Americans are becoming more aware of their environment and the impacts of carbon footprint. Therefore, they have started opting for eco-friendly products. Consumers prefer environment-friendly household items to ensure a healthy lifestyle. You may have seen a sudden surge in the popularity of organic mattresses within the last decade. Many natural mattresses in the US are non-toxic and have low Volatile Organic Compound emissions. Besides, the organic mattresses are free from pesticides and fertilizers. Thus, giving you a pure healthy sleep surface to rest on every night. The chemical-free, plant-based substances promote a variety of health benefits. They are suitable for consumers with skin allergies. In the sleep products industry, you'll come across numerous brands offering sustainable natural and organic mattress. But which ones are the most popular and offering quality performance? To make mattress shopping easier for you, we are listing the top 8 best organic mattresses that people are crazy for these days.
Zenhaven mattress is a popular natural latex bed offered by Saatva. Made of the finest quality latex, Zenhaven is a high-end, durable, and cooling sleep surface. It is a 10 inches thick, four-layered mattress. The brand engineers use American Talalay latex in Zenhaven construction, providing resilience and softness. The mattress cover is made of organic New Zealand wool with superb moisture wicking properties. Zenhaven bed has remarkable bounce and responsiveness coupled with the contouring of foam. Thus, when you lie down, you instantly feel a plush cushioning support but no sinkage. The five-zoned support further adds to the incredible advantages of sleeping on Zenhaven. The hypoallergenic raw organic materials used in Zenhaven are naturally resistant to microbes, dust, and molds. Besides, the mattress is free from chemicals that potentially harm the environment. All in all, Zenhaven is a viable choice for customers with skin allergies or similar issues.
Read our Zenhaven Mattress Review for more information.
Eco Terra Latex by Eco Terra, is an environment-friendly hybrid mattress. The bed is made to ensure a naturally deep and comforting rest. The Eco Terra company is among the best natural mattress brands in America. The 11 inches thick two-layered structure offers a perfect combination of bounce and contouring support. The layers adjust to your figure well and help to conform to your body curves. Thus, whichever sleeping position you assume, your body experiences incredible pressure relief. Eco Terra uses plant-based foam in the natural latex, taken from the sap of rubber trees. Natural latex has the ability to provide you with a healthy, cool, and cradling feel. Besides, the raw organic materials wards off microbes and allergens. So you can rest deeply on a hypoallergenic surface. Overall, Eco Terra latex hybrid is a low-cost organic mattress. It is an excellent choice for customers who are seeking a budget-friendly natural bed.
Read our Eco Terra Latex Mattress Review for more information.
Spindle is a natural latex mattress offered by an emerging online brand called Spindle. Through customization, you can select the proper firmness level to suit your physique and sleeping style. The plant extracts used in Spindle are harvested from the rubber trees in Guatemala and the Asia Pacific. The company then gets it manufactured in Pennsylvania. The organic mattress cover of Spindle is made from the crops grown in India, Texas, and New Mexico. Later on, it is manufactured in the factories based in Carolinas. The wool for the plush batting is taken from sheep raised in the Pacific Northwest and carded in California. It has the ability to keep you chill and wicks away the heat and moisture. Spindle may be a pricey bed but compared to the retail store natural latex mattresses, the customers can easily save up to $1000! Spindle is definitely worth checking out if you seek a super comfy and cozy organic mattress.
Read our Spindle Mattress Review for more information.
Avocado Green is a pure natural hybrid mattress, utilizing high-end organic materials. Avocado is a relatively newer name in the bed industry. However, with their quality green sleep products, they have gained instant popularity among people who love an organic lifestyle. If you prefer a high-end hybrid made with exceptional quality latex and hypoallergenic materials, Avocado Green is a perfect choice. The manufacturers use 100% natural latex, combined with cooling Joma wool. The entire mattress is covered with an organic cotton fabric. All materials are super cool, comfortable, pressure relieving, and prevent the development of skin allergies. Conclusively, Avocado Green is among the best affordable mattresses — a definite must-have!
Read our Avocado Mattress Review for more information.
Happsy Organic is an eco-friendly and hypoallergenic hybrid mattress. It is designed and produced by the brand by Happsy, a revolutionary bed-in-a-box company. You may visit their showroom in Jackson, WY to check out their sleep products. The bed comprises organic latex and organic mattress covering, coupled with pocketed coils for flexible support. Overall, the mattress provides exceptional comfort on a surface made in the US using domestically sourced materials. Happsy makes premium quality beds, completely organic in nature. Their merchandise is free from environment and health disrupting chemicals and flame retardants. If you want a bed with low VOCs, Happsy is one of the best mattresses without off-gassing.
Read our Happsy Mattress Review for more information.
The Q3 Organic Latex bed is offered by Nest Bedding, a popular brand known for their high-end and quality designed sleep products. They sell the beds and bedding items on both online and offline platforms. Nest Bedding utilizes the best organic latex material to give you a healthy and supporting sleep experience. The eco-friendly wool, cotton, and latex combination ensures you rest on a cool and comfy surface all night long. If you are prone to allergies and skin reactions, Nest Bedding Q3 Organic latex might just change your life! The luxuriously handcrafted merchandise by Nest Bedding is worth checking out — especially if you are all for a holistic lifestyle!
Read our Q3 Organic Latex Mattress Review for more information.
Live and Sleep is a well-known sleep essentials brand. They have quickly gained a massive clientele because of their charitable humanitarian projects and eco-friendly sleep products. Live and Sleep Classic mattress is a natural memory foam sleep surface. This medium soft bed is perfect for a rejuvenating night's rest that promotes pressure relief. The brand utilizes relatively fewer chemicals in their memory foam mattress giving it a natural and eco-friendly feel. All in all, Live and Sleep Classic mattress is among the best affordable mattresses. It is a healthy choice for consumers who are concerned about the carbon footprint.
Read our Live and Sleep Classic Mattress Review for more information.
PlushBeds is one of the best mattress brands, well-known for their high-end natural bed and bedding items. The Botanical Bliss mattress by PlushBeds is one of their finest organic sleep products. If you are looking for a luxurious, pure organic bed, the Botanical Bliss mattress is a viable option. Combining environment-friendly materials with the latest sleep technology, you can enjoy a healthy sleep experience on this bed. It is super relaxing, comfortable and supports all your body curves. Botanical Bliss comprises 100% natural Talalay Latex foam, free of chemicals and fire retardants. The cover is made of organic cotton providing a plush feel. PlushBeds mattresses are a bit pricey but overall offer remarkable value for money.
Read our PlushBeds Botanical Bliss Mattress Review for more information.


text:
Book Launches | The Steeple Times
Wed Jan 29, 2020 London
The Steeple Times
opulence & splendour
TIPPLE & FARE
THE SPORTING LIFE
the roll call
Longreach Publishing Limited
The Steeple Times is an online magazine with a following of upto 880,000 unique views per day on our best day yet.
We have 91,000 daily subscribers by email.
We typically average around 320,000 unique views per day.
We currently have 65 contributing authors who range from students to the actor, writer and producer Steven Berkoff and the champion jockey Frankie Dettori.
Combining a mix of society's last word and both wit and wisdom, The Steeple Times covers food, drink and fine dining as well as luxury, travel, the arts, individuals of influence and current affairs in the United Kingdom, America and elsewhere. We are best described as being akin to "a cross between The Huffington Post and Private Eye".
The magazine's following is affluent, engaged and international. With 41% of readers coming from the UK and 38% from America, The Steeple Times also has strong presence within Canadian, Italian, German and Australian territories.
Tag: book launches
Tatiana von Saxe Wilson: "What's on your mantelpiece?"
by Matthew Steeples
20 questions with founder of The People's Book Prize Tatiana von Saxe Wilson The Steeple Times shares "wit and wisdom". What's your guiding force? Pursuit and success. "Don't get even, get medieval" is, in our humble opinion, a great motto. What's yours? "Make the best better".
"Mademoiselle Khoo", as she likes to be known, is a Paris based chef, writer and broadcaster. Bubbly and vivacious, she's "seduced the French with Paris' smallest restaurant" and charmed the Brits with her fresh and enthusiastic approach to all things edible. Watch out – her profile is rising faster than any soufflé.
Subscribe Daily Newsletter
@ 2020, thesteepletimes.com. All rights reserved.

