RIO DE JANEIRO — Adding to the list of setbacks and stumbles for the Rio Olympics, the athletes' village, home to thousands of athletes during the Summer Games, has been called unfit for occupancy.
Sunday was supposed to be move-in day for many athletes, but the leader of the Australian Olympic delegation said its athletes would not be checking in because of problems with the gas, electricity and plumbing.
The opening ceremony for the Rio Games is scheduled for Aug. 5.
Among the issues with housing units at the village were "blocked toilets, leaking pipes and exposed wiring," said Kitty Chiller, the chef de mission in Rio de Janeiro for the Australian Olympic Committee. There was also bad lighting in many stairwells and "dirty floors in need of a massive clean," she said in a written statement.
"Water has come through the ceiling resulting in large puddles on the floor around cabling and wiring," Chiller said.
Chiller said that delegations from Britain, New Zealand and other countries were experiencing similar problems in the village, which is in an area of western Rio called Barra da Tijuca.
Sweden's women's soccer team also refused to move into its apartments because of similar problems, the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported. The newspaper article said the United States, Italy and the Netherlands had paid to hire workers to finish their rooms.
Australian athletes have been staying at hotels as local organizers in Rio try to fix the problems, according to Australian officials.
Olympic officials said they expected the issues to be resolved within a few days. They said the village had officially opened Sunday morning and, as planned, a few hundred delegation members had moved in.
Rio de Janeiro won the bid to host the 2016 Summer Games seven years ago, when few obstacles were apparent. But the city and the organizers of the Games have encountered difficulties including political and economic turmoil; the spread of the Zika virus; pollution in bodies of water that are to be used in Olympic events; and the threat from terrorism.
Now officials are facing a situation similar to what unfolded at the last Winter Olympics, in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, when lodging was not ready for the start of the Games.
Australian officials discussed concerns with Olympic officials in Rio on a daily basis, they said, adding that they would reassess the situation on Sunday evening.
The United States expects to have 500 athletes and staff members staying in the athletes' village. "As is the case with every Games, we're working with the local organizers to address minor issues and make sure the village is ready for Team U.S.A. athletes," said Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee.
A "stress test" that Australian officials conducted at the village on Saturday night led to the decision to not allow its athletes to move in. To test the facilities, the officials simultaneously turned on lights and flushed toilets in apartments on several floors.
An earlier version of this article misspelled the given name of the president of the organizing committee for the Rio Olympics. He is Carlos Nuzman, not Carolos.


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Hospital district board approves deficit budget
JACOB MAYER
The Amarillo Hospital District will begin its 2012-13 fiscal year with a projected budget deficit of more than $3 million for the second consecutive year.
The district's board of managers approved a $9.8-million budget Tuesday with a projected deficit of $3.4 million.
The board approved a deficit of $3.2 million last year, but the district's investments performed better than expected. The district now projects it will finish the current fiscal year with a deficit of $1.5 million, according to budget documents.
Assistant City Manager Dean Frigo said the district is in a difficult situation because most of its expenses are fixed, but revenues fluctuate.
"The only way to balance, you'd have to stop your pension contribution ... stop funding public health, stop funding pediatric," he said. "Those are your bread-and-butter programs."
The district estimated it will have $223.4 million in available funds next year.
Board Chairman Greg Graham said he is pleased to have the budget approved and be able to fund the district's programs at a similar level compared to last year.
"We're doing exactly what we've been doing for quite a few years, and we're all hopeful that the market conditions change," Graham said.
The district stopped levying a tax in 1996, when the city sold Northwest Texas Hospital to Universal Health services for $180 million.
The district now produces revenues by investing proceeds from the sale in a money market account.
Frigo said it could still take a few years for revenues to increase.
"We look forward to better days," he said.
The budget will move on to the Amarillo City Commission for approval sometime in the fall, Frigo said.
AGN TV

