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People with deafness and hearing loss still don't enjoy full access to healthcare
A new report by charity Action on Hearing Loss in Northern Ireland entitled Good Practice? has found that people with deafness and hearing loss still don't enjoy equality of access to healthcare.
Despite guidance being issued to all GP practices 3 years ago by the Health and Social Care Board, which gave practical advice on how to make healthcare services more accessible for people with hearing loss and / or sight loss, the report has found that many GP surgeries are still falling short. The report found that nearly two-thirds (68%) of people who are deaf or have hearing loss still feel unclear about their health advice after their GP appointment, at least some of the time. Common problems were that doctors and/or nurses speak too quickly or don't check that the patient has understood what's been said.
A key area of concern for patients with deafness and hearing loss was booking urgent same-day appointments, with almost half (48%) of survey respondents having experienced difficulties because urgent appointments can only be booked by telephone, even though they cannot use the phone.
70% of survey respondents say they haven't noticed any improvements over the past three years in the way GPs, nurses or other health and social care professionals communicate with them, which demonstrates that the guidance from the Health and Social Care Board has had little positive impact.
Claire Lavery, Communications and Campaigns Manager at Action on Hearing Loss Northern Ireland, said: "These findings show that in many cases patients with deafness and hearing loss are not able to contact their GP surgery easily when they require urgent advice, or to make an appointment. Over one-third of people responding to our survey have had to ask other people to call their GP surgery on their behalf, when they would prefer to be able to contact their surgery by email or by SMS. In England over half of the people responding to our survey say they receive SMS reminders about their appointments from their GP surgery. Here in Northern Ireland this kind of accessible information is not available in the majority of practices.
The report has also found that the attitudes and behaviour of doctors and nurses can also be a barrier to good communication, with many of the survey respondents feeling they may have missed out on crucial information.
In England the introduction of an Accessible Information Standard in 2016 has put the communication needs of people with invisible conditions like deafness and hearing loss on the agenda. We are calling for similar legislation in Northern Ireland to ensure our local residents with hearing loss can enjoy equal access to healthcare as in other parts of the UK."
To read the full report, please visit: www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/goodpracticeni
Northern Ireland scoops award for digital innovation
Relay teams encouraged to support people with hearing loss
Services in Northern Ireland
Volunteering in Northern Ireland
Policy research and influencing in Northern Ireland
Action on Hearing Loss play their part on National Loneliness Day
CVs and Interviews – Amy's story
Why hearing loss doesn't have to limit you in life
Befriending: Patricia's story
Belfast volunteer wins City Council's 'Making a Difference' award
Big Belfast Christmas Collection raises over £1,200
Celebrating 5 years of In Touch
The Belfast woman who won't let being Deafblind stop her
Don't Lose the Music Campaign nominated for 'Best Volunteer Initiative' award
Electronic music event Jika Jika encourages clubbers to protect their hearing
Eleven people in work thanks to Employment Programme
Employees keep hearing loss a secret at work for fear of unfair treatment
Gerard's Story
Getting hearing loss on the agenda
Gina's story
Hearing aid services in Northern Ireland highly rated by patients
Hearing Health campaign wins 'Best Volunteer Initiative' award
Hearing Loss charity seeks local people from the Antrim area who can spare 2 hours a month to help others
Hearing Loss charity urges GPs to tackle tinnitus during Tinnitus Week 2018
Investing in Volunteers
John's story
Making everyone work-able
Befriending Impacts
New Information Service encourages people to take action on their hearing loss
New project supports Veterans with hearing loss
New Tinnitus Support Officer in Derry/Londonderry
New video for GPs aims to tune out tinnitus
Nightclubs and Tinnitus - Jacobs Story
None That Go Return Again
Richard's story
Runners encouraged to form a relay team for Belfast Marathon
Spring into volunteering!
Steer your Career – students encouraged to benefit from volunteering
Volunteers needed for Belfast Christmas Street Collection
Volunteers sought to help hearing aid users in Newtownabbey
Contact us in Northern Ireland

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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How the Internet Is Becoming Less Friendly to Small Businesses and Start up Companies
DMassey
The Big, Bad Internet
What happened to the internet?
The internet was supposed to level the playing field for all companies to provide unique and valuable products and services, so what is happening? In a nutshell:
Search engines are getting far more picky and difficult to work with, making it extremely unlikely for small companies to get decent listing.
Large corporations are taking over search listing with their huge marketing and advertising budgets.
The competition and number of companies online all selling the same thing has become overwhelming and making searches ever more difficult.
A few companies now dominate the internet such as Amazon and Ebay, making it hard to compete along with consumers being more concerned about fraud and security with small companies.
Search Engine Blues
As a long time small business owner and website developer, I can attest to the incredibly changes in search engine technology. In the 1990's, you could throw just about any website up, add the required keywords, have good information on it and not too many website errors, and expect decent page ranking withing a few months, maybe sooner. Everything has changed. You now have to have mobile friendly sites, extensive social media link, multiple links from other sites, much stricter text and page guidelines, blogs, daily updates to the site and hope that will eventually get you listed somewhere on the 3rd or 4th page for most key words. In other words, just marketing a website to be found can be a full time job and cost serious money to contract out the work. Before, most any business owner with a little tech savy could do the same thing. Sod suddenly, the cost to be on line jumped dramatically.
Putting up a website is no longer enough, without being listed on at least the first few pages for your major key words, you might as well be invisible and not even bother. Of course the search engines are happy to offer paid advertising options to help you along, but that can easily run thousands of dollars a month! Highly contest key words such as real estate, lawyers or lights will cost up to 10 dollars every time you click on an add. Not to mention the complex methodology the search engines like Google use that require classes just to figure out.
Large Companies Rule
As with local business, the bigger the company, the greater their resources. That holds true on line just as well as locally. Walmart is known to put local small stores out of business and Amazon or a host of other large companies are doing the same online. The enormous websites and complex link of back links from other sites and blogs practically guarantees them to listing on most all key words and good luck fighting it. Do they have the variety and expertise that a smaller company may provide? Probably not. But the search engines are robots and cannot measure that in any accurate way. Bigger is usually better for them. A company that employs hundreds of programmers and online marketing people is far more likely to be found than a small business on their own.
But there is an option. An estimated 80% of people never get past the first page when doing searches. There are many other options once you go to the 2nd, 3rd and even 4th page so keep looking and be patient. Bigger is not always better.
Online Congestion
With the proliferation of online companies and services, it is getting harder and harder to figure out the best places to buy. Even worse are the "blogs" and "infomercial pages" created solely by marketing and SEO companies to push specific sites and increase search engine ranking. They fill search engine results with back links to other sites but rarely offer any real services or products. I call them spam and there are lots out there.
The internet can be a very confusing place to shop with so many choices. It does not help that many websites are outdated, have old information and untrustworthy. Instead of being on a "super highway" many searches start feeling like "back alleys". It takes a lot of patience, persistence and care to really do a thorough search and never believe everything you read or see on line. Common sense is the key and as long as "robots" are used to rank sites, there will always be problems.
Big Company Monopolies
It was inevitable that a few companies would totally dominate online sales. Amazon with Walmart on it's heels and a few others, are the big current players. They overwhelming size, fast delivery and ease of use make it hard to compete. People inherently love convenience and simplicity, attributes they provide in spades. Do they carry the depth of specialized products or services that small companies may, of course not. But for the average consumer, cheap and easy are the key words. My company used to offer a small selection of products on Amazon along with our website name in hopes people would search it to find more variety and options. We are not the only ones doing that either so there are ways to sort of get around this issue.
The reason this is important is that these mega companies offer very little in the way of custom, hand made and unique products. Their sites are not set up for the wide variety of options and creative choices needed to sell custom products. It is hard for US small companies to compete with China on price, so they must rely on these low volume, custom made products which do not work well on mainstream websites, a major problem. You can help by again looking for search engine results on more than the first page and be more specific on your key word searches. Instead of say "lighting" do a search for "lighting with fish" or "American made lighting" if you are looking for lights with fish made in the US. The more specific you are, the less "trash" you have to look though to find what you want.
Fraud and Scams
As online sales grow, they become a tempting target for scammers and even hackers that try to corrupt sites to "inject" viruses and malware on your computer. Even large companies can be hacked as the continuous news of credit card number thefts hits the news. Like anything in life, being diligent and using common sense are the best guidelines. If a site looks strange or has many misspellings, beware. If the prices are too good to be true, they probably are. If there is no address or phone number, you should wonder why. Do online review searches or BBB searches for a company if you feel uncomfortable. It all makes perfect sense so think before you give out a credit card, it will save you a lot of grief.
What Is TikTok? Is It Worth Using for Business?
By Heidi Thorne
Predicting the Internet—How Wrong Were They?
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How to Delete Your Internet Search History


Louise Coughlan and her family enjoyed a week at the luxurious Costa Sal apartments on the Canary Island of Lanzarote.
Situated in the beautiful and quiet resort of Matagorda, Costa Sal is ideal for families, and is less than ten minutes' drive from the airport. Our superior modern apartment was very spacious with a huge walk in shower, two bedrooms, breakfast bar, and a patio area to dine al fresco. The beach is less than a five minute walk, it has beautiful golden and black sand and the sea is an inviting turquoise colour. The sea was not too cold and once submerged; it was a very pleasant experience. The promenade along the beach leads all the way into Puerto Del Carmen, a fair old walk but you can hire four wheel bikes and the whole family can cycle there.
The complex of Costa Sal has four swimming pools, tennis courts, and a lovely restaurant and bar. They have everything from apartments to bungalows to villas. A kids club is set up and in the morning two hours of arts and crafts are organised for the little ones. If you want to relax in the evening over dinner or have a drink in the bar, the kids club also have a movie night, to keep the children occupied. Costa Sal, even has its own supermarket to stock up on food and wine, if you want to stay in one evening and cook. Beside the supermarket there's a games room and my kids just loved playing pool and air hockey, they even beat me a couple of times. The breakfast in the restaurant is buffet style and you could fill up your plate as much as you want. The food in The Zest restaurant was second to none and there was always a fresh supply of vegetables for that healthy option.
The bus stop was right outside the door of the hotel, so getting to Arrecife and Puerto Del Carmen were very easy. If however, you don't want to wait around, the more than helpful staff will order a taxi and it is very cheap. There is a free shuttle bus to and from Rancho Texas Park, and we took a day out from the pool and beach to visit this wonderful park. The whole family had a great day at the park with plenty of entertainment for all.
Every evening nightly entertainment is organised and singers would belt their tunes out to the welcoming audience. Our last day was Easter Sunday and an egg hunt was organised for the little kids. There was such excitement, and the winning team got an egg each, and no one went away disappointed, all the children got chocolate. Later that afternoon, The Three Divas sang their hearts out and had fantastic voices. The owner's daughter who had an amazing voice, also sang a very nice Ellie Golding number. Who knows one day we may see her on the X Factor.
We all came away from the holiday on a high note.


