92 thoughts on “Cool Hungarian Stuff

  1. @47 – I read Legend, but not Prodigy. I wanted to buy it but it was too expensive, and still, I’m kind of too busy with homework and exams coming. They’re next week! I hate exams, especially math exams…

    @48 – Dystopian series…I would say GONE, Chaos Walking, Uglies, The Hunger Games and Maze Runner. Then Divergent. Right now I’m reading LIGHT, last of the GONE series. Anybody read those?

    I would use words from books to express myself, only it would sound REALLY, REALLY weird, as everybody speaks Spanish here and most of the books I read are in English. Though I use them in my mind. Bum-rag is my favorite for describing my art teacher, for example.

  2. OMG! Alpha just posted on Facebook that decisions would be sent out Monday morning or LATE SUNDAY NIGHT. Oh god…oh god… *hyperventilating*

    [And yeah, according to Wikipedia, they found her remains, along those of her brother, who apparently was also missing but no one ever made a big deal about him for some reason???]

  3. I’m so disappointed that she actually died 🙁
    I’ve never heard about any brother that was missing… strange?
    Btw, (if anyone even cares) I don’t think that link I posted worked! But anyway it was just something I’d noticed about the pictures of Bovril… its (or him? Her? Did the lorises ever get genders?) size jumps around a bit from picture to picture. The biggest change in size is on page 116 of Goliath. Bovril looks like the size of a small dog! Compared to pages 125 or 202 Bovril is a totally different size to the drawing on page 116.
    @Midshipman K here’s my list of questions you said you’d answer 😛
    What really is Dr Barlow’s ‘Society’?
    Would she let Alek into it too?
    Would WW11 still take place?
    Who would rule Austro-Hungary?
    Are Dr Barlow and Volger together?
    What really was the point in Mr Hearst sabotaging the Leviathan so they’d have to land with Pancho Villa? Was it so Pancho could be footage of the Leviathan?
    How exactly were the lorises going to be used to ‘change the war’? Or were they actually damaged?
    More questions to come once I’ve thought of them!

  4. @48: Oh, I’m sorry! Wasn’t thinking. ‘Fey’ is just another word for ‘faery.’ (Or “fairy” if you prefer that.) It can be plural or singular. “Satyrs are some of the fey of the Summer Court.” or “Grimalkin is a solitary fey.” (Solitary meaning he doesn’t owe allegiance to any court.) So yeah, the Iron Fey are iron faeries which is the definition of situational irony if you think about it….
    Oh my gosh you’ve read Legend and Prodigy! *sob* Oh God, wait Middy Me hasn’t read Prodigy yet….Did you know the author’s on DeviantART? She has art of Day and June! 😀

    Favorite dystopians? I actually don’t read a lot of dystopian, but here it goes. Legend, The Immortal Rules, Uglies, The Hunger Games (but the sequels I liked less), and….that’s it. I haven’t finished Chaos Walking yet, so I am withholding judgement.
    I do recognize all those books, though. My sister has Delirium. And I’ve read The Maze Runner. It wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was good….Oh my gosh, speaking of The Maze Runner and that trait that Thomas and Teresa share, has anyone read Unspoken? It’s not dystopian, but I love this book. Plus, I met Sarah….:D

    In three days*, Roxanne and I will know if we got into Alpha or not. I’m excited, but at the same time I don’t want to know….I get dizzy spells from worrying about it….

    @49 (still Zac-la): First, I was just so happy to see those pictures that I didn’t even register the question. I looked at them for a while, but the only thing I have to say is that I think it’s the angle. In the first one, Bovril does look bigger, but in the second and third I’d say it’s about the same size. On the first, though, it is the closest thing to the viewer. There is a difference, however, but I’ll just say, why can’t Bovril be all curled and fuzzy cuddling with Alek and stretch out later to get a better look at what its parents are carrying around? 😀 The difference is slight, but I think the average size is the same….

    @50: Well, when you get time. My sister’s had my copy of Prodigy for weeks now….Good luck with your exams! I’m sure you’ll be fine! But I agree, they are stressful….*

    (*And I think I just failed a chemistry test….THANK GOD we get to drop our lowest test scores….You’ll do better than me, I promise!)

