CHAPTER XIX of King Arthur and his Nights King Arthur and his Nights CHAPTER XIX Sir Lancelot and Elaine Every year King Arthur's Nights held a grand tournament among themselves, and contended in friendly combat for a prize. This prize was a diamond. Once in the early days of his kingship Arthur was walking on a craggy hill when he came upon the skeleton of a man who had once been a ruler. The skull still wore a gold crown set with nine large diamonds. King Arthur took the crown and had the diamonds on set. Each year at the friendly tournament he gave one of these diamonds as a prize. There had been eight tournaments, and at each Sir Lancelot had won the diamond. The jewel that was to be given as a prize at the ninth tournament was the largest and most beautiful of all. One of course expected that Sir Lancelot would win it, but only a few days before the contest he announced to the king that he would not compete. Then the queen was vexed, for she loved Sir Lancelot more than all the other knights, and it gave her great joy to see him always successful in the tournaments. Therefore she urged him to change his decision. "'My queen,' he said, "'I told the king I would not fight.' The queen replied, "'My advice is that you go in disguise.' The knights who contest with you do so but half-heartedly, for they know your great fame and feel sure of failure. If they did not know who you were, they would fight better and win more glory for themselves. Then fight as a stranger knight, afterwards explained to the king.' Sir Lancelot took her advice. He rode away over the woods and hills till he came to the castle of Astelot, where he decided to stop and ask for a disguise.  The lord of Astelot came to meet him with his two sons, Sir Tor and Sir Levain, and his beautiful daughter, Elaine. The lord of the castle said, "'Fair sir, whoever you are, you are welcome. You seem to me much like a knight of the round table. That I am,' said Sir Lancelot. "'Hereafter I will tell you my name. At present I wish to remain unknown. I must enter the coming tournament as an unknown knight, and I should like to leave you with my great shield, for it is as well known in Camelot as I. Will you keep it and lend me another one?' Then answered the lord of Astelot. You may take the shield of my son, Tor. He was hurt in his first tournament, and has not been able to fight since. My son Levain will gladly go with you to the tournament. Perhaps,' added the lord, laughing, he can win the diamond and put it in his sister Elaine's hair. "'Nay, father, do not make me ashamed before this noble knight,' said the young Levain. "'I know I can never win the diamond for Elaine, but I can at least do my best to fight.' "'Gladly will I take you for a companion,' said Sir Lancelot. "'If you can, win the diamond for this fair maiden.' "'Such a diamond,' said Sir Tor, is fit for a queen, and not for a simple girl.' Sir Lancelot smiled to himself. He was sure that he should win the diamond. Then he meant to give it with the eight others to Queen Guinevere. He spoke kindly, however, to the beautiful Elaine. In truth this fair maiden is fit to be a queen. Then Elaine lifted her eyes and looked at him. He was twice as old as she was. His face was cut and scarred with wounds which he had received in battle, but as she looked at him she loved him, and felt that she would continue to love him till the day of her death. They went into the great hall where a supper was laid. Sir Lancelot talked of King Arthur and his goodness and all his glorious deeds. Elaine thought that even Arthur could not be so brave as this wonderful Lord. All night long she dreamed of him. In the morning she rose early, and went down in the courtyard, where Sir Lancelot and Sir Levain were mounting their horses. "'Fair Lord,' she said boldly to Sir Lancelot, "'will you wear my token in your helmet?' Then said Sir Lancelot, "'Fair maiden, I have never worn favour nor token for any lady in the tournaments. This is well known to be my custom.' "'But if you wear my token,' she said, "'there will be far less likelihood if you're being known by your fellow knights.' "'That is very true, my child,' he said. "'Bring it to me. What is it?' She held it out to him. It was a red sleeve embroidered with pearls. Sir Lancelot bound it in his helmet and said, "'I have never done so much before for any maiden.'" Even he and Sir Levain bade Elaine farewell, and the beautiful maiden ran up to the tower of the castle, and watched them from the window for a long time. When they were out of sight she asked the old dumb servant to carry Sir Lancelot's shield to the tower. It was a large shield of silver, with three lions emblazoned upon it in gold and blue, but its polished surface was covered with dents and scratches. Elaine knelt before it, and made a story for each scratch and mark, picturing to herself the contests in which the good shield had taken part. For many weeks she stayed near it all day long in the turret, watching for Sir Lancelot and her brother to return. Meanwhile, those two had ridden lightly to Camelot, and when they were almost there Sir Lancelot told Sir Levain his name. The young man was astonished. He was very happy, too, to think that he was a companion to the great night of whom he had heard so often. When Sir Lancelot and Sir Levain arrived at the field where the tournament was to be held, they stood, looking at the king, who sat upon the great car of chair, which had dragon's heads for the arms and the back. On his red robe was embroidered a golden dragon, and a golden dragon was also on his crown. Above him, set in a canopy, was the ninth diamond. All about the king to left and right were rows of ladies whose robes gave to the pavilion in which they sat, the brilliant hues of the rainbow. Sir Lancelot said to young Sir Levain, Look at the king, you think I am great, but he is greater than I. I can fight better than he can, but his soul is greater than mine. Aim to become a knight of the round table, and follow the example of goodness which Arthur sets for his knights. At this moment the trumpets blew as a signal that the tournament was to begin. The knights spurred their horses forward, and in a moment their spears and shields clashed. Sir Lancelot rode lightly here and there, overthrowing everyone with whom he contested. All wondered at the skill of this unknown knight. Then Sir Lancelot's kinsmen, his nephew Sir Lionel, and others, were angry and jealous. Our Sir Lancelot should be here, they said, to overcome this stranger knight. Perhaps this is Sir Lancelot, said one. Two knights cannot fight so well in this world. It must be Sir Lancelot. No, no, said the others, Sir Lancelot would never wear a lady's favour, and this knight wears a red sleeve embroidered with pearls. Let us sit on this man and teach him that if Sir Lancelot is not here, we, his kinsmen, will fight for his fame. Then altogether they bore down on Sir Lancelot. His horse went down in the shock, and he himself was wounded.  Young Sir Levain rushed to help Sir Lancelot. The great knight rose slowly, and, with the help of his friend, drove back his kith and kin to the far side of the field. Then sounded a great glare of trumpets, and the king proclaimed the stranger knight, Victor. Come forward, they hurled, cried, and take your diamond. But poor Sir Lancelot said, talk not to me of diamonds, give me air, I fear me I have received my death wound, and I bid you follow me not. Sir Levain helped him upon his horse, and the two rode slowly off the field. When they were near the neighbouring forest the great knight fell from his horse and cried, pull forth the spear-head which is in my side. Oh, my lord! said Sir Levain, I am afraid you will die if I draw it forth. I shall die if you leave it, said Sir Lancelot. So Sir Levain drew it forth quickly, causing Sir Lancelot to faint from the pain. Then a hermit who lived nearby came to them, and bore the wounded knight into his hut, where for many a week Sir Lancelot lay between life and death. Then Arthur found that the unknown knight had gone, no one knew wither, he was sorry. He called the light-hearted Sir Guain, and said to him, Go forth, take this diamond and seek the stranger knight. Do not cease from your search till you have left the diamond in his hand. Then Arthur went to the queen. She had been ill and had not attended the tournament. When the king told her all that had happened she cried, A stranger knight, my lord, my lord! That was our dear Sir Lancelot. He was fighting in disguise. Alas! He is hurt! said the king. Perhaps he is dying. He said that he would not fight. He should have told me that he meant to fight in disguise. The truth, my queen, is always best. Yes, my good lord, I know it! she said. If I had but let our Lancelot tell the truth, perhaps he would not have been wounded. He would have called on his kinsmen to cease. For many days the king and Guinevere waited in deep anxiety for news of Sir Lancelot. In the meantime Sir Guine rode forth and sought for the great night in vain. At last he came to the castle of Astelot, where he was welcomed by the lord and Surtour and the fair Alayne. He told them the result of the tournament, and how the stranger knight had won. They showed him Sir Lancelot's shield. Ah! said Alayne, when he had told them the name of the unknown knight, I knew that he must be great. Sir Guine guessed by the expression of her beautiful face that she loved Sir Lancelot, so he said, Fair Maiden, when he returns here for his shield, give him this diamond, which is the prize he won. Perhaps he will prize it the more, because you put it into his hand. Then Sir Guine bade them farewell, and rode off, lightly singing. When he told Arthur what he had done, the king said, You should have done as I bade you, Guine. Sir Lancelot deceived me about his disguise, and you have disobeyed me. The kingdom will surely fail if the king and his rules are not honoured. Obedience is the courtesy due to kings. Meanwhile the fair Alayne went to her father and said, Dear father, let me go and seek the wounded Sir Lancelot and my brother. Nay! said the lord, it is not a fitting thing for a young maiden like you to seek a wounded knight. He is not your lover. It cannot be. I would give him his diamond, she said, and since he is so sorely wounded, I would take care of him. It