text:
Discovery Holidays
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About Explore
At Explore, we're the experts in adventure travel. Our small group adventure holidays have been running since 1981. Today, Explore is one of the most trusted travel companies in the UK with over 500 trips to more than 120 countries.
Destinations Europe Poland
Poland Travel & Tours
Explore historic squares, chic pavement cafes and micro-breweries on a cultural tour of Poland. And away from the cities, discover thrilling winter activities in snowy mountains. No matter when and where you go in Poland, there's plenty of highlights.
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Ways to explore Poland
Highlights of Poland
Poland Discovery Trip code KWW
8 Days From CA$1480 without flights
Polish Winter Adventure
Poland Short Breaks Trip code PW
5 Days From CA$830 without flights
Pedalling in Poland
Poland, Slovakia Cycling Trip code CPP
Highlights of Poland with Lviv and Kiev
Poland Discovery Trip code KWK
15 Days From CA$2730 without flights
Hiking in the Polish Carpathians
Poland Walking and Trekking Trip code WPS
Highlights of Poland and Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad, Poland, Russia Discovery Trip code GKV
View all trips in Poland
Over the course of history, Poland's borders have been drawn and redrawn: as a nation, its destiny is irrevocably tied to its geographic position at the heart of Europe. Nonetheless, for centuries, it maintained a formidable and prosperous presence as part of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.
In the 1500s, Poland's Renaissance boom brought new Universities and exciting modes of thought, but disaster struck in 1795 when the imperial forces of Austria, Prussia and Russia took the country for themselves and divided it into three partitions. At the front-line of the Great War of 1914, Poland lost one million inhabitants, continued to suffer deep persecution under Nazi Germany, and later, considerable oppression as part of the Soviet Union.
Since the fall of the Eastern Bloc, Poland has sought to redefine itself as an independent, democratic and forward-looking nation – an approach epitomised by the capital, Warsaw, today a robust and staunchly competitive place where you can witness the social transformations rendered by a political shift to the free market. To glimpse the regal past, head instead to the old Medieval city of Kraków, an ancient seat of power filled with intellectual airs and immaculately preserved architecture.
The influence of Catholicism is widespread throughout the country – indeed, the birth of Poland can be traced to the moment the Slavic ruler Mieszko I stopped worshipping the Pagan fertility god of Svetovid and converted to Christianity, but the Jewish faith, too, has greatly shaped Poland's history. Old Jewish neighbourhoods in several cities are now regenerating, whilst the memorial of Auschwitz-Birkenau remains an important place of pilgrimage and remembrance.


text:
   #include <omp.h>
#else
   #define omp_get_thread_num() 0
#endif

main() {

   int i, n = 7;
   int a[n], v;

   for (i=0; i<n; i++)
	a[i] = i+1;

   #pragma omp parallel for lastprivate(v)
   for (i=0; i<n; i++)
   {
	v = a[i];
	printf("thread %d v=%d / ",omp_get_thread_num(), v);
   }

   printf("\nFuera de la construcción'parallel for' v=%d\n",v);
}
//Nos permite que la variable declarada como private tenga valor a la salida.
//Este valor será el de la variable private de la ultima hebra.
//En el for sera la hebra que ejecuta las ultimas iteraciones y la del section
//la que ejecute el ultimo section declarado

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


PURVIS, Miss. (AP) — The wait for a number of Purvis High's student-athletes to get into their new field house will be a little longer.
The field house, which began construction in the summer, is still months away from completion. Purvis' previous field house burned down in August 2014. Arson was determined to be the cause.
Purvis athletic director Tony Farlow tells The Hattiesburg American (http://hatne.ws/1Qb1l0v) the project is almost finished from the outside, but still has a lot of work left on the inside. A tentative completion date has been set for June or July.
The field house, once completed, is expected to be one of the more luxurious among Class 4A schools. The building will hold the essentials such as weight room and coaches offices.


"Like the CIA, North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau is steeped in clandestine overseas plots: assassinations, abductions and lots of spying. But it is perhaps better understood as a mash-up between the CIA, the KGB and the Yakuza.
What distinguishes the bureau is its entrepreneurial streak — one with a distinctly criminal bent."
"These shores were once among the world's most coveted. For more than a millennium, waves of outsiders — from Hindu conquerors to rapacious Dutch colonists — lusted after the paradisiacal beauty of Java. But today, any seafarer arriving on this beach will find a saltwater garbage dump.
How terrifying. Not just for this village but for every human on the planet. The ocean and its creatures are now awash in chemicals oozed by plastic — and it's seeping into human bodies from Bali to Boston."
"For Fatima, a 13-year-old girl from Myanmar's western marshlands, the new year began with a grueling escape. She spent the first days of 2017 on the run, slogging through rice fields in the dark.
With each step, cold muck sucked at her ankles. The sky above was dark — just a dim crescent moon and a thousand pinpricks of starlight.
She was grateful for the blackness of night. At least there was no sign of armed border guards on the horizon. No distant flashlight beams scanning for intruders in the fields."
"The world is filled with boys and girls who lose their childhoods to hard labor. That children slave away in Congo mines or stitch blouses in Bangladesh is known to everyone who follows the news.
But in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly titled Burma, child labor is not a minor social blight. It is a pillar of the economy.
Child labor in Myanmar looks a lot like child labor in the United States circa the Industrial Revolution. The kids in South Okkalapa resemble children in those sepia-hued photos shot in industrial America's factories and farms: bare feet, smudged faces, weary eyes."
"There was a time when the most fearsome sound in warfare was not the crack of a rifle or the eerie hum of a drone. It was the shriek of an elephant, tusks slick with blood, skulls crunching underfoot.
But there is one corner of the planet — and only one — where war elephants persist into the 21st century."


Rum Academy & Agricole Tour 2017!
Join Suzanne Long as she welcomes two very special guests, Agricole rhum experts Benoit Bail and Jerry Gitany to the Bay Area for an extremely special event. Take a virtual tour of multiple rhum distilleries in the French West Indies, discuss style aspects of this magnificent genre of rhum with three passionate experts, and taste many rare FWI rhums.
This is a FREE event! RSVP Below!
I certify that I am 21 years of age or over and all persons I am purchasing tickets for are also over 21.
Come learn how to mix some of Suzanne Long's most famous modern tropical classics in this brand new class for Tiki Oasis 2017! Together we will make the Black Orchid and Gunpowder Swizzle, plus a special all new cocktail never before released to the public. We'll taste each ingredient, talk about the importance of choosing rums for each cocktail, and have a hands on technique lesson.


Global-Tech Appliances, makers of all sorts of generic electronics for companies like Black & Decker, have shipped an order of 17-inch and 30-inch LCD TVs destined to become some of Yahoo!'s first consumer electronics products. While we originally heard that Diamond Electronics would be manufacturing the Yahoo!-brand LCD TVs, it seems Global-Tech got the deal. The Home Touch 17-inch and 30-inch flat panel high-definition LCD TVs are expected to have 768 lines of vertical resolution and appear in (really crappy) Yahoo-exclusive stylings.


text: docker run -d --name postfix -p 25:25 --restart always yorkshirekev/postfix your.host.dns


text:
Государственные кредитные билеты 1898—1899 годов — бумажные деньги Российской империи нового образца, появившиеся в результате денежной реформы 1895—1897.

Согласно Высочайшему указу от 14 ноября 1897 года (№ 14633), на лицевой стороне новых кредитных билетов значилось, что «Государственный банк разменивает кредитные билеты на золотую монету без ограничения суммы (1 руб. = 1/15 империала, содержит 17,424 долей чистого золота)».
На оборотной же стороне, вместо текста «извлечения из Высочайшего манифеста о кредитных билетах», были помещены 3 параграфа из этого указа о правилах их обращения:
 Размен Государственных кредитных билетов на золотую монету обеспечивается всем достоянием Государства.
 Государственные кредитные билеты имеют хождение по всей Империи наравне с золотой монетой.
 За подделку кредитных билетов виновные подвергаются лишению всех прав состояния и ссылке в каторжную работу.

Общая характеристика

Кредитные билеты нового образца были выпущены номиналом в 1, 3, 5, 10, 100 и 500 рублей.

Совершенно новыми по внешнему оформлению стали выпускаемые билеты номиналами 100 и 500 рублей.

В кредитных билетах выпуска 1898—1899 годов были объединены два типа билетов:
 Кредитные билеты образца 1895 года (билеты 1, 3 и 5, но с надписями согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года;
 Кредитные билеты образца 1892—1895 годов (билеты 5, 10, 25 и вновь выпущенные билеты 50, 100 и 500 рублей) также с надписями согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года.

