Hello, I'm Jason Klaskin, Branch Manager at Academy Mortgage Corporation located in Lansdale, Pennsylvania a Montgomery County suburb of Philadelphia. I specialize in First Time Home Buyer Loans and Education, FHA Loans, FHA 203k Rehab Loans, USDA Loans and FHA Streamline Refinance.My goal is to provide information and education to help our customers make informed decisions about their financing options. I look forward to speaking with you!
Jason Klaskin and Adam were always there when approvals where needed and communicating with the Buyer, one of the benefits is that Jason knows the in and out of a real estate transaction.
Adam was great! Very helpful and friendly every time we talked.
Jason and Adam were great. Second time I've used them and they're very knowledgable and helpful. They made the whole process easy!
Adam Kofsky and his team are amazing. We had the clear to close a week and a half before it was due.
Thanks so much for helping me get into my new home. Adam and the rest of the team were phenominal.
Jason was so helpful throughout the whole process. We enjoyed meeting Adam at settlement and we're thankful to Adina and Connie for being so responsive to our questions.
My clients always, always have a positive experience when working with you!
Working with Adam was great. From day 1 he always took the time to explain things to us and make sure we understood everything that was happening. As first time home buyers, that was very comforting.
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All loan materials, communications and time lines were exceptional.
Adam and Connie are amazing! There was a lot of challenges with this loan but Adam made sure we had options and was always available to talk. Connie was great and made sure we didn't miss our deadlines.
I was impressed with the way you communicated to your clients. Your emails explaining each step was quite creative. And the graphics were really sweet. Very easy for a first time client to understand.
After a long time in the buying process, my clients found a house and were wavering between working with Jason or shopping for a mortgage on line. In one phone call Jason put my clients fears to rest, caught them up on where he was at in the process with them and set them on a course to settlement. Made my job a Realtor so much easier.
The application process was both personal and professional. Jason and his staff were more than helpful, kept us in the loop and explained any questions we had. Everything was done in a timely manner and closing was a stress less event. I would recommend Academy to anyone seeking a mortgage.
Everyone I worked with was great (Jason, Adina, Connie) and helpful through what can be a rather pain-staking process. In the end, I got a mortgage I can afford and am very happy with the service Academy provided.
Jason and his team have continued to meet or exceed our expectations in a very tough housing market. His professional approach and customer service put him head and shoulders above other lenders.
Jason made the entire process extremely effortless as a customer. We had been told by friends and family that this would be a tough process but that was not the case for us. Our loan team did all the heavy lifting and it was a pleasure to work with all of them.
Adam was a true professional during the entire process and was a pleasure to work with.
Adina, Connie, Adam and Jason were the tops! Stayed on top of everything and guided me through the whole process smoothly. It was a pleasure working with this team. Thank you, Academy, for your quality people!
All staff was extremely helpful and friendly, making the paperwork easy to manage for buyers.
In the highly competitive market place of mortgage lending...It's the people at Academy Mortgage that make the difference. You just can't find a better team in the Delaware Valley to trust your client's home lending experience to.
Jason, Adam, Connie and everyone else we encountered at Academy were wonderful. They all went above and beyond to help answer any questions we had and provide us guidance through the process. We cannot express enough how phenomenal Jason was to work with. We would absolutely recommend Academy Mortgage to our friends and family.
Adam was responsive and worked through our loan process quickly.
This has been a terrific experience from start to finish with the folks at Academy. The long and complicated process of obtaining a mortgage was made easier than it could have been by Jason and his team. Everyone at that office is friendly, considerate and professional in every way. They were really worked hard for me and I appreciate it!
Adam, worked very hard for us and it was greatly appreciated.
Academy Mortgage was extremely helpful from the time I filled out my loan application through the settlement of my home. Jason, Adam and the entire team were always available to answer any of my questions and held my hand through the entire process. Couldnt have had a better experience!
I always recommend Jason and will use him every chance I get. I know I will make it to settlement.
Academy Mortgage and Jason Klaskin are hands down the best mortgage affiliates that I have come across in nearly 15 years of being highly active in real estate. I recommend them to not only clients but other agents looking for the best for their clients.
Adam was great, would go back to Academy if I ever needed another mortgage every time!
Jason and Adam make a good team. First time home buyer was very happy with everything.
As usual the loan process with Jason and his team Adina & Connie was outstanding. This was the 4th time Jason and I did a referral transaction with this family/friends. Always a pleasure and my clients feedback is the same.


Are there other tools on the anvil?
Encoding problem - SDK ?
From where can I obtain the source of Everything?
Need help with "Everything" development ?
[req]Everything Search IPC C# demo code?
Using Everthing without the client running?


Google is celebrating the 86th birthday of Cesar Chavez today. March 31st, 2013. On the resurrection day of Jesus. On Easter.
This entry was posted in Editorial and tagged Cesar Chavez, Easter, Google. Bookmark the permalink.
Time to go secure and off-grid. Enough is enough. Should have done it already anyway.


For RBC Avion cardholders, you can get 30% bonus when you convert your RBC Rewards points into BA Avios before Jul 31, 2018. You can see this offer if you log into your RBC Rewards account now. But I heard that the start time for this offer is Jun 15, 2018. So, I suggest you can wait a few more days to make the transfer.
I think 30% bonus should be the best offer we can see in 2018. If you applied the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card recently (as I did) and got the 25000 RBC points, it is a good time to convert it to BA Avios (of course, only if you need Avios and know how to use it....).
Note: A minimum of 10,000 RBC Rewards points must be converted, and the Avios account must be in the same name as the RBC Visa Infinite Avion, RBC Royal Bank Visa Platinum Avion or RBC Royal Bank Visa Business Platinum Avion account. The increment after 10,000 points is only 1 points. So, if you want more BA Avios, you can still use your RBC credit card before the deadline.


Also what are the pros and cons of both if anyone knows? Plz and thank you!
Corsair Obsidian 500 D RGB SE case , love the design , beautiful case.
Question Years of struggling and still can't find an issue.
Question Can't install any drivers to new pc build?
Games struggle to run lowering FPS from 60 for example to 30 or less. Can't run any game without stutters.
Decent PC can't reach 60 fos in AAA Games?


We have over the years built long lasting business relationships with leading companies in the aviation industry. Our extensive customer list of over 1200 customers includes major airlines and MRO's as well as distributors and brokers. Here are just a few of our loyal and good customers.
We look forward to adding your company to our extensive list of customers.


