text:
, Life Is Strange (season 1)
This is the 2017 RPG where you are a cat going on adventures in a land of cats.
I often joke about a project's "originality capital". The joke is that a project can only "afford" to be creative about so many things, and then it runs out of capital. So if a movie has a wildly original narrative structure, welp, there goes your budget; now everything else has to be by the numbers.
Cat Quest is a single-player RPG that unabashedly spends all its capital on two things: (1) filling the game with adorable cats, and (2) filling the text with groan-worthy cat puns. And with that, the cupboard is bare, and the rest of the game is as generic as possible. There are the usual fetch quests, the usual "kill more things to get more power to kill more things" grind cycle, the usual assortments of magical whatsits that make your punches punchier and your magic magicker. There are the usual arbitrary cutoff points that make it so that getting to level <x> unlocks region <y>, which in turn lets you kill bigger things to get even more power to kill even more things.
Even if you've never played this game, you've played this game.
But the cats are adorable, the puns are relentless, and the game adopts a consistent tone of pleasant silliness. You know if you're down for about eight hours of this or not.
The very strange thing is, I think there's actually some decent storytelling in this game. I say "very strange" because, only some time after finishing the main quest, I realized that the game had really just been a story about a cat that loves its human very much — and if I can't be moved by that, then truly my heart is a stone. And they put in the work to do some good world-building, and the story is actually well-constructed, with interesting surprises.
And again, this feels *weird*, because when you're playing it, the story feels like chaotic garbage. You can't even really follow it — it's just so many random names and arbitrary events being thrown around. And here's what's especially weird: most of the storytelling is done via characters literally telling you the story via exposition-dumps. It is the most direct, cut-and-dry way for them to get this surprisingly-decent plot across to you — like reading a wikipedia page, spaced out through eight hours of dialog.
And somehow, that direct info-dump led to "I have no idea what's going on", and only later thinking, "Wait, there were things to really like about that story."
I suppose part of the problem is that character-exposition-dumps are the most inactive, lifeless way to tell a story, so it's hard to resist peevishly clicking past the latest guardcat telling you about some ancient cat legend. And part of it, too, is that there's a lot of arbitrary garbage in the story — forcing you to do <x> number of fetch quests before you can, say, learn to walk on water. (And yes, "cats walking on water" is a thing in this story — more arbitrary weirdness.)
In any case, just treat it as a slight, pun-filled romp, and assuming you don't mind stretches of arbitrary grinding and minimal challenge, you'll have fun with Cat Quest.
Life Is Strange (season 1)
This is an episodic choice-based walking simulator about a teenage girl who discovers, during a school shooting, that she can briefly rewind time. Meanwhile, her town harbors dark secrets, and she's having persistent visions of an oncoming tornado...
Yeah, "choice-based walking simulator" is not my best phrasing. I mean basically a Telltale-style game. ("Great, what's a 'Telltale-style game'?) So, it's a walking simulator, in that the main mechanics are to explore your environment, solve simple puzzles that old Infocom geeks would scoff at, and gradually piece together the story from the objects and documents you find. But it's choice-based, meaning that the game often offers your character choices — sometimes trivial (bacon or pancakes for breakfast?), and sometimes deeply significant (in many cases, literally life-or-death).
I liked this game a lot. After the addictive nightmare of The Talos Principle, I loved getting lost in an addictive game that felt like it was *rewarding* my time with competent, engaging storytelling.
At its best, it was like Freaks and Geeks meets Photopia.
No, it wasn't nearly as good as Freaks and Geeks at actively rejecting teen-drama tropes and stereotypes, but it feels like it has a similar goal: it wants to place itself in the lived experience of being eighteen. It wants to sit in those awkward conversations, in not knowing who to hang out with at lunch, in tentative and uncertain attempts at romance, in dreams and goals that feel simultaneously stupid and all-encompassing.
Photopia, on the other hand, was one of the first great "puzzle-light" games in the interactive fiction community. In retrospect, it's sort of the text-game equivalent of a walking simulator — if I recall correctly, Photopia barely even *has* puzzles. Instead, it uses the text-game format to let you really *live* in the story, exploring details about the world around you, interacting with NPCs, giving a simple event the weight of lived experience.
Again, Life Is Strange, at its best, had both of these qualities working together. You were seeing a version of teen life that lacked the aspirational sheen of any number of teen soaps, and you were experiencing it in a first-person perspective that gave you a strong connection to the story down to its most mundane details.
And it was almost like those 'grounding' traits were doing battle with other aspects of the story.
For example, the writing is... not unassailable. Most of the students in Blackwell Academy at least start as complete teen stereotypes — the jock, the punk, the cheerleader, the nerd, the good Christian girl, the mean girl, the mean-girl minions, and on and on and on. But I think that's forgivable — if you have a large cast, it's often *best* to start with quick archetype sketches, and then deepen the characters from there (see also: the LOST pilot). That said, Life Is Strange rarely bothers to add much nuance to those initial impressions. And in the few cases when they do — like when they explore Victoria's insecurity — those traits are often just other aspects of the same, known stereotype.
The graphics put everything pretty firmly into the uncanny valley, with vaguely floaty body language and almost no facial articulation. It's kind of like watching full-screen Sims with a peculiar penchant for wobbling. And honestly, the dialog is analogous to the graphics — out of whack, off-key, uncanny-valley. The kids reference 80s and 90s pop culture that would make perfect sense for a 30-something screenwriter, but not for somebody born when, well, Freaks and Geeks aired. "Hella" gets used way more than anyone of any age would or should use it.
And the plot goes nuts. Yes, there's time-travel. But then there's a crazy drug-dealer, and natural disasters, and a serial killer, and a rape video, and alternate timelines... if you tell someone the plot of Life Is Strange, you suddenly feel like you're recounting a telenovela as written by Hunter S. Thompson.
And I feel like the clearest 'battle' is between those aspects that ground the story and the gonzo plot elements that start with a school shooting and only get gonzo-er from there. In the early episodes, the tone and the immersion can make the crazy stuff *feel* normal and convincing. But, around the time the multiple moons appear in the sky[1], it's hard to keep buying into the story any more. Yes, it's still fun, but you're acutely aware that you're watching a story.
That said, I loved how they ramped up the time-travel powers over the course of the game. If this were strictly a puzzle game, then Max would just be able to reverse bits of time, and that mechanic would power the whole game start to finish — you'd just learn different things to use the power for, and internalize different tricky techniques you could do with it. (Think Portal, but with time.) But this is a narrative game, so Max has pretty much whatever powers serve the story. And I really dug the slow progression of things (here we get into more serious spoilers), from reversing time, to stopping time, to straight-up time travel.
And there's a similar ramp-up to the story itself getting fractured and surreal as the time-travel gets more powerful. I loved the alternate-timeline scenario, and I loved all the narrative-fracturing games in the last episode. Doing Inception-esque time travel within time travel within time travel felt like a natural exploration of that power, and I absolutely adored the hard turn into a complete surreal tone-poem towards the end. Nothing made any narrative sense, you were just slipping through tweaked variations on story elements that you'd already experienced. Yes, I get that they were saving money by re-using existing assets, but it did a perfect job of putting the entire series back into your head and making you wonder what it all added up to.[2]
What I liked best about this game was how it reminded me what it was like to be young. My teenage years seem so, so far away now that I just remember bits and pieces — brief images and cringing embarrassments — and mostly it's lost in a smear of "I was sad all the time and read a lot." Sure the game was clumsy in places, but it often put me back in my *own* past, recalling growing up in a small town in Kentucky.[3]
And it was neat, too, to see the contrasts — what it's like now to grow up always connected all the time, and with the looming specter of school shootings. I was amused that I kept expecting a big reveal to be that one or both of the leads was gay, and then realized no, they could both be more fluid with their sexuality, because they weren't growing up in the south in the early eighties, with everyone desperately performing their gender against a constant background hum of gay panic.
I often feel like the whole *world* is in the throes of that giant killer tornado, but maybe the kids are alright.
In any case, for its flaws, I was moved by this more than any game I've played since Gone Home, and any media of any type since Lady Bird. I cried a lot, but in a good way. The first season is $20, and is well worth your valuable time.
For next week: I'll be on the road (Maine!) so I'm not taking in a lot in the way of media, but I have a lot of stuff to catch up on. There are a couple more plays I prep-read for The Well-Made Play. I've finished the first seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Mister Robot, so I need to write about those, as well as the comic The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. I'm currently reading The Final Days, the Woodward and Bernstein book about the end/collapse of the Nixon presidency.
[1] "Ah, now *everyone* in fake-Astoria, Oregon knows what it's like to have astigmatism."
[2] Weirdly, that sort of slippery, dream-logic anti-storytelling is something that improv excels at, but I've never seen that sort of abstract non-narrative deployed in a narrative improv show. (Spirited came close.)
[3] ... itself frequently beset by tornadoes.
", "url": "https://hujhax.livejournal.com/1033091.html", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/sign.png" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Peter", "image": "https://l-userpic.livejournal.com/78221222/3805119" }, "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Journal hujhax", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://hujhax.livejournal.com", "contentUrl": "https://l-stat.livejournal.net/img/userpics/userpic-user.png" } } }
Peter ( hujhax) wrote,
hujhax
Music: none
Games: Cat Quest, Life Is Strange (season 1)
Tags: media update, weekly


Hey, this is a really amazing and informative post I've found recently. The t-shirt design tools you have described here are useful, they are helpful in creating custom designs for tees and would like to add one more which really helps in designing t-shirt by your own that is https://www.no-refresh.com. I was looking for such a thing, thanks for providing this useful article.
Hello Julia, This is a very useful post for those who are looking for his own idea to print on to his/her T-shirt. Thanks for this informative post.
I want to design around 15 t shirts for my staff..want to write company name on tshirt with thr sizes..
Thank you for this helpful tips!
Great Idea for Business Purpose. thank you for same above.
A lot of information there thanks. When it came to printing t-shirts for my companies annual picnic the funny design is what everyone remembered, so find a good designer was key and luckily we did that.


