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Conservation and Environment in Nepal: Monthly Updates
Nepal Conservation - Monthly Updates February - March 2014
February and March 2014 have been an incredible two months. It's still fairly cold at night but during the day the warm sun is a real pleasure. During the past 2 months, we continued our mammal survey in the Dobato area and captured some good pictures of different species. We also discovered a new species in the local area; it was a Small Indian Mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus).
We also did bird watching in different parts of the Ghandruk including the Martin and Swallow survey. As the temperature started to get warm and warm in the day time, the butterfly survey also get started at different locations within close proximity of Ghandruk.
Butterfly Survey
There are seven spots around Ghandruk where we carry out butterfly survey: Lonely Planet, Temple Site, Water Reservoir, Downside of Ghandruk, Little Paradise, Ghatte Khola and Flat Area Direction Transect.
Altogether we found a total amount of 15 different species of butterflies in which two species were new for our list. The species were Purple Sapphire (Epicies latilimbata) and Gram Blue (Euchrysops cnejus). We expect many more species to appear during the monsoon time in the upcoming months.
Nursery Project Status
We successfully went on with the nursery project by digging the ground and putting a roof on the Greenhouse in order to plant the trees for the villagers, such as timber trees, forage plants and possibly fruit trees. The villagers will use the trees as fodder for their domestic animals. Only the leaves will be used. Other tree species are used for their day to day activities, or to give a new source of food and income (fruit trees). New trees are also very important for the environment, for they reduce erosion and stabilize soil. Beyond that, there exist species which have been overused by the villagers and have become therefore rare in this area.
Furthermore we tried to be an example to the local people in Ghandruk as we used empty bottles to build a wall for the storage room in the Greenhouse.
Anti-Poaching Patrolling
Anti-poaching patrolling was done in February. Volunteers of Projects Abroad were really excited to go for Anti-poaching patrolling. We went to the forest, right side of the Meshram Temple. We found seven illegal traps placed by the poachers and destroyed them. These traps were targeted to catch specially Kalij Pheasant and sometimes partridges. When the bird is captured in the trap, they kill them either for meat for themselves or sale for the sake of money.
According to local villagers, in past few years, number of Kalij Pheasant and Partridges has declined rapidly. Before, they used to see Kalij Pheasant easily but now it is very difficult to see them.
Camera Trap Survey
The camera trap survey was conducted outside of the village. We went for a long field trip to Dobato for three days .Those camera traps placed were taken out after 22 days. We have kept our camera traps above the tree line during this period due to the time of year. Our mission was to capture leopards, and other cat species and the Himalayan Black Bear. But there was a disturbance of cattle's such as buffalo and yak and buffalo herders but in spite of disturbance, mammals such as Common Ghoral and birds such as Himalayan Monal , Alpine Accentor were caught in our camera Traps.
We saw a small Indian mongoose which is new species for our list. This species was seen in Ghandruk Village.
Bee Project
From March, we have started bee survey project. Wild Bee hive survey was done in Landruk Village. Numbers of wild bee hives were counted. Interviews with bee farmers were also taken in order to get information of which species, how much honey per hive, number of bees are declining or increasing, bee diseases etc. Since, this project just started; we will only have data in upcoming months.
Garbage Management
In order to make our volunteers engaged with the local people in the village and to make the people aware about the problem of garbage lying around the village, the garbage management campaign was started with volunteers going in different sections of the village to make them aware of the garbage and worked together with the villagers to clean the village. The volunteers enjoyed working together with the villagers and the villagers appreciated our volunteers for their help in keeping the village clean.
Bird Survey
We have 12 different spots where we carry out our bird survey. Out of them we did birds survey in three spots: Way to Little Paradise, Ghandruk Village and Flat Rock Path.


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Maybe some heart shaped muffins
Made with berries oh so blue,
Or perhaps a slice of home made bread,
With raisins and cinnamon too! (recipe here)
I set a simple table
Or does this one catch your eye?
Perhaps a bit more fancy,
A Top Hat and black tie. ( See this table here.)
Whatever you choose is up to you
I just hope your day is fine
Sharing lots of heart felt things
With your special Valentine!
Seasonal Sunday with The Tablescaper
Pink Saturday at Beverly's
Marty for Tabletop Tuesday
Shannon at Cozy Home Scenes

subset: commoncrawl


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In the particular project I'm working on we are already using Enterprise Library. I'm researching using it (i.e. Unity) for dependency injection.
The recommended way to include Unity is modify global.asax so that it exists for the entire length of the web application. I'm very reluctant to pursue this route primarily because of the increased deployment risk across multiple servers. A way that can take advantage of SharePoint's solution/feature deployment mechanism is much preferred. Also, Spence Harbar strongly recommends not to modify global.asax.
I noticed that SharePoint Guidance avoids EntLib and uses a Service Locator pattern. For reference, this article shows both EntLib and Service Locator options.
How should dependency injection and inversion of control be implemented within SharePoint?


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Sarah Sanneh is a baker, lover of all things sweet and fried, and owner of Pies 'n' Thighs in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Sarah studied pastry and the art of eating everything in sight at the French Culinary Institute in 2004. She was the pastry chef at Diner and Marlow & Sons before opening Pies 'n' Thighs in 2006. She also worked as sous chef at Momofuku Milk bar.
Pies 'n' Thighs has been awarded Best Donut in New York by New York Magazine, Best Biscuits in New York by the New York Daily News, and Best Apple Pie and Best Fried Chicken in national surveys by Food and Wine and Bon Appetit.
Instagram: @piesnthighs


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Review the Hillside Group Bylaws
Joseph Yoder - President
Joseph Yoder is a founder and principle of The Refactory, Inc., a company focused on software architecture, design, implementation, consulting and mentoring on all facets of software development. Joseph is an international speaker and pattern author and longstanding member of The Hillside Group, a group dedicated to improving the quality of software development. He is co-author of the Big Ball of Mud pattern, which illuminates many fallacies in the approach to software architecture. Joseph has chaired the Pattern Languages of Programming Conference (PLoP), as well as presented tutorials and talks at conferences such as OOPSLA and ECOOP.
Lise B. Hvatum - Vice President/Director
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock - Treasurer
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock is an internationally recognized leader in the development of object design methodologies. She invented the set of development practices known as Responsibility-Driven Design. Among her widely used innovations are use case conversations and object role stereotypes. She is the regular design columnist for IEEE Software and the author of the classic text, Designing Object-Oriented Software. Her most recent book, Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities and Collaborations, was published in 2002.
Christian Kohls - Member/Director
Mary Lynn Manns - Member
Kyle Brown - Member
Michael Weiss - Member
Takashi Iba - Member
Takashi Iba is an associate professor at the Faculty of Policy Management and the Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University, Japan. He received a Ph.D. in Media and Governance from Keio University in 2003. With collaborating with his students, Dr. Iba created many pattern languages concerning human actions. He authored Learning Patterns (2014), Presentation Patterns (2014), Collaboration Patterns (2014), Survival Language (2015), Words for a Journey (2015) and many academic books in Japanese such as the bestselling Introduction to Complex Systems (1998)."
Eduardo Guerra - Director
Richard P. Gabriel - Emeritus Member
Bob Hanmer - Emeritus Member
Alcatel-Lucent: Robert S. Hanmer is a Consulting Member of Technical Staff at Alcatel-Lucent. His work has included development, architecture and evaluation of highly reliable systems for the telephone network, especially in the areas of reliability and performance. He has also been active in the software patterns community since the mid-1990's, writing patterns and organizing pattern conferences. He has authored or co-authored 14 journal articles and book chapters. He has been introducing newcomers to patterns and to writing patterns since 1995.
Neil Harrison - Emeritus Member
Ademar Aguiar - Emeritus Member
Dirk Riehle - Emeritus Member
Grady Booch - Emeritus Member
Linda Rising - Emeritus Member
Independent Consultant: Linda Rising is an independent consultant in the areas of agile techniques, retrospectives, patterns, and organizational change. She is very active in the pattern and agile communities. She has authored or co-authored four books and countless journal articles and book chapters. She has been teaching patterns and pattern writing since the mid-1990's.
Dr. James Noble - Editor in Chief
James Noble is Professor of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Victoria University New Zealand. He is the author of Small Memory Systems: Patterns for Systems with Limited Memory (with Charles Weir), the editor of Prototype-Based Programming and Pattern Languages of Program Design 5 (with various co-editors). He has published many papers on object-orientation design patterns, aspects, software visualisation and software engineering in international academic conferences and journals.
Dr. Ralph Johnson - Editor in Chief


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Obama, GOP senators set next date
President Barack Obama will continue his congressional charm offensive at a second dinner with Senate Republicans next month.
The April 10 dinner will include a dozen GOP members invited by Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Republican aides said Wednesday. The location is yet to be determined.
A White House spokeswoman said Obama would attend the dinner.
In an interview with POLITICO, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) praised the president's outreach efforts.
"I told him … those small dinners were a good thing and he could go have all the members down, including the people who are the least likely to be inclined to do anything," McConnell said.
Obama has been trying to court GOP senators outside of the leadership, but McConnell said he didn't need to be a dining partner with the president because he sees him "all the time."
Asked if he were worried that his rank-and-file may buck his leadership team on a deficit package with the White House, McConnell said: "I'm not threatened by that. … That's pretty safe to say."
This would be the second dinner with Obama and Senate Republicans. The first was earlier this month at the Jefferson Hotel in Washington.
The president also traveled to Capitol Hill this month for meetings with the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the House and Senate.


