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Going through a bankruptcy, either personally or with your business, can affect your ability to qualify for a mortgage. Your credit score may drop, and you may need to wait before applying for a home loan. It all depends on the size of your down payment and how high of an interest rate you can tolerate. Here's what you need to know if you have been through a bankruptcy:
Types of Bankruptcy
There are three common types of bankruptcy: Chapter 7, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13. Chapter 7 and 13 are for personal debts while Chapter 11 is for business debts. With Chapter 7, most of your assets will be liquidated with the proceeds being paid to your creditors. You are then released from your dischargeable debts and can have a fresh start with your finances. With Chapter 13, you work out a debt repayment plan with the court, that allows you to keep certain assets like your home while you pay off your debts over three to five years. In a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, your business debts are reorganized, reduced, or discharged or some combination of all three. Even though this is business related, it can affect your personal credit score if you put any of the business debt in your name.
Waiting Periods
Any of these bankruptcy types can dramatically reduce your credit score, signaling to mortgage lenders that you might be more of a lending risk. The good news is that the effect bankruptcy has on your credit will diminish over time. Chapter 7 and 13 bankruptcies are removed from your credit report after 10 years and Chapter 11 bankruptcies will be removed after seven. And fortunately, you do not have to wait even that long before qualifying for a mortgage loan.
The minimum waiting period depends on the type of loan you want. For a conventional, conforming loan, you can apply as soon as four years after a Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcy or just two years after a Chapter 11 discharge.
The minimum wait times are even shorter for government-backed loans. For FHA, VA or USDA loans, those with personal bankruptcies only have to wait 2 years before applying while those with a business bankruptcy have to wait just one year.
It is important to know that if your bankruptcy was due to a home foreclosure, the waiting periods could be even longer as lenders will be wary of lending to someone who has previously defaulted on a mortgage loan.
Should You Wait Longer?
Of course, if you apply for a mortgage after the minimum amount of waiting you will likely be offered higher interest rates and possibly even be asked to contribute higher down payments than if you waited longer. Interest rates that are even just one point higher can end up costing your tens of thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your loan. By waiting for at least four years and building up your credit score through timely payments on all your accounts, you will prove you are a better investment and will be rewarded with more palatable loan terms.
New Mortgage Programs are added every week
Don't let the above information deter you from obtaining the American Dream of Homeownership, there are new mortgage programs coming into the market each week. At USA Mortgage Network, Inc., it's our job to stay on top of the market and know of any new loan programs. So, if you've been through a bankruptcy and want to find out what home financing options are available to you - pick up the phone and give us a call today at 413-737-1100 . We'll gladly take the time to answer all of your questions.


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Outsourcing Hiring Decisions to Colleges
A while back I wrote this as part of a response saying that the only way to get into a top consultancy was to got to Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Stanford. Having joined a top consulting firm from Princeton and Harvard, I thought some of their observations to be BS, but there is a certain core of truth. As I wrote then:
There is some rationality in this approach – it is not all mindless snobbism. Take Princeton. It screens something like 25,000 already exceptional applicants down to just 1500, and then further carefully monitors their performance through intensive contact over a four year period. This is WAY more work and resources than a private firm could ever apply to the hiring process. In effect, by limiting their hiring to just a few top schools, they are outsourcing a lot of their performance evaluation work to those schools.
Matthew Shaffer, via Glen Reynolds, write something similar about all college degrees:
Those of us who question the price and value of higher education don't disagree that people with B.A.s do much better in life, especially in employment. We disagree about the source of that advantage: The B.A. may mostlycorrelate with and signal for, rather than impart important qualities. (Really we all agree it's some mix of the three factors — our differences are of emphasis.)...
We skeptics think this: Since employers can no longer measure job applicants' IQs nor put them through long apprenticeships, graduating college is the way job-searchers signal an intelligence and diligence that college itself may have contributed little toward. Employers are (to use a little economic jargon) partially outsourcing their employee search to colleges. This is a good deal for employers, because college costs them nothing, and the social pressure to get a BA means they won't miss too many good prospective recruits by limiting their search to college grads.
I think this has a lot of truth to it, but it can't entirely be true -- if it were, your degree would not matter but we know engineering and economics majors get hired more than poetry majors. Though one could still stick with the strong skeptical position by arguing that degree choice is again merely a signal as to interests and outlook and a potentially even a proxy for other characteristics (to the latter point, what is your mental picture of an engineering major? a women's studies major? a politics major? an econ major?)

subset: commoncrawl


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By default, ML Kit's APIs make use of Google trained machine learning models. These models are designed to cover a wide range of applications. However, some use cases require models that are more targeted. That is why some ML Kit APIs now allow you to replace the default models with custom TensorFlow Lite models.
Both the Image Labeling and the Object Detection & Tracking API offer support for custom image classification models. They are compatible with a selection of high-quality pre-trained models on TensorFlow Hub or your own custom model trained with TensorFlow, AutoML Vision Edge or TensorFlow Lite Model Maker.
If you need a custom solution for other domains or use-cases, visit the On-device Machine Learning page for guidance on all of Google's solutions and tools for on-device machine learning.
Benefits of using ML Kit with custom models
The benefits for using a custom image classification model with ML Kit are:
- Easy-to-use high level APIs - No need to deal with low-level model input/output, handle image pre-/post-processing or building a processing pipeline.
- No need to worry about label mapping yourself, ML Kit extracts the labels from TFLite model metadata and does the mapping for you.
- Supports custom models from a wide range of sources, from pre-trained models published on TensorFlow Hub to new models trained with TensorFlow, AutoML Vision Edge or TensorFlow Lite Model Maker.
- Supports models hosted with Firebase. Reduces APK size by downloading models on demand. Push model updates without republishing your app and perform easy A/B testing with Firebase Remote Config.
- Optimized for integration with Android's Camera APIs.
And, specifically for Object Detection and Tracking:
- Improve classification accuracy by locating the objects first and only run the classifier on the related image area.
- Provide a real-time interactive experience by providing your users immediate feedback on objects as they are being detected and classified.
Use a pre-trained image classification model
You can use pre-trained TensorFlow Lite models, provided they meet a set of criteria. Through TensorFlow Hub we are offering a set of vetted models - from Google or other model creators - that meet these criteria.
Use a model published on TensorFlow Hub
TensorFlow Hub offers a wide range of pre-trained image classification models - from various model creators - that can be used with the Image Labeling and Object Detection and Tracking APIs. Follow these steps.
- Pick a model from the collection of ML Kit compatible models.
- Download the .tflite model file from the model details page. Where available, pick a model format with metadata.
- Follow our guides for the Image Labeling API or Object Detection and Tracking API on how to bundle model file with your project and use it in your Android or iOS application.
Train your own image classification model
If no pre-trained image classification model fits your needs, there are various ways to train your own TensorFlow Lite model, some of which are outlined and discussed in more detail below.
Options to train your own image classification model | |
AutoML Vision Edge |
TensorFlow Lite Model Maker |
Convert a TensorFlow model to TensorFlow Lite |
AutoML Vision Edge
Image classification models trained using AutoML Vision Edge are supported by the custom models in the Image Labeling and Object Detection and Tracking API APIs. These APIs also support download of models that are hosted with Firebase model deployment.
To learn more about how to use a model trained with AutoML Vision Edge in your Android and iOS apps, follow the custom model guides for each API, depending on your use case.
TensorFlow Lite Model Maker
The TFLite Model Maker library simplifies the process of adapting and converting a TensorFlow neural-network model to particular input data when deploying this model for on-device ML applications. You can follow the Colab for Image classification with TensorFlow Lite Model Maker.
To learn more about how to use a model trained with Model Maker in your Android and iOS apps, follow our guides for the Image Labeling API or the Object Detection and Tracking API, depending on your use case.
Models created using TensorFlow Lite converter
If you have an existing TensorFlow image classification model, you can convert it using the TensorFlow Lite converter. Please ensure the model created meets the compatibility requirements below.
To learn more about how to use a TensorFlow Lite model in your Android and iOS apps, follow our guides for the Image Labeling API or the Object Detection and Tracking API, depending on your use case.
TensorFlow Lite model compatibility
You can use any pre-trained TensorFlow Lite image classification model, provided it meets these requirements:
- The model must have only one input tensor with the following constraints:
- The data is in RGB pixel format.
- The data is UINT8 or FLOAT32 type. If the input tensor type is FLOAT32, it must specify the NormalizationOptions by attaching Metadata.
- The tensor has 4 dimensions : BxHxWxC, where:
- B is the batch size. It must be 1 (inference on larger batches is not supported).
- W and H are the input width and height.
- C is the number of expected channels. It must be 3.
- The model must have at least one output tensor with N classes and either 2
or 4 dimensions:
- (1xN)
- (1x1x1xN)
- Currently only single-head models are fully supported. Multi-head models may output unexpected results.
You can add metadata to the TensorFlow Lite file as explained in Adding metadata to TensorFlow Lite model.
To use a model with FLOAT32 input tensor, you must specify the NormalizationOptions in the metadata.
We also recommend that you attach this metadata to the output tensor TensorMetadata:
- A label map specifying the name of each output class, as an AssociatedFile with type TENSOR_AXIS_LABELS (otherwise only the numerical output class indices can be returned)
- A default score threshold below which results are considered too low-confidence to be returned, as a ProcessUnit with ScoreThresholdingOptions


