text:
Pex is a testing tool developed by Microsoft Research. It provides three very useful capabilities to support testing. First, it can explore your code and suggest which tests you should have. Second, if you have parameterized tests, Pex can figure out which combination of parameters needs be tested in order to give you full coverage of possible scenarios. And finally, if you use Code Contracts, then Pex will employ that information to fine-tune the unit tests it suggests or generates for you. I'll review the three aspects in more detail after a quick look at installation and set up.
You can download Pex from Microsoft. If you're curious about the underlying technology, you can also access a few PDF documents explaining the internal workings of the tool from the site. Pex is a standard add-in for Visual Studio and should be installed like any other.
Suggesting Unit Tests
Now let's look at what Pex can do. Suppose you are not a TDD proponent; at some point, you may happen to have a C# class and no unit tests for it. With Pex, all you need do is right-click on the class code in Visual Studio and click the Pex|Create Parameterized Unit Tests menu item. The effect is that a new test project is created and added to the selected solution; moreover, the test project can target MSTest the default Visual Studio testing framework as well as other frameworks, including NUnit. Open up the project and you'll find good parameterized tests are there for you to complete and run. However, auto-generated tests don't really do much except invoke a method with parameters. At the very minimum, you'll want to complete them with some assertions.
A parameterized unit test is simply a test that accepts parameters; parameters can be provided in a number of ways depending on the framework. Typically, you pass parameters from a database file. In Visual Studio MSTest, you need to write a wrapper parameter-less test configured to know about the data source. This wrapper test will be invoked iteratively; it reads values from the current row and passes those values to the parameterized test. The challenge is choosing meaningful input values for the tests. This is where the second key feature of Pex comes to the rescue.
Choosing Meaningful Input Values
Open the previously created unit test file and right-click on it. This time, click on the Run Pex Explorations menu item. At this point, Pex analyzes the code of the method under test and figures out which values it would make sense to test for. Pex uses an implementation of the dynamic symbolic execution technique that basically processes the code and calculates the results of the method execution. Every time a new possible result is found, Pex determines which combination of values leads to the result and adds the values to the list. In this way, it iteratively discovers all possible outcomes of a method and, at the same time, it also determines a way to produce them.
The result of a Pex exploration is a list of auto-generated classic unit tests, which call the method with any meaningful combination of inputs previously determined. You can just copy these tests into a test project and integrate them in the build process with the guarantee of a high coverage and, more importantly, strong insurance against corner cases. Generating parameterized unit tests is often a long and boring process Pex automates that process and reduces it to just a click or two.
Code Contracts and Pex
Fully integrated in.NET Framework 4.0, Code Contracts are Microsoft's implementation of the tried-and-true idea of software contracts most notably, preconditions, postconditions, and invariants. In particular, Code Contracts are used to annotate methods with conditions that must be preliminarily verified for the code to run. As an example of Code Contracts and Pex integration, consider the following scenario. Suppose you have a method that does some work on a string parameter. Suppose also that your implementation blindly assumes the received string is a non-null string. You are therefore potentially exposed to a null reference exception. A quick exploration by Pex reveals the issue, in the form of a notification, which allows you to add a test.
A warning about a possible defect is a great help, but Pex can do more. If Code Contracts are enabled for the project, then Pex will offer to add a proper precondition to your code so that you can catch any invalid data and take control of the situation. Pex will run an analysis of the code and build a base of knowledge about your code. Code Contracts provide additional information that contributes to an even more accurate analysis from Pex.
In summary, Pex is an innovative white-box testing tool that can be used both as an aid to generate nontrivial unit tests and as a peer reviewer to quickly look at your code and find holes and omissions in it. Pex is not dependent on Code Contracts, but it can use Code Contracts to enhance your tests if they are already employed in your code. One limitation I should mention is that it works only with managed code.
Pex is an innovative testing tool that represented a deeper commitment to unit testing than Microsoft had previously exhibited. Since it was released, Microsoft has continued bringing out tools that facilitate unit testing. In Visual Studio 2012, for example, it shipped a framework called Microsoft Fakes. Fakes facilitates the construction of unit tests with stubs and mocks, plus a runtime redirection of code in what the company calls "shims." These technologies will be discussed in upcoming articles. Meanwhile, if you need help generating humdrum unit tests that exercise code thoroughly, download Pex and have it do most of the heavy lifting.
[For a hands-on look at using Pex, see "Working with Microsoft PEX Framework" Ed.]
Dino Esposito is a frequent writer on Microsoft developer technologies.


This is Why Santa Feans Don't Recycle!
Santa Fe Recycling Flowchart
My mother in law lives in Sonoma County, California and they have Single-Stream Recycling carts. This means that all recyclables go into one cart, all green waste goes into another cart and all trash into a third cart. That's it. No sorting glass from everything else, no selecting only certain types of plastic, no bundling paper and corrugated cardboard. Sonoma County's waste diversion (recycling) rate is over 60%.
Take these two counties with two different recycling systems. The county with a complex recycling system (see the official brochure for how-to recycle guidelines) has a 9+% recycling rate (which is low for New Mexico). The county with single-stream recycling has 60+% recycling rate. I know there are other differences between these two counties, yet there are enough similarities for this comparison.
My next question: Why is recycling in Santa Fe so complicated?
More Info:
NM Environment Dept: Solid Waste Bureau Recycling Information
Santa Fe Solid Waste Management Agency
Santa Fe City and County Residential Recycling Brochure
Recycling and Diversion Rates for Counties in New Mexico
Single-stream recycling
Sonoma County Waste Management Agency - What Goes in the Cart
Sonoma County Waste Management Agency - Waste Stream Profiles


text:
Lately I've been trying to run a fun "energizer" activity to play with the team before we get into the nitty gritty of retro. This gives everyone the chance to get up, move around, laugh and interact with each other in a fun and non-serious way. After all, retro can get serious sometimes.
For today's retro energizer game, we played "Collaborative Face Drawing". We had an even number of participants which is important for this game, since there is pairing that takes place. This is how it works:
- Give each participant a piece of paper and a pen.
- Instruct each person to write their name on the bottom of their piece of paper.
- Ask everyone to walk randomly in the room until you tell them to stop.
- Each person should pair up with someone who ended up near by them.
- Instruct the pair to exchange their papers with each other.
- Everyone should draw the other person eyes to start.
- Once they're finished drawing the eyes, instruct the pairs to give each other their pieces of paper back (now each person should have the paper with their name again).
- Repeat steps 3 to 7 for all face parts (nose, ears, chin, hair, facial hair and accessories).
We had a grand ol' time with this activity. The result is a drawing of your entire face, collaboratively drawn by everyone on the team. Here some examples of the results:

source: openbmb/Ultra-FineWeb


text:
E. Cobham Brewer _PHONE_. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
in Switzerland. The similarity of the word with the name of Pontius Pilate has given rise to the tradition that the Roman Governor, being banished to Gaul by Tiberius, wandered to this mount and threw himself into a black lake on its summit. But Mont Pileatus means the hatted mountain, because it is frequently capped with clouds.
The story goes, that once a year Pilate appears in his robes of office, and whoever sees the ghost will die before the year is out. In the sixteenth century a law was passed forbidding anyone to throw stones in the lake, for fear of bringing a tempest on the country.
There is a town called Pilate in the island of Hispaniola, and a Mont Pilate in France.

source: HuggingFaceFW/fineweb-edu


text:
of WEB-methods and WEB-tools
Benchmarking of WEB-methods and WEB-tools
The purpose of this report is to identify and perform an assessment of
applicable web-methods and web-based tools. 16 tools are described and
One conclusion from the report is that tools with a clear goal and limited
scope requires less user input and seems to function better. DANTES web platform
with several specific and well-defined tools is probably more flexible than a
platform with less tools where each tool
trying to cover a larger problem area.
The appendix contains a description of 24 additional web-based tools. Most of them are
emission calculation tools. These tools calculate emissions from everyday
activities, such as, commuting in a car, heating of a residential home, flying a
commercial airliner, etc.


text:
Subjecting people to biological experiments without consent, when perpetrated in an armed conflict, is a war crime punishable by the International Criminal Court. A prosecution for biological experiments must show the following elements:
- One or more persons were subjected to a particular biological experiment,
- the experiment seriously endangered the physical or mental health or integrity of the victims,
- the intent of the experiment was not medically justified nor in the interest of the victim,
- the victims were protected under the Geneva Conventions of 1949,
- the conduct was associated with an international armed conflict.


