If you read the previous House of Mars post you know all about my relationship to cleaning; a truly dysfunctional one, dating all the way back to childhood Since these early rules were imposed by my mother, let's call them matricentric. I'm not sure if that's a real word, but I like its sound, so let's extend it to patricentric because my father had a later hand in contributing to my work attitude, and it haunts me still.
As the years went by, we moved from the apartment in Harlem to a brick row house in the Bronx. The house had what we all wanted, which was very simple for my brothers and me – upstairs bedrooms. Ironically these very stairs strike fear in my heart when I recall Sundays, and what should have been a day of rest. Isn't that what Sundays are supposed to be?
We'd be back from church and breakfast at the Pancake House. I'd have changed into – I don't remember exactly what, but in today's world it would be sweats. Ahh, there I was, all comfy and sprawled on the couch – my face hidden behind the Sunday comics. My mother would be in the kitchen, starting preparations for the Sunday roast. My brothers? I have no idea; perhaps they were wiser than me, and maintaining a low profile.
The truly alarming thing is I've been hearing these words, louder and louder for each of the last fourteen years, the years I've been living in The House of Mars. Well, maybe not those exact words, but the spirit behind them. I'm racked with guilt if I linger over the paper once my coffee cup is empty. And it's spread, I hear them not just Sunday mornings, but Saturday too !
Is there such a thing as WA? I think I've become a Workaholic, albeit a procrastinating one when it comes to some chores – the ones that strike fear in my heart; the ones that involve tools you need to plug in or engines to be started up. Now this is really quite puzzling because my level of tool love borders on the macho. Everyone knows I'm proud of my power drill, power screw driver, and all my power saws, and of course my power pressure washer. I just suffer from the what if they don't work and I have to have them repaired jitters.
Well, the time to bite the bullet finally came. This year February had it in for everything wooden, and even I was getting tired of my own sad fixes.
So two weekends back I gathered my trusty screwdriver, said a Hail Mary and yes, yes, we were in business! Now everything looks like new!
Well, there was a slight problem with the thermometer ……..
but what the heck nobody's perfect!
And in case you're wondering about the answer to next weekend's Anything for Virginia to do around the house?
Weekends and housekeeping chores; the two have been a dreaded duo for more years than I wish to commit to paper (or screen). It all began when I was ten years old and awarded my very own bedroom with brand new grown up furniture. But there was a catch. It came along with the grown up responsibility of keeping it clean. And then, there was the fine print. I couldn't go out to play on Saturday mornings until I'd changed the linen and cleaned the room, wall to wall, corner to corner, which I saw as open to interpretation.
Come Saturdays the bedroom set that had looked so glamorous when I'd been allowed to pick it out at the furniture store morphed into an endless lot of surfaces to dust: the dresser with mirror, the chest of drawers, the night stand, and of course, the requisite desk for doing homework; although I found I could camouflage that by piling my books and book bag atop it.
My cover would be blown each summer when I spent August at sleep away camp. My mother would attack the room for more than surface cleaning. True story – the summer after eighth grade she found thirty five out of sight out of mind graduation gift dollars behind my dresser. The sad part is I don't think I'd ever missed them.
Ten years slid by and there I was, in my own apartment. No way was I going to muck up my well-earned weekends with housework. I set up a strict schedule for myself. I'd come home from a day of teaching; have a cup of tea, then attack a room a day. Luckily it was a three room apartment so come Friday night, I was free to rock.
My clothes dryer died. Technically, it works, but only on permanent air conditioning – it only blows cold air. Since it was a freebie, in place, along with the washer, when I purchased The House of Mars fourteen years ago, I figure if I buy a new dryer and go through the hassle of arranging removal and delivery, you can bet, sure as anything, the washer will die a clunking death the very next day, I decided to wait for that day, and meanwhile go green.
So now I present to you my new toy.
I'm either amazed at how much it holds or astonished how little a washer load amounts to. But at any rate, I treasure hanging clothes in the morning air. And I hardly recognize the person manning the clothespins. Can that be me, painstakingly hanging each piece seams straight, spaced out just so? And there she is again, taking it all down after work , folding and smoothing each fresh-smelling garment before putting it in the basket. Aah life is good!
Now, when winter rolls around……… but that's a long way off. Out of sight out of mind!
John Lennon had his Instant Karma and George Michael and Culture Club had Karma Chameleon but the karma I'm talking about is Plant Karma.
Karma and reincarnation are beliefs I seem to have been born with. Even though I dutifully memorized all the questions and answers in the Baltimore Catechism in parochial school, I could never take to heart the one-chance lifetime that led to an everlasting heaven or hell. As far back as the second grade I'd lay awake trying to picture heaven as life without end. I always came to an end. Other nights I'd think "what if I used to be George Washington and just forgot about it.
When I got a little older I took pride in being an American and I figured I must have done something good to earn the right to be born in America, and in New York, on top of that, while other children were suffering in poverty in India or under oppression behind the Iron Curtain. I had no name for it at the time but it all came back to me when I learned about Karma.
Well now that Spring is finally here in NY, I'm back walking at lunch time, and in the midst of one, my monkey mind wandered and stumbled on karma in the plant world. How else can you explain why some plants are pampered pets?
And others defy all odds yet live and grow?
What a plant can have done wrong to come back as a weed, I wondered, and then I corrected myself. No No! Bad! Bad! Not weed!
A very old memory had come flooding back to me. It was 1980 and the day I became enlightened as to PC words. Not not politically correct. Plant correct.
I was visiting Yosemite National Park with The Man I Was Married To, (TMIWMT) and we were taking a tour of the forests on the Valley floor led by a Park Ranger. TMIWMT had a question. I don't recall what it was. All I remember was that he used the word weed.
Well, poor TMIWMT, the ranger took umbrage at that word. They were wild plants and wildflowers, and had every right to be there. Weed implied an interloper so if you came right down to it humans were the weeds here in the forest.
I don't think TMIWMT ever used the word weed again for the duration of our time together. Nor did I. In our garden there were the intentionally planted flowers and vegetables and then there were what we called volunteers.
Volunteers perform good works, don't they. And that's good karma. So do you think any of these guys will come back next years looking like this?


