text:
Return to site home page
Hola! Mi nombre es Silestone Bath Collection.
Hola! Mi nombre es el Silestone Bath Collection.
Hola! Mi nombre es el Silestone Bath Collection.
View larger
Who are you?
Hola! Mi nombre es Silestone Bath Collection. I'm one of the newest series from "la familia" de Cosentino. My collection offers six diverse basins and eight shower plate designs that can be added to any washroom for enhanced elegance and innovation.
Where are you from?
España! Could you not tell by my accent?
Who in your family do you most resemble?
I have more than 70 cousins in the Silestone color family, and any one of them can be part of my collection at any time. We like to grow the family whenever possible!
Aside from sugar and spice and everything nice, what else are you made of?
Given my culture, spice is a part of everyday life! Not to be too boastful, but I am pretty seamless. My natural quartz elements make me durable, non-porous and highly stain, scratch and scorch resistant. I'm well built to avoid all those weak areas and joints.
What are your biggest turn-ons?
I get hot and steamy when it comes to customization. My basins and shower plates are available in nearly any length, width, color and shape imaginable—the possibilities are endless. I want people to feel like they're walking into an oasis, no matter how modern or traditional the design.
Mold and mildew. I contain a unique combination of built-in antimicrobial protection that safely fights the growth of odor-causing bacteria, mold and mildew, so you never have to worry about what's growing inside me.
If you were stranded on a deserted island, and could only have three things, what would they be?
Some beautifully scented candles, a lavish loofah (assuming I could borrow some water from the ocean) and several plush, terrycloth towels to keep me clean and dry!
Describe the secret to your success.
Besides my spicy attitude and my good looks, I also have what it takes to stand the test of time. What's more, I'm super easy to install right on top of drywall, so I can be easily added to any washroom setting.
What would be your dream job?
I would love to be in a calming spa, easing people into relaxation in a serene environment that I help create. Just think—all those free massages! What's not to love?


text:
Category Benefits
Find The Right OneSat Nav and Car Audio - Find The Right One Close
Buying a new car stereo or sat nav for your car can be a bit overwhelming. With so many types of sat navs and car radios to choose from you might need a helping hand.
If you're unsure about what you need, or even what you want, then look no further than our handy sat nav and car audio buyer's guides.Car Audio Guide Sat Nav Guide
Help & AdviceHelp & Advice - Digital Radio Close
Going digital in your car means great sound, better choice, and easy tuning. If you hate the lack of stations, or the crackling sound of a lost signal, look no further than DAB.
The government is looking to make a full switchover to digital radio in cars once certain criteria are met. Why not beat the rush?More Info
Car AudioWe can install your car stereo Close
Once you've decided on the perfect car stereo, there comes the tricky part. Fitting it.
If you don't fancy battling through the manual to wire up your new kit, then we're here to help. Our trained professionals can not only fit, but also give you a demo on how to use your new car audio.More Info
3 Products found for this category

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bookmark this site
THOMASVILLE, GA -- Mrs. Freshley's snack cake and pastry line is on the road again, celebrating autumn with a sampling tour that takes in Albuquerque, NM; San Antonio and Dallas, TX; Columbus, OH, and Baltimore, MD. The campaign got under way on Oct. 16 and will conclude on Nov. 30.
The "Fall in Love with Mrs. Freshley's" sampling team is making stops at area supermarkets and convenience stores, handing out popular sweet treats, coupons and prizes. They also will be providing samples of Mrs. Freshley's Honey Buns, Mini Donuts, Donut Sticks and Chocolate Cupcakes. Taking center stage is the newest Mrs. Freshley's snack cake delicacy, Chocolate Dreamies iced creme-filled semicylindical cakes.
At each tour stop, the sampling team is handing out coupons for free Mrs. Freshley's snacks, allowing consumers to select their favorites from the more than 50 different Mrs. Freshley's snack cakes and pastries available in stores. Visitors to the events also have the chance to win prizes.
"Our sampling tour is a fun way for us to introduce Mrs. Freshley's to new fans and meet our loyal fans face-to-face," said brand manager Meredith Butler. "We are excited to have everyone stop by and try Chocolate Dreamies, which we introduced just last month."
The Mrs. Freshley's brand, which was launched by Flowers Foods Inc. 15 years ago, is available in vending machines as well as supermarkets and convenience nationwide. It includes more than 50 snack cakes and pastries.
The Flowers family opened its first bakery in 1919. Today, Flowers is one of the largest producers of packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers in the United States. The company currently operates 45 bakeries producing a wide range of bakery products. Its top brands also include Tastykake and Nature's Own.