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Focus on Leadership | Aecon builds on its strengths in Calgary
The team at Aecon includes, clockwise from front left, Cara Singleton, chief estimator Industrial West, Michael Derksen, senior vice-president executive lead Civil West, Blair Brandon, senior vice-president major projects Civil West, John Singleton, senior vice-president Industrial and Jean-Louis Servranckx, president and chief executive officer. Wil Andrushak © Postmedia Network Inc.
Joel Schlesinger © Postmedia Network Inc.
It's a big Canadian construction firm with an equally big impact in Alberta. Aecon Group is one of Canada's largest firms when it comes to building major infrastructure projects.
"Our ambition is to be the No. 1 Canadian infrastructure company — the preferred contractor for our clients and the top employer for our people," says Jean-Louis Servranckx, Aecon's president and chief executive officer.
"And Aecon's success in Western Canada plays a key role in achieving this."
For more than 140 years, the infrastructure construction company has helped build Canada, having a hand in the development of several iconic Canadian projects such as the CN Tower and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Aecon has also long been a cornerstone in Alberta's construction industry. Since the early 1900s the company has expanded its presence here, initially through acquisitions such as the purchase of Banister Pipelines, a leading Canadian mainline service contractor and Lockerbie & Hole (now known as Aecon Water), both based in Edmonton. The acquisition of South Rock, based in Medicine Hat, was completed in 2009 (now known as Aecon Civil West).
More recently, Aecon has been a leader in major projects across Alberta including the construction of Edmonton's Northeast Anthony Henday Drive ring road and its current Peace River Bridge twinning project.
Calgary is central to Aecon's presence in the province, serving as home to its western Canadian headquarters. What's more, the firm is involved in several large infrastructure projects in Calgary, including the Bow River Bridge twinning project.
"This project will be a key component in the completion of the Calgary ring road and will provide vital transportation infrastructure for growing communities in the Greater Calgary Area," Servranckx says.
Aecon's body of work on various projects in the city speaks for itself: from runway lighting installation at the Calgary International Airport, to the luge track at Winsport, the Stoney Trail/Crowchild Trail Interchange, the Suncor Energy Centre and electrical work at the South Health Campus — to name just a few.
Additionally, Aecon is committed to building communities in other ways, including its Indigenous Engagement Program focused on apprenticeships, employment, training, sustainability and business development for First Nations in the region.
Aecon employees give back to local charities throughout the year and the company is involved in numerous local events including annual sponsorship of the Calgary Women in Energy Charity Golf Tournament.
Of course, Aecon's biggest impact in Calgary is doing what it does best: construction. And it is continually upping its game. A key industry player in road construction, for example, Aecon is set to open a state-of- the-art asphalt plant in Balzac that will include concrete and asphalt recycling capabilities.
More broadly, Aecon's growth and future are deeply tied to Calgary, as the firm helps the city build a bright future, Servranckx says.
"Our work in Calgary and Western Canada has been a key factor in our success, and will continue to be," he explains.
This story was created by Content Works, Postmedia's commercial content division, on behalf of Calgary Economic Development.
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RATIONALITY IN THE KILLING OF BATTERED WOMEN
By Muskan Sharma / 5 February 2021 6 February 2021
"Justice may be depicted as a woman, but, accordingly to the dominant ideology, law is male, not female."[1] There can be clearly diverse rationales behind one's actions, be them intent, mistake, or provocation. However, some are so comprehensive in their nature that they compel the adjudicator to be inadequate in understanding the rationality of the same.
One of them is Battered Woman Syndrome ('BWS') – it is a psychological disorder which develops within a woman when domestic violence does not take place once in a while but time and again; thus, as a repercussion, it starts affecting her mental state severely.[2] Many women just consume their plight, but some retaliate in such a means that they escort their partners to death as a result of being in a provoking psychological state from a long time.[3] It might be sounding an atrocious transgression but, for them, this is the course of their freedom from the accustomed monstrous acts of their male partners.[4]
Cyclical Violence concisely denotes the repetitiveness of the act, but when embraced overtly, it consists of three phases. First, "tension building": where verbal abuse and physical violence transpires between the couple and woman tries to pioneer appeasing the man.[5] Second, "acute battering incident": where the rage is on its peak due to the preceding stage's build-up, and the aggrieved woman comes up with a rejoinder.[6] Third, "loving contrition": where the batterer-cum-husband evinces his ruefulness as he resents about acting so appallingly and also promises never to do it again.[7]
Now, here comes the second element Learned Helplessness which is just a mere corollary of the happening of the first element as it develops a state where the woman comes across impotence, and that makes her feel trapped within this cycle.[8] This state of mind was established by Martin Seligman from which Walker designated in her theory.[9] She undergoes a declining and forlorn mode; she gets accustomed to the view that she would never be able to break away from it owing to the omnipotent nature of the batterer.[10] This then molds her to seek survival rather than to get free of the batterer abuse, but at this stage, some inflammatory response in the form of attack by her might be carried through.[11]
https://legalreadings.com/right-to-internet-access-a-fundamental-right/
BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME IN THE INDIAN LAW – DISCOURSING SOME CONSIDERATE VERDICTS
THE NEED OF AN OVERHAUL UPON INDIA'S JURISPRUDENCE – REDRESSAL TO BATTERED WOMEN
INSANITY – INDIA'S ONLY BWS YET INEPT
PROVOCATION – A NEED FOR BEING SUDDENT AND GRAVE
SELF DEFENCE – A DEFICIENT COVER
CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE KILLINGS OF BATTERED WOMEN
Though courts have endeavoured to construct an influential concept of BWS in the Indian context namely "Nallathangal's Syndrome",[12] they have failed to lay it down in an explanatory and applicable manner.[13] Also, not as equivalent as BWS but the nearest analogue, we can take into account the defense of 'insanity' under the Indian Penal Code. Now it is significant to know about the roots of this defense as to understand the inadequacies of it to contemplate the distinction between 'legal insanity' and 'medical insanity'.[14] In essence, defence of insanity is centred on the archaic rules put in Mc'Nagthen [15] by the judges of Queen's Bench in the courts of England in 1843. However, at present, it seems outmoded, and in need of an overhaul given this concept fails the medical regard (broadly BWS) of women's manslaughters. [16] The principal limitation of Mc'Nagthen is its straight-to-shoulder approach used to determine if the defendant can take the defence of insanity, and therefore closes the gates for the expansion of the outlook on BWS.[17]
Although this subject has not gained much attention in India, some have strived to do a profound review of the relation of women's mental shape with the manslaughters they commit.[18] They have also reviewed it in the legal milieu by examining the criminal laws – how adequate they are in endowing the battered women with a justifiable understanding of their past experiences which played an infuriating role throughout the course that ended in execution.[19] The first one ever to study BWS in a legal context was Walker by whose benevolent research; national lawmakers caught on the need to append BWS in the criminal law apparatus.[20] The Madras High Court was the first judicial body (1989) to identify the BWS in the case of Suyambukkani [21] by referring it to an old Tamil literature named "Nallathangal Ballad" which implicated the problems owing to which a rich lady was demoted to unbearable misery and thus committed suicide along with her two children.[22] Then in 2013, the Guwahati High Court in Manju Lakra v. State of Assam [23] recognized BWS not in any context but in its original form itself. Whilst deciding if the act amounted to murder, the court referred to Ahluwalia which brought to light the permissibility of BWS in other countries like US, Canada and Australia to ascertain the reasonableness of the act done by battered women.[24]
Consequently, this case fell within the Exception 1 of Section 300[25], and the sentence of the woman got reduced. Again, in Amutha v. State [26], the Madras High Court granted anticipatory bail to the defendant by taking into account the BWS factor. Notably, in a landmark case, the Hon'ble Supreme Court bearing in its senses the "social environment"[27] in which the woman had been bearing the cruelty and inhumanness of the husband condensed the sentence of her.
Whilst parleying with regard to unprejudiced justice contrivance, a need has always been felt to renovate the Indian theory of beliefs in the column of 'women's rights after marriage'. The need was first ever realized in the 1970s which birthed the 'Anti-dowry Violence Movement' (ADVM) under the influence of 'Battered Woman Movement' of the United States of America. At first, ADVM only focused on – how to mitigate the domestic violence, but after some time, it came up with a profound agenda – the introduction of a particular law dealing only with domestic violence. Till this time, the focus was not on the battered women but only on the violence they bear. Then finally, in 2010, Paramita Nandy was the first to take upon her the charge to research BWS in the Indian context, and how much IPC has for it within its realism.[28] She, in her work, expressed that there was no possible recourse for battered women under IPC but what was ironic: she did not propose or seek to provide an outline for any needful amendments IPC needed (does till now). She just, on a too broad note, proposed that a "Battered Woman Defence" should be there in IPC.
From that time till now, the center of attention has seen a standalone shift – examining BWS as an autonomous subject with the objective to introduce it in IPC either expressly or openly. Aishwarya Deb, in her research, has written down extensively about BWS in every possible aspect, most significantly, the underperformance of Indian criminal laws in accepting women's personal experiences as their defence.[29] She constitutes a point that strives to make anyone think that why do Indian laws not consider the psychological aspect of domestic violence done –which directly affects the woman's mental course to act.[30] For the record, her study's categorical emphasis was upon the need for a completely new defence; though it will be byzantine to introduce a complete defence solely on BWS.[31] Many other feminist theoreticians, assuming it as their approach of work, have also criticized the customary laws as "origin of law as a form of male authority and power"[32], and if truth be told, that theoretical criticism of them did become the law in their countries.[33]
Unlike the English Law, Indian one does not impart diminished responsibility[34] to the defendants to plead but only insanity. The ambit of diminished responsibility is far broader than insanity as it opens the doors for mental insanity rather than just considering the complete madness like the insanity defence.[35] Its sole object was to emerge from the slenderness of Mc'Nagthen rules [36], and award person punishment based on the rationality of their act but not to judge them through an unambiguous approach like the defence of insanity did for a long-drawn-out period.[37] Though section 84 of IPC[38] provides a defence to 'unsound minded' committers, it neglects[39] to remark the sense in the cases of battered women. In copious cases, women have pleaded this defence but in return got disenchantment; as per the judgment of Ratan Lal v. State of M.P.[40], given by the apex court the definition of unsoundness of mind can be classified into four segments –
(1) an idiot,
(2) one made non-compos by illness,
(3) lunatic or madman,
(4) a drunkard.[41]
However, the limitation is that these four classifications only lie in the periphery of legal insanity, and none of the above explicitly comes parallel to BWS. There are instances where the defendant pleaded insanity but failed in doing so as merely suffering from a mental disorder does not fulfil the sufficiency.[42] Nevertheless, numerous High Courts have underscored[43] the meagreness of Mc'Nagthen rules in providing a wide-ranging denotation of insanity holding that in various cases defendant may know the "nature and quality of the act" and yet commit it, due to an irresistible impulse by reason of mental defect or deficiency.[44]
Provocation is the first exception to section 300 of IPC[45] which in order to establish, requires the 'suddenness' requisite in it.[46] Thus, for a battered woman to bring into play this defence, she should have killed the batterer "whilst being deprived of the power of self-control by grave and sudden provocation".[47] The landmark judgment of K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra[48] constructed a distinct definition of exception 1 which expounded that if there transpires a cooling-off period between the provocation and the fatal act, then it would mitigate the probability of considering the reasonableness of the provocative act.[49] Many other cases[50] have also examined on the line of reasoning: 'had a reasonable man would have done the same in the same circumstances as what the accused did'.[51] Contrarily, this assessment fails to recall the discrepancy: the prolonged violent experience which a battered woman underwent, which compelled her to kill the batterer.[52] Our present law neglects the rational modus operandi of leading of the killing through the hands of battered women and only oversees it in a plainspoken means.[53] From what Walker deliberated in her theory, the picture says that under a protracted battering, the woman develops a habit of bearing the pain because of which she does not act in response instantaneously. Therefore, the presence of suddenness[54] is very much iniquitous whilst ascertaining the guiltiness in the acts of battered women.
The Indian Penal Code somewhat ratifies in a gendered means, and, as has also been discussed above, leaves battered women helpless. Section 100 of IPC[55] bestows upon one the right of private defence which can be extended to cause death[56] (in six circumstances[57]) but here comes the shortcoming; it requires the presence of reasonable apprehension of death or grievous hurt.[58] Indian courts have considered[59] this defence in plentiful cases[60] but only when they instituted the ingredient "immediacy" in the accused's act due to fear. Also, as per section 100, there shall be "reasonable apprehension" in an incessant manner, and hence, what happens in the occurrence of battered woman gets totally overlooked.[61]
Through the above unequivocal scrutiny of different cases, it gets sure that Indian courts have indeed pioneered to imply the rationales in the killings of the battered women but also at the same time, have fallen short in bringing to bear the need of BWS as a defence in Indian Penal Code to the legislature. Undeniably, reforms need to be institutionalized on the subject of BWS for which the author has discoursed plenty of reasons and how the existing apparatus of Indian criminal justice system dissatisfies the battered women or, in other words, helpless women. This paper sought to contribute to the discussion on criticism of the inadequacy of IPC; can be seen from the plenteous courts' intense sentences for the battered women. If this does not change in forevermore, then it can lead to suppression of females.
[1]Christine Haight Farley, "Confronting Expectations: Women in the Legal Academy," YALE L. J. & FEMINISM 333, 348 (1998); Frances Olsen, " THE POLITICS OF LAW" David Kairys ed. 1990, p453, 454).
[2] LENORE E. WALKER, "TERRIFYING LOVE: WHY BATTERED WOMEN KILL AND HOW SOCIETY REACT" Harper & Row, p-45, 1980.
[3]Id.
[4] R v. Kiranjit Ahluwalia, (1993) 96 Cr. App. R. 133.
[8] Joshua Dressler, "Battered Women and Sleeping Abusers: Some Reflections", 3 OHIO STATE J. OF CRIMINAL L., 463 (2005-2006).
[9] Martin E. P. Seligman, "Learned Helplessness", 23 ANNUAL R. OF MEDICINE 407-412, 407 (1972).
[10] Lenore Walker, Battered Woman Syndrome and Self-defence, 6 NOTRE DAME J. OF ETHICS AND PUB. POL'Y 328 (1992).
[11] Kent M. Williams, "Using Battered Woman Syndrome Evidence as a Self-Defence Strategy in Minnesota," 10 (1) LAW AND INEQUALITY: A JOURNAL OF THEORY AND PRACTICE 111, 120 (1992).
[12]Keerthana Medarametla, "Battered Women: The Gendered Notions of Defence Available," 13(2) MANUPATRA 109, 112-115 (2017).
[13] Aishwarya Deb, "Battered Woman Syndrome: Prospect of Situating It within Criminal Law in India," May 30, 2018 https://ssrn.com/abstract=3458792 (last visited on June 17, 2020).
[14] Supra note 12.
[15] R. v. Daniel Mc'Nagthen, (1843-1860) All ER Rep 229: 8 ER 718: "To establish the defence of insanity, it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act the accused was labouring under such a defect of reason due to the defect of mind as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing, pr if he knew it, then did not know that he was doing he was wrong."
[16] Ajay B. Sonawane & Radhika S. Bhonsle, "Defence of Insanity In India And England: Comparative Legal Paradigm", 3(1) INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LAW AND LEGAL JURISPRUDENCE STUDIES 146, 150-152 (2016).
[18]Dr Shalu Nigam, "Battered Women Syndrome: Applying this Legal Doctrine in the Indian Context," August 6, 2016, https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2819322 (last visited on Sep 4, 2020).
[19] Paramita Nandy, Battered Woman Syndrome, October 8, 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1689521 (last visited on Sep 4, 2020).
[20] Mira Mihajlovich, "Does Plight Make Right: The Battered Woman Syndrome, Expert Testimony and the Law of Self Defense," 62 (4) INDIANA LAW JOURNAL, 1254, 1261 (1987).
[21] Suyambukkani v. State of T.M., 1989 LW (Cri.) 86.
[23] Manju Lakra v. State of Assam, (2013) SCC OnLine Gau 207.
[25] The Indian Penal Code, 1860, sec.300, Exception 1.
[26] Amutha v. State of T.N., 2014 (2) MWN (Cr) 605.
[27] State of Bengal v. Orilal Jaiswal, AIR 1994 SC 1418.
[28] Paramita Nandy, "Battered Woman Syndrome", October 8, 2010, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1689521 (Last visited on September 4, 2020).
[32] Janet Rifkin, "Toward a Theory of Law and Patriarchy", 3 Havard Womens' L. J. 83, 87 (1980).
[33] Claire Houston, How Feminist Theory Became (Criminal) Law: Tracing the Path to Mandatory Criminal Intervention in Domestic Violence Cases, 21 MICH. J. GENDER & L. 217 (2014).
[34] Glanville Williams, "Diminished Responsibility", Medicine Science and the Law, 41 (1960).
[36] K. M. Sharma, "Defence of Insanity in Indian Criminal Law", 7 JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE 332 (1965).
[38] The Indian Penal Code, 1860, s.84.
[39] Ved Kumari, "Gender Analysis of Indian Penal Code, ENGENDERING LAW: ESSAYS IN HONOUR OF LOTIKA SARKAR" 139, 15-18 (Amita Dhanda & Archana Parachar, 1st ed., 1999).
[40] Ratan Lal v. State of M. P., (1970) 3 SCC 533.
[42] Bapu v. State of Rajasthan, (2007) 8 SCC 66.
[43] Sunil Sandeep v. State of Karnataka, 1993 SCC OnLine Kar 63: 1993 Cri LJ 2554; Siddheswari Bora v. State of Assam, 1981 SCC OnLine Gau 39; Manju Lakra v. State of Assam, 2013 SCC OnLine Gau 207: (2013) 4 GLT 333.
[44] Supra note 15, at 126.
[45] The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Act no. 45 of 1860), s.300, Exception 1.
[46] R.V. Kelkar, Provocation as a defence in the Indian Penal Code, THE INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE 319, 330 (1963).
[47] Aman Deep Borthakur, The Case of Inclusion of 'Battered Woman Defence' in India, 11(1) NUJS L. REV. 1, 13-14 (2018).
[48] K.M. Nanavati v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1962 SC 605: 1962 Supp (1) SCR 567.
[50] Kaliyaperumal v. State of T.M., (2004) 9 SCC 157: AIR 2003 SC 3828; Yashoda v. State of M.P., (2004) 3 SCC 98; Ghulam Mustafa Gahno v. Emperor, 1938 SCC OnLine Sind JC 74: 1939 Cri LJ 778; Tilok Rajawar v. State of Assam, 1986 SCC OnLine Gau 113; Mahmood v. State, 1960 SCC OnLine AII 180: 1961 AII LJ 209; Sukhdev Singh v. Delhi State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi), (2003) 7 SCC 441; Sukhlal Sarkar v. Union of India, (2012) 5 SCC 703.
[52] Id.; Supra note 16.
[53] B.D. Khunte v. Union of India, (2015) 1 SCC 286.
[54] Sukhlal Sarkar v. Union of India, (2012) 5 SCC 703: This was a landmark judgment in which the apex court ruled that if a person claims the defence of Exception 1 of section 300, then he/she needs to prove that the provocation was sudden and grave, and did not consist of any delay between it and the provocative act; B.D. Khunte v. Union of India, AIR 1972 SC 502.
[55] The Indian Penal Code,1860 (Act no. 45 of 1860), s.100; WAYNE R. LAFAVE & AUSTIN W. SCOTT, HANDBOOK ON CRIMINAL LAW-HANDBOOK SERIES, 391 (1972).
[56] Supra note 47, at 15; Yogendra Moraji v. State of Gujarat, (1980) 2 SCC 218.
[57] The six circumstances: "First.- Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that death will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Secondly.- Such an assault as may reasonably cause the apprehension that grievous hurt will otherwise be the consequence of such assault; Thirdly.- An assault with the intention of committing rape; Fourthly.- An assault with the intention of gratifying unnatural lust; Fifthly.-An assault with the intention of kidnapping or abducting; Sixthly.- An assault with the intention of wrongfully confining a person, under circumstances which may reasonably cause him to apprehend that he will be unable to have recourse to the public authorities for his release."
[59] Vadilal Pochabhai Thakkar v. State of Gujarat, (1998) 29 (2) GLR 1101; Gurudatta Mal v. State of U.P., AIR 1965 SC 257.
[60] Malinga v. State, (1997) SCC OnLine Mad 787; Champa Rani Mondal v. State of West Bengal, (2000) 10 SCC 608 Vishwanath v. State of U.P., AIR 1960 SC 67: (1960) 1 SCR 646; Meera v. State of Rajasthan, (1998) SCC OnLine Raj 821; Anuj Jermi v. State, 2012 SCC OnLine Mad 2874.
BY POULOMI BARIK | KIIT SCHOOL OF LAW


