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Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Thoughts Occasioned by Traveller
A cursory reading of my posts on this topic would suggest that I hate detailed settings and prefer those that are more "skeletonic" in nature. That's simply not the case, as I adore Tékumel, which can hardly be called un-detailed, let alone skeletonic. In point of fact, what I actually dislike about many published settings is not so much their detail but their tendency to add ever-increasing levels of specific detail over time, details upon which later supplements come to depend for their very existence.
Let me cite a few examples of what I mean, using the history of Traveller for my basis. When I first started playing the game, probably in 1980 or thereabouts, my campaign was set in the Spinward Marches, using Supplement 3 as its basis. The thin information it gave me was a good starting point and the fleshing out of the sector that GDW did through its adventures and supplements was slight enough that it did little violence to my own presentation of it. Then, the Fifth Frontier War happened. GDW felt that it needed to "shake up" the staid Marches by having another war break out between the Imperium and the Zhodani. The War was covered in The Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society and through a wargame, among other means.
When the war concluded, there were consequences. The map of the Spinward Marches changed and the political fallout from the War had repercussions in adventures and supplements. In short, the War changed the setting, in ways both subtle and (occasionally) profound. Now, of course, one could choose to ignore the War and its canonical outcome, but, if one did, then GDW products set in the Marches after its conclusion become increasingly less usable, or at least demand a lot more modification to suit one's own private vision of the sector. But I'm all in favor of referee modification, aren't I? Why is this a problem? Well, it's not in any absolute sense, but the more a setting expects that I hew to an evolving history that occurs independently of my own campaign's history, the less point I see in using it at all.
Sadly, GDW never seemed to learn their lesson on this score. They repeated the mistake again and again. In the late 80s, they threw the entire Imperium into a civil war (oddly called "The Rebellion") that ultimately laid low interstellar civilization first in a period of decline called "The Hard Times" and finally in an even more bleak one that more or less rebooted the entire setting. Without debating the merits of these particular decisions, what I find most objectionable about GDW's approach is that Traveller's setting changed from a wide open one whose presentation was piecemeal and open-ended to one that more or less bound you to its official development. Again, sure, you could just ignore a lot of what they were producing and use it as you saw fit, but, from my perspective, if you're going to do that, you might as well create your own setting.
To put it another way, when I started my Traveller campaign in the Marches, I could easily portray the Imperium as a distant, decadent, and thoroughly corrupt institution, like Hollywood's imagination of the late Roman Empire. The rulebook and the early supplements didn't contradict this portrayal and neither did they contradict alternate ones, making it possible for each referee to present the setting as they felt best. Over time, though, this changed and it became more and more clear that the Imperium wasn't decadent or thoroughly corrupt and was indeed better described as noble, if somewhat flawed. Likewise, the earliest presentations of the Zhodani were outright villainous and some sources even call them "barbarians," which only strengthened my late Roman interpretation of the setting. Later, though, the Zhodani were portrayed more sympathetically.
My point here is not to argue against any particular thing GDW did to the official Traveller setting. In the end, this isn't about Traveller at all, but about the tendency for game companies to develop their RPG settings in ways that both demand you buy every one of their products to stay "current" and that encourage an obsession with setting "history" that occurs independent of player action. This also isn't about the level of detail, because, as I said, I can enjoy lots of detail in certain contexts, even if it's not my preferred approach. If one looks at Hârn, you'll find an incredibly detailed setting, filled with more information and minutiae than most gamers could ever use. What you won't find, though, is an evolving history that requires one keep up with all the latest releases to be able to enjoy those published down the road. Hârn is what you might call a "steady state" setting, forever stuck in an eternal Now -- until, that is, you get the ball rolling in your campaign and nothing Columbia Games publishes will ever tell you what's going to happen after that starting point.
I guess, in the end, what bugs me about too many gaming settings is the assumption that they exist independently of being used in one's own campaign. Some likely will see this as a positive thing, since it implies a living "reality" to these places, but, for me anyway, it's a big turn-off. I don't like game companies dropping world-changing events into official settings, no matter how cool they might be in the abstract, because experiences teaches me that these events almost always make it harder for me to use future products unless I decide to go ahead and use these events in my own campaign. This isn't an old school vs. new school thing; rather, it's a situation created by the need to sell more setting supplements. I have no beef with companies wanting to sell products. I simply think there are better ways to do so without turning their official settings into novels or movies whose events are decided by someone other than me and my players.
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I agree with your sentiment and vastly prefer Harn's approach over a campaign world that "evolves". That my plan for the Majestic Wilderlands. I may post or write something about what happens post 4436 BCCC in my campaign but I won't make it offical. So referees will free to resolve the Viridian Civil War without me saying how it should end.
As for the Spinward Marches I will point out that it not a particularly good example of an evolving campaign. Yeah there was a 5th Frontiers, yes the Imperium and the Zhodani changed from their original presentation. There are version set in 1065, 1105, 1117, 1202, and 1248 as well as the GURPS version and the Mongoose Version.
Basically after the first couple of years added details pretty much stopped. Later products pretty much rehashed the library data of older products instead focuses on specific adventure. It really a bit of mess.
The TNE version has a lot of "changes" but compared to the baseball bat they gave to the rest of the imperium not that much changed. They did that pretty much deliberately to allow fans of older Traveller to have a place to set traditional traveller adventures as opposed to the type of adventures they were suggesting for the wrecked Imperium.
Plus the date 1202 was so far off from 1105 or 1117 that you would have to run a campaign for a really long time to the point where it even a factor.
It wasn't until the advent of GURPS Behind the Claw (not so good) and Mongoose Spinward Marches (better) that we finally get systematic detail to entire Spinward Marches. I have both and only a little over the amount of detail I would have added if I done the project.
But now comes the danger that you point out. Will Mongoose resist the temptation of "advancing" the setting or choose to focus aka Harn on added detail to the existing line.
Finally there is Traveller 5 by Marc Miller. I am part of the beta group. I can't give out specific detail but one of the goals is to support "eras" of the Third Imperium. That the referee picks which era he likes and goes off and uses that.
The sentiment seems to be "OK we got this rich background let's give the tools to flesh it out." as opposed let's advance it even further.
Hopefully this works out.There is, I think a middle ground. Look at what TSR did with the World of Greyhawk Fantasy Setting in the early 1980's. It began with the folio/gold boxed set, and was then fleshed out with a series of articles by Gary Gygax in Dragon magazine, which told of what the various states were doing in the year following the "official" release year of the boxed set.
If you take those items in and of themselves, what you see is that Greyhawk was a "steady state" setting in the way you describe, but one which was given a trajectory. The Great Kingdom was sending expeditionary forces against the Iron League. Iuz was testing the resolve of Furyondy. The Bandit Kingdoms were raiding and facing reprisals from the Pale and Tenh.
Then, of course, they blew it all with the "Greyhawk Wars", and the "From the Ashes" boxed set that followed. Those did exactly what you describe above in reference to the Traveler universe.
But for a few shining years, TSR had it perfectly right, to my mind. You had a world, and it had the impression of life, because there were events that happened after the "official" year of the boxed set, but there was no resolution. The DM was free to determine how those military conflicts, and those political machinations, were going to go.
So I say you're right with the notion of a "steady state" setting being preferable, but I also like the idea that such a setting can have a trajectory, which is up to the game master to bring to a final resolution.Hey, James, I agree with you 100%. It's as if the game designers, rather than creating a rich, campaign setting for a game is instead creating a novel (or series of novels) for their stunted authorial aspirations. I find White Wolf to be some of the most irritating culprits of this, but there have certainly been others.
Make your game, make your setting, then leave well enough alone! Jeez!I dunno. I like the loss of control and need to think on my feet as a GM. Admittedly, I don't use Greyhawk post-Pluffet Smedger. But I do prefer to have other GMs in "my" campaign and give them totally free reign to change the world. Then when I take the referee seat again I just riff off the changes they made to the world.
This is different from a published setting in some sense; but, smacks of something very similar to riffing off what changes the publisher makes to the game world.James, I agree with you completely. I get extremely frustrated with companies that try to "advance time" in the campaign setting. As you say, after a certain point the materials they publish are practically not worth the price, since you would invest the same amount of time creating something from scratch.
I posted a bit about this on the Fading Suns boards, but no one seemed to be on the same page as I was.
If a company continues producing products "set in Year Zero," I may very well remain a customer. But they can't tell me what's going to happen in the future of my campaign, because that's up to my players and I.I think the problem companies have with timelines is the fact that you can only detail a world so much before you've done everything you can with it. Then, you have two choices... advances the timeline to see how things change, or leave things the way they are. Joseph's comments were exactly waht I was going to say.... TSR almost had it perfect with the Greyhawk articles following up on what was in the box set, and they still have so much more they could have done with the world of Oerth, instead of advancing the timeline with the Greyhawk Wars (which, quite frankly, I *hate*, and refuse to use anything from).
ReplyDeleteThe idea of "advancing the time-line" for a published campaign setting has always just seemed "off" to me. It makes it almost impossible for gamers to use these products as a game setting, and becomes, as JB mentions, an excuse to write a novel.
I do understand that companies feel there is a business reason to do this, so they can sell more product, but there are other ways around it. The way Paizo is doing it with their Golarion setting is an example, where they have a main campaign setting book, which is really all you need, but for people who want extra detail, there are books coming out for each country/region, as well as books about the Gods of Golarion, the Planes, Magic, etc. This can go on for years before the entire continent is described.
There are plenty of ways to go by coming out with support material for a "Year 0" type of approach, rather than saying, "Oh, by the way, this Big Event (TM) happened and you have to re-buy everything you already own."Agree. This is me writing about the same thing in 1994 (examples include Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, Dark Suns, Known World):
Unfortunately, I think this is one of those business vs. art collisions that is practically unavoidable; it's the same phenomenon as movie sequels (see Pixar's resistance, buyout, and submission to the issue, for example). As long as there is a customer base eager for a "complete collection" of whatever, then it's practically a law of nature that more will be published by some company.I am not a fan of "official" settings - even less so of settings that have an evolving metaplot. I appreciate that games companies have to make money in order to keep producing, but I hate being on the treadmill of buying "official" adventures just to see what happens.
Of course, every themed game has some implied ideas about the setting. D&D implies a world where there are fantastic creatures, magicians and thieves' guilds. Changeling implies a world where fairies are real (clap!) and superstition is more applicable than logic. CoC implies a universe where nameless horrors drive you mad because your existence is incompatible with theirs. However, when I run a game, the setting is now mine to do with as I please.
It is bad enough that some players will complain that the setting does not conform to the published material. I never try to argue with them; I merely remind them that the setting may look the same, but how can they claim to know the secrets? It usually works. When the progress of the setting is dictated by an "official" source, I feel cheated - particularly when the progress reads like it is just there to support a favourite NPC. NIMGYD.
In the case of Traveller, we managed to pretty much ignore the Fifth Frontier War even when we did play in the Official Traveller Universe (OTU). For a start, Traveller stuff was hard to get hold of in Belfast in late 70s/early 80s, and a subscription to the journal was out of the question. Secondly, we used the Solomani Rim for our OTU games. This was the red-headed stepchild of Traveller, but that suited us fine.
