Before now, the town of Ngwo, home of the late Chief C.C. Onoh, in Enugu State was a great land and shining city on the hills.
But over time, the Ngwo clan lost its glamour as occultists and evil men desecrated the land.
This made the people to become worried. They took a decision to seek the face of God.
Determined to get back their lost glory, they sent emissaries to far away Abia State, to get the Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka, to help cleanse their land and liberate them from evil deeds.
And as they gathered at Isiokpoto, their ancestral headquarters, for the four-day prayers and liberation session, indeed the man of God sent down the might of the Almighty from above that made the villagers to marvel.
The highpoint of the many miracles that happened during the period was the rescue of a 10-year-old plantain hawker abducted and used for sacrifice by unknown ritualists.
The little boy who was buried alive and covered with sand up to his neck was to be allowed to die slowly by the ritualists, but for Rev Chilaka who rescued him.
He was buried in a shrine located in a valley along the Milking Hill, Ngwo.
The boy whose identity is yet to be known as he is still unable to speak at the time of this report had stayed in the grave for three days before he was rescued after a revelation came to Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka, who was holding a three-day prayers and cleansing of the Ngwo community on the invitation of leaders of the community.
Praying on the first day of the adoration crusade, the priest, an eyewitness said, announced that a young boy was buried alive in the community and that if nothing was done fast he would be gone forever.
He prophesied that the boy was abducted from the Independence Layout part of Enugu while he was selling plantain chips.
He disclosed that 30 occult members from the Ngwo community were involved in the sacrifice, urging the people to join hands in prayers for God to reveal where the boy was buried.
On the second day of the crusade which was the fourth day of the boy in the grave, the priest led some able bodied men from the community on a rescue journey to Milking Hills.
Ozo Victor Ugwu, a native of Ngwo whose vehicle was used to convey the youths to the shrine told Oriental News that "the priest said that the boy, a hawker who sells plantain chips was abducted from Independence Layout and that he was abducted by some occult persons from Ngwo. He said that these people sacrifice human beings for their rituals; that they are about 30 in number and had tied the progress of the youths of the community.
According to Ugwu, there was excitement, shouts of joy and praises to God from all corners of the prayer ground when the boy was brought to the podium on the last day of the crusade.
He was carried shoulder high.
"Yes he is not able to talk for now, but we will take him along and do special prayers for him," Rev. Fr. Chilaka told an impressed and elated congregation.
A youth leader from the Ngwo community, Mr Chris Agu, who is also the national leader of Enugu Youth Movement disclosed that the ground where the prayers held is known as Isiokpoto, the headquarters of all Ngwo.
"This place is where Ngwo Ako, our great grandfather lived. This is the place where he was buried. He had 10 sons that made up Ngwo; and that's why we called on Rev. Fr. Modestus Chiedozie Chilaka to come to Ngwo headquarters and preach the gospel, rededicate Ngwo people to God. Christianity was brought to Ngwo land on January 17, 1917 by an Anglican priest, Rev. Isaac Uzowulu Ejindu, from Obosi and since then we have had series of crusade, but this is the first time in the history of Ngwo that crusade is being held here at Isiokpoto where our great grand parents lived.
"We are here because we want Ngwo to be restored. Remember that Ngwo land still remain the capital of Enugu State and was the capital of the old Eastern Province of Nigeria, East Central State and old Anambra State. The suffix, Ngwo, was removed in 1935; before then it was called Enugu-Ngwo as the capital of Eastern Region of Nigeria. In 1935, they removed Ngwo and it started answering Enugu. So that's why the entire youths of Ngwo land invited other youths from Enugu State and Igbo land to come for this total restoration and re-dedication of Ngwo people to God and to wipe away cultism and evil men who are growing at an alarming rate in the town; conducting rituals and other evil things. So, that's why we are here with our wives and children, our elders and traditional rulers for this wonderful prayer and today this place has been renamed as a holy ground and this reverend father will be coming here again in December. And any crusade that Ngwo people are going to hold henceforth will be done in this place, Isiokpoto, the headquarters of all Ngwo," he said.
Also an impressed traditional ruler, HRH Igwe Jerome. C Okolo, Ogwugwu Ebenebe 1 of Ameke Ngwo, narrated how five traditional rulers from the community came together and decided to bring the Catholic priest to come and pray for the Ngwo people and the land.
His words: "We had heard his story so we decided to know if he could salvage the land. It wasn't easy bringing our people together and raising the funds for this retreat which is holding here at our ancestral headquarters. This is the third day; he has been here for three days now doing God's work; even me as a traditional ruler I am like 'Thomas,' I don't easily believe tales, but I have seen and I have seen with my eyes. I have been here for the three days and I have seen miracles; things I have never seen since I was born.
"I was here and I saw a small boy who was buried alive as a sacrifice; the priest said there was such thing happening and they have buried a boy for rituals. He prophesied and said he will go there and rescue him. He went and they rescued the boy and brought him to this ground and everybody saw him. Also three blind people he prayed for them and they regained their sights and were able to see things and confirmed they were seeing. There is another of our kinsmen they wanted to kill, he named the three persons behind the plot. A woman whose car was stolen, he called her phone number and told her that the vehicle will be returned to her. He called the name of the mechanic behind the robbery and said that the vehicle will be demobilized until she gets there. So many things have happened here; I wouldn't have believed if I had not seen with my eyes.
"We have a lot of bad people involved in occultism and killing of our people for rituals and we have no doubt that the land has been cleansed and anyone who still wants to try God his blood will be on his head. I think this is a turning point for the Ngwo clan and we hope to start witnessing good things and development amongst our people.
For Ozo Donald Agu a.k.a Nnabuenyi, President, Ubelenze Ozo, Ngwo clan, the evil in the land was becoming unbearable and the leaders decided that enough was enough.
"So, we organized this prayer for our people because there are so many evil things happening in our land. Our children will go to school, no jobs, so we decided to rededicate the land to God and for our people to repent and love themselves.
"We have achieved so much through this prayer adoration. People whose progress is being hindered by others he called names and prayed for them. This is our ancestral land and we have agreed to use it as our holy land where we will be holding communal prayers for the good of this community. You saw the small boy they carried shoulder high, he prophesied that he was being used for rituals and if he wasn't rescued he will die. He prayed and prayed and announced that he knows where the boy is and he went there with some of our people. Today, which is the third and last day of the crusade they have gone to cut down an evil tree he said is used for rituals and killings in the community.


