text:
Audiobooks(selected)
Written by Cixin Liu
Narrated by Luke Daniels
4.5/5 (426 ratings)
Macmillan Audio
Also available as...
Also available as bookBook
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth.
Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.
A Macmillan Audio production.
CIXIN LIU is the most prolific and popular science fiction writer in the People's Republic of China. Liu is an eight-time winner of the Galaxy Award (the Chinese Hugo) and a winner of the Chinese Nebula Award. Prior to becoming a writer, he worked as an engineer in a power plant. His novels include The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death's End.
Related to The Three-Body Problem
Titles In This Series (2)
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu
The Redemption of Time: A Three-Body Problem Novel by Baoshu
More Audiobooks By Cixin Liu
Supernova Era by Cixin Liu
Ball Lightning by Cixin Liu
To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu
The Cretaceous Past by Cixin Liu
Remembrance of Earth's Past by Baoshu
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
Rogue Protocol: The Murderbot Diaries, Book 3 by Martha Wells
Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Ubik by Philip K. Dick
Reamde by Neal Stephenson
Total Recall by Philip K. Dick
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel by Neal Stephenson
Network Effect: A Murderbot Novel by Martha Wells
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel by Neal Stephenson
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Autonomous: A Novel by Annalee Newitz
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Contact by Carl Sagan
Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky
This World Is Full of Monsters: A Tor.com Original by Jeff VanderMeer
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Sphere by Michael Crichton
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
StarShipSofa No 562 Steve Pantazis (Part 1): ATREON SUPPORT NOW STANDING AT 423 – LAST WEEK 430 HELP US GET TO 500 PATREON SUPPORTERS.   Main Fiction: Switch, by Steve Pantazis (Part 1) Originally published in Writers of the Future Steve Pantazis is an award-winning author of fantasy and... by StarShipSofa
StarShipSofa No 436 T. R. Napper and Geoffrey A Landis: Fact: Looking Back At Genre History by Amy H. Sturgis Part 2 of 2 Star Trek and Arthurian Legend Interview: Geoffrey A Landis – What Really Happens When You Get Blown Out of an Airlock Main Fiction: "A Shout is a Prayer / For the Waiting Centuries" by... by StarShipSofa
Sci-fi Classics that have Influenced the Occult Revival (re-broadcast): Sci-fi Classics that have Influenced the Occult Revival by The Hermetic Hour
117 min listen
Aural Delights No 151 James Blish / Jason Sanford: Coming Up This Week 00:40 Hugos: 02:20 StarShipSofa Stories Vol 2 ToC Announcment 06:00 Fact Article: The Graphic Fan by Fred Himebaugh 21:51 Interview: Jason Sanford 21:45 Main Fiction: The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rain by Jason Sanford 39.35... by StarShipSofa
StarShipSofa No 330 Leah Cypess and Mary Soon Lee: Coming up… Mothering Sunday Special! (March 30 in the UK): Two stories of maternal angst. Main Fiction 1: "Pause Time" by Mary Soon Lee 03:40 Twenty minutes into the transatlantic flight, Connor started wailing. Pauline cradled him in her arms. Then sh... by StarShipSofa
Episode 256: Suzy McKee Charnas and Pamela Sargent: And we're back with a new episode! This week, from the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs, we are joined by the genuinely iconic Pamela Sargent, author of many novels including The Shore of Women and editor of the legendary Women of Wonder ant... by The Coode Street Podcast
Episode 302: The State of Short Fiction: This week we welcome a record number of guests for a lively discussion of the state of short fiction. We discuss whether or not we're currently in a "golden age" of short fiction; the welcome growth of multicultural voices; the economic realities of the ... by The Coode Street Podcast
9: Copernicus, Universal Football, and Tri-Solar Day by Stories from Among the Stars
Episode 453: Ten Minutes with Gregory Norman Bossert: Ten minutes with... is a special series presented by Coode Street that sees readers and booklovers from around the world talk about what they're reading right now and what's getting them through these difficult times. Gary is joined by award-winning auth... by The Coode Street Podcast
Two-Year Man by Kelly Robson (audio): This episode features "Two-Year Man" written by Kelly Robson. Originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 2015. Reprinted in the December 2018 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. - by Clarkesworld Magazine
Episode 549: Lockdown, science fiction, and more: Welcome to episode 7 of Season 12 of The Coode Street Podcast. This week Jonathan and Gary return to form with a classic ramble through a jumble of topics ranging from the postponement of this year's Swancon in Perth (and a bit of trivia about an America... by The Coode Street Podcast
For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I'll Not Be Back Again by Michael Swanwick (audio): This episode features "For I Have Lain Me Down on the Stone of Loneliness and I'll Not Be Back Again" written by Michael Swanwick. Originally published in Asimov' Science Fiction, August 2011. Reprint in the January 2018 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine an by Clarkesworld Magazine
StarShipSofa No 263 Pamela Sargent: Coming Up Covering The Sofa by Skeet: Guiseppe Troiano 04:00 Fact: Gaming the Future by Simon Hildebrandt 07:50 Main Fiction: A Smaller Government by Pamela Sargent 15:20 Earthseed film option Copyright c 2007 by Pamela Sargent. First appeared in Fast ... by StarShipSofa
Episode 561: Science fiction, influence, and more: Welcome to episode 19 of Season 12 of The Coode Street Podcast. This time out, Jonathan and Gary return, sans guests or much of a plan. They do manage to touch upon a number of significant issues, such as the work of newly minted World Fantasy Life Achie... by The Coode Street Podcast
Subject Number 428A by Theater Five: Relic Radio Science Fiction features a story from Theater Five this week. From October 2, 1964, here's their story titled, Subject Number 428A. Download SciFi532 by Relic Radio Sci-Fi (old time radio)
The Pure Product by John Kessel (audio): Our fifth piece of audio fiction for December is #8220;The Pure Product#8221; written by John Kessel and read by Kate Baker. First published in Isaac Asimovrsquo;s Science Fiction Magazine, March 1986. Subscribe to our podcast. by Clarkesworld Magazine
The Planet Zevius by The Mysterious Traveler: The Mysterious Traveler offers up a story for this week's Relic Radio Science Fiction. Here's his broadcast from May 1, 1951, The Planet Zevius. Download SciFi486 by Relic Radio Sci-Fi (old time radio)
StarShipSofa No 470 Jay O'Connell and Rob Boffard: Interview with Rob Boffard, author of Tracer.Main Fiction: "Solomon's Little Sister" by Jay O by StarShipSofa
Hua Li, "Chinese Science Fiction During the Post-Mao Cultural Thaw" (U Toronto Press, 2021): An interview with Hua Li by New Books in History
StarShipSofa No 446 Pavel Amnuel and Anatoly Belilovsky: Week 3 of Translations Special Month! This story was originally written in Russian and has been translated into English. Main Fiction: "White Curtain" by Pavel Amnuel, translated by Anatoly Belilovsky. Originally appeared in The Magazine ... by StarShipSofa
An Hour Of Ellison: This week's Relic Radio Science Fiction features two stories written by Harlan Ellison. First is Mindwebs with Paingod, their broadcast from March 16, 1977. That's followed by Wanted In Surgery from SF 68. That adaptation aired March 29, 1968. by Relic Radio Sci-Fi (old time radio)
Episode 337: Rich Larson and the Future of Science Fiction (sort of): Worldcon 76 in San Jose, California this past August was a busy time. Thousands of science fiction and fantasy writers, readers, artists, publishers, and fans of every stripe travelled across the country and, in some cases, around the world to celebrate... by The Coode Street Podcast
At the Cross-Time Jaunter's Ball by Alexander Jablokov (audio): Our seventh podcast for March is #8220;At the Cross-Time Jaunter's Ball#8221; written by Alexander Jablokov and read by Kate Baker. #160; Originally published in Isaac Asimov#8217;s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1987. Subscribe to our podcast. by Clarkesworld Magazine
StarShipSofa No 425 Bruce Sterling and Jill Heinerth: Coming Up… Interview: Cave diver Jill Heinerth explores hidden underground waterways running through our planet. OASIS 28 Main Fiction: "Black Swan" by Bruce Sterling Originally published in Interzone, reprinted in Years Best SF 15. Bruce Sterling, a... by StarShipSofa
Who's Afraid of Wolf 359 by Ken MacLeod (audio): This episode features "Who's Afraid of Wolf 359" written by Ken MacLeod. Originally published in The New Space Opera edited by Gardner Dozois and Jonathan Strahan. Reprinted in the December 2017 issue of Clarkesworld Magazine and read by Kate Baker. by Clarkesworld Magazine
StarShipSofa No 364 Derek Kunksen: Coming up… Fact: Mr SciFi talks Ray Bradbury 01 Main Fiction: Schools of Clay, by Derek Kunksen 15:30 Derek Künsken is a writer of science fiction and fantasy living in Gatineau, Québec. His fiction has appeared in Analog, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Blac... by StarShipSofa
Drabblecast 408- Doubleheader: Robert Reed: This week the Drabblecast brings you two new, previously unpublished stories by SF genre luminary Robert Reed. Reed published his first novel, The Leeshore in 1987. Since then he has received nominations for both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award, by The Drabblecast Audio Fiction Podcast
Marionettes Inc. by Dimension X: This week on Relic Radio Science Fiction, Dimension X brings us their story, Marionettes Inc. This episode originally aired August 30, 1951. Download SciFi502 by Relic Radio Sci-Fi (old time radio)
Future Thinking: Mark Honigsbaum, Lisa Mullen, Riel Miller, Sarah Dillon & Rupert Read with Matthew Sweet by Arts & Ideas
Episode 564: Oghenechovwe Ekpeki and African Speculative Fiction: Welcome to episode 22 of Season 12 of The Coode Street Podcast. In this episode, Gary and Jonathan talk to Oghenechovwe Ekpeki, author of the Otherwise Award-winning and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, British SF Award, and Nebula Award-nominated novel... by The Coode Street Podcast
Beijing Review
Boundaryless
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into th
Far Sector
RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher DC Comics/Young Animal Writer NK Jemisin Artist Jamal Campbell ISSUES 1-3 For a series largely set in the furthest reaches of space, Green Lantern rarely dabbles in the harder side of science fiction – which is what makes
Writing Magazine
Free Fantasy
Various authors and publishers are making books and stories freely available to keep readers entertained during the pandemic. Though the magazine closed down last year, Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show has put all 69 issues of the scien
Pure Imagination
We often hear complaints that games don't reflect the real world. To a point, that's true, but it's an attitude that can betray snobbery towards science fiction and fantasy. These genres often address contemporary themes through allegory – for childr
'Apsara Engine' Doesn't Break The Graphic Novel Rules — It Ignores Them
Bishakh Som's new comics collection is uncanny and hard to categorize — science-fictiony, mythic and humanistic, without making any particular assumptions about where humans as a species are going.
US small press Sliced Up is looking for short stories involving menopause for a horror fiction anthology, Bodies Full of Burning: An Anthology of Menopause-Themed Horror. Stories, 1,000-4,000 words, must include menopause as the main plot point. Subm
Lost Transmissions
RELEASED OUT NOW! 275 pages | Hardback/ebook Editor Desirina Boskovich Publisher Abrams Image As is often the case with such things, the subtitle to this eccentric collection – The Secret History Of Science Fiction And Fantasy – is arguably a little
All About Space
When Will We Make Contact?
"My best guess for when we'll detect extraterrestrial life – if, in fact, we make contact in my lifetime – is by 2030, a decade from now." "I've bet everyone a cup of coffee that we'll find a signal within two decades. If not, I'll have the opportun
Scientists Are Human, Too: Questions For Cartoonist Tom Gauld
Literary pun purveyor Tom Gauld turns his pen to the foibles of science (and science fiction) in his new comic collection Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, inspired by his scientist grandfather.
SF Winners
The Locus Science Fiction Foundation announced the winners on the 2021 Locus Awards in June. The Locus, are along with the Hugo Awards the most significant US awards for science fiction and fantasy. The winners were: Science Fiction Novel, Network Ef
Guernica Magazine
Victor LaValle: Imagine Downton Abbey, but with Smells
The award-winning writer on editing his first anthology, horror versus sci-fi, and the American tradition of voter suppression. The post Victor LaValle: Imagine Downton Abbey, but with Smells appeared first on Guernica.
The Roots Of Science Fiction
Science fiction is a genre that generates a great deal of debate today – not least over a true definition and what titles should be included with the field, which can be thorny enough in its own right. What is not up for debate is the long and varied
Take A Chance With SF Noir
Tyche Books is a Canadian small-press specialising in science-fiction and fantasy anthologies, novels, and non-fiction, all available as ebooks and trade paperbacks. The editorial team 'crave innovative stories that push the boundaries of imagination
But What If?
All fiction is speculative to some extent, posing a "what-if" question, which serves as the premise and drives the plot. But for fantasy author Kij Johnson, winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Award, the specific genre of speculative fiction adds its
Alien Worlds
UK/US: Netflix, streaming now Producer Nigel Paterson Narrator Sophie Okonedo In a few centuries' time, a documentary series like this will probably be hosted by a clone of David Attenborough, jetting around the galaxy studying extraterrestrial life.
My Best Of 2021
by Essa Hansen ORBIT ₹494 (KINDLE); 512 pages The sequel to Nophek Gloss, Azura Ghost is due to be formally published in March 2022, and marks the continuation of one of the most innovative and original contemporary space operas available today. Hans
21 for 2021
For many of us, 2020 is not a year that we're going to recall with a great deal of fondness – in fact, I'll bet that most people will be pretty glad to see this one vanish in the rear-view mirror. But as one year ends another begins, and with that co
The Best in Translated Speculative Fiction of 2018 (So Far)
It's turning out to be a great year for speculative fiction in translation (SFT). And though as of this writing (June), I've already catalogued 51 speculative novels or collections and 30 short stories. Compare this to the end of 2017, when we had a
Third Data Server From the Sun: The Earth is becoming a computer visible across galactic distance.
Chicago-bound motorists passing mile marker 121 on Interstate-88 through Aurora, Illinois, on Sept. 30, 2011, at 3:00 p.m. likely noticed nothing that seemed particularly remarkable. To their right was a scene of humdrum office parks, and to the left
Please Stop Talking About the "Rise" of African Science Fiction
Whenever I see an article that starts with "The Rise of. . ." I think of dough. When it's applied to African science fiction, I picture an endlessly rising (and falling) dough that will never become bread. Each "rise" is celebrated but ephemeral, exi
Future Present? How Science Fiction Sees Our World In 2050.
Science fiction writers, gazing into the future, envision space-based cargo movers and robots that may eliminate the need for humans to work.
Global Fiction Market
Tiny Fox Press like to publish 'engaging stories needing a great home', usually commercial fiction, SF/fantasy, MG/YA in all genres, military and 'the bizarre'. Currently open to submissions of novels, over 20,000 words but full length preferred, the
UK Sf Market
Goldsmiths Press, which aims to revive and regenerate the traditions and values of university press publishing through the innovative use of print and digital media, has a new science fiction imprint called Gold SF. It is 'dedicated to discovering an
Global Specfic Market
Starry Eyed Press is a new international publisher of science fiction and fantasy for all ages. The editorial team currently seek submissions of science fiction novels, novellas 'and short reads for all ages'. Check out the website and read their det
Win $500 and publication in the biannual Black River Chapbook Competition for unpublished chapbooks, 16-36 pages. Chapbooks may be poems or prose of any kind or combination. Individual pieces within the chapbook may be previously published, but not t
AQ: Australian Quarterly
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea : Speculative Fiction And The Future Of Seafaring
ARTICLE BY: Isabelle Gua ran "How inappropriate to call this pla net "Earth," when it is clearly "Ocean." – Arthur C. Clarke It was coming at the Covehithe cliff. Under its stains and excrescences were more regular markings, stencilled warnings. Pain
On the History (and Future) of YA and Speculative Fiction by Black Women
In his poem "Harlem," Langston Hughes asked, "What happens to a dream deferred?" It was a prophetic inquiry, one that questioned a society in which Black people continually faced racial injustice, even though the nation's ideals were supposedly predi
International Zine Scene
Pipe Wrench is a thought-provoking bimonthly, publishing 'one core longform story and a constellation of other pieces interpreting or reacting or spring-boarding off it.' The lead article is 4,000 to 7,000 words, preferably on 'an idea most readers h
How Would People React to News That Aliens Exist?
On the night before Halloween in 1938, a strange story crackled over radios across the United States. An announcer interrupted the evening's regular programming for a "special bulletin," which went on to describe an alien invasion in a field in New J