text:
That's really lame.
Add to the fact they're throttling (even in during a new billing period) unlimited and with such small data tiers lets just say 2G.
Sorry I'll get off my soap box now.
Great. now I can reach my monthly limit while on my UNLIMITED plan even faster...
AT&T = False advertising
appearances mean A LOT. This makes att APPEAR to be king. it seems dumb but I can wrap my head around it.
But you skipped the dirty little secret. That the phone will report 4G anytime it has a 3G signal. There is no ability for the phone to know if the enhanced backhaul is a part of the particular tower you are connecting to. I was tricked by this when I tried one of their 4G LTE hotspots before they turned on LTE in NYC. It was reporting 4G everywhere I went and when I went to an AT&T store to complain that the speed was no faster than my iPhone at 3G, they pointed me to the manual (AT&T Mobile Hotspot Elevate 4G Manual):
(Page 11 - Emphasis Mine)4G: Connected to AT&Ts HSPA+ network. AT&Ts HSPA+ network is capable of delivering 4G speeds when combined with enhanced backhaul. Your wireless device cannot distinguish between HSPA+ cell sites combined with enhanced backhaul and those without enhanced backhaul. Enhanced backhaul is available in limited areas. However, availability is increasing with ongoing backhaul deployment. Learn more at att.com/network.
And right above it on the same page, the description for the 4G indicator on the screen (note that the device has NO 3G indicator):
I promptly returned the device. This is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.4GHSPA, HSPA+
Does at&t have no shame whatsoever?


text:
Results 1 to 5 of 5
Thread: Birth Control Issues
12th January 2013 05:26 AM #1
- Join Date
- Jan 2013
- Posts
- 10
Birth Control Issues
Hello everyone!
I have been posting how I would like to try for another child, but my husband has not gotten on board. Well, we recently bought a house and moved. Prior to this transition, I was on time with my birth control. However, I have not been able to stay on top of my birth control since the move. This has been going on for two months! I take it on time for a couple of days and then totally forget to take it for three or four days. I told my husband, out of respect for his wishes, and we began using condoms. I have only recently decided to stop taking the contraceptives. Has anyone ever used the tracking fertility method to avoid pregnancy?
15th January 2013 06:16 AM #2
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Posts
- 1,936
Hormonal birth control like the pill comes with risks, so I'm glad to hear that you've decided to stop it altogether.
Natural Family Planning is very effective. I used it for 7 years with 100% effectiveness. I created a thread called Natural Birth Control which has more information that will be helpful to you.
Warm Regards,
18th February 2013 12:14 PM #3jcbGuest
Yes as long as you are following it properly and learn to read your body, it is effective. I also have used it to fall and not fall pregnant with success for the last 5 years. There are also practitioners around I believe that specialise in Billings Methods for example that can help if you need it.
18th February 2013 03:04 PM #4buderimosteopathGuest
I suspect your husband is worried about finances with a new house move etc - with Dads the whole "provider issue" is the key. Unfortunately no form of contraception other than abstinence is 100% safe.
12th April 2013 05:53 PM #5
- Join Date
- Apr 2013
- Posts
- 10
I am on tri-cyclen lo, and I am mostly happy with it, but I am just curious to see what others think and like just in case I wanted to switch.
I don't really need it for anything other than birth control, like skin issues or anything, but I mean if I good one is known to assist with that, it can't hurt.


text:
William Morgan is an architecture critic based in Providence, R.I., who has written on everything from license plate design to the Cape Cod cottage typology. He is the author of a dozen books, including The Abrams Guide to American House Styles (2004), and Monadnock Summer (2011) about Dublin, N.H.'s architectural legacy, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Morgan, who has held teaching posts at the University of Louisville, Princeton University, and Brown University, is a contributor to "This New England" at thisnewenglandblog.projo.com.
Residential design is the most rigorous and the most demanding architectural specialty. You are dealing with where clients live, how they'd like to live, and how they are perceived to live—or, identity. When an architect does a house, it says so much more about what they really are than when they do a skyscraper. The house is the ultimate naked truth of what an architect really cares about.
Any house is about both shelter and aspirations. A successful house has to be designed from the inside out, and the plan is crucial. It's much harder for an architect to do a small house and get it right than it is to design, say, an Olympic stadium. A house has to be based on human measurements and it has to feel good. Good residential architects will take the landscape into account as a matter of course. The genius of the place has to be consulted—not so much the clichéd idea of placemaking, but the opposite: figuring out what the place is inherently about. The break between landscape architecture and architecture is needlessly artificial when it comes to residential work—both camps ought to be asking the same questions about place.
A good client, on the other hand, needs to ask around. Getting the right architect is like finding a doctor. I used to teach a course at Princeton on the visual arts in contemporary society; it was designed to snag non–art students, believing them to be the patrons and clients of the future. Conscious design decisions shape our environment, and it's crucial that the decision makers have some design training.
One of the biggest issues facing residential architecture is that people cannot leave well enough alone. Beyond the landscape, certain house types suggest their own materials and sensibilities—and they rarely suggest multi-car garages and 17 different roof pitches. How much granite, for instance, do we need in our kitchens? People have more resources today to think about good design. They also have more white noise with which to contend. What I've always tried to do is find a way to introduce people to good design—whether they're students or colleagues or the reading public—in hopes of inspiring a better world. — as told to William Richards aia