text:
Cahill proud of progress but torn by tragedy back home
Everton's star Australian says the deaths in bush fires have led him to question the importance of his chosen profession
Everton's Tim Cahill shows his black armband, worn as a mark of respect to those killed by the Australian bushfires. Photograph: Neal Simpson/EMPICS Sport/PA Photos
Andy Hunter
@AHunterGuardian
Mon 16 Feb 2009 19.10 EST
In the space of five days, Tim Cahill gained a precious World Cup point in Japan and sealed Everton's place in the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2002. It is a period that reflects the continued rise of a career that blossomed late for the Australian and his growing influence for club and country. But he sees no cause for celebration. Not when the deaths of 189 people back home have left him to question the importance of his profession.
Cahill dedicated his goal against Aston Villa on Sunday to the victims of the bush fires in Victoria. His mind remained fixed on Australia while his team-mates celebrated their unlikely passage past Aston Villa with a depleted team and being given a home draw against Middlesbrough or West Ham United in the last eight of the competition.
As eloquent off the pitch as he is productive on it, the 29-year-old admits the disaster has had a profound effect. He remains torn, for instance, over the fact that he played in Yokohama last Wednesday while his compatriots back in Australia were dealing with the disaster, and is already planning fund-raising events around the national team's next World Cup qualifiers on home soil.
As the first Australian to score in a World Cup and a Premier League success story with a profile to match, his tribute at Goodison – when he dispensed with his trademark boxing celebration to point to a black armband – did not go unnoticed in his homeland. That he could offer little more is a source of guilt.
"Football means nothing when situations are going on like this," Cahill said. "The armband was just something little in tribute to the families who have lost someone and to tell the people in Australia that I'm mourning. I've got kids as well and coming from Australia it's always going to be something that touches my heart and I'm very emotional.
"It was probably one of the hardest moments of our careers being in Japan last week when there's so many people dying while we were in the air and bodies are still being found now. It was hard for us to understand whether we really should have played that game but we did and we got a great result, but still now it seriously turns my stomach thinking about it. Every single player wore the armband in tribute and we will fight on together. That's what we do. The army, the prime minister, cricket – every single sport – is involved in it in Australia."
Cahill and the Australia national squad are planning fund-raising events for the victims in April, when they host Uzbekistan in a World Cup qualifier, but for now it is Everton who occupy his professional duties and who, as the FA Cup defeat of Villa proved, are increasingly reliant on the spring-heeled talent from Sydney.
Seven goals this season do not begin to reflect Cahill's influence on a side who are bereft of forward options, with his selfless performances in attack pivotal to the remarkable recovery David Moyes has prompted at Goodison Park in recent months. "I thought Tim was absolutely outstanding at centre-forward against Villa," the Everton manager said. It is a contribution Cahill did not expect to make at all, however.
"The thing people don't understand is that this year I really just wanted to get fit and aim to have a massive season next year," said the Australia international, who had suffered three fractures to the same metatarsal inside 12 months before this campaign began and whose sharpness was sorely missed as Everton stumbled through this season's opening.
Moyes recently compared Cahill's influence on Everton to that of Steven Gerrard across Stanley Park, in terms of his vital goals and presence in the dressing room rather than their particular qualities on the field.
The midfielder himself preferred to divert praise for Everton's outstanding display against Villa towards such players as Jack Rodwell and Dan Gosling, the inexperienced teenagers who, like Cahill during Millwall's run to the 2004 FA Cup final, which they lost to Manchester United, have risen to prominence in this season's competition.
"The kids have done well for us in the FA Cup so far this season, not just the ones who are in the team but on the bench too," Cahill said. "They're not 'kids' any more though, they're starting to step up to the responsibility.
"They're treated the same as us and that's the best thing. They're part of the hard times and the good times and hopefully now they're making the game far better."
Australia sport

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


�State police charged two women Friday with harassment after they got into a pushing and punching match in Frankfort Springs.
Those charged are Megan Reed, 20, and Carrie West, 25, both of Burgettstown.
Police reported the two got into an argument around midnight at 106 Logue Road and pushed and punched each other several times. Both had minor injuries.


text:
Q: Helm chart variable definitions I am creating an helm chart that should install 2 services.
It has a dependency that first postgresql service will be installed.
Then the other service should use the database user,password,hostname and port for the postgresql service installed.
Since I need to get these details run time I.e soon installed postgresql service of course user details I will use as env variables, hostname and port to be used once postgresql is deployed.
I tried using some template functions and subchart concepts that I got from different sites.. but nothing is solving the requirement.
Is there any examples that I can get to match the above requirement ?

A: There are a couple of ways you could do this, for ex. using a InitContainer to check if DB is up, but I will show you with a sample example in the charts. I am using Wordpress Chart as an example
    livenessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /wp-login.php
        port: http
      initialDelaySeconds: 120
      timeoutSeconds: 5
      failureThreshold: 6
    readinessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /wp-login.php
        port: http
      initialDelaySeconds: 30
      timeoutSeconds: 3
      periodSeconds: 5

I have removed some lines for brevity.
The readiness probe will start acting after a initialDelaySeconds of 30 seconds, will check every periodSeconds i.e. 5 seconds to see if the page responds. Unless the readiness probe succeeds, the traffic won't be sent to this pod. If the probe succeeds then we are good.
The second check - liveness probe does something more. It is starting 120 seconds after the pod is deployed. But if the check fails, it will restart the pod and it will restart failureThreshold times i.e. 6 times.
Coming back to your question and how to solve this:

*

*Use liveness and readiness probes in the applications which are dependent on the database

*Use some defaults based on your experience and optimize them as you go.

More information about the readiness and liveness probes can be found here

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Securing Support with Life Insurance: The Dagg v. Cameron Estate Case
https://www.mannlawyers.com/resources/securing-support-with-life-insurance-the-dagg-v-cameron-estate-case/
Mann Lawyers > Securing Support with Life Insurance: The Dagg v. Cameron Estate Case
| Family Law
Kate Wright
When negotiating a Separation Agreement, a client's primary concern centers often around the payment of child and/or spousal support. If there is support to be paid, it is important to ensure that there is a plan in place for that support to continue in the event of the death of the person who is paying support, called the "payor", prior to the termination of support obligations. This is often done through life insurance. It is common practice to include provisions in Separation Agreements or Court Orders that the payor of child and/or spousal support will maintain the recipient of support as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy in order to secure the payor's support obligations. For example, if the husband is required to pay support, he may also be required to obtain a life insurance policy and name his spouse as irrevocable beneficiary of the policy so that if he dies, the spouse will have sufficient funds for his or her support.
The issue of security for support was raised in the case of Dagg v. Cameron Estate. In particular, the question was where a support payor owns a life insurance policy and is required to name the support recipient as irrevocable beneficiary of the policy, what rights does the support recipient have to the policy proceeds in the face of a competing claim of another dependant of the deceased payor brought under the Succession Law Reform Act ("SLRA"). In this case, the first wife had an Order for support and the payor was required to maintain her as beneficiary of a life insurance policy to secure his support obligations. The payor also, however, had a second wife who made a claim as a dependent after the death of the payor. In the face of competing claims, the court was left to interpret the provisions of the Succession Law Reform Act.
This case has made its way from the trial level, to the Divisional Court and finally to the Ontario Court of Appeal. The decisions of the courts at the trial level and Divisional Court caused great concern for family law practitioners on how to properly advise clients on security for support obligations. On May 5th, 2017, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision, which has helped to alleviate some of that concern.
Here are the facts of the case:
The deceased person in this case was Stephen Cameron. Stephen died on November 23, 2013 at the age of 48 years old after a brief battle with cancer.
In January 2012, Stephen had separated from his wife, Anastasia. Stephen and Anastasia had been married for 8 years and had two children together. Shortly after his separation from Anastasia, Stephen began a relationship with Evangeline Dagg, who was the Applicant in the Court case. In April 2013, Evangeline became pregnant with their child.
In February 2013, Anastasia had obtained a temporary order on consent for child and spousal support. The Order required that Stephen maintain Anastasia as irrevocable beneficiary on any life insurance policy. A final Order was eventually issued, with the requirement for Stephane to maintain Anastasia as irrevocable beneficiary to continue.
Sadly, in November 2013, Stephen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On November 15, 2013, Stephen changed his life insurance so that on his death, Evangeline would be entitled to 53.6 percent of the insurance money and Anastasia, Derek and Meaghan (the children) would be entitled to the combined total remaining 43.6 percent. Anastasia became aware of the change to the designation and on November 20, 2013, obtained an Order requiring the insurance company to restore her as the sole beneficiary of Stephen's life insurance policy. Stephen died on November 23, 2013.
Under the Succession Law Reform Act, amounts from an insurance policy can be taken back, or "clawed back", into the estate for the support of a dependant. Evangeline, in making her application for dependant's relief, included a request that the proceeds of Stephen's insurance policy be clawed back into the estate and be available for the claim for support. Anastasia opposed the claim and argued that she was a creditor of the estate with respect to the insurance policy, given the Order for support and that as such, the claw back should not be permitted.
The trial judge and Divisional Court held that Anastasia could not be characterized as a creditor, given that Stephen was the owner of the life insurance policy. As such, the claw back provisions of the SLRA applied. This was extremely concerning for family law practitioners given the numerous agreements and Orders in which support obligations were secured by an insurance policy.
Fortunately, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the decisions of the lower court and held that Anastasia was a creditor with respect to the amount required to satisfy the deceased person's support obligations. The Court of Appeal did not have to determine what that amount would be in this case as the parties had settled and the Court's decision was only with respect to the correct interpretation of the provisions in the SLRA.
It should be noted that while in this case, the support and insurance provisions were in a court order, the decision should equally apply to terms of a Separation Agreement.
So what does this mean for parties who are negotiating support? First, the decision makes it clear that where there is a requirement to maintain a life insurance policy to secure support, that policy will be protected from the claw back provisions of the SLRA, insofar as is required to satisfy the support obligation, either arrears or for future support. Secondly, in its decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal noted that it is open to parties to structure their affairs in a manner that will avoid the claw back provisions of the SLRA, by transferring ownership of the policy to a dependent spouse or a trustee or by transferring the ownership to joint names.
This blog post was written by Kate Wright, a member of the Family Law, Wills and Estates and Litigation teams. She can be reached at 613-369-0383 or at kate.wright@mannlawyers.com.


text:
Biografia
È stato ordinato sacerdote il 21 luglio 1963, consacrato vescovo il 6 aprile 1975.

