text:
Formula 1 booked journalists and even teams into Korea's famous "love hotel" rooms for this weekend's Korean Grand Prix. Some are complaining of used condoms under their beds and dildo-vending machines.
A shortage of rooms for the already dicey Korean Grand Prix has forced teams to stay in brothels — dubbed "love hotels" — for the week. Apparently, the staff is so used to people only staying for an hour that they're still letting out rooms to Johns (or Jungs, maybe?).
We'll let a photographer for Sutton Images explain:
"After a ten-hour flight to Seoul, a first class train journey to Mokpo and a quick taxi ride to our 'Love Hotel', we've arrived. The accommodation is a bit bizarre and there are easily 30 of these 'Love Hotels' in the area - the one down the road is called the Hotel Feel, but we steered clear of that. Ours, The Washington, is actually very nice. It's still a 'Love Hotel' but it's clean, has a 42" TV and free internet access."
They're lucky, the Red Bull team is apparently in a hotel with dildo-vending machines in the lobby. Here (NSFW) is a pic of what they're talking about.
Also noted, no complaints yet from Max Mosley. (Hat tip to Roberto G.!)
Photo Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images


text:
It's Kids Day, and Ash and friends help the children at a nearby school celebrate the holiday. Team Rocket spoils the fun with a Pikachu-napping scheme that goes awry when they snatch a kid instead of the Pokémon. But in a shocking turn of events, Meowth becomes a good guy—or does he?
S2 | Episode 1
Princess vs. Princess