    I’ve read everything on your dystopian list, but GONE. However, I have seen it. (Well, I haven’t finished Chaos Walking.)

    It would be funny, I suppose, if you spoke in English when everyone else was speaking Spanish. But that’s another thing I do; I don’t know many quotes in other languages, but sometimes I say them anyway. Like “Weisst** du, was ein Kondensator ist?” or “Je peux voir du sang sur les paves!” or “A si i-Dhuath u-orthor, Aragorn. U or le a u or nin.” Yeah….What was that about changing languages for accents?

    *Well, it’s tomorrow now since I foolishly forgot to submit this before heading off to an overnight I where I couldn’t bring Bovril.
    ** ‘ss’ can replace that strong ‘s’ symbol in German that my computer does not have on it’s keyboard….

  5. Okay, now that I’ve submitted that chunk up there, I can look at the new comments!

    @51: GOOD LORD. Did you have to tell me that? At this point, I just don’t want to know….but I do….Preparing myself for a ‘no’….so nervous….gah.

    Alexei….Why wouldn’t they have made a big deal about him? Because he was the heir and they were hoping he was dead? Huh….He was the one with hemophilia, which is how Rasputin got in, but….I don’t know. I didn’t actually know he was still alive at that point. I thought he died even before the March Revolution.

    @52: The link worked for me….

    Whoa, lots of questions. These aren’t just for me, are they? Feeling kind of pressured….Sorry if I can’t give satisfactory answers.
    1. Well, they definitely don’t just run the zoo. XD Their main function seems to be fabricating new kinds of beasties, however, Deryn and Alek do get hired as ‘agents’. This area seems to be what Dr. Barlow is mostly focused on. I’m not going to say that they’re a spy network, because I don’t think they are. But they definitely have some sort of manipulating purpose, at least where Dr. Barlow is concerned. To whose benefit remains to be seen. It would most likely be Darwinists in general, since Dr. Barlow doesn’t seem all to loyal or dedicated to the British government. Of course, she mostly uses Deryn and Alek to find out information, like what Tesla’s object was. Perhaps the sneaky business was just for the war? The trouble is, Dr. Barlow (sneaky boffin that she is) never outright says. For a final answer on this one, you might want to ask Scott….
    2. Go check the December 16, 2011 post. 😀 (I think it was 2011….yeah, because I was still a freshman when I read it….found it in January, 2012.)
    3. Probably not. WWII stemmed almost directly from WWI. The Germans felt cheated, they had to deal with the Treaty of Versailles, even the victors were dissatisfied, yadda, yadda. The Great War in the Leviathan universe is significantly shorter (we know from the Manual that it officially ended in 1915) and there probably wasn’t as much money spent and the countries probably weren’t completely in ruins. (Except for America, lucky us. If the US hadn’t stepped in during the actual war, Germany probably would’ve won, though their losses would’ve been no different than, say, England’s.) The US didn’t step into the war until 1917 in the actual history, but in Goliath, they were entering the war December 1914. Also, the Ottoman Empire, weak though it was at the time, didn’t leave the war so quickly in reality. All in all, the war ended way faster in LBG and the peace agreement seems to have been more satisfactory (I’m pretty sure Dr. Barlow and Alek wouldn’t let it be any other way) so no, I don’t think WWII would’ve happened. I think Scott said something about this when he did the huge Q&A….
    4. The Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist after WWI. Franz Joseph died in 1916 (after the war ended in LBG) and was replaced by another grand nephew. That grand nephew abdicated in 1918 (I believe) and all of Austria’s territories were taken away and Austria became a republic. I don’t know who their first president was….At least, I am assuming this was when they became a republic because that’s what they are today. (The only empire that still existed after WWI was the British….)
    5. Some people ship them, but I don’t….I think they just worked well together. Plus, the real Dr. Barlow was married and pregnant at the time of LBG. She was 28 I believe….
    6. Yup. He just wanted the footage. Grrrrr. I don’t like him. (Have you ever been to Hearst Castle? There’s gold! On the floor! In the barking SWIMMING POOL! A spendthrift waste, if you ask me. The description from Goliath was perfect; it was designed to be filmed.)
    7. Well, you never really know. Were they damaged? It’s hard to tell if you don’t have an example that didn’t crash in the Alps. Perhaps they could fabricate another with the same design without the pre-hatch trauma to find out? As for how they would change the war….Well, they were somehow supposed to change the sultan’s mind about joining Germany, a gift of sorts. There’s plenty of things to learn from a loris, as we see with Deryn and Alek, but I’m not sure how it was supposed to change anything. This is a question that I’ve wondered to, as I have with the first question, but I sort of just leave it at never knowing, because it didn’t happen. I still wonder, but I think this one’s beyond me. Again, I suggest asking Scott….sorry.