Нумерация кредитных билетов — шестизначная порядковая (например, «АА 123456»). В качестве литер серий использовались следующие буквы алфавита: А, Б, В, Г, Д, Е, З, И, К, Л, М, Н, О, П, Р, С, Т, У, Ф, Х, Ц, Ч, Ъ, Ь, Ѣ, Э, Я, Ө.

Дата на билетах, независимо от реального года их выпуска, оставалась неизменной (то есть начального года выпуска в обращение билетов данного типа):
 Билеты выпуска 1898—1903 годов подписаны управляющим Э. Д. Плеске
 Билеты выпуска 1903—1909 годов подписаны управляющим С. И. Тимашевым
 Билеты выпуска 1910—1914 годов подписаны управляющим А. В. Коншиным
 Билеты выпуска 1914—1917(1918) годов подписаны управляющим И. П. Шиповым

На смену кредитным билетам выпуска 1898—1899 пришли кредитные билеты образца 1905—1912 годов, сами же они находились в обращении до 1 октября 1922 года, когда согласно декрету Совета народных комиссаров от 8 октября 1922 года «Об установлении однородности денежного обращения» теряли платёжную силу. Обмен их производился из расчёта 10 000 рублей за 1 рубль денежными знаками образца 1922 года.

По номиналам

1 рубль

Внешний вид банкноты в 1 рубль повторял таковой у аналогичного номинала образца 1887 года с изменениями в надписях согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года. Образцы этого билета стали рассылаться по конторам и отделениям Государственного банка только в 1900 году на основании циркуляра банка от 18 июля 1900 года (№ 16/а), при этом выдачу билетов нового образца предлагалось производить только «лишь при совершенном израсходовании» запасов 1-рублёвых банкнот прежних выпусков.

Банкнота была отпечатана на белой бумаге с водяными знаками, с лицевой и обратной стороны в две краски типографским способом, выпускалась до 1915 года.

3 рубля
Государственный кредитный билет 3 рубля по внешнему виду повторял аналогичный номинал образца 1887 года с изменениями в надписях согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года.

Банкнота была отпечатана на белой бумаге с водяными знаками, с лицевой и обратной стороны в две краски типографским способом, выпускалась до 1905 года.

5 рублей
Государственный кредитный билет 5 рублей по внешнему виду повторял аналогичный номинал образца 1895 года с изменениями в надписях согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года.

Банкнота была отпечатана на белой бумаге с водяными знаками, с лицевой стороны — типографским способом по трёхкрасочной подложечной орловской сетке, с оборотной — в три краски орловским способом, выпускалась до 1909 года.

10 рублей
Государственный кредитный билет 10 рублей по внешнему виду повторял аналогичный номинал образца 1894 года с изменениями в надписях согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года.

Напечатан на белой бумаге с водяными знаками. С лицевой стороны рисунок отпечатан типографским способом по трехкрасочной подложечной орловской сетке. Оборотная сторона отпечатана в три краски орловским способом.

Кредитный билет 10 рублей выпускался до 1909 года.

25 рублей
Государственный кредитный билет 25 рублей выпуска 1899 года по внешнему виду повторял аналогичный билет образца 1892 года за исключением надписей, выполненных согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года. На водяном знаке портрет Александра III.

Напечатан на белой бумаге с водяными знаками. С лицевой стороны применена металлографическая печать по двухкрасочной подложечной сетке. С оборотной стороны применена двухкрасочная орловская печать по двухкрасочной подложечной сетке (ирис).

Кредитный билет 25 рублей выпускался до 1909 года.

50 рублей
Новым по оформлению был билет 50 рублей с портретом императора Николая I в овальной украшенной рамке. Как сообщалось в газете в мае 1900 года: «Экспедиция заготовления государственных бумаг окончила печатание новых кредитных билетов 50-рублевого достоинства с портретом Николая I. Они поступят в обращение в начале июля 1900 года». Государственный кредитный билет 50 рублей образца 1899 года был выпущен в обращение в июле 1900 в соответствии с указом от 3 декабря 1899 года (№ 17823). Этим же указом был утвержден и образец этого билета. В отличие от всех выпускавшихся ранее кредитных билетов он был отпечатан на бумаге без водяного знака. К этим билетам предъявлялись более жесткие требования по их качественному состоянию в обращении. Все кредитные билеты 50 рублей образца 1899 года с механическими повреждениями, пятнами и посторонними надписями при их попадания в кассы Государственного банка, его контор и отделений в дальнейшем больше не допускались к выпуску в обращение и подлежали уничтожению в установленном порядке.

Напечатан на бумаге белого цвета без водяного знака. Ранние серии билетов (АА-АЛ) имеют голубоватый оттенок, а поздние серии (АМ-АТ) — сероватый оттенок. С лицевой стороны печатался металлографическим способом по многокрасочной орловской сетке. С оборотной стороны применялся многокрасочный рисунок, выполненный орловским способом.

Кредитный билет 50 рублей выпускался до 1918 года.

100 рублей
Государственный кредитный билет 100 рублей образца 1896 года (с датой на билете 1898 год) был выпущен с 1 декабря 1898 года на основании указов от 4 июля 1898 года (№ 15523, 15544). Образец этого билета был Высочайше утверждён указом от 29 ноября 1896 года (№ 13457) с изменением позднее надписей на нём согласно указу от 14 ноября 1897 года. Фактически этот билет подготавливался к выпуску ещё в 1896 году как продолжение серии кредитных билетов образца 1892—1895 годов. Однако в ходе денежной реформы Витте в 1897 году в уже утверждённый образец были внесены изменения на основании указов от 29 августа и 14 ноября 1897 года. В связи с чем выпуск этого кредитного билета в обращение был осуществлен только в декабре 1898 года. На этом билете в овальной рамке был помещен парадный черно-белый портрет Екатерины II (гравюра с картины художника Иоганна-Батиста Лампи старшего, написанной в 1792 году) аналогичный портрет на билетах образца 1866 года, выполненный способом металлографической печати.

Напечатан на желтоватой бумаге с водяными знаками. Выпускался тиражом 200 тысяч экземпляров каждой серии, то есть с № 0000001 по № 200000. На водяном знаке портрет Екатерины II. На лицевой стороне применена металлографическая печать по трехкрасочной орловской сетке. Оборотная сторона выполнена трёхкрасочной орловской печатью.

Кредитный билет 100 рублей выпускался до 1910 года.

500 рублей
Государственный кредитный билет 500 рублей образца 1898 года был выпущен в марте 1899 на основании указов от 1 февраля 1899 года (№ 16434, 16437). Образец билета был Высочайше утвержден указом от 4 ноября 1898 года (№ 16031). Это был новый, никогда раньше не выпускавшийся номинал кредитных билетов. На этом билете в овально украшенной рамке был помещен черно-белый портрет Петра I в треугольной шляпе (так называемый «Пётр в шляпе»), выполненный эстампным способом печати. Портрет выполнен с памятника Петру I работы скульптора М. М. Антокольского (позднее установленного в Таганроге в 1903 году).

Кредитный билет 500 рублей выпускался тиражом 200 тысяч экземпляров каждая серия, то есть с № 0000001 по № 200000.

Напечатан на белой бумаге с водяными знаками. На водяном знаке портрет Петра I. На лицевой стороне применена металлографическая печать по трехкрасочной орловской сетке. Оборотная сторона выполнена трехкрасочной орловской печатью.

Кредитный билет 500 рублей выпускался до 1912 года.

Литература
 Денисов А. Е. «Бумажные денежные знаки России 1769—1917» — Часть 3. Государственные бумажные денежные знаки 1898—1917. M.:Нумизматическая литература, 2004 г. 208 стр. ISBN 5-902689-02-3

Примечания

См. также

 Государственные кредитные билеты образца 1905-1912 годов
 Денежная реформа в России (1897)

Банкноты, номинированные в рублях
Банкноты Российской империи
Экономика Российской империи

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos.

Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries, at the edge of the  central plateau. The municipality has a population of about 180,000 inhabitants. The Camino de Santiago runs through Burgos.

Founded in 884 by the second Count of Castile, Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Burgos soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castile. The 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) had connections with the city: born near Burgos, he was raised and educated there. In a long-lasting decline from the 17th century, Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government (1936-1939) following the start of the Spanish Civil War. Declared in 1964 as Pole of Industrial Promotion and in 1969 as Pole of Industrial Development, the city has grown since then in terms of economic activity. At the regional level, Burgos forms part of an economic axis together with the cities of Valladolid and Palencia. In 2008, the international Burgos Airport started to service commercial flights.

The Museum of Human Evolution opened here in 2010. The museum features remains of the first hominins in Europe, who lived in this area 750,000-800,000 years ago. The Cathedral of Burgos is a World Heritage Site. Burgos was selected as the "Spanish Gastronomy Capital" of 2013. In 2015 UNESCO named it "City of Gastronomy", and it has been part of the Creative Cities Network since then.

