specified in W3C notes, which means that an OWL compliant implementation need not support them, however, in practice the main APIs and editing tools do support them. In what follows some of the most widely used syntaxes are discussed. We begin by looking at how OWL is defined and then by looking at how the definition is mapped into concrete syntaxes.

From the OWL Structural Specification to OWL Syntaxes

The OWL 2 Structural Specification describes what constitutes an ontology from a structural point of view, for example, an ontology can be named with an IRI and is a set of axioms. It describes the various types of axioms and the types of class descriptions and entities that make up these axioms. It does this in a high level way which does not commit to any particular concrete representation syntax. This makes it possible to clearly describe the essential features of the OWL language without getting bogged down in the technical details of exchange syntaxes.

The Functional OWL Syntax

The first step towards concrete syntaxes is the functional syntax, which is a simple text base syntax that is used as a bridge between the structural specification and various concrete syntaxes. The example below shows an equivalent classes axiom, which specifies that Teenager is equivalent to a person whose ages is between 12 and 20. Generally speaking, this syntax is not intended to be used as a primary exchange syntax, but is simply used for translating the structural specification into other concrete syntaxes.

            xsd:maxExclusive "20"^^xsd:integer
            xsd:minExclusive "12"^^xsd:integer))))

RDF Based Syntaxes

The primary syntax that all OWL compliant tools must support is RDF/XML. As the name suggests, this syntax provides an XML representation of an RDF graph. The OWL specification therefore provides a bidirectional mapping from the OWL Functional Syntax to RDF Graphs, which can then be serialised into any concrete RDF representations such as RDF/XML and Turtle.

The example below shows the definition of Teenager in RDF/XML. This is the same definition as shown above. As can be seen, RDF/XML is a very verbose syntax that is difficult to read. Although some people enjoy reading RDF/XML most people would not choose to edit this syntax by hand. Most OWL tools use this syntax as the default syntax for saving ontologies.

<owl:Class rdf:about="http://www.semanticweb.org/ontologies/ontogenesis/example#Teenager">
            <owl:intersectionOf rdf:parseType="Collection">
                <rdf:Description rdf:about="http://www.semanticweb.org/ontologies/ontogenesis/example#Person"/>
                    <owl:onProperty rdf:resource="http://www.semanticweb.org/ontologies/ontogenesis/example#hasAge"/>
                            <owl:onDatatype rdf:resource="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer"/>
                            <owl:withRestrictions rdf:parseType="Collection">
                                    <xsd:maxExclusive rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">20</xsd:maxExclusive>
                                    <xsd:minExclusive rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">12</xsd:minExclusive>

The advantages of RDF/XML are: Any tool claiming to be an OWL tool must be able to consume and produce it, which means that it is widely supported. RDF based syntaxes (including non-XML syntaxes) are good for representing the assertional axioms (ABox, data) in OWL ontologies. This is because these axioms correspond directly to triples.

The disadvantages of RDF/XML are: It is very verbose. It can be difficult to read. A feature of RDF/XML (and other RDF based syntaxes) is that because the syntax is triple based, the translation from complex class expressions, annotations and various OWL axioms into triples can require “reification” and the resulting RDF can be very verbose and ugly. The design of the OWL/RDF mapping (inherited from OWL 1) means that it is non-trivial to parse OWL ontologies represented in RDF. In fact, parsing almost always requires two passes which means that much more memory is required for parsing an OWL/RDF document that is required to hold the actual ontology in memory.

Another RDF concrete syntax is Turtle. This syntax is slighly less verbose and slightly more readable than RDF/XML. However, as can be seen from the representation of Teenager below, it is arguable that RDF based syntaxes do not really provide a convenient human readable format for representing complex OWL class expressions and OWL axioms.

:Teenager rdf:type owl:Class ;
    owl:equivalentClass [ rdf:type owl:Class ;
        owl:intersectionOf ( : Person
            [ rdf:type owl:Restriction ;
              owl:onProperty :hasAge ;
              owl:someValuesFrom [ rdf:type rdfs:Datatype ;
                  owl:onDatatype xsd:integer ;
                  owl:withRestrictions (
                      [ xsd:maxExclusive "20"^^xsd:integer ]
                      [ xsd:minExclusive "12"^^xsd:integer]
        ] .

The advantages of Turtle are: It is much more concise and human readable than RDF/XML. It is quite widely supported – widely used tools and APIs such and Jena and the OWL API can produce and consume Turtle.

The disadvantages of Turtle are: Similar to the disadvantages of any RDF based syntax as described above.

Although it is possible to represent an OWL ontology in RDF/XML, the design of RDF/XML means that it is difficult or impossible to use off the shelf XML tools for tasks other than parsing and rendering it. Neither standard XML tools like XPath or XSLT work well with RDF/XML representations of ontologies. Because of this, and because of the desire for a more regular and simple XML format, OWL/XML was invented as a concrete representation format for OWL ontologies. The format is essentially derived directly from the Functional Syntax. The example below shows the description of Teenager. Compare this example with the irregular RDF/XML example above in order to note the regularity of OWL/XML.

    <Class IRI="#Teenager"/>
        <Class IRI="#Person"/>
            <DataProperty IRI="#hasAge"/>
                <Datatype abbreviatedIRI="xsd:integer"/>
                <FacetRestriction facet="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#maxExclusive">
                    <Literal datatypeIRI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">20</Literal>
                <FacetRestriction facet="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#minExclusive">
                    <Literal datatypeIRI="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#integer">12</Literal>

The advantages of OWL/XML are: It conforms to an XML Schema and is regular so it is possible to use off the shelf tools for processing and querying it such as XPath and XSLT. It is easy to write and parse. Parsing can be done in a streaming mode, in one pass, using a SAX parser.

The disadvantages of OWL/XML are: It is very verbose. File sizes can be very large and this can make parsing slow.

The Manchester OWL Syntax

The Manchester OWL Syntax provides a compact textual based representation for OWL ontologies that is easy to read and write. The primary motivation for the design of the Manchester OWL Syntax was to produce a syntax that could be used for editing class expressions in tools such as Protege. It has since been extended so that it is possible to represent complete ontologies, and is now specified in a W3C note. The example below shows the definition of Teenager. Notice how much more compact and readable this syntax is. The Manchester Syntax is used throughout many ontology development environments such as Protege 3, Protege 4, and Top Braid Composer for presenting and editing components of axioms such as class expressions.

Class: Teenager
    EquivalentTo: Person and (hasAge some integer[> 12 , < 20])

The advantages of Manchester Syntax are: It is very compact, it is easy to read and write.

The disadvantages of Manchester Syntax are: It is cumbersome to represent some axioms in OWL such as general subclass axioms, which have class expressions for their left hand side.

The OWL API is a de facto standard API for creating, manipulating and serialising OWL ontologies. It has parsing and rendering support for all of the concrete syntaxes described above. A web based syntax converter is available at http://owl.cs.manchester.ac.uk/converter/

Jena is an API for dealing with RDF and OWL. It has a large user base and has good support.

For more information see the OWL 2 Overview.

This paper is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author and source are attributed.

The paper and its publication environment form part of the work of the Ontogenesis Network, supported by EPSRC grant EP/E021352/1.

