text:
Right in San Francisco
A Voice of Reason, Published Each Friday from the Capital of Liberalism
« Intelligence: Back to the Shadows | Main | The Limits of #Resist »
California: Another Cautionary Tale
As the Democratic lurch to the Left plays out in Washington, we are faced with paralysis. All attention is focused on the latest effort to de-legitimize the Trump presidency - most recently the Comey fiasco. CNN, the Washington Post, MSNBC all declare that the fired FBI director will show collusion between the President and the Russians - nope, not even a whisper. The fired FBI director's testimony will refute Trump's claim that Comey told him that he was not under investigation - actually Comey told the President that three times. The President obstructed justice by instructing Comey to take a pass on investigating General Flynn - no instruction given; none received. By Friday those charged with deciding what is important to explain to the nation of sheep must develop another construct of the imaginary Trump / Russia connection. It certainly cannot be left to Special Counsel Robert Mueller whose appointment was last week's news.
Actually, the obsession is serving its purpose: legislative Democrats are on notice that there will be no compromise on healthcare, taxes, the budget, or anything else put forth by the Trump administration. The energized base of #Resist remains at the ramparts, and the Republican legislative leaders seem unable to craft solutions to real problems despite the implosion of Obamacare and the broad support for the concept of tax reform. The president doesn't even have the power to keep potential terrorists out of the country unless he gets agreement from the Supreme Court. At some point Middle America will tire of Trump; at least that's the plan.
But what about the state level? California offers a cautionary tale. Hillary won the primary against Bernie Sanders with 54% of the vote, so the Democratic establishment was stronger than the revolutionaries. She won the popular vote in California by over 4.2 million votes (Trump won "everywhere else" in the country by 1.4 million), so the state is not typical, but it does bear a resemblance to other deep blue states, and the scope of the lurch to the Left is instructive. Leadership on environmental and immigration issues is central to California politics, but what else?
- Energized by the anti-Trump mood of the public, Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee are targeting half of the 14 remaining Republican Congressional seats in California; the Democrats already control 39. The seven, including former House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa, are in districts carried by Hillary and have voted for the ObamaCare repeal. Ads are already running.
- With the support of the state Chamber of Commerce which understands where the political power rests in California, the legislature in April approved a $5.2 billion annual tax increase on gasoline, diesel, and vehicle registration to be used primarily to repair the road system. The new rate of 52 cents per gallon will pass Pennsylvania which previously held the distinction as the highest in the nation at 50.5 cents. Arguments will follow about the potential uses of the funds, the recall of a key Democratic senator, and a ballot initiative to roll back the increase. But it is done.
- The big kahuna - a trial run of "single payer" health insurance which passed the state Senate 23-14 in May. This iteration - which ends all other health insurance except the Veterans Administration - has no co-pays or deductibles; no restrictions on the patient's doctor or hospital selection covers vision, dental, and long term care; and includes all residents (legal or not). The problem of the $400 billion annual price tag (more than twice the current state budget) is to be met with $200 billion of current government healthcare spending and a $200 billion tax increase on individuals and companies. Oh, and it needs a bunch of federal approvals to change Medicare, Medicaid, and myriad regulations. For better or worth, it reflects a realization on the Left that Obamacare is not a viable long term solution, and places a price tag on the "ideal" model.
The Founding Fathers struck on the brilliant concept of federalism, allowing the states to differ on how they address issues for which "common sense" in one region of the country is heresy in another. Unfortunately, in single party states like California there is little leavening influence, and the reaction to a President Trump can boil over with politicians vying to demonstrate that they are more anti-Trump than their more moderate contenders. At the moment the political establishment is in need of parental guidance.
This week's bonus video is a review of inappropriate dealings with the Russians by another new face - at least to this writer - Liz Wheeler.
www.RightinSanFrancisco.com
Posted on June 08, 2017 at 08:23 PM | Permalink
About the Web Site - FAQs
Context for Presidential Candidates
Re-Thinking California
Trump's Half Term: An Assessment
Brexit: An American Perspective
Made in China 2025
Vote Harvesting, California Style
Thanksgiving: A Reprise
Contemplating the California Republican Party
Republican Bomb Damage Assessment
Al B on Reflections Upon Leaving California
Bill McCormick on A Socialism Primer
Bill McCormick on The Judicial Long Game
Bill McCormick on North Korea: Four Considerations
Bill McCormick on Deep State 2016: Chasing Shadows
Bill McCormick on "Blue Wave" Meets "Economy, Stupid"
Bill McCormick on The State of State
Bill McCormick on Tax Reform: Three Perspectives
Bill Bowen on Trump's Rehabilitation?
Helpful References
1. Fox News
2. The New York Times
3. RealClearPolitics - Editorials and Polls
4. FactCheck.org - Neutral Arbiter of Truth
5. Wall Street Journal
6. BBC News
7. AllSides
Pandora Radio
Self-directed Genre Music
Bill Bowen


text:
- Verse Info. - Notes (red=no note), - Context Viewing Amplified 2015, Switch to NASB
Prior Chapter
Gen 37:1 So Jacob (Israel) lived in the land where his father [Isaac] had been a stranger (sojourner, resident alien), in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers [Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher]; the boy was with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's [secondary] wives; and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.
Gen 37:3 ¶ Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a [distinctive] multicolored tunic.
Gen 37:4 His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all of his brothers; so they hated him and could not [find it within themselves to] speak to him on friendly terms.
Gen 37:5 ¶ Now Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.
Gen 37:6 He said to them, "Please listen to [the details of] this dream which I have dreamed;
Gen 37:7 we [brothers] were binding sheaves [of grain stalks] in the field, and lo, my sheaf [suddenly] got up and stood upright and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves stood all around my sheaf and bowed down [in respect]."
Gen 37:8 His brothers said to him, "Are you actually going to reign over us? Are you really going to rule and govern us as your subjects?" So they hated him even more for [telling them about] his dreams and for his [arrogant] words.
Gen 37:9 ¶ But Joseph dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers [as well]. He said, "See here, I have again dreamed a dream, and lo, [this time I saw] eleven stars and the sun and the moon bowed down [in respect] to me!"
Gen 37:10 He told it to his father as well as to his brothers; but his father rebuked him and said to him [in disbelief], "What is [the meaning of] this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down to the ground [in respect] before you?"
Gen 37:11 Joseph's brothers were envious and jealous of him, but his father kept the words [of Joseph] in mind [wondering about their meaning].
Gen 37:12 ¶ Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
Gen 37:13 Israel (Jacob) said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." And he said, "Here I am [ready to obey you]."
Gen 37:14 Then Jacob said to him, "Please go and see whether everything is all right with your brothers and all right with the flock; then bring word [back] to me." So he sent him from the Hebron Valley, and he went to Shechem.
Gen 37:15 ¶ Now a certain man found Joseph, and saw that he was wandering around and had lost his way in the field; so the man asked him, "What are you looking for?"
Gen 37:16 He said, "I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing our flocks."
Gen 37:17 Then the man said, "[They were here, but] they have moved on from this place. I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Gen 37:18 ¶ And when they saw him from a distance, even before he came close to them, they plotted to kill him.
Gen 37:19 They said to one another, "Look, here comes this dreamer.
Gen 37:20 "Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits (cisterns, underground water storage); then we will say [to our father], 'A wild animal killed and devoured him'; and we shall see what will become of his dreams!"
Gen 37:21 Now Reuben [the eldest] heard this and rescued him from their hands and said, "Let us not take his life."
Gen 37:22 Reuben said to them, "Do not shed his blood, but [instead] throw him [alive] into the pit that is here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him [to kill him]"--[he said this so] that he could rescue him from them and return him [safely] to his father.
Gen 37:23 Now when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the [distinctive] multicolored tunic which he was wearing;
Gen 37:24 then they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Gen 37:25 ¶ Then they sat down to eat their meal. When they looked up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead [east of the Jordan], with their camels bearing ladanum resin [for perfume] and balm and myrrh, going on their way to carry the cargo down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood (murder)?
Gen 37:27 "Come, let us [instead] sell him to these Ishmaelites [and Midianites] and not lay our hands on him, because he is our brother and our flesh." So his brothers listened to him and agreed. [Gen 22:24; 25:2]
Gen 37:28 Then as the Midianite [and Ishmaelite] traders were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And so they took Joseph [as a captive] into Egypt.
Gen 37:29 ¶ Now Reuben [unaware of what had happened] returned to the pit, and [to his great alarm found that] Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his clothes [in deep sorrow].
Gen 37:30 He rejoined his brothers and said, "The boy is not there; as for me, where shall I go [to hide from my father]?"
Gen 37:31 Then they took Joseph's tunic, slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood;
Gen 37:32 and they brought the multicolored tunic to their father, saying, "We have found this; please examine it and decide whether or not it is your son's tunic."
Gen 37:33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces!"
Gen 37:34 So Jacob tore his clothes [in grief], put on sackcloth and mourned many days for his son.
Gen 37:35 Then all his sons and daughters attempted to console him, but he refused to be comforted and said, "I will go down to Sheol (the place of the dead) in mourning for my son." And his father wept for him.
Gen 37:36 Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph [as a slave] to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and the captain of the [royal] guard.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Blackburne, Francis an English divine, was born in 1705, at Richmond, Yorkshire, educated at Cambridge, and ordained 1739, when he became rector of Richmond. In 1750 he was made archdeacon of Cleveland, and it was after that period that he began to be known as the advocate of what is called "religious liberty." In 1766 he wrote his Confessional against subscriptions to articles and creeds, a work which elicited a hot controversy, and called forth more than seventy pamphlets. Blackburne was a bitter opponent of the Romanists, and wrote against them. He died in 1787. He was for some time engaged in the controversy concerning the intermediate state. His writings are collected under the title Works, Theological and Miscellaneous (Camb. 1804, 7 vols. 8vo), with a life of the author by his son in vol. i.


text:
Coming in 2013: A new LP from B.C. Camplight, Grim Cinema
November 9th, 2012 | 2:30PM | By John Vettese
Things have been on the quiet side from B.C. Camplight since his spectacular Harry Nilsson tribute show at Johnny Brenda's in late April of 2011 (watch him absolutely slaying "Without You" here), but with good reason. The prolific piano-pop singer and songwriter has been hard at work on his latest record, Grim Cinema, and today just announced via the Ireland-based blog Whisperin' and Hollerin' that it will be released sometime in 2013.