North WestSC21 Competitiveness and Growth Aerospace Cluster of Excellence.
The North West of England's aerospace sector is one of the largest and most capable in the world generating over £8 Billion in turnover and directly employing over 25,000 highly skilled workers. With the industry forecast to grow by 4.4% per year for the next 20 years, requiring the manufacture of over 35,000 new aircraft worth over $5.3 Trillion, it is clear that global competition for this work is increasing.
That's why the North West Aerospace Alliance (NWAA) has been trailblazing the way for the SC21 Competitiveness and Growth (C&G) national programme for over 12 months now, since the launch of the NW SC21 C&G Aerospace Cluster of Excellence at Paris Air-show 2017.
NWAA is joined in industry funded initiative, by ADS (the UK's premier trade association for the Aerospace, Defence and Security Sectors) and key UK Aerospace Customers including BAE Systems in Warton and Samlesbury, Rolls Royce in Barnoldswick and Safran in Burnley.
NWAA is collaborating with aerospace businesses from the North West to develop them into globally competitive companies through mentoring, training, coaching and the development of a new online learning and management system. These businesses will be some of the first in the UK to use the new national cross-sector standard framework for improvement "SC21 Competitiveness and Growth" developed by ADS and SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders).
The North West Aerospace Businesses which have been collaborating together for the past year on this exciting new programme include; A&G Precision (based in Poulton Le Fylde), Addison Precision (based in Thornton Cleveleys), Kaman Composites (based in Darwen and Burnley), Hycrome Aerospace (based in Burnley), Senior Aerospace Weston (based in Barnoldswick) Silcoms (based in Bolton), T&R Precision (based in Foulridge), Teledyne CML (based in Bromborough), Unilathe (based in Stoke), Velocity Composites (based in Burnley) and Wincanton (based in Samlesbury).
These ACE members have already benefited from industry mentors, multiple marketing exposés and a very successful collaborative experience at Farnborough Air Show where they were visited by many of the industry key personnel along with Members of Parliament and overseas delegates. NWAA is proving that membership of this exclusive club of organisations offers many potential benefits beyond supply chain improvement. The Aerospace Cluster of Excellence offers many opportunities for like-minded companies to share best-practise, to collaborate on problem solving, to co-invest in new technologies and ultimately to bid and win new work together.
At Farnborough International Air Show, the Prime Minster pledged £20m of match funding to support productivity improvements in the Aerospace sector. This will be delivered by the national SC21 Competitiveness and Growth Programme(C&G) over a three year period. The initial targeted launch date is January 2019 for the funded elements.


Nanny Bill's caterers opened the hatch to their 1970's Citroen HY truck last year, grew in popularity quickly and are now catering at some of the UK's most exciting events. Their food is unique and delicious, with their menu featuring their signature mac'n'cheese croquettes along with many other delights such as slow-cooked beef & ale and pea, mint & feta.
Their weekly special sandwiches bring inspired flavours to the menu with slow-roasted jerk chicken and pulled pork being strong favourites. You will be charmed by the delicious homemade cooking from this beloved food truck.
Perfect for: outdoor socials, pop-up events.