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steve jobs book cover pic photo image

Steve Jobs Memoir Now Available On iTunes As An iBook

The much anticipated biography / memoir of (late) Steve Jobs of Apple Inc is now available digitally as an iBook on the iTunes App Store. “Steve Jobs“, the epic biography that Walter Isaccson wrote after conducted more than 40 interviews [...]


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A night of art

Here are a few of the sketches I did for the "daily doodle" theme over at my Tucson art group blog.
The themes were "friendship," "cheaters," and "vehicular animals."

comic books are cool

And so is associated fan art!

Labor Day Flier

Did this for a Labor Day BBQ I was going to host at my apartment. According to the most recent newsletter there should be all of... 5 people not out of town. More burgers for me and my roommate!


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Posted by on Jun 28, 2013 in | 0 comments

I’m not a Mormon, but I’m married to one. I’m also an academic, a writer, a chaplaincy volunteer, and a mother.

About Me:

Though never a member of the church, I have always had a deep fondness and affection for all things Mormon—so much so that I made it a permanent part of my life when I married a young LDS man in 2003. I’m proud to call myself an alumna of Brigham Young University, having graduated from there with a degree in classics in 2005. I am currently finishing a master’s degree in American religious history at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Why does a non-member care about Mormon women obtaining ordination?

There is no equality without equal access to authority, which Mormon women plainly lack. As Martin Luther King, Jr. noted in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” I care about Mormon women’s lack of access to ordination because any time that a church or denomination refuses to ordain women, it reinforces other churches that refuse to ordain women and sends the message that this kind of unequal treatment of women is acceptable, when it isn’t.

Furthermore, my daughter is a member of record with the church. I care about what people are teaching my daughter, and I think I would be an irresponsible parent if I did not.

Why should the Mormon church offer ordination to women?

The biggest reason for Mormons to ordain women is that it’s biblical. The Bible shows women exercising considerable leadership and authority in their role as prophets (Ex 15:20 cf. Mic 6:4; Jdg 4:4-14; 2 Ch 34:22-28). While other churches attempt to sidestep these passages by arguing that there is no modern-day office of prophet, Mormons, who plainly believe in modern-day prophets, are without excuse. The Bible also testifies to female deacons (Rom 16:1-2; 1 Tim 3:11) and even a female apostle (Rom 16:7).

Furthermore, numerous early Christian inscriptions, epitaphs, canons, polemics, and literary references testify to the reality that women were elders, deacons, and priests in the early church. Mormons say that they believe in the restoration of lost things. My challenge to them is: prove it.


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Oregon Grown Gift Shop opened in 2014 to OMMP medical patients, and expanded to serve all adults age 21 and over in October 2015. Oregon legalized medical marijuana in 1998, and members of the Oregon Grown team have a long history of advocating for the use of cannabis for various therapeutic purposes.

Some feedback from our customers via the Oregon Grown Leafly portal:

“I always come to this dispensary since it’s close to my house and they usually have a good deal going. Friendly service and a chill atmosphere. Their 5 for $25 pre rolls are actually made with bud not shake! I’m pretty stoked about that since everywhere else has gnarly shake joints for more money. This place is a solid choice.”

“nice variety of strains, very knowledgeable staff. Awesome location”

“I drive across town just to come here [their] specials are amazing and the staff is very knowledgeable, I absolutely love this place. I wouldn’t recommend another. ”

“This is definitely one of my favorite dispensaries! They have consistently good product (from some of my favorite farmers!), for a great price. And the staff are amazing! Super friendly, and knowledgeable, but never pretentious. Even the super cute new budtender I met today was fantastic.”

We believe that knowing your grower is important, and how your cannabis is grown matters. For flowers, we feature small-batch, craft-nurtured strains from Oregon Grown Gardens and other growers we know and trust. Our other product partners include Lunch Box AlchemyApothacana, Legal, Brilliant Extracts, Wyld, Jolly Bee, Empower, Periodic Edibles, Who? Walking Oil, Hush Oils, Oregon Bounty, That Taffy, Delta 9 Confections, Med With Love.

About Oregon Grown and Our Vision

An important part of our vision requires that we do the research and choose the highest quality products. Our customers enjoy the confidence of knowing that whether looking for flowers, medibles, tinctures, concentrates, or topicals, they are receiving the best available, at excellent prices. Join us, and let us knock your socks off.


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Penn A – Z

Penn A – Z is an alphabetical listing of recognized University entities, including departments, programs, publications, organizations, and services.

To add, remove or update listings please contact the Penn Webmaster

Show Results By
A – Z List
Keyword Search
  1. Ice Rink (Class of 1923 Ice Rink)

  2. Immunology Graduate Group

  3. India, Center for Advanced Study of

  4. Indian Association at PENN

  5. Information Systems and Computing (ISC)

  6. Inn at Penn, The

  7. Innovation, Penn Center for

  8. Institute for Economic Research

  9. Institute for Environmental Medicine

  10. Institute for Law and Economics

  11. Institute for Regenerative Medicine

  12. Institute for Research in Cognitive Science (IRCS)

  13. Institute for Research on Higher Education (IRHE)

  14. Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)

  15. Institute on Aging

  16. Institutional Research & Analysis

  17. Institutional Review Board (IRB)

  18. Insurance Education, S.S. Huebner Foundation for

  19. Interaction of Animals and Society, Center for the

  20. Internal Audit, Office of

  21. International Classroom (University Museum)

  22. International Internship Program (IIP)

  23. International Relations Program

  24. International Student and Scholar Services

  25. International Studies and Business, Huntsman Program in

  26. International Studies Graduate Group

  27. Internet2

  28. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

  29. Intuitons

  30. Irvine Auditorium

  31. Italian Studies, Center for

  32. Ivy League Model United Nations (ILMUNC)


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On Sailor Moon Crystal

SMCrystalsketchWatching the first episode of the new Sailor Moon, I wonder if it’s possible to have too much reverence for the source material. As promised, Crystal is sticking much closer to Naoko Takeuchi’s manga than the original anime, but as I watched this episode, I found myself wondering if that’s really a good thing. Continue reading On Sailor Moon Crystal


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Thursday, November 1, 2012

Yes, it's my birfffday and yes I am the baddest. I love this day more than I love Halloween. Candy and treats are like their way of pre-gaming for this lovely day. Twenty four sounds so 'old' to me lol even though it's not really thattttt olddd. I just feel like I'm still 19 not a day over. Those were the best days with my Gina's. Well that's all folks. If you would like to bake me cookie or a cake that would greatly appreciated. :)

Yes that is me way back when you got really sweet stuff for your birthday instead of vacuum's and books.

1 comment:

  1. So cute.^^
    Invite you to my blog...maybe you like it???
    My Blog


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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A Walk In My Shoes - Family Movie Night - Airs 8/27

When a good thing comes along, it's worth coming around again!  Family Movie Night is bringing A Walk in My Shoes back to air on  Saturday, August 27, 8/7 c.  Pop the popcorn and enjoy an evening with your family!