After making a big splash in 2005 with Hide, Run Away and its irresistible single "Blood and Peanut Butter" (watch a snowboarding video set to that song here), B.C. fell a bit off the radar in the states. His 2007 followup LP Blink of a Nihilist was released in the UK – where he cultivated a strong following – but was only available as a pricy import CD in the states until 2010. In late 2009 he was the first artist spotlighted by the Weathervane Music Project, recording a snappy song called "Your Daddy Is A Little Girl" and laying the groundwork for what would eventually become the Shaking Through series. Aside from that, he'd make periodic Johnny Brenda's appearances (his cover of "Hot For Teacher" at a show opening for Buried Beds in 2010 was somewhat legendary, as was a later interpretation of Van Halen's "Eruption" on piano), he'd bounce back and forth between England and Philly, drop hints about new music and leave us wondering when we'd get to hear it.
The word from Whisperin' and Hollerin' is that B.C. (aka Brian Christinzio) "can't overstate how excited I am about [this new album]." Quotes from the blog:
"The record covers a much larger range than my previous work. It's more intimate in places and in other places it is much more dense sonically – 100 percent melody driven. No filler".
"It sounds like me and nobody else".
"Although you can hear influences in my previous albums, this one sounds like a new creature we haven't heard before:
"It ranges from deeply personal to frightening to ridiculous but sounds very much like one record".
Christinzio / Camplight headlines a UK show in Manchester later this month, and will release a vinyl EP around the same time; Grim Cinema drops in the early part of 2013, and we're seriously hoping that the shifts in the record industry / digital music landscape that have happened in the past half-decade will mean we get to hear it right away. Because, seriously, we've been waiting. Watch B.C. Camplight's video for Weathervane Music below.
Tags: B.C. Camplight


text:
Strangers in Strange Lands
So, it appears that the latest session report of my Dwimmermount campaign has caused something of a stir, judging from my comments and emails. A number of readers expressed some degree of concern/alarm that I had transgressed an unspoken "rule" of fantasy roleplaying games by making a connection between the world of Dwimmermount and our Earth. I must confess that I did anticipate this sort of reaction. A good many gamers like to "keep their chocolate out of their peanut butter," to speak and having a scientist from 20th century America appear as an NPC does just that. And while I did anticipate this reaction, I obviously don't share it.
But I do understand it. When I first entered the hobby, I tried to get into the various authors and stories the older guys said were "important" for me to read, like Burroughs, DeCamp, Pratt, and so forth. Try as I did, though, I can't deny that, back then, I found a lot of this stuff boring, especially when compared to the "modern" fantasy books that were all the rage back then, like Terry Brooks and David Eddings. And those books did not include modern day characters traveling to other worlds (or, to the future, in the case of Brooks) and interacting with all their fantasy creatures and situations. They were serious fantasy, after all.
Of course, had I bothered to look at Appendix N, I might have noticed the large number included in it who wrote stories that involved a 20th century man traveling into a fantasy world:
Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions
Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom, Amtor, and Pellucidar books
DeCamp and Pratt's Harold Shea books
P.J. Farmer's World of Tiers series
Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser do the opposite, being fantasy characters who travel to our Earth, albeit in the past
H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands stories
Abraham Merritt's Dwellers in the Mirage
Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné frequently travels to other worlds, including our own.
I could probably go on and cite many more examples, but my point is simply that Gary Gygax, when he had the opportunity to cite the books and authors who were most influential on him, included quite a few examples that involved cross-overs between 20th century Earth and a fantasy world. For that reason, I increasingly find it difficult to see anything "wrong" with doing the same in my D&D campaign.
Looking back, I think what has happened is that, as the fantasy genre has changed over the years, it's opted strongly for "self-contained" worlds that are separated from our own. Although there are exceptions -- Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books, for example -- they're mostly outliers. Instead, when people think of what a fantasy novel should be, they tend to think of The Lord of the Rings as a model (even though Tolkien intended Middle-earth to be the mythic past of this world) rather than something like A Princess of Mars or "The Roaring Trumpet." Somehow, what had been a mainstay of fantasy for the better part of this century has been reduced to a curiosity, particularly among gamers who aren't familiar with the pulp fantasy literature from which the early hobby took inspiration.
All of this is simply a long-winded way of saying that, far from seeing any problems with the introduction of a 20th century man into my OD&D campaign, I see his presence as every bit as natural as the presence of a spaceship in the World of Greyhawk. Of course, lots of gamers still have problems with that too, but at least I'm in good company.
Posted by James Maliszewski at 6:22 PM
Labels: anderson, burroughs, decamp, DnD, dwimmermount, farmer, gygax, leiber, merritt, moorcock, musings, pratt, pulp fantasy, science fantasy
Michael Curtis October 6, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Nothing is forbidden; all is allowed when it comes to D&D. Dave Hargrave taught us that. And sometimes you've just got to say, "Why the Hell not?"
Good on you, James. Have fun.
Martin R. Thomas October 6, 2010 at 6:42 PM
So odd... I had always assumed, from the way you wrote your session recaps, that sooner or later an "Earthman" would turn up in your game. It didn't surprise me in the slightest, and I think it totally fits in with the campaign you've created.
Heck, even in Greyhawk, there was one "quasi-Deity" (whose name I'm too lazy to look up right now) who carried a pistol and wore an outfit reminiscent of a 19th Century Earth cowboy. I had always assumed that he'd travel to Earth at some point and then returned to Greyhawk.
I'm still very interested in finding out more about how much you had planned ahead for the arrival of the scientist in your game. As I mentioned in my comments to your last Dwimmermount recap (which I posted long after you'd stopped commenting on that particular blog entry), I said:
"For your style of "sandbox play" (which I find very intriguing but have never executed as a referee), can you give us a sense of how much of the information above you had "planned out" versus how much you made up based on the actions of your players? I know your players read the blog so I'm not looking for you to give anything away, but I'm also fascinated by comments you make that seem as though you make up really interesting campaign plot points "on the spot", but then toward the end of your summary above you mention "The additional details about Areon, as well as the Stranger from "Earth" were ideas I'd wanted to work into the campaign at some point", so clearly you had thought about those ahead of time. I'm just trying to understand your process a little more. I have definitely fallen into a pattern of preparing way too much background information for my games, most of which never gets used but which takes time away from me working on the actual things that my players are dealing with."
I also asked a question about how it was like gaming with your daughter and whether she was still part of your campaign, but that can wait until another time. :)
James Maliszewski October 6, 2010 at 6:47 PM
Answers are forthcoming on those questions, probably tomorrow.
migellito October 6, 2010 at 6:50 PM
I totally agree.. it can very often evoke an 'oy vey' response when modern or sci-fi elements are introduced into a DnD campaign, but it's been a supported element since the first days of the hobby.
I think a lot of it is in how it's handled by the DM. As long as it's kept mysterious and in tune with the feel of the campaign, I think it can work out famously. For example, the HR Giger coating I put on the technology in my version of Blackmoor.
Stacktrace October 6, 2010 at 6:52 PM
Or the classic Snarf's Quest comic that used to feature in Dragon magazine, while not exactly "serious" it did include an evil wizard who jumped over to modern earth and bringing back artifacts (at least until his assistant clumsily breaks the magical hourglass allowing him to travel between worlds).
I also found the presence of a modern day earthman to fit in quite naturally with your campaign.
Gamer Dude October 6, 2010 at 7:10 PM
I remember the first time I had dealt w/ that crossover in a published module was the calcified mummy in Caverns of Tsojcanth. If you remember he had a pair of six guns and a sombrero...
I LOVED it! I didn't expect it in the least as a player, but for some reason it made the module seem more "real" to me. It's hard to explain, but the addition of something from "real life" had the effect of focussing my imagination of the scene. If that makes any sense what-so-ever.
And to boot, we used to do the crossover stuff that you'd find in the DMG; D&D to Boot Hill, D&D to Gamma World, etc. and go adventuring in all sorts of odd locales. Our DM had the habit of digging up old real world maps and setting an adventure there.
We once had to rob Fort Knox. Oh the fond memories that elicits.
I love reading your recaps by the way James. Fantastic seeds throughout.
Blair October 6, 2010 at 7:24 PM
Wasn't one of the conceits of the original Blackmoor campaign that the PCs were twentieth century normal folks transported to fantasy land?
Yes, at least one of the early Blackmoor characters was in fact a 20th century person (namely Dave Wesely) transported to a fantasy world.
Infamous October 6, 2010 at 7:28 PM
I have no problem with the real world seeping into fantasy. My most common source of theft, Terry Prachett, often uses lots of real world references, appropriately modified. I think if done right, it works. A bit of humor, a bit of mystery, and a bit of 'can't get back' works wonders.
Jack Badelaire October 6, 2010 at 7:29 PM
While I don't agree with you a lot, I agree on this 100%. There's a small but significant niche genre of "modern earth man in a strange distant world" fiction out there, and I keep finding more all the time:
- Roger More William's Zanthar of the Many Worlds.
- Del Dowdell's Spearmen of Arn
- Jeffrey Lord's Richard Blade Series
the list goes on. And all of these books, regardless of literary merit, are ripe with gaming fodder.
ARR Purcell October 6, 2010 at 7:33 PM
And let us never forget the Dungeons and Dragons Animated Series.
Knightsky October 6, 2010 at 7:38 PM
And the reverse occurs when, IIRC, a German time-traveler briefly shows up in Newhon, and has an extended discussion with Fafhrd and the Mouser.
Rob Crawford October 6, 2010 at 7:43 PM
Quag Keep (which you've reviewed here) had cross-world interaction. I still love Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame" series that had modern RPG players sent cross-world by a wizard out of the fantasy world's myths.
I once had the PCs run into Christian orcs. Confused the heck out of them.
Zzarchov October 6, 2010 at 7:47 PM
Really? No one has mentioned anything by CS Lewis yet?
cibet October 6, 2010 at 7:49 PM
I prefer not to mix my "chocolate and peanut butter" and avoid such modern connections in my fantasy. My preference is mainly because where does it lead? Once you introduce a modern element it tends to escalate until everyone has access to machine guns and automobiles. At least this has been my experience.