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UH Manoa celebrates 50 years of nursing education in Hawaii
Anniversary event on October 21st will honor Hawaii's 'Fabulous 50' nursesUniversity of Hawaiʻi
School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene
Arlene Abiang, (808) 956-5637
External Affairs & University Relations
HONOLULU — Since 1956 the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa has been a leading provider of nursing education in Hawaiʻi. In celebration of this momentous accomplishment, SONDH will honor 50 nurses from 36 institutions throughout the state for their contributions in the field of clinical practice, education and administration. The "Fabulous 50" nurses will be recognized at the school's 50th anniversary gala from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21, at the Hawaiʻi Prince Hotel Waikīkī.
"The service, talent, dedication and innovation of these nursing professionals advance healthcare in Hawaiʻi," said Mary Boland, Dean of SONDH. "Each day, they extend the spirit of Aloha through their impact on the lives of countless patients and families in our island state."
The school invited nominations from throughout Hawaiʻi of nurses who make a difference in the everyday lives of patients and the community at-large. A committee of healthcare professionals in the community reviewed the nominees' contributions in 6 areas: caring, professionalism, specialized skill, innovation, cultural awareness and advocacy.
The 50 honorees include nine from the neighbor islands and six who are men. To view the list of the honorees, visit http://www.nursing.hawaii.edu/fabulous-fifty-bash.html.
In addition to honoring the "Fabulous 50," Sen. Daniel K. Inouye will be presented with the school's inaugural award of Lifetime Achievement in Nursing for his long-standing advocacy of nursing at both the federal and state level.
For more information or to purchase tickets for the 50th anniversary gala, call 956-8522. Single tickets are $150 per person. Tables of ten people are available for $1500. The proceeds raised from the dinner will be used to expand the school's Simulation Learning Laboratory.
The School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) offers programs to prepare students for careers in nursing and dental hygiene, primarily for the state of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Basin. The Department of Nursing offers programs leading to the bachelor of science, master of science and PhD in nursing degrees. Since 1956, the department has graduated nearly 3,000 nurses who serve communities in the state, nation and world. For more information, visit http://www.nursing.hawaii.edu/.
For more information, visit: http://www.nursing.hawaii.edu/fabulous-fifty-bash.html


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Howdee all,
We were greeted on our morning walk with this really amazing cloud formation.
i was going to save this for Skywatch Friday..but decided to show it to you now.So beautiful! I haven't had much time to read Blogs lately ..here in Chatham visiting the family.
I really do miss keeping up with everyone..but I am on a bit of a blogging vacation…I fit in a few here and there..but not nearly enough to make me happy. boo hoo..
Hope to fit some birding time in as well…but Jeff and I are the only birders in the family..so..we will see ..
Have a wonderful weekend!


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Loyola's Counseling Center has a wide range of resources available to help students work through academic pressures, depression, anxiety, social issues, relationship problems, eating or body image concerns, illness of a loved one, loss, and many other situations common for college students.
Learn about what issues and concerns we address
In case of emergency, please seek immediate assistance through one of our emergency contacts.
How Flexible Are You??


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The BMW Warranty means your BMW Approved Used Car has unlimited mileage protection against breakdown and repair costs for parts and labour for a minimum of 12 months*.
We want you to have total confidence in your car, which is why the warranty is backed by BMW, not third party insurers, and even covers the battery and exhaust. The open road is waiting...
From Roadside Assistance to practical advice, you're covered in the UK and Continental Europe with BMW. We'll be right by your side when you need us, arranging car hire where necessary and redelivering your car direct to you. Should you encounter any issues when you're abroad with your BMW, our experienced team of multilingual staff are here to help. Full details of the cover are available from your BMW centre.
If you have an MOT test carried out within 12 months from the date of your car order (and no more than 30 days before the due MOT date), your BMW MOT cover will ensure there are no unexpected costs for necessary repairs or replacement of specified components**.
Every BMW Approved Used Car undergoes an independent mileage and history check to verify the mileage and ensure that it hasn't been stolen or written off, or is still subject to a finance agreement. A certificate confirming that these checks have been made is supplied with each vehicle***.
Terms and conditions:-
*The following are not covered by the BMW Approved Used Car Warranty: brake and clutch facings, discs and drums, bulbs (except Xenon), fuses, channels and guides, weather strips and seals, handles, hinges and check straps, trim upholstery and cosmetic finishes, wheels and tyres, wiper blades and arms, glass, auxiliary drive belts, coolant and fuel hoses, the cleaning and adjustment of any component and all service items or items that will require periodic replacement. Corrosion is also not covered by the warranty.
**Excludes Northern Ireland; these cars will be supplied with the remaining unexpired portion of the current MOT (MOT cover applies only where an MOT is required).
*** Please note that if the car has been imported privately, it will not be possible to make these checks prior to its first registration in the UK.


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C D Cooke Car Sales Ltd
- Telephone:
- 01752 841515
- Unit 1A ENTERPRISE PARK, FORGE LANE, MOORLANDS TRADING ESTATE, SALTASH, CORNWALL, PL12 6LX
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Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i TR 5dr
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Toyota Yaris 1.3 VVT-i TR 5dr
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At C D Cooke Car Sales Ltd we aim to bring you the widest choice of used cars in SALTASH, CORNWALL and at great prices. We have some fantastic deals on used TOYOTA YARIS cars, which are always changing. Browse our used cars below and contact us for more information on any of our second hand cars.
We are confident you will not be disappointed with our selection of quality used cars. At C D Cooke Car Sales Ltd we offer an extensive range of services and extras meaning that you can buy your used car with confidence and peace of mind. Our showroom in Saltash stocks a wide range of cars that are ready for viewing today.


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With gas prices swinging wildly in the past couple of years, people have been looking for alternatives to gas-guzzling SUVs.
But while the sales numbers for the Toyota Prius vouch for the hybrid's popularity, at an average starting price of just under $23,000, the car is more expensive than most of its non-hybrid compact counterparts. The savings one gets from fewer trips to the pump will take years, if ever, to see actual overall savings.
While most of us would like to live the life of an economic crusader, many of us simply can't afford to. At least, we think we can't afford to. We've got bills to pay, and while it sure might feel good to drive around in a Prius, we can still buy a Ford Focus or Honda Civic for about $7,000 less.
However, going green doesn't always have to be an expensive project. According to Jeanie Pyun, former editor of Sprig.com, a now-defunct website dedicated to the green lifestyle, there are many ways to save green by going green.
"A lot of people come across on little things, and they learn more and more and more, and then, before you know it, they are seeing green traits in products," said Pyun. "It could be something that they seek out because it's less toxic, it's better for you, it tastes better or the quality tends to be better."
Trade In Those Old Gadgets
Throwing away old computers, cell phones and other gadgets can be very harmful to the environment because of the chemicals they can deposit in landfills. But there are places you can go where you can turn in your old gadgets and get cash back in return.
One website dedicated to this is CellForCash.com, which will take you old cell phone and give you cash in return. How much money you can get varies depending on the type of phone. Most phones listed on the site are recycled for free, but some earn rewards of more than $60."They will dispose of it for you in an environmentally responsible way, so by being green you are actually making money," said Pyun.
Other large retail stores such as Best Buy will take your old computer and give you a discount on your upgrade.
"You could save, like, $58 on a Mac upgrade. So, you are actually making unexpected money," said Pyun.
Go Florescent
Buying a compact florescent light bulb will be more expensive than a regular bulb, but florescent bulbs tend to last longer and will save you money in the long run. A compact bulb can cost around $5.According to Popular Mechanics, the average US household has 45 light bulbs. A compact florescent bulb can potentially use one-third the electricity of a regular bulb and last up to nine years, so replacing all your bulbs can save up to $180 a year.
"It can decrease your energy usage for light bulbs by nearly 75 percent," said Pyun. "And if you're a little lazy, like I am, you never have to change them. They never die. I have light bulbs in my house that have been going for five years, and I am used to pulling out my step ladder and changing bulbs, but I haven't had to do that for a very long time. So they save you a lot of money over time."
Fluorescent bulbs have a reputation of giving off a depressing, sickly light. But technology has changed over the years, and there are many newer fluorescent bulbs that provide warmer light.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs are available in a variety of styles, including warmer light for living spaces and more traditional fluorescent light for work spaces.
CFLs fit in standard lamps and come in many shapes, ranging from ones that look like traditional bulbs to "squiggly" models that take traditional fluorescent tubes and bend them into spiral shapes.
Unplug If It Isn't In Use
By taking a few minutes to unplug electronics that aren't in use around your house, you can save on your electric bill.
"Home electronics use a vast majority of power when they are turned off. You have to unplug them because they kind of sip off the energy grid the whole time," said Pyun. "And you're paying for that. So if you go around unplugging things, it can have a big impact on your utility bill."
According to environmental activist Laurie David, founder of StopGlobalWarming.org, Americans spend more money on their utility bill paying for electronics when they are turned off than when they are in use, and unplugging them can save hundreds of dollars a year in energy costs.
Low Flow
Switching to low-flow shower heads and toilets can also cut dollars off of your monthly utility bills.
"It's a good idea to go low-flow because -- particularly in the shower -- you are using water that gets heated by your heating system, and you're paying for that twice," said Pyun. "So, that can have a big impact as well."
Say 'No' To The Brawny Man
Many people use paper towels to clean up around the house, weather it's for dusting or wiping down the kitchen counter. But think of how many sheets of towels one goes through in a lifetime. By switching to rags for around-the-house cleaning, you can save trees and dollars at the same time.
"Something that's a lot cheaper in the long run is to buy a reusable cloth, like buy Skoy clothes for $4, and reuse them as you clean the house," said Pyun.
Reuse Your Food
If you have a garden, unused food and leftover food products can be a great resource. You can collect them in a pot indoors and then empty the pot into a compost bin each night.
Composting not only reduces the food waste you have to throw out, it also makes for nutrient-rich soil, which means you will have to buy less soil for your garden.
Tint Those Windows
Tinting the windows on your home can really cut down on the amount of AC you will have to use.
Getting your windows tinted professionally can cost around $5 to $7 per square foot."
The payback for that is about three years, sometimes four years," said Harrison Hung of TintCenter.com. "The life of the window film is around 15 years, so you get 11 years of cost savings."
Get Uncle Sam To Pitch In
Upgrading your house with new doors and windows will help you save on energy costs, and Uncle Sam will even pitch in.
"You can get government tax discounts when you make home improvements that save you energy, like new windows and doors," said Pyun.
The tax breaks and deductions for green home improvements are a result of the 2005 Energy Policy Act. And the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended many consumer tax incentives originally introduced in 2005 act.
Consumers can get tax credits for buying or leasing some hybrid or plug-in vehicles, or by installing solar energy systems. But the easiest move is to make sure to buy Energy Star appliances when you're ready to upgrade.
Energy Star is a government program that supports especially energy-efficient appliances. The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy work together to maintain very high standards for the products they endorse.
Everything from clothes washers to dehumidifiers are among the approved products, and using them can save a substantial amount of energy and expense. According to Energystar.gov, Americans saved $12 billion in energy costs in 2005. The certified products also kept enough gases out of the atmosphere to equal elimination of emissions from 23 million cars.