जामा मस्जिद का उत्तर पूर्वी प्रवॆश द्वार, व उसकी सीढ़ियां.
↑ "Ala Hazrat in retrospect".
↑ "'The last Nizam of Hyderabad was not a miser'".
Jama Masjid (Delhi)page at India Image, the Government of India Information portal.
Jama Masjid, Delhi page at India Profile, a travel information site.
en:Flickr।फ्लिकर: Photos tagged with "jamamasjid"


text:
Q: Process unexpectedly exit when running android application on my phone from Android Studio I installed Android studio and tested the default hello world app. It compiled without any issues. Then I connected my phone and tried to test the app on it. Gradle build failed with the following error-
Execution failed for task ':app:processDebugResources'.

A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Workers$ActionFacade
AAPT2 aapt2-4.1.1-6503028-windows Daemon #0: Daemon startup failed
Please check if you installed the Windows Universal C Runtime.
This should not happen under normal circumstances, please file an issue if it does.

Process unexpectedly exit.
I haven't made any code changes or any config changes this just a fresh installation of android studio could anyone please help me with the same?

A: I think you should have gradle issue.
delete your current gradle folder from C drive
and download latest version from gradle.org

A: A Dharmesh said you could delete gradle folder and also make sure you Clean your project  then rebuild. Then the last step would be File->Invalidate Caches/Restart -> click on Invalidate cache and restart.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
This is the Night
Posted: 3 January 2018 in Reflections
"I like too many things and get all confused and hung-up running from one falling star to another till I drop. This is the night, what it does to you. I had nothing to offer anybody except my own confusion." – Jack Kerouac
I've painted myself into a corner here. The blog's clean simplicity has evolved over time as my focus has changed; I don't like the way it's currently organised, but frankly it's too much effort to rework it again. Time to move on, and create a new blog, better suited to my current interests and activities.
I'll leave this blog here for posterity, as the reviews in particular seem moderately popular, and if I move it anywhere else that will introduce link rot in a number of other sites.
The new blog is here. I hope you'll join me there. If not, so long, and thanks for all the fish!
Lessons from 2017
Posted: 16 December 2017 in Reflections
"I never heard of a puppeteer refusing to face a problem. He may merely be deciding how fast to run, but he'll never pretend the problem isn't there." – Larry Niven, At the Core
Life changes. Not always in the directions I would like, but wishing things were different does not make them so, and I must adapt to what is, rather than what I would prefer.
I'm Getting Older
I'm 60 now. Let's optimistically assume I have another 20 years of gaming left; I have enough material for at least twice that already, so I don't need anything new, and anything new I want to run has to knock something else out of the queue, simple as that.
My eyesight is deteriorating with age as one might expect. Printing things at 70% at putting them in a handy A5 display book has given way to printing them at full size and using an A4 one.
Neither of those have a material impact on actual play, just a psychological one on me. Growing old largely sucks; but when I hear my grandson singing Christmas carols to himself as he plays in the next room, I have to admit, it's not all bad.
Both story arc campaigns (namely Collateral Damage and Hearts of Stone) have collapsed; it's just too difficult to schedule a consistent group of players on a regular basis. Every carefully-plotted story arc campaign I've run since the 1990s has failed in a similar fashion, so I'm done with those now.
It feels like my campaigns last forever, but the blog lets me check that, and actually they average about 30 sessions each over 1-2 years. I may fantasise about running a long-term, immersive campaign like (say) MAR Barker, but it doesn't seem to be in my nature.
Group membership is transient, as ever; Collateral Damage has dropped from eight players to two, Shadows of Keron from nine to two, Hearts of Stone is down from 11 to 3 regular players and 4 intermittent, Pawns of Destiny from 6 to 0 as the players move on to Edge of the Empire. I'm currently too busy with work to play solitaire games.
On the plus side, the surviving members of Hearts of Stone have persuaded me to run a Mongoose Traveller game with a naval theme next year. However, between work, exams, and overseas travel, the gang won't be back together again until at least early February now.
Two hours isn't enough for a proper session, however you slice it. I have to find a way to extend it to something more like four hours; start earlier and finish later, I think.
Videogames are better at processing complex combat rules and characters with intricate skill trees. A live GM is better at weaving unexpected PC activity into the narrative, and can still hope to provide a more interesting story overall. There's no point trying to beat the machines on their home turf, so it's back to the Old School approach; emphasising player cunning over character statistics, and using dice as a last resort.
Some of my players like simple rules that don't get in the way, and they'll be fine with that approach. Others like complex ones, where optimising characters for tactical advantages in combat is part of the fun. The Pawns of Destiny players are firmly in the latter camp, so that campaign is unlikely to return.
Roll20 is focusing my setup too much on battlemats, meaning game sessions are now mostly combat and that's getting repetitive and boring. That's a problem with me rather than the software, I think, but it's still a problem I need to fix, so we'll try something like Skype next year.
-o0o-
Quite a lot of food for thought this year, and I shall spend the next couple of weeks marinading in single malt and scheming.
Have yourselves a merry little Christmas and a happy New Year, and I'll see you on the other side.
Review: High-Space 2nd Edition
Posted: 13 December 2017 in Reviews
Tags: Savage Worlds
In a Nutshell: Transhuman SF setting for Savage Worlds by StoryWeaver, $20 at time of writing, 246 page PDF.
I'll consider this not only on its own, but by comparison to the first edition, which I reviewed here.
PanDominion (80 pages): Almost immediately we see changes between the first and second editions. The first edition was set in The Lantern, a frontier island nebula dominated by the search for technological treasures left behind by long-vanished alien races. Here, we see the PanDominion proper, getting 80 pages instead of two. This is a post-scarcity society on a galactic scale, and the PCs are the throwbacks, bored with the easy lives led by the masses. The PanDo can't allow these misfits to disrupt the peaceful harmony of their society, but on its edges, there are enemies to fight, dangerous new worlds to explore – and the misfits are the ones mentally suited to deal with the dirty work. Picture the Special Circumstances agents in Iain M Banks' Culture novels and you won't go far wrong. As a concept for the setting, this has a lot of promise.
This chapter begins with a section called Know Your PanDo, several pages of short paragraphs, each on a specific topic, with a page reference for a fuller treatment. That is a nice touch. It's followed by some news bulletins written from an in-game viewpoint, summary data on the common species of the PanDo, the external threats that hold it together, timelines, means of interstellar travel (like Mass Effect – FTL drives on ships, with wormgates for long-distance travel and colonised star systems huddling around the wormgates), important sectors of space and capsule summaries of what's in them, key planets, the PanDo government and how it works, the local version of the internet (called 'the Sphere'), the Culture-style AIs known as 'Minds', with discussions both of the general situation and individual Minds the PCs are likely to encounter, the United Resources Corporation and other megacorps, law enforcement, the Contracts Guild, the Merc List, and the Council of Churches.
How a post-scarcity economy works in the game deserves a few notes. Basically, as your character advances in Rank, he or she is perceived as more valuable by the AIs that run the PanDo, and is therefore trusted with more complex and expensive gear. However, second edition High-Space moves away from the full-on post-scarcity trope and adds CBTs, a pseudo-currency used by the AIs to allocate resources. I think this was explained better in the first edition, but I admit I haven't reread it to confirm that.
This section is also sprinkled with the obligatory short pieces of fiction.
Agencies (8 pages): These are civilian PanDo organisations PCs might find themselves working for – Insight, which assesses new species as potential PanDo members; the Integration Agency, which brings such species aboard; and Intervention, which does whatever is necessary to protect the PanDominion. The PCs are most likely to work for Intervention, which is pretty much the game version of Special Circumstances.
Militant Arms (12 pages): These are PanDo's military 'agencies' – Armada, the navy, which explores, deters enemies,provides humanitarian aid, and enforces internal security; Field, the ground forces, which do what they have always done; PsiOps, psionic spies and ninjas. Armada is very close to Star Fleet in most of the Star Trek series.
This chapter also includes PanDo's guiding principle for interspecies contact, the Doctrine of Least Resistance. This is useful to the GM by defining what PanDo will do – or order the PCs to do – in various circumstances.
Xenofile (42 pages): Unlike the first edition, which gave you five basic templates and left you to get on with it, second edition High-Space gives you details on eight PanDo member races (including humans), overviews of six more member species and eight allied ones, and three non-playable races; the enigmatic starfish, the hostile strozi, and the equally hostile nuclarine.
Character Creation (14 pages): This begins by listing all the standard skills and how they are modified for use in the setting, and some new ones; Psychiatry (the mental equivalent of physical Healing), Security (Smarts-based and replaces Lockpicking), Spacewise (a space-based version of Survival). I'm not sure of the value of listing all the existing skills, so maybe I should read that bit again.
There are seven new Hindrances, including Synthetic (you're actually an android); Doubting Thomas and Poverty are not allowed. Sidelined is interesting; you count as one Rank lower than you actually are for purposes of acquiring and keeping gear.