Secular Transhumanist October 6, 2010 at 7:54 PM
I confess this was long expected for me, too. I cannot possibly see what could be verbotten about it.
Greyhawk had such gates to 20th century Earth (although Gygax's players balked at fully exploring New York in a blackout, IIRC), there were several transpositions between Greyhawk and the starship Warden (and back again). Hell, the DMG itself has rules to switch between AD&D and Gamma World and Boot Hill.
And don't forget that the Forgotten Realms were based from the earliest incarnations on the idea that there are (or were) numerous gates between there and our own Earth, giving rise to various legends here about creatures that exist there. I always found that a very compelling idea, somehow.
What's the beef?
Aos October 6, 2010 at 7:55 PM
Well, as I'm sure you know, I think it's a great idea, and like you I've already made a character class for it: the Outsider
Coldstream October 6, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Well, glad we could spur another post, James...
Anyway, I'm one of those who likes my chocolate and peanut butter separate...actually, I don't like peanut butter at all but that's a different topic altogether.
I've always viewed the players themselves (not their characters) as the "modern character thrust into a fantasy world" and the sense of wonder, exploration and fun stem from that. Adding a character from our real world and time seems to break that down, and now there is someone else that represents the players (as they really exist) and they have to now play the dwarves and elves and whatnot around him. If that makes any sense.
It's a philosophical difference I guess, and I won't say anyone is wrong (in public at least).
"The City Beyond The Gate" in Dragon #100 has adventurers travel to the modern world.
Our own Weird West game is starting in the 'real' historical 1880s and adding increasing amounts of D&D elements which could see the characters eventually relocate to a fantasy world. Sort of like that Boot Hill to AD&D conversion section in the DMG. :)
I love this kind of stuff. My players found a mummy in a spacesuit a while back and they LOVED it. But then again I don't draw any lines at all between fantasy and sci-fi in my games.
Jesse Carter October 6, 2010 at 8:05 PM
I don't understand the problem with this. A good DM can handle this and it adds a new layer of depth and fun to the game. My last campaign, set on Barsoom, featured all Earthmen transported in a similarly mysterious fashion to how John Carter made it there. Over the course of the campaign guns and cars made appearances (in addition to the usual Radium Blasters and hoverships), but the problems of escalating technology never appeared, ammo and gas runs out, eventually. Anyways....
James, since your campaign obviously borrows a lot from ERB, are there radium guns and hoverships in Dwimmermount?
Pekka October 6, 2010 at 8:09 PM
I just bought my daughter (9 yo) her first roleplaying game (a Finnish elf rpg called Elhendi) and immediately she designed her second adventure: a science fantasy treasure hunt with betrayal as a plot twist. She drew a kind of a flowchart that had interplanetary travel in rockets, knife-wielding plants guarding giant gems and alien kings.
Obviously she hasn't read pretty much any fantasy literature but has heard all the typical Arabian Nights stuff, fairy tales, Moomin stories and Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy. She hasn't yet formed an image what fantasy or roleplaying "ought to be" and it's great.
Joe G Kushner October 6, 2010 at 8:13 PM
One of my favorite adventurers is from Draogn magazine #100, I believe the City Beyond the Gate, where the party goes to modern times to retrieve the famous Mace of St. Cuthbert. Great adventure and the mace was a nice touch for the cleric of... yup, St. Cuthbert.
tedopon October 6, 2010 at 8:21 PM
My last D&D campaign was on Earth, went to Mars, had time travelers from both past and future, and there weren't gods. It is my default campaign setting that I ran RQ and D&D in for years, and I'll continue to use it.
The last session report was awesome, IMO.
Anthony October 6, 2010 at 8:25 PM
I was expecting you to do this eventually, so I was delighted when it finally happened. Given your love for the old Pulp stories and your desire to recreate the early days of gaming, it was only natural.
And it's very appealing. One of the attractions for me of GW's Warhammer World (in its early incarnations) was its science-fantasy nature, which, sadly, was mostly scrubbed from the game.
I'm looking forward to seeing how the Outsider's time in Dwimmermount progresses. :)
So I love campaigns that add the spice of the person DMing it. If you cant be passionate about your NPCs they're just mindless and boring. So why not include heroes who inspired you in life. There is so much info on real people, you can create quite a convincing NPC (read their biography, you have a crazy detailed back story).
Keep doing what your doing man. Be yourself.
Kameron October 6, 2010 at 9:16 PM
Not only is Terry Brooks Shannara a "future Earth", but his Landover series features a lawyer from our world traveling to the fantastical kingdom after purchasing it through a mail-order catalog.
Digital Orc October 6, 2010 at 9:29 PM
You seemed prepared for this. How much of this story is for the pc's and how much is for you to illustrate a point for your readers? Also, is inspiration, however vague, cause for replication (in your Gygax reference)?
Patternwalker October 6, 2010 at 10:01 PM
That looks pretty cool. I also like Earth crossover stories. At the moment, I'm designing my first D&D megadungeon and 'supporting city' and it's located where Washington D.C. was thousands of years ago. My 'City of the Gods' will be where ancient Manhattan was - yes, of course it will be surrounded by a Forbidden Zone and apemen. :D
crowking October 6, 2010 at 10:23 PM
It truly is odd that people would get upset that someone from earth has entered the campaign when its already been established that alien technology exists within Dimmermount. Go figure I guess...
Bradford C. Walker October 6, 2010 at 10:38 PM
I should make my next character a lost Earth man.
Cord the Seeker October 6, 2010 at 10:44 PM
I always felt that the Paladin class was at least partly inspired by Holger Carlsen in Three Hearts and Three Lions.
Cord, that's well-documented.
Desert Scribe October 6, 2010 at 11:33 PM
This reminds me of a few more contemporary characters who end up in a fantasy world: Oscar "Scar" Gordon in Heinlein's Glory Road and a whole bunch of computer programmers in Cook's The Wizardry Compiled.
Barbara Hambly did it in the 80s with The Silent Tower and The Silicon Mage.
John Higgins October 7, 2010 at 12:15 AM
I grew up on Oz and Narnia. To this day, my favorite example of sci-fi/fantasy is "Farscape," which far and away surpasses all other "modern Earthman in a fantastic situation" stories (mostly because of its genre-savvy hero, who never fails to exploit the chance to crack wise with a reference to Earth pop culture, especially sci-fi).
These sources were largely the whole body of inspiration for the work of fantasy fiction which eventually became the Gaia setting for E&E. And, to be sure, I've run many a game where the PCs have visited present-day Earth, or where one of the PCs is indeed an Earthling unceremoniously deposited into the fantasy world. Provided that it's played straight and handled maturely, it can make for nothing short of great role-playing.
Chris Goodwin October 7, 2010 at 12:37 AM
I saw the bit, went "Oh, cool" to myself, and didn't think anything more of it. It didn't occur to me that there'd be people who object. Subject matter aside; it's your game, not theirs.
I know for a fact that no-one reads my session reports except my players (I hope). If I posted up two in a row and got lambasted first for "being tired" (you bastard!) and then for the content of the game, I think I'd probably stop posting them.
Rude much?
THOMAS October 7, 2010 at 1:09 AM
James said: "Tolkien intended Middle-earth to be the mythic past of this world."
Such a generalizing statement is misleading, though no doubt unintentionally so. Actually, Tolkien abandoned this idea as his legendarium evolved. It's true that he did think this way for a while.
Reverance Pavane October 7, 2010 at 2:08 AM
@Pekka: Wow! The campaign described by your daughter sounds awesome. I think we could all learn more lessons from kids on how to use our imagination again.
I think the problem some people have with a lot of such "cross-flavour" games is that they intentionally break the fourth wall (in that the player/audience knows stuff which the character/actors don't and can't). And doing so is not the easiest thing to do in any media, let alone role-playing games. After all, the players are presented with something they now know more about than their characters.
[Either that, or the players are just jealous that they're not the adventurers in the fantasy world.]
You may not be surprised, but I sure am.
I mean, people know this is a blog about the "old school", right? Crossovers to 20th Century Earth are about as surprising as orcs.
Coldstream October 7, 2010 at 2:49 AM
I do find it somewhat amusing that much of the OD&D crowd has a serious dislike of, or at least, apprehension for clerics and theives but are ok with lasers, spaceships and dropping Thurston Unger Jr. CPA of Spooner, Wisconsin into the middle of a dungeon. Not that anyone is right or wrong here, just an amusing observation.
I think my dislike for introducing modern/recent historical characters into my game settings stems from the way it's penetrated so much of current fantasy and sci-fi (primarily films and tv) as an easy way to connect to the audience rather than creating relatable in-world characters or great stories.
I'd commented on my hatred of the Pod-race announcer in the Phantom Menace, but the prequels are filled with this kind of intrusion. That was one of the biggest problems with the prequels vs the original series. In the original series, we (as kids) were meant to imagine ourselves as Luke or Han and put ourselves into that galaxy. The prequels tried to drop a modern, "relatable" kid and situations into the galaxy for everyone to connect to.
Star Trek, especially the movies and the Next Generation Series were horribly guilty of this as well. People are always guaranteed to be collectors of 20th Century "antiques" or fans of 1940's pulp detective novels (so convenient for holodeck episodes), or even Shakespeare quoting Klingons. It all just seems out of place, and when poorly done, really shatters the illusions of worlds people try to create.
Anyway, curious how many people here ever spent time with Spelljammer, or if anyone has tried to pare it back to an OD&D set of rules? It at least tried to capture some of that "sword and planet" kind of feel. Whether it succeeded or not is a different question.
Simon October 7, 2010 at 3:13 AM
I struggle not to have a degree of contempt for those who disparage "Stranger" characters. OK if you're running a purist Tolkien type campaign, but the idea of this as a 'rule', when historically crossovers have been more the rule than the exception in fantasy fiction, seems laughable to me.
Of coure I never read Eddings or Brooks, the only arguably sub-Tolkien series I read was Thomas Covenant, with its 20th century protagonist. I was always a Leiber/Moorcock man, and it's their approach that defined fantasy for me as swords & sorcery that certainly could & should include crossovers.
thekelvingreen October 7, 2010 at 3:31 AM
I'm reminded of The Sword in the Stone film, and Merlin's jaunts to the modern world and back. Of course, I approve, as I generally like my fantasy to be broad and open.
