Paul Cezanne House of Pere Lacroix

Paul Cezanne House of Pere LacroixPaul Cezanne Flowers in a Blue VasePaul Cezanne Five BathersPaul Cezanne Boy in a Red Waistcoat
What better way to welcome the new year than with a collection of bright and shiny party gadgets?
You can handle the basics: Flare pants. Sequin dress for the ladies (and some of the gentlemen). Hair gel. Beer. Breath mints.
But 11 cool gadgets that can help you pass the last few hours of 2008 in high-tech style.
Alcohawk ABI Digital BreathalyzerSo your New Year's Eve resolution is to quit drinking (for the 10th year in a row) but you want to have a blowout before you give it all up. Too bad you had to drive to the party. Before you get back into the car at 4 a.m., fish out the $100 Alcohawk digital breathalyzer and do a quick test. Above legal limit? Taxi!
Pacemaker Pocket DJ SystemWired's Gadget Lab has the electronic tools that will make this a truly 21st century event. Whether you will live it up on Times Square, throw your own block party or merely make a drunken nuisance of yourself in a subway car, here are

Salvador Dali Les trois sphinx de bikini

Salvador Dali Les trois sphinx de bikiniSalvador Dali Enchanted Beach with Three Fluid GracesMark Rothko Untitled 1960Mark Rothko Violet Green and Red
Rincewind hiccupped. He was finding Reason rather difficult to hold on to. "Well," he said, "what I think is, the point is, well, you know octiron?"
The two adventurers nodded. The strange iridescent metal was almost as highly valued in the lands around the Circle Sea as sapient pearwood, and was about as rare. A man who owned a needle made of octiron would never lose his.
The little man called Twoflower appeared to be asleep. The Weasel looked down at him and shook his head.
"The city awaits, such as it is," he said. "Thank you for a pleasant tale, Wizard. What will you do now?"
He eyed the Luggage, which immediately backed away and snapped its lid at him. way, since it always pointed to the Hub of the Discworld, being acutely sensitive to the disc's magical field; it would also miraculously darn his socks."Well, my point is, you see, that gold also has its sort of magical field. Sort of financial wizardry. Echo-gnomics." Rincewind giggled.The Weasel stood up and stretched. The sun was well up now, and the city below them was wreathed in mists and full of foul vapours. Also gold, he decided. Even a citizen of Morpork would, at the very point of death, desert his treasure to save his skin. Time to move

Thomas Gainsborough The Watering Place

Thomas Gainsborough The Watering PlaceThomas Gainsborough The Morning WalkThomas Gainsborough The Harvest WagonThomas Gainsborough Cottage Girl with Dog and Pitcher
Lyra," she told him again. "Could you teach me about the bears?"
"The bears..." he said doubtfully.
"I'd really is full of intentions, you know. Everything happens for a purpose. Your purpose is to remind me of that. Good, good-in my despair I had forgotten. Good! Excellent, my child!"
"So, have you seen the king? lofur Raknison?"
"Yes. Oh, yes. I came here at his invitation, you know. He intended to set up a university. He was going to make me Vice-Chancellor. That would be one in the eye for the Royal Arctic Institute, eh! Eh? And that scoundrel Trelawney! Ha!"like to know about cosmology and Dust and all, but I'm not clever enough for that. You need really clever students for that. But I could learn about the bears. You could teach me about them all right. And we could sort of practice on that and work up to Dust, maybe."He nodded again."Yes," he said, "yes, I believe you're right. There is a correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm! The stars are alive, child. Did you know that? Everything out there is alive, and there are grand purposes abroad! The universe