Il 12 dicembre 1974 papa Paolo VI lo ha nominato vescovo di Wau, incarico che ha mantenuto fino al 30 ottobre 1979 ovvero fino alla sua nomina ad arcivescovo coadiutore di Khartoum.

Il 10 ottobre 1981 è succeduto alla medesima sede.

È stato presidente della Conferenza Episcopale Sudanese dal 1978 al 1989, dal 1993 al 1999 e dal 2012 al 2016.

Papa Giovanni Paolo II lo ha innalzato alla dignità cardinalizia nel concistoro del 21 ottobre 2003.

Il 10 dicembre 2016 papa Francesco ha accolto la sua rinuncia al governo pastorale dell'arcidiocesi di Khartoum per raggiunti limiti di età.

Il 27 febbraio 2021 compie 80 anni ed esce dal novero dei cardinali elettori in un futuro conclave.

Genealogia episcopale e successione apostolica
La genealogia episcopale è:
 Cardinale Scipione Rebiba
 Cardinale Giulio Antonio Santori
 Cardinale Girolamo Bernerio, O.P.
 Arcivescovo Galeazzo Sanvitale
 Cardinale Ludovico Ludovisi
 Cardinale Luigi Caetani
 Cardinale Ulderico Carpegna
 Cardinale Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni
 Papa Benedetto XIII
 Papa Benedetto XIV
 Papa Clemente XIII
 Cardinale Bernardino Giraud
 Cardinale Alessandro Mattei
 Cardinale Pietro Francesco Galleffi
 Cardinale Giacomo Filippo Fransoni
 Cardinale Carlo Sacconi
 Cardinale Edward Henry Howard
 Cardinale Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro
 Cardinale Rafael Merry del Val
 Arcivescovo Duarte Leopoldo e Silva
 Arcivescovo Paulo de Tarso Campos
 Cardinale Agnelo Rossi
 Cardinale Gabriel Zubeir Wako

La successione apostolica è:
 Vescovo Daniel Marco Kur Adwok (1993)
 Vescovo Edward Hiiboro Kussala (2008)
 Arcivescovo Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria (2010)
 Vescovo Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku Andali (2017)
 Vescovo Matthew Remijio Adam Gbitiku, M.C.C.I. (2021)
 Vescovo Christian Carlassare, M.C.C.I. (2022)
 Vescovo Alex Lodiong Sakor Eyobo (2022)
 Vescovo Emmanuel Bernardino Lowi Napeta (2023)

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Zubeir Wako, Gabriel

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The tradition of self knowledge encourages enquiry and asking questions.
When you ask a question you open the door for dialogue, which is a flow of meaning.
How do you keep your integrity in daily life when you have a close family member who is very short tempered and loses his temper for nothing at all?


Have you ever been to a St. Joseph Table? Chances are if you're Sicilian or of Sicilian descent, you have! Why is the St. Joseph Statue below upside down? Tune in to find out. . . . Today we learn of some traditions associated with St. Joseph, Foster Father of Jesus Christ. We'll go over the saints for the week in the Roman Catholic Calendar, and more St. Jeopardy. . . .


Let's say for example, that I want to run this roman numeral conversion script in the footer of my site so that the copyright year is automatically converted into roman numerals. Then for fun, I want to include this random number game on one of my pages. Unfortunately this scenario poses a problem. Both scripts use a global function called Init().
The traditional way of getting around this problem was renaming the functions to something more specific. So the Init()s would become InitRoman() and InitRand() respectively for both scripts. But not only is that annoying to have to do–especially if it isn't your own code–but it's also very messy.
Now isn't that a lot nicer to look at and work with? With encapsulation you get to keep your Init() function name for both scripts without any conflicts.
The only thing is, of course, that if you're copying and pasting scripts from all over the 'net you're kind of at the mercy of the authors of those scripts and will be waiting a long time for them to apply encapsulation to their existing code.


text:
Q: Why is this buffer initialized in the following manner? I could see the following initialization in javax.crypto.CipherInputStream (Line 77)
private byte[] ibuffer = new byte['Ȁ'];

What does Ȁ mean, and why is the buffer initialised in this way?

A: It's a char converted to int. The value is 512

A: From this source code : javax/crypto/CipherInputStream.java, this array is initialized with
 /* the buffer holding data that have been read in from the
  underlying stream, but have not been processed by the cipher
  engine. the size 512 bytes is somewhat randomly chosen */

 private byte[] ibuffer = new byte[512];

512 is the integer value of character 'Ȁ', so it is the same initialization.
Try : System.out.println((char) 512);

A: This is a problem with decompilers, they only look at the bytecode and try to reconstruct the source.
If you look at the original source in javax.crypto.CipherInputStream (Line 77), you will see that the line is originally
 private byte[] ibuffer = new byte[512];

'Ȁ' is of the type char, and if you cast it to int, it has the value of 512. Your decompiler reconstructed one possible way to generate that bytecode - but in this case, no sane programmer would write it that way (except when golfing or deliberately obfuscating the code).


text:
Colonoscopy. The Olympus video colonoscope was inserted through the anus and was advanced in retrograde fashion through the sigmoid colon, descending colon, around the splenic flexure, into the transverse colon, around the hepatic flexure, down the ascending colon, into the cecum.
Colonoscopy. The Olympus video colonoscope then was introduced into the rectum and passed by directed vision to the cecum and into the terminal ileum.
History of polyps. Total colonoscopy and photography. Normal colonoscopy, left colonic diverticular disease. 3+ benign prostatic hypertrophy.
Colonoscopy. History of colon polyps and partial colon resection, right colon. Mild diverticulosis of the sigmoid colon. Hemorrhoids.
Colonoscopy. Change in bowel habits and rectal prolapse. Normal colonic mucosa to the cecum.
Colonoscopy. Rectal bleeding and perirectal abscess. Normal colonoscopy to the terminal ileum. Opening in the skin at the external anal verge, consistent with drainage from a perianal abscess, with no palpable abscess at this time, and with no evidence of fistulous connection to the bowel lumen.
Universal diverticulosis and nonsurgical internal hemorrhoids. Total colonoscopy with photos. The patient is a 62-year-old white male who presents to the office with a history of colon polyps and need for recheck.
Possible inflammatory bowel disease. Polyp of the sigmoid colon.. Total colonoscopy with photography and polypectomy.
Colonoscopy with terminal ileum examination. Iron deficiency anemia. Following titrated intravenous sedation the flexible video endoscope was introduced into the rectum and advanced to the cecum without difficulty.
Colonoscopy in a patient with prior history of anemia and abdominal bloating.


Last year, I crafted some eco-friendly Easter crafts for Parents magazine. They're easy to make and utilize items that you probably have in your recycle bin! These little felt-eared egg bunnies are sitting in grass cuffs made from toilet paper and paper towel tubes. You can find the instructions here (and a video here).


text:
Q: How to Integrate Visual c++ to eclipse for opengl programming I am trying to Integrate visual c++ to eclipse for opengl programming . . here are the steps I did..

*

*created a new project in eclipse.

*added these lib path and libraries in settings of the project properties

*

*C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC\lib

*C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Lib

*C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Lib\Kernel32.Lib
  copied the glut libs to its respective places..

so far  a simple c++ program worked .. but when I try to execute a simple opengl program
#include <glut.h>

void Draw(void);
int main(int argc, char **argv) {
    glutInit(&argc,argv);
    glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_SINGLE | GLUT_RGB);
    glutInitWindowSize(250,250);
    glutInitWindowPosition(200,200);
    glutCreateWindow("Tutorial");
    glutDisplayFunc(Draw);
    glutMainLoop();

}

void Draw(void) {

}

what possibly could be the problem?

A: I found the solution .. everything was right but my system Is 64 bit windows 8. and I copied the glut.dll to system32 folder, but it should be placed in sysWOW64 . Now it works..