The stranger-in-a-strange-land concept seems to have survived longer in children's fantasy. Perhaps it's the influence of Narnia and Wonderland, but you still see things like Spirited Away arise, and it seems to be far more uncommon in "adult" fantasy.
The concept of a stranger-in-a-strange-land has been carried through from ancient myths to works of fiction from the late 19th century and early 20th, to D&D-inspired RPGs and on contemporary works such as the TV series Lost and the movie Inception. Its use as a plot-device is fair-game; the trick is to not draw much attention to it.
Pat October 7, 2010 at 11:01 AM
When I was younger, I hated the idea of mixing up sci-fi & fantasy. The two must never meet!
Now that I'm older, I don't mind at all. I don't care about the literary roots, only about tossing in whatever seems to fit my mood at the time, as long as there is minimal justification for it being there. My current campaign is heavily inspired by Thundarr, the players are confused but interested and enjoying themselves at this point, and it's a lot fresher than the stale fantasy tropes that I've been playing D&D with for the past 30 years.
John Harper Brinegar October 7, 2010 at 11:14 AM
Kelvin said:
I was thinking the same thing; the crossover motif still is really common in children's fantasy. I don't know why it fell out of fantasy meant for adults.
Aos October 7, 2010 at 11:18 AM
@ Coldstream.
Thurston Spooner is a long way from Flash Gordon and as an example doesn't even really a merit a response.
The problem with the pod racer and the trek stuff is that the characters engaged in anachronistic behavior are not from the past or another reality- they are from that setting's current period, and by acting in such a way (e.g. calling a pod race in a 20th century fashion) they are violating the premise and context of the setting. I don't like this stuff either, but it is not the same phenomenon as bringing in a character from another time or place. Flash Gordon crashing down on your planet in a rocketship hell bent on saving the Earth from Ming might seem conceptually goofy to some, but it is contextually sound.
The issue of Thieves and Clerics is in no way the same, either. I wonder that you would make the comparison. I don't want thieves because they come with skills. I don't want skills in my game. Everyone can try to do anything; I might give one character a better chance to fly a space ship or pick a lock than another, but everyone is allowed to try. I don't have a problem with Clerics, so much, but they are exceedingly rare in my setting because all the gods are essentially dead or gone. I can understand however, why someone might. The presence of divine spellcasters implies the presence of the divine. Not everyone wants the existence of the gods to be certain in their game. I'm sure there are other good reasons too. Spaceman Jones does not imply the existence of gods, his arrival does, however, indicate that there are other worlds and/or times. If one is uncomfortable with this than one should not introduce such elements. It is actually quite similar to the case with clerics. You don't like gods- don't use them.
I was looking through Spell Jammer last night. I'd rather roll my own really, I don't like the standard demi-human races. They bore me, and they seem pretty much hard wired into Spell jammer universe- as does the concept of crystal spheres, which I'm also not terribly crazy about. I've got nothing against magic sailing spaceships, though, but I want rockets and flying saucers too.
And Bigfoot. With a blaster and a magic sword.
anarchist October 7, 2010 at 12:21 PM
From my reading, visitors from Earth and talking animals are probably the two elements where role-playing games diverge most from fantasy.
You might say that fantasy no longer regularly has visitors from Earth, but that's only true of fantasy in the narrow "Terry Brooks and David Eddings" sense: books written by and for members of a subculture, and largely based on D&D.
Planet of the Apes, Lost, Buffy, Avatar, Harry Potter and Twilight are all examples of fantasy where the main characters are supposed to come from the real world, and which were or are widely popular.
@Aos
Really what I'm trying to get at is it seems fairly arbitrary where we draw the line when it comes to what is acceptable and what isn't. Some of us, myself included, tend to run closed-systems with little to no time/dimensional/interplanetary travel for our D&D games...call it high-fantasy or whatever. Some commentors have disparaged that idea, even suggesting contempt, stating that anything can go in D&D.
At the same time, there seems to be a clear line that Strangers have to be some sort of immortal John Carteresque ubermensch or polo-playing, Ivy-leaguer Flash Gordons who always become the superior native (we even see that in Avatar today). You found the CPA example ridiculous, and it really was meant to be...but in my opinion not much moreso than the QB of the New York Jets or some PhD in physics (not a group stereotypically known for their martial prowess)ending up in a magical world contending with vaguely Chinese tyrants or displacer beasts and whatnot. Why is one ridiculous and the other not?
I know the point to the Stranger class and its trappings are to try to capture the feel of the old pulp Sword and Planet fiction of the past and that's fine. It works for some gamers and not others, which is really the point to creating one's own gaming world.
I guess what I'm getting at here is that some tend to disparage one group for preferring to limit worlds and games to self-contained settings as being some sort of slave to high-fantasy, but at the same time seem to limit their own worlds and games to the standards set in ERB inspired pulp fantasy...which is what makes an accountant ridiculous but a physicist or psychologist not.
An accountant is not so much ridiculous as it is boring- which in the context of a FRPG makes it ridiculous. The closed system High Fantasy equivalent would be to play the cooper or the shoe maker. Why would anyone want to play such a character? None of these are real worlds, playing an elf is no more or less sensible than playing a robot. Playing a car salesman or the guy who makes horseshoes are the same thing too, but who cares?
I don't have an issue with keeping the game world closed or whatever you want, and I certainly don't have contempt for it. However, your posts have not seemed to defend that point (which in truth requires no defense); they have been attacks on doing it the other way.
I notice you fail to address my points in regards to your comparisons with ST and SW. Instead you shift the goal posts over to the whole point behind the Stranger.
Obviously I was a little confused about the nature of the conversation.
If someone says they have contempt for the way you are doing things, perhaps you should address them directly instead of conflating contextually sound planetary romance with postmodern disasters like "Phantom Menace." Such a comparison is in and of itself an expression of contempt if ever there was one.
All done now.
I don't believe I remember this story. Is it in one of the later Nehwon collections?
Oh, I like that one!
Not yet, although the Eld do use strange "wands" that are, more or less, radium guns.
She hasn't yet formed an image what fantasy or roleplaying "ought to be" and it's great.
My children are much the same way and I sometimes envy them.
I have no idea what you're asking here. Care to elaborate?
Actually, Tolkien abandoned this idea as his legendarium evolved. It's true that he did think this way for a while.
He did? Well, that's news to me then, but I'm no Tolkien scholar. Where does he talk about this? You have piqued my interest.
Sorry if any of my comments have come across as contempt or attacks of adding a contemporary character into a game. I didn't mean it as such, just that I wouldn't choose to do so and tried to give some reasons why. If everyone agreed with everything around here, we could farm out postings and comment streams to one person and save everyone time.
I agree with what you're saying when it comes to Trek and Wars and how it's anachronistic within the context of Star War. In Trek it's at least an acknowledgement of the past within the world, but I still find it boring...a whole universe to explore with planets, races, untold numbers of wonders and let's have stories dealing with 1940's American gangsters. Have there been no other interesting events in-world over the last 300 years? But that's probably more of a criticism of lazy writers of the series.
Sure an accountant is boring in our world (no offense to CPA's out there) unless you're running a great game of Papers and Paychecks. I guess though I don't see how much different it is dropping an accountant in the middle of Castle Greyhawk than it would be a random scientist. Both are number crunchers, both jobs would probably bore the average person to tears, both would be complete fish-out-water. But the scientist is seen as a great option, but an accountant ridiculous in a FRPG.
It stems from what we choose to use to limit our games. Some like high-fantasy, others look for inspiration in ERB-styled games, and some have no real limits...and then we end up with RIFTS and we're all screwed.
True enough. It's interesting too that, though D&D was, to varying degrees inspired by "man out of time" fantasy stories, it in turn has probably contributed to the downplaying of that approach within the types of fantasy literature it has inspired.
Falconer October 7, 2010 at 5:36 PM
Tolkien never ceased to treat Middle-earth as a "fictional time" rather than a "fictional place." This should be clear from the ending of The Lord of the Rings (the Age of Men arrives, magic and elves fade), or the beginning of The Hobbit (Hobbits are around, you just don't see them because you are loud and clumsy).
It is true that his earliest writings dealt more with Ælfwine the Mariner who learns the ancient Elvish Tales and goes on to father Hengest and Horsa, legendary Anglo-Saxons who brought their people to Britain. I don't think you can prove that he ever "abandoned" this concept in general. Indeed, while he never rewrote these stories, he continued to refer to Ælfwine even in his last writings. —Falconer
The time-traveler Karl Treuherz shows up briefly in chapter 3 of "The Swords of Lankhmar." He also got the cover shot on some of the older printings of TSOL:
http://scrollsoflankhmar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/swords-of-lankhmar-jeff-jones-cover.jpg
@ Coldstream;
Understood, I'm sorry if i seem a little combative.
Now, if we were talking about using the accountant in real life, it probably would not be any more or less sensible than the random scientists, but, well, we're not. We're talking a about a fantasy game. Fighters tend to be badasses regardless of their background. The common idea is that in a traditional style game they are right off the farm or something- not really any more or less ready for adventure than the random accountant or physicist. However, not all such travelers are warriors. Dorothy, for instance, is just a modern age farmgirl and she does alright for herself, same thing withe Narnia kids.
Personally, though, my favorite example of this sort of thing is Richard Corben's Den, he's a scrawny high school age nerd before he makes the transit to Neverwhere- it's the crazy psychedelic transition itself that turns him into a over endowed badass.
Anyway, I don't see any of these choices (High Fantasy, S&S, Planetary Romance) as limitations, really, or as mutually exclusive options
That was my recollection as well, but, as I said, I'm not really up on the latest Tolkien scholarship, so I can believe there are nuances I've missed or misunderstood.
The time-traveler Karl Treuherz shows up briefly in chapter 3 of "The Swords of Lankhmar."
I must confess I missed this story. My collection of Lankhmar stories ends with Swords Against Wizardry, so my reading of the stories after that point is spotty at best. I guess I must correct this.
I've enjoyed reading your blog for a while now and would love to be lucky enough to have you for a referee. My earlier post referred to whether your blogging and gaming have become so intertwined so as your game planning (sandbox discussion aside) is affected by your efforts at Grognardia.
My earlier post referred to whether your blogging and gaming have become so intertwined so as your game planning (sandbox discussion aside) is affected by your efforts at Grognardia.