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Help files, and help systems
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:55 pm
Post subject: Help files, and help systems
I've been giving some thought lately to the help system, which, I think, is something some MUDs don't give a lot of thought to at all. I think one of the more important things for new players is to have a help system they can fall back on easily to explain game concepts to them.
But that, for me, is the thing that I end up wondering about: designing a help system that is intuitive and helpful.
The MUDs Ive played and administered before going out on my own foray with EB have either had very terse and usually unhelpful helpfiles that generally give the syntax and little more, or excessively detailed helpfiles that makes it difficult to locate certain pieces of information.
For that matter, I wonder if a HELP system is the only way to go about it, as well. Not to say Id be tossing my HELP system out, its far too expected to not have, but I have to wonder if someone has a better way of doing it.
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 565
Location: Munich
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 11:08 pm
Post subject:
I thought I'd written up some stuff on help files, but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, here are some of the things I've found useful:
: Many muds allow their help files to get out of date - in fact this is such a common problem that I've found a lot of newbies will ignore help files and simply ask their questions over public channels. Responding with "see help X, paragraph Y, line Z" a few times tends to get them into the habit of checking first, and it saves you having to answer the same questions over and over.
: I often find myself rephrasing older help files to make them less ambiguous and more concise, or elaborating on things that players don't really understand. It's important to work with the players on this, because as developers we have an innate understanding of our own mechanics, and we may overlook things that we take for granted.
: I make sure help files are formatted to be readable on an 80 character width terminal, and make careful use of colour to draw attention to certain things. I also fix typos whenever they're reported - we're running text-based games, so players tend to be pretty judgemental about poorly presented text.
: I try to keep a consistent format throughout my help files - commands always list the syntax at the top, for example, while spells have a standard section listing details such as requirements, casting time, mana cost, etc, and suggestions for further reading are always listed at the bottom. This gives the documentation a more uniform feel, and allows players to quickly scan for important information once they get used to the layout.
: I've not really played with this much (yet), but for some help files I've provided MXP links, so that you can click from one help file to another with your mouse, or click the activation command directly from within the help file.
: Just as you can have dynamic descriptions, so you can use the same system for help files. Often my usage is quite subtle, such as colouring requirements in an ability or spell help file to indicate whether or not you fulfill them. Other times I explicitly mention things about the viewer, such as the 'mccp' help file mentioning their client by name and stating if it supports MCCP, or the 'emote' command using the viewer's name in its examples. Occasionally I find it easier to provide multiple help files, for example 'help build' gives advice specific to your class.
: Players will often misspell a help file. A soundex parser can be used to offer them similar sounding suggestions - and combined with MXP, these can also be offered as clickable links.
: This isn't something I've implemented personally, but I've seen it on other muds, and it can be pretty useful at times. The ability to search through every help file for specific text can make it much easier to locate information you want.
: Some players prefer to browse through help files on the website. This seems to be particularly the case for blind players, as they can take their time without worrying about a flood of messages.
: Wikis are becoming increasingly popular, and they make it easy for players to update and elaborate on the help files for you, which frees up time you can spend on other things.
Last edited by KaVir on Wed Feb 15, 2012 10:34 am; edited 1 time in total
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 12:06 am
Post subject:
Something I'd like to do, but Im not sure entirely how to implement in python, is something like to search
partial matches
. Code implementation we can discuss elsewhere I suppose, but I wonder how helpful it would be for the trouble.
To elaborate what I mean...
For example, a lot of MUDs shorten the "emote" command to "em", so say that they go HELP EM, Im thinking of it going "Did you mean: HELP EMOTE" kind of like how Google will suggest the search.
My problem with this is how to approach it when there are several similar things it may match. Ie, HELP STA. "Did you mean HELP STAY, HELP STAB, HELP STAMINA?" I suppose in the majority of cases it would alright just to list the matches, but I forsee problems if, for example, they go HELP E, which I wouldnt want it matching to every E help file out there. And then, how do you determine the most likely matches to include if you want to limit it the number of matches?
This soundex concept sounds related, but I'm not sure what you mean precisely.
Regarding dynamic help files
, that's entirely possible if I extend my dynamic descriptions code a bit, and making it clear what requirements a player fulfills, or if they do or do not have the relevant skills. So that's a pretty good idea I could easily implement.
As to MXP
, its helpful, but I don't want to rely on it
much, because not everyone is going to have it.
The usability of the MUD is important to me, and obviously the most important thing to make sure is very usable and accessible is the HELP system, in my opinion.
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 565
Location: Munich
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:05 am
Post subject:
Rudha wrote:
This soundex concept sounds related, but I'm not sure what you mean precisely.
It's a
phonetic algorithm
for indexing names by sound, and then I compare the indexes. I prefer it to the prefix, because the results tend to be better - eg "help whether" suggests "weather", "kombat" suggests "combat", "dmg" suggests "damage", etc. A partial match probably wouldn't catch that sort of thing.
I also use to it determine starting gender based on your name, using a mixture of soundex and pattern matching, eg:
The name 'Rudha' sounds feminine (52% probability).
The name 'Kavir' sounds masculine (61% probability).
That's really just a bit of fun though :) The soundex is mainly useful when it comes to help files.
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:22 am
Post subject:
Brief off-topic tangeant: Rudha is gaelic incidentally. ("Red-haired". My first character was red-haired and I was having trouble with original names, and it kind of stuck from there)
Back on-topic: That could be useful, though I've never done something quite like that so I'd have to look through the implementation details to see how tricky it'd be.
One thing I'm struggling with as I'm writing some help files now since I hit a wall with a code, is finding a balance between presenting things clear and concisely, whilst including all the relevant information. There really is a fine balance between those two, I think.
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Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 20
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:13 am
Post subject:
Apologies if this is off-topic, but the topic does say "help systems" also.
On God Wars II, KaVir implemented a "what" command that tries to suggest things a character might want to do. Sort of a "what do I do now?" command. You could type the command for suggestions about what you might want to do next. I used it as a reminder for things I'd overlooked.
At any rate, I thought the "what" command had a lot of potential, and muds tend to already have "who" and "where", so I thought a "what" and "how" might be appropriate. "what" to suggest things that could be done, and "how" for expounding on how tasks are accomplished. It's pretty natural to start with question words when thinking up a question, so it seems natural to me to favor question words over a less intuitive "help" command. My own thoughts on the subject consisted of trying to find a way to guess at possible questions a person may be asking (either arbitrarily or through some imitation of natural language processing) and provide appropriate feedback, logging failures, and using the failures to generate more possible questions that can be asked.
This idea is still in its infancy, as I've done nothing with it since thinking it up, and I don't know how useful it'd actually be in practice, but it always struck me as something that deserves more thought.
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:49 am
Post subject:
I had actually thought of a related kind of thing, but not in the same context. I was thinking I would let novice players (or, I suppose, lazy seasoned players) use WHEREIS <place> to find a path to a common location such as a major city, if they had some survival skill (which they can choose not to have, but it gets heavily recommended in the introduction).
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 565
Location: Munich
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 9:59 am
Post subject:
Rudha wrote:
That could be useful, though I've never done something quite like that so I'd have to look through the implementation details to see how tricky it'd be.
It's very simple. Actually, I released a snippet for it (
, and the
Rudha wrote:
One thing I'm struggling with as I'm writing some help files now since I hit a wall with a code, is finding a balance between presenting things clear and concisely, whilst including all the relevant information. There really is a fine balance between those two, I think.
There is, although I found the wiki was a great place for in-depth elaboration. Sadly it was a player-run wiki, which at the time I thought was a good idea (it felt more neutral, rather than something controlled by the admin), but the player who ran it left, and the wiki has now vanished.
Rudha wrote:
I was thinking I would let novice players (or, I suppose, lazy seasoned players) use WHEREIS <place> to find a path to a common location such as a major city, if they had some survival skill (which they can choose not to have, but it gets heavily recommended in the introduction).
I recall trying out a mud that had such a command, and it was pretty nice. It can also help level the playing field against clients with automappers, as they already have the ability to click on the map to move to a specific location.
I've got a 'find' command that's similar, although it only works for areas you've already discovered, and only gives an approximate distance and direction.
The 'what' command does seem to help newbies a lot though, and I know I'd have appreciated it when playing other muds - I'd almost always find myself sitting somewhere thinking "So...what am I supposed to do now?"
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Joined: 29 Dec 2007
Posts: 42
Location: Southern Hellinois
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:05 pm
Post subject:
ive been trying to pulse help files through damage statements in order to relay real time help functioning. haven't had much luck with it yet, but, since the help file parses through the character, it tries to show the character what they are capable of. generally this only works through the spell and ability database, and uses all of its own database data, so I figured why not the same statements too.
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:01 pm
Post subject:
KaVir wrote:
I've got a 'find'command that's similar, although it only works for areas you've already discovered, and only gives an approximate distance and direction.
I'm thinking of FIND being a sort of catchall between tracking/finding items/searching as appropriate and skilled. IE, FIND RUDHA. You find tracks leading to the east. FIND SWORD. You have a sword in the scabbard on your belt. Etc.
I know one of the problems with some MUDs is that you end up with so many different items in your inventory it can be difficult to manage.
That is getting a bit tangential I suppose, but being able to easily answer questions that the player has is kind of the point of a help system, so I suppose it may be worth considering that there's other ways to support that kind of system.
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Joined: 13 May 2005
Posts: 176
Location: Ohio, USA
Posted: Sat Oct 23, 2010 12:05 pm
Post subject: Re: Help files, and help systems
I'd put the help file system on something like a wiki and let anyone, staff or player, maintain it or expand it. Of course this assumes it's stored so the mud server can also access it in game. If you allow categories or tags to be created and attached to the help entries you can abbreviate the search space of getting help on the help system. Of course soundex and regular expression searches are a plus too.
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 1:32 pm
Post subject:
The problem with that is that there exist bots and other malicious things out there that basically exist to vandalise wikis with adverts etc, as I discovered trying to set up a wiki for another project. That would be less of a problem if I had the resources to look after it and properly maintain it, but I really have enough on my plate at the moment trying to build a MUD essentially from scratch
Some method of categorisation would probably help quite a bit, though, I agree; both on the server end by reducing the strain of searches on the mud server, by reducing their necessary scope, and for the player by (hopefully) giving them a narrower, more precise field of results.
The thing that I do need to do in regards to that, is disentangle the keywords and the name of the help file from one another. In NakedMud you don't have a uid or a name for a helpfile, just a list of keywords that match, and that can be somewhat problematic.
I've been pondering the possibility of letting players annotate the existing help files and that being available somehow, but Im not sure how precisely would be the best way to go about that.
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 565
Location: Munich
Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 11:35 am
Post subject:
You could avoid most of the spambots by having each wiki account created when a player creates a character - no generic wiki spambot is going to connect to your mud and create a character first. You might still get mudders specifically targeting your mud, perhaps disgruntled players or rivals, but those are far less common. If they
become a problem, you could further limit the wiki accounts to characters of certain levels, or even just make it invite-only.
My concern with using the wiki entries for in-game help files is that they could easily become very extensive - I prefer to keep my help files concise. However you could probably achieve that by having a summary section for each wiki entry (perhaps using a template or something similar?). Then players could view the basic help file, and if they want more information they could expand it to reveal the full entry.
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Joined: 19 Oct 2010
Posts: 8
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 10:16 pm
Post subject:
One thing I've been considering is having the help system hook in to the wordpress system I have currently running the elvenblade.ca site. I could have it take only the page excerpt, and I could make a custom field for the help file for player annotations.
I'm very leery about having players able to edit the content which would be displayed in-game, as I don't have much faith in people not abusing that to their advantage, but I do think some sort of annotations could be helpful for players to note things I may have missed in the help file, or perhaps tertiary information, for example "You can also use skill X with skill Y."
I've been thinking a lot on integrating the website and the MUD together. As is, most MUD websites that have that kind of extensive information either have to edit both help files, and the website, when something is changed, or have one or the other fall out of date; many mud websites suffer from being pretty out of date for their own mud. If I can edit both the site and the help file at the same time, that would be brilliant.
Another thing I've been considering, which is with the same aim as help files but not directly related, is how to best make the actual command interface as intuitive as possible. I'm not sure how to do that best, but I want to make it so that, as much as possible, the commands people think of to do certain things, are going to do what people expect them to do.
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Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 565
Location: Munich
Posted: Tue May 08, 2012 9:32 am
Post subject:
I've been putting more effort into my help file system recently, and have introduced a few new options that seem to be working out quite well.
The first change I made was to implement Tonitrus's suggestion of logging failed help requests, and it's proved surprisingly enlightening - I've already made quite a few additions based on pretty reasonable help requests that I hadn't considered before.
The second change is an automatic search through all the help files if no match is found, and I've found that this
complements the soundex parser - the soundex catches typos and incomplete help requests, while the search picks up references in other help files, so between them they have a very good chance of pointing the player in the right direction. For example:
HELP NOT FOUND: two-handed weapons
Suggestions: two-handed, tenacity.
Searching revealed 2 string matches, in the following 2 help files:
archery counter-attack
In fact "two-handed" is another keyword for the "assist" help file which I added after reading the failed help request log. The soundex recognises a couple of similar sounding keywords and suggests those, while the search finds references to "two-handed weapons" in a couple of related help files and lists those too.
I do still a think a more advanced manual search feature would be worth having as well, but even this automatic search is very handy.
The third and final change I've made is a simple Q&A system based on string sequences, designed to answer common questions. For example I've had quite a few newbies ask how they can delete, so I handle this with the question "how |i|you| delete" which triggers if the request contains the word "how", followed by either "i" or "you", followed by the word "delete" - any other words before, between or after them are ignored, so the player could also type "help can anyone tell me how I can delete my character?" and they'd then receive the associated answer.
Of course people don't usually type helps like that, but I've also connected this to the newbie channel. If the player asks a question on the newbie channel and the mud can answer it, it comes out like this:
Bubba newbies, 'How do you delete characters here?' (answered by AutoHelp)
Bubba then receives the message:
Let's try 'help How do you delete characters here?':
Followed by the answer, formatted in the same way as a help file. They're also told how they can switch off AutoHelp, in case it becomes annoying. But a lot of newbies end up asking the same questions, so I think this could prove pretty useful.
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text:
China's factories continued to struggle in August, as a key manufacturing reading fell to a nine-month low.
HSBC's initial purchasing manager's Index for Chinese manufacturing fell to 47.8 from 49.3 in July, the bank said Thursday. Any reading below 50 indicates that factory activity is shrinking rather than growing.
"Chinese producers are still struggling with strong global headwinds," said Hongbin Qu, chief Chinese economist at HSBC.
China, the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, has been hit particularly hard by the recession in much of Europe. The European sovereign debt crisis has prompted steep austerity measures in many countries. Weak conditions have zapped demand in the eurozone, the largest market for Chinese exports.
In addition, the U.S. economy has slowed, further cutting demand for Chinese exports. The slowdown in China also worries investors because China has become a major market for U.S. companies.
There was a lot of bad news in the latest reading, as manufacturing executives surveyed said all the various components they were questioned on -- employment, production, exports and backlogs of orders -- continued to retreat instead of grow..
"There is scarcely anything positive in the breakdown to report," said Mark Williams, chief Asia economist for Capital Economics, in a note to clients. "Demand appears to have slowed even more abruptly. That suggests output could slow even further."
" And it's worth noting that Chinese firms are not the only ones being hit: the July export data for Korea, Taiwan and Japan were all terrible too," Williams added.
Williams said in response to the weakness, the People's Bank of China, the nation's central bank, injected 145 billion yuan, or about $22.8 billion, into the economy. Taken together with the 220 billion yuan injection announced Tuesday, that makes for the largest weekly injection of cash by the bank so far this year, Williams said.
Williams and other economists are expecting even more loosening of monetary policy in China in the coming weeks and months, including cuts in the requirements for how much banks there must hold in reserve, in an effort to jump start the sluggish economy there.
"I think we'll see reserve requirements cut fairly soon," he said.
Despite the PMI report, major markets in Asia closed slightly higher, while European markets were all trading slightly higher and U.S. futures pointed to gains at the open. Federal Reserve minutes released Wednesday afternoon lifted investor hopes for more stimulus from the U.S. central bank.