Marpa v. Parse::RecDescent: some numbers
The application
In a recent blog post, Flavio Poletti described an unusual language, one which he'd written a parser for, using the very traditional method of recursive descent. Specifically he'd used Perl's Parse::RecDescent module. Several people asked me how Marpa would do on this language. This post contains a comparison, including a benchmark.
The reader who wants an exact description should look at Flavio's post and code. I call it a Dyck-Hollerith language because it combines Hollerith constants (strings preceded by a count), with balanced parentheses (what is called a Dyck language by mathematicians). Here's Flavio's example:
A2(A2(S3(Hey)S13(Hello, World!))S5(Ciao!))
When I did a Marpa versus Perl regexes comparison, I was very careful to choose an application which showed Marpa in a good light. Here I did not pick the application, and it is almost as if it was designed to show recursive descent in a good light.
Recursive descent tries to parse by treating each rule as a subroutine call. This is a very natural way for a programmer to look at a grammar. But, alas, it only works in certain cases, and most of those are already handled by regular expressions. However, Dyck languages, including balanced parentheses, are one of the boundary cases: languages beyond the abilities of regular expressions, but within the capabilities of recursive descent.
Hollerith constants highlight the other strength of recursive descent. Since recursive descent's basic idea is so intuitive, it is easy to add custom hacks to it. And Hollerith constants are beyond the capabilities of even general BNF parsing. Earley's, Marpa, CYK, GLR, you name it, none of them can handle Hollerith constants without some kind of custom hack. You might say that Hollerith constants force a parser to wrestle in the mud. And when it comes to wrestling in the mud, recursive descent is hard to beat.
The benchmark
Marpa::XS Parse::RecDescent
1000 2.938 13.616
2000 7.067 62.083
3000 13.953 132.549
10000 _PHONE_.171
For Parse::RecDescent, the code used in the benchmark is Flavio's, with light modifications such as the one that allows inputs of varying lengths. The Marpa::XS parser used in this benchmark is on github as a gist.
Since Marpa::XS has its parse engine in optimized C, while Parse::RecDescent is pure Perl, one would hope that Marpa::XS would put better numbers on the board, and it did. Marpa::XS has some startup overhead, but settles in at roughly 10 times faster than the Parse::RecDescent implementation.
To test inputs of varying lengths, I took the example above and created arrays of it in the Dyck-Hollerith language. The reported length is the length of the top-level array. The example is 42 characters long, so a reported length of 1000 means the input string is 6+1000*42+1=42007 characters long. (The 6 is the length of the "A1000(" prefix of the enclosing array and the 1 is for its closing parenthesis.)
Benchmarks are like traffic accidents. They have a draw and an excitement, one that the wiser and nobler sort know is improper and to be resisted. But you'll often catch even them slowing down to look.
Other factors than speed may determine the choice of a parser, particularly if large inputs do not occur. As noted, many programmers prefer the recursive descent approach of turning grammar rules into subroutines calls: for them, it is the way things SHOULD work. And given recursive descent's hacker friendliness, it is the way things often DO work.
But I think those accustomed to recursive descent may want to look at Marpa. Marpa has all the same context that recursive descent has, and allows the same tricks and more. In this benchmark, Marpa did NOT haul out the Ruby Slippers -- it limited itself to the context that recursive descent has.
Marpa is faster in this benchmark because it gives the application the best of both worlds -- custom hacks, *AND* a parse engine written in optimized C. Recursive descent is good at custom hacks, and for this grammar its underlying algorithm has the same big-O complexity. But by its nature, Parse::RecDescent is pure Perl, so Marpa::XS clocks a steady factor-of-ten advantage. And, in fact, of the time Marpa::XS does use, only about 20% is used by its parse engine. Overhead and lexing in Marpa::XS are in pure Perl, and they take 80% of the time.
How would benchmark look like if you used pure Perl version of Marpa parser (Marpa::PP)? Or is PP version left behind?
It would be nice to see plot of Marpa and Parse::RecDescent performance in loglog scale to check if they have the same O(n^k) complexity (performance).
BTW it is nice to have another example...
This is quite interesting, but reading the gist, it looks to me like you cheated by ignoring the $count. That is, your implementation would incorrectly succeed at parsing the following bad input:
Have I misinterpreted?
About Jeffrey Kegler


Facebook shows teens that coding is cool
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Far from its beginnings as an "online directory that connects people through social networks at Harvard," Facebook is now also a flexible platform to communicate just about any social or political statement. Photo from THE SOCIAL NETWORK / COLUMBIA PICTURES
San Francisco (CNNMoney) — Raquel Lucente's parents always expected her to become a lawyer. When she went to work at a little company called Facebook they were completely confused.
"My parents asked, how are you going to work at a website?" said Lucente.
Now Lucente works to educate kids and parents alike about careers in technology as part of Facebook's TechPrep program. Launched in 2015, TechPrep helps under-represented minority and low-income students learn about programming and the kinds of jobs they can pursue in tech.
"There's a lack of awareness and a lack of exposure about jobs in this industry," said Lucente.
On Wednesday, Facebook invited more than 100 students from nearby public schools to spend the day at F8, Facebook's annual developer conference in San Jose California.
The students wandered the festival-like halls of the Convention Center, which Facebook had filled with colorful demos, free food, games and the latest VRtechnology. They took turns trying out Oculus VR headsets heard from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and Facebook execs Ime Archibong and Deb Liu. They even spent an hour learning to code, before breaking for ice cream.
Elena, a 15-year-old sophomore at KIPP San Jose Collegiate, got a taste for technology recently when she attended a hackathon at Berkeley, and was amazed at how much you could do by changing a few words of code. Elena doesn't actually use Facebook — she said it's where her parents are — but they are active on Instagram and Snapchat.
Her school has a Girls Who Code chapter and offers an AP computer science course. Vice principal Michelle Verrochi hopes they'll be able to offer programming classes to everyone in the near future.
TechPrep's program is built to help any kids who don't have access to traditional computer science classes. Its website has classes, in English and Spanish, that cater to different age groups, experience levels and learning styles.
Facebook hopes programs like this can help bring more diversity to tech, an area where Silicon Valley's biggest companies still struggle. First it needs to convince kids that working in tech can be fun.
"I saw a lot of things you can do other than just sitting in an office computing," said Celine, a student at KIPP. Now she just has to convince her parents.
"They told me to become a lawyer, but I like working with technology."
This story was first published on CNN.com, "Facebook shows teens that coding is cool."


The Magazine of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Some sample questions and hints from the Pacifica Synod
Questions to Ask
As the Call Committee formulates its questions, it recalls the leadership needs identified in the Congregational Mission Profile. These leadership needs are utilized to form an outline for the upcoming dialogue with the candidate. The Committee selects eight to ten questions that will shape the primary part of the interview. The Committee is flexible in realizing that a give-and-take conversation will not necessarily allow you to ask the questions in predictable order.
This list of possible questions is not comprehensive, but merely suggestive of issues you might want to raise with the candidate in areas connected parish life:
1. Describe how you go about preparing for the worship service on Sunday morning.
2. Think back in your ministry and tell me about the most difficult sermon you ever preached.
3. Share some of your thoughts about the worship life of a congregation.
1. Tell me how you evaluate community needs and community strengths.
2. Describe how you have contributed to the quality of life in your community.
3. Describe how you go about motivating members of your congregation to respond to community needs.
1. Describe the steps you take normally when working with groups to achieve consensus or cohesiveness.
2. How would you describe your style of leadership in overseeing the work of the congregation.
3. Tell me about a period in your life when you had to manage multiple demands in your work and how you determined priorities.
1. How do you evaluate the faith development of others?
2. Describe your approach to helping adults to grow in their faith.
3. Describe your approach to teaching children and young people about the Christian faith.
1. Describe how you have helped others grow in their personal stewardship.
2. In what ways have you helped members understand the management of their money and their responsibilities as Christian stewards?
3. Describe the development of your personal sense of Christian stewardship.
1. Describe ways in which you typically become acquainted and associate with unchurched people in your community.
2. What kind of guidance and training do you provide members of your congregation for reaching unchurched persons in the community?
3. Describe how you have achieved a multicultural approach to your ministry.
1. What steps do you take in helping others feel secure, trusted, and open with you?
2. When pressure mounts how do you maintain your cool in ministry?
3. Describe an experience where conflict arose between yourself and another person and how resolution was finally achieved.
1. Describe your style of ministry to person in crisis.
2. Describe how you have used the establishment of boundaries to strengthen your ministry.
3. How do you assess your own professional limitations when ministering to persons in crisis?
1. Describe ways in which you communicate the faith.
2. Describe your skills as teacher and preacher.
3. What resources do you use to remain theologically and biblically fresh and current?
1. Describe your approach to introducing new ideas in the congregation.
2. Describe your current vision for ministry and how you would helping others in the congregation to capture that vision.
3. Think back in your ministry and describe a situation that was stagnate or failing and describe how you stepped in to revitalize it.
1. Describe how you have guided your congregation's members into understanding their relationship to the greater church.
2. Describe your participation in the work of the church beyond the congregation, including ecumenical relationships, church agencies and institutions.
3. Describe what your congregation believes to be its role as a congregation of the ELCA.
1. Describe some of your most important accomplishments and how you went about reaching those goals.
2. How do you work at making yourself more effective in your work?
3. Briefly describe ways in which you care for yourself physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually.
1. Briefly describe the events that led you to prepare for the ministry.
2. Describe the process of deliberation that helps you determine God's call.
3. In what ways has your call to ministry changed over the years?
Questions Candidates May Ask
An effective interview is a two-way street, with the candidate also bringing questions and concerns. Allow time and opportunity for the candidate to ask questions and be prepared to address them.
1. What is the focus of your congregation? Describe your mission.
2. What do you think individuals like about this congregation?
3. What are some of the things you hope this congregation will do in the future that would benefit you? others?
4. What is the role of staff and what is the role of the laity in your congregation?
5. How many people are involved in leadership roles? How are lay people involved in worship?
6. In your opinion, how are decisions made in your congregation?
7. How do you welcome and assimilate new members?
8. What is the congregation's commitment to support of and partnership with the synod and the ELCA?
9. What would you display on a highway billboard regarding your congregation?
10. Why did the previous pastor leave?
11. Are there skeletons in the closet that I should know about in considering the call here?
12. In what area(s) of social concern has the congregation be active?
13. What are some of the reasons that you are members of this congregation and not some other one?
14. What expectations do you have of the functions of a pastor, both in terms of importance and number of hours? What gets deferred if time runs out?
15. What view does the congregation have about continuing education? What about time off and financial support for it? Will the pastor be encouraged to attend annual professional leaders' retreat? Who will pay the expenses?
16. How does the pastor's family receive support? Are there expectations of the pastor's family?
17. Administratively, who prepares the council and congregational meeting agendas? Who chairs meetings?
18. What are the housing opportunities in the neighborhood? What present financial arrangements have been made for the pastor's housing? Has the council and/or congregation envisioned any future ideas for the pastor's housing (shared equity, mortgage loan from the congregation, etc.)?
19. What is the school situation in this area?
20. What arrangements have you made for moving the pastor, family and their household goods into this area? Will you permit us to use a commercial mover?
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September issue
Youth, Detroit come together