PC Gamer (US Edition)
Books For The Book Throne
Book one in the Gaunt's Ghosts series, which chronicle the lives of the "poor f****** infantry" of the Imperial Guard. It's World War I in space. The Eisenhorn series, currently being adapted for TV, begins with this hardboiled crime story. There's a
What people think about The Three-Body Problem
426 ratings / 126 Reviews
vladmihaisima
Conspiracy theory book interlinked with China history in the last 50 years. Fresh style/topic when compared with Anglo-Saxon science-fiction writers. Some of the characters seem more generic/modern (scientist, policeman that gets job done but might have bad connections), while others have a stronger Chinese specific (person prosecuted by the cultural revolution). Plot unravels at uneven paces, which is very good managed up to the final chapters of the book where it feels a bit rushes/unclear. Main plot is related to various humans becoming so disillusioned by human race that they end up in a plot that helps a planned alien invasion. The alien civilization inhabits a three star system which makes it very hard to survive so they need another system. Most of the actions are in the planning/development stage with few decisive actions. The book does not finish with a clear ending, seeming that the aliens managed to reach their objective, but humans obtaining minor victories as well
lwobbe_1
Mind-bending exploration of a future world and its global anxiety and destruction at the hands or minds of aliens. Made even more so by the Chinese cultural norms and possibly also the language hiccups due to the translation. The aliens inhabit a planet with 3 suns and alternate between unpredictable periods of normalcy and destruction when the planet moves to close to one of the sons. Apparently 3 body systems are not possible to predict. They communicate through video games, religious cults, mental manipulation. Physicists must be destroyed, because they might figure out how to stop them from coming to earth to occupy our planet, after they get rid of us. Worth it, but scary and weird to follow part due to the bizarre pacing.
liscarey
The Best Novel category is going to be a tough decision this year.
I loved The Goblin Emperor I'm currently enjoying the Ancillary Sword audiobook. And now I've just finished this amazing novel by Cixin Liu.
The story opens in China during the Cultural Revolution, with the brutal deaths, first, of a teenage radical in a conflict between different factions of the People's Liberation Army, and next, of "counterrevolutionary" university professor, while his older daughter watches, and his wife is forced to testify against him.
The daughter, Ye Wenjie, survives the Cultural Revolution, not unscathed, but she lands a somewhat precarious position on a secret project where her work as an astrophysicist is valuable. It's not an easy time for her, but she's doing useful work. We don't find out till later just how secret the work of the Red Coast Base is.
Another thread in this story follows Wang Miao, who avoided theoretical physics in favor of the less ideologically risky applied physics, and in the early 2000s has made major breakthroughs in nanomaterials.
The thread that has gotten the most discussion is that concerning the online game that Wang Miao and others are drawn into, Three Body, a game that involves a planet subjected to unpredictable extremes of heat, cold, and length of days due to the fact that it exists in a three-star system. The game isn't just a game or a distraction for our characters; it turns out to be a vital thread in what's going on, part of a problem created by the secret project at Red Coast Base and bad decisions made by damaged survivors of the Cultural Revolution.
I've seen comments about characterization being thin and the game taking up too much space in the story. I understand them, but don't agree. As in other hard sf novels, Liu is building an alien society for us, at least for the western reader, and I think it's well done. The reader may have to work a bit harder at getting the characters, but only because the cultural background and references--ghe world building--are also requiring some mental work. The game itself turns out to contain vital information, and I think the balance among the different elements is overall good.
I'm looking forward to the next volume of the trilogy.
wassilissa
Ein wirklich interessanter Science-Fiction Roman!Man merkt, das er von einem Naturwissenschaftler geschrieben wurde, er wirkt korrekt. Die Idee, die im letzten Drittel dann deutlich wird (ich will jetzt nicht spoilern), ist wirklich interessant und auch, was der Autor im Nachwort schreibt, finde ich bedenkenswert.
dbsovereign
This is a surprisingly personal first contact story that also serves to remind us of things that happened in China during the Cultural Revolution...[in progress]
ssimon2000-1
Wow, this was deep. Astro-physics, impossible scientific scenarios with no solutions, deep-space probes the size of photons, and science fiction set in and around China's Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s through the modern era.
This is deep-thought science fiction, and probably not for everybody. I listened to this one, and I'm glad I did; I don't think I would have finished this in print/ebook format.
The plot is sometimes slow-going, with the physics-related explanations often slowing down the narrative dramatically, with whole chapters dedicated to explaining various happenings in the real world, in virtual space, and on another planet. The world-building is simply fantastic, though, and it was actually quite fun (and challenging) to try to picture a planet with three suns in chaos with each other.
I'll be listening to the next one soon, but I need to give my mind a break!
undermyappletree
I read this for my bookclub, otherwise I would have stopped by one-third the way through. I love science fiction and rarely want to throw down a book in frustration, but this one was so tedious it fit the bill!Interesting premise that was never really developed because there was way too much physics. Characters were unlikable and the plot was difficult to follow. And then at the end . . . there really wasn't one! This is book one in a trilogy. Ugh. No thanks.
befuddledpanda
Definitely a very interesting premise. I love the historical background and the pacing of the book. The author definitely gets a little deep with some of the physics but I really enjoyed those parts. Physics was a character within the story, and it worked really well. I have the second book ready to continue on with the trilogy.
algybama
No characters to speak of, and no real plot either, but there's still a lot here to enjoy. I used to think VR was played out and pretty much dead, but now I'm not so sure. The 3-Body virtual world turned the whole device on its head and made it fresh, humorous, creepy, and mysterious - a massive departure from other depictions of VR.The SF treatment of the Cultural Revolution was the other mind-blowing aspect of the book. The ideological implications of physics theories, the taboo of aiming a laser at the sun - these sorts of details really enlivened the book and gave it that unsettling Philip K. Dick feeling of revisionist history and secrets hidden in quotidian life.There are scenes of such imaginative excitement that I sometimes felt like I was reading the best SF of all time. But unfortunately the author is inconsistent and mishandled a few critical aspects of the story. The most egregious mistake is the moralizing bullshit, in particular the environmentalist angle that's so sloppily tacked it's almost unbelievable. The author's afterward also contains some high-horse nonsense that similarly off-putting.
bookczuk
This was a tough one for me... I kept losing the narrative. It may have had to do with the book being an e-book, because when I switched to a hardback things went more smoothly. Also, when I read when I was tired, the page would show a character's name as "Sha", but my brain autocorrected to "She", and I kept wondering who "she" was and when a female entered the scene. Thank you Tor, for the ebook, and javaczuk (via Harriet) for the hard copy.
shrike58
While I try to read all the Hugo-winning novels eventually my basic response to this book is that if the efforts to sabotage the normal course of Hugo voting in 2015 hadn't occurred this book wouldn't have won, as while it has its virtues there were better books that would have been on the final ballot; particularly Robert Bennett's "City of Stairs" (never mind Jeff VanderMeer's Nebula-winning "Annihilation"). The irony is that while the "Sad/Rabid Puppy" bloc had an issue with novels that were overtly polemical (unless they were of their preferred polemical stripe), whatever else you want to say about this novel is that it's quite polemical, Liu, as much as anything else, having written a rebuttal to Carl Sagan's "Contact" (Liu being much more skeptical of the likely turn of events in the case of first contact for Humanity). On the other hand, Liu also seems to have an issue with a certain East Asian mentality where much is excused on the basis of "sincerity," as his traumatized female protagonist undertakes dubious actions out of the sincere belief that the book's aliens have to be superior to humans. The more I think about it the more this work reminds me of something that might have been written by Kurt Vonnegut. As for myself I found the best writing in this book to be the initial section depicting a Red Guards' "reeducation" session turned ugly; nothing else I read quite measured up to it.
lorannen-1
This left me anxious to pick up the next book in the series. Definitely one of the best I've read this year, period, and one of the best my book club has selected, ever. Sadly, I'll miss discussion for it, but I think it raises issues that would generate good discussion.
bruce_mcnair_2
An engineer is asked by police to infiltrate a secret group involved in a mysterious game called Three Body as a result of a number of apparent suicides by some players. The game simulates life on a planet with three suns. Civilisation is disrupted on the planet many times as a result of the unpredictable motion of the suns. The players try to predict the motion of the suns without success. The game is an analogue for life on a real planet with three suns. One minor point, given that there are 3 suns and a planet, this is actually a case of a 4 body problem. But the problem is no less intractable. Numerical analysis is used to solve similar problems in astrophysics. The story develops into a struggle between different factions of those following the aliens. The police and military are also trying to unravel the deaths and the motives of those playing the game. The ending is a bit of a let-down as it sets the story up for the sequels. I give this story 3.5 stars out of 5.Hints at the end of Part 2 suggest that the Trisolaran system is actually the Alpha Centauri system. In 2016, an Earth-sized exoplanet was discovered in the habitable zone around Alpha Centauri C, also known as Proxima Centauri.
ashles_1
Interesting but rather outlandish concepts. The characters had the depth of cardboard cutouts, except for the main character, who had all the depth of a particle folded into one dimension.
gilroy_1
This book is so disjointed, it's ridiculous. I want to rearrange chapters, maybe alternate some of the alien chapters with the earth chapters. Something. Going through two thirds of the book from the Earth perspective, then the last third with the alien perspective ... no. UGH! How did this book win awards? Concept?Much of the book deals with Physics. Theoretical Physics. Description of the actual theory, etc. DRY! It's what the entire book is going to be about. There was too much a feel of a physics textbook than a novel to this book. I'd edit out about half the science jargon, maybe make this a novella.The book lacks things that would draw people in. The science based people are so jargon rich, it's hard to feel sympathy for them. Very little action, from a Western idea, and lots of background or science description. It took almost a third of a book to find out why we had the beginning character and connect to the primary protagonist.There were times that I thought the in-book game seemed like the more interesting storyline than most of the rest. The more I think about it, the more it feels like the author tried to take the popular concepts of popular books and merge them into one book. There is a stretch of reading off redacted documents aka World War Z. There is a game of survival like Hunger Games. There is the whole mystery to solve thing. There's the aliens that never appear. I'm baffled and lost how this book got such buzz to it. Not that good a book. Maybe it's because it's a translation and its home country would absorb this type thing. Just not my type book.
judtheobscure
Brilliant and suspenseful sci fi that totally deserved the Hugo. Set in 2008 and the cultural revolution, it traces the story of Chinese scientists in a first encounter tale with an alien race. Informed by such texts as Rachel Carsons silent spring, it is thoughtful and inventive and un putdownable. I read it in English first and then Chinese. Note that the English translation shuffles the text around quite a lot, opening with the cultural revolution scenes while the Chinese began in 2008, which I suspect was for marketing reasons in the English language market (CR settings sell in English language markets) but it didn't detract too much from the story.
bernadette877
Interesting approach to the first contact novel.
meditationesmartini
This had at least two magnificent, profusely inventive parts--the "Three-Body Problem" video game where the main dude is introduced to a civilization defined by its unpredictable orbit in relation to three suns (referencing the physics problem in the title, where it's impossible to calculate the gravitational effects on each other of more than two bodies because of how they change), that is destroyed and painstakingly builds itself up again and again, and the part where said civilization turns out to be a real alien civilization coming to Earth to get us, and the crazy way they do it (it involves folding eleven-dimensional protons down into three dimensions after teaching them to feed our science false results). If that was all it had it wouldn't warrant four stars but the plateaux in between are decent too--you get a Chinese widescreen fiction writer's sense of what the man-of-science-in-a-land-of-miracles and insolent-maverick-cop and damaged-but-sympathetic-but-ultimately-monstrous-zealot (in this case, damaged by the Cultural Revolution, and I appreciated what a sense I got of how the CR must have shaped the outlooks of people in today's China, paving the way for Deng and what came after with opening because no more firebrands!) are like, and everyone has that really sincere way of speaking--like what we do with irony they do with insults somehow, I don't know, like not to be orientalist here but a face thing? "Ha ha ha! You are a fool!" and then the other guy seethes but can't do anything about it because he is not the man of the hour and the guy calling him a fool is. I can't quite get my finger on it but I enjoyed it.
iira_24
This was a difficult and arduous read for me. I'm not yet sure if I understood any of it, but there was a lot of detailed technical stuff I could have done without. The characters were rather flat and there was at the same time not that much and too much going on. I had super high expectations but this book did not live up to them. I don't know what to think. I'll probably read the next one (although it won't be too soon) and be even more baffled.
Joe A. Posadas
People are enamored by Cixin Liu's writing...he's very good and let's just leave it there.
Too many vignettes too many characters though in the end...works. Worth a read. j
SwitchSpencer
This is a fantastic story, so well written it's believable. The actual use of scientific research is unparalleled in my opinion. This is one of the best pieces of science fiction literature ever written. Listen for yourself, and please tell me different so I can listen to that too:-)
Sheena Gurbakhash
Simply exquisite. The characters are really fleshed out, didn't understand the science but never felt stupid. An excellent translation and narration.
DSpaceNine
Amazing concepts making for a fully fresh sci-fi tale! Wow!
This is definitely for hard sci fi lovers. But the plot was intriguing enough to keep me going.
Christopher W
This was hands down one of the best books I've listened too, and I recommend it to any of my friends who like hard science fiction. It's a very rich and interesting story, and I absolutely suggest reading the next two sequels as well; the payoff is great.
Gray Harrison
As someone who does not often delve into sci-fi, I am blown away by this book. It has true literary merit- Liu's storytelling, character development, and world-building are all top-notch, and I was often moved to tears by his artful descriptions of both the grandness of the universe and the minutest details of the human heart. Would recommend to basically anyone. Also spot-on to anxieties of our time regarding the future of our planet and the human race.
I found this book uneven and frustrating. As if the author got half-way through and realized he had too much information to convey, so he changed from telling a story from the characters' point of view to just spilling out a lot of information. The premise was interesting but the resolution very unsatisfying. I am not going to listen to any others in this series and listened to the last half at 1.5 speed to just get to the "resolution".
Rohit Nallapeta
Great science fiction. You can see the influence of Carl Sagan, Asimov etc.
Tom Buhle
A highly scientific journey to doomsday
Wordy at times, and info dumps struggle reader's ability to keep focused, but i will read the 2nd book to see if the plot overtakes the science
Very cool ideas
Jerry Keeney
An unusual and refreshing view of the future of humanity from the perspective that isn't based on the culture in the West. From the Cultural Revolution and it's human failure to the potential end of the human race, because of it.
Striking technologies and a new view of how aliens really could be, without even describing them. Brilliant.