text:
Swift Current Telecasting Co. Ltd., 1957-2008, 13 results 13
Swift Current Telecasting Co. Ltd., 1957-2008
Advertisements series
F 537-11
Part of CJFB-TV fonds
This series consists of film reels containing advertisements for local businesses produced by and/or for CJFB-TV in Swift Current. The majority of advertisements are for car dealerships. No sub-series were identified within this series.
AgriBiz Episodes series
F 537-1
This series consists of a sampling of episodes of the television show AgriBiz from 2000 and 2001 and promotional clips featuring short pieces of footage from the televison segments. No sub-series have been identified in this series.
CJFB-TV fonds
This fonds consists of records created, accumulated and used in the operation of CJFB-TV television station in Swift Current, Saskatchewan from 1940 to 2006. The types of records included are video cassettes and video reels of locally produced tel...
Correspondence series
This series consists of correspondence received or sent by CJFB-TV or its representatives, including William Forst. No sub-series have been identified in this series.
ca. 1950, 1960-2001
This series consists of video and film footage of specific events, including news and sports, that occured in the Swift Current, Saskatchewan region or which impacted that region. Events include Swift Current Broncos hockey games, curling champion...
Farming Today series
This series consists of video cassettes containing mostly unedited segments prepared for the television show Farming Today and one film reel containing the opening credits for the show. No sub-series were identified in this series.
File Footage series
This series consists of videotapes of raw file footage filmed by CJFB-TV camera operators. Footage includes mostly generic scenery of Swift Current and the countryside around it through the years and seasons; scenes of farms and crop fields; harve...
Forst Radio series
This series consists of records created by Forst Radio, an independent radio station that broadcasted in Vegreville, Alberta. Recordings are primarily of music, including popular music from the 1940s, jazz, and Ukrainian language broadcasts. Two r...
Manuals and Inspection Reports series
This series consists of technical manuals and equipment inspection reports created and used in the operation of CJFB-TV. The records reflect William Forst's interest in and contributions to broadcast technology. No sub-series were identified ...
Personal series
1955, 1961, 1965, 1967-1969, 1976, 1987, 2006
This series consists mainly of personal records created, accumulated and used by William (Bill) Forst, founder of CJFB-TV, and his family. The types of records included are plaques, a photograph, newspaper clippings, a certificate, receipts and in...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Oregon Firearms Federation Legislative Update
Ammoland Inc. Posted on June 8, 2011 June 8, 2011 by F Riehl, Editor in Chief
Oregon Firearms Federation
Salem, Oregon –-(Ammoland.com)- We are now entering into that time in the legislative session where tempers fray, rational thinking is in short supply and really bad things happen.
Now that our session has a statutory ending date, the last minute back-stabbing, bill-stuffing and childish retribution is highly compressed.
While following what has happened to gun bills in 2011 would be better illustrated with a flow chart, we'll do our best to explain where we stand now.
Although we had quite a few bills introduced in 2011, four actually made it through part of the legislative process. They were:
HB 2787, a bill to protect the privacy of CHL holders.
HB 2791, a bill to turn background checks over to the Feds and save gun buyers some money.
HB 2792, a bill to recognize other state's concealed handgun licenses and,
HB 2797, a bill to define how a person may lawfully transport a firearm on a motorcycle, ATV or snowmobile.
Early in the session we were informed by an unimpeachable source that Floyd Prozanski planned to insert a poison pill in any gun bill that came to his committee, unless he planned to kill the bill outright. This information turned out to be painfully accurate. So here's where we are at.
HB 2787 passed overwhelmingly in the House and was killed by Prozanski in Senate Judiciary. Although scheduled for a work session, Prozanski simply ignored the bill and it died on Wednesday.
HB 2791 passed out of the House Judiciary Committee. Representative Andy Olsen, usually a supporter of gun rights voted no, but Representative Chris Garrett, who is not in any way a reliable friend of gun rights, voted yes as a courtesy for a Republican rep who was out of the room at the time. 2791 was sent to the Ways and Means Committee where it currently lies, bruised and bleeding by the side of the road while legislators step over it and pretend it does not exist. It is not officially dead, but without some action soon it will die of neglect. The State Police will continue to mismanage background checks and gun buyers will continue to pay twice for a "service" they never requested. Even some of the early supporters of this bill started to get cold feet when the public employee's unions came out in force to proclaim that if a few union employees at the State Police ID unit lost their jobs, Oregon's economy would collapse.
HB 2792 passed the House by a wide margin and was also sent to Floyd Prozanski's sausage factory. There, any reference to recognizing other states' permits was removed. Inserted was the motorcycle language from HB 2797 and new restrictions on felon's abilities to get gun rights restoration. This issue has been an obsession with Prozanski ever since 2009 when SB 603 passed. 603 allowed felons to go to court and make a case for why they should have their firearms rights restored. From the moment that bill passed (with no opposition in either house) Prozanski has been trying to reverse it. This is all the more odd since the bill was crafted by and approved by and voted for by…Floyd Prozanski. 2792 will next go to the full Senate for a vote. If it passes there (which is likely given that the two Republicans on the committee gave their blessings to this latest "gut and stuff") it has to go back to the House for "concurrence." The House can refuse to concur in which case a "conference committee" will be created to craft a compromise. We have repeatedly requested the key players to consider an amendment that will move "recognition" forward and defuse the gun haters argument against it.
The gun haters primary, stated objection to recognizing other states' handgun licenses is that other states do not have the lofty standards we do when issuing a CHL. We have crafted an amendment and have been distributing it to key legislators for months that instead simply allows residents of any state to apply for our license. We still believe this is a positive strategy but there is a serious case of "not-invented-here" in our legislature and it's unlikely any politician will suggest this simple commonsense amendment.
HB 2797 is the most pathetic example of legislative nonsense. In 2009, we drafted and passed legislation to define the term "readily accessible" for the purposes of transporting handguns for those without concealed handgun licenses. Our language included definitions for transport on a motorcycle. The motorcycle language was mistakenly removed from the final version, so right now we have no legal and practical way to transport a handgun on a motorcycle without a CHL. HB 2797 fixed that problem, but also clarified how to lawfully carry on a snowmobile or ATV. This was NOT in any way a controversial bill. It passed the House without a single no vote. Then it was sent to Prozanski to be turned into a Frankenstein's monster. We have to give him credit, he did a heck of a job. That bill now bans guns on any school or college property, a goal that has been Ginny Burdick's delusional fantasy for years. It's interesting to note that in the past, Prozanski voted against the same legislation because he knew it could not pass the House and he did not want to force Senators to go on the record supporting such lunacy when it had no chance of passing. Now, with the exact same dynamics. Prozanski did a 180 and passed this garbage out of his committee, forcing Senate Democrats to go on record with almost no chance of the bill ever becoming law. We've been told that Burdick has been haunting Prozanski about this issue and that might explain his otherwise inexplicable about-face, but maybe it was this brilliant letter from "Ceasefire Oregon."
They repeatedly testified that there were three murders committed by CHL holders in schools. While there is no evidence in any of the cases they mentioned that the killers were actually CHL holders, what is interesting is this; none of the cases were in Oregon, they had to search nationally to find three incidents, all happened in states where it is already illegal to have a gun on school property and not a single one of these incidents would have been prevented by the enactment of their demented "no self-defense-in-schools" policy. But it looks like this was enough for Prozanski and his fellow Democrats on the committee, Bonamici and Dingfelder. Who needs facts when you can always fall back on hysteria? (The bill also includes language to keep CHL info private. Prozanski told us he could not move a bill that did this because his caucus did not approve, but he did put it into this bill which is sure to fail. Confused yet? )
The Republicans on the committee, Doug Whitsett and Jeff Kruse responded with a "minority report" which is basically an alternative bill that the Senate can vote on. Neither discussed any element of the proposed legislation with OFF, and while their proposals were ambitious, even Senator Kruse, on a local talk show, admitted it had no chance of approval. Given that their proposal was 34 pages, that it gave almost every anti-gunner something to hate, and was hastily and poorly drafted, this may be no net loss. The minority report had plenty of pro-gun language in it, but also included things that really made no sense, like making it a crime for someone under 18 to have a concealed firearm on school grounds. Last time we checked, that was already illegal.
On the other hand, the House Judiciary Committee modified a Senate Bill (SB 347) that was intended to protect private info of domestic violence victims and now includes protection for CHL holders. House Reps Mary Nolan and Carolyn Tomei, staunch liberal feminists voted against the bill in committee because it protects CHL holders. They would have voted yes to protect victims until the bill also protected victims who took steps to protect themselves. There are some people we will never quite understand.
So that's where we stand today. 2797 and 2792 will be on the Senate floor soon. 2791 remains on life support in the Ways and Means Committee and Floyd has managed to artfully muck up everything that came from the House with wide majorities. And now we get to do this every year.
The Oregon Firearms Federation has proven itself to be Oregon's only no compromise lobbying group, OFF takes the same tough stands and serves as a vehicle for educating gun owners, promoting their rights and when necessary, fighting the freedom haters in court. Visit: www.oregonfirearms.org


text:
After Orban's re-election, populist Hungary set to be a thorn in EU's side
Mahmud el-Shafey
While Orban is critical of the European Union, nobody expects him to seek to leave the union.
Barbed wire politics. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban waves during the final electoral rally of his Fidesz party in Szekesfehervar, on April 6. (AP)
LONDON - Hungarian strongman Viktor Orban secured a historic fourth term after his anti-immigration, anti-Islam, right-wing populist Fidesz party secured a two-thirds majority in parliamentary elections.
Fidesz won 133 seats in Hungary's 199-member parliament, having run a campaign almost exclusively based on the issue of migration and the idea of defending "Christian" Hungary from refugees and migrants.
Orban sought to portray the issue of immigration as an existential threat to Hungary and the rest of Europe. It is a message that galvanised supporters and raised already high fears about the normalisation of far-right anti-Islamic discourse across Europe.
In his annual state of the union speech in February, Orban warned that the European Union had "opened the way for the decline of Christian culture and… Islamic expansion."
"We are those who think that Europe's last hope is Christianity… If all this continues, in the big cities of Europe there will be a Muslim majority," he said.
Hungary has a small Muslim population, estimated at just 40,000 out of a population of 10 million. However, the country's southern border marks an external Schengen border zone. At the height of the refugee crisis, many asylum seekers sought entry into the European Union's Schengen zone via Hungary.
At an election rally in March, Orban turned his ire on the European Union. "Africa wants to kick down our door and Brussels is not defending us. Europe is under invasion already and they are watching with their hands in the air," he told a cheering crowd.
Hungary built a fence along its southern border with Serbia and Croatia in 2015 to try to stop illegal migration. While the fence has been controversial in the European Union, it has been popular with supporters.
Fidesz's April 8 election victory, with such a commanding parliamentary majority, sets the stage for Orban to take the offensive domestically and in Hungary's relations with the European Union.
"Hungary's parliamentary elections results will likely provide robust validation for the nationalist, populist and xenophobic ideology espoused by Prime Minister Viktor Orban," Phoenix Kalen, a London-based analyst at Societe Generale, was quoted as saying on portfolio.hu, a Hungarian financial website.
Far-right leaders across Europe congratulated Orban following his election victory, hoping that it augurs well for far-right politics in forthcoming European elections.
"The inversion of values and mass immigration promoted by the EU have once again been rejected," said France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen. "Nationalist parties could be a majority in Europe at the next European Parliament elections in 2019."
The far-right Alternative for Germany party tweeted that Orban's re-election was "a bad day for the EU but a good day for Europe."
The European Union reacted cautiously to Orban's re-election. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker issued a statement stressing the importance of all members "defending" the values of the European Union, "with no exception."
European Council President Donald Tusk also implicitly warned Orban to walk the line in his official statement of congratulation. "I count on you to play a constructive role in maintaining our unity in the EU," Tusk said.
It is not clear that Orban, with political capital to spend after his election victory, will toe the EU line. Orban had said that Hungary would not accept the European Union's compulsory redistribution of migrants and indicated that he wants the European Union to change the way it distributes funds.
"The results may include continuing strains in Hungary's relationship with the EU, which has thus far been powerless to stem Hungary's slide into autocracy," Kalen acknowledged on portfolio.hu.
While Orban is critical of the European Union, nobody expects him to seek to leave the union, particularly given that Hungary is reliant on EU funds.
"There is a big, big rightward move as a result of these elections in Hungary," said the United Kingdom's leading anti-EU politician Nigel Farage in comments made on his LBC radio show.
"It used to be said that I was the European Union's biggest nightmare, campaigning for Britain to leave. I think Viktor Orban is going to be an even bigger nightmare because he doesn't even intend to leave. He intends to be there to keep saying no and to cause absolute chaos," he added.
Written By Mahmud el-Shafey
Mahmud el-Shafey is an Arab Weekly correspondent in London. You can follow him on twitter @mahmudelshafey
Iraq ouster of foreign troops would show US 'failure'
UNRWA feeling Israeli 'pressure in East Jerusalem in particular'
Turkey starting troop deployment to Libya ahead of Berlin summit


