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Plunk

plunk

The gadget world is undergoing a change as consumers back away from splurging on high-ticket items promising technology that is not quite there yet. For this reason, Meta has stopped selling its high-end Quest Pro virtual reality headset, and Apple won’t release its Vision Pro 2 this year, although it is reportedly working on a lower-cost version after the higher-end first version did not sell well. Notwithstanding slow sales, some experts believe the VR market has exponential potential and is projected to grow from $7.9 billion in 2021 to $26.8 billion by 2025. But for this to happen, consumers will want to see technology that truly works and do not want to wear cumbersome headsets that look silly and create a socially awkward situation when in the company of friends and family. People want to see each other – not sit around looking like they are trying to fit into a “Back to the Future” movie set. Somehow, engineers will need to come up with a way to provide a digital experience that VR headsets promise - but without the headset. For obvious reasons, it just hasn’t caught on. Perhaps hologram-style technology would work better since people can see displays without wearing a headset. Again, the AI, VR, and AR technology needs to improve first before customers will be willing to plunk down big dollars. Whether this depends on better hardware or software is for the tech world to figure out, but either way, 2025 promises to deliver some exciting products, such as an Apple Doorbell, the iPhone 17, and Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds. Quantum computing, which is advancing at a lightning pace, could serve as the answer to a multitude of problems engineers currently face. This advanced technology could provide the speed and power newer technology will require. NVIDIA is constantly working on faster chips, and their product is used across the computing world in numerous products. As the company solves more problems, the gateway will open to more products and better-quality devices that consumers will be happier about. If companies move away from devices that promise not-quite-working technology and focus more on gadgets that are useful, such as home-cleaning robots, which consumers love since they could potentially save time and energy, then that could see a surge in spending. Already we are seeing exciting announcements for new computers, smart watches, smart TVs, and a multitude of products that consumers actually want, along with a few that are not necessarily useful for most people. The gaming world will continue to see advancements in screen technology as well as better software. The business and design world, for instance, real estate, interior design, and similar fields will continue to see better AI applications for visual demonstrations and customer experience. With advanced generative AI, users can visualize how a house or room will look before it is built. Completely customizable AI technology can create any environment. As AI technology advances, and it certainly will, the visuals will become more realistic, and the options will be endless. Keep an eye on product announcements because 2025 promises to be an interesting year! The gadget world is undergoing a change as consumers back away from splurging on high-ticket items promising technology that is not quite there yet. For this reason, Meta has stopped selling its high-end Quest Pro virtual reality headset, and Apple won’t release its Vision Pro 2 this year, although it is reportedly working on a lower-cost version after the higher-end first version did not sell well. stopped selling Apple won’t release its Vision Pro 2 Notwithstanding slow sales, some experts believe the VR market has exponential potential and is projected to grow from $7.9 billion in 2021 to $26.8 billion by 2025. projected to grow But for this to happen, consumers will want to see technology that truly works and do not want to wear cumbersome headsets that look silly and create a socially awkward situation when in the company of friends and family. People want to see each other – not sit around looking like they are trying to fit into a “Back to the Future” movie set. Somehow, engineers will need to come up with a way to provide a digital experience that VR headsets promise - but without the headset. For obvious reasons, it just hasn’t caught on. Perhaps hologram-style technology would work better since people can see displays without wearing a headset. Again, the AI, VR, and AR technology needs to improve first before customers will be willing to plunk down big dollars. Whether this depends on better hardware or software is for the tech world to figure out, but either way, 2025 promises to deliver some exciting products , such as an Apple Doorbell, the iPhone 17, and Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds. 2025 promises to deliver some exciting products Quantum computing, which is advancing at a lightning pace, could serve as the answer to a multitude of problems engineers currently face. This advanced technology could provide the speed and power newer technology will require. NVIDIA is constantly working on faster chips, and their product is used across the computing world in numerous products. As the company solves more problems, the gateway will open to more products and better-quality devices that consumers will be happier about. If companies move away from devices that promise not-quite-working technology and focus more on gadgets that are useful, such as home-cleaning robots, which consumers love since they could potentially save time and energy, then that could see a surge in spending. Already we are seeing exciting announcements for new computers, smart watches, smart TVs, and a multitude of products that consumers actually want, along with a few that are not necessarily useful for most people. exciting announcements The gaming world will continue to see advancements in screen technology as well as better software. The business and design world, for instance, real estate, interior design, and similar fields will continue to see better AI applications for visual demonstrations and customer experience. With advanced generative AI, users can visualize how a house or room will look before it is built. Completely customizable AI technology can create any environment. As AI technology advances, and it certainly will, the visuals will become more realistic, and the options will be endless. Keep an eye on product announcements because 2025 promises to be an interesting year!