I see individuals and couples. I see people usually in my consulting rooms in Edinburgh city centre (the Meadows) and the Scottish Borders (near Jedburgh, and several other locations). I also work with people via telephone and via email and SKYPE.
Sessions are for 50 minutes. Fees are subject to earnings/financial situation.
All cancellations are payable unless a weeks notice is given.
Email: [email protected] (you can also email me directly using the email contact function on this website).


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Religion Archives - varnamvarnam
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Slaves Refuting Pro-Slavery Arguments
By jk on March 10, 2014 in Americas, Christianity
The inspection and sale of a slave, 1854
James Henry Hammond was a politician and planter from South Carolina who served as a United States Representative, the Governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator. He owned several plantations, about 300 slaves and was one of the outspoken supporters of slavery before the American Civil War. In Letter to an English Abolitionist written in 1845, he argued that slavery was more humane than wage labor.
"You think it is a great 'crime' that we do not pay our slaves 'wages,' and on this account pronounce us 'robbers.' In my former letter I showed that the labor of our slaves was not without great cost to us and that in fact they themselves receive more in return for it than your hirelings do for theirs. . . It is altogether praiseworthy to pay the laborer a shilling a day and let him starve on it. To supply all his wants abundantly, and at all times, yet withhold from his money, is among 'the most reprobated crimes."
This outrageous claim was challenged by narratives written by the slaves, published with the help of anti-slavery and abolitionist allies. A perfect rebuttal is this passage from Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup.
"The existence of slavery in its most cruel form among them has a tendency to brutalize the humane and finer feelings of their nature. Daily witnesses of human suffering—listening to the agonizing screeches of the slave—beholding him writhing beneath the merciless lash—bitten and torn by dogs—dying without attention, and buried without shroud or coffin—it cannot otherwise be expected, than that they should become brutified and reckless of human life."
When Hammond tried to present the image of a benevolent overlord, who provides for his slaves, as opposed to people who just paid wages to laborers, he just washed away the humanity that was taken away from the slaves. The above passage mentions all that Hammond did not acknowledge. The slaves lived in perpetual fear of punishment and hardship. The master, by law, owned the blood and flesh and had the freedom to enforce tyranny. For example, during the cotton picking time, the slaves were expected to rise early in the morning, take a break for ten to fifteen minutes at noon to eat a cold meal and then slave away till dark. Once the cotton was picked, they were weighed and if the quota was not met, the floggings started.
When an impurity was found in the picked cotton or a branch was broken, the penalty was twenty five lashes. For crimes above this, they got fifty lashes. If you stood idle, the penalty was a hundred lashes and two hundred, if you fought with other slaves. Runaway slaves got five hundred lashes and Northrup mentions an incident where a slave named Patsy was almost flogged to death. For some incidents, they were put down like animals or hanged. Northrup writes that for some slave owners "…. whose chief delight was in dancing with his "niggers," or lashing them about the yard with his long whip, just for the pleasure of hearing them screech and scream" were not paternalistic as Hammond claimed, but just sadistic.
Slave Market in Atlanta, 1864
While daily laborers sold their labor and not themselves, that was not the case with the slaves. Since they had no ability to read, write or swim, they had to endure the torture. Floggings were the not cruelty they had to endure. Overseers, whose sole motive was to ensure the maximum crop without any concern for the suffering went around with dogs to overhaul fleeing fugitives and even used the gun sometimes. If a slave fell down, tired from his cotton picking, he was dragged to the shade and buckets of water poured on him to wake him up. Once he woke up, he was sent back to labor.
In the quoted passage, Northrup mentions the " tendency to brutalize the humane and finer feelings of their nature." Slaves were treated like animals. In the slave market, customers would examine their body, look at their teeth, ask about their skills, like how "a jockey examines a horse." In some cases, they were stripped and examined more carefully. Once a purchase was finalized, the purchasers did not care if a family was separated. One of the heart wrenching incidents in the book is when a mother and her children are separated without any remorse by the slave trader. Charles Ball, in his account, Fifty Years in Chains, wrote about the painful separation of the family as the most traumatic experience, " …I was now a slave in South Carolina, and had no hope of ever again seeing my wife and children. I had at times serious thoughts of suicide so great was my anguish."
"Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women. Superadded to the burden common to all, they have wrongs, and sufferings, and mortifications peculiarly their own", wrote Harriet Jacobs, a slave woman in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl , upon the birth of her daughter. Besides the physical and mental torture, female slaves also faced sexual harassment. When she was 15, her 55 year old master Mr. Flint was after her. Her mistress knew what was going on, but in patriarchal system, she was helpless and vented her anger on the female slaves. To find a way out from Mr. Flint, she entered into a relationship with a lawyer with whom she had children. Mr. Flint still did not leave her alone and threatened to separate her from her children.
All these narratives reinforce the view that the slave was the master's property and he could do whatever he wished with them. In his book, Northrup rightly notes that all of this was happening in the country which proclaimed, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
From a Society with Slaves to a Slave Society In 1621, an Angolan named Antonio was captured by an enemy tribe and sold to an Arab merchant who eventually sold him to the Virginia Company. The company was chartered...
Malayalees in slavery Thanks to globalization of labor, many Malayalees work in the Islamic countries in the Middle East. Yale Global has an article on these people, who are the "invisible foot soldiers...
Understanding Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson wrote, "All men are created equal",while being a slave owner. He called slavery repugnant and called for its abolition, but emancipated only a handful of the few hundred...
Camels and ashva, Hebrew Bible and Rig Veda
By jk on February 18, 2014 in Christianity, History: Before 1 CE, Judaism
(by Martin Allen)
Archaeologists from Tel Aviv university, who were investigating the date when camels first appeared in Israel discovered something interesting. Here is the gist:
Now Dr. Erez Ben-Yosef and Dr. Lidar Sapir-Hen of Tel Aviv University'sDepartment of Archaeology and Near Eastern Cultures have used radiocarbon dating to pinpoint the moment when domesticated camels arrived in the southern Levant, pushing the estimate from the 12th to the 9th century BCE. The findings, published recently in the journal Tel Aviv, further emphasize the disagreements between Biblical texts and verifiable history, and define a turning point in Israel's engagement with the rest of the world.[Finding Israel's First Camels]
This is interesting because the Genesis mentions the camels but those events in the Genesis, according to this new evidence happened before the camels arrived on the scene. For example, among the living beings that Abraham acquired, there were sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. There are further mentions of a servant going from Northwest Mesopotamia to the town of Nahor on camels, providing water and food to the camels and an explanation of why one should not eat a camel.
If camels were not present in Israel while these events supposedly happened, then how did it appear in the text? There are two possible explanations: (1) The events happened not in an earlier period, but later after the camels appeared or (2) The events happened in the earlier period, but was written down in a much later period by scribes when camels were also present and camels were back projected to earlier events.
The New York Times had an exchange with an expert who suggested this answer
"One should be careful not to rush to the conclusion that the new archaeological findings automatically deny any historical value from the biblical stories," Dr. Mizrahi said in an email. "Rather, they established that these traditions were indeed reformulated in relatively late periods after camels had been integrated into the Near Eastern economic system. But this does not mean that these very traditions cannot capture other details that have an older historical background."
Moreover, for anyone who grew up with Sunday school images of the Three Wise Men from the East arriving astride camels at the manger in Bethlehem, whatever uncertainties there may be of that story, at least one thing is clear: By then the camel in the service of human life was no longer an anachronism.
There was no dissenting voice here; there was no scholar arguing against the historicity of the events. Compare that with the response in The Guardian. This also has to be contrasted with the relation between another animal and another text. The Rig Veda uses the word ashva over two hundred times, and according to some, horses arrived with the invading Aryans following the decline of the Indus-Saraswati civilization. Thus the Vedic culture could have occurred only after the arrival of the Indo-European speakers to North-West India. According to Wendy Doniger in The Hindus, "No Indus horse whinnied in the night. Knowing how important horses are in the Vedas, we may deduce that there was little or no Vedic input into the civilization of the Indus Valley or, correspondingly, that there was little input from the IVC into the civilization of the Rig Veda."
Most of this argument has been analyzed by Michel Danino and found to be suspect. Various scholars — linguists, archaeologists and historians — are proposing a higher chronology now. That debate is one with no end in sight. But will any scholar stick out his head and say that based on the evidence from Saraswati, the Vedas were composed much earlier than we thought when ashva was not around, but it may have been altered later and the ashva was added. If you do that the Wendytva proponents will be up in arms.
Creating the Hebrew Bible Jewish Ideas Daily had an interview with Dr. Irving Finkel who is the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian Inscriptions at the British Museum. In this interview he talks about how...
Bible's Buried Secrets (2/2) (Abraham by József Molnár) Read Part 1 3. Monotheism did not happen instantly. (contd.) Still the Israelites practiced polytheism,worshiping not just Yahweh, but also the fertility goddess Asherah and the...
Indian History Carnival – 45: Baburnamah, Rashtrakutas, Mughal Postal System, Camels, Tipu Sultan Fëanor quotes André Wink to argue that the rise and fall of the Rashtrakuta kingdom was connected to trade with Persian Gulf Towards the late 10th century, however, the great...
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Why Christianity spread through Europe
By jk on December 27, 2013 in Christianity
Since it is Christmas time, the celebration of two important pagan festivals appropriated by Christianity, it is interesting to read Bernard Cornwells's article at Omnivoracious on how Christianity spread through Europe.
One answer is that Christianity proved more profitable. There is a telling story about King Edwin of Northumbria, a powerful pagan who ruled what is now northern England and southern Scotland in the 7th Century. He probably worshipped the Norse gods like Thor and Woden, but at some point he encountered a Christian missionary who suggested that success in war and material prosperity would follow a conversion. Edwin put that to the test and god came through with a battlefield triumph and massive amounts of plunder. The king's chief pagan priest told Edwin that the old gods had never shown such favor and that Northumbria should therefore convert, which it duly did. The story echoes the experience of Constantine, the Roman Emperor who converted because the Christian god gave him victory over Maxentius. It is a common enough tale. In the early 10th Century a Viking named Hrolf took land in what is now Normandy and the treaty confirming his possession insisted he became a Christian. 'Paris,' Henry IV of France declared when he changed from Protestant to Catholic, 'is worth a mass.' The Duchy of Normandy (which led to the throne of England) proved well worth a mass too.[Bernard Cornwell, Author of "The Pagan Lord," Muses on the Path to Christianity]
Why Christianity was embraced by Pagan cultures in Britain Bernard Cromwell has a new book, The Pagan Lord, which is set in 9th century Britain. The book is about the making of England and how Christianity spread in the...
Missionaries, Businessmen and the Annexation of Hawaii
By jk on March 10, 2013 in Americas, Christianity, History: General, Religion & Spirituality
Ship's landing force at the time of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, January 1893.
In the 19th century, the private sector consisting of missionaries and businessmen helped project American power to rest of the world. This pattern, where the NGOs intervened in the affairs of a nation, proved to be quite detrimental to the existence of Hawaii. Their culture was transformed, their economy was tied to United States and due to both, in a century their freedom was lost.
In her book, Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire, Andrea Stuart writes about the motivation for Puritans and non-Puritans to migrate to North America from Europe in the 17th century. While the Puritans settled in New England to escape persecution, for others the Bible served as the recruiter for colonization. Anglican priests like Robert Gray, John Donne and Puritan teachers like Thomas Hooker and John Cotton seeded the dream of building a City on the Hill as well as spreading the word. Captain John Smith, an adventurer, planter and the hero of the Pocahontas story wrote at that time about the need to "seeke to convert those poore Savages to know Christ and humanity". But this urgency to take Christianity to the savages, which was used by the Spanish conquistadors just a century earlier, was just a smokescreen for advancing their business ventures.
In Hawaii, the same pattern followed two centuries later when Baptists, Congregationalists and Methodists arrived by the boatloads to convert the heathens as well as to counter the Roman Catholics who had already set up shop there. These missionaries established good relations with King Kamehameha and opened up the islands to the Americans. Soon they were followed by American businessmen who were involved in whaling and the cultivation of bananas, pineapples and sugarcane.
As American capital and Christianity started flowing to the islands, the Government started taking notice. During that time, the Democrats were interested in expanding to the South, where slavery existed, while the Whigs were interested in expansion to the West. Secretary of State, William Webster, was interested in developing a special relation with the King because Hawaii would serve as a gateway to the riches of Japan and China. He was also interested in limiting the influence of France and Britain, who were interested in the islands. In 1851, the King and Webster agreed that if Hawaii was threatened by European powers, the King would transfer his power to the United States Government.
William Seward, the Secretary of State under Lincoln, and an expansionist wanted a reciprocal treaty to be passed which would give special preference to Hawaiian goods. With this treaty, Hawaiian fruits and sugar would not be subject to American tariffs and in return Hawaii would be open for American manufactured goods. But then the Southern sugar producers did not want to compete with Hawaii and the treaty was defeated in the Senate. During the time of Ulysses S. Grant in 1875, the treaty was passed. American money flowed into Hawaii resulting in a surge of sugar and pineapple farming. The Americans got Pearl Harbor which they developed as a naval base and coaling station.
A photo of the young crown princess Liliuokalani.(via Wikipedia)
Queen Lili'uokalani' meanwhile was worried about the influence of American economics and politics on Hawaiian independence. As she started putting some limitations, the US Department of State Minister to the Kingdom of Hawaii, John Stevens plotted a coup to overthrow the Queen. Following a coup, John Stevens recognized the new administration led by Sanford Dole and asked requested President Benjamin Harrison to annex the islands to the nation. But Harrison had only a month left as President and the Senate did not act. The next President, Grover Cleveland (the only President to have served non consecutive terms), was not interested in expansion due to the cost and also because he believed that it would betray the ideals of the American revolution.
But that did not mean that Hawaii got its independence back. Hawaii remained as a territory for almost six decades before they were given a choice to either join the Union or remain as a territory without an option for independence. Finally, a saga which started in the 18th century came to an end in 1959, when it became a state.
America & World/Revolution, Lecture 21 by Professor Michael Parrish at University of California, San Diego
Going the Hawaiian Route During the time of the last Queen of Hawaii in 1893, the island became one of the major exporters of sugar, producing about two hundred tonnes of sugar annually. It...
The King who cried Wolf Aesop's Fable of the boy who cried wolf is well known, but less known is a story from Chinese history which parallels this. It happened during the reign of King...
Queen Aishwarya and Sonia Gandhi Was Sonia Gandhi behind the economic blockade imposed by India against Nepal 1989 ? According to Jonathan Gregson in his book Massacre at the Palace: The Doomed Royal Dynasty of...