is not fitting my father, but I cannot live unless I know where he is, and how he does. Then because he loved his child very much, and had never refused any request she made of him, the old lord let her go and care of Sertour. The two rode for a long time, until at last, near Camelot, they met Sir Levéne. Alayne ran up to him and cried, Levéne, take me to Sir Lancelot. Sir Levéne was much astonished that Alayne knew the name of the stranger knight. He was glad to see her, because he thought she could help his friend. Sir Lancelot seemed glad to see her too, and the beautiful maiden cared for him so tenderly that the old hermit said he never could have recovered without her nursing. When he was well enough they all rode to the castle of Astelot. There Sir Lancelot remained for a few days, then he took his shield and prepared to return to Camelot. Before he went he asked Alayne if he could not do something for her in return, for her care of him. She grew very pale, and then she said, I am going to say something which I should not. I love you. Take me with you to Camelot. Sir Lancelot said very gently, my poor little maiden, if I had meant to take a wife I should have wedded earlier. All the court knows that I love only the king and the queen. You do not really love me. Some day you will marry a young knight, and then I shall give you many castles and much land as a dowry. I will have nothing of all that," said Alayne. She turned away and climbed up to the tower, while her father said to Sir Lancelot, I pray you, be discourteous in some way so that she will cease to love you. Such love is madness. It is not my habit to be discourteous, said Sir Lancelot. However, when she stands at the turd window to wave me farewell, I will not look up at her. Sir Lancelot rode sadly away, and did not look up at the window where Alayne stood. She watched him till he disappeared, and then she fell in a swoon. Day after day she pined away, and one morning she said to her father, Dear father, I am going to die. When I am dead take my bed and cover it with rich draperies. And dress me in my most beautiful clothes. Put a letter I have here in my hand, and lay me on the bed.  Her father wept, and promised to do all that she asked. Sir Lancelot had gone to the court, where he was received with great rejoicing. For many days the knights and ladies held a great feasting in his honour, and the king and the queen would hardly allow him to leave their presence. One day while the three stood looking out of the palace window, they saw a black barge come slowly down the river. It stopped at the palace door, and the king, going down, saw on it the beautiful maiden Alayne, pale in death. She was dressed in white satin, and bore Lily in her left hand, and a letter in her right. The king ordered two of his knights, the good Sir Galahad and Sir Percival, to carry Alayne into his great hall. Then Arthur read the letter, which said, Most noble Lord, Sir Lancelot of the lake, I, Alayne, the maid of Astelot, come to take my last farewell of you, for you left me without a farewell. I loved you, and my love had no return, and so I died. The knights and ladies wept. Sir Lancelot said to Arthur, My king, I grieve for the death of this maiden. But as I did not love her, I could not wed her. The king answered, You are not to blame, Sir Lancelot. The world has in it much that is sad as well as much that is joyous. There are happenings for which no human being can be blamed. It would be a fitting deed, however, if you had this maiden richly buried. Sir Lancelot ordered a splendid funeral, such as should be given to a queen. Over Alayne's grave was raised a beautiful tomb on which was carved her figure, with the left hand holding a lily. At her feet lay the shield of Sir Lancelot, and the sad story of her death was written on the tomb in letters of gold and blue. End of CHAPTER XXXIV. King Arthur and His Knights by Maud L. Radford. CHAPTER XXXIV. The Search for the Holy Grail. In Arthur's court there were many virtuous knights and ladies, but the best of all was a beautiful maiden, sister to Sir Percival. She was so good that the evil in the world oppressed her, and she could be happy only when she was praying for all people to be made better. Once a good old man told her what was meant by the Holy Grail. "'Grail,' he said, is the word for the cup out of which our Lord Jesus drank, the night that he held the Last Supper with his disciples. Therefore it is called holy.' There is a tradition which says that for a long time after the death of Christ the Holy Grail remained on earth, and any one who was sick and touched it was healed at once, but then people grew to be so wicked that it disappeared from earth. It is said that if a person in our day were only good enough he could see the Holy Grail. "'Really see it?' asked the maiden eagerly, or see it in a vision. "'I do not know,' answered the good old man, but either one would be a great happiness, for a real sight of it or a vision would show the person who saw it that he was sinless.' Then the beautiful maiden prayed more than ever. She became so thin and pale that it seemed as if she were almost transparent, and at last she lay dying. One morning she sent for her brother Sir Percival, and for his friend Sir Galahad. Sir Percival and Sir Galahad were the two best knights in Arthur's court. They were not so powerful as Sir Lancelot, or Sir Grant, or Sir Gareth, but they had purer souls than these, when they came to the bedside of the maiden, she said. "'Oh, my brother and my friend, I have seen the Holy Grail. Last night I was awakened by a sound like the music of a silver horn across the hills. It was more beautiful music than any I have ever heard. Then through my window shone a long, cold beam of silver light, and slowly across that beam came the Holy Grail. It was red like a beautiful rose, and the light reflected from it covered all the walls with a rosy colour. And then it vanished. Now I beg you to seek it, and go to the Hall of Arthur, and tell all the other knights to take the quest. If they can but see the Grail, it will be a sign that they are good, and that the world is growing better.' As she spoke, Sir Galahad's face wore an expression so like her own that Sir Percival was amazed, but the maiden took from the side of her bed a sword-belt, and gave it to Sir Galahad. "'Fair night,' she said, "'I have made this golden belt of my hair, and woven on it, in crimson and silver thread, the device of the Holy Grail.  Then Sir Galahad and Sir Percival went away quietly, for they saw that the beautiful maiden had not long to live. That night they went to Arthur's Hall. The king was absent with the queen, but most of the knights of the round table were there, and to them Sir Galahad and Sir Percival told the vision that Sir Percival's sister had seen. As they spoke, suddenly the torches in the hall were extinguished. There was a loud sound like thunder, and a sudden cracking of the roof. And a beam of light, seven times stronger than day, streamed into the room. Across the beam stole the Holy Grail, but it was covered by a luminous cloud, so that its shape could not be seen. Slowly it vanished away. There was silence in the hall for a long time. The knights were awestruck and could not speak. At last Sir Percival rose in his seat, and said in a low tone. My sister saw the vision of the Holy Grail, but I, because I am more sinful, have seen it covered with a cloud. Yet because I wish to see it, I vow to spend twelve months in a day in search of it. I will pray, and live as wholly a life as I can, and perhaps this vision will be mine. Then Sir Bors, the cousin of Sir Lancelot, made the same vow, as did also Sir Galahad and Sir Lancelot, and Sir Gwain and many others. Through the vows had been taken King Arthur entered. When all had been explained to him, his face grew sorrowful. If I had been here, he said, I should not have allowed you to swear the vow. None of you really saw the Grail. You say it was covered with a cloud. Then Sir Galahad cried out, My King, I saw the Grail, all crimson like a ruby, and I heard a voice which said, O Galahad, O Galahad, follow me. Ah, Galahad, said the King tenderly, you were fit for this quest, this search, but the others are not. Sir Lancelot is our strongest warrior, but he is not like Sir Galahad. Most of you, my knights, are men with strength and will to right wrongs. That is the work you are fitted for. You have fought in twelve great battles with the heathen, but only one of you is fit for this holiest of visions. Yet go, and fulfill your vow. The faces of the knights were downcast. The King continued, While you are gone I shall need your strength here at home, but you will be following a wandering fire. Many of you will never return. All the company felt sad. The next day when the knights departed upon their quest, the King could hardly speak for grief, and many of the knights and ladies wept. Those who had sworn the vow went together to the great gate of the city of Camelot, and there they separated. During the next twelve month, many a poor labourer who had been wronged came to Arthur's court to find a knight who would fight for him, and many a poor widow and maiden. But because so many of the knights of the round table were absent, there was little help to be had, and Arthur's face grew sadder and sadder as time went on. At last after the twelve month and the day had passed, those in Camelot began to look for the return of the knights who had taken the vow, alas, though they waited all day long, only Sir Gwain, Sir Bors, Sir Percival, and Sir Lancelot returned. In the evening the knights of the round table assembled in the great hall. When each was seated the King rose and said to those who had been upon the quest, My lords, I need only look at your faces to know that you have fared ill. I dare not think of those of you who have not come back. And now, Percival, my knight who, next to Galahad, has the purest soul, tell me what has happened to you. Sir Percival rose slowly from his chair and said, Dear my liege, when I left your court on the sad morning that we all set forth, I did not feel the grief that many of the other knights felt.  