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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – School Board members and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti announced Tuesday that Duval County Public Schools is the recipient of a competitive $32.6 million Qualified Zone Academy Bond.
Qualified Zone Academy Bonds are a financing option sponsored by the federal government, administered through the Florida Department of Education. Under this program, financial support through the community can be leveraged. For example, the district can borrow with no interest, $900,000 for every $100,000 received through community match.
Community partners are an integral part of this process in helping to fill the gaps in our Strategic Plan, according to a news release from the district.
"This new administration has committed to improving access to technology for all our students, and the receiving of this grant speaks to delivering on that commitment," Vitti said. "Students have become digital learners, and this technology will enhance their opportunities for success in a technology-driven world."
The Florida Department of Education has allocated $29 million to Duval County Public Schools under the QZAB program. This, combined with the business and community support, will bring the total to $32.6 million. The funds received through QZAB will dramatically increase technology access for students and teachers through iPads, laptops, multimedia carts and computer labs.
Duval County Public Schools will begin implementing their four-phase plan to create 21st century learning environments in January. Phase one is expected to run from January to June. Phase two is expected to begin in July and run to December 2013. Phase three is planned to run from January to June 2014, and the final phase is projected to run from July to December 2014.
"Community partnerships and support are essential to the success of Duval County Public Schools," said Board Chairman Fel Lee. "Community and business donations allow us to provide our students with the tools and resources necessary to make them competitive in post-secondary education and the workforce. We are grateful to those who help make opportunities like these possible."
Each stage of the plan will be implemented at select schools of all grade levels that have been identified as target schools by either serving 35 percent or more students on Free and Reduced Lunch or having an established academy or magnet program. The plan consists of several steps including initiating professional development among principals and teachers, deploying digital devices to schools and completing infrastructure conversions to wireless access.


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Sun-Times breaks the mold with a New Year's Eve editorial that poverty -- not 'bad teachers' -- is cause of children's school failure...
It was New Year's Eve, not exactly the time when most people are reading the editorials in Chicago's newspapers, but even before many people began drinking they had to read the editorial in the December 31, 2012 Sun-Times twice: One of the mainstays of propaganda for corporate "school reform" was admitting what Chicago teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union have been saying: poverty is the main cause for the "failure" of the children in public schools like those of Chicago's inner city.
It's possible that the disconnect between the obvious in the schools and what comes across as downtown reality via the "news" will begin to narrow, even in Chicago. If that be true, then 2013 will be a New Year in many senses. Perhaps, for example, the Sun-Times will begin to note that the charter schools whose propaganda it has published uncritically for years are, for the most part, frauds who use various trickeries to tout their "data" and toot their horns. If that be true in the next, say, six months, then those months that Sun-Times editorial write Kate Grossman spent seeing the reality of the University of Chicago charter schools five years ago might still be worth a second and third look.
Our first recommendation, before any of our colleagues in the press repeats another charter school talking point, would be to follow the "data" from the Noble Network of Charter Schools this month. For years, as we've reported in Substance, Michael Milkie, the head of Noble Street, has dumped his lowest scoring kids back into the city's real public schools every January. This provides "Noble" with a double whammy of goodness (as long as the fraud isn't investigated). On the one hand, "Noble" is already collecting for the year for those kids, since CPS has paid the per capita on each. On the other hand, Noble can show another "gain' in its test scores because the lowest scoring kids, after contributing to "before," are gone by the time the school gets to "after."
On the third hand, since most of the kids pushed out by Noble are "counseled out" and "volunteer" to leave, they are not counted as dropouts against the "noble" data sets that Noble then packages for its corporate fans. Not that we would expect the Pritzkers, Rauners, Rowes and other corporate elitists to bother checking for fraud when they do their naming of schools, but it the same kind of accounting fraud were taking place in their own corporations, we have a hunch they would pay closer attention. Since the Noble Street accounting is feeding into the ideological prejudices of the Rauners, Pritzkers, Comers, Clarks and Reinsdorfs, however, they can be expected to avert their eyes.
But that doesn't mean that the Sun-Times and Tribune should continue to promote the fraud that has been Noble Street from the day Michael Milkie left Wells High School (where he was only willing to teach the "top" kids, leaving the average kids -- the majority at Wells -- for his colleagues) and began his career as a very well paid edupreneur.
The New Year's Eve foray into accuracy in the Sun-Times may be a first step towards some serious revisionism. Or it may be the result of one night when everyone had too much celebration. Whatever. It's a positive sign as the New Year dawns. so let's read it again, one more time.
The Chicago Sun-Times faced reality on New Year's Eve 2012. Better late than never?The complete editorial follows:
Editorial: Real hurdle to education reform is poverty Chicago Sun-Times Editorials December 31, 2012 9:54AM
There is nothing easy about trying to boost academic outcomes for poor kids.
That is why we've supported a range of aggressive interventions for the Chicago Public Schools over the years, including school closures, charter openings, turnarounds, improved teacher evaluations, a longer school day and changes to teaching tenure, hiring and firing rules.
We remain convinced those interventions can make the difference at individual schools, for individual kids and, across all schools, can move the needle slightly.
But until society and our schools figures out a way to deal, in a comprehensive and systemic way, with child poverty — a parent's income and educational level is the biggest predictor of school success — the odds of major improvement are low.
The Chicago Teachers Union has been pressing this point with greater urgency in recent days — and we applaud it. It released a report this month laying out the undeniable link between a parent's wage and school achievement.
Data from the Nation's Report Card, a rigorous national exam, show that more than 40 percent of the variation in average reading scores across the states is associated with variation in child poverty rates. The vast majority, some 87 percent, of all Chicago public school students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
In its report, the CTU called on CPS to support efforts to lift wages for low-income workers to a $15-per-hour living wage, arguing that moving families out of poverty will improve academic outcomes. The report was commissioned by Stand Up Chicago, a labor and community group, and produced in partisanship with the CTU.
The teachers union is right to broaden the school reform lens and, we hope, help parents and policy makers see (or remember) what really drives the crisis in the Chicago schools.
We disagree with the CTU, though, that other efforts. including charters and turnarounds, should be abandoned. The CTU fails to note that deeply embedded in many of those strategies are efforts to counteract the effects of child poverty. Countless children across Chicago are benefitting from those efforts right now, today.
Still, we support the CTU's effort to push back against a national chorus, started in the era of President George W. Bush, that accuses anyone of mentioning poverty as giving up on poor kids. Nationally, a similar effort is being led by New York University education professor Diane Ravitch, who is pushing for a direct and honest conversation about poverty as the only starting point for lasting improvement.
Ravitch and CTU President Karen Lewis aren't caving to what Bush called "soft bigotry of low expectations." They're about setting high expectations but giving poor kids the support to reach them.
Lewis said it best herself when she spoke to the City Club of Chicago last month:
"We cannot fix what's wrong with our schools until we are prepared to have honest conversations about poverty and race," Lewis said. "Until we do, we will be mired in the no-excuses mentality [that] poverty doesn't matter. Poverty matters a lot when you are teaching children who are distracted by their lives. Poverty matters a lot when you are teaching children who have seen trauma like none of us in this room can imagine."
There is nothing easy about trying to boost academic outcomes for poor kids.
But there is little else that is more important.
By: Bob Busch
Flower Petals?
Being cynical by nature I have to wonder why the Sun Times editorial page has changed from the day in 2010 when they wanted all of to run a victory lap when SB7 was passed.
Could it be they have gotten religion? Have they come around to the obvious? Personally I think it was the sight of 30,000 red flower petals moving in unison down loop streets that caught their attention. How's that for a victory lap.