Andrew Hardin, a grad student at the University of Colorado, designed these neat, colorful maps that show how long it will take you to move around Boulder, Denver, San Francisco, or Seattle using public transit. Just click any point on the map, and colors pool out around it — like a heat map, but for time spent on buses or subways.
These maps aren't meant to tell you exactly how minutes it'll take a person to get from her front door to a favorite restaurant. FastCoExist:
Hardin's maps, which are based on Open Street Map data, aren't completely accurate. For example, they assume people cross rivers directly, when normally people take bridges or tunnels. "Frankly, better tool exists for planning your commute," he admits. The point is to offer approximations, so you know immediately how far two destinations are from each other.
But they show something more interesting than commute times — the shape of city, as determined by its public transit. You can see, for instance, the impact of train stops, which create distinct circles of time around them, like drops of food coloring on a liquid surface.
Grist thanks its sponsors. Become one.


text:
The Pillars of the Earth
|The Pillars of the Earth|
|Followed by||World Without End|
The Pillars of the Earth is a historical novel by Ken Follett published in 1989 about the building of a cathedral in the town of Kingsbridge, England. It is set in the middle of the 12th century, primarily during the Anarchy, between the time of the sinking of the White Ship and the murder of Thomas Becket. The book traces the development of Gothic architecture out of the preceding Romanesque architecture, and the fortunes of the Kingsbridge priory and village against the backdrop of historical events of the time.
Before this novel was published, Follett was known for writing in the thriller genre. The Pillars of the Earth became his best-selling work. The book was listed at no. 33 on the BBC's Big Read, a 2003 survey with the goal of finding the "nation's best-loved book." The book was selected in the United States for Oprah's Book Club in 2007. Follett published a sequel, entitled World Without End (2007).
Set during the reign of King Stephen and the Anarchy, the novel explores themes of intrigue and conspiracy against historical events. It explores the development of medieval architecture, the civil war, secular/religious conflicts, and shifting political loyalties.
The story is divided into six sections plus a prologue. The headings are:
- Prologue, 1123
- Part One, 1135–1136
- Part Two, 1136–1137
- Part Three, 1140–1142
- Part Four, 1142–1145
- Part Five, _PHONE_
- Part Six, 1170–1174
Plot summary
After the sinking of the White Ship, King Henry I of England is left without a clear heir, and The Anarchy begins upon his death. Two candidates (Henry's nephew Stephen of Blois and Henry's daughter Maud) present their claims, build their armies, and fight for the throne. Ambitious nobles and churchmen take sides, hoping to gain advantages.
Tom Builder and his family roam southern England, seeking work. In midwinter, his starving wife, Agnes, dies in childbirth, forcing them to leave the baby (later found and brought to Kingsbridge to be a monk, unknown to Tom Builder). He encounters a woman Ellen, who lives in a forest cave with her son, Jack, whose father was a French jongleur who was executed after washing ashore and meeting Ellen. Tom settles in Kingsbridge with Ellen and Jack, and his own two children, Alfred and Martha. He works for Prior Philip, who wants to expand his priory by rebuilding a cathedral. Conveniently, the old Romanesque cathedral burns down the night Tom arrives, and none suspect foul play. Tom offers to build a new church and Phillip agrees.
Philip appeals to King Stephen for financial support and is given land and the right to take stone from a nearby quarry, which has been granted to Percy Hamleigh as part of the earldom of Shiring. Percy's interests are not in supporting the cathedral. Hamleigh wants to topple the earl Bartholomew because Bartholomew's daughter, Aliena, had rejected Hamleigh's son William. William attacks Aliena and her brother Richard at the castle; he rapes the girl and injures the boy. Homeless and destitute, Aliena and Richard go to petition the king for aid; at the court, they find their dying father Bartholomew in prison, who demands they swear an oath to work for Richard to regain the earldom. Aliena supports Richard financially by becoming a wool merchant, with Phillip's help. Richard becomes a knight for King Stephen, fighting in the civil war against Maud. Richard gains the king's favour by defending him at the Battle of Lincoln.
Tom, meanwhile, has been building the cathedral, and living with his children, Alfred and Martha, his lover Ellen and her son Jack. Alfred bullies Jack. When Ellen and Tom are discovered to be unmarried, a charge of fornication is brought against them. Outraged, Ellen returns to the forest with Jack. Tom befriends Prior Philip and, when Ellen returns, he persuades Philip to allow them to marry. As masons, Jack and Alfred fight again. While the better mason and a skilled sculptor, Jack is expelled from the cathedral construction. He becomes a novice monk in order to stay in Kingsbridge.
William and Richard compete for the earldom, but it has been bankrupted by the prosperity of Kingsbridge at Shiring's expense. Attempting to restore his fortunes, William burns down Kingsbridge and kills many people, including Tom Builder. After losing her fortune again, Aliena agrees to marry Alfred, as he promised to support Richard in exchange. Jack and Aliena make love on the morning of her wedding. When she marries Alfred anyway, Ellen curses the wedding and renders him impotent.
Jack goes to France and hones his skills as a sculptor and mason. Having learned his father's identity, he meets his family in Cherbourg. He did not know that Aliena was pregnant.
In Kingsbridge, Alfred persuades Philip to replace the wooden roof with a stone vault. The building collapses during a service, killing many people. Aliena gives birth to a red-headed son, and Alfred abandons her, as he has been impotent: the baby can't be his. Aliena follows evidence of Jack's sculpture through France, finding him in Paris.
They make love, and she tells him of the collapsed roof and lost relic. Jack and Aliena return to England with their baby and they seek permission to marry. Philip forbids the union until her marriage to Alfred is annulled. This requires Waleran Bigod's recommendation to the archibishop, but Bigod and the Hamleighs are allies, and they intend to ruin Philip and Aliena.
Meanwhile, Richard has joined the forces of Maud's son, Henry, Count of Anjou. When Henry invades, Stephen agrees to have Henry succeed him, with all properties to revert to those who had owned them prior to Stephen's reign. Frustrated that Richard will not gain the earldom until Stephen's death, Aliena persuades William's young wife, Elizabeth, to hand the castle over to them. William returns to the village of Hamleigh as sheriff.
After many years, Kingsbridge cathedral is completed. Waleran accuses Prior Philip of fornication by claiming the monk Jonathan is Philip's son. Ellen swears that Jonathan is Tom Builder's son. After Waleran accuses her of perjury, she exposes his own perjury and complicity in a conspiracy to sink the White Ship carrying William Adelin, heir of King Henry I.
Meanwhile, William Hamleigh has become involved with the plot to assassinate Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury. William is convicted of sacrilege and hanged for his part in the plot. The Pope forces King Henry's public repentance and symbolic subjugation of the crown to the church.
In the 1999 Preface to The Pillars of the Earth Follett tells readers that he grew up in a Puritan-based family, whose worship space was very spare. In preparing for writing, he was reading about medieval architecture, and
-...developed an interest in cathedrals. Before too long, it occurred to me to channel this enthusiasm into a novel. I knew it had to be a long book. It took at least thirty years to build a cathedral and most took longer because they would run out of money, or be attacked or invaded. So the story covers the entire lives of the main characters. My publishers were a little nervous about such a very unlikely subject but, paradoxically, it is my most popular book. It's also the book I'm most proud of. It recreates, quite vividly, the entire life of the village and the people who live there. You feel you know the place and the people as intimately as if you yourself were living there in the Middle Ages.
The Preface includes the following sources:
- An Outline of European Architecture, by Nicholas Pevsner.
- The Cathedral Builders, by Jean Gimpel.
- The Medieval Machine, by Jean Gimpel.
The novel's Kingsbridge is fictional. He set it in Marlborough, Wiltshire; Follett chose that location because the cathedrals of Winchester, Gloucester, and Salisbury could be reached from there within a few days on horseback. Kingsbridge Cathedral as described is based on the cathedrals of Wells and Salisbury.
Historical accuracy
While the book has been praised for its description of Medieval life, it also features some historical inaccuracies. Some of these might be to make the characters and the plot more suited for modern readers while some are clear anachronisms:
- The English nobility of that period were Norman French immigrants. Norman French was the language of the court and upper class and it did not spread far into the rest of the English society. The ability of ordinary Englishmen to speak French was considered unusual. Thus many of the encounters across social classes presented in the book have been characterized as implausible by some critics, although in fact bilingualism was then emerging in English society for practical and mercantile reasons. For example, the noblewoman Aliena (presumably a native Norman French-speaker) becomes a successful wool merchant, communicating with the Anglo-Saxon-speaking locals and running a successful business among them.
- Sugar is mentioned several times in the book. Sugar was not available in England at that time