Enjoy this little trailer teaser....
Ever judge someone just by looking at them? Of course, we’ve all made snap judgments about people. But what if we really got to know them? How would our opinions change? And what if we were forced to become them…how would the shoes fit then? Stressed-out high school teacher Trish Fahey can’t understand her students’ lack of effort and why their parents don’t seem to care.
This is especially true of Justin Kremer, a popular, skateboard-loving, basketball star who is underperforming in her class. Trish has him suspended from the team and quickly chalks up the situation as a case of bad parenting.This perspective dramatically changes when Trish meets Molly, a mysterious stranger intent on helping her see things differently. When Trish wrecks her car, Molly is there as Trish wakes to find herself living the life of Cindy Kremer, the woman she has personally judged and criticized. Trish discovers that there is often more to the story and learns a powerful lesson that affects everyone she interacts with. Her husband, her daughter, the ex-Marine next door… No one is left unchanged.

Visit these links to learn more

See you on the red carpet!!!

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Monday, October 10, 2011

Visual Latin Review

Now that's different!  Laugh through Latin?  That will catch your eye.  Since when is Latin and laugh used in the same sentence?  Well, I was soon to find out that it was when Visual Latin was born.  What a brilliant concept!  Take a subject that is typically accompanied by a big yawn and make it fun and entertaining.  Dwane Thomas, the Latin teacher, sure knows how to get the students' attention.

Visual Latin is different than many Latin curriculum in that the lessons are all on video.  You can pause, rewind and watch the entire lesson over and over again.  Each lesson has three parts:  grammar, sentences, and reading.  After each part, the student completes a short PDF worksheet to practice and apply what they just learned.  So, it's a great combination of learning styles.  Instead of memorizing lists of words and conjugations, students will actually be using what they are learning right away.  By putting it into context and usage, students will retain the material more readily.

Take a peak at this video so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about.

My son, age 11, and I watch the videos together.  I enjoy them as much as he does! I'm also learning :)  A couple of times we were laughing so hard we had to pause it and rewind.  Thanks goodness for video!  If you would like to watch all three parts of the first lesson then click HERE.  You can also download the PDF worksheets for this lesson too.  After watching them, you'll likely be hooked.  So, hop HERE and download 6 FREE lessons.

OK, now let's get into some of the info you are probably wondering about.  Visual Latin is for ages 9 and up.  It is broken up into Latin 1 and Latin 2.  Each has 30 lessons, so about 1-2 lessons per week.  Click HERE to check out the scope and sequence for Latin 1.  Of course, you can work as fast or as slow as you want or need.  Visual Latin can be used for high school credit when combined with Lingua Latina Pars 1 and Lingua Latina Exercita 1.  You can read more about that HERE.
You can purchase Visual Latin in DVD format or as a download in iTunes M4v format.  This works with Mac or PC.  If you choose to the download option you don't have to do it all at once.  Your downloads will stay in your account at The Compass Store and you can access them at any time.  This is a good thing, because each lesson took me about 10 minutes to download.  For that reason, I'll be buying our additional lessons on DVD.

So let me break down the cost for you a bit.  Of course, you can always just click HERE when you are ready to order your own.  These prices are for single family/homeschool purchases.  Group and class prices are different and  you should check the website for that information.
  • Latin 1 - Lesson 1-30 Complete DVD only $80.00 (that's the sale price right now)
  • Latin 1 - Lesson 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 Download only $25.00 each
  • Latin 1 - Lesson 1-10, 11-20, 21-30 DVD only $30.00 each
If you have any questions about Visual Latin or just want to chat with Dwane, the teacher, you can find him on Facebook.  Just click HERE.  He is happy to answer any questions!  Happy Latin Learning to ya!

Any products reviewed by me as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew have been given to me free of charge in order for me to provide you with an honest review of the product and/or how we used the product within our family.  I do not receive any other form of compensation for the reviews posted on this blog.

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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Classical Historian ~ Modern American History Curriculum and Ancient History Go Fish Game ~ Review

The Classical Historian provides curriculum, resources, and games that promote critical thinking, thoughtful discussion, and independent learning.  John De Gree is a married father of 7 with over twenty years of experience in teaching History and English.

I was provided with parts of the complete curriculum for Modern American History for Grades 9-12 in exchange for my honest review and opinion.  This is a full one year curriculum and may be used for High School credit.  Yay!  I'll explain what I received, give a brief description, and share my thoughts.

1.  32 Week Modern American History Guide - This is a printed copy of 49 pages that comes stapled at the top.  I would recommend doing 3 whole punch and securing it in a binder to keep it clean and prevent tearing or rapid wear.  This, in my opinion, is a must have for curriculum like this.  This is a lesson by lesson walk through for both teacher and student.  This provides a tutorial of sorts on how to use the curriculum and each day's lesson outlines what needs to be done, along with the time it will take.  You could follow it to a "T", or just use it as a guideline.  Check out a sample HERE.  When purchased separately it is $24.99 and worth every penny, IMHO.

2.  Take a Stand!  Student's Edition and Teacher Key - This is a 93 page soft cover book.  This tool teaches students how to be historians.  It teaches them how to analyze historical events, and not how to memorize dates and facts.  It is a thinking, reading, speaking, and writing guide to history using the method of Socratic discussion.  You will need supporting history texts and documents to use this tool.  Check out a sample HERE.  When purchased separately, the Student Edition only is $18.95  I found this to be an interesting tool and it is valuable to the experience of this curriculum.  I particularly liked the guided outlines and questions that assist the student in notetaking.  There is a fair amount of writing required.  My son is not a confident writer, so this is something we would need to ease into.  We would likely focus more on the verbal discussion as he analyzes the information he is taking in.  When you purchase the complete curriculum, you also receive the 62 page teacher key for this book.  When purchased separately the student and teacher key set is $24.95.

3.  Teaching the Socratic Discussion History DVD Collection - This is a set of 3 DVD's offering 3 hours of run time that come in a hard case and a 77 page spiral bound, soft covered book.  This set teaches the teacher and the student the tools of the historian, the Socratic Discussion, and how to foster critical and independent thinking.  Essentially, it will prepare you to use the curriculum in the most productive way.  If you are not familiar with the Classical method of teaching, this is essential.  Click HERE for many more details about this piece.  When purchased separately it is $79.99 and would be an absolute need for someone like me who is not experienced enough in this method of teaching/learning.

The remaining two items are part of this curriculum, however, I did not receive them.  So, I can't share my personal experience or opinion on them.

4.  A Patriot's History of the United States - This is a 932 page (GULP!) book by Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen.  This serves as the "textbook" for this curriculum.  It focuses on the virtues of our Founding Fathers, in contrast to the revisionist historians.  When purchased separately it is $19.99.

5.  The Patriot's History Reader - This explores the original documents, speeches, and legal decisions that shaped our country.  When purchased separately it is $12.95.

If you're like me, you are looking for the best deal.  When I do the math here, I come to a total of $162.87 for all of the pieces that are included in the complete curriculum package (if each is purchased separately).  But, the website offers the Complete Curriculum Package with one click for $146.99.  That's almost a $16 savings.  Yahoo!