text:
Photograph, above, from the collection of Bill Bean. Unidentified man and child on tractor. This unmarked photo most likely post-dates Maud Woodworth Bean's father, William Woodworth, and possibly is from an entirely different branch of the extended family.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Another Season of Sadnesses
Photograph, above, from the collection of Bill Bean. Unidentified man and child on tractor. This unmarked photo most likely post-dates Maud Woodworth Bean's father, William Woodworth, and possibly is from an entirely different branch of the extended family.
8 comments:
They say death comes in three's. I think there is some sort of basis for that. This family however, seems to be blessed with being in California back in the "good old days", prosperity and yet, cursed with the blindness and Marfans... Life never seems to settle on the happy medium for some.ReplyDeleteReplies
And yet, Iggy, what is remarkable to me is the frequent mentions, despite these problems, of the cheerful dispositions of the people involved. I'm not sure why life was so difficult for these related families, but at least they seemed equipped to deal with the downturns in a positive manner.Delete
It really makes you wonder how they coped with all that death, much of it so premature.ReplyDeleteReplies
Ellie, the more I read about the history of each of these family lines, the more I realize how many people did die early. They lived a very different reality than what we are accustomed to today.Delete
Oh, no! Both their fathers dying in the same year. People can only take so much. Sam and Maud have suffered through so much sadness, on top of the challenges put before them as children. I hope their fortunes take a turn for the better, and soon!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thank you, Mariann, for those kind thoughts on their behalf. Other than the one positive note of Maud's regaining of her own vision, life did seem to be on a downhill slide for Sam and Maud in the 1920s.Delete
They had a rough patch...it probably made them appreciate family more. I have been working on entering obits into the family blog..1994 was a terrible year for my husbands family...but joyful too as our girls were both married that year ( a few years later one would divorce..but her x was still a pallbearer for her grandfather) death is just a different kind of history:)ReplyDeleteReplies
When I hear about such experiences as yours--difficult family situations happening almost the same time as weddings--I always wonder how much the one overshadows the other. Glad to hear your girls' weddings were joyful, considering the time and overall context. I know none of us lives in a vacuum, but a wedding should be a joyful event!Delete


text:
Daddy Lohan Loves Lindsay's Half $i$ter
Daddy Lohan Loves Lindsay's Half $i$ter
Michael Lohan should be named father of the freakin' century. Now Daddy Trainwreck wants to cash in on his might-be illegitimate daughter, whether he's the daddy or not.
We're hearing MiLo tried to seal the deal with at least two celeb weeklies over the results of his paternity: He's asking $10K for the story if he's not the dad -- and $20K if he is the dad. That's because he's also talking about selling the pictures of the first meeting between Lindsay and her new half-sister. People and OK! have politely declined his effed up offer.
And this was the guy who was slamming the girl's mom for selling pics to the tabs? Ma and Pot Kettle!
UPDATE: Michael Lohan tells us he never offered to sell anything to anybody, and calls our story "defamatory."