As the OTU developed, we kept using the Solomani Rim. Nothing was ever specifically published for it, so we were never contradicted. Lucky us.@Delta
There was no crash, friend citizen. It is an un-event. Please report for historical re-education. The Computer is your friend.
But I do agree with you that the big companies have moved towards fixed settings. The worst example I saw was at a gaming con just over a year ago. One of the raffle prizes was to play in a D&D 4e game run by the designer of one of the settings. As nobody had turned up for my game in that slot and I was meant to be in the room, I decided to listen in.
The slot was supposed to be a four-hour game. The designer took an hour to expound on his setting and what had been going on in it. He then spent another hour telling the players what their characters should be thinking of doing in the adventure. As we (the other members of our demo team with nothing better to do) listened, we exchanged looks of disbelief before walking out very quietly.
Comparing notes, the most complicated introduction any of us had given during the whole con had taken maybe 15 minutes. We all thought that telling players how to play their characters was just rude at best, rampant egotism at worst.
Suffice to say, none of us have bought into D&D 4e, and this did not encourage us.- AnonymousAugust 19, 2010 at 1:56 AM
It's not just business vs. art though, sometimes it's hard to step away from a setting. There is that authorial urge to follow through and a sense of ownership.
I think with the amount of readers/collecters outnumbering players in the OSR there will be an eagerness for new stuff to read - and outlining a rich, detailed history alongside new mechanical add-ons over several splat books may be a way for a designer/author to hold the interest without having to embrace something new. - AnonymousAugust 19, 2010 at 2:09 AM
I ran Traveller with the Starter Set and a head full of Blake's 7, 2000AD and HGTTG. As there were a few groups playing in my area we swapped notes and a mega-setting started to evolve, as events occurred in the individual settings. There was cross-over, war and consequences but nothing 'broke' it. The freshness came from the gameplay.
ReplyDelete "I think with the amount of readers/collecters outnumbering players in the OSR there will be an eagerness for new stuff to read"
I don't think this issue is distinct to the OSR, but rather to RPGs in general. It is kind of a problem, though, that's kind of self-perpetuating. The products that are fun to read from a "story" standpoint (like big huge megaplot campaign settings) are usually much less useful in actual play. However, as readers (not gamers) keep buying these types of products to read, then game companies will keep putting them out because that's what sells. So, what you get over time is a bunch of material that's really not gamer-friendly because its audience is really ex-gamers who aren't using the materials in actual games.
A lot of gamers, meanwhile, tend to subscribe to the standpoint of "I don't need to buy X game supplement or a new version of Game Y because I already have all the material I need to run my own game using the base rule set and my imagination." Since these guys aren't going to buy stuff anyway, the stuff that's produced ends up appealing to a much different audience (readers instead of gamers).
At least, that's how I've seen it over the past few decades.- AnonymousAugust 19, 2010 at 3:16 AM
I do agree but I think the ideological clash will be more acute within the OSR as on one hand designers/bloggers are saying 'it's a hobby, make stuff up - it's fun and satisfying' and on the other hand 'my stuff is cool, now available in game stores worldwide'.
I see nothing wrong with this dichotomy, it'll just be interesting to see how it pans out. I vastly prefer Eternal Now settings to Metaplot settings. Metaplot seems like something to read for peope who don't actually _play_ - and AIR Traveller in particular had a very high proportion of fans who did not actually play the game. *sigh*
Re the Imperium, I'm increasingly hostile to settings with an overarching structured order beyond the reach of the PCs. OK-ish if there's a Frontier where the PCs can make a difference, but Traveller lacked even that and traditionally defaulted to criminal enterprises. In many ways I have to say I think it was/is a poorly designed setting.
My feeling is that the system generation tools are best used to generate something much smaller, on a scale where Space Opera PCs can make a real difference. So, worlds should be independent or in small cluster-empires, with no overarching authority to knock heads together if they go to war. I want plenty of room for Save the Planet plots as well as merchant trading. I want a setting where PCs can rise to become Kings of their own worlds or empires, or Warlord of the Nomad Fleet, or Captain of the Star Pirates. I don't think the Imperium really gives me that.Martin's on the money. I also had some thoughts on the issue here. It comes down to companies needing constant leveraging of their properties and using the dimension of time, rather than breadth of space or detail in space, to do so. Legend of the Five Rings is one example I am very familiar with, where the constant forward motion demanded by the bread-winner "interactive storyline CCG" eventually ran into a limit and became more of a cycle, in the process causing the aforementioned problems for the less lucrative RPG.
ReplyDeleteI think a good way to do it was the original plan for Forgotten Realms. The gray boxed set gave you a decent set of maps of the world, some nice setting information, and set aside some areas that the publisher promised would remain undeveloped for GM's to safely set a campaign in. (Of course TSR broke that promise, but that doesn't mean a publisher couldn't keep theirs! lol) Then in addition to the boxed set the supplements added detail to various regions that weren't set aside for GM development. That allows you to run a campaign in a region that won't have official products and for the company to sell additional supplements to make money. The best of both worlds as long as the publisher doesn't renege on the promise.
ReplyDeleteAs noted, the original FR boxed set (and the first 5 supplements) supports a great sandbox campaign, only to be ruined by the bloat that followed. I've always chalked this up to game designers trying to justify their existence, basically showcasing their "skills" in lieu of the Harn model of eternally set in space at the same time. I also think there is an element of "players need ideas and we are the guys to give them" in the setting developments in Grayhawk, FR, et al.
ReplyDeleteI think that game companies should stick to "eternal now settings" (i like the term), and if they want to advance history, do it in novels independent of the game (FASA's Battletech, for example).
The problem then, is that they update the game sooner or later to catch the novels timeline (Battletech, again).
But if they don't do this, they don't make money, because many of us would not buy anything else besides the core book and a couple sourcebooks (save some with "collector syndrome", of course).- AnonymousAugust 19, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Mostly an echo comment here, too.
I have to echo the wish that game companies would stick to "eternal now" settings. Battletech are Forgotten Realms settings that had my interest for a while, until I decided not to keep up with them. I never got into Traveller, but dabbled in MegaT. Once we realized that a lot more was going on than we could see, we dropped that, too.
Developing a setting by adventures in few places, making city or regional supplements, or the like, seems to be a more popular method, no?
In the defense of the game companies, we know that they do these kind of things to sell more product. I would like to point out that I don't think anyone knew that it would split the fanbase in the mid- to late-80s, or that sales would rapidly decline. What the companies could see was that it did spike sales for their competitors, so it Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time.
Strangely, I have found myself wishing for more detail/timeline in a few settings, namely 2300AD and Twilight:2000. Maybe that's just because I never developed my own games too far into the "future," and just want more. I can assure you that game companies don't publish campaign supplements to feed their egos or even because it's what the designers like (they do like it, of course, but that's not a valid business reason for publishing something, as most vanity publishers realize too late).
It's because that's what sells. Companies that approach game publishing as a business rather than a hobby can't ignore that fact.
What we have, then, is essentially a dysfunctional, codependent relationship between customers and publishers. Customers vote with their wallets for products that in the long run are bad for the game. Publishers produce those products because they need to maintain a revenue stream, even though they understand that eventually they'll cause problems. Before you know it, you've created a body of canon which the hardcore minutiae gobblers absolutely adore but which is so overwhelming to newcomers and casual gamers that they steer away. With only the hardcore buying the product, and hardcore members drifting away to parenthood, careers, college, or detail-induced ennui, the market shrinks and shrinks until it reaches a point where you must either abandon the setting as unprofitable or wipe the slate clean in order attract fresh blood.
That's the real reason why Greyhawk and the Realms are blasted by wars between the gods, the Imperium collapses, and someone discovers that minotaurs rule the far hemisphere of Krynn--it reboots the system so that newcomers can get involved without being shellshocked by detail and lambasted by the dogma-quoters.I always did like how GDW slowly fleshed out the Imperium. But I always thought they shoud have tied the system to other settings such as TSR had AD&D in Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms and Dark Suns. They tied nearly every thing to the 3rd Imperium, instead of creating something new to bring in new fans
ReplyDelete- AnonymousAugust 19, 2010 at 6:09 PM
TSR did this with Planescape, with the whole Faction War, etc.
It seems like you can divide setting material into two types: reference detail, and news.
News is the kind that changes the setting out from under you in major ways, if you allow it. Honestly, of all the things mentioned, I don't see the "minotaurs ruling the far side of Krynn" as being an example of pushing the setting forward. That could very well have taken place in the same "eternal now" as the originally published Dragonlance setting. (Dragonlance being, of course, a poor example, as it was deliberately designed to be a story-arc setting.)
Putting something on the other side of the planet doesn't necessarily reboot the world, so much as expanding on it. For instance, I wouldn't have seen an oriental setting way off to the West of the Flanaess as a bad thing-- quite the contrary.- AnonymousAugust 20, 2010 at 3:29 AM
I'm just 3 sessions into a brand new Spinward campaign using classic Traveller and the original booklet. It's more fun than ever!
ReplyDelete James-- I think what you're really getting at is just a very strong personal preference which is valid. I never ran a Traveller campaign in the Imperium, never needed background information. But I did keep up with the new products to use some equipment or map or ideas in it, or just to keep up with the storyline because it was fun to see what was going on. But the balance between "eternal now" games designed for refs who can handle everything on their own and storyline games that lots of people need, want, or say they want, is not an error on a game publisher's part, it's just an eternal reality, like having to exercise and eat right when you're just going to die someday, or why can't Detroit make a car that lasts forever and doesn't need gas? Certainly we want game publishers to be able to make a living, else they wouldn't be able to produce anything. But lots of people want (need, say they want) storyline stuff for whatever reason, and publishers are constantly having to try to give people what they ask for, rather than, "No ice cream for you, only steamed vegetables, you'll thank me someday." And you yourself have observed to me that you are baffled how so many players seem to need to be told how to run a game, what to do. Which indicates that self-sufficient GMs like you or me are not the whole story, and some people need (want, say they want) more, like storylines that model for them what to do. On top of that, there is no money in (non-computer) game design, so people do it out of love. Some of that love is in story-telling. It's no accident that there is a huge overlap between the gaming and comic industries, and the comic publishers are always in an endless cycle of developing the story-line, reboot, develop the story-line, reboot, although the cycles seem to be going faster now. As Steven rightly observed, you can't just write what you want or you're just a vanity press, but game publishers are constantly being buffeted by wants from a variety of directions, and Traveller probably worse than most with its virulent historians, gearheads, etc. TNE was always painfully stretched between the poles of generic and storyline, to the detriment of both, and I am confident there was no golden mean, not by the time I got there, given what people had grown to expect, need, want, say they want. And this probably sounds like I'm just being defensive of GDW, but so what if it sounds that way. I just think that when you are trying to please all of the people all of the time, you are going to fail some of the time, those are the rules of the game. Because you don't want to say, "you type players can't play, we're just targeted at story-lovers, or eternal-now players," you try to put out stuff that will be as inclusive as possible. Maybe Columbia games can make it work, and probably the trick to that is that you have to very careful to never climb onto the tiger, because once you do, there's no getting off. "Who's going to win the Rebellion, Margaret or Dulinor? Was that the real Strephon?" And those people are excited, and need, want, say they want something, and why would you not want to answer the question? (You may disagree with the answer we provided, but dammit, we were on a tiger.) At the end of the day, you can only do your best, know it will never be perfect, and someday maybe hear some people say, "I really like what you did." That's not too bad for a life. Dave Nilsen


