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Home Todays story Electrification, Social Forestry development works devolved to Panchayats
SRINAGAR, June 19: The Government today ordered the devolution of electrification, system strengthening, loss reductions works in Power Development Department (PDD) to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
According to the order issued by PDD, the Government has directed the devolution in exercise of powers conferred under sub-Section 4 of section 12 of the Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 (amended up to October 2018).
The order said the Panchayats will identify left out houses, if any/new constructions for electrification, which shall also include public installations like Schools, Panchayats, Hospitals, Religious places etc., and report the same to the concerned Sub Divisional Officer of JKPDD for electrification.
Under vision "24×7 quality power" for all, JKPDD has taken up metering of unmetered consumers in the State, which includes consumers in rural areas as well. The Panchayats shall make the consumers aware about judicious use of electricity through metering and cooperate in installing meters in unmetered rural areas so as to achieve 100% metering in the State, the order started.
With a view to reduce time of interruption of power supply to consumers in rural areas due to transformer damage, line faults, damage to lines due to rain, snow, wind storm or floods and other such reasons, the Panchayats shall report the matter to concerned SDO promptly so that restoration is carried out on fast track basis.
"The Panchayats shall also maintain the monthly interruption statements of each village and submit the same to the concerned SDO for taking up the distribution stabilization works so that interruptions are reduced and reliable and quality power supply is provided to the rural areas," the order added.
Further, it said the JKPDD, has taken up repair work of distribution system by way of replacing barbed wire, worn-out/sub-standard poles and conductors. The Panchayats shall identify such assets which are a safety hazard and source of high technical loss, so that same are replaced in a phased manner.
The order said that towards conservation of energy through Demand Side Management (DSM), the Panchayats will promote use of Energy Efficient LED Lamps, Fans, Standard Water Heating Elements and other home appliances.
"The Panchayats will make consumers aware about the risk involved with the use of the sub-standard appliances and the huge losses/overloading of the system leading to damage of DTs which these appliances cause and shall promote use of heating elements which bear ISl mark. All water heating elements shall be provided with automatic -thermal-cut off so that element is switched 'Off automatically when desired temperature of water is reached," the order said.
The order also mentioned that Panchayats shall identify the unregistered consumers and assist the department in bridging the gap between ration card holders and electrified household. The Panchayats shall also identify those consumers who require revision of agreement as per living standard/load in use so as to achieve 100% registration of electrified households/load in use and minimize the gap between energy supplied and energy billed.
The PDD order said the Department is presently facing difficulties with regard to acquisition of land for a number of Sub-stations and Right of Way (RoW) issues while constructing HT/LT lines. "Panchayats shall help the Department in land acquisition and resolving of RoW issues so that these schemes are completed in a time-bound manner and benefit of schemes reaches general public."
The, Panchayats shall also install and maintain street lights for lighting streets and other public places during religious and other public gatherings under funding from district plans.
"With a view to promote generation and consumption of renewable energy, Panchayats shall plan, establish, maintain and promote small conventional and non-conventional energy units like solar, including roof top solar panel installation, biogas, wind mill, micro hydro electricity plants etc. The excess non-conventional energy shall be sold to others as per the regulations issued by JKSERC," the order read.
Meanwhile, the Government also ordered devolution of various development programmes, schemes and activities relating to Social Forestry Department to Panchayati Raj Institutions in pursuance to the provisions contained in the J&K Panchayati Raj Act, 1989 (amended up to October 2018).
According to the order issued by Department of Forest, Environment & Ecology, the Government has directed for the devolution of programmes/schemes and activities specified in item 3 of Schedule I-A relating to Social Forestry to Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The order said that Panchayats shall carry afforestation on wasteland, development of social forestry and farm forestry, and disposal of social forestry produce.
Works like growing trees for cattle feed, firewood and fruits, implementation of farm forestry, establishment of nurseries and their management, planning and implementation of social forestry and farm forestry projects, planting and preservation of trees on the roadside and other public places under control of Halqa Panchayat shall also be done by panchayats, besides Identification of sites for CAMPA/afforestation activities under different schemes and plans.
Constitution of fire protection committees to assist the Forest Department in extinguishing forest fires in coordination with the local people shall be work of Panchayats.
Further, the order stated that the sites for various afforestation works under all the schemes, wherever feasible/applicable will be identified and proposed in consultation with concerned Halqa Panchayat.
The plans under different afforesation schemes/ sectors will be formulated by the concerned Divisional Forest Officers (SF) in consultation with concerned Village Committees in terms relevant SROs and also in consultation with concerned Halqa Panchayat.
The fencing shall be procured as per the standing norms & will be done through concerned Panchayats wherever `e-tendering' is not required, the order said.
The order also mentioned that the plants shall continue to be provided by the Department. However, digging of pits and planting will be done by the existing regular and non-regular staff of the Department and also through the seasonal labour to be provided by the Panchayats under supervision of concerned Block Officer/Range Officer, followed by monitoring by DFO and Regional Director.
"The labour work from seasonal labourers will be hired exclusively by the concerned Halqa Panchayats on a day-to-day basis for execution of plantation related works, as per the plantation targets," the order said.
Whereas, the watch and ward of the plantations shall continue to be done by the existing staff of the Department together with concerned Village Forest Committees and concerned Halqa Panchayat.
The monitoring evaluation and audit of all the works will be done as per the prescribed norms and rules, however the Panchayats shall be involved in inspections & checking of the works, the order added.
Besides, the Sarpanch/Panch (as the case may be) will function as Ex-Officio Chairman of Village Executive Committee instead of selection by Village Committee (General Body).
The order also mentioned that maintenance and protection of plantation shall be joint responsibility of the Department, and concerned Village Forest Committee/Panchayat.
"The concerned Panchayats will encourage village people to participate in establishing village wood lots by explaining the benefits to be obtained from community plantation and assist the Department in demarcating areas of wastelands on which plantation is to be done.
"They will also explain the advantages of the afforestation programmes to the people in their respective areas and report their progress regularly to the concerned Divisional Forest Officer (SF)," the order said.
The funds for the works (wherever required as per the service), shall be placed at the disposal of the concerned Panchayats by the Department of Social Forestry under relevant schemes/sectors, the order adds.
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American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.
You can bet your life I did, till I got back in the U.S.A.
She had the world in the palm of her hand.
To get a brown eyed handsome man.
Said," Please Mr. Leo, I apologize"
And Hollywood is waiting, to see the way she swings.
The little girl from Central is gonna take on wings.
To keep it on the road.
Workin' in the fillin' station - too many tasks.
Wipe the windows - check the tires - check the oil - dollar gas!
Don't want your botheration, get away, leave me!
I said, "Dance ballerina girl, go go go!"
They say that Elvis is the King of Rock and Roll, but Chuck? Berry is God All Mighty. Everyone else is standing in the shadows.
Chuck Berry is the greatest of the rock and rollers. Elvis competes with Frank Sinatra, Little Richard camps his way to self-negation, Fats Domino looks old, and Jerry Lee Lewis looks down his noble honker at all those who refuse to understand that Jerry Lee has chosen to become a great country singer.