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8.5x11" 622 Pages The Space Shuttle Transportation System Manual provides a highly detailed overview of the components that made up the Space Shuttle program. Created in 1984 for NASA by prime contractor Rockwell...
Space Shuttle System Manual
8x10" 262 Pages Designed by Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the Saturn V rocket represents the pinnacle of 20th Century technological achievement. The only launch vehicle in...
Apollo Saturn V Flight Manual
8x10" 582 Pages Just ten days after Alan Shepard Jr. became America's first man in space on May 5, 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation, suggesting that the United States should land a man on the moon...
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text:
The British Airways hack is impressively bad
BA is the latest company to be hit by hackers. We chart the biggest data breaches of 2018
Getty Images / Dan Kitwood
The consequences of a major data beach have never been greater. Since May 25 the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been in force and data breaches could now result in huge fines. We're charting the biggest data breaches and privacy flaws, and the fines resulting from them throughout the year.
The latest firm to admit it has been hacked is British Airways, which was hit by a major breach leading to customer data being stolen.
On this page we'll be tracking the year's biggest hacks. As the year goes on, we'll be updating it with new issues you should be aware of.
Data breach: British Airways
When?: August 21 to September 5 What happened?: For more than two weeks this summer, hackers were inside the systems of British Airways. They took the personal and financial details of customers who made, or changed, bookings on ba.com or its app during that time. Names, email addresses and credit card information were stolen – including card numbers, expiration dates and the three digit CVC code required to authorise payments. Around 380,000 transactions were affected. BA blamed a "sophisticated" group of cybercriminals but didn't give any more details. A post on its website says people should contact their banks, people will be reimbursed and it will pay for a credit checking service.
Data breach: Reddit
When?: June How many people: Reddit won't say What happened?: Reddit's systems were accessed in June, the site announced in a blog post. As Reddit staff were trying to login to their systems using text messages sent via two-factor authentication, the messages were intercepted. Using the staff members' accounts the unknown hackers were able to take email addresses of current Reddit users and a 2007 database. Reddit hasn't admitted how many email addresses were compromised. The worry for users is that email addresses will be leaked and it will be possible to link anonymous accounts to real people.
Data breach: Timehop
When?: July How many people: 21 million What happened?: Timehop connects to social networks and surfaces nostalgic posts from the past. On Facebook it shows users their previously popular posts in a bid to help people rekindle previous memories. However, the company detected an ongoing cyberattack in July and found names, email addresses and "keys" allowing access to previous posts had been taken. It delayed the tokens for accessing historic posts, it said.
Data breach: Polar Flow
When?: July What happened?: The fitness app Polar Flow revealed the locations of military personal inside secret bases around the world. In similarity with the Strava data privacy issue in January, researchers found it has been possible to monitor the movements of soldiers. Changing a URL let anyone see a person's workouts.
Data breach: MyHeritage
When?: February - June How many people: 92 million What happened?: DNA testing firm MyHeritage suffered a huge data breach affecting 92 million people. While DNA data wasn't made public, emails and some password information were. The data was stored on a private server and whoever obtained it sent it to third-party security researchers.
Data breach: Ticketmaster
When?: February - June How many people: 40,000 What happened?: Ticketmaster revealed that the login information, payment data, addresses, name and telephone numbers of 40,000 people was at risk. The data breach was first spotted by digital bank Monzo, which told Ticketmaster about the insecurities.
Data breach: Typeform
When?: May – June How many people: millions What happened?: Data collected through Typeform surveys was left unsecured and was taken by hackers. As a result, adidas, Monzo, Revolut, England's Shavington-cum-Gresty Parish Council, Fortnum and Mason's and more were forced to admit that data had been compromised.
Data breach: Dixons Carphone
When?: July 2017 How many people: 5.9 million payment cards
What happened?: Dixons Carphone revealed 5.9 million payment cards and 1.2 million personal data records were stolen in 2017. The cards haven't been used maliciously as most of them were protected by chip and PIN. Names, addresses and email addresses of more than one million people were also taken in the breach.
Fined: University of Greenwich
When?: 2004 How much: £120,000 What happened?: The UK's University of Greenwich exposed 19,500 student details – including names, addresses, phone numbers, signatures, health conditions, and dates of birth – through an insecure training website. The details were first published in 2004 but the Information Commissioner's Office hit the university with a £120,000 fine.
Fined: Yahoo!
When?: April – June How much: $35m What happened?: Following Yahoo!'s colossal data breach in 2014 where billions of usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, passwords, security questions were taken, regulators have hit the firm with fines. The US Securities and Exchange Commission slapped the firm, now called Altaba, with a $35 million fine in April. The UK's data protection watchdog also fined it £250,000.
Data breach: MyFitnessPal
When?: February 2018 How many people: 150 million
What happened?: In March, sports retailer Under Armour revealed its fitness app MyFitnessPal had lost the usernames, email addresses, and passwords of 150 million people were stolen from its systems. Although, the passwords were encrypted.
Data breach: Equifax
When?: 2017 What's new?: More victims What happened?: In one of the worst data breaches of all time, Equifax lost the data of 145 million US citizens. It's since emerged that another 2.4 million Americans also lost their data. Equifax said the data breach cost it $114m and separate investigations are still ongoing.
Data breach: Facebook
When?: 2014 Who's responsible: Cambridge Analytica What happened?: The birth of Facebook's biggest scandal. The Guardian reported more than 50 million people (this later rose to more than 100 million) had data harvested for data profiling company Cambridge Analytica. Facebook found out in 2015 but the details didn't fully come to light until this year. The data was harvested through a quiz app that collected people's personal information, it was then shared beyond the original researchers who had created the app.
Data breach: OnePlus
When?: Between mid-November 2017 and January 11, 2018 How many?: 40,000 people
What happened?: Chinese smartphone manufacturer admitted in January that 40,000 of its customers had data lost after a "malicious script was injected into the payment page code" of its website. The script collected people's payment data and returned it to unknown attackers. Credit card numbers, expiry dates, and security codes entered at oneplus.net may have been compromised, the company said.
Data breach: Strava
When?: January What happened?: The huge public map of workouts from fitness company Strava revealed the locations of military personal and their movements. In rural locations heatmap data could show how people operated around military bases, plus it was possible to discover the names and heart-rates of individuals inside highly secretive bases.
Fined: Carphone Warehouse
When: August 2015 How much?: £400,000 What happened?: The UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), hit Carphone Warehouse with a £400,000 fine after the details of three million customers were access in 2015. The ICO said there were "rudimentary" security flaws that allowed information to be accessed.
Data breach: US Homeland Security
When?: Between 2002-2014 Who's responsible?: Unknown, but not a "cyber attack by external actors" What happened?: On January 3, 2018, the US department of Homeland Security told 247,167 of its employees there had been a "privacy incident" with one of its databases for those that worked there in 2014. During the period of 2002-2014, an undisclosed number of people who were being investigated were also affected by the data loss. The lost information includes names, social security numbers and staff job roles. Officials first discovered the breach in May 2017 but took time to confirm it.
Data breach: Aadhaar
When?: January 3, 2018 Who's responsible?: Former employees What happened?: India's giant one billion person public database has been compromised. The Tribune newspaper reported former staff members provided access to names, email addresses and phone numbers.
Matt Burgess is a senior writer at WIRED focused on information security, privacy, and data regulation in Europe. He graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in journalism and now lives in London. Send tips to Matt_Burgess@wired.com.
TopicsHackingSecurity


text:
Tomba! is a 1997 platform-adventure game developed by Whoopee Camp and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation. It was released in Japan in 1997 and in other territories the following year. The game centers on the eponymous feral child as he attempts to recover his grandfather's bracelet from an evil race of anthropomorphic pigs.