About Us Recent News 2018 August Enjoy a meal out with less guilt about your diet!
Eating more home-cooked, fresh meals is recommended to improve your nutrition and overall health. When we eat at home we have control over our ingredients and often eat more balanced meals with smaller portions. However, you can still enjoy a meal out while focusing on your diet.
Be prepared. You can often find menus and nutrition information online beforehand which can help you make a plan of what to order and how that fits into your daily plan.
Speak up. Don't hesitate to ask questions about ingredients, preparation methods, or substitutions. The more we all do this, the more restaurants understand that their customers are looking for healthy options, which could lead to menu changes down the road. Restaurants want you to be happy with their service and dishes so that you return and tell your friends.
Look for clues. Many menus have "healthy" designations or symbols that help you determine which dishes may be lower in calorie, sodium, or fat. Other words to look for include light, fresh, fit, vegetarian, skinny, baked, grilled, etc.
Add color. The more color on your plate, usually the more nutritious your foods. Substitute a side dish with fruits, vegetables, or salads. Escape the blah looking plate with a colorful plate that is more appealing and satisfying.
Resist the freebies. Who doesn't love the bread basket or chips and salsa? But remember, all the extra calories, fat, and sodium add up. Your best bet is to request for them to not even bring the basket to the table and save your appetite for your meal.
Take the wheel. Ask for butter, cheese, toppings, salad dressings, sauces, gravies to be served on the side so you can be in control of how much of these items are added to your food. These are items that add up extremely fast and you'll find that oftentimes the food still taste great with much less.
Go halfsies. Sharing an entrée, appetizer, or dessert still allows you to get foods you enjoy but keeping the portion just right. Don't be afraid to ask for a children's meal either, often times you get smaller portions, a lower price, and at many restaurants your drink is free with a children's meal.


text:
Russia's Rosatom outlines plans for Argentina
Russia's Rosatom has released details of an inter-governmental agreement to build Argentina's sixth nuclear power reactor.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU), signed yesterday in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, establishes a "framework for cooperation" for construction of a 1200 MWe VVER unit in the South American country, the state nuclear corporation said.
Rosatom director general Sergey Kirienko - who signed the MoU with Julio de Vido, Argentina's minister of federal planning, public investment and services – said work on an agreement for construction of the reactor was already under way and that he hoped the final deal would be signed by the end of the year. Rosatom is offering Argentina Generation III+ nuclear power technology that "fully meets" modern safety requirements and which is "highly cost-effective", he said.
"Russia's unique experience of nuclear power construction is known throughout the world and the high quality of its plants has been proven. I'm confident that the agreement on which we are already working will be mutually beneficial and long term," he said.
JSC Rusatom Overseas and Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (NASA) also signed a preliminary project development agreement on construction of the reactor in Argentina. The document was signed by Dzhomart Aliev, CEO of JSC Rusatom Overseas and Jose Luis Antunez, president of NASA.
The document "defines the scope of cooperation, the rights and obligations of the parties, financial and other terms of interaction during the development of a nuclear power plant construction project based on Russian technologies in Argentina," Rosatom said. It includes provision for Russian state financing at preferential rates and some technology transfer. The two countries will also work together to sell VVER technology in South America and Africa, Rosatom said.
A day earlier, Rosatom nuclear fuel manufacturing subsidiary TVEL signed two memoranda of understanding with the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina and INVAP SE.
All the latest agreements on cooperation develop an inter-governmental agreement of 12 July 2014 on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy signed during Putin's official visit to Argentina. On 1 March, Kirchner announced her government's intention to cooperate with Russia during her annual speech at the opening of the Argentine Congress' ordinary session.
Argentina Construction Contracts Russia Treaties and agreements
Argentina, Russia sign nuclear reactor and fuel deals
Rosatom State Corporation


