“
The assassin pivoted around the table and took aim again. She missed. Gritting her teeth, she considered snapping the cue in half across her knee. But she’d been attempting to play for only an hour. She’d be incredible by midnight! She’d master this ridiculous game or she’d turn the table into firewood. And use it to burn Cain alive.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass (Throne of Glass, #1))
“
In that memorable year, 1822: Oersted, a Danish physicist, held in his hands a piece of copper wire, joined by its extremities to the two poles of a Volta pile. On his table was a magnetized needle on its pivot, and he suddenly saw (by chance you will say, but chance only favours the mind which is prepared) the needle move and take up a position quite different from the one assigned to it by terrestrial magnetism. A wire carrying an electric current deviates a magnetized needle from its position. That, gentlemen, was the birth of the modern telegraph.
”
”
Louis Pasteur
“
He laughed quietly. 'A family is a strange thing,' he said. 'A family has to exist as its own premise, or else the system won't function. In that sense, my useless legs are kind of a banner that my family rallies around. My legs are the pivot around which things revolve.'
He was tapping at the table top again. Not in irritation – merely moving his fingers and quietly contemplating things in his own time zone.
One of the main characteristics of this system is that lack gravitates towards greater lack, excess towards greater excess. When Debussy was seeming to get nowhere with an opera he was composing, he put it this way: "I spend my days pursuing nothingness, –
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Haruki Murakami (Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman)
“
He was taking another hit from his short-and-squat of Goose when his eyes skipped to the arched doorway of the room.
Jane hesitated as she glanced inside, her white coat opening as she leaned to the side, as if she were looking for him.
When their eyes met, she smiled a little. And then a lot.
His first impulse was to hide his own grin behind his Goose.
But then he stopped himself.
New world order. Come on, smile, motherfucker, he thought.
Jane gave a short wave and played it cool, which was what they usually did when they were together in public. Turning away, she headed over to the bar to make herself something.
“Hold up, cop,” V murmured, putting his drink down and bracing his cue against the table. Feeling like he was fifteen, he put his hand-rolled between his teeth and tucked his wife-beater tightly into the waistband of his leathers. A quick smooth of the hair and he was . . . well, as ready as he could be.
He approached Jane from behind just as she struck up a convo with Mary—and when his shellan pivoted around to greet him, she seemed a little surprised that he’d come up to her.
“Hi, V . . . How are—”
Vishous stepped in close, putting them body to body, and then he wrapped his arms around her waist. Holding her with possession, he slowly bent her backward until she gripped his shoulders and her hair fell from her face. As she gasped, he said exactly what he thought: “I missed you.”
And on that note, he put his mouth on hers and kissed the ever-living hell out of her, sweeping one hand down to her hip as he slipped his tongue in her mouth, and kept going and going and going . . .
He was vaguely aware that the room had fallen stone silent and that everything with a heartbeat was staring at him and his mate.
But whatever.
This was what he wanted to do, and he was going to do it in front of everyone—and the king’s dog, as it turned out. Because Wrath and Beth came in from the foyer.
As Vishous slowly righted his shellan, the catcalls and whistling started up, and someone threw a handful of popcorn like it was confetti.
“Now that’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout,” Hollywood said. And threw more popcorn.
Vishous cleared his throat. “I have an announcement to make.”
Right. Okay, there were a lot of eyes on the pair of them. But he was so going to suck up his inclination to bow out.
Tucking his flustered and blushing Jane into his side, he said loud and clear: “We’re getting mated. Properly. And I expect you all to be there and . . . Yeah, that’s it.”
Dead. Quiet.
Then Wrath released the handle on George’s harness and started to clap. Loud and slow. “About. Fucking. Time.