text:
This dragon breathes fire —
Upper-level winds scrub SpaceX launch attempt on Wednesday [Updated]
The mission may demonstrate a new capability to the Air Force.
Eric Berger - Dec 4, 2019 2:02 pm UTC
113 with 39 posters participating, including story author
On Wednesday morning, the Falcon 9 rocket stands ready on the launch pad.
Trevor Mahlmann for Ars
A new Falcon 9 rocket is ready for launch during the pre-dawn hours.
12:20pm ET Wednesday Update: SpaceX says it has canceled Wednesday's launch attempt due to high winds over the launch site, as well as rough seas in the vicinity of its drone ship, which may have precluded a safe first stage landing.
Fortunately the company has a back-up launch attempt on Thursday, set for 12:29pm ET (17:29 UTC). Weather conditions are expected to be more favorable at that time.
Original post: A twice-flown Dragon spacecraft is ready to be launched on Wednesday to the International Space Station. The mission, which will ferry nearly 2.6 tons of supplies to the orbiting laboratory for NASA, will remain in orbit for about a month before returning to Earth with more than 50 science experiments.
Liftoff is scheduled for 12:51pm ET (17:51 UTC) from Space Launch Complex-40 in Florida. Surface weather conditions are fine, but there are concerns about upper-level winds reaching as high as 120 knots later today. Before launch, meteorologists will release a weather balloon to determine whether upper atmospheric conditions are acceptable for the rocket to navigate through. A back-up launch opportunity is available at 12:29pm ET on Thursday.
New rocket
SpaceX has built a new Falcon 9 rocket for this mission—hence, no soot in the launch pad photos. However, it will be flying a different profile for this space station supply mission. Typically, the newest variant of the Falcon 9 rocket has enough lift capacity to loft the Dragon spacecraft into orbit before using its remaining fuel to steer it back to a landing site on the Florida coast.
In this case, however, the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage is slated to land on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship more than 100 miles offshore. Asked about this, SpaceX's director of Dragon mission management, Jessica Jensen, said Tuesday that the rocket's upper stage is slated to fly a "thermal demonstration" for another, unnamed customer. To put this second stage into the proper orbit for this demonstration, the first stage will need to burn longer and will not have the fuel needed to return to the coast.
After a slower launch year—by its standards—SpaceX plans a busy December
Asked for more information about the second stage's six-hour coast, Jensen said she could not provide much additional detail. This suggests the mission may be demonstrating some capability to the Air Force to put classified payloads into a special orbit.
Used spacecraft
This particular Dragon spacecraft has completed two missions already, and this will be its last. The first version of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft, developed between 2006 and 2010, was qualified to fly up to three missions before being disposed.
SpaceX plans to fly one more mission with the original run of Dragons—which will be the 20th resupply mission for NASA—before transitioning into a "Cargo Dragon 2" vehicle. This newer vehicle will have 30% more cargo volume, twice as many powered lockers for storage, and the capability for autonomous docking. Additionally, the vehicle will be capable of up to five missions before retirement. It should debut in the third quarter of 2020, Jensen said.
Listing image by SpaceX
Eric Berger Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.
Email eric.berger@arstechnica.com // Twitter @SciGuySpace
Wickwick Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius et Subscriptor
reply Wed Dec 04, 2019 9:10 am
Presumably, the Dragon capsule needs to be inserted into the same orbit it usually is. So the demonstration can't be a particularly large deviation from normal for the second stage. Perhaps it's a small boost after release. Or perhaps, it's just another direct insertion test waiting to fire the second stage engine after a long coast.
14377 posts | registered Mar 10, 2010
lazybratsche Smack-Fu Master, in training
I'm curious how this "thermal demonstration" differs from previous long coast and relight tests - they've effectively demonstrated everything necessary for a direct GEO insertion. Maybe there are some other high orbits where the second stage coast will spend significantly more or less time in direct sunlight?
85 posts | registered Jul 25, 2005
carbonfe Seniorius Lurkius
My wife works for the program and has been out at the cape packing the vehicle. Let's hope for a safe launch so she can come home to her family!
21 posts | registered Apr 25, 2011
Jsl Ars Centurion
Wickwick wrote:
I was wondering about this too. Is the plan still to return to launch site with the first stage? Presumably, if they wanted to save second stage fuel, they could burn the first a bit longer and land on the droneship instead.
Edit: Yeah, it says right there in the article that they are landing on the droneship this time.
EricBerger Space Guy
lazybratsche wrote:
So am I, and it's why I asked Jensen for more information during Tuesday's news conference. Unfortunately she politely declined to say much else. The first Falcon Heavy mission already performed a six-hour coast, so I too wonder what is different about this. It may just be a second demonstration for some very high-value payload.
cocoman Seniorius Lurkius
Could it be possible that they just want to test the recovery of the second stage? I think I read here in Ars that they planned to develop a recoverable second stage for the F9. Maybe they just want to test that the second stage can withstand reentry?
cocoman wrote:
SpaceX has abandoned second stage recovery efforts in favor putting their development resources into Starship. Block 5 in its current configuration is likely the last of the major evolutions for Falcon 9.
Ken the Bin Ars Praetorian et Subscriptor
SpaceX Twitter:
SpaceX wrote:
Falcon 9 and Dragon are vertical ahead of today's resupply mission to the @Space_Station. Launch is targeted for 12:51 p.m. EST, 17:51 UTC → http://spacex.com/webcast
https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1202202376519634944
normally butters Ars Tribunus Militum
This is a low Earth orbit insertion, so it's unlikely to be closely related to the direct GEO mission profiles required for certain US government payloads. We also know that the upper stage will be deorbited, so it can't be going to a high energy orbit. The thermal environment is quite different in LEO because the vehicle is passing in and out of sunlight much more frequently than it would in much higher orbits.
This is the type of test one might want to do if one were interested in developing a reusable upper stage (which would likely specialize in LEO insertions due to performance considerations) or propellant transfer/storage infrastructure in LEO. This has USAF Operationally Responsive Space Office written all over it, if I were to take a wild guess.
We know SpaceX has that fantastic engineering camera inside the upper stage LOX tank, and their telemetry system is second to none. They've done this kind of thermal testing before at higher apogees, and it would appear that the results of that test were compelling enough for either the same or a different US government customer to order another test in a low orbit.
niwax Ars Scholae Palatinae
EricBerger wrote:
Also interesting since they demonstrated long complex mission profiles in STP-2 already. How much more demanding could another customer be?
Maybe they have to validate their new thermal coating, this is not the first time it has flown: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/07 ... rd-crs-18/
658 posts | registered Mar 6, 2014
The orbit doesn't need to be particularly special. A 30-minute coast on LEO followed by a Hohmann transfer to GEO works out to 5 h 45 min. So it seems reasonable to assume they are testing the capability to put a small payload directly to GEO. Has anyone worked out the F9 payload capacity for this?
ivekadi Ars Scholae Palatinae
They're landing some 350km ashore. Today's test is not only about thermals. After the coast S2 should perform de-orbiting burn as well.
As for the flight profile, I'm curious what the MECO velocity would be this time.
With one exception the average CRS mission MECO value is about 5960km/h (+/- 2%) The only deviation from this is CRS-15 flight with MECO of 9158km/h (~2.4x more energy) That was June 29th 2018 on Block 4 (B1045.2) Falcon Heavy aside, that was the lightest Falcon payload (2697kg) combined with the highest MECO since 2017. In this category, the payloads are 6460kg (Iridium NEXT-6) and 6700kg (Intelsat 35e - a GTO mission)
The heaviest CRS payload for Dragon (since 2017) has been 3310kg (CRS-12) and the MECO was 5960km/h on B4 (B1039.1) with RTLS.
The lowest F9 MECO, ever (2017+) was 5849km/h (1625m/s) on CRS-16 with B5 (B1050.1)
reply Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:01 am
Jsl wrote:
The second stage is being de-orbited after 6 hours so it can't be headed up to GEO.
NezumiRho wrote:
The replacement craft needs to do at least a everything the original could; else, it's not much of a replacement.
So far, all I have seen points to a larger cargo capacity for the Cargo variant. I'm slightly thrown though: are the Cargo compartments themselves larger on D2, the extra capacity coming from the added cargo lockers, or a bit of both?
Today's launch is sending an original Dragon capsule to the station. The odd launch profile has nothing to do with Dragon 2.
wagnerrp Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius et Subscriptor
ivekadi wrote:
They're landing some 350km ashore.
Florida just isn't that wide. Did they move one of the ASDS ships into the gulf?
Azethoth666 Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius et Subscriptor
Right, but as OP said, it would dictate the timing profile. You don't have to actually fly a profile in order to test the ability to operate on the time scales it requires.
Well, sure, it probably wouldn't even have the fuel get to GTO, much less GEO, after leaving the Dragon at LEO. I was just referring to the fact that the amount of time they wait before conducting their experiments closely matches the time they'd have to survive in the direct-to-GEO case, which makes it plausible that they're testing for that scenario (even if the thermal conditions are somewhat different).
If they're 6t reusable to GTO-1800, providing that extra 1800m/s would need an extra 4.5t of fuel, so the payload is the remainder. In other words, hardly worth it versus just using the payload as a third stage.
Last edited by wagnerrp on Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:11 am
Agreed - another test of the direct insertion as per my first comment. However, this is specifically being called a "thermal demonstration" and as was pointed out above, the thermal environment in LEO is very different from GEO or the path to there. It all seems just ... odd.
NezumiRho Ars Praetorian
Thank you, and apologies if my earlier post was off-topic. I read the portion about using the last of the Dragon modules before shifting over, and was pursuing that branch of conversation.
Consider downsides accepted with good grace! 😁
wagnerrp wrote:
If it is a test of a direct insertion of a minimal payload to GEO, it would have to be something very time sensitive - either the payload itself or the reason to reach the target. Otherwise, why the need for a direct insertion? But it doesn't justify a FH launch. Just weird.
Well, you were getting down-voted into oblivion and nobody was saying why. You clearly had an erroneous understanding of what was going on so it was the least I could do to clarify things.
greybeardengineer Ars Centurion
The OCISLY isn't that far offshore so the extra propellant for the second stage after injecting Dragon into its ISS approach orbit won't be near maxed out. OTOH an unburdened F9 second stage is very light so a little extra goes a long way. A second burn for a highly eccentric orbit followed by a plane change burn after 6 hrs? Hopefully amateur satellite trackers can get a glimpse of what it is doing.
Just give the payload thrusters large enough to make that impulse in one pass. How many spare OMS pods do they have laying about? That's only 120kg dry.
greybeardengineer wrote:
I guess they did say they were going to deorbit after 6 hours - not actually burn up then. Just how high an apogee do you think the empty S2 could make? And sure, it could deorbit at apogee. It doesn't take a lot to change the perigee to meet the atmosphere if it was barely above there when it started.
I think Orion ESM has dibs on all the remaining STS OMS engines.
fenris_uy Ars Tribunus Militum
The second stage is the same for F9 or FH. So this test could validate a FH launch, with direct GEO insertion (Same as they did in the first FH launch, second stage burn after 6 hours of coast).
Dankee much! I saw the climbing (diving?) votes and wasn't quite sure of the reason.
Anyway, allow me to sit in the corner and wave my tiny SpaceX flag. All is well!
An empty S2 is pulling about 5 g's at minimum throttle. So it can complete the orbital insertion faster than a payload's thrusters could. That's the only reason I can see why to rely on a S2 for direct insertion rather than do what you suggest. You're saving a matter of minutes (?). Hence my comment that whatever it is must be very time sensitive.
fenris_uy wrote:
But it is, as you noted, the same test they've already done then. That's very not-SpaceX like.
dwrd Ars Praetorian et Subscriptor
But very US Govt. Why buy one when you can get 2 at twice the price?
The SpaceX rep said 6 hour coast, not 6 hour flight. Coast implies they will do a burn at the end of it. I am not sure the delta V capability of an unloaded second stage. It will be very sensitive to remaining propellant after dropping off Dragon. The only thing clear is that the first stage isn't doing all it could do to maximize it or OCISLY would be ~1200 km down range.
alexrogan Smack-Fu Master, in training et Subscriptor
What's today's plan for fairing recovery? One catcher's mitt or two?
Edit: Ignore that. No fairing today!
30 posts | registered Nov 12, 2018
Yeah, I was just speculating this - maybe they'll put the 2nd stage on an elliptical orbit with the apogee as high as possible (might be fairly high, given that it's an empty 2nd stage) and call it almost as good as GTO, temperature-wise. Just saving a tiny bit of fuel for a third burn and then using that for deorbiting rather than circularization.
Can we get an idea of the remaining delta-V after the second stage is done with Dragon by looking at the time it burned? This would allow us to estimate the possible height of the apogee.
You're saving days. An apogee motor is usually good for a few hundred N range, so you're talking several hours of burn. That's going to get broken up over several orbital passes. Something in the tens of kN range like an AJ10 could make that in a single pass.
afidel Ars Legatus Legionis et Subscriptor
I believe stretched fairing is still on the table for the Airforce, it'll be a while before Starship is up to their standards.
I thought I had read some teeth gnashing elsewhere that OCISLY is actually far out there. I can't seem to find today's exclusion area. The article says "more than" 100 miles off the coast. That's not very specific.
A FH B5 is 8t - 25t to GTO-1800 depending on reuse profile. EELV2 has a GEO 2.3t and a GEO 6.6t requirement which would fit full reuse and dual drone ship/center expended.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Fabricius KE and De'ath AG (2001) Biodiversity on the Great Barrier Reef: Large-scale patterns and turbidity-related local loss of soft coral taxa. Chapter 9. pp. 127-144. In: Wolanski EJ Oceanographic Processes of Coral Reefs: Physical and Biological Links in the Great Barrier Reef. CRC Press. 356 p.