The Elliott Insurance Broker's Emergency Claims Service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for assistance with emergency claims, life or property threatening events. Please note that this is not for casual enquiries.
If lives are in danger, contact 000 immediately.
If people are injured the police must be notified.
Most insurers will cover towing and taxis to a safe place.
This includes domestic, commercial and industrial buildings.
In the event of a weather event, contact State Emergency Services - 132 500 to prevent further property damage.
Most insurers will cover temporary repairs, lock replacement and accommodation.
If you don't know your insurer or Account Executive, our CEO is available 24 hours a day.


text:
St. FX football deemed "unsustainable" by university administration
posted by Scott Hastie on 14:32 5 comments
CIS football is in a bit of danger.
Within the 2014 season, two programs have considered shutting down. Originally reported by CanadaFootballChat.com, the University of Waterloo told players and administration that there was a "strong possibility" that the program would fold after this season. This was denied by the university, but athletic director Roly Webster said, "If we can't justify our investment, I'd say (folding the team) is absolutely a consideration. I'd be lying if I said it's not."
Now, the details of St. Francis Xavier's Presidential Task Force report have surfaced. The football program has been deemed "unsustainable" by the university — the administration's worst category for ranking programs at the university. In a screen capture from the PDF, the comments do not provide much room for optimism.
For reference, the university's definition of unsustainable can be found in this screen capture from the St. FX report slideshow.
Two programs discussing shutting down is newsworthy. Even if they do not actually follow through, the consideration means this is not likely to be an isolated issue. Programs are feeling the financial pinch as the cost of competing has ramped up. I wrote about the issue of funding for my school newspaper, and the issue isn't going away.
Which brings me to a Newsweek piece about Laval, and the angle that isn't addressed in the article. The author speaks glowingly of the Laval football experience, saying it rivals (and even bests) the NCAA environment. Inaccuracies aside, it's a good read.
Laval has changed the game for CIS football. They have a rabid fanbase, a dedicated alumni benefactor group and a really damn good team, year-after-year. The standard for excellence has been raised, and that is important. Carleton University's adoption of the mega-funding model has them sitting in a really good position for a second-year program.
But we're now seeing the fallout that comes with this. Teams are realizing they cannot compete on a national scale, and that attempting to do so is a waste of resources. The financial barrier to success is lower in other sports and athletic departments may see that to be a more efficient use of a limited pool money.
The landscape of CIS football changed nearly 20 years ago, but we're seeing the real ramifications now. If a couple of teams drop out, could we see others follow suit?
Scott Hastie
David Kilfoil 10/27/2014 2:44 pm
It's all about ROI - Return on Investment. All of the universities in the Maritimes have enrollment challenges due to our aging demographic, accelerated by so many young (and not so young) people working out West in the oil patch.
Schools can justify varsity athletics when you have a core of solid student-athletes. But going over-budget with football AFA's while those same student-athletes are underperforming on the field and in the classroom? As StFX says, not sustainable.
Go big, or stay home. Or have private funding groups take over the program like at Laval. If you can find the money.
Scott Hastie 10/27/2014 2:58 pm
Your point on ROI brings up an argument, in my mind, about whether departments spread themselves too thin by trying to compete in all the sports.
I agree with Scott -- there are some schools that have all of the major sports and find themselves spreading their funding so thin it takes away from the competitiveness. Especially schools that are smaller and have less SAC fees and whatnot.
UNB dropped varsity football back in 1980 or 81 because of financial constraints. In the last decade they created a two-tier system for varsity sports and "competitive club sports", which is also financially based (and not been without controversy).
Result? The UNB hockey team is a national power house and both soccer programs are nationally ranked. Volleyball and basketball still have some work to do, but certainly men's basketball has made huge strides.
UNB varsity athletics this past year has a record number of all-Canadians, including the whole women's volleyball program.
And that is just one example of a school that rationalized their varsity programs, and not just football.
David Kilfoil 10/29/2014 9:46 am
Here's the take in it from Monty Mosher of the Chronicle-Herald:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/sports/1246904-x-football-unsustainable-internal-review-finds#.VFDpWDND8us.twitter
Previewing the men's basketball top-five
St. FX football deemed "unsustainable" by universi...
Men's Hockey: UQTR coach goes off on UNB hockey, a...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Let's take a trip down memory lane back to grade school to the days of the dreaded group projects.
If you were like me (and if you're a marketer, you're probably like me), group projects meant continuous stress and anxiety. First, there was my portion of the assignment, which I would stress about perfecting. But then there was the infinitely more stressful task of worrying about whether my group members would hold up their end of the bargain. And even if they did, would their work be up to my overachiever standards?
Now imagine that your high school group has been tasked with an incredibly complex and arduous project with no real direction in terms of who is responsible for what. Oh, and if your group doesn't perform well on the project, your allowance money is taken as retribution. You can only imagine the chaos that would descend upon that group of despairing teens.
We might not be kids anymore, but group projects without clear task delegation can still get frustrating in the corporate world. And boy, do they get frustrating fast.
If the GDPR is even remotely on the radar, then you can probably relate to the above scenario all too well.
Preparing for GDPR compliance is this mammoth undertaking that requires all-hands-on-deck. But the path towards compliance is murky, and no one really knows how or where to start.
We wanted to empower the overachievers in your GDPR group project to take action before the GDPR goes into effect because I know you really want a passing grade.