text:
Chris McCaw: Sunburn
05.03.2013 7:00 pm
Join us on the evening of May 3rd for a special lecture by San Francisco based photographer Chris McCaw, who will be speaking about his innovative Sunburn project. In this body of work, begun in 2003, McCaw creates images by allowing the sun to burn its path onto a paper negative during a long exposure, using the camera as a tool for both creation and destruction. The lecture will be followed by a signing of McCaw's most recent book, Sunburn.
About the Photographer


text:
Hello, before posting, I used the search button and my problem is similar to others but I don't get the same error.
I used the tutorial "Install BackTrack Live to USB". When I boot from my USB, I get this error.
Gave up waiting for root device. Common problems:
- Boot args (cat /proc/cmdline)
- Check rootdelay= (did the system wait long enough?)
- Check root= (did the system wait for the right device?)
- Missing modules (cat /proc/modules; Is /dev)
ALERT! does not exist. Dropping to a shell!
BusyBox v1.10.2 (Ubuntu 1:1.10.2-1ubuntu7) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.
I checked my md5 with the tool provided from the developer and it seems fine.
I hope someone find my problem, it's my first time!
I also tried on my laptop, same errors. Please help!
I'm bumping the thread after a week.


text:
I wrote the other day that Americans, regardless of all the bad policy we get from Washington, should be thankful we're not stuck in an economic graveyard like Venezuela.
But we also should be happy we're not Europeans. This is a point I've made before, usually accompanied by data showing that Americans have significantly higher living standards than their cousins on the other side of the Atlantic.
It's now time to re-emphasize that message. The European Commission has issued its annual report on "Taxation Trends" and it is–at least for wonks and others who care about fiscal policy–a fascinating and compelling document.
If you believe in limited government, you'll read the report in the same way you might look at a deadly traffic accident, filled with morbid curiosity and fear that you may eventually suffer the same fate.
But if you're a statist, you'll read the report like a 14-year old boy with his first copy of a girlie magazine, filled with fantasies about eventually getting to experience what your eyes are seeing.
Let's start by giving the bureaucrats some credit for self-awareness. They openly admit that the tax burden is very onerous in the European Union.
The EU remains a high tax area. In 2012, the overall tax ratio, i.e. the sum of taxes and compulsory actual social contributions in the 28 Member States (EU-28) amounted to 39.4 % in the GDP-weighted average, nearly 15 percentage points of GDP over the level recorded for the USA and around 10 percentage points above the level recorded by Japan. The tax level in the EU is high not only compared to those two countries but also compared to other advanced economies; among the major non-European OECD members for which recent detailed tax data is available, Russia (35.6 % of GDP in 2011) and New Zealand (31.8 % of GDP in 2011) have tax ratios exceeding 30 % of GDP, while tax-to-GDP ratios for Canada, Australia and South Korea (2011 data) remained well below 30 %.


text: I have the de-ICE 1.100 disc and bt3 on VMWare. I have succesfully used nmap against the de-ICE system and checked out their faux webpage. When I use Hydra to try and access the ssh port I receive the error 'select: Bad file selector'. It was suggested on a different forum that this may be caused by an error in the path name but my pathnames are correct. Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.


text:
Home ·
MBA Programs ·
Full-Time MBA ·
Academics ·
Concentrations ·
Supply Chain & Operations Management
MBA graduates with a concentration in Supply Chain and Operations Management can have a number of career opportunities available to them. They are well prepared to work as supply chain analysts, project managers, logistics managers, operations consultants or as managers of manufacturing or service operations. Consulting firms value the analytical skills that are developed in the area of supply chain management. This concentration can be particularly valuable when combined with skills in marketing or finance.
The Supply Chain and Operations Management concentration takes a strategic and application-oriented view of a firm's operations and resources. In addition to the core course in operations, electives are offered in areas such as supply chain management, project management, strategic sourcing, and operations strategy and practice. A practicum course is also offered that affords students an opportunity to interact with the industrial partners of the University of Texas Supply Chain Consortium to solve real business problems.
Additional courses may be approved on a course-by-course basis.
Hands-on experiences complement, extend and continually refine classroom curriculum. There are many opportunities available for Texas MBAs to experience hands-on learning. Here are just a few:
Student organizations open the doors to relationships, leadership development, professional growth, increased understanding and just plain fun. Below are some student organizations you may wish to consider as you plan your Texas MBA experience.
For more information on professional opportunities, visit Career Management.
Page last updated: 12/11/2014
By phone: (512) 471-5921
2110 Speedway, B6000
Austin, TX 78705
McCombs School of Business,
The University of Texas at Austin |
Contact Us