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text:
Notice: this Wiki will be going read only early in 2024 and edits will no longer be possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.
Dates are listed in the Eclipse Platform Releng Calendar (view as iCal)
M1 - August 7th
Use Wiki for meetings/planning
Combine mailing lists (281272)
Handle xml parse errors in Ctx Help editor (284496)
Handle xml parse errors in ToC editor (280119)
M2 - September 18th
Support spell checking in Cheat Sheet, TOC and Context Help Editor (286203)
User interface for generating API Use Reports (280467)
Override internal/API package name patterns for API use scan (289139)
M3 - October 30th
Support headless launching for Eclipse and Equinox applications (278845)
Synchronize target contents with Java search (175134)
Provision metadata for launching (p2 self-hosting) (250126)
PDE build should honor project settings:
- File specific encodings (bug 155015, bug 260997)
build.properties validation (bug 286808, bug 276931, bug 253950)
A single line for each different piece of API being used (289903)
Find migration issues based on use scan (280463)
Graduate the PDE Bundle Visualizer (106676)
- Deferred to M4:
- Add support for custom extension point attributes bug 227055
- Compare API use reports bug 266903
M4 - December 11th
PDE build should honor project settings (154292)
Performance improvements for API tools (296487)
M5 - January 29th
Manage all target contents with a p2 profile (287619)
Performance improvements for API tools - continued
- Incremental build bug 233643
- Memory foot print bug 231936
Illegal API use should be reported in API use reports (296189 )
Headless API for plug-in project creation (188795 )
Flexible bundle root location in plug-in projects (297895)
M6 - March 12th (API Freeze)
Use features to manage launch contents (feature based launching) (284885)
Use features to manage target contents (284882)
Embed source repository information in bundles (243582)
API tools incremental build performance [more] (299968)
API Use Report enhancements (288557)
Compatibility fixes (301178)
M7 - April 30th (Feature Freeze)
Enhance error reporting from PDE build (290172)
Provide metadata repositories to PDE Build on export (272061)
PDE build should honor compiler errors/warnings settings (169740)
PDE build should honor encoding settings: (155015)
Support bundle version ranges in product files (292542)
RC Builds
Overall Goals
Code Quality
- Better testing
- Better milestone/release ramp down
Better Documentation
- Use wiki as doc for better access and contribution from community
- Start doc work earlier in cycle
- Continue to keep API tooling builder fast and small footprint
- Keep an eye on performance as target platform code changes
Work Items
Bundles or Plug-ins
- Rename PDE to Bundle Development Environment?
- Use of the word plug-in in UI needs to stop
Improve Communications
- Continued web page improvements (M1/M2)
- Use of wiki for meetings/planning (M1 Complete)
- Combine mailing lists (M1 Complete)
- Involve incubator projects such as Picasso to the webpage, and use Athena/Hudson to propose builds/update-sites of these projects (M2)
- Integrate wiki based documentation
- Write tests for core components
- Improve code readability and javadoc of APIs (Ongoing)
- Consider code coverage in tests
- Fix samples generation/installation code for welcome page (Out of plan)
XML Errors
- bug 284496 Handle xml parse errors in Ctx Help editor (M1 Complete)
- bug 280119 Handle xml parse errors in ToC editor (M1 Complete)
Target Platform
- Use targets in core PDE code
- bug 283731 Remove Dependency On Preferences (M2/M3)
- bug 284875 Associate OSGi state with the target (M2/M3)
- Improve target models
- bug 287619 Manage all target contents with a p2 profile (M2/M3)
- bug 169340: [API] [target] Expose a means to programmatically set and load a Target Platform
- Manage target contents with features (similar to feature based launching)
- Provide multiple target platforms
- bug 159072: [target] associate target definitions on a per-project basis (multiple target platforms per workspace)
Target-focused Quickfixes
- Add quickfixes for missing imports or bundles
- bug 175134 Ability to add all target contents to java search
- Features as first class citizens again
- Use features as a grouping mechanism
- bug 284882 Better feature management in targets (M2/M3)
- bug 284885 Use features to manage launch contents (feature based launching)
- bug 284887 Improve feature management in the workspace
- P2 Self Hosting
- bug 250126 Create a p2 profile at launch time that can be manipulated in a target workspace.
Product Definitions
- Allow for both features AND bundles to be specified
- Add support for properties and remove the ability to specify a config.ini
Modernize Examples
- bug 253105 [templates] RCP Mail 2.0
API Tools
- Improve builder performance
- bug 233643: API builder performance bad for incremental build
- bug 273295: ReferenceAnalyzer needs to handle different search scopes
- bug 279286: Incremental compiler takes too long to react on Cancel
- bug 280464: API tooling performance must be improved
- Improve overall memory usage
- bug 231936: Improve API description memory usage
- Integrate target platforms more into scans / Ant tasks
- bug 273621: API descriptions for source from the host are not properly loaded in target workspace
- Improve code coverage
- Examine support for using source attachments to resolve the use of in-lined Java members
- bug 218566: Restricted field access not flagged as problem
API Use Scans
- Make it really easy to generate API use scans
- Output can be HTML report or search results in the IDE (with attached source)
- Compare API use scans to see summary of dependencies added/removed between successive scans
- Analyze scans for potential breakage (internal dependencies) when moving to a new version of required components (for example WTP moving to a new version of the Eclipse SDK).
- Consider scans taylored to show API use based on frequency of use - i.e. what APIs internals are used most heavily.
- Performance improvements
UI Consumability / Search
- Provide current UI offering in core code. The current offering is available here.
- Update the code to be in a wizard, not necessarily in the search dialog
- Provide output to search view / API tooling view along with reports
Internal Use Breakage Analysis
- Provide tooling to inspect internal use and breakage (potential or otherwise)
- Provide as user-run tooling and evaluate build-time tooling
Required Bundle Validation
- Validate the bounds of required bundles based on the references from the bundle
- Provide as user-run tooling and evaluate build-time performance
Package Version Support
- Validate package versions wrt bundle versions / usage from required bundles
- Provided as user-run tooling and evaluate build-time performance
- Invest in build technology - ideally any developer should be able to build the Eclipse SDK from any machine with relative ease. The result(and underlying process) should be the same as that produced by a release engineering build.
- Improve error reporting from PDE/Build. Compilation errors can cause a cascade of errors making it difficult to see where a root problem lies. A dependency analysis should be performed on bundles that have compilation errors to derive error message ordering (bundles lowest on the stack first).
- Particiapate in the b3 project
- Make PDE/Build extensible. Allow some information to be contributed by extension points. This can enable other bundles (pde.ui, or others) to contribute information that, for example, may be available in the workspace.
- bug 106594: Make PDE fully workspace aware
- bug 266311: PDE Build should use the new target definition mechanism
Source bundles provide repo info
- bug 243582 Support embedding repository information in released bundles
Single Entry Point Ant Tasks
- Consider single-entry-point ant tasks for building features/plugins/sites/products. These would automatically set up default builders according to some defaults and then run them. This could be considered an analog of export, and becomes more effective given the extension points above.
p2 Integration
- Integration with p2.
- p2 as input to build, extend use of p2 in fetching pre-reqs
- how can building p2 enabled products be simplified
- Feature patches? bug 84351
- bug 154083: Incremental Plug-in Build
- bug 222965: Use frameworkadmin to generate config.ini / eclipse.ini
- Make PDE/Build match the development environment settings:
- Changes in build path should be reflected in build.properties and visa versa
- Pass extra project compiler settings to build for Eclipse Java compiler
- bug 155015 bug 260997 bug 286808
Platform Support
- Eclipse: 3.6
- Target Platforms back to 3.0 supported
- Java: J2SE 1.4 or later required
- Operating Systems: all supported by Eclipse