I see the benefits of this curriculum, especially if you enjoy the Classical method.  The value of learning critical thinking will seep into other areas of learning, especially science and literature.  The Classical Historian would be best suited for a classroom or family with several children.  As they learn together, the skills of discussion and debate will naturally occur.  As a family with one child, this would be limited.  In addition, we have not enjoyed the Classical method in the past.  However, the material in the product I received looks interesting and we are looking forward to exploring it further once we are able to get the final two essential pieces needed, The Patriot's History of the United States and The Patriot's History Reader.

Now, moving on to the game I received....

Ancient History Go Fish Card Game!  This is for ages 5-129.  This game is a Four in One!  Let's look at each game you can play with this 50 card deck.
1.  Go Fish - players match 4 of a kind cards in 12 different categories
2.  Collect the Cards - practice your knowledge of historical facts as you try to guess your opponent's card.
3.  Chronology - race against the clock to beat your own best time or your opponent's as you arrange the cards in chronological order.
4.  Geography - race against the clock to beat your own best time or your opponent's as you arrange the cards in geographical piles by continent.

These cards are high quality, heavy stock.  The larger size makes them easy to handle and the graphics on them are interesting and colorful.  There are lots of visual codes on these to help remember facts.  They can be played in a group, or games 3 and 4 can be done solo. I LOVE that it comes with an answer key for games 3 and 4.  These cards are $11.95.  Check them out HERE


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Listings in Financial Services

Tri-Town Teachers Federal Credit Union

in Financial Services, Banking Services

Since 1955, the Tri-Town Federal Credit Union has provided teachers in Westport, Weston & Wilton with less expensive loans — and more generous interest on CDs and savings accounts — than they could obtain from local bank

61 Jesup Road
Westport, Connecticut 06880

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Westport Historical Society

Wheeler House, the Society’s headquarters, at 25 Avery Place, Westport, Connecticut, was purchased in 1981. The house, built in 1795, was remodeled in the Italianate style in the 19th Century and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Connecticut Register of Historic Places. The house has three Victorian Period rooms and a gift shop. The only octagonal-roof, cobblestone barn in Connecticut, which is on the property, was completely restored over a ten-year period and houses the Museum of Westport History displaying a diorama of the town as it looked toward the end of the 19th Century. The Society has hosted series of educational lectures and has mounted a succession of well-received exhibits which have been an important part of the continuing programs presented to the town. Children’s special events, after school, vacation and summer camp programs are offered during the year. House Tours and Garden Tours are regular parts of each year’s program. Adams Academy, a 19th Century, one-room schoolhouse on its original site in Green’s Farms, has been restored by the Society and is a stop on the Colonial Westport tour, Jennings Trail, that the Society and the Westport Young Woman’s League sponsor together for Westport’s 500 third-graders. Brochures are available for a self-guided, walking tour of the King’s Highway Historic District as well as a driving tour, Jennings Trail, annotating the two dozen plaques marking historical sites in Westport. A plaque added by Peter Jennings to the Jennings Trail tour in 2000 was the inspiration for a book the Society published, The Bridge Not Taken: Benedict Arnold Outwitted, by Damon Douglas. Other publications include: Staples High School: 120 Years of A+ Education by Dan Woog Westport, Connecticut – The making of a Yankee Township by Edward Coley Birge Stories from Westport’s Past (series of 3) by Joanna Foster Westport, A Special Place, by Eve Potts and Howard Munce Stars in our Eyes, by Tom DeLong Westport, Connecticut – The Story of a New England Town’s Rise to Prominence, by Woody Klein Westport and Weston, Connecticut, by William Scheffler Historic Plaques – How can I get a historic plaque for my house? Several years ago the Westport Historical Society started a house plaque program to allow homeowners to show pride in owning historical houses. The plaques identified the original owner of the house and the date of construction. Today Westport has 117 historical plaques identifying houses that were built over 100 years ago. To raise more awareness of the history of our town, the Westport Historical Society has embarked on a direct mail campaign to homeowners that have houses which were built over 100 years ago. The material provided includes the historical importance of the house and the proposed house plaque appearance. Homeowners receiving the material can acknowledge the historical value of their house by requesting a handcrafted plaque from the Westport Historical Society. There is a fee of $250 which covers the costs of the plaque and a contribution to the Westport Historical Society. As House History Chair, Bob Weingarten is in charge of the plaque program. The new program started with letters to 45 town homeowners with houses built over 100 years ago. The response exceeded our expectations and he intends to continue this program since there are over 300 additional homeowners with houses built over 100 years ago. The need to document our historical roots is great. As owners of historic homes, we can establish a precedent of research and care for future generations. Please contact House History Chair Bob Weingarten at rwmailbox@aol.com to receive information about our Historic Plaque Program.

25 Avery Place
Westport, Connecticut 06880

25 Avery Place
Westport, Ct 06880

Get Directions

Monday - Friday: 10 - 4 p.m. Saturday: 12 - 4 p.m.

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Can This Garden Be Saved?

I may just have to stop traveling south to the land of azaleas and camellias. It pains me to see a garden that was so magical for me as a child go bad. The maintenance gardener in me knows that with some routine effort all could be well. The trouble is the needed effort is hard to come by and there are not enough funds to purchase it in sufficient quantities.

This is just one of the problems in an old garden trying to go bad. There is an azalea beneath this potato vine. The potato vine has run amuck with a host of other vines and pernicious weeds. If only the weeds were pulled and the vines were cut on a routine basis, an old garden would see life anew.

You know I couldn't help myself. I pulled some weeds and cut some vines. It amounts to a single drop in a giant bucket.

I just may have to stop traveling south to the land of azaleas and camellias. It pains me to see a garden that was so magical for me as a child go bad. My maintenance gardener self is on edge.

I planted camellias in a new garden further north. I am pushing it zone wise. They are the newer cold hardy type, but I have pushed it to the edge of this breeding expansion. Maybe they will survive, maybe they won't.

If they live I can plant more. More is good. Then I won't need to worry about missing any camellias further south. The camellias my grandmother planted in a magical garden will fade to a fond memory. Her garden may disappear, but the gardener lives on in me.

It would be nice if the garden could hang on for another ten or twenty years. I would do it if I could.

My grandmother's garden needs a gardening angel right now.

Anything is possible. Decline is also inevitable and unavoidable and can only be held at bay with effort.

Nell Jean said...

I hope your Grandmother's garden is rescued. I hope when I'm gone, they go ahead with the bulldozer before mine falls into disgrace.

Merry Christmas

Anonymous said...

Have a great Christmas, Chris.

Anonymous said...

I think we all know deep down that our gardens are evanescent and will quickly return to nature when we are gone (like us). It's not like a painting or something. We just picked the wrong passion - not!!

Christopher C. NC said...

I hope so too Nell Jean. We hover on the edge of disgrace, but bulldozers would break my mother's heart. Merry Christmas to you.

Merry Christmas Sallysmom.

Bev not the wrong passion at all. It keeps us active, healthy and involved. The garden and gardener age together in sync it seems. Somehow it is easier to accept it of our physical selves than to see it happen to our gardens.

Pomaika`i said...

taminasAloha, Chris, and Mele Kalikimaka!
What you have done already has been sufficient to give us all hope for the future. Good deeds are rewarded, many-fold. Keep on paying it forward.

Lola said...