Toponymy
There are several possible origins for the toponymy. When the city was founded, the inhabitants of the surrounding country moved into the fortified village, whose Visigothic name of Burgos signified consolidated walled villages (Gothic baurgs). The cities Burgas in Bulgaria and numerous cities containing the Germanic burg "city" such as Hamburg have a similar literal composition. The city began to be called Caput Castellae ("Cabeza de Castilla" or "Head of Castile").

History

Early humans occupied sites around Burgos as early as 800,000 years ago.
When the Romans took possession of what is now the province of Burgos, the site had been a Celtic city. In Roman times, it belonged to Hispania Citerior ("Hither Spain") and then to Hispania Tarraconensis. In the 5th century, the Visigoths drove back the Suebi, then the Berbers occupied almost all of Castile in the 8th century, though only for a very brief period, and left little if any trace of their occupation. King Alfonso III the Great of León reconquered it about the middle of the 9th century, and built several castles for the defence of Christendom, which was then extended through the reconquest of lost territory. The region came to be known as Castile (Latin castella), i.e. "(land of) castles".

Burgos was founded in 884 as an outpost of this expanding Christian frontier, when Diego Rodríguez "Porcelos", count of Castile, governed this territory with orders to promote the increase of the Christian population; with this end in view he gathered the inhabitants of the surrounding country into one fortified village. The city began to be called Caput Castellae ("Cabeza de Castilla" or "Head of Castile"). The county (condado) of Castile, subject to the Kings of León, continued to be governed by counts and was gradually extended; one of these counts, Fernán González, established his independence.

In the 11th century, the city became the see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burgos and the capital of the Kingdom of Castile. Burgos was a major stop for pilgrims on the French Way the most popular path to Santiago de Compostela and a centre of trade between the Bay of Biscay and the south, which attracted an unusually large foreign merchant population, who became part of the city oligarchy and excluded other foreigners. Throughout the 13th and 14th centuries, Burgos was a favourite seat of the kings of León and Castile and a favoured burial site. The consejo or urban commune of Burgos was firmly in the hands of an oligarchic class of caballeros villanos, the "peasant knights" of Burgos, who provided the monarchs with a mounted contingent: in 1255 and 1266 royal charters granted relief from taxes to those citizens of Burgos who owned horses and could arm themselves, provided that they continue to live within the city walls. The merchant oligarchy succeeded the cathedral chapter as the major purchasers of land after 1250; they carried on their mercantile business in common with municipal or royal functions and sent their sons to England and Flanders to gain experience in overseas trade. A few families within the hermandades or confraternities like the Sarracín and Bonifaz succeeded in monopolising the post of alcalde, or mayor; a special court, the alcalde del rey was first mentioned at Burgos in 1281. By the reign of Alfonso X, the exemption of the non-noble knights and religious corporations, combined with exorbitant gifts and grants to monasteries and private individuals, placed great stress on the economic well-being of the realm.

In the century following the conquest of Seville (1248) on the Moors, Burgos became a testing ground for royal policies of increasing power against the consejo, in part by encouraging the right to appeal from the consejo to the king. In 1285, Sancho IV added a new body to the consejo which came to dominate it: the jurado in charge of collecting taxes and overseeing public works; the king reserved the right to select its members. The city perceived that danger to its autonomy came rather from an uncontrolled aristocracy during royal minorities: Burgos joined the hermandades of cities that leagued together for mutual protection in 1295 and 1315. In the 14th century, official royal intrusion in city affairs was perceived as a palliative against outbreaks of violence by the large excluded class of smaller merchants and artisans, on whom the tax burden fell. The alguacil was the royal official instituted to judge disagreements.

On 9 June 1345, sweeping aside the city government, Alfonso XI established direct royal rule of Burgos through the Regimiento of sixteen appointed men.

In 1574, Pope Gregory XIII made the bishopric a Metropolitan archbishopric, at the request of king Felipe II.

Burgos has been the scene of many wars: with the Moors, the struggles between León and Navarre, and between Castile and Aragon. In the Peninsular War against Napoleonic France, the siege of Burgos (between 19 September to 21 October) was a scene of a withdrawal for Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Again in the 19th-century Carlist civil wars of the Spanish succession Burgos was the scene of a battle. During the Spanish Civil War, Burgos was the base of General Franco's rebel fascist government.

Geography and climate
At an elevation of , the city of Burgos lies in the transition zone between a Warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) and an Oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb), with some continental influence resulting from its distance from the sea and higher altitude.  Burgos' climate features chilly and windy winters, due to altitude and an inland location, which always include snow and temperatures below freezing. Temperature ranges can be extreme and Burgos is drier than Spain's coastal regions, although there is year-round precipitation. Average annual precipitation is  and the average annual relative humidity is 72%. In winter, temperatures very often (almost every day) drop below freezing, often reaching temperatures as low as , and snowfalls are common, while the summer months see average high temperatures of . The lowest recorded temperature in Burgos was  on 20 January 1885. The highest recorded temperature was  on 13 August 1987.

Sights
Burgos is rich in ancient churches and convents. The three most notable are the cathedral, with its chapel of the Condestables de Castilla (Lords Constable of Castile), the monastery of Las Huelgas and the Carthusian monastery of Miraflores. Minor notable churches are San Esteban, San Gil (Sancti Aegidii), San Pedro, San Cosme y San Damián, Santiago (Sancti Jacobi), San Lorenzo and San Lesmes (Adelelmi). The Convento de la Merced, occupied by the Jesuits, and the Hospital del Rey are also of historic and architectural interest.

Among the other interesting architectural structures, in the walls of the city are the gateway of Santa María, erected for the first entrance of the Emperor Charles V, and the arch of Fernán González.

Gothic Cathedral

Construction on Burgos' Gothic Cathedral began in 1221 and spanned mainly from the 13th to 15th centuries. It has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cathedral is the resting place for El Cid (the famous knight from Medieval Spain's history) and his wife Dona Jimena. The west front is flanked by towers terminating in octagonal spires covered with open stonework traceries. The middle section, which serves as an entrance, has three alabaster pilasters, the intercolumnar spaces bearing panel-pictures representing the martyrdom of saints. The façade possesses ornate and fantastic surface decoration.

The octagonal chapel of the Condestable, in florid, thus highly sculpted, Gothic design, has a roof finished with balustraded turrets, needle-pointed pinnacles and statues. In the lower portion, coats of arms, shields and crouching lions have been worked into the ensemble. The exterior of the sacristy is decorated with carved traceries, figures of angels and armoured knights. The elaborate tabernacle is composed of two octagonal sections in Corinthian style.

Monasterio de las Huelgas

The Monasterio de las Huelgas Reales (Monastery of the Royal Retreats) on the outskirts of the city, was founded in 1180 by king Alfonso VIII, and was begun in a pre-Gothic style, although almost every style has been introduced over many additions. The remarkable cloisters have been described as "unrivalled for beauty both of detail and design, and perhaps unsurpassed by anything in its age and style in any part of Europe" (1911 Encyclopædia Britannica). One cloister has semicircular arches with delicate and varied columns; the other has an ogival style of early Gothic. The interior of the church has enormous columns supporting its magnificent vault; the entrance is modern. This convent historically benefited from extraordinary privileges granted to its abbess by kings and popes.

Miraflores Charterhouse

The Carthusian monastery, Miraflores Charterhouse (Cartuja de Miraflores) is situated about four kilometres from the historic city center. Among the treasures of the Charterhouse are the wooden statue of St. Bruno, the wooden choir stalls in the church and the tombs of King Juan II and of his spouse, Queen Isabella of Portugal, constructed of marble and with their recumbent effigies sculpted in alabaster. Around the top frieze are statues of angels in miniature. The French soldiers in the Spanish War of Independence (1814) mutilated this work, cutting off some of the heads and carrying them away to France. King Juan II's daughters by his first wife, heiresses Princesses Catherine and Eleanor of Asturias, are also buried in the monastery.

Museums

Burgos has a total of 10 museums, the newest being the Museum of Human Evolution (the 10th most visited museum in Spain).

Museum of Human Evolution
The Museum of Human Evolution was inaugurated on 13 July 2010. Its foundation is based on the archeological site of Atapuerca located  east of Burgos. The Atapuerca site has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It contains several caves, where fossils and stone tools of the earliest known hominids in West Europe have been found, near Atapuerca Mountains.

The museum also allows the visitor to travel to the archaeological site and biological park.

Museum of Burgos
It summarizes the history of the province of Burgos. It has important objects and documents from all the ages, starting from Atapuerca, passing to the Romans and Iberians, and finishing in the contemporary period. These include the traditional sword of El Cid.