The CSAR PhD Students Awards of £1,000 each, are intended to recognise outstanding research with real world application and to assist students to pursue their research or careers.
The awards are open to students, in any discipline at the University of Cambridge, currently studying for their Ph.D. at the deadline for application. Selection of applicants will be at the discretion of the CSAR PhD Student Awards Committee.
Applications for 2019 closed on Sunday 9 December 2018.
The Awards Ceremony took place on Tuesday 9 April 2019 in the University Combination Room at the Old Schools.
Craig Pearson (2018): I am a PhD student who studies the connection between the eye and the brain. My doctoral research focused on a group of neurons that arise in the retina and project through the optic nerve to the brain. Damage to these neurons—due to injury or disease such as glaucoma—is irreversible, as they do not spontaneously regenerate. My objective was to modify the molecular environment in the optic nerve to promote the growth of these damaged cells. In mice, I discovered that delivering an enzyme to the optic nerve which modifies the structure of certain growth-inhibiting sugar molecules enables neurons to regenerate farther following an acute injury than in control-treated mice. In the future, I hope to develop integrated therapies that have the potential to regenerate visual neurons and restore sight in humans. I used funding from the CSAR to co-found a scholarship program for young scientists interested in vision research. The Peter Watson International Scholarship (PWIS), a partnership between the University of Cambridge and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a national award open to UK high school students. In April, 2018, two winners selected by a distinguished awards committee received an all-expenses paid trip to the United States, where they visited the NIH and the National Eye Institute, toured laboratories and research facilities, met directly with faculty, visited the U.S. Capitol, and presented their winning research projects. The scholarship also received funding from the Cambridge Eye Trust and the Biomedical Research Alliance, and was recently renewed for a second year. Funding from CSAR also enabled me to travel to the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, where I presented my research on optic nerve regeneration, networked with leading scientists in my field to devise combinatorial treatments using my enzyme, and shared the outcomes of our first PWIS award. I look forward to continuing with these efforts as I move forward in my career as a vision scientist.
Saif Syed Ahmad (2017): Being a recipient of the prize has been fantastically beneficial for me in a number of ways. Firstly, I used the prize money to fund my attendance to a research meeting in Paris where I also presented a research poster. The meeting was an excellent learning opportunity for me and allowed me to meet researchers I may collaborate with in future. Secondly, I had the privilege of presenting my research at a CSAR meeting at Churchill College which was a well-received and highly rewarding experience. Thirdly, I had the opportunity to be a judge the Award in 2018 and this experience was a fantastic learning experience enabling me to learn about novel research and see how research abstracts are viewed from a judge's perspective. Importantly, being an Award Recipient has helped me secure other exciting opportunities within academia. Having completed my PhD I am now focusing my research into understanding how we can improve the treatment of breast cancer. As a current postdoc, I was selected for an exciting Leadership Development Programme, supported by the Canada-UK Foundation and the University of Cambridge, which promotes the careers of outstanding postdocs, enabling them to become future world-leaders and entrepreneurs who will potentially create new technologies, jobs and generate economic growth. https://www.opda.cam.ac.uk/career-development/CanadaUK-fellowships .
Aleksej Popel (2014): The CSAR Student Award given to me allowed me to cover living expenses over my stay at the Division of Radiochemistry at Lomonosov Moscow University in March to April 2014 to conduct experimental work for my PhD. I was fortunate that during my visit the International Lomonosov Conference for Young Scientists took place at the University. I was able to take part in the Conference, where I presented my results on characterisation of irradiated and unirradiated single crystal thin films of UO2, and even managed to get a Conference award for this work. Apart from my work, I took this opportunity to enjoy the cultural heritage of Moscow.


text:
Careers, Reflection, Science Communication
Geoscience and Marine Biology Working Together in the National Parks
Date: 17 February 2016Author: geosociety 0 Comments
By Nicole E. Brandt, Geoscientist-in-the-Parks Program Participant, National Park Service
"Geoscience addresses critical issues such as energy, meteorology, water and mineral resources, stewardship of the environment, oceanography, planetary science and more!" – science.nasa.gov
I had never really considered myself a student of geoscience. For some reason, that word stirred in me the more conventional images of a rock-enthused geologist or perhaps a lab-coated technician monitoring earthquakes rather than a marine biologist–I had always been firmly camped in the biological life sciences. Perhaps that's why in all my job searching I had never discovered the National Park Service (NPS) Geoscientists-in-the-Parks (GIP) program and the Geological Society of America (GSA) GeoCorpsTM America program. Fortunately, providence intervened and I found myself in the Biological Resources Division of the National Park Service, in Fort Collins, CO, listening to a world-renowned bison biologist tell me about the NPS interest in marine wildlife and subsequently applying for their Geoscientist-in-the-Parks position.
I had spent the previous post-collegiate years conducting fieldwork on marine wildlife–studying seabirds in Alaska, sea otters and pinnipeds in California, and right whales in Georgia just to name a few projects. My job duties had been wide-ranging. One day might have entailed using a scat dog to collect fecal samples from an endangered killer whale population, the next month I was tagging sea turtles in Baja California, or cruising the Gulf of Mexico in a plane to monitor species impacted by Deepwater Horizon. While I had visited Colorado, never would I have imagined working here. My heart (and resume) clearly belonged to the oceans.
One amazing thing about Colorado has been the plethora of outdoor adventures, including breathtaking mountains just perfect for a weekend of snowboarding or a snowy trail run.
GIP Project
My GIP project with the National Park Service (NPS) has taken a fine focus to my previous experiences. Tasked with reviewing marine wildlife across all coastal and marine NPS units, much of my day is spent in literature review or in conversations with scientists across the Service. It's an exciting time to be researching marine stewardship and science as the NPS tackles challenges like climate change, energy development, ocean acidification, fisheries interactions, and marine debris.
GIP participant and author Nicole Brandt on right, hashing out some of the project details with supervisor Glenn Plumb.
The NPS portfolio has some models of legendary marine stewardship and science including the long-term studies on humpback whales at Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, the groundbreaking reintroduction efforts at Padre Island National Seashore for Kemp's ridley sea turtles1, and the collaborative pinniped research conducted at Channel Islands National Park between NPS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Marine wildlife often serve as indicator species on the overall health of the coastal and marine ecosystem-declining marine wildlife populations are symptomatic of the deteriorating condition of the ocean environment.
The purpose of NPS management was identified in founding legislation to be "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations" (NPS Organic Act, 16 U.S.C. §1). An assessment compiled by the National Park System Advisory Board in 2012, "Revisiting Leopold", determined the only way to accomplish the NPS mission was by "stewarding resources for continuous change that is not yet fully understood"–which requires robust scientific study to guide management decisions and facilitate stewardship. According to the National Ocean Park Stewardship Action Plan, the stewardship of NPS resources through science-based management will "best result from collaboration among federal agencies, states, tribes, citizens, local communities, and academia, when all work to protect a shared ocean heritage"; where terrestrial and marine protected areas share boundaries, whether they be parks, sanctuaries, or state reserves, unique opportunities exist to connect conservation corridors into a network, adding to their individual and collective resilience over time.
My project has been utilizing multiple data sets to examine what marine mammal and marine reptile species occur in the 80 coastal and marine National Park units. Through discussions with park and region personnel, I'm looking into what sorts of management and research are being done with marine wildlife species in parks and identifying where opportunities exist to expand stewardship and science. And it's not over yet – I'll be continuing to work with the Biological Resources Division to draft a technical report of my findings and assist in coordinating a workshop on marine wildlife concerns within NPS. The National Park Service turns 100 on August 25, 2016–what better way to celebrate then by undertaking a Service-wide review of marine wildlife, an endeavor which has not yet been attempted.
From left to right: Sarah Codde (Point Reyes National Seashore), Kristine Williams (Virginia Aquarium), and the author at the SMM biennial conference banquet.
One of the best experiences of my tenure was the chance to attend The Society for Marine Mammalogy (SMM) Conference in San Francisco, CA. For any marine mammal nerd, this is the extravaganza to attend – the legendary researchers and lead authors of your favorite scientific papers are walking around in the flesh. While this was the largest conference to-date, the field of marine mammal science is still relatively small and young compared to other scientific fields, which means that some of today's well-accepted and utilized techniques were pioneered by folks spearheading this conference. It was a great opportunity to meet NPS researchers and collaborators who presented their work on humpback whales and harbor seals in Alaska, elephant seals in California, and grey seals in Massachusetts. Researchers from around the globe presented landmark achievements in the field of marine mammal science, many of which involved innovative technology and multi-national collaborations. The Society awarded the first ever Conservation Merit Prize to Mexico in recognition of the collaborative effort of the Mexican government, scientists, World Wildlife Fund–Mexico, and local fishermen to conserve the critically endangered vaquita—a rare species of porpoise that lives solely in the Gulf of California, Mexico. I attended an all-day workshop on pinniped disentanglement, looking at the global problem of pinniped entanglement in marine debris and fishery gear, methods of prevention, and techniques for rescue and gear removal. Improving removal techniques and studying entanglements to reduce incidences becomes particularly important for imperiled species like the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.
VIDEO: "Entanglement of Steller Sea Lions in Marine Debris: Identifying Causes and Finding Solutions", credit: Alaska Department of Fish and Game
The author with NOAA employee Courtney Smith, visiting Año Nuevo State Park and discussing various NOAA programs – some meetings are just better outside! #FindYourPark
During my time in California, I was able to do a site visit to a special protected area-Año Nuevo State Park-which in addition to being a California State Preserve is also a National Natural Landmark site. Año Nuevo is one of the largest mainland breeding colonies for Northern elephant seals. Research is conducted by the University of California Santa Cruz and NOAA on elephant seal population dynamics, health, behavior, and physiology. During the breeding season, tours are carefully conducted by trained docents, to minimize disturbance to the seals while still allowing wildlife viewing. The first pup of the season had been born just days before our arrival, but mom and pup were tucked away on the beach and not visible from the viewing platform. I did see quite a few adult and subadult males mock fighting, as well as snoozing away on the warm sand.
Subadult male elephant seal hauled-out and resting at Año Nuevo State Park.
How Geoscience and Marine Biology Work Together
For those interested in a career as a marine biologist or marine mammal scientist, I strongly recommend gaining practical skills through internships or positions like those offered through Geoscientists-in-the-Parks and GeoCorps America. Field projects often involve small teams deployed remotely–be sure you know how to use computer and photography equipment, learn how to troubleshoot a truck or boat engine, or become a savant at tinkering–the marine environment is brutal on equipment and something always needs repair. Be sure to take courses in statistics, database management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and a variety of sciences (ecology, physiology, animal behavior, botany, physics, and chemistry)–even if you aren't interested in them, many graduate schools or federal positions require such coursework and having an understanding of multiple disciplines can come into play when looking at complicated issues like ocean health or climate change.
The field is fiercely competitive and often requires long hours for minimal pay, with few of the glamorous moments portrayed in the media. I encourage you to think outside the box–you may find that a merger of policy and science suits you, or that you have a unique passion for fisheries management or wildlife disease epidemiology. Gaining a variety of experiences will help you develop your passion and skill set. So much work is done as a team-learn how to get along well with others, but be independent and reliable. Be thorough–listen to directions carefully, read everything you can get your hands on, and never forget to spell-check. Most importantly, be curious (don't be afraid to ask questions) and look for the silver linings. There will always be days when you're covered in bug bites, it rains, your lunch falls overboard, and the study animals aren't present–keeping a good attitude (and a spare granola bar in your pocket) can make or break a field project.
I have been immensely fortunate to have spent time with the National Park Service through this position, but even more so to have found a fantastic team willing to mentor a new colleague. I have gained a better understanding of how the Department of the Interior and its bureaus, a newfound passion for increasing NPS stewardship and science in the field of marine conservation, and a creative mindset for exploring ways NPS can facilitate more efficient partnerships with other agencies, states, and NGOs.
NOTE FROM GSA: The NPS GIP program is accepting applications for summer positions until February 29. The GSA GeoCorps program is accepting applications as well, with deadlines for summer positions varying between February 29 and March 29.
The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute their endorsement by the U.S. Government.
1Caillouet, Charles W., Donna J. Shaver, and André M. Landry. 2015. Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) Head-Start and Reintroduction to Padre Island National Seashore, Texas. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 10(Symposium): 309-377.
GeoCorpsGeoscientists-in-the-ParksGIPScientists in ParksSIP
Previous Previous post: A Not-So-Icy View of the Arctic
Next Next post: Geologists Share Earthquake Early Warning Technology with Lawmakers