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This article lists pages that are requested to be added to this wiki. The page specifically lists pages that have been requested by users. (Another way to do this is to create a stub page for the desired page, and add the tag for Category:NeedsEditing.) However, this page lists pages that people would like to see, but have insufficient knowledge or expertise to create.
An automatically generated list of pages that are referenced, but do not exist, is at Special:Wantedpages
User-requested pages
Put your request for a page or article you would like to see on this wiki in the list below:
- Realtime testing best practices
- I'd like to see a document collecting existing information about realtime testing, with links to test programs and information about already-performed tests (with pros and cons for each approach). TimBird


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Mozart by Carlos Araujo
Montage illustration by Carlos Araujo of Mozart throughout his life for anthology book published by Ática Publishing House.
More Information about Illustrator Carlos Araujo
Carlos Araujo is a whimsical steampunk illustrator located in Brasília, Brazil. With a background in several mediums, including 8+ years in graphic design, his true passion is illustration. His fine art and educational illustrations can be seen in books, album covers, magazines, posters, and gallery shows worldwide.
Continue reading about Carlos Araujo, or contact Store 44 Reps for inquiries regarding future projects.


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46 Vintage French Country Dining Room Design Ideas
Decortutor.com are really concern to Provide Maintenance a Room and Home. We are Gathering and Collecting photos from lot of source on internet. If some of them are yours, please don't be shy to contact us immediately, we are so pleased to add some credit to them.


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Rosalie Nell (Stephens) Young, 79, Wabash, formerly of rural Lagro, died at 7:45 p.m., Saturday, May 17, at her home. She was born April 3, 1935 in Wabash, to Wallace David and Nellie Catherine (Vandalsen) Sellers.
Rosalie was a Lagro High School graduate. She married Hobert Young in Andrews, on April 29, 1974, and he died April 13, 1995. She worked at National Rock Wool in Lagro 25 years, and also at Midwest Insulation in Wabash 15 years. Rosalie enjoyed crocheting, needlework, and was a seamstress.
She is survived by her son, Kelly Stephens, Peru; two grandchildren, Cassandra Lane (Mitch McMitchen) Stephens, Nashville, Tenn., and Kristopher Sean Stephens, Many Farms, Ariz.; sister, Esther Ray Wabash; and 16 nieces and nephews. She was also preceded in death by her parents, nine brothers and two sisters.
Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Thursday, May 22, at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Avenue, Wabash, with Pastor Tim Prater officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Andrews. Friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Wednesday, at the funeral home.
Preferred memorial is Wabash County Cancer Society.
The memorial guest book for Rosalie may be signed at www.grandstaff-hentgen.com.


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Oklahoma officer dies after being shot while chasing suspect
An Oklahoma police officer has died after being shot three times early Monday morning in Pottawatomie County.
The officer, 22-year-old Justin Terney, was rushed to the OU Medical Center in "serious, critical condition." He later died at the hospital.
"Our departments need all the prayers we can get at this point. We got officers who's never experienced this, never been through anything like this," said J.R. Kidney, Assistant Police Chief for the Tecumseh Police Department.
According to police, Terney pulled over a car for a traffic stop at about 11:40 p.m. Sunday, and asked a man inside, later identified as Byron Shepard, to get out of the car.
Terney began to pat down Shepard. That's when Shepard took off running toward the woods near Benson Park off Gordon Cooper.
Police said Terney went after Shepard and used a Taser on him. But the Taser did not have any effect on Shepard, who continued to run through the woods.
Police said Shepard ran into a pasture, where he fired shots toward Terney, hitting him in the stomach. Terney fired back at Shepard, hitting him.
Shepard was taken to the hospital in an unknown condition. Police said he underwent surgery and is in ICU.
According to police, Shepard was wanted out of Okfuskee County in connection with an investigation into stolen equipment worth half a million dollars. There is a warrant out for his arrest.


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At The Music Producer we like to think that there's a music producer in everyone just waiting to make a hit record. The Music Producer is a music production software tool that makes it easy for beginners of all ages to make great music in a variety of genres including Pop, Rock, Hip-Hop, Latin and Dance. We've even catered for the aspiring DJ with The Music Producer DJ Mix software, which you can use to learn how to mix like a true superstar DJ. It really is so easy and so much fun.
read more...
"The software in the music industry is so complicated to use that I have lost clients on sessions. The Music Producer 2.0 is different; it's so easy to use and affordable!"
David Musial - Entrepreneurial Multimedia Producer and Educator


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Cervical Cancer
When cancer starts in the cervix, it is called cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the only gynecologic cancer that can be prevented by regular screening, limiting sexual partners, use of condoms and not smoking. It is also one of the most treatable of the gynecologic cancers with a high survival rate.
All women with a cervix are at risk for cervical cancer, but cervical cancer is found most often in women over the age of 30. Each year, approximately 12,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the United States. In early stages, cervical cancer may not have any signs or symptoms, but in later stages, cervical cancer may cause unusual bleeding or discharge.
Although almost all cervical cancers are linked to the human papillomavirus (HPV), other factors that can increase your risk include HIV/AIDS, obesity, long-term use of birth control pills, childbirth of three or more children and a history of smoking.
Cervical cancer risk can be reduced by protecting yourself from HPV, regularly receiving Pap tests and not smoking.


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The S.H.A.C.K. opens in Sandy Hook
Tapping the talents of some fellow members of Newtown High School's class of 1987, Wendy Mitchell worked on finding a home for an arts center for children. In early December, a spot was found in Sandy Hook.
This was just days before the school shooting of Dec. 14.
The location of this new nonprofit, the Sandy Hook Arts Center for Kids, and its mission, "to provide a safe haven for children and families to come to heal, create and explore various art forms while expressing themselves creatively in a nurturing, safe environment," is now more important than ever.
"We really need to be in Sandy Hook long-term," Mitchell said. "We want to bring fun to kids, to bring healing through the arts to the community. We offer art, music and pet therapies."
The S.H.A.C.K. has partnered with Animal Assisted Therapy Services in West Haven to bring free therapy dog visits and music therapy to its home at 100 Church Hill Road. Mitchell said AATS' members are trained professionals experienced in providing this type of therapy.
Mitchell brings her experience with theater and puppetry, plus her vision of helping children develop their talents "to bring a smile to someone else's face," to this venture. She involves a community service aspect in the theater classes she offers, encouraging kids to care about others.
"She had a food drive with the holiday show, `The Grinch,' " said Marla Duffy, of Bethel. Duffy's daughter, Brianna, 10, has studied theater with Mitchell for about a year and a half now.
"She's a phenomenal teacher, great with kids, energetic. My daughter loves her class," Duffy said. "Wendy encourages participation. Something about her brings shy kids out. Before you know it, she has them singing on stage."
Classes taught by Mitchell and other S.H.A.C.K. teachers will begin later this month. But first, a Valentine-themed party on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 1:30 to 8 p.m., will serve as a grand opening event.
The day will include a children's entertainer, a ukulele workshop, Valentine's crafts, black light puppet shows and more. For further details and a full event schedule, call 203-501-7424, email firstname.lastname@example.com, or visit www.sandyhookartscenter.org.
The S.H.A.C.K. is still in the process of obtaining 501(c)3 status. Donations for the organization are processed through Animal Assisted Therapy Services. Mitchell estimates it will take six to 12 months for the S.H.A.C.K.'s status to be finalized.
firstname.lastname@example.com; 203-731-3338; http://twitter.com/CarolynMNT/