The museum is located in the renaissances palaces, the House of Íñigo Angulo and the House of Miranda, which has a main patio that structures the museum.

Book Museum
Between the Main Square "Plaza Mayor" and the Promenade of the Espolón "Paseo del Espolón," on the side street, Travesía del Mercado nº3, you find the Fadrique de Basilea Book Museum "Museo del Libro Fadrique de Basilea", of the Burgos publisher, Siloé, a cosy museum that shows the history of the book from its first written form to its modern electronic form.

Education

State Education in Spain is free, and compulsory from 6 to 16 years. The current education system is called LOE (Ley Orgánica de Educación).

Universities

University of Burgos

Often abbreviated 'UBU', the University of Burgos is a public university with about 10,000 students studying over 30 different undergraduate degrees, over 20 PhD Programmes, as well as several Official Masters and other graduate courses. It was established in 1994 when it was divided from the University of Valladolid.

UBU cooperates with the Erasmus Project, a European Union (EU) student-exchange programme, and each semester hosts students from various countries across the 15-state European Union, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Malta and associated countries in Eastern Europe. Additionally, university students from various regions around the world including China, Latin and North America are able to participate in exchange programmes to study abroad at the University of Burgos. In total, the University of Burgos has education agreements with over 100 international academic institutions.

Isabella I of Castile University

Isabella I of Castile University, established in 2008, is a private state-recognized university located in Burgos. It was fully accredited by the Spanish Government in 2011.

Parks and recreation

Most of the parks in the city of Burgos can be found along the river Arlanzón. Indeed, the banks of the river itself constitute a green corridor along the city. In total, there are nearly 3 square miles (1,878 acres) of parks in Burgos and one tree for every 3 inhabitants.

 El Parque del Castillo (or the Castle Park) is one of the lungs of the city. The city grew from the southern foot of the hill of the castle. Gradually, some of the upper neighborhoods began disappearing. After the destruction of the castle, military installations were established there. In the 1950s, the engineer Jaquotot Mariano, who later became mayor of the city, decided to leave the hill completely bare. Besides the ruins of the castle, this park contains the Bird Conservation Center, as well as play areas for children and spaces for exercise. Also, there is a terraced area with gardens and an ornamental fountain. The highlight of the park is the viewpoint from which you get a great view of the city, especially the cathedral. A metal plaque on the rail at the vista point helps to identify the most characteristic places of the city. The park contains the unique view of the city of Burgos from the viewpoint of the Castle. During special events throughout the year, visitors can see fireworks displays from that same view point. The park can be reached by car where there is parking, and on foot by climbing a series of stairs starting from the church of San Esteban.

 Fuentes Blancas is Burgos' most visited large park extending east from the city along the river Arlanzón. It contains a network of walking and biking paths and includes camping and various outdoor recreational activities.
 El Paseo del Espolón is the tree-lined promenade that is the most emblematic of Burgos. It's situated along the banks of the river Arlanzón, and consists of a landscaped walk that goes from the theater square to the Arc de Santa Maria, passing shops and cafes.

 El Paseo de la Isla is another one of Burgos' tree-lined garden walks. It passes by the Palacio de la Isla which served as one of Franco's headquarters during the Spanish Civil War and is currently the Language Institute of Castilian and Leonese.
 Parque de El Parral is located at the old "Hospital del Rey", a former hospital for pilgrims of the "Way of Saint James", now part of the University of Burgos campus.
 El paseo de la Quinta is located on the south bank of the Arlanzón River, on the old and new path of the Cartuja de Miraflores. In the natural area of Las Veguillas, the Municipal Nurseries and the Fuentes Blancas Park, a wooded area near the city and close to the extensive pine forests of La Cartuja. It gets its name from old property of Burgos prelates, known as Quinta del Arzobispo.

Economy

Burgos is one of Spain's richest cities, with a GDP above the Spain average. It is an important trade and tourist center with a sizeable manufacturing base.

Agriculture
Wheat is a major crop. The city is surrounded by wheat fields.

Secondary sector
Burgos is a very industrial city, with a secondary sector widely developed. The city has the biggest industrial park of north Spain, called Villalonquéjar.

The city is the headquarters of Grupo Antolin, designer and manufacturer of interior automotive components.

It is also the headquarters for south Europe Benteler International.

Tertiary sector
It employs the bigger percentage in the city and is represented by the public sector (production, delivery and allocation of goods and services), due to the capital status.

Culture
The city has a complete culture infrastructure, remarked by the Auditorio y Palacio de Congresos de Burgos, which opened in mid-2012.

Language
Spanish, also called Castilian, originated in Castile and spread throughout the Crown of Castile's possessions following the reconquista. It was eventually dispersed throughout the Spanish empire following the conquest and colonization of the Americas, and Spain after the union of the Catholic Monarchs's kingdoms being co-spoken with other languages. Of the many different variations and dialects found throughout the world, it's argued that the purest Spanish can be found in the region of Burgos due to the fact that the language first developed here in the 10th century.

The Spanish language can be traced back to the monastery of Valpuesta located  north-east of the city of Burgos. The Valpuesta cartularies are significant in the history of the Spanish language, and their status as manuscripts containing the earliest words written in Spanish has been officially recognised.
The first utterings of Spanish continued in the "Silos Glosses", recorded in the Burgos monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos.

Cuisine

Burgos province is famous in gastronomy for:

Queso de Burgos, a white cheese which is soft and unctuous (because it is made with whey). Although originally made with sheep's milk, now cow's milk or mixtures are more common. Each comarca (rural district) produces a minor variation, and the major dairies produce an industrial product that is acceptable for people with sensitive digestion.

Burgos is blessed with a moderate climate and this fresh cheese was able to be conserved there without the need for curing of more than 10 days. With the improvement of aseptic industrial production processes this can be extended to about 30 days at a cool 6 °C. Its production reaches 35,000 tons annually.

Morcilla de Burgos, a pig's-blood sausage (black pudding), is a staple country food known across the Iberian peninsula. Spiced with onions and herbs its most noticeable content is rice (often mistaken for fat) which makes it one of the lightest and healthiest products of its kind. Oral tradition says that it must be "salty, smooth and piquant" (see Spanish pages  for details). As with the Queso de Burgos, several comarcas or towns in the province (Cardeñadijo, Sotopalacios, Aranda de Duero, Briviesca, Covarrubias, Villarcayo, Trespaderne, Miranda de Ebro...) made their own morcillas, with minor variations between them.

Even though Burgos is not on a D.O. wine is a fundamental piece in local gastronomy thanks to nearby wine cellars from Ribera de Duero, Rioja and Arlanza D.O.

Festivals
The city's main festival is San Pedro y San Pablo (also referred to locally as "Sampedros") celebrated on June 29th. Every year, for about two weeks, the city celebrates with fireworks, concerts, sports, folklore, games for children, theater and other activities.

Transportation

Burgos Airport
Burgos Airport is located only  from the city centre, with daily flights to Barcelona International Airport, and during spring and summer to Palma de Mallorca and Paris Orly.

Railway

The city is considered a first-class rail route through which one rail lines circulate, operated by Renfe: Madrid–Hendaye railway. The faster trains use the AVE line between Madrid and Valladolid.

2010 marked 150 years since the arrival of the first railway to the city; the first train was present on 25 October 1860. Madrid was joined with the French border and this was considered the main route of railway communication between Spain and Europe. Located at the halfway point, Burgos soon become an important hub of communications between the centre and the north.

Since December 2007, the city has been connected to the main provincial capitals by high-speed service Alvia. It also provides other services, middle and long distance, which connect with the main population centres of the country. 18 long distance trains and 12 middle distance trains circulate through the station each day, which results in around 330,000 yearly users.

The new railway station was opened on 12 December 2008 under the name Burgos-Rosa de Lima, belonging to ADIF. It is located in the neighbourhood of Villímar, northeast of the city, and was adapted for the arrival of AVE. Bus 25 takes travellers direct to the city centre.

In July 2022, AVE high speed trains started serving the city, connecting it to cities such as Madrid in 1 hour and 33 minutes with a stop in Valladolid, or Bilbao in 70 minutes. Starting in January 2023, AVE will connect Burgos to Valencia in 3 hours and 30 minutes without the need to transfer in Madrid.

Trams
A project to implement a tram for the city has been planned, which would run the length of the Boulevard, officially called the Avenida de Valencia. It would consist of a line of about  long and will originate from the Burgos-Rosa de Lima railway station and end at the University of Burgos. Its cost is estimated between 80 and 120 million euros.

Due to the economic crisis and real estate, the project has been postponed temporarily until further funding becomes available. In February 2010 work began on the development of the Boulevard, which reserves a lane for public transport: first buses, and eventually the tram.