I wrote happily, planning all the great victories I should win. I was sure if I righted a great many wrongs I should soon see the grail. But after many days I began to grow weary. I was riding through rough forests, and the branches bruised me and my horse. There seemed to be no great deeds to do. I could not even slay wild beasts, and so be of use to the poor country people. My bed was on the hard ground, and my food was wild berries. One day I came to a great castle, and here I decided to rest. When I entered I was warmly greeted and brought to the princess of the castle. I found her to be one whom I had loved long ago in her father's court. I was but a young squire, and she was a great princess, and so I had gone away without telling her how dear I held her. She greeted me kindly, and after a time she began to love me. Soon I wondered whether I was fit to see the holy grail. I thought perhaps I was one of those who were pursuing a wandering fire, and then the people of the castle begged me to marry their princess, and be their lord, and live a happy and easeful life. One night I awoke, and thought longingly of the holy grail. Whether I were fit to see the vision or not I had at least sworn to seek it for a year and a day, and yet I had not tried two months. I rose hastily, dressed, and left the castle. Even for many days I prayed and mourned. At last I sought a holy hermit, and told him all I had done and thought since I had left Arthur's court. The good hermit, after a short silence, said, My son, you have not true humility. You have been too proud of your strength, and too sure in the beginning that you were fit for the vision. You have always thought first of yourself and your own glory, and not of the good you could do. I went into the chapel of this hermit, and prayed to be relieved of the sin of pride. As I prayed, Sir Galahad entered. He was clad in silver armor, and his face looked like that of an angel. Oh, my brother! He said, Have you not seen the grail? And after I had answered, he said, From the moment when I left the court of our king, the vision has been with me. It is faint in the daytime, but at night it shines blood red. I see it on the mountains, and in the lakes, and on the marshes. It has made me so strong that everywhere I am able to do good. I have broken down many evil customs. I have fought with pagan hordes and been victor, all because of this blessed vision. Percival, I have not long to live. I am going to the great city above, which is more beautiful than any earthly city.  Then I followed Sir Galahad out of the chapel. We climbed a hill which was steep and rugged. Sir Galahad going first, and his silver armor guiding me. When we came to the top, a storm broke over us, and the lightning seemed to follow us as we descended the hill on the other side. At the bottom of it there was a great black swamp leading to the sea. It was crossed by a huge bridge built by some forgotten king. Here Sir Galahad left me, and ran over the bridge till he reached the sea. His armor shone like a star, far away at the edge of the water. And then I saw him no more. I knelt on the black ground, and wept, and wished that I were as good as Sir Galahad, and could do deeds as he did, not to win glory, but to help those who needed help. And as I wept, I was aware of a great light over me. I looked up, and saw a silver beam, and across it slowly moved to the holy grail. It was no longer muffled in a cloud, but shone crimson as a ruby. I made my way back to the chapel, and prayed all the rest of the night. In the morning I found Sir Galahad's body by the sea. He was beautiful as a saint, though he was worn and thin from long self-sacrifice. I buried him, and then turned my steps to Camelot. And now, my Lord Arthur, I shall never fight again. I shall become a monk, and pass my life in prayer as my sister did. Among my brother-monks there will be very many little deeds of service I can do.  All the nights were very much moved, and the king looked affectionately at Sir Percival, but he did not speak to him. He turned to Sir Gwayne, and said, Sir Gwayne, was this quest for you? Then Sir Gwayne, always light-hearted, and easily turned away from one thing to another, said, Nay, my king, such a search is not for one like me. In a little time I became tired. I talked to a holy man, who told me that I was not fit for such a vision. So I journeyed till I came to a field with silk pavilions, and very many knights and ladies, and with them I lived happily for the year. The good king looked displeased, but his face grew tender as he turned to Sir Bors. Bors, he said, good, faithful, and honest you have ever been. Tell me what you have seen. Sir Bors, who stood near Sir Lancelot, said, My Lord Arthur, after I had started on the quest I was told that madness had fallen upon my kinsmen, Sir Lancelot. This so graved me that I had put little heart to seek for the holy grail. Yet I sought for it. I believed that if God meant me to see the vision, he would send it. I travelled till I came to a people who were heathen. They knew much of magic, but nothing of God. I stayed with them and tried to teach them our faith, but they were angry because I would not believe in their gods, and they put me into prison. I was there many months in darkness and cold, but I tried to be patient and prayed that my patience would count for something, although I could not do any good deeds. I had at least been faithful, though I failed. One night a stone slipped from my prison wall, and I could see a space of sky with seven stars set across it. Then slowly across the space glided the holy grail. My happiness was great, for I had seen the vision. The next morning a maiden, who had been secretly converted to our religion, released me from prison, and I came hither. Then the king spoke to Sir Lancelot. �My Lancelot, the mightiest of us all, have you succeeded in this quest?� Then Sir Lancelot groaned. �Oh, king!� he cried, �your mightiest yes, and yet far better it would be if I were like Sir Galahad. A great sin is on my soul, and it was to be rid of this sin that I undertook the quest of the holy grail. A hermit told me that only by putting this sin away should I ever see the vision. I strove so hard against it that my old sickness came upon me. I became mad and rode up and down among waste places, fighting with small men who overthrew me. The day has been when the very sound of my name would have made them tremble. At last I came to the sea, and saw a boat anchor near the shore. I stepped into it, loosed the anchor, and floated away. For seven days I sailed, and at last I came to an old castle. I entered and heard a voice singing. I followed it up, up for a thousand steps. At last I came to a door, which burst open before me. Perhaps I dreamed, and yet I believe I saw the holy grail, though it was veiled and guarded by great angels. I thought I saw all this, and then I swooned away. When I came to myself I was alone in the room. It was many days before I made my way back to Camelot. For a long time there was silence in the hall, and then Sir Gawain said, Sir King, I can fight, and I always shall fight for you. But I do not believe in this vision. All the knights were mad, like Sir Lancelot. They did not really have the vision. It was but fancy. Then the King spoke gravely to Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain, you are indeed not fit for such a vision, but you should not doubt that others have seen it. I was right, my knights, when I said that most of you would follow a wandering fire. How many of those who left me have not returned, and never will. The knights looked at the empty chairs. The King went on. Sir Galahad was the only one who completely saw the vision. He was indeed blessed and fit for such a quest. You who were unfit should have stayed with me to help govern this land. The knights were silent and sad. Then the King said, My dear knights whom I love, always remember this. Whether you seek for a vision or do humble service as surpersival will for his fellow monks, or fight to right wrongs as Sir Lancelot does, whatever you do your aim must be to make yourself useful to the world by the work for which you are best fitted. The King rose from the round table and left the company, Sir Lancelot following him. Then the other knights departed one by one. The great hall was left empty, with its shields glimmering in the moonlight. CHAPTER XXI THE DEATH OF ARTHUR King Arthur's round table had lasted many years, and the knights had done much to help the people of the country, yet there were traitors to the King among his own subjects. One of these traitors made war in a distant part of the kingdom, and Arthur went with most of his knights to punish him. His nephew Sir Modrid, the brother of Sir Gwane and Sir Gareth, ruled in his stead at Camelot. Now Sir Modrid was a wicked knight. He hated the King and the Queen, and Sir Lancelot. Since King Arthur was absent a long time, Sir Modrid had the opportunity of doing much harm. He let evil go unpunished. He allowed bad customs to come into the country, and at last he raised a rebellion against the good King. When Arthur returned to Camelot to quell this rebellion, he had lost many of his faithful knights. Sir Hector was dead, and Sir Ulpheus and Sir Brastias, Sir Kay was dead, and Sir Bors and Sir Gwane. Sir Lancelot was far away. Sir Bedivere alone remained of those who had been with Arthur since he had first ruled in Wales and Britain. The King and Sir Bedivere, with the help of such knights as still were faithful, tried to put down those rebels. They drove the traitors back until they came at length to Lyonus by the sea. Here the last great battle took place. The night before the battle, Sir Bedivere heard the King praying. Then Arthur slept, and when he awakened he called to his friend. Sir Bedivere, he said, I have had a dream. I thought that Sir Gwane came to me, and told me that to-morrow I shall die. My Lord, it is but a dream, answered Sir Bedivere.  