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Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . THE COPYRIGHT THING here THE COPYRIGHT THING The Creative Commons license at the top of this file probably tipped you off to the fact that I've got some pretty unorthodox views about copyright. Here's what I think of it, in a nutshell: a little goes a long way, and more than that is too much. I like the fact that copyright lets me sell rights to my publishers and film studios and so on. It's nice that they can't just take my stuff without permission and get rich on it without cutting me in for a piece of the action. I'm in a pretty good position when it comes to negotiating with these companies: I've got a great agent and a decade's experience with copyright law and licensing (including a stint as a delegate at WIPO, the UN agency that makes the world's copyright treaties). What's more, there's just not that many of these negotiations -- even if I sell fifty or a hundred different editions of Little Brother (which would put it in top millionth of a percentile for fiction), that's still only a hundred negotiations, which I could just about manage. I the fact that fans who want to do what readers have always done are expected to play in the same system as all these hotshot agents and lawyers. It's just to say that an elementary school classroom should have to talk to a lawyer at a giant global publisher before they put on a play based on one of my books. It's ridiculous to say that people who want to "loan" their electronic copy of my book to a friend need to get a to do so. Loaning books has been around longer than any publisher on Earth, and it's a fine thing. hate stupid license I recently saw Neil Gaiman give a talk at which someone asked him how he felt about piracy of his books. He said, "Hands up in the audience if you discovered your favorite writer for free -- because someone loaned you a copy, or because someone gave it to you? Now, hands up if you found your favorite writer by walking into a store and plunking down cash." Overwhelmingly, the audience said that they'd discovered their favorite writers for free, on a loan or as a gift. When it comes to my favorite writers, there's no boundaries: I'll buy every book they publish, just to own it (sometimes I buy two or three, to give away to friends who read those books). I pay to see them live. I buy t-shirts with their book-covers on them. I'm a customer for life. must Neil went on to say that he was part of the tribe of readers, the tiny minority of people in the world who read for pleasure, buying books because they love them. One thing he knows about everyone who downloads his books on the Internet without permission is that they're , they're people who love books. readers People who study the habits of music-buyers have discovered something curious: the biggest pirates are also the biggest spenders. If you pirate music all night long, chances are you're one of the few people left who also goes to the record store (remember those?) during the day. You probably go to concerts on the weekend, and you probably check music out of the library too. If you're a member of the red-hot music-fan tribe, you do lots of that has to do with music, from singing in the shower to paying for black-market vinyl bootlegs of rare Eastern European covers of your favorite death-metal band. everything Same with books. I've worked in new bookstores, used bookstores and libraries. I've hung out in pirate ebook ("bookwarez") places online. I'm a stone used bookstore junkie, and I go to book fairs for fun. And you know what? It's the same people at all those places: book fans who do lots of everything that has to do with books. I buy weird, fugly pirate editions of my favorite books in China because they're weird and fugly and look great next to the eight or nine other editions that I paid full-freight for of the same books. I check books out of the library, google them when I need a quote, carry dozens around on my phone and hundreds on my laptop, and have (at this writing) more than 10,000 of them in storage lockers in London, Los Angeles and Toronto. If I could loan out my physical books without giving up possession of them, I . The fact that I can do so with digital files is not a bug, it's a feature, and a damned fine one. It's embarrassing to see all these writers and musicians and artists bemoaning the fact that art just got this wicked new feature: the ability to be shared without losing access to it in the first place. It's like watching restaurant owners crying down their shirts about the new free lunch machine that's feeding the world's starving people because it'll force them to reconsider their business-models. Yes, that's gonna be tricky, but let's not lose sight of the main attraction: free lunches! would Universal access to human knowledge is in our grasp, for the first time in the history of the world. This is not a bad thing. In case that's not enough for you, here's my pitch on why giving away ebooks makes sense at this time and place: Giving away ebooks gives me artistic, moral