Bus
Burgos has an international bus station located in the city centre, just one hundred meters from the Cathedral. It connects the city with nearly every region of Spain, as well as with a wide number of European (Amsterdam, Basel, Bern, Bratislava, Brussels, Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Geneva, Gdańsk, Kyiv, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Lviv, Łódź, London, Lyon, Marseille, Moscow, Munich, Nice, Paris, Porto, Prague, Rotterdam, Sofia, The Hague, Warsaw, Zürich) and even North African (Casablanca, Marrakech, Rabat) cities.

Bicycle
The city has its own public bicycle rental system, called Bicibur. It has been designed by a local company and has more than 20 points of distribution throughout the city. A network of over  of bicycle lanes net the city making it the 6th largest bicycle lane network in Spain and the first in kilometres per resident.

Twin towns – sister cities

Burgos is twinned with:
 Loudun, France
 Pessac, France

In media
Segundo de Chomón filmed a short documentary about Burgos in 1911.

Scenes from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly were filmed near Burgos, which doubled for the Southwestern United States. The location called Sad Hill Cemetery (specifically in Santo Domingo de Silos), was where the last sequence of the film was shot.

Burgos is the setting for a scene in the 2010 film The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father Martin Sheen.

Sports

The Burgos CF is the main football team. Founded in 1994, its home turf is El Plantío. It got to play the 2001–02 Segunda División. The city's main basketball team, CB Miraflores, plays in the ACB (the top basketball league in Spain) since 2017.

See also
Burgos Airport
University of Burgos
List of municipalities in Burgos
Province of Burgos

References

Bibliography

External links

Map of Burgos
Spanish Tourism: Burgos
Camino de Santiago
Burgos Chamber of Commerce
University of Burgos
International University of Isabel I de Castilla
Burgos news
Fadrique de Basilea Book Museum
Photos of Burgos

World Heritage Sites in Spain


I must admit, I was at the bookstore to buy another in a series of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, when I noticed your book Start Late, Finish Rich on the shelf. I had never heard of your series, but being 45 yrs old and afraid I am starting late, I bought your book.
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After rendering a large batch of lard, I decided to go ahead and make some cracklings. Here's the process and time line. Keep in mind, I did a large batch, which takes longer. Plus, I used quite a low heat so I didn't have to watch them as carefully. (Read – I have 4 young children and lots of distractions in the house!) The process can be done quicker with less volume and higher heat with more attention.
To start out, place all of the bits of meat back into the pan. Continue to heat them as when you are rendering lard. As you heat them, you will get more lard to separate out.
Once you have enough lard to be strained out (see rendering lard for straining tips), go ahead and strain your meat. This lard will be a little darker than the lard that is rendered when you are first rendering lard, and it will also have a bit of a meat flavor to it. This lard would be good to use in gravies, for frying, sauteing, or anything you would like to add a little flavor to.
Once you have separated out the lard, you have two options. One is to stop here and package your bits of meat to use in sauces, casseroles, or other recipes. The other is to return your bits of meat to the pan and continue to heat to make cracklings. You may or may not need to strain lard again, depending on how much you removed previously. If you do have some more separate out, however, go ahead and strain it again.
As you are continuing to cook down your cracklings, you will want to use a metal utensil that can really scrape the bottom of the pan. This will prevent any cracklings from sticking and burning.
You will also want to adjust your heat as needed. Your cracklings should be browning up but not burning.
Once your cracklings have darkened, and reached a crunchy-ish consistentcy, they are done cooking!
Mound up your cracklings on one side of the pan, and slightly tip your pan to allow any last fat to drain out.
Then, carefully scoop up your cracklings and spread onto a paper towel covered layer of newspapers and gently dab them with another paper towel.
That is it! You can now package up your cracklings to be used in various recipes. (I freeze about 1 cups worth in sandwich baggies, placed inside a freezer zip lock.) I like to add them to corn bread, scrambled eggs, soups, and sprinkle on top of salads. And if you want, you can also salt them to taste for homemade bacon bits. Mmmmm!


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New iPhone 5s OtterBox cases built to accommodate Touch ID
Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016
It looks like folks hoping to find a case that offers full device protection for their iPhone 5s may not have to wait very long to get one. Popular case-maker OtterBox announced this week that it has 4 cases ready to go for the handset.
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From OtterBox's press release:
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Tags Accessories Case iPhone iPhone 5s OtterBox

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home » Offices » Physical Plant
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Tom Bauer
Public Safety Director
tbauer@westmont.edu
Public Safety Services
The Public Safety Department employs one full-time Director, four full-time 12 month staff, 2 full-time nine month staff, and shared clerical support staff. The Public Safety Department assists in preserving a safe environment, and protects faculty, staff, students, and property from crime and safety hazards. Specific services include but are not limited to 24 hour a day 7 days a week security patrols, the locking and unlocking of buildings, parking regulations enforcement, campus escorts, and dissemination of safety-related information.
The Public Safety Department reports to the Physical Plant Director, who reports to the Vice President for Administration. The Ocean View apartments are serviced by a contracted private security guard company which provides periodic patrols between the hours of 8pm-4am 7 days a week. The arrest authority of the Public Safety officers is the same as private citizens as specified in the California State Penal Code. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department has the jurisdiction over criminal matters on the Campus. At the Ocean View apartments located in the City of Santa Barbara, the Police department of Santa Barbara has jurisdiction over criminal matters. All officers receive training through the California College and University Police Chiefs Association.
All campus buildings are key locked with a removable core system designed to insure the prompt re-keying of locks when keys have been lost. Burglary alarms are located in special areas to protect property. All of the residence halls and major buildings have fire alarm systems in place that are monitored by in house staff and an alarm monitoring company. Many buildings are also protected by fire sprinkler systems. Westmont is committed to a retro-fit program that is installing fire sprinklers in all the residence halls and major buildings. All of the residence halls are locked daily between midnight and 6am.
In the event of an emergency, all faculty, staff, students, and visitors should call 911, and then call the Public Safety Department. The Public Safety Department can be reached from any campus phone by dialing ex. 6222 or (805) 565-6222 from an off campus phone.
The Public Safety Department is located in the office area of the Physical Plant Department building. Westmont posts warnings of crimes committed that may impact the safety of staff and students. These postings may take the form of all campus voice mails and or flyers on the bulletin boards through out the campus. These warnings are for the purpose of raising the awareness of staff and students of their surroundings and personal safety.
Cooperation with Local Law Enforcement
Westmont enjoys an open and positive relationship with local law enforcement officials and shares information about criminal activity when it involves the College. We collect statistics of reportable crimes, as required and defined in the Clery Act from the local law enforcement agencies. Westmont encourages victims of crime to report incidents to Campus Public Safety regardless of how insignificant the crime may appear. To report a crime, a victim or witness need only call extension 6222 or 565-6222. (In all emergencies, always call 911 first.) A Public Safety officer will take the information. The officer will make an official report and send a copy to the victim upon request. College administrators are notified about any reports of crime on campus. Westmont Public Safety officers will also assist victims who want to report crimes to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.
Vehicle Regulations
Chemical Hygiene Plan
Injury and Illness Prevention Program
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text:
using System;
using XOutput.Common.Devices;
using XOutput.Common.Input;

namespace XOutput.Mapping.Input
{
    public class InputDeviceSourceWithValue
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public SourceTypes Type { get; set; }
        public double Value { get; set; }

        public static InputDeviceSourceWithValue Create(InputDeviceSource source) {
            SourceTypes type = (SourceTypes) Enum.Parse(typeof(SourceTypes), source.Type);
            return new InputDeviceSourceWithValue {
                Id = source.Id,
                Name = source.Name,
                Type = type,
                Value = 0,
            };
        }
    }
}


text:
Twitter hires Apple's Director of Worldwide Inclusion & Diversity, Jeffrey Siminoff
Christian Zibreg on December 29, 2015
Twitter has hired Jeffrey Siminoff away from Apple, TechCrunch discovered on Tuesday. Twitter's human resources chief Brian Schipper has since confirmed the hire on Twitter, saying that Siminoff will serve as the micro-blogging startup's new Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, replacing its departing director Janet Van Buysse who spent six years at the company.
According to Siminoff's LinkedIn profile, he had led global diversity and inclusion efforts at Morgan Stanley for three years before joining Apple as its director of worldwide inclusion and diversity from September 2013 up until now.
Between 1992 and 1999 he served as a Senior Litigation Associate with litigation and advisory firm Riker Danzig Scherer Hyland & Perretti LLP.
Ok @jack, @jmsSanFran, a white man is VP of your Diversity & Inclusion Dept annnnnnnnnnd you dont see tht as part of the problem?
"We all do better not in spite of our differences, but because of them," Siminoff said in October of last year sharing additional thoughts on his initiatives at the iPhone maker, such as Women@Apple-Tech which strives to make a difference for women in tech:
Everyone has a role in making diversity matter. At Apple we know that inclusion inspires innovation, and all of us—both men and women—can and should find ways to inspire women and girls to pursue and stick with studies and careers in technology.
The innovation that their perspectives bring make us stronger and our products better. I'm proud to be one of many leaders at Apple who are actively working to make a difference for women in tech or who are just beginning to think about their career goals.
Siminoff is also one of the founding leaders of Out Leadership, a global LGBT leadership organization, TechCrunch noted. He graduated from Duke University and won the Individual Equality@Work Award by the Empire State Pride Agenda which recognizes leadership achievement in workplace equality.
Apple's commitment to inclusion and diversity is well documented on its website.
Twitter's former VP of engineering Michael Abbott has been reportedly hired by Apple
Twitterrific 6 brings full timeline images, Giphy integration, new customization goodies & more
Cook says Buffet's sizable holding in Apple means it isn't really a normal tech company