    You know, there’s this word–‘concise’–that my English teacher keeps trying to teach me, but I can’t seem to learn it….XD That was fun anyway, even if I’m wrong or you’re totally lost. I love just talking about LBG like that….<3

    GOD, Tomorrow. Or tonight? I AM GOING TO DIE.

  6. @Zac-la: The link worked for me. I never noticed that before!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasia_Romanov#Romanov_graves <–That's all I know. As cool as it would be and as much as I want to write some sort of retelling of what happened to her (and maybe her brother, to be historically accurate), now I feel like it'd be silly to do so, now that they've proved she did in fact die. THANKS ARCHAEOLOGISTS! 🙁
    Still a great movie though. Because of it and LBG, I'm obsessed with everything WWI- and Romanov-related (and I'm not usually obsessive about history).

  7. @55: I never liked WWI before LBG. It was just Ancient Greece and Rome and the Tudors. When I read Leviathan, the name ‘Franz Ferdinand’ was a, “Oh, yeah, that guy” reaction. I was so stupid in 8th grade. He was so unimportant to me then that he didn’t even make it into my class notes. Actually, WWI had like one page in my notebook because I hardly took any notes anyway. (Still got good grades because my teacher was amazing.) But then LBG came along and now WWI is the only thing that REALLY interests me about history, especially the Hapsburgs. You know that dog who was obsessed with squirrels in Up? That’s me. You say “Hapsburg” from like across the room and then I’m there in your face going, “Yes?” XD

    And, um, I got an email from Alpha….at my friend’s quinceanera rehearsal….and I’m pretty sure they thought someone died….because I screamed so loudly….and, um….I GOT IN.
    hallelujahholyshit
    I can’t stop shaking. o_o

  8. @56 – Wow!! congrats! It’s so cool that you got in 🙂

    oh, and the changing languages. Well, I don’t know how to explain it really. I have a Mac, and on the menu bar on top of the screen there’s a little flag, that’s like the language you’re writing in. So I just put it in Spanish whenever I have to write accents.

    And I haven’t read Unspoken, but I’ve wanted to since a web chat Scott did with Justine and Sarah, and she mentioned the book there. I think I must have a wish list that’s like 200 pages long of books I want to read. Well, I’ll get to them eventually….

  9. @57: Um, hi. Thanks. Thank you. 😀

    @58: Thank you, too. I really didn’t think I stood a chance….

    Hmm. I have a PC. I’ll see if there’s anything in the control panel….

    Ahhh! You should read it! 😀 It made me laugh so hard. So did Sarah, when I met her (Clockwork Princess book tour). But the ending….She WONDERS why people don’t like the ending LOL. My To-Read list is like 500 books long….Eventually….

    By the way, Roxanne, wherever you are: Did you get in? Are you on the waiting list? Do you know anything yet? I’m really hoping you did….

  10. …..Hello? Anyone there? Did Monday Monsters steal everyone? Roxanne? Did you hear from Alpha? Zac-la? Any questions? I feel weird here….

    Btw @55: I guess I’m happy to have closure. About Anastasia, I mean.

  11. Hey, everybody! Guess what?!
    I’m going to Alpha, too!
    See you there, Midshipman K (it will be cool to meet you people in person… and know your real names…) and possibly Roxanne! (And anyone else who I may have forgotten that gets on the Westerblog)
    So excited!

  12. @62- haha. No monday monsters for me, it was the Spanish teacher. We had to take a story and turn it into a play script, or something like that, I’m not sure. I sort of zone out in that class 🙂 my head starts filling with flying whales and lorises and princes in hiding…..

  13. It’s almost funny. There were 94 applicants this year. There are 73 other people out there who didn’t get in, and yet I seem to be virtually surrounded by everyone who’s going without me.