and commercial satisfaction. The commercial question is the one that comes up most often: how can you give away free ebooks and still make money? For me -- for pretty much every writer -- the big problem isn't piracy, it's obscurity (thanks to Tim O'Reilly for this great aphorism). Of all the people who failed to buy this book today, the majority did so because they never heard of it, not because someone gave them a free copy. Mega-hit best-sellers in science fiction sell half a million copies -- in a world where 175,000 attend the San Diego Comic Con alone, you've got to figure that most of the people who "like science fiction" (and related geeky stuff like comics, games, Linux, and so on) just don't really buy books. I'm more interested in getting more of that wider audience into the tent than making sure that everyone who's in the tent bought a ticket to be there. Ebooks are verbs, not nouns. You copy them, it's in their nature. And many of those copies have a destination, a person they're intended for, a hand-wrought transfer from one person to another, embodying a personal recommendation between two people who trust each other enough to share bits. That's the kind of thing that authors (should) dream of, the proverbial sealing of the deal. By making my books available for free pass-along, I make it easy for people who love them to help other people love them. What's more, I don't see ebooks as substitute for paper books for most people. It's not that the screens aren't good enough, either: if you're anything like me, you already spend every hour you can get in front of the screen, reading text. But the more computer-literate you are, the less likely you are to be reading long-form works on those screens -- that's because computer-literate people do more things with their computers. We run IM and email and we use the browser in a million diverse ways. We have games running in the background, and endless opportunities to tinker with our music libraries. The more you do with your computer, the more likely it is that you'll be interrupted after five to seven minutes to do something else. That makes the computer extremely poorly suited to reading long-form works off of, unless you have the iron self-discipline of a monk. The good news (for writers) is that this means that ebooks on computers are more likely to be an enticement to buy the printed book (which is, after all, cheap, easily had, and easy to use) than a substitute for it. You can probably read just enough of the book off the screen to realize you want to be reading it on paper. So ebooks sell print books. Every writer I've heard of who's tried giving away ebooks to promote paper books has come back to do it again. That's the commercial case for doing free ebooks. Now, onto the artistic case. It's the twenty-first century. Copying stuff is never, ever going to get any harder than it is today (or if it does, it'll be because civilization has collapsed, at which point we'll have other problems). Hard drives aren't going to get bulkier, more expensive, or less capacious. Networks won't get slower or harder to access. If you're not making art with the intention of having it copied, you're not really making art for the twenty-first century. There's something charming about making work you don't want to be copied, in the same way that it's nice to go to a Pioneer Village and see the olde-timey blacksmith shoeing a horse at his traditional forge. But it's hardly, you know, . I'm a science fiction writer. It's my job to write about the future (on a good day) or at least the present. Art that's not supposed to be copied is from the past. contemporary Finally, let's look at the moral case. Copying stuff is natural. It's how we learn (copying our parents and the people around us). My first story, written when I was six, was an excited re-telling of Star Wars, which I'd just seen in the theater. Now that the Internet -- the world's most efficient copying machine -- is pretty much everywhere, our copying instinct is just going to play out more and more. There's no way I can stop my readers, and if I tried, I'd be a hypocrite: when I was 17, I was making mix-tapes, photocopying stories, and generally copying in every way I could imagine. If the Internet had been around then, I'd have been using it to copy as much as I possibly could. There's no way to stop it, and the people who try end up doing more harm than piracy ever did. The record industry's ridiculous holy war against file-sharers (more than 20,000 music fans sued and counting!) exemplifies the absurdity of trying to get the food-coloring out of the swimming pool. If the choice is between allowing copying or being a frothing bully lashing out at anything he can reach, I choose the former. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Cory Doctorow (2009). Little Brother. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30142/pg30142-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

THE COPYRIGHT THING

The Offshore Pirate