text:
The Hizb-i Islami Deal: Dawn of Reconciliation or Sunset of NUG? | Antonio Giustozzi
How the deal came about
Although the on-going negotiations between the Afghan authorities and the leadership of the illegal wing of Hizb-i Islami were only announced to the public in March 2016, in reality President Ghani was already in touch with Hekmatyar during the electoral campaign of 2014. Sources in Hekmatyar's party hint that Ghani's team sought Hekmatyar's support for Ghani's campaign in exchange for a promise to seriously discuss reconciliation if Ghani was to be elected president. Hekmatyar in fact had been seeking reconciliation with Kabul for several years, but never managed to finalise a deal with President Karzai. Within Hizb-i Islami now there is some bitterness against Karzai, whom they accuse of having deliberately delayed reconciliation before 2014. Karzai is accused of having seen Hekmatyar as a potential rival for the leadership of Afghanistan's Pashtuns. Sources closer to Karzai on the other hand accuse Hekmatyar of having made excessive demands in terms of appointments to positions of power.
Whatever the case, in contrast to Karzai, the embattled Ghani had good reasons for following through on his promise to seriously discuss reconciliation with Hizb-i Islami: he needed a success story given the lacklustre performance of the NUG and the deteriorating security situation in the country; he needed potential new allies (once he decided to run for a second term) and could see some advantage in the potential emergence of another large party to counter-balance the power of Jamiat-i Islami. The prospect of reconciling Hizb-i Islami was seen positively by at least two of Ghani's international allies: United States and Saudi Arabia.
By the time negotiations were made public, they were already fairly advanced. Hekmatyar's June 2016 'withdrawal' from negotiations was probably more theatre than anything else. Although it took several more months to sign the deal and then implement it, the problem was not between Ghani and Hekmatyar, but was related to the opposition or the doubts of some components of the NUG to the deal, particularly Jamiat-i Islami that fought against Hekmatyar's group in the 1980s and 1990s.
The deal behind the curtain
The agreement formally signed between Hizb-i Islami and the Afghan authorities in September 2016 was widely circulated. Its content appears rather unremarkable given Hekmatyar's notoriety. There is not much in it to discuss: the removal of sanctions on Hekmatyar, full amnesty for all its members, the acceptance of the Constitution by the party, the dissolution of the party's armed organisation and its recognition as a legal organisation fully entitled to participate in the legal process. The text importantly does not mention any power sharing with Hizb-i Islami.
Although critics have commented that the agreement gave a lot to Hizb-i Islami, in fact one wonders reading the agreement why Hekmatyar signed it. One explanation is that Hizb-i Islami had been facing financial difficulties for years and was struggling to maintain its organisation. Indeed the contribution of Hizb-i Islami to the overall insurgency in Afghanistan had been declining for years and by 2016 was negligible. While financial difficulties are certainly a factor in the reconciliation, Hizbi sources say that the official agreement was supported by another, undisclosed agreement according to which Hizb-i Islami would support Ghani in the forthcoming presidential elections, that it would receive appointments to positions of power (ministers, governors, ambassadors…) and that it would receive substantial financial support from a foreign third party (Saudi Arabia). The undisclosed agreement, if true, would explain why the deal actually took place and why it became so controversial.
More than reconciliation
Although the exact content of the undisclosed agreement, if it really exists, is unknown, it is a commonly held suspicion in Afghanistan that the official agreement is not the whole story. There have been clear signs that Hekmatyar has taken President Ghani's side during his June-July diatribe with Jamiat-i Islami and some other components of the NUG. This suggests that a political alliance between Ghani and Hekmatyar is really in the cards. Rumours of substantial Saudi funding to accrue to Hizb-i Islami in the near future are also widespread.
Parties and groups like Jamiat-i Islami fear that what is going on is much more than reconciliation. They fear the emergence of a new coalition centered around Ghani in the forthcoming elections, incorporating a reunified Hizb-i Islami (the legal Arghandiwal wing and the formerly illegal Hekmatyar wing), which could well become the dominant political force in the country. The fact that Hizb-i Islami's armed groups have not been disbanded or disarmed also raises fears among Hekmatyar's rivals of an intent to turn the party's armed wing into yet another semi-legal militia, competing with those of Jamiat-I Islami, Junbesh-I Milli and other groups. Indeed Hekmatyar hinted that he might deploy his men in the street against demonstrators affiliated to Jamiat and other groups in June.
Underpinning the fears of Jamiat-i Islami and other groups are the already cited rumours of the Saudi authorities undersigning the reconciliation agreement and being ready to bankroll Hizb-i Islami's transformation into a Hamas-style political machine. The talks are of a large madrasa and of an Islamic University with branches in the provinces to be built by the Saudis for Hekmatyar's party, as well as of the Saudis picking up the party's bills. While external funding for Afghanistan's political parties is nothing new, the rumours and admissions made by party members in off-the-record interviews suggest that a qualitative change might be about to occur, if Saudi funding were to flow at rates never seen before. Whether or not this will really happen remains to be seen, but it would make sense. Hekmatyar has been adopting a strongly anti-Iranian and even anti-Shi'a rhetoric in recent years, which might be a sign of him courting Saudi funding. The Saudi in all likelihood would like to develop political proxies in Afghanistan to counter widespread Iranian influence and have been diplomatically active in sponsoring the negotiations between Hekmatyar and Kabul.
The Hizb-i Islami cadres contacted were all confident that the party would score high in the parliamentary elections (initially due in 2015 and postponed to 2018 for now). If that was to look increasingly likely in the coming months, the fears of the rival parties would of course only strengthen.
Missed opportunities
When the negotiations over Hekmatyar reconciliation deal were going on, there was much talk about the potential reconciliation spin offs that might occur. Indeed within the Taliban's ranks there was interest for the deal, although it was also assumed that the implementation would be problematic. Sources within the Afghan government indicate that a small delegation from the Taliban's Rasool Shura arrived in Kabul in the summer of 2016 to discuss possible reconciliation, but eventually left having made little progress. Several groups of former Hizb-i Islami Taliban in eastern Afghanistan also watched the negotiations with Hekmatyar carefully, and re-established communication channels with Hekmatyar himself. They hoped to be able to exploit the reconciliation deal in order to obtain some kind of luxury reconciliation for themselves, at a time when they were running short of funds due to changing alignments within the Taliban and between some Taliban components and the Taliban's international sponsors. However, since the autumn of 2016 most of these groups seem to have lost interest in this matter and have drifted in different directions. Until the Hekmatyar deal is implemented full steam, with a display of wealth and status capable of impressing people who have been fighting for long years, from the point of view of the latter the deal is not tested yet. The current security situation, with the control of the Afghan government being slowly but steadily eroded by the Taliban, also provides little encouragement for prospective reconciliations. Political instability in Kabul is another factor discouraging Taliban interested in reconciliation from coming forward.
Likely that the peak of interest among insurgents for Hekmatyar-style reconciliation agreements is now well past. If the alleged Saudi funding for Hizb-i Islami started flowing in significant amounts, some interest might be revived, but there is certainly a sense of missed opportunities for the Afghan authorities, largely in part due to their internal divisions.
The implementation of the reconciliation deal between Hekmatyar and the Kabul authorities has been having and will have a negligible military impact, in terms of weakening the insurgency. Even at the peak of its military strength, around 2011-13, Hizb-i Islami had limited resources and little interest for waging an intensive jihad against anybody; about half of its energy was dissipated fighting competing insurgents like the Taliban. The only serious impact would be if Hizb-i Islami forces were turned into pro-government militias, fighting the Taliban with greater resources and in coordination with the Afghan security forces. But if that happen political instability would surely increase, and the risk of clashes with militias of rival parties would be high.
So far Ghani and Hekmatyar have shown determination to go ahead with the deal, despite its controversial character and Hekmatyar's failure to fully meet the requirements for implementation. The fact that Hekmatyar took to Kabul hundreds of armed bodyguards, instead of the 40 that he should have, might be justified with concerns about his personal security, but certainly it also seems like a provocation towards his rivals, who despite being in some cases well entrenched in Kabul do not normally have that many armed men roaming around the capital. Hekmatyar's hostile rhetoric towards Jamiat-i Islami also reinforces the feeling that he might be trying to rock the Afghan political boat and create political tension, perhaps in order to accelerate the demise of the NUG. This is not in President Ghani's interest, but Hekmatyar seems to think that now Ghani is trapped within the deal, and would sacrifice too much political capital if he opted out because of Hekmatyar's brinkmanship. Hekmatyar's attitude creates political uncertainty in a context where there is already a lot of potential instability. It was probably to be expected that the renegotiation of the political settlement in Kabul and its extension to a new major player would shake the rusty boat of Afghan politics.


text:
Tony Justice
New Proposal To Import Immigrant Truck Drivers Drawing Sharp Criticism
BusinessPoliticsRegulationsTrucking News
"Trucking companies can't move overseas, so they're trying to bring cheap labor to Canada. Instead of trying to suppress wage growth, the Ontario Trucking Association should be looking at ways to give truckers a big raise." – François Laporte, president of Teamsters Canada
Ontario, Canada – A new proposal by the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) to begin a pilot program that would import immigrant drivers into Canada to help satisfy the need for more truckers is drawing sharp criticism.
Teamster's Canada, the country's largest transportation union, is pushing back on the OTA's proposal calling it an horrific idea. "Trucking companies can't move overseas, so they're trying to bring cheap labor to Canada," François Laporte, the president of Teamsters Canada, said in a news release. "Instead of trying to suppress wage growth, the Ontario Trucking Association should be looking at ways to give truckers a big raise."
In a recent interview with Yahoo Finance Canada, president of the Ontario Trucking Association, Stephen Laskowski, made the case for the need to import immigrant labor. "The driver shortage became more acute in 2018 due to the fact that we have a large percentage of individuals over the age of 55 driving… we're facing older demographics, more retirements and, at the same time, more demand," said Laskowski, who is also the president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA).
According to a 2016 study conducted by the Trucking Alliance of Canada, the industry will be short 34,000 drivers by 2024. "It's only expected it to get worse in 2019. This is an issue from a supply-chain perspective and we need to find a solution to it," Laskowski warned.
The OTA has asked the province to consider launching a pilot project through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (ONIP), which would help fill labour shortages with skilled international workers. A similar program was launched by the previous Liberal government in 2017. It focused primarily on attracting workers to specific jobs in the construction and agriculture sectors.
"We're asking Ontario Premier Doug Ford to consider opening up that program to include the trucking industry," Laskowski told Yahoo Finance Canada. "Because of the shortage of labor across the supply chain, we need to look at immigration in perhaps a different way than we did in the recent past."
Laskowski said he believes this is the best path forward. "A pilot program would allow us to have a heck of a lot more access to overseas labor and make sure that that labor ends up with the carriers that are investing in their companies," Laskowski said. "That what we want to see, and that's how we want to grow."
Teamster's Canada which represents about 15,000 Canadian truck drivers, rejects the idea of importing "cheap labor." It is calling on the province to reduce the cost to obtain a commercial driver's license which can now exceed $10,000. It's also imploring the provincial government to make trucking a skilled trade, which would then allow prospective truckers to have access to grants and other subsidies.
In addition, the union is urging OTA to focus its efforts on raising wages and improving working conditions which they claim is the most effective way to attract more workers into the trucking industry. The union says it is unacceptable that the wages of non-union truck drivers have remained stagnant for 35 years.
The immigration policy debate is also roiling the U.S. as the federal government remains partially shutdown due to disagreement in Congress about the funding for a southern border wall. These debates around smart immigration policy aren't going to subside any time soon.
businesscanadatruck drivertrucking
Love's Opens New Michigan Location Providing 70 Truck Parking Spaces
Love's Opens New Michigan Location With 70 Truck Parking Spaces


text:
Q: cd doesn't work in script with quotes I came across a strange problem. If I enter in terminal cd "folder" (with quotes around folder name), it works.
But if I use the code bellow in my bash script, it gives me an error saying that the folder doesn't exist.
path="\"folder\""
echo $path   ---> outputs "folder", with quotes
cd $path

I am located in the same folder when I write cd "folder" in terminal and when I run the script bellow.
What is the problem?
EDIT: To make myself clear. I need to use quotes around folder name because some of the folders contain spaces.