    :'(

  14. ahaha no i’m not able to read all this messages 😀
    somebody, say what is the conversation about? :DDDD

  15. @63: REALLY?! Ohmygosh! Yay! I can’t wait to meet you!

    @64: That was me in ballet class tonight. I don’t know why, but for most of class it was just me being all stoic and angry because something of Deryn got into me and sufdenly ballet was too girly. That’s never happened to me. I love ballet and I know how difficult it is, but for some reason I just couldn’t pay attention. But near the end I had sense knocked back into me by my tendonidis….joy. XD
    Btw, I think it would be fun to turn something into a play! If it was, you know, Leviathan….

    @65: Won’t we get to critique each other? Roxanne…?

    @66: *sob* No! I wanted to meet you, too….:'( I’m sorry…. If it means anything, your story is still amazing from what you told me. I love talking to you about writing, so I hope we can continue doing so! Unless you don’t want to….?

  16. Hey, all you Chaos Walking readers! How in blazes did you survive Manchee? I am honest to God sobbing my eyes out right now…. And I’m supposed to focus on HOMEWORK? Sod it all….

  17. @69: Yeah, I can, but Scott won’t be a guest author (I assume, I guess he could but that’s unlikely). And a girl I met there whom I’ve recently grown close to got in, so I’m probably never going to see her again.

    @70: I just can’t believe this. Last year was fun, but I hadn’t previously heard of/read any of the guest authors and therefore wasn’t REALLY excited to meet them. Now Scott Westerfeld is coming and I don’t get in… FML. 🙁

    You won’t get to critique everybody. The way it works is there are these second-years called “Betas” and there are usually 3 or 4 of them. You get their submission stories over the E-mail loop (I don’t know if you guys know, but there is an Alphan E-mail loop so everyone can get to know each other in the months before Alpha) to read, and you’ll get to critique them at Alpha. THEN later, after you’ve written your Alpha story, everyone gets divided into groups of 4 and your little groups all read and critique each other. I hope that all made sense.
    So you COULD read everyone’s submission story if you got them to give it to you, but it’s not a part of the curriculum.

    Gosh, I’m so jealous and still partly in denial!!! This can’t be happening… 🙁
    Well, maybe we can all go for our second time next year and meet one another then. *desperately hopeful*

  18. @72: You’re breaking my heart….I SO wanted to meet you. I’ll be desperately hopeful with you!

    That email loop sounds cool and scary….and helpful, I suppose. Only, I already know two of the other people going. Everyone I knew who applied got in….except you. *SOB* So, yeah, my sister and my friend got in, too. (And Middy Miles, but I don’t know your real name….)

    I feel guilty being part of the 20 and not part of the 73 that should be comforting you….I’d say I’ll send you postcards, but, you know….

    I AM LONG-DISTANCE HUGGING YOU, MY FRIEND. <3

  19. @73 (<–hehe, ironic): Wow, I did NOT need to know about more people who're going without me. I'm already aware of half the people who are going now. Sorry, that's not your fault. Don't feel bad about mentioning it. I wish I had a sibling or friend who is as interested in writing as me.
    Don't feel guilty on my part, either. I would give almost anything to be in your shoes right now (er, in July), so enjoy it for the both of us! Be excited and bounce off the walls. This is beyond exciting for you! 🙂

    Well, after Alpha you 2013-ers will join the big-girl E-mail loop. Then I'll found out y'all's real names, and you'll find out mine… 😉
    No, my name's not Roxanne. It's my middle name, but I don't actually go by that.

    *Long-distance hug, friend*

  20. @74: GAH! How could I not feel awful for doing that to you? I’M SO SORRY, I didn’t think. (“For I am very stupid, Cecy, and think only of myself.” (Will, go away!))

    Hmm. My dad goes by his middle name, too, but only because his name is the same as his dad’s. Family name, you know.* I was sort of hoping Roxanne was your middle name when I got the news because I could see everyone else the email was sent to, but there were no Roxannes. Alas….my hoping was rewarded, and yet….

    ‘K’ is my first initial, btw. Hence the name. It works. I use it everywhere. LOL I’m so easy to track through the internet….