text:
We are pained to record the death of Miss Julia Tully, of 217 Stephenson avenue, on Sept. 1. She died of consumption, and was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Wednesday. The funeral services were held in Holy Rosary Church, and the attendance was very large.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Small Hint For a Large Event
8 comments:
Did you try 1888 City Directory or work backward, 1887, 1886? A lot of Tullys there.ReplyDeleteReplies
Maddeningly, I did, Patrick. What was frustrating was that I not only couldn't find Julia's address under any Tully listings, but I didn't see any of my usual Tully family there, either. I'm wondering if there were neighborhood directories--at least in the collection on Ancestry.com--because I know our Tully family was on the south side. Perhaps that neighborhood wouldn't be included in the Chicago directory???Delete
I don't see Julia -ReplyDelete
http://chicagoancestors.org/downloads/1892t.pdf page 767 list at least a half dozen Patricks...Replies
Oh, bingo! Despite your Patrick comment ;)Delete
And would you believe it? The address belongs to Margaret, widow of Michael. Hmmm...back to the drawing board...
It amazes me how every little hint seems to bring with it a dozen more questions. I guess that is what keeps it fun and keeps up coming back for more. Good luck with it and I'll be watching with interest to see what you are able to turn up.ReplyDeleteReplies
That's it, exactly! There's something about the search that keeps us coming back for more. Glad to have you along for the journey!Delete
Of course, it's always possible her name was Margaret Julia. (Sorry - I have a cruel streak sometimes!)ReplyDelete


text:
Thought Starters provides me with a chance to look through the articles, research and opinion pieces I've read over the last week or so, highlighting the more interesting trends, developments and changes in the world we live in. This time we're looking at the growth of mobile, the role of adblockers, the impacts and origins of sexism in the workplace and the internet in the developing world among other things. Happy reading.
The growth of mobile has seen the emergence of a whole new range of digital channels, but Visual Capitalist's research points to the largest platforms all being controlled by Microsoft, Google or Facebook. That being said, there are range of platforms (WeChat, Snapchat, Slack, Netflix, Spotify) that fall short of a billion users but dominate within their respective sectors or geographies and could present a challenge to the market incumbents:
The IAB (US) recently released research which profiles how American consumers are using their PCs and smartphones. What is apparent is the continuing move to mobile although the same research points to computers still registering a higher volume of internet views pointing to the different ways these devices are used:
Google and Facebook have responded well to consumers' growing use of smartphones, taking more than half of the available mobile ad revenues and leaving the remaining players fighting over the scraps in the US. eMarketer's forecast suggests this isn't going to change any time soon:
A continuing note of concern for media operators is the growth of adblocking with 22% of Britons using the software with this rising to 47% among 18-24 year olds according to Internet Advertising Bureau (UK) commissioned research.
Dean Dubley's analysis suggests the introduction of mobile adblocking services won't decimate the online media sector but is likely to further strengthen the hand of Google and Facebook:
The bottom line is that screaming headlines in stories like those from ZeroHedge (link) about "the risk to Internet companies' business models" are nonsense. Ironically, it's Google and Facebook's approach to advertising that is safe. Small online publications using other advertising channels may not be so lucky. I noticed this tweet referencing mobile advertising growth forecasts from Goldman Sachs (link) which seems to suggest that Wall St is sanguine about the adblocking "threat" and that rapid growth in revenues will continue.
Among the likely responses by media operators to growing adblocker usage is a growing reliance on native advertising which is reflected in Enders Analysis' recent forecast for Yahoo:
Whilst a few apps such as Facebook are nearly universal in their appeal, others give a clearer indicator as to who the user might be. Researchers have looked to profile the correlation between the ownership of different mobile apps and various demographic characteristics and income to develop profiles of mobile users. You can check out who they think you are in quiz – they got my gender and age wrong (I'm definitely male and over the age of 32) although I'm guessing not being a US resident probably didn't help the profiling process.
Slack has been touted as the solution to the problem of information overload in the workplace with over 2 million daily active users. Samuel Hulick provides a more sceptical view warning that this "asynchronish" is in many cases compounding rather than addressing the problem:
Maybe you will say I'm afraid of commitment, but I'm just not interested in a relationship that seems to want to swallow up more and more of my time and attention, and demand that more and more of my interactions with other people go through you first.
Jeff Goodell has written an extended feature article on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Worth a read if you're keen to get up to speed with what's happening in the sector:
Despite advances like smarter algorithms and more capable robots, the future of superintelligent machines is still more sci-fi than science. Right now, says Yann LeCun, the director of Facebook AI Research, "AIs are nowhere near as smart as a rat." Yes, with years of programming and millions of dollars, IBM built Watson, the machine that beat the smartest humans at Jeopardy! in 2011 and is now the basis for the company's "cognitive computing" initiative. It can read 800 million pages a second and can digest the entire corpus of Wikipedia, not to mention decades of law and medical journals. Yet it cannot teach you how to ride a bike because its intelligence is narrow – it knows nothing about how the world actually works
Developments in software technology including artificial intelligence are rapidly expanding the scope of what computers can do. Nathaniel Popper profiles Kensho's role in automating some of Goldman Sach's research roles, highlighting how automation is increasingly emerging as a threat to white collar jobs:
The lead author on the Oxford paper, Carl Benedikt Frey, told me that he was aware that new technologies created jobs even as they destroyed them. But, Frey was quick to add, just because the total number of jobs stays the same doesn't mean there are no disruptions along the way. The automation of textile work may not have driven up the national unemployment rate, but vast swathes of the American South suffered all the same. When it comes to those A.T.M.s, there has, in fact, been a recent steady decline in both the number of bank branches and the number of bank tellers, even as the number of low-paid workers in remote call centers has grown.
This points to a disconcerting possibility: Perhaps this time the machines really are reducing overall employment levels. In a recent survey of futurists and technologists, the Pew Research Institute found that about half foresee a future in which jobs continue to disappear at a faster rate than they are created.
Virtual reality is another technology that's spilling out of the lab. Whilst it's great to see the technology in the real world, Daniel Harvey profiles how a lack of diversity is leading to accidental sexism reflecting wider problems in the tech sector:
Based on that pattern it should come as no surprise that VR suffers from much the same. Motion sickness in VR has plagued the format since its inception. Women have shown a greater tendency toward VR-induced nausea than men. But why? It's all about unconscious bias and technology's notorious self-selection bias.
Discrimination is certainly not something exclusive to the tech sector. The absence of women in the boardrooms of many FTSE 100 or Fortune 500 companies reflects a range of barriers and will hold back their performance given they're less able to reflect the needs of half the world's consumers. It's worth heading over to The Economist site where you can play with an interactive version of the following:
Facebook recently released its State of Connectivity report which profiles barriers to internet access for the developing world as part of its internet.org initiative. The key barriers to access highlighted in the report are the state of connectivity, availability of infrastructure, affordability, relevance and readiness of the population:
A valuable complement to Facebook's report is Pew Research Center's recently released research which looks at smartphone ownership and internet usage around the world including developing countries:
With Britain's Brexit referendum coming up on the 23rd of June, The Economist has profiled the regions that are europhile and eurosceptic:
Whilst Europe is generally becoming more urbanised, this process (like technology) is unevenly distributed with different cities experiencing significant growth (Istanbul, Brussels, Amsterdam) or decline (Katowice, Ruhr, Katowice, Ostrava, Bucharest):
Claire Cain Miller and Quoctrung Bui profile changes in patterns of relationships and marriage in the US, highlighting the role of assortative mating in reinforcing social class and undermining social mobility:
Assortative mating is the idea that people marry people like themselves, with similar education and earnings potential and the values and lifestyle that come with them. It was common in the early 20th century, dipped in the middle of the century and has sharply risen in recent years — a pattern that roughly mirrors income inequality in the United States, according to research by Robert Mare, a sociologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. People are now more likely to marry people with similar educational attainment — even after controlling for differences between men and women, like the fact that women were once less likely to attend college.
The featured image is a mural by ecb / Hendrik Beikirch for the St+Art India event in New Delhi and published in StreetArtNews