Paul Klee Around the Fish

Paul Klee Around the FishPaul Klee Ancient SoundRene Magritte HomesicknessArthur Hughes Phyllis
you hadn't done that, none of this would have happened," he whispered back.
"Then it's up to me to undo it, isn't it?"
She got her below her; but they were very narrow, and had sharp edges, so sharp that she cut her knuckles and her knees on them, and before long she was sore all over, and cramped, and dusty.
But she knew roughly where she was, and she could see the dark bulk of her furs crammed in above the dormitory to guide her back. She could tell where a room was empty because the panels were dark, and from time to time she heard voices from below, and bearings, working out approximately which direction the conference room was in, and then set off. It was a far from easy journey. She had to move on hands and knees, because the space was too low to crouch in, and every so often she had to squeeze under a big square duct or lift herself over some heating pipes. The metal channels she crawled in followed the tops of internal walls, as far as she could tell, and as long as she stayed in them she felt a comforting solidity

Frida Kahlo Self Portrait with Necklace

Frida Kahlo Self Portrait with NecklaceFrida Kahlo Self Portrait with MonkeysFrida Kahlo Self Portrait 1940Frida Kahlo My Dress Hangs There
want to let these poor things go!" she said fiercely. "I'm going to smash the glass and let 'em out-"
And she looked around for something to do it with, but the place was bare. The goose daemon said, "Wait."
He was a witch's daemon, and much older than she was, and stronger. She had to do as he said.
"We must When she had unlocked them all, she lifted the front of the first one, and the pale form of a sparrow fluttered out, but fell to the ground before she could fly. The goose tenderly bent and nudged her upright with his beak, and the sparrow became a mouse, staggering make these people think someone forgot to lock the place and shut the cages," he explained. "If they see broken glass and footprints in the snow, how long do you think your disguise will last? And it must hold out till the gyptians come. Now do exactly as I say: take a handful of snow, and when I tell you, blow a little of it against each cage in turn."She ran outside. Roger and Billy were still on guard, and there was still a noise of shrieking and laughter from the arena, because only a minute or so had gone by.She grabbed a big double handful of the light powdery snow, and then came back to do as the goose daemon said. As she blew a little snow on each cage, the goose made a clicking sound in his throat, and the catch at the front of the cage came open.

Thomas Kinkade The Spirit of New York

Thomas Kinkade The Spirit of New YorkThomas Kinkade The Rose GardenThomas Kinkade Sunset on Lamplight Lane
rending, splintering sound made them all look back at the house. A window at ground level, obviously opening on a cellar, was being wrenched apart with a crash of glass and a screech of tearing wood. The sentry who'd followed the policemen leveled their weapons too, but lorek Byrnison merely shook the bullets off like raindrops, and lunged forward in a screech and clang of metal before the sentry could escape, and knocked him to the ground. His daemon, a husky dog, darted at the bear's throat, but lorek Byrnison took no more notice of him than he would of a fly, and dragging the sentry to him with one vast paw, he bent and enclosed his head in his jaws. Lyra could see exactly what would happen nextlorek Byrnison into the house came running out and stood to face the cellar window, rifle at his shoulder; and then the window tore open completely, and out climbed lorek Byrnison, the bear in armor.Without it, he was formidable. With it, he was terrifying. It was rust-red, and crudely riveted together: great sheets and plates of dented discolored metal that scraped and screeched as they rode over one another. The helmet was pointed like his muzzle, with slits for eyes, and it left the lower part of his jaw bare for tearing and biting.The sentry fired several shots, and

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida UNA INVESTIGACIoN

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida UNA INVESTIGACIoNWilliam Etty Hero and LeanderBenjamin Williams Leader The Wengen Alps Morning In Switzerland
Coram nodded as if he understood very well.
"To be sure," he said. "And it wouldn't be necessary for me to ask you if I could get the information any other way. That was why I asked about the witch lady first."
Now Dr. of a witch clan in the region of Lake Enara. As for your other question, it is of course understood that this information is not reaching you through me."
"Quite so."
"Well, in this very town there is a branch of an organization called the Northern Progress Exploration Company, which pretends to be searching for minerals, but which is really controlled by something called the General Oblation Lanselius nodded as if he understood. Lyra watched this with puzzlement and respect. There were all kinds of things going on beneath it, and she saw that the witch consul was coming to a decision."Very well," he said. "Of course, that's true, and you'll realize that your name is not unknown to us, Farder Coram. Serafina Pekkala is queen