Oh, I see now.
To a great extent, the two have always been intertwined. I began the campaign largely as an experiment, to see if I enjoyed playing OD&D as much as I enjoyed reading and talking about it. Necessarily, a lot of things that go on in the campaign are the result of thoughts I've posted here or discussions I've had via the comments to them. However, the campaign has very much taken on a life of its own and it's not merely an extension of the blog. I doubt it would have lasted as long as it has if that's all that it were.
I must confess I missed this story.
Oh, you really need to read TSOL. Besides the scope being a bit larger than some of the other stories (TSOL being the only full-length novel concerning Fafhrd and the Mouser), the sequence where a magically-shrunken Mouser infiltrates the Rat Kingdom below the streets of Lankhmar is alone worth the price of admission.
I think D&D can certainly handle closed worlds and open worlds. You see both in the source material.
Pure Tolkienesque high fantasy arguably requires a closed world, though you can do similar good vs evil themes in an open world - compare Middle Earth to Narnia. The Narnia books have a good deal of inter-dimensional travel, most notably in The Wizard's Nephew.
Doing Conan with the themes inherent in REH's original (modernist low fantasy) requires a closed world, albeit allowing references to eg the Cthulu Mythos. But Marvel uses Conan for open-world power fantasy, with time travel et al.
Since 2008 I've been running a closed-world high-ish fantasy D&D campaign set in a kind of dark ages SW Europe; the themes from CS Lewis and The Song of Roland work better in a closed world.
By contrast I'm also running a very open-world Wilderlands D&D campaign; Wilderlands is brilliant for planetary romance and there are several Stranger PCs and NPCs, mostly physicists from an alternate Earth where CHER (a CERN-type project) went horribly wrong.
I think 4e D&D is the first edition I've seen where the themes and tropes explicitly promote a closed-world approach; but of course the rules still work fine for an open-world setting.
Neither approach is badwrongfun; both have their uses and are appropriate for different settings and campaigns.
anarchist October 8, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Thinking about it, a modern accountant or other 'normal man' type would be much bigger and stronger than the people in an ancient or medieval technology world, and would probably look better; for example they'd probably have all their teeth. They'd also have useful knowledge like knowing about germs and good nutrition. However this contradicts the way we usually think about these worlds.
Robert October 9, 2010 at 12:39 AM
I think that, for some people, such explicit contact between the real world and the fantasy world wakes up some subconscious, nitpicky questions that they could otherwise ignore. I suspect that's part of what makes them uneasy about it.
Personally, I found the transitions of John Carter and Holger Carlson to their respective unconventional worlds awfully lame. ^_^
The word "arbitrary" has come up again. I think it is perfectly OK if the lines we draw for our games are arbitrary. More likely, though, I think the key word in "seem fairly arbitrary" is "seem". More often than not, I've learned that what seemed arbitrary to me actually wasn't.
huth October 9, 2010 at 3:33 PM
Maybe this is just the difference between growing up with Myst and Narnia instead of Dragon Prophecy of Doom or whatever, but worlds that don't give some sort of hint to their relationship with our world, be they other places, other times, other dimensions or some nebulous dream-state feel a little weird to me.
Anthony Simeone October 12, 2010 at 11:41 AM
Don't forget "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" ;-)
Mycenius January 7, 2022 at 4:32 PM
I wouldn't be bandying Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books around too much - they are terrible things full of whining and angst...
Open Friday: Lazy Birthday
Masks of Nyarlathotep Re-Released -- in Hardcover
A Most Overlooked Rule(s)
S&W White Box: An Appreciation
REVIEW: The Inn of Lost Heroes
Whatever Happened to Iriadessa?
Retrospective: Starfaring
Holmes's Appendix N
Holmes Maps
Worlds without Magic Missiles
Warriors of the Red Planet Blog
Pulp Fantasy Library: The Festival
Down in the Dungeon
Open Friday: Scary Images
REVIEW: Oubliette #4
GM PCs
Retrospective: The Court of Ardor
Oh, Why Not ...?
New "Whisperer in Darkness" Trailer Up
Raggi Grabs Headlines -- Again
Longing for the Real
REVIEW: Blood Moon Rising
Pulp Fantasy Library: The Great God Pan
McKinney and Raggi Join Forces
Fight On! #10 Released
Clerics versus Undead Monsters
Anti-Clerics
Grognard's Grimoire: The Vampires of Dwimmermount
Open Friday: Shameful Inspirations
Sage Advice Compilation
REVIEW: The Sanctuary Ruin
Retrospective: Kinunir
Orcus Posters for Sale
Snowed Under
Pulp Fantasy Library: Rhialto the Marvellous
Some Sci-Fi Help
Black Blade News
Open Friday: Three Castles Award
Leiber Reads Smith
The Cover That Inspired the Mind Flayer?
S&W Complete Contents
Retrospective: Murder in Harmony
Playing Catch Up
REVIEW: B/X Companion
Pulp Fantasy Library: Adept's Gambit
Busy Weekend
Faster Monkey/Black Blade News
Open Friday: A Waste of Time


Christmas in Japan! What is it like? Do they even celebrate? Oh, they sure do. Japanese people love to celebrate, no matter the occasion. Christmas here has little to do with baby Jesus, though. It's mostly considered something similar to Valentines, with couples spending time together buying presents, eating fancy dinners and booking hotel rooms (book waaay in advance!). My first impression of Japanese Christmas time were illuminations, they're fantastic, I love them ('∀'●)♡ Second thing – commercials in the subway, showing Christmas tree and family at the table and mother in the kitchen and then serving… fried chicken and a huge strawberry cake.
One time I was at the bakery and the guy tried to make a little chit-chat with me. He was stunned that in Poland we actually don't eat chicken nor strawberries for Christmas but we eat fish. Fish?! For Christmas?! What a shocker.
I was determined to try and find some traditional Polish foods for this year's Christmas (although I did buy strawberries!), just to see if I can do it. I really like Polish traditional Christmas dishes too. The main problem was red borscht with ushka. The soup is made from beetroot and that vegetable is… non-existent in Japan. But! If you search long and hard you can find it (I bought a single one lol it was very expensive) and I even managed to buy a soup-stock for borscht! So lucky me! Ushka are a lot of work so I bought wontons… Basically the same thing.
Now cakes. Strawberry ones were out of the question (even though I'd love to eat some, they all looked so yummy…) since my fiancee hates whipped cream. Don't ask me, I don't know why. The only cakes that he likes are apple-pie and keks (that's a Polish name, I think it's just called 'fruits cake' in English, with lots of nuts and raisins and candied, dried fruits). Apple-pie can be found in any bakery so we just bought a small one. I'd bake my own but we don't have an oven right now… We saw keks before Christmas too, but it was insanely expensive, so much I burst out laughing when I saw the price. But we found a very small one in a supermarket, called "Christmas strudel" (it had little in common with an actual strudel but who cares) so the cakes were covered!
It would seem you can have a proper Polish Christmas in Japan as well! What about you guys? Want to share some of your favorite Christmas foods?
Here are some recipes for Polish traditional dishes, if you are curious: ushka, borscht, keks.
Merry christmas and thank you for making my year epic with your awesome comic!
Thank you for being so very diligent all the time.
Most webcomics I know wouldn't update regularly on Christmas day, but if anything put up a filler, but here you are, uploading yet another excellent page as if it was nobody's business.
And regarding your 'weird Christmas'…no family? No presents?
You are with the person you love in the place you wish to be.
Home is where the heart lives they say, so now tell me, are you not at home?
Are you not surrounded by the people you care most about?
And are peace, happiness and health not the greatest gifts one could ever ask for?
And no, I'm not a huge fan of the whole 'presents exchange' custom.
It's a waste of time, effort, money and resources in my opinion.
Thank you! Have a great time too!
Well, with the presents, I was just trying to stress that I didn't really have to time to think about Christmas before it actually came, hence the lack of presents. I don't care about gifts themselves that much. That was different when we were kids, hahaha~ And when you say it like that it sounds all nice and beautiful but the reality of the situation is that we're both stressed out, upset about the apartment-hunt and constantly fighting (because: stress). Plus my fiancee is not a Christmas person, he always claimed that he hates it.
But. It wasn't so bad in the end, we went shopping, cooked a lot of yummy food, still fought (but made up) and had a nice, first Christmas eve together.
Gift exchange isn't really a big part of Christmas here, we already do that on St. Nicholas day.
Actually, I do agree with you.
But the sad fact of the matter is, that like 99 % of the gifts that get exchanged on Christmas Eve (or St. Nicholas day) are like zero effort, but all money.
Like they're just doing it, because it's customary, not because they care about the person they give it to.
And quite honestly, THAT kinda presents I really can do without.
And while that may not always be true, it's still the feeling I get with Christmas these days…which kinda spoils any sort of Christmas spirit for me.
JW, where are you from, if you don't mind me asking?
Must be a catholic region, cause 'presents for Christmas eve' is mostly a Lutheran thing, though I do believe that many catholic families adopted it for themselves as well…just like many Lutheran people still celebrate the 6th of December, even though they're not supposed to worship any saints.
I'm from the Netherlands, so very much a traditionally protestant (Calvinist) area. I think they did try to abolish St Nicholas celebrations once (because obviously he's a catholic saint), but he proved far too popular.
One way to avoid that issue is to give something edible (and if they like it, you can give the same thing next year! 😛 ) Or for those that might appreciate it, other consumables, like perfume and bath salt etc. But if you try that on the wrong person they may get the impression you think they smell and need a bath.
Personally I like putting a lot of effort into wrapping the gift. I can probably spend hours on it; though I don't really keep track, so I don't know if it's as long as people seem to think I spend. As a side benefit, that also makes it easy to "get away with" giving a gift card (or money for nieces and nephews), which also prevents clutter.
Yea, well that's their problem. You can't go around on eggshells afraid of offending people all the time. Of course, you try not to offend them, but there's a limit to that and worrying that they might think that you think they smell is definitely past it.
We feel similarly about the exchange of unnecessary gifts that the recipient can and probably will go buy themselves anyway. Unfortunately, the exchange of gifts means a lot to a lot of people (read the 5 Love Languages), so it's important to give something even if they don't need it. We always agree within my family that we'aren't giving gifts among the adults, but every year there I am unwrapping gifts without any to give in return.