text:
Blue Flame World Music
Siddhartha In Space
Red Buddha
electronic,ethno pop,lounge
Red Buddha - producer, musician and DJ - musical globetrotter is releasing his second album with "Siddhartha In Space", after his successful debut-album "Tibet Trance" (BF 39850272).
The title of the album also defines the musical route. Modern arrangements and traditional instruments are being united. The globalization of music styles has been taking place, frontiers are torn down and multiple musical facets from Asian and Far Eastern areas are melted together. From this mix, arises the exotic modern attraction, colorful, brilliant, similar to the modern fashion.
Red Buddha is not shy in reciting passages from the Indian poet Kabir (Track "Raja-Raja") and underlining these words with groovy rhythms. The multiple richness of instruments from regions like India and Asia are inexhaustible creative and amount to an enormous band width of sounds on "Siddhartha In Space".
Besides the computer programming sequenzes, many musicians and singers from India, Iran, Japan, Taiwan and Turkey are part of this interesting production, giving it a touch of uniqueness. The Iranian string instrument Santoor, played by grand-master Bahramji Pourmand (CD "Call Of The Mystic" BF 39850732) and normally only heard in classical traditional concerts, arouses great mystic. Sitar, Veena and Erhu, instruments unusually for such a surrounding are awakend to new life. Voices and vocal shreds of featured artists become part of the sound trip in space. "Siddhartha" stands above all and calls forth peace and deepth of this production. "Siddhartha" is the travel guide and takes the listener on a journey of mind created pictures to the music. Music that tells a story of Far Eastern countries.
Most of the tracks of this production were used in the Blue Flame DVD series "Global Vision" for the releases Asia Vol. 1, Africa Vol. 1, Orient and Rajasthan.
Tracklist: 01 Raja-Raja feat. Kabir 05:45 // 02 Veen Bhangra 04:25 // 03 Isfahan feat. Nasrin & Voyage 05:46 // 04 Hawa Mahal feat. Bahramji 06.46 // 05 Flavored Atmosphere 06:26 // 06 Evening Celebration 06:11 // 07 Siddhartha In Space 05:47 // 08 Mystical Tribe feat. Bahramji 06:29 // 09 The Spirit Of Ladakh 06:45 // 10 Desert Thar 05:05 // 11 Al Rashid 07:31 // 12 Bororo´s Dance 07:45
Quicktime Video
Medium Size (320x240, 15fps)
Small Size(160x120, 10fps)
a member of blueflame:
Friedemann Leinert - president/ceo, international/national a&r
Ilona Leinert - managing director, business affairs
Eve Stig - product/label manager/promotion
Margit Wellenreuther


text:
Dec 10 2012 -
Weekly Economic Update: December 3-7, 2012
The economy added 146,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate declined to 7.7%. Consumer credit increased 0.5% to $2.753 trillion in September. Productivity increased 2.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2012. The ISM index declined 2.2 points to 49.5 in November as the ISM services index edged up 0.5 points to 54.7. Construction spending was up 1.4% in October. Factory orders increased 0.8% in October. Auto sales jumped up 8.7% in November. Initial jobless claims dropped 25,000 to 370,000 for the week ended 12/1.
• The economy added 146,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in November as the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, from 7.9% in October. According to the household survey (which determines the unemployment rate and is separate from the establishment survey which measures jobs), the labor force declined by 350,000 and the number of people employed declined by 122,000.
• Consumer credit increased by $14.2 billion, or 0.5%, to $2.753 trillion in October. Revolving credit (i.e., credit cards) increased 0.4% while non-revolving credit (i.e., auto loans) rose 0.6%.
• Productivity grew 2.9% in the 3rd quarter of 2012. This marks an upward revision from the previously reported 1.9% growth.
• The ISM index unexpectedly fell 2.2 points to 49.5 in November. The below-50 reading indicates contraction in the manufacturing sector for the fourth time in the past six months. November's topline reading was the lowest since July 2009. The employment component of the index, at 48.4, was the lowest since September 2009.
• The ISM services index increased 0.5 points to 54.7 in November.
• Construction spending rose 1.4% in October.
• Factory orders rose 0.8% in October.
• Auto sales jumped up 8.7% in November to an annual pace of 15.54 million units. Sales were up 14.7% from a year ago.
• Initial jobless claims dropped 25,000 to a level of 370,000 for the week ended December 1st.


text:
Hi there guys, just looking for a bit of advice really. A bit new to the forum but I feel at home haha!
Basically for the last 3 years I have been trying to make it into the Motorsport industry with some success. Currently an apprentice for a team in the North West area. But this is my dilema! I took a hobby of playing about with cars into a career and I think its one step in the wrong direction I took! I go to work and crack on with it for not much money, and nearly being a 20 year old, I am on pennies (Apprentice wage of £2.60 an hr) Half the time it works out less as I get paid for 38 hrs and usually do about 45-50 hrs a week!
As I am not enjoying what I am doing. I have been thinking "Do I really want to do this for the next 40 years of my life?"
What advice do you have for someone like myself or from your past experience?
I've always liked to protect people and was going to become a Royal Marine but my medical record put a huge FULL STOP. on that choice. And also looked into Security but there is to many fish in the water in that industry and the pay became pennies etc...
I've always thought about reffing etc but never a full time position neither.
In Motorsport I don't have much social life as the hours are long and usually away from home. A lot of people think WOW, I would love your job. But we spend most of our time at work cleaning and under a high level of stress which takes its toll on home life. Especially when I want to dedicate some of my time in getting back into fighting again after being out of the sport recovering from an injury and then trying to make it into Motorsport.
What are your guys experiences on this? Choosing a career path for the rest of your life seems to be a bloody hard decision!
Even becoming a martial arts instructor takes years and years to be able to be one and the thought of the job is enjoyful. I used to help people train when I was training myself and absolutely loved it!
Any help is welcome as it feels at the moment I am smacking my head against a brick wall and it aint falling at all!