Gardens are the love of a special person that resides & cares for the land. I do hope that your Grandmothers garden will survive & somehow be taken care of. Mine will not go past me, I'm sure of it. What I have done will be destroyed by the next.
Wishing you & yours a Merry Christmas.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I know your Grandmother is proud that you have such good memories of her garden. Sometimes we just have to let go of gardens past. Bring all those lovely memories and plant them in your Northern garden.

Merry Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Chris, can you take cuttings of those camellias? Would they root this time of year?


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Friday, February 02, 2007

# Posted 8:36 AM by Patrick Belton

LONDON'S BEST LOOS: You saw it here first. Your day is now complete.
(3) opinions -- Add your opinion

Do I detect displacement activity?

Like Daniel Pipes in Esperanto?

Is this one of those times when "Add your opinion" is a saucy temptation to be resisted?

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound:

"And just remember this
a piss is just a piss ...

The fundamental things abide,
As Time Goes By ..."

Can I say/sing that on network television?

(o.k., that's really enough from me for a long while, now...promise).
IS THIS A GEORGE MICHEAL MOMENT.....................?!!
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Tuesday, December 2, 2014

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Early Morning At Covered Market

Markets are always busy in the early mornings, and Oxford's Covered Market is no exception with deliveries to all the fresh produce area's taking place before the High Street closes to everyone apart from buses.  There is still concerns over the future of the Covered Market, which is a real gem in the heart of Oxford, lets hope that it is not developed in to student accommodation or high end shopping, I think most people who visit the market enjoy it just the way it is.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Eels At Oxford O2 Academy

Not the best photo in the world, but that was my view of Eels who played to a sellout crowd on the Cowley Road last night.  This was my second time at a Eels gig, and I must say it was completely different to the first, a bit more rock 'n roll tonight. Oxford has some great music venues which you are able to see great touring bands close up, seen a few big names at the O2 on Cowley Road.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Fox And Hound Has Gone

All over the country local pubs are being pulled down and replaced with flats or in a lot of cases, TESCO or Sainsbury's Local stores.  Soon Britain will be know not as it has been in the past for having nice friendly local pubs in every village, for the for the number of mini supermarkets it has. I feel that pubs and churches are being replaced with these mini out posts of the giant supermarkets in greater numbers that we think.  This old pub on the Abingdon Road is being replaced with a TESCO.

Thursday, August 08, 2013

Bill's Has A Bike

What a great little adverting machine to have in what must be the bike capital of the United Kingdom.  Bill's the restaurant in St Michael's Street, which I have been told is very good and popular since opening last year, have this bike put the front of the store.  I am hoping that they use this bike for deliveries or shopping and not just advertising.

Monday, August 05, 2013

Summer Rain In Oxford

For the last couple of days we have been having rain in the afternoon or over night.  Nice bright but cloudy warm mornings and then in the afternoon heavy rain for about two hours.  So if you are visiting Oxford for the holidays this Summer remember your umbrella.

Sunday, August 04, 2013

Where To Practice The Bagpipe?

Strange the things you see when out for a cycle around Oxford, and it is handy that you should always take your camera.  While out for a ride from Summertown to Marston along the Marston Ferry Road, what did I hear from the fields but the sound of bagpipes.  A little confused a looked to see a guy walking up and down the fields obviously getting in a little practice without upsetting the neighbours.


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Amra Choluim Cille

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(Eulogy of Colum Cille),

the earliest surviving verse composition in the Irish language, probably composed shortly after the saint's death in ad 597, in which Colum Cille is depicted as heroic in his asceticism.

Subjects: Literature.

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Wooded island, whose name means Island of the Old Women, at the SE end of Loch Lomond opposite the village of Balmaha. In Scott's The Lady of the Lake ...

Subjects: Literature.

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Female Stories
Story Index
by Leem

Shortly before Halloween 2005 Drake posted a message on the Petrification Parlor Two Yahoo! Group: “It's been too quiet of late!...Let's all get busy and produce some new work. Halloween should be the season for Medusas, monsters and slick and sexy soceresses.”

Well, I don’t know about that, but I did have an idea for a kind of science fiction ghost story that I’ve been wanting to use for a long time, so here it is, brought to you, as they say, at great expense and at the last minute.

NB Zyrra, Yanni and Vrytha are in the Earth equivalent of their late teens and in their final school year, old enough to be considered responsible and sexually mature by the standards of their society.

It only happened because I wanted to have sex with Yanni.

I’d reached the age when I had begun to be acutely aware of my own sexuality, and almost overnight I had ceased to see Yanni as a skinny little geek and begun to see her as an incredibly beautiful young woman. I had caught some all-too-fleeting glimpses of her body in the school bathhouse, and I had been filled with such an intense need for her that I had almost had an orgasm on the spot.

From her slender articulate toes, her long, supple legs, her gracefully curving buttocks, her flat stomach and small but perfectly-formed breasts, her long neck and delicate heart-shaped face, her long, flowing blue hair, even to the small tufts of hair at the tips of her ears, her body was perfect. It was the body of a goddess. In fact, she was the most stunningly attractive female I had seen since the last time I looked in a mirror.

It took me a while to pluck up courage, and for a long time I had no idea how I was going to ask her. Finally I just decided to come right out with it, and I confronted her after school one evening.

“Yanni,” I said, “I just want you to know that I think you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, and I’d love to have sex with you.”

I think I must have blushed a little as I said it. Well, probably more than a little if I’m to be honest. But at least I’d finally said it. The worst she could do was refuse.

Or so I thought.

She looked thoughtful for a moment and then looked at me with an odd expression. “Ah,” she said at last. “I thought I’d noticed you looking at me. But Zyrra, what makes you think I’m interested in girls?”

I felt my face reddening. I had poured my heart out to her and now she was just stalling me. It was almost unbearable.

“Two moons ago I happened to be walking through the meadow north of town,” I said. “Suddenly I heard noises coming from the bushes. You’d concealed yourselves pretty well, but from just the right angle I could see everything through a gap. You were having sex with Vrytha, and from the look and sound of it you were both enjoying yourselves a whole lot.”

“So in that case, how do you know Vrytha isn’t my steady girlfriend?” asked Yanni.

“You haven’t spoken to her in over a moon,” I said. “Besides, she’s got a boyfriend now.”

“Oh, that’s just for show,” said Yanni. “He’s got a boyfriend, but he doesn’t want his parents or teachers to find out, so she’s agreed to be seen with him. They’re not lovers.”

“Right,” I said, “and you’re not her regular lover either. Oh, come on, Yanni. You made her scream. Why can’t you do the same for me?”

“Well, to be honest I’m not sure if your heart could take it,” she pouted.

I probably wasn’t concealing my frustration very well as I turned to walk away.

“Maybe you’re right,” I muttered. “You wouldn’t be any good for my heart.”

Of course she had to wait until I was walking away before purring: “All right. I’ll do it.”

My heart was pounding as I turned back to her. Was she serious, or was she just stringing me along?

It didn’t take long to find out.

“I will have sex with you - on one condition,” she said.

“What condition?” I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady.

She pointed to the sky. The sun had already set, and even in the glow of the awakening streetlights the pale form of the Whirlpool could be seen rising in the east.