▶️ Introduction Web development is becoming increasingly important as time passes. Almost all organizations require websites and web apps in order to be noticed and establish their brand. This is the reason web developers are in more demand than ever. As web developers, our job is to regularly convert ideas into codebases in order to build different projects. While doing our job, we have most likely encountered a situation where we have an idea but are unable to implement it as we need to set up a whole development environment on our local machine to get started. In this article, we will explore a tool that is widely used in dealing with this scenario, referred to as a 'Code Playground.’ We will discuss the concept of code playgrounds as well as the features that they provide. Moreover, we will go through a list of the top 6 code playgrounds, chosen based on their popularity and features, that every web developer should try. 🧐 What Are Code Playgrounds? Code playgrounds are online development environments that help us write code in the browser. In other words, they help us jump straight into coding without the hassle of setting up a local environment. Most code playgrounds that we see on the internet are optimized for front-end development. However, there are exceptions where we can create code samples for backend development and/or write code in other programming languages. The code samples that we create in code playgrounds are publicly visible. Hence, developers get access to explore the work of other developers and get inspired by them. In other words, code playgrounds offer a collection of unique code samples that anyone can use in their projects. ✨ Features of Code Playgrounds The range of features that code playgrounds provide is one of the reasons why they are becoming more popular. Though the majority of these features are tied to writing code, there are several other features that are not related to coding but are just as valuable as the coding-specific ones. Since most code playgrounds are designed for front-end development, almost all of them give us the ability to write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. However, they offer a lot of other features as well. The most notable ones among them include: ✅ Code Completion ✅ Syntax Highlighting ✅ Code Validation ✅ Live Preview ✅ Code Sharing ✅ Collaborative Coding ✅ Support for CSS Preprocessors ✅ Support for JavaScript Libraries and Frameworks Each feature that code playgrounds offer contributes to the overall experience that developers have while using code playgrounds. These features not only provide developers with a comprehensive coding experience but also allow them to share code samples and collaborate with others on different projects. 🏆 Top Code Playgrounds There are a wide range of code playgrounds available on the internet. Since the majority of them are front-end-optimized, it is difficult to identify those that can stand out from the crowd from the front-end point of view. So here is a list of the ones among them that are top 6 code playgrounds that every web developer should check out: CodePen is one of the most popular front-end code playgrounds on the internet. However, it is more of a community than a playground, as it is used by over 1.8 million developers who regularly create code samples and collaborate with others on unique projects. CodePen ✨ Features: ✅ Code Formatting ✅ Embeddable Code Samples ✅ Asset Hosting ✅ Custom Thumbnails CSSDeck is a code playground that helps us write frontend code in the browser. Since it consists of a lot of impressive features, it has managed to create a vibrant community of developers where they can build interesting front-end projects and share them with others. CSSDeck ✨ Features: ✅ Minimalistic Layout ✅ Layout Customization ✅ Fast Loading ✅ Project Forking JS Bin is another code playground that developers regularly use to build front-end projects. One of its specialties is that it enables us to edit the <head> tag, which is a huge plus for web developers. It also allows us to use keyboard shortcuts while writing code, which can prove to be a great productivity boost. JS Bin ✨ Features: ✅ Console Support ✅ Debugging ✅ File Uploading ✅ Custom Templates JSFiddle The next front-end code playground on our list is . One of its advantages is that, while coding in JavaScript, it creates a custom development environment for us based on the JavaScript framework we choose. Moreover, it enables us to save our code samples and share them with others. JSFiddle ✨ Features: ✅ Layout Customization ✅ Support for Asynchronous Requests ✅ Embeddable Code Samples ✅ Project Forking PlayCode Another online code playground where we can write frontend code is . Among its many offerings is the log console, which gives us the ability to not only customize the size but also update the frequency of the preview window. It also lets us add multiple files for each language, which can be required for many projects. PlayCode ✨ Features: ✅ Fast Loading ✅ Attractive UI ✅ Beginner-Friendly Interface ✅ Asset Hosting Plunker The next code playground that developers make use of for building front-end projects is . Since it allows us to