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From philosophy to mythology, an object in life...
In many cultures, beliefs and beliefs, there is the concept of the tree of life. Tree of Life; It is a manifestation of life, the consciousness of existence. The sacred tree is an integrating image, which is called the tree of the world, the tree of the universe, the cosmic tree… It symbolizes rootedness, continuity, fertility, immortality, existence, luck and fertility. The tree of life is a symbol of a new beginning in life, positive energy, a healthy and bright future.
The tree of life, which is a special design of the Corporate Gift Agency, is decorated with 7 birds. Both the number 7 and the bird figure are symbols of luck and luck in many cultures.
The size of the handmade bird tree of life object with its base is 20*18,5*5cm. Dimension of pedestal: 13,5*4,5*5 cm. The ideal writing area for the plaque is 12*2,5cm. Our product is completely domestic production. Because it is handmade, there may be slight variations in product size.
The product is presented in a special wooden box. Logo application on the box is optional.


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Immediate Dispatch for Qualifying Emergencies! 24/7 Emergencies
Attic Mold Removal Services for Piedmont Addition Texas Homes and Businesses by the Areas Most Trusted Mitigation & Remediation Company
Piedmont Addition, Plano Attic Mold Removal Service Area Dallas, Highland Park, University Park, Northwest Dallas, Lake Highlands, North Dallas, Oak Lawn, Cedar Crest, Wolf Creek, Piedmont Addition, Cockrell Hill, Plano residents and commercial business owners
See Our Full Dallas, Plano Service Area
Attic Mold Removal and testing in Piedmont Addition Texas What you need to know and why
When it comes to attic mold removal, and for that matter it's testing one thing is for certain, you must choose your mold removal, remediation, and testing company wisely. In many cities and states, Piedmont Addition and Texas included, mold removal and remediation is not a regulated industry. With mold such a health issue with long term implications, you need to make sure you choose a company that has tenure in the industry, a strong train and retrain program that ensures the most advanced, least invasive and most effective methods of removal are utilized. Some fly-by-night companies use questionable tactics, and in some cases harmful products. Additionally some companies utilize sub-contracted labor that has no embedded loyalty to a professional process, or even have the proper training needed to ensure your mold removal process is successful. Trust Texas State Restoration, the mold removal company your neighbors, as well as the brands of many fortune 500 and government organizations have trusted for over a decade!
Learn More About Our Services and CompanyWhy Attic Mold Removal is So Important
Mold can be harmful to your health, and to the structure of your property. What you may not know is that the degree of danger with mold to your health is not only dependent on the type of mold present, but to a greater degree, the people that come in contact with. There are so many variables when it comes to the toxicity of mold, that no matter the mold type, it should always be deemed harmful from the get go.
When it comes to us humans, our immune systems and our bio-makeup are all different, one person that may be affected by allergy to one type of mold, may have no reaction to another, and a second person in the house may react completely the opposite, and so on and so forth. Add to that the status of each person's immune system, and you have a chaotic situation that may be hard to unwind. If a member of a household, or an employee has a compromised immune system due to illness, or chronic conditions, they may be far more susceptible to the affects of present mold. Bottom line, to properly test for mold issues, you should also test each person for their mold sensitivities…we all know that's not feasible in most cases, and the costs of doing so would escalate the overall attic mold removal costs, most clients take the stance that any mold is bad mold, and that the health of all involved is not worth the risk, and go ahead and undertake a mold removal project knowing that once done properly, there is little need to worry.
No Matter the Type, Source or Location of Your Mold Most Experts Agree it Should be Removed, That Includes the Removal of Mold
"Any visible mold should be removed, no matter what its color or species," says Tiina Reponen, PhD, professor of environmental health at the University of Cincinnati. "In a healthy building, you don't have visible mold."
Attic Mold Removal and Your Health | Chronic Illness Concerns
When it comes to chronic illness, mold removal isn't really an option, it's mandated. We hear it all the time, doctors telling patients that they have to mitigate all mold issues or their immune systems will be inundated with spores to the point it won't be able to respond to the illness(es) at hand. Additionally, the presence of mold can start a cascading effect that could take a seeming well well person and expose their immune system to enough mold spore duress that any lurking illness that was being kept at bay can now take advantage of a weakened immune status and create a chronic condition by it's mere presence.
The CDC's Perspective on Mold Testing and Removal
"Generally, it is not necessary to identify the species of mold growing in a residence, and CDC does not recommend routine sampling for molds. Current evidence indicates that allergies are the type of diseases most often associated with molds. Since the susceptibility of individuals can vary greatly either because of the amount or type of mold, sampling and culturing are not reliable in determining your health risk. If you are susceptible to mold and mold is seen or smelled, there is a potential health risk; therefore, no matter what type of mold is present, you should arrange for its removal. Furthermore, reliable sampling for mold can be expensive, and standards for judging what is and what is not an acceptable or tolerable quantity of mold have not been established."
The EPA's Perspective on Mold Testing and Removal
"Is sampling for mold needed? In most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary. Since no EPA or other federal limits have been set for mold or mold spores, sampling cannot be used to check a building's compliance with federal mold standards. Surface sampling may be useful to determine if an area has been adequately cleaned or remediated."
There You Have It, Got Mold at Your Piedmont Addition TX Property, Just Remove it!
When it comes to attic mold removal and remediation prevention is the best policy, in TX that means calling the professionals at Texas State Restoration for immediate resolution so you can rest easy.
Attic Mold Removal; The Good News is Texas State Restoration Has All Piedmont Addition TX Residents and Commercial Business Owners and Managers Covered
Thankfully residents in Texas have Texas State Restoration available to remediate their residential and commercial attic mold issues. The good news is, there is a path to recovery, and mold can be mitigated successfully. With the proper processes, highly trained staff members, and the latest in technological advances in mold removal, Texas State Restoration will leave you knowing that your attic mold issue is a thing of the past.
Futureproof Your Attic Mold Removal Project
When our qualified staff finishes your mold removal project at your Piedmont Addition TX home or business, we end the project with a follow up prevention plan that outlines what, if any steps need to be taken to mitigate any future attic mold growth, additionally you may have the option to encapsulate the entire affected area, if that is undertaken, Texas State Restoration offers one of the industries longest warranties of up to 30 years. Ask your staff member to explain the details upon estimate.
Mold is Serious Business
We here at Texas State Restoration can answer any pre-project questions you may have about mold and it's removal. Additionally if you are looking for health related information about how attic mold may be affecting your health or the health of others, you can also reach out to the State of Texas Health Department or your local health department for particular information (details below)
Texas Department of Health Contact Details if Required
Contact Details
Phone Number:
Mailing Address:
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas 78756-3199
Street Address:
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas 78756-3199
When you call Texas State Restoration for attic mold removal we handle everything for you, from the inspection, to the cleanup, to the final reporting to any necessary health and environmental agencies required by law. If you have any questions at all through the process with regards to those regulations if they apply, and they don't always do, then feel free to contact us, or the agency listed below for more information.
Piedmont Addition Building Department
320 E Jefferson Blvd
Dallas, TX 75203
Why Texas State Restoration
- Texas State Restoration is Fully Insured
- IICRC Certified
- Workmanship Quality Guarantee
- Comprehensive and self instituted train and retrain program for employees
- Texas State Restoration performs background checks on all staff members
- Instituted project management and quality control systems and processes
- Dedicated account and project managers for each and every project
- True 24 emergency response, not just emergency "call" response
- 1 hour or less onsite response times during emergencies to 95% of service areas
- Personalized service from initial consultation to project completion follow up
- Direct insurance billing (we work for you and not the insurance companies during mitigation, national franchises have loyalties to large insurers that may be biased based on the funneling of work)
- Experience managing state and federal contracts
- Locally owned and operated (decisions are taken locally and not mandated at some national level with disregard for onsite needs for both property and people, with Texas State Restoration you're not just a number)
- Big company resources with local decision making and compassion
Call Texas State Restoration today and ensure your attic mold removal project at your Piedmont Addition TX home or commercial business goes off without a hitch, is done expeditiously, and will be done once and for all. 903-609-3027
Let Texas State Restoration Help Guide You Through The Complex Process Of Your Insurance Claim Submittal.
Texas State Restoration Can help you navigate the somewhat troublesome process of filing an insurance claim by assisting with direct billing. Additionally, understanding your entitlements within your policy can add some additional confusion, and the professionals at Texas State Restoration can help you understand your policy provisions so you can be brought back to pre-loss condition as quickly, and painlessly as possible.
It's important to act quickly during, and just after an event. Whether it's water damage, fire and smoke damage, or any other covered event, the burden of mitigating future damage and loss falls on the shoulders of the policy owner. Not only do you have to file a claim as soon as you know an insured event has occurred, you must take any and all necessary steps to mitigate future damage, failing to do so may have an impact on the amount covered.
Managing your insurance claim whether it is commercial or residential requires patience and knowledge, something most people in crisis mode are in short supply of. Adding to the complexities of properly filing a claim is the emotional stress that many times accompanies an emergency event. Texas State Restoration is positioned to help you navigate this process as well as offer direct billing with reporting to your insurance provider to help streamline the insurance claim filing and settlement process as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
Get Started with Attic Mold Removal Today!
We value the safety and well-being of our customers and their families, when it comes to attic mold removal for Texas residents count on the rapid task force at Texas State Restoration! We know how daunting and invasive attic mold can be in your residence, which is why we want to make it as easy as possible to reach us for a solution. You don't have to waste another moment worrying over a home mold problem. Ensure the safety of your loved ones by consulting our attic mold removal experts at Texas State Restoration. Simply call us at 903-609-3027 or contact us through our convenient online form for a free consultation.
Commercial Damage Restoration Services
Commercial water damage repair, restoration, remediation, cleanup and dryout for hotels, restaurants, resorts, schools, office buildings, retail stores, nursing homes, municipal buildings, apartment complexes, condominiums, industrial manufacturing, churches, and more!
"They were fast, professional and caring, which is often difficult to find! They went above and beyond to make sure our home, as well as many in our neighborhood, was taken care of! I highly recommend this company to anyone!"
Why Texas State Restoration
- Fully Insured
- IICRC Certified
- Workmanship Guarantee
- Staff Background Checks
- Train and Retain Programs
- Personalized Service
Let Texas State Restoration Help Guide You Through The Complex Process Of Your Insurance Claim Submittal.
"Thank you Texas State Restoration for your immediate response to our Sanitizing and Disinfecting request at our Facility on April 7th. You delivered on what you promised and we were able to open our Facility within 24hrs."
Understanding Water Damage Restoration Services
When it comes to commercial water damage, residential water damage, including damage from storms and flooding, Texas State Restoration has you covered. With each event, man made or natural, there are specific skillsets needed and concerns to be considered, everything from coverage entitlements, to business downtime, to the health of everyone involved, you need a company with experience by your side to ensure a favorable outcome, after all it's not just about fixing the damage, it's about putting all of the pieces of your business or life back together as quickly as possible.