When to use it
 - Determine if a transaction was deleted, edited, or added.
 - Determine who added, edited, or deleted the transaction.
 - Determine if a person added a transaction or if it was added by Buildium.
 - Troubleshoot a bank reconciliation; especially if the last statements ending balance doesn't match the opening cleared balance. Use the Audit log to search for recent adjustments to very old, and presumably reconciled transactions. For example, the Audit log will show how Bob edited a check last week that is dated three years ago ; the amount of the change is the exact discrepancy in your reconciliation.
Generating this report
 1. Go to Reports menu.
 2. Go to the Audit log link.
 3. Search for your transaction.
To learn the history of a transaction, click the Edit or Delete link.
 - If you're trying to find why a bank reconciliation isn't matching, check the search criteria box: Only transactions changed after reconciliation
 - The Audit log only tracks transaction edits and deletions for a period of 12 months. This timeframe was expanded in May 2010; it is possible that a full 12 month history may not yet be available.
 - If the transaction says that System completed the transaction, it means that a recurring transaction or data import produced it automatically. For example, from a recurring payment/scheduled EFT, recurring check, or recurring bill.
Article #: 112661
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Production Lighting: How To Do Low Key Lighting
Low key lighting is a style of lighting that is commonly used by photographers and filmographers. Generally speaking, most people set up low key lighting so that they can achieve the chiaroscuro effect. With the chiaroscuro effect, you are looking for bold differences between light and dark colors. Low key lighting has a lighting ratio of approximately 8 to 1. As the lighting ratio increases, so does the contrast of the image. In comparison, high key lighting can have a lighting ratio that is as low as 1 to 1.
The standard method of lighting that most photographers use is three point lighting. With three point lighting, you are using a key light, a back light and a fill light. The goal of three point lighting is to achieve even illumination. Low key lighting is the exact opposite of three point lighting. Low key lighting only requires the use of a single key light. You are not looking for even illumination with low key lighting. Instead, you want a lightly colored subject to stand out in front of a dark background.
Step 1: Setting Up the Background
You cannot use a light background for low key lighting. When it comes to low key lighting, the darker the background is, the better. It is not a must that you use a black background, but it is highly recommended. If you cannot use a black background, a very dark blue one will work.
Step 2: Staging the Subject
The subject of your photograph should be wearing dark clothing. If possible, it is best if the clothing that the subject is wearing is the same color as the background. The goal of low key lighting is not to place an emphasis on the attire of your subject. Instead, you want to place an emphasis on the face or body part of your subject.
Step 3: Setting up the Key Light
In order to ensure maximal results when setting up low key lighting, you should place your key light to either side of the subject you are photographing. You should begin by setting up your key light in a 45 degree setup. A 45 degree setup requires the key light to be placed 45 degrees to the face of your subject. The key light should be placed slightly above the head of your subject. By placing the key light to the side of your subject, you will be preventing the background from lightening up.
Once you set your key light up, take a look to see if any adjustments need to be made. If you need the background to appear darker in your images, you can move the key light further away from your subject. You just need to make sure that the light remains on the edge of your subject. Once you have the key light configured correctly, you are ready to begin taking shots with low key lighting.
Popular Cameras for High Quality Photos:


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Did ancient coffee houses lay the groundwork for modern consumerism?
If you think that your favourite coffee shop is a great gathering place for discussion, you should have been around in the Ottoman Empire starting in the 1550s. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research examines the role of
coffee houses in the evolution of the consumer.
Authors Eminegül Karababa from the University of Exeter Business School and Güliz Ger of Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey have researched widely and deeply into the history of coffee houses in the early modern Ottoman Empire and found they offered their patrons a lot more than coffee.
They found that patrons engaged in gambling, taking drugs, meeting with "young beautiful boys," as well as performing or watching entertainments such as puppet theatres, storytellers, and musical and dance performances. The early coffee houses were controversial enterprises. "Formation, normalisation, and legalisation of such a site for transgressive pleasures was controversial since the formal religious morality of the period which was orthodox Islam considered it to be sinful and illegal. Thus, they were repeatedly banned by the state."
Yet, the coffee houses flourished, and by the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Ottomans from all ranks of the society met to drink coffee, socialize, and have literary discussions. Coffee house discourse often challenged the authority of the state and religion and led to changes in the society. "Simultaneously, a new Ottoman consumer, resisting the prescriptions of the state and religion, actively constructing self-ethics, and taking part in the formation of the coffeehouse culture, was forming as well."
"Obviously, the early modern Ottoman context was very different than any modern capitalist system", the authors write. "But the active consumer may not be as recent or even a chronological phenomenon as many consumer researchers think."
Eminegül Karababa and Güliz Ger. "Early Modern Ottoman Coffeehouse Culture and the Formation of the Consumer Subject." Journal of Consumer Research: February 2011.
Date: 28 August 2010


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This small exhibition highlighted some of the finds made by Museum of Liverpool's archaeologists at Lunt Meadows, Sefton. This nationally-important site has revealed evidence for 8,000 year old Mesolithic houses, a very unusual discovery.
In the Mesolithic period (10,000-4,000 BC) people lived hunter-gatherer lifestyles, and finding settled 'homes' usually evades archaeologists who often find stone tools, and locate places where they made chert or flint tools by finding a mixture of tools and waste stone.
The houses discovered at Lunt remain as post-holes – darker areas of soil where wooden structures once stood. Archaeologists record these details to enable them to reconstruct what a site might have been like in the past


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Space-Time Modeling of Vector Hydrologic Sequences
Water Resources Bulletin
ISSN or ISBN
Stochastic modeling of vector hydrologic sequences is examined with a general class of space‐time autoregressive integrated moving average (STARIMA) models. The models describe spatial and temporal autocorrelatjon, through dependent variables lagged both in space and time. The model structures incorporate a hierarchical ordering scheme to map the vector of observations into a network configuration. The neighboring structure used introduces a physical/geographical hierarchy to enable the model identification procedures to assist in determining appropriate correlative relationships. The three‐stage iterative space‐time model building procedure is illustrated using average monthly streamfiow data for a four‐station network of the Southeastern Hydropower System.
Ramos, Jose A. and Deutsch, Stuart Jay, "Space-Time Modeling of Vector Hydrologic Sequences" (1986). CEC Faculty Articles. 419.


What Is Family Distinctions In To Kill A Mockingbird
637 Words3 Pages
"Family and Class Distinctions" "Naw, Jem, I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." Different social classes have divided up societies throughout history and still do today in many situations. In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird she showed many different types of family and class distinctions. It matters what family or class people belonged to and what class distinctions there were because they affect the story. In Maycomb County most of the people were of a poor status, but some were more poor than others. "Are we poor, Atticus?" Atticus nodded. "We are indeed." Jem's nose wrinkled. "Are we as poor as the Cunninghams?" "Not exactly. The Cunninghams are country folks, farmers, the crash hit them the hardest" (21). This quote shows that the Finch family is indeed poor, but not as poor and low class as the Cunningham's are. Although the…show more content…
"The tribe of which Burris Ewell and his brethren consisted had lived on the same plot of earth behind the Maycomb dump, and had thrived on county welfare money for three generations" (130). This quote shows that the Ewells had always been an unpleasant and low class family. The Ewells had to live off welfare and they were rude and ignorant. During Tom Robinson's trial, you were able to see the Ewell's true colors and ways they were disrespectful. Some of the people of Maycomb had different opinions on other people that may have been of a lower social status than them. For example, Aunt Alexandra told Scout that she couldn't play with Walter Cunningham because she says that he and his family are not their kind of folks. "Because-he-is-trash, that's why you can't play with him. I'll not have you around him, picking up his habits and learning Lord-knows-what" (225). This quotes shows how Aunt Alexandra believes that Scout shouldn't associate with Walter Cunningham even though he is
Open Document