New Edges relate to using technology. My favourites are the Glanding Edges, representing implants which allow the user to trigger hormones and pheromones at will, but there are also Hacking Edges for dealing with computers, Edges for Synthetics which make them stronger, more flexible and so on, and general Edges which usually involve an implant of some kind. A simple system, yet flexible.
The backgrounds and their mandated skills have vanished, making character design much closer to standard Savage Worlds.
Gear and Gadgets (20 pages): As this is a post-scarcity society, access to equipment is limited by weight (you still have to carry it) and Rank (the AIs running the place have to think you're worthy to carry it). Regular readers will know I am not enamoured of Gear chapters, so I'll mention the drones, the Positronic Warbeast and the armour-penetrating motorised teeth for the Shako species, and move on. The range of gear is much expanded from the first edition, especially in regard to devices from non-human species, and helps convey the feel of the setting.
Fleet Manual (32 pages): By this stage of the book, the reader has seen a number of tantalising sidebars defining particular classes of ship, and this is where the stats in those start to make sense. It's also the bit that tempted me to buy the book, as I am intrigued by the idea of PC starships, and this is the only official product I know of that includes them.
Ships in High-Space are designed much like characters. Each has a free Design Edge, denoting its original purpose and affecting its other stats. It then has five attributes – Manoeuvre (how agile the ship is), Computer (how good the autopilot and other systems are), Drive (normal-space movement), Displacement (size and payload), and Quality (how well-built it is) – and two derived stats, Pace and Toughness, calculated from their attributes, edges and hindrances. Edges are basically payload items, while hindrances are about the ship's age and behaviour. I always wanted more hindrances in High-Space to give a wider variety of individualised ships, and here they are; but my favourite is still Poor Signage, which means it's hard to find anything you need. Edges are things which would be fittings in most game systems; cryosleep pods, armouries, cargo holds, that kind of thing. Some of them require connections with particular organisations or species to acquire.
The XS+ vehicle rules have been replaced with a more elegant solution: Such vehicles are built like starships, but have the Aero Hindrance, meaning they are atmospheric flyers only, no FTL capability. A definite improvement.
Another change I do approve of is that starships no longer have an FTL die randomising their movement; they all move FTL at the same speed. One change I'm unsure about is that ship attributes and edges are bought and hindrances reduce the ship's overall cost; in first edition, they worked more like character edges and hindrances (which was more elegant, especially as you could level up your ship as the party advanced), now they work more like gear (you just buy them). I think I prefer the first edition approach for this.
I found the lack of example designs in first edition made it hard to understand the starship construction rules, but now there is one worked example and a number of sample designs.
The Tactical Sphere (17 pages): The thing that stopped me using High-Space first edition was the space combat, with its (admittedly optional) tabletop maps and randomised movement; that's unfortunate as High-Space is supposed to be all about what it calls "spacefighting". Second edition ranges are still huge even by SF RPG standards; sensor range is far bigger than a star system, weapons range is about the same size as one, and adjacent is what it says on the tin. FTL movement allows you to change zone, while normal-space movement is for docking. There are still tabletop maps, though they are now abstract and based on zones like the ones in FATE rather than being actual battlemats. Abstract movement is reserved for encounters in deep space, although I couldn't quite see how that worked. Several things about this chapter jar for me, such as the idea of lasers moving faster than light, fixed sublight speeds for ships, and so on. I see the point of them, in that they allow more tactical complexity by bringing various manoeuvres and ship edges into play. But I'm not going to play this version of space combat either, and since that is one of the key features of the game, this is where I checked out.
Into the Void (11 pages): The deep space between star systems, why you shouldn't go there (it's boring), and why you might have to anyway (there might not be a nearby wormgate); notes on astronomical features found in deep space; solar systems and what you can find in them (which seem to refer to a different set of cinematic ranges than the Tactical Sphere, but maybe I missed something); supplies you need; zero-g personal combat.
Keep It Wild (2 pages): A mixture of designers' notes, adverts for the next release, and further explanation of what PCs do and who hires them. I like the idea NPCs insult the PCs by calling them 'pandas'.
One book rather than the previous three; still has nice artwork; black text on white, usually two column but sometimes one; unusually, body text is sans serif.
It would be nice to have the ability to suppress colour page backgrounds. I can't believe I still have to point that out in 2017.
As a science fiction game, it should either be scientifically plausible or explain why science doesn't apply in this setting. As things stand, I am jarred out of my willing suspension of disbelief every time a ship moves.
Savage Worlds has perfectly viable dogfighting rules; personally I would have used those and adjusted the shipbuilding rules to suit them.
Picture the Lantern, the setting for the first edition, as a mining town in Alaska; the second edition takes you to the PanDominion equivalent of L.A. In fact, this is a completely new setting; character creation, starship creation and combat, aliens, background – all different.
This is a more polished product than the first edition in many ways, but it appeals to me less. Oh, and leave any scientific education you have at the door, it will only upset you once you're inside.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5. It works, it does what it sets out to do, but what it sets out to do isn't what I want – not really the game's fault, I suppose, more a case of I bought the wrong thing.
Collateral Damage Episodes 12-13: Armada and Toyis
Posted: 6 December 2017 in Collateral Damage
Tags: D&D, Savage Worlds
Previously, on Collateral Damage…
The crew had gone through the first few episodes of Heart of the Fury, leaving them with a friend in high places and a mysterious video clip. At length their trade runs brought them to the place where the clip was recorded, and investigating it took them well off piste, resulting in them unleashing an Artificial Intelligence wired into the largest superdreadnaught ever built (it says so, right here in the brochure). Unfortunately, when when all you have is a superdreadnought, everything looks like a target, and in the ensuing havoc and carnage, the Collateral Damage slipped away, in case unkind people – people who didn't understand the full story – blamed them for it.
Having picked up a cargo of weapons – not the ones they were sent for, but let's not get picky – and diverted a few select items for their own use, they moved on to Toyis, a trade hub controlled by intelligent winged housecats called the Precious, who live in arcologies abandoned by their long-dead masters. Here they encountered the ruthless trade factor Mittens Pleasant Landing, and made a deal with him: They would loot the levels below the 30th floor, where the Precious fear to tread, and swap that for some valuable but unspecified items in Mittens' warehouse. Shortly thereafter, the crew learned why the Precious (justifiably) fear to tread in those levels, and the multi-tentacled horrors that scare the Precious discovered just how much pain an Urseminite with a plasma gun can bring.
As the credits roll, the crew have found a centuries-old tourist map with directions to various places of interest in the arcology, and are planning their next move. But wait; is that a slimy tentacle oozing into shot? Do you know, I rather think it is…
GM NOTES
The crew of the Collateral Damage has dropped over time from eight players to two, and that combined with the fast-playing nature of Savage Worlds and our Old School approach to things means the extremely experienced 'away team' chews through plot at a frightful rate. It's clear no-one is really that enthused about following the story arc, so a return to the previous (and easier to prepare) picaresque approach is in order.
We also agreed to replace the six wild card PCs whose players no longer attend with the couple of NPCs it would actually take to fly the ship; they have an engineer and a gunner, and as to all intents and purposes they're tooling around in a Traveller free trader, they need a pilot and a medic. Perhaps I'll roll up a couple of Mongoose Traveller characters and convert them.
For the next session, rather than map out an entire arcology, I shall adopt the Beasts & Barbarians card and token approach when we next meet, creating a space dungeon on the fly. Come to think of it, perhaps the Two Hour Wargames city and risk-and-reward decks would be easier.
In other news, we did have time for a D&D session as well; the plan was to try out D&D 5th Edition, but we agreed that while a fine game, it offers no real advantage over White Box OD&D for our purposes, so we danced with who brung us.
I am pleased to report that the dragon turtle threatening our adopted home city of Shadipuur is no more, having been tricked into capsizing a cargo ship full of lamp oil and first distillate brandy, then bombed by invisible flying magic users dropping fireballs on it while being shot at by as many ballistae as we could find. Damn, those things are tough. One aspect of the situation still requires attention – namely, the improbably large amount of gold the dwarves were promised for their help. Which we don't actually have.
Hearts of Stone 30: Beer Elemental
Posted: 22 November 2017 in Hearts of Stone
Tags: 13th Age, Savage Worlds
Only Soreth and the Fox turned up to this session; that sort of thing happens sometimes in a drop-in game.