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In recent posts I have contrasted morality with ontological, as well as existential, etc. I've had comments here and elsewhere in which people stumbled over the terms. The distinction offered is not a private matter. Orthodox theologians for better than a century have struggled to make these points as being utterly necessary to the life of the Orthodox faith. The following is a small article of mine that tries to do some of the same. In a nutshell: morality is "life according to rules or reasonable philosophies." The Orthodox contention is that morality fails to describe the true nature of the Christian life. Rather the word ontological is more proper: it means have to do with the very being of someone – their essence. What we need is not a change in behavior (morality) but a change in who we are (ontology). Christ came to change us, not reform us.
Morality does not use Orthodox means – it's all in the "head." It is rules. Ontological change requires that our very being or existence (thus the word existential) be united with Christ, His life becomes our life and thus we live a new life. Once this fundamental approach is understood, so we can begin to under the mysteries of the Church and the true character of our life in Christ. Thus this article – a meager thing meant to be of some help.
The nature of things is an important question to ask – or should I say an a priori question. For once we are able to state what is the nature of things then the answers to many questions framed by the nature of things will also begin to be apparent. All of this is another way of saying that questions have a way of determining answers. So what is the nature of things? More specifically, what is the nature of things such that Christians believe humanity needs salvation? (Non-Christians will already feel co-opted but I write as a Christian – can't be helped).
I want to state briefly several things which seem to me to be of importance about the nature of things in this regard.
1. It is the nature of things that man does not have a legal problem with God. That is to say, the nature of our problem is not forensic. The universe is not a law-court.
2. It is the nature of things that Christ did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men live. This is to say that the nature of our problem is not moral but existential or ontological. We have a problem that is rooted in the very nature of our existence, not in our behavior. We behave badly because of a prior problem. Good behavior will not correct the problem.
3. It is the nature of things that human beings were created to live through communion with God. We were not created to live as self-sufficient individuals marked largely by our capacity for choice and decision. To restate this: we are creatures of communion, not creatures of consumption.
So much for the nature of things. (I'll do my best to leave behind the syllogisms and return to my usual form of writing.)
Much of my experience as an American Christian has been an encounter with people who do not see mankind's problem as existential or ontological – but rather as moral. They have seen that we behave badly and thought that the primary task of the Church (following whatever event was considered "necessary" for salvation) was to help influence people to be "good." Thus I recall a Sunday School teacher who in my pre-school years (as well as a first-grade teacher who attempted the same) urging me and my classmates to "take the pledge." That is, that we would agree not to smoke tobacco or drink alcohol before age 21. The assumption seemed to be that if we waited that long then we would likely never begin. In at least one of those cases an actual document was proffered. For the life of me I cannot remember whether I signed or not. The main reason I cannot remember was that the issues involved seemed unimportant to me at the time. Virtually every adult in my life smoked. And I was not generally familiar with many men who did not drink. Thus my teachers were asking me to sign a document saying that I thought my father and my grandfather were not good men. I think I did not sign. If I did, then I lied and broke the pledge at a frightfully early age.
My later experience has proven the weakness of the assumptions held by the teachers of my youth. Smoking wasn't so much right or wrong as it was addicting and deadly. I smoked for 20 years and give thanks to God for the grace he gave me to quit. I feel stupid as I look back at the actions of those 20 years, but not necessarily "bad." By the same token, I have known quite a few alcoholics (some of them blood relatives) and have generally found them to be about as moral as anyone else and sometimes moreso. I have also seen the destruction wrought by the abuse of alcohol. But I have seen similar destruction in families who never drank and the continuation of destruction in families where alcohol had been removed. Drinking can have serious consequences, but not drinking is not the same thing as curing the problem.
I had a far more profound experience, indeed a series of experiences, when I was ten years old – experiences that made a much deeper impression and framed the questions that burned in my soul about the nature of things.
The first experience was the murder of an aunt. She was 45 and a darling of the family. Everyone loved her. Her murder was simply a matter of "random" chance – she was in the wrong place at the wrong time or simply in a convenient place for a man who meant to do great harm to someone. No deep mystery, just a brutal death. The same year another aunt died as a result of a multi-year battle with lupus (an auto-immune disease). And to add to these things, my 10th year was also the year of Kennedy's assassination. Thus when the year was done it seemed to me that death was an important question – even the important question.
It probably says that I was marked by experiences that were unusual for a middle-class white boy in the early 60's. It also meant that when I later read Dostoevsky in my teens, I was hooked.
The nature of things is that people die – and not only do they die – but death, already at work in them from the moment of their birth, is the primary issue. The failure of humanity is not to be found or understood in a purely moral context. We are not creatures of choice and decision. How and why we choose is a very complex process that we ourselves do not understand. We can make a "decision" for Jesus only to discover that little has changed. It is also possible to find ourselves caught in a chain of decisions that bring us to the brink of despair without knowing quite how we got there. Though there are clearly problems with our choosing and deciding, the problem is far deeper.
One of the earliest Christian treatments of the human problem, hence the "nature of things," is to be found in St. Athanasius' On the Incarnation. He makes it quite clear that the root problem of humanity is to be found in the process of death. Not only are we all slowly moving towards some inevitable demise, the process of death (decay, corruption) is already at work in us. In Athanasius' imagery, it is as though we are falling back towards our origins in the dust of the earth. "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."
And thus it is that when he writes of the work of Christ it is clearly in terms of our deliverance from death (not just deliverance from the consequences of our bodily dissolution and its separation from the soul but the whole process of death itself.)
This is frequently the language of the New Testament as well. St. Paul will write: "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Or even on a more "moral" note he will caution us to "put to death the deeds of the body."
The importance of these distinctions (moral versus existential) is in how we treat our present predicament. If the problem is primarily moral then it makes sense to live life in the hortatory mode, constantly urging others to be good, to "take the pledge," or make good choices. If, on the other hand, our problem is rooted in the very nature of our existence then it is that existence that has to be addressed. And again, the New Testament, as well as the Tradition of the Church, turns our attention in this direction. Having been created for union with God, we will not be able to live in any proper way without that union. Thus our Baptism unites us to the death and resurrection of Christ, making possible a proper existence. Living that proper existence will not be done by merely trying to control our decisions and choices, but by consciously and unconsciously working to maintain our union with God. We are told "greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world." Thus our victory, and the hope of our victory is "Christ within you, the hope of glory."
And so if we will live in such communion we will struggle to pray, not as a moral duty, but as the very means of our existence. We pray, we fast, we give alms, we confess, we commune, not in order to be better people, but because if we neglect these things we will die. And the death will be slow and marked by the increasing dissolution of who and what we are.
In over 30 years of ministry, I have consistently found this model of understanding to better describe what I encounter and what I live on a day to day basis. In the past twelve years of my life as an Orthodox Christian, I have found this account of things not only to continue to describe reality better – but also to be in conformity with the Fathers. It is a strong case for Christian Tradition that it actually describes reality as we experience it better than the more modern accounts developed in the past four hundred years or so. Imagine. People understood life a thousand years ago such that they continue to describe the existential reality of modern man. Some things do not change – except by the grace of God and His infinite mercy.