The door is open for Australian Federal Police officers to carry weapons in Ukraine, but Foreign Minister Julie Bishop insists those heading to the MH17 crash site will not be armed.
Ukraine's parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in support of giving Dutch and Australian officers the legal authority to lead the forensic investigation at the crash site.
Ms Bishop said the vote had given the Dutch and Australian police teams an "insurance policy" by allowing them to carry weapons.
"If necessary - only if necessary - both the Dutch and the Australian personnel can bring arms into the country," she told reporters in Kiev.
"But we are not taking arms onto the site. Our convoy will not be armed. It's a police-led humanitarian mission."
Ms Bishop thanked the Ukrainian government for recalling its parliament for the vote.
"This is what we've been waiting for," she said.
Ukraine's backing means Australia can use expert equipment and resources such as sniffer dogs in their investigation when they eventually gain access to the crash site.
Investigators were forced to abandon their mission for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday because of clashes close to the site where the Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down, killing all 298 people on board, including up to 39 Australian citizens and residents.
Ms Bishop has been offered assurances by Ukraine that a ceasefire can be struck so forensic teams can reach the site, where it's understood about 80 bodies remain.
It's hoped this further breakthrough with Ukraine's parliament will allow a full convoy of investigators to access the crash site and begin work safely by Friday.
Ms Bishop said Australia was determined to access the site so the remaining bodies could be collected with "some dignity" and returned to grieving families.


While state capture architects have profited from state-owned enterprises, South Africa might have missed the quiet ruin of another key organ of state.
The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), which plays the critical function of distributing social grants, has all the hallmarks of the destructive state capture project.
The industrial-scale corruption and waste of state resources in the Jacob Zuma years have confirmed the worst fears: that state organs have been captured and the 1994 promise of a state free of corruption has been betrayed.
As you may already know, the mechanics of the project look like this: establish an infrastructure of enriching a politically connected few, appoint compromised individuals to key state positions and abuse state resources under the guise of service delivery.
A standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) hearing in parliament this week revealed that Sassa may as well join the ranks of tainted institutions Eskom, Transnet, South African Airways and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa.
"A failed entity" and "a personal piggy bank for officials" is how MPs described it, as the agency revealed irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R1.4bn for the 2016/2017 financial year. The scale of plunder was under the regime of incompetent former social development minister Bathabile Dlamini and former Sassa acting CEO Pearl Bhengu.
A breakdown of the wasteful expenditure beggars belief.
Bhengu personally signed off contracts — in a day — worth R16m for four educational events in KwaZulu-Natal in December 2017 to "educate grant beneficiaries about the new grant system". Only three of the educational events eventually took place.
Bhengu is said to have pushed through the contracts without verifying if any of the costs for the education events were accurate.
The costs for the educational events were all below R500 000, which would require Bhengu to comply with standard tender and procurement procedures. This means that she failed to comply with the Public Finance Management Amendment Act.
MPs suspect that the costs may have been inflated. Independent Online reported that one of Sassa's suppliers, Sweet Basil Promotions, benefited from an R11m contract despite the company's owner being investigated for allegedly swindling the agency of R400m.
The agency is a repeat offender.
For the 2015/2016 financial year, the R3.5m spent on security services for Dlamini and the family of her spokeswoman Lumka Oliphant was flagged as irregular. It blew R42m on the workstreams — a parallel function that was established in July 2016 and comprised of Dlamini's handpicked advisers to investigate Sassa's capacity to take over social grant payments from Cash Paymaster Services. The workstreams were led by Dlamini's friend Zodwa Mvulane and were cancelled in July 2017 after national treasury deemed them as irregular expenditure.
Bhengu is no longer the acting Sassa CEO but remains with the agency in KwaZulu-Natal, while Dlamini was shifted to the women's ministry in the presidency. Their exits don't absolve them from accountability as both have been called to appear before Scopa for their affinity for splashing taxpayers' money.
Like compromised state-owned companies, Sassa has become a toxic network with Dlamini's friends (Bhengu and Mvulane) appointed to key positions. Mismanagement of the agency also compromised service delivery. Sassa can no longer run itself as it has to be supervised by the constitutional court to ensure that it functions properly and avoids a social grants crisis.
Much is at stake if grant payments to 10.7m beneficiaries are delayed; South Africa would descend into social unrest, and the livelihoods of recipients, who are already facing the brunt of government's service delivery failures, would be in jeopardy.
A clean-up is underway at Sassa, with new social development minister Susan Shabangu promising to "deal with individuals" who engineered the mess. It will be foolhardy of us to expect quick fixes as individuals that did the behind-the-scenes work for Dlamini and Bhengu are still at Sassa.
In politics and the business of governing, words are hollow, but action speaks volumes.