text: Travel with confidence by checking into the Fairfield Inn by Marriott St George, a St George hotel with outstanding service to make all of your travels easy and comfortable- at an exceptional value. With a great location near Zions National Park and the Grand Canyon, we are always ready to welcome you with amenities like thoughtfully designed guest rooms that allow you to work and relax, free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel to stay connected during your stay, and fitness facilities that include a pool and exercise room. You'll find it easy to settle into our vibrant lobby, with spaces to gather, relax, and work. Jump-start your day with our free breakfast, now with more hot choices like scrambled eggs, sausage and oatmeal, plus favorites including fresh fruit and yogurt. At the Fairfield Inn St George, you're our #1 priority. We promise you'll be satisfied or we'll make it right. That's our commitment to you. Ask us about the Fairfield 100% Guarantee.


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How much can you save on a short sale in Oakland, IL? The short sale process in Oakland, IL, for a buyer can be very profitable if the situation includes a motivated seller and a cooperative lender. Find the best short sale homes and bank-approved listings available in Oakland, IL, at Foreclosure.com today for as much as 75% off market value. There are currently 1 short sale homes in Oakland, IL, available for potential sale right now. Get the most current list of short sale listings in Oakland, IL — and the information and tools to buy them fast — at Foreclosure.com.
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text:
Am I right?
I remember my mom was so excited for me to go through training so I could come home and teach her the proper way to pack a suitcase. I was looking forward to learning the best way to pop open a Coke can without breaking a fingernail.
Well, turns out...flight attendant training is really about the safety and health of the passengers, not packing suitcases and popping Coke cans. Who knew?
"A lot of people walk around in a dehydrated state and don't even know it," our instructor said. A sweet girl in my class raised her hand and asked, "Is Georgia one of those dehydrated states?"
And that's my flight attendant story for the day.
Let's make some decorated peach cookies! You'll need:
- peach shaped sugar cookies
- royal icing tinted peach (using a mix of AmeriColor Soft Pink & Lemon Yellow), chocolate brown, and leaf green
- disposable icing bags
- couplers and tips: #2, #4, & #3
- squeeze bottles, one preferably with a small, removable tip
- toothpicks
- clean paintbrushes (2)
- cotton swab
- AmeriColor Soft Pink & Lemon Yellow food coloring
- meringue powder
- clear sanding sugar
{I made peach by mixing together AmeriColor soft pink & lemon yellow colors. No real ratio here...mix it a bit at a time until you get the shade you desire.}
Thin the remaining peach icing with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup. You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. Count of 2-3 is good. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.
Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed. Pour into squeeze bottle.
For the leaves, thin the icing as directed for the peach icing, but instead of thinning it all the way, stop when the ribbon of icing is thicker than regular flood icing, and disappears in 12-15 seconds. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.
Let the cookies dry uncovered overnight or 6-8 hours.