text:
Popular Reality Shows TV Gossips TV Shows
KKK11 Poll Results: Fans declare Divyanka Tripathi as the winner of the show; Gets more than 50 percent votes
admin September 22, 2021 No Comments Arjun BijlaniDivyanka TripathiKKK11Rahul VaidyaRohit ShettyShweta TiwariVarun SoodVishal Singh
As the finale of the show Khatron Ke Khiladi 11 comes closer, the excitement among the fans of the show is also growing. There are speculations being made about the contestant who will be lifting the KKK11 winner trophy. The finalists of the show are Divyanka Tripathi, Shweta Tiwari, Arjun Bijlani, Vishal Singh, Varun Sood and Rahul Vaidya. We had conducted a poll to know whom the audience wants to see as the winner of the show. As per the results, the audience has stated its clear choice of seeing Divyanka as the winner.
The poll results have been quite surprising as more than 50 percent of the people have chosen Divyanka Tripathi as the winner of the season 11 of the show. Divyanka has been playing superbly in the show and had been performing daring stunts without fear. She is a strong player, due to which she has been getting a lot of appreciation from her fans as well as co-contestants. In the poll, she received 55% votes from the audience. Following her with a major difference is Rahul Vaidya, who received 15 percent votes. Actor Vishal Aditya Singh and Arjun Bijlani receive 12 percent and 11 percent votes, respectively. Varun Sood got 4 percent votes and Shweta Tiwari got the least votes of 3 percent. It will be interesting to see if the audience choice will be the final choice as Divyanka or someone else will be lifting the trophy. The finale of the show hosted by Rohit Shetty will be aired this weekend.
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text:
Q: How to send pure JSON object (which resided inside model object) to view in spring boot? I'm new to spring boot development. I have to put my json object inside my model object and send it to view. I've used jackson library's ObjectMapper class to convert the object into String.
My controller snippet is
@GetMapping("/show-employee")
public String showEmployee(Model model) {
    ObjectMapper objectMapper = new ObjectMapper();
    String empString = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(new Employee("santhosh", "kumar", "example@gmail.com"))
    model.addAttribute("employee", empString);
    return "employees/employee-display";
}

And my model class is
@Entity
public class Employee {
    @Id
    @GeneratedValue(strategy = GenerationType.IDENTITY)
    private long id;

    @NotBlank
    @Size(min = 3, max = 20)
    private String firstName;

    @NotBlank
    @Size(min = 3, max = 20)
    private String lastName;

    @Email(message = "Please enter a valid email id")
    private String email;

    // constructors, getters and setters

On the view side, I have thymeleaf code as below to access the JSON object
<script>
        var employeesJsonStr = "[[${employee}]]";
        console.log(employeesJsonStr);
</script>

But on the console window, I end up with this...
{"id":0,"firstName":"santhosh","lastName":"kumar","email":"example@gmail.com","projects":null}

How can pass the JSON String to front end so that I can access that using Javascript without having to do html decoding.

A: I understand you are converting JSON object as string and setting it up inside a model. This is obviously produce String in the front end instead what you could directly send the model object in the response. It will produce JSON data at the end anyway.
@GetMapping("/show-employee" , produces = MediaType.APPLICATION_JSON_VALUE)
public List<Employee> showEmployee(Model model) {
    Employee emp = new Employee("santhosh", "kumar", "example@gmail.com"))
    model.addAttribute("employee", emp);
    return "employees/employee-display";
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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text:
The Reading trolleybus system served the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire and was owned by Reading Corporation, who had operated an electric tramway since 1901. As there was a need for major refurbishment of the tramway in the 1930s, they decided to replace it with a trolleybus network. The first route was converted on , and by mid 1939, trolleybuses were running over most of the tramway routes, with the last tram running on 20 May. By the standards of the various now-defunct trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom, the Reading system was a moderately sized one, with a total of four routes, and a maximum fleet of 63 trolleybuses, a size that lasted from 1 December 1950 to 27 March 1952.

Reading saw a large increase in population during the Second World War, and extra vehicles were obtained to meet the demands for transport. During this period, all of the termini were given new non-geographical names, in case there was an invasion, but most were reverted when hostilities ceased. In the post-war period, small extensions to the system continued to be made, and although a batch of second-hand trolleybuses were purchased in 1949, most acquisitions were new, with a final batch of twelve obtained from Sunbeam Commercial Vehicles in 1961. The demise of the system was hastened by the manufacturer of overhead wiring announcing that they would cease production of these items, and some major roadworks taking place in the town, which would have required reconstruction of the overhead wiring. The first closure of a route took place in July 1965, and the system closed on .

Reading was at the forefront of the trolleybus preservation movement, when Reading Transport Society obtained the first British trolleybus to be privately preserved. Another five Reading vehicles were eventually saved, including one that was sold to Teesside for further service when the Reading system closed. The Reading Transport Society spent years searching for a site where their vehicles could be exhibited and operated, and were instrumental in setting up The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft in 1969, where all of the preserved vehicles are normally stored. The Society was rebranded as the British Trolleybus Society in 1971, reflecting the wider remit that they now had.

History
Reading Corporation had run an electric tramway network since 1 November 1901, and by the 1930s the tramcars were showing their age, as the fleet still consisted of the 30 vehicles that had been bought for the opening of the system and another six that had been acquired a year later, although many had been fitted with new bodywork at the Mill Lane depot in the 1920s. In 1931 a Tramways (Future Policy) Subcommittee was created, to consider what should be done when replacement of the tramcars became necessary. Formal visits were made to see several trolleybus systems, and the committee proposed a trolleybus network as the solution. As they were already promoting a Bill in Parliament to authorise the supply of electricity, the initial plan to obtain powers to convert the Caversham Bridge to Whitley Wood route became a more general request to cover the conversion of all the tram routes, and these powers were enshrined in the Reading Corporation Act (1935).

Trams on the route along Erleigh Road had been withdrawn on 7 August 1932, to be replaced by motorbuses, The overhead wiring on part of the route was altered for trolleybuses, and a Sunbeam demonstrator was obtained in May 1936 to allow driver training to take place. The vehicle was fitted with a skate to allow it to run under the tramway wires between the depot and the test track, and although there was never a public trolleybus service on the Erleigh Road route, passengers were often carried free of charge during this period to provide a taster for the new mode of transport. Trams were withdrawn from the Caversham to Whitley Street route on 15 July 1936, to be temporarily replaced by motor buses while the conversion of the overhead wiring was completed. A formal opening took place on 18 July, with the Mayor driving the Sunbeam demonstrator, now No.1 in the corporation's fleet. The other five vehicles obtained to provide the service were an eclectic mix, with one each from Associated Equipment Company (AEC) of Southall, Guy Motors of Wolverhampton, Leyland Motors of Leyland, Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies of Ipswich, and another Sunbeam. All had lowbridge bodywork by Park Royal Vehicles, with 50 seats on the demonstrator and 52 seats on the rest.

The different makes of trolleybus were assessed, and an order was placed with AEC for 25 vehicles to enable the rest of the trams to be withdrawn. These were of highbridge design, with a central gangway on the top deck, rather than the offset sunken gangway of the lowbridge design. Because a highbridge design is inherently taller than a lowbridge vehicle, the corporation had to obtain a special dispensation from the Ministry of Transport, as low bridges on Caversham Road and Oxford Road meant that the overhead wires were very close to the roof at these locations. As well as the price being competitive, AEC had the advantage that their works were only  away. Delivery of the first vehicle occurred on 14 December 1938, and the final one arrived on 18 April 1939. New overhead wiring was erected, and where possible, the tramway wiring was removed, with the trams using one of the trolley wires to obtain their power. The "main line" tramway route ran from Oxford Road, near its junction with Craig Avenue in the west, to Wokingham Road in the east, with a branch to London Road. The trolleybus route would be somewhat longer, with an extension along Wokingham Road to the "Three Tuns" public house at one end, and a longer extension to "The Bear" public house in Tilehurst at the other. Driver training took place at the Tilehurst end, where there was no conflict with the trams, and the final trams ran on 20 May 1939, bringing 38 years of tramway operation to an end. Trolleybuses ran along the extended route on the following day.

The onset of the Second World War brought its own problems, with Reading seeing a rapid increase in population, from 100,000 to 140,000 in just two years, and corresponding increases in the number of passengers trying to use the system. Attempts to hire surplus trolleybuses or motor buses from other operators failed, but in 1942 an order was placed with Sunbeam for six utility-bodied vehicles, which arrived in 1943. All of the termini were renamed to remove geographical information, in case of invasion, with Caversham becoming Promenade, Whitley becoming Whit Pump, Tilehurst becoming Bear Inn, Wokingham Road becoming Three Tuns, and London Road becoming Liverpool Road. When hostilities ceased, all but Liverpool Road reverted to their pre-war names. On 31 July 1944 a new branch was opened from Oxford Road to Kentwood, enabling trolleybuses to replace motor buses with a consequential saving in precious oil based fuel.