Creator Tokuro Fujiwara developed Tomba! after leaving Capcom in 1995, founding Whoopee Camp as director, producer and lead designer. He chose the game's 2D side-scrolling perspective for the format's straightforward nature, and created a non-linear "event" system to differentiate the game from other platforming titles. Tomba! was received positively by critics, with praise for its controls, visuals, and varied gameplay objectives. However, the game's audio received a more mixed reception. Despite the game's lackluster commercial performance, it was followed by a sequel in 1999, Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return. Tomba! maintained a cult following years after its debut, and was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2011.

Gameplay

Tomba! is an open world Metroidvania game with RPG elements. The player controls the titular character Tomba, who must explore his home island, defeat the evil Koma Pigs and recover his grandfather's golden bracelet. Most of the game takes place in a side-scrolling perspective. However, Tomba can occasionally climb over walls to move between the foreground and background as separate areas. Some areas allow the player to explore them in an isometric view. Along with the ability to jump, Tomba can attack enemy characters by leaping onto and biting into their back before tossing them in a straightforward trajectory. Tomba can also attack enemies by obtaining various weapons, such as flails and boomerangs. Signposts scattered throughout the environment state how to use the game's controls and abilities, while a select few can be used to save the player's progress.

When Tomba interacts with a certain character or environmental element, an "event" may be initiated, in which Tomba is given a task to accomplish or an obstacle to overcome. Such events may consist of finding a lost item, rescuing a stranded character or clearing a blockade in the imminent path. Upon completing an event, the player is rewarded with "Adventure Points", which can be used to access additional events and unlock specifically-marked chests. Multiple events can be undertaken at once and often do not require being cleared in any specific order. The game features an inventory system that displays the player's current collection of items and events. The game includes a total of 130 events.

The player begins the game with a maximum of four "vitality points" that are represented as a series of yellow bars on the upper-left corner of the screen. Tomba loses a vitality point if he is hit by an enemy, touches a sharp object, or falls into deep water. Vitality points can be restored by eating fruit. When all vitality points are depleted or if Tomba falls down a bottomless chasm, the player loses a life. If all lives are lost, the game ends prematurely.

Plot
Years ago on an uncharted archipelago, a group known as the Seven Evil Pigs appeared and used their magical powers to tarnish the land. Their underlings, the Koma Pigs, began terrorizing the populace with their mischievous pranks. Years later, a curious and energetic boy named Tomba diligently protects his grandfather's grave and wears a gold bracelet as an heirloom. One day, Tomba's bracelet is stolen following a confrontation with a group of Koma Pigs. He pursues them to a nearby village, where he is directed to the 100-Year-Old Wise Man. The Wise Man tells the story of the Seven Evil Pigs' rise to power, and reveals that the Koma Pigs are stockpiling gold. He advises Tomba to find his bracelet by hunting the seven Evil Pigs hiding throughout the land. He also describes the Evil Pig Bags that could reveal the Pigs' hiding places, and suggests learning more from the Dwarf Elder in the next village. The Dwarf Elder gives Tomba a blue Pig Bag and tells him that the Bags can reveal the entrance to an Evil Pig's hideout if Tomba approaches it. However, he warns that the individual Evil Pigs do not hide in the same area where they have cast their spell. Tomba explores the continent and gathers the rest of the Pig Bags. In the midst of his travels, an older Wise Man informs Tomba that the gold being hoarded by the Seven Evil Pigs is the source of their power. After Tomba captures the Seven Evil Pigs and lifts their spells over the land, an eighth Evil Pig Bag manifests within his possession and reveals the lair of the Evil Pigs' creator and leader, the Real Evil Pig. After defeating the Real Evil Pig in his trove of gold, Tomba recovers his bracelet and leaves it resting upon his grandfather's grave.

Development
Tomba! was created by Tokuro Fujiwara, who left Capcom in December 1995 after 13 years as an employee. Fujiwara's motivation stemmed from a desire to create new and original games, which he felt he was unable to do within Capcom. Upon exhausting his accumulated vacation days, Fujiwara resigned immediately following the release of Resident Evil. Fujiwara soon established the independent development studio Whoopee Camp, and became the director, producer and lead designer of the studio's debut game Tomba!.

Fujiwara chose to make a side-scrolling game as he believed this fundamental experience would excite players in a straightforward way. To distinguish Tomba! from other action games, Fujiwara designed a non-linear event system, as well as Tomba's gradual growth in abilities and resources. Tomba!s score was composed by Fujiwara's longtime Capcom collaborator Harumi Fujita, who eagerly approached Fujiwara for a position upon learning of Whoopee Camp's establishment. The game's Japanese version features the song "Paradise" by Tokyo Channel Q as its opening theme, and "Que Serã Serã" by Fumitaka Fuchigami as the ending theme.

Release
Tomba! was released in Japan on December 25, 1997. Promotional plush figures of Tomba and a Koma Pig were distributed in limited quantities around the game's original release date. The figures were also offered as prizes in a sweepstake run by Gamers' Republic in 1999.

Though Whoopee Camp retained a close relationship with Capcom, the North American publishing rights for Tomba! were given to Sony Computer Entertainment. Tomba! was released in North America on July 16, 1998 and in Europe on August 28, 1998. The international release was improved, with shorter load times, more responsive controls, Gouraud shading on background elements, and other visual improvements. The intro theme "Paradise" was retained for the American release, but with the vocals removed. The game is titled Tombi! in European territories; Erik Engström of Hardcore Gaming 101 speculated that the change was motivated by the fact that "tomba" is an Italian word meaning "grave". The theme song of the television series No Sweat was used as the opening theme for the European version.

Tomba! was re-released on the PlayStation Network in Japan on July 6, 2011. Distributor MonkeyPaw Games spent one year formulating an English-language distribution deal with Sony and Fujiwara. The English-language version of Tomba! was re-released on the PlayStation Network in North America on June 19, 2012 and in Europe on October 3, 2012. The deal between MonkeyPaw Games, Sony and Fujiwara did not initially include the game's sequel, and the involved parties elected to wait until Tomba!s re-release showed satisfactory sales figures before arranging the sequel's re-release. In the month of its North American debut, Tomba! was the third best-selling PS one Classic.

Reception

Tomba! was met with positive reviews upon release, obtaining an aggregate score of 84% on GameRankings. The events were praised for their variety, quantity, and non-linearity. Mark Cooke of GameRevolution noted that Tomba! was the first platform game to grant such freedom, following attempts by RPGs such as The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall. However, John Ricciardi of Electronic Gaming Monthly and Joe Rybicki of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine warned that the overlapping events may easily result in players getting sidetracked. The game's side-scrolling segments were considered reminiscent of platform games from earlier generations, particularly Fujiwara's past titles Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts. Cooke, however, felt that the lack of innovation made the gameplay "a little too tired". Several reviewers praised the responsiveness of the controls. Rybicki cited the high amount of load times as a negative point, and John Broady of GameSpot criticized the limited save system as a "chore", suggesting that a system that saves the game after each event would have been more logical.