Nick Vandenheiligenberg is the Senior Trade Analyst for Port Everglades, located in Broward County, FL.
Nick Vandenheiligenberg is the Senior Trade Analyst for Port Everglades, located in Broward County, FL. Nick is a current candidate of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) Professional Port Manager Program (PPM) and has an MBA with a concentration in Port/Supply Chain Management from Old Dominion University. Nick has been involved in the Maritime Industry for almost a decade, including work for the Virginia Port Authority.
Answer: The most difficult thing about my job is adjusting to how quickly things happen in this industry. The supply chain is so interconnected that one individual problem can escalate very quickly if you aren't on top of it.
In your opinion, how will the recent Hanjin bankruptcy affect Port Everglades and other US ports?
Answer: The Hanjin bankruptcy should not have a significant impact on Port Everglades. We do not have any direct services with Hanjin, so as a result, we do not move much Hanjin cargo. However, this event will create even more uncertainty in an industry that is already sitting on record low freight rates. Hanjin accounted for about 8% of US cargo, so many US ports and shippers will be wondering who/if/when the next shipping line to have issues could be. Finally, many shippers who potentially had their peak season merchandise on these ships may not get all of their goods to market now.
What trends do you see with trade in the Central America and Caribbean region?
Answer: The Caribbean and Central America have long been Port Everglades' dominant trading partners, and we continue to see countries in this region grow with trade to/from the United States. One of the biggest trends in the region is the accessibility of the Latin American produce market. U.S. Law has required Latin American produce to enter the US above the 39th Parallel. Port Everglades, along with many other ports in the Southeast United States, have been allowed under a new pilot program to import these produce/perishable commodities. This will allow the Latin American growers to get their product to market quicker and have a much fresher product as a result. We've also seen a decrease in the offshoring of manufactured activities to Asia, which has spurred finished product growth with the US, for example, apparel products from Honduras & Guatemala.
Answer: The Ports in Cuba will be positively affected by the recent changes in Cuba/America relations. Port Everglades remains one of the few ports that already has direct service to/from Cuba with our partners Crowley. With Florida's proximity and relationship with Cuba, all the ports in Florida are hoping to take advantage of this opportunity.
Have you ever met anyone with a last name longer than yours?
Answer: Not that I can remember, and that's something I probably wouldn't forget!
If you would like to know more about Port Everglades, visit their webpage at www.porteverglades.net. If you would like to be interviewed for our 5 questions series, please email us at hello@cetuslabs.com.