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Terms of Service
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We (Heartspring) run several web sites providing information about what we do and the ability to fundraise and donate to help us in our mission. We would love for you to use them. Our sites are designed to facilitate interaction among our users. However, be responsible in what you say, and how you interact. In particular, make sure that none of the prohibited items listed below appear (or get linked to) on your profile, on your fundraising page, or in your comments (things like spam, viruses, or hate content). If you find a profile or fundraising page that you believe violates our terms of service, please send us feedback.
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The following terms and conditions govern all use of the Heartspring Network member websites, including Heartspring.org, Pedalfest.org, AutismCAREWalk.org, MyHeartspring.org and LightYourHeart.org, and all content, services and products available at or through the member websites, (taken together, the Network). The Network is owned and operated by Heartspring, Inc. ("Heartspring"). The Network is offered subject to your acceptance without modification of all of the terms and conditions contained herein and all other operating rules, policies (including, without limitation, Heartspring's Privacy Policy) and procedures that may be published from time to time on this Site by Heartspring (collectively, the "Agreement").
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text:
This page is monitored by the OLPC team.
|May. 2008
|News goes here. So many OLPCs have been shipped.
|Nov. 2007
|Mass Production has started.
|July. 2007
|One Laptop per Child Announces Final Beta Version of its Revolutionary XO Laptop.
|Apr. 2007
|First pre-B3 machines built.
|Mar. 2007
|First mesh network deployment.
|Feb. 2007
|B2-test machines become available and are shipped to developers and the launch countries.
|Jan. 2007
|Rwanda announced its participation in the project.
|Dec. 2006
|Uruguay announced its participation in the project.
|Nov. 2006
|First B1 machines are built; IDB and OLPC formalize an agreement regarding Latin American and Caribbean education.
|Oct. 2006
|B-test boards become available; Libya announces plans for one laptop for every child.
|Sep. 2006
|UI designs presented; integrated software build released; SES-Astra joins OLPC
|Aug. 2006
|Working prototype of the dual-mode display
|Jun. 2006
|500 developer boards are shipped worldwide; WiFi operational; Csound demonstrated over the mesh network
First video with working prototype [1]
|May 2006
|eBay joins OLPC; display specs set; A-test boards become available; $100 Server is announced
|Apr. 2006
|Pre-A test board boots; Squid and FreePlay present first human-power systems
|Mar. 2006
|Yves Behar and FuseProject are selected as industry designers
|Feb. 2006
|Marvell joins OLPC and continues to partner on network hardware
|Jan. 2006
|World Economic Forum, Switzerland
UNDP and OLPC Sign Partnership Agreement
news release
|Dec. 2005
|Quanta Computer Inc. to Manufacture Laptop
|Nov. 2005
|WSIS, Tunisia
Prototype Unveiled by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; Nortel joins OLPC
Photos: (Image 1)
(Image 2) (Image 3)
|Aug. 2005
|Design Continuum starts design of first laptop
|Jul. 2005
|Formal signing of original members of OLPC
|Mar. 2005
|Brightstar and Red Hat come on board
|Jan. 2005
|Laptop initiative officially announced at World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland; AMD, News Corp. and Google agree to join OLPC


text: Imagine being a photojournalist in Iraq. Would you want to carry a bag full of photography gear on your shoulder and a heavy duty SLR on your neck while covering a war zone? Alex Majoli..a distinguished photojournalist with assignments in war torn Africa and Middle East prefers digital point-and-shoot cameras. For the complete story on this rather wise journalist see:


text:
You May Have Not Given Me The Gift Of Life But Life Gave Me You Stepdad Greeting Card
*Please note select items might ship separately.
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Blank Inside.
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2nd shirt I bought from them and I love it
The shirt is nice and thick so it will not wear out nearly as quick as most others you find. The graphics are vibrant and layed on thick as well so to not peel easy. I wear it every Saturday while running errands and get alot of smiles, smirks and thumbs up. Cant wait to buy another!
The shirt is super good quality, has a fantastic print and was such a hit at the party! I followed the size suggestions and it was perfect! 10/10
Love it
Love it!!!!!
Love it!!!!!
I get the most compliments for this T from Older & younger ppl alike.
We are here for the Badass Moms out there 😎
It's thicker material and feels sort of heavy but I love in a colder area so it's perfect. I plan on buying more. One for each day of the week to fit my spiteful hate people sometimes most of the time personality.
…cunt—and I love it!
Collapsible tabs