Optimist Club meetings are more fun with Friends!
Optimist Club meetings are more fun with friends! That's only one of the reasons that Optimist International invites you to add more Friends to your Optimist Club with the Friend of Optimist Community Impact Bundle.
For only $300, you or your Optimist Club may add six new Friends of Optimists to your Optimist Club. It's a great bargain and a way for your club to honor a community member, outstanding teacher or coach, business or other deserving individual and give them the opportunity to experience optimism. The cost per Friend of Optimist membership purchased with the Bundle is $50. There are no District dues.
Share optimism today by adding a Friend - or six - to your Optimist Club.
Read the flyer and learn how to purchase the bundle here.
Download the activation form here.
Optimist International has begun promotion of the second Optimist International Oratorical World Championships. Unlike its inaugural year, it is hoping that Optimist Districts will send their top speaker to St. Louis University to compete in person in this prestigious event.
The topic for 2016-2017 is "What the World Gains from Optimism."
Participants must be under the age of 18 as of October 1, 2016. Click here to download an Optimist International Oratorical Contest application with rules.
All participants should be aware that the contest begins at the Optimist Club level. Click on the Optimist Club directory to locate an club near you.
Optimist Clubs may download a planning guide here.
Highlights of the 2015-2016 Optimist Oratorical event can be seen here.
Twenty-three Optimist Club members from the Pacific Northwest District travelled to Quebec City to attend the 98th Optimist International Convention where they shared fellowship with other Optimist Club members from around the world. Joining the group of veteran attendees, including Past International President Ron Thompson, were first timers Lynn Viner, Gary Smith, Sandra Smith and Ben DeRemer who was captured on video by Optimist International.
Additionally, members wanting to do their best as club and district leaders receive valuable insights and education at workshops designed especially for them. They also establish cooperative networks with other Optimist Club and District leaders to assist and encourage them as they move forward in their Optimist and professional careers.
Optimist International announced that special emphasis is being given to younger members. It has established a Facebook group, #youngOI, where younger members can share ideas and establish mentors from outside their immediate areas in an effort to share the responsibility of membership growth and propel the organization to 100,000 members through community service.


This is a placeholder page for William Burleigh, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find William Burleigh.
You are visiting the placeholder page for William Burleigh. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for William Burleigh. We created this page automatically in hopes William Burleigh would find it. If you are not William Burleigh, but are an alumni of North East High School North East, MD, register on this site for free now.


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Gower Street United Church office is open daily from Monday through Friday, but the Heritage Room and the archival collection are accessible by appointment only with the volunteer archivists. During the summer months, tours of the sanctuary are provided by volunteers and include a display of archival material that depicts the life and history of the congregation.
The Archives holds a variety of records documenting the heritage of Gower Street (Methodist) United Church and the various ministries with which it has been associated over the years. Most records date from 1892 following the Great Fire. Records include 5 decades of Church service bulletins, annual congregational reports, registers and minutes. Of particular interest are several orders of services pertaining to special commemorative occasions, registers of pew rentals from 1896 and Sabbath School minute books dating back to 1875. Other holdings reflect the congregation's social activism and community outreach. Annual reports for the Women's Missionary Society, the Woman's Association, the United Church Women, the Men's Club and a number of youth groups are available. The Archives are in the process of preserving a collection of visual materials including photographs, artifacts, architectural drawings, blueprints and maps that document changes to the building and the surrounding community over the years. A preliminary inventory of bc.hholdings is available.


This infographic — the Conversation Prism by Brian Solis — is a social media classic.
Filled with everything. Organized by color.
And I'd say I'm one of those individuals who embraces all the new websites and technology. To me, the key to this marketing infographic is the center… The names will change on the edges, but the strategy will remain core.
Because this info is shown in grey, it's easy to overlook it. The peacock feathers of the prism distract the eye from the important reason to be.
If you're overwhelmed by all the social media opportunities, take a moment to study the grey parts: the brand strategy rather than the individual social media tactics.
In my opinion the best effect that personal branding can have for you is an improvement in terms of online reputation which to me is the most important aspect of both our personal and our business on line lives.
Chris, when I first looked at the whole graphic, my eyes glazed over. If I just concentrate on those gray parts, I finally understand. Most of us entrepreneurs suffer from some learning disability, including me, so this is very helpful.
While I don't have a learning disability, my usual way of learning things doesn't work so well with social media because there is just so much of it. It reminds me of the periodic table in chemistry. Except every day it changes, grows, morphs and builds.
Focusing on the horizon in a situation like this always helps me. And in this case, the horizon is the core, the strategy.


text:
ReviewsMovies
HiT Reviews: 'Logan,' 'Before I Fall'
"Logan" lets Hugh Jackman's Wolverine carve out a surprisingly adult final chapter, while "Before I Fall" shows why kindness to others matters most.
For years Hugh Jackman's Wolverine had an A-Team problem.
Remember that '80s TV "classic?" Our antiheroes would fire a dozen rounds at the bad guys but few actually got hurt. It was family-friendly action, so a trail of dead bodies was a definite no-no.
That applied to Jackman's Wolverine. He's been slashing away at the bad guys for nine films. Yet they rarely have the scars to prove it.
Now they do.
"Logan" is Jackman's first foray into R-rated superheroes. And it takes a moment to register just how different the experience is. Of course, the mature rating does more than let Logan's adamantium claws do their thing.
The language is much coarser, too. And the story line isn't just bleak. It's grimy, dark and full of despair. What a canvas for Wolverine's (allegedly) last stand.
The action begins in the near future. The X-Men are nowhere in sight save Logan, looking older and far less powerful than we remember. He drives a limousine by day, saving up enough money to buy medicine for his oldest friend, Professor X (Patrick Stewart).
Where are their colleagues? Why is the great Wolverine struggling to take on a group of thugs as the story opens? And why won't Logan's skin stitch itself up like before?
In every way possible this isn't your ordinary superhero film.
FAST FACT: Trainer David Kingsbury transformed Hugh Jackman into the jacked version of Logan we've seen in recent years. He had Jackman work on a lower number of reps to "encourage sarcoplasmic hypertrophy."
The stakes, however, have never been more personal. Meet Laura (Dafne Keen), a young girl with claws as nasty as Wolverine's.
She's trying to reach a group of fellow young mutants. And Logan begrudgingly decides to help her find them. Professor X will tag along, but he's hardly in any shape to help should trouble brew.
And brew it most righteously does, in the shape of a cyborg (Boyd Holbrook, solid but not menacing enough). He's eager to abduct Laura for his own purposes.
RELATED: Revealed: The Comic Book Source Behind 'Logan'
"Logan" is the movie superhero fans have been waiting for, but it doesn't uniformly deliver. Jackman and Stewart deliver near-perfect performances as characters they should know by heart at this point.
Boy, do they ever.
And young Keen is terrific, convincing as both a mute pre-teen and a budding warrior. Imagine telling her she can't hang out with her friends 'til her schoolwork is done.
So why does the film drag in places? Director/co-screenwriter James Mangold nails the story's grim sense of purpose. Yet some of the dialogue simply doesn't dig deep enough into the main characters.
The action isn't nonstop, although there's a gritty nature to it that defies the superhero posturing seen in other films. Don't expect a Stan Lee cameo or cutesy cameo by franchise regulars.
The fight sequences crackle thanks to the R-rating, but none is as memorable as the "X" series' greatest hits. You will cringe in your seat all the same. Limbs hit the ground. Claws meet flesh. You see every inch of the damage.
RELATED: That Merc With a Mouth, Explained
At the risk of clutching some pearls, the language is unnecessary crude. Why would the big-screen Logan suddenly start cursing now? It feels like when HBO would automatically add nude scenes to its original slate of shows. Why? Because they could.
"Logan" still merits your attention, and it's a fitting way to cap Jackman's terrific tenure in the mutant game. You can thank "Deadpool" for allowing Marvel's most conflicted X-Man to exit in a blaze of blood, guts and glory.
HiT or Miss: "Logan" delivers in ways you couldn't expect given the previous superhero installments. What's missing? The tiny details that could transform a solid effort into a classic.
Young Samantha Kingston's life is pretty ordinary by modern teen standards.
She's in love with one boy while another pines for her attention. Her girlfriends keep her social priorities in balance. And she's feeling the pressure to lose her virginity and grow up … fast.
That's when disaster strikes. But this story is only getting started.
"Before I Fall" lets Samantha live out what may be her final day over and again. It's a standard teen drama wrapped in a fantastical gimmick. It's a good one, though, enabling audiences to examine the choices we make during one seemingly average day.
An excellent Zoey Deutch is Samantha, the high schooler who keeps waking up to relive her final day on earth. She's got a loving family, an adorable kid sister and a hunky beau.
Only this day won't be as simple as she hopes. The teen party she hits with her gal pal packs more drama than anticipated. An old chum opens up to her in unexpected ways and there's the matter of it being her last day on Earth.
How basic.
It's a Whitman's Sampler of teen woes. The mean girls quartet (they always travel in fours, apparently) to the battle over who deserves to share her heart.
And, of course, there's the school misfit, here dressed up like Cousin It from "The Addams Family."
We've seen it all before, but some impressionable teens can't say the same. For them, "Fall's" central themes are both heart-warming and welcome. And, in case you miss them, they're tacked up on a teen's wall where they get multiple closeups.
There's a hint of an edge to the PG-13 tale, a reality that young audiences will find appealing. The students here are sexually curious, aggressive in ways our culture cheers on but just as confused as their predecessors.
Of course, they're selfie and status obsessed.
Deutch delivers a gently modulated performance, the kind that keeps the film's surreal gambit afloat. And some sequences pack a sense of surprise, but not in the way the storytellers would applaud.
"I'm in hetero normative hell," one lesbian student snarks, a funny line repeated to heighten the sense of deja vu. Another student is mocked for her "butch" appearance, which rings a bit false given how opens many students are today about alternative lifestyles.
Millennials are far more judgy about saying the wrong joke.
Samantha's friends are goofy, sweet even, but they're casually cruel in a way that should spark some parent-teen conversations. Or at least they should.
Halston Sage and Zoey Deutsch star in BEFORE I FALL.
At times the screenplay rallies to Samantha's side. And ours.
"Guys are all I have," one girl confesses.
The story's Pacific Northwest setting offers some welcome texture. So does the soundtrack, which could be revisited in a decade with the growing glow of nostalgia.
Can teens related to Samantha's predicament? Certainly not the sci-fi angle. But what kind-hearted teen hasn't struggled with doing the right thing over what will make those teenage years a snap?
HiT or Miss: "Before I Fall" is far from original in its teen angst landscape. Still, the narrative tweak is as clever as the film's leading lady.
New Releases Hugh Jackman Patrick Stewart
'Harriet' Isn't Equal to the Superlative Subject in Play
HiT Reviews: 'Mission: Impossible – Fallout,' 'Teen...
HiT Reviews: 'Mission: Impossible – Fallout,' 'Teen Titans'