A: The shell will expand the parameters once. With cd "folder" the quotes are removed before the cd is executed. Fine.
With cd $path the shell will translate $path in a string with quotes. cd tries to find the directory with quotes in the name.

A: You need to put quotes like below:-
 cd "$path"

A: You are trying to go to '"folder"' not to 'folder' than mean you are trying to access to "folder" not to folder. I guess you want to access folder.
Quote are to define a string, in your case, you do not need it in the string content.
When you write cd "folder" you define a string witch contain folder
You must rework your data's source to remove unwanted quote.
Like @Abhijit Pritam answered, if you have space or character that could be interpreted by the shell, you can surround your variable by doubles quotes: cd "$path". As specified in the manual:

Enclosing characters in double quotes ('"') preserves the literal value of all characters within the quotes, with the exception of '$', '`', '\', and, when history expansion is enabled, '!'.
[...]The characters '$' and '`' retain their special meaning within double quotes

So the code, with removed double quotes from the data's source:
path="folder with space"
echo -n $path   ---> outputs folder with space
cd "$path"

I suggest you to do not have space in folder's name, it prevents space issues.


As we get closer to the 2020 election, and more Democrats are saying they are going to run, please contact the Democratic National Committee and tell them you want to hear what candidates will do for our climate. As you know, we sure didn't hear much in the last Presidential race. Now is the time to make our voices heard on this issue.
Some Democrats are more inclined to talk about the climate now than they were in 2016, and Liberal Democrats rank global warming and environmental protection as two of their top four issues (Yale polling). Very impressive is the fact that a majority of adults under 30 years of age say that addressing climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress (Pew Research Center). But we need a debate!
350.org has made a link available to us where we can go to sign a petition asking for a debate. Please take a moment today or tomorrow to sign the petition. Thank you so much.
How much do you know about methane gas? Here is a little about it. Consider it like Methane 101.
Methane by itself is not toxic, but it displaces oxygen. If you breathe too much methane-laden air, you will have headaches and nausea. When gas tanks leak, methane leaks out. In the past, our government has tried to protect our air from too much methane. The Climate Action Plan insisted that companies test emissions and monitor for leaks. The goal of the Climate Action Plan was by the year 2025 to have a 40 to 45% reduction in dangerous emissions, from our 2012 levels. The oil and gas companies didn't like this goal because they thought it would be too expensive. They're not willing to pay to clean up the air. They're more likely to say that oil and gas jobs are important. Jobs take priority over the environment.
In this present administration, methane protections have declined, eg: companies used to have 30 days to repair leaks; they now have 60 days. Companies once tested emissions every six months; they can now go two years or even longer.
Containing methane is important. Oil and gas companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil must take it seriously. Leakage is a problem and we must address the problem. There is quite a bit of information written on methane gas, leakage, etc. Since it is present in our atmosphere, it would be good to know more about it. If you have a chance, check your library or Google it online. There is a wealth of knowledge out there.
The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report on October 8, 2018, that outlines the likely changes to the planet with each half-degree increase in global temperature. The earth is already hotter by 1 degree Celsius than it was before the Industrial Revolution. If the planet gets another half-degree hotter, the report warns, coastal flooding would increase dramatically, and ice-sheet collapse and other "large-scale singular events" would occur more often. But at 2 degree Celsius of warming, there would be catastrophic climate-related suffering: 10 million more people displaced from coastlines and hundreds of millions impoverished. As the global system stands today, we are on track for 3 degree Celsius of warming. The Trump administration has let slip that it's operating under an assumption of 4 degree Celsius by 2100.
1.58 degrees F.--Average amount by which global January, 2019, temperatures were above average this year--which ties the third highest such value on record.
250 billion--Rough weight in tons of the Antarctic ice lost each year since 2009, per a new study; researchers found that the ice has melted significantly faster in recent years.
U.S. carbon emissions spiked in 2018--Carbon emissions in the U.S. rose by 3.4% last year, the biggest increase in eight years, according to a January 8, 2019, report from the Rhodium Group, an independent research group. The rise marks a change from recent years, when emissions fell as renewable energy became more popular.
2.5%--Percentage of the world's GDP that should be devoted to mitigating global warming over the next 17 years.
1.5 degrees C--Temperature rise at which we will begin to experience the worst effects of climate change; we have already hit 1 degree C.
100%--Percentage of cars that will need to be electric by 2030.