The game's visuals were lauded for their bright and colorful presentation, smooth character animation, and combination of 2D character sprites and 3D polygonal environments. Crispin Boyer of Electronic Gaming Monthly compared the game's visuals to Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, particularly in the "almost perfect marriage" of its disparate graphical elements. Cooke described the hand-drawn cutscenes as endearing and humorous, and regarded the introduction to be the game's best feature. All four reviewers for Electronic Gaming Monthly appreciated the game's eccentric and lightly humorous tone, as did Rybicki, who found the game refreshing after a glut of post-apocalyptic three-dimensional third-person shooters at E3 1998. Erik Engström of Hardcore Gaming 101 saw influences by various anime from the late 1970s and early 1980s; he compared the game's rural and fantastical setting and occasional scatological references to Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump, and compared the Koma Pigs to the Yatterman character Odate Buta.

Reactions to the audio were more mixed. Some were impressed by the soundtrack and considered it catchy, with Cooke declaring that the game "may set a new high water mark for platformers." Others were more apathetic, with Bro' Buzz of GamePro finding the sound effects "minimal to an extreme" and claiming that the music was "limited to one catchy but repetitive, goofy tune".

Sequel

Despite Tomba!s positive critical reception, its commercial performance proved lukewarm; the game did not sell enough copies to qualify for inclusion in Sony's Greatest Hits, although it sold well enough to justify a sequel. Whoopee Camp released Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return for the PlayStation in 1999, and the game was also met with positive reviews. However, it sold less than its predecessor and Whoopee Camp disbanded after its release. Tomba! later garnered a cult following.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

1997 video games
Fictional feral children
Metroidvania games
PlayStation (console) games
PlayStation Network games
Side-scrolling platform games
Single-player video games
Sony Interactive Entertainment games
Video games about children
Video games about curses
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Harumi Fujita
Video games set on fictional islands
Video games with 2.5D graphics
Video games with isometric graphics
Video games with oblique graphics
Video games with pre-rendered 3D graphics
MonkeyPaw Games games
Video games about pigs