Apart from the disorienting novelty of "Cats" taking up residence at the Neil Simon Theatre when, for a record-breaking 7485 performances over 18 years, it had dominated the block-long marquee of the Winter Garden, nearly everything about this revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic musical feels just right. We'll get to that exception later.
But classic it is. It's hard to believe that the original 1981 London production was 35 years ago. It seems, if not quite like "yesterday," but certainly not so very long ago when the show was brand new, and quite the hot ticket. But there's no denying that was a long time ago. Count back an equivalent number of years before 1981 and it would be 1946. Think "Annie Get Your Gun" or "St. Louis Woman," and it will give you some idea of the time differential from the opening of "Cats" to today.
Though towards the end of its Broadway run, "Cats" had become rather the target of jokes, the show was, it must be remembered, genuinely innovative at the time. It was an audacious conceit for Lloyd-Webber to take T.S. Eliot's poems in "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and set them to music for an almost plot-less evening.
But the brilliance of the piece, apart from Lloyd Webber's uncommonly rich and varied score (beautifully orchestrated by him and David Cullen), is the construction of the show with its through lines of Grizabella the Glamour Cat seeking redemption, the omnipresent threat of the evil Macavity, and the reassuring presence of Old Deuteronomy who will, by evening's end, choose which cat might ascend to the so-called Heaviside Layer.
One admires anew how well the disparate parts of the score are woven together with the moving strains of "Old Deuteronomy," the portentous Grizabella music and the sparkling "Jellicle Cats" motif. The show is dominated by a series of vaudeville turns, and they are all done here beautifully, with just enough of a face-lift to made them freshly enjoyable, even as one fondly recalls the memorable portrayals of Elaine Paige, Brian Blessed, Sarah Brightman, and Paul Nicholas (in London), and Betty Buckley, Ken Page, and Terrence Mann (in New York).
Andy Blankenbeuhler's choreography adheres closely to the outline of Gillian Lynne's original, but adds a more contemporary pizzazz. Original director Trevor Nunn is back and restores the gravitas of the piece that was missing by the time the show neared the end of its original run.
The cast is very fine, with Christopher Gurr particularly outstanding an Gus the Theater Cat, maybe the best ever. Quentin Earl Darrington brings a lighter timbre to Old Deuteronomy than Page or Blessed in the New York and London originals.
There's also Tyler Hanes as the Rum Tum Tugger, Jess LeProtto and Shonica Gooden as Mungojerrie and Rumpeltezer, Jeremy Davis as Shimbleshanks, Ricky Ubeda as Mistoffelees, and Kim Faure and Chrstine Cornish Smith as Demeter and Bombalurina, all first-rate. The latter pair sizzle through a terrific "McCavity," and the Ubeda's "Magical Mister Mistoffelees" was delightfully spirited, with Natasha Katz's multi-colored lights strung throughout the house all aglow.
Though the cats run up and down the aisle a few times, this "Cats" is less an immersive experience than the UK original at the New London Theatre or Broadway's Winter Garden. Still, John Napier's scenic and costume designs give much the same effect as before.
Of the textual adjustments, the most substantial is the loss of "Growltiger's Last Stand," with its amusing and very sharp Puccini spoof, which followed the "Gus the Theater Cat" sequence in the Broadway production. It has been replaced by "The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles," less appealing but still enjoyable.
I initially admired the tragic vibe that Leona Lewis brought to Grizabella, but less so her phrasing and vocalizing when she arrived at the show's megahit "Memory" which, in its climactic belting moments, was delivered with second-rate "American Idol" superficiality.
For all its obvious entertainment value, the show is an exceedingly well-crafted and sophisticated theater piece with real heart. The audience at my performance sat rapt throughout until breaking into a warm and richly-deserved ovation at the end.


With late April fast approaching, the anticipation for the 2019 ABPA is building fast! In addition to education and valuable industry-related content, the ABPA Convention is known for its fun activities! Once again, golfers will have something to look forward to with the golf event being held at the beautiful Jacaranda Golf Course on Wednesday, 5/1/19.
Jacaranda Golf Club provides the two best golf courses South Florida has to offer. Their East and West championship courses have earned a Four-Star rating in Golf Digest and are host to many PGA, USGA, and FSGA Championship Events. Their golf club, located in Plantation, FL is a short drive from the ABPA site hotel, the Westin Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort.
To sign up for the 2019 ABPA golf tournament, simply select the golf option on checkout during the ABPA registration. For the base cost of $89, golfers will be provided with shuttle transportation, green fees, cart and provided with lunch. If you need clubs, add these to your cart as well. As always, prizes will be given from our golf sponsor, KRD Accounting. All pairing requests can be sent to Ed Salamy, ABPA Executive Director at info@autobpa.com.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Fort Lauderdale!
See below for some photos of last year's golf outing!
← Canadian Auto Parts Reseller Tiger Auto Parts Expanding to U.S.


text:
#ifndef _Gfx_class
#define _Gfx_class

#include "Bmp.h"

#ifdef WIN32
#include <windows.h>
#else
#include <unistd.h>     // Header File For sleeping.
#endif
//#include <stdio.h>
//#include <stdlib.h>
//#include <math.h>
/*
#include <GL/glut.h>// Header File For The GLUT Library
#include <GL/gl.h>	// Header File For The OpenGL32 Library
#include <GL/glu.h>	// Header File For The GLu32 Library
#include <GL/glext.h>
*/
#include <GLee.h>
#include <GL/glut.h>// Header File For The GLUT Library

class GFX {

    public :

		enum TexLoadFlags {
		  TEX_ADDALPHA=1,
		  TEX_NORMALMAP=2,
		  TEX_HORIZONMAP=4,
		  TEX_HORIZONLOOKUP=8,
		  TEX_NORMALIZE=16,
		  TEX_16BIT=32,
		};

		static void  BindTexture( int gl_texture_handle , int tmu=0 );
		static void  ClearTexture();
		static bool  keyPressed[256];
		static bool  mousePressed[256];
		static bool  keyPressed2[256];
		static bool  mousePressed2[256];
		static float mouseX,mouseY;
		static float mouseDX,mouseDY;
		static int   width,height;

       static GFX* This;

       int Init(int width,int height,bool fullscreen,
            void (GLUTCALLBACK *drawFunc)(void)) ;
		int Run() ;
		static void Flip();
		static int LoadTex(const char *name,int flags=0);
		static int LoadTexBmp(Bmp &bmp,int flags=0);
		static void SetTex(int id);
		static void Line ( vec3f p1 , vec3f p2 , vec3f color=vec3f(1,1,0) );
		static void CheckExtensions(void);

		static GLuint NewFloatTex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);
		static GLuint NewFloat16Tex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);
		static GLuint NewHFloat16Tex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);
		static GLuint NewFloatRectTex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);
		static GLuint NewByteTex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);
		static GLuint NewByteRectTex(int x,int y,char* buffer,bool alpha=true);

		static bool KeyDn(char key);//key down
		static bool KeyPr(char key);//pressed
		static bool KeyRl(char key);//released

		void InitGL(int Width, int Height);	        // We call this right after our OpenGL window is created.