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Electronic communication has altered the way we interact with one another, organizations, and products. The ever-changing digital landscape can bring uncertainty to professionals such as nurses when it comes to appropriate online conduct. We encourage every nurse to become familiar with the standards and codes of ethics set out by their regulating board/college to ensure compliance.
There is a general perception that nurses are trustworthy and the nursing profession is honorable. We implore all nurses/nursing students to conduct themselves in a manner that not only maintains this trust in the profession, but also builds upon it. The tips below are guidelines on how to create a constructive, respectful, and authentic online persona whether you are on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, or any other social channel. Remember: as a nurse, you work in the public sphere. Carefully consider what you write before hitting the 'Post' button.
- Build your brand – Are you speaking as yourself, with or without your 'nursing hat' on? Tone and context can often be misinterpreted. Building your voice or online persona will help to minimize confusion when it comes to the tone of your comments.
- Transparency – Identify yourself, write in the first person, and don't be afraid to show your personality. Own your voice. Social media is all about continuous dialogue. Be smart, post smarter.
- Honesty – Do not make false or misleading comments/statements. If you make a mistake, take responsibility for it. It's ok! It's better to own it and clarify than to deny or ignore and open yourself to further criticism.
- Respectfulness – Exercise discretion and confidentiality when referring to others, including coworkers, patients and clients. Do not post identifiable information and/or content unless you have permission to do so. Avoid harassment, intimidation, abuse or threats (both when posting and responding to posts). Not all conversations are worth participating in. Anything you post online becomes public information and may remain online indefinitely, even if you attempt to modify or delete your post. Avoid fights and personal attacks.
- Add value – Stick to what you know. Post meaningful comments, and aim for quality. Interested in gaining new knowledge? Ask! Someone will likely post back to you!
- Be diligent – Check your sources. Separate opinions from facts. Know the difference between offering suggestions and offering health-related advice. Offering advice could lead to liability.
- Stay engaged – Stay informed, post regularly, and respond to comments in a timely manner.
- Protect your privacy – Never disclose your personal information. Once it's posted, it's there for good. Keep your personal information personal. Get to know your privacy settings.
- When in doubt, don't post – Many social applications have timers built in. If you're unsure about posting something, ask yourself 'is this something that MUST be posted right now?' 'Am I posting out of emotion?' If you are afraid of losing your thought, type it out and put it on a delayed post. Come back to it later. Social media is very fleeting. By the time you decide it wasn't worth posting, the topic might be irrelevant on social media.
- Get off the Internet - Be aware of the amount of time you spend on social media. Don't let it negatively affect your life. There's nothing wrong with unplugging.
http://www.ama-toronto.com/ http://www.arnnl.ca/documents/publications/Position_Statement_on_Social_Media_2013.pdf
http://www.cna-aiic.ca/en/buydownload/nursing-ethics/ http://www2.cna-aiic.ca/CNA/documents/pdf/publications/Ethics_in_Practice_Feb_2012_e.pdf


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Bespoke Word Linen Tablecloth in Lemon Yellow
Enjoy the option to personalise this signature white linen tablecloth emblazoned with any word of your choosing (there's a character minimum of 3 - 8 max.).
The fun is in having your guests decipher the secret message written across the tablecloth. A wonderful gift for loved ones, weddings, or any occasion when you need the perfect word.
We have complementing napkins available for whichever colour you've decided on.
Please note: Due to the bespoke, handmade nature of these items, these are non refundable and will take 6-8 weeks to produce.
Wash at up to 60 degrees on a regular cycle (avoid "eco" or longer cycles).
Never soak for longer than 10 minutes and avoid using Vanish and other whitening products.
Tumble dry at 70 degrees for a soft effect, and 90 degrees for a more crushed finish.
We don't recommend ironing the full cloth in order to keep the linen's lovely crumpled texture intact, but we do like to iron the edges to give it a sharper edge.
A 175cm x 175cm tablecloth will fit between four and five people around the table.
A 160cm x 300cm tablecloth will fit between six and eight people around the table.
A 160cm x 380cm tablecloth will fit between ten and twelve people around the table.


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Winterhawks take opener, 7-2 over Chiefs
Ty Rattie and Mac Carruth made history as the Portland Winterhawks opened their second round series with a 7-2 win in Game 1 Friday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in front of 6,172 fans.
With the win goaltender Mac Carruth has tied the WHL career record with his 38th playoff win, pulling him even with Cam Ward, who set the record with the Red Deer Rebels from 2001-04.
In addition, Rattie registered a hat trick in the win with three goals in the third period, which gave him 72 career playoff points to pass Randy Heath for the franchise's career mark for playoff scoring.
The Hawks struck first when Taylor Leier collected a loose puck in the crease and put it past Spokane netminder Eric Williams 5:46 in the first to give Portland a 1-0 lead. Spokane tied it at 1-1 on a goal by Mike Aviani at the 9:04 mark, which remained the score going into the second.
Portland regained the lead 4:05 into the second when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored to make it 2-1. The Chiefs once again evened it when Todd Fiddler struck for a shorthanded goal at the 7:23 mark of the second. Bjorkstrand gave the Hawks a 3-2 advantage with his second of the game at the 14:44 mark, followed later in the frame by Derrick Pouliot scoring a highlight reel goal on an end-to-end rush to give Portland a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.
From there Ty Rattie took over in the third period, scoring three straight goals to give the Hawks a 7-2 lead. He opened the scoring 47 seconds into the period with a power play goal, followed by him banging one in from the doorstep at the 5:28 mark to make it 6-2. He completed the hat trick at the 16:23 mark to make it 7-2, and in doing so took sole possession of the franchise record for career playoff points with 72.
Carruth earned the win net with 38 saves on 40 shots. Eric Williams took the loss for Spokane with seven goals allowed on 39 shots.
The Hawks were 2-8 on the power play and a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill.
Game 2 of the series is tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Rose Garden.


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Exclusive expert tips, customer stories and more.
Dallmeier solutions exceed efficiency requirements in all dimensions - from the ease-of-use of the camera systems to the functionality of the analysis and management software to sophisticated AI-based assistance systems.
Innovating for real customer benefits has been the driving force for Dallmeier since more than over 35 years. After the invention of the first video sensor with motion detection, the Panomera® multifocal sensor technology again revolutionised the world of video technology: since then it has been possible to cover even the largest spatial contexts with a fraction of the camera systems and infrastructure components required normally.
Dallmeier technology means optimum operational efficiency, low infrastructure requirements, efficient and reliable planning and the shortest possible implementation times. The result is maximum cost-effectiveness of the overall solution instead of cheap individual components with high follow-up costs.
Instead of the frequently encountered "let's see what we see" approach, Dallmeier customers receive a well planned video and analysis system with clearly defined results: Planning with the Dallmeier 3D planning and engineering approach means minimum time expenditure with maximum reliability and guaranteed target achievement.
Dallmeier combines over 35 years of competence and experience with curiosity and the ever new passion to find solutions for complex customer problems. Our experts combine innovative technologies with design, functionality and usability to create solutions with maximum customer benefit.
Dallmeier stands for over 35 years of "thinking out-of-the-box" for our customers. The result is disruptive technologies - from the world's first video sensor with motion detection to Panomera® MFS technology to the modular HEMISPHERE® software platform for security and business.
Dallmeier is the only manufacturer of video security technology to develop and produce the vast majority of components in Germany - from cameras, recording and transmission solutions to video management to intelligent video analysis to customised management systems.
Dallmeier employees are highly qualified specialists from all important technology disciplines: from classic video technology, management software and state-of-the-art interface technology to Artificial Intelligence to experts for data protection and data security.