Yea, well that's their problem.
I'd say it's the problem of anyone that values that friendship/relationship. Unless you go around gifting to perfect strangers that you'll never ever see again.
You can't go around on eggshells afraid of offending people all the time. Of course, you try not to offend them, but there's a limit to that and worrying that they might think that you think they smell is definitely past it.
I disagree, because it's a utilitarian object and so it's either something you think they want, or something you think they need. If there's never been any indication or reason to think it's something they like, then it implies you think it's something they need.
We always agree within my family that we'aren't giving gifts among the adults, but every year there I am unwrapping gifts without any to give in return.
Hint: this will happen again next year.
Well, in my family, we usually try to think of things we want/need/would by ourselves anyway and put that on a wishlist.* So other family members are happy to get some gifts for the others, you don't have to come up with something that might possibly be a waste of resources and space and everyone is happy. We tend to be a practical family and don't like gifting kitsch (decoration is ok, though, if you know the person likes it). Worst case, everyone is ok with gift vouchers so they can get themselves whatever they like.
But I don't know what she means about Laura's girls' talk either.
She's just lashing out under the pretext that Kasper has no place being part of the conversation (i.e.three girls talking among themselves about relationships), and so she accuses him of only being there to keep watch over Laura like a tyrannical "Big Brother" that doesn't trust his sister to think for herself.
She seems to be forgetting that to start with, they're all there to work on a protective spell; the chit-chat is secondary.
Luckily Laura is there to diffuse the tension.
On further consideration, I guess she's getting defensive, because several people (first Nina and now Kasper) are basically saying that her romantic interest is weird, and she is blind for not seeing it?
Battle-tested! I have a little sister, this data is solid!
Ahh. I couldn't tell what was going on there, but that makes sense now.
Oh, now I see. I didn't realize she was now talking about Kasper.
Just hope the others won't be silly about this… Would be rather unfortunate if they lost respect for their commander over something like that.
Is it really fair to say he is putting up a front as well? I don't remember any situation where he specifically seemed to be hiding this side of his… It just didn't come up before as far as I can tell.
Would be rather unfortunate if they lost respect for their commander over something like that.
Or they'll all come to him for relationship advice.
Lovely page! I think it should just be romantic not romanticist, but that's a minor thing.
Definitely =_= I'm going to fix it in a sec, thanks. How nobody (me included) didn't see it till now is beyond me. Must be the holidays!
Hey, thanks for the recipes!
About the page: Poor Kasper, ahah! He didn't deserve that. Both from her sister and from Sofia.


text:
Ex-Presidents
Village Blog
Tag: Rebels
Africa Central Africa World
Central Africa Republic: Rebel push 'under control'
December 21, 2020 Elwin Mandowaafrica, africafeeds, central africa, Central Africa Republic, News, Peacekeepers, Rebels0 comment
– Advertisement – Rebel forces advancing on the Central African Republic's capital Bangui have been pushed back and the situation is "under control", a spokesman for UN peacekeeping forces said Sunday, as tensions mount a week before key elections. The government had alleged an attempted coup when three of the powerful armed groups that control most of the country's territory began advancing towards the capital along critical main roads, ahead of presidential and legislative elections scheduled for December 27. Earlier Sunday, the Coalition of the Democratic Opposition (COD-2020) called for…
Africa Central Africa Featured World
Rebels kill more than 20 in the Democratic Republic of Congo
November 1, 2020 Elwin Mandowaafrica, africafeeds, central africa, DR Congo, DRC, Featured, News, Rebels
– Advertisement – More than 20 civilians have been killed in an attack on a village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Authorities in the DRC have blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group for the attack. Reports say the rebels first attacked a rival group of Congolese militia members before killing inhabitants in the village of Lisasa. Local administrator Donat Kibwana, from the Beni territory in North Kivu province, put the "preliminary death toll" at 21. In a statement a local NGO Cepadho said 15 out of the 21 people…
Africa East Africa Sudan World
Sudan's govt, rebel groups sign landmark peace deal
October 4, 2020 Elwin Mandowaafrica, africafeeds, east africa, News, Rebels, South Sudan, Sudan
– Advertisement – Sudan's government and rebel groups on Saturday inked a landmark peace deal aimed at ending decades of war in which hundreds of thousands died. Ululations and cheers rang out as one by one, representatives from the transitional government and rebel groups signed the deal, a year after the peace talks began, at a ceremony in the South Sudanese capital Juba, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. "Today we have reached a peace agreement. We are happy. We have finished the mission," Tut Gatluak, head of the South…
Africa OP-ED
Critical Thinking: Challenging Dogma and Effecting Change in Africa
January 20, 2017 January 20, 2017 Global Authorafrica, and revolutionaries, of reformers, Rebels
Very early in life, I noticed a connection between questioning and change – between asking why? Why not? How do you know? and the project of societal renewal. Evidently, questioning is a product of discontent, of lack of satisfaction with the way things are, with the status quo and a desire for how things should be, for the new and the different. I realized that the skeptical outlook contained the ingredients for social transformation and that in critical thinking lurks potentials and possibilities for a proactive life and an engage…
Children at risk in the hands of the FDLR in eastern of Democratic Republic of the Congo
May 29, 2015 Global AuthorChild Soldiers, congo, DRC, FDLR, MONUSCO, rape, Rebels, Rwanda, UN Peacekeepers, Vision-GRAM International, war
By: Joseph H. Cavallaro- Vision GRAM-International May 26, 2015 – In recent weeks, several hundred Congolese children have escaped from armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Though the freeing of children from armed groups is always a cause for celebration, there are still an estimated 30,000 children fighting with armed groups in the DR Congo. The armed rebel group that uses many of these child soldiers is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). They are remnants of the original FDLR that is responsible…
SA heads for new DRC war
January 14, 2015 Global AuthorDRC, FDLR, Kagame, Kerry, Obama, Rebels, Rwanda, South Africa, UN, Zuma
South Africa has 1000 troops in the DRC as part of the UN's Force Intervention Brigade, which is tasked with "neutralising" threats to the region. File photoImage by: SIPHIWE SIBEKO / REUTERS The government yesterday announced that a confrontation with Forces for Democratic Liberation of Rwanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo was "inevitable". Four thousand FDLR soldiers, many of whom were involved in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, terrorise the eastern DRC. The looming fight comes after the FDLR ignored the UN's January 2 disarmament deadline. Department of International Relations…
Tanzania: We won't be ready to join any combined attack against the rebels because not all people in eastern DR Congo are FDLR rebels
January 12, 2015 October 20, 2016 Global Author1994, congo, DRC, FDLR, Genocide, Kabila, Kagame, Kikwete, Rebels, Rwanda, Rwandan Genocide, Tanzania, war
"As a country (Tanzania) we won't be ready to join any combined attack against the rebels because not all people in eastern DR Congo are FDLR rebels," Bernard Membe, Tanzania's Minister for Foreign Affairs told the media in Dar-es-Salaam Tanzania, hence rejecting, for some observers, the urgency of conducting military operations against Rwandan rebels and refugees based in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) . The declaration by the Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister comes after the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete gave a cautious support on efforts to free Eastern…
CAR: Machete Wielding Youths Lay Corpses In Bangui Streets
December 27, 2013 Global AuthorCAR, Genocide, Rebels, UN, war
The United Nations was alarmed yesterday when dozens of dead bodies were found lying all over the streets in Bangui town in the Central African Republic. The dead bodies are a reflection of the work being done by youths armed with machetes and grenades who have embarked on a career of mass massacre. The Archbishop and the Imam of Bangui came out recently and warned over the terror being spread by these youths but his warning was not head. "There is a complete disorder. Young people are carrying grenades and…
U.S. Marines poised to enter South Sudan
December 23, 2013 Global AuthorRebels, South Sudan, US Marines, war
About 150 U.S. Marines are poised to enter turbulent South Sudan to help evacuate Americans and provide security for the U.S. Embassy, two U.S. military officials said Monday. The troops are moving from Spain to Africa, probably to the nation of Djibouti, the officials told CNN's Barbara Starr on Monday. An estimated 100 U.S. citizens are believed to be in the country, where steady violence is stoking fears of an all-out civil war in the world's newest country. Up to 40,000 civilians have taken refuge in U.N. bases in…
Exclusive: Congo's army accused of abuse as rebels regroup in Rwanda: U.N. experts
December 18, 2013 Global Authorcongo, DRC, Rebels, refugees
(Reuters) – Recently defeated M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo have continued to recruit fighters in neighboring Rwanda while the Congolese army has been involved in human rights abuses and corruption, according to a confidential U.N. report. "The Group has documented that M23 received continued support from Rwandan territory," the U.N. Group of Experts said in its final report to the Security Council's Congo sanctions committee, which was seen by Reuters on Monday. "The Group has received credible information that sanctioned M23 leaders are moving freely in Uganda and that M23…
UN rights office 'deeply troubled' by Russian activist Aleksei Navalny's arrest January 18, 2021
Nine African nations in debt to UN lose voting rights January 18, 2021
CHAN 2021: Morocco open title defence with 1-0 win over Togo January 18, 2021
HIP Video Promo presents: Ayoka shimmers in her new moody music video "Elevate" on Music News January 18, 2021
Singer Omawumi Releases Swimwear Photos; Pens Message To Womb-Watchers January 18, 2021
Letter From A Friend From The Country Of The Dead By Bayo Oluwasanmi January 18, 2021
FUTA Deputy Registrar Shot By Bandits On Ilesa-Akure Highway Dies January 18, 2021
Central African Republic top court confirms Touadera election win January 18, 2021
At least 130 people killed in Sudan after days of inter ethnic violence January 18, 2021
Fashionomics Africa Webinar Series, Episode 5 January 18, 2021
WHO chief warns against 'catastrophic moral failure' in COVID-19 vaccine access January 18, 2021
VIDEO: Joeboy – Lonely [NEW SINGLE] January 18, 2021
Clarence Peters' 'Hex' is far from frightening but bloody enough to pass as a horror flick [Pulse Movie Review] January 18, 2021
Nigeria: Constitutional Force Majeure Is The Path To Stop Social Media Bill, Hate Speech Bill And Anti-People Bills By Ndidi Uwechue January 18, 2021
The Kukah Offence And Ongoing Offensives By Wole Soyinka January 18, 2021
Tournament format and prize money announced January 18, 2021
Visa Presale offers exclusive chance to purchase FIFA Club World Cup 2020™ tickets January 18, 2021
Watch LIVE: FIFA Club World Cup Official Draw January 18, 2021
Nigerian Army Regains Control of Marte Military Base Post-ISWAP Attack January 18, 2021
Uganda: Bobi Wine Calls on the International Community January 18, 2021
What to know about Signal — WhatsApp's rival endorsed by Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey
The New Africa!