text:
Japanese Police Ask ISPs To Start Blocking Tor
Namaste! Good Morning,
Authorities in Japan are so worried about their inability to tackle cybercrime that they are asking the country's ISPs to block the use of Tor.
According to The Mainichi, the National Police Agency (NPA, a bit like the Japanese FBI) is going to urge ISPs to block customers if they are found to have "abused" Tor online. Since Tor anonymizes traffic, that can be read as a presumption of guilt on anyone who anonymizes their Web activity.
The Japanese police have had a torrid time of late when it comes to cybercrime. Late last year a hacker by the name of Demon Killer began posting death threats on public message boards after remotely taking control of computers across the country. The police arrested the four people whose IP addresses had been used and reportedly "extracted" a confession, but they were forced into a humiliating apology when the hacker kept posting messages while the suspects were in custody.
The games continued. Shortly after the New Year, police were directed to a small island south of Tokyo where a cat was found with a USB drive on its collar. The drive contained information that only the hacker could have known, and after reviewing CCTV footage of the area, the police arrested and charged 30-year-old Yusuke Katayama with the crimes.
Despite his capture, the case was widely seen as a damning indictment of Japan's justice system (which has a reputation for forcing confessions from innocent people) and the abilities of Japanese detectives (who are out of their depth when it comes to cyber crime).
When the police seized PCs from Katayama's home and analyzed them, they found that he had routinely used Tor to anonymize his online activities. This was one of the discoveries that led to the formation of a special panel by the NPA to examine how it investigated these kinds of crimes.
According to The Mainichi: "[The panel], which was looking into measures to combat crimes abusing the Tor system, compiled a report on April 18 stating that blocking online communications at the discretion of site administrators will be effective in preventing such crimes. Based on the recommendation, the NPA will urge the Internet provider industry and other entities to make voluntary efforts to that effect."
Other crimes cited by the panel that Tor has made easier include: financial fraud, the predatory behavior of child abusers, and leaks of confidential police information. That last one should be a warning that, at least in part, this idea is motivated by the desire of police to avoid getting egg on their faces again.
Tor is a valuable tool for activists who live under repressive regimes and anyone who might want to do something online anonymously (like whistleblowers for instance). Quite what "abuse" of Tor means is unclear. Since by definition you can't really know what someone does when they're using the service, it seems a blanket ban is the real intention.
A more encouraging move from the NPA is the decision to get its officers to start "joining hacker communities," to "create relationships with hackers and carry out necessary information collecting activities." What hackers might think of the police cracking down on Web freedom remains to be seen.


text:
Humans can evolve even when monogamy limits their potential to produce children, according to research published today (April 30) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using church records of the marriages, births, and deaths of nearly 6,000 people living in Finland in the 18th and 19th centuries, an international team of researchers showed that the population's reproductive fitness varied enough for natural selection to act.
"This is a good confirming instance, with solid evidence" that humans still have the potential to evolve in modern times, said Stephen Stearns, an evolutionary biologist at Yale University, whose own work has suggested the potential for continuing human evolution beyond prehistoric times. Stearns, who did not participate in the current study, explained that the extremely strong data set, in which researchers could track each individual from birth through death, helped bolster the argument for...
Whether or not humans could continue to evolve after adopting an agrarian, monogamous lifestyle has been hotly debated, said co-author Alexandre Courtiol. Monogamy, for example, limits the numbers of kids people have, and thus reduces the variation in reproductive success among individuals, while agriculture helps buffer people from environmental selection pressures by allowing them to stockpile food. Thus, monogamous, farming humans have a drastically reduced the potential for evolution, Courtiol explained. But some biologists feel that these factors wouldn't abolish selection pressures altogether, and that humans continue to evolve today.
In order to examine the potential for selective pressures to continue influencing human biology, Courtiol and his collaborators looked at a population of Finns during the period 1760 to 1849. Thorough church records during this time allowed them to track each person from birth, through all marriages, to death, while noting all of their offspring along the way. Because the population was strongly monogamous, explained Stearns, researchers could confidently assign children to specific parents, and thus accurately estimate people's reproductive success. The more variation in the number of offspring individuals leave to future generations, the more susceptible the population is to selective pressures, such as disease.
Sure enough, Courtiol and his co-authors found that reproductive fitness, or the total number of children each person had, varied enough to allow for selection. The researchers looked at four areas that could contribute to variation— whether the person survived to sexual maturity (age 15), whether he or she married, how many times, and the number of children per marriage—and calculated how much each of these factors influenced overall fitness.
Not surprisingly, the researchers found that the number of children per marriage strongly influenced individual fitness. In addition, they found that survival was an even more important factor, likely because the Finns had a high rate of infant and childhood mortality. Finally, the number of marriages tended to influence men's fitness, but not women's. Men who remarried often married a younger woman still capable of bearing children, thereby increasing their own potential number of offspring. Women who remarried, on the other hand, usually did so later in life, after their reproductive window had closed, said Courtiol.
The data suggest that the population may well have been evolving. Traits that benefitted survival, for example, such as resistance to influenza, would have been selected for, and become more common in the population. Courtiol and his collaborators did not measure any specific traits, however, and thus merely demonstrated the potential for selection to occur, not that it did.
And it's not the first study to find such evidence. Jacob Moorad, an evolutionary biologist at Duke University, and his colleagues published last year a study of 19th century Mormon populations in Utah that suggested the number of marriages strongly influenced male fitness in this polygynous society, while childhood mortality appeared to play a smaller role.
Going forward, combining such data with modern genetic techniques will give a more complete understanding of how humans might evolve over time, said Stearns. "Basically, the take home message is that our fundamental biological nature [may be] changing."
A. Courtiol, et al., "Natural and sexual selection in a monogamous historical human population," PNAS, 2012.


text:
This knitting project was on the needles for some time. I haven't been able to find/make time to knit, but I do intend to remedy that. Knitting is still my relaxation, and I continue to enjoy this simple pattern even the fourth time around. See: Cladonia I, Cladonia II, Cladonia III.
For more pictures and all the details check out my Ravelry page:


text:
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What discounts on Cadbury does your favorite store offer?
It's very simple! Just scroll through any of the specials and catalogues and check prices at one of your favorite stores such as IGA, IGA Xpress, SUPA VALU, Coles, Woolworths, Drakes, Supabarn, SPAR, Foodland, Foodworks. If you haven't decided yet, you can filter specials and sales for a specific store. Don't forget that at Promotheus you find discounts on a wide range of products and much more. Take a look at the incredible deals and start saving on your shopping now. We offer all the specials and catalogues of the main stores in Australia so that you can find all your favorite stores in one place. Find all the catalogues, specials and sales of your favorite stores on Promotheus!
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Find current sales and deals of your favorite products such as Core Power, cocktail, communication devices, cleansing scrub, chicken gravy. Here at Promotheus we offer you everything in one place. Thanks to us you will always be up to date with incredible offers. Please visit us again frequently as we are constantly working on adding new specials, catalogues and sales and improving our service to get the best prices for you.


text:
Which countries do you ship to?
All of them! We offer worldwide shipping on all our products! For questions about shipping to your specific country, please send us an e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.com
How long does shipping take?
In order to offer the lowest price on all our products, we ship directly from our overseas manufacturer. Our Free Shipping option is guaranteed in 3-5 weeks (80% of orders are received in the 3rd week), and our expedited shipping is guaranteed in 2-3 weeks.
How are my items packaged?
Depends on what you ordered! All wall-stickers and unframed prints are shipped rolled up in a tube, ensuring the safest delivery of your beautiful wall art. Framed prints are shipped in a bubble wrapped package.
What does 'Framed' and 'No Frame' mean?
Great question! A 'Framed' print means that your print comes already stretched on a wooden frame, and is ready to hang! A print with 'No Frame' means that the print comes on it's own, with no wooden frame.
Help! There's something wrong with my order!
Don't panic! We're always here to help :) If for whatever reason you find something wrong with your order, please reach out to use at email@example.com.. We will do everything in our power to make it right!
What if I change my mind about my order?
If you change your mind, we offer a 30 day money-back guarantee on all products! Just ship the items back to us, and once we receive them, we will issue a full refund to your original method of payment.


text:
The musicians will serve on the advisory board of the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund. The nonprofit was created by state first lady Mary Pat Christie to aid in the long-term recovery effort following the storm.
The board has raised more than $16 million, so far.
Springsteen says he knows people will rally together to help neighbors to "come back better and stronger."
Bon Jovi says the damage and devastation is unimaginable.
The musicians will join Kelly Ripa of "Live with Kelly and Michael," nationally syndicated talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, and musician and actor Kevin Jonas as celebrities on the board.


text:
Hudson River Park Friends is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the completion, care, and enhancement of the Hudson River Park, and is the designated fundraising partner of the Hudson River Park Trust. We create opportunities for private contributions to and participation in the Park's operations and growth, to guarantee its future for generations of New Yorkers, Americans and visitors from around the world.
To help meet a growing need for resources as Hudson River Park expands and matures, Friends expanded its mission in 2011 to focus on generating private philanthropic support for New York's premier waterside park. Friends is working in partnership with the Hudson River Park Trust to channel its fundraising efforts so that sufficient capital is available to complete the Park, build an endowment, augment operating resources, and guarantee that the Park always remains in world-class condition.
Founded in 1999, Friends has also been the principal private advocacy group working to garner public dollars for Hudson River Park's construction, and monitor Park progress under the Hudson River Park Act. Friends' advocacy has already helped to secure over $250 million in public funding to construct Hudson River Park, and to hasten the relocation of incompatible municipal facilities on designated parkland. Nonetheless, an estimated $200 million in capital construction costs still remain, and current revenues are insufficient to operate and maintain the Park as it continues to grow. Friends welcomes involvement from all sectors of the community to become part of this important objective.