The day will soon dawn, and you will win the battle. Arthur shook his head. This is not like my other battles. I have no heart for it. It is hard to slay my own people, even if they are traitors. They came, but no sun, a cold white mist lay over land and sea. It chilled the nights to the bone. And when the battle began, the mist was so thick that no one could see with whom he was fighting. Friends slew each other, not knowing whom they killed. Some could not fight at all, for it seemed to them that those moving in the battlefield were ghosts of warriors long since slain. There was many a noble deed, and many a base one, done in that mist. The fighting went on with clashing of lances and shields throughout the afternoon, and then the sounds grew fainter till there was silence. At last, toward sunset, a wind from the west blew the mist away. Then Arthur, with Sir Bedivere by his side, looked over the field of battle. He saw but one man standing. All the rest were dead on the seashore, and the tide had risen and was swaying the helpless hands, and tumbling up and down the hollow helmets and the broken spears that once had fought with Rome. The king's face was white, and his voice was low, as he said to Sir Bedivere. There lie my slain, who have died for me. I am king only of the dead. Nay, Lord, said Sir Bedivere, you are king everywhere still. In no strike a kingly stroke against the one traitor who still stands. Sir Bedivere pointed at the one other living man, and the king saw that it was Sir Modred. Arthur threw down his scabbard and lifted his good Excalibur. Then he sprang upon the traitor. Sir Modred struck the king on the helmet, which had been worn thin in many battles. The stroke cut through the steel and wounded Arthur mortally, but he used his ebbing strength for one last blow with Excalibur, and killed Sir Modred. The king sank to the ground, but Sir Bedivere lifted him, and bore him to a ruined chapel near the seashore. When he had laid him down by the broken cross and the chancel, Arthur said, you know well that my Excalibur was given to me by the lady of the lake. I have used it like a king, and now the time has come to obey the writing on the blade. So take my sword, Excalibur, and throw it far out into the lake. Sir Bedivere took the sword and went out from the ruined chapel. He walked amid the graves of ancient knights over which the sea wind was singing. He passed the barren cliffs and chasms, and reached the lake at last. He lifted Excalibur, and as he did so the moon came from behind the clouds. The light fell on the hilt of the sword, and all the jewels shone. Sir Bedivere looked until his eyes were dazzled. He could not throw the beautiful weapon away, so he hid it in the weeds upon the shore of the lake, and returned to the king. What did you see or hear? asked Arthur. Sir Bedivere replied, I heard the ripple washing in the reeds, and the wild water lapping on the crags. King Arthur, faint and pale, said, You have betrayed me. You have acted a lie. Had you thrown the sword, something would have happened. Some sign would have been given. Go back now, and throw it into the lake. Sir Bedivere went back, and again picked up Excalibur. As he looked at it he said aloud, Surely it is not right to throw away such a precious thing. It would please the eyes of people for ever. I know it is wrong to disobey the king, yet he is sick. He does not know what he is doing. If I keep Excalibur and store it in a great treasure-house, people will look at it throughout all the coming years, and feel great reverence for the king who fought with it. So again Sir Bedivere hid the sword and returned to the king, who asked, What have you seen or heard? And Sir Bedivere replied, I heard the water lapping on the crag, and the long ripple washing in the reeds. Then the king was very angry. Ah, unkind! he cried.  Because I am dying I have no authority. You refuse to obey me. You who are the last of my knights. Yet it is possible for a man to fail in his duty twice, and succeed the third time.  Sir Bedivere ran quickly, and seized the sword, shutting his eyes that he might not see its beauty. He whirled it round his head, and threw it far out over the lake. It flashed in the moonlight, and fell. But before it reached the surface of the water, an arm clothed in pure white, rose and caught it, brandished it three times, and then drew it under the water. When Sir Bedivere went back to Arthur, the king knew that he had been obeyed. I am dying, he said, Lift me on your back, and carry me to the lake. Then Sir Bedivere carried the helpless king, walking quickly through the place of tombs and over the crags, and past the chasms, till he came to the smooth shining lake. There beside the bank was a barge, all black. The deck was covered with stately figures of people clad in mourning. Among them were three fair queens, with crowns of gold, the three queens who were to help Arthur at his need. They had come to take him away, Sir Bedivere did not know where. When they saw the wounded king, they gave a cry of grief that seemed to rise to the stars. Then they lifted him into the barge.  She called him by name, weeping bitterly. Poor Sir Bedivere cried, Oh, my Lord Arthur, you are leaving me. Where shall I go? The great round table is broken up forever. What shall I do? Then Arthur answered, Old customs pass, and new ones come. God makes his world better in many ways. The round table did its work, and now has disappeared. But something else will surely come to advance the cause of truth and justice. Pray for me and for yourself.  And now farewell. You shall never see me again, my Bedivere. My work is done. Yours too is nearly over. Farewell. Then the barge moved slowly away, while those on board lamented. Sir Bedivere watched it till it disappeared amid the shadows over the lake. Then he rose slowly, and wandered back to Lyon S. After a time he went to Camelot. There was a new king there, who was good, and new customs, also good. But Sir Bedivere was too old to change his way of life. He spent the rest of his days in Camelot, but he lived only in the past, dreaming of the time when King Arthur and his knights of the round table ruled in the land. End of CHAPTER XXI. END OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS NIGHTS By Maud L. RADFORD


Hey there friends. Thanks for checking in at the range down today. We're looking at the new Ruger max 9 They introduced it a couple weeks ago. They're going head-to-head with sig spring field now the MMP shield plus with a Very small subcompact 9 millimeter handgun with a double stack magazine. This is a 12 round magazine They also make a 10 round magazine for the max 9 and they did a real nice job with it Now Ruger does a good job of introducing a gun Having reviews ready to go and already being shipped to the distributors They are out and available now MSRP is $4.99, but I've had people tell me that they picked theirs up for $4.30, $4.40 and that is pretty good considering everything this gun offers now It's very thin if you look at the grip you can see how thin it is The slide is thin 2.95 inches wide on the slide Nice grip texturing mimics the security 9 in terms of the way it feels not overly textured like a medium Feel to it. It also comes with a thumb safety. This one does not have the thumb safety All right, some people mistook that for a thumb safety. It's not this is called the pro model Once again $4.99 now all the models whether thumb safety or not are optic ready And that is a nice touch by Ruger. Okay, it's cut to fit 13 or 14 of the most popular red-dot optics out there and A lot of people find that Advantages it does have a little bit taller serrated black rear sights and a fiber optic tritium front dot sight in the front and That's a nice touch too. It aligns very nicely and the trigger Doesn't have a trigger bar safety. I'm measuring it right at Five pounds. There's your initial pull at five pounds and the reset is right there They created a very light and small handgun. All right the unloaded weight 18 and 3 8 ounces loaded with 11 rounds 23 ounces even so they did a a nice job right out of the gate You know doesn't have front serrations on there and a reversible magazine release as well as optic ready that a lot of people are Looking for these days. Let's go ahead and load it up and we'll fire the Ruger max 9 I had several people request for me to shoot the max 9 next to the Ruger Security 9 to see which one shoots flatter. So let's take care of that right now We'll start out with the max 9 Now the Ruger security 9 the Ruger max 9 has a 3.2 inch barrel with an integrated Barrel bushing at the muzzle see the way that looks the advantage there is that each time the slide is Cycled it locks up nice and tight that aids with accuracy and I could attest to that now I've shot it quite a bit. I put various loads through it including cheap reloads and it has functioned very well However, one of the greatest critiques in my table review was that the take-down process was too lengthy And it included a pin that needed to be punched out. So here's the gate there You would push that down to expose the pin and from the other side I used a punch to punch out that pin and that's a valid critique many people said that hey Today's technology they should be able to disassemble or create a firearm disassembled so that you don't need to punch out a pin However, you don't need to walk around with a punch to disassemble it. I'm in the National Forest right now I'm pretty sure I could find a stick to do that However, it is true if you lose that pin then you're in trouble So you don't lose the pin I guess but what I'm wondering now is will The gun charges self if a mag is slammed home Let's see and it does it also has a sight hole indicator on the side there and On top so I can see that it is loaded But what this review really needs right now is a lip risk test So let's see how it does with a lip risk test So it passed. Well, there it is the Ruger Max 9 performed great as a range I mentioned in my tabletop review that I'm not going to add nothing to it because I like the way it is right now It's really nice I like that front sight and the way it aligns and the five pound trigger just works for me the 12 round magazine Which is in it right now is the way to go that three finger contact feels great It's very light 23 ounces with 11 rounds. You add a couple more rounds. You're looking at maybe 23 and three quarters ounces. It's very light very thin makes for a great carry gun and I certainly did enjoy it at the range I hope you enjoyed this review if you like videos like this, please subscribe and share I always appreciate thumbs up button. Thanks for watching and you guys be safe