In 1949 the Whitley Street line was extended along Northumberland Avenue on 5 June, with a branch to Whitley Wood and a short branch to Reading General station opening on 7 August. Subsequent short extensions took the system to its full extent, with the Kentwood route running to Armour Hill and the Northumberland Avenue line running to the junction with Whitley Wood Road. Services on the extended system were provided by purchasing twelve three-axle Karriers from the Huddersfield system, although only six were used in public service, and a batch of 20 vehicles from British United Traction with air-operated doors on the rear platform were delivered in 1950. The final additions to the fleet were twelve Sunbeams with front entrances, which arrived in 1961.

Demise
By 1965, many UK trolleybus systems had closed, and there were just 16 still in operation. The main manufacturer of the overhead equipment and wiring for trolleybus systems, British Insulated Callender's Cables, gave notice that they would cease production by the end of the year, because of difficulties in making the wire in sufficient quantities for it to be economic. At the same time the trolleybuses came in for some bad publicity in the local press because they cost more to operate compared to motor buses and they were inflexible, even though the trolleybuses were profitable (Reading's motor buses made a loss), faster and less polluting. Reading Corporation decided to abandon the trolleybus system, and the routes were phased out between July 1965 and November 1968.

The first route to close was the Caversham Bridge section, on 10 July 1965. At the same time, the wiring allowing the trolleybuses to serve the Stations was altered, in preparation for the introduction of a one-way system in the area. The decision to abandon the system was taken at a Council meeting on 26 Juy 1966, and large-scale closure began on 8 January 1967, when services on the Whitley Wood branch were withdrawn. Next to go were the route to Northumberland Avenue and the branch to the stations, which ceased on 31 December 1967. The Liverpool Road and Armour Hill branches closed on 3 March 1968, leaving just the main line from Tilehurst to Wokingham Road, which lasted until 3 November 1968, with trolleybus No.144 making the final ceremonial trip.

The UK's first contra-flow bus lane was instigated along Kings Road, when that road was made one-way in the early 1960s. The trolleybuses continued to operate two-way, as it was considered uneconomic to erect wiring on the new inbound route, London Road. The concept of the contra-flow bus lane proved successful, and was adopted in other places for motor buses. The extended main line from the Three Tuns to the Bear still exists today as Reading Buses route 17, the town's busiest and most frequent route, and the first to be designated a premier route. This was a scheme to upgrade the quality and level of service, including better provision for passengers with reduced mobility, realtime service information, and a higher capacity, more reliable bus service. This standard was rolled out on route 17 in 2004.

Depots
The Corporation owned a tram depot on Mill Lane, near to where the north-south Caversham to Whitley Street route crossed the east-west Wokingham Road to Norcot route. The site also contained a power station equipped with three boilers and four steam engines, which could supply 400 kW at 500 volts for the trams. For the arrival of the trolleybuses, a new depot was constructed on the same site, and temporary tracks were laid to enable the trams to be parked in the adjacent motor bus depot. Wiring was erected along a small section of London Street and all of Mill Lane, to allow the vehicles to reach either of the main routes, but there was never a public service on the depot access wires. In order to supply power to the new overhead wiring, substations were constructed at Crescent Road on Wokingham Road, Catherine Street on Oxford Road, near the "Rex" Cinema at Norcot, and at Kentwood Hill in Tilehurst. Soon after trolleybus operation began, power was available from the national grid, and the Mill Lane power station was shut down in October 1936. The equipment was removed from the boiler house in 1941, and the building became the trolleybus maintenance workshop.

As the size of the trolleybus fleet grew, the Mill Lane depot was no longer big enough, and a new depot on Bennet Road was constructed. It was officially brought into use on 14 January 1952, but had been used to store vehicles for nearly two years prior to that. Two new substations were required for the extension to Whitley, and they were sited at the junctions of Basingstoke Road with Christchurch Gardens and Buckland Road. The Bennet Road depot was closed in 1958. After the ceremonial last trolleybus on 3 November 1968, the mayor switched off the power to the overhead wiring from Mill Lane, and the trolleybuses had all been towed away to Bennet Road by midnight. They were gradually disposed of, with the last vehicle at the site being No.188, which departed on 11 May 1969.

After closure of the system, the Mill Lane garage was used for motorbuses, but in 1998 the site was completely demolished to make way for the Inner Distribution Road and "The Oracle" shopping mall. Mill Lane itself also disappeared in the redevelopment. However, the huge stone sign that adorned the top of the power station was saved and built into the back wall of the cinema that forms part of the complex.

Fleet
For the opening of the system, six vehicles were obtained from five manufacturers, in order to assess the capabilities of each. Of the two from Sunbeam, the first was a demonstrator, and was obtained because it allowed driver training to begin, whereas new vehicles had a longer lead time. The eclectic mix was matched by a similar mix of electrical equipment, but all had bodywork by Park Royal Vehicles, so looked similar externally. Having assessed the vehicles, that from AEC was placed first, with vehicle No.6 from Sunbeam in second place. When asked for tenders, both quoted the same price, and so the first large batch was obtained from AEC. The second batch was obtained to cope with increased traffic levels during the Second World War, and were probably Sunbeams, although Joyce et al. also call them Karriers. The difference is trivial, as they were essentially the same vehicle. The Karrier model W was built at the Wolverhampton factory of Sunbeam, and badged with a Sunbeam logo if the order was placed through Sunbeam's Wolverhampton office, or a Karrier logo if it was placed through Karrier's Luton office.

Reading's first  wide trolleybuses were the 20 bought from British United Traction in 1949. They had 64 seats and were also the first to have air-operated doors on the rear platform. At a similar time, they purchased a batch of twelve three-axle Karriers from Huddersfield, which had been built in 1934. The General Manager was originally given permission to buy between five and ten of the vehicles, but obtained all twelve. Plans for them to enter service immediately could not be actioned, because of the poor condition of the vehicles, and a programme of rebuilding, using two of them for spares was started, although only six of them were eventually completed.

Higher capacity was a feature of the three-axle Sunbeam S7s bought in 1950, which had seating for 68 passengers. The final batch of twelve vehicles were model F4As from Sunbeam, which had two axles, but retained the higher seating capacity of the previous batch. These were the only new vehicles that Reading bought which did not have bodywork by Park Royal Vehicles, but instead, they went to H. V. Burlingham of Blackpool for the coachbuilding. In a departure from previous practice, they had a front entrances, and six of them re-used motors and electrical equipment from the AECs they were replacing, while the other six had new equipment supplied by British Thomson-Houston (BTH). When the system closed, five of those with BTH equipment, Nos.183 to 186 and 192, were sold on to Teesside, where No.186 became the final vehicle to operate on that system when it closed in 1971.

Preservation

Six of the former Reading trolleybuses are now preserved. The Reading Transport Society was formed in April 1961 when 14 enthusiasts decided it was worth trying to save one of the AEC vehicles due to be withdrawn later that year. When they managed to do so in September, No.113 became the first privately preserved trolleybus in Britain. Although intended to be a local society, membership spiralled rapidly, attracting members from all over Britain. By 1964 they owned three other trolleybuses, and began searching for a permanent site where they could be displayed. Working with other societies, part of a former airfield at Sandtoft, near Doncaster, was purchased in 1969, and the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft was formed. Reading No.193 was the first trolleybus to move to the site in November 1969. The Reading Transport Society was renamed the British Trolleybus Society on 29 April 1971, exactly ten years after it was set up to purchase No.113, and all of the Reading trolleybuses in preservation are normally stored at the Sandtoft site.

No.113, an AEC dating from 1939, became the first trolleybus in the United Kingdom to be preserved privately when Reading Transport Society acquired it in 1961, following withdrawal. This acquisition started the trolleybus preservation movement in Britain. Reading Transport Society did not have adequate facilities at the time, and it was stored in the open for ten years, during which time the bodywork deteriorated badly. In 1971 it was moved to Doncaster and stored under cover until restoration began in 1998. This was completed in May 1999, and it has regularly run on public open days at Sandtoft since then.
No.144 was one of a batch of 20 BUT vehicles dating from 1949, which were the first  wide vehicles to operate in Reading, and also the first to have air-operated doors on the rear platform. It remained in service until the system closed, and became the official last trolleybus on 3 November 1968. It returned to Reading in 1976 for Reading Transport's 75th Anniversary event, and operated sporadically at Sandtoft for events commemorating Reading anniversaries. Following the death of its owner Mike Dare in September 2005, ownership passed to the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft, where it is used regularly.
No.174 and No.181 were two of a batch of 12 Sunbeam S7s, with three axles, obtained in 1950. Both took part in the final closing ceremony in 1968. Subsequently, No.174 remained in the Reading area, appearing at Reading Transport's 75th Anniversary event, and used as a static exhibit at transport festivals. It moved to Sandtoft in 2006, when it was repainted and rewired, but further internal work is required before it can be used to give rides to the public. No.181 has been at Sandtoft since 1969, and was rewired and repainted in the 1990s. Internal restoration work was completed in 2006.
No.193 was one of the final batch of forward entrance Sunbeams obtained by Reading in 1961, and became the first trolleybus to arrive at the Sandtoft site when it was moved there in November 1969. After a repaint in 1984, it was in regular use at museum open days. Around 2000, it returned to Reading for further restoration work, and moved back to Sandtoft in 2006, but some more internal work is required before it can be used by the public.
Teesside T291 is also at Sandtoft. This was part of the same batch as No.193, but whereas six of the batch including No.193 were fitted with refurbished motors and electrical equipment from withdrawn AECs, the other six, including No.186, were fitted with new AEI motors and equipment. Five of the latter type were sold to Teesside, and No.186 entered service there on 1 April 1969. It was initially numbered 11, but subsequently became T291. It was the official last trolleybus in Teesside, and after the system closed on 18 April 1971, it was purchased by Mike Dare in May. It was stored at Sandtoft and nearby Westgate for years, but was then sold on, and from 1993 was at the East Anglia Transport Museum at Carlton Colville, before being moved to the Black Country Living Museum at Dudley. The floor of the upper deck was rebuilt while it was there, but it was sold again in 2011, and returned to Sandtoft on 20 April, where additional work was required before it could be returned to public service.
Sandtoft Museum also own a horse-drawn tower wagon built by Robert Blackwell and Co. in 1903, to enable the original Reading horse tramway to be converted to an electric tramway. It survived into the trolleybus era, and was used until 1967 to facilitate the repainting of the standards supporting the wiring, rather than the maintenance of the overhead wiring itself. It is affectionately known as William, since that was the only part of William John Evans, the General Manager's name, that was legible when it was acquired. The wheels were rebuilt in 2010, and there are plans to complete the restoration of this rare vehicle.