    private :

        /* The number of our GLUT window */
        int window;

        /* ASCII code for the escape key. */
        #define ESCAPE 27

        /* A general OpenGL initialization function.  Sets all of the initial parameters. */
        void ResizeScene(int Width, int Height);
        static void DrawSceneStatic  ();
        static void keyDown1Static   (int key, int x, int y);
        static void keyDown2Static   (unsigned char key, int x, int y);
        static void keyUp1Static     (int key, int x, int y);
        static void keyUp2Static     (unsigned char key, int x, int y);
        static void ResizeSceneStatic(int Width, int Height);
        void KeyPressed(int key, int x, int y,bool pressed) ;

		static void MouseMotionStatic (int x,int y);
		static void MouseButtonStatic (int button, int state, int x, int y);
public:
		static void get_error();
};

class FBO {

	public:

	enum Type { COLOR=1 , DEPTH=2 }; // Bits

	int color_tex;
	int color_bpp;
	int depth_tex;
	int depth_bpp;
	Type type;

	int width;
	int height;

	int tmp_viewport[4];

	FBO ()
	{
		color_tex = -1;
		depth_tex = -1;
		fbo = -1;
		dbo = -1;
	}

	void clear ()
	{
		if(color_tex!=-1)
		{
			// destroy objects
			glDeleteRenderbuffersEXT(1, &dbo);
			glDeleteTextures(1, (GLuint*)&color_tex);
			glDeleteTextures(1, (GLuint*)&depth_tex);
			glDeleteFramebuffersEXT(1, &fbo);
		}
	}

	void enable()
	{
		glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0);
		glBindFramebufferEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT, fbo);
		glBindRenderbufferEXT(GL_RENDERBUFFER_EXT, dbo);
		glFramebufferTexture2DEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT,
			GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0_EXT, GL_TEXTURE_2D, color_tex, 0);
		glFramebufferTexture2DEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT,
			GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_EXT, GL_TEXTURE_2D, depth_tex, 0);

		glGetIntegerv(GL_VIEWPORT, tmp_viewport);
		glViewport(0, 0, width, height);		// Reset The Current Viewport And Perspective Transformation
		//glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
		//glPushMatrix();
		//glLoadIdentity();
		//gluPerspective(45.0f,(GLfloat)width/(GLfloat)height,0.1f,100.0f);
		//glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);

	}

	void disable()
	{
		glBindFramebufferEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT, 0);
		glBindRenderbufferEXT(GL_RENDERBUFFER_EXT, 0);
		glViewport(
			tmp_viewport[0],
			tmp_viewport[1],
			tmp_viewport[2],
			tmp_viewport[3]);
		//glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
		//glPopMatrix();
		//glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
	}

	void init (int texWidth,int texHeight)//,Type type = Type(COLOR | DEPTH),int color_bpp=32,int depth_bpp=24)
	{
	//	clear ();
		this->width = texWidth;
		this->height = texHeight;

		glGenFramebuffersEXT(1, &fbo);
		glBindFramebufferEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT, fbo);
		get_error();

			// init texture
			glGenTextures(1, (GLuint*)&color_tex);
			glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, color_tex);
			glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA8,
				texWidth, texHeight, 0,
				GL_RGBA, GL_FLOAT, NULL);

			//glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGBA, texWidth, texHeight, 0,
			//	    GL_RGBA, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, NULL);

			//GL_TEXTURE_2D,GL_RGBA, bmp.width, bmp.height,
			//	/*GL_RGBA*/GL_BGRA_EXT, GL_UNSIGNED_BYTE, bmp.data );

			get_error();
			glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
			glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
			glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
			glTexParameterf(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP_TO_EDGE);

			glFramebufferTexture2DEXT(
				GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT,
				GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0_EXT,
				GL_TEXTURE_2D, color_tex, 0);
			get_error();

		glGenRenderbuffersEXT(1, &dbo);
		glBindRenderbufferEXT(GL_RENDERBUFFER_EXT, dbo);

			glGenTextures(1, (GLuint*)&depth_tex);
			glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, depth_tex);
			//glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT32,
			//	texWidth, texHeight, 0,
			//	GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT, GL_FLOAT, NULL);
			get_error();
			//glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_COMPARE_MODE, GL_NONE);
			glTexParameteri (GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_S, GL_CLAMP_TO_BORDER);
			glTexParameteri (GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_WRAP_T, GL_CLAMP_TO_BORDER);
			glTexParameteri (GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_DEPTH_TEXTURE_MODE, GL_LUMINANCE);
			glTexParameteri (GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);
			glTexParameteri (GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, GL_LINEAR);

			/*
			//Use generated mipmaps if supported
			if(GLEE_SGIS_generate_mipmap)
			{
				glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_GENERATE_MIPMAP_SGIS, true);
				glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, GL_LINEAR_MIPMAP_LINEAR);
				glHint(GL_GENERATE_MIPMAP_HINT_SGIS, GL_NICEST);
			}

			//Use maximum anisotropy if supported
			if(GLEE_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic)
			{
				GLint maxAnisotropy=1;
				glGetIntegerv(GL_MAX_TEXTURE_MAX_ANISOTROPY_EXT, &maxAnisotropy);
				glTexParameteri(GL_TEXTURE_2D, GL_TEXTURE_MAX_ANISOTROPY_EXT, maxAnisotropy);
			}
			*/

			glTexImage2D (GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT32,
				texWidth, texHeight, 0, GL_DEPTH_COMPONENT, GL_FLOAT/*GL_UNSIGNED_INT*/, NULL);
			glFramebufferTexture2DEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT, GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_EXT,
								GL_TEXTURE_2D, depth_tex, 0);

			get_error();
			glBindTexture(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0);// don't leave this texture bound or fbo (zero) will use it as src, want to use it just as dest GL_DEPTH_ATTACHMENT_EXT

		get_error();

		check_framebuffer_status();

		glBindFramebufferEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT, 0);
		glBindRenderbufferEXT(GL_RENDERBUFFER_EXT, 0);
	}

	private:

	GLuint fbo; // frame buffer object ref
	GLuint dbo; // depth buffer object ref

	void get_error()
	{
		GLenum err = glGetError();
		if (err != GL_NO_ERROR)
		{
			printf("GL FBO Error: %s\n",gluErrorString(err));
			printf("Programm Stopped!\n");
			while(1);;
		}
	}

	void check_framebuffer_status()
	{
		GLenum status;
		status = (GLenum) glCheckFramebufferStatusEXT(GL_FRAMEBUFFER_EXT);
		switch(status) {
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_COMPLETE_EXT:
				return;
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_UNSUPPORTED_EXT:
				printf("Unsupported framebuffer format\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_MISSING_ATTACHMENT_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, missing attachment\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_DUPLICATE_ATTACHMENT_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, duplicate attachment\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_DIMENSIONS_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, attached images must have same dimensions\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_FORMATS_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, attached images must have same format\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_DRAW_BUFFER_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, missing draw buffer\n");
				break;
			case GL_FRAMEBUFFER_INCOMPLETE_READ_BUFFER_EXT:
				printf("Framebuffer incomplete, missing read buffer\n");
				break;
			case 0:
				printf("Not ok but trying...\n");
				return;
				break;
			default:;
				printf("Framebuffer error code %d\n",status);
				break;
		};
		printf("Programm Stopped!\n");
		while(1)Sleep(100);;
	}
};