Leroy Neiman Jour du Soleil

Leroy Neiman Jour du SoleilLeroy Neiman Jazz HornsLeroy Neiman Island Hole at Sawgrass
group of frightened children, and then say to some of them that they can come Home, and to the rest that they have to stay? No, you're a better man than that. Well, do I have your approval, my friends?"
The question a plan to put before you when we meet. Goodnight to ye all."
His massive, plain, blunt presence was enough to calm them. As the audience began to move out of the great doors into the chilly evening, to go to their boats or to the crowded bars of the little settlement, Lyra said to Ma Costa:
"Who are the other men on the platform?"caught them by surprise, for there was a moment's hesitation; but then a full-throated roar filled the hall, and hands were clapped in the air, fists shaken, voices raised in excited clamor. The rafters of the Zaal shook, and from their perches up in the dark a score of sleeping birds woke up in fear and flapped their wings, and little showers of dust drifted down.John Faa let the noise continue for a minute, and then raised his hand for silence again."This'll take a while to organize. I want the heads of the families to raise a tax and muster a levy. We'll meet again here in three days' time. In between now and then I'm a going to talk with the child I mentioned before, and with Farder Coram, and form

Claude Monet Houses of Parliament London

Claude Monet Houses of Parliament LondonClaude Monet Custom Officer's Cabin at VarengvilleClaude Monet Chrysanthemums
never told her anything important," Lyra said.
"What was she asking?"
"Just about and I understand these things, don't we?" and moved on to greet some other guests.
Pantalaimon was whispering in Lyra's ear.
"While she was here, her daemon was coming out of our bedroom. He's been spying. He knows about the alethiometer!"what I was doing and who I was, and stuff like that."As she said that, Lyra noticed that Mrs. Coulter was alone, without her daemon. How could that be? But a moment later the golden monkey appeared at her side, and, reaching down, she took his hand and swung him up lightly to her shoulder. At once she seemed at ease again."If you come across anyone else who obviously hasn't been invited, dear, do come and find me, won't you?"The hot metallic smell was vanishing. Perhaps Lyra had only imagined it. She could smell Mrs. Coulter's scent again, and the roses, and the cigarillo smoke, and the scent of other women. Mrs. Coulter smiled at Lyra in a way that seemed to say, "You

Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa Smile

Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa SmileLeonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa PaintingRembrandt Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery
came and went with the spring and autumn fairs, and were always good for a fight. There was one family of gyptians in particular, who regularly returned to their mooring in that part of the city known as Jericho, with whom Lyra'd been feuding ever since she could first throw a stone. When they were last in Oxford, she and Roger and some of in this bung. If they pulled it out, she assured her troop, the boat would sink at once; but they didn't find it, and had to abandon ship when the gyptians caught them up, to flee dripping and crowing with triumph through the narrow lanes of Jericho.
That was Lyra's world and her delight. She was a coarse and greedy little savage, for the most part. But she always had a dim sense that it wasn't her whole world; that part the other kitchen boys from Jordan and St. Michael's college had laid an ambush for them, throwing mud at their brightly painted narrowboat until the whole family came out to chase them away-at which point the reserve squad under Lyra raided the boat and cast it off from the bank, to float down the canal, getting in the way of all the other water traffic while Lyra's raiders searched the boat from end to end, looking for the bung. Lyra firmly believed

William Bouguereau The Song of the Angels

William Bouguereau The Song of the AngelsPierre-Auguste Cot La TempeteRaphael Saint George and the Dragon
at the wildly tossing treetops, a wild sea of leaf and branch. Then that Specter was in the cabin with them.
Pinioned in his dream, Lee could neither move nor cry out, and he suffered the terror of the pilot as the man became aware of what was happening to him.
The as the zeppelin flew on directly into a scarp of the mountains that rose up before them.
The pilot watched it rear up in the window, but nothing could interest him. Lee pushed back against the seat in horror, but nothing happened to stop it, and at the moment of impact Specter was leaning over the pilot and pressing what would be its face to his. His daemon, a finch, fluttered and shrieked and tried to pull away, only to fall half-fainting on the instrument panel. The pilot turned his face to Lee and put out a hand, but Lee had no power of movement. The anguish in the man's eyes was wrenching. Something true and living was being drained from him, and his daemon fluttered weakly and called in a wild high call, but she was dying.Then she vanished. But the pilot was still alive. His eyes became filmy and dull, and his reaching hand fell back with a limp thud against the throttle. He was alive but not alive; he was indifferent to everything.And Lee sat and watched helplessly