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TEDxRamallah – My first TED event and visit to Bethlehem April 20, 2011Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Hamakor, IGF, ITU.
Tags: internet, Israel, Palestine, Politics, TED, TEDx
10 comments
Hey all,
Last Saturday I was at my first TEDx event at TEDxRamallah, which took place in Bethlehem. As a TED lecture lover this was a fantastic experience for me. Moreover, this is also the first time I classified as a "Jewish" Israeli citizen (As an atheist its somewhat confusing to refer to myself as such). This does put me in an unusual position slightly different from most people there. I will try and summarize my own experience in this special event. I feel its important to for me to relay what I see to both sides that rarely see eye to eye.
I shall summarize the talks that I found interesting to me: (more…)
Build your own Free SMS to Twitter gateway with open source tools and cheap hardware March 27, 2011Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, diy, Electronics, Hamakor, IGF, ITU, linux, open source, programming, python.
Tags: cellphones, gammu, internet, linux, open source, python, release, sms, twitter
21 comments
Hey all,
I am releasing here set of instructions and source that will enable anyone to set up a phone number, that if you SMS it, will post your massage on to your own twitter account. This service is called "Twiter SMS Gate". The service handles multiple users, and should be easily modified to support other services like statusnet (and with a bit more code maybe even other social networks). The SMS hardware required is any cheap cellphone that can work with gammu-smsd (mine is a fake Nokia from India). Twiter SMS Gate also lets users easily register to it with their own cellphone.
I hope that people that like this idea would start hosting more SMS gates, as we create a wide network of those around the world. SMS Twitter Gate-IL , The Israeli Gate, has been running for a few weeks now and even got covered in the local media here.
The source is written in Python, which includes the phone hardware hooks, webserver, twitter client and database access.
Here is the cellphone used to run my server, just to show you how simple it is to do this, no super-expensive hardware required! (server is also my personal Linux-running PC:
- Source is available here on GitHub, along with basic instructions on how to set it up.
- Working example of an SMS Twitter Gate in Israel
- List of working gates (one at the time of writing this)
If you have any kind of difficulty setting this up, please give me feedback, so we can make it as easy as possible.
IGF Day 4 and last, Privacy – Incident with China – Human network – more Open Standards – Jordan FOSS – and Final statement November 24, 2009Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Hamakor, IGF, ITU, open source, Uncategorized.
Tags: human network, IGF, internet, internet censorship, ITU, open source, open standards, privacy
4 comments
Hi all,
This is the second day of the IGF 2009 and the 4th and last day of my journey.
There was a lot to write about, and I had little time back in Israel, so it took a while to publish.
I recommend you read my closing statement.
Scroll to the titles that interest you:
IGF 2009 Day 1 – What is IGF? November 14, 2009Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, IGF, ITU, open source, Uncategorized.
Tags: IGF, internet, ITU, open source
3 comments
Hi all,
(I am blogging this time on my OLPC/Nokia N810 so sorry about the typos)
I thought I might update that I arrived a few hours ago to the IGF conference.
Getting there
It took about 13 hours to get here, I have mostly been traveling in a taxi cab today from Taba to Shrem. Apparently there are a lot of security checkpoints because of the conference itself!
What is the Internet Governance Forum? – The 'G' in IGF
Since I have little of ICT news to tell I thought I might start with a conversation Dima and I had on the way here, regarding what the IGF means – When we wanted to translate the 'G' (for Governance) in IGF to other languages we did not know what exactly it means – Is it the government as in maneging the Internet as a resource? Or standardizing the Internet? or perhaps government as in how to get governments to interact with the Internet? It seems its a a bit of all, yet not clearly one of them nether. When looking at the huge number of workshops (10 in parallel!) this seems to become more apparent: privacy and freedom of expression, net neutrality, technical implementation of the infrastructure and how governments and organizations should treat the Internet, its all there. It seems it will be hard pick which workshop to go to!
I am going to the Internet Governance Forum in Egypt on Friday November 11, 2009Posted by GuySoft in Crictor, Hamakor, IGF, ITU, open source.
Tags: governance, IGF, internet, internet censorship, ITU
2 comments
Hi all,
I thought I might update that I am going to the IGF (Internet Governance Forum) conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from this Friday till Monday. I am going in hope to meet new people and hear the talks. I see this visit as a continuation of my visit to ITU TELECOM Asia 2008 in Thailand last year (which was a lot of fun).
With me are coming from Israel Dimity Epstein (who introduced me to the ITU) and the Head of Israeli ISOC (The Internet Society) Rimon Levi.
For more information on the conference you can see the IGF conference website and the programme.
I hope I would find time to update during the conference. I would try and twitter too. I am right in the middle of my second year in physics studies, so I will have little time when I get back.
Hope to update soon


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Hey everyone
I just installed Foobar on my phone with a 200GB micro sd card (legit Sandisk) with over 16 000 AAC M4A files.
In settings, then Media Library I've choose the external storage.
But, it's been indexing since at least 4 hours. How long is it usually? There's no progress bar anywhere, I'm not sure if I should click rescan or still wait.


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The Painful Path to Same-Sex Marriage in Hawaii
A first-person account of the saga.
(page 1 of 4)
Photo: Courtesy Hula's Bar and Lei Stand
I was a middle-aged veteran of gay liberation and the AIDS epidemic when, in early 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that gay people should be allowed to marry and asked the state to come up with a compelling reason we couldn't. The court cited the equal protection clause of the state's Constitution, which bars discrimination based on gender. It was this simple logic that thundered across the oceans and cracked open the worldwide debate about gay marriage.
The New York Times, for one, was not surprised by the Hawaii court's decision. "To stand on the far shore of change is a fitting role for this state," wrote reporter Jane Gross on April 24, 1994. She described how Hawaii is "known for a progressive public policy, a liberal state constitution, a tolerance for diversity, an acceptance of intermarriage and a culture of flourishing same-sex relationships."
Unfortunately, the decision nearly drove my progressive, liberal, tolerant home-sweet-home crazy. The ugliness that welled up in the wake of it, our frittering and cowardly lawmakers (most of them), the upside-down betrayal of legacy—it was a fall from grace. It was painful to watch as voters mowed down talented politicians who supported gay marriage, then gay marriage itself. It was sad to say goodbye when gay men and women abandoned Honolulu, and it was appalling to listen to a Honolulu police officer actually tell a group of legislators that they'd have to kill him before he'd enforce a gay marriage law.
It was not a pretty saga. In 1993, gay marriage was inconceivable to me and, I suspect, to most people. When my curious parents asked me about it, I told them that marriage was low on my list of gay-rights priorities—after all, 14 states still had laws prohibiting what we did in our bedrooms. And, anyway, who wanted to ape heterosexual norms, really?
It had been 20 years since my generation of closeted gay men and lesbians jumped on the liberation bandwagon and came out as loud and proud during the militant, feel-good '70s. We told our families and friends we were gay, got organized, got buffed, wrote slogans, paraded down main street, made gay bars the hippest spots in town, invented disco. I returned home to Honolulu from my first semester at college in 1974 and discovered a fabulous new outdoor bar/disco under a huge old banyan tree on a prominent corner in Waikiki called Hula's Bar and Lei Stand, where it didn't matter if you were straight or gay. Everyone went there. Gays were the new hippies, the new nonconformists, cultural pioneers.
Then, in 1981, while I was living in New York, a few of us suddenly got pneumonia and diarrhea and horribly thin and covered with skin lesions until we looked like unspeakable ghosts, and then we died. My friends and lovers died this way, hundreds of thousands did. The AIDS epidemic was a war with no glory. The phrase "gay liberation" itself began to feel bitterly ironic, as illness forced many more of us out of the closet, as we begged the world for some sympathy and help. We began to organize and help ourselves. Marriage was not on our minds.
My staid parents were relieved that, since their gay son didn't want marriage, their being opposed to it—as they were reflexively—was all right, and in Honolulu in 1993 everyone needed a position. I found myself refining mine: "But if some of us want to get married," I told Mom and Dad, "who are you to say we can't?"


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Welcome to Positive Thinking Guide
Positive Thinking Activity Article
For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Prosperity Tips: 3 Keys to Abundancefrom: Momodou Sabally - Guest Author
There are many keys to prosperous living, but the 3-pronged approach I shall call the PAG Effect is a quick game-changer for the willing student of abundance, ready to make a difference in their life and those of their loved ones.
The acronym PAG, stands for Purpose Action (and) Gratitude. To start with, if you want prosperity to show up in your life, then you must start with the intention to live a prosperous life. That means, to live with a sense of PURPOSE in making sure you think thoughts of prosperity, and hence, live the dream; in the words of Descartes "I think therefore I am"!
Truly you CANNOT fill your mind with thoughts of lack and doubt and at the same time manifest the glory of The Most Gracious, God! Think abundance both for yourself and those you come into contact with. There is abundant evidence that thoughts do make physical impressions on people and objects; so given the reality of the scientific law of actions creating reactions as taught by the legendary Albert Einstein, make it a HABIT, to think prosperous thoughts about yourself and those you interact with. The results will amaze you!
It is a fact, incontrovertible, that wishes and desires alone would not bring you results in the real physical world without ACTION. Therefore transform your thoughts into reality by taking the right steps in the right direction of prosperity. The results may not come out in one-to-one proportions for the Divine Grace has a great multiplier effect, but you must do the act to see the effect. It is true that the Good Lord feeds all the beasts of the fields, and the birds of the air neither sow nor reap, but they all must take the step towards the bounty out there in the fields. The bird leaves its nest and flies out to get its food. So do the beasts go out in search of their sustenance. Do not miss this lesson, as a human being blessed with more faculty of reasoning than the rest of creation. Do the part, act for yourself and share the grace by acting and giving out prosperity. Yours would be a result multiplied!
Now to the third key to Prosperity, GRATITUDE. In the Quran Allah tells us in the chapter called Abraham, verse 7, that if we are grateful, He would increase His blessings upon us; the exegetes explain this sense of gratitude to include thankfulness to God as well as humans who may be the vehicles that God uses, sometimes, to extend His Grace to us. So being thankful for gifts of God including the often overlooked blessings of life, breath, health and being able to read this essay itself can be an effective channel for creating and sustaining prosperity in our lives. So let us give thanks and praise to God as often, and as profoundly, as possible and the results will manifest in our lives.
Now go ahead and use the PAG approach to prosperity and abundance and see the result manifest itself in a beautiful, life. Just live it!
Former Presidential Affairs Minister of The Gambia, economist, motivational speaker and author; Momodou Sabally is the Managing Director of Creative Forward Thinkers Media Group as well as Managing Partner and Editor-In-Chief of GLife Magazine. A passionate youth empowerment and leadership expert, Sabally is also the Founder-President of Sabally's Leadership Academy (SLA).
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Momodou_Sabally/33539