text:
Why Donald Trump is Good for India
His America would leave India with no alternative than to give up complacency, fend for itself and safeguard its extended interests
Bharat Karnad Bharat Karnad | 27 Jul, 2016
NOTHING IS MORE dreaded by liberal America than the potential presidency of Donald J Trump. He means to blow up the foundations of the existing global order along with the current set of US foreign and military policies. Notionally 'Republican' in his ideological moorings, Trump has declared he will tear up all free trade agreements, end refugee, immigrant and even visitor flows into America from nations "compromised" by "radical Islam", including France and Germany, and, in order to generate well-paying jobs at home, stop US companies from outsourcing work offshore. Most significantly, his government will require, he says, treaty allies and strategic partners to pay their "fair share" for the military protection provided to them. Trump will terminate alliances, including NATO, since he perceives these as vehicles for allies to free-ride on security accorded by the US that drains its wealth and saps its spirit. Americans have always believed that 'there is no free lunch'; Trump has extended this principle to assert there's no free protection either.
International security arrangements are protection rackets, after all, and, one way or another, beneficiary countries do end up paying. Tokyo coughs up what it delicately calls 'omoiyari yosan' (compassion monies) amounting to several billions of dollars annually for the US military presence in Japan. It is armed security this country could well do without if the 'peace constitution' imposed on it by the US did not prohibit the Japanese from gaining militarily self-sufficiency in the first place. If it is amended, Japan can acquire nuclear weapons within weeks. It is a direction Trump has urged not just Japan but also South Korea to take.
Washington's looser, more laissez faire attitude to nuclear self- defence and non-proliferation should ease fears of possible US- led sanctions and thus liberate New Delhi from its self-imposed America-placating strictures, motivate it to resume underground testing, and obtain a versatile arsenal by filling it with proven and credible nuclear and thermonuclear weapons of various yield-to- weight ratios. More consequentially, it can arm Vietnam with nuclear missiles as payback for China's doing the same with Pakistan. India, Japan and Vietnam armed with such weapons would effectively ring-fence China. If that doesn't sober it up fast, nothing will. Nations on the periphery of China will find Beijing becoming more receptive to equitable solutions for its border dispute with India and for others in the South China Sea and Senkaku Islands. Chinese leaders will have to worry that any show of bellicosity may push more adjoining countries to seek nuclear empowerment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets along well with US President Barack Obama. He may get along even better with Trump—and then again, perhaps not—because they seem to be cut from the same cloth in many ways. Both are self-centered and share the same personality traits. The Republican Party presidential candidate has confessed, for instance, that he consults only himself when it comes to foreign policy matters. "I'm speaking with myself, I know what I'm doing," he told an interviewer. "I listen to a lot of people… But my primary consultant is myself and I have a good instinct for this stuff." Personal instinct and gut-level feelings are also what Modi banks on and which take precedence over the advice of experts and professionals. Trump's boast, moreover, that he is able to do this because, as he put it, "I have a very good brain", has shades of Modi's preening reference to his own "56-inch chest".
Trump's neo-isolationist stance, however, packs the potential for the most lasting effects. With him implementing punitive policies, withdrawing the US behind Fortress America, and pulling up the drawbridges, international institutions such as the United Nations and economic forums such as the G-20 will become defunct, and the Indian Government will face a world bereft of the comfortable certainties of the past. With no assurance of an economic safety net or security shield, it will be compelled to look out for the country's interests, muster the economic, military, technological and industrial resources necessary to fight off China or any combination of rivals and adversaries on its own. Should New Delhi relapse into its old habit and ask Washington to act as rescuer, Trump will demand that India sign up as a treaty ally, and, of course, pay for any military deployment.
New Delhi has been too complacent for too long, confident that in any dire situation an extant great power will rush to India's aid. India's big power rhetoric aside, its foreign policy has been like that of a cripple on foreign crutches, or like a pepper vine needing to wind itself around a sturdy tree to climb and prosper. In the 1950s and 60s, India relied on the US and the Soviet Union; in the following two decades, exclusively on the Soviet Union; and in the new century, on the United States. Trump will kick the crutches from beneath the Indian Government's shaky worldview and mindset. Worse may follow in the economic sphere. Trump's populism has been his winning card. He has promised that he will bring industry and jobs back to the US. This he means to do by cutting off access to the American market of those countries enjoying what he deems to be unfair advantages—in terms of hidden subsidies, tariffs and preferential treatment of home companies— and by curbing the outsourcing of work to foreign shores.
Globally, India's biggest comparative advantage vis-à-vis other countries is in the Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled services sector. It accounts for 67 per cent of the $124-130 billion market pie, employs 10 million people and is expected to grow to $350 billion by 2025. The trouble is that this vast edifice—a prime advertisement for a globalised and modernising India—will come crashing down if access to the American market is curtailed and H-1B visas are stopped. These visas permit Indian firms to send engineers and technicians to work in the US on Indian wages— Trump's reason for shutting down this business altogether.
This industry is a vehicle of middle-class aspirations, and since the late 1990s, New Delhi has been very mindful of keeping the US door ajar for it and courting the votes of this burgeoning section of society. Getting close to America was an aim of the governments led by AB Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, as it now is of the Modi Government. They have striven to forge a 'special relationship' with the US for another reason too: a 'strategic partnership' as a security hedge against an aggressive China.
THE HISTORICAL RECORD of countries seeking a 'special relationship' with the US, however, is not good. Winston Churchill as wartime British prime minister, and in his second term at 10 Downing Street in the early 1950s, discovered that it meant Britain being treated as a supplicant, a second-rate power, and having to tolerate unending slights. A Trump-led America will be even more insufferable in these respects, and falling in with the US may mean swallowing one's pride and accepting insults and supercilious behaviour. Then again, recent policy trends suggest the Indian Government may not be averse to becoming a subsidiary power.
Even so, assuming there are limits beyond which the Indian people won't accept the belittling of India, the country will be left with no alternative than to fend for itself and safeguard its extended interests. It will be a signal departure in that India will, per force, have to discard the habit of leaning on foreign countries for anything, ruthlessly pare the government and the public sector, task the private sector with the bulk of economic effort, including achieving self-sufficiency in armaments, and, with regard to foreign and military policies, insert steel in them, make them disruptive, reorient Indian diplomacy towards realpolitik, and enable India to emerge as an independent power that friends and foes alike fear and respect as much for its clout as its unpredictability. But for these benefits to accrue, Americans first have to elect Trump as their president.
Donald TrumpHillary ClintonIndo-US relationshipNarendra ModiUS electionsvisa policy
Bharat Karnad
Bharat Karnad is Professor for National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research and author of the forthcoming book, Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India's Global Ambition
Scandal-hit Deras: Lost Blessings
Nikita Doval Scandal-hit deras are losing their electoral pull in Haryana
Benny Tai: 'Hong Kong will play a special role in withstanding the global rise of authoritarianism'
Ullekh NP Hong Kong's pro-democracy leader in conversation with Ullekh NP
Back to Gandhi, Desperately
Amita Shah Sonia as interim president only deepens the Congress crisis