text:
Le château de San Marcos est un château médiéval situé à El Puerto de Santa María, dans la communauté autonome d'Andalousie en Espagne. Il a été construit sur les fondations d'une ancienne mosquée sous le règne d'Alphonse X au .

Il a été déclaré « Bien d'intérêt culturel » le .

Histoire

Le château de San Marcos fut une église construite sur les fondations d'une ancienne mosquée du . Cette forteresse qui a été érigée par le monarque Alfonso X El Sabio en l'honneur de la Vierge Marie après la reprise de la ville était le quartier général d'une palette de grandes personnalités scientifiques, de nobles, d'historiens de l'acabit de Christophe Colomb.

Architecture

Notes et références

Voir aussi
 Liste des châteaux en Espagne

San Marcos
Monument dans la province de Cadix
El Puerto de Santa María

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


It's lightweight, road-ready and built for daily use—be it in the brisk fall winds or blazing days of summer.
When you want everything in one carrier, choose complete: the LÍLLÉbaby® COMPLETE™ baby carrier combines all essential features, including our priceless lumbar support, in one light-weight carrier that easily transforms as your child grows — from birth through toddler years.
This Six Position carrier lives up to its name and delivers complete functionality while providing baby wearers with six ergonomic ways to carry, and bond with baby through every age and developmental stage.
2-way adjustable shoulder straps • Carry with ""X"" straps or ""backpack style""


Almost all the smartphone makes have revealed their flagship models for this year and now after entering into the second quarter of the year, Asus is also getting ready to launch its Zenfone 6Z smartphone under the Zenfone 6 series. The upcoming device has been leaked today with the model number ASUS_101WD on AnTuTu benchmarking website and this should be the device that the company has promised to unveil on 16th of May in Spain.
The listing of the device reveals that the Zenfone 6Z will be coming with 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor as the primary sensor for its rear as well as its selfie camera which should be the selling point of the handset. Although we are not sure if Asus is going to uses the same Sony IMX586 sensor for the front camera also. Furthermore, the handset will be coming with 2340 by 1080 pixels resolution display but the size of it has not been confirmed yet.
The device is said to be coming with 6GB of RAM memory along with 128GB of storage option and we might expect other storage option by the time the handset get unveiled. Under the hood, this flagship device will be using the latest Snapdragon 855 SoC from Qualcomm. We can expect the device to be coming out of the box with the Android 9.0 Pie with the companies owns Zen UI on top. We can also expect Android Q update on this device since it is a flagship model of the company.
The successor of the Zenfone 5Z has scored 363172 scores on the AnTuTu benchmarking website and considering the leaks of the device, we can expect it to be coming with a notch-less display. The handset might also feature an in-display fingerprint sensor on the front to enhance the security levels. Well, what are your views on this upcoming smartphone from Asus? Comment in the section below and stay tuned to Android Advices for more news and updates.


text:
Siberian husky stolen outside Kroger has been recovered
Kodi, a white and gray husky, was taken around 7 p.m. Monday from a Kroger near Telegraph and Long Lake roads
Siberian husky stolen outside Kroger has been recovered Kodi, a white and gray husky, was taken around 7 p.m. Monday from a Kroger near Telegraph and Long Lake roads Check out this story on detroitnews.com: http://detne.ws/1YhKvyD
Tom Greenwood, The Detroit News Published 10:15 a.m. ET Dec. 15, 2015 | Updated 10:25 a.m. ET Dec. 16, 2015
Kevin Barnett and his Siberian Husky Kodi(Photo: Kevin Barnett)
Bloomfield Township — Kodi — No. 1 on the FBI (Fido Bureau of Investigations) most wanted list — has been returned to his owner.
Police reported the 10-month-old gray and white Siberian Husky had been stolen around 7 p.m. Monday while his owner was shopping in a Kroger store in the 4100 block of Telegraph in an area just south of Long Lake Road.
Kodi's owner, Kevin Barnett, said the pup was tethered outside for about 20 minutes when the pooch was snatched.
According to witnesses, the doggie was taken by a 20-something white male driving a Jeep Cherokee.
That's when Barnett turned to social media to help locate the missing pup.
"I put up a Facebook post with a photo and a story about what happened," said Barnett, who is pre-med junior at Michigan State University. "I also put warnings on Craigslist all over the state telling people that any ad for a Siberian Husky might involve a stolen dog."
On Monday night, Barnett had about 100 shares on Facebook. By Wednesday morning, it had grown to more than 10,000 shares.
"I was receiving messages from dog lovers telling me to hang in there, that they were praying for me and Kodi," Barnett said. "People I didn't know at all. I even received a message from a guy in Pennsylvania."
Then late Tuesday, Barnett received an anonymous tip about Kodi's location.
"We had offered a $1,000 reward but this person turned it down," Barnett said. "They just wanted dog the home safe and sound. We passed the tip on to the police, and they obtained a search warrant."
Kodi was located in a trailer park in Clarkston, hungry but otherwise healthy.
"The son's investigation led everything off," said Sgt. James Gallagher of the Bloomfield Township Police Department. "We were able to put together where the person was and went to that home. We could see the dog through the window. They cooperated and let us in, and Kodi came home."
Gallagher said police hope to present their case to the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday.
Kodi was safe and sound and a suspect has been taken into custody with charges pending. (Photo: Bloomfield Township Police Department)
"He was still wearing his leash," Barnett said. "The guy who took him was taken into custody, and the Bloomfield Township police, who have been incredibly helpful, are working with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office to determine what he should be charged with."
According to Barnett, walking the family dog to Kroger is an old tradition in his family.
"Before Kodi, we had another Husky named Scout," he said. "He loved lettuce, so every day, my dad would walk him to the Kroger store and buy him his head of lettuce. The two of them did that for 11 years before Scout died."
According to Barnette, everyone at the Kroger store knew the dog walking routine and weren't too surprised when Chris Barnett, Kevin's father, began walking Kodi to the store every day.
"Kodi doesn't eat lettuce, so my dad would just buy something small for himself, like a juice," said Barnett, who was tied up with finals when Kodi was taken. "And Kodi would be tied up near a window, so it's not like he was abandoned. At about 9:30 p.m. Monday, my mom called to say that Kodi was stolen. She was crying."
Barnett's father has determined that he's going to continue his twice a day walks with Kodi to Kroger.
"But for sure, he's not going to tie him up and then go inside the store," Barnett said. "He's just going to walk him for the exercise."
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/1YhKvyD


text:
Q: cannot resolve Preferences.readString method in following code : package com.jiit.minorproject.emergencycontact;
    import android.net.Uri;
    import android.os.Bundle;
    import android.app.Activity;
    import android.content.ActivityNotFoundException;
    import android.content.Intent;
    import android.util.Log;
    import android.view.Menu;
    import android.view.View;

    import java.util.prefs.Preferences;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
/*
 * HOSPITAL, POLICE, FIRESTATION, and AMBULANCE are constant variables that are assigned
 * to their respective emergency itent. It helps us to draw icons and perform web services
 * related activities.
 */
private static final int HOSPITAL = 1;
private static final int POLICE = 2;
private static final int FIRESTATION = 3;
private static final int AMBULANCE = 4;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
    super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

    if(Preferences.readString(this, Preferences.NAME) == null){
        startActivity(new Intent(this, Registration.class));
        if(Preferences.readString(this, Preferences.NAME) == null){
            this.finish();
        }
    } else {
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }
}

cannot resolve Prefernces.readString method

A: java.util.prefs.Preferences isn't generally used in Android code.  But even if it was-  there is no readString method in that class.  Look at the docs on it https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/prefs/Preferences.html
I'm not sure why you think that function should exist, but it really doesn't.

A: How to create an activity PREFERENCE Android?
First create a new XML

Then This xml say how daughter of MainActivity

and you see like this
(source: hermosaprogramacion.com)
it's the first and then play jeje , reed the official information.
Android developers: Settings

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Since 2012 Yellow Bird Estate Sales has taken the stress out of liquidating a household. If you are in need of liquidating personal property because of a death in the family, downsizing, relocating or for legal matters, call the professionals. Confidential services are provided by our personal, knowledgeable staff, who are honest, fast and full service. We will work with you and tailor our services to meet your needs. We provide experience, knowledge of the market place and have a large list of great customers, just waiting on our next sale. Best of all, there are no upfront fees. We proudly serve North Georgia with an emphisis on Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Hall, Dawson, Forsyth, Cherokee and Pickens Counties.