As Gmail and Outlook are rolling out new features to their users 5 Powerful New Gmail Features You Need to Start Using Right Now 5 Powerful New Gmail Features You Need to Start Using Right Now These new Gmail features from the Gmail redesign will help you manage your email better, faster, and with less hassle. Read More , they are both offering a way to prevent your emails from being forwarded. If this is a feature you've been waiting for, read on to find out how to use it with either email provider.
If you feel that Gmail and Outlook are not offering enough security features, there are several secure and encrypted email providers The 3 Most Secure & Encrypted Email Providers Online The 3 Most Secure & Encrypted Email Providers Online Fed up with government surveillance? Concerned your emails might be read by third parties? If so, it's worth looking at an encrypted email solution to protect your messages. Read More to choose from.
Explore more about: Email Tips, Gmail, Microsoft Outlook.
If it's on my screen its mine.


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MasterMaq's Blog
Mack Male is an Edmonton-based entrepreneurial journalist
Tag: museums
Goodbye, Hello at the Royal Alberta Museum
More than 35,000 Edmontonians visited the Royal Alberta Museum over the weekend to say goodbye to the building that has seen more than 14 million visits since it opened back on December 6, 1967. The numbers from this weekend speak to the impact the museum has had on the community:
"The museum saw 16,290 people in the first 24-hours alone, eclipsing the previous single-day attendance record of 13,212, which was set in 1974 with gear from the Apollo moon landings on display."
In addition to one last look at the bug room, visitors had the opportunity to visit the "Goodbye, Hello" exhibit in the feature gallery where they could share a memory or write a message for the new building. They could also see a video overview of the new building that is currently under construction downtown.
The new building will be roughly twice the size, with more than 82,000 square feet of exhibition space. It is being built to the LEED Silver standard at a cost of $375.5 million, $253 million of which is coming from the Province with the rest coming from the Federal government. Construction began on February 7, 2014 and is expected to finish in mid-2016. The goal is to open the new museum to the public in late 2017.
While the new building will certainly be an exciting addition to the downtown arts district, it does raise the question of what will happen to the current building. There's nothing wrong with it, aside from being too small to share the museum's growing collection. Here's what the FAQ says:
"There has been no decision on the future of the Royal Alberta Museum building when the existing museum closes. When determining the future use the general process is to first see if government still has a use for the building/property. If government doesn't require the property then the municipality is consulted to see if they have a use for it. The building is offered to the public if neither levels of government have a use for the property. Although the museum will be closing its doors in December 2015, the building will still be occupied with staff and collections until likely Fall 2019, as it makes the massive move to its new location."
So while there's still time to determine its fate, it's an issue we'll have to address as a community soon. To learn more about the history of the museum, have a look at Then & Now feature and check out this article by Janet Vlieg:
"The first two decades of the museum's existence saw new exhibits added in keeping with the original goals of preserving Alberta history. No admission fees were charged and the museum relied almost completely on provincial funding. Help for extras came in 1982 with a new fundraising support group, now known as Friends of Royal Alberta Museum."
On Monday evening, the final day the museum was open, Sharon and I were able to attend the RAM: A Moving Tribute event as guests of the Friends of Royal Alberta Museum Society (FRAMS). It was an "evening of fond farewells to a beautiful building." A well-dressed crowd gathered to hear some speeches, visit the galleries, and reminisce about their previous visits to the building.
Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, Minister of Culture & Tourism David Eggen, and City Councillor Scott McKeen were among those who brought greetings and reflected on their experiences in the museum. Guests could then explore the museum one last time, stopping perhaps to learn from the experts that were stationed throughout.
I didn't grow up in Edmonton, so I don't have the same memories of visiting as a kid. But I have enjoyed visiting in recent years and look forward to spend lots of time at the new building. Sharon does remember visiting as a child and was quite eager to visit the Wild Alberta Gallery one last time! We had fun exploring and adding our own messages to the wall in the feature gallery.
Thanks to FRAMS for having us! We look forward to visting the new museum when it opens on (or around) December 7, 2017. Can't wait!
Mack Male	Uncategorized	Leave a comment December 9, 2015 3 Minutes
The lights are on at Edmonton's Outdoor Neon Sign Museum
Dozens of Edmontonians braved the cold tonight to join Mayor Iveson, Councillor McKeen, Councillor Knack, and Downtown Business Association Executive Director Jim Taylor for the official launch of the Edmonton Neon Sign Museum on 4th Street Promenade. After probably a bit too much talking, the signs were introduced and the lights came on one-by-one.
Here's an overview of the museum:
The primary purpose of this project is to develop an outdoor historic neon sign museum in downtown Edmonton to celebrate the history of neon signage in the city, and to create an engaging outdoor space for cultural tourism as part of the bustling 104th Street Promenade. This unique museum fosters activity and walking traffic in the surrounding area, acting as a light-based form of urban beautification for downtown Edmonton.
The project has been years in the making. Work began in 2008 and the museum has been consistently championed by city planner David Holdsworth, who originated the idea.
The City of Edmonton Heritage Planning has been collecting the historic neon signs at The City of Edmonton Archives over the past few years, salvaging them from both demolished buildings and from buildings where new businesses moved in and removed the signs. The City has collected twelve signs that represent some of the early signage styles and iconic signage forms in Edmonton. The Museum will continue to grow as additional signs – a goal of 30 total – are added in the coming years. Each of the current signs has an accompanying plaque with text panels that tell the stories of the signs, and by doing so the signs speak to the history of Edmonton.
For more on the history of the project, check out Omar's piece.
The museum currently features signs from Mike's News Stand, Canadian National Railway freight-telegrams, Northern Alberta Railway, XL Furniture, W.W. Arcade, Cliff's Auto Parts, an unidentified drugstore, and Canadian Furniture. Signs still to come are from the Princess Theatre, Pantages Theatre, the Georgia Baths, and a second sign from the W.W. Arcade.
Sponsors of the museum include the City of Edmonton and the Alberta Sign Association, and community partners include TELUS, the Downtown Business Association, and The Places.
You can see more photos here. Stay tuned for much better photos from the local Flickr group as well!
Mack Male	Uncategorized	6 Comments February 21, 2014 2 Minutes
Copyright © 2019 Mack Male / MasterMaq.ca

