Vincent van Gogh Wheatfield under a Cloudy Sky

Vincent van Gogh Wheatfield under a Cloudy SkyClaude Monet Water Lilies 1903Claude Monet Bridge over a Pool of Water LiliesPiet Mondrian Composition with Red Blue Yellow 2
Google Reader recently got a facelift; with a fresh look and features, a lot of people are buzzing about the service.
Knowing that new users are signing up and veterans are looking for some ideas to make their experience even better, we have put together a quick how-to that should offer something for everyone.
Tell us in the , something had to be created to sort all of the information. Feed Readers soon started popping up, and power house Google created their own version.
Google Reader is robust in features, and can be used “out of the box” for those that just want a point and click solution, or tweaked so that power users can play around.comments about what you do to get the most out of Google Reader!History of Google ReaderWhen RSS became a standard for publishing material on the web, the way that we received our information changed very quickly. No longer did users have to go find content; now it could come to them automatically. With the world at their fingertips

Fabian Perez Flamenco Dancer

Fabian Perez Flamenco DancerJohannes Vermeer Girl with a Red HatDiane Romanello WindsongDiego Rivera The Flower Seller
Yes, a great bunch of fellows, I thought language was a bit of a problem, but they were so keen for me to join their party, they just wouldn't take no for an answer - really friendly people, I thought..."
Rincewind at the flames racing towards them, and wondered how much of Ankh Morpork could be bought for two hundred rhinu. Quite a large piece, he decided. Only not now, not the way those flames were moving... He glanced down at the tourist.
"You-" he began, and searched his memory for the worst word in the Trob tongue; the happy little beTrobi didn't really know how to swear properly.started to correct him, then realised he didn't know how to begin."It'll be a blow for old Broadman," Twoflower continued. "Still, he was wise. I’ve still got the rhinu he paid as his first premium."Rincewind didn't know the meaning of the word premium, but his mind was working fast."You inn-sewered the Drum?" he said. "You bet Broadman it wouldn't catch fire?""Oh yes. Standard valuation. Two hundred rhinu, Why do you ask?"Rincewind turned and stared

Henri Rousseau Merry Jesters

Henri Rousseau Merry JestersHenri Rousseau Exotic LandscapeHenri Rousseau Exotic Landscape 1908Henri Rousseau Eve
She was nearly asleep when the bolts clattered and the door opened. Light spilled in, and she was on her feet at once, with Pantalaimon hidden swiftly in her pocket.
As soon as the bear guard bent his head to lift the haunch of seal meat and throw it in, she was at his side, saying:the king has to know things first."
Perhaps he was slow-witted. At any rate, he paused, and then threw the meat into the cell before saying, "Very well. You come with me."
He led her out into the open air, for which she was grateful. The "Take me to lofur Raknison. You'll be in trouble if you don't. It's very urgent."He dropped the meat from his jaws and looked up. It wasn't easy to read bears' expressions, but he looked angry."It's about lorek Byrnison," she said quickly. "I know something about him, and the king needs to know.""Tell me what it is, and I'll pass the message on," said the bear."That wouldn't be right, not for someone else to know before the king does," she said. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but you see, it's the rule that

Henri Rousseau The Dream

Henri Rousseau The DreamPaul Cezanne Mount Sainte VictoirePaul Cezanne Card PlayersLaurie Maitland fire
She jumped down, pushed back the locker, and whispered to Pantalaimon, "We must just pretend to be stupid till she sees us, and then say we were kidnapped. And nothing about the gyptians or lorek Byrnison especially."
Because Lyra now realized, if she hadn't done so before, that all the fear in her nature was drawn to Mrs. Coulter as -"
"Did she get you, too?"
"She said she'd write to my mum and dad and I bet she never...."
"She never told us about kids getting killed. She never said nothing about that."
"That monkey, he's the worst-he caught my Karossa a compass needle is drawn to the Pole. All the other thingsshe'd seen, and even the hideous cruelty of the intercision, she could cope with; she was strong enough; but the thought of that sweet face and gentle voice, the image of that golden playful monkey, was enough to melt her stomach and make her pale and nauseated.But the gyptians were coming. Think of that. Think of lorek Byrnison. And don't give yourself away, she said, and drifted back toward the canteen, from where a lot of noise was coming.Children were lining up to get hot drinks, some of them still in their coal-silk anoraks. Their talk was all of the zep-pelin and its passenger."It was her-with the monkey daemon