text:
Marianne Clyde, LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
20 Ashby Street, Warrenton, Virginia 20186
Asking Jesus to lead us to the source and origin of the difficulty often brings quick and thorough healing. We ask him to uncover the beliefs that are keeping us stuck in unhealthy behaviors and replace those beliefs with His truth. This approach is completely non-judgmental and freeing. There is no condemnation, no matter what the issue, just taking responsibility for our own thoughts and actions and the pursuant changes.


text:
Topic: DAVANT/5FU (Pro-Pharmaceuticals Inc.)
Hello everyone,
As someone who has been following this company's trials for several years I wanted to encourage everyone to visit the site of Pro-Pharmaceuticals to understand how their new "delivery system" works combat cancer.
For those of you who are new to the site I would recommend reviewing the VIDEOS section first as I feel it will allow you to quickly grasp the concept of DAVANAT, and then proceed to their press releases as it applies to the results of their HUMAN TRIALS to date. What I think you will find will amaze you and your Doctor.
What I think most will find amazing is that one person had their tumor reduced almost 50% in a case involving cancer of the colon, and in another case involving Cholangio Carcinoma, the person was alive 13+ months after begining treatment (they were only expected to live another 12 weeks. But please read the press releases in question.
I am not a doctor or an employee of the company, but I am someone who has lost a number of my family members to various cancers over the years. My intent here is to spread the word that there may be hope at last.
Mike C.


text:
- Internships /
- Internet /
- Web Developer - Work from Home, School or anywhere in the world!
Similar Internships
Information System InternWilshire Financial Network
SEM / Digital Ads Specialist - Paid Fall InternshipOnline Optimism
SEO / Content Specialist - Paid Fall InternshipOnline Optimism
Web Dev / Programming Internship in CocoWalkWhitewall Media, LLC
Graphic Design InternIdeate Vision
Graphic Design Intern with a flare for marketingIdeate Vision
Search Marketing Intern (Summer and / or Fall or both) SEO - PPC - Social MediaAdvernation LLC
Web Developer - Work from Home, School or anywhere in the world!Bookmark This
Connect With Training
Posted: May 06 2016
Company Location: Ellicott City, MD
Application Deadline: No Deadline
Position: 10 Full-time, Unpaid (College Credit Required)
Always be on the alert for potentially fraudulent job postings online - never send money to a potential employer.
DescriptionConnect With Training is a brand new start up business. We are a 360 Degree team-instructor based training that focuses on diverse training needs of our clients.
We are located in Maryland but this position is completely remote.
I am looking for self, motivated starters that want to gain experiences from the scratch. Be a part of the team that takes different businesses from ground zero up, which builds, molds and shapes your experience to strong and solid employee that everyone wants to hire as well as gives you experience of working and collaborating with a team of Web and Graphic Developers
This job description for this position is for a Web/Graphic Designer that would independently take on developing different websites from nothing to every client, individual seeking website. Learn, practice, experiment and grow with us!
ResponsibilitiesEssential Duties and Responsibilities working with other team members:
• Provide services to build and maintain websites, including: layout, appearance, and functionality.
• Development of new web applications as identified by requirements.
• Development of database driven web interfaces.
• Create design prototypes, including graphic design, site navigation, and layout of content.
• Ensure that the layout of the content is accessible and logical; recommend improvements if necessary.
• Create visual concepts that match the content and the image wanted by the clients; ensure that websites and applications are easy to navigate.
• Build websites using technologies that conform to international standards and make sure that they are universally accessible by all common web browsers.
• Perform maintenance and updates to existing websites and applications when requested.
• Perform complete testing of websites and applications -- unit and system, engaging customers as necessary.
• Provide training on maintenance and update procedures to clients who choose to take charge of their own websites and applications.
• Contribute to the overall development of the Development Team and of internal websites.