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Hovefestival is 154 days away!
On Thursday we announced our involvement with the inaugural Hovefestival. A fantastic new event in Norway that plays host to a incredible varying bill across day and night stages, all by a beach with boat camping and more.
Now we've chosen to announce the first batch of bands to be appearing across the weekend. This is a very small sample of the array of acts performing across the five-day event and there's lots more - of bigger and smaller sizes - to be added.
So, without further ado:
Paul Wall
Me First And The Gimme Gimmes
The Presets
CSS (pictured)
120 Days
Ingrid Olava
She Said Destroy
You can find out more (if you can read Norwegian) by visiting www.hovefestival.com. An English website launches soon and we'll be selling fantastic package deals real soon too.


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The Guardian: "It is not Mr Darling who stretched Revenue and Customs to breaking point: it was Gordon Brown, who merged Inland Revenue with Customs and Excise in 2005. He began the swingeing cutbacks for this new super-department."
Times: "The Government needs to look again at the recent merger that has created this unwieldy department. A report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales paints a damning picture of a floundering agency whose disorganisation, lack of clarity and poor accountability would inflict "irreparable damage" on any normal commercial body. It says the dual targets of cutting costs and increasing efficiency are incompatible, with large job cuts leaving the HMRC reliant on untrained staff. It is little wonder that security breaches occurred."
The Independent: "In the decade that it has been in power, New Labour has shown an ineptitude with information technology that has not only cost the country dear, but sown doubts about how far it can be trusted. Now, our worst fears have been confirmed. A major government department has been exposed as taking a casual, not to say negligent, approach to other people's personal information. Civil servants have flouted their own rules and laws on data protection. We find it hard to believe that a government with such a colossal blot on its record of data management will be in a position to introduce a national identity card. That plan should be abandoned: a small benefit from a blunder of truly epic proportions."
The Sun: "This country desperately needs electronic ID cards to combat terrorism and protect national security. But who will trust an incompetent regime which casually allows the confidential records of half the population to be lost in the post?"
Telegraph: "Two of the primary functions of government are the efficient collection of taxation and the maintenance of a sound banking system. On both counts, Labour has fallen short. The Prime Minister himself is directly implicated. It was Mr Brown's Bank of England reforms in 1997 that created the regulatory structure that has been found so wanting. And it was Mr Brown who ordered the amalgamation of HM Customs and Excise into the Treasury, in a cost-cutting operation that has created a culture in which an official can pop ultra-sensitive personal data on half the population into the post without even recording or registering the package."
FT: "Mr Brown's administration has failed in one of the first duties of government: to protect its citizens. Never mind breaches of data protection laws. Fraudsters armed with details of bank accounts, national insurance numbers, and the names of almost every child in the country could wreak identity theft havoc on an un-dreamed-of scale."
Mail: "Meanwhile almost daily, wildly inaccurate figures are published on immigration or asylum seekers, only to be "corrected" hours later - and still they're wrong. Only yesterday, we learn that removals of failed asylum seekers have slumped to their lowest in five years, while threequarters of foreign prisoners who should have been deported remain here. Then there's the Health department and the shambles over appointments for junior doctors. Or the Child Support Agency - so incompetent that it had to be wound up. Passports, farm payments, tax credits, computer contracts, Northern Rock - name any area of government policy, and there you will find ministers and public servants, looking forward to gold-plated pensions, displaying jaw-dropping incompetence and betraying the public's trust."
Final word to Quentin Letts: "Who is running this Government? Stan Laurel? Inspector Clouseau?"