”
”
J.R. Ward (Lover Unleashed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #9))
“
A shadow appeared on the awnings further up the land, gliding across each rectangle of canvas towards my table, sinking in the sag, rising again at the edge, and moving on to the next with a flicker of dislocation, then gliding onwards. As it crossed the stripe of sunlight between two awnings, it threaded the crimson beak of a stork through the air, a few inches above the gap; then came a long white neck, the swell of snowy breast feathers and the six-foot motionless span of its white wings and the tips of the black flight feathers upturned and separated as fingers in the lift of the air current. The white belly followed, tapering, and then, trailing behind, the fan of its tail and long parallel legs of crimson lacquer, the toes of each of them closed and streamlined, but the whole shape flattening, when the band of sunlight was crossed, into a two-dimensional shadow once more, enormously displayed across the rectangle of cloth, as distinct and nearly as immobile, so languid was its flight, as an emblematic bird on a sail; then sliding across it and along the nearly still corridor of air between the invisible eaves and the chimneys, dipping along the curl of the lane like a sigh of wonder, and, at last, a furlong away slowly pivoting, at a gradual tilt, out of sight. A bird of passage like the rest of us.
”
”
Patrick Leigh Fermor (The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos)
“
Why couldn’t she marry me?” Lorcan stands and circles the table toward me, gait unhurried. I pivot as he stops on the other side of my bench. “Because you didn’t do it for her.” The male-faced harpy grins now. “I see
”
”
Olivia Wildenstein (House of Pounding Hearts (The Kingdom of Crows, #2))
“
Yes. She explained she could not marry you, which disappointed her father.” “Why couldn’t she marry me?” Lorcan stands and circles the table toward me, gait unhurried. I pivot as he stops on the other side of my bench. “Because you didn’t do it for her.” The male-faced harpy grins now. “I see you memorized her speech word for word.
”
”
Olivia Wildenstein (House of Pounding Hearts (The Kingdom of Crows, #2))
“
Pivot tables,” Clarabelle Loveless is saying, gesturing with her whiskey glass. “I’m telling you, Violet, once you start using them you’re never going to look back.
”
”
Roxie Noir (Enemies with Benefits (Loveless Brothers #1))
“
(If you’ve never used Word, think of it as an add-in for people who can’t seem to type their letters in Excel).
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Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
I took a collection of these formulas and put them in my book, Excel Gurus Gone Wild.
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”
Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
Alt+O+C+A for Format, Column, AutoFit Selection,
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”
Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
273 Ctrl+Ditto copies the formula without changing the reference.
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”
Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
Famous designer Erik Spiekermann released a font called Axel that he designed for on screen use in spreadsheets.
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Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
I have to tell you, if you can make a room full of CPAs ooh and ahh, you know that you’ve got some good karma going.
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”
Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)
“
Grain Declaring the grain is the pivotal step in a dimensional design. The grain establishes exactly what a single fact table row represents. The grain declaration becomes a binding contract on the design. The grain must be declared before choosing dimensions or facts because every candidate dimension or fact must be consistent with the grain. This consistency enforces a uniformity on all dimensional designs that is critical to BI application performance and ease of use. Atomic grain refers to the lowest level at which data is captured by a given business process. We strongly encourage you to start by focusing on atomic-grained data because it withstands the assault of unpredictable user queries; rolled-up summary grains are important for performance tuning, but they pre-suppose the business's common questions. Each proposed fact table grain results in a separate physical table; different grains must not be mixed in the same fact table.
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”
Ralph Kimball (The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling)
“
Now that you know what failure looks like, this is how you leave a lasting impression.
The hiring manager needs to know what you can do for her. She’s looking for what you did, because that’s the best indication of what you can do for her.
Depending on your years of experience, this can range:
— from having mastered Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables and Vlookups, to writing VBA code to automating the work of your department and reducing cycle time 80%.
— from how met your sales quota three years in a row to how you went to the Achievers Club five years in a row for exceeding quota by 25% or more, and
— from organizing an industry conference for 100 guests to organizing and running five industry conferences where attendees numbered between five and ten thousand.