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
New Book Is a Great Guide for Local Lovers of Oysters, Ecology and History
•	By Gregg MacDonald/Fairfax County Times, Oct 17, 2016
At first glance, one might mistake the Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook—by Susan Elnicki Wade and Bill Wade—as nothing more than a guidebook to restaurants that sell Chesapeake oysters. But in fact it is much, much more. It is a literary pearl that actually tells the story of one of the area's greatest environmental triumphs—the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay.
According to the authors, the inspiration for the book came from a New York City businessman who thought Chesapeake oysters were "too salty, nearly extinct, and grown in polluted waters." Wanting to educate the public about their favorite maligned bivalve, the Wades wrote a book that is part history, part oyster-eating tips, and part tour guide to Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia oysteries.
Beginning with a Cole Porter song from 1929 called The Tale of an Oyster, the Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook chronicles the rise, the fall, and the recent resurgence of Chesapeake Bay oysters. The book begins with a brief history of the Chesapeake oyster itself, pointing out along the way that Chesapeake oysters come in a wide variety of flavors depending on salinity, temperature and food sources in the area in which they are grown. Once you've settled on your favorite, the Wades offer some condiment suggestions—beyond just the usual cocktail sauce, Tabasco or lemon. The Wades serve up oysters with olive oil, salt and pepper, horseradish or even the Slurp 'n Burp—oysters, hot sauce and cocktail sauce dumped into a beer. But they warn readers off other options, like drawn butter, since cold oysters make butter congeal.
The main focus of the Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook, however, is its descriptions of local oysteries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C., including a 36-page section on Northern Virginia locations. In that section, the Wades profile such well-known names as McCormick & Schmick's McLean location (highlighting standouts on the menu like skillet-blackened redfish with blue crab salsas or seared sea scallops with crab potato hash, along with oyster selections), alongside smaller businesses like Brine in Fairfax City (serving sea scallops with seared Swiss chards, cannellini beans and oak-grilled duck with roasted grapes). Each restaurant profile begins with an atmosphere meter that rates the restaurant on a scale from flip-flop casual to black-tie formal. The profiles also typically give some history of the restaurants, menu highlights and clues to the restaurants' overall ambiance. More than just a catalog of locations however, the listing of restaurants that offer Chesapeake Bay oysters also offers some inspiring oyster history.
According to the book, in the mid-1800s, the Bay produced 20 million bushels of oysters a year. By the late 1980s, the annual catch was down to only a staggering 20,000 bushels. Following decades-long efforts to restore the Bay and use sustainable methods of harvesting oysters, the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Lovers' Handbook says that an estimated 53 million oysters hit the market in 2015, the last year for which figures were available.
Whether you are an oyster lover or not, the reclamation of the Chesapeake Bay, and the preservation of Chesapeake oysters for the enjoyment of generations to come, should inspire us all to contribute to environmental clean-up efforts whenever and wherever we can (and of course, for those inclined to go out and enjoy some local Chesapeake oysters).
New book charts Chesapeake Bay oysters, restaurants and raw bars
Whether you're a full-blown oyster lover or still a little unsure about the "other" shellfish of the Chesapeake Bay, the new "Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook" is a handy guide to exploring and enjoying bivalves of the Bay.
Along with profiles of more than 120 oyster houses and raw bars in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, authors Susan Elnicki Wade and Bill Wade also include stories and interviews with industry insiders, a little bit of history and education, a map of oyster growing regions, and a handy index and taste chart.
The meat of the pocketbook-sized 352-page book is a guide to restaurants and raw bars that carry fresh, local oysters year-round, organized by state and then region. For Maryland, that includes Baltimore, Northern Maryland, Annapolis and Eastport, DC's Maryland Suburbs and Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore.
"The Chesapeake Bay is experiencing an oyster boom time," Bill says. "Thanks to new oyster-growing techniques, the bivalve population is escalating and is available year-round, which debunks the myth that they're only eaten in months with the letter 'R.' As a result, exciting new oyster houses are popping up at an astonishing rate around the region."
While many establishments serve oysters, the Wades focused on places that incorporate Chesapeake Bay oysters as part of their identity. A restaurant may list multiple brands on its menu or highlight different ones each week on a chalkboard, Susan explains. A shucker on staff and an oyster bar also show commitment, as does serving oysters year-round.
Readers will encounter expected establishments, but are likely to discover several surprises as well. In Annapolis, for example, Susan says many oyster fans will think of O'Brien's Oyster Bar and Restaurant, but points out that Blackwall Hitch and Boatyard Bar and Grill in Eastport may be a bit more unexpected.
"Blackwall Hitch is really into oysters," Susan says, citing a huge oyster display and an oyster bar in the back of the restaurant. And while patrons of the Boatyard easily notice the big bar at the front when they enter, you have to walk around to the back of the restaurant to find the big raw bar and ice-filled cases with signs noting daily selections.
Diners will appreciate each entry's "Atmosphere Meter," which rates the establishment on a scale from casual to formal. Profiles tell why a location made the list, what to expect, and a bit of a story as well as photos.
Stories from the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry and culture
But don't think "Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook" is only a listing of places to eat oysters. Oyster enthusiasts — and those new to slurping the Bay bivalves — will learn about the rise and fall — and rise again — of the Chesapeake Bay oyster and its cultural ties to the area.
From the start the book was supposed to be more than a guidebook. "We wanted to put some of the soul of the Chesapeake Bay into it," Susan says. "We didn't want it to be straight data," which explains the Pearls of Wisdom section that includes stories and articles by experts in the oyster industry and those who celebrate the influence of the oyster, including the Eastport Oyster Boys.
Kevin "Brother Shucker" Brooks explains why the Annapolis-based music group incorporates oysters in its name and song-writing. Dylan Salmon of Dylan's Oyster Cellar in Baltimore gives his inside tricks and tips to enjoying oysters, including what to choose as toppings — and not. And Nick Schauman of The Local Oyster in Baltimore relates "a trip down memory lane" with oysters.
The introductory section also explains the creative seed for the book: an oyster taste test in New York City during a moms' trip where Rappahannocks from Virginia won hands-down among Northeastern oyster fans — and their surprise based on the misconception that Chesapeake Bay oysters weren't up to par.
That event led to Susan and Bill's desire to produce this book to "help the public understand the Chesapeake Bay oyster," Susan says, as well as "to show you where to go and what to eat." It also complements the authors' other book, "Crab Decks and Tiki Bars of the Chesapeake Bay," which is in its fourth edition.
Charting the different Chesapeake Bay oyster brands and tastes
To help oyster lovers and newbies navigate Chesapeake Bay selections, a third section includes a list of more than 70 Maryland and Virginia oyster growers and the brands they produce. A map of growing zones divides the Bay into 13 zones, with a salinity chart and taste chart to help explain the different brands' tastes — from sweet and buttery to briny — allowing users to easily order in restaurants based on their preferences.
While that may sound a bit complicated for the user, it's really not. The alphabetical taste chart makes it easy to look up each brand to see its salinity range and taste description.
The more than 100 brands of Chesapeake Bay oysters all come from one species. What makes them different is mainly where they are grown, Susan says, along with some other variations. At the top of the Chesapeake Bay, more freshwater flows into the oyster so its saltiness or salinity level is really low, Susan explains. In general, the lower the salinity, the more buttery the taste. At the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay or in the ocean is where oysters are the saltiest, such as the Chincoteagues.
Oyster lovers who want to use the book to explore the different Chesapeake Bay brands should try them "naked," Susan recommends. "Don't put any cocktail sauce or lemon on a few at first. This gives you the subtlety of the flavor without disguising anything."
A little nervous about eating oysters? "Try them fried at first," Susan says, although be sure it's at a restaurant that just dusts them with a little flour and flash fries them. "A good oyster house will not overcook them. Fried oysters help acclimate the mouth to the taste, but you're not eating them raw," she says.
One last tip from Susan: Make sure the oysters are fresh.
BYT Interviews: An Oyster Expert
Bill Wade and Susan Elnicki Wade may not be professional oyster growers or shuckers, but they certainly know what they're talking about. They've been spending most of their free time recently living the dream, researching the oyster restaurants, bars, and dives, that specialize in the delicious Chesapeake oyster for their new book The Chesapeake Oyster Lovers' Handbook.
From strip malls in Virginia, to the nicest white linen restaurants, the Wades have been immersing themselves in the oyster word, diving into it's historical, agricultural, and economical relevance. Now experts, I called them up to chat about their favorite spots, figure out how to tell good oyster bars from bad ones, laugh about the aphrodisiac myth, and in general badger them with my stupid questions. They were great sports.
What inspired you to write the book?
Susan: I don't know if you knew, Kaylee, but we also had a series of books called Crab Decks and Tiki Bars of the Chesapeake Bay?
Yes, I heard about those!
Susan: That's our original project and we started that about… four years ago?
Bill: Five years ago.
Susan: Yes, five years ago. A friend of ours said, "Why don't you guys write a book, you're always going up to the Chesapeake Bay?" That became our first book. We had a Maryland edition and a Virginia edition… and this was sort of born out of that. Out of our travels and seeing how oyster bars were popping up everywhere. Thanks to the new aqua farming they're more plentiful, they're available year round. So we thought, we should put this into a book, and that's what sparked us.
Bill: Yeah, with crab decks, you think of summer, and with this one you get to complete the cycle. Year round food out of the Bay. So it kind of came because we were just bopping around so much. In order to get the books done we would have to do a lot of off season investigation on crabs, and we were just running into the oysters over and over and over again. Then oyster festivals… And then we got more immersed in it and started meeting the oyster growers, and then we started meeting the shuckers, and before you know it, we were learning a lot about it and it falls into line with the Crab Decks book.
Susan: Crab decks are such a traditional Maryland thing, so we gravitated towards that because Bill is from Maryland. He grew up there and his parents have a boat on the Bay, so it was a part of his childhood. The oyster thing became fascinating to us because there are so many possible components. Of course they taste good, and they're good for you, but on the environmental side as well, they're a really an important factor in replenishing the waters of the Bay. They're little filter feeders. Weird fact: One little oyster can filter fifty gallons of water in a day. It's like a keg of beer a day. It's amazing. Then we got even more interested, not that we're environmentalists per se, but there's so much good that's happening here and it's really booming.
Bill: There are economic benefits too. Dead water, there wasn't really anything coming out of specific little creeks and all of a sudden they're bringing a million oysters a year out of a little tiny creek and selling them and giving people jobs. We really didn't see the oyster houses popping up, probably because they couldn't really supply enough to them and now, holy hell, we have a whole book of more than a hundred, just in the area. Now they have a guaranteed supply of oysters coming out because oyster farmers are growing them.
Why have oysters becoming so popular over the last couple of years?