text:
Prosecutors won't charge ex-Ohio education leader
Andrew Welsh-Huggins
Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against Ohio's former superintendent of schools, who resigned amid ethical questions about his relationship with an educational testing contractor.
Stan Heffner left office last month after the state watchdog released a report that found Heffner had received a job offer from a Texas-based testing firm when he lobbied state lawmakers last year on a bill that benefited the company.
The inspector general's report also found that Heffner misused his state email and cellphone to communicate with Educational Testing Services and inappropriately had Department of Education employees handle personal matters such as a pending move to Texas and the sale of his house in suburban Columbus.
City and county prosecutors said in a letter received by the inspector general on Monday that they were troubled by the allegations but that they didn't rise to the level of criminal conduct. They said they agreed with the decision of Inspector General Randy Meyer not to request criminal charges.
The prosecutors made their decision "despite our belief that Mr. Heffner acted inappropriately in both instances," according to the letter from Lara Baker, chief Columbus prosecutor, and Jeff Blake, assistant county prosecutor.
Heffner said he was relieved by the prosecutors' decision.
"I never committed a crime and I'm just glad the prosecutors agree with that position," Heffner said Monday.
"I never intended to hurt anybody. I never intended to profit from anything," Heffner said. "I had only intended to do my work as interim superintendent, which I did fully, and I now have to just live with the fact that the inspector general issued a report saying what he did."
Heffner, 60, of suburban Columbus, said he's enjoying retirement and deciding what comes next, but he said it won't involve education.
The lobbying allegation arose from testimony Heffner made in May 2011 before the Senate Finance Committee about a bill that would have required additional teacher testing. The testing would be handled by Princeton, N.J.-based Educational Testing Service. At the time of his testimony, Heffner — then interim schools superintendent — had accepted a job offer in ETS's San Antonio office.
Prosecutors said Heffner should have disclosed the job to the committee. But they noted that the state school board already knew about the job, which had also been announced in a news release.
"In this sense, there are no facts to support an assertion that Hefner had, in any way, been secretly obtained by ETS to give the testimony in question," the prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors said Heffner's use of his state email and cellphone was within allowable personal use. They said his use of employees to help plan his move to Texas was inappropriate but not illegal.
Heffner canceled the move to ETS after he was named full-time superintendent of schools.