See also

Reading Transport
List of trolleybus systems in the United Kingdom

References

Bibliography

External links

SCT'61 website – photos and descriptions of Reading trolleybuses and early motorbuses
Reading trolleybuses picture gallery
National Trolleybus Archive
British Trolleybus Society, based in Reading
National Trolleybus Association, based in London

Reading
Transport in Reading, Berkshire
Reading
1936 establishments in England
1968 disestablishments in England

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Osmariel Maholi Villalobos Atencio (born August 2, 1988)  is a Venezuelan TV show host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Earth Venezuela in 2011. She represented Venezuela in Miss Earth 2012 in the Philippines and won the "Miss Earth-Water" (2nd runner up) title and Miss Photogenic Awards, gathering 28,000 votes combined through social media and the Miss Earth website.

Villalobos was employed by Venevision (Portada's  TV program).

References

External links
Miss Venezuela Official Website

1988 births
Living people
Venezuelan female models
Miss Earth 2012 contestants


text:
Q: Incomplete Gamma function as Meijer G How can I write the incomplete Gamma function in terms of the Meijer-G function? Assume that the Incomplete Gamma is given as:

where alpha, beta and m are real positive constants.

A: They are several relationships between the incomplete Gamma function and particular Meijer-G functions. For example this one : http://functions.wolfram.com/GammaBetaErf/Gamma2/26/02/01/0002/MainEq1.L.gif
Is it that you want ?


Last Friday Google, Yahoo and Bing announced the launch of schema.org, which promotes annotation of web pages to make them more useful for search engines. This is definitely a hot topic as the current web of documents reached its limits a few years ago. Every search engine user knows what I am talking about.
RDFa is from a complexity point of view the same thing as Microdata, Manu Sporny proves that in his blog post by example. The argument that RDFa is more complex than Microdata is pure nonsense.
RDFa is a serialization of RDF within XML/(X)HTML trees. In case you do not know RDF, Mike Bergmann calls it the universal data solvent, which gets it pretty well. RDF provides much more than Microdata and is so much more powerful. There is simply no excuse for not using RDFa in the first place.
There are lots of great examples out there how you can use RDFa, one of the famous examples is probably GoodRelations. On the schema.org FAQ they state that their work is "inspired by earlier work like Microformats, FOAF, GoodRelations, OpenCyc, etc.".
The last point needs some more explanation. In RDF, a shared vocabulary gets described in a so called ontology which is most of the times expressed in RDF Schema or OWL. Such an ontology defines the wording used (called predicates) and also the data type of each predicate and relationships to other predicates. Both RDF Schema and OWL are expressed in RDF, which makes it possible to bootstrap not just the data itself but also the shared vocabulary used for describing the data in the same format. This is big, really big!
Another important aspect is that data modeled in RDF can be neither correct, nor complete. If you ask 10 persons to model the world, you will get 10 different results. If you express those 10 models in RDF, we will be able to map matching things between the different models even if it is not always exactly the same thing. RDF can handle this uncertainty, which is for me one of the favorite things about RDF.
This is an important lesson learned after failures in the 1990ies when companies like Taligent tried to model the whole world in one single library. RDF instead propagates the concept of domain experts. If you are strong in a specific domain, you should create the vocabulary for it, not some experts at Google/Yahoo/Bing which try to figure out how they can squeeze the whole universe in 300 or so tags. Maybe your domain vocabulary is not fully compatible with my domain vocabulary but that is just how the world works and RDF can handle that by design.
So beside the technical decision not to use RDFa this is for me the biggest fail with schema.org. They thought of a vocabulary which fits for them. This vocabulary is not described in RDF which makes it far less useful for machines/computers and it is very hard to extend it that way or interlink it with more powerful vocabularies like GoodRelations, FOAF etc. which are already out there for a long time. Tim Berners-Lee suggested a 5-star deployment scheme for Linked Open Data, according to that I would probably give schema.org a 4 right now but there is still lots of room for improvement.
Fortunately some people already addressed the RDF part of it: With the help of some well known people in the Semantic Web world Michael Hausenblas created a "real" schema out of it, expressed in RDF. The results can be found at schema.rdfs.org. That is the way the well payed engineers of the three big companies should have done it in the first place. Now we can link it to DBPedia and other resources, extend it for our specific domains and use it in RDFa or whatever RDF serialization we choose.
I am not sure where it is going with schema.org. RDFa co-creator Manu Sporny is pessimistic about the current state while others like Mike Bergmann are very optimistic and think it is one of the most important steps in the semantic web world so far. I think the RDF Schema of the vocabulary is the first step into the right direction but I am afraid that the decision for Microdata will seriously harm adoption of RDFa as a standard. This should be changed as soon as possible! Let us see what Manu Sporny and others will present in the next few days or weeks. By the way there is also a session at this years SemTech about it.
So what is schema.org currently? A step back in terms of technology used plus a vocabulary which is not according to the intentions of the semantic web world as being done for several years by now. Not too impressive.


The faithful came out in droves to celebrate STI's 30th anniversary.
I couldn't leave Subaru STI's Motorsports Day at Fuji Speedway—where I drove the new STI S209 and a few JDM models, plus rode in an iconic WRC racer—without checking out the parking lots and gaping at the cool stuff fans brought. As I began to peruse the more than 1000 cars in attendance, I challenged myself to find a 22B—this was a celebration of 30 years of STI, and surely an example of one of its most iconic cars would be somewhere, right?
Unfortunately, no. After about 30 minutes of searching, it was clear I wasn't going to see a 22B—but I did stumble across tons of other interesting cars. Unsurprisingly a lot of GC8-generation models were scattered about, as were a few WRX coupes. (This got a bit annoying after the fourth time I thought one was a 22B from afar.) As I surveyed the cars, the dominant theme emerged: rally-inspired modifications. For many, Subaru and STI means rallying, as it's only been in the last decade or so that the company has turned its focus to endurance racing and Japan's Super GT series. As such, more than a few cars were festooned with the iconic '555' livery, gold wheels, and hood-mounted quad fog lights, and I probably don't need to tell you what the Subaru Replica Owner's Club that was there was all about. I have to give credit to the members; they did a great job with their cars.
It wasn't just rally lookalikes and Imprezas, though. There were also a few JDM-special Subarus most Americans have never even heard of. Like the cute R2 kei car with its baby Tribeca face; Subaru even made a two-door version called the R1, which was a sort of modern interpretation of its first car, the 360. There was one of those in the lot, too, with every badge imaginable on it.
Or what about a Subaru Chiffon? Yes, Chiffon like the cake. It's another kei car, but this one is a badge-engineered Daihatsu Tanto. Nearby was an Exiga, a seven-seat mini-minivan related to the Legacy that even spawned a Crossover 7 version. It served as the replacement for the Traviq—a car I forgot existed until I came across one here—which was a rebadged first-generation Opel Zafira. Circling back to kei cars, one of the coolest by far was the Vivio Targa Top with the rally-style Racing Hart wheels. Amazingly, a Vivio was driven by Colin McRae in the 1993 Safari Rally.
Among cars you may have heard of, seeing the occasional fourth-generation Legacy (as seen below) made me realize how good looking these cars still are. There was even an example of the ultimate incarnation of the fourth-gen Legacy, the S402. Launched in 2008 strictly for the Japanese home market, it was limited to 402 units in each body style. It was the last hurrah for what is arguably the handsomest version of the Legacy, and was equipped with a 2.5-liter turbocharged boxer four lifted from the contemporary Impreza STI and tuned to deliver 285 horsepower.
Even rarer than the S402 was the Legacy STI S401. Originally, STI intended to make 400 examples but only ended up producing 286. It was the very last twin-turbo Legacy—the sequential turbochargers made way for a single turbo afterward—and was the result of Subaru handing the Legacy to STI and telling them to go to town. STI did just that, fitting a 2.0-liter EJ208 with 289 horsepower, a six-speed manual from the STI, a front limited-slip differential, a full STI suspension, Brembo brakes, and gorgeous 18-inch BBS wheels. The S401 can be distinguished from regular Legacys by the unique bumpers, hood scoop, and pink STI badges.
I lapped all four main lots, in the process finding an SVX, a couple of Forester STIs, and a Crosstrek with orange wheels. As I called it a day, I noticed flared rear fenders out of the corner of my eye—could it be the 22B I had given up on finding? It definitely looked like a 22B . . . but under its hood sat the 2.0-liter engine from the standard WRX rather than the larger 2.2-liter unit in a real 22B. Still, it was a well-executed replica, and it was good enough for me. I could go home happy.