”
”
Clark Finnical (Job Hunting Secrets: (from someone who's been there))
“
ON HIS KNEES, and with his chin level with the top of the table, Stephen watched the male mantis step cautiously towards the female mantis. She was a fine strapping green specimen, and she stood upright on her four back legs, her front pair dangling devoutly; from time to time a tremor caused her heavy body to oscillate over the thin suspending limbs, and each time the brown male shot back. He advanced lengthways, with his body parallel to the table-top, his long, toothed, predatory front legs stretching out tentatively and his antennae trained forwards: even in this strong light Stephen could see the curious inner glow of his big oval eyes. The female deliberately turned her head through forty-five degrees, as though looking at him. ‘Is this recognition?’ asked Stephen, raising his magnifying glass to detect some possible movement in her feelers. ‘Consent?’ The brown male certainly thought it was, and in three strides he was upon her; his legs gripped her wing-covers; his antennae found hers and began to stroke them. Apart from a vibratory, well-sprung quiver at the additional weight, she made no apparent response, no resistance; and in a little while the strong orthopterous copulation began. Stephen set his watch and noted down the time in a book, open upon the floor. Minutes passed. The male shifted his hold a little. The female moved her triangular head, pivoting it slightly from left to right. Through his glass Stephen could see her sideways jaws open and close; then there was a blur of movements so rapid that for all his care and extreme attention he could not follow them, and the male’s head was off, clamped there, a detached lemon, under the crook of her green praying arms. She bit into it, and the eye’s glow went out; on her back the headless male continued to copulate rather more strongly than before, all his inhibitions having been removed. ‘Ah,’ said Stephen with intense satisfaction, and noted down the time again. Ten minutes later the female took off three pieces of her mate’s long thorax, above the upper coxal joint, and ate them with every appearance of appetite, dropping crumbs of chitinous shell in front of her. The male copulated on, still firmly anchored by his back legs.
”
”
Patrick O'Brian (Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1))
“
To really grasp how the mind pivots on a molecule's turning point we must read the quantum. At the touch of a finger, a neuropeptide bursts into life but from where does it spring? In a hidden process, a transformation of non-matter into matter, a thought of fear and the neurochemical which it turns into are somehow connected. The same thing happens all over nature except we don't call it thinking. The landscape is not one of solid objects moving around like partners in a dance, following predictable steps, when you get to the level of atoms. Subatomic particles are separated by huge gaps, making each atom empty space more than 99.999 per cent. That refers to hydrogen atoms in the air and carbon atoms in the wood which are made of tables, as well as all the "solid" atoms in our bodies. So all solids, including our bodies, are proportionately as hollow as intergalactic space. How could these vast stretches of space, filled by specks of matter at far-off intervals, turn into humans? A quantum perspective is required to answer the problem. We enter a vaster reality, spanning from quarks to galaxies, by understanding the quantique. At the same time, it turns out that the behavior of quantum reality is very intimate to us— indeed, the weakest shadow line separates the human body from the cosmic body. Whenever any mental event is required to find a physical counterpart, it works through the human body's quantum mechanical. That is the secret of how the two worlds of mind and matter became unerringly linked with each other. Mind and body are both saturated through with knowledge, no matter how different they look. Science appears to be suspicious in the face of any argument that wisdom is at work in nature (this is a curious historical anomaly, since each generation before us has embraced some sort of universal order without question). However, if there is nothing to hold things and events together outside ordinary reality, then one is led into a set of impossibilities.
”
”
Adrian Satyam (Energy Healing: 6 in 1: Medicine for Body, Mind and Spirit. An extraordinary guide to Chakra and Quantum Healing, Kundalini and Third Eye Awakening, Reiki and Meditation and Mindfulness.)
“
He tore his mouth from her eager lips to whisper, “Juliet…ah, sweeting…”
Only he had ever called her sweeting. “Morgan…” she whispered back.