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Create the entire radio commercial experience!
Turnkey the entire radio commercial process with the SSOP for your business. This package includes both a radio commercial and a jingle, which will make your advertisement truly sound like it belongs on the airwaves. It's a great cost-effective way to creating that clip for the airways!
A thirty second radio commercial, combined with a five second jingle.


text:
Solaris Health Leadership
Affiliate Leadership
2023 Retreat
Eric W. Masonadmin2021-06-03T21:16:34-04:00
Eric W. Mason, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Solaris Health
Member, Solaris Health Board
As Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mason oversees the business aspects of the managed care organization, which involves streamlining operational processes, creating synergies between practices, and incentivizing growth of the platform regionally and nationally.
Dr. Mason has spent his entire career in physician practice management, first as a physician, then as an entrepreneur and practice leader, and finally as a senior executive at market-leading, high-growth national practice management groups. For 26 years he was managing partner of a Raleigh, North Carolina-based anesthesia practice directing over 70 physicians and over 200 nurse anesthetists. During his tenure, the practice experienced a growth from $10 million to $75 million in annual revenue. He then led the sale of the practice to PEDIATRIX, now MEDNAX, where he held several corporate roles from 2011 through 2017.
During this time, Dr. Mason was responsible for steering the managed care, coding, and finance divisions, and was involved in multiple acquisitions. His last role at MEDNAX was president of the south region, owning a portfolio of over 90 practices in the southeast that included anesthesiology, neonatology, MFM, OB hospitalists, pediatric urology, pediatric cardiology, and pediatric hospitalists.
In early 2018, he joined Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery ("ADCS") as its COO, overseeing operations in over 150 offices across 14 states. His direct reporting groups included operations, aesthetics, human resources, marketing, pathology, managed care, and scheduling.
Dr. Mason received his medical degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. He completed both his anesthesiology residency and his fellowship in critical care medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He also completed his fellowship in cardiac anesthesia at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Mason is board-certified in anesthesiology and critical care medicine. He holds an M.B.A. from Auburn University.
© Copyright | Solaris Health
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Physician – Pediatric Urology


Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the words EXTRA MILD.
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word LOCKSMITH.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word LOCKSMITH.
Yesterday's Sunday Challenge Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the letters in the anagram ONYX AURICLES.
Today's 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the letters in the anagram ONYX AURICLES.
Yesterday's Qudoku puzzle set spelled out an adverbial pun known as a Tom Swifty. This one shows Tom should see a doctor for his sore throat—quickly!
The Sunday Challenge, a 12x12 Hidden Word Sudoku puzzle, in just a few hours.
I'd like to make a toast," Tom said warmly.
A Tom Swifty is an adverbial pun that simultaneously describes a speaker and refers to the speaker's statement. The name comes from the Tom Swift book series for young readers. The authors were roundly criticized for overusing adverbs and descriptive phrases, so that Tom hardly ever said "said" and rarely said anything without a qualifying adverb. A Tom Swifty pun is a parody of this style.
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word MIDRANGES.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word MIDRANGES.
This state entered the union on June 25, 1788, the 10th state.
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word TRAVELING.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word TRAVELING.
Each row, column, 2x3 rectangle and the set of circled cells contain the letters in the word or phrase exactly once; copy the numbered letters into the corresponding cells of the quote grid to unveil the state nickname (on the first line) and the state name (on the last).
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the words HULA SKIRT.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the words HULA SKIRT.
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word REGIONALS.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word REGIONALS.
Yesterday's Classic Word Sudoku puzzle was based on the word OUTPLACES.
Today's 9x9 Classic Word Sudoku puzzle is based on the word OUTPLACES.
This state entered the union on June 21, 1788, the 9th state.
Yesterday's five Qudoku puzzle sets, with 14 separate Word Sudoku puzzles, commemorated Father's Day and the Summer Solstice.


In 2013, Dr. Sanjay Ambekar, along with wife Dr. Suniti and daughter Aditi often visited the 'Health Fitness Club', where they met Shri Rajkumar Dayma and over time they became friends. A little later, when the boredom of training in a gym set in, Dr. Ambekar suggested running outdoors on a nice open road for fitness and they ran from Mantha Cross Road to Mantha Petrol Pump and back, a distance of 5kms for the first time. The experience ushered in a joyous fitness run, which was soon joined by friends, colleagues & other enthusiasts. The increased number of participants and the fun element added ambition and the distance was doubled to 10Kms all the way up to Hotel Raviraj Dhaba and back.
Soon it became the talk of the town and everyone from kids to women, the young & the old, Housewives & Businessmen joined in on this fitness journey. Soon the group became very large, so in 2014 Dr. Ambekar decided to formalize the group as 'The Jalna Fun Runners' with clearly defined code of conduct and a registered entity. The Initiative received unanimous support from all corners.
"Run… & Life will be Fun" became the motto with very simple rules.
To carry the necessary items like comfortable clothing, drinking water, torch, napkins etc.
This regular fitness program gave birth to the concept of 'Fun Run' which became a larger social initiative where, on the first Sunday of every month, the group would run a decided course with improvement initiatives. The stretching set would be followed by a group discussion on social issues and future planning initiatives. Members with birthdays in the month would host the group for the post-run snacks & refreshments.
Before all this, individual members like Dr. Prasad ran Mumbai Marathon, Dr. Sanjay Ambekar ran Goa and Hyderabad Marathons and together went to Leh Ladakh also.
This discipline and guidance encouraged members to participate in various running competitions and after one of the Post-Run discussion, the decision to participate in the 'Pune International Marathon' as a group was unanimously taken.
Our Teaching staff is well Qualified and have passed Masters degree. Our faculty members are experienced and have working industry experience.
We organize workshops and weekly seminars for students from various faculties who are working in industry and related fields.


text:
from __future__ import absolute_import

from ..types import *
from ..util import serialize
from ..util import deserialize

class AutoNumberFormat(object):

    """Smartsheet AutoNumberFormat data model."""