Thomas Kinkade Graceland

Thomas Kinkade GracelandThomas Kinkade Deer Creek CottageThomas Kinkade Cobblestone BridgeThomas Kinkade Clearing Storms
cupboard in that first room where she looked at me. The one next door. I could wear them."
"Good idea!" said the nurse. "Quick, then."
With a secret glee,soon all three of them were together in a maelstrom of running children.
"No one'll notice if we take a look around," said Lyra. "It'll take 'em ages to count everyone, and we can say we just followed someone else and got lost."
They waited till most of the grownups were looking the other way, and then Lyra Lyra hurried there behind the nurse and retrieved her proper furs and leggings and boots, and pulled them on quickly while the nurse dressed herself in coal silk.Then they hurried out. In the wide arena in front of the main group of buildings, a hundred or so people, adults and children, were milling about: some in excitement, some in irritation, many just bewildered."See?" one adult was saying. "It's worth doing this to find out what chaos we'd be in with a real fire."Someone was blowing a whistle and waving his arms, but no one was taking much notice. Lyra saw Roger and beckoned. Roger tugged Billy Costa's arm and

Thomas Kinkade Cobblestone Evening

Thomas Kinkade Cobblestone EveningThomas Kinkade Cape Hatteras LightJohn Collier Priestess of Delphi
Bear!" said the sysselman, in a high, harsh voice. "For now, you are allowed to depart in the company of these people. But let me tell you that if you appear within the town limits again, you will be treated mercilessly."
lorek Byrnison took not the slightest notice, but continued to rub the seal blubber all over his armor, the care and attention he was paying the task reminding Lyra of her own devotion to Pantalaimon. Just as the bear had said: the armor was his soul. The sysselman and the policemen withdrew, and slowly the other townspeople turned and "Ready to go, Lord Faa."
"And you, lorek Byrnison?"
"When I am clad," said the bear.
He had finished oiling the armor. Not wanting to waste the seal meat, he lifted the carcass in his teeth and flipped it onto the back of Lee Scoresby's larger drifted away, though a few remained to watch.John Faa put his hands to his mouth and called: "Gyptians!"They were all ready to move. They had been itching to get under way ever since they had disembarked; the sledges were packed, the dog teams were in their traces.John Faa said, "Time to move out, friends. We're all assembled now, and the road lies open. Mr. Scoresby, you all a loaded?"

Alexei Alexeivich Harlamoff Literary Pursuits of a Young Lady

Alexei Alexeivich Harlamoff Literary Pursuits of a Young LadyJean Fragonard The SwingJean Fragonard The Fountain of Love
"By sledge."
"And you have no idea where they went?"
"Very little. It is not a subject we are interested in."
"Quite so. Now, you've answered all my questions very fairly, sir, and here's just one more. If you were me, what question would you ask of the Consul of the Witches?"
For the first time Dr. You will find him at the sledge depot at the end of Langlokur Street. He earns a living there at the moment, but such is his temper and the fear he engenders in the dogs, his employment might not last for long."
"Is he a renegade, then?"
"It seems so. His name is lorek Byrnison. You asked Lanselius smiled."I would ask where I could obtain the services of an armored bear," he said.Lyra sat up, and felt Pantalaimon's heart leap in her hands."I understood the armored bears to be in the service of the Oblation Board," said Farder Coram in surprise. "I mean, the Northern Progress Company, or whatever they're calling themselves.""There is at least one who is not.