Auto Mowers of Oklahoma is Oklahoma's premier retailer of Green Energy Lawn Care Products.
Our Pledge is to bring you the finest and most reliable Green Energy Lawn Care products on the Market today.
With our professional installation, convenient and affordable service plans, you can rest assured that your Auto Mower will service you for years to come.


Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I just finished a middle grade novel like this, and yes, I did finish it. I kept reading even though the protagonist was whiny and unlikable. I kept reading even though the plot was something I'd seen a hundred times before. I kept reading even though the other characters were mostly undeveloped and/or stereotypical. I kept reading to the whiny, predictable end.
There was a time when I would let a book like this get the better of me. I'd stew and sulk and possibly–I'm not saying I did this, I'm just saying maybe–throw the book across the room. But not any more. Now, I read those books from start to finish. Because I want to know the why. What did an agent, an editor, and a whole acquisitions team see that I'm not seeing? Why did a book get published?
Publishing is a subjective business in some ways, but more importantly, it's a money-making business. So if a publisher sees dollar signs, it's a book they'll acquire, in spite of cardboard characters, tired plots, or a boring protagonist. My mission, when I'm reading so-so books, is to see why it sold.
And here's what I've found again and again: concept trumps everything. There are some subjects ( plots) that middle schoolers are always going to read. And there are emotional concepts that are highly relatable to the middle schooler. If I can find that relatable concept in a tried-and-true yet fresh plot, I'm halfway to the shelf.
You can be, too, in whatever you write. But first, you gotta read a lot of books.


text:
Which country was more powerful militarily in 1910: China or Germany?
Thread starter Hangfan91
More powerful military power overall in 1910?
Qing Empire
Hangfan91
Between these 2 major powers in the start of the 20th century (Qing Empire and German Empire) who had a more powerful military (army, navy)?
holoow
Germany, without doubt.
Reactions: Futurist, Gvelion, macon and 1 other person
Guevarist Mayan
This isn't even a question. Germany by far. China wasn't even a stable country. It was just a year away from a state of perpetual civil war, if it already wasn't. It permanently lost Mongolia just after the 1911 revolution, a territory the size of Mexico, and just 6 years earlier it had lost Tibet to the British, Tibet having been one of its biggest provinces. The Germans even had an enclave in China. If they went to China unopposed by other powers, they could have deposed the court of Puyi and install a puppet state without any problem, if not downright conquer China.
A far better comparison is Japan, although I think Germany was still superior to it.
Edit: Expanding a bit on Germany compared to Japan, the Japanese were able to take the German enclave of Qingdao in 1914 during WWI, but did so with British assistance and while the Germans were also fighting the French and the British in Europe.
Reactions: Futurist, Gvelion, sparky and 2 others
betgo
Not close. Germany was militarily the strongest country in the world, as shown in WWI, when it held its own against the 3 greatest empires. China was very weak and wouldn't compare well to any major power.
Reactions: Futurist and Menshevik
Austria-Hungary was possibly stronger than China. Austria-Hungary. In fact, the Austrians had a colonial enclave in China. It's the only colony they ever had.
Reactions: Futurist, Olleus, macon and 1 other person
U S Grant
Even within the local Asian area, Japan was a much more powerful force.
Thinking even more about this, the indigenous military of the Indian Colony were a much more powerful force than China, and of course sitting on China's border was Russia who could take whatever they wanted from China, only stopped by Japan or other European occupying forces and diplomacy.
Reactions: macon and frogsofwar
johnincornwall
Bit of a silly question really. Only Hollywood I know, but a quick glance at Flora Robson, David Niven, Charlton Heston and all in '55 days at Peking' gives at least an insight into the crisis of the dynasty and the disunity of China.
Germany had immense imperial designs at the time, whilst the Chinese Resident was thrown out of Tibet over Chinese impotence during the Younghusband Expedition invasion from British India a few years earlier.
pikeshot1600
Guevarist Mayan said:
Austria-Hungary was building warships (destroyers IIRC) for the Chinese navy in the years before WW I. I recall reading that the Chinese navy were requesting that Chinese cadets be trained at the K.u.K. Marine-Akademie. A-H did not have a colonial presence in China, but rather a commercial outlet - a trade concession zone - that could access specific Chinese market(s).
[A-H isn't in the OP, however that country was self sufficient in industry by 1910, as reflected above in naval construction. All steel, armor plate, naval guns, torpedoes, machinery and electrical equipment were produced domestically, with - evidently - surplus for export. Asia provided several important markets for Austrian exports of various manufactured products by 1910.]
No question that Germany was by far the stronger militarily. China had virtually no modern industrial capacity in 1910.
frogsofwar
Germany. They had a navy comparable (in the same tier, at least) as the Royal Navy. Their army was modern, as was their country.
I don't know a whole lot about China of the era, but I doubt they were even stronger than Japan, which had just defeated a great power a few years ago. Japan was new to the modernization game, and they were behind Germany, and probably far ahead of China.
What is interesting in this conversation to this point is that no one has mentioned the Boxer Rebellion. (Except the passing mention of the movie) The result of which was that a mixed international army of 20,000 conquered Beijing and the heart of the modern China, and destroyed what was the Chinese Army.
China was required to pay an indemnity of $330 million dollars to those nations for the various attacks of the Boxers and the Chinese Armies on the various nations missions. The Qing dynasty, established in 1644, was weakened by the Boxer Rebellion. Following an uprising in 1911, the dynasty came to an end and China became a republic in 1912.
Unfortunately that republic was torn apart by various warlords, and seldom held unified control of the country.
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, Boxer Uprising or Yihetuan Movement was a violent anti-foreigner movement which took place in China between 1899 and 1901. It was initiated by the Righteous Harmony Society and was motivated by proto-nationalist sentiments and opposition to foreign imperialism and Christian...
military.wikia.org
Biography of Sun Yat-sen, Chinese Revolutionary Leader
Sun Yat-sen is considered the Father of the Nation in both the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. Here's how he fought for an end to imperial rule.
www.thoughtco.com
Reactions: Futurist and Spike117
Who Was heir to the Most Kings of One Country in History? General History Mar 26, 2019
What if all the World was one Country under one Government General History Jan 29, 2019
Pre-plague (pre 1348) England was more important country than Elisabeth I era England European History Apr 19, 2018
Which country was more democratic? Germany or Britain before the WW1?(franchise) European History Jun 23, 2012
Who Was heir to the Most Kings of One Country in History?
What if all the World was one Country under one Government
Pre-plague (pre 1348) England was more important country than Elisabeth I era England
Which country was more democratic? Germany or Britain before the WW1?(franchise)


Loot from the auto sell feature can be found in the Special Deals section of the marketplace.When you are at work, logon and notice the intelligent second question asked by the BDO.You can find their locations here.Senate Commerce Committee hearing 11/17/10 Senate Committee on Homeland Security hearing 11/16/10..
Ammesso in Lega Pro Seconda Divisione a completamento organici.Nella stagione il Campobasso giunge al terzo posto in classifica qualificandosi per i play-off: nella successiva kermesse sconfigge nelle semifinali il Matelica al Nuovo Romagnoli 2-1 ma viene sconfitto 3-2 nella finale unica di Fano contro la i granata in..
Read More Attention: this is an update of my original guide.
These symbols will then take you one step closer to finding the lotto abo kündigen Tiki Torches and the gokkasten jokers time deluxe gokkast untold riches that come with them.
Beware that the Tiki Torches may go wild though but this is great news, too, as they will substitute for all other symbols except the Scattered Pearls when they do so creating even more ways to win!Problem gambling and slot machines edit Natasha Dow Schüll, associate professor in New York University's Department of Media, Culture, and Communication, uses the term "machine zone" to describe the state of immersion that users of slot machines experience during gambling, in which they lose."Skill stop" buttons were added to some slot machines by Zacharias Anthony in the early 1970s.The table of probabilities for a specific machine lotto bearbeitungsgebühr berlin is called the Probability and Accounting Report or PAR sheet, also pars commonly understood as Paytable and Reel Strips.Type IV edit The slot machine with 9 reels is not very common but still, it attracts gamblers with its creative design and captivating bonus regimes.Class III slot machines are most often seen in Nevada or Atlantic City and are sometimes referred to as "Vegas-style slots".Then, youll notice things youve never seen before.After some "cheat-proofing" modifications, the video slot machine was approved by the Nevada State Gaming Commission and eventually found popularity in the Las Vegas Strip and downtown casinos.On many machines, when enough money to afford a bonus is taken in, the bonus is not immediately awarded.Electronic gaming device utilizing a random number generator for selecting the reel stop positions Collier, Roger.Tribal governments are the primary entity responsible for regulating class II gaming on its lands.After a good nights sleep youll need to commandeer some canoes to take the treacherous trip down the river but at least youll be 100,000 richer for every 5 huts or 5 canoes you find.Plaque marking the location of Charles Fey 's San Francisco workshop, where he invented the three-reel slot machine.The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation.Citation needed The first American video slot machine to offer a "second screen" bonus round was Reel 'Em In, developed by WMS Industries, Inc.Conversely, in Connecticut, Hawaii, Nebraska, South Carolina, and Tennessee, private ownership of any slot machine is completely prohibited.Instead, higher paying symbols will typically appear only once or twice on each reel, while more common symbols, earning a more frequent payout, will appear many times.Right now, the best classic Slots to play online is Triple Magic.
I dont mean those sad gamblers that look like they hate every single spin (and yet they are at their tenth hour of Slots grinding) or the exuberant kind who is high on sodas and alcohol.