text:
This article intends to breakdown the CS world file into it's different parts in-order to explain syntax and common usage. Although much of this is covered in the documentation some parts are incomplete and not fully explained. So this article hopes to pick up where the documentation leaves of.
First of all, because the CS world format has the advantage of being in an ACSII format we can open in up in a standard text editor (preferably one with XML syntax highlighting for simplification). So either start a new document or open an existing world file for editing (many examples can be found in the CS/data/ sub-directories)
Initialization Part
In the beginning...
All CS world files must start with the <world> tag and end with </world>. So to start us off we'll have:
<world> </world>
Note that if you want to make a library then just replace world with library. The rest of this tutorial is also valid for libraries except that libraries can only contain textures, materials, and mesh factories and no sectors.
Adding a Texture
Next we initialise which textures and materials we intend to use. To specify file locations in Crystal Space we always use VFS paths. VFS paths are a way of defining real paths without using Operating-System specific paths. They also allow you to directly read textures (and other files) from ZIP archives.
VFS (Virtual File System) paths are not just ordinary file system paths but paths that CS has set to ensure multi-platform compatibility. Real paths are usually mounted to VFS paths in the vfs.cfg. For example /lib/stdtex ' is actually a zip file called stdtex.zip in CS/data which has been mounted to the /lib/ VFS path. This comes in handy as you can refer to zip files as folders just by mounting them.
We start the world file initialization by specifying that we are talking about textures using the <textures> tag and then specify which texture we are using with the <texture> tag. Finally for every texture we specify it's location using the <file> tag:
<textures> <texture name="oldmetal"> <file>/lib/stdtex/oldmetal.jpg</file> </texture> </textures>
This should load a texture which can now be referred to as oldmetal from that VFS path /lib/stdtex/.
Other specifics relating to special cases in <textures> such as cubemaps and key colours can be read about in the official CS documentation or you can look at examples in CS/data/flarge/world
Adding Shaders
Shaders will come into play in the material section. But before you can use a shader in a material we have to load the shader:
<shaders> <shader> <file>/shader/std_lighting_detail.xml</file> </shader> </shaders>
Adding Materials With Shaders
Materials define surface attributes. Typically materials are associated with textures but there are many other possibilities. An example of a material that is not associated with a texture is a material defining a green color:
<materials> <material name="green_color"> <color red="0" green="1" blue="0" /> </material> </materials>
Usually however, you will want to specify a texture like this:
<material name="oldmetal"> <texture>oldmetal</texture> </material>
Another example are shaders, I will not get into shader specifics but applying a shader to a material is a simple process. Lets refer to the shader we used earlier.
<material name="oldmetal"> <texture>oldmetal</texture> <shader type="standard">std_lighting_detail</shader> </material>
This would attach the shader to the oldmetal material. But if we were to examine the actual shader we would notice that it also takes 2 variables which we can specify here. One is a texture that will be overlayed on the existing texture, and the other is a 2-D vector which basically shrinks down that texture to that scale. To use these variables we can do the following:
<material name="oldmetal"> <texture>oldmetal</texture> <shader type="standard">std_lighting_detail</shader> <shadervar name="tex detail" type="texture">oldmetal</shadervar> <shadervar name="detail texture scale" type="vector2">10,10</shadervar> </material>
Luckily for us this shader is a standard shader and the default renderloop already includes standard shaders. If this was another kind of shader it was possible that we had to change the renderloop. I decided to keep the same texture as the detail texture to avoid having to specify another texture and shrunk it by 10 UV's. If you are confused as to how i got the variable names and types, you can check cs/data/shaders/std_lighting_detail.xml for the type and names of the shader variables it takes. This is the same for all shaders.
So Far
So far we have specified a simple texture, material and shader-setup which looks like this:
<world> <textures> <texture name="oldmetal"> <file>/lib/stdtex/oldmetal.jpg</file> </texture> </textures> <shaders> <shader> <file>/shader/std_lighting_detail.xml</file> </shader> </shaders> <materials> <material name="oldmetal"> <texture>oldmetal</texture> <shader type="standard">std_lighting_detail</shader> <shadervar name="tex detail" type="texture">oldmetal</shadervar> <shadervar name="detail texture scale" type="vector2">10,10</shadervar> </material> </materials> </world>
Addings Sounds
Adding sounds is much like everything else in CS, very simple. It goes something like this:
<sounds> <sound name="tada.wav"> <file>/lib/std/tada.wav</file> </sound> </sounds>
Adding A Library
Another way of defining almost all of these things is through the use of libraries. A library is structured very much like a world file only it starts with <library> and ends with </library>. It also cannot accept start locations and sectors. It is a good way of grouping certain things for loading. Also if specifying mesh factories in a library you will be able to load them into viewmesh. To include a library in a world file we can use:
<library path="/lib/std" file="library" />
Adding Plugins
Crystal Space is very modular. As a result map loading in Crystal Space is also modular. That means that every mesh object has its own plugin that is responsible for loading. Every plugin has a specific name. You can specify that full name everytime you need it (i.e. for every mesh object). But it is often easier to specify shortcuts for every plugin that you need. This can be done in the <plugins> section:
<plugins> <plugin name="thing">crystalspace.mesh.loader.thing</plugin> <plugin name="thingFact">crystalspace.mesh.loader.factory.thing</plugin> </plugins>
Thing meshes are usually low-poly meshes that use pre-calculated light-mapped surfaces. Their downside is that they are less efficient than a general mesh.
Adding Settings
Settings are there to over-ride some default engine settings such as ambient light and lightmap size you can read about them in the documentation.
Adding Factories
The Factory/meshobject scenario is often important if you wish to repeat meshes several times. But not always necessary if you wish to just have one instance of a mesh. For this article I will be taking advantage of the Factory/Meshobject setup to better familiarize users with it.
In a factory we usually tell the engine what the factory will be called (the name), the plugin that is used to load it, the geometry information and also material(s) used on the mesh. With a thing mesh we have the option of multiple materials based on the polygons you assign it to. This factory was taken from the simple map tutorial in the documentation. It is a simple cube with a single material:
<meshfact name="walls"> <plugin>thingFact</plugin> <zfill /> <params> <v x="-10" y="-1" z="10"/> <v x="10" y="-1" z="10"/> <v x="-10" y="-1" z="-10"/> <v x="10" y="-1" z="-10"/> <v x="-10" y="4" z="10"/> <v x="10" y="4" z="10"/> <v x="-10" y="4" z="-10"/> <v x="10" y="4" z="-10"/> <material>old_metal</material> <texlen>4</texlen>
 <v>6</v> <v>7</v> <v>5</v> <v>4</v>