Attrition warfare
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material.[1] The word attrition comes from the Latin root atterere to rub against, similar to the "grinding down" of the opponent's forces in attrition warfare.[2][3]
Strategic considerations[edit]
Attrition warfare represents an attempt to grind down an opponent's ability to make war by destroying their military resources by any means including guerrilla warfare, people's war, scorched earth and all kind of battles apart from a decisive battle.[1] Attrition warfare does not include all kinds of Blitzkrieg or using concentration of force and a decisive battle to win. The side that reinforces his army at a higher speed will normally win the war. Clausewitz called it the exhaustion of the adversary.[4]
A side that perceives itself to be at a marked disadvantage may deliberately seek out attrition warfare to neutralize its opponent's advantages over time. Sun Tzu has stated, that there is no country that has benefitted from prolongued warfare,[5] but Russia in 1812 won the war with attrition warfare against Napoleon. When attritional methods have worn down the enemy sufficiently to make other methods feasible, attritional methods are often complemented or even abandoned by other strategies. But in World War I military commanders on both sides relied on attrition warfare resulting in terrible casualties without a strategic result.
The difference between war of attrition and other forms of war is somewhat artificial since even a single battle normally contains an element of attrition. One can be said to pursue a strategy of attrition if one makes it the main goal to cause gradual attrition to the opponent eventually amounting to unacceptable or unsustainable levels for the opponent while limiting one's own gradual losses to acceptable and sustainable levels. That should be seen as opposed to other main goals such as the conquest of some resource or territory or an attempt to cause the enemy great losses in a single stroke (such as by encirclement and capture). Attrition warfare also tries to increase the friction in a war for the opponent.[6]
Examples in history[edit]
Animated map of the Russian campaign
One of the best visual representations of a war based on attrition warfare was created by Minard. It shows the steady decrease of the number of soldiers of the French Grande Armée during the course of the war.
Minard's map of French casualties see also Attrition warfare against Napoleon
Minard's map of French casualties see also Attrition warfare against Napoleon
The French invasion of Russia (1812) is a textbook example how elements of attrition warfare interfered with Napoleon's military logistics and won the war without a decisive battle.
Best known[edit]
The best-known example of attrition warfare might be on the Western Front during World War I.[7] Both military forces found themselves in static defensive positions in trenches running from Switzerland to the English Channel. For years, without any opportunity for maneuvers, the only way the commanders thought that they could defeat the enemy was to repeatedly attack head on and grind the other down.
One of the most enduring examples of attrition warfare on the Western Front is the Battle of Verdun, which took place throughout most of 1916. Erich von Falkenhayn later claimed that his tactics at Verdun were designed not to take the city but rather to destroy the French Army in its defense. Falkenhayn is described as wanting to "bleed France white"[8] and thus the attrition tactics were employed in the battle.
Attritional warfare in World War I has been shown by historians such as Hew Strachan to have been used as a post hoc ergo propter hoc excuse for failed offensives. Contemporary sources disagree with Strachan's view on this. While the Christmas Memorandum is a post-war invention, the strategy of attritional warfare was the original strategy for the battle.[9]
Most unusual[edit]
An example in which one side used attrition warfare to neutralize the other side's advantage in manoeuvrability and unit tactics occurred during the latter part of the American Civil War, when Union general Ulysses S. Grant pushed the Confederate Army continually, in spite of losses; he correctly predicted that the Union's far superior and more numerous supplies and manpower would overwhelm the Confederacy to the point of collapse, even if the casualty ratio was unfavorable.
List of wars[edit]
See also[edit]
Military theory:
 - Clausewitz, Carl von (1873). On War. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - DiGiovanni, Janine (2012). "Bleary-Eyed Troops Fight a Building at a Time in Syria". New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
 - firstworldwar (1916). "Erich von Falkenhayn on the Battle of Verdun". Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - Foley, Robert (1916). ""A New Form of Warfare? Erich von Falkenhayn's Plan for Victory, 1916"". Retrieved 16 March 2018. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
 - Handel, Michael I. (2003). Strategic Logic and Political Rationality: Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel. Psychology Press. p. 80. ISBN 9780714654843. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
 - Kaye, C.A. (1957). "Military Geology in the United States Sector of the European Theater of Operations during World War II". Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - Merriam Webster Dictionary (2021). "attrition". Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - Murray, Nicholas (2021). "Attrition Warfare". Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - nctimes (2012). "Airstrikes turn Libya conflict into battle of attrition". Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - Sun Tzu (2004). The Art of War. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
 - US DoD (2021). "attrition". Retrieved 3 April 2021.


Will we get more air passenger rights?
By | Category: Travel news
arriving planeYesterday, the European Parliament voted today on proposals from the European Commission to strengthen passenger rights. Will these happen given there is an election in May and that the new parliament will probably re-visit them in June?
If they do this is what is proposed by parliament.
 1. A strengthening of overseeing air carriers by national and European authorities (with tougher requirements on national authorities to monitor closely the performance of airlines and more effective sanctions.
 2. A right to care for passengers after a delay of 2 hours, for all flights irrespective of distance. (The Commission says 3)
 3. A passenger has a right to a response to their complaint within 2 months and an acknowledgement of a complaint within a week. The Parliament proposes in addition that the Commission define a common complaint form.
 4. Passengers to have a right to information about their situation, 30 minutes after a scheduled departure. In addition, the Parliament proposes to have contact points in the airports to inform passengers on the circumstances of their travel disruption and on what are the rights they are entitled to.
 5. Passengers have a right to be re-routed by another air carrier or transport mode in case of cancellation when the carrier cannot re-route on its own services. The Commission proposes that this right applies after 12 hours, the Parliament suggests a much lower limit of 8 hours.
 6. A right for a passenger to correct a spelling mistake in a name "free of charge."
 7. Assistance and compensation apply if you miss your connecting flight because the previous flight was late – however, the Parliament specifies that the compensation applies only where there is a delay of at least 90 minutes for the first flight.
It also said that there beeds to be a definition of "extraordinary circumstances" – e.g. strikes, storms, operational problems – which are outside the airline's control, so the carrier is not required to pay compensation. Parliament proposes that technical faults can almost never be exempt as is suggested by the Commission.
The EU Commission wants to limit liability to 3 nights, to give passengers the certainty of the care they need, in circumstances such as snow, storms, strikes (based practical experience over almost a decade shows that 3 nights covers passengers' needs). This would also give airlines some predictability when they budget for passenger rights. The Parliament proposes to raise the limit to 5 nights.
Finally, the Parliament proposes to impose on airlines an obligation to take insurance in case of bankruptcy (insolvency). The aim is to ensure that passengers would be reimbursed the cost of their tickets and stranded passengers would be repatriated.
More on this in June after the elections.


სოციალური რეკლამა
Values Unite Us! - Freedom of Expression
Ambassador Justin McKenzie Smith reading an extract from the article in newspaper "Glekhi" dating back to 1906 by renowned Georgian author and public opinion former Mikheil Javakhishvili, talking about the essence and the importance of free media. Davit Kvaratskhelia, actor citing Article 10, European Convention on Human Rights.
"This means that everyone is free to express, write or publish their opinions, beliefs. To this end, everyone is free to have a printing house and to print all sorts of books, booklets, magazines or newspapers, leaflets, et cetera. And acting so does not require any government permission whatsoever. In those booklets, magazines, newspapers and leaflets, everyone is free to commend or criticize actions of the government and public officials no matter how successful these officials are. Everyone is free to distribute and sell printed booklets, magazines, newspapers and leaflets."
Mikheil Javakhishvili
Article 10, European Convention on Human Rights


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What are drawings in accounting?
A drawing account is not actually a bank account in itself. The meaning of drawing in accounts is the record kept by a business owner or accountant that shows how much money has been withdrawn by business owners. These are withdrawals made for personal use rather than company use – although they're treated slightly differently to employee wages.
It's essential to keep accurate records of these withdrawals because they need to be offset against the owner's equity. Having a separate drawing account makes it easier to keep track of these transactions and to balance the books at the end of each financial year, when you need to know how to close your drawings account.
How do drawings affect your financial statements?
Drawings in accounting terms represent withdrawals taken by the owner. As such, it will impact the company's financial statement by showing a decrease in the assets equivalent to the amount that is withdrawn. It will also represent a decrease in the owner's equity as the owner is, essentially, cashing in on a small piece of their entitlement to the company.
Drawings will also show up on a statement of cash flows as they represent a type of financial activity and so need to be accurately recorded by the company's account departments.
How do you record drawings in accounting?
On your balance sheet, you would typically record an owner withdrawal as a debit. If the withdrawal is made in cash, this can easily be quantified at the exact amount withdrawn. If the withdrawal is of goods or similar, the amount recorded would typically be a cost value.
Drawings accounts are temporary documents and these need to be balanced at the end of a financial year or period. This can be cleared in several different ways, including through repayment by the owner or a reduction in the owner's salary to compensate for the amount withdrawn.
Where do drawings go on a balance sheet?
The balance sheet is also known as a statement of financial position, and it is an essential document for assessing and demonstrating your business's economic position. A typical balance sheet records your business's assets and liabilities as well as shareholder equities. As a result, the placement of drawings within the balance sheet depends on how it is categorised.
Are drawings assets or expenses?
Drawings from business accounts may involve the owner taking cash or goods out of the business – but it is not categorised as an ordinary business expense. It is also not treated as a liability, despite involving a withdrawal from the company account, because this is offset against the owner's liability. This is why it's so important to keep a drawings account, which needs to be closed at the end of the financial year, ensuring that your books aren't disrupted by this financial transition while also maintaining a clear record of all the moving parts of your business.
What counts as a drawing?
A drawing acts similarly to a wage but is applied to sole traders or partners. A drawing in accounting terms includes any money that is taken from the business account for personal use. This can be the equivalent of a salary, or it can be as simple as lunch paid for with your company credit card.
However, drawings don't only cover cash withdrawals. It can also include goods and services withdrawn from the company by the owner for personal use. This could, for example, mean acquiring company property, or it could be the use of worksite materials.
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Aleksandra Nicole PfauAug 11, 2023
Medieval Communities and the Mad
Narratives of Crime and Mental Illness in Late Medieval France
Amsterdam University Press 2020
The concept of madness as a challenge to communities lies at the core of legal sources. Aleksandra Nicole Pfau's book Medieval Communities and the Mad: Narratives of Crime and Mental Illness in Late Medieval France (Amsterdam UP, 2020) considers how communal networks, ranging from the locale to the realm, responded to people who were considered mad. The madness of individuals played a role in engaging communities with legal mechanisms and proto-national identity constructs, as petitioners sought the king's mercy as an alternative to local justice.
The resulting narratives about the mentally ill in late medieval France constructed madness as an inability to live according to communal rules. Although such texts defined madness through acts that threatened social bonds, those ties were reaffirmed through the medium of the remission letter. The composers of the letters presented madness as a communal concern, situating the mad within the household, where care could be provided. Those considered mad were usually not expelled but integrated, often through pilgrimage, surveillance, or chains, into their kin and communal relationships.