text:
Raw milk sales are currently banned in the state of New Jersey. A bill presented to the New Jersey General Assembly hopes to legalize raw milk sales in the state.
Location/ address
Contact for details
Winchester, KY
A2/A2 raw milk herdshares, beef, poultry, eggs, and seasonal produce.
Get Raw Milk is crowd-funded
Raw milk farm and source
This listing was submitted as an existing raw milk farm producing and distributing raw milk. Contact them using their information above to learn more.
This farm has been reported to have raw cow milk available.
This farm has been reported to have raw A2 cow milk available.
To reach this farm, use the contact info on their details card above. Make sure to contact the farm to make sure they're open and in stock when you arrive.
Database updated daily
GetRawMilk.com is funded by supporters like you
Add a listing with the submission form
Buy me a milk using the tip jar
Give securely with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit card.
Raw milk by species
Find raw milk laws
What is raw milk?
Milk comes from the mammary glands of cows, goats, sheep, camels, alpacas, or any other mammal.
Raw milk has not been subjected to boiling, pasteurization, homogenization, UV radiation, high-pressure processing, or any other process meant to alter its composition.
Raw milk is milked, filtered, cooled, bottled, and sold direct-to-consumer, customers, cheese makers, or retailers.
When you choose raw milk, you are supporting farmers directly - instead of corporate milk processors.
How to find raw milk
Use the raw milk finder to find raw milk near you, explore the global raw milk map, or browse the raw milk directory.
Search the database
There are now filtered maps for raw cow milk, raw A2 cow milk, raw goat milk, raw sheep milk, raw donkey milk, raw buffalo milk, and raw camel milk.
There's also a map for farms listed by The Raw Milk Institute.
Put some raw milk in your social media feed and go follow farms on Facebook, farms on Instagram, or farms on YouTube.
Is raw milk legal? 👀
If you're in the USA, raw milk sales are permitted or not permitted on the state level. Consuming raw milk is not illegal anywhere.
Some states welcome raw milk sales in grocery stores, usually found in the natural food section. Other jurisdictions require herdshare membership to distribute raw milk. In Kentucky, raw goat milk sales require a doctor's note. In Florida, raw milk is sold through feed licensing or "pet food." Australian raw milk can only be sold as a cosmetic ie 'bath milk'.
Is raw milk safe?
Food safety is a science, with testing and procedures, milk is no different. Clean facilities, equipment, and procedures are highly recommended. Food production for retail is an operation that farmers should take seriously. Milking into a bucket and drinking it unfiltered is a thing that happens in many places on Earth.
If you are interested in learning more about food safety related to raw milk, microbe testing, recommended equipment, production tips, and more, reach out to The Raw Milk Institute in California.
What is GetRawMilk.com?
GetRawMilk.com is a bootstrapped initiative built to connect farmers and consumers by making it easy to find raw milk.
On any farm or retailer's listing page, you'll find their...
- Website
- Contact info
- Location info
- Social media profiles
- and other details.
Here's a rundown about Get Raw Milk.
Ways to support Get Raw Milk
Share the website, help others find raw milk, add a farm or retailer to the map, let me know if information needs to be updated.
Buy me a milk. The tip jar is ready to go and I am shaking it. Leave a tip securely with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit card.
Buy a raw milk shirt and wear the message.
Read how to Support Get Raw Milk
Find restaurants by cooking oil
Swapping out seed oils for less processed cooking oils? Check out LocalFats.com for seed oil free restaurants. You can also browse restaurants by cooking oil: beef tallow, pork lard, real butter, real ghee, duck fat, olive oil, and coconut oil.
Database updated daily
GetRawMilk.com is funded by supporters like you
Add a listing with the submission form
Buy me a milk using the tip jar
Give securely with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and credit card.
Latest Posts
Raw milk sales could soon be legal in Rhode Island with SB-2295. Currently, a doctor's note is required to purchase raw milk in the state.
Raw milk on-farm sales will become legal in West Virginia, law effective June 2024.
Chatbots are sending traffic to the website, let's see what statistically predicted responses they're generating.
Raw milk sales could soon become an option in Louisiana. Cow milk, goat milk, and raw milk cheese for sale on-the-farm is covered in the bill.
South Africans have the option of raw donkey milk delivered around Johannesburg, with pickup locations in Limpopo and Cape Town.


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How Does Business VoIP in Murrieta, CA Work?
Businesses in Murrieta, CA are increasingly choosing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as a phone system. If you're looking for a way to meet all of your business calling needs in a simple and affordable way, a VoIP solution is likely the top choice. This type of phone system uses your existing broadband Internet connection to make and receive calls.
There are several providers offering residential and business VoIP services all throughout Murrieta, CA. Even though business VoIP works the same way than a residential service, it comes with more advanced features that are useful for business users.
In order to get the same features with a traditional phone service, you would need to install a PBX phone system, which is expensive to acquire and maintain. With a business VoIP service, you can get dozens of advanced call management and productivity features at a price that would often be lower than a standard phone line with no features at all.
A business VoIP service will also give you far better flexibility. Most service providers make it very easy to add or remove additional services. You can also upgrade your service quickly if your business grows and you need more lines or a different set of calling features.


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Are you a Planner who thinks about design? Maybe you are a designer who obsesses about the business impact of your designs. Or you might be an Information Architect who thinks about motion, transitions, multimedia, and uses tools like storyboarding and visual scenarios. Or how about a Developer who comes up with the "big idea"?
If you haven't noticed, creativity is evolving.
The perception of creativity itself is slowly but surely transitioning into a mutated and adapted life form. In the traditional world, a "creative" person usually meant someone with savant-like talents excelling in a specific creative discipline defined by fairly concrete parameters. Copywriters wrote copy. Art Directors directed art. There are still talented visual designers who can make anything look good. Brilliant copywriters who can come up with that magnificent tag line which stops you in your tracks. And don't forget about smart, methodical Information Architects who devote their existence to usability and being an advocate for the end user.
These skills, talents and abilities are needed – no doubt about it. But what's also needed is the evolution of them – the next iteration. But what does this look like? An Information Architect who completely grasps Human Computer Interaction but can also think fluidly – can do things like rapidly create prototypes, facilitate user testing, understand visual design and occasionally write copy. This kind of individual possesses a multi-dimensional creative brain that has evolved over time.
This type of mind is capable of creating customer experiences which provide competitive advantage in a fast moving world where customers are increasingly calling the shots.
In this world marketing/advertising/technology/and customer experience all blur together. So what does this mind look like? I have a perspective:
(Click here for a larger version)
Mind with consumer behavior evolving toward a more empowered status – the definition of creativity has shifted from one-dimensional skills to a four-dimensional type of creativity that blends logical thinking with creative problem solving. Individuals possessing this "New Creative Mindset" blend Analytical, Expressive, Curious and Sensual qualities into their thinking process. The result is a holistic approach to creativity that is effective across multiple touch points and experiences.
Can an Information Architect embody this kind of mindset? What about an Account Director? I think as human beings we are all capable of thinking like this. But as designers, communicators, marketers and creators of experiences – for us, it's even more critical to become multi-dimensional creative thinkers and problem solvers. I'm not the only one talking about this. Tim Brown from IDEO evangelizes 'Design Thinking' and 'T-shaped People'. Both principles are related. Design Thinking encourages Designers to think past aesthetics and design simple solutions for complex problems. T-shaped people have a core competency but branch out into other areas and can do them well (thus forming a T). And of course there is the new kind of collaboration that comes with this – where we combine people with diverse skill sets who often times speak very different languages but need to come together to make their collective and diverse skills work together. This kind of collaboration sounds easier than it actually is, because when you get a few T-shaped people together, they tend to "play in each other's sandbox". Translation? Egos need to be unlearned. In short, it's not just about T-shaped people.
It's about how we work together to create something that people will want to use, experience and ultimately – compel them to take action.
You could call this kind of collaboration – T-Shaped Creativity:
I don't think that any of this is very new. It's been happening for a while. In my time spent at agency.com, we developed page-less prototypes, pushed technology like Flash + Ajax and created human-centered "web applications". But with the rapid and pervasive nature of Web 2.0 going mainstream – it's becoming mandatory to be able to think and execute like this. Need proof? Take a look at this collection of thoughts + work from a recent grad of the IIT Institute of Design. Notice anything about how he approaches his work? He's a "designer", but aesthetics are only one small part of how he exercises his creativity. In fact, this brand of creativity is more like creative problem solving vs. the way many people still traditionally view creativity. And what about the teams? Aside from this evolved creative individual, what kind of team is needed to drive the next generation of communication, interaction and marketing engines? There's not a clear answer to this question, but signs are heading toward smaller interdisciplinary teams composed of individuals possessing complimentary skill sets and overlapping talents.
So where does this all go from here? If you feel like you fit the bill, you're probably thinking about how marketable you are right now. And remember, we're not talking about a "jack of all trades" here. "Creativity 2.E" is not about doing everything and learning every application under the sun. It's about being curious, empathetic, analytical, insightful and expressive all at the same time. It's about being willing to do anything to get into the heads of your customer/user. It's about adopting new tools, techniques and artifacts to help make your case for creating the right kinds of communications, interactions and experiences. So what to do if you're feeling left out?
Resist the urge to become defensive and territorial – put that energy into developing an acute sense of curiosity and optimism. Become like a child.
Participate in the emerging media. Start a blog, update your site or if you don't have one – set it up. Dive into the digital social communities and be willing to do what your customers do. Try methodology that you might not ordinarily consider. PowerPoint isn't just for presentations. Flash isn't just for motion. Move past boxes, arrows, colors, layouts, charts, funnels, and metrics.
Creativity 2.E is both old and new – and like evolution, will continue to change and modify over time. The question is will we?