Reactions as Runtown says he wrote Davido's hit song Aye
World e-commerce leaders announce huge growth during pandemic
Joint UN-INTERPOL operation disrupts firearms supply to terrorist networks in West Africa and Sahel
How to Quickly Gain Weight
Global challenges require global solutions, UN chief tells German parliament
Diabetes increasing COVID risks, showing need to strengthen health systems
Appointments and reassignments at the African Development Bank
Ivory Coast: Allassane Ouattara sworn in for 3rd term
Volunteer to be an Author
Africa Global Village is looking for volunteer authors from the continent and those in the Diaspora. Are you a keen analyst of social media, independent media or blogs about a region that is largely ignored or misrepresented by traditional media? Please apply to join our volunteer team of writers by writing editor@africaglobalvillage.com
Beautiful women from Malawi - Africa Global Village on BEAUTIFUL WOMEN FROM MALAWI PART2
Beautiful African Women Featured in Pictures - Africa Global Village on Beautiful women from Malawi
sleekgist on The top 3 clubs dominating the Champions League 2020/2021 so far
sleekgist on Leave no one behind: Fostering Digital Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Africa
sleekgist on UN experts call for clemency for Lisa Montgomery, as US reschedules planned execution
Malawi Headlines
Letter From A Friend From The Country Of The Dead By Bayo Oluwasanmi
FUTA Deputy Registrar Shot By Bandits On Ilesa-Akure Highway Dies
WHO chief warns against 'catastrophic moral failure' in COVID-19 vaccine access
Nigeria: Constitutional Force Majeure Is The Path To Stop Social Media Bill, Hate Speech Bill And Anti-People Bills By Ndidi Uwechue
Fashionomics Africa Webinar Series, Episode 5
Support Africa Global Village
Support The Africa Global Village Project. African FREE Citizen Media. Covering issues that matter to AFRICA and Africans
Recomended Village Resources
Contribute to the Village
World Sports Leader
Malawi News
Join The Global Village
Archived News Select Month January 2021 (496) December 2020 (941) November 2020 (1006) October 2020 (751) September 2020 (399) August 2020 (352) July 2020 (313) June 2020 (309) May 2020 (535) April 2020 (703) March 2020 (637) February 2020 (595) January 2020 (628) December 2019 (587) November 2019 (702) October 2019 (728) September 2019 (677) August 2019 (703) July 2019 (582) June 2019 (443) May 2019 (440) April 2019 (424) March 2019 (81) February 2019 (35) January 2019 (31) December 2018 (18) November 2018 (26) October 2018 (11) September 2018 (8) August 2018 (18) July 2018 (9) June 2018 (16) May 2018 (8) April 2018 (11) March 2018 (16) February 2018 (12) January 2018 (5) December 2017 (8) November 2017 (26) October 2017 (13) September 2017 (16) August 2017 (12) July 2017 (24) June 2017 (27) May 2017 (63) April 2017 (38) March 2017 (26) February 2017 (24) January 2017 (20) December 2016 (57) November 2016 (85) October 2016 (31) September 2016 (3) August 2016 (7) July 2016 (12) June 2016 (14) May 2016 (17) April 2016 (15) March 2016 (16) February 2016 (23) January 2016 (17) December 2015 (8) November 2015 (39) October 2015 (29) September 2015 (25) August 2015 (21) July 2015 (48) June 2015 (20) May 2015 (28) April 2015 (28) March 2015 (46) February 2015 (54) January 2015 (74) December 2014 (8) November 2014 (41) October 2014 (14) September 2014 (34) August 2014 (57) July 2014 (32) June 2014 (21) May 2014 (49) April 2014 (44) March 2014 (53) February 2014 (69) January 2014 (81) December 2013 (71) November 2013 (28) October 2013 (38) September 2013 (74) August 2013 (221) July 2013 (56) June 2013 (65) May 2013 (6) April 2013 (8) March 2013 (122) February 2013 (12) January 2013 (16) December 2012 (20) November 2012 (15) October 2012 (31) September 2012 (30) August 2012 (33) July 2012 (52) June 2012 (30) May 2012 (4) April 2012 (24) March 2012 (26) February 2012 (46) January 2012 (29) December 2011 (15) November 2011 (18) October 2011 (38) September 2011 (42) August 2011 (32)
© 2019 The Africa Global Village Project Funded By ©2005 Eltas Enterprises INC, a Computer Consulting and Internet Publishing Company


WILLEMSTAD - The guard who kept watch on the night that the 27-year-old Luigi "Pretu 'Florentina committed suicide, is suspected of fraud. A few hours before Pretu committed suicide, the security officer on guard did not check the inmate's cell. However, the log file that is recorded when an audit is performed, says something else. This is according to Justice Minister Nelson Navarro during a press conference in Fort Amsterdam.
There is a criminal investigation started against the prison guard. On September 6 Pretu hanged himself in his cell at the detention center in Barber. He was one of the accused in the murder case Wiels. Shortly after the suicide, a committee was set up for a fact-finding. It became known that the Justice Department has failed in Pretu's security. According to the committee the entire management lacked the knowledge and the staff was not qualified and did not receive any instruction.
The final section and toxicology report from the Dutch Forensic Institute (NFI) has shown that Pretu was killed by asphyxiation. There is no question of toxicological influences. The Justice Department is still waiting for the final report of the Investigation Team.


text:
122 user 34 critic
TV-MA | 28min | Comedy | TV Series (2014– )
Follows the struggle of Richard Hendricks, a Silicon Valley engineer trying to build his own company called Pied Piper.
John Altschuler, Mike Judge, Dave Krinsky
Thomas Middleditch, T.J. Miller, Josh Brener | See full cast & crew »
122 user | 34 critic
177 ( 33)
Optimal Tip-To-Tip Efficiency
Pied Piper makes it to the next stage of Disrupt but runs into trouble with Hooli's presentation. The guys break out into a ridiculous argument and Richard tries to pull Pied Piper together before ...
S2.E10
Two Days of the Condor
The verdict on Pied Piper's fate coincides with a startling real-life drama that makes their livestream immensely popular, and emotions run high as the gang tries to keep the company together.
Fifty-One Percent
In the season five finale, Monica is suspicious of PiperNet's early success. The team races against the clock when their future is threatened. Richard makes a surprising move.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters to stomp onto 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital this August
Emmy's comedy series category finally breaks a gender barrier with a record 5 female-driven nominees
17 July 2019 | Gold Derby
'Spider-Man: Far From Home' Star Martin Starr Signs With ICM – Comic-Con
17 July 2019 | Deadline
Emmys 2018: Trending Titles
IMDb Picks: March TV Calendar
9 Things We Learned on the Set of 'Tag'
Trending Emmy Nominees
June 2017 Streaming Guide
Watch/Catch up
PrioLista pågående serier
A WatchList: TV Shows
How many episodes of Silicon Valley have you seen?
Search for "Silicon Valley" on Amazon.com
Title: Silicon Valley (2014– )
Emmys 2018 — Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series
Pop's Culture - Gifts for Dad on Father's Day
Your fave of EW's 25 best scenes of this TV season?
Comic-Con 2016 Panels - TV
Favorite from Mike Judge?
New Shows We Can't Wait to Watch
Thomas Middleditch's Favorite 'Godzilla' Perk
The star of "Silicon Valley" shares the cheesy perk he loved on the set of his big-budget action movie, Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
Top Rated TV #174 | Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 14 wins & 87 nominations. See more awards »
Atlanta (TV Series 2016)
Comedy | Drama | Music
Based in Atlanta, Earn and his cousin Alfred try to make their way in the world through the rap scene. Along the way they come face to face with social and economic issues touching on race, relationships, poverty, status, and parenthood.
Stars: Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, LaKeith Stanfield
Mr. Robot (TV Series 2015)
Crime | Drama | Thriller
Elliot, a brilliant but highly unstable young cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker, becomes a key figure in a complex game of global dominance when he and his shadowy allies try to take down the corrupt corporation he works for.
Stars: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday
Master of None (TV Series 2015)
The personal and professional life of Dev, a 30-year-old actor in New York.
Stars: Aziz Ansari, Eric Wareheim, Lena Waithe
Veep (2012–2019)
Former Senator Selina Meyer finds that being Vice President of the United States is nothing like she hoped and everything that everyone ever warned her about.
Stars: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky
Barry (TV Series 2018)
Comedy | Crime | Drama
A hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.
Stars: Bill Hader, Stephen Root, Sarah Goldberg
Community (2009–2015)
A suspended lawyer is forced to enroll in a community college with an eclectic staff and student body.
Stars: Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover
Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)
The absurd antics of an Indiana town's public officials as they pursue sundry projects to make their city a better place.
Stars: Amy Poehler, Jim O'Heir, Nick Offerman
House of Cards (2013–2018)
A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Michel Gill, Robin Wright
Better Call Saul (TV Series 2015)
The trials and tribulations of criminal lawyer, Jimmy McGill, in the time leading up to establishing his strip-mall law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks
Curb Your Enthusiasm (TV Series 2000)
The life and times of Larry David and the predicaments he gets himself into with his friends and complete strangers.
Stars: Larry David, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin
Fargo (TV Series 2014)
Various chronicles of deception, intrigue and murder in and around frozen Minnesota. Yet all of these tales mysteriously lead back one way or another to Fargo, North Dakota.
Stars: Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman, Allison Tolman
30 Rock (2006–2013)
Liz Lemon, head writer of the sketch comedy show "TGS with Tracy Jordan", must deal with an arrogant new boss and a crazy new star, all while trying to run a successful television show without losing her mind.
