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Bumping into strangers and apologizing about it

London train network can be a very very busy place during morning peak hours, who is to say it couldn’t be with around 4 million people rushing to reach their offices every day within a 2 hours range.

This happened today while heading from home to work. I was moving down the platform in Croydon station when I bumped on a lady that she was moving like a headless chicken. one minute later she grabbed my arm while I was walking and said “you should have said you are sorry” – I didn’t I actually haven’t felt I had a reason to. I recognize my error and apologize when I believe it’s the right thing to do. Should I have said “I am sorry” without meaning it just to uphold the social convention of being polite? I believe that we, all of us, should be more considerate of our actions and less bound from social
standards.

Twenty minutes later I am waiting for the tube train at London Bridge. I am now walking to take my place at the edge of the platform in London bridge northern line tube and I have bumped again on a lady. This time around it was clear it was my fault – she was on my left side – I immediately turned and said “I am so sorry” it wasn’t even a hard bump but I still felt obliged to, maybe because subconsciously I was still thinking about what happened. While I was muttering my apology she turned with a very angry face – I don’t know if she was angry because of my action or because she was pissed off in general – but she did gave me the evil eye … at least for the first tenths of the second. When she realized I had my puppy face and that I was apologizing already she broke a smile and responded “it’s ok”

I wonder if it was the apology itself or the fact that I really showed I meant it that makes a difference. So you think the result would have been the same if I just gave her a dry “sorry”

How important factor is the fact that we also kind of recognized each other (we are both at the same place on the platform almost twice a week)

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How to code a select tag with different value and key for PFBC

i have been checking out the documentation for PFBC trying to find out how I could have my select tag have a different value from it’s key/name in effect being able ot have this

<option value="foo">bar</option>

Normally select is written like that

$form->addElement(new Element_Select("My Select:", "MySelect", array(
   "Option #1",
   "Option #2",
   "Option #3"
)));

By reading the code of the class I have found out that the functionality is actually there. All that you need to do is to replace the ‘Option’ with ‘key’ => ‘value’.
If you are fetching database results or you have a somehow dynamic array this is the structure the array should have.

array(3) {
  ["value1"]=>
  string(19) "Dimitris"
  ["value2"]=>
  string(12) "Janet"
  ["value3"]=>
  string(7) "Yiannis"
}

And this is the format of the select call when you use an array.

$form->addElement(new PFBC\Element\Select("LABEL", "SELECTID", $array ));

I hope this helps if you have any questions let me know.

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Inspiration via challenge

It has been a long while since I have actually used my camera, it has been a while since i have done anything i consider remotely creative. It’s things like this  (Make something cool everyday) that make me feel so bad about myself and the fact that I am uninspired because I simply don’t do anything.

It is true what they say, that creativity is a muscle and if you leave it, it will leave you.

Having said that it is time to get that creative beer belly down and procure again some inspired six-packs (that’s inspirational/imaginary ones I have let go of the idea of actual 6 packs around when I was 18)

i will be starting my own create something awesome every day … today!

I will be posting before the end of the day the location and my first work.

Wish me good luck.

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Featuring Caroline Madison

It is such a beautiful feeling to reminiscent and being able to remember the first steps of an artist that you know and being able to compare and cherish how much they grew as artists and as personalities since you’ve first met them.

Caroline was born in Dijon, and I guess in many ways it makes sense, for all that enjoy fine wine know that there is no glass more red and full bodied than those of Burgundy and no woman more seducing and enchanting than those born where the fine vines grow.

Caroline is a traveller, she spent 4 years in Scotland studying but for all the time I know her she never stopped going places. Sometimes to visit her beloved galleries and museums others to see new cities and places.

It was in one of those travels that I had the opportunity and the privilege to meet her. Her friendly, open and passionate disposition followed by a beautiful smile that could brighten the coldest London night were only a small portion of the reasons I consider her a good friend.

I think that one of the defining attributes of Caroline is the fact that her work and her choice of photographers is influences heavily by the things that she loves and holds dear in her hearth. He love for the pre-Raphaelites like Rossetti and Sir Franck Dicksee as well as her adoration of Impressionism in many ways spill within almost every piece of her work.

 

For more amazing photos
Visit her website: http://www.carolinemadison.com/

—

I hope you’ve enjoyed this feature I know I did
What do you think of Caroline’s work?
Do you have another artist that you think he or she should be featured?

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XCOM Enemy Unknown Temple Ship: How to open the Gate (gate won’t open)

Notice: This might contain spoilers for people that haven’t reached the last mission of the XCOM Enemy Unknown game. 

I was playing XCOM Enemy Uknown and I have finally reached the last mission killed all the guys and found my way to the room with the 2 Sectopods. I have killed them and proceeded to the door at the very end of the room which would not open.

I am writing this article to shed some light on the issue that I have seen many players were searching for a solution online.

The solution was simple. There are still aliens you haven’t shot already in previous rooms. (Most possibly the Mutons at the room before the Sectopods.