create code samples, share our creations, and collaborate with people on impressive projects, it has managed to create an inclusive community of developers who are both curious and creative-minded. Plunker ✨ Features: ✅ Fast Loading ✅ User-Friendly UI ✅ File Uploading ✅ Project Forking ◀️ Conclusion In this article, we talked about the concept of code playgrounds and the wide range of features that they offer. Moreover, we took a look at the top 6 code playgrounds that every web developer should try and touched upon the features that each of them offers that set them apart from the competition. However, the code playgrounds that we saw above are not the only ones that a web developer should try. There are a lot of other code playgrounds on the internet that have managed to attract developers with their amazing features. The most noteworthy ones among them are: StackBlitz Liveweave Glitch ESNextbin JSitor Dabblet The number of code playgrounds that exist on the internet is massive. Since we now have a list of the recommended ones, we can try them and choose one based on our preferences. No matter what we pick, we will be able to create unique front-end projects by writing code in the browser. Quick Note: Thank you for taking the time to read my article. It means a lot to me and pushes me to create more content just like this one. My Socials: LinkedIn Twitter GitHub CodePen

Top 6 Code Playgrounds That Every Web Developer Should Check Out

A WAR-WEDDING

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . The Hotel Concert CHAPTER XXXIII. The Hotel Concert PUT on your white organdy, by all means, Anne,” advised Diana decidedly. They were together in the east gable chamber; outside it was only twilight—a lovely yellowish-green twilight with a clear-blue cloudless sky. A big round moon, slowly deepening from her pallid luster into burnished silver, hung over the Haunted Wood; the air was full of sweet summer sounds—sleepy birds twittering, freakish breezes, faraway voices and laughter. But in Anne’s room the blind was drawn and the lamp lighted, for an important toilet was being made. The east gable was a very different place from what it had been on that night four years before, when Anne had felt its bareness penetrate to the marrow of her spirit with its inhospitable chill. Changes had crept in, Marilla conniving at them resignedly, until it was as sweet and dainty a nest as a young girl could desire. The velvet carpet with the pink roses and the pink silk curtains of Anne’s early visions had certainly never materialized; but her dreams had kept pace with her growth, and it is not probable she lamented them. The floor was covered with a pretty matting, and the curtains that softened the high window and fluttered in the vagrant breezes were of pale-green art muslin. The walls, hung not with gold and silver brocade tapestry, but with a dainty apple-blossom paper, were adorned with a few good pictures given Anne by Mrs. Allan. Miss Stacy’s photograph occupied the place of honor, and Anne made a sentimental point of keeping fresh flowers on the bracket under it. Tonight a spike of white lilies faintly perfumed the room like the dream of a fragrance. There was no “mahogany furniture,” but there was a white-painted bookcase filled with books, a cushioned wicker rocker, a toilet table befrilled with white muslin, a quaint, gilt-framed mirror with chubby pink Cupids and purple grapes painted over its arched top, that used to hang in the spare room, and a low white bed. Anne was dressing for a concert at the White Sands Hotel. The guests had got it up in aid of the Charlottetown hospital, and had hunted out all the available amateur talent in the surrounding districts to help it along. Bertha Sampson and Pearl Clay of the White Sands Baptist choir had been asked to sing a duet; Milton Clark of Newbridge was to give a violin solo; Winnie Adella Blair of Carmody was to sing a Scotch ballad; and Laura Spencer of Spencervale and Anne Shirley of Avonlea were to recite. As Anne would have said at one time, it was “an epoch in her life,” and she was deliciously athrill with the excitement of it. Matthew was in the seventh heaven of gratified pride over the honor conferred on his Anne and Marilla was not far behind, although she would have died rather than admit it, and said she didn’t think it was very proper for a lot of young folks to be gadding over to the hotel without any responsible person with them. Anne and Diana were to drive over with Jane Andrews and her brother Billy in their double-seated buggy; and several other Avonlea girls and boys were going too. There was a party of visitors expected out from town, and after the concert a supper was to be given to the performers. “Do you really think the organdy will be best?” queried Anne anxiously. “I don’t think it’s as pretty as my blue-flowered muslin—and it certainly isn’t so fashionable.” “But it suits you ever so much better,” said Diana. “It’s so soft and frilly and clinging. The muslin is stiff, and makes you look too dressed up. But the organdy seems as if it grew on you.” Anne sighed