Leroy Neiman The Brooklyn Bridge

Leroy Neiman The Brooklyn BridgeLeroy Neiman Roulette IILeroy Neiman Marlin Fishing
John Faa began to speak, in a deep slow voice. "Gyptians! Welcome to the Roping. We've come to listen and come to decide. You all know why. There are many families here who've lost a child. Some have lost two. Someone is takingLyra felt a blush from the roots of her hair to the soles of her feet; Pantalaimon became a brown moth to hide. Eyes all around were turning to them, and she could only look up at Ma Costa for reassurance.
But John Faa was speaking again:
"Talk all we may, we won't change owt. We must act if we want to change things them. To be sure, landlopers are losing children too. We have no quarrel with landlopers over this."Now there's been talk about a child and a reward. Here's the truth to stop all gossip. The child's name is Lyra Belacqua, and she's being sought by the landloper police. There is a reward of one thousand sovereigns for giving her up to them. She's a landloper child, and she's in our care, and there she's going to stay. Anyone tempted by those thousand sovereigns had better find a place neither on land nor on water. We en't giving her up."

Paul Klee Farbtafel

Paul Klee FarbtafelClaude Monet Haystack at Giverny Claude Monet Cliffs near Dieppe 2
old nunnery at Godstow. I heard him howling once. And there's the Gobblers...."
"That's what I mean," the man said. "That's what they call the Oblation Board, don't they?"
Lyra felt .
"From the initials, d'you see? General Oblation Board. Very old idea, as a matter of fact. In the Middle Ages, parents would give their children to the church to be monks or nuns. And the unfortunate brats were known as oblates. Means a sacrifice, an offering, something of that sort. So the same idea was taken up when they were looking into the Dust Business....As our little friend probably knows. Why don't you go and talk to Lord BorealPantalaimon tremble suddenly, but he was on his best behavior. The daemons of the two grownups, a cat and a butterfly, didn't seem to notice."Gobblers?" said the young woman. "What a peculiar name! Why do they call them Gobblers?"Lyra was about to tell her one of the bloodcurdling stories she'd made up to frighten the Oxford kids with, but the man was already speaking

William Bouguereau The Virgin of the Lilies

William Bouguereau The Virgin of the LiliesWilliam Bouguereau The Madonna of the RosesWilliam Bouguereau The Wave
Pilgrim's Tower across a gap. There's a skylight that opens onto it, but I'm not tall enough to reach it."
"You've been all over the roof except the Sheldon Building. What about underground?"
"?"
"Yes."
Lord Asriel's daemon laughed softly. It was the first sound she'd made, and Lyra blushed.
"Go and play, then," said Lord Asriel.
Lyra turned and darted to the door with relief, remembering to turn and blurt out a "Goodbye."Underground?""There's as much college below ground as there is above it. I'm surprised you haven't found that out. Well, I'm going in a minute. You look healthy enough. Here."He fished in his pocket and drew out a handful of coins, from which he gave her five gold dollars."Haven't they taught you to say thank you?" he said."Thank you," she mumbled."Do you obey the Master?""Oh, yes.""And respect the Scholars

Thomas Kinkade Key West

Thomas Kinkade Key WestThomas Kinkade Golden Gate Bridge San FranciscoThomas Kinkade Evening on the Avenue
wouldn't fall far.
Then, with Hester secure in his breast, he threw the rest of the rope over and clambered down till he felt solid ground beneath his feet. The branches grew thick around the trunk; this was a massive tree, a giant of an oak, and Lee muttered a thank-you to it as he tugged on the rope to signal to Grumman that he could descend.
Was there another sound in the tumult? He listened hard. Yes, the engine of a zeppelin, maybe more than one, some way want to git that gasbag under the canopy before daybreak, or it'll show up our position from miles away. You up to some manual labor, Dr. Grumman?"
"Tell me what to do."above. It was impossible to tell how high, or in which direction it was flying; but the sound was there for a minute or so, and then it was gone.The shaman reached the ground."Did you hear it?" said Lee."Yes. Going higher, into the mountains, I think. Congratulations on landing us safely, Mr. Scoresby.""We ain't finished yet. I