    *It actually caused some trouble when my mom was buying groceries and the woman saw her ID and said she knew V—- B—- and my mom said he was her husband….Because we have Chinese relations in San Francisco that hate our guts but still kept the family name….So, two V—- B—-s. (Sorry for the awkward dashes….) Yeah, my mom’s definitely not married to the Chinese one. She said the look on the woman’s face was pretty hilarious, though.

  21. Hey everyone!
    Sorry, I’ve been so busy with school I haven’t had time to post! It’s kind of ironic because I’m home-schooled.. I used to get my work done in like two hours but now I’m doing it all da :O ahhh, the perks of being young…
    Thank you so much @Midshipman K for answering my questions! And congratulations on getting into Alpha (that’s what it’s called right?) You’re so lucky, you get to meet Scott! 😀 so how do you get into Alpha? Do you have to submit a piece of writing?
    I haven’t heard of Unspoken, what’s it like? Oh good, that link did work! Yeah I think you’re right! But in the top picture Bovril looks WAY to big to sit on Alek’s shoulder!
    Still @Midshipman K, oh wow you’re so knowledgable XD
    I actually do kind of ship Dr Barlow and Volger.. I heard she was married in real! But wait, in Leviathan Volger seemed to keep hinting that he was married? He kept telling Alek how he’d had to leave his ‘family’, didn’t he? I guess he could mean parents, sibling etc..
    Manchee’s ***** (for those who don’t want it spoiled) tore me up to the bone! How it was written was just heart-breaking! And how he said “Todd?” 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

  22. @75. In theory, I’d be easy to track through the internet. I use my own name in my fan fiction, after all. (Oh, what’s that? All you want to read this fan fiction because I’m actually a credible author-person now for getting into Alpha? Well, you can just click on my name and it will take you to my fan fiction page, where you can read my stuff. The fanfic in question is called “Orion”. Go. Enjoy 🙂 )

  23. @76: I wish I could get my work done in two hours! (even though you don’t anymore….) Mostly, I get busy work, which is so annoying because it’s always in the classes I don’t care about. I’ve taken to writing book quotes on the margins of my Algebra II assignments to show my teacher how useless her class is….And she has this weird impression that novels end? Are any of you under the impression that LBG ended? Or Harry Potter, for a wider reference? I mean, what’s the one thing you NEVER tell a HP fan? Plus, what was it Jo said about Hogwarts living on forever in our hearts? (Same goes for LBG, I just have more HP references….) Who doesn’t still daydream about that flying whale?
    (Okay rant over ah)
    Yeah, you have to write a short story that sci fi, fantasy, or horror as the main part of the application, but you also have a form with all the basic stuff like name, age, why-are-you-applying-in-at-least-300-words essay….(Not really an essay, but I just call it that….)
    Yeah, Volger DID say something about leaving his family didn’t he? Or was it implied? I remember Alek thinking about it in Chapter….6? Hold on….Ack, no! 10! (I can usually calculate chapters in the books since they alternate so regularly, but I’d forgotten that this part came after Deryn boarded the Leviathan….gah, I am a Dummkopf LOL) So yeah, page 92 is says they gave up their “ranks, families, and futures.” It doesn’t specify, but maybe you know another scene?
    OH GOD MANCHEE, I KNOW!!!!!!!!!! I tried to tell my friend why I wasn’t able to start my homework until 10 pm, but then I was thinking about it and he kept going, “Todd? Todd?” and I just couldn’t….I was crying as hard as I cried for the end of Clockwork Princess. I don’t know….I think part of it just messed up my idea of the whole trilogy because I was so familiar with the Alek-Deryn-Bovril trio that I thought….augh….

    @77: Sadly, I do not have a facebook….But one day I might need one….(for GSA purposes)

    @78: OH! Orion! Ohmygosh! That’s one of the FFs that I’ve been meaning to read! (Because I stopped reading FF for THE LONGEST time because of school issues, but there were so many that I hadn’t read….But now my friend introduced me to a FFn app. 😀 I’ll try to read it soon!
    Yeah, I used MidshipmanK first here (I think?) but I’d always intended it as my DeviantART username. It just depends on when I made my dA account for vs when I started commenting on here to know which is first. Then when I made a tumblr, I just used it again. And that is the extent of my online presence! 😀 (But I hardly go on tumblr and I tried to find everything I could on LBG, but we have such a small presence on there….I don’t actually mid, though. It seems sort of mainstream….)