text:
Harris, Paul L.
Trusting What You're Told
How Children Learn from Others
Aims and Scope
If children were little scientists who learn best through firsthand observations and mini-experiments, as conventional wisdom holds, how would a child discover that the earth is round—never mind conceive of heaven as a place someone might go after death? Overturning both cognitive and commonplace theories about how children learn, Trusting What You're Told begins by reminding us of a basic truth: Most of what we know we learned from others.
Children recognize early on that other people are an excellent source of information. And so they ask questions. But youngsters are also remarkably discriminating as they weigh the responses they elicit. And how much they trust what they are told has a lot to do with their assessment of its source. Trusting What You're Told opens a window into the moral reasoning of elementary school vegetarians, the preschooler's ability to distinguish historical narrative from fiction, and the six-year-old's nuanced stance toward magic: skeptical, while still open to miracles. Paul Harris shares striking cross-cultural findings, too, such as that children in religious communities in rural Central America resemble Bostonian children in being more confident about the existence of germs and oxygen than they are about souls and God.
We are biologically designed to learn from one another, Harris demonstrates, and this greediness for explanation marks a key difference between human beings and our primate cousins. Even Kanzi, a genius among bonobos, never uses his keyboard to ask for information: he only asks for treats.
- 272 pages
- 3 halftones, 3 line illustrations, 19 graphs
- HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS


text:
A go-kart is a small four-wheeled vehicle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from motorless models to high-powered racing machines, some, like Superkarts, being able to beat racing cars on long circuits.
Amusement park go-karts can be powered by 4-stroke engines or electric motors, while racing karts use small 2-stroke or 4-stroke engines. Most of them are single seater but recreational models can sometimes accommodate a passenger.
Recreational, concession and indoor karts
Besides traditional kart racing, many commercial enterprises offer karts for rent, often called "recreational" or "concession" karts. The tracks can be indoor or outdoor. Karts are rented by sessions (10 to 15 minutes usually), they use sturdy chassis completed with dedicated bodywork providing driver safety. Most of these enterprises use an "Arrive and Drive" format which provide customers with all the safety gear (helmets, gloves and driver outfits) where necessary and allow them to show up any time to race at a reasonable price, without the hassle of owning one's own equipment and gear.
Outdoor tracks can offer low speed karts strictly for amusement (dedicated chassis equipped with low powered 4-stroke engines or electric motors), to faster, more powerful karts similar to a racing kart (powered by 4-stroke engines up to 15 hp and more rarely by 2-stroke engines) but designed to be more robust for rental use. Typically, these outdoor tracks may also be used for traditional kart races.
Indoor kart tracks can be found in many large cities in different parts of the world. These tracks are often located in refurbished factories or warehouses and are typically shorter than traditional outdoor tracks. Indoor karts are typically powered by a 4-stroke gasoline engine producing anywhere from 5 to 13 horsepower, or sometimes by an electric motor. Many tracks offer competitive races and leagues. At the top level, an Indoor Karting World Championship (IKWC) exists.
There are nearly 80 indoor kart tracks in the United States.
Power is transmitted from the engine to the rear axle by way of a chain (some rentals use a belt).
- 4-stroke engines can be standard air-cooled industrial based engines, sometimes with small modifications, developing from about 5 to 20 hp. Briggs & Stratton, Tecumseh, Kohler, Robin, and Honda are manufacturers of such engines. They are adequate for racing and fun kart applications. There are also more powerful four-stroke engines available from manufacturers like Yamaha, TKM, Biland, or Aixro (Wankel engine) offering from 15 hp up to 48 hp. They run to and around 11,000 rpm, and are manufactured specifically for karting. PRD makes the PRD Fireball, a two-stroke engine delivering 28.5 hp at 15,580 rpm.
- Electric go-karts are low maintenance, requiring only that the lead-acid batteries of the cars be plugged into an array of chargers after each run. Since they are pollution-free and emit no smoke, the racetracks can be indoors in controlled environments. Most fully charged electric karts can run a maximum of 20 minutes before performance is affected. Some karts have been fitted with hydrogen fuel cells.
Electric Go-kart's speed can also be directly controlled by an operator. So the karts can be slowed down for new customers, and sped up for more expericed drivers.
Go-karts used in amusement parks can be fitted with additional electronic controls such as remote speed limiters to help promote a safer operating environment. In the event of an accident or an out of control racer, the track attendant can remotely slow or stop all vehicles on the track via radio control. This remote speed control can also be used to limit young riders to a slow operating speed, while a race consisting only of adults is permitted a higher speed. These controls can be applied to both electric and combustion-engine karts.
- Formula Zero
- Greenchoice Forze
- Kart racing
- Micro kart
- Off road go-kart


text:
error recovery support. Functional coverage refers to the system's ability to provide some reasonably simple and fast Method to accomplish every Goal. After the users' Goals are determined, typically all GOMS Methods can provide functional coverage. Functional consistency refers to the system's ability to provide similar Methods to perform similar Goals. NGOMSL is the most appropriate technique to use for functional consistency because it employs a consistence measure. This measure is based on learning time predictions in which a consistent interface uses the same Methods throughout for the same or similar Goals, resulting in fewer Methods to be learned.
Operator sequence refers to whether a technique is capable of predicting the sequence of Operators a user must perform to accomplish a task. CMN-GOMS and NGOMSL can predict the sequence of motor Operators a user will execute while KLM and CPM-GOMS must be supplied with the Operators. The ability of CMN-GOMS and NGOMSL to predict the sequence of Operators is useful in deciding whether to incorporate a new Method into a system. It is also useful in determining how to optimally incorporate training in the use of the new Method. Although CPM-GOMS does not predict Operator sequence for parallel processes, it can be used to examine the effects of design modifications which may alter Operator sequence.
Execution time can be predicted by any of the GOMS techniques given that the user is well practiced and makes no errors throughout the task. Due to the restrictions of thoroughly experienced users and no error performance, the predicted times are actually predictions of optimal execution times for a task. Many predictions of execution times with GOMS techniques have been documented and suggest that further empirical validation is unnecessary.
Learning time is only provided by NGOMSL. This technique measures the time to learn the Methods in the model and any information required by long-term memory to accomplish the Methods. Since absolute predictions of learning time include many complexities, NGOMSL should be limited to learning time predictions for appropriate comparisons of alternative designs.
Error recovery support refers to helping users recover from an error once it has occurred. GOMS typically recognizes whether the system offers a fast, simple and consistent Method for users to apply when recovering from errors. Any of the GOMS techniques can be used to measure the error recovery support of a system.
A table that can be used to help choose the most appropriate GOMS technique based on the type of tasks the users perform and the types of design information is shown in
CPM-GOMS stands for Cognitive, Perceptual, and Motor. It performs at a level of analysis in which the user's cognitive, perceptual, and motor activities are included as simple primitive Operators. This GOMS technique allows for parallel processing, unlike the other three GOMS models. Thus, cognitive, perceptual, and motor activities can be performed in parallel as the task demands.
CPM-GOMS uses a schedule chart (PERT chart) to display the Operators. PERT charts clearly present the tasks which occur in parallel. CPM-GOMS also stands for Critical-Path Method because PERT charts calculate the critical path (the total time) to execute a task. The PERT charts serve as quantitative models as they tell how long certain activities take, and may assign numerical values to tasks. These charts are used by the system interface designers, along with the qualitative models, to design the user interface.
CPM-GOMS is based on the Model Human Processor (MHP). In the MHP, the human is modeled by three processors, namely, a perceptual processor, a cognitive processor, and a motor processor. Although each processor runs serially, processors can run in parallel with each other. CPM-GOMS directly utilizes the MHP by recognizing each of the processors that perform the Operators. It also recognizes the sequential dependencies between the processors. Because CPM-GOMS assumes that the user can perform as fast as the MHP can process, the user must be thoroughly experienced in the task. CPM-GOMS does not model novice users.
For the service representative embodiment, the CPM-GOMS technique will be chosen as the basis for the modeling technique to be used. The CPM-GOMS technique was chosen because it can most appropriately represent the parallel activities that service representatives engage in while performing their tasks for this embodiment.
As previously indicated, CPM-GOMS performs at a level of analysis in which the user's cognitive, perceptual, and motor activities are included as simple primitive Operators. Since GOMS, in general, includes only the level of detail necessary to analyze the design problem, simple primitive Operators will only be examined when necessary for this project. It is expected that discrete groups of users will show behavioral and performance differences in the accomplishment of a task at a level of analysis higher than simple primitive Operators.
The CPM-GOMS technique will incorporate the perceptual and cognitive processes together as one general processor. Thus, any internal Operators will be labeled as general mental Operators. The combining of perpetual and cognitive Operators into one classification was developed to simplify the models and to maintain a level of analysis higher than primitive Operators.
Since the CPM-GOMS uses a PERT chart to display the Operators, it can calculate the critical path of the task. The critical path is the sequence of Operators that produce the longest path through the chart. The sum of the sequence of these Operators equals the total time to execute the task. Empirical data from actual performance of observable motor Operators will be used in the PERT chart. Both empirical data and data from cognitive psychology will be used to determine execution times of the mental Operators.
These execution times are helpful to determine the overall time of execution per processor/category for each task. For example, in a hypothetical task, the service representative's execution time may be divided into 48% talking (motor operators: verbal responses), 39% listening (mental operators), 8% waiting for the system (system response), and 5% typing (motor operators: hand movements). The execution times are also instrumental when comparing different tasks, the same task in a different system, or the performance of different types of users.
Another reason CPM-GOMS technique was chosen relates to its ability to compare alternative designs that aren't currently built or prototyped. The CPM-GOMS models of the existing system can determine the effects of changes to current tasks, which in turn can facilitate the development of the proposed system. The models can also be used as baseline models for the proposed (redesigned) system. The models can be compared with models of the proposed system to examine the efficiency and consistency of the proposed system and the ability for users to convert to the proposed system.
The CPM-GOMS technique can also be used to help develop the documentation and training material. Typically, documentation should be task-oriented. GOMS provides a theory-based empirically validated, and systematic approach to determine the necessary content of task-oriented documentation and training material. In addition, since CPM-GOMS can predict execution time differences between different Methods, the most efficient Methods and Selection rules could be highlighted in the documentation and users could be educated and encouraged to adopt these in training sessions.
The CPM-GOMS technique used will document four major categories, namely, system response, customer response, mental operators, and motor operators. Mental operators include perceptual and cognitive Operators. Motor operators are divided into manual movements, verbal responses, and eye movements.
All aspects of each user's task will be sequentially categorized into cells during the task analysis. A cell is a categorized event at an appropriate level of detail. Customer response, motor operators, and system response will be recorded in the cells when the user is performing the task. Mental operators will be recorded in the cells after the completion of the task. Mental operators will be added based on empirically validated theories in cognitive psychology and input from the users.
After the task is broken into cells and all of the cells are determined and categorized, the cells are connected to each other based on their precursor needs. Next, execution times are included for each cell and then the CPM-GOMS model emerges.
There will be three levels of detail in task analysis: A, B, and C. The level "A" task analysis will be when design team members are trained to capture observed behavior while sitting and recording the service representative's actions. The level "B" task analysis will be captured primarily through videotape and keystroke data. The level "C" task analysis will be by capturing key strokes, user attention through eye tracking, and through video tape.
Task analysis detail, level "A", is focused on team members capturing behavior that can be observed while sitting next to the service representative and recording their actions manually. The steps of this level are shown in
Task analysis detail, level "B", is focused on team members capturing behavior that can be observed and recorded on video while the service representative is in their normal environment or while in a laboratory environment. The recorded information will be video and audio. The steps of this level are shown in
Task analysis detail, level "C", is focused on team members capturing behavior that can be observed and recorded on video and, most importantly where the service representative is looking or searching, while the service representative is in a laboratory environment. Although the recorded information will be video and audio, the focus for this level is on the eye tracking information and data. The steps of this level are shown in
The information and data that is gathered during this level of task analysis can be very useful during the design phase of systems development. One particular eye tracking data set is the characteristic search patterns of the users. How the users search the screen provides some excellent insights into how the users process the information being presented on the screen. This information and data from the eye tracking analysis assists in describing how users (actually groups or categories of