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Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The CAS RPG
As I said, it was a D20-variant game, as that was all the rage at the time, but most of its ideas would work just as well under, say, Labyrinth Lord. It was class based, but with only three classes: warrior, rogue, and scholar. None of them had any magical abilities by default, as magic could only be learned through play and at great effort, expense, and danger.
As humans were the only playable race, I decided to go with an unusual approach, dividing them into personality archetypes, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. These advantages/disadvantages had several facets. One facet came into play regardless of one's chosen class, while the others only mattered depending on one's class. So, for example, choosing "Jaded" as one's personality archetype gave your character certain benefits and drawbacks overall, but also specific ones depending on whether you chose to make the character a Jaded Warrior, a Jaded Rogue, or a Jaded Scholar. And a Jaded character would be different in significant ways from, say, an Amorous one or an Esthete.
These archetypes thus took the place of races and allowed for a fair degree of character customization without downplaying the importance of classes. I was fairly pleased with the results, although I fretted over how many personality archetypes to include and how finely to divide them. However, beginning characters felt as if they could be CAS characters without too much effort, either mechanically or in terms of player choice at the start. The other game rules were pretty standard fare, although there were some wrinkles here and there, like a "mental balance" system (I hated the name but never came up with a better one) that was similar to traditional sanity systems but tailored for settings where becoming bored was as dire as becoming insane.
Given all the interest this topic has generated, maybe I should return to it at some point. I guess we'll see.
23 comments:
- AnonymousJune 1, 2010 at 1:33 PM
Sounds interesting. My only reservation is that setting-inspired RPGs are really only worth the work if the mechanics strongly influence the play of the game, as in Pendragon or the Dying Earth RPG. Otherwise, I'd just as soon pick a standard RPG, such as OD&D, d20 or RQ, that works best for the setting. (e.g., for Zothique I would absolutely use B/X D&D, and if I were doing the Hyborian Age, no question but it would be RuneQuest).
ReplyDelete This would be a very nice way to handle things. Jung's work suggests a nice/elegant approach, so does the Enneagram with it's Nine types, and of course there are others. I'd very much like to see what you do with this idea. If the game itself remains dormant, why not do adventures/modules that cross-over into Zothique, etc. as I recall at least one of the Dreamlands supplements from Chaosium has done in the past? Each unchallenged precedent erodes the stranglehold of the AH-cabal...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've not been a huge fan of CAS, I think this sounds interesting. I'm always interested in new mechanics that I can borrow for my own games, and the personality types instead of races sounds like a great mechanic.
If nothing else, could you expand on that idea and put something together for LL or BRP/GORE? It might help some more of us break away from Tolkien's dwarves, elves, and halflings at least.
As far as how many/what kinds of personality types to use, I would shy away from anything that ties to a specific psychology model, with the possible exception of Jungian archetypes. I love reading about different "typing" models, but it would be very difficult to describe the model without turning the descriptions into a textbook-style definition. More general types like you suggested work just fine for me.- AnonymousJune 1, 2010 at 3:31 PM
Another vote for "Yes, please!"
The three class system sounds like it would also work well for True20.
Either way, I do hope that this comes to fruition one day. To follow up on what Andrea wrote, Stormbringer might provide a good model: older versions provided templates with bonuses and penalties for stats (and, I think, skills) based on one's country of birth. You could do something similar for your personality types, then craft skill packages to fit the "classes," so that an amorous rogue would be significantly different from a jaded rogue or an amorous scholar.
Security word: "cubegon," the magic word for dismissing a quadrone modron.You know reading this post and your earlier one I got to thinking.
Why not just make the James Maliszewski RPG? I know you have done a lot of research and respect older authors like CAS, Howard, Lovecraft, etc. But I think you done enough to do original work with their themes.
I would look forward to such a game myself.I am a big fan of getting away from "race" as a character-typing mechanic. "Race" as a concept is both cliche (in fantasy fiction) and odious (in reality).
Nations or tribes (as in Stormbriger) is a small step removed, but does a lot to lend a different perspective. The "personality type" approach has great potential for stimulating genre-specific play, but could also be a big of a straightjacket for role-playing in much the same way as the AD&D alignment system. Still, I like the idea that (personality x profession) yields (p x b) number of different character types: so a fighter profession yields e.g. paladins, rangers, mercenaries, etc. depending on the character's personality type.
In the vein of the Jungian archetypes and other suggestions above: how about something a bit more nebulous, like Zodiac signs? They could suggest personality types or traits without being completely prescriptive, and of course the Zodiac has a wonderful classical pedigree. There are some games that do this already, I think.The other game rules were pretty standard fare, although there were some wrinkles here and there, like a "mental balance" system (I hated the name but never came up with a better one) that was similar to traditional sanity systems but tailored for settings where becoming bored was as dire as becoming insane.
How about tying such a system to the four humours? Roll a yellow bile check for d6 choler points!Awesome concepts. I'd love to see it come into print.
I think licensed games/settings appeal to many of us. They may or may not require an entire game system, but I like it when they provide rules changes to an existing system, in order to customize for the setting. As Chaosium did.
Oh dear, I mentioned Chaosium, didn't I? Well, since I did, I'll add my vote to writing the CAS thing up for BRP. ;)Rob Conley: I believe that our gracious host has already said that he'll be publishing a version of Dwimmermount, which seems to fill the criterion of being the James M RPG.
James M: I would love to see this game in some form. It sounds fascinating.
Scallop Skulled Skald: The idea of using humours is a good one. I'd been playing with something like that idea for a game set in Elizabethan England, as a basis of character design along with astrological considerations.some of your thoughts on this went into the Cursed Chateau right? and for me, that's the way it should be-- new adventures not new games. I was at the bookstore yesterday looking at various sourcebooks (4e, pathfinder, WoD, mouse guard) and some of the were very imaginitive and innovative, but they painted with the kind of broad strokes that make for good reading, but shirked the detail-work necessary for play.


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GH Print - Moore Bond
- Images are printed on 8.5" x 11" archival paper and signed by the artist.
- Optional protective acetate sleeve is available for $4; wooden frames have an outside dimension of 13" x 16".
Please contact us for international shipping options.
Availability and Shipping
We make every attempt to ship within 48 hours of order placement based on availability. Some prints may be archived and will be printed on demand; in these cases, it may take up to 10 days to ship so the artist can personally inspect for quality and sign your print.


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Apple becomes the 1st US company to be valued at $2 trillion as tech fortunes soar
NEW YORK - Apple has become the first U.S. company to boast a market value of $2 trillion as technology continues to reshape a world where smartphones are like appendages and digital services are like instruments orchestrating people's lives.
The iPhone maker reached the $2 trillion milestone in Wednesday's early stock market trading when its shares surpassed $467.77.
The stock later backtracked, but it didn't diminish a remarkable achievement that came just two years after Apple became the first U.S. company with a $1 trillion market value. It comes amid a devastating pandemic that has shoved the economy into a deep recession and caused unemployment rates to soar to the worst levels since the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
But Apple and other well-established tech giants such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Facebook and Netflix have thrived during the upheaval as the pandemic has forced millions of people to work, attend classes, shop and entertain themselves at home. That, in turn, has made technology even more crucial, a factor that has caused investors to snap up the stocks of the industry's biggest players, as well as relative newcomers, such as video conferencing service Zoom, which has seen its shares quadruple so far this year.
Apple's stock has climbed nearly 60% this year. In recent weeks, the rally has been bolstered by excitement over a four-for-one stock split that Apple announced late last month in an effort to make its shares more affordable to a wider swath of investors.
RELATED: Apple, Google drop popular video game Fortnite from app stores over direct payment plan
The broader boom in tech stocks also has helped the benchmark S&P 500 index reach new highs after steep declines earlier in the year. Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Google's parent company, Alphabet account for nearly 23% of the S&P 500's entire value.
Apple isn't the first company in the world to reach a market value of $2 trillion. That honor belongs to energy producer Saudi Aramco, which attained it in December 2019. Saudi Aramco now trails Apple with a market value of about $1.8 trillion.
Now that technology has clearly become the oil of the 21st century, other industry leaders could soon be joining Apple in the $2 trillion club, now that it is clear technology has become the oil of the 21st century. Many industry analysts are predicting Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet could eclipse the milestone in the upcoming months too.
But regulators and lawmakers looking into allegations that Apple, Amazon, Google and Facebook have been illegally abusing their power to stifle competition could spook investors if their investigations result in moves that undercut the companies' profits.
Not all technology companies are doing as well as they were before the pandemic. Google, for instance, suffered the first quarterly revenue decline from the previous year in its history during the April-June period as the advertising sales that generate most of its profit tapered off amid pandemic-driven lockdowns across the U.S.
But Apple has fared extraordinarily well, buoyed by the timely April debut of a new iPhone model priced at about $400, 40% to 60% less than the fancier devices that it released last fall. The company will face another litmus test in October when it is expected to unveil a line-up of new iPhones, including a model capable of connection on the next generation of ultra-fast wireless networks known as 5G.
The next wave of high-priced iPhones, coming out a few weeks later than usual because of production delays caused by the pandemic, are expected to test the depths of Apple's customer loyalty as well how much people are willing to spend during tough times for most people outside the technology industry.
RELATED: Google Doodle tells users to 'wear a mask, save lives' in public service announcement