and yielded. Diana was beginning to have a reputation for notable taste in dressing, and her advice on such subjects was much sought after. She was looking very pretty herself on this particular night in a dress of the lovely wild-rose pink, from which Anne was forever debarred; but she was not to take any part in the concert, so her appearance was of minor importance. All her pains were bestowed upon Anne, who, she vowed, must, for the credit of Avonlea, be dressed and combed and adorned to the Queen’s taste. “Pull out that frill a little more—so; here, let me tie your sash; now for your slippers. I’m going to braid your hair in two thick braids, and tie them halfway up with big white bows—no, don’t pull out a single curl over your forehead—just have the soft part. There is no way you do your hair suits you so well, Anne, and Mrs. Allan says you look like a Madonna when you part it so. I shall fasten this little white house rose just behind your ear. There was just one on my bush, and I saved it for you.” “Shall I put my pearl beads on?” asked Anne. “Matthew brought me a string from town last week, and I know he’d like to see them on me.” Diana pursed up her lips, put her black head on one side critically, and finally pronounced in favor of the beads, which were thereupon tied around Anne’s slim milk-white throat. “There’s something so stylish about you, Anne,” said Diana, with unenvious admiration. “You hold your head with such an air. I suppose it’s your figure. I am just a dumpling. I’ve always been afraid of it, and now I know it is so. Well, I suppose I shall just have to resign myself to it.” “But you have such dimples,” said Anne, smiling affectionately into the pretty, vivacious face so near her own. “Lovely dimples, like little dents in cream. I have given up all hope of dimples. My dimple-dream will never come true; but so many of my dreams have that I mustn’t complain. Am I all ready now?” “All ready,” assured Diana, as Marilla appeared in the doorway, a gaunt figure with grayer hair than of yore and no fewer angles, but with a much softer face. “Come right in and look at our elocutionist, Marilla. Doesn’t she look lovely?” Marilla emitted a sound between a sniff and a grunt. “She looks neat and proper. I like that way of fixing her hair. But I expect she’ll ruin that dress driving over there in the dust and dew with it, and it looks most too thin for these damp nights. Organdy’s the most unserviceable stuff in the world anyhow, and I told Matthew so when he got it. But there is no use in saying anything to Matthew nowadays. Time was when he would take my advice, but now he just buys things for Anne regardless, and the clerks at Carmody know they can palm anything off on him. Just let them tell him a thing is pretty and fashionable, and Matthew plunks his money down for it. Mind you keep your skirt clear of the wheel, Anne, and put your warm jacket on.” Then Marilla stalked downstairs, thinking proudly how sweet Anne looked, with that “One moonbeam from the forehead to the crown” and regretting that she could not go to the concert herself to hear her girl recite. “I wonder if it is too damp for my dress,” said Anne anxiously. “Not a bit of it,” said Diana, pulling up the window blind. “It’s a perfect night, and there won’t be any dew. Look at the moonlight.” “I’m so glad my window looks east into the sun rising,” said Anne, going over to Diana. “It’s so splendid to see the morning coming up over those long hills and glowing through those sharp fir tops. It’s new every morning, and I feel as if I washed my very soul in that bath of earliest sunshine. Oh, Diana, I love this little room so dearly. I don’t know how I’ll get along without it when I go to town next month.” “Don’t speak of your going away tonight,” begged Diana. “I don’t want to think of it, it makes me so miserable, and I do want to have a good time this evening. What are you going to recite, Anne? And are you nervous?” “Not a bit. I’ve recited so often in public I don’t mind at all now. I’ve decided to give ‘The Maiden’s Vow.’ It’s so pathetic. Laura Spencer is going to give a comic recitation, but I’d rather make people cry than laugh.” “What will you recite if they encore you?” “They won’t dream of encoring me,” scoffed Anne, who was not without her own secret hopes that they would, and already visioned herself telling Matthew all about it at the next morning’s breakfast table. “There are Billy and Jane now—I hear the wheels. Come on.” Billy Andrews insisted that Anne should ride on the front seat with him, so she unwillingly climbed up. She would have much preferred to sit back with the girls, where she could have laughed and chattered to her heart’s content. There was not much of either laughter or chatter in Billy. He was a big, fat, stolid youth of twenty, with a round, expressionless face, and a painful lack of conversational gifts. But he admired Anne immensely, and was puffed up with pride over the prospect of driving to White Sands with that slim, upright figure beside him. Anne, by dint of talking over her shoulder to the girls and occasionally passing