text:
Ghosts 'n Goblins
April 4, 2020 October 21, 2016 by Orion
Share This Review!
Ghosts 'n Goblins, one of Capcom's greatest middle fingers in video gaming history. But not exactly the "greatest" piece of history…
Console Arcade, Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Color, Commodore 64
Developer Capcom, Micronics (NES)
Publisher Capcom, Taito America
Genre Platformer, action
Game Number 1
Purchase (NES Classic) Purchase from Amazon.
Purchase (NES) Purchase from eBay.
Purchase (GBC) Purchase from eBay.
Ghosts 'n Goblins is one of the most infamously difficult games in the NES library. The eternal frustration that it brought about to retro gamers is a true testament to just how pure evil it is. There are few games that come close, but this one still stands out even today.
Unfortunately, the difficulty is the main attraction. But even considering that, Ghosts 'n Goblins is incredibly hard for all the wrong reasons. While I don't consider the game to be terrible seeing how it is mostly functional, we still need to discuss why this is a key example of bad game design.
A Thousand Broken Controllers
You control Arthur, the archetypal brave knight character on his way to save his beloved Princess Prin Prin from Satan. Right away, you're in a graveyard where zombies will swarm all over you. But you have a throwing lance that kills most enemies with one hit. So you kill the zombies, and then more pop up out of the ground.
At first, Ghosts 'n Goblins doesn't seem bad. It may be busy, but nothing bad yet. It looked like it was going to be a reasonably good platformer where quick reflexes and timing are everything. Oh, if only…
Everyone, meet the Red Arremer. Also known as the Red Devil. Also known as the RED ASSHOLE! This is the enemy that caused the majority of players for this game to rage-quit. He's a cheap bastard who stays in the air for most of the time, then swoops down for a homing attack. Oh, and he can also shoot energy balls.
That's when you realize that Arthur dies from only two hits. When he takes damage for the first time, he loses his armor. But the second time, he turns into a pile of bones. That's it. TWO HITS!
But we're still not at the worst of it. Oh, nooo… we're just getting started, people.
Eventually, you may find out how to beat the Red Asshole. If you time it just right, you can jump away from him right before he's ready to charge at you. Then, face him during mid-jump and keep throwing all those lances at him. Do it just right and his charging attack will miss. This is also a great opportunity to damage him since he only gets to the ground when he attacks.
However, you encounter more problems with the game along the way. You will find that enemies will pop up all over the screen, spawning at random points and moving in irregular patterns. This turns Ghosts 'n Goblins into a deadly game of dodgeball. And many of these enemies also try to home in on your position.
It's annoying. Really annoying. IT'S SO FUCKING ANNOYING, YOU SONS OF BITCHES! I SWEAR I WILL KILL ALL YOUR F—
The Knife is the Mantra
So as you play through Ghosts 'n Goblins (or as much as you're willing to stomach), you will find that enemies may randomly drop weapons. But whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM ALL OF THEM EXCEPT THE THROWING KNIFE!
The lance is an okay weapon, but it's fairly weak and slow.
Take it in the face, bitch!
The dagger is the best weapon in the game. It's basically a much faster lance, therefore a higher damage output.
The torch, also known as the fireball, is one of the worst weapons in the game. You can throw up to two fireballs that will erupt on the ground. However, it still has a low damage output and the delay makes it not worth the time at all.
The throwing axe is an even crappier version of the fireball. It arcs at a 45 degree angle, which is very pointless where aim and precision are everything.
The shield is yet another weapon you have to throw, but it has a very short range compared to the other weapons. However, it has the advantage of cancelling out enemy projectiles and hurting enemies. Not really good, but still better than the torch and the axe.
How the FUCK are the majority of these so-called powerups so god awful? For most of the game, your best companion is the throwing knife. As the Angry Video Game Nerd said:
Get the knife.
You wanna cut steak with a spoon? No… get the knife.
I love the FUCKING NERD! Sue me.
But seriously… if you get any other weapon and you die, you still keep that weapon when you respawn. And getting a new weapon is a REEEEEAL bitch.
Also, most of the items are completely useless. All they do is give you extra points, something you don't really care about in a game like this. You may get a suit of armor to get your hitpoint back, but that is a VERY rare occurrence.
At the end of the first level, you will fight the inappropriately named Unicorn boss. Basically, this is a big cyclops who can charge at you and also shoot fireballs. This boss is total bullshit too. Every time he charges at you, it's impossible to avoid him. He's too big to jump over and he comes towards you really fast.
Your best bet is to throw the knife at him as fast as you can. Or use the turbo button. Keep running back so you can buy more time to damage him. Finally, you beat him and get the key to the next level. Wonderful.
Oh, by the way… the game NEVER explains this to you. All of the bosses are completely resistant to at least one weapon you can get.
Unicorn – Shield
Dragon – Lance
Satan – Axe
Astaroth – you can't fight him unless you have the shield equipped
So if you're wondering why your weapons are not really hurting the bosses, that's why. Your weapons are doing NO DAMAGE at all. That is one of the worst feats of fake difficulty you can throw in your godforsaken game. You come all this way to fight the fucking boss, and you can't even hurt him. Let alone change your weapons. It is just disgusting.
We're in Video Game Hell
So after that rude awakening of a first level, the second level throws multiple enemies at you and your main instinct is to get through it as fast as you can. But eventually, you will come across the titular goblins.
And they drop radioactive blue shits.
Level 2 is mainly frustrating because of these guys. They stay up next to the top of the ladders so that they can attack you immediately when you try to climb it. And getting them to walk away from the ladders is like waiting for the planets to align.
But once you find an opening and climb to the top of the ladder, the nearest one will charge at you immediately while firing projectiles. You can try stopping him with the knife, but it takes around ten hits to finally kill him off. But even after you succeed in killing him off, you still have more goblins to deal with along the way. And holy fucking shit, they do NOT play fair!
How, you ask? Because Ghosts 'n Goblins is very strict on the time limit. By trying to wait for the goblins to move away from the ladders, you waste away precious seconds. It brings about that feeling of dread that causes any gamer to go insane. It's a very cheap tactic that attempts to make you quit the game at level 2.
But even with all that shit, now you have to fight TWO Unicorns in a boss battle. Fuck. Me.
GODDAMNIT! WHY DOES IT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE BATS IN THESE GAMES?!?!?!?!
But level 3. Good lord, the cheapness continues to skyrocket. This level in particular is crawling with more of the Red Devils. Even when you're used to fighting these bastards, try fighting them in a more uneven area that requires you to jump over so many heights. Your best bet is to run as far as you can and hope they de-spawn, or find a flatter area where you can fight them fair and square.
And then you fight the dragon boss, who moves in an erratic pattern. And if you die here, back to the last checkpoint! You know, the one where you had to bypass three Red Devils to get here.
By this point, you're starting to notice more problems with the game. Arthur controls very stiffly, as his walk cycle has no sense of momentum. Every time he jumps, it's always in a locked arc like in Castlevania. You also can't get out of ducking position or off a ladder if you try sliding your finger to the next direction you want to go to. Oh-ho-ho no… YOU HAVE TO LET GO OF THE D-PAD BEFORE YOU CHANGE DIRECTION.
It's similar to how the original Donkey Kong arcade game controlled, but that game was more lax in your reaction times. This game, however, doesn't fuck around with that. It can even get you killed!
So after you try to go through five shit-tastic levels, you get to the last stage. Now this is where the game pulls some REAL BULLSHIT on you. You have to get the shield weapon by the end of level 6. If you finish level 6 without it, you start back in level 5. That's right. Your reward for completing the level is to go back one space.