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Quaysiders Club Ambleside – Self Catering Holiday Accommodation Timeshare
Let Mercantile Claims assist you with Timeshare Release, Claims & Compensation
Let Mercantile Claims assist you with Timeshare Release, Claims & Compensation
Owners of Quaysiders Club Ambleside – Self Catering Holiday Accommodation timeshares often find themselves trapped in infinite contracts with rapidly increasing maintenance fees which ultimately stems from a mis-sold timeshare contract. Over recent years there have been a number of ground-breaking rulings about mis-sold timeshares by many timeshare groups and resorts which have resulted in refunds and compensation. Many owners of Quaysiders Club timeshare contracts are entitled to, or have already made claims.
There has been a huge increase in timeshare release enquiries and complaints from customers with Quaysiders Club timeshares.
Many concerns centre on the following factors:
If you believe you had a Quaysiders Club Ambleside – Self Catering Holiday Accommodation timeshare contract mis-sold to you or you wish to be released from your timeshare contract, please contact one of our experts at Mercantile Claims or fill in the form below.
Fill out your details below and we'll get straight back.
Alternatively, give us a call on 0800 470 3900.
Our team here at Mercantile Claims are always on hand to help you with any issues, concerns or questions you have regarding your timeshare contract. Below we have listed the most common questions we receive on a regular basis. If you have a more specific question please contact our team of experts and we will respond with an answer as soon as possible.
I Can't Book My Holiday When I Want Where I Want, Why?
Lack of availability is one of the main frustrations for timeshare customers. The high-pressure sales tactics employed by the timeshare groups, has led to many resorts becoming massively oversold and oversubscribed.
These massive numbers of customers has led to many customers unable to book into their timeshare and those who do are extremely lucky to do so.
These problems have been compounded by the fact some timeshares hold back their premier accommodation and popular dates for resale on the general holiday market – rather than offering the dates to the paying members.
There have also been cases of dates and resorts being held back for potential new customers, who are flown to the resort sold a contract – while fully paying members are unable to book dates.
All of these factors have added to up to customers who pay their fees, being unable to book their timeshares at the desired dates and times.
Why Can't I Sell My Timeshare?
Unfortunately for many customers, the vast majority of timeshares are almost impossible to sell. As we have mentioned the ever increasing fees associated with timeshares means people do not want to take the risk and the subsequent cost of the long-term contract – the promise of a timeshare as an 'investment' is sadly just not true.
Will The Resort Take Back My Timeshare?
It is not in the interest of the group or resort to buy back your timeshare. From their point of view it is a source of very easy income and to take the contract back from you would simply be throwing money away, without any guarantee of reselling.
We have no current reviews for Quaysiders Club Ambleside – Self Catering Holiday Accommodation – Borrans Road, Ambleside LA22 0HJ


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Several thoughts ran through my mind, NOT TOO LARGE, NOT TOO SMALL, JUST RIGHT! - that's right I felt like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Reading the packet, there are 12 pages, perfect for a year... looking better and better. Not too much room to fill up, but enough to make it interesting.
Here's what I saw:
Looks interesting with lots of possibilities, right?
Here's what I did:
I colored the grunge paper with Alcohol Inks in a free style. Taking the alcohol ink applicator in one hand, I squirted the ink in the other hand onto the felt and sponged the ink on the grunge paper.
First I applied Eggplant, then Cranberry and I loved the look of texture this gave my project. I thought metallic and grabbed the copper, dabbed on copper and let the paper dry. I wanted you to see the vibrancy of the colors as well as what the light and dark of the colors achieved.
I took the rings out of the bag and Voila. The first page is finished. I may add additional papers, perhaps just plain card stock to save something I don't want to lose, but I definitely want to save the sponsor pages. It's our first year and I just have to have something solid in my hands.
Thank you to Bugaboo for your support of our blog.
Wait until you see what Hannah has in store for you in June!
Arlene and the DCD Design Team


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Women account for just 24% of golfers worldwide, yet the number of prospective female players could add $35 billion to the global golf economy.
Women account for just 24% of golfers worldwide, yet the number of prospective female players could add $35 billion to the global golf economy.
These are the findings of a groundbreaking global study into female golf participation commissioned by Syngenta and conducted by an independent international market research company.
The new report, 'The Global Economic Value of Increased Female Participation in Golf', surveyed 14,000 people in eight markets in North America, Europe and Asia.
Syngenta Golf Ambassador, Carin Koch and Syngenta Global Head of Lawn & Garden, Jeff Cox launched the new report at the HSBC Golf Business Forum
It found that 29% of non-golfing females and lapsed players were either interested or very interested in taking up golf in the next two years.
Being outdoors, relaxation and spending time with family and friends are the primary appeal factors to non-golfers.
It also found that women are 38% more likely than men to bring children to golf, indicating that increasing female participation would significantly boost the number of juniors taking up the game.
Launching the report at the HSBC Golf Business Forum, Syngenta Global Head of Lawn & Garden Jeff Cox said: "For the first time, we have been able to assess worldwide latent demand for golf among women and estimate the potential economic value to the global golf industry.
"As our survey shows, millions of women worldwide could be interested in taking up golf within the next two years. This is a huge opportunity for the golf industry. However, realizing this opportunity, engaging and then converting prospects, requires golf to listen to and address the specific needs of its different customers."
The report (which is free to download from www.unlockinggolfstruepotential.co.uk) focuses on three key research themes:
- The economic value of female golf
- Realizing
the value of existing female customers and prospective players - Women as a catalyst for
junior golf
Carin Koch, the 2015 European Solheim Cup Captain and Syngenta Golf Ambassador said: "As a professional golfer who has been fortunate to travel around the world, I know that golf is a game with global appeal to both men and women. I also know, as a mother of two children, that golf is a wonderful way to share time with family.
"One of the most interesting findings for me was that family responsibilities and cost were the two main reasons women give up golf, yet spending time with family and friends is one of the great attractions of golf. If golf could make itself more female and family friendly, there is both an immediate and long-term opportunity to retain and attract many more female golfers and bring their children into the game."
The survey is part of Syngenta's 'Unlocking Golf's True Potential Campaign' and is the first in a series of Global Customer Insights studies.
Jeff Cox added: "This report is designed to help the global golf industry understand its customers and build its value proposition.
"Gender diversity is good for sport – and it is good for business. It is also something that a modern, globalized society expects."
The Global Economic Value of Increased Female Participation in Golf is available to download free of charge from: www.unlockinggolfstruepotential.co.uk


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Recipero, the global experts in device-led data and analytics solutions, today have announced the launch of the CheckMEND Charter.
The CheckMEND Charter was created as a means of establishing an industry-led set of best practices to prevent trading of stolen consumer electronics. In addition to protecting consumers and helping to avoid confusion and frustration, Charter participants pledge to actively help law enforcement agencies combat theft and fraud related to consumer electronics.
Several of the US's biggest consumer electronics retail, reCommerce and recycling companies are already operating in accordance with its principles, including the leading trade-in site Gazelle.
Gazelle was the first US consumer electronics trade-in site to deploy CheckMEND and continue to demonstrate their commitment to the consumer and industry through their involvement with the Charter and its creation.
Israel Ganot, CEO, Gazelle.
"When we first entered into a partnership with Recipero to leverage the CheckMEND tool, our goal was quite simple: to prevent thieves from benefiting from stolen consumer electronics, the new CheckMEND Charter takes this a step further, not only ensuring that Gazelle will never pay a consumer for a device that has been reported as lost or stolen, but to also ensure law enforcement agencies can more effectively combat consumer electronic device theft.
The CheckMEND Charter is a voluntary scheme, open to trade users of CheckMEND who agree to abide by its principles. In support of the Charter and its members, Recipero's experienced CheckMEND team act as a trusted third party to help troubleshoot any issues that consumers may encounter with devices that are rejected.
Mark Harman, CEO of Recipero, commented:
"The adoption of the US Charter is something we have been working toward for several months. Our experience of the implementation of similar schemes in the UK has demonstrated that voluntary codes of practice such as this Charter have a measurable impact on mobile device related crime, results that we believe can be replicated in the US."
More details on the requirements for Charter members is available online: www.checkmend.com/us/charter.
CheckMEND is delivered online in real-time and is a cutting-edge analytics tool used to more accurately detect lost and stolen consumer electronics. The database is the most complete listing of devices available, comprised of data from major wireless carriers and law enforcement entities globally.
The CheckMEND service assists everyone from eBay users to mega retailers and recyclers like Gazelle to avoid lost, blocked and stolen devices.
About Recipero
Recipero (www.recipero.com) is trusted by thousands of clients and data providers to securely aggregate, analyze and interrogate data. Forming part of millions of decision making processes and transactions every month, Recipero's device-led data and analytics solutions are provided online, in real-time, and are used globally by law enforcement, wireless carriers, insurers, recyclers, retailers and consumers.
About Gazelle
Gazelle is the nation's leading consumer electronics trade-in site, providing an easy, fast and safe way for consumers to get cash for their unwanted devices. For more information on Gazelle and its participation in the CheckMEND Charter, visit: www.gazelle.com