    def __init__(self, props=None, base_obj=None):
        """Initialize the AutoNumberFormat model."""
        self._base = None
        if base_obj is not None:
            self._base = base_obj

        self._fill = String()
        self._prefix = String()
        self._starting_number = Number()
        self._suffix = String()

        if props:
            deserialize(self, props)

    @property
    def fill(self):
        return self._fill.value

    @fill.setter
    def fill(self, value):
        self._fill.value = value

    @property
    def prefix(self):
        return self._prefix.value

    @prefix.setter
    def prefix(self, value):
        self._prefix.value = value

    @property
    def starting_number(self):
        return self._starting_number.value

    @starting_number.setter
    def starting_number(self, value):
        self._starting_number.value = value

    @property
    def suffix(self):
        return self._suffix.value

    @suffix.setter
    def suffix(self, value):
        self._suffix.value = value

    def to_dict(self):
        return serialize(self)

    def to_json(self):
        return json.dumps(self.to_dict())

    def __str__(self):
        return self.to_json()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Accolade by British painter Edmund Blair Leighton exhibits an idealized view of history common in historical fantasy.
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into the narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classes as Arthurian, Celtic, or Dark Ages could just as easily be placed in Historical Fantasy. Stories fitting this classification generally take place prior to the 20th century.
Films of this genre may have plots set in biblical or classical antiquity, often with plots based very loosely on mythology or legends of Greek-Roman history, or the surrounding cultures of the same era.
The story takes place in a secondary world with specific and recognizable parallels to a known place (or places) and a definite historical period, rather than taking the geographic and historical "mix and match" favoured by other works of secondary world fantasy. However, many if not most, works by fantasy authors derive ideas and inspiration from real events, making the borders of this approach unclear.
All four approaches have overlapped with the subgenre of steampunk commonly associated with science fiction literature. However, not all steampunk fantasy belongs to the historical fantasy subgenre.
After Antoine Galland's translation of One Thousand and One Nights became enormously popular in Europe, many writers wrote fantasy based on Galland's romantic image of the Middle East and North Africa. Early examples included the satirical tales of Anthony Hamilton, and Zadig by Voltaire. English-language work in the Arabian fantasy genre includes Rasselas (1759) by Samuel Johnson, Tales of the Genii by James Ridley (1764), Vathek by William Thomas Beckford (1786), George Meredith's The Shaving of Shagpat (1856), Khaled (1891) by F. Marion Crawford, and James Elroy Flecker's Hassan (1922).
In the late 1970s, interest in the subgenre revived with Hasan (1977) by Piers Anthony. This was followed by several other novels reworking Arabian legend: the metafictional The Arabian Nightmare (1983) by Robert Irwin, A Noose of Light (1986) by Seamus Cullen, Diana Wynne Jones' children's novel Castle in the Air (1990), Tom Holt's humorous Djinn Rummy (1995) and Hilari Bell's Fall of a Kingdom.
Celtic fantasy has links to historical fantasy and Celtic historical fiction. Celtic historical fantasy includes such works as Katharine Kerr's Deverry series, or Teresa Edgerton's Green Lion trilogy. These works are (loosely) based on Ancient Celtic cultures.
The separate folklore of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscriminately, sometimes with great effect,as in Paul Hazel's Finnbranch trilogy, Yearwood (1980), Undersea, (1982) and Winterking (1985); other writers have distinguished to use a single source.
Scottish Celtic fantasy is less common, but James Hogg, John Francis Campbell's The Celtic Dragon Myth, published (1911), Fiona MacLeod (William Sharp), George Mackay Brown and Deborah Turner Harris all wrote material based on Scottish myths and legends.
Fantasy based on the Breton folklore branch of Celtic mythology does not often appear in the English language. However, several noted writers have utilized such material; Robert W. Chambers' The Demoiselle d'Ys (from The King in Yellow,1895) and A. Merritt in Creep,Shadow! (1934) both drew on the Breton legend of the lost city of Ys, while "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" (1930) by J. R. R. Tolkien is a narrative poem based on the Breton legend of the "Corrigan".
For more details on this topic, see Wuxia.
Wǔxiá (Traditional Chinese: 武俠, Simplified Chinese: 武侠, Mandarin [ùɕjǎ], Cantonese Pinyin: mów hàb), literally meaning "martial (arts) heroes", is a subgenre of the quasi-fantasy and martial arts genre in literature, television and cinema. Wǔxiá figures prominently in the popular culture of Chinese-speaking areas, and the most important writers have devoted followings.