a sop of civility to Billy—who grinned and chuckled and never could think of any reply until it was too late—contrived to enjoy the drive in spite of all. It was a night for enjoyment. The road was full of buggies, all bound for the hotel, and laughter, silver clear, echoed and reechoed along it. When they reached the hotel it was a blaze of light from top to bottom. They were met by the ladies of the concert committee, one of whom took Anne off to the performers’ dressing room which was filled with the members of a Charlottetown Symphony Club, among whom Anne felt suddenly shy and frightened and countrified. Her dress, which, in the east gable, had seemed so dainty and pretty, now seemed simple and plain—too simple and plain, she thought, among all the silks and laces that glistened and rustled around her. What were her pearl beads compared to the diamonds of the big, handsome lady near her? And how poor her one wee white rose must look beside all the hothouse flowers the others wore! Anne laid her hat and jacket away, and shrank miserably into a corner. She wished herself back in the white room at Green Gables. It was still worse on the platform of the big concert hall of the hotel, where she presently found herself. The electric lights dazzled her eyes, the perfume and hum bewildered her. She wished she were sitting down in the audience with Diana and Jane, who seemed to be having a splendid time away at the back. She was wedged in between a stout lady in pink silk and a tall, scornful-looking girl in a white-lace dress. The stout lady occasionally turned her head squarely around and surveyed Anne through her eyeglasses until Anne, acutely sensitive of being so scrutinized, felt that she must scream aloud; and the white-lace girl kept talking audibly to her next neighbor about the “country bumpkins” and “rustic belles” in the audience, languidly anticipating “such fun” from the displays of local talent on the program. Anne believed that she would hate that white-lace girl to the end of life. Unfortunately for Anne, a professional elocutionist was staying at the hotel and had consented to recite. She was a lithe, dark-eyed woman in a wonderful gown of shimmering gray stuff like woven moonbeams, with gems on her neck and in her dark hair. She had a marvelously flexible voice and wonderful power of expression; the audience went wild over her selection. Anne, forgetting all about herself and her troubles for the time, listened with rapt and shining eyes; but when the recitation ended she suddenly put her hands over her face. She could never get up and recite after that—never. Had she ever thought she could recite? Oh, if she were only back at Green Gables! At this unpropitious moment her name was called. Somehow Anne—who did not notice the rather guilty little start of surprise the white-lace girl gave, and would not have understood the subtle compliment implied therein if she had—got on her feet, and moved dizzily out to the front. She was so pale that Diana and Jane, down in the audience, clasped each other’s hands in nervous sympathy. Anne was the victim of an overwhelming attack of stage fright. Often as she had recited in public, she had never before faced such an audience as this, and the sight of it paralyzed her energies completely. Everything was so strange, so brilliant, so bewildering—the rows of ladies in evening dress, the critical faces, the whole atmosphere of wealth and culture about her. Very different this from the plain benches at the Debating Club, filled with the homely, sympathetic faces of friends and neighbors. These people, she thought, would be merciless critics. Perhaps, like the white-lace girl, they anticipated amusement from her “rustic” efforts. She felt hopelessly, helplessly ashamed and miserable. Her knees trembled, her heart fluttered, a horrible faintness came over her; not a word could she utter, and the next moment she would have fled from the platform despite the humiliation which, she felt, must ever after be her portion if she did so. But suddenly, as her dilated, frightened eyes gazed out over the audience, she saw Gilbert Blythe away at the back of the room, bending forward with a smile on his face—a smile which seemed to Anne at once triumphant and taunting. In reality it was nothing of the kind. Gilbert was merely smiling with appreciation of the whole affair in general and of the effect produced by Anne’s slender white form and spiritual face against a background of palms in particular. Josie Pye, whom he had driven over, sat beside him, and her face certainly was both triumphant and taunting. But Anne did not see Josie, and would not have cared if she had. She drew a long breath and flung her head up proudly, courage and determination tingling over her like an electric shock. She would not fail before Gilbert Blythe—he should never be able to laugh at her, never, never! Her fright and nervousness vanished; and she began her recitation, her clear, sweet voice reaching to the farthest corner of the room without a tremor or a break. Self-possession was fully restored to her, and in the