Unknown Artist flower carrier

Unknown Artist flower carrierUnknown Artist city dancersJames Jacques Joseph Tissot Too Early
trying to do
with words what I've
done before with a
state of mind, but
Before she had even finished the sentence, the cursor raced across to the right of the screen and printed:
ASK A QUESTION.
It was almost instantaneous.
She felt as if she had stepped on a space that wasn't there. Her whole being lurched with shock. It took several moments was happening was impossible. All her education, all her habits of mind, all her sense of herself as a scientist were shrieking at her silently: This is wrong! It isn't happening! You're dreaming! And yet there they were on the screen: her questions, and answers from some other mind.for her to calm down enough to try again. When she did, the answers lashed themselves across the right of the screen almost before she had finished.Are you Shadows? YES.Are you the same as Lyra's Dust? YES.And is that dark matter? YES.Dark matter is conscious? EVIDENTLY.What I said to Oliver this morning, my idea about human evolution, is itCORRECT. BUT YOU NEED TO ASK MORE QUESTIONS.She stopped, took a deep breath, pushed her chair back, flexed her fingers. She could feel her heart racing. Every single thing about what
She gathered herself and typed again, and again the answers zipped into

John Singleton Copley Watson and the Shark

John Singleton Copley Watson and the SharkJohn Singleton Copley The Tribute MoneyFord Madox Brown The Coat of Many Colors
Puddle, marketing Director of CyberSentinel, said: 'The alarming thing about this research is that it shows that teenagers are obviously exploring all sorts of topics as a result of modern-day pressures.
'For 'Using the internet to research topics which are difficult to talk about is fine, but parents should agree and set boundaries to protect their children from accessing inappropriate material.'
The poll revealed teenagers spend at least three hours and 10 minutes a week researching topics for their Homework, and another one hour and 40 minutes downloading or listening instance, pressure to emulate celebrity standards of beauty is resulting in teens spending a significant amount of time researching cosmetic surgery.The research has also found that they're viewing information on contraceptives and Pregnancy and sex as well as weight loss.'And for some reason they find it easier to go online to conduct their research than asking mum and dad for advice.

Edward Hopper Sunlight in a Cafeteria

Edward Hopper Sunlight in a CafeteriaEdward Hopper Summer InteriorEdward Hopper Sailing
clean, and a mahogany cabinet against the wall contained dainty porcelain figures. Will saw the servant standing in the background, as if he were waiting to be called.
"Come into my study," said Sir Charles, and held open another door off the hall.
He was being courteous, even welcoming, but there was an edge to his manner that put Will on guard. The study was , but Will looked at her, and she stopped.
"Lyra thinks she left something in your car," he said again. "We've come to get it back."
"Is this the object you mean?" he said, and took a velvet cloth from a drawer in the desk. Lyra stood up. He ignored her and unfolded the cloth, disclosing the golden splendor of the alethiometer resting in his palm.
"Yes!" Lyra burst out, and reached for it.
But he closed his hand. The desk was wide, and large and comfortable in a cigar-smoke-and-leather-armchair sort of way, and seemed to be full of bookshelves, pictures, hunting trophies. There were three or four glass-fronted cabinets containing antique scientific instruments—brass microscopes, telescopes covered in green leather, sextants, compasses; it was clear why he wanted the alethiometer."Sit down," said Sir Charles, and indicated a leather sofa. He sat at the chair behind his desk, and went on. "Well? What have you got to say?""You stole—" began Lyra hotly