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Including CourseBuilder Interactions and Controls in Dreamweaver Projects
In this chapter
- Exploring CourseBuilder
- Copying Support Files
- Adding the Template Fix
- Examining Browser Compatibility
- Inserting a Multiple Choice Interaction
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Choices Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
- Editing an Interaction
- Modifying the Feedback in the Action Manager
- Inserting a Drag and Drop Interaction
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Elements Tab
- Using the Pairs Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
- Inserting an Explore Interaction
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Hot Areas Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
- Inserting a Text Entry Interaction
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Responses Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
- Inserting a Button
- Inserting a Timer
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Triggers Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
- Inserting a Slider
- Using the General Tab
- Using the Ranges Tab
- Using the Action Manager Tab
Another advantage of using CourseBuilder is it enables your team to have consistent code. Reusing proven CourseBuilder interactions is better than having individual team members create interactions by using many different methods. Having consistent code makes it easier to troubleshoot problems you might run into when implementing your learning application.
This chapter covers the basics of inserting and editing CourseBuilder interactions and controls. Chapter 11, "Conquering CourseBuilder's Action Manager," goes into more depth on customizing interactions to work in unique ways. Chapter 12, "Scoring an Assessment and Hiding the Answers," explores gathering scores from CourseBuilder interactions and scoring a quiz.
In this chapter, you will understand the following:
How to insert and edit CourseBuilder interactions and controls
How to configure the General tab of a CourseBuilder interaction
How to configure Multiple Choice, Drag and Drop, Explore, and Text Entry interactions
How to configure Button, Timer, and Slider controls
Exploring CourseBuilder
Installing the CourseBuilder extension in Dreamweaver adds the CourseBuilder object to the Learning tab of the Insert bar. If you didn't install CourseBuilder in Chapter 2, "Assembling the Team and Collecting the Tools," you'll want to return to the Manage Extensions section of that chapter and install CourseBuilder now.
After you install the CourseBuilder extension, you're ready to create new Web pages and insert the interactions. Installing the CourseBuilder extension adds three major commands to Dreamweaver:
A new Insert bar categoryThe Learning tab enables insertion of a CourseBuilder object into a Web page. You can use the CourseBuilder object from the Learning tab of the Insert bar or select the CourseBuilder Interaction command from the Insert menu.
The CourseBuilder submenuAdded to Dreamweaver's Modify menu, shown in Figure 10.1, this submenu contains commands to control CourseBuilder interactions.
Figure 10.1 The CourseBuilder submenu in the Modify menu gives you access to CourseBuilder commands.
The Using CourseBuilder commandAvailable under the Help menu, this command gives you access to the extensive CourseBuilder help that's available.
CourseBuilder's strength is the JavaScript functions that control interactions.
When you insert a CourseBuilder object into a Web page, you are presented with the CourseBuilder Gallery, shown in Figure 10.2. In the upper-left corner, you can select interactions that will work in 3.0 or 4.0+ browser versions. If you select 3.0 browsers, you can add only simple Multiple Choice and Text Entry interactions. For the examples in this chapter, select the 4.0+ Browsers radio button.
Figure 10.2 The CourseBuilder Gallery displays CourseBuilder interactions that work in 3.0 or 4.0+ browsers.
With the 4.0+ Browsers option selected, the CourseBuilder Gallery has eight categories: Multiple Choice, Drag and Drop, Explore, Button, Text Entry, Timer, Slider, and Action Manager. When you select one of the categories listed on the left side of the Gallery, the interactions available in that category appear on the right, represented by icons. When you select an interaction, the tabs to set up the interaction appear at the bottom beside the Gallery tab. The tabs vary according to the function of the interaction you select.
CourseBuilder objects are divided into two groups: interactions and controls. In the interactions group are the Multiple Choice, Drag and Drop, Explore, Text Entry, and Action Manager categories. These objects are useful in online learning applications as assessment questions and knowledge checks.
In the controls group are the Button, Timer, and Slider categories. These objects are useful as navigation controls, switches, and time-monitoring devices. This type of CourseBuilder interaction is more like a "gadget" that you add to your Web page.
Copying Support Files
Before you insert a CourseBuilder interaction, you must save the Web page so that CourseBuilder can insert the correct hyperlinks. The first time you insert a CourseBuilder interaction into a Web page in your site, CourseBuilder prompts you to copy support files. The Copy Support Files dialog box is shown in Figure 10.3. The support files consist of a scripts directory, containing the external JavaScript files that make the CourseBuilder interactions function, and a directory of images, including placeholder graphics and images used for buttons and timer.s
Figure 10.3 The Copy Support Files dialog box prompts you to copy the external JavaScript files and images necessary for CourseBuilder interactions to work.
By default, CourseBuilder inserts the support file directories into the same directory where the current Web page is saved. That means if you add CourseBuilder interactions to multiple directories, the support file directories are added to each directory. Because you already have a scripts and an images directory in the root of your Web site, it's more efficient to use those same directories instead of creating new ones.
In an online learning application project, you can modify the CourseBuilder preferences file, Preferences.txt, so that CourseBuilder looks for the support file directories in a single, standard location. The Preferences.txt file is stored in the Dreamweaver\CourseBuilder\Config directory.
To edit Preferences.txt, you can open the file in a text editor or in Dreamweaver, but it's best to use Dreamweaver, shown in Figure 10.4, because the formatting is easier to read. Dreamweaver uses this file to set various CourseBuilder preferences, and you might want to explore this file further after you are more experienced with CourseBuilder. For now, simply modify the first two preference variables in the file: PREF_scriptsUrl and PREF_imagesUrl.
Figure 10.4 Modify CourseBuilder preferences by editing the Preferences.txt file in Dreamweaver.
The online learning application site you are creating is designed to contain all the content Web pages in lesson directories under the root directory. The PREF_scriptsUrl and the PREF_imagesURL variables are relative to the location where you save the Web pages containing the interactions. To link to the images directory and the scripts directory, the URLs will be ../scripts and ../images. The ../ means to go up one directory level and points to the site root when used in one of the lesson directories. Change PREF_scriptsUrl to ../scripts and change PREF_imagesURL to ../images. Then CourseBuilder creates a new directory within your existing images directory to store all the images it adds. Save your changes to the Preferences.txt file and restart Dreamweaver.
In the first paragraph, the Preferences.txt file states that you can make your directories site-root relative. A site-root relative directory begins with a slash and indicates that instead of being relative to the current page, the URL is relative to the site root. Site-root relative addressing is useful when working on large projects, but for the URLs to work, you must always view Web pages through a Web server. I find it easier to preview the Web sites I create on my computer instead of through the server (either local to My Computer or somewhere else).
Every time you insert a CourseBuilder interaction, CourseBuilder checks to see whether the support file directories exist. Instead of waiting for CourseBuilder to prompt you, however, you'll create these directories now by using the Copy Support Files command:
Create a new Web page, save the file, and name it. If you changed your Preferences.txt, you'll need to place your Web page in a directory beneath the site root (maybe a directory called quiz). Now that you have established the location of the current Web page, CourseBuilder will know where to place the support files relative to this file.
Create the support file directories with the Copy Support Files command (Modify, CourseBuilder, Copy Support Files).
The Copy Support Files dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 10.5. The URL should point to directories in the site root if you've modified the Preferences.txt file correctly. Click the OK button to copy the scripts and images to CourseBuilder. You can leave the Overwrite Existing Images check box unchecked.
Figure 10.5 Check that the Copy Support Files dialog box lists the correct URLs for the common scripts and images directories.
Examine the scripts and images directories in the Site panel or Site window. The new files should be present.
Now you have added single copies of the files necessary for CourseBuilder to work. You should not have to add these files again while developing this site, as long as any files containing a CourseBuilder interaction are saved in the subdirectories (lesson1, lesson2, quiz, and so on) off the site root.
Adding the Template Fix
When you insert a CourseBuilder interaction into a Web page, CourseBuilder adds a JavaScript function call to the <body> tag. The JavaScript code calls the MM_initInteractions() function, which sets up the CourseBuilder interactions on the page. The problem appears when you add a CourseBuilder interaction to a Web page based on a template; you cannot edit the <body> tag in these pages. CourseBuilder solves this problem by installing the Add Template Fix command.
You need to create a template that includes the template fix code for use with CourseBuilder interactions. Open one of your templates, select the Add Template Fix command (Modify, CourseBuilder, Add Template Fix), and then save the template with another name. The Add Template Fix dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 10.6.
Figure 10.6 Add necessary JavaScript code to the template by using the Add Template Fix command.
Click the Add button to add the initialization code to both the current page and the parent template file. From now on, all pages using this template will have the initialization code in the <body> tag. The code looks like this:
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" leftmargin="0" topmargin="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" onLoad="MM_initInteractions>
Examining Browser Compatibility
Macromedia engineers have invested their talents in making CourseBuilder functionality as cross-browser compatible as possible. You should be aware of functionality issues of the interactions you insert into your learning application. Table 10.1 lists compatibility issues with the two major browsers, Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Table 10.1 CourseBuilder Interaction Compatibility with Different Browsers
CourseBuilder Interaction
Netscape 4
Netscape 6
Internet Explorer 4+
Multiple choice with form elements
OK, but Reset button does not reset radio buttons, and disabling interaction does not prohibit the user from selecting radio buttons or check boxes.
Multiple choice with graphic elements
Drag and drop
OK, but do not insert in layer.
Does not work.
OK, but do not insert in layer.
Does not
Text entry
OK, but disabling interaction does not prohibit the user from entering text.
OK, but limited to one per page.
OK, but limited to one per page. Do not set a background color in the slider layer.
Does not work.
Action Manager