He froze. Jerking back from her, he stared uncomprehending into her eyes. Then his face drained of heat as suddenly as hot iron dunked in water. He dropped his hands from her. “What the devil am I doing? I must be mad…”
Pivoting away, he leaned over to brace his fists on the table. His shoulders shook from the force of his sharp, heavy breaths.
“Morgan?” She stepped forward to lay her hand on his back.
He flinched at her touch. “Don’t ever call me that again. Call me Sebastian or Lord Templemore, but never Morgan. I’m not him!” He whirled to face her once more. His haunted eyes gleamed in the dimness, and his features were twisted into anger. “I think I’ve proved that sufficiently.”
His denial struck a dagger to her heart, and she began to tremble. Surely, he didn’t mean to continue in his lies after what they’d just shared. How could he? “Please, Morgan, don’t-“
“I’m not Morgan!” He glanced away. “I’m not.” Only his shaky hand shoving his beautiful, thick hair from his face belied his seeming control. “And another thing: no woman ruined by a man waits two years to hunt him down when her family is spoiling for vengeance. She doesn’t hide the truth from them, and she doesn’t come in secret to accuse her supposed debaucher.”
His gaze swung back to her as he dropped his voice. “She certainly doesn’t let him kiss her intimately. Your encounter with my brother wasn’t ‘wicked’ at all, was it? This was merely another of your little tests.”
He did mean to deny it all! Of all the infernal, dastardly-
“But now you should realize,” he went on, twisting the dagger, “that your attempts to paint me the villain are pointless. I’m not the man you seek. You’ll never prove I am.”
If she’d had one of his horrible weapons in her hand right now, he’d be dead for certain. That he could stand here and kiss her with such passion, then deny that it meant anything, deny their entire past together, while she still tasted him on her lips…
Very well, she could play that game. Lord knows she’d seen enough games played in society to manage one of her own. If that’s what it took to make him confess the truth. “You’re right. It was a test. But you passed.”
Her sudden change of tactic made him eye her with suspicion. “I did?”
“Certainly. First, by your reaction to my calling you Morgan. And second, because you kiss nothing like him.”
“You mean because he didn’t kiss you intimately.”
“No. Because he put more feeling into it. Like the rogue he was, Morgan kissed with great abandon.” She’d die before she admitted that his lordship had gone the same. If he could deceive her without remorse, he deserved this. “Of course, that’s to be expected of a reckless adventurer. His sort excel at inflaming women’s passions. Whereas you-“ She broke off, as if the rest were perfectly obvious.
He gazed at her mulishly. “Whereas I what?”
“You’re a gentleman, of course. You’re much too proper to kiss recklessly, and certainly you’d never attempt to inflame a woman’s passion.”
“You can’t tell me that my brother kissed you with more passion, for I know otherwise. His kiss was-“ He broke off, realizing his error too late. “You’ve already said that his kisses were perfectly chaste.”
Aha! Finally she’d pierced his infernal armor. She hadn’t told him there’d been only one kiss; he’d slipped up already. Let him believe she’d given up her suspicions-it would lull him into lowering his guard. She’d use his own arrogance against him, batter his pride at every opportunity with “perfectly innocent” comments about the past.
She shrugged. “Chaste? Well, that’s a different matter entirely. His kiss may have been ‘chaste,’ as you put it, but it was still thrilling.” She could hardly suppress her smile at the lovely effect her words had on Lord Templemore. He looked positively offended.
”
”
Sabrina Jeffries (After the Abduction (Swanlea Spinsters, #3))
“
Believe it or not, Excel uses your print driver to draw the screen. Having an HP LaserJet as your default printer can enable Excel operations to finish in one-fourth the time it takes if you have a cheap inkjet driver as the default.
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Bill Jelen (Learn Excel 2007 through Excel 2010 From MrExcel: Master Pivot Tables, Subtotals, Charts, VLOOKUP, IF, Data Analysis and Much More - 512 Excel Mysteries Solved)