What the actual fuck. This was never explained in the game beforehand. This is what you call a total ripoff.
So AFTER you beat level 6 with the shield, you get to fight the Devil himself. The lord Astaroth. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut…
This is the easiest fucking moment in the game. All Astaroth does is move back and forth slowly while occasionally spitting out an easy-to-dodge fireball. Oh, and the shield can block those too. Arthur is also always facing right in this stage too, so your attacks missing him is nearly impossible. And then you beat him like it's nothing. And just when you think the game stopped trolling you, you get this:
…So this is what happened. You kinda beat the game, but not really. To get the REAL ending, you have to go through a second quest. Same exact levels, but slightly harder. That is just too fucking cruel. Who would want to go through this shit again?
So you may feel completely resigned and shut off the game. Or you may continue subjecting yourself to more of this sadistic bullshit, because you want to see what the real ending is like.
Well, I'm going to save you the trouble. Here you go.
"This story is happy end." What the fuck is this shit.
Yep. A poorly translated wall of text with Arthur's and the princess's sprites. That's it. No more. No less.
Whew… what a shitstorm this game is.
So, let's talk a bit more. Regarding the game's difficulty, the Angry Video Game Nerd said:
In Ghosts 'n Goblins, the first time you get hit, you lose your armor. Second time, you lose your skin, and that's it. It's as if they programmed the game and then said, "You know what? It needs an Expert setting," and then they programmed it, but forgot to add it in the menus. It's a theory, but It's the best guess I can come up with. Why else would they make the game so fucking hard?
It's an interesting theory, but I'm going to have to disagree here. I have proof that this the game's difficulty is completely deliberate.
Terrorizing the Arcades Since 1985
Everyone, allow me to introduce you to the original arcade game. The NES game is just a port. In both games, you only have two hitpoints and replenishing your health is rarely possible. And both games are ridiculously difficult. If Capcom wanted to add a difficulty setting for the Ghosts 'n Goblins NES port, they could've done so. But they didn't, so I don't think the NES game being so fucking difficult is an accident. They did it just to dick with us.
Oh, but not just that. There are MANY ports to this game. Game Boy Color, Commodore 64, Commodore 16, Commodore Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX, Atari ST, certain IBM PCs, and ports of the original arcade game for the Game Boy Advance, Sega Saturn, and PlayStation.
…Wow. Capcom had been getting around.
For those curious about the arcade game, it's essentially the same game as the NES port. Of course, it has the better graphics and sound design. It also has slightly smoother controls. Unfortunately, the same problems on the NES game are present in the arcade game too. It's not that much easier and the difficulty is still unfair.
I Will Be Your Commodore Tonight
Next, let's talk about the Commodore 64 version of Ghosts 'n Goblins. Shit, I never thought this would end up being the first C64 game I review.
The Commodore 64 version is somewhat different. It only has a single generic tune that never played in the original game. As far as I know, there are only two weapons: the lance and the torch (I could be wrong, though). There are also only four levels in the whole thing, as opposed to the six levels in the other versions of the game—not counting the insulting second quest.
The big problem with this game is that you only have five lives and no continues. So once you lose all lives, it's back to level one.
But I guess since the game is absurdly short, this is an attempt to extend the game's life.
Of course, you can't win in these situations still. A lot of hazards this time spawn BELOW you, giving you a microsecond of reaction time to jump over them. I mean, fuck, at least give us a LITTLE more time to react.
But by far, this is the worst version of the game I played. Unsurprising since it is from an older system after all. But all you fight are three Unicorn bosses and one Dragon boss. You don't meet any of the Satan bosses or even fight Astaroth. So once you beat the dragon boss, you get the ending.
Masochism on the Go!
The last version I'll cover is Ghosts 'n Goblins on the Game Boy Color. And strangely enough, I think this is the best version of the game to go with. But only because of one awesome feature.
PASSWORD SAVE SYSTEM
So you don't have to start from the beginning every time you want to subject yourself to this evil game.
Of course, it's hard as balls. I'm not sure what I'm expecting.
Oddly enough, the Game Boy Color version is very similar to the NES version. It's a little surprising that a handheld game of this era is almost the same quality as a console game.
However, same problems as always. Stiff controls, enemies instantly spawning at your location, two hitpoints, etc.
And strangely enough, the controls seem a little smoother than the NES game. I'm not sure why.
And I seem to have trouble getting the other weapons. They just don't want to show up. There is also the resolution issue. The game as a whole feels like a blown up version of the NES game, which makes it pretty difficult to see where you're supposed to go.
The Red Arremers are actually not as bad in this version of the game as the arcade and NES versions. Still, the bosses are real bastards to fight. And for some reason, the throwing dagger seems to do jackshit against Satan.
Well, that's real fair, Capcom. Making ANOTHER weapon useless. Fuck you.
And of course, there are all those OTHER ports and versions of this same exact game. But due to my lack of resources, I won't play those versions. Let's just say that the Commodore 64 version isn't the most primitive of the bunch…
Woooooow. If the shittiness wasn't apparent before, then this will change your mind.
It's like you can't run away from this game back in the old days. Playing this game is like a real TRIAL, and anyone who can somehow master the broken mechanics and predict the unpredictable is a real hero.
In my opinion, Ghosts 'n Goblins was never meant to be a fair challenge. It's an arcade game designed to piss you off by blatantly humiliating you right from the first level, so that you can drop in more quarters. The ports, though? Who knows. I feel sorry for the poor schmucks back in the day who had to drop $50 for the video game equivalent of a middle finger from Capcom. Like, there's no way they could've known that this was going to be a seriously badly designed game, except word of mouth.
But somehow, this game is a Capcom classic. Even if it's not really a good game, people still play it to see how far they can go without any cheats. It's like an ultimate test of how well you adapt to a game's rules, whether it plays fair or not.
There's no avoiding it, though. There is a massive amount of fake difficulty in Ghosts 'n Goblins. But in a way, I guess you can still find some enjoyment in it. After all, overcoming an incredibly difficult challenge by yourself is a feel-good moment. And if that's the kind of game you want to try, then I wish you luck.
YOU WILL NEED A SHIT TON OF IT.
The controls are pretty tight for their time, though it might work against you too...
The challenge, unfair as it may be, is the big selling point here.
The Game Boy Color version has a password save feature.
The game's challenge is mostly fake difficulty and bad design, due to terrible weapons, random enemy patterns, bosses that take a lot of hits to die, low hitpoints, etc.
One instance of bad game design: certain weapons do nothing against certain bosses. And you don't learn about this until it's too late.
The time limit is ridiculously strict.
The final boss fight is ridiculously anti-climactic.
The fact that you need to have the shield to fight the final boss, which the game tells you at the last second. It also sends you a level BACK to pour more salt into the wound.
The fact that you have to play through the whole game TWICE to get the real ending.
Amazon (NES Classic)
eBay (NES)
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Categories Posts, Video Game Reviews Tags 1980s, action, arcade game reviews, commodore 64 reviews, game boy color reviews, horror, nes reviews, neutral reviews, platformer, retro Post navigation
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls
2 thoughts on "Ghosts 'n Goblins"
HayesMakerGames (@hayes_maker)
A lot of these issues are fixed in the Commodore 64 Arcade edition: http://www.indieretronews.com/2015/06/ghostsn-goblins-arcade-stunning-revamp.html
Wow. I didn't know there was a remake. I watched a bit of gameplay of it and it actually looks and sounds better than the original C64 version. Thanks for showing me this!