 <v>3</v> <v>2</v> <v>0</v> <v>1</v>

 <v>7</v> <v>6</v> <v>2</v> <v>3</v>

 <v>4</v> <v>5</v> <v>1</v> <v>0</v>

 <v>6</v> <v>4</v> <v>0</v> <v>2</v>

 <v>5</v> <v>7</v> <v>3</v> <v>1</v>
 </params> </meshfact>
The first line initializes and names the meshfactory. The second tells the loader what plugin we are using (in this case a thing factory because we are defining geometry). <zfill /> is used so that the card ignores the zbuffer and draws the Z value from the thing polygons over the old Z values present on screen. This is used by the outermost walls because it is a faster mode than <zuse/> as it does not need to read the zbuffer. It will be the first thing rendered in a back2front render. Everything inside the <params> block is specific to the thing mesh (handled by the thing factory loader plugin). Other meshes will have other stuff there. The next block is actually defining the position of vertices. This box is made up of 8 vertices. Next comes the material. We specify the material we created earlier (old_metal). Now we set <texlen> to 4 meaning that for every 4*4 world units one texture will be tiled. This is a shortcut to make it easier to do the texture mapping. For real models you will probably want to specify UV coordinates directly. This is easier done by using a map editor like Blender. Next we define polygons by specifying the vertices that make up that polygon but remember that vertices start to count at 0. These polygons can also have names which is mostly useful for debugging purposes.
And that brings a close to our initialization section of a world file. In the rest of this tutorial I will tell you how to use these to create a sector in a world that can be loaded by walktest.
Creating a Room
Starting Us Off
Now is time for use to use those loaded resources and create a simple room runable in walktest. Now normally the definition section would probly be the largest part of the world file, luckily we only have a small amount of objects. To start us of, no pun intended we need a spawning position which we specify like this:
<start> <sector>room</sector> <position x="0" y="0" z="0" /> </start>
room will be the eventual name of our sector. 0,0,0 will be the coordinate in that sector in which we shall spawn (Crystal Space Does not actually care about this, it is very app-specifc the way you handle start points. You can have multiple start positions and have people spawn at different locations). Now we create and name our sector like so:
Creating a Sector
<sector name="room"> </sector>
Adding our Mesh Object
We now have a sector called room which we can fill with whatever we want. We start by adding a mesh object called walls which we create from the same-named factory that we created above.
<sector name="room"> <meshobj name="walls"> <plugin>thing</plugin> <params> <factory>walls</factory> </params> </meshobj> </sector>
The second line refers to the loader plugin again, do not confuse this with the factory plugin. If you look at the <plugin> section we have initialised two plugins: the mesh and factory loader. The <params> sections only needs to have a reference to our factory. If I had not used a factory this would be the section where I would place the vertex and polygon information along with the materials. And finaly we terminate our meshobj section and we're done with this part.
Adding A Light
At this point if we were to load the world file with this into walktest it would work, but you would not be able to see anything. why you ask? No lights. To add a light we add the following:
<sector name="room"> <meshobj name="walls"> <plugin>thing</plugin> <params> <factory>walls</factory> </params> </meshobj> <light name="light1">  <radius>20</radius> <color red="2" green="2" blue="2" /> </light> </sector>
We should be able to see from this that it is named light1 and it will be created where we spawn (0,0,0 in sector room). Also we set its radius to 20. This does not mean that everything will be full bright. It only means that the light will not begin to falloff as soon. Also light values are worked out on a percentage for colours r1g1b1 (100% Red 100% Green 100% Blue) being white but also the larger numbers have greater intensity meaning this is 2x brighter than a r1g1b1 light.
Loading Your Level Into Walktest
This level is now ready (syntax wise) for walktest. To actually run it you have to specify the directory where the world file is located to walktest like this:
walktest directory_for_world -relight
If you put world in the current directory then you can also do:
walktest /this -relight
The reason this all works is that walktest accepts both VFS paths (the /this above) and normal paths (the directory_for_world). The VFS path /this is very useful for debugging (but should otherwise be avoided) and refers to the current directory.
The -relight commandline option is only needed the first time in case you are using thing meshes that require static precalculated lightmaps. It will actually calculate the lightmaps. Next time you run the map you don't need to add that option unless you changed the map (moved/added a light or changed geometry).
Sectors And Portals
It seems that other articles have shed away from dealing with sectors and portals, so we decided to add another sector to this tutorial.