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Atmos Expands Payload Options and Integrates Sony A7r Series
Will increase surveying capacity
Atmos UAV01.16.2023
Valkenburg, January 17th, 2023. Atmos, the Dutch drone manufacturer that develops high-end VTOL fixed-wing drones (Marlyn Cobalt) for surveying and mapping applications, integrates the Sony α7R mark III and IV cameras, and increases the coverage and accuracy achieved in a single flight.
Marlyn Cobalt drone equipped with Sony a7R sensor.
"Sony is a well-known industry-leading brand when it comes to drone surveying payloads" said Joost Bouman, Head of Production and Founding Partner at Atmos. "We have been working with Sony since 2016, and the combination of great price-value ratio with high quality sensors, is one of the reasons we are so happy with this long-lasting relationship. Their responsiveness and the continuous support we have with regards to the development and integration of new cameras, have been very valuable to us." he concluded.
Both cameras have an ISO of 32000 (expandable to 102400) and camera sensors with high mega pixel count (42,4MP for the α7R ΙΙΙ, and 61MP for the α7R IV respectively) which when combined with Zeiss' 35mm (α7R III) and 21mm (α7R IV) lenses will enable drone surveyors to achieve GSD (Ground Sample Distance) levels below one centimeter. The integration of these two new cameras will provide users of Marlyn Cobalt, Atmos' leading drone, with increased coverage and accuracy, allowing them to map an area of 210 hectares (an area equal to almost 300 football fields) with centimeter-level accuracy in a single flight. "When it comes to land and construction surveying applications, we see that Sony cameras are always the number one choice for professional users," said Vasilis Tziampiris, Marketing Lead at Atmos. "We are excited to increase our users' capacity and further improve their results in the field!" he added.
Yasuo Baba, Director, Digital Imaging and European Product Marketing, Sony Digital Imaging Europe added: "Every time we launch an updated version of our SDK (Software Development Kit), we see the applications multiply and aerial footage is a particularly exciting area. We are very proud to be working in close collaboration with Atmos, bring the best of our camera technology to their drones and delivering unparalleled image quality for their users."
About Marlyn Cobalt Survey Drone
Marlyn Cobalt is the first fully autonomous hybrid (VTOL & Fixed wing) drone for mapping and surveying applications. With its patented design that combines the best of both worlds, Marlyn can take-off vertically from anywhere, and map fast and efficiently producing high quality outputs for professional users. It is the only drone in its class that is built to perform even in harsh and windy conditions, while its easily swappable payloads provide operators with unprecedented flexibility.
About Atmos
Founded in 2013, Atmos is a Leiden (NL) based scale-up company specialised in the design and production of high-end aerial surveying and data collection drones that enable professionals to effortlessly gather geospatial data from the sky, enabling them to make more informed decisions. The flagship drone model Marlyn has a worldwide unique design that combines the high performance of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft with the flexibility of helicopters. With their patented technology the company targets mapping, construction, mining, agriculture, environmental and related applications. To facilitate the fast growth of the company, Atmos is currently attracting new talent to expand the team and scale-up the production.
Location: Hangaargebied, Marinevliegkamp 356, 2236 ZZ Valkenburg, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 (0) 15 744 0321
Email: sales@atmosuav.com
Sony Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation and is responsible for the Entertainment, Technology & Services (ET&S (Entertainment, Technology & Services)) business. With the vision of "continuing to deliver Kando and Anshin to people and society across the world through the pursuit of technology and new challenges," Sony will create products and services in areas such as home entertainment & sound, imaging, and mobile communications. For more information, visit: http://www.sony.net/
* Both Japanese words, Kando means emotion and Anshin has various meanings such as peace of mind, reassurance, reliability, and trust.


The purpose of the Cleaning Committee is to keep the church clean on a weekly basis. Volunteers make calls to parishoners to remind them of their turn for the following Saturday morning cleaning. The names will also be listed in the weekly bulletins. A cleaning report is given at the Altar Society meetings and supplies are purchased with money donated to the Altar Society by people that are unable to clean when called. Extra volunteers are needed weekly to clean. Some parishioners help clean on a regular basis for their work of charity. If you would like to volunteer to help clean the church, please contact the rectory.


text:
Tech. Policy. Politics.
Tag: Computer Science
The Innovation Bug
By Maya Plentz When people ask me how come I am so interested in technology and innovation I tell them that is thanks to my father, Ayrton Fagundes, who taught me about tech, policy, and ethics in journalism. And Bloomberg TV of course, a complete immersion on a perfect digital newsroom. But my father was…
Geneva, Switzerland / March 2018 Speech delivered at the 2018 World Summit on the Information Society organized under the auspices of the UN agency for telecommunications (ITU) and UNESCO. By Maya Plentz How to make sure women receive public funds for research? We must make sure that rather than simply voicing our outrage on social…
In October of 2016 Ms. Plentz Fagundes was appointed by the European Commission to the High Level Group of Experts to review the impact of Horizon 2020, the £80 Billion Framework Programme to fund Research and Innovation in the EU from 2014 to 2020.
Engineering at FIU
A Florida university and an insurer that incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in losses during recent hurricanes are teaming up to find ways to help buildings survive massive storms. Their tool: Giant fans. Selected clippings, results of media relations campaigns by Maya Plentz for FIU Placement: Wall Street Journal From Fans' Whirlwind, Researchers…
India: QS University Rankings
*Wall Street Journal Asia By Shanoor Seervai May 15, 2014 In a survey of 300 Asian universities released this week, Indian schools — even the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology — once again failed to reach the top of the ranks. Delhi's IIT is the first Indian institution to surface in the latest Quacquarelli Symonds rankings,…


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Lexus And Porsche Are The Two Most Dependable Auto Brands On Sale
Feb. 24, 2017 2:00 PM ET by Gabe Beita Kiser / 22 Comments
This is Lexus' 6th consecutive victory but it was tied by our favorite automaker from Stuttgart.
With centuries of collective experience underneath their belts, it's a bit of a shame to hear that the world's automakers still average about 156 problems per 100 vehicles, at least for the 2014 model-year vehicles studied in the latest J.D. Power quality survey. This may sound like a lot because it guarantees at least one problem experienced per vehicle, but the upside of this is that these issues are beginning to stem from non crucial components such as the suspension or drivetrain.
That's because the increasing complexity of new cars has only added more components that can fail. "The industry is getting 'better and better' at preventing problems in traditional areas, such as suspension problems or mechanical issues," said Dave Sargent, vice president of global automotive at J.D. Power to Automotive News. "These things are getting better, but it's being offset by all the technology that's being stuffed into our cars now," he said. As such, the increase in problems was due to navigation, audio, communication, and entertainment systems although one interesting addition to the list of top 10 most common failures was the battery, with reports of failure rising by 44 percent this year.
Tied for top spot of the latest JD Power ratings are Lexus and Porsche with an average of 110 problems per 100 vehicles, a rise of 15 problems per 100 vehicles for Lexus and 13 for Porsche over last year's study. Following Lexus and Porsche were Toyota, Buick, and Mercedes rounding off the top 5 most dependable automakers in the study. New to the top 10 segment was Mercedes, Hyundai, coming in at number 6, BMW ranking 7th, and Jaguar (shocker) taking 10th place. This shift in dependability rankings pushed GMC, Acura, Ram, and Lincoln out of the top ten spot. The Toyota Camry and Ford F-150, the sales leaders of their respective segments, also topped the Vehicle Dependability Study in their segments.
This correlation coincides with the survey's finding that buyer dollars go towards brands that rank high in quality. "We find buyers are increasingly avoiding models with poor reputations for dependability, so manufacturers can't afford to let quality slip, particularly on their best sellers," said Sargent. That may be why Fiat Chrysler, an automaker with brands inhabiting four out of the five last place slots, may be undergoing such dire financial hardships. Better luck next time.
Show Comments (22)
Tags: #Lexus News #Porsche News #Industry News


text:
A Feedbin library and sample app for syncing RSS subscriptions.