Yanni said, “Tomorrow is Soulsnight, when the Whirlpool will be directly overhead at midnight. On that night the souls of the dead who reside within the great spiral are said to commune with the living, for good or ill.”

“I know all that,” I told her. “I haven’t believed in ghosts since I was a very small child, and the Whirlpool isn’t some mystical resting place for souls, it’s just a huge collection of stars and planets. If you believe the scientists, it may be inhabited by quintillions of intelligent beings, some of them very much like us.”

“I can’t imagine any alien creature being remotely like me... or you,” she said. “The point is, I’ll sleep with you if... if... you’ll spend the whole of Soulsnight in the old cemetery. Alone. Oh, and naked, of course.”

“The old cemetery?” I cried. “Are you crazy? It’s dark there. No streetlights nearby. You never know who might be hiding out in there. Going there naked would be suicide.”

“No it wouldn’t,” she said. “Nobody hides there at night. Nobody will go near the place any more. They say that even the most hardened criminals are afraid to enter it. You may not believe in ghosts, but everyone who’s lived or worked within twenty blocks of the place says it’s haunted. They hear weird noises coming from the grounds at night, especially on Soulsnight. Screams and wails like the cries of the damned, they say. It’s said that people have been driven mad just by hearing them.”

“Oh, so you want me to go mad, too, is that it?” I said.

“Not at all,” she laughed. “I’m sure you’re mad enough already that you can’t possibly get any worse.”

Oh, she was infuriating. I didn’t know whether I was going to laugh or slap her.

As it turned out I did neither. Instead I heard myself saying, “All right. I must be crazy to accept such a stupid wager, but I’ll do it if only to prove I’m not superstitious. But if I do this you’d damn well better keep your end of the bargain.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “If you go through with it my end will be waiting for you.“

The next evening Yanni called for me after dinner, carrying a bag on her shoulder. I’d told my parents we were going out to celebrate Soulsnight. They naturally assumed I meant at one of the many Soulsnight parties that were being held in our district, so they gave me the usual warnings about drinking too much and taking drugs. Then they kissed me farewell and wished me a good time.

If only I had known those kisses were the last I would ever have of them....

Yanni led me along the brightly-lit tree-lined streets for a while, past houses where ghostly apparitions made from old bedsheets fluttered in the breeze in the front yards and the sound of music and laughter came from within.

I sighed. Instead of spending the night enjoying myself like everyone else I had allowed Yanni to talk me into spending the night in a cold, dark graveyard. Was her body really worth it?

The thought inevitably drew me back to the sight of her in the communal shower, and my body answered my question for me by becoming unbearably aroused. Yes: I would do anything, even this, for just one night with her.

After a while the music and laughter faded behind us and the streetlights became fewer and dimmer. We had entered the old part of town where few people lived. The streets were deserted, the trees sickly and bare, the pavements cracked and overgrown with weeds. Ancient wooden houses leaned against each other for support, looking ready to collapse at any moment. I didn’t know why the whole neighbourhood had not been ripped down years before instead of being left to decay like a diseased tooth.

Finally we came to the end of a street, and also the end of the streetlights. Faintly visible in the light of the rising Whirlpool was a set of rusty iron railings, behind which I could just make out the shapes of marble slabs and headstones. There was a chill breeze that seemed to be blowing from the cemetery itself.

We made our way along the railing until we came to a gate. It was not locked, but it was so corroded and overgrown that it took us quite an effort to push it open wide enough for me to slip through.

“All right,” said Yanni. “Time to get ready.”

Taking a deep breath I nodded and slipped out of my party clothes. Yanni folded them neatly and packed them in her shoulder bag. She had agreed to let me wear sandals to protect my feet from the hard ground, and any sharp objects that might be lurking in the dark, but that was it.

I was committed. There was no going back now.

“Well,” Yanni said, “you’ve been brave enough to go along with my challenge, I’ll give you that.”

In the dim light it was impossible to read her expression, but them she reached forward and gave me one long, lingering kiss, sliding a hand down my back from my shoulders to my thighs.

“You do have a nice body, Zyrra” she purred. “I think it could be interesting exploring it with you after all.”

“Yanni....” I began, but she pulled away.

“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” she said. “Tonight this is your home.”

She pulled the gate shut behind me and threw the bolt with a clang. The bolt was surrounded by solid iron panels so that it could not be reached from inside, almost as if whoever designed the gate had expected an invasion of the dead. Or perhaps they had merely wanted to symbolise the impossibility of escape from the grave.

In any case, Yanni had made escape impossible for me too. There was no way I could climb over the high, spiked fenceposts, especially naked as I was. Even if I could escape the cemetery, I’d be naked on public highways in the middle of the night. Assuming that didn’t get me raped or worse, I would be publicly humiliated and Yanni would never let me live it down.

Of course I hadn’t ruled out the possibility that Yanni might decide to make me walk home naked in the morning, but I would just have to deal with that as it came.

I walked slowly along the path between the graves. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness I became aware that many of the graves had stone figures lying upon them. Taking a closer look I saw that the statues all depicted young women, nude or semi-nude, reclining in attitudes of melancholy or despair, or draped over the headstones as if embracing them in lieu of their loved ones.

It was just possible to read some of the less-weathered inscriptions. Most of the graves, at least in this part of the cemetery, seemed to belong to women who had died before they were twice my age, and all at about the same time.

Then I remembered an old history lesson about the plague that had struck our country 140 years before. I recalled that most of the victims had been young women, and I realised I had found their resting-place.

A sudden chill went through me that had nothing to do with the cold night breeze. If this was a plague cemetery the bodies might still carry it. I told myself that they couldn’t infect anybody as long as they were safely buried, but still I could not help but be nervous.

Nervous or not, I couldn’t resist running my hands over the statues. They did not seem to have suffered any erosion at all despite their age, and I let my hands play over them, imagining that the smooth marble breasts, thighs and buttocks I was caressing were Yanni’s smooth flesh instead. My other hand was soon busily caressing my own smooth body, and in this way I kept myself occupied for what felt like hours.

Eventually I looked up and was surprised to see the Whirlpool directly overhead. Could it really be midnight already? All over the land Soulsnight parties would be coming to a climax with feasting, drinking, dancing and lovemaking, while all I could do was indulge myself and fantasise about tomb sculpture.

Suddenly I became aware of a movement behind me. “Who’s there?” I said.

A figure stepped forward. It was a girl, not much older than me, wearing a short, plain dress. It was impossible to tell the colour; in the dim Whirlpool-light it looked dark grey, but it might have been maroon, blue or purple for all I knew.

“When the voices of the Whirlpool call us we have no choice but to listen,” she said in a half-whisper.

“Who are you?” I demanded. “Did Yanni send you?”

“I don’t know this Yanni,” she said, “but I think I should like to know you.”

“You don’t seem very surprised to see a naked girl walking through a graveyard at night,” I said.

“I know why you are here,” she told me. “There is always a reason for these things.”

As she spoke she stepped forward and placed a hand on my arm. I swallowed. Her eyes seemed to be holding me, and I couldn’t pull away.