At the end of episode 29, when all players were teleported home, Soreth found herself in her cave, north of Drakkenhall, while the Fox woke up in his old bedroom at Castle Stormwatcher, just outside Glitterhaegen. In the intervening period, Soreth's magic sword Spiterazor advanced the theory that [a] it was created to slay dark elves; [b] it its experience, you find dark elves fighting dwarves; [c] there are lots of dwarves in Anvil; and therefore [d] they should go to Anvil, kill dark elves, and take their stuff. Since neither of them has the brains God gave a rabbit, off they go.
Meanwhile, the Fox's henchwoman, Ladra, had learned that a dwarven goldsmith in Anvil was making a golden statue of a fox spirit, went to investigate, and was imprisoned for trying to steal it – so the Fox makes his way north to get her out of jail.
On meeting up at Anvil, the group learns that the local dwarven clans pride themselves on the quality of their beer. Making good beer requires a plentiful source of pure water, and by sifting through ancient records, one dwarf brewmaster has learned of the existence and approximate location of a spring of surpassing purity. The musty tomes tell him that the spring has been corrupted, and must be cleansed using a barrel of an unspecified but powerful potion.
Clearly, the brewmaster thinks, this must be a reference to Brimison's 8X Winter Ale. The party are hired to convey a barrel of this most puissant beer to the spring, dispose of any unwanted tenants, and empty the barrel into the spring.
We gloss over the trek to the caves wherein lies the spring, with Soreth carrying a barrel of 8X Winter Ale. Inside, they find an unwholesome mixture of goblins, orcs, ogres and dire wolves, but between Soreth's breath weapon and the Fox's flashing swords, these don't last long even though Soreth is distracted by fossicking through their quarters for loot, and only two cowardly goblins escape with their lives.
Locating the spring, they meet a water elemental who had taken up residence in the spring for its purity, only to find herself trapped there for generations while the orcs dumped – well, best not to think about it really – into the pool. When they dump the Winter Ale into said pool, its power purifies the spring and creates the first beer elemental in history – like a water elemental, but permanently tipsy.
Luckily for them, the beer elemental is a friendly drunk, and professes undying love for the Fox. This is unlikely to have a permanent effect as she will forget him at midnight. The Fox lets her down gently, and he and Soreth return to Anvil to collect their reward.
Hearts of Stone has now morphed into a series of picaresque one-sheet adventures with the overall story arc set to one side for the foreseeable future.
I had planned to use Gold & Glory to generate a dungeon for this session, but work and domestic affairs meant no time to do that, so I grabbed one of the old Crooked Staff freebie dungeon complexes, a bunch of monsters from the SW core book which are stated to cooperate, and a mission plot from Warhammer Quest. Took about an hour to set up, and most of that was spent choosing a map.
Arion, 021-3401: An Invitation to Dinner
Posted: 18 November 2017 in Dark Nebula
Tags: Savage Worlds, Solo, Traveller
"The dinner-table is often the terrain of critical conversations, for it is there one has the better of one's interlocutor. There is no escape without scandal, there is no turning aside without self-betrayal. To invite a person to dinner is to place them under observation. Every dining-room is a temporary prison where politeness chains the guests to the laden board." – Maurice Renard, The Hands Of Orlac
1412 Ria D768534-7 Ag Ni GG
The ship's boat from the Dromedary deposits Arion at Ria starport and he walks out into the muggy heat with the clothes on his back (Great Archive Surveyor coveralls, indifferently laundered aboard ship) and a spacesuit. Neither the ship's boat nor the laser turrets are standard fittings on a subsidised liner fresh out of the yards, so Arion surmises that the Dromedary is intended to trade with backwater planets in hostile space. Ria seems to tick both boxes.
Looking at Solo p.53, I need to make a world encounter roll (p. 58), which will lead me to other rolls as appropriate. I roll 3, 2 and learn that the local community is either not what it seems, or very welcoming.
The starport is about as basic as you can get and still be an actual functioning starport, a decrepit set of landing pads and a few buildings. Arion needs to find passage back to Mizah, or at least Hasara where an Archive ship will eventually turn up, and suspects he'll need money for that – lots of it. Before making any decisions, he needs more information, and the best place to get that is at the starport office, a mouldy-looking edifice with a couple of soldiers (armed with what look like simple chemical slugthrowers) and a man in a suit loitering outside. All three have luxuriant moustaches, which Arion will shortly learn are the local fashion. The suited man waves at Arion to attract his attention, then walks briskly up to him, with the soldiers ambling along behind, as if their presence were more for show than because of any real threat.
"Senor Metaxas? I heard from traffic control that you were arriving. I am Luis González, pleased to meet you." González is speaking accented English, the lingua franca of spacers across the sector.
"Likewise, I'm sure. Yes, I'm Metaxas. How can I help you?"
"We don't often see anyone from outside this system, especially not a Surveyor from the Great Archive. King Adriano Talamantes invites you to dine with him tonight, and bring him news of the outside galaxy."
Arion thinks for a moment, covering his indecision by lowering his heavy spacesuit to the ground. He's not likely to get a better offer than this, and while he is wary of local despots, the soldiers can likely shoot him if he runs, or overpower him if he doesn't. Might as well go without the handcuffs, then, and eat a fine dinner instead of prison slops. Since Arion knows Archive ships don't normally go as far as Ria, and individual free traders haven't got the range for this run, the King must be getting all his external information from the Combine, and the implication of the invitation is that he doesn't entirely trust them; Arion may be able to turn that to his advantage.
"I would be delighted to accept your kind offer, Senor González," he says. "When am I expected, and what is the best way to the palace?"
"Don't worry," smiles González, "We will take you there right away."
A few hours later, Arion finds himself clean-shaven (except for the beginnings of a local-style moustache – may as well fit in), showered, dressed in borrowed finery rather than a tatty surveyor's coverall, and at table with Luis González, King Adriano Talamantes, Queen Delfina, and Princess Isabella, the ten-year old heir to the throne. Waiters bustle in and out with various courses, and discreet guards in dress uniforms stand behind the King to either side of him.
By the time they get to what passes for coffee locally, the ice has been broken and the five of them have moved past the polite small talk, including Arion's descriptions of life across the handful of worlds in the Fastnesses and the family's explanations of local history, geography and crops.
"I must tell you, Senor Metaxas," the King begins, gesturing with his coffee cup, "that Captain Anderson tells me we should fear the Archive, that it is dominated by people with a liberal socialist agenda, hostile to our way of life here." Arion frowns, considering his next words carefully; the prison cell is still a possibility.
"There is rivalry between the Combine and the Archive," he says, "And a wise ruler wouldn't take anything either of us says at face value. Captain Anderson has given you the Combine view of things; allow me to present the Archive's. You know, of course, that before the Interregnum, a great human empire controlled this region of space, with its capital on mother Earth. Before that empire fell, it established centres of learning on major worlds, to ensure colonists had access to a basic knowledge of technology, culture and history. One of these was the forerunner of the Great Archive on Mizah; after the empire fell, it worked with the planetary government to save as many people as it could, and rebuild."
"Captain Anderson tells me that the Archive has taken over the government of Mizah from within. Like some kind of parasitic wasp, he says. Whatever a wasp is."
"It's true that the Archive and the government have worked closely together for centuries. What Anderson may not have told you is that the Combine was once a faction within the Archive. We are essentially a quasi-religious academic organisation, focused on humanitarian aid and research, sharing our knowledge freely with other worlds. Some time ago, a group of the Archive's Adepts started saying that we should sell our tools and knowledge rather than giving them away, and that since what other worlds most wanted to buy was weapons, we should sell those. That led to a schism between the academic and commercial interests in the Archive, with the commercial elements leaving to form the Combine."
"I see. Captain Anderson argues that what people are freely given, they do not value, and that the Archive imposes its will on other worlds over generations, by insinuating its ideas into the minds of the young."
"The Archive's eventual goal is to uplift every system in this region to the old empire's level of technology, thus eliminating hunger, disease and oppression. We hope this will lead to harmony, to a voluntary association of free worlds."
"With crystal spires and togas for all, no doubt. The rebels in the swamps say I oppress them. Captain Anderson says that emissaries of the Archive are spreading sedition and firearms among them."
"Then why invite me here? Why not just arrest me?"
"Because all I know about the Archive, about the whole galaxy since the empire fell, is what Captain Anderson has told me. Asking him if it is true gains me nothing. But you…" The King waggles a finger and smiles. "You do not know what he has told me. So where both of you agree, I can take that as the truth. Where you disagree, one of you is lying. So I hope you will accept my invitation to stay for a while, and understand that the guard outside your room is there for your protection."
Arion considers his options, and comes to the conclusion that he doesn't really have any.
"How could I refuse such a kind offer? I can think of no better place to stay during my time here."
This week I'll talk a bit about how the worlds of the Nebula are being created.