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Ryan Trecartin at LACMA
Considered a prophet of the digital age, video artist Ryan Trecartin transforms contemporary culture's addiction to the internet and obsession with technological devices into a violently exuberant visual orgy. Watching his work feels like riding a roller coaster into the vertiginous depths of the Web or looking through a kaleidoscope on acid; it is an experience of hysterical nonlinearity, relentless mutation, and extreme visual and verbal cacophony. On March 25,[…..]


text: Puzzles Palace powered by Arkadium logout x These games are brought to you by Arkadium, the creators behind the world's most played games. Are you a Publisher? If you are looking to drive engagement, loyalty and revenue through a fully managed gaming portal, we want to hear from you. Learn more. Are you a Brand? The world's largest brands turn to us when they need to create superior word, card and casual games or reach the millions of people that play those games. Learn more. About Arkadium Our Privacy Policy All Games Word Card Arcade Puzzles Strategy Quizzes More Game › Puzzles › Conceptis Calcudoku x You have logged out Login again Conceptis Calcudoku x Your game was paused due to inactivity x We noticed that you are using an ad blocker. We believe that games should be free for everyone to enjoy, and ads help us achieve this goal. We take all measures to ensure that the ads shown on this site are secure. In order to continue playing, please enable ads to appear on this site. For ad blocker disabling instructions, click here. You May Also Like… Screenshots Game Description Each Calcudoku puzzle consists of a grid containing blocks surrounded by bold lines. The object is to fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1 to 6 appear exactly once in each row and column and the numbers in each block produce the result of the math operation shown in the top-left corner of the block. In Calcudoku, a number may be used more than once in the same block. Privacy and Cookie Policy. x Ok x General Data Protection Regulation In order to comply with Europe's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we are updating our privacy policy to give you even more transparency into the data that we collect. Please review the items below to continue to enjoy the Games Arena: I'd like to compete by posting my nickname and scores to the leaderboard. I'd like to receive occasional emails about new games and special events. Log me out Let's start playing If at any time, you would like to access or erase your data from our records, please contact us via email at email@example.com or via the Contact Us form on our website. We have recently updated our Privacy Policy to include additional rights that California residents may have. Click here to learn more. By using this site, you agree to Arkadium's Privacy and Cookie Policy. Accept


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Discovering Vieux Carre/French Quarter
~ Elisa Babel, MLS
The room where the Louisiana Purchase was signed. How an apartment in 1850 would've been furnished. The magnificence of historic St. Louis Cathedral. Documents written in Spanish, French, and English. How New Orleans celebrated Mardi Gras in yesteryears. These are a few of the things I saw while visiting the museums in the French Quarter.
This was my third ALA Annual and my first time in New Orleans. I stayed at the Holiday Inn-French Quarter on Royal Street so history was on the doorstep.
June 24
Friday was my free day so I spent the day discovering the history of the city. After going to the convention center to get my badge and tote, I set out for the afternoon in the French Quarter. I had an early lunch at Café Beignet which was a short walk from my hotel. I enjoyed a croissant sandwich and a side of beignets. Délicieux! Delicious! I liked the Café because it was quieter and not as busy.
My first museum stop was the Historic New Orleans Collection complex on Royal Street. Here I viewed "The Threads of Memory" exhibit–a display of rarely seen documents about the Spanish presence in North America. The collection also included some documents on Louisiana under French control and then American acquisition. Moving on to the next gallery, I was impressed by colonial Spanish religious art in North America.
My next stop was at St. Louis Cathedral, the Mother Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The church is named for the royal patron saint of France. The Cathedral has a long history and is the oldest continuously used Catholic cathedral in the United States. I was impressed by the magnificent interior. One of my favorite parts of the building was the ceiling. I spent a few minutes praying and took a few photos. The next day I returned for the 5 pm Mass after a long day at the convention center. As a souvenir of my attendance, I took the church bulletin on my way out.
After leaving the Cathedral, I went to the Cabildo. This building had once served as the seat of government during Spanish colonial rule. Later it was home of the Louisiana State Supreme Court before it became a museum in 1911. Aside from learning a few facts in school, I never knew about the city's long and rich history. It had changed hands between the French and Spanish before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. On the second floor, I visited the room where the signing took place and the painting of the 1803 ceremony. I remembered seeing that painting in my American history textbook in grade school. When I finished visiting all the exhibit rooms, I'd gotten a fascinating tour of New Orleans through time.
Before leaving my hotel earlier, I had made a reservation for a 4 pm walking tour of the French Quarter. I met my tour guide Mike from Magic Tours in front of K-Joe's Restaurant. Two others were supposed to come but they didn't! We walked through the French Quarter, stopping at various landmarks along the way including Jackson Square, the riverfront, Napoleon House, the Pharmacy Museum, and Madam John's Legacy. Mike told me fascinating historical bits and architecture about the city. I now know why oversized colored water jars were placed in period pharmacy windows. Duelling behind the Cathedral? I'm sure the priests weren't happy about that! Since it was a hot day, Mike frequently directed me towards shade.
June 28
I had the morning free before going to the airport and home. I went to the 1850 House off Jackson Square. This is one of the buildings built by the Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba in 1850 hence the name. I entered the house through the gift shop on the ground floor and mounted a staircase. The rooms are furnished as they would have been of the time period. Various families lived there along with their slaves and household staff in the back. In 1927 it became a state museum.
My second and final museum was the Presbytere next to St. Louis Cathedral. Originally the Presbytere housed the Capuchins, a Catholic religious order. In the 19th century it was used as a courthouse then became a state museum in 1911. Originally I didn't plan to go. A reproduction of a 19th century Mardi Gras poster outside did it for me. Once inside, I ran into one of my colleagues as she was coming out from an exhibit on Hurricane Katrina. We went up to the Mardi Gras exhibit on the second floor. It's a fun exploration of how this New Orleans tradition evolved over the centuries. There's also a room about how Mardi Gras is celebrated by the Cajuns in the nearby Louisiana parishes.
Afterwards we went out to lunch near the Cabildo and then I had to leave for the airport. Although most of my time was split between the convention center and the French Quarter, I had a great time in New Orleans.
Just as you get a generous serving of food in any restaurant in New Orleans, I could say the same about its local history. Plus having a few beignets on the side.
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Filed under: Library Profession, Local History, Societies | Tagged: ALA, Baroness Pontalba, Capuchin, Louisiana Purchase, Mardi Gras, NOLA, St. Louis Cathedral | Leave a comment »


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Amy Ignatow '02 is a Moore success story.
She was a struggling artist who became a published author through talent, hard work, and the inability to take "no" for an answer.
Ignatow, an Illustration alumna who lives in Mt. Airy, PA., is best known as the author and illustrator of the New York Times-reviewed children's book series, The Popularity Papers.
Her first book in the seven-book series, The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, was published by Amulet Books in 2010. A second and third book followed in 2011, a fourth in 2012 and a fifth and sixth book last year. The seventh and final book in the series is due out in September.
"I love doing this work so much," she said. "I live in fear of not being able to do it. And I get tremendous publisher support. I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life. So I keep working very fast. If you wait too long between books and it's a series, the kids might lose interest."
The Popularity Papers are about two best friends, Lydia and Julie. The books begin when the characters are in the fifth grade and they have a year to go before starting middle school. They want to be popular and they observe the girls who are already popular and try to emulate them. Both characters keep a journal to document the process and "wackiness ensues," Ignatow said.
"The story progresses from them being overly obsessed with popularity through middle school, where they gain survival skills," she said. "The seventh book with be the end of seventh grade. It's fun. I've gotten a lot of letters from kids who relate to the characters. It's really about lifelong friendships."
Ignatow joked that her next book title is just going to be "initials," since each book in The Popularity Papers series has an extra long title. "We thought it was hilarious at the time but didn't realize how much I'd be typing," she said. "The main characters have an inflated sense of self."
After graduating from Moore in 2002, Ignatow had numerous part-time teaching jobs and spent two years as a stationery designer. She taught cartooning and portfolio prep at Moore's Young Artist Workshop and the Summer Art & Design Institute. She started an online cartoon called "Ig City," a "humorous observational look at the day-to-day life of a 20-something recent graduate in Center City." The cartoon got the attention of a literary agent, who asked Ignatow if she ever thought about writing for kids.
"I had been doing all this biographical stuff up to that point, but when the agent suggested writing for kids the ideas began to flow and I realized that's where I'm most comfortable," Ignatow said. She landed her first book deal in 2008.
Originally from Long Island, NY, Ignatow transferred to Moore from SUNY Oneonta. "Going to an all-women's college was attractive to me because I wanted to feel comfortable doing my work without any drama or distractions," she said. "The camaraderie I felt with my classmates still supports me, and it's no wonder that The Popularity Papers is an ode to lasting female friendship."
While at Moore, Ignatow helped produce the student-run publication now known as Moremagazine.
"My experience at Moore was incredibly positive," she said. "I felt like I was supported by the faculty, who I've kept in touch with. When I got my first contract I went to them for advice."
So what's next for Ignatow? She's contracted to complete The Popularity Papers and write two additional books in a brand new series.
"To be a working artist where I'm bringing in a real income on a regular basis doing exactly what I love and went to school for is incredibly satisfying," she said.