A former presidential candidate in 2016 convicted of undermining state security general Jean-Marie McElmoco has been returned to prison on Friday. On Friday morning the users of the military hospital where the general has been interned for a year noted a strong presence of elements of the gender Marie. They took him away and brought him back to the prison. The government and prison authorities have not yet given any reason for this reinstatement. An unsuccessful candidate in the 2016 presidential election, the result of which he never recognised despite the clear victory of President Denis Sasso and Gueso. General McElmoco was arrested just after the election officially for undermining the internal security of the state and illegal possession of weapons of war. He was then tried and sentenced in 2018 to 20 years of hard labour. Before he was returned to his cell, his lawyers demanded from the authorities a medical report establishing that he had recovered his health and a discharge order from the military hospital.


Greetings, everyone. Thanks for coming in. Hopefully everyone's in the right place. On the invitation and the menu screen, you saw Java or Cassandra on steroids. Didn't really give a whole lot of other information, but I hope that was a nice fish line in to come in and see what else you can find out about what exactly I meant by that. So I work for Azul. Azul is a purveyor of Java.  And primarily, we're here to learn about how exactly Java can be applied to the Cassandra use case, and that's what we're going to be talking about here today. Specifically about typical customer challenges that we're seeing when we're talking to our multitude of customers out in the industry that is tackling these use cases. Also, we're going to be looking at specific use cases, so not just customer challenges, but specific use cases. We're also going to be learning about our solution to a lot of these problems, and we'll also see exactly how, what type of benefits you can realize with Cassandra running on the Azul platform. So without further ado, customers that we see and interact with aren't just using Cassandra. Cassandra is just one of the many tools and frameworks that enable companies to run their business. Kafka being one of those. Cassandra, obviously another one. Kafka being the streaming aspect of it, but you have to put data somewhere, and that's where Cassandra comes in. And all of this becomes a really nice pipeline that effectively feeds into or enables companies to enact their business use cases, the revenue generating activity. And it's all a pipeline. Stream the data, store it somewhere, and then make it searchable through frameworks like Solar and Elastic. And in fact, all of these have a common denominator. All of these use Java, if you didn't realize that. I hope that's a little bit of an epiphany. But yes, Java powers all of these, and Java isn't, well, there's a lot of debate today, you know, how relevant is Java with Python on the rise and Node.js and all these other types of frameworks that are out there. But Java is very much relevant, and it's used under the covers of all of these frameworks, whether you realize it or not. And so what are we to do with the rise of data? Well, we have to harness it. And data isn't just something that you want to just lose sight of because data lost is an opportunity lost. And since 2020, when COVID hit, there was just a spike in the amount of data that companies were storing and trying to be able to make heads or tails of. Everyone was living at home trying to, you know, putting in orders, whether it be through Netflix and Uber Eats or all these other data. So they were creating profiles. Their first party data was being stored everywhere. So everyone was trying to harness that data. And not surprisingly, 96% of companies have a data strategy, but how good is that data strategy is only actually how well you're making use of it. And we're only going to see even more of a spike with data. Actually, the experts in the field are saying by 2025, there's going to be a data growth of 23% or 175 zeta bytes of data that's going to be out there. And again, if you're not harnessing that data and making use of it, you're losing out. And so how are we going to do that? Well, you can throw more infrastructure at it to handle that data, but then you have to tune to be able to process that data in real time. And if it's Java based, there are issues that are inherent with Java that our platform solves for. And that's what we're going to cover next with some of the challenges that you may not be very well familiar with because you're dealing with yourself in your organization. And that leads us into the use cases. So as I mentioned earlier, people are trying to make use of data that they were getting from their e-commerce websites, from entertainment websites, like the Netflix's of the world, like the Kroger's of the world, like Target, Walmart, all of these companies want user data because that feeds into all the other components of retail, of other types of revenue generating type activities that these companies are trying to use that first party data on. And they have to store it somewhere. Obviously, with the invent of IoT edge computing with data being able to be transferred from our pockets without one of us giving consent at that point, because we've given consent to transfer that data at a point earlier, like your Google Maps. How are we able to traffic as you're driving down the freeway? Well, you've given consent to that. And now we know about that data is being transferred and being stored somewhere to be analyzed, et cetera, et cetera. So how are we going to help with all of this, especially in the case where Java is actually powering the processing of this data? Well, it all boils down to the JDM or the Java virtual machine. The Java virtual machine is the thing that makes Java one of the most loved and I would say loved languages out there in that you can write code once and run it anywhere. But again, there are inherent problems that Java brings along with that. And that's where Azure Prime comes in with the solution. So I mentioned some of the problems and inherently with Cassandra or the storage of the data, it boils down to garbage collection. Now, when it comes to garbage collection, that is primarily being driven by the high amount of memory usage that Cassandra demands that an application that's using Cassandra make use of. So in general, you have memtable. Memtable is the indirect or I should say the middleman in data that's being stored in memory before it's written to disk. And by default, it's required about a third size of the overall heap that's being stored before things are being written out to the disk. So as things get added to the heap, you could get a situation where you can be hitting out of memory errors. And so how do you prevent that from happening?  And so to reduce them out of the memory errors, this traditional open JDK is going to do what's known as a stop the world event where it goes and it starts cleaning up whatever that's in the heap to make room for the new objects that are being allocated and that Cassandra is making use of in the memtable. What Prime does is it does this continuously. It does not use stop the world events to go and clean up the heap. It's doing that continuously while your node is taking traffic from your Cassandra from your endpoints that are sending data that need to be written out to Cassandra.   They try to solve for the garbage collection issue by shrinking their heap. But in so doing, they don't realize that there's a trap in this.   So you have to watch out and find the middle ground between tuning it to the point where it's actually hurting you. And there's another got you in that regard. If your garbage collecting all the time or you're trying to tune to that by shrinking your heap, you can also create what are known as memory fragmentation problems where new objects come in but the contiguous spot that's right next to it is too small to hand or too small to store the object that's trying to go into it. So it's going to take the next available spot, which could create fragmentation.  So another got you on that one, you want to try and avoid.  It's doing this continuously and it avoids all these kind of tuning exercises that you would otherwise have to do with Open JDK. There's also the aspect of supporting Rokash. Rokash is very important in Cassandra just because of how important performance is. Rokash is stored in memory and you want as much in memory data available to you as possible to improve the performance aspect of your Cassandra clusters. So obviously, as things get written to your heap, again, you have another GC problem. If you're not keeping up with the amount of Rokash and other important data that your Cassandra clusters need, if you're not keeping things neat and tidy there. So one last thing I'll mention, there is an issue also with Tombstone. So Tombstone is an issue with the deletion of data from the disk. That data that's sitting on disk also has a pointer in memory and the Tombstone gets written to your memory into heap. And the row is actually going to exist on the heap for a little bit. But until things get deleted, this again could cause garbage collection issues because your heap is stacking up and things don't keep up. You could, again, have another out of memory issue with that one. But again, the garbage collector with Azul Prime takes care of all these issues and you don't have to do any tuning with all of this. It's out of the box with Platform Prime. Here's just a very nice illustration of what one customer's workload was running on with Oracle JDK, which is the same as Open JDK. Here you have seconds on the bottom and you have latency on the left. And you can see here that this particular customer running on Open JDK or Oracle in this case was having a lot of latency issues caused by GC. Once they switched with Prime, the same workload on the right was effectively what they moved to from left to right. And so the latency on the right, it's very hard to see, but this is in milliseconds. So it went from hundreds of milliseconds down to single digits with the same workload. Now beyond garbage collection, this is a very nice illustration of the inherent problem with Java. When you are starting up a fresh new JVM, the JVM, as I alluded to earlier, what everyone loves Java for, right once, run anywhere, the first time a JVM sees code, it doesn't know about it. It doesn't know how to optimize for it. And so it inherently goes through a learning curve. The learning curve is the process of progressing byte code from interpreted mode to tier two, tier two being the most optimized in the middle ground being tier one. And so as the JVM learns about the code, it optimizes based on a threshold. So you hit a certain point in profiling, let's say 10,000 iterations on a particular method.  