Graphic design, also known as communication design, is the art and follow of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content material. Nonetheless, the way in which those early design theorists talked about design still holds immediately. Design theorists hypothesize that if a natural object was designed, it should contain high ranges of CSI. Clever design begins with the statement that intelligent brokers produce advanced and specified data (CSI).
In fact CareerFoundry's mentored UX Design course is the one really UX dedicated mentor program, 's being a combined UI course. However as a minimum, those that have a deep curiosity in design and a perception that its advancement will benefit society can ignite a dialog round this question of what is design. These are all valid responses, and what we'd class as traditional types of design.
Throughout the design course of, the charter serves as a touchstone to help preserve the mission on the right track. If we all know these options of professionalism, we can then use them as a information to construct a fundamental blueprint for design professionalism.
Whereas this is typically how UI jobs have labored prior to now, you ought to be conscious that the lines are blurring, because the time period Internet Designer" (essentially a UI designer who can code) is being changed by expertise of Consumer Interface Designers.
I am deliberately protecting design processes out of this attempted general definition because I imagine processes ought to differ based on the character of every design project. Should you're more of a hardheaded practitioner of the Design Is a Job stripe (which, by the way in which, is also an incredible book), this paper may make you roll your eyes more durable than you've ever rolled them before. The idea for design charrettes (from the French word charrette meaning chariot" or cart") is believed to have derived from stories of architectural students in Paris within the 1800s. Maybe the most obvious attribute of design is that it makes concepts tangible, it takes summary thoughts and inspirations and makes one thing concrete.


text:
People Analytics @ Harvard
Data-driven research and industry insights about people at work.
Nigel Guenole, Jonathan Ferrar, and Sheri Feinzig. 5/26/2017. The Power of People. 1st ed., Pp. 250. Pearson FT Press. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Workforce analytics is the discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in workforce-related data to inform decision making and improve performance.
The human race's quest for information is never-ending. Businesses and organizations are no exceptions. Business leaders continually seek out knowledge about their organizations to gain insights from all the data that exist. This is so they can make evidence-based decisions to improve their organization's performance and gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
The discipline called "analytics" exists to meet this need. Analytics concerning human resources, people and the workforce is known as workforce analytics, and that is the focus of the book, The Power of People. This book sets out how to establish, operate and lead workforce analytics to better serve organizational ambitions.
Tim Fernholz. 6/26/2013. "Inside Google's culture of relentless self-surveying." Quartz. Publisher's VersionAbstract
When Google recently admitted that the baffling brainteasers it posed to interviewees were utterly useless at predicting which ones would make good employees, it was another example of the power of what Google calls "people analytics"—the mixing of Big Data with management science to come up with smarter ways to work.
The company's obsession with human data is perhaps best known for producing the rule that no employee should sit more than 150 feet (46 meters) away from a micro-kitchen, and that in those kitchens the chocolate M&Ms be kept in opaque jars while healthier food is in clear containers, to encourage healthy eating habits. Google's often controversial culture of omniscience about its users is mirrored, inside its posh campuses, by a team of industrial-organizational psychologists, behavioral economists, consultants and statisticians who survey and experiment with Google's staff.
John Boudreau. 6/16/2017. "HR Must Make People Analytics More User-Friendly." Harvard Business Review. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Managing HR-related data is critical to any organization's success. And yet progress in HR analytics has been glacially slow. Consulting firms in the U.S. and Europe lament the slow progress. But a Harvard Business Review analytics study of 230 executives suggests a stunning rate of anticipated progress: 15% said they use "predictive analytics based on HR data and data from other sources within or outside the organization," while 48% predicted they would be doing so in two years. The reality seems less impressive, as a global IBM survey of more than 1,700 CEOs found that 71% identified human capital as a key source of competitive advantage, yet a global study by Tata Consultancy Services showed that only 5% of big-data investments were in human resources.
Recently, my colleague Wayne Cascio and I took up the question of why HR analytics progress has been so slow despite many decades of research and practical tool building, an exponential increase in available HR data, and consistent evidence that improved HR and talent management leads to stronger organizational performance. Our article in the Journal of Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance discusses factors that can effectively "push" HR measures and analysis to audiences in a more impactful way, as well as factors that can effectively lead others to "pull" that data for analysis throughout the organization.
Paul Leonardi and Noshir Contractor. 11/1/2018. "Better People Analytics." Harvard Business Review. Publisher's VersionAbstract
"We have charts and graphs to back us up. So f*** off." New hires in Google's people analytics department began receiving a laptop sticker with that slogan a few years ago, when the group probably felt it needed to defend its work. Back then people analytics—using statistical insights from employee data to make talent management decisions—was still a provocative idea with plenty of skeptics who feared it might lead companies to reduce individuals to numbers. HR collected data on workers, but the notion that it could be actively mined to understand and manage them was novel—and suspect.
Today there's no need for stickers. More than 70% of companies now say they consider people analytics to be a high priority. The field even has celebrated case studies, like Google's Project Oxygen, which uncovered the practices of the tech giant's best managers and then used them in coaching sessions to improve the work of low performers. Other examples, such as Dell's experiments with increasing the success of its sales force, also point to the power of people analytics.
But hype, as it often does, has outpaced reality. The truth is, people analytics has made only modest progress over the past decade. A survey by Tata Consultancy Services found that just 5% of big-data investments go to HR, the group that typically manages people analytics. And a recent study by Deloitte showed that although people analytics has become mainstream, only 9% of companies believe they have a good understanding of which talent dimensions drive performance in their organizations.
What gives? If, as the sticker says, people analytics teams have charts and graphs to back them up, why haven't results followed? We believe it's because most rely on a narrow approach to data analysis: They use data only about individual people, when data about the interplay among people is equally or more important.
People's interactions are the focus of an emerging discipline we call relational analytics. By incorporating it into their people analytics strategies, companies can better identify employees who are capable of helping them achieve their goals, whether for increased innovation, influence, or efficiency. Firms will also gain insight into which key players they can't afford to lose and where silos exist in their organizations.
Most people analytics teams rely on a narrow approach to data analysis.
Fortunately, the raw material for relational analytics already exists in companies. It's the data created by e-mail exchanges, chats, and file transfers—the digital exhaust of a company. By mining it, firms can build good relational analytics models.
In this article we present a framework for understanding and applying relational analytics. And we have the charts and graphs to back us up.
Don Peck. 12/2013. "They're Watching You at Work." The Atlantic. Publisher's VersionAbstract
What happens when Big Data meets human resources? The emerging practice of "people analytics" is already transforming how employers hire, fire, and promote.
in 2003, thanks to Michael Lewis and his best seller Moneyball, the general manager of the Oakland A's, Billy Beane, became a star. The previous year, Beane had turned his back on his scouts and had instead entrusted player-acquisition decisions to mathematical models developed by a young, Harvard-trained statistical wizard on his staff. What happened next has become baseball lore. The A's, a small-market team with a paltry budget, ripped off the longest winning streak in American League history and rolled up 103 wins for the season. Only the mighty Yankees, who had spent three times as much on player salaries, won as many games. The team's success, in turn, launched a revolution. In the years that followed, team after team began to use detailed predictive models to assess players' potential and monetary value, and the early adopters, by and large, gained a measurable competitive edge over their more hidebound peers.
That's the story as most of us know it. But it is incomplete. What would seem at first glance to be nothing but a memorable tale about baseball may turn out to be the opening chapter of a much larger story about jobs. Predictive statistical analysis, harnessed to big data, appears poised to alter the way millions of people are hired and assessed.
Thomas H. Davenport, Jeanne Harris, and Jeremy Shapiro. 10/2010. "Competing on Talent Analytics." Harvard Business Review. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Do you think you know how to get the best from your people? Or do you know? How do investments in your employees actually affect workforce performance? Who are your top performers? How can you empower and motivate other employees to excel?
Leading-edge companies are increasingly adopting sophisticated methods of analyzing employee data to enhance their competitive advantage. Google, Best Buy, Sysco, and others are beginning to understand exactly how to ensure the highest productivity, engagement, and retention of top talent, and then replicating their successes. If you want better performance from your top employees—who are perhaps your greatest asset and your largest expense—you'll do well to favor analytics over your gut instincts.
Harrah's Entertainment is well-known for employing analytics to select customers with the greatest profit potential and to refine pricing and promotions for targeted segments. (See "Competing on Analytics,"HBR January 2006.) Harrah's has also extended this approach to people decisions, using insights derived from data to put the right employees in the right jobs and creating models that calculate the optimal number of staff members to deal with customers at the front desk and other service points. Today the company uses analytics to hold itself accountable for the things that matter most to its staff, knowing that happier and healthier employees create better-satisfied guests.
2/14/2017. "Demystifying People Analytics – Part 4: Examples of People Analytics Projects". MoreAbstract
Previously in the 'Demystifying People Analytics' series I've written about where the team should sit (Part I), the skills and capabilities required to do people analytics (Part II) and the vital role of storytelling (Part III).
This time I'm going to provide examples of people analytics projects companies have undertaken to help drive both business and employee outcomes.
The five example projects outlined are spread across the employee lifecycle (workforce planning, talent acquisition, engagement, retention and compliance). Whilst the projects themselves are different, what they share in common is that they were all undertaken to help solve business challenges that were high priority for the organisations concerned.
Two examples (Cisco and Shell) were presented at HR Tech World in Paris last October. I am proud to once again be moderating the Smart Data breakout at the forthcoming HR Tech World in London on 21-22 March, and would urge all those interested or involved in people analytics to attend. Presenters from the likes of Adidas, ING, EY, Merck and Quintiles will be outlining the people analytics journeys at their respective companies.
Have new articles or people analytics insights?
Let us know at msingell@hbs.edu.