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March 1, 2013
I'm writing a book for Triumph, based on an idea that I have been developing for more than a year. For now, all I can say is that it's about October 2004. It will be published next March, in plenty of time to join what I hope will be a season-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of the World Series championship many of us thought we would never see. Working with me on the project is Bill Nowlin, who has written many Red Sox-related books.
What does this mean for Joy of Sox? I'm not completely sure. While the blog will be on the back burner, I do hope to post periodically.
43 comments:
- laura k said...
This is so exciting! So happy it's finally public.
Congratulations, Allan. It will be a great book that every Red Sox fan will want to own. - March 1, 2013 at 2:35 PM
- Brian said...
Where's the pre-order on Amazon?!?
- March 1, 2013 at 3:21 PM
Congratulations! Wonderful news; I'm sure I'll want to read it.
- March 1, 2013 at 4:14 PM
- Eileen said...
Kong Rats!
- March 1, 2013 at 4:36 PM
- 9casey said...
Congrats, brother. Best of luck. Sounds like a money grab to me...;)
- March 1, 2013 at 4:51 PM
- laura k said...
Sounds like a money grab to me...;)
There's an old Yiddish saying, from your mouth to god's ears. - March 1, 2013 at 4:56 PM
- BklynSoxFan said...
Congratulations, Allan. I also enjoy Bill Nowlin's work as well!
- March 1, 2013 at 5:08 PM
- Jere said...
Does this make you a colleague of Lou Gramm?
- March 1, 2013 at 8:33 PM
- allan said...
I hope not.
They did say the deadline was urgent, though. - March 1, 2013 at 8:50 PM
- Maurice said...
- March 1, 2013 at 9:08 PM
Congrats! Unfortunately it seems a book takes precedence over this blog ;}
- March 1, 2013 at 9:17 PM
- Jere said...
You're playin' tricks on my mind.
- March 1, 2013 at 9:58 PM
- laura k said...
I guess Stephen King will have to wait, too.
- March 2, 2013 at 4:10 AM
- Kathryn said...
This is incredibly wonderful news! And we each can say, "I knew him when..."
Congratulations! - March 2, 2013 at 4:26 AM
- Tom DePlonty said...
- March 2, 2013 at 4:51 AM
- Amy said...
I am so, so excited for you, but even more so for all of us, your fellow fans and friends, who will get to read this book! Best of luck in the writing process, and congratulations!!
- March 2, 2013 at 4:58 AM
- Jim said...
Congrats, Allan. Looking forward to a good read. A 10th Anniversary Celebration? Whatever gave you the idea the Sox would make a big deal out of that?
- March 2, 2013 at 6:33 AM
- FenFan said...
Congratulations, Allan! I look forward to reading it and contributing to the pile of money you'll be sleeping on every night. ;-)
- March 2, 2013 at 7:09 AM
- Benjamin said...
So when do you get to join the BBWAA? I hear there's an annual shitshow they get to vote in.
- March 2, 2013 at 8:50 AM
- laura k said...
All joking aside (since we know how much Allan respects the BBWWA) (NOT), Allan has already published one baseball-related book. This will be his second.
As his publicist, I feel obligated to mention that!
Book authorship doesn't qualify one for BBWWA membership. - March 2, 2013 at 9:11 AM
- laura k said...
From http://bbwaa.com/voting-faq/
How do you become a member of the BBWAA?
The full membership requirements are in the BBWAA constitution. Essentially, you must be a beat writer, backup writer, columnist or sports editor from a newspaper or wire service that covers Major League Baseball on a regular basis. Membership has been expanded to include web sites on a case-by-case basis. - March 2, 2013 at 9:12 AM
- tim said...
No way! This is great news, good for you Allan - looking forward to it. If it has half the detail that 1918 did, it will be a great read. That book was phenomenal in terms of information --- can't imagine how many hours of research went into it, but your effort definitely showed in the finished product...
For all y'all other readers - pick this up when it comes out! And if you haven't read 1918 yet, then what the heck are you waiting for?! - March 2, 2013 at 5:03 PM
- Zenslinger said...
Great news!
- March 2, 2013 at 5:07 PM
- Dr. Jeff said...
Just keep the game recaps, and don't worry about the rest of the news. Your recaps are legendary.
- March 2, 2013 at 6:15 PM
- allan said...
Just keep the game recaps, and don't worry about the rest of the news.
That is what I was thinking of doing. Work during the day, then relax with the game at night, and do a recap before bed.
Also: Tim wins Comment of the Month!
- March 2, 2013 at 6:33 PM
- Ignacio Cifuentes said...
congrats allan... i'll be looking forward to read the book :)
- March 2, 2013 at 9:14 PM
- wardo said...
Great news!
- March 3, 2013 at 4:28 AM
- accudart said...
- March 3, 2013 at 7:52 AM
- johngoldfine said...
Allan says: "relax with the game at night..."
Hoping, yes, that we have some of those games we can relax with, lots of dirty water, and not so many of the ones that send us to bed frustrated and cursing.
I'm thrilled for you, Allan!
- March 3, 2013 at 8:49 AM
- 9casey said...
Also: Tim wins Comment of the Month!
On March 2 ?
And all he did was praise you..... :) - March 3, 2013 at 3:11 PM
- laura k said...
Better than that, he talked up 1918.
- March 3, 2013 at 3:22 PM
- 9casey said...
I just went to see if I could get the 1918 book on the ipad , but I couldn't. Allan , are you same the Allan Wood who wrote The F++king Book?
- March 3, 2013 at 6:53 PM
- allan said...
I am not.
- March 3, 2013 at 7:21 PM
- allan said...
I am also not this guy.
- March 3, 2013 at 7:26 PM
- Jere said...
I am not this guy, but could probably get away with telling everyone I am.
- March 3, 2013 at 7:35 PM
- mattymatty said...
That's great news, Allan! Can't wait to read it. Sorry to hear you couldn't get Shaughnessy as your co-writer but I guess you can't have everything, right?
- March 3, 2013 at 11:11 PM
- JFett said...
Congrats Allan! When you are ready for the book tour, please let me know and we'll schedule you at our store in Delaware! Of course, you are welcome to bring your first book here anytime and we'll have an event for that book as well.
- March 4, 2013 at 6:39 AM
- nick said...
Very exciting news.
The name Bill Nowlin didn't mean anything to me, but it should have. A quick google search and his name is attached to a slew of Red Sox related books.
And...he's co-founder of Rounder Records!
And.. he teaches an online class on Politics and Baseball - March 4, 2013 at 8:42 AM
- allan said...
I didn't know that about Politics and Baseball. Looks like an interesting course.
- March 4, 2013 at 9:05 AM
- nick said...
well, in your spare time...
Also on the baseball & politics tip, I ran across a Mother Jones article, Inside Major League Baseball's Dominican Sweatshop System. It looks worth reading and as a Sox connection has quotes from David Ortiz. - March 4, 2013 at 9:17 AM
- tim said...
Re: 1918 praise - trying to catch up on lost time! For such a fantastic book (sorry, not trying to kiss ass here!) it hasn't gotten nearly as much praise in comments as it should.
- March 4, 2013 at 8:08 PM
- laura k said...
For such a fantastic book (sorry, not trying to kiss ass here!) it hasn't gotten nearly as much praise in comments as it should.
I'm disappointed that many regular readers apparently don't own a copy. For all Allan puts into this blog, and for all the enjoyment people get from it, buying a copy of his book would be an easy way to say thank you.
You can buy it here and please don't buy a used copy! - March 5, 2013 at 5:49 AM
- allan said...
- March 5, 2013 at 7:33 AM