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Home prices are still surging, but the pace of the gains has steadied as interest rates continue to rise.
Prices for homes in the nation's 20 largest cities in June rose 12.1% over the last year, according to a report Tuesday from S&P/Case-Shiller home price index.
While that gain is still robust, it didn't quite match the gain of 12.2% reported for May. Rising mortgage rates may be to blame.
"With interest rates rising to almost 4.6%, home buyers may be discouraged and sharp increases may be dampened," David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, said in a press release.
Home prices have been on a tear for the last twelve months. June marks the first time in over a year that the overall increase has been smaller than the month before. While prices rose in all 20 cities measured by the index, only six cities in June saw price increases larger than the month before, down from 10 cities in May.
Prices in Dallas and Denver hit all-time highs, while San Francisco housing prices notched the biggest rebound, rising 47% from their low in March 2009.
U.S. home prices are now at early 2004 levels -- still 23% below their peak in mid-2006.
And while mortgage rates have been steadily rising for the last few months, they're still at historically low levels.
Record-low rates, a lack of new homes on the market and years of pent up demand have been the driving forces behind the recent home price spike, according to Erik Johnson, senior U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.
"The shortages are likely to get larger before getting smaller," Johnson wrote in a note Tuesday. "We still expect housing to remain a key driver of growth for at least the next couple of years."
Related: How the Fed can taper without killing housing
The recovering housing market has been a big part of the nation's economic recovery since the Great Recession. But many fear that rising mortgage rates could put a damper on that growth.
Rates have risen more than a full percentage point since May, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated the Fed may soon ease its bond buying program that's helped keep interest rates at record lows.
While some cheer the Fed stepping back from its unusual bond purchases amid fears the buying will spark inflation, others worry that it may be too soon.


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Smart Search
- Details
- Category: Utility Modules
- Published on Tuesday, 17 January 2012 03:42
- Written by Super User
- Hits: 1927
This module provides search using the Smart Search component. You should only use it if you have indexed your content and either have enabled the Smart Search content plugin or are keeping the index of your site updated manually. Help.


text: The cancelling of school or work can be one of the most important broadcasts that we, as a radio station, have at KWWR. It is an aspect of our job that we strive to get right. For decades listeners have turned to Country 96 (95.7 FM) for up-to-the-minute details of what is closed during severe weather. That will not change. It is just one of the many ways that KWWR is here for our listeners.


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Nintendo is at last (at last!) bringing some new content to the Switch! Yes!
In a Nintendo Direct, the company let fly a number of games and a couple of original titles. The biggest Nintendo-produced titles we had glimpses of are a new Animal Crossing in development for the Switch and Luigi's Mansion 3.
We learned next to nothing about the new Animal Crossing, other than that it's coming in 2019, but we did get to see some gameplay from the latest chapter of Luigi's only titular adventure in the Nintendo world. Luigi's Mansion 3 seems to follow in the ghost-vacuuming footsteps of its predecessors with the bizarre camera angles and all. It's also heading to the Switch stage in 2019, setting up a couple of Nintendo titles for us to look forward to next year, possibly alongside Metroid Prime 4 (?).
Other familiar additions to the Switch include a port of the Wii U game New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe coming in January and Yoshi's Crafted World coming in spring 2019.
Aside from the Nintendo-made titles, fans were served up a big surprise with the announcement that some recent and old-school Final Fantasy titles are coming to the Switch. Final Fantasy VII, IX, X, X-2 HD Remaster and XII are all arriving in 2019.
There are about a dozen other incoming titles (several of which are remasters), including EA SPORTS FIFA 19, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Diablo III: Eternal Collection, Mega Man 11, Katamari Damacy REROLL and plenty of others that you can jump through in the Direct below.
The Nintendo Switch is a fantastic system, and while it has a lot going for it, I barely have any games to play for it anymore. It's not all that out of character for Nintendo to delay the hell out of the instant gratification its customers want, but the Switch has had a particularly stuttered content rollout since its launch. Hopefully the company can pick up a little more consistent cadence as it gets more third-party studios onboard.