I start with the number of jump routes it has, and use those for a first cut of the starport (one route is class E, two routes D, and so on) and population level – inhospitable secondary systems have a population level of the number of routes plus one, habitable primary systems add another two to that. I override that in two cases; tertiary systems always have a world profile of E000000-0, and the two homeworlds (Kuzu and Maadin) have starport type A and population 9. So Ria begins with starport D and population 5.
Then I use Google translate and other sources to find out what the name means, and in which language. Ria is interesting as it means a number of different things; a drowned river valley in English, "river" in a number of Romance languages, a corn-drying kiln in Swedish, a moustache in Vietnamese, or "blood" in Woi (spoken in Indonesia).
I muse on that for a while and imagine the kind of world that would be an appropriate name for. The goal here is that if the players in a group game ever figure it out, they'll say "Ohhh… Of course, it would be called that, would't it?" I chose this approach because I'm not very good at doing it the other way round, figuring out a relevant name for a world based on the stats, and tend to drift into analysis paralysis. It also has the benefit that it tells me which culture or cultures originally settled the place, giving me a ready source of names, traditional menus and customs, and so on.
In the case of Ria, the image that comes to mind is a rural, agricultural planet, primarily focussed on growing corn along a river valley, with one major town just upstream of a tropical river delta, split politically between a Spanish-speaking ruling class and a mixed bag of farm labourers from other cultures, and a group of flatboat-mounted guerillas hiding in the delta's marshes and seeking to overthrow the rulers. Possibly the first thing a visitor notices are the impressive mustachios sported by all adult males. Then I assigned the rest of the profile to fit that picture. Note that the boardgame implies all primary and secondary worlds have antiship defences (laser and missile turrets), and by extension either a Tech Level of 7+ or some sort of arrangement with another planet which armed them. Bases I assign by looking at the map and placing them where I think it makes sense and fits with the profile; there's no reason for Ria to have any bases, so it doesn't.
As we explore the subsectors further, you'll see the region was largely colonised by Turkey, Indonesia and the proposed East African Union.
Arion, 014-3401: Dromedary
"How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done; thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways." – King James Bible, Jeremiah 2:23
Aboard the Dromedary.
I roll for in-game reactions (Solo pp. 19-20) and an onboard event (Solo, p. 56): There's only one active PC yet – Arion – who rolls a 6 and therefore fails to avoid a bad reaction; a further roll of 4 shows that a choice is made and he doesn't like it. The onboard event is 43 – a power failure.
The Captain's day cabin is spacious, by shipboard standards, and Captain Anderson sits at a small desk, interviewing Arion, who is dressed in an ill-fitting pair of Combine overalls and perched awkwardly on a folding chair. The scene is dimly lit by emergency lights, and the air conditioning is off.
"Our sensors confirm there's wreckage from an Archive Surveyor, and the origin of your trajectory matches where it would have been when you left. So your story checks out. But tell me, why would pirates blow your ship up? First, they're breaking no laws by being here; second, there's no-one to enforce them if they were; third, a ship with an Archive transponder has nothing worth stealing – no offence – and fourth, the Archive is too powerful to upset for no reason."
"None taken. I saw too much. I saw who they were meeting out here. Hierate scouts."
"Hraye III class with a fuel slab, squawking a clan recognition code. Unmistakable."
"Pfft. Half the pirates out here are from the Hierate."
"True, but they don't squawk clan codes. And honour dictates that anyone using those codes be a member of the right clan, and vice versa. The code tells you who it was. No room for error."
"Hmm indeed. So Captain, thank you for picking me up, but I need to impose on you further – I need to report back to Mizah right away."
"Surveyor, the law is clear. I grant you're a distressed spacefarer, and the Archive is good for your transport costs. But I can't turn 600 tons of ship around and break my Bond to get you home three weeks sooner. Do you have any idea how much that would cost?"
"Don't you see how important this is? The Hierate and Confed have been rattling sabres at each other for years, this could be the start of outright war – and if the Hierate barrels through here fangs out and hair on fire, they're going to hit Mizah first."
"But they might not."
"But…" Before Arion can argue any more, Anderson interrupts, the steel any trader captain must have at his core being displayed for the first time.
"But me no buts, Surveyor. The law says I drop you at the next port of call and submit an invoice the next time I'm at an Archive facility. I have no obligation to deadhead you halfway across the sector first, and no obligation to reroute my ship for your convenience. Unless you have written authority from the Great Archive to pay the penalty clauses for breaking my Bond, which I know you do not because we searched you for contraband and weapons when we brought you aboard."
The lights flicker back on and the air conditioning starts up again. "Finally!" Anderson mutters, then continues in a louder voice.
"Now that power has been restored, we can jump. And we will. You can either keep out of the way, or help with running the ship, but any more complaints about the route and you'll find yourself in cryosleep in a low berth. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, Captain." Arion leaves the office. He is seething inside, but if he's put into cryosleep, who knows where – or when – he'll wake up?
This story thread came about as I thought it was time we found out how Arion met Anderson, how the pirates were involved, and why Arion started working for him. I have no idea what happened, but the dice will tell us soon enough.
For this campaign, I'm determined that each post should have part of the story in it, so I'll keep the commentary on rules and setting design in the GM Notes section, rather than in separate posts as I've done in the past. This time, as Arion is in jumpspace, let's look at FTL travel, and the implications for the rules and the campaign. I expect that will make more sense if we have the map in front of us, so here it is.
The Dark Nebula boardgame makes several assumptions about hyperspace jumps. First, you can only move along the routes on the map (at least until you uncover the secrets of the Nebula itself). Second, you can't leave a tertiary system unless there is a tanker present to refuel you with hydrogen harvested from the star. Third, in a two-year turn you can go anywhere on the map, stopping only for enemy units, tertiary systems without a tanker, or uncharted jump routes; since there are about 80 routes on the map and each side has three movement phases per turn, the theoretical minimum jump time is roughly three days, and is probably more than that. Finally, you can't bypass any star system on your route (otherwise the tactic of blocking fleets with a sacrificial scoutship wouldn't work).
Savage Worlds itself is silent on the topic, but the Sci Fi Companion says that a ship can jump to any system regardless of distance, potentially in zero time if it's prepared to expend enough fuel, and The Last Parsec adds the idea that the jump is faster and less risky if the system has a hyperspace beacon. To match Dark Nebula I could say that astrogation beacons communicate with each other faster-than-light (explaining how each player in the boardgame has perfect knowledge of the enemy's movements), that beacons only allow travel along specific routes; and that tertiary systems have no beacons. In that case, tanker units would be a kind of self-propelled beacon.
Traveller limits ship movement by the amount of fuel carried and the rating of the jump drive installed, rather than by specific jump routes; refuelling at a planet is still needed, but you can bypass systems as long as you have the fuel and drive rating to do it. Aligning Traveller with the Dark Nebula is straightforward; I usually rationalise the jump routes by saying that the map is a 2-D representation of 3-D space, and systems that appear to be next to each other may be too far apart vertically to allow a jump. Saying that the boardgame's ships have jump-3 gives a close enough match for strategic mobility – Bors, Daanarni and Taida Na remain impassable without some means of refuelling, and while you shouldn't be able to access Ria, Osa or Karpos I can live with that – I want Arion to visit Ria and Karpos. As the map is drawn, J-1 pretty much limits you to Mizah and its neighbours, J-2 is good for exploring either subsector but won't get you from one to the other, J-3 lets you travel between subsectors, and J-4 lets you leave the map. That progression has a certain elegance to it, don't you think?
(If running multiple campaigns a generation or more apart on the timeline, I could argue that the drives in the various games are the same kind of hyperspace motor at different technology levels; first the DN drive, then the Traveller one, and finally the SW version. But ain't nobody got time for dat.)
TL, DR: Traveller jump drive wins. There's a good campaign to be played using the official Savage Worlds hyperdrive, but it's not this one. Maybe next time.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Latest participant at the World Championship in Massage 2019 in Copenhagen is Ampika Y. Blackburn. IMA has ask her to introduce herself.
My name is Ampika Y. Blackburn or "Bee" living in Houston, USA. I represent Thailand.
My massage style is a combination of using Thai massage, Swedish massage, Aroma Therapy, Deep tissue, Sport Massage, and Hot stone. I also uses a combination of stretching and pressure points. The modalities of combination Bamboo, Hot stone, Seashell, Crystal, Herbal Ball & Himalayan Salt Stone. Hot Stone massage has evolved. Upgrade all the hot stone treatment to include Hot Seashell and warm Bamboo. Use these modalities in combination or stand alone treatments. I have created a modality using Traditional Thai Massage and healing techniques to suit modern spa, massage and beauty treatments. Increase the profits and provide a luxurious and therapeutic treatment for my valued clients. I'd love to help people, all the people around the world. I feel happy, when I can help relieve their pain and suffering. Elevate the client's day!!!
The International Massage Association look forward watching her skills at the World Championship in Massage in June.