Terminological quandaries with the term »museum pedagogy«
Dr. Zdenko Kodelja and dr. Lidija Tavčar
Summary: The main topics of this article are some terminological problems with the term »museum pedagogy«, which has been used in Slovenia for more than two decades. This term is problematic for at least two reasons. Firstly, because it includes educational work with both children and adults in museums and galleries, but at the same time it does not take into consideration a crucial change which took place with the establishment of Andragogy as a specifi c educational science. The second reason why the term »museum pedagogy« is problematic is that it leads to the wrong conclusion that Museum Pedagogy is a specific educational science or discipline, although actually it is not.
Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies is
published with support of Slovenian Research Agency.


Cover a word-by-word explanation of the Arabic of the Qasida al-Burda, a much-celebrated poem written in praise of the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace).
The text will be explained from a grammatical, morphological, rhetorical, and prosodical point of view, and the historical and religious references will also be unpacked.
As an introduction to Arabic poetry, the course also introduces the concept of poetic metre. This is extremely important for the Arabist and Talib ilm as most of the literature that is used to explain the Quran and Sunna are in poem form.
The Burda has been chosen as a case study because it is one of the most common metres of Arabic poetry (al-basit), it demonstrates common rhetorical devices, and has a deeply spiritual and religious theme.
Course Outline
Lesson 1: The Original Burda; Poetic Metre
Lesson 2: Style and rhetoric in the Burda
Lesson 3: Chapter 1: On Yearning
Lesson 4: Chapter 2: On Warnings about the Caprices of the Self
Lesson 5: Chapter 3: On the Praise of the Prophet
Lesson 6: Chapter 4: On His Birth
Lesson 7: Chapter 5: On His Miracles
Lesson 8: Chapter 6: On the Exalted Stature and Miraculous Merits of the Qur'an
Lesson 9: Chapter 7: On the Ascension of the Prophet
Lesson 10: Chapter 8: On the Struggle of Allah's Messenger
Lesson 11: Chapter 9: On Seeking Intercession through the Prophet
Lesson 12: Chapter 10: On Intimate Discourse and the Petition of One's State.
What You Will Learn:
 - What poetic is
 - What poetic styles influences Imam al-Busiri's Burda
 - How the poem translates line by line
About the Course Text
The poem is celebrated praise of the Prophet in poem form.


TY - RPRT T1 - Incremental natural-language processing with schema-tree adjoining grammars T3 - Saarbrücken, 1994 A1 - Harbusch,Karin Y1 - 2011/08/03 N2 - Schema-Tree Adjoining Grammars are proposed for compressing natural-language grammars. Their rules allow for regular expressions associated with inner nodes of elementary trees referring to individual sons of inner nodes in order to describe their occurrences and repetitions in the set of elementary trees specified. In the following, the adequacy of representing a possibly infinite set of trees by one scheme is discussed for incremental natural-language processing where the input is consumed and processed piecemeal. The basic idea is to avoid decisions for which not enough information is available at the moment by the condensed representation of all currently valid alternatives in terms of semi-instantiated schemata. We present an extended Early processing which allows for mixing partially instantiated trees and uninstantiated schemata. KW - Künstliche Intelligenz CY - Saarbrücken PB - Saarländische Universitätsund Landesbibliothek AD - Postfach 151141, 66041 Saarbrücken UR - _URL_ ER -


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Date of Award
Master of Psychology
Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences
A 1997 West Australian Child Health Survey (Zubrick et al., 1997) highlighted the need to explore issues regarding problems leading to emotional distress in adolescents. Adolescent self-esteem and suicidal ideation emerged as issues that required further research. The need to understand adolescent issues from a developmental perspective was also evident, due to the difficulties teenagers typically face during their adolescent years. This study builds on previous research by S. Harter and her colleagues, which identified different domains of self-esteem in young adolescents from a general population. Domains of self-esteem according to Harter's Self perception Profile for Adolescents (1988) and Social Support Scale for Children (1985) are explored in this study, comparing three different groups of older adolescents. The purposive sample included 78 participants aged 16 to 18 years, including 53 from the general population, 33 non-depressed and 20 depressed and, 25 adolescents who are receiving therapy after being diagnosed with recent experiences of suicidal ideation. Four research questions are posed to explore comparisons between the three groups in different domains of self-esteem. Self-perception is explored in nine domains, scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, job competence, romantic appeal, behavioural conduct, close friendship and global self-worth. Discrepancy scores, where perceived importance is greater than perceived competence in different domains are also explored. The discrepancy scores identify perceived inadequacies in different domains, indicating specific areas where self-esteem is threatened in the suicide-ideated group. Perceived parental and peer support are also compared between the three groups to ascertain how teenagers view themselves through the eyes of significant people in their lives. It was expected that perceived physical appearance, social acceptance, athletic competence, scholastic competence and behavioural conduct would be higher in the non-depressed teenagers than in the depressed and suicidal ideated samples. Larger discrepancy scores were expected in the suicidal ideated adolescents than those in the general population, indicating greater perceived inadequacies in domains of self-esteem. It was also expected that the clinical group would score lower perceived parental support and lower perceived peer support than the other groups. Results provided differences between the three groups, with global self-worth, physical appearance and scholastic competence emerging as being of most concern for suicide ideated adolescents. Implications for clinicians working with depressed and suicidal adolescents are discussed within the context of current literature. Suggestions for further research are proposed and practical implications regarding clinical assessment for suicidal adolescents are discussed.
Nicholls, W. J. (1999). Specific domains of self-esteem in adolescents : Differences between suicide ideated, depressed and non-depressed samples. Retrieved from _URL_