Get your whole team out of the room you are currently in (Sectopods), as in behind the gate you’ve entered from, and then seek the missing alien.

When you do move your team in. There will be some nasties and waiting for you and the door will be open.

If you have any questions please do let me know.
If this article was helpful – do drop me a line! 

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Featuring Kassandra Leigh Purcell

It’s hard to believe it but I have been watching her talent grow for 9 years now. Kassandra started as a self-portrait photographer and managed to evolve into a multi talented girl with an aptitude for modelling, costume design, an exquisite ability for make-up and stage set-up and last but not least extremely good Photoshop skills. I really don’t know of many people that are so good into doing so many things around their art. Since then Kassandra started to also photograph other models with amazing results, a thing that comes only as a testament to her skills.

Kassandra, or Kayleigh as people used to know her as when she joined deviantArt, managed within the years of her carrier to bloom and bring her work into a whole new level by keeping her ideals and style solid. At this point there are hundreds of aspiring young artists to try to follow her footsteps and use the same methodoly and style she established, if this is not a sign of success, what is?



 

 

You can find more of her work here: http://kassandraleigh.deviantart.com/

Follow her work, like here Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Unseelie.Allure

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Revolution TV series criticism

Hmmm, ok I started writing this article and I wanted to say that I really liked the first episode. Yest the acting is a bit so-and-so and the dialogue really need some love, but the premise is nice. I kind of liked the idea of a post-apocalyptic world that nature has prevailed but humans exist in pre industrial communities. It really reminded me of The Postman  (you should really see this movie if you like post-apoc, a bit (although that’s a post-nuclear fallout world)

And then, then I did some thinking and things started to make no sense. Ok Jet Engines, Electronics, Car engines don’t work because “the physics went all wrong” but … semi-automatic weapons can fire? Any sort of a weapon uses more or less the same laws that an internal combustion engine is using.

Trying to support the theory of the series I thought, well maybe there is something that tampers with Electric fields so electric engines or engines that use an electronic ignition won’t work… Well yeah … our neural system is kind of REALLY using electric impulses to function so if there was something tampering with that we were utterly ‘le fucked’.

The other possibility would have been that a really major EMP of some sort hit the earth, after some reading actually this might be a possible explanation. A long lasting period of solar activity can stop communications and electronics from working and can also tamper with electric power generation. In this case, steam engines will work. Guns will also be able to fire. Internal combustion engines will have a huge problem to start running because the ignition requires kind of a strong electric current to fire up the fuel.

So yeah .. that’s a possibility, not very strong but that’s at least within the realm of possible.

What do you think? Any other ideas or arguments?

 

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Pixar’s Brave review

 

It is not very often that I have so mixed feelings about a movie. Honestly Brave made me want to see it again just to clear my feeling about it.

The plot

Merida, a Scottish princess whose interests include archery and horse riding, is told by her mother that her interests are not what a princess should be doing and that she has to marry. But Merida chooses to defy her mother. And when she and her mother have an argument Merida rides off and meets a witch. She asks for a spell to change her mother. And the witch gives her a cake which she gives to her mother but the change is not what she was hoping for. So she tries to find a way to fix it.

The review

I will start by saying that the graphics, colours and animation are just stunning. I couldn’t stop starring at the jaw dropping curls of Merida’s fiery red hair or the amazingly lighted sceneries that made me to want to go to Scotland so very much.

The soundtrack of the movie moves away from Disney’s classic singing and dancing characters but it still accompanies each scene beautifully creating a very cheerful or full of movement and action environment. Of course each song and piece is heavily inspired by the celtic folklore songs but adds a nice instrumental taste to it.

The characters are well built but not really explored. That is one of the thing that make me doubt the final result. There was so much that it has been left unsaid and the movie feels like someone just removed a major plot twist and about an additional hour. (the movie is 100 minutes long but I would easily go for a 140 – 160 minutes version)

As with the characters the plotline remains very simple and very linear, I would love to see a more strong plot twist (see Lion King that was actually written by Brenda Chapman as well) I want to believe that the reason for it was the fact that the movie was intended for all audiences which means our young friends should also be able to enjoy it.

Once again the movie escapes Disney’s completely wrong role model standards and talks about issues like gender equality, woman empowerment, and family relations in a beautiful way that kind of surprises in a nice way.

In an unrelated note the short file  La Luna by Pixar is shown before Brave begins and it’s ..beautiful 

Conclusion

Brave was a beautiful experience. If you enjoyed the likes of How to train your dragon and Tangled you will surely like Brave. I believe that both IMDB and Rotten tomatoes scores are well deserved.

Rotten tomatoes: 80% http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/brave_2012/

IMDB: 7.6/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209/

 

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Beautiful billboards

I think it has been stated enough that designers of any discipline should learn not to be constrained by their media. Below you can find some very nice examples of large scale billboards that bend the rules to the will of their designers. Enjoy!