Maintaining your garden requires a lot of time, precision and the selection of right gardening tools. Every gardener has a go-to list of their favourite gardening tools. Gardening will be more fun when you have the right tools in your gardening tools collection. Here is the list of best gardening tools to keep your garden fresh and eco-friendly.
It is the widely used gardening tool and the number one Hand tool in the list of every gardener. When it comes to selecting the pruner for your garden, nothing can beat the Falco F-2 Classic Hand Pruner.
A bypass pruner is a general purpose gardening tool for trimming stems up to ½ inch. A comfortable and sharp pruner will reduce fatigue and keeps you safe.
Hori Hori Digging tool is the most sought after tools when you need a garden knife in your tools collection. This multipurpose gardening tool can be used as a knife, a saw, or even as a measuring device for planting bulbs.
Hori Hori Digging tool is the most versatile gardening tools. Users love this tool as it is very durable and effective in uprooting even the toughest weeds.
If you spend a handsome amount of time in gardening, then you can probably understand how much important this tool is for your garden. Whether you are juggling pruners, a packet of seeds, it becomes very daunting when you have to wander back-and-forth each time to grab these tools. Gardening apron solves this problem for you by offering several pockets to have all of your these tools handy.
A digging shovel is the most indispensable tool in the list of every gardener. A shovel is used to lift bulk materials like soil, gravel, and coal. It consists of a D-shaped handle which offers two-handed control to the user when digging heavy loads of soil.The blade of the shovel is made up of the steel sheet and is very sharp and heavy. You can use a digging shovel for a number of tasks at your home, from plating a new garden to digging trenches for irrigation.
Cobrahead is the go-to gardening tool of every gardener as it very effective, comfortable and durable gardening tool. The pointed head and the curved shank of the Cobrahead make weeding and even removal of weeds a lot easier.
While the primary use of leak rake is gathering leaves, it is also a handy tool for collecting other garden debris like grass clipping. If you are working on a small garden, then a durable steel-tine rakeis ideal to use. If you are dealing with the larger gardens, then a poly leaf rake is the perfect choice for your garden.
Like we human beings, no garden can survive without water. When it comes to watering, nothing can be more convenient than a hose. It delivers directly to the roots without wastage of water.Store this hoses in cold climatic conditions and they can be used for many more years for your garden.