Henri Rousseau Surprise

Henri Rousseau SurpriseHenri Rousseau Sleeping GypsyHenri Rousseau Scout Attacked by a Tiger
as she drove away.
An hour and a half later she parked her car in a road near Sunderland Avenue. She had had to find it on a map of Oxford; she didn't know this part of town. Up till this moment she had been moving on pent-up excitement, but as she got this. Under the trees on the grass at the far side of the road there was a small square tent of red and white nylon, the sort that electricians put up to keep the rain off while they work, and parked close by was an unmarked white Transit van with darkened glass in the windows.
Better not hesitate. She walked straight across toward the tentout of her car in the dark of the small hours and found the night cool and silent and still all around her, she felt a definite lurch of apprehension. Suppose she was dreaming? Suppose it was all some elaborate joke?Well, it was too late to worry about that. She was committed. She lifted out the rucksack she'd often taken on camping journeys in Scotland and the Alps, and reflected that at least she knew how to survive out of doors; if worse came to worst, she could always run away, take to the hills…Ridiculous.But she swung the rucksack onto her back, left the car, turned into the Banbury Road, and walked the two or three hundred yards up to where Sunderland Avenue ran left from the rotary. She felt almost more foolish than she had evershe turned the corner and saw those strange childlike trees that Will had seen, she knew that something at least was true about all

Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains California

Albert Bierstadt Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains CaliforniaAlbert Bierstadt Yosemite ValleyClaude Monet Monet The Luncheon
the research, published in respected journal Personality And Individual Differences, photographs of six equally men were presented to a judging panel of ten women.
But for each man, three versions of the photo were produced, with the pupils large, medium or small.
The pictures of the men were then mixed up and put into pairs for the women to rate.his mind without the cat, and he ignored her. All the time he was growing more familiar with the knife, more certain in his command of it; but his wound was hurting worse than before, with a deep, unceasing throb, and the bandage Lyra had freshly tied after he woke up was already soaked.
Participants recorded their age, whether they were using hormonal birth control, the date of onset of their menstrual period preceding the test and the length of their menstrual cycle.
The results revealed that attraction to large pupils shot up four days before day 13 of the menstrual cycle, the usual monthly peak in fertility.

Edward Hopper City Sunlight

Edward Hopper City SunlightEdward Hopper Chair CarEdward Hopper A Woman in the Sun
However," he went on, "there's something I want even more. And I can't get it myself, so I'm prepared to make a deal with you. You fetch the object I want, and I'll give you back the—what did you call it?"
"Alethiometer,", one with no grownups in it. Right so far? Well, you see, the man who made that doorway has got a knife. He's hiding in that other world right now, and he's extremely afraid. He has reason to be. If he's where I think he is, he's in an old stone tower with angels carved around the doorway. The Torre degli Angeli."
"So that's where you have to go, and I don't care how you do it, but I want that knife. Bring it to me, and you can have the alethiometer. I shall be sorry to lose it, but I'm a man of my word. That's what you have to do: bring me the knife." said Lyra hoarsely."Alethiometer. How interesting. Alethia, truth—those emblems—yes, I see.""What's this thing you want?" said Will. "And where is it?""It's somewhere I can't go, but you can. I'm perfectly well aware that you've found a doorway somewhere. I guess it's not too far from Summertown, where I dropped Lizzie, or Lyra, this morning. And that through the doorway is another world