It's a very cheap optimization in terms of CPU, but it's necessary. You can't go to tier two without first doing tier one. And so from the yellow, which is interpreted, you move up to the green. You do green for a little bit. You do tier one. And again, you have another threshold. And once you've crossed that threshold, you move into tier two where your profiles and you get upgraded to full optimization, which is very expensive because more CPU is going to be required to take that tier one code and turn it into tier two. But eventually, your tier ones turn into tier twos and you flatline, meaning you've hit steady state. All the optimizations that your application needs to run at full speed has happened and you've effectively got to the top of the hill and you're running full speed at that point. With Azul Platform Prime, we have a warm-up technology called Ready Now where all of that experience with the JVM can be profiled in a previous run and fed to other JVMs when they start up. So that new startup or that new JVM that's starting up takes that input profile that was recorded earlier, maybe in production, could also be in a lab environment through a canary. So you can run all sorts of nice use cases to exercise your code and then feed that into a production instance. And when you start up, you're going straight to the top of the hill right away versus slowly through interpreted tier one, tier two, you're doing tier two optimizations right at the very beginning. And you can also actually, if you're using Kubernetes or some other very nice orchestration manager, you can set your readiness probe or your flag that says, I'm ready to take traffic after you've finished your optimizations. NASDAQ traders love us because obviously they want to start running their most efficient, they want to start running their trades at most efficient code. But that doesn't just limit that use case to just the traders, retail, the retail companies of the world like the Walmarts and all the other companies that need to have most optimized code when their customers come in and start placing orders want to have this. So they don't have to suffer any latency or any of the other bad things that can happen when traffic's not ready to be processed at that particular time. And this is all done by our Falcon JIT compiler. So that's what that that name there number two is. We call our JIT compiler Falcon. And our garbage collector is to see their number three is called C4 continuously collecting or continuously compacting concurrent collector. Thank you from the audience. And our warm up technology is called Ready Now. So those are the three names that you see up there. Now when it comes to maintaining SLAs in Apache Cassandra performance, Cassandra is very much scalable and getting as best performance as you can out of it is very much relevant to the hardware that you're running on, but also your choice of JDM. Cassandra cannot run without Java. And so here's a benchmark that we did here on the right where the blue that you see down there is Prime, which is running below the dotted line, which is our SLA at P99.9, which is less than 100 milliseconds. And some of the other flavors that you have there, including CMS, G1GC, Shenandoah, and ZGC. ZGC is also becoming something that we're seeing quite a bit of in the industry that's coming out with the newer versions of Java, especially Java 21, which has a generational ZGC generational garbage collector. Just wanted to point out that Azul solved the garbage collection problem over a decade ago. And we're now iterating on over a decade worth of algorithms. So ZGC is just coming to market with this. And we like to think that we have a leg up on that. But nevertheless, it's in some cases, it could actually work well with your Java use cases. But in the case of Cassandra, we have a proven track record here that goes beyond just garbage collection. As I mentioned earlier, the warm up with ReadyNow and the JIT compilation with all three of those, it's not just about solving the latency issue, it's also solving the throughput issue. If you have more efficient code, you have less infrastructure because our JIT compilation engine is going to produce that just more efficient code. And of course, we have a drop off.  You can see it does finally break, but it breaks at 90,000 QPS here versus some of what else that you see here. And the goal is just to get to that edge, to the cliff. There's a cliff at any GC that you have and to back off from that. Just a couple of use cases, and I like to bring up Tabula just because Tabula is just a great use case with Java and what they were able to do. So those of you that aren't familiar, Tabula is an ad serving company, 3.2 billion daily web pages that they touch with their engine, 30 billion daily recommendations, and all of this, they were running on 8,500 servers. They had to cross the globe. And after they put in prime, some of the challenges that they were having is that their ad serving engine was actually stopping for about 15 minutes to do garbage collection as just one of those bad things that is inherent with Open JDK. And obviously, you can't have all your nodes stopping for 15 minutes. And so what they were doing is inherently what everyone does is over provision to prevent you having to rely on the things that are doing the cleanup. And so unfortunately, with over provision, that means more money. And so after they put in prime, they were able to reduce their server infrastructure by 30%, which is huge. And their database footprint by almost 50%. So it's a great use case that we like to talk about. Fidzei also had a similar issue with legacy JVM. They create a framework for banks to use to catch fraudulent and bad activity. And so they need to do a check on the transactions that's about to take place. And again, garbage collection was a problem that was happening. And some of these transactions that should have been flagged as fraudulent were getting kind of dropped through the cracks. And we helped solve that problem for them. So overall, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of retail use cases for this. The banking industry loves us for that ready now technology. But it doesn't just stop at just one retail company or one travel company. There's all kinds of companies that use us. And that's our NASCAR slide for the day. With that, I have about five minutes of questions, if there are any. You have a question? I have a question of JVM. It's a product on top of Cassandra. Yes, good question. So Azul Platform Prime is a Java run, it's a Java platform that has optimized versions of the garbage collector and the JIT compiler. So OpenJDK or Oracle JDK that you all know and probably use today has two components in the JVM called the garbage collector and the JIT compiler. And we've also added a third component that doesn't exist in that version called ready now. You saw that profile where you can teach a JVM about previous experience.  So the problems inherent with Java would stop the world events to go clean up heap, meaning objects that are being overallocated, being promoted to old gen and new objects coming in and you having to make room, otherwise you might have an out of memory problem. Azul Platform Prime solves for that by the way that it manages the memory in the heap. No more stop the world events, garbage collection shouldn't be an issue, but we can't solve memory leaks. I'm not going to say that we have a silver bullet for that, that's on the developer. But of course cleaning up the heap and keeping it tidy is something that we solved over a decade ago. And so this is an optimized version of Java that's specific to Azul. Any other questions? There's a microphone for you so that we can record the question. I think you can just talk. Yeah, that's a good question and I would say that yes, you can. But be careful in that the profile is specific to how someone's going to use your product. If you can predict it and it's the same for your customers, if it's or if each customer uses your product differently, then your profile might be different. Right. Right. Okay. In that case, obviously you don't you wouldn't ship anything without testing it first, but I would say that that is that is a legitimate thing that you could do. Yeah. Yeah. The footprint of a writing out profile could get up to anywhere between 100 and 200 megs. We do have a solution that handles this for you automatically because there is a way that you can obviously do that by the file. You can generate first the profile and then you can build that profile into images and then ship it that way. But then there's also a cloud-based solution that we have that runs in Kubernetes that would effectively do that automatically for you, where you just name, you give it a profile and it's actually better to have generational profiles that go through iterations. So Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 3, and typically we cut it off at around Gen 3. Beyond that, you're kind of, it's already extraneous. You're not really learning anything after that. But after the third generation, any other instances of that same application would automatically get that profile at that point. And then obviously as your application changes, you create new classes, new methods, and maybe the flow of traffic changes, you'd want that profile to change because the speculative optimizations would not be relevant anymore because they changed in the code. So you would want to rebuild it. So that whole other cloud-based solution takes care of that. Otherwise it's just, you know, like you said, ship it with the product and you can do it that way file-based. 100 to 200 megs is about the size. Good question. We solved all the world's problems here today. I'm so happy. Right? Thank you.