Great ideas for what to do with the kids whatever the weather.
The activity centres and guides listed below are accredited through the Adventure Activities Licensing Authority (AALA). You should be able to find details of their accreditation on the AALA website www.aals.org.uk.
Accreditation through AALA is only required for centres and guides doing adventurous activities with young people in a commercial setting. This means that many well qualified and experienced guides are not part of this scheme especially if they concentrate on working with adults.
Many guides work on a freelance basis and can be contacted through the Association of Mountaineering Instructors or the Association of Caving Instructors.
Many AMI mountaineering instructors work on a freelance/self-employed basis and are available for hire by the day or for longer periods. Although based in a particular geographical area, instructors are normally able to work in locations all over the UK to meet client needs.
In addition to mountaineering instruction, members may offer other services such as gorge scrambling, sea level traversing and general adventurous activities. Many are also qualified in other activities such as sailing, canoeing, caving and orienteering, to name but a few. These activities can be tailored to groups of different sizes, backgrounds, ages and abilities. You can obtain more information by contacting AMI members directly.
Some instructors are available for 'hire' on a freelance or self-employed basis, and offer a wide range of caving activities. This can vary from single day introductory educational and adventure trips in a cave or abandoned mine suitable for beginners (for example, schools, families, scouts, corporate teams), through to one-to-one guiding over several days or a programme of technical instruction in personal skills, rigging and rescue delivered over a period of months. Whatever your interests or ability, ACI members will be able to tailor their instruction to meet your needs.
Although often specialising in particular caving areas, most will work throughout the UK and abroad. Many are also qualified in other activities and are able to provide instruction in rock climbing, gorge scrambling, mountaineering, canoeing, orienteering and so on.
Visit the Association of Caving Instructors website.


So, I was offered a growth marketing position in Weekdone about a month ago. Before joining I had zero previous contact with OKR methodology. I really took a nosedive into the theory and tried to understand how to implement it into my professional life. It all sounded fairly easy at first: set goals, explain them, write out some metrics about them, and top it off with a reasonable game plan. Off I went, thinking I've done this a million times (through classical to-do list logic of course), but I soon learned that it was not as easy as I first thought. I ended up learning a lot throughout my journey, and I wanted to share my OKR failures & biggest takeaways with you.
Before I started at Weekdone, I worked as a digital strategist for one of Estonia's biggest digital marketing agencies. Which meant a lot of client contacts and constant juggling between assignments (and I mean a lot). At some point, I completely lost sight of what really mattered for myself and the contribution that I bring to the companies objectives. My goal setting and long-term plans got replaced with daily to-do lists that would dominate my everyday life, which led to some bad habits. So, after diving head first into the methodology and trial & error, I came up with a load of Objectives & Key Results – because the more the merrier right? In a sense, I was on the right track but did the exact opposite of what I was supposed to.
Set up a company-wide UTM-sheet.
Set up Tag Manager & micro-conversions for the blog to analyze qualitative data.
Build custom segments & remarketing audiences.
Set up cross domain tracking with our minisites.
Build out marketing funnels for detailed reporting.
Set up google data studio reports for blog & main site data to give traffic a monetary value.
Set-up actionable KPI's & draw out a full marketing funnel.
Link & integrate ads, search console, and other sources.
Audit backlinks & set up an actionable roadmap to improve off-site SEO.
Do heuristic analysis on the website to better CRO.
Research B2B software (like fastbase) to increase first contact impact.
Conduct keyword research & create a content marketing prioritization worksheet.
Propose an affiliate program offer to generate more paying customers.
While I thought I had come up with some excellent OKRs, my false sense of pride was completely demolished by Weekdone's OKR professionals, in a good way of course. It got me thinking about the importance of metrics & quantifiable statistics that could be used afterward. So I dove deeper and tried to figure out how could I harness the best use cases to my advantage.
After a couple of days, I was still smashing my head against the wall trying to figure out the metrics. I was so sure that the methodology couldn't be used in my case because I was just starting at the company and my work was more research-oriented, so it was impossible to measure the Key Results with single metrics. As it turned out, I couldn't have been more wrong. After another round of feedback, it became clear that I had made an excellent to-do list again. The whole concept was to avoid it, but there's no way of beating habits without some good old failure. Only after the second batch of feedback did I understand the principle of how to implement OKRs the way they should be done.
The key was to cheat. Literally. I even copied one Key Result word-for-word from the Marketing section of the OKR examples site. On the other hand, the other things on my former to-do list ended up in my weekly planning section. While Key Results have to be measurable, Weekly Plans are more like to-do lists. Finally, a place where I felt like a PRO at.
While the first set of Key Results were quite vague and all over the place, the ones that I have now left room to breathe for the goals. Some of them kind of feel like mini tasks that could be handled in a day or two. But, in order to tackle them, I need thorough research and understanding of what our team is doing & where our priorities are.
c. That they made sense, workwise.
I held my breath for a couple of seconds, and I published them. And… nothing happened. I got some feedback from my team & a couple of people actually aligned some things within the team and that was that. I had successfully managed to slip through the cracks and plan out my entire quarters' work. Suddenly I was much more interested in what other people were doing and what their goals were. Cultural transparency helped me get acquainted faster within the company and I had the whole picture of what the company was trying to do this quarter. Which felt kind of awesome, because, usually, it takes a few hours of Powerpoint slides to get to the point.
In the end, it all made sense. It really did. I did not end up with a random to-do list to forget again. It turned into something useful that connected through my team to the company's long term goals. It helped me see a clear hierarchy of how my work is correlated to everybody else. I still have a lot to learn in terms of setting OKRs & the methodology, but still. Who doesn't like to showboat? So, I made a list of the TOP 4 things that I learned from the experience.
Start with a list of everything and map out what needs to be done.
Don't be afraid to ask for feedback – it's a team sport, so treat it as such. Don't overthink it – The big things are what matters. You'll have time later, to figure out the nitty-gritty.
Prioritize. Otherwise, you'll end up running in the wrong direction.
Thinking back, the process actually felt quite weird. The more detailed my plans used to be, the less important stuff I got done. Now, I still do daily to-do lists, but the only difference is that now, I understand exactly what role I play on the company, team, and personal level. And more importantly, what's my personal contribution to the vision of the company. Actually, it feels great to know that the hard work you're putting in is harvesting real & measurable results.
Remember to follow us on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook for all about weekdone, company management, company OKRs and more!