Leroy Neiman The 16th at Cypress

Leroy Neiman The 16th at CypressLeroy Neiman Texas LonghornsLeroy Neiman Tennis Players
avalanche. Grumman was buried under a hundred tons of rock. This Inuit saw it happen."
"What I can't understand," said Lee Scoresby, offering the bottle around, "is what the man was doing. Was he prospecting for . They'd be able to tell you. I know he went up there more than once."
"What d'you want to know for, anyway, Lee?" said Sam Cansino.
"He owes me some money," said Lee Scoresby.
This explanation was so satisfying that it stopped their curiosity at once. The conversation turned to the topic on everyone's lips: the catastrophic changes taking place around them, which no one could see.rock oil, maybe? Or was he a military man? Or was it something philosophical? You said something about measurements, Sam. What would that be?""They were measuring the starlight. And the aurora. He had a passion for the aurora. I think his main interest was in ruins, though. Ancient things.""I know who could tell you more," said the seal hunter. "Up the mountain they have an observatory belonging to the Imperial Muscovite Academy

Peter Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

Peter Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of LeucippusPeter Paul Rubens Woman with a MirrorPeter Paul Rubens The Crucified Christ

Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, come on…"
But his mother hung back. She was still afraid. Will looked up and down the narrow street in the evening light, along the little terrace of houses, each behind its tiny garden and its box hedge, with the sun glaring off the windows of one sidehe didn't.
The door opened, and there was the stooped elderly figure of the piano teacher, with the scent of lavender water about her as he remembered. and leaving the other in shadow. There wasn't much time. People would be having their meal about now, and soon there would be other children around, to stare and comment and notice. It was dangerous to wait, but all he could do was persuade her, as usual..."Mum, let's go in and see Mrs. Cooper," he said. "Look, we're nearly there.""Mrs. Cooper?" she said doubtfully.But he was already ringing the bell. He had to put down the bag to do it, because his other hand still held his mother's. It might have bothered him at twelve years of age to be seen holding his mother's hand, but he knew what would happen to her if

Thomas Kinkade Chicago Water Tower

Thomas Kinkade Chicago Water TowerThomas Kinkade Bridge of FaithThomas Kinkade Autumn Lane
Facebook is starting to feel like a watered-down version of a yearbook. But unlike a real yearbook, we can’t look back at it with nostalgia. We’re always supposed to be looking forward. What do I write on someone’s “wall” anyway? And does it matter? Letter writing is a lost art, and I must admit, I am not one to write long letters to loved ones or friends as much as I used to in my college years. But I’d like to hope when I do make the effort, that a letter mighty Facebook—and losing precious personal time—all in the name of a cool trend. I see people losing sight of real connection for the sake of an easy posting. I may sound like a curmudgeon, but I’d rather connect in person. Facebook is just plain boring.
Facebook may be a quick and easy way to say “hello,” but it’s starting will mean more to them than a one-liner on their Facebook“wall.”All I see are people spending their free time creating free content for a Web site with millions of users. As the owners of Facebook get richer, I don’t make any money by posting my connections on their site. I’m essentially doing the work for the

Paul Klee Around the Fish

Paul Klee Around the FishPaul Klee Ancient SoundRene Magritte Homesickness
she thought there was no , when God had gone? Yes, she had thought that.
"Well, there is now," she said aloud, and again, louder: "There is now!"
As she looked couldn't be the tualapi, because they always moved in a flock, and this was on its own.
But everything about it was the same, the sail-like wings, the long neck, it was one of the birds, no doubt about it. She had never heard of their moving about alone, and she hesitated before running down to warn the villagers, because the thing had stopped, in any case. It was floating on the water close to the path. again at the clouds and the moon in the Dust flow, they looked as frail and doomed as a dam of little twigs and tiny pebbles trying to hold back the Mississippi. But they were trying, all the same. They'd go on trying till the end of everything.How long she stayed out, Mary didn't know. When the intensity of her feeling began to subside, and exhaustion took its place, she made her way slowly down the hill toward the village.And when she was halfway down, near a little grove of knot-wood bushes, she saw something strange out on the mudflats. There was a glow of white, a steady movement: something coming up with the tide.She stood still, gazing intently. It