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OSU Trustees Vote To Privatize Parking
WOSU 89.7 NPR News | By admin
Published June 22, 2012 at 9:11 AM EDT
Ohio State University Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday afternoon on a measure to privatize the university's parking operations. "We are not only protecting our assets, we are protecting our ability to be competitive," OSU President E. Gordon Gee said. After hearing from Ohio State President Gordon Gee and the institution's top financial advisers, the board of trustees agreed leasing its parking operations to a private company is in the school's best interest. In exchange for handing over its parking system to Australian firm QIC Global Infrastructure for the next 50 years, Ohio State will get a lump-sum payment of $483 million. OSU officials say the money, once invested, will increase its endowment by nearly $5 billion and generate $3 billion in interest income. OSU Chief Financial Officer Geoff Chatas said the funds will act as a fiscal safety net. "If we do face financial issues because we have less state or federal support, these funds can also be there to help us bridge gaps we may have in the future," Chatas said. OSU has designated the money to support - among other things – faculty salaries and research, increase student aid and help pay for the university's bus services, which will not be operated by the private company. The university isn't giving up all its rights to operate traffic and parking. OSU can choose up to 220 events a year, such as move-in day or special events at the Schottenstein Center, where it can manage parking; although Ohio State would be required to reimburse the private operator for out-of-pocket costs if the university plans to keep any revenue from the event. And, in some cases, OSU would have to share revenue from the events. Some students and faculty have expressed concerns about increased privatization at a land-grant institution. But head of QIC Global Infrastructure, Ross Israel, said he wants to assure skeptics the company is committed to delivering the same level of service they've had in the past. "We're not looking to make any changes to how the permit system runs and the nature of what people have experienced. If anything, we're trying to work with them to improve that service over time," Israel said. As part of the deal, QIC will not increase parking rates by more than 5.5 percent each year during the first ten years of the arrangement. QIC will be responsible for all capital improvements to parking lots and garages, while Ohio State must maintain the roads. The transition is expected to begin in late September and continue through the end of the year. Current OSU traffic and parking workers have the option to stay on with the university or work for the parking operator.
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Last edited by Yezra on 12/08/10, edited 1 time in total.
With the image of disembodied hands reaching out of the Mirror for Alarice burned into her mind, Sibelle stared at the hastily covered mirror with narrowed eyes. She had never looked into it before, or even noticed that it was there. But Alarice had wanted to see inside herself, as far as she could tell.
Though she was fairly certain no one else could feel the chill in the air, she shivered and moved to unveil the mirror once more. Thinking that perhaps if she knew more about the nature of the object, she could uncover more about what was ailing the strange girl upstairs.
When the image shifted, she jumped a little in place. Her spine was straight and she made a point of positioning herself so that the others in the room could not see.
Her reflection had shifted, but barely. The woman resembled her perfectly, though one key feature had changed. In place of a scarf was a solid leather collar, and an appropriate tag. It was worn, and incredibly familiar. Though there were no grabbing hands, she scowled and tensed further at the image, prepared for the worst.
As it shifted again, she stepped back slightly.. but still no hands came. Instead her image flickered, but once it stabilized it was evident that it was the same. No change had been seen for her visually. Though she knew nothing of the mirror itself, she suspected this wasn't the norm, but covered it again anyway and sulked back to her seat for a time before heading upstairs.
Vandall was on his way out of the tavern late last night when he noticed the Mirror.
It appeared to be such an innocent thing, but somehow he felt drawn to it. He had seen people standing before it in the past, for many long moments some of them, and there was something odd about it.
The night was late. He had just seen Duvessa, Zaherha, Emeraven, and Tomias depart for the evening. He looked around, and discovered that, strangely enough for such a popular place, he was alone.
Quietly, he set his mug aside, the milk having gone warm from the night's lengthy discussions. He rose, and approached the mirror, casting casual glances about to see if anyone else was watching him. How vain he would feel if any were to see him.
As he approached, his reflection came into full view. It would be a lie to think that the swarthy young half-elf didn't smile in appreciation, for he was not terrible on the eye. He wouldn't win any beauty contests, nor would he attract women like moths to a flame, but he felt confident and satisfied in his appearance.
As if in response, his reflection began to change. His dress became more elegant, his demeanor more sure and confident. Most importantly, his face belied a sense of true *peace*, not a spot of turmoil to be seen.
At his arm walked the most beautiful tier'dal woman he had ever seen. Her hands clutched his elbow as they walked, and that simple gesture alone almost stilled his heart. Her dress of purest white covered her generous curves - only barely - and somehow, he knew those curves were meant for *him*. Then, a thing happened that *did* stop his heart - she leaned upward, as he saw himself bend at the neck - and they kissed.
If that was not enough, as the two continued their walk, they were followed by two smaller versions of themselves - children? Theirs? They frolicked and skipped behind them, playing some childhood game that he, himself, had long forgotten.
The foursome approached a generous home, hedges well-manicured, flowers lining the walls. There was an air of happiness to the image, not just because of its wholesome nature, but because the four seemed so genuinely *happy* and content, something Vandall himself had never been allowed to feel. He felt valued - accepted - and loved.
He felt his eyes mist over, but try as he might, he could not pull his gaze away. He slowly reached out a hand, wanting to touch the skin of that woman - even if only for an instant. His fingertips barely grazed the glass, and the metamorphosis was immediate.
Black clouds coalesced in the sky above the home, and dark, hazy smoke began to descend on the image in the mirror. Vandall's eyes widened, panicked, and he suddenly thrust both hands forward, laying them flat against the mirror's surface.
"Run!!! Inside!!!!" he shouted, but the figures in the mirror continued their leisurely stroll, unaware of the descending doom.
Quickly, the entire image was filled to black - and not just 'black', but the blackest of black - the kind of darkness only found in the deepest recesses of hell.
He immediately recognized the image as it became light enough to see: Beggar's Court. Dirty. Neglected. Unclean. It looked like it always had. Nothing about the Court *ever changes*.
He saw himself wandering its streets, dressed in the very same outfit that he was dressed in at that very moment. Sure, by comparison to the denizens who lived on its streets now, Vandall appeared some rich lord slumming-it in one of Freeport's worst districts.
But he knew better. This was where he *belonged*. This place reflected *him*.
Murder. Villainy. Reckless anger, resentment, and unbridled jealousy of his betters. No woman but a whore would *love* him and every friend would *betray* him. Even his sister - the one rock in his life to date - had abandoned him - just as their parents had done so early in their lives that he had no memories of them.
He clenched his fists. He saw himself walking the streets, looking for an easy kill. Looking for an easy score. Then looking for an easy night of 'passion' with the exchange of a few silvers.
Teeth clenched, he slammed his fists into the mirror, once, and immediately the image faded, and once again his normal reflection appeared on its surface. His face was inches away from the surface, staring into the eyes of an angry half-breed, fear and loathing both present at the same time.
Quickly, he backed away from the mirror, assured himself that no one else was spying on him, and departed. He stalked out into the pre-dawn night, hating himself all the more.
The bar had long emptied save for one soul still wondering its empty bowls. Restless she paced the floors with the tapping of dainty high heels, looking for something, anything to distract her from the punishing insomnia. She paced in and out of the various rooms, taking in everything and dismissing it just as quickly until the shrouded mirror dipped into her vision. At first it was dismissed as quickly as everything else but a flicker behind the shroud caused her attention to snap back. Something was moving? A light of some kind behind the sheet. Curiosity was never the Koada'dals strong point, and slowly she approached. Hovering some distance away she watched the lights flicker, subtle and barely noticeable were it not for the dim light.
"Fire fly's? In here?" Her voice in a whisper, not that anyone was around to answer her question.
Cautiously she reached out, tugging away the cover to free what she suspected were trapped insects. The lights were indeed dancing but removing the cover did not free them, they continued to dance along the mirrors glass as if trapped on the inside. Distracidly she dropped the sheet to her feet, slowly reaching out a single finger to poke gently at one of the pinhole lights in the otherwise normal looking mirror. At her touch the image rippled like water, though the glass was cool and hard and she recoiled in mild horror.
She was cut off as the ripples moved along the mirror, and when they settled the reflection was different. She looked at herself, her long white gown replaced by frills and lace, proofed out over the bulky dipper of a child barely able to stand. White curls swallowed her face and tiny hands toyed with a gold ribbon in her hair. Behind her a man was sitting at a large desk, well dressed with a pair of glasses perched on the end of his eloquent nose. He was Koada'dal but the image was blurry, as if trying to remember a dream after waking. The room was silent and the tiny child tattled over to him, pulling at his leg for attention. He smiled down to her and patted her head but shooed her away to return to his work, a woman in a maid's attire rushing in to gather the tiny girl from disturbing her father.
The maid scooped up the girl and her image flickered, the dark ebon skin peeking though the koada'dal guise. She whisked the child from the room, down the hall and past the body of a woman crumpled lifeless to the floor, the owner of identity she had stolen.
"Kessh... Goddess what is this?!" Zaherah's hand fell from the mirror in horror as she watched, the reflection seeming to tease her memories. She knew the Tier'dal's face too well, a woman who frequented her father's parties in Neriak.
The images were familure yet not, her mind reeled as she fought to deny what she saw. As the image shifted again the tiny girl was long gone, whisked away by Kessh. The man from the desk sat in the hallway hovering over the body of his slain employee in horror. It was all the priestess could take before flinging the drape back over the mirrors front. Her hands shook and she slowly backed away, flush of all color and visibly shaking. Retreating into the night she made for Neriak, her step a bit quicker than normal.
Khayte stood at the top of stairs midmorning. The breakfast crowd come and gone. The wait staff had already cleared the tables. They wouldn't be back for a little while before they came to prep for the lunch rush. She descended the stairs silently. She was in her hunting gear, but before she left to go attend to that, she noticed a tall mirror she had never seen, but had heard hushed rumors about. She shrugged and made for the door, but as she reached for the latch, she stopped. Standing very still for a long while, only the sounds from behind the kitchen door could be heard. A small sigh escaped the feir'dal, her shoulders slumped and she bowed her head.
The mirror showed Khayte on a dais of sorts. She was smiling openly. There were several people around her. They were dressed in all manner of formal wear. Some warriors. Some mages. They were also smiling and each taking a turn congratulating her. They were shaking her hand or slapping her on the back. Then the image of Khayte looks up and the vision cuts to across the great room. At first there is a huge crowd of people, then they part and a single woman is revealed. She is breathtakingly beautiful. She is looking right at Khayte, a bright smile on her face and a brilliant radiance about her.
The image flickers back to Khayte's face a moment and the joy and happiness is mirrored there. Switching back to the woman across the room, her eyes are still locked onto Khayte's. She makes her way towards her. She never falters or stops along the way. Various people approach her. She ignores them casually brushing them out of her way without losing eye contact with the woman on the raised stage. As she draws nearer, the various people try to touch her, distract her, divert her, kiss her. She pays them no notice. As she gets close, they become more aggressive, but her glow never fades. Her brow never creases. At the end when it seems they will plow her under with their mass, she effortlessly walks through. Reaching the dias, she climbs up and steps into Khayte's embrace. They seem to share some quiet words for a moment before they lean close and kiss with their arms around each other.
The dignitaries stand by quietly watching over the couple. As they finish the kiss, they pull apart slightly but remain within each other's embrace. Their attention is drawn to the space in front of the stage and an older feir'dal couple can be seen. They resemble Khayte and they approach the pair of women. They share hugs all around. In the older woman's arms is a baby, which she passes off to the one with Khayte. The baby has the coloring of the woman now holding it. Another, slightly older child appears from behind the gentleman and goes to Khayte, wrapping arms around her legs and leaning a head against Khayte's hip. This one seems to be a small copy of Khayte. Now with children, the couple seems to enfold them into their happy pocket.
Khayte stares at at the scene in the mirror. Her heart is pounding in her ears. Its ache is so severe, and she feels it will burst. She tries to soak in as much detail as possible, so as not to lose the sense of utter completeness and love it displays. She gasps out loud as the image shimmers and a new scene appears.
The scene shows Khayte on her private island. There is a great party going on. She stands talking to friends as a woman stands next to her with their arms linked. There is a flash of motion, and the people in the scene seem to be in chaos. They are running away or ducking for cover. Khyate stands there frozen and unable to move to defend herself or anyone around her.
The situation settles down and there are several bodies where once there were happy guests. Khayte is unaffected, but the woman who was standing with her is disheveled, her hair is a mess and she has soot and blood on her dress. She glares at Khayte. Khayte holds out her hands to comfort the woman, but she refuses her.
A taller looking human in ornate plate approaches Khayte and has a stern look for her. She reaches out and grabs Khayte by the collar and yells into her face. She roughly pushes her away. Khayte looks dejected. The woman starts pulling weapons from Khayte, brandishing them in her face, and tossing them aside. Lastly, she pulls a ring from Khayte's hand and pockets it. She turns her back on her and leaves.
Khayte looks up to the woman who was with her before to find a disgusted look on her face. This woman pulls something from her finger and tosses it at Khayte's feet. It's a ring. Khayte stares at it a long moment then lifts her head to plead with this woman and gets slapped hard across the face. The woman turns her back as well and leaves.
One by one, Khayte friends approach her. Several different things happen. Some simply glare, others punch her in the gut or slap her, but in the end they all turn their backs on her and leave. Khayte just stands there never raising a hand to defend herself. Her head is bowed and shoulders slumped.
The scene in the mirror begins to shrink as if flying away from Khayte who stands there alone amongst the ruined party and dead guests.
Khayte stands there. Her face is a tight painful grimace. Tears flow down her cheeks unchecked. Finally she growls out between clenched teeth, "Why? Why is it always so...?" Her question unanswered, she whips out a pair of daggers and storms through the tavern door.
Jacob "Nince" Damien Reginald Albuquerque Lark watched carefully that night as people ambled around the mirror, taking turns with it, like an illicit drug. Nince congratulated himself on what he considered an apt comparison and took a celebratory swig from the small, unlabeled bottle of rum he held in his left hand, by the neck. He briefly considered sharing this comparison with the other patrons, but he decided against it, painfully aware that nobody was paying attention to him. Nince sighed and began to contemplate looking into the mirror himself.
Nince was rarely the sort to pay attention to the emotional reactions of others, but even he could see that those who looked into the mirror were frequently quite shaken. He didn't think that it would have that much of an effect on him, but he worried about what the other patrons might think of him if they saw something they didn't like in his reflection. And they will, you know, he thought to himself. Someone will disapprove. They'll think less of you.
But Nince was drunk, and when Nince was drunk he tended to act on his whims, and he knew all too well that acting on one's limbs almost always leads to something fun. Nince corked the bottle of rum and turned his attention, once more, to the mirror. Nobody was using at the moment, luckily, so Nince rose from his seat. Nince swaggered over to the mirror, moving in as straight a line as his drink-numbed legs could carry him in. Within moments, too few, he thought, Nince found himself before the mirror.
Nince had expected a more immediate reaction from the mirror, but when he stepped in front of it, it simply showed a reflection of the Raven, just as it was. Initially Nince suspected that he was just so remarkably one-dimensional that he really was exactly as he appeared, but before his eyes the mirror began to shimmer and change. Nince posed as dramatically as he could as the mirror changed to show him as he was.
The mirror showed a man who looked like Nince, but even shorter and skinnier. He was wearing a shoddy smock over a woolen shirt and pants, in stark comparison to the (stolen) flashy robes that Nince was really wearing. The man was talking loudly, and being determinedly ignored by everyone around him. Nince was hardly surprised. He always knew, deep down, that he was more or less a very frail, shouty pauper. A frail, shouty pauper who had written a book. This bothered him very little, partly since he was determined to change the last part, and partly because he didn't really have a problem with being frail and shouty. The mirror began to change again.
Nince had been particularly exciting to see exactly what it was that would make him happy. As he watched, the mirror changed to show Nince, as he was, except slightly better looking, standing on a raised platform. He was laughing and telling jokes to what Nince suspected, from the sweeping movements of his reflection's eyes, must have been a very large crowed of people. Nince's reflection was laden with bottles of spiced rum and vitae, which seemed to be clipped onto his robe. As Nince watched, his reflection unclipped one of the bottles and began to drink.
Nince was very pleased with this tableau, but the more he peered into the image, the more he began to notice something in the shadows behind his double. Something moved there, hovering a few feet above the ground. As that something, that someone, moved out of the shadows, Nince recognized their face. Nince recognized that wicked glint in their mad eyes. Nince fought a very strong urge to smash the mirror immediately. Twitching, he out of the way of the mirror, the reflection disappearing.
Nince returned to his seat, uncorking his bottle of rum. He had done enough soul-staring today.
Bishop waited until the moon was high, when most of Norrath lay in slumber. He made his way quietly into the room, thanking the Father than no one had seen him. For this was a moment he simply could not share with another soul. Finding the rumored mirror he removed his hood, indeed a rare thing these days, and pulled the mirror round to face him.
The mirror shimmered as he stared into it, the reflection it held was blurry at first. As the images became clear the edges of the mirror darkened as if enhancing the shapes in the center, reflecting the current state of his life. He saw himself standing in his newly crafted sanctuary at the Seafarer's Roost. His eyes were dark and narrowed and a smile so deadly it sent shivers through him as he studied it. The room in which he stood was lit by only a few candles placed on skulls. Kneeling at his right side was a Teir'dal woman, her hair tied back and the hue was a light pink, around her neck was an expensively jeweled necklace, her hand was curled around his calf as she looked to the ground with cold, fear stricken eyes. In his left hand he held the familiar whip so tightly his knuckles were white. In his right he held to his chest the Book of Hate. Before him were four rows of people in dark robes on their knees, each holding a single candle as they appeared to be listening to the speech he was delivering about the Prince of Hate.
The image in the mirror made his chest lift with pride, knowing that even now far from the Spires he was continuing the Father's work. Soon the reflection began to shift before his eyes, and the Bishop's cold heart sank, for deep in some secret corner of his soul what he saw next is a desire he has long since buried and left for lost in his seething hatred.
The edges of the mirror shifted from darkness to a bright blue sky, the sanctuary dissolved and the setting was now on a boat at sea. It was lavishly decorated and more like a home than an actual ship. He was no longer wearing his traditional black robe and the cloak he was given in honor of his Bishophood. Instead he was now only clad in a formal suit, his long silver hair blowing in the wind with a smile of sheer happiness. There was a woman standing at his side in a silky white gown, her arm around his waist. While her face was unclear, it was obvious she was Teir'dal. Her skin was just as dark as his and her long silver hair hung to her waist. On the deck below the happy couple, familiar faces smiled up at them, and glasses were raised in some sort of toast.
Bishop blinked several times as the images again began to shift yet again. The reflection that began to surface before him made his breath catch and gooseflesh rise on his skin.
The sides of the mirror appear to burst into flames as the shape of a house in the Death Grotto appeared. The windows implode and flames licked outward from them. The front door is open, smoke billowing from inside and the mirror's image zooms in on the door.
He closes his eyes, knowing what is coming next, but he cannot help but to open them and watch as the mirror continues its story.
Strung along the walls of the foyer from ceiling to floor are bodies of partially clad women of all races save Teir'dal, gutted from stem to stern. Their insides turned outward and standing in the center of the room covered from head to toe in blood is a younger version of himself, naught but barely at the cusp of his teenage years. In one hand he holds a knife that glistens in the fire behind him, the steel of the blade is tainted with blood, in the other hand he holds a still lit torch. The face of the much younger version of himself is the epitome if seething hate, his eyes are wild with amusement at the scene around him. The younger version of himself throws his head back in laughter, and though the mirror emits no sound, the memory is so vivid he can hear the maniacal laughter in his mind.
Unable to take more of the images the mirror shows him he steps forward and hastily returns it to the former position. His breathing is heavy and his heart is racing as he pulls up his hood. The Bishop turns to the door and even as his hand twists the handle, he nervously looks over his shoulder. This night he has seen what he is now, what he secretly desires, and what he fears most: himself. The Bishop retreats from the room letting the door slam shut behind him.
Perhaps he will return, perhaps not. Until then he will think on the images he has seen, the memories it has refreshed, and the dream he once had as he lay on the bedroll not so many weeks ago locked in the dungeons.