So we've looked at the rotation in a fluid particle and it turns out that rotation is not often the way that we describe that type of motion within a fluid particle. What we often do is we refer to the vorticity, but vorticity is related to the rate of rotation that we computed. And the relationship is we use capital omega and that's a vector is defined as being equal to 2 times the rotation rate that we computed. And if you recall back we said that the rotation rate was one half of the curl of the velocity vector, so it's then equal just to del cross v. And that would give us the vorticity in the fluid. And what this is, it's a measure, so vorticity is a measure of the rotation of a fluid element as it moves through the flow. And vorticity is related to another variable or thing that we calculate within fluid mechanics. And that is the circulation. Circulation is used quite often in aerodynamics, but it is defined as being capital gamma. It is a scalar and it is evaluated as being a line integral of the velocity vector around some closed path. And so a circulation, a line integral of the tangential velocity about a closed curve in the flow that is fixed. So what we're going to do, let's compute the circulation in a fluid particle. And so what we're going to do, we're going to look at the same one that we looked at for fluid rotation. So there we have a flow field that we're going to look at. And what we want to do, we want to evaluate the circulation about that curve. And so in order to compute the circulation, looking back at the definition of circulation, so this is a differential element. It's going to be the integral of v.ds as we go around the curve. So I'm going to start section by section. We will label these. This will be the first, then we'll do that second. This will be the third, and then finally that the fourth. And that will take us all the way around the curve. So that is what the circulation is for this differential element. It's a small fluid element that we're looking at. And so I can rewrite that by combining some terms. So we get that for the circulation. And you'll notice that the term in brackets here, that looks a lot like our rotational rate that we computed earlier. So I'm going to make a substitution. And we get that as well for the circulation. And so with that, what we can do is we can make an inference because it's showing that a line integral is in a way related to our rotational rate multiplied by this here was an area component. So we have seen a thing when we looked at vectors and through vector review, there was an equation that looks somewhat like this. And that equation is Stokes theorem. And what it does is it relates this line integral to an area integral of the vorticity. So the velocity integral is equal to the vorticity and integrated over the area that we're looking at. So what that tells us is that the circulation around a closed contour is the sum of the vorticity enclosed within it. So those two are equivalent to one another. Places where you may apply that, you may have a velocity field that you've measured experimentally. Quite often nowadays, we have particle image velocimetry, which will give you the velocity field in a plane.  What you can do with those velocity vectors is you can convert them into your vorticity. I'll be two times the rotational rate. So I'll put it as the vorticity in the z direction. And that would then give you an inference as to the circulation in the flow. So if you have a big, large scale organized vortex, it would be one way of being able to quantify it. You would use PIV to get the velocity field, and then that would give you an inference as to the circulation around that vortex. Many different applications in that, but that would just be one that you might get out of experimental fluid mechanics. So that is vorticity and circulation, and they relate to the rotation within our fluid elements.


Hey y'all! Welcome to what Chelsea eats. Thank you so much for joining me today. In this video I am going to share with you a healing salad recipe that's going to help you to heal any kind of reproductive issues such as fibroids, PCOS, endometriosis, ovarian cyst. So if you'd like to see how I make this healing salad, stay tuned. So first we're gonna start off with the base of the salad which is the greens. In the salad I'm gonna use three different types of greens. First you will see romaine lettuce. Romaine is absolutely my favorite lettuce to add to salads because it has a crunch to it and it seems to be that it's the one that causes me to be most satisfied with my salad so that's why I choose romaine. Next I like to add an herb and this herb that I'm adding is chopped cilantro and I love the flavor that chopped cilantro gives to my salad. My two favorites are cilantro and parsley but out of the two I really love cilantro. And cilantro is not just good for flavor it is good for healing. It helps to move heavy metals out of the body and one of the things that when it would reproductive issues have is heavy metals lodged in their system and cilantro is going to help with removing that toxic poison. My next favorite green to use is arugula. I absolutely love arugula. I didn't love arugula but when I make it with the combination of cilantro and romaine lettuce and I mix it together and eat it it turns out that this is an absolutely great green to eat in your salad. It is going to help you build the blood it's going to help restore minerals to your body and it's going to make your salad more enjoyable. So if you haven't tried arugula in your salad try a little bit at a time and then build up to more but I absolutely love it. I put it in my salad every single day for the most part. So I have pre-chopped all of my vegetables that I'm going to put in my salad for time's sake. Also there is a link down in the description box with the exact recipe for this salad so you don't have to worry about taking notes on it. First I'm going to add this coleslaw mix. It has red cabbage, white cabbage and carrots. Now I'm going to add some sweet peppers. I had red sweet peppers and orange sweet peppers and they just add a tremendous crunch to the salad as well as texture and flavor. Next we're going to add some carrots to the salad. I love chopped carrots. I just love the way the crunch tastes in the salad. You can shred them, you can slice them, you can do whatever it is you want with your carrots but add carrots to the salad because carrots help with cleansing the liver. Now we're going to add the cucumber. I love cucumber. It's good for the skin, hair and nails and also flushes the nasties out of the body so and also it gives you hydration so eat your cucumbers. What is a salad without onions? I have to have red onions in my salad. I think I make red onions a part of every salad that I make. It just adds flavor and texture and you just have to have onions and salads. If you don't like onions you could always leave them out. As a matter of fact if there's any ingredient that you see me putting in this salad that you don't like leave it out or swap it for something that you do like. Next I'm adding tomato and I have wedged these tomatoes. You can make your tomatoes chopped, you can slice them, you can do whatever you want to your tomatoes. Tomatoes just add interest to the salad. I love tomatoes. Also you don't have to use regular tomatoes. You can use grape tomatoes, you can use different color tomatoes. You can do whatever you want to make your salad personalized to you. So now I'm gonna add a little bit of raisins. I like adding a little bit of sweet to my salad just to give it that hint of sweetness. If you don't like raisins you can add prunes, you can add dates, you can add apricots. Just make sure that the dried fruit that you do choose doesn't have extra sugar on it or oil or any kind of craziness on it. I like to buy unsweetened unsulfurred dried fruit. Next I'm gonna add some blackberries. I am not a fan of blackberries but I like the nutritional benefits of berries so that's why I add them to my salads. My favorite berry if I'm gonna choose any berry I guess is blueberries or strawberries but adding them to your salads is going to take the nutrition level up a notch so it's great to have berries in your salad. So what I'm going to add next is a little bit of fat. I've got some walnuts here, unsalted, raw walnuts and I absolutely love them to add to my salads. Normally I like to crush them up a little bit more but I didn't for some reason when I made this salad but they are a wonderful addition to your salad. It just adds more flavor. So the next ingredient that I'm going to add to my salad is lime. I have been adding limes to every salad that I've been making regardless if I make a dressing or not. I don't know what it is but lime with the romaine, the arugula and the cilantro it just kind of pulls all the flavors together and creates like an explosion in your mouth. So lime it is for every salad for me right now. I don't know how long that's gonna last. Sometimes I get on these kicks but who knows love lime for salads. You should try it. The thing I've been adding to my salads a lot lately is quinoa and the reason I've been adding it is because it is so satiating. It causes my salads to help me stay full longer and it causes my flavor my salads to be more enjoyable. So I eat up to a cup of quinoa a day. That's what I recommend for my clients because you don't want to eat too much. But if you are having trouble eating salads a good way to start eating them is not only to find a good salad dressing that you love but also adding quinoa because it will make the salad more satiating for you. So y'all know how I feel about seasoning my salads. In this recipe I am adding cracked black pepper to this recipe and it just tastes so good y'all. There's you know you can add any kind of seasoning you want to your salads. Black pepper, herbs, spices, garlic, onion powder, specialty seasonings. You just have to make sure that whenever you are seasoning your salads that the seasonings that you use are very clean. So look at the ingredients. Make sure they are ingredients that you can actually understand. So there you have it ladies. A healing salad recipe. All you have to do is pair it with either the lime which is what I did. I squeezed lime all over it and you can use as much lime juice as you'd like. You can also add more herbs and spices but you pair it with your favorite salad dressing, your favorite homemade salad dressing and there's a recipe coming up of one of my favorites in the coming weeks.   Take care.