text:
MFST and ATVI Sitting in a Tree
… M E R G I N G.
Sorta. More like Activision Blizzard being bought by Microsoft for about $70 billion. You already knew that though, because your news feed was probably about as filled as mine was yesterday. And now I'm adding this one to the pile. At least I went with a different title, eh?
There are really just two thoughts I wanted to examine, and leave everyone else with the more mundane (IMO) details.
First, this does interesting things for Game Pass. From the Microsoft article:
Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard's incredible catalog. We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.
Will we really see the next Call of Duty come out as a Day 1 Game Pass release? The franchise has been a cash cow forever, and almost never sees a discount of any appreciable amount. It's a given that Overwatch will be on there. Probably Diablo 2 Resurrected, along with all the StarCrafts.
But… what about WoW?
My guess is that WoW will remain off of the Game Pass, assuming the merger occurs. It's cute to imagine the possibilities of a Game Pass subscription taking the place of a WoW subscription, but The Elder Scrolls Online is not currently on the PC version of the Game Pass, and maintains its separate subscription option even for consoles (according to this). Then you would have issues with what happens with WoW Tokens and game time. EA Play is currently included as a free bonus in Game Pass, but that is more of a general subscription service and not something for a specific game.
The second thought came from Tobold's take on the news:
My take on it: They overpaid. Whatever made Blizzard great back then is gone, and they pay big money for a rather empty shell.
As pointed out by others, Blizzard is really the third wheel to the cash motorcycle that is Activision and King. Blizzard ain't nothing, but they clearly weren't the draw here.
It does raise an interesting point about studios and rockstar talent though. Is the current state of Blizzard, and WoW specifically, due to the immense brain drain of talent over the past few years? Greg Street in 2013, Chris Metzen in 2016, Mike Morhaime in 2019, Michael Chu in 2020, Jeff Kaplan in 2021, and Alex Afrasiabi. The last one was a bit of a joke… but do we actually know what he contributed (beyond sexual harassment)? We would hope nothing, but there are certainly plenty of examples of famous artists with fantastic output that we then pretend is meaningless after finding out how awful they are IRL. Mel Gibson, Keven Spacey, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Louis CK, and so on.
Don't be too smug – Joss Whedon is next, by the way.
Comment bait aside, it's an open question as to whether WoW can, literally, ever be as good as it was (to us) again. Was it only ever good because of these specific frat boys in this specific Cosby room? Shadowlands represent a new low from a narrative standpoint, and Blizzard's "reinvent the wheel every patch" systems floundering looks especially amateurish as the flagship burns. Many games are a product of their time, groundbreaking because they broke ground first. So there's a time, a place, and then there's specific people too. Can it actually ever be recreated with competent, nameless devs?
I suppose the existence of WoW Classic is a testament to the bones remaining solid, for at least X amount of people. And the present state of FF14 proves that MMOs can still thrive and grow its playerbase years later. But can the latter's success be attributed to the committee of devs that surely exists, or to specific rockstars like Yoshi-P, aka Naoki Yoshida? Would a hypothetical acquisition of FF14 be moot if it did not include him?
I don't know. A lot of this may be Survivorship Bias – these individual devs are famous because their games were successful and they made themselves the face of it. Who is the face of Hades? Or Doom? Or GTA5? But perhaps in the final tally, having the right person in the right place at the right time does make all the difference.
And then you get bought by Microsoft for $70 billion.
Posted in Commentary
Tags: Activision Blizzard, Buyout, Developers, Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass
Microsoft Buys Bethesda, the World
File this under Holy Shit, Batman:
Today is a special day, as we welcome some of the most accomplished studios in the games industry to Xbox. We are thrilled to announce Microsoft has entered into an agreement to acquire ZeniMax Media, parent company of Bethesda Softworks.
As one of the largest, most critically acclaimed, privately held game developers and publishers in the world, Bethesda is an incredibly talented group of 2,300 people worldwide who make up some of the most accomplished creative studios in our industry across Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, and Roundhouse Studios. These are the teams responsible for franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Dishonored, Prey, Quake, Starfield and many more.
https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/09/21/welcoming-bethesda-to-the-xbox-family/?ocid=Parterships_soc_omc_xbo_fb_Video_buy_9.21.1
As it says, Microsoft is buying ZeniMax and all its subsidiaries, of which Bethesda is a part. Among other things, this means that Starfield, Elder Scrolls 6, Fallout 5, etc, will be coming to Game Pass on Day 1. That link also indicates the deal was for $7.5 billion. Which is like… 3.5 Minecrafts.
Another amusing detail is that Bethesda and Obsidian are going to be under the same roof again. Perhaps there could be another New Vegas-esque collaboration? Obsidian are good storytellers when they don't have to build worlds from scratch. When they do, we get garbage like Outer Worlds.
What else could this mean? Well… since Microsoft is going all-in with the Game Pass, there's a remote chance that Bethesda-specific subscriptions get rolled into Game Pass itself. For example, Fallout 76 has the Fallout 1st subscription and then there's Elder Scrolls Online's sub. Like I mentioned yesterday, Game Pass doesn't include everything, like DLCs and such. That said, EA Play's subscription is getting rolled into Game Pass for no extra charge. So who knows?
Overall, I am extremely excited. I feel the same way currently as I did way back in the day, when the first few Steam sales started. I hated that Valve was forcing me to download Steam just to play Half-Life 2 and otherwise jump through a lot of hoops. Then once the sales started, it all clicked that this was the future. Well, the future is happening again. And now instead a future heralding the sale of horse armor, we get a timeline where you can play AAA games on Day 1 for $4.99 $9.99/month.
Tags: Bethesda, Consumer Surplus, Microsoft, Xbox Game Pass, ZeniMax
I Bought the Thing
An hour or so after yesterday's post, I went ahead and bought State of Decay 2. Life is short, I have the money, let's do the thing.
Just as a warning though, Microsoft doesn't make it easy.
State of Decay 2 is not on Steam. Further, there is no express PC copy. The game is apparently part of Microsoft's "Play Anywhere" initiative, which means you end up having to buy the Xbox One copy, which can also be played on Windows 10 machines. I purchased on Amazon because of my 5% cash back card, but I suppose you could do so from the Microsoft store a bit more directly.
The problems were just beginning though. One of the first things I had to do was associate my PC with a Microsoft account. My copy of Windows 10 is legit, but I never bothered to register it or anything, so now apparently I had to reconfigure how I sign into my own damn computer just to get access to the storefront. Once that was done, I took my digital code, followed the links, and redeemed the code in the Microsoft store. But… where was my download button? Where was My Games? Every link I followed just took me around in circles.
In case you follow my lead, hopefully this link works:
https://microsoft.com/en-us/p/state-of-decay-2/9nt4x7p8b9nb
That will hopefully take you directly to the game's page. Be aware that you'll probably still need to add your PC as a Device on Microsoft's servers or whatever, but you should be able to eventually download it from there.
I cannot comment much on the gameplay thus far, beyond confirming that it's definitely scratching the itch. I'm not a fan of the game giving me a mission to kill a Plague Heart, pointing me to an NPC that gives me explosives for free, and then surprising me with the fact that the very items it told me to use were not enough to actually kill said Plague Heart, but whatever. I'm looting things, building a base, and killing some zombies. That's exactly what I wanted to do in this moment.
Posted in Miscellany
Tags: Installation Fail, Microsoft, Seriously? Like really?, State of Decay 2, Survival, Zombie Apocalypse
Games as Services
If you have forgotten, Scrolls is that one card game from Mojang that no one ever played. And after July 2016, no one else ever will.
I actually had a Beta review up of Scrolls nearly two years ago, and that more or less marked the last time I spent any serious amount of time with it. I did pick it up again for a hot minute last year (I think), but the structural problems I already talked about were still present, so I stopped again. Probably because of Hearthstone. But, the CCG genre is not a genre one can go in half-assed anyway- it is strictly full-ass or bust.
While Scrolls getting an expiration date is not even remotely similar of an impact as an MMO shutting down, it is example #1765783 of the dangers of Games as Services. This is a game that I paid $20 for (two years ago, admittedly) that I will not be allowed to play in another year. Do you know what I played last month? Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines, an RPG that came out in 2004. And while it certainly costs money to keep an MMO server running each month, Scrolls had a perfectly fine single-player experience against the AI. Hell, I'm not even sure what the cost of running Scrolls matchmaking software would even be. Surely not that much?
Alas, it is not meant to be. While we can question whether it was Microsoft swinging the ax or normal market forces, the fact remains that the ax was always there. A veritable Sword of Damocles hanging over every game-turned-service, not threatening mere removal, but extinction. Will there even be a museum where these games could be played in the future? Or will these orphaned blog posts be all that exists, a Google search result that becomes less relevant with each passing year?
Nothing is permanent. But clearly some things are more impermanent than others.
Tags: Games As Services, Impermanent, Microsoft, Mojang, Scrolls, Sword of Damocles
Crushing Success
The final tally for Microsoft's purchase of Minecraft is $2.5 billion. Markus Persson's (aka Notch) personal take is reported to be $1.8 billion.
What is almost more interesting though is his thought process behind selling at all:
[…] I've become a symbol. I don't want to be a symbol, responsible for something huge that I don't understand, that I don't want to work on, that keeps coming back to me. I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a CEO. I'm a nerdy computer programmer who likes to have opinions on Twitter.
As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately.
It is almost funny, in a way. Can you separate the making of games from the business of making games? One can imagine some hobbyist painter who inadvertently crafts a masterpiece… that simply stays in the attic for decades. Or a writer who simply creates a book for themselves. The process is what they desired, not the outcome.
But games? Like information, games yearn to be free. A game without players is incomplete. So while I can understand the sentiment behind Notch's desire, it seems somewhat futile. Being a game designer does not make one a good entrepreneur, true, but once released a game takes on a life of its own.
I will admit that my first reaction was to be a little petulant over Notch's payout, because $1.8 billion. But looking at Minecraft itself and how it got there… who can really complain? This isn't a game that preys on the weaknesses of the human psyche with microtransactions and cash shops (in the base game). This isn't a game built around its business model. This is Old School purity in which a game relied on its own merits to sell more units. Sure, there is merch and movie deals these days but the core of the game remains the same.
So… good on you, Notch. This sale puts you around #1013 on Forbes' billionaire list. Or to put it another way, Minecraft single-handedly made you equivalent to 2-3 JK Rowlings. Or about a Gabe Newell and a half.
Crazy world.
Posted in Commentary, Philosophy
Tags: Crushing Success, Microsoft, Minecraft, Notch, Purity
Microsoft Likely Buying Minecraft for $2 Billion
That is $2,000,000,000.00 USD, for the record.
"The two companies quickly agreed on a framework and approximate price and have been working out the details since", the Bloomberg report states. "Persson will help out with the transition, though he is unlikely to remain beyond that".
The Kotaku article comments spend a lot of time questioning the wisdom of the move on Microsoft's behalf, and I am inclined to agree. Hasn't Minecraft reached the saturation point yet? Well, at $100 million in profit last year, maybe not. Still, it was originally hard for me to see the endgame here for Microsoft. In-game DLC? Pixelated horse armor? Banner ads on the title screen?
It is apparently much simpler than that: Microsoft is buying customers.
But Mr. Nadella has said that Microsoft views videogames as a way to expand the company's footholds in PCs and mobile phones. In a letter to employees in July, Mr. Nadella called gaming the "single biggest digital life category, measured in both time and money spent, in a mobile-first world."
[…] "Minecraft" could also help Microsoft appeal to a new generation of customers, especially on smartphones where Microsoft has struggled with both its homegrown Windows Phone devices and with apps on rival phone systems.
While there are other articles out there stating that Notch would never sell, the information we seem to have now is that, despite Notch having turned down similar offers in the past, it appears he is willing to sell this time around. Good for him. If you are wondering at what price point I would sell out to The Man, $2 billion is plenty. Hell, I'd settle for $2 million.
Especially if it meant I could just go do something else immediately. Or stop before I turned into another M. Night Shamamalamalan.
Tags: Buyout, Microsoft, Minecraft, Notch, Xbox
Xbox One Eighty
I take no credit for either the title nor the picture:
Sort of like SimCity's "cloud computing."
If you had not already felt the Earth's sudden wobble from the magnitude of Microsoft's about-face, allow me the pleasure of informing you: the Xbox One no longer has its ridiculous DRM. Namely:
No internet connection is required to play games.
No 24-hour online check-in.
You can buy/sell/gift/rent/lend game discs just like on the 360.
You can purchase digital versions of games on Day 1 and play offline (once downloaded).
One of the "casualties" of this Lance Armstrong-level backpedaling is that you can't have that whole "10-person family sharing" plan or the ability to "take your games anywhere by logging in." Often lost amongst the Apologist tears though was the simple fact that logging on from a friend's Xbox One basically meant you would have had to wait for a 10+ GB download before playing anyway. And what were the odds that more than one member of the family could play the same game at the same time? In other words, you are not any worse off than the present system of just taking the disc with you.
Plus, you know, used games.
On a semi-related bit of interesting news, apparently Valve snuck some interesting code into the Steam software: shared libraries, e.g. lending digital games. Obviously nothing is formally implemented yet, but the premise seems to be that once you lend a game to a friend, they can play it until you log on to play it yourself (which then bumps them off). Which is… pretty remarkably clever if you think about it. Valve could just as easily went the other way, where you couldn't play until your friend "gave it back," which would probably discourage people from using the feature at all. Assuming there is no transaction fee or anything, I would feel comfortable giving one or two of my Steam buddies access to everything.
Regardless of which way the shared library plays out – if it plays out at all – today was a huge win for consumers everywhere. I am not quite ready to declare victory yet, but the future sure is looking considerably brighter than it was, oh, two weeks ago, eh?
Tags: About-Face, Consumers, Digital Gaming, Microsoft, Rights, Steam, Used Games, Valve, Xbox One
Beach and the PS4
So, I have been and will continue to be on vacation at the beach with family until the end of the week. The internet service down here is absolutely abysmal – we're talking 5 Mbps shared across 40 rooms – which is why I have not been on top of the comments and general news. I suppose that might sound bad, caring about frivolous internet things while at the beach. But honestly, if I knew it was going to be vacation back to 1994, I might have passed. Also, the ocean seems saltier this year and there was a fly in my soup.
That said, how 'bout that PS4 news?
If you have not been keeping abreast of the latest developments, Sony basically "won" the show. You can read Liore's coverage of the event or even similar things in this CNN article. Bottom line?
No new restrictions on used game sales.
No internet connection required.
$399 vs Xbox One's $499
It wasn't all good news – a Playstation Plus membership is required for all multiplayer, just like Xbox Live today – but it was a fantastic PR coup for Sony to have been quiet all this time before launching into these consumer-friendly revelations.
A couple Apologists skeptics from around the web have tried to paint Sony with the Xbox One brush over the used games quote though:
"The DRM decision is going to have to be in the hands of the third parties. That's not something that we're going to dictate or mandate or control or implement."
"Aha!" the Apologists cried. "Same thing as Xbox!"
Not really. In fact, not at all. The key point here is that Sony's strategy is unchanged from the current generation. Remember Online Passes? Those were 3rd party attempts at mitigating secondary game sales, all of which happened in this generation. If EA suddenly changes their mind vis-a-vis reintroducing Online Passes, Sony isn't going to stop them, but at least it isn't turned on by default as it is in the Xbox One scenario. As Destructoid put it:
The major difference between PS4 and Xbox One, of course, is that Sony hasn't made it easier for corporations to control the behavior of their customers, because the PS4 doesn't tie your copies to your accounts, or initiate checks to scrub traded game data off your system. Basically, Microsoft designed the Xbox One to make it as easy as flipping a switch to eradicate any possibility of sharing your games, while Sony is maintaining its policy of this current generation.
Or you can go with the Game Front article for even further clarification:
"The Online Pass program for PlayStation first-party games will not continue on PlayStation 4. Similar to PS3, we will not dictate the online used game strategy (the ability to play used games online) of its publishing partners. As announced last night, PS4 will not have any gating restrictions for used disc-based games. When a gamer buys a PS4 disc they have right to use that copy of the game, so they can trade-in the game at retail, sell it to another person, lend it to a friend, or keep it forever."
This is good news for gamers, indeed. In a nutshell, you can buy a used single-player game for the PS4 and play it all you want. If you want to go online with it, you may have to deal with some sort of publisher-determined DRM, be it an Online Pass or whatever.
Basically: #PS4Life
Not that I'm going to buy one anytime soon – I just bought a PS3 last Christmas. But it's nice to know that whenever I do hop aboard the next console generation, I will have the opportunity to catch up on all the games I've missed by hitting up Amazon or some local place and not be paying full MSRP out the ass for 2+ year old games.
Tags: E3, Microsoft, PS3, PS4, Sony, Used Games, Xbox One