text:
package dhg.ccg.parse.pcfg

import scala.collection.mutable.{ Map => MMap }
import scala.collection.mutable.{ Set => MSet }
import dhg.util._
import scalaz._
import scalaz.Scalaz._
import dhg.ccg.prob._
import dhg.ccg.cat._
import dhg.ccg.rule._
import dhg.ccg.parse._
import dhg.ccg.tagdict.TagDictionary
import dhg.util.GraphUtil._
import dhg.ccg.util.DrawMatrix
import annotation.tailrec
import scala.collection.immutable.SortedMap
import scala.collection.immutable.ListMap
import scala.collection.immutable.VectorBuilder
import dhg.ccg.data._
import dhg.ccg.tagdict.SimpleTagDictionary
import dhg.ccg.tagdict.SimpleStartEndTags
import dhg.ccg.tagdict.SimpleTagDictionaryFactory
import dhg.gfl.FudgSentence
import dhg.gfl._
import dhg.ccg.parse.dep.DepTree
import scala.collection.mutable.SetBuilder
import dhg.ccg.tagdict.DummyCatTagDictionary

class SimpleFudgCfgGuideChartBuilder(
  val rules: Vector[CcgRule],
  additionalSupertagAdder: AdditionalTagAdder[Cat] = new StandardTagDictAdditionalTagAdder[Cat](),
  rootSet: Set[Cat] = UniversalSet(),
  allowTerminalDeletion: Boolean)
    extends CfgGuideChartBuilder {

  require(allowTerminalDeletion == false)

  private[this] val unaryRules = rules.collect { case r: UnaryCcgRule => r }
  private[this] val binaryRules = rules.collect { case r: BinaryCcgRule => r }

  private[this]type MTable = Array[Array[Option[MMap[Cat, (MSet[GuideChartEntry], MSet[DepTree])]]]]

  def buildFromSupertagSetSentence(supertagSetSentence: Vector[(Word, Set[Cat])], fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence], tagdict: TagDictionary[Cat]): Option[CfgGuideChart] = {
    buildWithDepTreesFromSupertagSetSentence(supertagSetSentence, fudgAnnotation, tagdict).map(_._1)
  }

  def buildWithDepTreesFromSupertagSetSentence(supertagSetSentence: Vector[(Word, Set[Cat])], fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence], tagdict: TagDictionary[Cat]): Option[(CfgGuideChart, Set[DepTree])] = {
    val (sentence, sentenceExistingTags) = supertagSetSentence.unzip
    val sentenceTags = additionalSupertagAdder(sentence, sentenceExistingTags, tagdict) // get supertags set for each word
    doBuild(sentence, sentenceTags, sentence.length, fudgAnnotation)
  }

  def buildUnpruned(supertagSetSentence: Vector[(Word, Set[Cat])], fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence] = None, tagdict: TagDictionary[Cat] = DummyCatTagDictionary): CfgGuideChart = ???

  /**
   * Go bottom-up with CKY to fill the chart with potential node entries
   *
   * Brackets are given as start/end index pairs, with indexing as:
   *         the   old   man   the   sea    .
   *       0     1     2     3     4     5     6
   * so that bracket (1,3) would cover "old man".
   */
  private[this] def doBuild(sentence: Vector[Word], sentenceTags: Vector[Set[Cat]], n: Int, fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence]): Option[(CfgGuideChart, Set[DepTree])] = {
    val brackets: Vector[(Int, Int)] = fudgAnnotation.map(_.brackets.toVector).getOrElse(Vector.empty)
    val invalidSpans: Set[(Int, Int)] = Set.empty
    val table: MTable = newTable(n, brackets, invalidSpans)
    //new CfgGuideChart(table.toVector.map { row => row.toVector.map { cell => if (cell.isDefined) Map(cat"X" -> Set.empty[GuideChartEntry]) else Map.empty[Cat, Set[GuideChartEntry]] } }).draw()

    fillTerminalLevel(table, sentence, sentenceTags)
    //toCfgGuideChart(sentence, table).draw()

    fillHigherLevels(table, n, fudgAnnotation)
    //toCfgGuideChart(table).draw()

    if (table(0)(n).get.filterKeys(rootSet).values.exists(_._1.nonEmpty)) { // there's at least one parse
      val clean = makeCleanChart(table, n, brackets, invalidSpans)
      val result = toCfgGuideChart(sentence, clean, rootSet)

      // DEBUG START
      //      //result.draw()
      //      for {
      //        (i, j, cell) <- result.bottomUpNodes
      //        (ij, entries) <- cell
      //        entry <- entries
      //      } entry match {
      //        case BinaryGuideChartEntry(k, BinaryProd(ik, kj)) =>
      //          assert(result(i)(k).contains(ik), f"($i,$j)($ij): $k[$ik,$kj];  result($i,$k) doesn't contain $ik;  result($i,$k)=${result(i)(k).map(x => "  " + x.toString).mkString("\n", "\n", "")}")
      //          assert(result(k)(j).contains(kj), f"($i,$j)($ij): $k[$ik,$kj];  result($k,$j) doesn't contain $kj;  result($k,$j)=${result(k)(j).map(x => "  " + x.toString).mkString("\n", "\n", "")}")
      //          assert(rules.collect { case r: BinaryCcgRule => r(ik, kj) }.flatten.contains(ij), f"invalid rule!  ($i,$j)($ij -> $k[$ik,$kj]")
      //        case UnaryGuideChartEntry(UnaryProd(sub)) =>
      //          assert(result(i)(j).contains(sub), f"($i,$j)($ij): [$sub];  result($i,$j) doesn't contain $sub;  result($i,$j)=${result(i)(j).map(x => "  " + x.toString).mkString("\n", "\n", "")}")
      //          assert(rules.collect { case r: UnaryCcgRule => r(sub) }.flatten.contains(ij), f"invalid rule!  ($i,$j)($ij -> [$sub]")
      //        case TermGuideChartEntry(TermProd(word)) =>
      //
      //      }
      // DEBUG END

      val allDepTrees = table(0)(n).get.filterKeys(rootSet).values.map(_._2).flatten.toSet