So I finally took the plunge. After 3 years of thinking I'd like to try this whole green smoothie thing I just did it. Now I am NOT a health nut. I have a policy if I'm going to be eat it, it better be worth the calories. And mind you the "worth" I use is purely a function of taste -not nutritional health. Any ways I've been drawn to these green smoothies since my neighbor first told me about them back when we lived at the condos. I found a couple of combos that I really enjoy (I've been drinking them every morning). I'm someone who has to force herself to eat veggies and would eat bacon and cookies every morning so trust me when I say you can't taste the "green" in these.
coconut juice to desired consistency.
I put my bag of spinach in the freezer just so it last longer and I think it blends up easier but I did it once with fresh leaves and it was almost the same.
If you've been thinking of trying green smoothies I think these are good ones to start with. Also I've got a ninja blender and I absolutely LOVE it. It blends things up like a charm and my favorite part is that it has 3 different sized chambers and the smallest is perfect for 1 smoothie. If you're a green smoothie pro I'd love to hear what some of your favorite combinations are.
We have THREE bags of fresh spinach in our refrigerator right now so guess what I'll be trying out!
i've never tried a green smoothie but want to – and i have lots of spinach in my fridge so i'm going to try this one later this week! thanks for sharing!
I've been buying spinach with the intention of giving it a go and every time I chicken out and use it in recipes instead.
Your smoothie turned out pretty – I'll have to try these recipes. My favorite is kale, cilantro, lemon juice and a dash of salt. And blueberries are a good disguise for the leafy greens too. Thanks for linking up!
I have friends who drink these smoothies and swear by it. Perhaps I should give it a go? Give the old immune system a boost!
Brand new Linky Follower from the Take it on Tuesday blog hop. I was so intrigued by the green smoothie. Going to have to pin that. So cool!
Please say 'hi' if you come by!
My husband and I have gotten on a huge smoothie kick lately and I'll have to see if he's up for these. I think they sound pretty delicious! Thanks so much for linking up to this weeks Tutorial Tuesday!
I love the idea of freezing your spinach! I will for sure be trying the first recipe soon. I'm always looking for good (not tooo healthy :) smoothie recipes!
MmmM – these look great! Whenever I have fresh spinach on hand, I tend to put them in whatever smoothie I'm making. I almost never have to put spinach in the freezer, but I'm glad to know that it works well if I want to.
Thanks for linking up to the Take it on Tuesday blog hop. I'll be pinning this!
I have to admit, I've always been a bit turned off by these green smoothies because, well, they are green and I am an extremely picky eater. I don't really have a sense of smell, so the look of my food is more important to me than most people.
However, I have been interested in them simply because like you, everyone I know who tried them says they are good and you don't taste the spinach. Someday I need to get over the looks and taste them myself. Everyone could probably use some more fruits and veggies in their diet, so thanks for sharing on the Your Cozy Home Party.
I'm going to try these out on the kiddos.
This is great! I love smoothies! I have the same one almost everytime though.
** and I have put spinach leaves in it before too! and your right you can't taste them!
Anyways, I would love for you to come by our Naturally-Nifty Linky Party and link this and any other great stuff you have up!
Thank you for sharing this, I am a huge smoothie lover but have been scared of the *green* smoothies. I will be trying it for sure now.
I'd love for you to share this with our readers at our linkup.
I'm the opposite, I have to force myself to eat fruit. I knew, weirdo right. Anyway, this smoothie would be perfect! Thanks so much for sharing at our party this week, and by the way, I'm a new linky follower.
I think I may have to try this! Thanks for sharing!
You and I are on the same page. I am not a huge health nut but I'm not going to go to a fancy coffee shop and get a 500 calorie drink AND pastries to start my morning. I haven't tried this recipe but I love "green" smoothies!
I use pineapple-mango frozen mix,blueberries,spinach & banana's plus nutmeg,cinnamon,ginger & water.Watermelon & kewi are also good,if you want more vegis try carrots.I also love strawberries and grapes in them.Thank you for the post & have a wonderful day!


IPIC2019 – Together in Madrid!
IPIC2019 will be held in Europe in the cosmopolitan city of Madrid on 6-8 November 2019!
The congress programme, built with input from doctors, patients and key PID community stakeholders, will focus on diagnosis and clinical care of primary immunodeficiencies (PID).
IPOPI is keen on advancing PID clinical care through medical education and global collaboration. The national PID patient group AEDIP and IPOPI have ongoing efforts towards nationwide implementation of SCID newborn screening making Spain a very interesting place organise IPOPI's congress.
The congress programme will soon be available!
Learn more and subscribe to the congress newsletter here.