## Dependencies
* [Alamofire](https://github.com/Alamofire/Alamofire) - HTTP client
* [BrightFutures](https://github.com/Thomvis/BrightFutures) - Futures/promises
* [ObjectMapper](https://github.com/Hearst-DD/ObjectMapper) - Bidirectional JSON<->object mapping

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
« Best of 2017: Top 5 Disappointments
Best of 2017: Top 15 K-Pop Singles »
Best of 2017: Top 5 Gaming Trends
Posted December 22, 2017 by vagrantesque in Best of 2017, Games, Lists.	Tagged: Best, company, countdown, developer, five, publisher, stories, top, Videogame, Year.	1 Comment
As we switch from negative to neutral, its worth pointing out that 2017 was a year packed with worthwhile videogames to play, and this sheer volume drives the bulk of the year's trends list. One of the reasons we arrived at such a huge number was that three big genres enjoyed quality years in the business, as did one traditionally strong geographical hotbed of development talent and one particularly noteworthy company from that location. The rest of the list is filled by an ongoing discussion on the very nature of modern game releases. But I don't know why I'm being so cryptic – You're about to read the list anyway (My brain is on ice as I write this in a very-well-air-conditioned waiting room – That could be it). The way I see it, these are the five biggest non-disappointing trends that guided 2017's videogame presence.
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VR BEST OF 2017 DISCLAIMER
This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you actually agree with me 100%, that's strange. Intriguing, but strange. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
5. A-Fightin' & A-Racin'
When you stop to think about it, it's a little strange how few representations of certain genres crop up every year when there are so very many games coming out all the freaking time. If you're not an open-world action adventure, sports game, competitive shooter or 2D platformer nowadays, you might as well be a curiosity. But occasionally, the stars align for a certain type of videogame, with multiple major instances of a genre releasing within a single calendar year. In 2016 that genre was the JRPG, which kind of paved the way for a somewhat more open mainstream acceptance of Persona 5 this year. In 2017 there were arguably two genres with enough clustered big releases to raise an eyebrow at – racing and fighting games.
In the former category you had the typically excellent Forza Motorsport 7 in the green corner, doing the reputation of its series no harm while doubling as the major showcase title for super-smooth 4K HDR on the Xbox One X. In the blue corner landed the beyond-long-awaited Gran Turismo Sport, holding the dual mantles of the first GT game AND the first splitscreen track-racing game on the PS4 (almost four years into its life, mind). In the middle was Project Cars 2, which received rapturous applause from the uber-hardcore sim racing community while Dirt 4 picked up its own share of good reviews for its off-road antics. And let's not forget perhaps the best Mario Kart package in history, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
As far as fighting games are concerned, 2017 was an even bigger year, with the long-awaited (if controversial) return of the Marvel vs Capcom series in the form of Infinite and the almost universally-lauded launch of Injustice 2. A celebrated veteran returned to action for the seventh time to round out the year's glamour trio (that's Tekken, yo) while Street Fighter V and to a lesser extent Killer Instinct continued to receive new content and balance tweaks. But the year didn't stop there. Fighters kept showing up in all shapes and sizes, from throwbacks and re-releases (Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers, Pokken Tournament Deluxe) to blockbuster indies both established and fresh (Nidhogg 2, Brawlhalla, Brawlout) to anime-styled (Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, Guilty Gear XRD Rev 2) to completely fresh takes on the genre (Absolver, ARMS). It's exhausting just listing them, let alone thinking how badly I get routinely beaten in every new fighting game I try.
4. 3D Platformers are the New Retro
Though the seeds of this trend were mostly sewn a couple of years ago with a number of Kickstarter announcements, the prophesised shift in weaponised nostalgia among indie developers from 16-bit early-'90s action games to late '90s early 3D platformers happened in force throughout 2017. Certainly the volume of game releases following this trend wasn't on the same level as that of its ongoing predecessor (It's a much more complex endeavour making a third-person game in three dimensions than in two), the stars still aligned enough to make N64 and PS1 kids feel rather at home this year.
The headline-grabber in this department was surely Yooka-Laylee, with its direct-from-Rare development team and highly-publicised crowdfunding campaign. Reception of this title was mixed to put it mildly, with some getting exactly what they asked for in the form of a slavish throwback to the Banjo-Kazooie days, warts and all, while the louder contingent of fans cried foul at the game's refusal to move the genre forward. Somewhat of an antidote to this was A Hat in Time, another N64 collect-a-thon throwback from Kickstarter announced even before Yooka-Laylee. Perhaps due partly to the game's limited PC-only release (for now) and some humbler origins (no pun intended), A Hat in Time was received much more warmly, and I can't wait to get my chance to play it.
Other, lesser-known titles brought their own take to the lost genre, from Poi's low-polygon literalist take to the ultra-crisp straightforward structure of Super Lucky's Tale to the tough but fresh movement systems of Snake Pass. And of course I would be remiss not to mention Crash Bandicoot N-Sane Trilogy and Super Mario Odyssey, who planted gigantic flags in the mainstream announcing that the old-school 3D platformer could still sell like gangbusters. It's a good time to be alive.
3. Japan Storms the First Quarter
This is really two trends in one, but they happened to intersect rather conveniently. Two issues I remember getting quite a bit of games media attention half a decade ago were the dire state of high-end Japanese game development and the uneven, bottom-heavy schedule of videogame releases throughout any given year. Though the efforts to solve these have been gradual – as most solutions tend to be – 2017 saw Japan come out swinging early in a scarcely believable fashion that surely cannot be repeated for a while, at least to the same intense degree.
I cannot remember ever feeling as overwhelmed by new game releases at the end of a January. In the space of about a week and a half Dragon Quest VIII, Gravity Rush 2, Tales of Berseria, Yakuza 0, Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Resident Evil 7 all hit shelves, each one receiving strong critical reception and sending budgets and calendars into disarray. Though this meant fans of Japanese-developed games (and just games in general) might have needed all of the ensuing two months to get through the new games they wanted to play, they also had to contend with the highly-praised releases of Nioh and Nier Automata, as well as yet another Kingdom Hearts collection in the form of 1.5+2.5 HD and of course The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Then, right at the very beginning of April, Persona 5 released to put an ostentatious 100-hour cap on the whole run.
Japanese gaming has rarely seen such a glowing period of dense quality, and if you add in the few big Western releases of the first quarter (like For Honor, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Ghost Recon Wildlands), you end up looking at a sensationally lively three-month stretch that brings new hope to the prospect of publishers spreading out their releases better in the future.
2. What Does a Game Release Even Mean?
And the award for most debated topic within videogames in 2017 goes to… well, probably lootboxes and gambling, but the silver medal goes to the unfinished state of videogame releases! It's still a nebulous topic to discuss, given how easy it is to throw the accusation of "unfinished!" at any game that disappoints in the content department – or even just disappoints in general. God knows people on the internet have few qualms about doing so. It's true that videogames are taking more time and more money to develop than ever before and have been experimenting with pre-content-complete releases as a way to combat this.
But 2017 saw the discourse on the ethics and viability of such an approach coalesce around one game in particular – Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Despite only reaching a so-called "1.0 state", or point of traditional release viability, this week, the PC online multiplayer juggernaut has been available to purchase via Steam Early Access since March, and its stratospheric sales success (20+ million copies worldwide, plenty of which come from China) has forced even the most hardline skeptic to have another think about the value of an ostensibly incomplete videogame.
Yet Battlegrounds wasn't the only harbinger of this potential new paradigm of game criticism – On the opposite end of the spectrum in 2017 was Final Fantasy XV, a game that still seems intent on redefining what can be expected from a single-player experience in the way of expansion and refinement. Free updates tweaking everything from story cutscenes to fundamental gameplay mechanics arrived alongside paid DLC content set within the game's main narrative timeline, meaning someone who plays the game now will have a different experience to anyone who played at launch. We've seen this kind of post-release development in free-to-play games in recent times, but the trend is growing in full-priced retail releases (see also: Rainbow Six Siege, Destiny 2, Overwatch, Splatoon 2, ARMS) and for better or worse, the bar of what players can expect from a videogame's official release are starting to become muddier.
1. Nintendo's Best Year?
They gosh-darn gone and did it again. The folks at Nintendo have repeated their own history and once again silenced the doubters (temporarily) with a stunning comeback, roughly a decade after their last one. No-one is going to dispute the sheer industry-refreshing appeal of the Nintendo Switch, co-designed by the late Satoru Iwata, supported by an unbeatable slate of quality exclusive games and – crucially – marketed with both intelligence and confidence to multiple demographics. But it's perhaps easy to forget the rest of the company's business decisions seemed a bit shrewder than normal this year as well.
Though bemoaned by plenty of fans early in the year, the decision to keep releasing 3DS games at a steady clip – and good ones at that – could only have been immensely profitable, especially in light of yet another hardware revision to the gem-stacked handheld. Nintendo's characters are branching out into cross-media ventures like it's the 1990s again, with a new theme park well under construction in Japan, an animated Mario movie in the works and, of all things, a Super Mario cereal available for purchase overseas. The Super Nintendo Classic / Mini, which unlike its NES predecessor was actually readily available to buy this year – is a treat for nostalgic players and newcomers alike.
Finally, after testing the mobile waters in two very different ways last year with Miitomo and Super Mario Run, Ninty pushed out two vastly more profitable (and arguably better-designed) phone games through 2017 in the form of Fire Emblem Heroes and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. Mistakes have definitely been made this year, but Nintendo is making its way back into the public consciousness in an aggressive and maybe even unprecedented way, and more importantly the overall Nintendo-branded videogame lineup that launched inside this single year of 2017 may just be the company's best yet.
—The Phone-&-Console Party Revolution
It was hardly an industry-wide trend, but 2017 saw a clear increase in the availability of party games where participants sit in the same room and use their phone screens to interact. Once essentially the realm of the Jackbox series of games alone, this year saw the likes of the chaotic Use Your Words appearing to challenge The Jackbox Party Pack 4 – to decent reviews – while Sony launched an entire range of cheap, app-dependent party games under its PlayLink label. From the friend-focused fun of That's You! to the karaoke stylings of Singstar Celebration to the ambitious competitive murder mystery Hidden Agenda, the potential of such a unique gaming setup is being pushed further than ever before, which is quite exciting.
Posted by DDOCentral on December 23, 2017 at 1:51 am
Reblogged this on DDOCentral.


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