Score a Hole-in-One at Discovery Green's "Insperity Golf Experience"
Putt-putt golf isn't the leisure activity it used to be. What killed it? We have no idea, but if upscale makeovers are bringing people back to the bowling lanes, we think contemporary art might do the same for putt-putt.
The nine-hole Insperity Golf Experience explores what happens when you ask artists to design putt-putt holes. You get your standard, avoid-the-obstacles holes like Emily Sloan's Sloan Winding Landscape, a yellow-turf area split by a little winding fence, as well as trick-shot challenges like Elaine Bradford's Hole in the Sidereal, complete with a replica of the artist's signature sweater-clothed deer.
Through November 27. Discovery Green, 1500 McKinney, 713-400-7336.


In today's world, fast-food is incredibly popular due to our busy lifestyles. With this in mind, finding the perfect fast-food restaurant, which creates food that is according to your preferences, can turn out to be quite difficult.
As you might have already guesses, the Wing Zone restaurant specializes in buffalo wings. Apart from this, they are also popular for selling boneless wings, buffalo shrimp, chicken fingers, sandwiches, potato wedges, beer battered onion rings, but also fried mushrooms, mozzarella sticks, salads, brownies and banana deserts.
As you might have already guessed, you can order from the company directly via Internet, and then have the products delivered over to your house, if you don't feel like eating in one of their locations.
Just like in many other restaurants, you have the possibility of paying via most major credit and debit cards, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express, but also via cash.
By heading over to their website, you can also subscribe to them and receive news and information about their latest products and deals directly to your inbox. By doing so, you will also be able to get access to Wing Zone discount codes, which can help you save a good amount of money. Another way to get your hands on Wing Zone coupons is to keep an eye out on Coupofy.
At this moment in time, there is no refund policy, as purchases cannot be reversed as you have placed your order. However, in the rare case that there is anything wrong with your food, rest assured, as you can contact the customer support team which will do everything that it can to make sure that you're satisfied with your order.