“The Voices of the Whirlpool have awakened me,” she said. “It is they who led you to this place. We are destined to be together.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said. I seemed to hear my voice as if it were echoing down a long tunnel. “It was Yanni who led me here on a dare. It wasn’t fate. And anyway, the Whirlpool is a natural part of the universe. It doesn’t contain the souls of the dead.”

“Ah, but Zyrra, the universe contains many things that mortals cannot truly understand,” said the girl. “The reasons why we live, and why we die, to name but two.”

“How... how do you know my name?” I breathed. “This is some prank of Yanni’s, isn’t it? Is she hiding behind one of the gravestones, just waiting to leap out and have a good laugh at my expense?”

“Be calm, Zyrra,” she said. “Yanni is not here. There is only you, and those whom the Voices have awakened.”

I was feeling lightheaded and disoriented, and I seemed to be having trouble making my body obey me. I had no idea what could be happening to me.

“What... what do you mean... awakened? Voices...”

“It’s all right, Zyrra,” she said. “Don’t try to talk. Just follow me.”

She turned and walked along the aisle between graves, and I had no choice but to follow, scanning her bare legs and back with my eyes. I couldn’t remember seeing her remove the dress, yet it was most definitely gone, and the sight of her buttocks and thighs was arousing me far more than my fleeting glimpse of Yanni’s nakedness ever had.

After a short while we came to a grave that had no accompanying figure, and she lowered herself onto it as if it were the most luxurious divan ever made for an empress. Her breasts were bigger than Yanni’s - and mine - and I could scarcely draw my eyes away from them.

“Come,” she said. Discarding my sandals, I climbed on top of her body so that my nipples brushed hers, sending a ripple of pleasure through me. Our lips were almost touching.

“Zyrra,” she said, “what made you come here tonight?”

“A challenge,” I heard myself tell her. “Yanni said that if I were to spend the night in this graveyard she would let me have sex with her.”

“But Yanni is not here,” she said, “and I am, and I will have sex with you here and now.”

“Yes,” I breathed - although to be truthful, I was not certain she was offering me a choice in the matter.

Gently she began to caress my back, just as I had caressed the backs of the statues, and I began caressing her in return.

“Oh, you’re so cold,” I said.

“But now I have you to warm my body,” she said. “The Voices have drawn you to me, as I knew they would.”

”I don’t understand,” I said. “The Whirlpool is just stars. It can’t possibly contain departed souls.”

“But are souls in the Whirlpool” she whispered. “Not those of the dead, but of the countless beings who inhabit the great spiral of stars. It is their Voices, their thoughts and emotions, that we can hear whispering faintly across the chasm of space that separates our small sun from the galaxy, and we can only hear them on this one night of the year when our world is in perfect alignment with the Whirlpool. Of course there have always been those who were sensitive to the Voices, hearing them in their minds and believing them to be the whispers of the dead, and so centuries ago this night became associated with the souls of the departed. Soulsnight.”

“And... and do you hear these Voices?” I asked.

She kissed me. “Yes, Zyrra. I hear them even now. It was they who awakened me tonight.”

She sighed - whether in reverie or in response to my caresses, I couldn’t tell.

“They speak to us of vast numbers of worlds and peoples, of scientific marvels and natural wonders beyond comprehension, and of worlds more beautiful and more terrible than any of us could ever dream of. To visit even one of those worlds would be a journey of discovery beyond anything the great mariners of the past accomplished.”

She sighed once more. “But none of us will ever get to see those worlds. The universe has played a cruel jest upon our world. The galaxy contains millions of inhabited planets, yet our race had the misfortune to evolve upon a planet whose sun had been ejected from the galaxy by some ancient gravitational encounter.”

“I... I’m not sure I understand,” I said.

“Zyrra,” she sighed, “Our world is half a million light years from the Whirlpool. We can hear the Voices of its inhabitants but we can never reply. In a sense they are the Voices of the dead, because it has taken half a million years for them to reach us at the speed of light.”

I suddenly had a vision of our world as a tiny island, cut off from a thriving empire by a vast and unnavigable ocean. I felt very cold and alone.

Yet not completely alone. The girl was still stroking me gently, and though her hands were cool their touch was arousing a passionate heat within me.

“Well, then,” I said, “If we are alone in the universe we must make the best of this world and take comfort in each other.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “You are a comfort to me, Zyrra. I have been alone for too long.”

“I don’t even know your name,” I said. “Won’t you please tell me?”

“My name is Shenza,” she said, gently caressing my eartips.

“Shenza,” I replied, savouring the sound of it. ”It’s a pretty name. A little old-fashioned, though. My grandmother told me she once had a distant cousin named Shenza, but she died when she was quite young. I guess it was the pla -”

“Please,” said Shenza, “let’s not talk of such things here and now. We’ve talked too long already. This night is for love.”

She stroked my ears again and kissed me fiercely, slippiing her tongue in my mouth. Aroused beyone endurance I slid one hand up her thigh and into her crotch, using the other to return her ear-caress. At the same time I was sliding my tongue over hers. It felt strangely cool, like the rest of her body, but her passion was making me hot.

A moment later I felt her hand enter me and we spent what felt like an hour mutually pleasuring each other, our sensations slowly growing more intense until at last I felt that I was about to climax.

In that brief moment before I came, I happened to glance over her shoulder at the gravestone. Until that moment it hadn’t occurred to me that what we were doing might be considered disrespectful to the dead, and it was far too late to do anything about it now. But for a brief moment, in the light of the Whirlpool, I thought I briefly glimpsed a part of the inscription:

And then I wasn’t able to think about what it meant, because my body flared into orgasm.

Oh, it was everything I had dreamed it would be. It was like all the stars of the Whirlpool exploding inside me at once. I could hear myself moaning, and Shenza was moaning too. But the strange thing was that I seemed to hear others as well. There was moaning and wailing coming from all around us.

My own moaning intensified as another burst of ecstasy washed over every nerve in my body, followed by another, then another, and another, and another, and another...

I couldn’t speak. I could barely think. I couldn’t even moan any more. I couldn’t move a muscle. I couldn’t do anything except let the incredible pleasure consume me.

In that unbelievable ecstatic paralysis I seemed to feel the light of the Whirlpool beating down upon my naked back, and I fancied I could hear the Voices of the Whirlpool whispering to me across half a million years of emptiness. There were secrets in those Voices, secrets that no mortal could ever know, yet which could teach the spirits of the dead to rise up on this one night of the year and lure partners to them....

Gradually my ecstasy faded, though it did not stop. Ripples of ecstasy continued to pulsate through my body as Shenza gently turned me onto my back and began licking my moist vagina. I tried to sit up, but still my muscles would not respond.

“Shen... za...” I managed to gasp. Even speaking took an enormous effort now, as if my mouth and throat were slowly hardening. “Shen... za... it... can’t... be... true. It’s... im... poss... i... ble.”

After a moment Shenza removed her mouth from my crotch and moved forward to kiss me, giving me a taste of my own womanhood.

Then she said: “It’s true, Zyrra. I am the same Shenza who died of the plague, one hundred and thirty-eight years ago. I was just one of the many who died too young and were buried here in a forgotten corner of town where we could be forgotten. All our friends and loved ones just abandoned us, because they were afraid our bodies might infect them. They were fools. The plague spores could not survive more than a few years in our dead and decaying flesh.”