#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Very often I encounter Catholic men that desire to grow in holiness- whether this is to learn more about their faith, grow in prayer or tackle a serious sin in their life- but very often they are not sure exactly where to start. The challenge can be overwhelming (especially if we have been away from the faith for a while), and what we can see so often is the difficulty and pain of real conversion. So where do we begin?
What I want to propose quite simply is that those that recognize this need should write their own rule of life, a guide for how they live their daily lives. When we look to the history of the Church, so often what brought about the greatest changes and reforms in the culture of the time were those men that lived by a rule of life, that had a measure that they held themselves up against. From the monks of the early Church that followed the rule of Saint Basil or the rule of Saint Benedict on to the various religious orders and movements present today, there has always been a recognition in the Church for the need of a standard. This was so especially in times of great chaos in the world, where everything was permissible and spiritual slavery was the norm.
What is so important to recognize with this, (and what makes it so counter-cultural) that the rule is not meant to be a point of slavery, or an imposition of my life, but actually the point of rescue. How often we can go throughout our days in distraction, filled with sights and sounds empty of content, without really being reminded of who we are, who God is, and what our lives are about. And this constant temptation to distraction can be a difficulty for everyone, even those working for the Church. One of the greatest gifts for my life as a priest has been the obligation to pray the psalms at different times of the day, because in the busiest moments of my day I am reminded of what matters, who God is, and how much I need Him. Rather than being a constant and painful obligation, this promise of prayer has rescued me, from my own selfishness, my distraction, and my pragmatism that can so easily exclude the Lord, the One who has created me, rescued me, and leads me to Himself.
1) Prayer: Make time for daily prayer, within your schedule, preferably around the same time. We need this time every day to be reminded of who Christ is, and who we are called to be. This should include time for gratitude before the Lord, praying for others (especially those Christ has placed in front of you, family, friends, co-workers, etc.), and silent meditation with a text, be it the scriptures or spiritual reading. There are a myriad of great beginner books for this, but what matters is that we do it, that we are praying, daily. This is everything. This also includes a closeness to the sacraments, to reception of holy communion and to confession.
2) Awareness of weaknesses: It is amazing how quickly we forget how prone we are to sin until we fall, like the college student sporting a hangover on a Saturday morning who mutters that he is never going to drink like that again, and repeats the same words the next day. Part of growing closer to Christ is the becoming more and more aware of our fragility, and how much we need His constant presence to rescue us. To depend is not weakness or a betrayal of masculinity, but an imitation of Jesus Christ, the fullness of our humanity, who constantly looked to the Father. So we have to be reminded of our struggles so that we can face them and prepare for them, like a general who places more soldiers at the weakest points of the defense.
3) Relevant to your state of life: Whether you are single, married, discerning, or celibate, the rule has to bring you back to who you are called to be and to meet Christ through it. The mystery of the incarnation is God entering the context of a specific time and place all those years ago and becoming flesh. Christ desires to become flesh within the context of our lives, to be a presence there, so the circumstances of my life are the way I am called to follow Him. For the husband and father, this means to leave space in his rule for how he is going to love his wife and children better, every day, aware of his own shortcomings and temptations. For myself as a priest, my rule calls me to a better life of prayer and fidelity to the people Christ has called me to shepherd. For those still figuring out what they are called to, there needs to be space in the rule for discernment and striving to grow as men, so that whether they are called to marriage or the celibate state, they are able to offer their lives as the men they are called to be.
4) Marian devotion: every man needs this, especially when striving to love chastely. This can take many forms, but there is a reason so many of the saints loved the rosary. It is a true help, especially while stuck in traffic. Take some time every day to turn off the radio and meditate with our Lady.
5) Encouraging growth: very often there are many things we would like to do, but never make time for, like exercising, learning a trade, etc. Schedule it in and put it in the rule.
6) Charitable work/almsgiving: This is not just for the sake of the poor, but because we need this. I have found that the more I stay close to the poor, to the beggars, the more they rescue me from my own selfishness and arrogance. We all need this rescue, the closeness with the poor, and using a part of our money as gift and offering. Very often, without this reminder, we will intend to do it, and never actually do so.
7) Caution towards one's relationship with technology: very often we don't realize how addicted we are to technology until we see it profoundly in someone else, like when one sees couples in a restaurant, not talking to each other, with their faces glued to their cell phones. It is so easy to throw away so much of our precious time on Netflix, video games, and just moving from one website to the next without even realizing it. To be cautious and intentional about how much time one is spending in the digital world helps to approach it with greater prudence, and not to waste one's life.
8) A good examination of conscience: If we took a few minutes every day to stand before the Lord, aware of the ways in which we have fallen away from Him with an amendment to do better, we begin to depend on Him more, and slowly become less attached to our sins. This is crucial.
9) Fraternity: We need brothers, men who give us hope that it is possible to follow Christ in this life, men who challenge and encourage us. It is so easy to settle and swallow the proposals of our culture wholesale without the help of one who challenges assumptions. Find other men who are actively trying to grow in holiness, open to constant conversion, and stay close to them. The history of the Church does not lie; those that truly brought reform in times of corruption and difficulty were the ones that were constantly open to personal reform within their community. The return to Christ is always a return to the community, to communion.
These are just a few notes to keep in mind while making the rule. If it helps, make the rule with a fellow brother so you can hold each other accountable, and using the other person as a sounding board to see if the rule is too strict or too loose and needs to be adjusted. What matters more than anything else is that we are seeking Christ and striving to become the men that he has called us to be, not just for ourselves, but for those that he has called us to love.
Under the recommendation of my spiritual director I am starting to create one of my own. This is a help — at least the categories here. But how specific should a Rule be?
A rule of life is a must-have for anyone serious about cultivating virtue, though that rule might take different forms for different people. This is what I've been preaching in my work for years. It's also not sufficient, however. You also need to develop a concrete plan for growth, and most importantly, deepen your self-knowledge and self-awareness to become more awake and vigilant to the movements of the heart/thoughts and develop a more solid self-identity.
I'm happy to chat more detail if anybody is interested in putting into place some concrete plans for cultivating virtue as we move into the new year.
Thank you father; I will email my son this article.
This was a good article but I would like some examples of life rules from regular lay people or even priests like yourself. (not just a reference to the rule of saint Benedict) This would help me to know how and what to keep in mind while I am writing my own.
Thanks, Father. Good and practical advice to us distracted and dissipated folk!
Thanks for the article. It is quite timely for where I am in my spiritual journey. The key points you make are easy to understand, realistic, and not overwhelming.
Many years back, I found myself at a strange place — where I did not want to be. Without attempting to make or follow a rule as such, several resolutions, one at a time, seem to have converged to help me stay on course. Mostly.
First, feeling the need for regular prayer, I happened to find a copy of Shorter Christian Prayer in a Catholic bookstore. That soon was followed by the one volume Christian Prayer, as I wanted more seasonal stuff. Finding myself at work early, it was a very soothing and uplifting exercise to say Morning Prayer before the day's business began. Later, after I retired, I moved on to the four volume Liturgy of the Hours, and discovered how it tied into the daily readings for Mass.
Confession once a month is about right. Any more, and I tend towards scrupulousness, and any less, towards sloth.
If one follows the Christian Prayer, each Night Prayer suggests a brief examination of conscience. For that some form of the Ignatian examen has been good.
Saying a daily Rosary is the last thing I am adding, strangely enough. Before trying to start that, I have been doing the Stations of the Cross every Friday morning before Mass (now that I've retired.
I have just begun staying off the computer on Sundays, and it is such a relief, I am considering extending the practice.
Unfortunately, "fraternity" (such as K of C) is something which I would have trouble with, for specific reasons, but I find that a group of us retirees has grown to assemble for the coffee and donuts fundraiser of the Altar Servers after the 8 am mass on Sundays.
Adding one thing at a time has worked, so far, without throwing all into a jumbled mess.
This is what works for me, mileage may vary with other people. At that, I often feel I am just one half-step ahead of falling down, and need every little bit to stay on course.


text:
January 19, 2022 | The Big Bang: How Could Something Come From Nothing?
January 19, 2022 | Drinking Coffee: Study Finds Both Beneficial and Harmful Short-Term Health Effects
Home Science News
Flexibility Paradox: Scientists Uncover Hidden Threat of Working From Home
TOPICS:Behavioral ScienceCOVID-19DecisionMental HealthNorwegian University of Science and TechnologyStress
By Norwegian University of Science and Technology October 25, 2020
Yes, there are benefits to working from the home office; but there are traps, too.
Working at home has given many people the opportunity to arrange their working hours more freely than usual. But has it really given us more freedom?
It may seem a bit contradictory at first glance, but increased flexibility in our workday may have given us less flexibility in the work itself.
Benefits highlighted
The daily press and the nascent research literature on COVID-19 speculate on the long-term consequences of the coronavirus situation. These could change the way we think about the methods we employ in our working life, especially with regard to home offices and digital collaboration.
Several large companies, both internationally and nationally, have announced that they plan to continue the option of working from home for anyone who also wishes after the pandemic. The arguments for this include:
Greater flexibility in organizing work and family life situations seems to significantly reduce stress for many people.
Time that was previously used for commuting or traveling between meetings can now be used for other things, which in turn may lead to higher productivity.
One argument we hear is that a home office situation provides fewer distractions and can make us more efficient.
Employers, for their part, see an opportunity for reduced travel costs and less need for office space.
Working from home is also happening in academia, and several universities have said that the home office option will continue.
On the other hand, it has been pointed out that people cannot work exclusively in physically separate environments. We need opportunities to meet with colleagues and experience the social cohesion and replenishment this provides.
Practices are changing
The consequences of this kind of distributed work situation for workplace practices constitute an important aspect that has received less attention so far. How does working from home affect collaborative efforts and the quality of work, both in smaller teams and in larger work communities?
In the article "Learning of academics in the time of the Coronavirus pandemic," we describe how one academic's practices changed, quite significantly, under the conditions we have worked under since March.
While working from a home office, or as a distributed team, provides significantly increased flexibility for the work situation, it could provide less flexibility in carrying out the work, both in terms of meeting colleagues, collaborating, and teaching.
One of our conclusions is that we cannot expect work practices to remain the same when we move them. As conditions change around practices, so do the practices themselves.
Not everyone becomes more efficient
In two parallel projects, we collected data from students and academic staff. We focused on their work and study situations during the corona pandemic.
The data includes 1600 students and 16 lecturers in a course called Experts in Teamwork. Students provided feedback through questionnaires, written exam reports and in-depth interviews. The lecturers represented different faculties and departments and were also interviewed in depth.
The preliminary findings show great variations in the consequences that the new work and study situations have had for individuals and for groups.
Some groups became more effective, others less.
Some people became more efficient in their new work setting, for example, because they had fewer distractions and work became easier to prioritize. But others became less efficient, for example, due to lower motivation and lack of daily structure.
Some individuals thought it was beneficial to have more peace and flexibility in their daily life, while others felt lonelier and less motivated due to the lack of social and physical contact with fellow students and colleagues.
A number of the academic staff also had a much busier schedule due to home schooling their children. This factor is less relevant in a situation without a pandemic.
In our study, we also found many of the positive elements of distributed teamwork and working digitally that are mentioned at the beginning of our article.
The paradox: increased flexibilty and less freedom
However, one finding stands out as a paradox.
While working from a home office, or as a distributed team, provides significantly increased flexibility for the work situation, it could provide less flexibility in carrying out the work, both in terms of meeting colleagues, collaborating and teaching.
This flexibility issue, or paradox, is largely related to a much greater need for structure, planning and clear communication in the digital modality. Meetings and teaching need to be planned in much more detail, and the digital form makes it difficult to deviate from the plan.
We lose the ability to pick up cues from the room, like we do when we are in a physical space together. Several communication-related aspects of working digitally also make it difficult to achieve a good flow, as well as to make spontaneous and necessary changes.
Higher threshold makes teamwork less flexible
We also find that the threshold for making small and necessary clarifications with collaborators is significantly higher in the digital realm. The flexibility to complete a task is therefore reduced and can affect the quality of what we do.
For example, we risk working alone with a task for too long, assuming rather than clarifying along the way. We don't want to disturb people, and we don't know what they are doing right now. We found this to be the case both for students who worked synchronously, and for academics who mostly worked asynchronously.
Home offices may offer benefits for many, but it is hardly advantageous for everyone. More people will probably choose to work from home more than they did before, even when the pandemic has subsided. But having the opportunity to convene physically is still important, not only for each of us to meet our social needs, but also for the employer and for the quality of the work.
Reference: "Learning of academics in the time of the Coronavirus pandemic" by Ela Sjølie, Susanne Francisco, Kathleen Mahon, Mervi Kaukko and Stephen Kemmis, Journal of Praxis in Higher Education, Vol. 2 No. 1 (2020).
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The Big Bang: How Could Something Come From Nothing?
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Yogini, yoga teacher, writer and entrepreneur.
UK national Sarah Coxon is a yoga teacher, writer and entrepreneur, on a mission to spread light and love throughout the world through the immense power of yoga. Sarah's whole life philosophy is about becoming more conscious and mindful and this is infused within her teaching. She currently lives on a beautiful tropical island in the Philippines where she offers classes, workshops, excursions and retreats. Find out more by visiting [https://www.travelling-yogini.com] or follow [@travellingyogini108] on Instagram and Facebook.