text:
Home»Fire»5/13 Fire Notes: Fire Hosting Beachfront Soccer League; Reserves
5/13 Fire Notes: Fire Hosting Beachfront Soccer League; Reserves
By Z P May 14, 2013 2 Mins Read
chicagofire
As part of our expanded Fire coverage, notes on the team that may not constitute an entire article will be provided in our "Fire Notes" posts, of which this is the first installment.
The Chicago Fire Soccer Club is hosting the Chicago Fire Rec Beachfront Soccer League for which limited spots remain. The games will half two twenty-five minutes halves, and the league will begin play on Friday, May 17. Featuring Men's, Coed, and Women's tournaments, the league fees are $99 per individual or $999 per team, and will be officiated by USSF and FIFA-certified referees. The league will last at least eight weeks before any team is eliminated and finishes its respective season.
The Fire Reserves will play the Houston Dynamo Reserves on Tuesday at the Houston Amateur Sports Park. Game time is 10:00 AM Central Time.
Saturday's game at the Philadelphia Union will be broadcast on My50 with a 6:30 PM CDT start time. The game will also be broadcast over the radio en espanol on 107.9 La Ley.
The Fire are set to open U.S. Open Cup Play on Tuesday, May 28. The Fire have typically been successful in the nationwide tournament, having won the title in their first season in 1998, as well as in 2000, 2003, and 2006. The team has also been runners up as recently as 2010, and also in 2004. Last season, however, the club faced an early exit, falling to the Michigan Bucks of the USL Premier Development League in added extra time of the match played indoors in Michigan. The Fire's first round (third round for the entire tournament) will be announced shortly.
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