text:
Q: Angular Material table is sorting only by last column Hello I using Angular Material and I trying to show in table data with following format:
{
    "error": [],
    "result": {
        "ADAUSD": {
            "asks": [
                [
                    "0.068890",
                    "22428.508",
                    1540845036
                ],
                [...]

In asks table there is another colection of tables. I need to use only first two values of this indented table. In this case 0.068890 and 22428.508.
So I got two column I named it Rate and Quantity. Data is printing properly, but data is sorting only by last column.
Because in this JSON data format there is no objects and only tables it makes many problems.
Here is the component HTML:

  <ng-container matColumnDef="Quantity">
     Quantity
     {{element[1]}}
  </ng-container>

  <ng-container matColumnDef="Rate">
     Rate
     {{element[0]}}
  </ng-container>

<mat-paginator [pageSizeOptions]="[5]"></mat-paginator>

And component TS:
import { Component, OnInit, AfterViewInit, ViewChild } from '@angular/core';
import { MatSort, MatPaginator, MatTableDataSource, Sort} from '@angular/material';
import { OrderBookKrakenService } from 'src/app/core/order-book-kraken/order-book-kraken.service';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-kraken-sell-usd-ada',
  templateUrl: './kraken-sell-usd-ada.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./kraken-sell-usd-ada.component.css']
})
export class KrakenSellUsdAdaComponent implements OnInit, AfterViewInit {
  displayedColumns: string[] = ['Quantity', 'Rate'];
  dataSource;
  sortedData;
  @ViewChild(MatSort) sort: MatSort;
  @ViewChild(MatPaginator) paginator: MatPaginator;

  constructor(private orderBookService: OrderBookKrakenService) {
    this.getTransfers();
  }

  ngOnInit() {
  }

  ngAfterViewInit() {
  }

  private getTransfers(): void {
    const currency1 = 'ADA';
    const currency2 = 'USD';
    this.orderBookService.getOrderBookKraken(currency1, currency2)
      .subscribe(orders => {
        if (!orders) { return; }
        console.log(orders);
        this.dataSource = orders.result.ADAUSD.bids;
        this.dataSource = this.dataSource.slice();
        //this.dataSource.sort = this.sort;
        this.sortedData.paginator = this.paginator;
      });
  }

  sortData(sort: Sort) {
    const data = this.dataSource.slice();
    if (!sort.active || sort.direction === '') {
      this.dataSource = data;
      return;
    }

    this.dataSource = data.sort((a, b) => {
      const isAsc = sort.direction === 'asc';
      switch (sort.active) {
        case 'Quantity': return compare(a, b, isAsc);
        case 'Rate': return compare(a, b, isAsc);
        default: return 0;
      }
    });
  }

}
function compare(a: number | string, b: number | string, isAsc: boolean) {
  return (a < b ? -1 : 1) * (isAsc ? 1 : -1);
}

As you can see I tried to combine mat-table and mat-sort-header. Unfortunately mat-table sorting is not working at all.

A: Here is the solution with simple example:
HTML:

    Quantity
    Rate
    Timestamp

    {{dessert[0]}}
    {{dessert[1]}}
    {{dessert[2]}}

TS:
import {Component} from '@angular/core';
import {Sort} from '@angular/material';

export interface Dessert {
  listOfLists : number[][];
}
@Component({
  selector: 'sort-overview-example',
  templateUrl: 'sort-overview-example.html',
  styleUrls: ['sort-overview-example.css'],
})
export class SortOverviewExample {
  desserts: Dessert['listOfLists'] = [
    [1.00, 2500.00, 9459599599],
    [1.05, 2505.00, 9459599533],
    [1.10, 2495.00, 9459599466]
  ];

  sortedData: Dessert['listOfLists'];

  constructor() {
    this.sortedData = this.desserts.slice();
  }

  sortData(sort: Sort) {
    const data = this.desserts.slice();
    if (!sort.active || sort.direction === '') {
      this.sortedData = data;
      return;
    }

    this.sortedData = data.sort((a, b) => {
      const isAsc = sort.direction === 'asc';
      switch (sort.active) {
        case 'quantity': return compare(a[0], b[0], isAsc);
        case 'rate': return compare(a[1], b[1], isAsc);
        case 'timestamp': return compare(a[2], b[2], isAsc);
        default: return 0;
      }
    });
  }
}

function compare(a: number | string, b: number | string, isAsc: boolean) {
  return (a < b ? -1 : 1) * (isAsc ? 1 : -1);
}

A: If I recall, in order to attach the paginator and sorting functionality correctly it must be done after view init. This is because they must exist in the DOM for it to work correctly. It might be working for you as the constructor maybe does async work that finishes after DOM init but Id recommend moving this logic into afterviewinit. Lets say you add FE caching to your app and it will probs break.
I also think you might be better pulling the unsorted data (the actual array) out of the data source and then sorting that before using it to create a new mat data source because you are applying the array function on a matDataSource object directly no?
Sorry if that doesnt directly answer the question but if you apply this and debug it might lead to an answer.
EDIT: If you want to change how the default sorting accesses properties on the row take a look at top answer here:
Angular Material 2 DataTable Sorting with nested objects