Leroy Neiman The Green Table

Leroy Neiman The Green TableLeroy Neiman The Great SecretariatLeroy Neiman The Golden Bear
had arrived that afternoon, borne to Nova Zembla by the wind the witches had called up, and once he'd stowed his equipment he'd made straight for the Samirsky Hotel, near the fish-packing station. This was a place where many Arctic three fishermen out of their boat and torn them apart…
And the fog continued to roll in from the north, dense and cold and occasionally drenched with the strangest imaginable light, in which great forms could be vaguely seen, and mysterious voices heard.
Altogether it was a bad time to work, which was why the drifters stopped to exchange news or look for employment or leave messages for one another, and Lee Scoresby had spent several days there in the past, waiting for a contract or a passenger or a fair wind, so there was nothing unusual in his conduct now.And with the vast changes they sensed in the world around them, it was natural for people to gather and talk. With every day that passed came more news: the river Yenisei was free of ice, and at this time of year, too; part of the ocean had drained away, exposing strange regular formations of stone on the seabed; a squid a hundred feet long had snatched

John William Waterhouse Waterhouse Narcissus

John William Waterhouse Waterhouse NarcissusJohn William Waterhouse The Lady of ShalottJohn William Waterhouse waterhouse Ophelia
glistening, but he turned, remembering his manners, and held out his hand.
"Good-bye," he said, "and thank you very much."
"William," she saidthe year, but they'd shriveled and died for lack of watering. As Will came around the corner, his cat, Moxie, rose up from her favorite spot under the still-living hydrangea and stretched before greeting him with a soft meow and butting her head against his leg.
He picked her up and whispered, "Have they come back, Moxie? Have you seen them?"
The house was silent. In the last of the evening light the , "I wish you'd tell me what the matter is—""It's a bit complicated," he said, "but she won't be any trouble, honestly."That wasn't what she meant, and both of them knew it; but somehow Will was in charge of this Business, whatever it was. The old lady thought she'd never seen a child so implacable.He turned away, already thinking about the empty house.The close where Will and his mother lived was a loop of road in a modern estate with a dozen identical houses, of which theirs was by far the shabbiest. The front was just a patch of weedy grass; his mother had planted some shrubs earlier in

Frida Kahlo Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace

Frida Kahlo Self Portrait with Thorn NecklaceFrida Kahlo Self Portrait with NecklaceFrida Kahlo Self Portrait with Monkeys
entertainment and devices division, who praised the explosive growth of the company's Xbox Live online gaming community. Bach also announced forthcoming releases of new versions of Microsoft's popular "Halo" : "Halo Wars," due Feb. 28, and "Halo 3: ODST," which will ship in the fall. Video
Wednesday's address marked the energetic Ballmer's debut as CES keynote pitchman, a job that had been handled for the past vice president Philip Schiller, filling in for the ailing Steve Jobs.
Unlike Schiller, Ballmer tackled the struggling economy head-on in his remarks. He said that although the recession has created "a period of reduced expectations," the tech companies that push forward now with innovative research decade by Microsoft chairman and industry pioneer Bill Gates. Ballmer's presentation came two days after a similar, high-profile keynote at the Macworld show in San Francisco by Apple, Microsoft's chief rival, and its

Francois Boucher The Toilet of Venus

Francois Boucher The Toilet of VenusGustav Klimt The VirginGustav Klimt dancer
Quietly and cautiously he moved down the course of the stream. His daemon the green-backed beetle flew overhead, tasting the air; her eyesight was less good than his, but her sense of smell was acute, and she caught the scent of the young people's flesh very clearly. She would go a little ahead, perch on a stem of grass, and wait for him, among the trees. They hadn't looked back once since coming over the top of the ridge, but he still kept low, moving down the stream at a crouch, holding the rifle in one hand, balancing with the other.
He was so close to success now that for the first time he found himself speculating on what he would do afterward, and whether he would please the Kingdom of Heaven more by going back to Geneva or staying to evangelize this world. The first thing to do here then move on again; and as she caught the trail in the air that their bodies left behind, Father Gomez found himself praising God for his mission, because it was clearer than ever that the boy and the girl were walking into mortal sin.He watched them go in