Classical Fantasy is a subgenre fantasy based on the Greek and Roman myths. Symbolism from classical mythology is enormously influential on Western culture, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it was used in the context of literary fantasy. Richard Garnett (The Twilight of the Gods and Other Tales, 1888, revised 1903) and John Kendrick Bangs (Olympian Nights, 1902) used the Greek myths for satirical purposes. Twentieth century writers who made extensive use of the subgenre included John Erksine, who continued the satirical tradition of Classical Fantasy in such works as The Private Life of Helen of Troy (1925), and Venus, the Lonely Goddess (1949). Eden Phillpotts used Greek myths to make philosophical points in such fantasies as Pan and the Twins (1922) and Circe's Island (1925). Jack Williamson's The Reign of Wizardry (Unknown Worlds, 1940) is an adventure story based on the legend of Theseus. Several of Thomas Burnett Swann's novels draw on Greek and Roman myth, including Day of the Minotaur (1966). The Firebrand (1986) by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Olympic Games (2004) by Leslie What are both Classical fantasy tales with feminist undertones.
Fantasy Steampunk is another subgenre of historical fantasy, generally set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras. Steam technology, mixed with Victorian- or Gothic-style architecture and technology, is the most widely recognized interpretation of this genre. One of the most popular characteristics of steampunk is the appearance of naked clockwork and rusty gears.
Some works in this genre are alternate history.
Similar to Steampunk, Gunpowder Fantasy is considered a step below its more popular cousin. Gunpowder Fantasy combines elements of Epic Fantasy (Magic, Mythical Creatures, Elves, Epic Scale) with Rifles and Railroads. It is a relatively new subgenre, but has been picking up popularity.
It varies from Steampunk in that it stays away from the fantastic inventions (airships, machines, etc.) that are common in Steampunk. It is also sometimes called Muskets & Magic.
Gunpowder fantasy is generally set in a world with roughly equivalent technology to the world in the 17th through 19th centuries, particularly the latter eras. Typically, gunpowder fantasy also includes elements of real-world technology such as steam power, telegraphy and in some cases early telephones or combustion engines.
For more details on this topic, see Medieval fantasy.
Stories set in prehistoric times and depicting the lives of prehistoric people.
Poul Anderson has written many novels mixing northern mythology with the historic events of the Viking age: The Broken Sword, Hrolf Kraki's Saga. War of the Gods, and Mother of Kings. More historical with only slight fantasy elements are The Last Viking series.
Lynne Ellison's The Green Bronze Mirror about a teenage girl who goes back in time to the Roman Empire and meets a Roman witch and a magic-wielding druid.
Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke about a warrior prince in 14th-century Japan, who travels to the West in order to remove a demon curse from him by a Forest Spirit.
James Gawley is a classical scholar who writes Classical Fantasy based on the civil wars of the late Roman Republic.
Philip Tolhurst's George and the Dragon mixes Arthurian legend, dragons and World War 2.
Robert E. Howard's Hyborian Age includes fantasy versions of many historical countries and peoples.
↑ Shanoes, Veronica (26 January 2012). "20: Historical Fantasy". In Edward James; Farah Mendlesohn. The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature. Cambridge University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-521-42959-7. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
↑ Sinclair Frances, "Historical Fantasy", Riveting Reads plus Fantasy Fiction (UK: School Library Association), 69.
1 2 Sinclair Frances, "Historical Fantasy", Riveting Reads plus Fantasy Fiction, (UK: School Library Association), 69.
↑ Frances Mannsåker, "Elegancy and Wildness:Reflections of the East in the Eighteenth Century Imagination", in George Sebastian Rousseau and Roy Porter, Exoticism in the Enlightenment,Manchester University Press , 1990 ISBN 0-7190-2677-6 (pp. 175-196).
↑ Kenneth Wayne Graham, Vathek and the escape from time: bicentenary revaluations. AMS Press, 1990 (p. 39).
1 2 David Langford, "Deserts",in Westfahl, Gary, ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2005. ISBN 0-313-32951-6, (pp. 187-189).
↑ John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, "Hazel, Paul" p 458, ISBN 0-312-19869-8 . Clute comments that the Finnbranch books "operate at a level of originality rare in fantasy".
↑ Paul Harold Kocher, Master of Middle-earth:the fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien Del Rey, 2001, ISBN 0345465601 (p. 18, 167-176).
1 2 3 Stableford, The A to Z of Fantasy Literature ,"Classical Fantasy", pp. 79-80.
↑ John Clute, "Thomas Burnett Swann" in: E.F. Bleiler,.ed. Supernatural Fiction Writers. New York: Scribner's, 1985. pp.1097-1104.