SWMGAMERS.com Forums • View topic - SSB 2.0 Piccys?
Post subject: SSB 2.0 Piccys?
Hey! I'm dam keen to have a good looksee at this new 2.0 - it sounds awesome. Is there any pictures to go wi' the text? I mean, I haven't seriously looked at the rules yet - it might be quite apparent from that - but I was just wondering if anyone has some photos (or might take some?) what setup looks like, what the map layout (and asteroids/planets/floating shoes and potatoes etc) looks like etc. Anything that might assist. I see there's already been one question about map setup and maybe a handful of piccys would help the flow o' things.
Anyhoo - love yo work. SHNN rules.
Post subject: Re: SSB 2.0 Piccys?
Not yet. I'm going to have one more round of playtesting. Reading the rules does remove most of your questions.
Yep - had a good read of the rules on the train home last night. Most of it is all good and my questions won't really come up until I start trying to play it. ...although I don't actually own any SSB pieces yet - ha! A minor inconvienience!
Most of it is all good and my questions won't really come up until I start trying to play it. ...although I don't actually own any SSB pieces yet - ha! A minor inconvienience!
This is not a problem. Print out the ships/fighters and just place the paper on the map instead of the 3D units.
Although from what I've seen SSB is the cheapest of the sets to get a hold of, singles are a bit harder to come by but cases and boosters are priced to move at a number of places. Just note that you need two of the maps, so buying a pair of starter sets is required, but the big ships don't count as unique if I recall so you can field them both if the fleet is big enough.
So, can you clarify, is a sector just now a big square? I mean, is there any reason for squares apart from that four of them make a sector?
A sector is four SSB map squares or one sector on a War at Sea map.
Yeah, where I would get lost, is as the ships began to move around the board I would get lost as to which 4 squares belonged to the sector they were in...I would then have to backtrack and count. I suppose I could have settled this by placing the largets piece directly in the center of the sector (over all four squares), but my gamin mind simply wasn't wired for this.
The best thing to do is to find a picture of a War at Sea map somewhere. Then take your Starships map, and mark out the sectors so that it looks like a WAS map.
So, you end up with 100mm Sectors and the board is 8 Sectors x 11 Sectors, with the middle row of sectors being used for objectives - a'ight?
If the above is all good, I'm prolly just gonna make it all!
Oh - just found a War At Sea Map!
It looks like its 11 Sectors lengthways and 7 or 8 Sectors widthways.
...another inane question (I'm on a roll)... what are the diameters of the bases for the Ships? Is it 100mm, 75mm, 50mm and 25mm for Classes 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively?
Ship base sizes don't matter. Class 1, 2, 3 and 4 also don't matter.
If I was able to resize the minis, fighters and cloaked fighters would be 1 inch and capital ships would be 2-4 inches.
Planets are 3/4 roundish objects. Asteroids are 1/2 to 3/4 the size of a sector, any solid shape.
But what is it that he rules?
Played a couple more games, it is real simple but way fun. I would like the smaller ships to have more of an effect on the game. To this point it still remains that the big capital ships are really all you need at this point.


text:
Unrestricted Views from…
Unrestricted Views from Dave Gilbank Director of Polterheist
Returning to make the Halloween period all the more petrifying the Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival is back running from the 29th October to the 4th November, and so is our Unrestricted Views bringing you an insight to the people behind the fantastic fright fest of films on show.
Below we talk Dave Gilbank Director of Polterheist to which screens on the 2nd November 7.30pm. Get your tickets Here
Tell us about your film?
Polterheist is a low budget indie gangster black comedy/horror film set in the crumbling urban sprawl of Bradford, West Yorkshire. It's about two low-level members of the Asian-run mafia who accidentally kill their boss and so decide to kidnap a psychic medium to find out where their dead gaffer hid a load of drug money.
How did you get into making horror movies?
I've always been a fan of classic horror films from the 70s, such as the Exorcist and The Omen, in addition to drive-in movies like Food of The Gods, Killdozer and The Car. When I started making films it always felt natural that I would make Horror films, or movies with elements of horror. The TV version of the Lady in Black from the late 80s was also a particular inspiration.
What is your view on horror in 2018 and how would you change it?
Horror seems to be making a huge comeback this year and is smashing box office receipts. I like that there are a lot of original ideas coming through. In the face of the relentless barrage of remakes and superhero movies that dominate multiplex schedules around the world, it's the horror genre that is staying fresh with original ideas and different messages. I'd like to see Horror become more ambitious and play with other genres like superhero and sci-fi. It would make them more interesting.
What is your favourite horror film and why?
Alien. Because I saw it too young and it continues to punch hard 40 years later. Tight script. Great characters. Awesome acting. Great set. Terrific direction. Perfect organism.
If Hollywood came knocking and gave you anything you wanted what movie would you make and who would it star?
I would love to do 'Alien on Earth' or 'Alien infestation on earth' film. They've been flirting with it for years. I would make a film of desperate survival and courage against an infestation of millions of Aliens. It needs to be done. The Dark Horse graphic novels would make terrific films. Alternatively I would make 'Cull' a screenplay that Paul Renhard and I wrote a few years ago. It's about a Soylent Green-type future where we farm ourselves -humans- to feed our alien masters. I would love to work with Claire Foy or Dominic West for either of these films. Or the guy who plays Morse in Endeavour. All these actors have that certain frail intensity that is ideal for Horror.
Watch out for more Unrestricted Views soon and buy tickets at www.unrestrictedview.co.uk/
Official Trailer Polterheist from Tadah Media on Vimeo.
Tags: Dave Gilbank featured Interview news Polterheist The Hen Chickens Theatre Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival
Halloween: Resurrection (2002) Review
Unrestricted Views from Randy Smith and Vincent Valentino…


text:
Buyer's Guide: Granite Countertops
Granite. It's the most popular natural countertop surface for kitchens and baths in America. And for good reason-it's durable, easy to maintain, and beautiful. It's also a relatively simple upgrade in an old kitchen that will add value to your home should you choose to sell it. For more insight on granite countertops, we turned to contractor Gencer Hepozden, owner of Perspective Construction in New York City.
What is granite?
It is a natural, sturdy stone that is more durable than marble.
What makes it so popular? The fact that it is more durable than marble makes it a good choice for kitchen counters. And because granite countertops come in a wide range of colors, they appeal to most people. In fact, granite is the most sought-after choice of countertop material. The color choices of black pearl and absolute black are widely popular among consumers for use in the bathroom and kitchen, on floors and walls and counters as well.
What are its primary characteristics? It comes in a wide range of colors, and a wide range of edge treatments are also available. Compared to marble, it offers a more uniform pattern is more sturdy.
What are its pros? Granite countertops are durable, acid-resistant, moisture-resistant and scratch-resistant.
Its cons? It absorbs oils fast, and the lighter colors show stains more than darker ones.
Why is it so expensive? That is a common misconception. Granite is actually inexpensive compared to many other alternatives. Marble, for example, is higher in price, especially due to certain kinds (like White Thassos) not being available. Since marble prices have increased, customers have come to prefer granite. Blue granite is the most expensive.
How much does it cost? The cost of granite countertops range anywhere from $10 to $170 per square foot. Fabrication and installation costs vary between $40 and $100 per square foot. Elements that reflect on the price include the thickness of the slab, the type of edge treatment, whether or not a backsplash of the same material will be included, and the color of granite (blue being the most expensive).
What are its installation requirements? First the cabinets have to be installed in order for granite countertops to be templated for a proper fit pre-installation. Once the template is made, the granite is cut to fit and should be installed by a pro to ensure it is level. After installation, granite needs to be sealed. We prefer to use Miracle sealer. The right sealer can make granite oil resistant, too.
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