Duplicate your current sector and rename it like this:
<sector name="room2"> <meshobj name="walls"> <plugin>thing</plugin> <params> <factory>walls</factory> </params> </meshobj> <light name="light1">  <radius>20</radius> <color red="2" green="2" blue="2" /> <dynamic /> </light> </sector>
Duplicating your Sector
Currently room2 is just a duplcate of room. What we want is another room on the side of our previous room. To do this we must translate our light and walls 20 units in a direction. We chose the positive X direction. To do this we add a <move> tag to our mesh object like this:
<move> <v x="20" y="0" z="0" /> </move>
Which in the context of room2 is as follows:
<sector name="room2"> <meshobj name="walls"> <plugin>thing</plugin> <params> <factory>walls</factory> </params> <move> <v x="20" y="0" z="0" /> </move> </meshobj> <light name="light1">  <radius>20</radius> <color red="2" green="2" blue="2" /> <dynamic /> </light> </sector>
Note that we also moved the light. We now have two rooms side by side, Unfortunately they are not connected at all. We did not have to separate these into seperate sectors but a constricted doorway is a good opportunity to take advantage of portals and sectors. We are going to create a floating portal as not to distrub the geometry by adding a polygon inside the face, normally adding a portal polygon to a mesh would be a better solution as that way portals line up correctly with walls, but this portal is for illustrative purposes and concepts only.
To start off we'll place a portal from room to room2'. Add this to the room sector (right before the light for example):
<portals> <portal name="port1"> <sector>room2</sector> </portal> </portals>
This creates a portal that goes to room2 but it is not complete. We also have to specify the dimensions of the portal (as a polygon) like this:
<portals> <portal name="port1"> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="1" /> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="1" /> <sector>room2</sector> </portal> </portals>
Once again we are not able to see the portal because our render-priorities are not currently set, meaning our zfill walls don't know they are meant to be behind our portal so for our special case we need to use the object priority like so (objects with render priority object are rendered behind objects with render priority walls. And the default render priority for objects with <zfill/> is walls):
<portals> <portal name="port1"> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="1" /> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="1" /> <sector>room2</sector> </portal> <priority>object</priority> </portals>
Finally we are able to see our portal, unfortunately due to the nature and position of our portal it only warps us to the same position in the neighbouring sector, we need a bit of space warping and here's how we do it:
<portals> <portal name="port1"> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="1" /> <v x="9.7" y="1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="0" /> <v x="9.7" y="-1" z="1" /> <wv x="1" y="0" z="0" /> <ww x="-1" y="0" z="0" /> <sector>room2</sector> <float /> </portal> <priority>object</priority> </portals>
We will have to warp using negative coordinates. If you wish to visualise this it is as if we are moving the world one unit toward the player (unless of course we wanted to rotate our space in which case we would need a positive <wv/> coordinate and a rotation matrix) The last thing that is needed is the <float/> tag to indicate it is a floating portal and it is not on the boundary of a sector.
And we're done, you should be able to load up you level (if you have been following) and get from room1 to room2 but not back again, i won't repeat the making of this portal.


text:
Everybody Get Down!
August 8th 2008
I know, it's been a while... Here's another mix.
These are some of the records I found on my last trip to Accra and right before leaving West Africa after 3 years and heading to NYC.
You will soon realize: This one is extra funky!
Click on the image to listen.
03:25 Santrofi Ansa - shakabula
07:35 Joe Mensah - funky talk in hausa
10:20 3rd Generation Band - obi ye saa wui
14:35 Action 13 - more bread to the people
17:35 Los Issifu - kansa soro
20:20 African Brothers Int. - self reliance
29:50 the Mighty Flames - metalik funk
34:10 the Funkees - baby i need you
37:40 Rock Town Express - if you love your neighbour you no go die
44:30 the Jeff Tagoe Movement - koti be cause
51:50 Asiko Rock Group - everybody get down
As an additional bonus, here are scans of all the records used, pictured in the same order as you can hear them in the mix. Click on the image for a better view:


text: In Romans 10 we learn that the word of God is how people come to faith. God's word is the seed that is sown and blossoms into faith in people's lives, but what comes out of a seed is overwhelmingly stuff-that-is-not-more-seeds. There are the roots, trunk, and branches of a tree; then there is the fruit, the flesh of which is often more massive than the seeds inside. Essentially I want to say that we should not reject other products of the tree simply because they vary from the seeds in quality. Continue reading The Bible Is the Seed, Not the Fruit