I'm sure on the top of everyone's list of resolutions from the New Year is the ever forgotten "I will write more secure code" and it seems that each year this task gets harder. With more complex and abstracted frameworks and APIs, the ways security related bugs are being introduced to a code base has become equally complex and abstracted. Being a few months into 2009, hopefully we can help you catch up on your resolutions by presenting something else to look for when reviewing or writing secure code.
In recent engagements, we have run into a slew of issues focusing around the well-known vulnerability of directory path traversal. As a refresher, this typically involves injecting file path meta-characters into a filename string to reference arbitrary files and usually results in the modification or disclosure of files on the system. For example, a user supplies the filename /../../etc/passwd which is appended to the path /tmp/uploaded_pictures and ends up referencing the password file instead of a file under the intended directory.
We all know, or at least should know, what a typical directory traversal vulnerability and exploit looks like, however, we have recently seen these issues manifest themselves in the handling of user-provided archive files instead of file path strings. Typically, these user provided files are sent via HTTP uploads. Almost all of the common high-level application APIs provide a means, or a third-party library, to handle archive files. Additionally, almost all of these libraries do not check for potential directory path traversal when they perform the extraction of these files. This puts the liability on the developer to check for malicious archives. While file operation calls with a user controlled variable may be obvious, filenames within user-controlled archives may be the vulnerability that slips by. Developers should not only validate user supplied file paths for directory traversal, but also check file paths included in archive files. As a note, this type of vulnerability has been mentioned before and is not groundbreaking by any means, but we want to take a detailed look into what to be aware of as a developer and how to test for this during vulnerability assessments.
To get started lets take a look at an example provided by Sun themselves (!!!) in a technical article for the java.util.zip package. Code Sample 1 from the article provides their base example for extracting an archive and is shown below.
entry is the current ZIP entry being processed and getName() returns the filename stored in that entry. After retrieving this filename, the uncompressed data is written to its value. We can see that by using directory traversal in the filename a malicious user may be able to make arbitrary writes anywhere on the filesystem. Unfortunately, on most platforms, if an attacker can arbitrarily write files they can most likely also get arbitrary code executed on the affected server.
Warning: Never extract archives from untrusted sources without prior inspection. It is possible that files are created outside of path, e.g. members that have absolute filenames starting with "/" or filenames with two dots "..".
How about PHP, surely they provide a function to work with ZIP files (what don't they have a function for). The PHP manual provides the following example code for extracting ZIP files.
Sure enough, this code is also vulnerable to file path manipulation within the archive.
Finally, similar to Ruby, the .Net environment does not have ZIP archive handling built in to the core library. A quick googling for ".Net zip files" leads to an article on MSDN. In this article, the authors detail this gap in the .Net library and then go on to present a solution. The tools released include a signed DLL for use during development and a set of command-line utility programs that utilize the library. One of these command-line utilities is Unzip.exe. Sure enough, Unzip.exe is vulnerable to path traversal within an archive. No warning is presented and the archive is extracted without concern to the fully resolved path of the files within the archive.
How do mainstream, standalone, compression utility programs handle this vulnerability? We tested a large number of archive extraction programs (Winzip, Winrar, command line Info-Zip, unzip on Unix, etc) and noted that all of them either provide a warning when a ZIP file entry contains directory traversal, escape the meta-characters, or just ignore the traversed directory path all together.
When writing code that interacts with archives, the same precautions used by mainstream extraction utilities must be performed by the developer. As with any user-controlled input, the directory filenames should be validated before being processed by any file operation. The developer should verify that path traversal characters do not occur in any entries within the archive. Similarly, the developer may also leverage utility functions within their language to first determine the fully resolved path before extracting an entry (ex. os.path.normpath(path) in Python).
By default the allow_traverse is set to False, throwing zipfile.BadZipfile if path traversal characters are encountered. This would provide a secure by default configuration for the library while still allowing the existing behavior if necessary. This requires the developer to explicitly request support for path traversal, thus mitigating accidental and insecure usage. This is unlikely to impact existing code, as archives with path traversal characters are not easy to create and it is extremely unlikely a legitimate archive would accidentally include such characters.
and tgz.  Defaults to evil.zip.
Number directories to traverse. Defaults to 8.