Leela's first name is spelled "Turanga".
Zoidberg's first name is John.
Hermes grows "oregano" in his basement.
Zoidbergs got a first name wow.
Nothing we don't already know.
I thought his first name was Bobcat? That's it--I can't stand this poor treatment of continuity. I am outta here.
Spluh. "Bobcat's" his stage name.
Note: Futurama's on twice tonight! 10-14! I didn't want to start a whole topic to say this.
Kif has no bones? Gross.
About time FOX put something on their webpage about Futurama. Jeez, they're the network who airs this, the best of all cartoons, and until now they only had a picture of Fry, Leela and bender on a bike. Don't they know we want informations about Futurama, ad libitum. We crave it, we need it, we can't live without it.
Interesting. Kif might just be one the most alien aliens ever in a sci-fi series (of main carachters anyway).
Use REPLY rather than Quickpost. On the right side there is a blue word "Spoiler". Click on it and type the spoilers between the two spoiler-words that appears.
Or just use the [ spoiler ] tags (leaving out the spaces).
Well, in some places anyway. DAMN YOU BASEBALL!
Suits me right for not reading carefully. Thanks Teral.
John Zoidberg. I'll have to get used to this.
But having no bones is cool. You can't break anything...at least not *really*.
It's a play on Bobcat Goldthwait.
I'm glad to see Zoidberg has a normal first name, not something like "Felonious".


text:
Season (PDF)
Dores in the Pros
Three Games in Six Days
Commodores face Austin Peay on Wednesday
Three games. Six days. Countless chances to get better.
Vanderbilt returns home at 7 p.m. Wednesday to host Austin Peay, the first of three contests in less than a week. The Commodores (2-1) will have much of their depth and stamina tested before Thanksgiving.
"I actually haven't thought about it too much. The mindset is one game at a time," Vanderbilt sophomore guard Aaron Nesmith said. "We got a game on Wednesday so after we play that game we'll just come back Thursday and game plan for Friday. It's not so much thinking about three games in six days."
After Wednesday's matchup with APSU, Vanderbilt hosts South Carolina State at 8 p.m. Friday and then Southeastern Louisiana at 7 p.m. Monday. Those three teams are a combined 4-6 – but none of those victories have come against Division I opposition.
Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse, in his first season on the West End, said earlier this month that the focus remains more so on his team than the opponent. That will continue to hold true over the next week during the high volume of games.
"It could be better. Frankly it could better," Stackhouse said about his team's progression to this point. "We have to find guys that can bring the focus of what we need to do in the heat of battle. Eliminate the noise. The noise is from a lot of different things. I think for the most part it's being able to lock in and focus on the play at hand, 'Do my job.'
"I think once we adopt that a little bit more we'll see good things happen for us."
Vandy is also looking to start a new winning streak after its first loss of the season. On Thursday, Richmond made a single free throw with less than a second to play in overtime and sent the Dores home with a 93-92 defeat.
Nesmith scored 34 points in that one and is now averaging 26.7 points in three games. The sophomore from South Carolina has carried the Commodores offensively to this point.
Fellow guard Saben Lee, coming off the bench, is averaging 20 points per contest. The duo of Nesmith and Lee began the week with the highest combined scoring average (46.7 ppg) in the nation.
"I wouldn't say I'm doing it on my own. It's a team effort. That's just the way the offense runs," Nesmith said of his scoring prowess. "That's just how the cards have feel so far this year. Let the ball pick who's going to have the big night on any given night and just play that way every day."
Nesmith and Lee will look to continue those scoring numbers against an Austin Peay team that beat Oakland City (Indiana) to start the year before losing at Western Kentucky and at Tulsa, respectively. The Governors won 22 games last season for head coach Matt Figger.
• Vanderbilt is 16-1 all-time against Austin Peay and has won 13 straight in the series. The Governors last beat Vandy in 1939-40 season opener 40-28.
• The Commodores have made at least one 3 in 1,067 straight games.
• Vanderbilt senior center Clevon Brown needs five blocks to pass Chris Woods (108) for the seventh-most blocks in a Vanderbilt career. Julian Terrell is sixth with 116.
• Nesmith now ranks 11th nationally in 3s made (17), is sixth in scoring average (26.7 ppg) and leads the nation in 3s made per game (5.67).
• Lee needs 196 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
• As a team, Vanderbilt is fourth nationally with 12.3 made 3s per game, 10th with 6.7 blocks per game and 40th with a team shooting percentage of 49.7.


text:
Current Research Programme
Work so far
Benefits from our Research
ResearchHistory
History of Womb Transplantation Research
Since the 1970s a number of teams around the world have been researching the possibility of developing a womb transplant procedure and, unfortunately, often without collaboration between those teams.
The majority of the research published in the 1960s to the 1980s, involved transplantation of the entire female genital tract (ovaries, womb, cervix and upper vagina) in a range of different mammals. Transplant research, as a whole, has also tended to focus on life-saving transplantations (heart, kidney, liver) with womb transplant research being rather limited especially following advances in IVF techniques.
However, since the 1990s, tremendous advances have been made in the fields of transplantation and reproductive medicine – in particular, the first live birth after IVF treatment in a woman who had a transplanted kidney and in recent years a woman who had received transplanted ovarian tissue from her sister, gave birth to a healthy baby at The Portland Hospital in London.
In 2000 the world's first womb transplant was performed on a 26 year old woman in Saudi Arabia. She had lost her own womb as a result of heavy bleeding following the birth of her child. However, the transplanted womb survivedfor only 99 days and it has now been acknowledged that the attempt was premature and our research shows the failure of the blood supply to the womb was predictable. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, much was learned and it was the stimulation for extensive research to continue around the world. In December 2010, our colleagues in Sweden were able to report a pregnancy as a result of a womb transplant on a rat.
Our own group here in the UK collaborates very closely with Dr. Giuseppe Del Priore and his team at the University of Indiana, Indianapolis, USA and we have regular contact with Professor Mats Brannstrom in Sweden.
We believe that with the continued advances in transplantation techniques, improved methods of controlling the immunology of transplantation, and advances in IVF technology, uterine transplantation (together with assisted conception) can bring an end to Absolute Uterine Factor Infertility for some women who currently have no chance of having their own child.


text:
Hilton Pattaya Organizes the second Culinary Cup 2015 for team members
Home / Events + Hot Deals / Hilton Pattaya Organizes the second Culinary Cup 2015 for team members
Chefs showcasing talents for the Hilton F&B Masters
PATTAYA, Thailand – August 20, 2015 – As part of the F&B Master APAC 2015, Hilton Pattaya led by Rudolf Troestler, general manager recently organized the 'Culinary Cup 2015' competition to encourage and challenge the hotel's staff to showcase their talents and skills during August 17 – 18, 2015 at Hilton Pattaya.
The competition focuses on people development and showcasing the amazing talent. All 38 candidates are required to create and show a 30-minute live cooking of their signature dish which should match the food concept of hotel's outlets e.g. Asian, Western or Pastry. The judging criteria includes culinary skills and cooking techniques, innovation and creativity, dish presentation, hygiene and safe working practices as well as time management. The property finalists are Khun Teeranad Pisolyabud from Horizon with the amazing Lamb dish and Khun Eakachai U-bol from Edge restaurant with his perfect pastry called 'Someone dates'. The winning candidate will be representing Hilton Pattaya at the Country level round to compete with others Hilton hotels in Thailand.
The F&B Masters is an internal competition that discovers and celebrates the extraordinary F&B talent within Hilton Worldwide properties across Asia Pacific. It is about people development and gives team members an opportunity to develop their skills and creativity in a variety of food and beverage disciplines that they are passionate about. Hilton Worldwide's commitment to career development for team members does not end after the competition. Hotel team members at every level are given access to a world of opportunities to develop personally and professionally through on-the-job training, virtual courses, management development programs, and learning seminars.
About Hilton Pattaya
Unique by design and centrally located, Hilton Pattaya rises 34 levels above CentralFestival Pattaya Beach, South East Asia's largest beachfront shopping complex, with spectacular views North and South over Pattaya Bay and the Gulf of Thailand. Styled with the property's beachfront location in mind, all Hilton Pattaya rooms and suites feature 180 degrees of unobstructed ocean views with private balconies. This unique position forms the core of Hilton Pattaya's design concept and philosophy. Panoramic views, high quality design and finishes, and impeccable service play an integral part of the experience that is on offer to both leisure and business travelers. From the moment you arrive you will know that a new standard for style and sophistication has been set. A unique combination of light, textures and finishes create an atmosphere of pure indulgence. Just 90 minutes from Bangkok Suvarnabumi International Airport and with so much luxury to offer, the Hilton Pattaya is your new recreation and business destination of choice. For information, please visit www.pattaya.hilton.com or contact the hotel directly on + 66 (0)3 825 3000.
About Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Founded in 1919 as the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide, Hilton Hotels & Resorts continues to build upon its legacy of innovation by developing products and services to meet the needs of savvy global travelers at more than 550 hotels across six continents. Hilton is the stylish, forward-thinking global leader in hospitality with Team Members shaping experiences in which every guest feels cared for, valued and respected. Access the latest news at news.hilton.com and begin your journey at www.hilton.com or www.hilton.com/offers for the latest hotel specials. View a list of official social channels atwww.hilton.com/social. Hilton Hotels & Resorts is one of Hilton Worldwide's 12 brands.


text:
Ла́урі () — село в Естонії, у волості Тюрі повіту Ярвамаа.

Населення
Чисельність населення на 31 грудня 2011 року становила 16 осіб.

Географія
Через населений пункт проходить автошлях  (Кяру — Кядва).

Історія
До 22 жовтня 2017 року село входило до складу волості Кяру повіту Рапламаа.