text:
I'm watching Idol Gives Back on TV right now. It's heartbreaking. (Click here to donate to Idol Gives Back, which divides the donations among six charities in the U.S. and in Africa.)
Many celebrities are making appearances on the show, including one of my favorite celebrity couples, David and Victoria Beckham.
Excerpts from their speech, which I wrote down as soon as I heard it:
Victoria: "David and myself are fortunate enough to be here [to be here to tell you to donate, etc. — didn't get the whole thing]."
David: "Please join Victoria and myself in donating."
The word myself is completely out of place. It should be I in the first sentence and me in the second.
If you ever have doubt over whether you should say "and myself" — or "and I" for that matter — drop the other subject.
I am fortunate enough to be here — not myself is fortunate enough to be here.
Please join me in donating — not please join myself in donating.
I know that it's not their fault. The show's writers are the ones to blame. Though it's within my rights to criticize them, I do feel a tad guilty insulting a good cause like this one.
But I have to be honest with myself. Even if they had written those awkward sentences themselves, I wouldn't have minded. They're too damn good-looking.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time beauty caused me to overlook grammar errors. I think my friends know where I'm going with this one.
Please donate if you can afford to do so. $10.00 buys a mosquito net. That could save one or more lives in Africa.


text:
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quote:If you have not seen 'Beware of Mr. Baker' yet, I highly recommend it, very entertaining.
Trailer for "Beware of Mr. Baker"
quote:1. Ginger Baker is/was a complete madman!
quote:quote:1. Ginger Baker is/was a complete madman!
A lot of people, especially in rock, "seem like" madmen, are reported to be madmen, sometimes act like madmen, but few (I suspect) are actually madmen, like Ginger.
The guy is a true original and followed his passion literally around the world.
Priceless moment in this documentary when ( I think it was Clapton ) was asked to compare Ginger to Keith Moon and John Bonham...the look on Clapton's face said it all.
[Edited on 1/8/2015 by heineken515]
quote: Even more amazing - he's the only one of the three that is still alive! He's the Keith Richards of drummers!
quote:Beware is a great, great documentary.
Ginger is most certainly still alive.
quote:And yet Clapton can't run fast enough to get away from him.
Ginger is a character.
very good documentary on jack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP3r_CN0yRo
beware of mr baker documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkogrxQFei8
quote:Excellent interview and example of the cantankerous Ginger Baker.
If you like his smartass, yet straight forward and brutally honest remarks in this interview, you'd also like the documentary 'Beware Mr. Baker'
Q&A: Ginger Baker on Why 'the Rolling Stones Are Not Good Musicians'
'I wont go within 10 miles of a Stones gig,' says former Cream drummer
BY PATRICK DOYLE | October 11, 2013
Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker's life has changed since he starred in the 2012 documentary Beware of Mr. Baker. He moved to England with his wife and teenage daughter after decades of living on a South African polo ranch with 38 horses. He also formed a new group, Ginger Baker's Jazz Confusion, with saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, bassist Alec Dankworth and percussionist Abbas Dodoo out of an impromptu jam session in England and now they're in the middle of a run at New York's Iridium Jazz Club, ending October 13th.
Baker talked with Rolling Stone by phone about his new project, the weaknesses of his Sixties peers the Rolling Stones and why Cream will never play again after their 2005 reunion.
How are you doing?
??I'm doing the same as ever.
I wanted to ask you about Jazz Confusion and how the recent gigs went.
Every gig we've done has gone extremely well.
Did anything surprise you about playing with them? ?
No. ?
How did you put the group together?
It was a roadie friend of mine really, who got it together. Edgar, he's not really well at the moment. Abbas and I have been together for over five years now. But Edgar got Alec Dankworth, who's my favorite bass player of all time. He's the best bass player I think I've ever played with. He's just great. He's got a great sense of humor. It's really a joy to play with him and it's really good music.
Why is Alec your favorite bass player?
Because of the way he plays!
Did you have any expectations going into it?
I just wanted to play again.
How did that decision start??
I don't know!
Do you remember where you got the idea to do this? ??
No, not really.
Are you living in England now? ??
Yes. That's where I am right now. You just phoned me so you know that this is an English phone number.
I know, I just wanted to ask.
Well why ask me questions if you know the answer?
I thought you might be playing gigs or rehearsing or something. Anyway, why did you want to go back and live in England again??
Because that's where the musicians are.
Do you still have a home in South Africa?
When did you sell it? ??
A couple of years ago.
Do you miss it?
Yeah, I miss a lot of it, but that's the way life goes sometimes.
Has your life changed at all since Beware of Mr. Baker [Jay Bulger's 2012 award-winning documentary] in any way? ??
Did you get a lot of good feedback from the film? ??
I don't know! I have nothing to do with it.
Did you like it? ??
Some of it is very good and some of it is annoying.
Like what?
Like some of the people he interviewed. One of them I specifically told him I didn't want the guy on the film. (mentions a former manager) He was a lazy bastard and cost me a fortune.
But at the same time you had people like Eric Clapton and Charlie Watts.
Yeah, that was very nice. That was very good.
You've played the Iridium before and you played for Max Roach there. Are you excited to play
I played with who there? ??
You played for Max Roach there.
No I didn't.
Well he came to your show.
He came to two or three of the shows. Max is a great friend of mine.
Do you have good memories from playing in New York, specifically at this club?
?Yeah, that was a great band. The DJQ was a really great band.
How long has it been since you played a show in the States [besides Cream's reunion]? ??
I don't know. A long time. Probably the last actual show I played was at the Iridium. I don't know when it was. 1997, I think.
?What is it like coming back and playing again? ?
I don't know! What is it like ???
Is it exciting? ?
?I don't know. I don't get excited anymore.
Why not? ?
Because I don't! I never have done.
How is your health nowadays???
Not good.
?Are you feeling okay though? ?
No. It's troubling. At the end of the gig I'm absolutely exhausted.
It's amazing that you still have the stamina to do this.
Well, I don't! (laughs)
Then why do it? ??
Because I enjoy the music.
Is that one place where you are happy? When you're playing with a group of people? ??
When we're actually playing, it's the good bit, and after is not so good.
Are there any health issues right now that you're concerned about? ??
Yes. I've got degenerative osteoarthritis, which is extremely painful and I'm on a regiment with a health service pain management control. Apart from that I've got COPD from smoking.
Are you still smoking? ??
Yeah. (laughs)
You look good and you're playing well though.
I look good because of my wife. She makes sure I look good.
The film and some articles made a big deal about your financial situation. Is that one of the reasons you're touring again?
One of them, yeah. You have to earn money to live, don't you? I'm not a super rich person.
The Stones just wrapped up a tour. Have you heard them lately or what do you think of how they're playing nowadays?
(laughs) You're joking right? ?
I mean Charlie is a great friend of mine. I think the world of Charlie. When I was living in the States, Charlie came to see me at my house and he said, "I'd give you some tickets but I know you would never go!" I won't go within 10 miles of a Rolling Stones gig.
Why is that?
They're not good musicians, that's why. The best musician in the Stones is Charlie by a country mile.
I agree he is. But the way they play together, people argue, is greater than the parts.
People can argue what they like.
Do you agree they're great songwriters, though?
No, not really.
Is it crazy that they're still doing it? ??
They are earning lots of money.
Are you a fan of the Who?
No. I knew Pete Townshend's dad better than I knew Pete Townshend. I worked with Pete Townshend's dad in the early Sixties and late Fifties. Keith Moon was a friend of mine but I wouldn't say he was a great drummer.
Dylan is still on the road.
Is he?
Yes. Were you a big Dylan fan? ??
I'm not a big anybody fan.
What was the last record that excited you?
God knows. I don't know. I don't listen to music.
Why? ??
Because I don't!?
It's what you do, though.
Yeah. So when you're talking about a bus driver, his holiday is driving?
Something I watch fairly regularly is the Cream Royal Albert Hall film from 2005.
Yeah. That was really good.
I wanted to see what that was like for you and what it was like to go back to that place.
The question I find the most annoying is, "What was it like?"
"What was it like?" I played the drums, man!?
But you were with people that you have a deep history with and recorded a lot of music that people really love.
Yeah. . .
So that meant a lot to a lot of people, so it's interesting to hear what it meant to you.
Well, it was very enjoyable.
I've read that you've gotten offers to do it again.
Who did? ?
You did.
No, I didn't!
That [bassist] Jack Bruce contacted you about another reunion?
Well, he didn't.
?Would you do it again? ??
We've done it.
But it was only six shows. You wouldn't want to do anymore?
Well, it was actually seven shows, but never mind. You guys always get everything wrong. This sort of rubbish that people publish about news is quite extraordinary.
We'll do our best to get it right. I guess it just comes with being a respected figure.
I don't know whether it's being respected or not. I get more bad press than I do good press. (laughs)
For a band that was only together for a couple years, you made such an impact on people that are still emulating that music. It's one of the most influential groups ever.
Yeah but that was it. Nobody's ever gonna do that again. The only people that can do that was us.
?But I felt like in 2005 you found a new way to play together that wasn't exactly the same as the old way but you sounded like you you guys had so much experience and it was kind of laid-back, which was cool.
We're older. That's why. (Laughs)
Do you keep in touch with any current music on the charts or any pop music? ??
No. (pause) I do like some of the girl singers though, ?like Kelly Rowland, Emeli Sandé.
Do you like any new rock bands?
No, I don't listen to them. Most of them are pretty bloody awful.
Well they can't really match what you guys did.
Nobody ever could.
Do you think that there's so many distractions today that most people don't really put in enough time to be great musicians???
(grumbles) Oh God. Musicians are born. You can't become a great musician if you haven't got the gift.
But a lot of practice helps though, right?
No, it doesn't.
I practiced for a couple of years, in 1958 and '59, and since I haven't practiced at all. The only time I bang my drums is when we're on a gig.
What do you mean, "Wow?" ??
To play the way you play, you would think you would have to keep up with it.
?Keep up with what? ??
Being able to play the way you play.
I've always been able to play the way I play.
Do you keep a drum set in the house now?
Yeah. Just one.
Does that get harder as you get older to play without practicing a lot or no?
(laughs) We play the music. That's what I do. I'm the drummer. I play the drums. Enough.
Do you still try to get better though? Are you still trying to do new things???
No. You can play what you want to play. What's the point of trying to play things that are difficult just for the fact of doing it? ??
Do you still have your horses? ?
No, I don't. I lost them all.
There's a saying that " **** happens" and it happened. Alright?
quote:quote:And yet Clapton can't run fast enough to get away from him.
Ginger is a character.
Which Clapton also explains somewhat in the documentary....My take is Clapton simply doesn't like conflict and is somewhat introverted, shy, and prefers to avoid relationships that are slightly toxic and volatile. Which could explain why he moved from one band to the next early in his career. That is to say, it wasn't just about "following the music or his muse" so to speak but is directly related to his personality.
quote:quote:quote:And yet Clapton can't run fast enough to get away from him.
Ginger is a character.
Which Clapton also explains somewhat in the documentary....My take is Clapton simply doesn't like conflict and is somewhat introverted, shy, and prefers to avoid relationships that are slightly toxic and volatile. Which could explain why he moved from one band to the next early in his career. That is to say, it wasn't just about "following the music or his muse" so to speak but is directly related to his personality.
Perhaps the funniest (intentional?) story in the film - Clapton talks about the rehearsals for the band that would become Blind Faith. They literally tried to do this without Ginger's knowledge. Then one day while rehearsing they look out the window to see Ginger pulling up in his car .