Bill: I think they finally got the farming part right on a grand scale. I think, for a while there, they were dabbling in it, and they got a little bit out, and then they figured out how to get a little bit more out, and then others started copy good aqua farming practices. Then also, finally, Maryland government started making it a lot easier to get licensed to do so. Prior to the administration that just ended with O'Malley, there was, I think, five or six different agencies a Marylander who wanted to grow oysters had to go through to get licenses. It was really prohibitive. They streamlined that and all of a sudden, at least the Maryland growers, started exploding. Virginia was well ahead of Maryland in that regard.
Susan: I have another thought, just a different spin on it. I'm more the foodie here and I think everything old becomes new again. You know that phrase? Chesapeake oysters in particular, since the 1800's have been regarded as some of the finest oysters in the world, and it wasn't until the mid 20th century when they were over harvested, and the area became polluted, and disease ravaged them, that they got a bad reputation. With the aqua farming, there are all of these positive attributes, like cleaning up the water, so they're safe to eat, but there was a time when people were dubious about it. If you're to go to a restaurant now, and it cracks me up, you'll see deviled eggs, scrapple, these things that my mom used to make. It's a very 50's thing, like tiki has come back again. Sometimes we reach back a generation or two and see what they were doing and I think a little bit of that is happening with the oyster bar. Many of them of them you walk into and there's… not this Gatsby feel… because they're all different, but there's just something so decadent about sitting down with the silver tray and the ice and there's such a ritual to trying a little cocktail sauce, you know? It's a little bit of a throwback thing.
Bill: Back in the day my mom would go into a restaurant and say, "I'd like a white wine." No one asks that anymore. You ask for a specific kind or a specific vineyard. Oyster growers are jumping on that as well. Every little creek, every little indentation on the Bay, tastes a little different for each oyster, there's a little different salinity, or a little different temperature, a little bit different phytoplankton, so that's made it fun.
Susan: And oyster growers are really capitalizing on that as well. A lot of them are young or are in other careers, so they name things like Sweet Jesus or Hidden Pleasure, so they make it kind of fun and sexy to want to eat oysters again, so I think that's been part of it.
That's so funny.
Susan: I know, I know. I love looking through some of the brand names. They are so hysterical.
This is a question I was going to ask you later, because it's silly, but do you think people actually buy into the whole aphrodisiac thing?
Susan: Well… [Bill laughs] I think they do. I've read a couple of different things about it. There are nutrients in oysters that have been scientifically shown… well they can kind of help men get their groove going. I'd have to double check that for you, but there are true health benefits. Plus there's history, in the Roman times they would have orgies and eat oysters. It's partly because it looks like a girly thing and you have to open it up.
Bill: Mussels look more like a girly thing than oysters and they don't say that about mussels.
Susan: I don't know.
Bill: I think there's very thin evidence, but why not perpetuate the myth because it's more fun to do that?
Susan: Is there truth to it? I think the jury's out but some say. It's certainly better than eating a cheeseburger.
What sets Chesapeake oysters apart from other varieties like Blue Points?
Susan: In the Chesapeake Bay there is only one species of oyster, Crassostrea virginica, but they taste different depending on where they're grown and what they absorb from the waters. It's called a merroir, with wines it's called a terroir, the grapes taste different depending on the soil they're grown in. As you go up the East Coast there are other species, but it's primarily the East Coast oyster from Canada, all the way from the Northern Atlantic, all the way down to Florida and even in the Gulf. It's pretty much the same species. It's not until you go out to the West Coast that you see some different ones. It is the indigenous species of the North East.
Bill: You can imagine how a Canadian climate and its waters would produce a different tasting oyster then here.
Susan: And Bill did a really cool thing in our book. We devised a map that charts out the taste, because a lot of it is based on salinity.
Bill: I should back up and say, we thought about doing every oyster there is, but we only had so much time to do this, so we concentrated on our specialty, which was already the Chesapeake Bay. Since it's exploding we were kind of ahead on the curve on what's going on here. What I did is I took the Bay and divided it into 13 oyster growing zones and I did that by examining where oysters are being grown currently as well as salinity levels that vary among the Bay I'll often realize where the fresh water is coming off of a major river.
Susan: Let me just make one thing a little clear, the Bay, at the top of the northern part has the Susquehanna river and freshwater flowing into it. Those oysters grown near the top, are less salty, less briny because the salinity levels in the water is lower. Then as you travel down south and into mouth of the Bay where the Atlantic waters can flow in, the salinity level is higher. So that's why they have a saltier taste. That's why Chincoteagues are really briny. They're right out on the Atlantic. If you look at Barren Island oysters that are grown around Hoopers Island, which is way north of that, those are going to be fresher and more buttery. That's what Bill's map did. He made you look at the Bay from north to south and see how as the salinity grew, the richer, brinier, taste came out in the oysters. It's just a personal preference. I like the buttery ones of the north and Bill likes the briny ones of the south.
Bill: Yeah, I like them all, but this is one of the primary ways they do taste different. Even from creek to creek, if that makes any sense. So I divided the Bay into various growing regions and gave a general taste profile for each region so folks could get an idea. I think one of the fun things we did is create a taste chart. We took all the brands that we could locate, and it was quite a few, I think it was a hundred, and when we could get an exact description of what that brand tastes like directly from the grower, we included it. Otherwise we included a description standard from that region. So our idea, is that if you go to one of the oyster houses listed, and you see a menu, and you see the various names of these oysters and you have no idea what it means or what it's going to taste like, in theory you open up the back of the book and can read and say, "Oh, okay, I'd like to try this one."
Is it possible for a novice, someone who is just dipping their toe into the oyster world to tell these different flavors? Or is it something you wont notice right away?
Susan: From the first time, you can tell. One time we were out down the York river and the bartender said, "Let me show you how to really taste oysters." and he picked one from the north, then one that was farther south, and then one that was like Chincoteague south, and took us on this tour going from briny to medium to salty. That was the first time we went, "Dang, this really is different." We became after that, not obsessed, but really curious to explore the differences in flavors. But the oyster growers sometimes get really goofy when describing them. Just like wine people, and it's so goofy when you read something like "the metallic taste and finish," who wants to eat something metallic? Don't use that word!
Bill: Yeah, it's something that I really don't understand… but the uninitiated can certainly immediately tell. You go to two different regions and the uninitiated will be able to tell the difference.
Susan: I also have noticed now at oyster bars that the staff, in particular if you have a shucker, they're really excited about it and they love doing what this guy did to us for every customer that comes in. If you go down to Union Market, to the Rappahannock oyster bar down there, they only carry three, and they're all Rappahannock, but each one is different and they love explaining it to you. So I think even a novice can come in and get initiated in these oyster bars and it's kind of fun. You're exploring something new.
As a novice, how can you tell the oyster bar you're walking into knows what they're doing?
Bill & Susan: BUY OUR BOOK! [Laughter]
Susan: Buy our book, that will tell you. We really screen them out… but by the way, they are very seriously regulated now so the safety is there. Second of all, if you're ever out there's a little tag that each oyster bag is supposed to have, if you ever buy them at a farmers market, look for that tag. It should have a date, where it was grown, and what company grew them. They're really proud of those tags. By and large it's no different than going to get sushi. You can tell if a restaurant is funky.
Bill: It's not just a question of safety… you know one of the things that happened to us while we were pursuing this book, we go into a place and we say "Do you carry oysters?" they say yes, we ask what kind of oysters they carry and they say, "Um… Chesapeake oysters…" and we would just turn around and walk out and say, this is not the kind of place we want in our book. What we want in our book are not those that just happen to carry them and they don't know what's on that tag, instead they're the ones that are proud to promote the variety they're carrying and they know a little bit about it.
Susan: I found myself becoming a little militant when people tell me they've had Chesapeake oysters and I ask them what kind and they say, "Blue Points!" Those are not Chesapeake oysters, Blue Points are from Connecticut. And so I sound a little snobby… but I think if they try and sell you and say Chesapeake oysters are all the same, then you're probably not in a place that's really specializing in oysters and that was part of our criteria for the book. We wanted to make sure we were sending people where they can get oysters year round and the places that were serving them knew what they were doing, and you could get a couple different ones to try.
Whats your favorite variety of oyster?
Bill: In the book, we included oysters from the Atlantic, because there are so many grown on the barrier islands of Virginia or Maryland. Those are labeled a generic term, Chincoteague, even though there are a number of growers near Chincoteague Island. I tend to like those because they are salty. The saltier the better.
Susan: Some of the salty ones make my eyes run. I don't like them they're just a little too intense for me. Maybe I'm a wuss… I tend to like the buttery, cleaner tasting oysters. I really do hate naming names. It's like saying I like my older son better, and I don't, but if I had to I'd probably say Barren Island. I really like those.
Bill: Or the ones coming out of the Western Shore rivers. Like the Patuxent, or the York, or the Rappahannock. I think she likes more of the river oysters.
Susan: That's true, but I think I would be more general about it. I just like the buttery, crisp oysters. I still like putting cocktail sauce on mine, although you should try them naked because then you can really get the taste. And I'll take a fried oyster any day. I just think the crunch is so good. I could eat them forever.
I'm going to ask you another favorite question, so bare with me, but where is your favorite place to get oysters in DC?
Bill: Yeah, we have a favorite. It's Pearl Dive. They really know what they're doing and they're very knowledgeable and they have a variety of oysters come through, and they prepare it in so many ways. I can't tell you how many times we've gone there, ordered a plate of raw ones, tastes all the varieties, and then ordered an oyster entree too.
Susan: Their fried oysters are so freaking good. That little sampler, you get three on top with the chorizo and sweet potato, it's awesome. There's another one that I've come to love and that's Pop's in Adams Morgan. You feel like you're in any kind of diner and their oysters are fabulous.
Bill: Yeah, you've got to go. And there. you can get dollar oysters 2:30am after the bars close.
Susan: I don't know how some people do that… because if you're going to throw up, all those oysters ugh. But Pop's is a great one. It's so fun, it's so different, it's not the white linen, tiny silver fork kind of place, and that's one of the things I love about our book, we discovered some of the strangers places that were selling oysters because we didn't want them all to be McCormick & Schmidt or Oceanaire where you're paying $3 an oyster. We wanted to find the little out of the way places. That's another fun thing, not only did we find interesting restaurants, but we found interesting places. We find them in strip malls next to a Chuck E. Cheese or an H&R Block.
Bill: And then we go in and they're great.
Susan: They are!
Bill: You wouldn't have any idea you're in a strip mall.
Susan: There are places out in the suburbs where I normally get the heebie jeebies going out to, but they were really fun places. So sometimes if you're stuck out at a kids soccer game and are done with the suburb life, there are tons of oyster bars around that are really good places to go.