Hi everyone, my name is Adriana Ponce. I use the pronouns she, her, hers. I am a current doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and I am also your graduate student staff assistant for the 2020 to 2021 academic year. That means that I was the one who had the privilege of reading through your reflection forms, responding to your emails, sending out newsletters, and keeping track of your progress among other things. I also had the honor to meet with some of you virtually in office hours, so I really thank you for your friendliness, your thoughtfulness, and your attention to detail.  This has been an incredibly difficult year. We have survived and continue to survive a pandemic and on top of that we had a number of current events that shook us to our core. There was the killing of George Floyd, the killing of Breonna Taylor, the insurrection of the Capitol, violent hate crimes against the AAPI community, and we're currently facing a immigration crisis at the border among many things. So this year really called on us to pull our diversity, equity, and inclusion toolkit out. So I thank each and every one of you for your reflexivity, your vulnerability, and your desire to create a better society for all of us. Although there was a lot of bad and negative that happened in our society, there was a lot of good that happened in our program and there were a number of workshops that I really appreciated. My favorite workshop this year was by Dr. Ebony McGee and how she talked about ways that we can help our BIPOC graduate students thrive in the academy. I also appreciated the lead talk on how to support student activists. We had poets and a playwriter come in to demonstrate different ways that we can incorporate DI work. I really urge all of you because as professionals we all hold a lot of power, whether it's in our research, our teaching, our mentorship, or other facets of our professional lives. I urge each and every one of you to use your power for good. That means for us to continue uplifting marginalized communities and to continue holding space for privileged communities to learn and grow. So again, congratulations on this huge accomplishment. Thank you for everything.


At Smartwool, we take sock design seriously. Initially, when we started out working on the approach sock, we thought, well, it's just for climbing, and get to the base of the climb. But what we realized is our go-to sock. We wanted to make the most technical, the most durable sock in the Smartwool offering. One of the design ideas that we came up with the PhD Mountaineer that we carried over to the PhD approach was the extended Achilles region on there. It offers more comfort. This is a pretty important part of your body. It's a weak point, but at the same time, it's a strong point. It's where we get that strength to push off on our toes and where we climb with, where we hike. So it's that important. Why not protect it? The socks are kind of this, the humble piece of clothing that we really don't appreciate, but yet it makes a huge difference. This is the choice.  We've got the most technical sock.


Hello everybody Ronnie here and to finish our board game licensing bonanza fun week We are here with Jack who has been working with us on designing Refining and making perfect and beautiful and brilliant the upcoming worms game. Thank you Jack. Thanks for coming on Thank you for having me. So it's been a blast Nice so We've been working on this quite some time with Jack Yeah, so it was around four years ago. I think that we started Okay, uh, which hasn't been yeah constant work, but Yeah, team 17 came to you guys with a project type. Yeah, I mean we we approached them and said yeah Can we have the game please? They said, yeah, but you should say that It's what we've been prepared early um, yeah, and so it's a game that obviously the The video game is sort of already quite turn-based and quite sort of ready to to translate Okay, yeah Almost more of a sort of translation job than a full-on sort of from the ground up design job Yeah, and they've done a lot of that sort of that ground work. Yeah for us. There was a lot of cool stuff there It was maybe a bit Bitty there was sort of tiny hexes and everything was like quite large and Tell us about the big things. I mean what they came with the hex design, I think Which we liked. Yeah, so the 2d Top top top down hex design With the weapons cards being sort of, you know, you bazooka on a on a card. Yeah So the turn structure was was really strong The game itself was very long. I'm guessing islands and lots of water. Yeah. Yeah all the classics And yeah, killing a worm by removing or destroying a work by Removing their health or by knocking them into water like all of the things that you expect from worms Was was kind of there was kind of there in In essence and then I think your job was was I remember was doing a lockdown on friday afternoons on on tts We were play testing and it was about refining it speeding it up making it more fun more bangy more More wormsy. Yeah, so I think there's there's almost nothing that didn't change a bit And there was sort of Making it more sort of cartoony almost less wargaming more chaotic and so bringing in Sort of a scatter die bringing in A bit more like fast-paced and simple gameplay to the to the rules and how it works So sort of taking what was sort of an hour and a half to our experience cutting that down to sort of 30 30 45 minutes Was still retaining all of that. Well, we're almost highlighting the fun and keeping the Scatter things were dropping in water. That's what's down point. Let's just get them down. So where are we now? We are we've been playtesting like crazy so in quiet at the end of kind of lockdown agenda Came back and we were playtesting the bejesus outfit over the last few weeks. We've had some excellent Tell us about the top three bullet points of the game. You know, where is it? What makes it wormsy? What makes it fun? So, um, yeah, the beating heart of the game is is the weapons cards. Uh, so there's basically every weapon There's everything you can imagine. There's the hand grenade. There's the sheet the super sheet Concrete donkey bottle of lies There we are. So they're all in so we've got all the weapons and Gameplay is last worm standing Pretty much there is um, so there's quite a lot of like at the end of the book There's optional rules to tweak stuff. So it's exactly like the uh, the video game But the core rules, uh, is so light and easy to play and the um, we did end up getting rid of the sort of elimination element of it is literally the last worm standing for a more sort of um, friendly Probably quicker quick. Yeah, when you've got a four player game as they start dropping out You might still have two or three more turns left and that's kind of boring. So We're content. Is there is there oil? There's oil barrels. There's mines. There's supply crates everything can imagine And uh craters and water is quite fun. So you set up the map as uh land tiles Yeah, uh, but whenever you fire a bazooka or a grenade or anything that blasts you put down a crater token If there's three craters in a hex it turns into a water tile, which so the so the terrain Exactly like So I think well, there you are ladies and gentlemen. I think you've heard the uh The insights in from the game designer jack here. We've been having lots of fun playing it We've had holy hangarays going off and always going wrong. I think paul's threw it on his own head early in today Thought he won the game killed all of his own worms, which is always great I think matt did the airstrike and managed to roll the one in one one in 144 Chance of missing everybody else and killing all of his own words, which was excellent. So very worthy. So we've got a great game Keep coming back. I think we're going to be kick starting late august There's going to be stories gameplays videos and all cool things So come join us with us and uh wormy and we'll speak to you all soon. Thanks everyone