Stars: Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan
Josh Brener ... Nelson 'Big Head' Bighetti 47 episodes, 2014-2019
Martin Starr ... Bertram Gilfoyle 47 episodes, 2014-2019
Kumail Nanjiani ... Dinesh Chugtai 47 episodes, 2014-2019
Zach Woods ... Donald 'Jared' Dunn 47 episodes, 2014-2019
Matt Ross ... Gavin Belson 47 episodes, 2014-2019
Thomas Middleditch ... Richard Hendricks 46 episodes, 2014-2018
Amanda Crew ... Monica Hall 46 episodes, 2014-2018
Jimmy O. Yang ... Jian Yang 42 episodes, 2014-2019
Suzanne Cryer ... Laurie Bream 39 episodes, 2015-2019
T.J. Miller ... Erlich Bachman 38 episodes, 2014-2017
In the high-tech gold rush of modern Silicon Valley, the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. A comedy partially inspired by Mike Judge's own experiences as a Silicon Valley engineer in the late 1980s. Written by Home Box Office
san francisco california | place name in title | california | palo alto california | computer | See All (8) »
See genius in a whole new light See more »
Official Facebook | Official Instagram | See more »
6 April 2014 (USA) See more »
Silicon Valley See more »
Los Angeles, California, USA See more »
3 Arts Entertainment, Altschuler Krinsky Works, Judgemental Films Inc. See more »
16:9 HD
The cast members, at times, are given freedom to improvise their scenes due to their backgrounds in stand-up and improvisation comedy. See more »
Donald 'Jared' Dunn: Hey! Sorry if I scared you, I know I have somewhat ghost-like features. My uncle used to say, "You look like someone starved a virgin to death."
Featured in Conan: Hilary Swank/Zach Woods/The Lone Bellow (2018) See more »
Stretch Your Face
Written and Perfomerd by Thomas Fec
Q: How accurate is Silicon Valley?
Hilarious and Scathing
13 April 2014 | by cadillac20 – See all my reviews
Silicon Valley is a TV show that was much talked about even before it's debut on HBO. With the Silicon Valley now finding a Hollywood-like atmosphere in the way it's viewed, the entertainment industry's focus on Silicon Valley and it's unique lifestyle and culture is somewhat new and has yet to find it's equilibrium of representation between the reality of the innovation happening there and the bizarre, comedy ammunition that lies in some of the more eccentric aspects. Mike Judge's Silicon Valley is a damn good start. It's witty and scathing, and takes an sarcastic approach to it with an outsider's eye. Of course, Mike Judge is no outsider, having worked in Palo Alto during the late 80's, and his disdain for it's people and culture shows.
What makes the series work is that Judge is able to focus on all the small, ridiculous things that have become such an icon of the culture. From CEO's innovators with Christ-like followings, to the idea that the industry is somehow spearheaded by college dropouts, Judge wastes not time and has no problem putting every Silicon Valley cliché/reality on a pedestal for people to laugh at. As a native, I can say that the show does exaggerate a lot of things, but it also gets a lot right. If you've seen Judge's other work, then you will quickly see how well this fits in. With Beavis and Butthead, we got a critique about the stupidity and waste of a generation, with King of the Hill, we got a look at Judge's insight into Texas culture and the ideologies of an American culture trying to cope with the changes of a modern world, and here we have a completely new sub-culture that Judges dives head first into.
The show most certainly has it's falls, but I was hard pressed to find them as I was too busy laughing most of the time throughout. I may have a skewed view of the show, with me observing this through a filter of the real Silicon Valley, in all it's great and weirdness. But in general, this bites down hard in the most hilarious way on a truly unique and fairly bizarre place in the world. And you don't even have to know the technobabble being spit out. I do think HBO has another winner here.
104 of 123 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?


IMPRESSIVE! These race helmet awards are a big hit with EVERYONE who has purchased them! Price INCLUDES full color reproduction of your logo AND up to 3 lines of text per award. Use for individual race awards or for year end awards. You will get "Ooohs! and Ahhhhs!" when you give these awards out!


text:
HSBC Rugby 7s targets 60,000 fans
Spectators at the last HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens at the National Stadium on April 15, 2017.PHOTO: ST FILE
Shamir Osman
http://str.sg/o3Wp
The crowd numbers took a hit last year, falling some 35 per cent to 34,000, but Rugby Singapore (RS) is not too concerned.
In fact, the organiser of the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens has set a crowd target of 60,000 for this year's event at the National Stadium from April 28-29, which will surpass the previous high of 52,000 in 2016.
"We're looking at doubling last year's numbers and, while we are optimistic and we want to fill the stadium, we don't want to be overconfident," said David Lim, chairman of RS, the commercial arm of the Singapore Rugby Union.
The 46-year-old revealed that in 35 days of sales thus far, numbers have hit 70 per cent of what it was after 70 days of sales last year.
Last year's edition was played over the Easter weekend, which might have accounted for the low crowd numbers.
In 2016, the HSBC Singapore Rugby Sevens had to compete with badminton's OUE Singapore Open which was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. This year's event may not clash with badminton or holidays, but it is close to examination dates for schools.
HSBC SINGAPORE RUGBY SEVENS 2018
From $20 to $320, with early-bird discounts available till Jan 21.
www.singapore7s.sg
There is more at stake this year as RS has to submit a bid by Feb 28 to host a leg of World Rugby's HSBC Sevens Series for the next four-year cycle starting in 2020. World Rugby will make a decision in May after the Singapore leg and Lim wants to boost the Republic's case by introducing new features this year that will form part of the bid.
New initiatives, such as engaging local clubs and touring teams to play in a 10s competition on the sidelines of the Sevens, improving the food experience at the event and increasing the value of each ticket by working with merchants and restaurants to give deals to ticket holders, will be implemented.
"The food component, fringe events and greater ticket value are three things which will definitely strengthen our bid," said Lim.
"We want to demonstrate to World Rugby and stakeholders that Singapore should be a temple of the Series."
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 17, 2018, with the headline 'HSBC Rugby 7s targets 60,000 fans'. Print Edition | Subscribe


text:
Scrrum weekly digest 4th week of november
Latest trending news about GoDaddy, Amazon's Alexa, India-EU agreement, Crypto platforms and Microsoft news.
India, EU sign agreement for cooperation in high-performance computing, quantum tech.
India and the European Union (EU) signed an agreement on cooperation in hi-tech areas such as climate modelling and quantum technologies. The agreement builds on the Trade and Technology Council launched earlier this year. The agreement was signed by MeitY secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma and DG CONNECT director general Roberto Viola.
Viola said combining the experience and expertise of India and the EU, and building on long-standing cooperation and trust can "help one another overcome the greatest challenges of our age, Covid-19 and climate change". The agreement will also allow the two sides to jointly explore the frontiers of quantum technologies, he said.
The council will allow the two sides to work on issues such as 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, climate modelling and health-related technology.
GoDaddy wins best tech solutions provider for SMEs.
GoDaddy helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start, grow, and scale their businesses. GoDaddy's easy-to-use tools help microbusiness owners manage everything in one place and its expert guides are available to provide assistance 24/7.
Dubai, UAE – GoDaddy announced that it won the 'Best Tech Solutions Provider for SMEs' award at Entrepreneur Middle East's Tech Innovation Awards 2022, which recognizes the most innovative, impactful, and user-friendly tech solution that caters to SMEs and entrepreneurs.
Selina Bieber, Commercial Strategy Senior Director, International Markets at GoDaddy said, "We are honored to receive this award and be recognized by the tech and entrepreneurship media and the digital business community. At GoDaddy, we champion small businesses and entrepreneurs to thrive online and we are grateful for the opportunity to support them in their ambitions as they turn their ideas into reality."
Amazon's Alexa team set to lose $10 billion this year, was the main driving force behind the mass layoff.
Amazon is currently in the middle of one of the biggest mass layoffs in its history. The e-commerce giant plans to terminate about 10,000 people by 2023, and also plans to refocus finances and efforts away from the hardware division.
Amazon will be losing about $10 billion just because of Alexa. The Alexa team is responsible for not only the voice assistant but the devices as well. Amazon, like Google, hasn't been able to monetize its voice assistant services. Amazon's Alexa division lost $3 billion in the first quarter of 2022, with a vast majority of the losses coming from the Alexa division. The plan with Alexa was for Amazon to want to make money when people use the devices, not when they buy bought them.
This has colossally backfired on the e-commerce giant. Jeff Bezos' successor as Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy is also not interested in protecting Alexa.
Global regulators to target crypto platforms after FTX crash.
The crash of the FTX exchange has injected greater urgency into regulating the crypto sector and targeting such 'conglomerate' platforms will be the focus for 2023, the new chair of global securities watchdog IOSCO said in an interview.
Jean-Paul Servais said regulating crypto platforms could draw on principles from other sectors which handle conflicts of interest, such as at credit rating agencies and compilers of market benchmarks, without having to start from scratch.
Cryptoassets like bitcoin have been around for years but regulators have resisted jumping in to write new rules. But the implosion at FTX, which left an estimated one million creditors facing losses totaling billions of dollars, will help change that, Servais told Reuters. "For investor protection reasons, there is a need to provide additional clarity to these crypto markets through targeted guidance in applying IOSCO's principles to crypto assets," Servais said.
Microsoft warns about Boa web server risks: India is the most affected country.
Microsoft says that the Boa web server comes with potential risks and it is easy for hackers to target these services. Microsoft's research showed that Indian power companies have faced several attacks because of the web server.
Most recently, Tata Power disclosed a cyber attack by the Hive ransomware group last month. In this case, hackers managed to steal data related to the personal details of employees, which includes details like Aadhaar numbers, PAN card details, and salary information. Microsoft has confirmed that Tata Power was hosted on Boa web servers, which has made it vulnerable and easy to hack due to outdated security protocols. Microsoft claims that over one million devices are still running on the outdated boa web server.
The problem is that most Internet of Things (IoT) devices include a Bora web server in their SDKs, which includes the most popular brands like Realtek Semiconductor Corp as well. It recommends patching vulnerable devices whenever possible. Microsoft also recommends using its own Defender External Attack Surface Management system to stay safe from hackers and recommends businesses reduce attacks by eliminating unnecessary internet connections to IoT devices in the network. Lastly, it is recommended to use an anti-virus solution and it is best to configure detection rules to identify malicious activities.
#weeklytechnews
#scrrumweeklydigest