Примітки

Джерела

Посилання
 Офіційний сайт волості Тюрі
 Офіційний сайт волості Кяру

Волость Тюрі
Села Ярвамаа
Волость Кяру


text:
Intrigue Software
From Ninerpedia
A United Kingdom based software publishing house for the TI99/4a.
The team was led by Dennis Webb, the programming was mostly by his son (then c age 13) Martin Webb.
Intrigue cassette software included a coloured photograph of a picture that had been hand coloured by Martin and his brother with felt tip.
At 16 (1984) Martin was the first student to sit and pass O'Level computer science at his school in Kent, England.
Whilst at school Martin launched a number of computer games for the Texas TI99/4a and Commodore 64 Home computers.
At age 18, Martin Webb converted the SEGA game OUTRUN for commercial release on the Commodore 64.
Games for the TI by Dennis and Martin include:
Adventuremania
Beneath the Stars
Lionel and the Ladders
Panic on the TI Tanic
Santa and the Goblins
Shuttle Attak (no c used in the title)
Retrieved from "http://www.ninerpedia.org/index.php?title=Intrigue_Software&oldid=49198"


Rebel Wilson kicked off tonight's MTV Movie Awards by singing the Miley Cyrus tune "The Climb." It was all very strange. I'm not going to lie.
I think there was some subtext about overcoming some hardships, but the opening number fell flat. Even when the Pitch Perfect cast took to the stage to back Wilson up with a medley of tunes (including "Lose Yourself" and "Thrift Shop") the opening number just sounded like a mess of noise. A sad truth. A sadder opening.


text:
THESE ARE THE BEST IN-GAME CONCERTS
The live music industry was one of the first sectors to be affected by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and it is very likely that it will be the last to fully recover from its impacts.
It was the unique rush of being in a crowded venue listening to live music that we craved the most during lockdown, and there was nothing else we could have asked for. Many artists were still awaiting opportunities to perform on stages, which resulted in some of the best in-game concerts of all time taking place over the past 18 months.
Virtual worlds ranging from Fortnite to Minecraft have hosted thousands of music fans in some of the most popular virtual worlds in the world. Many people turned to virtual worlds in order to log on and share in the collective joy of live music when the venues' doors were locked shut. Below is a collection of some of the most bizarre and wonderful attempts to transform a gaming space into a legitimate music venue, ranging from artistic audiovisual installations to more traditional gig recreations.
TRAVIS SCOTT'S ASTRONOMICAL (FORTNITE)
We all know that no one puts on a better virtual show than the Fortnite crew, and that includes you. The game's sprawling battle royale map is transformed into the biggest party you've ever seen, with Travis Scott's latest album being transformed into a jaw-dropping audiovisual experience to match. Travis Scott appears in the game once more, this time in Godzilla proportions. A brilliantly animated model of Travis can be seen dancing around the center of the map, straddling the beach, and stomping around a slew of islands like some kind of bar-spewing demigod.
This musical performance, like the majority of the others on this list, does not take place in a live setting. In fact, attending 'Astronomical' felt less like attending a concert and more like becoming an extra in an incredibly cool music video. This was due to the pre-recorded, but DJ-set-like flow of the set and the pristine studio vocals.
While witnessing one of these incredible artistic events will never be the same as attending a concert, what Fortnite accomplished here captured the attention of the entire world. The concert was a resounding success as an example of audiovisual art, and with Travis' nine-minute set flowing expertly between verses of his biggest hits and ending with the rapper straddling the moon, it demonstrated that there truly isn't a party quite like a Fortnite party, and it helped Epic Games establish itself as a forward-thinking host when it comes to producing the best in-game concerts.
ARIANA GRANDE (FORTNITE)
After generating headlines and awe-inspiring fans with their most recent concert, Fortnite developer Epic Games was left wondering how they could possibly top Travis Scott. The solution was straightforward: book Ariana Grande. Starting with a celestial skateboarding segment in which Ariana rode a colorful highway SSX-style before falling into a furry field, this bonkers vibrant virtual adventure was an explosion of color from beginning to end.
Because it did away with the traditional Fortnite map, this new world felt less like a concert that had been squeezed into Fortnite and more like being transported directly into Ariana Grande's mind. Giving creative control to an artist and their team in this manner really helps transform these experiences from something that is only vaguely interesting to something that is one of the best in-game concerts of all time.
The entire experience, from the theme park-inspired, mini-game-filled intro to the trippy, celestial rendition of '7 Rings,' was flawless. Fortnite has done it again with this one. For the second time, this ethereal fusion of art and music came together to create something entirely new and original. Whereas many Roblox concerts have a similar feel to them, Ariana Grande X Fortnite demonstrates just how versatile Fortnite's "metaverse" can be as a performance platform.
Through the use of interactive elements such as mini-games and other interactive elements, this sugary-sweet endorphin ride felt infinitely more interactive than Travis Scott's performance, putting the player right in the middle of it all. As a result, what happened? Something that didn't quite feel like a game or an arena show, but something that was completely different.
BLOCK BY BLOCKWEST (MINECRAFT)
While some admirable attempts have been made to replicate the concert-going experience at home, nothing has come close to capturing the atmosphere of a festival. Hopping between stages, the excitement of discovering new music, and the unexpected joy that comes from dipping in and out of various acts and genres is, for me, the essence of what it means to be a true fan of live music.
To their credit, organizers The Courier Club attempted to recreate the seminal Texas music festival South By Southwest – complete with a Minecraft set – and were largely successful. Block By Blockwest, a livestreamed Minecraft event that saw fans hop between different servers to check out a plethora of incredible bands, was aptly named. The lineup, which included everyone from Nothing Nowhere to Fever 333, Citizen, IDLES, and Pussy Riot, was genuinely fantastic and included everyone.
While some bands stuck to the traditional studio track set, the performances that spliced in pre-existing audio from live performances with some specifically recorded new show chat were the real winners here. From the joyful alt-rock of Against the Current, which got the blocky masses onto their low poly feet, to the riotous energy of Fever 333, these performances came the closest yet to capturing the rush of live music in a virtual space. Against the Current is a band from the United Kingdom that performs alt-rock.
ROYAL BLOOD (ROBLOX)
When The Blocky's made an appearance halfway through Roblox's annual award ceremony, the groove-driven duo from Brighton brought some no-frills, dirty rock'n'roll to the virtual world. This is one of very few genuinely live performances to have graced a video game, despite the fact that it lacks some of the pomp and ceremony of some of the slicker fully animated virtual showcases. For this reason alone, the game would be a strong contender for a spot on this list of the best in-game concerts.
The majority of bands rely on game developers to animate their avatars to their studio versions of their songs (as evidenced by almost every other performance on this list), but this riffy duo brought an incredibly polished and faultless live rock performance to a video game. What's the best part? The result was not only the extinction of a genre, but also the introduction of a whole new generation to live guitar music. Isn't it a win-win situation?
HOSPITALITY IN THE VOID/ON THE GRID (MINECRAFT)
Drum and bass (DNB) nights, which feature spectacular light shows, pounding bass, and more than a few googly-eyed Garys, used to be one of my favorite ways to unwind after a long day at the office. Hospital Records, which holds the distinction of hosting the biggest and best DNB events in the United Kingdom, decided to bring the bass to the block during lockdown to celebrate.
Of course, I'm referring to the video game Minecraft. These Minecraft mess fests, which hosted not one, but two retro-looking raves, allowed ravers to enjoy some subwoofer-bothering sets from the likes of S.P.Y and London Elektricity, among others.
Observing hundreds of players swarm around a massive blocky rave venue was utterly bizarre, but it was also surprisingly heartwarming to witness. With some excellent commentary from Tony (also known as Hospital Records' owner, London Elektricity himself), as well as a lobby that exuded a generally joyful and friendly vibe, it was the closest thing to a good night out that had occurred since the start of the lockdown.
While we can't wait to get back into the club and experience some gurning faces and bowel-shaking bass, there's something to be said for raving in the absence of some jerk gobbing on your shoe in the smoking area.
KORN (ADVENTURE QUEST 3D)
When the noughties nu-metal kings KoRn decided to jump on the virtual gig bandwagon in 2019, they chose a virtual venue that was appropriately weird and murky-looking – Adventure Quest 3D. KoRn's Adventure Quest performance cleverly transformed a sticky mosh pit into an MMO dungeon, despite the fact that this niche and blocky-looking MMO lacks the visual flair and grandiosity of Fortnite.
After listening to pre-recorded versions of classics like "Freak On A Leash," Jonathon Davis' scat-loving quintet found themselves dispatching some very literal freaks who were revealed to be "off their leash" by text prompts while thousands of players expressed themselves in the medieval mosh pit.
Okay, it may not have been the pinnacle of musical or gaming sophistication, but after all, this is KoRn we're discussing. Although this dungeon-based approach did not meet the standards of today's best in-game concerts, it did offer a truly unique interactive twist on the traditional gamer concert, with each of the band's subsequent songs inspiring another loosely themed boss fight.
Sure, the lack of live recordings from a "proper" band was a disappointment, but the entire dungeon-meets-concert concept was amusingly silly and completely interactive. Having a health-draining adversary batter you until you yell, "Got the Life?" is a nice change of pace. Unforgivable.
LIL NAS X (ROBLOX)
When you consider that Roblox has an astounding 33 million daily users, it was only a matter of time before the kid's creation platform began to host some legitimate megastars of the gaming world. Who is the most well-known of them all? Lil Nas X is a rapper from the United States of America.
Lil Nas X and Roblox went all out for the viral rapper's first-ever video game performance, and the results were spectacular. The performance featured a massive motion-captured Lil Nas X towering above throngs of his adoring fans, as well as an intricately rendered fantasy world that was warped to match the themes of each song he performed on stage. Considering that the average age of a Roblox player is about 10, it shouldn't be surprising that there wasn't a sweaty, latex-filled recreation of the sex-laden anthem "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)."
His gaming debut was a huge success, even though it was significantly less intense and markedly more kid-friendly than the Lil Nas X we're used to seeing on the big screen. Because his Saturday performance was such a success, much to the delight of his younger fans, the hip-hop sensation performed the same set as an encore on Sunday as well, allowing fans to relive one of the best in-game concerts if they missed it the first time.
In part because of its brilliant animations, entertaining setlist, and visually interesting visual variety, Lil Nas X's Roblox residency was a complete and utter blast. Keep this in mind for future artists: this is how it's done.
SEASON IS A NEW PS5 GAME ABOUT PRESERVING DISAPPEARING CULTURES
Play as an explorer with a microphone on a mission to record the sounds of the
NINTENDO SWITCH FITNESS BOXING ANIME IS IN DEVELOPMENT
Fitness Boxing, a Nintendo Switch game, will be the subject of an anime