text:
Q: Não consigo usar o foreach com objeto duas vezes na mesma view no laravel Estou com um grande problema que não consigo resolver pois ainda sou iniciante em Laravel. O problema é que estou desenvolvendo uma aplicação web e preciso listar o objeto cidades em dois select diferentes, porém quando adiciono o segundo foreach dá um erro dizendo que não possível encontrar o objeto mas quando apago este foreach e deixo apenas um a aplicação funciona normalmente.
Segue a parte do código onde preciso fazer as duas listagens:

                {!! Form::open(['url'=>'index/oportunidades']) !!}

                            {!! Form::label('cidades', 'Selecione uma Cidade:') !!}
                            <select class="form-control" id="sel1" name="cidade">
                                @foreach($cidades as $cidades)
                                    <option value="{{$cidades->id}}">{{ $cidades->nome }} - {{ $cidades->estado->sigla }}</option>
                                @endforeach
                            </select>

                            {!! Form::label('categorias', 'Selecione uma Categoria:') !!}
                            <select class="form-control" id="sel1" name="categoria">
                               @foreach($categorias as $categorias)
                                    <option value="{{$categorias->id}}">{{$categorias->nome}}</option>
                               @endforeach
                            </select>

                    <button class="btn btn-warning" type="submit">Filtrar</button>

                {!! Form::close() !!}

                {!! Form::open(['url'=>'index/oportunidades']) !!}

                            {!! Form::label('cidades', 'Selecione uma Cidade:') !!}
                            <select class="form-control" id="sel1" name="cidade">
                                @foreach($cidades as $cidades)
                                    <option value="{{$cidades->id}}">{{ $cidades->nome }} - {{ $cidades->estado->sigla }}</option>
                                @endforeach
                            </select>

                            {!! Form::label('categorias', 'Selecione uma Categoria:') !!}
                            <select class="form-control" id="sel1" name="categoria">
                               @foreach($categorias as $categorias)
                                    <option value="{{$categorias->id}}">{{$categorias->nome}}</option>
                               @endforeach
                            </select>

                    <button class="btn btn-warning" type="submit">Filtrar</button>

                {!! Form::close() !!}

E abaixo o código do controller:
public function index(){
    $cidades = cidades::all();
    $categorias = categorias::all();
    $oportunidades = oportunidades::all();
    return view('index', compact('cidades', 'categorias', 'oportunidades'));
}

A: O erro:
@foreach($cidades as $cidades)
    <option value="{{$cidades->id}}">
          {{ $cidades->nome }} - {{ $cidades->estado->sigla }}
    </option>
@endforeach

Explicação: no foreach na coleção de cidades sendo passada para a mesma variável, não pode esta sobrescrevendo é um erro de conceito, mudo o nome da variável:
Correto:
@foreach($cidades as $c)
    <option value="{{$c->id}}">
          {{ $c->nome }} - {{ $c->estado->sigla }}
    </option>
@endforeach

O mesmo caso acontece em Categorias, arrume o nome da variável, não pode ser o mesmo nome da coleção.
Um outra otimização é no seu controller no model cidades force o carregamento de estado, isso melhora o desempenho porque gera em 2 SQL o que precisa, já o outro a cada interação é feito um consulta no banco (baixo desempenho):
public function index()
{
    $cidades = cidades::with('estado')->get();
    $categorias = categorias::all();
    $oportunidades = oportunidades::all();
    return view('index', compact('cidades', 'categorias', 'oportunidades'));
}

A: Eu consegui enfim resolver o problema! É porque no primeiro foreach eu atribuia a variavel $cidades ao meu objeto $cidades então no segundo foreach ele pegava a variavel $cidades e não objeto $cidades. Ou seja, era apenas um erro de repetição de variavel.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


We also provide preventive maintenance programs to our customers to help maintain their systems at peak efficiency and to prevent costly downtime.
In order for the equipment to function at optimum capacity, routine maintenance is important as well as having all necessary repairs made when necessary. Our maintenance and repair program is comprehensive and can be tailored to your organization.
The value of our preventative maintenance program is founded on the idea that; equipment which is properly maintained draws less energy and is the single most important predictor of equipment longevity. We believe the only proven method of diagnosing air conditioning or refrigeration equipment is through the collection and analysis of a number of critical measurements of pressure and temperature. This includes analysis of suction pressure, liquid pressure, suction temperature, superheat and sub cooling.
Our approach to maintenance will not only extend the life of your equipment, but will also generate substantial energy savings by consistently maintaining your equipment at its optimal run state. In fact, we have found that most of our new customers have been running their HVAC at 80% or less operating efficiency, thereby resulting in dramatically higher energy costs. The energy savings derived from our preventive maintenance program is especially important for customers with large portfolios, where energy is a significant portion of their operating budget.


Apple, Chia and Honey Muffins by MummaCook. A Thermomix ® recipe in the category Baking - sweet on www.recipecommunity.com.au, the Thermomix ® Community.
Place apple into bowl and chop 3 sec/speed 7 or until apple is finely chopped. Remove apple and set aside until ready to use.
Place butter into bowl and melt 90 sec/60°C/speed 2.
Add S.R. flour, brown sugar, honey, vanilla extract, eggs, milk, chia seeds and reserved apple to bowl. Mix 10 sec/ /speed 4 or until combined.
Pour batter into muffin tins and bake 200°C for 15min or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Submitted by Karliearkelly on 30. March 2017 - 14:59.
Submitted by jp15 on 26. January 2017 - 22:33.
Easy to mAke. Good for lunch boxes. Read other comments and didn't add full amount of sugar, but then my partner said they tasted 'too healthy', lol. Thanks for the recipe.
Submitted by Gugster on 1. August 2015 - 17:42.
I replaced the apple with pear and the honey with rice malt syrup. Baked them for 22 mins and out of the oven they came light and fluffy. Yum! I will make another batch to freeze for school lunch boxes.
Submitted by Thebartlettbunch on 5. June 2015 - 17:42.
Submitted by Louise MacDonald - Consultant on 30. November 2014 - 12:44.
Great, I only added 60g of brown sugar and was still sweet enough. I also didnt take out the apple as I am lazy and didnt want to have to clean another bowl.
My 2yr old daughter loves them - Have to make another batch and put some in the freezer!!!
Submitted by madwoman912 on 1. November 2014 - 13:27.


Culture is usually defined as a transmission of knowledge, behaviors, etc. Books and movies are two relatively recent methods for that transmission. Learning by example is the most ancient means, while the development of language has been the most powerful force in accelerating the speed of transmission. Likewise, biological evolution is a transmission of DNA that encodes traits and behaviors. And just as DNA changes from time to time, so too does culture.
The science and math of complexity was initially recognized in the 19th century through the development of stochastics and thermodynamics. But it has only been in the last several decades that it has really taken off, finding a home in all endeavors of knowledge. Though the message hasn't necessarily gotten out to everyone yet, what we've come to realize is that phenomena cannot always be explained by tracing the actions of individual components of the phenomena. Rather, a confluence of actions will often play off each other to produce what would otherwise have been an unexpected result. This is called feedback, and we've discovered that it not only applies to weather patterns (cf "butterfly effect") and other physical phenomena, but also to human interactions.
I know the New York Times "Times Select" fee-for-content program isn't for everyone, but if you have it and find this interesting, I highly recommend the new blog Our Lives as Atoms. In it physicist Mark Buchanan explores complexity, particularly in society. In other words, he looks at those feedback loops that influence both our cultural evolution and specific events in our history. By better understanding these feedback loops, we can better predict future behavior — for instance, by understanding the feedback loops of interethnic prejudice, we might be able to "see genocide coming" before it hits full force. That's a topic he explored in today's entry.
It seems like there is still resistance to the idea of cultural evolution. Why is that?
Prediction of human behavior has always been near impossible. Does an understanding of cultural evolution, including the feedback loops that help drive it, get us closer to being able to construct future events? That is, when we evaluate patterns and look at likely scenarios, with what accuracy will we be able to predict which scenario will play out? Perhaps we need a Schrödinger equation for human behavior. But then again, maybe that gets us too close to Minority Report.


Ingo Krüger was born in Berlin-Dahlem on January 31, 1940. His father died while serving as a soldier in the Second World War. After his mother re-married, the family moved to the eastern section of the city. Ingo Krüger grew up in Niederschöneweide in the eastern district of Treptow. His stepfather worked for the East German television company and his mother was employed as a "people's judge" in East Germany. After finishing school Ingo Krüger completed an apprenticeship as a cook and after that he worked for a state-run company that was responsible for the gastronomy of the East German government's guest houses. The family appeared loyal to party principles and accommodating to the system, but further examination revealed that it did not cutoff its contact with relatives and friends in West Berlin. Ingo Krüger's fiancée, Ingrid K., also lived in the other part of the city. They had met in childhood while attending the same school in Berlin-Johannisthal. The couple began dating in 1958 even though Ingrid and her mother had moved to West Berlin. His continued contact with her is what first caused Ingo Krüger trouble with his company a year before the Wall was built. Colleagues who worked as informants for the Stasi scrupulously documented his contacts to the West, inflating them into "agent activity." When Ingo Krüger was questioned, he claimed that his fiancée intended to move to East Berlin after the wedding. He also applied for his own apartment in the East.
Ingo Krüger and his fiancée were separated from one another when West Berlin was sealed off on August 13, 1961. They continued to find ways to see each other and made dates at remote areas at the edge of the city where they could exchange letters and presents through the barbed wire. But over time these meetings became more difficult to organize and Ingo Krüger was even temporarily detained once on his way to one of their meetings and was warned that he should stay away from the border. To continue seeing each other they developed a new strategy. Ingrid R. registered her permanent address with relatives in West Germany because – unlike West Berliners – West Germans were allowed to travel to East Berlin even after the Wall was built. After that she was able to visit her fiancé again. But when the couple realized that the closed border was becoming a permanent situation, Ingo Krüger began preparing his escape.
Since he was an experienced skin diver, it seemed a good idea to escape through one of the many border waters with the help of diving equipment. Apparently a lot of people had had a similar idea because the number of people joining diving clubs in East Berlin skyrocketed after August 13, 1961. Ingo Krüger began preparing his escape in early November and observation reports show that Stasi agents were watching his every move. His escape route was to begin in the city center and continue across the Spree River to the Reichstag building. A number of his friends helped him to prepare and his fiancée was also in on the plan. At around 11 p.m. on December 10, 1961, Ingo Krüger took a taxi with two friends to the Spree bank at Schiffbauerdamm. He was already wearing his diving suit under his coat. A friend who monitored boat traffic on the Spree was waiting for them. She advised him to enter the river beneath the Friedrichstrasse train station to avoid the East German customs boats that assisted in guarding the border. This way the boat crew would not see him. Ingo Krüger put on his scuba and entered the water. His friends stayed on the embankment and tried to keep an eye on him in the water, but they soon noticed that something had gone wrong.
The East German authorities told Ingo Krüger's parents and fellow colleagues at his work that his friends and fiancée had helped him prepare his escape and that they were responsible for his death. One of his friends was arrested for assisting "flight from the republic." Another friend was blackmailed into working with the Stasi. At the time of the funeral on December 23 at the East Berlin cemetery on Baumschulenweg, Ingrid R. still did not know what had happened to her fiancé. Letters she sent to Ingo Krüger's mother were not answered for weeks. The terrible truth finally reached her in a roundabout way in January.
The exact circumstances of Ingo Krüger's death remain unclear. Theories that he died violently could not be confirmed. The Stasi investigation came to the conclusion that "K[rüger]'s death was brought about by a failed (breathing) instrument." But investigations carried out in the 1990s as part of the legal prosecution of violence at the Wall and border established that he died on that December night as the consequence of a cold shock.
 See "Niederschrift der Zeugenvernehmung der Mutter von Ingo Krüger durch die West-Berliner Polizei, 9.11.1977," in: StA Berlin, Az. 2 Js 147/90, Bl. 42–45.
 As part of de-Nazification and Stalinization, after 1945 in the Soviet zone/East Germany, laypersons, who were regarded as non-suspect and reliable, were given crash-course training to become so-called "Volksrichter," or people's judges. See Hermann Wentker, Volksrichter in der SBZ-DDR 1945 bis 1952. Eine Dokumentation, Munich, 1997.
 See "Abschrift eines GI-Berichtes [des MfS]/HA PS/Abt. I, 21.1.1960," in: BStU, MfS, AOPK 20505/62, Bd. 1, Bl. 62; "Aktenvermerk der Kaderleiterin/VEB Gästehäuser der Regierung [für das MfS] betr. Ingo Krüger, 30.12.1960," in: Ibid., Bl. 249.
 See "Aktenvermerk der Kaderleiterin/VEB Gästehäuser der Regierung [für das MfS] betr. Ingo Krüger, 9.1.1961," in: Ibid., Bl. 250.
 See handwritten arrest report of the Bepo/4.Komp., 25.10.1961, in: Ibid., Bl. 310.
 West Berliners were banned from traveling to East Berlin as of 24.8.1961. The ban remained in place until the first entry permit agreement was set for the Christmas holidays in December 1963.
 See East Berlin police protocol, 7.4.1962, in: LAB, C Rep 303-26-01, Nr. 495, n. pag. According to the report, after diving clubs had become very popular after the Wall was built, all diving athletes were investigated by the police.
 See "Abschrift eines GI-Berichtes [des MfS]/HA PS/ Abt. I betr. Ingo Krüger – Koch Thälmannplatz", in: BStU, MfS, AOPK 20505/62, Bd. 1, Bl. 337–338, also "Beobachtungsbericht des MfS/Verwaltung HA VIII/Abt. I/Referat 3 zu Ingo Krüger, 29.11.1961," in: Ibid., Bl. 370–378.
 See Manfred Suwalski, "Die Entwicklung der Zollverwaltung der DDR (1945–1990)," in: Torsten Diedrich/Hans Ehlert/Rüdiger Wenzke (eds.), Im Dienste der Partei. Handbuch der bewaffneten Organe der DDR, Berlin, 1998, pp. 577–592.
 See also "Ereignismeldung der West-Berliner Polizei, 11.12.1961," in: PHS, Bestand Ereignismeldungen der West-Berliner Schutzpolizei, n. pag.
 "Rapport Nr. 342 der HV DVP/Operativstab, 11.12.1961," in: BArch, DO1/11.0/1358, Bl. 192.
 "Bericht der West-Berliner Polizei, 29.10.1991," in: StA Berlin, Az. 2 Js 147/90, Bl. 67.
 See "Auswertung des MfS / HA PS von einem Vorgang im Gästehaus der Regierung am Thälmannplatz, 12.7.1962," in: BStU, MfS, AOPK 20505/62, Bd. 2, Bl, 214–224, here Bl. 214, 223–224.
 See "Abschrift eines Befragungsberichtes [des MfS]/HA PS/Abt. I, 23.3.1962," in: BStU, MfS, 3245/65, Bd. 1, Bl. 91, 113, 114, 117, 168–169.
 See letter from Ingo Krüger's grandmother to his fiancée, 4.1.1962, in: StA Berlin, Az. 2 Js 147/90, Bl. 13–17.
 "Auswertung [des MfS]/HA PS/Abt. I betr. Vorgang Ingo Krüger, 20.8.1962," in: BStU, MfS, AOPK 20505/62, Bd. 2, Bl. 216–225, here Bl. 224.
 See "Verfügung der Staatsanwaltschaft II bei dem Kammergericht Berlin (27 AR 74 / 97), 4.3.1998," in: StA Berlin, Az. 2 Js 147/90, Bl. 170–171.


100 Pandas is one of those classic games which use an excellent theme with overwhelming background music. The surreal symbols used in this game give you a worth to every penny. Start playing this game from the convenience of your homes. Deposit today at Coinfalls Casino and stand a chance to win great bonus offers.
100 Pandas is designed by IGT which is one of the renowned software providers in the gaming world. They have designed over 1, 00,000 games and have provided software platforms across the globe.
Grab some snacks and welcome to the crazy panda family where these beautiful pandas will get you awesome cash awards. Get excited to spin the reels of this game which aims only at entertaining you. 100 Pandas uses 100 paylines with 5 reels and also uses symbols which can pay you greater rewards.
The lower value symbols are the standard J, 10, Q, A, and K and the higher symbols include a lotus flower, Pandas with different backgrounds, and bamboo. All the symbols have Kanji-type feel to it and look visually stunning.
The bonus symbol is a yin- yang logo that will activate the free spins feature allowing you to win up to 10 spins along with an x2 multiplier. As you are playing in the bonus round all the colours of the symbols change automatically.
100 pandas use the forest as a background theme and all the symbols on the reels look colourful and appealing. You can place a bet from 1.00 pound up to 500 pounds and can expect to win up to a fantastic x1, 000 multipliers in a single bet.
Expect to bet on a minimum coin size and win the final jackpot money which is x1, 000 multipliers. It also features an Autoplay mode where the spins can be automatically set to get an array of wins. Sit back and enjoy this fantastic ride. You can enjoy an amazing RTP of 96.52% in this slot game.
100 Pandas is a cheerful video slot that has interesting bonus features which keep you going, go for it. The game has an amazing sound play with the Chinese soundtrack playing at the backdrop is a real treat to your ears. You can register for free at Coinfalls Casino and enjoy magnificent bonus offers such as Welcome bonus, No deposit bonus and many others.


text:
ds dupontstudios
Services Software Development / Digital Media / Data Analytics
We are a small group of individuals that is constantly finding new ways to help people grow their businesses.
Zak Kidd
Zak is the founder of dupontstudios, where he has launched more than 7 companies focused on consumer facing technology solutions. He also is the co-founder of SwingSpace, a multi-city real estate platform for small office offerings. Prior to dupontstudios, Zak worked in private equity where he advised on consumer facing technology investments at Invemed Investments and Vantis Capital. Zak is a graduate of Morehouse College and Harvard University.
Stephen Hogsten
Stephen is a Baltimore native currently based in Madison, Wisconsin. After graduating from the University of Washington in St. Louis, he built a career in healthcare information technology, where he worked with the nation's leading hospitals to develop and implement software for doctors and medical staff. At dupontstudios, he is a full-stack web developer, contributing to both internal and client projects.
Media Designer
Pablo is a Bolivian native based in Washington, D.C. Pablo has over 7 years of experience in the design industry. He previously worked in a fast paced corporate environment, creating print and digital content for big corporations such as McDonald's & Coca-Cola. At dupontstudios, Pablo has advised and managed the design process for clients including ReciproCare and SwingSpace. He also contributes to UI, brand, collateral design, and film production for internal and client projects.
George Petrov
George is a Bulgarian native based in Washington, D.C. George moved to D.C. in 2002 when his mother became the Bulgarian Ambassador to the United States. A graduate of American University, George has worked in advertising, helped tech startups develop their brand identity, and participated on the production sets of TV commercials, music videos, short films, and indie features.
Marissa Wood
Marissa is a full-stack web developer at dupontstudios. With degrees in Physics and Secondary Science Education from the University of Virginia, she taught AP Physics and served as the Science Department Chair at schools in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC. After five years in the education, she switched her focus to web development and software engineering. When she's not building websites and web applications, Marissa can be found teaching yoga sculpt at CorePower.
©2020 dupontstudios


text:
Boston College vs. Virginia Tech
"What IS a 'Hokie', anyway?" Gloria is sitting on the couch with me, watching the end of the Virginia Tech game.
"It's that little stick sweeper that restaurants use to clean the carpet," I said. "It's like a vacuum cleaner, but without a motor."
"Virginia Tech's mascot is a vacuum cleaner?" she asked.
"It's on their helmets," I said. "Right under the big 'VT'."
Of course, after I complain about ESPN missing snaps, they didn't miss one last night for the first time all season. Not that I'm complaining--it was a big improvement. After the game, though, in the SportsCenter opening, they were showing scenes from San Diego with the headline "Fire Affects."
Oops. Try "effects," guys.
Boston College convinced me last night that they should play for the national championship if they win out. Blacksburg is an incredibly difficult place to play, there was blinding rain for much of the game, the officials absolutely gave Virginia Tech a touchdown--and Boston College still came back and won in the last minute.
Yes, it's entirely possible that the ending was so exciting that I jumped off the couch and did the extremely rare "Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uhuhuh" victory dance. Allegedly.
"Hey! They don't have vacuum cleaners on their helmets!"
A Fun New Drinking Game
Guitar Hero III Demo Impressions (360)
One More Gaming Link, And It's a Doozy
Gaming News and Links
Eli 6.2: Kinda Kinda
Rock Band Update: The Bummer Edition
Good Vibe, Bad Vibe
Avatar: The Last Airbender--The Burning Earth (Wii...
Console Post of the Week


Located in Imus, Cavite. Come and visit us!
I like this teacher because he used to teach children at school and then did business. I also want to be a teacher and then do business. Now I'm working here - https://ca.papersowl.com/do-my-assignment. This is a service that helps students in writing papers. It is the unbelivable service.
I really had a great time with your post! review website I am looking forward to read more blog post regarding this! Well written!
Looks delectable enough for their prices. Would definitely give this a visit once we've at this house and lot for sale in Imus Cavite and fill out tummies with nothing but deliciousness.
Fantastic Post! I wish more people would read this, I have truly enjoyed reading your own points of view and I agree with you for the most part.


text:
Correctable vision problems hinder learning for too many children
Kristan Gross
Imagine trying to learn with blurry vision. Would you know the difference between a circle and a square if you could not see a square's sharp corners? What about the difference between the letters 'e' and 'o' if you couldn't make out that small line and space in the 'e'?
Unfortunately, these scenarios are all too common for many American children. Approximately 24 percent — one in four — of adolescents in the U.S. with correctable refractive error do not have adequate access to vision correction services, according to the non-profit advocacy organization Prevent Blindness.
According to experts, 80 percent of all learning occurs visually, meaning children with poor vision are at a major disadvantage. This is not a short-term problem — kids who suffer from vision problems are less likely to do well in school, which can subsequently affect their success later in life. Along with this cost to quality of life for children, the economic costs of children's vision disorders are also significant, amounting to $10 billion annually in the U.S.
Unfortunately, this issue is only expected to get worse. In 2010, approximately 30 million Americans suffered from myopia. By 2030, that number is expected to reach almost 40 million — spanning races and cultures. For children, trends such as increased screen time and minimal outdoor time, including less time for school recess, are resulting in more children with myopia (shortsightedness) and at a much younger age than in the past.
Access to vision care can reverse these trends and remove a critical barrier to helping children learn. A University of California Los Angeles study demonstrates that something as simple as a pair of eyeglasses could make a difference for these children. UCLA researchers evaluated Vision to Learn, a program that provides students with glasses, specifically those in low-income areas, and concluded that with a pair of eyeglasses, students' attention, academic success and participation increased.
Early detection and correction of poor vision is key to giving all children an equal opportunity to learn and succeed socially and many experts agree that comprehensive eye exams are necessary for children by the age of three. Additionally, a National Commission on Vision & Health study found that eye exams are highly effective in identifying early vision conditions and addressing these vision issues has resulted in improved test scores.
Yet, in most states, comprehensive eye exams are not currently required alongside immunizations for students entering school, which means some children could have vision problems — and subsequently visual processing difficulties — that remain undetected by their parents and teachers for years to come.
Kentucky and Illinois are two states that require comprehensive eye exams for children before they start kindergarten and other states are also considering this requirement. In 2017, California introduced Assembly Bill 1110 to encourage a comprehensive eye exam by an optometrist or ophthalmologist upon starting school to better detect vision disorders. Although the bill was not passed before the legislative session deadline, there was valuable discussion about the costs to parents and concerns about whether the mandate placed undue burden on families.
While it's important to acknowledge the burden of cost, it is also critical that parents understand the multiple payment options that exist for them. For example, as part of the Affordable Care Act, coverage for a child's annual eye exam is included in all health insurance plans sold in health insurance marketplaces, as well as most new plans sold outside of the marketplace. A 2014 American Optometric Association survey indicated that two-thirds of adults did not know the Affordable Care Act mandated pediatric vision coverage.
As of January 2014, under the Affordable Care Act, millions of children 18 years of age and younger became eligible under their parents' health insurance plans for coverage of an annual eye exam and a vision device subsidy. Those parents who are uninsured also have opportunities through Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and other social programs to receive eye exams for their children, and philanthropic programs exist across school districts throughout the country for those who still find themselves in need.
Unlike many other childhood conditions, poor vision can be corrected. In many cases, more serious vision conditions detected through an eye exam can be corrected early to avoid permanent loss of vision.
Children must be given comprehensive eye exams early on, preferably before they start kindergarten, and be prescribed the proper correction as necessary. It will take collaboration with academic leaders, parents and eye and healthcare professionals to identify ways to implement these solutions on a national scale. After all, when children with poor vision are too young to speak for themselves, isn't it our job to be their voice?
By advocating for vision care, we can ensure our children will have the opportunity to see clearly — from the classroom to the playground to wherever their future takes them. This is a priceless return on a high impact investment.
Kristan Gross is global executive director of the Vision Impact Institute, a nonprofit organization seeking to raise awareness about the importance of vision correction and protection to make good vision a global priority.
The opinions expressed in this commentary represent those of the authors. EdSource welcomes commentaries representing diverse points of view. If you would like to submit a commentary, please review our guidelines and contact us.
EdSource Commentaries
Follow @edsource
High-Needs StudentsStudent HealthCommentaryAB 1110eye examsUCLAVision problems
LA 9 months ago9 months ago
Great article! As a school counselor I often have had kindergarteners referred to me for behavior issues. One of the first things I do is ask to see the child's drawings and work. If there is a noticeable difference in the quality of their work compared to other kids, I ask for a vision screening. This practice has led to 2 kinders failing vision screenings and needing corrective lenses!
Too many college students are not going back to school this fall
We need more relevant curriculum in our schools
Making the case for college admissions tests
How school districts can use limited resources strategically to enhance student success
California's complex formulas limit options to close funding gap


Your sewer lines work day in and day out to remove waste safely from your property. If something goes wrong, your plumbing system and your property are at risk of suffering serious damage. If you have noticed issues with your plumbing, particularly with your sewer line, you should always call for professional help. The sooner you call on our Travis County sewer line repair technicians at GC Plumbing Services, the better. Early intervention is always preferred, as we can begin fixing your sewer line at the first sign of a problem. We provide solutions for homes of all sizes.
You can rely on us to find a solution. To schedule service, call us at (512) 400-3104.
Although professional diagnosis will be necessary, there are a few indicators that your sewer line is not working properly. In some cases, the signs may be fairly obvious, such as the strong smell of sewage on your property or visible signs of sewage backup. Other times, the signs may be less easy to detect, such as persistent clogged sinks or toilets.
If your sewer line has been damaged, it is imperative that you seek help right away. At GC Plumbing Services, we are dedicated to providing expert-level work from the time we show up to inspect your property to when we wrap up our repairs. Our Cedar Park sewer line repair technicians are extremely efficient and work quickly to cause minimal disruption to your property.
For expert sewer line services, call us today at (512) 400-3104. We are based in Lago Vista, serving Cedar Park, Round Rock, and Jonestown.