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Feel like I should add some stars and balloons to the photo! |
Celebrating the milestone, I'm hosting a little giveaway. Leave a comment on my Facebook page, and you'll be entered to win one of my ebooks or tutorials. Freeform peyote, fancy fish, elegant beaded beads; if it's digital, the choice is yours.
I'll be drawing a winner on Wednesday (July 22nd), so you have until I sit down at my computer Wednesday morning to enter. Don't you love my precision deadline?
Thank you!


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Drupal 7: the Webchick behind the Wheel
Angela Byron is one of the most respected contributors in the Open Source community. She has been recognized for her efforts by Google, receiving the 2008 Google-O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Contributor. She's passionate about the Drupal Project and has worked tirelessly to ensure that the latest release of the popular Web platform and CMS is the best version yet. We talked to Angie about her role as co-maintainer of Drupal 7 and about what it takes to manage such an important, massive open-source project.
KD: You've had a very busy three years taking the lead as core maintainer on the newly released 7th version of Drupal. Tell us a little more about what being the Drupal 7 core maintainer means. What does it entail?
AB: Dries Buytaert is the Drupal Project's founder and project lead, also known as our Benevolent Dictator for Life. He holds the keys (as in commit access) to Drupal core. Each new release of Drupal, Dries also appoints one other person, called a co-maintainer, who is also given commit access and the responsibility to help set the vision and direction of the release alongside him.
Neil Drumm was the core co-maintainer in Drupal 5, and he prioritized usability improvements, including a graphical installer. Gábor Hojtsy was the core co-maintainer of Drupal 6, and he prioritized numerous internationalization improvements. In Drupal 7, I was selected. Things I prioritized included usability, quality assurance, "developer experience" (API consistency and other things that make Drupal more enjoyable to work with), and making Drupal more accessible to designers, themers and people with disabilities.
"On paper", a core co-maintainer's responsibility is to review and commit patches submitted by the core developers. In practice, I found that 80% or so of my time was spent not doing that, but instead on more "human" endeavors: identifying people working in similar areas and encouraging them to work together, helping brainstorm architectural direction on certain patches, mediating heated arguments, helping new contributors get involved, promoting major initiatives and so on. So in some ways, it was a community management role, but with commit access thrown in.
KD: Which part of the three years has been the most intense? I would guess these past few months, but then I wonder what the pattern has been over the course of working on this version. How was it at the beginning versus the middle and end?
AB: Drupal's release cycle goes in three phases:
"code thaw" where we make our wildest dreams come true and add new features, break APIs and generally pursue world domination.
"code slush" where we focus on polishing the rough edges from code thaw, API consistency, UI cleanups and performance.
"code freeze" where the APIs get severely locked down, and bug fixes/stabilization is the name of the game.
The intensity varies, and generally whenever we have a major deadline (for example, a Drupalcon is coming up or a code freeze date is about to be declared), things heat up a lot. Most of our major features were introduced a week or so before one of those major deadlines.
One of the most challenging things was maintaining momentum after code thaw (aka the "fun" part) completed. People could no longer add their pet features; instead, the attention turned to "the slog" of bug fixes and incremental improvements. The number of core contributors died off significantly as they focused back on their contributed modules or other projects, and those who were left had to carry the pretty tremendous burden of taking us from some 150 critical issues down to zero so we could release.
KD: Drupal has a lot of core contributors. It's up to around 1,000 now, isn't it? Obviously a small number of those contribute the bulk of the code, but it's still an enormous group of people to coordinate. Can you tell us about that experience?
AB: Yeah, the count from the commit logs was a little less than 1,000, but that doesn't include people who reported bugs, tested patches and so on. That number includes a set of maybe 50–75 hard-core people who spend their lives in the Drupal core queue daily and then an enormously long tail of others who contribute only a handful of patches. And, bear in mind that every single one of those patches has to be reviewed and then committed by Dries or me.
It's both incredibly exciting and challenging to work in this environment. My favourite parts were forming battle plans and kicking around ideas on how to make Drupal 7 the most amazing release possible, helping new contributors submit their first patch, seeing the community consciousness about things like usability, design and accessibility gradually evolve and accept their importance. The core contributors are amazing, smart, dedicated and passionate folks who pour their hearts and souls into Drupal, and I'm honored to work with them every day on IRC and the issue queues.
However, this level of closeness also meant things also could get a bit personal sometimes. And when they did, it really, really hurt, because these folks are all my friends, and we have worked so closely together for years. There definitely were days when I needed to step away from the computer for a few hours and get some perspective, and even considered throwing in the towel altogether more than once.
On the whole though, the experience was absolutely amazing. I'm infinitely proud of the team and what we've managed to accomplish with Drupal 7.
KD: What can you tell us about the decision-making processes involved in developing and maintaining this sort of a project? How do you collectively decide on a course of action or the best approach to a problem? Programmers can be married to their ideologies. How do you deal with that?
AB: Drupal is very much a consensus-based community. Problems are identified, solutions proposed, code written and then discussed among at least two but possibly dozens or hundreds of people. No change, big or small, makes it into the upstream code unless it has been marked "reviewed & tested by the community", which means at least one other person has looked at it and given it a nod of approval. This is a great "community engineering" strategy, because it ensures better quality code and encourages developers to be civil to each other so they can find reviewers for their patches.
There's typically very little contention around straightforward bug fixes. On some of the more esoteric or architecturally facing issues, however, lots of people start throwing around opinions on approaches, and sometimes heated ones.
In my role as core maintainer, the best thing I could do in those situations usually was simply monitor the discussion carefully, but keep mostly quiet except when things escalated to personal attacks. In almost all cases, if developers are given free reign to hash things out among themselves, they're able to come to a mutual resolution without any intervention. It's important that this happen most of the time, in order to build camaraderie and respect among the development team.
Occasionally, however, a stalemate was reached and intervention by a core maintainer was needed. In this situation, I normally try to take the folks aside in IRC and see if we can hash out their differences together. Oftentimes a heated discussion on the issue queue dragging on for days can be settled in minutes when both parties are brought together with a mediator. I try to summarize the opposing views and explain what is good about each perspective in an attempt to disarm some of the defensiveness that might be brought into such a meeting. Neither person's idea is "wrong"; they both have pros, but we need to come to the right decision that might be some mixture of both.
In cases where we weren't able to come to resolution, I'd post my best attempt at a mutually agreeable solution. This actually very rarely was the actual solution we went with, but it had a way of "resetting" the conversation to be around a new suggestion rather than the old ones, which usually helped everyone play nicely again—usually. On the whole, I just tried to remind people that we're all here to make Drupal better, even that stubborn git who can't see your point of view yet.
KD: What excites you most about Drupal 7? Do you think Drupal 7 improvements will increase Drupal adoption?
AB: Feature-wise, it's hard to pick—there were so many things we added to Drupal 7—but I'd say overall it comes down to the following things:
Image handling now is included out of the box without the need to download six or seven additional modules. This is huge for adoption, at least for people who want something other than text on their Web sites, who apparently exist. It also brought with it a host of improvements with our native file API, which has interesting implications for extending Drupal for use as a document management system.
The new database abstraction layer has a lot of people really excited. Both from its support of new features, such as transactions, and support for more database back ends, but also its new object-oriented syntax. Basically, everything that ever sucked about our database abstraction layer has been fixed in Drupal 7.