  24. @71,76, 79 – that “Todd?” literally broke my heart. I just kept reading and rereading that part because it absolutely COULD NOT have happened 🙁

    @70 – Turning Leviathan into a play would most definitely be barking awesome. And then actually performing them. Though I guess you’d spend more time working on the props and backgrounds than acting, because I mean, how do you make a Stormwalker, or a Leviathan? But if you could pull it off, it would be great.

    @Roxanne – I’m so sorry you didn’t get into Alpha. I would have applied, but I’m too far away and my parents would never let me go, so I’m not going anywhere either. Though someday, someday I will meet Scott. And I’m sure you will too 🙂

    And now, back to doing what I’m supposed to be doing. I have a Geography exam tomorrow on Africa and the Middle East. I must study…

  25. @79. This was my reaction to you saying you wanted to read/had even heard of Orion: *stunned**hands up in the air* So. Barking. Awesome.
    It’s moments like these that make me feel like less of a nobody. And you should definitely read it and leave at least 6 reviews so I can get to 200 🙂 (I am currently in the revision process, but I’ve only gotten through chapter two. So if you notice a steep drop off in writing skills, that’s why. I was a terrible writer a year ago.)

  26. This is a totally random idea, but how cool would it be to have a book that got passed around from stranger to stranger? Like, someone would buy a fantastic read, write something in it like their name or a comment, or highlight their favorite passage, and then pass it on to someone else, whether it be a friend or a complete stranger. You’d have this internationally-traveled book, with so much history attached…

    So obviously this book should Leviathan. 😀

  27. @80: I wnet back so I could find the page when he was thinking about how much Manchee had done for him, but I had to go past THAT PART. (It’s an ebook on my phone.) I started crying all over again….First, my sister got to see me break down over Clockwork Princess. Then, it was my dad and my sister for Manchee. Next it’s going to be the whole family! XD I need to learn to go to my room to read, because reading stuff like that immobilizes me….

  28. Ahh! What happened? Somehow, it just submitted that bit up there…..
    Okay, hopefully no more technical difficulties. Technology hates me, but I thought I had a good relationship with Bovril….(my computer lol).

    Still @80: I agree that a Leviathan play would be awesome, but I also love the idea of a Leviathan musical, one where they never stop singing like in Les Miserables. (People give me weird looks….) But can’t you just see it? (Plus, Les Mis has so many songs that remind me of Leviathan. “On My Own” for Deryn, “Bring Him Home” like a Franz-for-Alek prayer, “Do You Hear the People Sing?” for the revolution….)

    @81: I will totally do that soon! Can I review without having an FF account?
    We all have those first drafts, don’t worry….

    @82: I cannot even express how incredible an idea that is….It’s like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, only a book!

  29. ….Can you get in trouble for writing “I can’t because I don’t want to” on your math homework? I mean, like, on just one question?
    (LOL Why am I even asking that on here?)
    (What if it’s in French?)
    (Even though I take Spanish….)
    (My sister just says it all the time, so I know it….)
    (I think Chaos Walking is affecting how I use parentheses….)

  30. @85. Yes, you can leave a review without an account because I accept guest reviews. Just make your guest name MidshipmanK so I know it’s you. Also, I like reviews a lot, so just leave a bunch of them if you feel like it. And feel free to make them long, too. 🙂

  31. I think someone needs to start this. Not me, though… 😉

    If, in years to come, I come across a well-loved and thoroughly dog-earred copy of Leviathan, complete with several notes and such in a million different hand-writings, then I’ll know I inspired it. 😀

  32. OK, first of all, I’m also hungarian and I feel great reading your posts, Mr. Westerfeld. 😀

    I just finished reading Behemoth and it was a-w-e-s-o-m-e 😀 I feel like I can only express it by using the codes Deryn used when she informed the Leviathan about there whereabouts after destroying the ……. (don’t want to spoiler)
    I love to read books in their original language(if it’s english), but I HAD TO order the hungarian books with these covers.:)

    So thank you again, for writing such cool books! 🙂

  33. Do we get to see Shay as a cutter than! I’m totally ready to see that! I’ve always pictured them with flash tattoos all over their face and their teeth filled with fangs and their irises completely black! OMG

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