reaction from that horrible moment of powerlessness she recited as she had never done before. When she finished there were bursts of honest applause. Anne, stepping back to her seat, blushing with shyness and delight, found her hand vigorously clasped and shaken by the stout lady in pink silk. “My dear, you did splendidly,” she puffed. “I’ve been crying like a baby, actually I have. There, they’re encoring you—they’re bound to have you back!” “Oh, I can’t go,” said Anne confusedly. “But yet—I must, or Matthew will be disappointed. He said they would encore me.” “Then don’t disappoint Matthew,” said the pink lady, laughing. Smiling, blushing, limpid eyed, Anne tripped back and gave a quaint, funny little selection that captivated her audience still further. The rest of the evening was quite a little triumph for her. When the concert was over, the stout, pink lady—who was the wife of an American millionaire—took her under her wing, and introduced her to everybody; and everybody was very nice to her. The professional elocutionist, Mrs. Evans, came and chatted with her, telling her that she had a charming voice and “interpreted” her selections beautifully. Even the white-lace girl paid her a languid little compliment. They had supper in the big, beautifully decorated dining room; Diana and Jane were invited to partake of this, also, since they had come with Anne, but Billy was nowhere to be found, having decamped in mortal fear of some such invitation. He was in waiting for them, with the team, however, when it was all over, and the three girls came merrily out into the calm, white moonshine radiance. Anne breathed deeply, and looked into the clear sky beyond the dark boughs of the firs. Oh, it was good to be out again in the purity and silence of the night! How great and still and wonderful everything was, with the murmur of the sea sounding through it and the darkling cliffs beyond like grim giants guarding enchanted coasts. “Hasn’t it been a perfectly splendid time?” sighed Jane, as they drove away. “I just wish I was a rich American and could spend my summer at a hotel and wear jewels and low-necked dresses and have ice cream and chicken salad every blessed day. I’m sure it would be ever so much more fun than teaching school. Anne, your recitation was simply great, although I thought at first you were never going to begin. I think it was better than Mrs. Evans’s.” “Oh, no, don’t say things like that, Jane,” said Anne quickly, “because it sounds silly. It couldn’t be better than Mrs. Evans’s, you know, for she is a professional, and I’m only a schoolgirl, with a little knack of reciting. I’m quite satisfied if the people just liked mine pretty well.” “I’ve a compliment for you, Anne,” said Diana. “At least I think it must be a compliment because of the tone he said it in. Part of it was anyhow. There was an American sitting behind Jane and me—such a romantic-looking man, with coal-black hair and eyes. Josie Pye says he is a distinguished artist, and that her mother’s cousin in Boston is married to a man that used to go to school with him. Well, we heard him say—didn’t we, Jane?—‘Who is that girl on the platform with the splendid Titian hair? She has a face I should like to paint.’ There now, Anne. But what does Titian hair mean?” “Being interpreted it means plain red, I guess,” laughed Anne. “Titian was a very famous artist who liked to paint red-haired women.” “Did you see all the diamonds those ladies wore?” sighed Jane. “They were simply dazzling. Wouldn’t you just love to be rich, girls?” “We are rich,” said Anne staunchly. “Why, we have sixteen years to our credit, and we’re happy as queens, and we’ve all got imaginations, more or less. Look at that sea, girls—all silver and shadow and vision of things not seen. We couldn’t enjoy its loveliness any more if we had millions of dollars and ropes of diamonds. You wouldn’t change into any of those women if you could. Would you want to be that white-lace girl and wear a sour look all your life, as if you’d been born turning up your nose at the world? Or the pink lady, kind and nice as she is, so stout and short that you’d really no figure at all? Or even Mrs. Evans, with that sad, sad look in her eyes? She must have been dreadfully unhappy sometime to have such a look. You know you wouldn’t, Jane Andrews!” “I don’t know—exactly,” said Jane unconvinced. “I think diamonds would comfort a person for a good deal.” “Well, I don’t want to be anyone but myself, even if I go uncomforted by diamonds all my life,” declared Anne. “I’m quite content to be Anne of Green Gables, with my string of pearl beads. I know Matthew gave me as much love with them as ever went with Madame the Pink Lady’s jewels.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. L. M. Montgomery (2008). Anne of Green Gables. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45/pg45-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html . The lead image was generated using HackerNoon's Stable Disffusion Al Image Generator feature, via the prompt "Anne of Green Fables".

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