The new entity and field paradigm is an important shift in the Drupal Project. In the past, Drupal was very "content-oriented", and lots of features were developed that would extend "nodes" or pieces of content in the system. This resulted in a lot of people trying to shoehorn things that weren't actually nodes (such as users, comments and so on) into nodes so they could benefit from these features. In the future, these same features will be developed as fields, which then can be used across any entity in the system—users, comments, content, taxonomy terms and more.
The automated testing framework and more than 30,000 tests we added to Drupal 7 has had profound effects on our community development process. We know instantly if any patch in the issue queue works or breaks existing tests. We are free to refactor subsystems knowing we didn't break any of the existing functionality, and the "test-driven development" mindset is slowly working its way into our development community's consciousness as a best practice.
Overall, I'm simply thrilled with the amount of diversity in the core development team now as compared to the last release. We have an accessibility team, a usability team, a markup and design team, and a documentation team dedicated to improving the core in ways that go beyond the code. My hope is that the leadership shown by early pioneers in these fields will open the floodgates for new contributors in the Drupal 8 process, and that Drupal 8 improves upon Drupal 7 in all of these areas and more.
KD: I have played with Drupal 7 quite a bit, but I can't say I've really put it to full use yet, and I keep hearing about how much more usable it is. How much do you think this will affect the Drupal learning curve?
AB: Usability was something that saw tremendous attention during the Drupal 7 release cycle, and we saw a radical transformation in the culture of the Drupal development community and how seriously this barrier of entry was treated.
Just after Drupal 6 was released in February 2008, Dries, myself and several other major contributors went to the University of Minnesota (yes, Minneapolis in February—that's how much we love Drupal) to perform our project's first formalized usability study. We were given a room with one-way glass, tools like eye-tracking software to tell where people were looking on the screen, and the University found several participants who had previous Web development experience with tools like WordPress, Movable Type and Dreamweaver but not with Drupal. In other words, people in our project's direct target audience.
The results were absolutely shocking and completely transformed the way I look at Drupal. We found that participants were completely lost as to whether they were on the front end or back end of their Web sites. They were unable to find major administrative sections in order to perform basic tasks. They were mystified by Drupal jargon, and on and on.
A usability team was formed who set about fixing many of the problems identified in testing, and they fixed a number of important and obvious problems in the existing UI. Additionally, Acquia funded Mark Boulton and Leisa Reichelt, a design and usability expert, to take a holistic view of the Drupal administrative experience and make more wide-sweeping changes, in a community-driven, collaborative usability experiment called D7UX. Both initiatives worked in tandem to provide Drupal 7 with a new administration theme; a set of common administration patterns, such as a toolbar and contextual links; and a task-based administrative information architecture. We haven't yet been able to test formally how the usability work we did in Drupal 7 improved the situation over the results we saw with Drupal 6, but preliminary feedback from the broader community has been pretty awesome.
This usability work doesn't fully address the dreaded "Drupal learning cliff", per se. There still are an awful lot of things you need to know in order to be a successful Drupal site builder, like what modules you should use for what and what the heck weird words like "taxonomy" and "node" mean. However, Drupal 7 hopefully should require a lot less customization from site builders to put it in front of their clients and give them a better leg up on answering the question, "Great. I have a Drupal site installed...now what?"
KD: It's supposed to be more scalable too. Can you tell us how?
AB: A number of new features in Drupal 7 help with the situation where your site needs to accommodate huge blitzes of additional traffic, assuring all visitors of a speedy experience:
Master/slave replication support in the database abstraction layer—database writes are slower than database reads, and reads happen way more often. A master/slave setup allows you to separate reads from writes, so that the main database storing all the information isn't additionally overburdened with read requests, which can be routed instead to read-only slave databases.
Reverse-proxy support—a reverse proxy, such as Varnish or Pound, can greatly speed up Web site access by caching copies of pages and then intercepting requests to serve them, saving the Web server from having to handle page requests directly. Drupal's settings.php configuration file now contains directives to enable reverse-proxy support.
Support for content delivery networks (CDNs)—services exist for caching static files, such as images, CSS and JS, across multiple geographically distributed computers, which then can be served to visitors more quickly than a round-trip to the Web server where Drupal is stored. By invoking hook_file_url_alter(), modules can re-route requests from Drupal's files directory to services, such as Akamai or Amazon CloudFront.
There's a high-performance distribution of Drupal 6 core called Pressflow (pressflow.org) from which a lot of these scalability improvements originated.
KD: For our readers who are more comfortable with WordPress, Joomla or even platforms like Ruby on Rails and Django, what do they need to know about Drupal, and in particular Drupal 7, in order to have the best experience getting started?
AB: For folks coming from other CMSes, such as WordPress or Joomla, the biggest hurdle to getting started with Drupal is often the "LEGO block" approach Drupal takes to building sites with modules. It's common in other CMSes that if you want to add a photo gallery to your site, you simply search for a photo gallery extension and choose from a list of prebuilt all-in-one options.
In Drupal, however, the trend in modules is more toward small, generic, re-usable components that can be combined and mixed and matched in lots of various ways. There's not much in the way of off-the-shelf photo gallery modules for Drupal. Building a photo gallery in Drupal typically involves creating a content type to provide a data entry form for images, adding an image field in order to upload photos to the content type, creating a view of photo images, and so on. Although more elbow grease is required at the outset, the advantage is that the photo gallery you end up with can behave exactly as you want. And, the same module that provides an image field for photo galleries also can be re-used to provide album covers and user avatars, while the same module that provides a photo gallery view can be used to create event calendars, RSS feeds and other types of listing pages. This level of customization and re-usability is what attracts people to Drupal, but it definitely requires a tinkerer's mindset.
For folks coming from frameworks, such as Django or Ruby on Rails, the main thing to realize about Drupal is that it's more of a "framlication" than a pure framework. Drupal provides ample APIs for dealing with file handling, session management, internationalization and so on, and it also provides a "hook" system from which Drupal's base behavior can be extended. However, it also makes some base assumptions that what you're building is a Web-based application tracking things like users and content. The advantage of this is you don't need to recode a new login system every time you build a site on Drupal; this type of low-level functionality is provided for you in an extensible way. But, it does mean if you don't agree with some of the base assumptions Drupal makes, you'll need to spend a bit of effort developing a module to alter behavior you want to change. The best advice I probably could give to folks coming from more traditional Web frameworks is to take the time to explore what Drupal can do without writing a line of code, which is fairly substantial. Then, learn the extension mechanisms Drupal provides—hooks, the theme system, the localization layer and so on—to make customizations in a forward-portable way.
KD: You've worked on some major, large-scale Drupal projects, and Drupal was also selected as the platform for Whitehouse.gov. What about Drupal lends itself to those types of sites?
AB: I think Drupal hits a sweet spot in that it's free, open source and an extremely capable framework that's constantly evolving. It can be highly customized to particular use cases, and it has an ever-growing community with a lot of expertise. Many of the enterprise-level clients we work with move to Drupal from less-capable, proprietary CMSes that have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in licensing fees, with bugs they can't fix themselves because they're beholden to a vendor's schedule. So the idea of moving to something they can be trained on internally or hire outside expertise to implement quickly is very appealing.
We couldn't fit the entire interview in the magazine, so to read more, go to www.linuxjournal.com/content/interview-angie-byron-drupal.
Katherine Druckman is an HTML-flinging, PHP-hacking Linux Journal Webmistress by day and a refined connoisseur of historic architecture and fine Chinese ceramics by night. She usually can be found surrounded by the charm of aging Texas buildings from the pioneer days or appreciating ceramics of the Song and Qing dynasties. Well, either that or sitting in a comfy chair with a laptop. Yeah, probably the laptop thing. Now in her fourth year heading all things LinuxJournal.com, Katherine's experiences in Web publishing for the open-source audience have strengthened her stance as an impassioned Drupal fangirl.