Dickens' Village is a recreation of Old England with houses and characters from Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol", "The 12 Nights of Christmas" and more. The series also contains the Historical Landmark Series along with other various houses that dot the English country-side. The houses in this series as well as the remaining village have a matte finish.


text:
The Fifty K remains the toughest of all Olympic tests, by Elliott Denman
By Elliott Denman on March 10, 2016 3:57 AM | 0 Comments
John Nunn and Nick Christie on the course lapping Erin Taylor-Talcott, photo by Calvin Lau
The longest, and most grueling event on the Olympic schedule is the 50 kilometer walk. It is also one of the events that has the longest historic (the writer of Frankenstein was a race walker).
Elliott Denman wrote this piece for us on the US Olympic Trials, one week after the US marathon Trials.
THE FIFTY K
REMAINS THE TOUGHEST
OF ALL OLYMPIC TESTS
BY ELLIOTT DENMAN
John Nunn's going to Rio.
As, most likely, the lone American delegate in the longest and toughest of all Olympic and World Championships disciplines.
Consistency - that's John Nunn for you. He'd won the USA National 50-Kilometer (31.1-mile) racewalking championship in Santee, California last November in 4:03.40.
And he returned to that venue - actually a 1.25K loop past Santana High School traversed 40 times - last Sunday, February 21st, to win the USA Olympic Trial race in 4:03.21.
Is this man a metronome, or what?
Consider, he'd done two races, of a combined 100K, or 62.2 miles, and compiled clockings just 19 seconds apart.
Truly-truly amazing, that's what this picture-of-consistency, 38-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant surely is.
With the Olympic "A" qualifying time set at 4:06:00, and heat providing less than optimal conditions, Nunn stillstepped onto the Road to Rio with over a quarter-mile to spare. It will be his third Olympic team - he'd placed 26th in the 20K at Athens in 2004, and 43rd in the 50K at London in 2012.
Mike Mannozzi in solo effort ahead of record eight-time participant in Olympic Triasl Dave McGovern, photo by Calvin Lau
A step up into the top half of the 50K field at Rio would be nice but, American fans, don't count on it. There's just too much catching up to do. The world leaders, unfortunately, have half an hour's head start on America's number one.
Stands to reason, when you think about it.
Racewalking is built into the infrastucture of so many other nations' track and field programsbut it's surely not that way in the U.S. of A. The only American racewalkingfarm systems can be found at NAIA, small-college programs; the hit-and-miss USATF and AAU Junior Olympic slates, and the here-and-there club teams scattered around the land.
So Nunn, a single dad, dental hygienist and U.S. Army World Class Athletic Program(WCAP) member, now a resident of the San Diego area, but originally out of Evansville, Indiana, becomes the notable exception and certainly not the rule.
"It makes you realize how strong the human mind can be," said Nunn, not long afterhe'd completed his 50K and with it the freedom to unlace his racing shoes.
He'd been nursing a variety of the flu. He'd tossed and turned all the night before. It took him nearly two hours into the race before feeling "close to OK." But he kept on churning out those miles at a 7:50 clip and never relented.
John Nunn knew he'd poured too much of himself - body and soul - to take a breather now. Another "amazing" journey - to Rio - was his hard-earned reward.
His daughter Ella, 11, provided course-side encouragement throughout.
Later, she called it "a super-exciting experience."
"I don't know if I could be any happier," she told people.
Walker-up Nick Christie wasn't close to his 4:11:48 PR walk of last November but stillhung on to second place in 4:22:31. Michael Mannozzi claimed third with a solid4:31:47. They'd have until early May to get under the Olympic 4:06 requirement, and realize they're still longshots.
Special applause was reserved for Erin Taylor-Talcott, who for years has been recognized for her pioneering efforts promoting women's long distance events - note that the 50K is the lone men's Olympic/Worlds event that has no women's equivalent - and finished this one in 4:44:26, ranking sixth over-all.
And more cheers were there for Jonathan Matthews and Dave McGovern for very special achievements of their own. Never a threat to Nunn or the other leaders,Matthews still crossed the line seventh in 5:03:26; just 131 days shy of his 60th birthday, as the oldest male athlete ever to qualify for the Track Trials.
Further back still, 11th in 5:31:25, McGovern became the first man ever to complete his event in eight Olympic Trials. He'd never made an Olympic team - but never stopped trying, either.
Once upon a time, the "4s" were a formidable barrier in track and field.
Until May 6, 1954, when Roger Bannister ran a mile in 3:59.4 in Oxford, England.
And October 17, 1965, when Gennadiy Agapov racewalked 50 kilometers in 3:55.36 in Alma-Ata (now Almaty), Kazakhstan.They'd finally bested the sub 4-mile run and the sub-4 50k walk.
Few devotees of the sport drew that link - but they should have.
The sub- four-minute mile had often been called an "impossible" achievement untilDr. Bannister proved otherwise.
The sub-four-hour 50K had similarly been considered "too far out there" for norma lfolks to contemplate.
But now each of those feats is ranked as a commonplace achievement, done routinely, again and again and again.
When Joshua Thompson of Oklahoma State crossed the finish line in 3:58.33 in a Seattle indoor meet February 13th, he became the 466th and most recent American mile runner to "crack 4." On a list that began with Don Bowden's 3:58.7 on June 1, 1957.
"Routine" can not, however, be applied to the American 50K racewalk list.The sub 4-50k is surely not commonplace to those wearing USA singlets.
Just nine American walkers - ever-ever-ever - have gone sub-4. The first was Marco Evoniuk, with his 3:56:57 at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. The most recent was Philip Dunn, with his 3:56.13 at the 2002 World Cup in Torino(meaning a drought of 14 years).
Curt Clausen is the resident USA expert on the art of sub-4-ing. He's gone sub-4 no less than four times - and set the American record of 3:48.04 at the 1999 World Cup in Spain.
Other members of this elite American "sub-4 club" are Allen James (3:55.39 in 1994), Carl Schueler (3:57.09 in 1987), Andrew Hermann (3:57.54 in 2000), Andrzej Chylinski (3:58:59 in 2000), the late Al Heppner (3:58.45 in 1999) and Herm Nelson (3:59.41 in 1996.)
Erin Taylor-Talcott doing her thing, which included passing hubby Dave, photo by Calvin Lau
Even an Olympic bronze medal performance by Larry Young (with his 4:00.46 at the 1972 Munich Games) doesn't make the cut. He's just 10th all-time on the U.S. 50K list.
And John Nunn's still stuck in 12th all-time.
Still plus-four at 4:03:21.
Bottom line: the "barrier" is as formidable as ever, and don't count on it
coming down soon, either.
(NOTE: Elliott Denman was the 1959 USA 50K racewalk champion; he placed 11th in the 50K at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games.)
Elliott Denman
Bio: One of the finest and most prolific writers in our sport, Elliott Denman has written about our sport since 1956, when he represented the US in 1956 Olympic Games at the 50k race walk, the longest event on the Olympic schedule. A close observer of the sport, Elliott writes about all of our sport, combining the skills of a well honed writer with the style of ee Cummings. We are quite fortunate to have Elliott Denman as a friend and advisor.
Twitter: @runblogrun
Instagram: @runblogrun
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This is how summer started and how it's ending. Now, we hand off our finest creations to teachers everywhere who are beyond thrilled to spend money out of their own pockets to decorate their classrooms for our little sticky, smelly, monsters.
They're pumped for pink eye, lice, devices, and whatever will take over fidget spinning this year. Maybe obsessive twirling or tossing lunch sacks in the air and seeing if they land on the teacher's head. Who knows?! The possibilities for distractions from learning are endless.
They've done absolutely no reading this summer. Whatever you sent home at the end of the school year was burned and used to roast marshmallows. You'll have to bring them up to speed on silly things like reading and math, but they've got the important things down, like who can run faster to the mailbox. Who can eat a newly stocked pantry in one hour. Who can scream the loudest. Who can cry on demand and who can prolong anything like grocery shopping, going to bed, or getting in the car.
They're ready to learn, because whatever rules and learning was instilled in them has been washed away by the chlorine of summertime.
Thank you for teaching. For putting up with our kids and with us. Some of us are real meddlers. Some of us should meddle more. We know a Starbucks card for Teacher Appreciation Day doesn't even come close to giving you enough gratitude for navigating a million different emotions, state laws, new curriculum, and a myriad of personalities in the classroom and the Administration. We thank you for communicating on-line, in-person, in paper, via loud-speaker, and the town circular about the money being due for the field trip and still being kind to us when we say we didn't get the message. We thank you for all the quiet moments you take with our kids. For all the things that don't get seen or heard. The things that can't be measured but are felt. The boost of confidence. The lightbulb moment. The belief in our kids. All the extra hours you spend at school physically and mentally. All the hours you spend away from your family and friends physically and mentally. We thank you for being brave enough to teach in this day and age when the line of discipline is thin and hard to tread. We're grateful, because there's no way we could do what you do.


Another spin of the Brumbies' rotation wheel has handed Scott Fardy the captaincy reins on a particularly timely weekend for the ACT side.
Fardy was the first player rested under the rotation policy, which has since included winger James Dargaville and Wallabies second rower Rory Arnold.
Now he's leading the team while usual skipper Sam Carter is left out, with Fardy to face off against good friend and Wallabies captain Stephen Moore, who is also standing in as Reds skipper.
"I'll be talking to him, he's probably (going to be) telling me to shut up from the other side," Fardy said on Friday.
The 32-year-old said the continuing rotation policy was one that would only be good for the club as the season continues, after years of seeing battered bodies fall at the final hurdle.
"We've learned over the last few years that approach hasn't worked.
"We need guys playing a lot of minutes but also managing their minutes during the year and making sure everyone's fresh.
"Not only that but we need the whole squad to get a game.
The Brumbies have the luxury of bringing a capped Test lock, Arnold, into their starting side with Carter out, a move that would make some of those decisions easier.
"Sam's our captain and best player but we don't lose much with the locks in the squad and it was the same when I left, the backrowers we've got can cover very easily," Fardy said.
Fardy and the Brumbies backrow will also be taking on a player he rates as ahead of the curve, Reds flanker George Smith, who overlapped with Fardy at the Brumbies in 2013.
"He's one of the smartest players I've ever played with, just the way he's adapted his career as he's moved on as he's got older, he's changed the way he's done things a bit..
"You just to adapt what you do and keep changing with the game because it keeps changing so much. It's changed in the time that I've been here and it's going to keep changing for the next few years.
The Brumbies host the Reds on Saturday night, kicking off at 7:45pm AEDT, LIVE on FOX SPORTS and via radio on RUGBY.com.au.