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text:
use strict;
use warnings;

use Cwd qw/abs_path/;
use File::Basename;
use File::Spec::Functions;

use OpenSSL::Test qw/srctop_dir srctop_file/;
use OpenSSL::Test::Utils;

use FindBin;
use lib "$FindBin::Bin/../util/perl";
use OpenSSL::fallback "$FindBin::Bin/../external/perl/MODULES.txt";
use Text::Template 1.46;

my $input_file;
my $provider;

BEGIN {
    #Input file may be relative to cwd, but setup below changes the cwd, so
    #figure out the absolute path first
    $input_file = abs_path(shift);
    $provider = shift // '';

    OpenSSL::Test::setup("no_test_here", quiet => 1);
}

use lib "$FindBin::Bin/ssl-tests";

use vars qw/@ISA/;
push (@ISA, qw/Text::Template/);

use ssltests_base;

sub print_templates {
    my $source = srctop_file("test", "ssl_test.tmpl");
    my $template = Text::Template->new(TYPE => 'FILE', SOURCE => $source);

    print "# Generated with generate_ssl_tests.pl\n\n";

    my $num = scalar @ssltests::tests;

    # Add the implicit base configuration.
    foreach my $test (@ssltests::tests) {
        $test->{"server"} = { (%ssltests::base_server, %{$test->{"server"}}) };
        if (defined $test->{"server2"}) {
            $test->{"server2"} = { (%ssltests::base_server, %{$test->{"server2"}}) };
        } else {
            if ($test->{"server"}->{"extra"} &&
                defined $test->{"server"}->{"extra"}->{"ServerNameCallback"}) {
                # Default is the same as server.
                $test->{"reuse_server2"} = 1;
            }
            # Do not emit an empty/duplicate "server2" section.
            $test->{"server2"} = { };
        }
        if (defined $test->{"resume_server"}) {
            $test->{"resume_server"} = { (%ssltests::base_server, %{$test->{"resume_server"}}) };
        } else {
            if (defined $test->{"test"}->{"HandshakeMode"} &&
                 $test->{"test"}->{"HandshakeMode"} eq "Resume") {
                # Default is the same as server.
                $test->{"reuse_resume_server"} = 1;
            }
            # Do not emit an empty/duplicate "resume-server" section.
            $test->{"resume_server"} = { };
        }
        $test->{"client"} = { (%ssltests::base_client, %{$test->{"client"}}) };
        if (defined $test->{"resume_client"}) {
            $test->{"resume_client"} = { (%ssltests::base_client, %{$test->{"resume_client"}}) };
        } else {
            if (defined $test->{"test"}->{"HandshakeMode"} &&
                 $test->{"test"}->{"HandshakeMode"} eq "Resume") {
                # Default is the same as client.
                $test->{"reuse_resume_client"} = 1;
            }
            # Do not emit an empty/duplicate "resume-client" section.
            $test->{"resume_client"} = { };
        }
    }

    # ssl_test expects to find a
    #
    # num_tests = n
    #
    # directive in the file. It'll then look for configuration directives
    # for n tests, that each look like this:
    #
    # test-n = test-section
    #
    # [test-section]
    # (SSL modules for client and server configuration go here.)
    #
    # [test-n]
    # (Test configuration goes here.)
    print "num_tests = $num\n\n";

    # The conf module locations must come before everything else, because
    # they look like
    #
    # test-n = test-section
    #
    # and you can't mix and match them with sections.
    my $idx = 0;

    foreach my $test (@ssltests::tests) {
        my $testname = "${idx}-" . $test->{'name'};
        print "test-$idx = $testname\n";
        $idx++;
    }

    $idx = 0;

    foreach my $test (@ssltests::tests) {
        my $testname = "${idx}-" . $test->{'name'};
        my $text = $template->fill_in(
            HASH => [{ idx => $idx, testname => $testname } , $test],
            DELIMITERS => [ "{-", "-}" ]);
        print "# ===========================================================\n\n";
        print "$text\n";
        $idx++;
    }
}

# Shamelessly copied from Configure.
sub read_config {
    my $fname = shift;
    my $provider = shift;
    local $ssltests::fips_mode = $provider eq "fips";
    local $ssltests::no_deflt_libctx =
        $provider eq "default" || $provider eq "fips";

    open(INPUT, "< $fname") or die "Can't open input file '$fname'!\n";
    local $/ = undef;
    my $content = <INPUT>;
    close(INPUT);
    eval $content;
    warn $@ if $@;
}

# Reads the tests into ssltests::tests.
read_config($input_file, $provider);
print_templates();

1;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
EconomyCommentary
On 1st Anniversary, China Phase One Trade Deal Has Not Aged Well
Health CareCommentary
Medicaid Waivers Provide a Pathway for Health Care Reform
Nina Owcharenko Schaefer	/ February 19, 2020
The Healthy Adult Opportunity waiver applies only to able-bodied enrollees in states that have expanded eligibility beyond the U.S. government's minimum requirements. (Photo: FatCamera/Getty Images)
Nina Owcharenko Schaefer
As a senior fellow in health policy, Nina Owcharenko Schaefer helps develop The Heritage Foundation's research and policy prescriptions on such issues as health care reform on the federal and state levels, Medicare and Medicaid, children's health and prescription drugs. Read her research.
Medicaid—the welfare program that provides health care to vulnerable, low-income individuals and families —needs to be reformed, and soon. It's consuming an ever-larger share of spending at the federal and state level and squeezing out other public policy priorities.
At the same time, many of the rules governing Medicaid limit the ability to design and manage the program in ways that reflect the diversity of those who are on it.
That's one reason why the Trump administration released its Healthy Adult Opportunity waiver to offer states a simplified process to experiment with the design and financing of their Medicaid programs.
Opponents claim this waiver will undermine Medicaid, but they're exaggerating its scope and impact. In fact, the Trump administration should do more.
This new waiver has three components:
1. Scope. The waiver applies only to a small subset of the Medicaid population—adult, able-bodied enrollees in states that have expanded eligibility beyond the federal minimum requirements. Most enrollees who fit these criteria are in those states that have adopted the Obamacare Medicaid expansion.
To put that scope into context, of the roughly 72 million people on Medicaid, about 12 million people are enrolled in the program because of the states' decision to expand coverage under Obamacare.
2. Funding. States that take up the waiver would have to choose between two new financing arrangements. Rather than the traditional open-ended financing arrangement, which leaves little fiscal control, the states could select an aggregated allotment or a per capita allotment.
Under an aggregate allotment, states would receive a fixed amount of federal funding for the targeted population. A state selecting this option would also be eligible to reinvest any savings that might accrue and reinvest those dollars back into the program. Under a per capita allotment, states would receive a fixed per person allotment from the federal government that would accommodate changes in enrollment.
3. Flexibility. In exchange for adopting these new financing arrangements, states would have at their disposal a range of programmatic policy changes, many of which have been approved under previous administrations.
States, for example, would be able to redesign the benefit package in ways that are more in line with commercial insurance, including updating enrollment and eligible standards and processes, integrating premium and cost-sharing, and streamlining new delivery and care models, such as premium support.
However, while offering relief for some, the waiver also brings with it some unintended consequences.
States, like Oklahoma, that want to help those in need but face outside pressure to expand Obamacare might see the waiver as a less controversial way to expand. Nevertheless, such a decision remains shortsighted and ill-advised.
Like most states, Oklahoma's Medicaid problems are metastasizing. Enrollment has climbed from just over 400,000 in 1997 to over 1 million in 2017, and the state's share of Medicaid costs has grown from $536 million in 1997 to $2.3 billion in 2017.
Adding an expansion population on top ignores the underlying problems and prioritizes the expansion population over shoring up and stabilizing the program for those already on it.
Finally, equally as troublesome, the waiver locks out those states that have declined the Obamacare expansion. Under this waiver, those states would receive no help.
The narrow application provides no new relief or flexibility for states that are trying to manage their existing program.
The real impact will be determined by what happens next. To minimize the unintended consequences of this waiver, the administration should quickly pivot to accelerate efforts to provide states with additional outlets for reform.
Tennessee, for example, has submitted a waiver for consideration that proposes seeking to leverage similar programmatic reforms and explore new financing arrangements for its existing Medicaid program.
The Trump administration should commit to working with nonexpansion states to extend similar program flexibility offered under the new waiver in a streamlined and fast-track process, and explore ways to allow nonexpansion states to experiment with new financing arrangements as well.
Beyond Medicaid, Georgia seeks to expand access to new coverage arrangements for its subsidized populations. Recent reports indicate there may be work still to be done to get administration approval.
This should not be a deterrent. Instead, the Trump administration should push forward with its the State Relief and Empowerment waivers, which provide states with new and innovative ways to lower costs and improve access in their insurance markets.
The new Medicaid waiver gives some states the flexibility and resources needed to better manage and tailor the way care is delivered in their Medicaid program.
But the administration should move aggressively to work with other states to open up new opportunities to bring down cost and improve the quality for care, and re-engage Congress on a permanent solution to move dollars and decisions back to the states and to patients.
Originally published by The Washington Times