A shudder went through me that had nothing to do with the way Shenza was caressing me.

“Once a year on Soulsnight we would be awakened by the Voices of the Whirlpool. Gradually we learned from them how to take physical form for this one night of the year, and we gave each other what comfort we could. But we realised that the only way we could ever end our loneliness and experience true pleasure once more was by attracting living partners to us. It took many decades before one of us succeeded, but finally we were able to draw partners to us, one by one, and take them as lovers each Soulsnight.”

She chuckled softly. “Some of us would prefer male partners, but until now we have only ever succeeded with other women. Ah, well. I don’t mind that at all, Zyrra. I’m very happy to have you here at last. Last Soulsnight I was able to reach your friend Yanni’s mind and plant the idea of bringing someone to spend the night here. Of course I didn’t know it would be you, but I was certain that in the mind of one so young and impressionable the suggestion would take root, and after a year it blossomed, and here you are.”

“The... statues...” I gasped. “The... statues... are... the... women... you... lured... here.”

“That’s right, Zyrra. Once Soulsnight is done their flesh takes on the appearance of stone. They lie still upon our graves as we lie still within them, and when this night is over you will join them in that stillness. Neither living nor dead, they are our bridge between life and death. Only on Soulsnight do the Voices restore them to flesh and blood, and only for the sake of our pleasure.”

“And... is... this... your... re... venge?” I croaked. By now it was becoming almost impossible to speak, but I could not leave my question unasked. “Is... this... your... way... of... pun... ish... ing... the... peo... ple... who... ab... an... doned... you?”

“Revenge, Zyrra?” she laughed, gently kissing my lips. “Oh, I wouldn’t call it that, exactly. Haven’t I already given you more pleasure than you have ever dreamt of? Only we and those who become our companions can ever experience such pleasure, Zyrra, and I promise you that what you have felt so far was only the beginning. There are many hours before dawn, and I will make every second of those hours an eternity of pleasure for you. Surely giving up your dreary, mundane existence is a small price to pay for such bliss.”

I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t even whisper any more. My body was nothing but a doll in her hands, and I couldn’t do anything to prevent her from inserting her tongue into me once more. Unable either to help her or to resist, I could only lie there as my pleasure slowly grew and grew once more. Out of the corner of my eye I seemed to see other female figures fondling and caressing the other tomb statues, and I wondered how many years the statues had spent trapped in this state.

Slowly Shenza’s articulate tongue brought me to another incredible climax. If anything it was even more prolonged and intense than the last, and I could think of nothing at all except how beautiful the experience was. I couldn’t moan with pleasure, but Shenza and her companions were moaning, wailing and screaming so loudly it was certain that anyone hearing them outside the cemetery would think them the cries of the damned.

The pleasure that I experienced that night can scarcely be expressed in words. The Voices had taught Shenza and her fellow souls the arts of pleasure from a thousand worlds, and using them she gave me such pleasure that I thought my mortal flesh would melt away. I couldn’t move, couldn’t escape, but who could have wished to escape the throes of such god-like ecstasy?

But at long last the Whirlpool began to sink into the west, and as the Voices faded so did Shenza’s physical form.

“Farewell for now, my beautiful Zyrra,” she said, kissing me like mist. “Until next Soulsnight.”

And as she faded away in the first light of dawn I had one final orgasm that lasted for hours and hours.

I woke in the cool morning, lying upon the stone slab with my head propped against the headstone. At first I thought it had all been a strange dream, until I tried to move and my body remained still. I tried again, and again, but still couldn’t move a muscle.

Looking down at my torso, I saw that my flesh had the appearance of white marble, just like the statues on the neighbouring tombs.

No, I thought, it can’t be true! It can’t!

But no amount of denial could make my stone limbs move. It was true. The night had not been a dream.

I was a statue.

I was going to remain a statue forever.

And even as that realisation dawned, my senses flared into a spontaneous orgasm. I might be stone on the outside, but on the inside I was very much alive and capable of feeling. This climax was not nearly as intense or as sensuous as those I had experienced with Shenza, but it was just as prolonged, and it had not ended by the time I caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye and heard familiar voices.

“Remind me what we’re doing here again, Yanni,” said the first.

“Well, that’s the funny thing, Vrytha,” said the other. “I was absolutely certain that I had to do something here this morning, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what.”

Vrytha and Yanni! So Yanni had remembered to return for me. The only thing she had forgotten was me. I had no doubt that during the night the souls who dwelt within the cemetery had used the knowledge of the Voices to make her forget all about me. And not just her, but everybody who ever knew me.

It was as if I had never existed.

“And that’s not all,” said Yanni.

Their voices were coming closer. Of course I couldn’t turn to look at them.

“I opened my bag this morning,” Yanni went on, “and just look what I found.”

Vrytha whistled. “Great clothes. Who’d you steal them off of?”

“That’s just it. I can’t think how they came to be there. Maybe I robbed a dress shop and lost my memory. I mean, this stuff would fit me just nicely, and I’d love to wear it, but suppose the real owner recognised it?”

Vrytha laughed. “Yeah, that would be pretty embarrassing.”

I could see them now. They were walking along the aisle, following more or less the route I had taken last night. I wanted to cry out to them, Yanni! Vrytha! Help me! But of course I could do nothing but lie mute and helpless upon the stone.

Suddenly Vrytha stopped and bent down to pick up something at the foot of the grave.

“Well, look at that,” she laughed. “Looks like you’re not the only one who’s finding stuff today.”

“Why, what have you found?” said Yanni.

“A pair of sandals,” said Vrytha, holding up my sandals for her to see.

“Weird. It’s like someone’s been discarding their clothes all over town.”

“Well, one thing’s certain,” said Vrytha, running a hand up my stone leg. “These ladies discarded theirs a long time ago.”

“Yeah, they’re really cute,” said Yanni, fondling my stone breasts.

Not surprisingly, their touches were giving me another internal orgasm, and it was obvious from the way they were looking at each other as they stroked me that orgasms were on their minds as well.

“Want to take me up to the meadow again?” said Vrytha. “Those bushes are nice and secluded. No one will see us.”

Yanni looked thoughtful. “No, we’d better not go there again. from just the right angle you can see everything through a gap.”

“How do you know that?” asked Vrytha.

“I...I don’t know,” said Yanni. “I seemed to remember someone telling me, but I can’t remember who or when. Don’t suppose it’s important.”

As they turned to leave, Vrytha looked around the cemetery.

“You know,” she said, “this place is creepy enough in the daytime. I bet it’s really scary at night.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. How about next Soulsnight you and I spend the night here and see just how scary it is?”

“Hah. Think I’d be too scared? That’s going in my diary right now, and I’m going to make sure you don’t try to get out of it either.”

So Shenza and her friends had planted the idea in Vrytha and Yanni’s minds, so that next year they would enter the cemetery and be seduced as I had been, joining me in eternal, stony silence.

I couldn’t warn them. But as my conscious thought began to dissolve in another series of endless climaxes, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to warn them anyway.

Zyrra becomes a grave statue

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22499.00 Rupees RS Xbox 360 slim in 10/10 condition Kandhkot

Published date: February 13, 2016
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