text:
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Rationale for initial character setup
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Topic: Rationale for initial character setup (Read 4408 times)
Posts: 1155
designer of Dirty Secrets
Rationale for initial character setup
October 19, 2007, 10:46:13 AM »
In another thread, Per wrote:
Seth, could you perhaps share your thoughts on how the initial characters in the game are written - why did you choose this approach, and why are characters created during the game done differently?
Sure! I don't have the time right now, though, so this will be a placeholder thread for me.
I'll come back and explain in a bit.
Seth Ben-Ezra
Dark Omen Games
Legends of Alyria
Dirty Secrets
A Flower for Mara
coming soon:
Posts: 1155
designer of Dirty Secrets
Re: Rationale for initial character setup
Reply #1 on:
October 19, 2007, 12:56:00 PM »
Okay, I have a little time, so let's jump into this.
I will cop to being a selfish game designer. I really only want to design games that I want to play and will fit into my life. So, one of my personal bugaboos about roleplaying is prep. Frankly, I hate it. I don't really have the time for in-depth prep anymore, and, honestly, I don't want a heap of homework to do so that I can enjoy the next game night. I got into this hobby to play and be creative, not do spreadsheets! Yes, that's an unfair characterization, but it was fun to write.
So, one of my ongoing design goals is to reduce or eliminate prep from my games.
Legends of Alyria
took the first step, with its storymapping and initial prep session being built into gameplay. So, rather than the Narrator having to prepare something, the group preps for it at the table. These days, everyone points at
Primetime Adventures
and thinks, "So what?" But when I originally wrote
Legends of Alyria
, it was a fairly radical idea.
So I decided to take the next step with
Dirty Secrets
. I've been playing a lot of German boardgames over the last five years, and I've wanted a roleplaying game that was as easy to set up as a boardgame. Just think: most boardgames require no prep. You just pull it off the shelf, sit down, and play! That's what I wanted out of my roleplaying, and that's what I wanted out of
Dirty Secrets
. Also, I knew that I wanted
Dirty Secrets
to be a player-driven game, while still having the shock of the Big Reveal. So this was another reason that GM-based prep was out. Finally, I wanted
Dirty Secrets
to be a GMless game, because I like playing GMless games.
Therefore, I needed a system that quickly generated a starting situation to allow the gaming group to get past all that annoying prep and into the interesting bit, which is actually playing the game.
I don't know exactly where I got the "pass stuff around the table" idea. At the very least, I was probably thinking about Burden creation in
, but there may have been other games in the mix as well. Anyways, this method allowed for a semi-random generation of characters, which I liked. Another feature is that, once you label the appropriate Character cards as being investigator, victim, or suspect, the players have an opportunity to shape the starting situation without having complete control over any one element. As a result, the starting Characters are nothing that any one player would have chosen to do.
Also, it breaks down the decision matrix. Rather than having to dream up an entire character, each decision point was fairly simple: choose a Demographic, and then select an option from the list. So, if you had the investigator sitting in front of you, you could think, "It would be neat if the investigator is just a regular person" and therefore select "citizen" for Legal Status.
Towards the end of development, I added the veto mechanic. If you look at it closely, it's really just the Appeal mechanic, but turned inside out a bit. This was to solve a specific design problem: how can you let a player Appeal part of a character, if no one can definitely be said to be the original narrator? I also wanted to introduce Appeal here to prevent too much silliness in the initial situation. This turned up
a lot
with senior citizens. The rules have explicit limits on minors (which is the only explicit concession that the game gives to Lines, by the way), but the game says nothing about senior citizens. So playtests were constantly turning up Characters who were 80 or 90 years old. I couldn't Appeal, in that rules draft, so I added the veto rules to give players some control after they saw what the process had wrought.
(At this point, I want to publicly thank Paul Czege for being the person who finally pushed me over the edge to institute a rule to let me stem the tide of senior citizens in my games.)
This went back to a basic design principle that I had established for the game. I didn't want the players to be able to override the objective decisions of the game mechanics. This meant that I needed to be careful about which decisions I handed over to the game system, but I also wanted to make sure that any decisions that the game system made were irrevocable. So, for example, this is why you select a Crime to be resolved
already been established
This group<
There's one scene in particular I would like to talk about. The opening scene with Lucy (who was at this point a non-character) and the investigator. In it, Lucy describes the murder victim and how she was murdered, going into a fair amount of detail, including a blatant rip-off of, or, if one is generous, an homage to, Chinatown, all of which sets up a lot of the action to come.
It was a great opening scene in terms of serving the purpose of opening scenes (laying lots of clues to be followed up on in the middle part of the story).
Later, Lucy is now a [C]haracter, and it turns out that the murder victim is actually a suicide victim and that Lucy helped cover it up. But, in the opening scene Lucy said it was a murder victim, and spoke about the murder in a very CSI manner, giving out lots of details.
Meaning, in the opening scene, Lucy was lying through her teeth. But the really amazing part is, in that opening scene, the two advisors, the investigator, the investigator's player, and the narrator, all thought she was telling the truth.
Now the opening scene is incredible because it not only set up action, but it also had a character who was deeply involved in everything, up to and including the investigator's back story, lying big time and nobody knew it.
Seth Ben-Ezra
Dark Omen Games
Legends of Alyria
Dirty Secrets
A Flower for Mara
coming soon:
Per Fischer
Posts: 203
Re: Rationale for initial character setup
Reply #2 on:
October 20, 2007, 07:07:16 AM »
Totally, Seth, thanks for the comprehensive answer
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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