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Can anybody suggest an optimum algorithm for determining if two arrays are identical eg.,
I know that this can be solved using Arrays.sort but in that case the quicksort will be O(n logn). Again if we store the first list in a Hashtable then we will be using extra space as big as the array. Is there any solution that is both space and time efficient?
You mean if two arrays contain the same elements? That's a big difference.
I think first doing an Arrays.sort() and then an Arrays.equals() is your best option. It's simple, should be fast, and they are tried and tested methods.
It's impossible to say what space complexity they give, but I don't think they're in-place. Regardless, I think using these methods will be better than anything you or I can come up with without knowing exact speed and memory requirements.
Seetharaman Venkatasamy wrote:Use Hashtable. first insert elements that are in first array. and now loop through 2nd array and see this current element is there in Hashtable or not.
It's not quite that simple if there can be repeated values. If you can guarantee there aren't repeated values I'd throw both arrays in a HashSet and call Set.equals() to compare them.
If you can't, then I'd go with Stephan's approach (probably adding a check that the arrays are the same size first - if they aren't they can't be equal, and so there's no point wasting time) until it was proven that wasn't good enough for some specific reason.
Matthew Brown wrote:
It's not quite that simple if there can be repeated values.
Yeah.. you pointed out well. in that case what we can do is put the counter to 1 [key - element, value-count]. if you find the element again increase the count.
when you loop the second array if the current element is there in hashtable decrement it.. upon the job completion, iterate the hashtable and see if the element value has 0 counter else say not identical.
I did some very simple tests, and the choice between the hash and the sorting based approaches seems to strongly depend on whether you want to sort an int or an Integer (of course assuming all the elements are unique, otherwise the sort based approach is favored).
I added 10.000.000 unique integers to a list, shuffled it and then assigned all the integers to two different int objects in the same order. Then I started the test.
The sorting algorithm took around 2200 milliseconds to complete. The hashing algorithm took around 7000 milliseconds. The sorting algorithm was also consistently faster for smaller sets of data.
When I started with two Integer arrays, the tables were completely turned. The sorting algorithm seems to have a much harder time sorting objects than primitives. On my system the sorting algorithm took around 11.000 milliseconds, whereas the hash based approach took roughly 3500 milliseconds.
This is of course a worst-case scenario. I haven't tested the situation where the two sets of data are unequal. Here's the quick and dirty int test so you can get an idea of what I did:
Stephan van Hulst wrote:I added 1.000.000 unique integers to a list, shuffled it and then assigned all the integers to two different int objects in the same order. Then I started the test.
Interesting. Your results would tend to suggest that there's quite an overhead for boxing/unboxing.
_USER_: In answer to your initial question "Is there any solution that is both space and time efficient?", I would say that Arrays.sort() is likely to be the most space-efficient, since it sorts in place; however, in the process it also destroys your original data.
If the arrays are specifically integer arrays, and you're not worried about repeated values, another alternative might be to use a BitSet. It will be horribly space-hungry for small arrays; particularly if they contain large values, but for very large arrays, it may be quite efficient.
Yes, auto-boxing is fairly expensive. It should be noted though that the (quick-)sort on int primitives is still faster than the hashing on Integers. Merge-sort on Integer is significantly slower though, much more than the auto-boxing can account for. I don't know if this is a result of the difference between the quickand merge-sort algorithms, or that the merge-sort algorithm has to make calls to the compareTo() method.
I also corrected my last post a bit since you replied. I tested on 10.000.000 elements.
Because it is a test. It tests the methods testArrays() and testTables(). These two methods aren't supposed to know anything about the arrays passed to them (except that every element is unique), so they also don't know that the two arrays are already exactly the same.
The point is that the two arrays have the same elements, because this would constitute a worst-case-scenario: every element in the two arrays have to be inspected in order to find out whether the two arrays are really the same. This is to eliminate the possibility that either of the two proposed approaches terminates ahead of time. The downside is that this test says very little about the average-case-scenario.
The reason why I shuffled the first array was to make the difference between Arrays.sort(int) and Arrays.sort(T) more realistic. The merge-sort used for the generic case handles arrays that are already (almost) completely sorted much faster* than the quick-sort does for the primitive case. Shuffling the array gives merge-sort a realistic handicap. The reason why I *didn't* shuffle the second array, is because it in fact doesn't matter that the two arrays have the same order, as long as they're shuffled in the first place.
*: Faster in terms of time complexity. Not necessarily absolute speed.


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Commemorations for Bashons 11
On this day of the year 461 A.D., St. Simon departed. He was born in Antioch in 392 A.D. His father's name was John, and his mother's name was Martha. Many miraculous things happened because of him. Before his mother had conceived of him, St. John the Baptist appeared to her in a dream and told her of her conception and what he would become. At age sixteen, he became a monk in the mountain of Antioch, and he led a great ascetic life in worship and prayer. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and guided him in his monastic life to the life of St. Pachomius. He excelled in his worship to a level beyond the normal human level, so that he lived alone on a high place like a pillar, for 45 years, during which he ate grass.
This father wrote many useful ascetic teachings, and explained many church books. He departed in peace.
May his prayers be with us, and glory be to God forever. Amen.


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Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: January 9, 1998
Publication Date: N/A
Interpretive Summary: Modern U.S. cotton gins use cyclone collectors to remove trash and fine dust from air conveying lines before releasing the air back to the atmosphere. The most common type of cyclone currently in use at cotton gins is the 1D3D design. It features a cylindrical upper body equal in height (1D) to its diameter, and a lower cone section that is 3 times longer (3D) than the cyclone's maximum diameter. While these types of cyclones have gained widespread acceptance in the ginning industry over the past 10 to 15 years, they have also created some unexpected problems. The 1D3D design features a tall, narrow inlet that has in many instances caused the cyclone to choke up and cease to operate properly. Field solutions to this problem have included changes to the inlet transitions connecting the cyclones to the round air conveying lines. The original flat top transitions are frequently inverted to overcome the choking problem. This solution, however, causes the cyclone to emit more dust to the atmosphere than normal. This paper describes and evaluates modifications to the inlet of the 1D3D cyclone that overcome both the choking problem and the dust problem. In addition, two other modifications were evaluated. One of these, an enlarged trash exit, also significantly improved cyclone performance.
Technical Abstract: A 2D2D type cyclone inlet was substituted for the tall, narrow inlet of the standard 1D3D cyclone in an attempt to overcome choking problems when using the standard flat-top inlet transition, or performance problems when using an inverted transition. This inlet modification lowered the modified cyclone's emissions by 8 to 9%, and slightly reduced its static pressure requirements. The 1D3D cyclone equipped with a 2D2D inlet operated satisfactorily with either the standard 1D3D type outlet duct, or the shorter 2D2D type outlet. The size of the cyclone's trash exit significantly affected PM10 emissions. A larger (D/3) size exit produced PM10 emissions that were about 8% lower than those resulting from use of the standard, small-diameter (D/4) exit.


What is Cryogenic Piping? A brief on Piping material, Insulation, Pipe Sizing, and Hazards.
What is cryogenic piping
When the temperature is very low then the normal piping system is not able to hold the processing gases in the form of liquid. Cryogenic piping is the concept of low-temperature piping where material type, support, and valve have different requirements than a normal piping system.
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2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War. Among the war's many aspects, none was more important than the struggle for freedom. In Feburary, the Library will present three programs highlighting African Americans' contributions to the struggle that defined the meaning of the nation. All programs will take place at the Main Library in the Genealogy & Local History Department study area.
Slavery and Freedom on Burge Plantation: Uncovering the Lives of Slave Ancestors in Bondage and on the March with Sherman
Join Genealogist Mildred Baynes on Saturday, February 5, at 3:00 p.m. as she describes her research leading to the discovery of slave ancestors on a Georgia plantation. This journey uncovered the stories of two ancestors who were born in bondage, fought for freedom in Sherman's army and returned to live out their lives on the very site of their enslavement.
Camp Nelson: Black Soldiers and Refugee Slaves in the Civil War
Author and genealogist Larry Hamilton explores the famous Camp Nelson, the Union Army camp in Kentucky that became the nation's third largest recruiter of African American soldiers during the Civil War. Mr. Hamilton discusses the camp's historical importance as well as the role it played in his own family history on Saturday, February 12, at 3:00 p.m. Camp Nelson is a major backdrop in Mr. Hamilton's acclaimed work of historical fiction Lucy's Story: Right Choices But Wrongs Still Left.
Honoring the Black Brigade: The Story of the Cincinnati Park Board's Monument to the Gallant Defenders of Cincinnati
In September of 1862, Cincinnati was gripped by fear that an advancing Confederate force would soon invade the city. In response, thousands of men were called to defend the city. Among these were many African American residents who were involuntarily impressed into service. This group of men would become known as "The Black Brigade of Cincinnati." They served honorably in building defenses for the exposed city and were among the very first African Americans to serve for the Union in the Civil War
Join Art Administrator for the Cincinnati Park Board Jan Brown Checco and her design team on Saturday, February 19, at 3:00 p.m. as they discuss the creation and implementation of the monument honoring the Black Brigade of Cincinnati. The monument will be unveiled in 2012.


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A gongen-zukuri shrine. From the top:honden, ishi-no-ma, haiden. In yellow the ridges of the roofs
Ishi-no-ma-zukuri (石の間造?), also called gongen-zukuri (権現造?), yatsumune-zukuri (八棟造?) and miyadera-zukuri (宮寺造?) is the name of a complex Shinto shrine structure in which the haiden, or worship hall, and the honden, or main sanctuary, are interconnected under the same roof in the shape of an H.[1]
The connecting passage can be called ai-no-ma (相の間?), ishi-no-ma (石の間?), or chūden (中殿 intermediate hall?).[2] The floor of each of the three halls can be at a different level. If the ai-no-ma is paved with stones it is called ishi-no-ma, whence the name of the style. It can however be paved with planks or tatami. Its width is often the same as the honden's, with the haiden from one to three ken wider.[2]
This style, rather than the structure of a building, defines the relationship between member structures of a shrine. Each member then belongs to a particular architectural style. For example, the honden and haiden at Ōsaki Hachiman Shrine (大崎八幡宮 Ōsaki Hachiman-gū?) are single-storied, irimoya-zukuri edifices.[3] Because they are connected by a passage called ishi-no-ma and are covered by a single roof, however, the complex is classified as belonging to the ishi-no-ma-zukuri style.
One of the oldest examples is Kitano Tenman-gū in Kyoto.[1] The gongen-zukuri name comes from Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, which enshrines the Tōshō Daigongen (Tokugawa Ieyasu) and adopts this structure.[2]
 1. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Shinto, Gongen-zukuri accessed on December 2, 2009
 2. ^ a b c Jaanus, Gongen-zukuri, accessed on December 5, 2009
 3. ^ "Ōsaki Hachiman Shrine - Information in English" (PDF). Ōsaki Hachiman Shrine. Retrieved 2009-11-04.


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|Species count by game|
|Species count by type|
Birds are a species of villager in the Animal Crossing series. The term does not refer to any bird specifically, but these birds resemble typical passerines. There are only six females in this group, making this group predominantly male. There are 21 bird villagers so far, of which two are islanders, and three special characters.
Other bird-type villagers
Special Character bird-types
Special characters tend to be a different species from normal villagers. Here is a list of those that are birds: