Apples are a sweet and healthy treat for humans, but can dogs eat apples? It turns out that they can, as long as you keep a few essential guidelines in mind. Read on to learn more about how you can share a healthy snack with your four-legged friend.
Many dog owners are leery of giving their favorite pets any people food. They've heard from reliable sources that certain human food, like grapes or onions, are actually toxic if ingested by dogs. Accordingly, they decide not to take any chances. This means that they take great care not to allow their pups to have any human food.
However, many human foods are not just acceptable for dogs to have, but also beneficial. Apples are an example of this type of food. In fact, if you read the ingredient lists on many high-quality, veterinarian-recommended dog foods, you'll quickly find an abundance of produce.
Fruits and vegetables like pumpkin, assorted berries, bananas and even apples are found in some of the most frequently recommended dog foods. In fact, most veterinarians are strong proponents of giving dogs fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy and well-balanced diet. Depending upon the food you feed your pup, your vet may actually advise you to include more fresh fruits and vegetables in your furry pal's diet. Why? Because it's simply good nutrition.
Apples are healthy for humans to eat because they are loaded with vitamins, minerals and fiber. At the same time, they are a good source of hydration and are a low-fat food. When your dog eats apples, he gets many of the same nutritional benefits that you do.
Feeding your dog fresh apple slices may also have another benefit because the acids in the fruit clean your pup's teeth. This can freshen her breath and make her easier to live with even as her dental health improves.
While the answer to the question, "Can dogs eat apples?" is a resounding, "Yes," it pays to keep a couple of guidelines in mind. It is never a good idea to give your pup a whole apple. It is far better to give him individual slices or to include pieces of apple in a homemade dog treat.
The reason is that apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide. Dogs should not ingest these any more than humans should in order to avoid endangering their health. Moreover, veterinarians suggest that the apple's core and stem could present choking hazards and thus should never be presented to a dog.
Most dogs are perfectly happy to munch on raw, fresh apple slices as a treat or reward. The dozens of apple varieties mean that you can experiment to discover which ones you and your dog like the best. Keep in mind that your dog will have preferences just like you, so some apples may be more attractive to her than others. Additionally, dogs can have allergies just like people do.
If it's your dog's first time trying an apple, give her just a small amount, and then monitor her to make certain that she doesn't have an adverse reaction. If you notice any unusual behavior or illness, then it is advisable to consult with your veterinarian as soon as possible.
Raw apple slices satisfy most dogs, but sometimes it's nice to have variety. Additionally, some dogs just don't seem to enjoy raw produce very much. In these cases, it may be helpful to have some home-cooked apple treats ready to go. It isn't necessary to prepare anything particularly complicated, but a little time and effort can go a long way when it comes to preparing healthy snacks for your pup.
After all, you want to give her the absolute best nutrition possible. Often, the best way to do that is through food that you prepare yourself.
One of the simplest, and tastiest, treats that you can make for your dog at home is Apple Chips. Many variations of this recipe exist, but this one comes from the First Home Love Life blog. All you need is an apple, a sharp knife and an oven. Start by preheating the oven to its lowest setting, which is usually about 175 degrees. It isn't necessary to peel the apple.
There are fiber and nutrients in the peel, so why deprive your pooch of these positive ingredients? Use the sharp knife to slice away each side of the apple, being careful to avoid the apple's core so that you don't get any seeds in the slices. Lay the flat side of each apple down on the countertop or on a cutting board. Slice the piece of apple as thinly as you can.
If you have a mandolin slicer, then that just might be the perfect tool for the job since it is capable of making paper-thin slices. However, a sharp knife will do almost as well.
Place a cooling rack on top of a baking sheet. Those thin slices of apple will go on the cooling rack. This keeps them from sitting against something while in the oven, which allows the air to circulate more evenly for effective drying. Slide the baking rack into the oven and let the apple slices dehydrate over the next five or six hours.
By the time they come out of the oven, they are a crunchy, sweet treat for your pup. Make certain to let them cool completely before you give your dog one. The slices can be stored in an airtight container for up to two weeks, and they contain vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber.
This healthy, all-natural treat is something that you can feel comfortable giving to your dog at any time. You might enjoy them too.
Most dogs love apples in all forms, so other dog treats that you can make at home take advantage of this fact. That is the case with this next recipe, which is called Peanut Butter and Applesauce Cookies. Once again, this is a recipe that is available in many different variations.
The Lazy Pit Bull blog is responsible for this yummy one. In all its variations, this recipe is a winner with virtually all dogs since it combines two of their favorite things: peanut butter and apples. Whipping up a batch doesn't take long. Because it only uses simple, wholesome ingredients, you'll love offering these treats to your pup as much as he enjoys eating them.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and use parchment paper to line two baking sheets. Combine all ingredients except coconut oil in a large mixing bowl, using a spoon to ensure that everything gets mixed in well. Lightly flour a flat surface.
Transfer the dough from the bowl to the floured surface. Knead the dough eight to 10 times. If it is too crumbly and apt to fall apart, gradually add in up to 1/2 cup coconut oil to make the dough easier to work with.
Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to approximately 1/4 inch thickness if you plan to use a cookie cutter. There are many fun, dog-themed cookie cutter shapes you might try. The classic bone shape is a favorite.
However, you can also skip the rolling out of the dough and simply make small, round dough balls before placing them on the cookie sheet.
Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the cookies become lightly browned. Allow them to cool completely before serving one to your pup. Store the remainder in an airtight container in the fridge. These cookies can be kept for up to one week.
Peanut Butter and Applesauce Cookies are a nutritious, yummy snack that you can feel good about giving your dog. Another wholesome recipe comes to us from The Cookie Rookie blog. Although the particular recipe on the blog recommends using gluten-free flour and oats, this is only optional.
Other variations use ordinary flour and rolled oats with great success. It's merely your preference as a pet parent that dictates the precise ingredients that you decide to use.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use parchment paper to line a baking sheet. In a large bowl, mix flour, oats and applesauce. Pour the beaten egg over the mixture, reserving about one tablespoon of the egg. Combine the egg into the other ingredients, stirring until a soft dough forms. If the dough seems too sticky, add a small amount of flour so the dough will be easier to work with.
Lightly flour a flat surface so the dough won't stick while you're working with it. Separate the dough into balls of about two tablespoons in size. Roll each ball into a tube that is approximately 10 inches long and comparable in width to an ordinary pencil. Form each tube into a "U" shape. Twist both ends of the "U" together and fold back toward the top of the "U" to make a pretzel shape. Pinch the ends to secure.
Move the pretzels to the prepared baking tray. Brush each one with the remaining one tablespoon of beaten egg. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until brown and crisp. The pretzels may be stored in an airtight container for as long as two weeks.
Hundreds of different homemade apple treat recipes are available to the enthusiastic pet parent. Of course, slices of fresh, sweet apple are always a quick and easy alternative. Perhaps you'll treat your pup with raw apple on a regular basis and reserve baked treats for special occasions like holidays and birthdays.
Apples are among the most ideal treats you can offer your pup. Unlike some fruits and vegetables that may be harmful to dogs, apples are almost universally approved for pups to consume. The only warning you have to keep in mind is that it's important to avoid giving your dog apple seeds as they can be toxic.
However, don't panic if you suspect that your dog has eaten a seed or two. Many seeds would typically have to be eaten to have a detrimental effect. Since it's always better to be safe than sorry, take care to supervise your pooch when she's eating apples, and it should be an enjoyable experience for both of you.


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text:
Postal Service to cut 43 jobs
By Dan Nakaso
Forty-three postal jobs in Honolulu will be eliminated by Jan. 15, but the employees have been guaranteed at least part-time work with the U.S. Postal Service, although they may have to relocate to the mainland.
All of the employees have five years or less of seniority. Most work in the Postal Service's Honolulu Airport processing plant where they sort mail by ZIP code, according to a postal employee who asked not to be identified, saying he feared for his job.
The rest work in other facilities in Honolulu, Postal Service spokesman Duke Gonzales said.
In the last six years, the number of Postal Service jobs has fallen to 2,600 from 3,000 throughout the Honolulu District, which encompasses Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Saipan, Rota and Tinian, Gonzales said.
The 43 employees were notified last week and will be guaranteed at least part-time employment, Gonzales said.
It is possible that the more senior employees could fill a position in Honolulu made vacant by a future retirement or resignation, he said. More likely, they will be offered a part-time or full-time position somewhere on the mainland, Gonzales said.
The Postal Service would pay the costs for employees to relocate, Gonzales said.
"They are guaranteed the opportunity to remain employed by the Postal Service in some capacity, whether as full- or part-time employees," Gonzales said in an e-mail. "The only question is whether they will accept what is offered."
Representatives with the American Postal Worker Union in Honolulu and California did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The job losses in Honolulu come as the service continues to struggle to find new sources of revenue and compete with private parcel carriers and the increasing use of the Internet to pay bills and send correspondence.
Nationally, "the drop in the economy coupled with the shift to digital communications has created the greatest loss in mail volume since the Great Depression," Gonzales wrote.
Mail volume peaked nationally at 213 billion pieces in 2006 and fell to 170.6 billion in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, he said.
At the same time, revenue shrank to $67.1 billion from $72.6 billion in 2006. The 2010 fiscal year net loss was $8.5 billion.
"We need to change in order to adapt to our customers' changing needs," Gonzales wrote. "The Postal Service's Hawaii complement reductions are part of an ongoing nationwide effort to right-size its workforce and deploy its employees where they are most needed. The Postal Service's action plan for the future includes establishing a workforce that is leaner and better allocated to quickly respond to customer mailing needs. This process is being achieved through attrition and working with labor unions and management associations to optimize the workforce."
More Hawaii News
Meet the 2022 Hawaii State Legislature
Longtime educator, community leader Amy H. Mizuno turns 100
Traffic deaths of nene underscore vulnerability on roads at Haleakala
Kokua Line: Are COVID-19 cases rising at Hawaii nursing homes?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This mill stands 9 inches high and features a 3 step adjustment ring to easily adjust from Fine Medium Coarse grinds. The innovative mechanism grinds in both directions to provide more spice with less turns. All of our mills feature a limited lifetime warranty on the mechanism to ensure that your mill provides years of enjoyment for you or as a gift.


text:
Jul 9, 2018 - Science
Go deeper: "Human fingerprint" on California's blistering heat wave
Andrew Freedman
The remains of a destroyed car stand infront of a destroyed home in the aftermath of the Holiday Fire on July 7, 2018 in Goleta, California. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Southern California's intense heat wave, which has shattered dozens of temperature milestones, including all-time records, is exactly the kind of event that is becoming more likely and severe due to global warming, scientists told Axios.
Why this matters: The heat wave has sparked destructive wildfires and threatened public health for millions of Californians, and is a stark reminder that even a small amount of global warming can push climate extremes into new and far more dangerous territory.
Consider some of the records that have been set so far during what now ranks as one of Southern California's all-time hottest heat waves.
82° Fahrenheit: Hottest all-time overnight low temperature on record for any month in Burbank, California.
79°F: Hottest overnight low temperature on record for the month of July in L.A. on July 7.
111° F: Hottest daytime high temperature ever recorded at the UCLA weather station in Los Angeles, set on July 6. This beat the old record of 109°F, set in 1939.
114°F: Hottest all-time temperature on record at Burbank Airport, recorded on July 6.
120° F: Highest temperature — set in Chino on July 6 — ever recorded by any automated weather station in the valleys or coastal areas around Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.
The big picture: This event occurred months earlier than usual, and still set all-time records. California's hottest time of year tends to be in the early fall, when dry, down-sloping winds, known as the Santa Ana, blow from east to west, compressing and heating up the air as it flows into Los Angeles and San Diego.
Computer model simulation showing extremely hot temperatures in southern California on July 6, 2018.
Climate scientists told Axios that global climate change is a significant factor behind the heat event, even though it's not the proximate cause.
Stanford University climate scientist Noah Diffenbaugh has published studies showing how a relatively small shift in the global average surface temperature of just 1° Celsius, or about 1.8°F, in the past century has dramatically upped the odds of severe heat events.
"When we look around the world at record hot events we find there's already a human fingerprint at 80% of the events where we have observational records."
— Diffenbaugh
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA, noted that there has not yet been a formal study on the connection between this heat wave and climate change, since that could take a few weeks to complete. Such studies are known as "climate attribution" research. However, the climate change link to this event is already evident, he said.
"The reality is when it comes to heatwaves now there's almost always a human fingerprint. One of the clearest consequences of global warming is more heat, higher temperatures."
— Daniel Swain, climate scientist at UCLA
Michael Wehner of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who is working to conduct extreme event attribution studies in advance of an event, told Axios via email, that "[i]n probabilistic terms, climate change increased the chances of the heat wave by about 20 to 50 times," adding that there is at least a 99% likelihood that human-induced climate change "increased the severity of this heat wave."


text:
paul.brady@abelimray.com
European Patent Attorney
Chartered Patent Attorney
M.A. Natural Sciences, University of Cambridge
Ph.D. Chemistry, University of Cambridge
M.Sc. Applied Biology, University of Hertfordshire
Paul joined Abel & Imray in 1997 and is based in the London office. His patent work covers the biotechnology field, as well as the chemical field, especially pharmaceuticals. He handles work for clients ranging from large international corporations to SMEs, as well as a number of universities and research institutions. Paul is experienced in patent prosecution work in the EPO, the UK Patent Office and worldwide. He also carries out opinion work and due diligence for licensing and take-over transactions. Paul has extensive experience in handling applications for Supplementary Protection Certificates, and he has lectured on that subject.
Earlier in his career, Paul worked on secondment in the in-house department of a major UK-based pharmaceutical company, and he continued to work extensively for the company after his return to Abel & Imray. Having spent seven years in Switzerland in his youth, he speaks German fluently and he has a Diploma in Modern Languages from the University of Cambridge. Paul has also been recognised as one of the IP Stars of 2018 by Managing IP.
Simon Bentley Partner
Tim Hewson Consultant
Caroline Brooks Partner


text:
YUI.add('gallery-sm-focusmanager', function (Y, NAME) {

/*jshint expr:true, maxlen:200, onevar:false */

/**
Provides the FocusManager Node plugin, which makes it easy to manage keyboard
focus among the descendants of a node.

@module gallery-sm-focusmanager
@main gallery-sm-focusmanager
**/

/**
Node plugin that makes it easy to manage keyboard focus among the descendants of
a node.

### Example: Simple flat list

Item 1

Item 2

Item 3

### Example: Hierarchical list

            Item 1

Item 1.1

                    Item 1.2

Item 1.2.1

Item 1.2.2

Item 2

Item 3

@class Plugin.FocusManager
@extends Plugin.Base
@constructor
**/

function FocusManager() {
    FocusManager.superclass.constructor.apply(this, arguments);
}

Y.extend(FocusManager, Y.Plugin.Base, {
    // -- Public Properties ----------------------------------------------------

    /**
    Mapping of key codes to friendly key names that can be used in the `keys`
    attribute and the `preventDefaultMap` property.

    @property {Object} keyCodeMap
    **/
    keyCodeMap: {
        32: 'space',
        33: 'pgup',
        34: 'pgdown',
        35: 'end',
        36: 'home',
        37: 'left',
        38: 'up',
        39: 'right',
        40: 'down'
    },

    /**
    Mapping of keys whose default actions should be prevented when they trigger
    a FocusManager action.

    @property {Object} preventDefaultMap
    **/
    preventDefaultMap: {
        down  : 1,
        end   : 1,
        home  : 1,
        left  : 1,
        pgdown: 1,
        pgup  : 1,
        right : 1,
        space : 1,
        up    : 1
    },

    // -- Lifecycle ------------------------------------------------------------
    initializer: function (config) {
        this._host = config.host;

        this._attachEvents();
        this.refresh();
    },

    destructor: function () {
        this._detachEvents();
    },

    // -- Public Methods -------------------------------------------------------

    /**
    Focuses and returns the nearest ancestor item that contains the current
    `activeItem`, if any.

    @method ascend
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there is no ancestor item.
    **/
    ascend: function () {
        var container = this._getActiveContainer(),
            host      = this._host,
            parentItem;

        if (container === host) {
            return null;
        }

        parentItem = container.ancestor(this.get('itemSelector'), false, function (node) {
            // Stop ascending if we reach the host.
            return node === host;
        });

        this.set('activeItem', parentItem, {src: 'ascend'});

        return parentItem;
    },

    /**
    Focuses and returns the first descendant item within the current
    `activeItem`, if any. In order for this to have any effect, a
    `containerSelector` must be set.

    @method descend
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there is no descendant item.
    **/
    descend: function () {
        var activeItem                = this.get('activeItem'),
            anchoredContainerSelector = this.get('anchoredContainerSelector');

        if (!anchoredContainerSelector || !activeItem) {
            return null;
        }

        var container = activeItem.one(anchoredContainerSelector);

        return container ? this.first({container: container}) : null;
    },

    /**
    Focuses and returns the first focusable item.

    @method first
    @param {Object} [options] Options.
        @param {Node} [options.container] Descendant container to restrict the
            search to. Defaults to the host node.
        @param {Boolean} [options.silent=false] If `true`, the item will be
            returned, but will not become the active item.
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there are no focusable items.
    **/
    first: function (options) {
        options || (options = {});

        // Get the first item that isn't disabled.
        var container        = options.container || this.get('host'),
            disabledSelector = this.get('disabledSelector'),
            itemSelector     = this.get('itemSelector'),
            item             = container.one(this.get('anchoredItemSelector'));

        while (item && disabledSelector && item.test(disabledSelector)) {
            item = item.next(itemSelector);
        }

        if (!options.silent) {
            this.set('activeItem', item, {src: 'first'});
        }

        return item;
    },

    /**
    Focuses and returns the last focusable item.

    @method last
    @param {Object} [options] Options.
        @param {Node} [options.container] Descendant container to restrict the
            search to. Defaults to the host node.
        @param {Boolean} [options.silent=false] If `true`, the item will be
            returned, but will not become the active item.
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there are no focusable items.
    **/
    last: function (options) {
        options || (options = {});

        var container        = options.container || this._host,
            disabledSelector = this.get('disabledSelector'),
            items            = container.all(this.get('anchoredItemSelector')),
            item             = items.pop();

        while (item && disabledSelector && item.test(disabledSelector)) {
            item = items.pop();
        }

        if (!options.silent) {
            this.set('activeItem', item, {src: 'last'});
        }

        return item;
    },

    /**
    Focuses and returns the next focusable sibling of the current `activeItem`.

    If there is no focusable next sibling and the `circular` attribute is
    `false`, the current `activeItem` will be returned.

    @method next
    @param {Object} [options] Options.
        @param {Boolean} [options.silent=false] If `true`, the item will be
            returned, but will not become the active item.
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there is no `activeItem`.
    **/
    next: function (options) {
        options || (options = {});

        var activeItem = this.get('activeItem');

        if (!activeItem) {
            return null;
        }

        var disabledSelector = this.get('disabledSelector'),
            itemSelector     = this.get('itemSelector'),
            nextItem         = activeItem.next(itemSelector);

        // Get the next sibling that matches the itemSelector and isn't
        // disabled.
        while (nextItem && disabledSelector && nextItem.test(disabledSelector)) {
            nextItem = nextItem.next(itemSelector);
        }

        if (nextItem) {
            if (!options.silent) {
                this.set('activeItem', nextItem, {src: 'next'});
            }
        } else {
            // If there is no next sibling and the `circular` attribute is
            // truthy, then focus the first item in this container.
            if (this.get('circular')) {
                nextItem = this.first(Y.merge(options, {
                    container: this._getActiveContainer(activeItem)
                }));
            }
        }

        return nextItem || activeItem;
    },

    /**
    Focuses and returns the previous focusable sibling of the current
    `activeItem`.

    If there is no focusable previous sibling and the `circular` attribute is
    `false`, the current `activeItem` will be returned.

    @method previous
    @param {Object} [options] Options.
        @param {Boolean} [options.silent=false] If `true`, the item will be
            returned, but will not become the active item.
    @return {Node|null} Focused node, or `null` if there is no `activeItem`.
    **/
    previous: function (options) {
        options || (options = {});

        var activeItem = this.get('activeItem');

        if (!activeItem) {
            return null;
        }

        var disabledSelector = this.get('disabledSelector'),
            itemSelector     = this.get('itemSelector'),
            prevItem         = activeItem.previous(itemSelector);

        // Get the previous sibling that matches the itemSelector and isn't
        // disabled.
        while (prevItem && disabledSelector && prevItem.test(disabledSelector)) {
            prevItem = prevItem.previous(itemSelector);
        }

        if (prevItem) {
            if (!options.silent) {
                this.set('activeItem', prevItem, {src: 'previous'});
            }
        } else {
            // If there is no previous sibling and the `circular` attribute is
            // truthy, then focus the last item in this container.
            if (this.get('circular')) {
                prevItem = this.last(Y.merge(options, {
                    container: this._getActiveContainer(activeItem)
                }));
            }
        }

        return prevItem || activeItem;
    },

    /**
    Refreshes the `tabIndex` state of this FocusManager's items to ensure that
    items are focusable but only the currently active item is in the tab flow.

    Call this method after adding, disabling, or enabling elements to ensure
    that they're managed correctly.

    @method refresh
    @param {Node} [container] If specified, only items that are direct
        descendants of this container will be refreshed.
    @chainable
    **/
    refresh: function (container) {
        var activeItem       = this.get('activeItem'),
            disabledSelector = this.get('disabledSelector'),
            itemSelector     = this.get(container ? 'anchoredItemSelector' : 'itemSelector');

        (container || this._host).all(itemSelector).each(function (node) {
            if (disabledSelector && node.test(disabledSelector)) {
                node.removeAttribute('tabIndex');
            } else {
                node.set('tabIndex', node === activeItem ? 0 : -1);
            }
        });

        return this;
    },

    // -- Protected Methods ----------------------------------------------------

    /**
    Attaches event handlers.

    @method _attachEvents
    @protected
    **/
    _attachEvents: function () {
        var host = this._host;

        this._events = [
            host.on('keydown', this._onKeyDown, this),
            host.after('blur', this._afterBlur, this),
            host.after('focus', this._afterFocus, this),

            this.after({
                activeItemChange: this._afterActiveItemChange
            })
        ];
    },

    /**
    Detaches event handlers.

    @method _detachEvents
    @protected
    **/
    _detachEvents: function () {
        new Y.EventHandle(this._events).detach();
    },

    /**
    Returns the container node for the current `activeItem`.

    @method _getActiveContainer
    @return {Node} Container node for the current `activeItem`.
    @protected
    **/
    _getActiveContainer: function (activeItem) {
        var containerSelector = this.get('containerSelector'),
            host              = this._host,
            container;

        if (!containerSelector) {
            return host;
        }

        activeItem || (activeItem = this.get('activeItem'));

        if (!activeItem) {
            return host;
        }

        container = activeItem.ancestor(containerSelector, false, function (node) {
            // Stop the search if we reach the host node.
            return node === host;
        });

        return container || host;
    },

    /**
    Getter for the `anchoredContainerSelector` attribute.

    @method _getAnchoredContainerSelector
    @param {String|null} value
    @return {String|null}
    @protected
    **/
    _getAnchoredContainerSelector: function (value) {
        if (value) {
            return value;
        }

        var containerSelector = this.get('containerSelector');

        if (containerSelector) {
            return '>' + containerSelector;
        }

        return null;
    },

    /**
    Getter for the `anchoredItemSelector` attribute.

    @method _getAnchoredItemSelector
    @param {String|null} value
    @return {String}
    @protected
    **/
    _getAnchoredItemSelector: function (value) {
        if (value) {
            return value;
        }

        return '>' + this.get('itemSelector');
    },

    // -- Protected Event Handlers ---------------------------------------------

    /**
    Handles `activeItemChange` events.

    @method _afterActiveItemChange
    @param {EventFacade} e
    @protected
    **/
    _afterActiveItemChange: function (e) {
        var newVal  = e.newVal,
            prevVal = e.prevVal;

        if (prevVal) {
            prevVal.set('tabIndex', -1);
        }

        if (newVal) {
            newVal.set('tabIndex', 0);

            if (this.get('focused')) {
                newVal.focus();
            }
        }
    },

    /**
    Handles `blur` events on the host node.

    @method _afterBlur
    @protected
    **/
    _afterBlur: function () {
        this._set('focused', false);
    },

    /**
    Handles `focus` events on the host node.

    @method _afterFocus
    @param {EventFacade} e
    @protected
    **/
    _afterFocus: function (e) {
        var target = e.target;

        this._set('focused', true);

        if (target !== this._host && target.test(this.get('itemSelector'))) {
            this.set('activeItem', target, {src: 'focus'});
        }
    },

    /**
    Handles `keydown` events on the host node.

    @method _onKeyDown
    @param {EventFacade} e
    @protected
    **/
    _onKeyDown: function (e) {
        if (e.altKey || e.ctrlKey || e.metaKey || e.shiftKey) {
            return;
        }

        var key    = this.keyCodeMap[e.keyCode] || e.keyCode,
            keys   = this.get('keys'),
            action = keys[key] || keys[e.keyCode];

        if (action) {
            if (this.preventDefaultMap[key]) {
                e.preventDefault();
            }

            if (typeof action === 'string') {
                this[action].call(this);
            } else {
                action.call(this);
            }
        }
    }
}, {
    NAME: 'focusManager',
    NS  : 'focusManager',

    ATTRS: {
        /**
        Node that's currently either focused or focusable as part of the
        document's tab flow.

        @attribute {Node|null} activeItem
        **/
        activeItem: {
            valueFn: function () {
                // TODO: Need to be smarter about choosing the default
                // activeItem. Old FocusManager defaults to the first item with
                // tabIndex === 0, if there is one.
                return this.first();
            }
        },

        /**
        Anchored version of `containerSelector`.

        For example, if `containerSelector` is set to "ul", then
        `anchoredContainerSelector` will default to ">ul". You can override the
        default by specifying your own anchored selector if desired.

        @attribute {String|null} anchoredContainerSelector
        **/
        anchoredContainerSelector: {
            getter: '_getAnchoredContainerSelector'
        },

        /**
        Anchored version of `itemSelector`.

        For example, if `itemSelector` is set to "li", then
        `anchoredItemSelector` will default to ">li". You can override the
        default by specifying your own anchored selector if desired.

        @attribute {String|null} anchoredItemSelector
        **/
        anchoredItemSelector: {
            getter: '_getAnchoredItemSelector'
        },

        /**
        If `true`, focus will wrap around to the first or last item in the
        current container when the selection moves past the end or beginning of
        the focusable items, respectively.

        @attribute {Boolean} circular
        @default true
        **/
        circular: {
            value: true
        },

        /**
        Non-anchored CSS selector that matches a hierarchical descendant
        container into which focus can descend.

        For example, if the host node is a `<ul>` and item nodes are `<li>`s,
        setting `containerSelector` to "ul" would allow the user to descend into
        a nested `<ul>` contained inside an `<li>`.

        To prevent hierarchical selection, set `containerSelector` to `null`
        (the default).

        @attribute {String|null} containerSelector
        **/
        containerSelector: {},

        /**
        Non-anchored CSS selector that matches nodes that should be considered
        disabled. Disabled nodes will not be considered focusable.

        By default, a node is considered disabled if it has a `disabled`
        attribute or an `aria-disabled` or `aria-hidden` attribute set to
        "true".

        @attribute {String|null} disabledSelector
        **/
        disabledSelector: {
            value: '[aria-disabled="true"], [aria-hidden="true"], [disabled]'
        },

        /**
        `true` if the host node or one of its focusable items is currently
        focused, `false` otherwise.

        @attribute {Boolean} focused
        @default false
        @readOnly
        **/
        focused: {
            readOnly: true,
            value   : false
        },

        /**
        Non-anchored CSS selector that matches item nodes that should be
        focusable.

        @attribute {String} itemSelector
        @default '*'
        **/
        itemSelector: {
            value: '*'
        },

        /**
        Mapping of keyboard codes to functions or function names that should
        execute when those keys are pressed.

        By default, the following keys are mapped:

        * down arrow: `next()`
        * left arrow: `ascend()`
        * right arrow: `descend()`
        * up arrow: `previous()`

        To customize the mapping, either modify or replace the `keys` object.

        Values should be functions or strings representing named functions on
        this FocusManager instance. All functions will be executed with this
        FocusManager as the `this` object.

        Properties should be numerical key codes or one of the following
        strings representing a key on the keyboard:

        * down
        * end
        * home
        * left
        * pgdown
        * pgup
        * right
        * space
        * up

        @attribute {Object} keys
        **/
        keys: {
            cloneDefaultValue: 'shallow',

            value: {
                down : 'next',
                left : 'ascend',
                right: 'descend',
                up   : 'previous'
            }
        }
    }
});

Y.namespace('Plugin').FocusManager = FocusManager;

}, '@VERSION@', {"requires": ["event-focus", "node-pluginhost", "plugin", "selector-css3"]});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


You've got many refinements. I don't think you need to worry about your failure at long division. I mean, after all, you got through short division, and short division is all that a lady ought to be called on to cope with.


Manchester United Legend David Beckham is targeting Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi ahead of Inter Miami's official campaign in the Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2020.
According to a UK Sun report citing sources in the Daily Mail, the 31-year-old Albiceleste captain is among the top players on Miami's wish-list as they prepare to splash out the cash.
Messi's current deal at the Nou Camp runs out in 2021 at the age of 33 and might not be keen to move to another European club as well as returning to Argentina after his recent experiences with the Albiceleste.
However, Miami with a huge population of Latino Americans would no doubt serve as a credible option, for the five-time world best player.
On the other hand, Beckham's intimidating credentials in the round-leather game and financial backing is expected to play a significant role, in helping Miami seal a successful deal for the likes of Messi.
Interestingly, the deal will enter the MLS record books if the world-class Argentina star eventually, joins the US club at the peak of his game.
At the last count, no football stars that include Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Thierry Henry and Beckham played in the MLS at the top of their game.
Currently, Beckham and eggheads of his MLS club, Inter are preoccupied with the task of getting for a home ground but the awareness of their debut in 2020 is growing by the day.
Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously had reported that former England and Manchester United star David Beckham has revealed some of the high profile players that will join his MLS club Inter Miami ahead of the club's launch in 2020.
According to a UK Daily Mail report, some of the senior players expected to turn out in the new club's pink kit include Beckham's former Red Devils teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The report noted that in 2020 the Portuguese will have less than 12 months on his present contract at Serie A champions Juventus and would be a good buy for Inter Miami even as 35.


Custom Gifts - Taste Trunk Gift Box – Tagged "sauces-marinades"
1) Select the Taste Trunk Box below and customize as needed.
2) Select your items & add each to your cart.
Your items will be gift packaged and shipped in the Taste Trunk Box along with any additional customizations. No receipts are included inside.


text:
Q: Dragging, resizing and rotating an image over layers in Openlayers3 I would like to be able to drag, resize and rotate an image over layers on Openlayers3. The image has to be independent from layers.
I tried rendering the image as a layer, using this:
var extent = map.getView().calculateExtent(map.getSize());

var imageLayer = new ol.layer.Image({opacity: 0.5});
var imageSource = new ol.source.ImageStatic({
    url: 'https://dummyimage.com/600x400/faf7fa/0011ff',
    imageExtent: extent
});

imageLayer.setSource(imageSource);
map.addLayer(imageLayer);

Unfortunately, I didn't find any clue about the possibility to drag an image layer over others layers.
Moreover, I do not want to load the image as a HTML element. I want it to be part of the OL canvas.
How can I achieve this?

A: I believe something like this can point you in right direction. It's not so flexible as you would like but it can help you a bit.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Sinon stub for node-postgres client I'm writing a Node application in TypeScript which is querying a Postgres database. In the unit tests I'm unable to mock the query-function.
My unit code looks like this:
class MyClass {

  /* more stuff */

  async validate(event: any): Promise<boolean> {
    const client = new Client();
    await client.connect();

    const result = await client.query(`SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = '${user_id}'`);

    console.log(
      result
    );

    /* more logic */
  }
}

My unit test looks like this:
describe("...", () => {
  sinon.stub(pg.Client.prototype, "connect").resolves();
  let stub = sinon.stub(pg.Client.prototype, "query").withArgs(
    `SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = '1234'`,
     sinon.match.any,
     sinon.match.any
  ).resolves("asdf");

  it("...", () => {
    await myClassInstance.validate(event);
  });
});

Not talking about the test expectations for now, what I would expect is "asdf" printed on the console. But I don't!
I've tried removing the .withArgs(...) completely and then I can see "asdf". (But obviously it doesn't help that much ...)
What I've also tried is printing stub.lastCall and I see
args: [ `SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = 'user_with_verified_subscription'` ]

somewhere then ...
Removing the two sinon.match.any matchers don't help either because then the TS compiler is complaining that Client.query takes 3 arguments ...
Any help is highly appreciated!
Best regards,
Max

A: Here is the unit test solution using proxyquire and sinon:
index.ts:
import { Client } from 'pg';

class MyClass {
  async validate(event: any) {
    const user_id = 1;
    const client = new Client();
    await client.connect();

    const result = await client.query(`SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = '${user_id}'`);

    console.log(result);
  }
}

export default MyClass;

index.test.ts:
import sinon from 'sinon';
import proxyquire from 'proxyquire';

describe('60172091', () => {
  it('should valdiate', async () => {
    const pgClientStub = {
      connect: sinon.stub().returnsThis(),
      query: sinon
        .stub()
        .withArgs(`SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = '1'`)
        .resolves('asdf'),
    };
    const pgStub = sinon.stub().callsFake(() => pgClientStub);
    const MyClass = proxyquire('./index', {
      pg: { Client: pgStub },
    }).default;
    const logSpy = sinon.spy(console, 'log');
    const instance = new MyClass();
    await instance.validate();
    sinon.assert.calledOnce(pgStub);
    sinon.assert.calledOnce(pgClientStub.connect);
    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(pgClientStub.query, `SELECT * FROM "user" WHERE "user_id" = '1'`);
    sinon.assert.calledWithExactly(logSpy, 'asdf');
  });
});

Unit test results with 100% coverage:
60172091
asdf
    ✓ should valdiate (2212ms)

  1 passing (2s)

----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
File      | % Stmts | % Branch | % Funcs | % Lines | Uncovered Line #s
----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------
All files |     100 |      100 |     100 |     100 |
 index.ts |     100 |      100 |     100 |     100 |
----------|---------|----------|---------|---------|-------------------


text:
import 'reflect-metadata';

import { EntitypeMetadata } from '../common/EntitypeMetadata';
import { resolveType, TypeResolver } from '../common/forwardRef';
import { NavigationPropertyDecorator } from '../decorators';
import { PropertyExpression } from '../fluent';
import { resolvePropertyExpression } from '../fluent/property-selector';

export function ManyToOne<EntityType, SelectType>(
  foreignKeyEntity: TypeResolver<EntityType>,
  foreignKey: PropertyExpression<EntityType, SelectType>)
  : NavigationPropertyDecorator {

  let propertyDecorator = (target, propertyKey) => {
    let fk = {
      owner: resolveType(foreignKeyEntity),
      column: resolvePropertyExpression(foreignKey)
    };

    let type = Reflect.getMetadata('design:type', target, propertyKey);

    let column = EntitypeMetadata.addColumn(target.constructor, propertyKey, () => type, {});
    column.isNavigationProperty = true;
    column.foreignKey = fk;
  };

  return propertyDecorator;
}


text:
Harris, Trudeau discuss trade policy in her 1st foreign leader call
Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, in her first phone call with a foreign leader since the inauguration.
Harris and Trudeau discussed trade policies and China's arrest of Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. At the U.S.'s request, Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018, with the U.S. wanting to extradite her on fraud charges. Beijing appears to have retaliated with the detention of Kovrig and Spavor, and a readout from the White House shows that Harris promised Trudeau the U.S. will do "everything it can" to secure their release.
The readout released by Trudeau's office says they also talked about a planned meeting later this month, although it is not clear if Trudeau and Harris will get together in person or virtually. They did not appear to discuss the Keystone XL pipeline, one point of contention between the U.S. and Canada; in one of his first executive orders, President Biden revoked a permit for the controversial project, which would carry oil from Canada to the Midwest.


Logic Studio remains fantastic and feature-stuffed, and Logic Pro 9 is perhaps the best all-round DAW you can buy.
Well-conceived audio features. Many time-saving new features. New amp and pedal plug-ins. Massive content library. Still good value for money.
Amp Designer not as flexible as some third-party options. Still a difficult step up from GarageBand. PowerPC not (officially) supported.
Apple's diversification into mobile phones, music retail and the consumer computer media experience led many to speculate that its professional software development would suffer, but this has been far from the case.
With new versions of Logic Studio and Final Cut Studio released last month, pro audio and video apps are clearly alive and kicking in Cupertino.
Logic Pro 9 is one part of the updated Logic Studio, along with other music-related tools such as MainStage 2, Soundtrack Pro 3 and WaveBurner 1.6. We'll be focusing on Logic Pro 9 here, but note that you can't buy the software on its own. There's a cheaper cutdown version, however, called Logic Express.
One caveat to be aware of is that Logic is now officially Intel Mac-only, although internet reports say that it does actually work on PowerPC machines.
In the new version, Logic's underlying capabilities remain similar, so you can enjoy a potential 255 audio tracks, 255 software instrument tracks and 99 external MIDI tracks. These are complemented by over 70 effects plug-ins, a bundle of soft synths (including those that are also found in GarageBand) and over 4500 presets.
The additional content includes all six Jam Packs (including the Voices package), 16GB of sound effects and 6GB of surround sound music beds. This translates to more than 20,000 royalty-free, tempo-clocked Apple Loops and 1700+ EXS24 sampler instruments. The specs are impressive and, out of the box, Logic Pro 9 has something for everyone.
"Although there are subtle changes to a few graphical elements for Logic Pro 9, for the most part, it looks just like its predecessor."
There are plenty of other features that make Logic an attractive option. If you're after extra processing power, you can combine networked Macs to share the load. For interfacing, there's solid ReWire implementation, and if you plan to transfer songs to another platform, there's XML, OMF and AAF support. Recording, editing and mixing in surround is also fully supported.
The workspace system introduced in Logic Pro 8 now feels like second nature and, although there are subtle changes to a few graphical elements for LP9, for the most part, it looks just like its predecessor.
However, there is at least one visually impressive addition: the Amp Designer plug-in. Although Logic already had the basic Bass Amp and Guitar Amp Pro effects, Amp Designer is more like IK's AmpliTube or NI's Guitar Rig, offering 25 amps, 25 cabinets and three mics (condenser, dynamic or ribbon).
The elements can be mixed and matched, and the mic position adjusted, and over 200 presets categorised by amp type and style are included.
Stomp effects are implemented in a separate plug-in called Pedalboard. This features 30 pedals of various types (distortion, delay, modulation and filter) that you can chain together (up to ten at once), with splitter and mixer modules for creating more complex dual and panned setups.
Both Amp Designer and Pedalboard are graphic-rich designs, so although there are no endorsed emulations, the styling makes it clear that classics from Fender, Marshall, Vox and Mesa are among those that have been emulated.
Pedal sourcing is less obvious, but with five different flavours of fuzz and multiple modulation pedals on offer, there's a real 'sweet shop' aspect to this plug-in. There are other nice touches, too, such as tempo sync for the modulations and delay, and an adjustable split frequency option on the Splitter device.
"Although Logic already had the basic Bass Amp and Guitar Amp Pro effects, Amp Designer is more like IK's AmpliTube or NI's Guitar Rig."
Users of Apogee's new GiO controller also benefit from built-in support, including pedal assignments. The only downside is that Amp Designer doesn't enable you to design a stereo rig with two amps, cabs and so on.
Sonically, things compare well to bespoke packages such as AmpliTube. Piercing leads (the Brown Stack is particularly nice) and fat modern metal (the Modern American Stack) are complemented by more retro sounds (eg, Small Tweed Combo).
On the pedal front, there are a couple of sweet fuzz pedals (Happy Fuzz Face and Candy Fuzz), and we reckon the Robo Flanger is a winner too.
Flex Time is Apple's name for a collection of tools that use its new Flex timestretching engine. There are various modes - Slicing, Rhythmic, Monophonic, Polyphonic, Tempophone and Speed - with all but the last designed to help you adjust the timing of audio without affecting the pitch. The options are available from the Inspector window and as a track view (a bit like automation), and there's a new Flex tool on the toolbar.
When you select a Flex mode for a track, Logic analyses the audio and creates a set of transient markers and Flex markers. By using the Flex tool, you then adjust the timing between the automatic markers.
"Using the Rhythmic mode on multitracked drums, combined with channel grouping and the new phase-locked audio setting, we found Flex Time to be extremely impressive."
Stretching on one side of the cursor compresses the audio on the other side, and the stretched section turns orange, while the compressed part goes green. The Flex tool is context-sensitive, so you can add additional Flex markers or groups of Flex markers where you choose. If you don't like the results, you can reset them to the 'neutral' position, delete them or simply deactivate Flex mode.
Using the Rhythmic mode on multitracked drums, combined with channel grouping and the new phase-locked audio setting, we found Flex Time to be extremely impressive. The Slicing mode uses exactly the same tools, but you're simply moving audio, not actually stretching it.
Audio Quantize is a new option that appears once you select a Flex mode. In addition to typical quantise options, you can also apply groove templates derived from other tracks.
The Flex Time system offers one more trick: a new varispeed feature on the transport. This enables you to change the speed/pitch or just the speed (timestretching) of the whole song.
Although you can still merge audio files using the Glue tool, the new Bounce-in-Place option is better. With this, you can choose whether to include inserts, volume and pan automation, and any effect tail, and whether to create a new track or not. There's a project-wide version that will Bounce-in-Place all tracks, and you can bounce Audio Instrument tracks.
The swipe comping system introduced in Logic 8 is slicker now, with the option to copy or move your existing comp to another track - great if you don't want to flatten your comp. Also handy is the Move option, which extracts the used bits, leaving the remainder behind.
Space Designer gets some new 'Warped Effects' impulse responses, including drone tones, moving spaces, textures, drum transformers, ghost rhythms and impulses captured from speakers and analogue circuits. And don't forget that Logic Studio includes the Impulse Response Utility for recording and generating your own spaces and effects.
One of the most novel new features is the speed fade. When applying a fade-in or fade-out, you can click on the labels in the inspector to reveal the speed-up or slow-down options. Select your fade time as normal and you'll instead get a turntable-style start/stop effect. On the subject of fades, the fade tool is now context-sensitive (Apple refer to this functionality as "click zones").
Combining different projects has never been easy in Logic, but the new selective track import feature resolves this - just use the media browser to find a project and hit Import. This will reveal a list of all tracks, busses, auxiliaries and so on in the project, and you can import the content, plug-ins, automation and I/O settings on a track-by-track basis.
The new Drum Replacer and Convert To New Sampler Track features both analyse audio transients and produce a MIDI output.
Imagine you have a multi-channel drum performance and the snare sound doesn't cut it. Highlight the snare track and select the Drum Replacement/Doubler option from the Track menu - this will analyse the audio and open a small settings window.
Here, you select Snare from the available drum types and also the threshold for the triggering. The transient markers will appear on the region and a newly generated MIDI part complete with EXS24 instrument will open on a track below. It even opens the correct section of the library in the browser, so you can pick a sound.
Convert To New Sampler Track is a similar concept. If you have a loop that you want to split into slices, triggering each as a sample, highlight the audio region and select Convert To New Sampler Track from the right-click menu. Select Transient Markers and you'll get a fresh EXS24 and MIDI part on the track below, complete with your loop, split at transient points and mapped across multiple MIDI notes.
Other software within Logic Studio that will be of prime interest to musicians includes MainStage and WaveBurner.
MainStage started out as Apple's attempt to provide all the processing and instrument content of Logic but in a performance-friendly interface for live use. Version 2 adds a couple of nice new plug-ins, namely Playback and Loopback.
The first lets you play audio files from within MainStage - import them and MainStage will make up a channel strip and Playback instrument for you. The plug-in reads file markers and loops playback between them, so if you just want to jam, you can load up an Apple Loop, which you can also sync to the prevailing patch tempo.
The companion Loopback device appears as a delay plug-in, and to get up and running, you simply insert it on an audio channel strip with your input correctly assigned. The recording process behaves much like a tape loop, so hitting Record and Stop dictates the start and finish. Again, like a tape loop, you can record in a 'sound on sound' fashion, adding audio on top of your original loop.
"Other software within Logic Studio that will be of prime interest to musicians includes MainStage and WaveBurner."
To make the most of both features, you'll probably want to assign foot controllers to playback duties - a simple matter in MainStage 2 - and if you're an Apogee GiO user, you should be able to do this and run in your guitar all from the one unit.
WaveBurner is a CD compilation, mastering and burning app, and v1.6 has parameter automation. You can apply this to region plug-ins on the main waveform lane and master plug-ins on the all-new mix lane. In this latter feature you can also render a full disc-length waveform that includes all the tracks, fades and processing.
It may not look that different to v8, but scratch the surface and you'll find that Logic Pro 9 boasts many tasty new features. Existing users will be impressed by the slickness of the audio features, especially Flex Time.
For new users, the real attraction is that Logic Pro 9 includes everything you need to make release-quality music. And for the record, Logic Pro 9 didn't crash once during our testing.
So, is this release faultless? Not entirely - there's no dedicated drum kit plug-in, for example - but when you sit it alongside all the other production packages, it really feels like the most complete, and for that reason it absolutely deserves top marks.
1. A live drum kit with dodgy playing: first it's fixed with slicing mode, then rhythmic mode. Then, for fun, using pitch mode to show bits speeding up and down to correct the timing, then slowed down with slow-down fade, and sped up with speed-up fade.
2. A melody played on piano with dodgy timing: switching through the flex time modes monophonic, polyphonic, then polyphonic with the complex parameter selected. Next still in this mode, audio quantised to 8ths, then 16ths, then with a silly quantize for fun. All adjustments are made in real time to show the various processing kicking in.
3. A selection of warped effects from Sound Designer: added to a simple bongo, first with the bongo then without.


This entry was posted in Commercial Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.
This post will be short, sweet, and full of purpose. Around The Commercial Investor and Dandrew Media, we talk a lot about hard money lending.
To tell the full story about my thoughts and feelings on this could span many articles (I'll make a note to put those in the machine for the future), but for today I'll share with you the five core functions any Private Money Fund Manager should be fulfilling. You'll even get the downloadable PDF blueprint of the graphic below for you to keep on hand at the end of this post.
Will any of these surprise you? Let's find out.
The PMFM must have strong marketing experience or sales desk experience to bring in a consistent deal flow.
They must be able to prove that opportunities exist and your fund will be competitive with others.
Next, they must be able to show that they're able to "structure away the risk" from your investors and have clear and detailed guidelines as to what they will underwrite, and what they won't.
A PMFM isn't afraid to ask the borrower for the keys.
Making the borrowers create a business plan and forcing them to adhere to it, will ensure that if things go wrong early, they can act fast.
They will need to be fundraising consistently and constantly finding new qualified investors, in a pooled format.
Not on an ad hoc, deal-specific basis. They should be able to share how they do this.
If you haven't read The Definitive Guide to Commercial Real Estate Capital Raising, stop and go do so now.
Not to be confused with maintaining investor relations. They must be able to show that they can balance this and Deal Sourcing / Origination concurrently.
If they stop any one of these two and they'll go out of business immediately.
Maintaining relationships with current investors, accounting, and distributions. They should outsource this to a credible fund administration firm.
This task doesn't generate revenue for you or your investors.
Lastly, and most importantly to understand, is that every function affects the others. Three out of the five just won't cut it.
So, surprised? Think of anything I forgot? Let me know in the comments.
Download The Five Core Functions of a Private Money Fund Manager here.


The numbers for the State of the Union is coming in, and its not rosy.
The early reports state that some 33.3 million people watched Obama give his speech. That number is the lowest since 2000 and Bill Clinton. Of course viewership of the speech has been going downhill anyways in an overall trend, and even Obama is not immune.
In Obama's first year only drew 52.3 million, a low number for, what was then, a popular President.
The simple fact for these numbers is the State of the Union address has outlived its usefulness. In this day of constant news, internet, blogs, twitter and more the speech no longer has the same function as it did fifty years ago.
Yesterday, November 9, 25 years ago the Berlin Wall came down. It was a symbol of an oppressive regime and its population. Yet, looking back at the events its hard not to feel that the lessons of what the wall stood for have been forgotten.
The wall stood not to keep invaders out, or prevent an invasion, but to keep the population in. Consider that comment carefully. A real world Communist country had to build a wall to keep its population from escaping.
Its that basic truth which, twenty-five years later, has been forgotten in the euphoria of its fall.


text:
School Shootings: Past and Present
It was one of the coldest Augusts on record in Texas when Charles Joseph Whitman made his way to the University of Texas observation tower. No one expected the historically horrible events that would ensue, but then again, no one ever does.
Whitman had been struggling with some serious mental disorders for several years leading up to his killing 16 people and injuring 32 others on the University of Texas campus. He had been seeking help for several years and had seen at least five doctors between the fall and winter of 1965, without finding one able to help him.
"I talked with a doctor once for about two hours and tried to convey to him my fears that I felt overwhelming violent impulses. After one visit, I never saw the doctor again, and since then have been fighting my mental turmoil alone and seemingly to no avail," Whitman wrote in a note before his rampage.
Whitman's autopsy found a glioblastoma, a highly aggressive brain tumor that could have played a part in his aggressive actions.
Unfortunately, Whitman was not the first to sow destruction among fellow students, and he most certainly was not the last.
On Nov. 1, 1991, former graduate student, Gang Lu of the University of Iowa, also fell between the cracks of necessary mental care. A physics and astronomy student who had earned his Ph.D. in May of 1991, Lu was still living in Iowa City after graduation and was struggling economically.
Lu was infuriated because he had not received the prestigious D.C. Spriestersbach Dissertation Prize, which included a monetary award of $2,500. Because of the recession, Lu was unable to find work. He believed that winning the prize would have made it easier for him to get hired as a professor.
Normally, in this instance, the physics and astronomy department would have given Lu a temporary postdoctoral fellowship, but there was not enough money to support it.
On Nov. 1, 1991, Lu attended a physics and astronomy department meeting. Soon after the meeting began, Lu shot four department members-two professors, the chairman of the department and a research investigator-with a .38 caliber revolver.
Afterwards, Lu walked three blocks across campus, and requested to see the associate vice president for academic affairs, the woman whom he had complained to about his not winning the Spriestersbach prize.
Lu shot her in the head and then shot and injured a temporary student employee in the office. Lu shot himself in the head soon after.
Although he had not suffered through apparent mental disability like Whitman, Lu had been pushed into severe stress and rage. One can imagine how such actions can momentarily seem like the only way out when the world is crumbling to the ground.
Years later, on Apr. 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho devastated the Virginia Tech community by killing 32 people and injuring 25 others. Cho, like Whitman, had been struggling with a string of mental disorders.
He had been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder and had received therapy throughout middle school and high school as well as special education support.
Due to federal privacy laws, the school was not informed of his previous issues or his need for help, so the campus was unable to give him suitable care. No one knows what difference a friend or a therapist at the right time could have made.
Cho is far from alone. According to a 1999 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study, one in four adults, roughly 57 million people, experience a mental health disorder in a given year.
In retrospect, warning signs signaling a problem were clear in many examples of school violence. But if many students have anxiety issues, what makes a student act out violently?
According to a PBS article on murderer profiles, researchers found that killers do not "snap"; they plan and they acquire weapons. Shooters take a long, considered, public path toward violence, a path that can be interrupted if someone sees it soon enough.
Is it possible to prevent such outbursts? Could the Columbine High School massacre, one of America's deadliest, have been prevented if Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's plans had been discovered earlier? What steps can a school take to give students the help they need?
In 2005, the National College Health Assessment surveyed 17,000 college students. Twenty-five percent of the students reported they have felt so depressed it was difficult to function three to eight times in the past 12 months. How does a school solve that?
Many corporations have tried to identify potential threats by profiling the "school shooter," but many profiles fit the identity of a killer. There can never be a perfect profile match.
There are too many influences that can factor in, such as mental stability, stress, anger, a personal manifesto, grief or even peer pressure.
As history has shown, the consequences of ignoring people's misfortunes can be tragic for all.
UTSA gives students many options, providing a Center for Health Care Services 24-hour Psychiatric Crisis Line, and healthcare center with many supportive counselors on staff.


Red Dress Burlesque is a Midlands based group bringing their own style of sass and silliness to a wide variety of audiences, inspiring people of all ages, backgrounds and body shapes to embrace their sultry side.
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This campaign is aimed at helping girls with a low self esteem redefine their self worth, and accept & love themselves just the way they are.
That's it. Join our campaign and lets help other girls gain confidence too. Thank you. Check some of the campaign pictures below.
Meet Tife. Her creed made me see how we still sometimes measure our beauty or self worth by such things as how many guys give us a second look or stare as we walk by. Now, Tife knows that her confidence should be deeply rooted in the revelation of how beautiful God has made her and nothing else.


Scattered over our white Beagle Socks is a red and white coated pack of these dogs, tails raised, and in profile. A cheerful breed, they follow their noses, at times with disregard for surroundings, leading to humorous results. Our Beagle Socks are a blend of 75% acrylic and 25% stretch nylon, and fit ladies size 9-11. Follow your instincts and, as you head out for some spontaneous fun, pull on our Beagle Sock to get in the spirit. They compliment your weekend wear or can be worth a peek-a-boo giggle at a more formal event.


Where to go in Berlin?
Where to sell your Clothes?
Get our newsletter for exclusive deals once a month for our best shops in Berlin, offline and online.
So there's a new season starting and you are a good girl/guy, you know how bad it is for a free mind to have this bunch of stuff you never wear. It's too good to be thrown away and you think you can get a little bit of money out of it. So where and how to sell your clothes in Berlin?
You may need to consider which kind of stuff you have and if you're willing to sell it yourself or not, which will lead you to several options.
Each store has its own style so it's important that you figured where you have the best chance to sell your garments. At the end, it's always the people there who will say yes or no. At some places, you can just drop by the store with your bag but it's better to get in touch before, by phone or email. First, some shops work only with an appointment but even for the others, you might pop in a busy moment or the shop has temporarily stopped to buy because they have too much stuff already.
The commission they take is usually between 40% and 50% and they warn you when an item has been sold. It's quite obvious but let's remind you that your clothes should be cleaned, in good shape and it's always a bit annoying if you removed the brand label for some scratchy reasons.
Designers Vintage and Premium 2nd Hand. Without appointment except for plenty of clothes. You choose the prices together with the owner and they take 50% commissions. Individual conditions for Luxury items.
High-end designer fashion and accessories. The items should fit the season. Without Appointments except for plenty of clothes. You choose the prices together with the owner and you´ll get 50% of the price, which is paid once the item has been sold.
Chrome sells 2nd hand and vintage for men and women. The style is strong, classy and modern. For a small batch of clothes just drop by the shop otherwise call or send an email for an appointment. The deal is 50/50.
Garment represents two shops selling vintage and 2nd hand for women. Here is the kingdom of cult designers who have the talent to make any woman sublime. Garment is for women who like to be looked at. Just drop an email to get an appointment.
If you´re French or if you have a little crush on French fashion label, this store is for you. The owner has definitely a crush herself so it´s the perfect place to sell such brands or other having a french touch. Only for women.
The Good store is a very good compromise if you have a different kind of brands range. The owner is very aware of the last trends and the shop always look super appealing. Therefore you´re pretty sure to sell your clothes quite quickly. The deal is 50/50 for prices that you decide together. The clothes you bring must be seasonal. Just drop by the shop or ask for an appointment if you have a lot of stuff.
Also look like the closet of some girlfriends where we like to dig into. Kleider Laden sells all kind of clothes, from little black dresses to vintage grand soir outfit to super trendy skinny jeans. Get in touch with them to get an appointment and you´ll get a direct offer for the price.
Patrick and Arianna own two 2nd hand and vintage shops in Friedrischain, Sometimes Coloured and King Kong. They buy directly your stock of garments as long as it' trendy or timeless and sophisticated stuff.
A cute and nice little shop all red from outside and standing on the Lausitzer Platz, selling 2nd hand kids clothes, shoes, toys, and books. You can bring some clean, seasonal kids clothes to sell directly to them, as long as there's no holes or such things and that it's not bigger than a normal shopping bag. They'll offer you a price after a couple of days and if you accept you get the money directly.
Limonadenbaum sells a mix of 2nd hand and new clothes for baby and young kids (until 8), as well as shoes, accessories or toys. You can drop by with your kids stuffs to sell, they will look at it and get back to you after 2/3 days and you can decide if you buy with commissions or not.
Have you more addresses to recommend? Just add a comment below!
Another good place to sell clothes is Collect in Kreuzberg. The girls are very nice and you can also find nice pieces to buy!
Thank you Emilie, for all the good addresses, I love your blog, it's really inspiring and it has become a regulary read for me since I first discovered it more than a year ago.


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IndieCade 2010 Announces Finalists For October Festival
September 2, 2010 | By Eric Caoili
More: Console/PC
Organizers for IndieCade, an annual international festival devoted to independent games, has revealed 32 finalists for its awards, including titles like Limbo and VVVVVV.
Now in its fourth year, the IndieCade festival -- taking place from October 8th to the 10th in Culver City, CA, aims to provide exhibitions, conferences, and curated attractions that "encourage, publicize, and cultivate, innovation and artistry in interactive media", as it strives to "create a public perception of games as rich, diverse, artistic, and culturally significant."
In this year's IndieCade awards. all finalists are eligible to for each of the 12 categories: Jury Award, Aesthetics, Fun/Compelling, Gameplay Innovation, Technical Innovation, World/Story, Vanguard, Sublime Experience, Wildcard, Documentary, Sound, The IndieCade 2010 Honorary Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The 32 announced finalists -- including descriptions, links to developer/game sites, and countries of origin -- follow:
1066 - The Game (Preloaded / Channel 4, United Kingdom): A historical game commissioned by Channel 4 (UK) to accompany its two part documentary series on the War of 1066 and the battle for Middle Earth. A simple, fun strategy game that leverages causal gameplay elements and beautiful design while providing its audience with interesting information and knowledge about the War of 1066. 1066 �" The Game was created by Preloaded, the developers behind Super Me and other social change game projects.
A Slow Year (Ian Bogost, USA): A Slow Year is a collection of four game "poems" for the Atari Video Computer System, one for each season, about the experience of observation and awareness. A Slow Year stakes out a deep and interesting design problem, searching for engaging and meaningful interactivity outside the traditional reaches of modern gameplay and typical genre design. Ian Bogot is a professor at Georgia Tech, and co-founder of Persuasive Games, creator of Airport Insecurity and a series of news games for the New York Times. Ian is also co-creator of IndieCade featured Cruel2BKind. A Slow Year was featured in the 2010's Independent Game Festival (IGF) at the Game Developers Conference.
Auditorium (Cipher Prime, USA): Auditorium is an audio puzzle game where you convert light into sound, creating an explosion of orchestral music. Its addictively simple mechanic consists of manipulating icons to deflect light into a target on each level to generate bursts of music. The game has a flexible design, allowing for a range of solutions to each puzzle. Available for PC and Mac, and now iPhone, Auditorium was created by Philadelphia-based Cipher Prime.
B.U.T.T.O.N. (Brutally Unfair Tactics Totally OK Now) (Copenhagen Game Collective, Denmark): B.U.T.T.O.N. is a four-player, one-button party game played with Xbox controllers on the PC. The game has a WarioWare style mechanic consisting of short mini games in which players must stand back and rush the controllers to press the "right" button, although which button that is not always clear! Created by Copenhagen Game Collective, winner of the Most Fun Game at IndieCade 2008, B.U.T.T.O.N. was a hit at Gamma IV and at IndieCade's E3 Showcase.
Bit.Trip Runner (Gaijin Games, USA): The fourth Bit.Trip game developed by Gaijin Games for WiiWare, Bit.Trip Runner features music from Anamanaguchi driving an energetic and exciting rhythm action platforming game. The game features awesome Boss Battles inside 50 challenging levels, and provides a visually impressive experience and auditory treat. Bit.Trip Runner provides addictive and fun, while exploring interesting interaction and puzzle spaces inside the realm of synaesthesia.
Blue Lacuna (Aaron Reed, USA): Blue Lacuna is among the largest text-based interactive stories ever produced, a full-length novel and adventure game in one. Blue Lacuna is rich with deep, beautiful writing, and a vast story world with emotional depth and meaningful player choice. Blue Lacuna is a triumph in prose-based interactivity from Aaron Reed, the writer and designer of Whom The Telling Changed, and a PhD candidate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Cargo Delivery (Cat in the Sky, Brazil): Cargo Delivery is a skill-based puzzle game revolving around the adventures of Rufus. To achieve his goal of having a nice sailboat to call home, Rufus must sail a freighter with loads of cargo. The churning seas, which cause cargo to topple overboard, and numerous obstacles along the way, must be overcome for Rufus to earn enough money to realize his dream. The delightfully quirky graphics combine well with the cartoon physics, and make this an adventure worth taking. Created by Santo Andre, Brazil based Cat in the Sky.
Castle Vox (Sillysoft, Canada): Castle Vox is a new turn-based strategy game from SillySoft, developers of Lux and American History Lux. Castle Vox brings the engaging multiplayer social play and strategy of Diplomacy and Axis and Allies to the digital realm of turn based strategy. A fully realized digital board game, Castle Vox takes advantage of the computer medium to ease and finesse many of the mechanics of classic social strategy board games, and wraps them into a well designed, approachable and entertaining package.
Continuity (Ragtime Games, Sweden): A well-designed and mechanically clever mashup of a simple platformer with classic sliding puzzle gameplay. Continuity has a strong aesthetic design, and simple, refined, and well-balanced gameplay. Top notch attention to design details such as audio allow the simple pleasures of the mechanic to be presented at the forefront of the IGF-winning, addictive and entertaining game developed by Elias Holmlid, Dmitri Kurteanu, Guy Lima Jr., and Stefan Mikaelsson, aka Ragtime Games, a student team at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg.
Creaky Old Memory (DADIU, Denmark): Creaky Old Memory puts players in the role of Tatiana, an elderly Russian lady who must journey through the nooks and crannies of her self-fabricated house in order to reveal the truth about her own past. The game cleverly blends multiple modes of gameplay as you first must collect different paintings to assemble a picture of Tatiana's life, and then must search these paintings for hidden clues to unlock the deeper mysteries of the story. Created by a team at the National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment in Copenhagen, Creaky Old Memories' deftly designed aesthetics are well integrated into the story and mood of the game, and help bring genuine meaning to the puzzle-based interactivity.
Every Day The Same Dream (Molleindustria, Italy): Made for the experimental gameplay project themed "Art game", Every Day The Same Dream is an attempt to translate a well known narrative about daily routine and white collar alienation into a playable form. Only by finding subtle deviations from the repetitive, looping levels can the player free the character from a meaningless eternal present. Designed by progressive game design collective Molleindustria, Every Day the Same Dream is a short, intellectually engaging experience that brilliantly captures the feel and tone of modern art film and art games, while cutting these recognizable ideas to their core concepts. This is Molleindustria's first game to be selected for IndieCade.
Faraway (Steph Thirion, USA): Created by Steph Thirion for the Gamma IV showcase, Faraway is a one-button game where you swing your way through space, finding and connecting star clusters to create the most complex constellations you can. Faraway's simple but lovely and iconic visual design lets the tightly designed interactions and gameplay take forefront. Steph Thirion is the creator of Eliss, winner of the Auteur Award at IndieCade 2009.
Fatale (Tale of Tales, Belgium): Fatale is an interactive vignette in real-time 3D inspired by the biblical story of Salome and the play about her by Oscar Wilde. Developed by Tale of Tales, the creators of IndieCade 2009 finalist The Path, and 2008 finalist The Graveyard, Fatale is a living tableau that allows you to freely explore many poetic, historical and literary references to the ancient legend, while bringing it relevance to a contemporary audience.
feelforit (Chris DeLeon, USA): feelforit, developed by "Game-A-Day" virtuoso Chris DeLeon, is a small art toy for iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone that exploits the affordances of the device's accelerometer to create an abstract, spatialized metaphor for how we navigate our lives. By rotating the phone, you manipulate an interactive sculpture whose characteristic properties and rule sets are revealed to you as you play with it. This is the IndieCade debut of Chris DeLeon, a Carnegie-Mellon grad who is currently a master's student in Georgia Tech's Digital Media program.
Fractal (Cipher Prime, USA): Go over the top with this new audio puzzle game. Listen as the game reacts to your decisions, taking easy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay to new extremes. Fractal is played on a hex grid, and leverages simple, engaging puzzles to generate beautiful procedural audio. Created by Philadelphia-based Cipher Prime, Fractal is a rewarding and compelling auditory experience.
Gentleman of the South Sandwiche Islands (Taylor & Gray, USA): Created by a team of students in USC's Interactive Media program, the Gentlemen of the South Sandwiche Islands is a lovingly-crafted board game in which gentlemen callers compete for the attentions of Lady Ashley by strategically crossing bridges to get her alone on of a series of small islands. A comedy of manners translated into a board game, the story, the surreal, Victorian art-style and its questionable 200-year history provide a backdrop for a devilish and highly entertaining game of absurd logic. Funded by Jim Taylor through Kickstarter, Gentleman of the South Sandwiche Islands is a great indie design story.
Groping in the Dark (Team Arex, South Korea): Groping in the Dark is a lyrical interactive narrative that tells the story of a kidnapped girl's decision and attempt to escape her captors. The player progresses through the narrative by manipulating phrases of Korean text to unravel the story. The kinetic typography creates an almost mystical experience, turning letters into images and images into meanings. With its alternative to traditional visual representation in games, Groping in the Dark transforms a game into interactive poetry. Created by Seoul-based Team Arex.
Humans vs. Zombies (Gnarwhal Studios, USA): Humans vs. Zombies is a moderated game of tag where all but one player begin as humans, wearing bandanas on their arms and able to defend themselves with socks from the zombie horde. The horde is generated by the randomly-selected "Original Zombie," who can tag human players and turn them into zombies, who wear bandanas on their heads. Humans will need to rely on cunning and teamwork to survive the zombie apocalypse and complete challenging missions organized by the game moderators. Created by Gnarwhal Studios, Humans vs. Zombies is a played in neighborhoods, military bases, and over 600 colleges and universities around the world and was featured at this summer's Come Out and Play. It is part of IndieCade's Outdoor and Pervasive Games track.
Limbo (Playdead, Denmark): Limbo is a hauntingly beautiful black and white "horror" platform puzzler, released to widespread acclaim this summer on the Xbox Live Arcade. The game is set among the rooftops of a mesmerizing macabre world that draws you into its dark narrative. The narrative, the story of a young boy trying to find his lost sister, is reinforced by a tightly designed film noir style that also expands the interesting, well implemented 2D platforming puzzle challenges. Created by Denmark's Playdead, Limbo is a stunning example of the quality and experience that can be created out of careful attention to detail and delicate integration of the many different elements that make up a game.
Miegakure (Marc ten Bosch, USA): Miegakure is a platform game where you solve puzzles by exploring the fourth dimension. An inventive approach to spatial puzzle design and problem solving from Marc ten Bosch, Miegakure creates engaging and maddening puzzles from the mathematics and theory of a fourth spatial dimension. Miegakure was featured at the IGF, and at IndieCade's E3 showcase, and is a stunning technical and design achievement, which educates and explores fourth dimension mathematical theory without requiring a PhD in math or physics.
Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess! (Mediatonic, United Kingdom): Monsters (Probably) Stole my Princess! is a vertical platformer which you take control of the super sexy aristocratic demon known only as "The Duke" in a fantastical world where chasing down giant yet adorable monsters is the business at hand. The game borrows from classic platformer mechanics, embellished with frantic gameplay, novel power-ups, strategic moves, and delightful macabre-cartoon aesthetic. Created by the UK's Mediatonic as a PSP and PS3 Mini, the game is also now available on Xbox Live.
Recurse (Matt Parker, USA): An installation commissioned by the NYU Game Center for its "No Quarter" art game exhibition, Recurse has a simple, embodied mechanic: a video camera transforms the player's body into a giant cursor. Crystals grow where the body intersects with objects on the screen. Players must grow Crystals in green zones while avoiding growing them in red zones. The zones shift intermittently to create new challenges. A digital game about movement in physical space, the Recurse's distorted "funhouse mirror" encourages players to forget themselves as they twist and stretch their bodies in order to get a high score and effect the game's abstract world. Created by New York-based artist/developer Matt Parker.
Retro/Grade (24 Caret Games, USA): Retro/Grade is an innovative PS3 game that fuses the white-knuckle thrills and over the top visuals of a shooter with the broad appeal of a rhythm game. The developers at 24 Caret Games have deeply explored their central idea of a time-reversed space battle through tight game mechanics and polished UI and user feedback. Retro/Grade is visually engaging, attractive, and leverages its aesthetic and auditory beauty to craft an addictive and entertaining user experience.
Sixteen Tons (Nathalie Pozzi and Eric Zimmerman, USA): Sixteen Tons, inspired by a folk song about a mining company town, is a gallery installation in which four players move heavy sections of steel pipe on a colorful grid. This simple gameplay is complicated by the social interaction of a mechanic in which players bid to hire other players (using real cash) to move their pieces, enacting the game's central themes of debt bondage and forced labor. Created by architect Nathalie Pozzi and independent game designer Eric Zimmerman, Sixteen Tons was originally commissioned by the Art History of Games conference in Atlanta (February 2010). Its presentation at IndieCade is sponsored by the NYU Game Center.
Socks, Inc. (Jim Babb/Data Played, USA): Socks, Inc. is a family-oriented alternate reality that combines web 2.0 co-creation and adventure within an imaginary world entirely populated with sock puppets. Dubbed by its creator "World of Sockcraft," players socialize within an imaginary Willy-Wonka-style factory, role-playing the story of their sock puppet. A player completes missions by creating storytelling content with their puppet and distributing it via video and still images. As a part of IndieCade, Socks, Inc. will host a sock puppet creation workshop, where participants can create an avatar, an account, and play through the first missions. Socks, Inc., created by New School Master's Student Jim Babb/Data Played, debuted at ARGfest 2010 in Atlanta, and is part of IndieCade's Outdoor and Pervasive Games track.
Solace (One Man Down, USA): Solace is an interactive aesthetic experience utilizing dynamic audio and "bullet hell" overtones to provide a unique perspective on the five stages of grief. One Man Down, a design team from Digipen Institute of Technology, has produced impressive visuals and audio to build a fully realized mood space for the game. Solace does not settle on traditional gameplay inside this environment, but explores "bullet hell" mechanics to reinforce the mood and message of the game.
Spirits (Spaces of Play, Germany): Spirits is an action-puzzle game for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad with a Lemmings-style mechanic in which players manipulate the wind to guide name-giving Spirits towards each level of the game world. The wind, which is both helpful and uncontrollable, can serve as the player's friend and enemy at the same time. The game's unique atmosphere is created by a combination of beautifully hand-drawn graphics and a music track comprised completely of orchestral musical instruments. Created by Berlin-based Spaces of Play.
Tic-Tac-Totum (Jesse Fuchs, USA): Tic-Tac-Totem is an "open source" tabletop game that uses the traditional game elements of dice and poker chips in clever and novel ways. The game rules, which consist of mini-games that determine the outcome of a Tic-Tac-Toe game, are presented and constantly modified via wiki. This is the IndieCade debut of developer Jesse Fuchs.
The Cat And The Coup (Peter Brinson, USA): The Cat and the Coup is a documentary game in which you play the cat of Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran. You observe and coax Mossadegh through the events of the coup as the cat, knocking over objects on the Prime Minister's desk and scratching him. With its striking visual style and engaging mechanic, The Cat and The Coup brings a completely original novel ach to documentary gameplay. Developer Peter Brinson is the creator of IndieCade exhibited Meanwhile and a member of the team that created Waco Resurrection.
The Games of Nonchalance (Nonchalance, USA): An epic, immersive, poly-media, real-world adventure. Four episodes of interactive content lead participants on a journey through the fabric of San Francisco and discover the threads of a narrative woven into the city's past and present. Currently running in San Francisco, The Games of Nonchalance received the "Best of the Bay" SFBG 2009 award. Nonchalance's Scoop!, a live pirate radio news game, was featured at Come Out and Play 2010. This is their debut game as part of IndieCade's Outdoor and Pervasive Games track.
Trauma (Krystian Majewski, Germany): Trauma takes you into the subconscious of a young woman who survives a car accident as you explore her dreams and memories. The game has a compelling aesthetic and interaction design that involves navigating 3D photographs using a novel, gesture-based interface, drawing you intuitively into its narrative dreamspace. Trauma is a quintessential next-generation adventure game, an emerging genre among indie developers. Created by Polish-born, Cologne-based design student Krystian Majewski.
VVVVVV (Terry Cavanagh, Ireland): In VVVVVV, you play as the fearless leader of a team of dimension-exploring scientists who are separated after inadvertently crashing their ship. A high energy, cleverly designed platforming experience from Terry Cavanaugh, creator of Don't Look Back and Self Destruct, VVVVVV deeply explores its central gravity-reversing mechanic through smart, interesting puzzles and a strong world and environment, supported by simple but compelling visual design and awesome music.
This year's festival will take place at Culver City, California next month, and the first night of IndieCade (October 8th) will offer a "Red Carpet Awards Show" hosted by actor Levar Burton, where the winners of the twelve categories will be announced.
All 32 games, which were picked from over 350 submissions by 160 international jurors, will be available for the public to play at various locations during the festival.
"Indie developers continue to expand their range and depth, from offering casual games featuring sock puppets to fresh experiences where you voyage through the stars as a comet," says IndieCade's Stephanie Barish.
Barish adds, "The spirit of independent game creation burns brightly this year, and we are thrilled to be able to bring these games to professionals interested in cutting-edge digital media, game developers, artists, publishers, and enthusiasts of all ages."
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Best of 2017: Paul McCartney, Lil Wayne, New Kids on the Block top Tampa Bay's best concerts (Part 3)
And who could forget Rae Sremmurd and Boyz II Men?
Paul McCartney performed at Amalie Arena in Tampa on July 10, 2017. Photo by Luis Santana.
By Jay Cridlin
Published Dec. 28, 2017
(All week on Soundcheck, we're looking back at the best Tampa Bay concerts of 2017. Today: Times designer Tara McCarty.)
Rae Sremmurd (May 12, Amalie Arena): I will never miss the Weeknd coming through Tampa (or say no to the possibility of seeing him in other cities or states). But as it was the fifth time I've seen him, and with the third and fourth times being unbelievably stellar performances, I deem the true stars of the show the Rae Sremmurd. The Weeknd's openers have released top hit after top hit the last couple years, and it was never more evident than hearing them played back to back to back. The energy was nonstop, their jumping continuous, and their crowd perfectly hyped by the time they closed their set. Highlight: When they came back on stage to perform Black Beatles with the Weeknd, even though I think they should have kept their highest-charting song in their own set. They deserve that much.
Paul McCartney (July 10, Amalie Arena): If I squinted just right from my third-level seat, I could pretend the figures jamming on stage were the Beatles in their prime. Sir Paul played without a break for more than two hours, covering 40 songs from all levels of his career. Every word of every story he told between songs, I relished as things I could joke about later ("Well, Paul McCartney once told me…"). He brought out a wide range of instruments, from piano to guitar to harmonica. Highlight: Love Me Do, because of my weakness for harmonicas; and his version of FourFive Seconds after hearing Rihanna's version last year. It was also the only song Paul played that I knew and my dad did not.
New Kids on the Block (July 15, Amalie Arena): I tagged along with a friend to finally see Boyz II Men properly (read: not over the wall at the Strawberry Festival) and left with an NKOTB tshirt. The boy band that started before I was born put on the most consistently energetic, talented and choreographed show I've ever seen. Decades late, I became a fan. The show had everything: Boy band poses, kicks to the camera, a happy birthday song, a changing camera (possibly prerecorded with a cameo by Joey Fatone!), crowd-surfing, Christmas music, confetti and fire. Highlight: Donnie Wahlberg singing shirtless atop a flaming piano.
Lil Wayne (Sept. 1, Jannus Live): I made a decision here. I had a ticket to Kendrick Lamar, performing the same night in Tampa. I gave up the ticket for the chance to see Lil Wayne for the fifth time, but first at such a small venue. What easily could have been a regrettable decision and a miserable time was neither. From the accurate opener of Mr. Carter to No Worries closer and hearing Got Money somewhere in between, I realized that with Weezy F, the F stood for feelings I'd long forgotten. The best rapper alive may have fallen down the ranks due to legal and label problems, seizures and sizzurp, but he can still put on a good show, appealing to old and new fans alike. Highlight: Mr. Carter, which spoke to every fan wondering where Lil Wayne has been if he's not putting out music.
— Tara McCarty
Jay Cridlin
Times Entertainment Critic
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