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Ezra Klein's "JournoList 400" is the epitome of progressive and liberal collusion that conservatives, Tea Partiers, moderates and many independents have long suspected and feared exists at the heart of contemporary American political journalism. Now that collusion has been exposed when one of the weakest links in that cabal, Dave Weigel, was outed. Weigel was, in all likelihood, exposed because – to whoever the rat was who leaked his emails — he wasn't liberal enough....ADDED: Mediaite thinks it's "unlikely" that any Journolister will spring for the $100,000. I don't really understand her argument. It only takes one person to decide to disclose. I think it's obvious someone with a mix of motives, including a desire for $100,000, is likely to do it. There's a great argument for transparency and freeing information — for the public good. I, personally, believe that argument. And it's impossible for me to believe that in a group that size, with that many people, people who are in competition with each other, that there isn't one person who feels on the outs and isn't interested in protecting anybody. Indeed, human nature being what it is, there are probably a few people who would love to see some of the prominent Journolisters exposed as... whatever the exposure would expose them as.
AND: Then there's the nothing-to-see-here-move-along gambit: Jonathan Chait insists that the conversations were "mundane..... requests for references... instantaneous reactions to events, joshing around, conversations about sports, and the like...." Matthew Yglesias portrays it as talk about sports, links to published articles, and "failed efforts to get an interesting discussion going."


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Apple blocks Java on Macs due to vulnerabilities
Some Mac users were taken by surprise Thursday as their computers stopped running programs written using the Java programming language after Apple blocked Java due to security problems.
Some Mac users were taken by surprise Thursday as their computers stopped running programs written using the Java programming language after Apple blocked Java due to security problems.
Java allows programmers to write a wide variety of Internet applications and other software programs and run them on most computers, including Apple Inc.'s Mac. However, earlier this month the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommended disabling Java in Web browsers to avoid potential hacking attacks. Oracle Corp., which owns Java, has issued updates that fix known vulnerabilities, but the DHS expects that there are more flaws in Java's coding.
Apple sends out virtual 'blacklists' to Internet-connected Macs, instructing them not to run certain programs. Apple is blocking the latest version of Java from running on the most recent versions of its Mac operating system, and blocking an older version, Java 6, from running on the older version of its Mac system, called Snow Leopard. The blocks affect programs and online games that use Java in Web browsers.
Oracle had no immediate comment on Apple's action.
Among those Java users inconvenienced by the unannounced block was the photo department of The Associated Press, which relies on a Java application to manage and distribute photos.
'The situation caught us by surprise and a number of our machines could not operate for a time, but we had enough capability to work around the problem in the meantime,' said AP spokesman Paul Colford. 'We expect the affected machines to be operating by day's end.'
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AMSTERDAM - Foreigners visiting the Netherlands in winter are often surprised to see that the Dutch version of St. Nicholas' helpers have their faces painted black, wear Afro wigs and have thick red lips - in short, a racist caricature of a black person.
The overwhelming majority of Dutch are fiercely devoted to the holiday tradition of "Zwarte Piet" - whose name means "Black Pete" - and insist he's a harmless fictional figure who doesn't represent any race. But a growing number are questioning whether "Zwarte Piet" should be given a makeover or banished from the holiday scene, seeing him as a blight on the nation's image as a bulwark of tolerance.
"There is more opposition to Zwarte Piet than you might think," says Jessica Silversmith, director of the regional Anti-Discrimination Bureau for Amsterdam. She said that historically her office received only one or two complaints per year, but the number jumped to more than 100 last year, and will escalate much further this year.
"It's not only Antilleans or Surinamers who are complaining," she said, referring to people descended from the former Dutch colonies that once traded in slavery. "It's all kinds of Dutch people."
There are various versions of the history of St. Nicholas - "Sinterklaas" in Dutch - and of Zwarte Piet, who made his debut as an African servant in an 1850 book.
"Nobody is against the Sinterklaas celebration or is calling people who celebrate it racist," said Silversmith. "But it is time to consider whether this is offensive, whether there actually are racist ideas underlying Zwarte Piet."
The debate comes after a decade in which the Dutch have rolled back many aspects of their famed tolerance policies, and in which anti-immigrant sentiment has risen sharply. Zwarte Piet is frequently defended as part of Dutch cultural heritage, and those who don't like it are often bluntly invited to leave the country. Many Dutch say Pete's black face derives from the soot he picked up climbing down chimneys to deliver presents - although that hardly explains the frizzy hair and big lips.
In the U.S., stereotypical black makeup - called blackface - was phased out in the civil-rights era. But in Britain, a TV show featuring blackface lasted until the late 1970s before the practice became taboo. Blackface crops up in other European countries from time to time, such as in a theater performance in Germany this year, but it's only in the Netherlands that it's institutionalized in the form of Black Pete.
A sea-change may have occurred here during last year's festivities, when four men were arrested for wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan "Zwarte Piet is Racism" outside a store during an appearance of Sinterklaas - and charged with protesting without a permit.
Police threw one, Quinsy Gario, to the ground, and kneed him in the back repeatedly as they dragged him away, though he offered no resistance. A video of the incident was placed on YouTube, and the slogan began trending.
Although police were later found to have acted wrongly, many parents still felt that it was inappropriate to protest during the holiday or when children were present. Gario responds that Dutch people won't discuss the matter the rest of the year, so his protest was the only way to broach the subject.
This year the debate has clearly escalated.
For the first time, a white politician has openly challenged the tradition: "The Sinterklaas celebration once began without Zwarte Piet," Amsterdam councilwoman Andree van Es said in an interview with newspaper Het Parool this week. "It's time it continues without Zwarte Piet."
Two major chains of stores, Blokker and V&D, now use images of kids with ash-smudged cheeks in their sales catalogues, rather than Petes with black faces. And in a first this weekend, a documentary laying out arguments against Zwarte Piet aired on national television.
The county's most widely read news blog, "GeenStijl" launched a blistering campaign against Black Pete- surprising because GeenStijl prides itself on being tasteless and politically incorrect, and had mocked Gario after the 2011 incident.
"Zwarte Piet is nothing more than a repulsive parody of a slave, fine-tuned to indoctrinate schoolchildren into the finer points of racism," it wrote in its first posting in a series. "The sooner we get rid of Zwarte Piet, the sooner we won't look like idiots to the rest of the world."
While the author, who uses the pen name Johnny Quid, uses the satirical blog also to skewer Black Pete opponents, he has deeply antagonized the blog's mostly conservative-leaning reader base.
Despite the growing anti-Pete movement, the tradition finds a strong bedrock of support in mainstream Dutch society, meaning it's unlikely to disappear any time soon.
In 2008, a Museum in Eindhoven called off an anti-Pete exhibition after protests. The foreign artists received death threats. And when Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes said on national television in 2009 that Zwarte Piet is the one thing that has ever made her feel ashamed of being Dutch, the studio audience laughed at her.
Jan Pronk, a leftist politician who once served as the U.N. envoy to Sudan, dismissed her viewpoint on the show. "These are very old traditions," he said, "I don't think it's so bad."
A Facebook page with the slogan "Zwarte Piet is Racism" has become a major platform for debate this year, though moderators have begun removing hate speech and personal threats.
One organization reinforcing the Zwarte Piet image is educational broadcaster NTR, which also airs "Sesame Street" in the Netherlands. It has developed a popular fake news program for kids, devoted to the doings of the wise white Sinterklaas and his many bumbling Petes, all with the traditional blackface look.
The program starts in early November and airs nightly until kids open their presents on Dec. 5. (Although the Dutch Sinterklaas is the source of the American Santa Claus, Christmas is a separate holiday in the Netherlands, where the present-opening tradition happens three weeks earlier.) The show draws more than a million viewers in a country of 16 million, and its spokeswoman, Helen Albada, said she was unaware of any complaints about its depiction of Zwarte Piet.
Several years ago, the broadcaster experimented with a story line in which the Petes were turned different colors after sailing through a magical rainbow. That drew thousands of complaints, in part because the backlash against immigration was cresting at the time: Fans said changing Pete was sacrificing Dutch cultural heritage to the forces of multiculturalism.
"We didn't intend that either," Albada said. "Kids don't see Pete as black, it's the adults that give it a racial meaning."
In a recent editorial, one columnist for the NRC Handelsblad newspaper questioned whether the country really is as tolerant as it likes to style itself. He deplored the fact that even as the U.S. has re-elected a black president, not a single member of the Netherlands' new Cabinet is of non-Dutch ancestry.
"That's because we, unlike other countries, have become completely colorblind," Bas Heijne wrote ironically. "We don't need a black minister, let alone a black prime minister: We have Zwarte Piet."