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Ant-Man and the Wasp Review
Film, Reviews
The Marvel Cinematic Universe brings joy back into the franchise with Ant-Man and the Wasp. After the gut-punching finale of Avengers: Infinity War, Paul Rudd, and company deliver a great time. Marvel does not disappoint with this installment, and there certainly is plenty of fun to be had for both fans and families.
An Action-Packed Adventure
Set two years after Captain America: Civil War and before Avengers: Infinity War, Scott Lang finds himself on house arrest. Due to his capturing in Germany while helping Captain America, Ant-Man has been idle for quite some time. Hank Pym and Hope van Dyne have not contacted Scott since his capturing due to his incriminating actions on foreign soil. Of course, this won't be going on for much longer. The two have a desperate mission that must put together the newly established Wasp, alongside Ant-Man. A story about reunion, redemption, and revenge, it's a formula for another successful installment. How the film handles its villain is unique and not often seen in standalone hero movies. There are some twists and turns that make plot points interesting but it is a setup that has been seen before. Yet, where the story falls flat, its characters more than make up for it.
Small Heroes, Big Personalities
Paul Rudd's Ant-Man takes center stage, of course, but this time he has a new partner. Evangeline Lilly's Wasp plays a pivotal role in the overall story, in addition to Michael Douglas' Hank Pym. Wasp is a welcome element introduced to the film that helps to bring a new tone to the series. These three share the majority of screen time, and their charisma makes for an entertaining adventure. The highlight, on the other hand, is not in its main characters, but the supporting cast. Michael Peña, T.I., David Dastmalchian, and Randall Park steal the show. Each scene that features any of the above mentioned, bring a ton of laughs and memorable moments. Ant-Man and the Wasp shine with its actors' charisma and energy. It may not be Marvel's best film, but it is one of Marvel's best group of actors for a standalone installment.
Not-So-Little Anymore
Longtime fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will definitely feel at home with this release. There are nods to what happened after Civil War and, of course, the original Ant-Man. Mentions of other major characters help to make the universe feel much bigger, yet more connected. Superhero fatigue definitely does not take its toll here, especially since this year has already seen other major hero based movies. It's able to stand out on its own and leave fans wanting more. Viewers should obviously stay until after the credits because what happens will leave everyone wondering what might be next for the franchise.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is another meaningful addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its cast performances, new characters, and how its villain is handled are definite highlights. The plot does fall flat, but there are some memorable moments that will keep audiences entertained. Fans of comic book movies won't be disappointed and should definitely give it a watch.
An action-packed film that features a great cast and memorable moments. Another great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Cast Performances
New Characters
Handling of Villain
Predictable Plot
3.5Good
Ant-Man and the WaspAvengers: Infinity WarEvangeline LillyMarvelMarvel Cinematic UniverseMCUMichael DouglasMichael PenaPaul RuddPeyton Reed
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Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust
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The Trust works with land managers, farmers and organisations across Hertfordshire and Middlesex to help them improve their habitats for wildlife.
Farmers - We're working with a number of farmers across Hertfordshire who have built their businesses with wildlife in mind. It makes sense for wildlife and for business too. Read more about our work with local farmers is our Living Landscapes section
Local authorities - We provide advice to local authorities on how to incorporate measures for wildlife. The Trust produced a Biodiversity Action Plan for Stevenage Borough Council and we are currently working with Harpenden Town Council on a management plan for Harpenden Common.
Other partners - Through our conservation projects and consultancy work we advise a wide range of organisations including schools, local action groups, businesses and other conservation organisations, providing expert habitat management advice and in some cases coordinating hands-on practical support.
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There are over 1,800 Local Wildlife Sites in Hertfordshire most of which are in private ownership. They do not have legal protection like Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Nature Reserves but they complement these protected sites and provide vital linkages between habitats. We advise Local Wildlife Site owners on how best to manage their land for wildlife and we carry out surveys to monitor biodiversity. Currently only about 30% of Local Wildlife Sites in the county are managed positively for wildlife (in Positive Conservation Management, or PCM). We want to see this percentage increase.
Local Wildlife Sites Map 2018
Our Local Wildlife Sites team conduct botanical surveys and write reports advising and supporting landowners on how to improve their sites for wildlife. They also monitor the sites to assess and address any changes that may have occurred and ensure that the sites are recognised in the planning process.
Contact our Wildlife Sites Officer
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Monitoring Wildlife
Nature Reserve Surveying
Monitoring is vital for the protection of our local wildlife. It allows us to see over time how well our habitats and species are doing. Data collected through surveys of species and habitats can help us to manage our nature reserves effectively, advise others and plan for the future.
Surveying is essentially recording what wildlife is found on a site, be that a habitat or a species. Doing surveys regularly allows us to look at changes in those species or habitats over time, as part of a structured monitoring programme. This can help us to find out if there has been a change in populations and determine whether this is due to the effects of management or natural variation. Surveys of groups of species including birds, butterflies, protected species and plants are important for establishing whether or not habitats are in a good condition.
Where to send your sightings
Hertfordshire Natural History Society has a network of volunteer recorders, who are experts on specific groups of species and collate and co-ordinate records. They are also willing to assist with identification of the more unusual species. Visit the Herts Natural History Society website to submit your sightings.
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The Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust Limited (Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust), a registered charity in England and Wales (239863). A company incorporated and registered in England and Wales (company number 816710). Registered address Grebe House, St. Michael's Street, St. Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4SN.