It's Tuesday in November in White Plains, New York and time for the annual PrideWorks conference. School buses packed with middle and high school students drop off load after load at the Westchester County Center, where the marquee displays the event's rainbow-enhanced logo.
Why would these kids need such encouragement? Because they are about to listen to authoritative but misleading voices of decadence, bigotry, sexual confusion and anger, disguised as "freedom" and "civil rights." And there are even community organizing influences, false faith and radical politics thrown in for good measure.
While an array of deceptive, manipulative and explicit workshops are underway inside the large auditorium, two women who have been following the event for years are gently speaking on the sidewalk about real hope and change that comes by rejecting such destructive, dead-end messages.
Jeanne Sparks first attended the event in 2006. She was aghast at the inaccurate and harmful information she heard. And typical of many venues advocating homosexuality to kids, some teens openly confessed they were attending without a parent's knowledge. Jeanne decided to begin distributing truthful information at future conferences, so at this year's event, she and a friend handed out testimonies of ex-homosexuals.
This year's PrideWorks workshops included How to Start a GSA [a "gay-straight alliance," or homosexual school club], LGBT 101, Political Action 101, Latino Families Discover the Rainbow, Putting the B in LGBT [about bisexuality],and De-Bunking Anti-Gay Myths in the Bible, presented by a United Methodist minister, a Unitarian minister and a rabbi.
One session this year was "How to Be a Straight Ally," a session promising to "teach you how to evaluate your own homophobia and heterosexism, as well as teach you advocacy skills." Eliciting confessions of one's presumed "homophobia" is a strategy of left-wing indoctrination. The PrideWorks session was taught by a United Methodist minister.
This isn't the first extremist from GLSEN to influence students. In fact, the group was founded by one. Kevin Jennings, a former homosexual teacher and ACT-UP member, started GLSEN in the early 1990s. Jennings is now Obama's "czar" for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools in the U.S. Department of Education.
With such poor role models, it's no wonder kids may be looking for a different message than offered at PrideWorks. Jeanne Sparks and her friend decided to fill that need if possible.
After that, the two women were told to stand behind a barricade on the sidewalk. At lunch, and even during workshop sessions, students came outside to ask questions and to dialogue. The two women continued to hand out materials and to tell them change is possible to those who want it.
"We told them we were not 'protestors,' as one young lady called us, but we were just saying, 'There is another voice, another way.' We spoke to more students this year, with only two of us than we did in the past two years," Jeanne said.
She went on to say how horrible it was to sit there and listen to what they were telling the kids. Trembling with emotion, the teacher was deeply distressed after hearing the lies, deception and blasphemy that GLSEN and the GSAs in middle and high schools routinely promote as natural, reasonable and factual.
Why have a major "gay" political leader as the main speaker to middle and high school kids? Perhaps fostering early indoctrination into radical political ideology—and the enlistment of grass roots recruits —is a higher priority than helping students with their personal questions and struggles. However, revolutionary tactics are sold to impressionable adolescents by manipulating personal drama into political goals.
Left-wing radicalism on campuses and in venues throughout America follows this disturbing pattern. Marxism and sexual identity politics go hand in hand, with the young easy to recruit.
It starts with lies and corruption in conferences like PrideWorks, directing kids down paths of destruction.
In the midst of this confusion and darkness, Jeanne and her friend decided to take a sensitive approach. They simply stood and offered printed material, giving witness to the love of Christ and a hopeful alternative.


text:
From the front the E-M5 Mark II resembles Olympus's classic 35mm OM SLRs
We'd hope to get a lot for our money from a £900 camera, but the E-M5 Mark II almost redefines the phrase 'fully-featured'; indeed it's simply not possible to cover everything here (if you'd like to explore in depth, we put together an exhaustive guide to the 57 differences between this camera and its predecessor). But let's start with the basics. The camera offers a standard sensitivity range of ISO 200-25600, with an extended ISO100 option also available (but more likely to clip highlight detail). Shutter speeds range from 60 sec to 1/8000 sec – good for shooting with fast lenses in bright light – and there's a completely silent electronic shutter option with a 1/16,000sec top speed. At the other end of the scale, Olympus's unique Live Bulb, Live Time and Live Composite modes take the guesswork out of long-exposure shooting, giving an on-screen update of how the image is developing.
Naturally Olympus's 5-axis in-body image stabilisation is on-board; it works with all lenses, including manual focus optics on mount adapters. It does an exceptional job for both stills and video, giving sharp images at implausibly slow shutter speeds, and bringing an almost Steadicam-like quality to handheld video. For example I was able to get sharp shots using a shutter speed of 1/6sec with a 60mm lens – more than four stops slower than I'd usually expect to get away with.
The 5-axis in-body IS has been updated to promise 5 stops of stabilisation – which it appears to deliver
Continuous shooting is available at 10 frames-per-second, or 5 frames-per-second with continuous AF and a live view display between frames. The buffer is sufficient for capturing 16 RAW frames before the camera slows down. The Mark II also features a highly customisable self-timer and built-in intervalometer, which it can use to create in-camera timelapse movies.
Other features include the obligatory built-in Wi-Fi, for image sharing and remote control of the camera. There's also a large set of image-processing 'Art Filters' for looks such as Toy Camera and Grainy Film. While these aren't everyone's cup of tea, Olympus's are unusually well-judged, and critically allow you to record a raw file alongside your filtered JPEG in case you change your mind later. In-camera High Dynamic Range (HDR) shooting and a double exposure mode are also available, but surprisingly there's no automated in-camera panorama stitching mode.
The hotshot accepts Four Thirds-dedicated Olympus, Panasonic and third party flashes, as well as the small unit that comes in the box. A small, easily-losable cover on the front of the camera unscrews to reveal a standard coaxial PC sync socket for use with studio flash systems.
The supplied splashproof FL-LM3 has a bounce head and can act as a wireless commander
I also have to mention the FL-LM3 flash that comes in the box. While it's not especially high-powered, with a guide number of 12.9m at ISO 200, it has a fully articulated head, allowing the light to be bounced off a ceiling for a more flattering effect indoors. Using a fast lens and relatively high ISO, this works genuinely well. It's also splashproof and can act as a wireless controller for off-camera flash setups. Overall it has to be the most useful flash unit that comes supplied with any camera.
Arguably the most comprehensive changes have been made to movie shooting, where the Mark II looks like a far more serious tool them previous OM-Ds. There's no 4K, but Full HD recording is on offer at choice of frame rates up to 60fps. The bit-rate is much higher (up to 77 MBPs) for better-quality footage, sound-recording options have been expanded, and clean HDMI can be output to an external recorder. A full set of touchscreen-based controls have also been added, including the ability to pull focus from one subject to another just by touching the screen. Combined with the remarkable image stabilisation and Olympus's traditionally-excellent colour output, this makes the E-M5 Mark II a really interesting option for movie makers who don't want to be encumbered by stabilisation rigs, or spend ages on post-processing.


Throughout our 25 year history, here at Embutidos FERJU we have been dedicated to offering products of the highest quality. Thanks to our trajectory and the loyalty of our clients, we have become one of the leading companies in the sector. We participate in the different associations who fight to preserve the quality of food production in our province, such as "I.G.P Cecina de León", "Products of León" and "The Food Producers Association of León". We also belong to other regional associations such as "Land of Flavour" and "The Food Artisans Association of Castilla & León".
We have been certified with the international quality certification ISO 9001:2015, underwriting the efficiency of our management and production process as well as the quality of our products.
Our installations have a surface area of 2200m2 distributed between different raw material reception rooms, salting, drying, smoking, settling, storage and natural drying areas for the products, and they are equipped with the most recent technology for said elaboration, while maintaining the artisan touch in all the production process.
Over the last few years we have made a considerable effort to have leading edge food industry means at our disposal for one end: satisfy the demands of our clients without losing a shred of our artisan style, developing totally natural products, with no preservatives or artificial colouring.
Our installations can be found in the village of Pobladura de Pelayo Garcia, in the south of León province, where the climate is a key factor to guarantee the maximum quality of our products. Our complete product range is also available for public sale in our factory shop.


Only available from all Travelex retailers.
International Phonecard (Travelex) is not only a great option to make calls in New Zealand but also a great card to take with you on your next Overseas trip. Call New Zealand from Overseas using the free access number!


Madeleine (Maddy) developed a strong interest in Myotherapy after spending several years working with a Myotherapist through her many basketball injuries. She found that Myotherapy helped her with muscle issues on and off the field and through her understanding as a patient, she learnt ways to improve performance and increase rehabilitation and recovery time.
Maddy graduated from RMIT University and has since been working as a Myotherapist across many different fields to expand her knowledge and education in all areas of patient care. She has a high involvement in team sports and has always had an avid interest in health and fitness.
Maddy spent 2 years working with an AFL club, North Melbourne, as part of the sports science rehabilitation team, prior to which she was working at the VFL Port Melbourne team, and rugby league team the Sydney Roosters.
Maddy then spent 3 years practising Myotherapy in a practice setting, seeing many pregnant women and people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions. She is committed to providing her patients with the highest level of care and education so they are left with an understanding of the muscles involved with their primary complaint and ways to address the cause of their problem.
Maddy is a member of the International Registered Myotherapists' of Australia Association and is registered with all major health funds under Myotherapy and Remedial Massage.