      //result.draw()
      Some(result, allDepTrees)
    }
    else None
  }

  /**
   * Add supertags to bottom level of the chart
   */
  private[this] def fillTerminalLevel(table: MTable, sentence: Vector[Word], sentenceTags: Vector[Set[Cat]]): Unit = {
    for (((word, tags), i) <- (sentence zipSafe sentenceTags).zipWithIndex) {
      val cellij = table(i)(i + 1).get // lexical cell must exist
      val (entries, depTreeMap) = repeatedlyApplyUnaryRules(tags.mapToVal(TermGuideChartEntry(TermProd(word))), tags.mapTo(t => Set(DepTree(word, i, t, Vector.empty))).toMap)
      for ((ij, entry) <- entries; depTrees <- depTreeMap.get(ij) if depTrees.nonEmpty) {
        // cell : Map[Cat, (Set[GuideChartEntry], Set[DepTree])]
        val (ijEntries, ijDeptrees) = cellij.getOrElseUpdate(ij, (MSet.empty, MSet.empty))
        ijEntries += entry
        ijDeptrees ++= depTrees
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Apply rules to add higher-level chart entries
   */
  private[this] def fillHigherLevels(table: MTable, n: Int, fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence]): Unit = {
    for {
      j <- 2 to n //             end of span
      i <- j - 2 downto 0 //     start of span
      cellij <- table(i)(j) //   search stops here if this span is unavailable (due to known bracketing)
    } {
      val (entriesWithoutUnary, depTreeMapWithoutUnary) = higherLevelEntries(i, j, table, fudgAnnotation)
      val (entries, depTreeMap) = repeatedlyApplyUnaryRules(entriesWithoutUnary.toSet, depTreeMapWithoutUnary)
      for ((ij, entry) <- entries; depTrees <- depTreeMap.get(ij) if depTrees.nonEmpty) {
        // cellij : Map[Cat, (Set[GuideChartEntry], Set[DepTree])]
        val (ijEntries, ijDeptrees) = cellij.getOrElseUpdate(ij, (MSet.empty, MSet.empty))
        ijEntries += entry
        ijDeptrees ++= depTrees
      }
    }
  }

  //private[this] def higherLevelEntries(i: Int, j: Int, table: MTable, fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence]): Vector[(Cat, (BinaryGuideChartEntry, Set[DepTree]))] = {
  private[this] def higherLevelEntries(i: Int, j: Int, table: MTable, fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence]): (Vector[(Cat, BinaryGuideChartEntry)], Map[Cat, Set[DepTree]]) = {
    val entriesBuilder = new VectorBuilder[(Cat, BinaryGuideChartEntry)]()
    val deptreesBuilder = new VectorBuilder[(Cat, DepTree)]()
    for {
      k <- i + 1 until j //      split of span
      cellik <- table(i)(k) //   search stops here if this span is unavailable (due to known bracketing)
      cellkj <- table(k)(j) //   search stops here if this span is unavailable (due to known bracketing)
      (ik, (_, ikDepTrees)) <- cellik
      (kj, (_, kjDepTrees)) <- cellkj
      rule <- binaryRules
      ij <- rule(ik, kj)
    } {
      val depTrees =
        for {
          ikt <- ikDepTrees
          kjt <- kjDepTrees
          t = DepTree.joinToBinary(ij, ik, kj, ikt, kjt)
          if fudgAnnotation.forall(consistent(t, _))
        } yield t
      if (depTrees.nonEmpty) {
        entriesBuilder += (ij -> BinaryGuideChartEntry(k, BinaryProd(ik, kj)))
        deptreesBuilder ++= depTrees.map(ij -> _)
      }
    }
    (entriesBuilder.result, deptreesBuilder.result.groupByKey.mapVals(_.toSet))
  }

  private[this] def consistent(depTree: DepTree, gfl: FudgSentence): Boolean = {
    // DepTree(word,index,children)
    // Edge(parent: Node, child: Node, label: Option[String])
    def getEdges(t: DepTree): Vector[Edge] = {
      val node = gfl.node(t.index)
      t.children.flatMap(c => Edge(node, gfl.node(c.index), None) +: getEdges(c))
    }
    Fudg.isSemanticallyValid(gfl.edges ++ getEdges(depTree))
  }

  type ProdSet = Set[(Cat, GuideChartEntry)]
  type DepTreeMap = Map[Cat, Set[DepTree]]
  private[this] def repeatedlyApplyUnaryRules(prods: ProdSet, depTreeMap: DepTreeMap): (ProdSet, DepTreeMap) = {
    @tailrec def inner(prods: ProdSet, depTreeMap: DepTreeMap, accum: ProdSet): (ProdSet, DepTreeMap) = {
      val newProdAndTrees = for {
        (cat, prod) <- prods
        depTrees <- depTreeMap.get(cat).toSeq if depTrees.nonEmpty
        r <- unaryRules
        newCat <- r(cat)
        newProd = newCat -> (UnaryGuideChartEntry(UnaryProd(cat)): GuideChartEntry)
        if !prods.contains(newProd)
      } yield (newProd, newCat -> depTrees)
      if (newProdAndTrees.isEmpty) (prods | accum, depTreeMap)
      else {
        val (newProds, newTrees) = newProdAndTrees.unzip
        inner(newProds, depTreeMap |+| newTrees.groupByKey.mapValues(_.flatten), prods | accum)
      }
    }
    inner(prods, depTreeMap, Set.empty)
  }

  /**
   * Make a clean chart so we can put only useful entries (those that
   * can actually be used in a parse).  Go top-down following paths that
   * start with a root node.
   */
  private[this] def makeCleanChart(table: MTable, n: Int, brackets: Vector[(Int, Int)], invalidSpans: Set[(Int, Int)]) = {
    val cleanCfgTable: MTable = newTable(n, brackets, invalidSpans)
    for { (ij, ijSet) <- table(0)(n).get if rootSet(ij) } {
      cleanCfgTable(0)(n).get(ij) = ijSet
    }
    for {
      spanSize <- n downto 1
      i <- 0 to (n - spanSize)
      j = i + spanSize
    } {
      makeCleanCellRecursively(i, j, cleanCfgTable, table)
    }
    cleanCfgTable
  }

  /**
   * Copy useful entries into clean chart.
   * This can potentially re-copy the same chart entries multiple times, but that's ok i guess
   */
  @tailrec private[this] def makeCleanCellRecursively(i: Int, j: Int, cleanCfgTable: MTable, table: MTable): Unit = {
    for {
      cleanCellij <- cleanCfgTable(i)(j)
      (ij, ijSet) <- cleanCellij
    } {
      for (BinaryGuideChartEntry(k, BinaryProd(ik, kj)) <- ijSet._1) {
        cleanCfgTable(i)(k).get(ik) = table(i)(k).get(ik)
        cleanCfgTable(k)(j).get(kj) = table(k)(j).get(kj)
      }
      //  No longer do this because we dont want to change the list as we are iterating over it
      //      for (UnaryGuideChartEntry(UnaryProd(sub)) <- ijSet) {
      //        cleanCfgTable(i)(j).get(sub) = table(i)(j).get(sub)
      //      }
    }

    val newEntries =
      for {
        cleanCellij <- cleanCfgTable(i)(j).toSet
        (ij, ijSet) <- cleanCellij
        UnaryGuideChartEntry(UnaryProd(sub)) <- ijSet._1 // find unary rules
        if !cleanCellij.contains(sub) //                    that add additional categories
      } yield sub

    /*
     * If there are new entries to be handled
     */
    if (newEntries.nonEmpty) {
      for (sub <- newEntries) {
        cleanCfgTable(i)(j).get(sub) = table(i)(j).get(sub)
      }
      makeCleanCellRecursively(i, j, cleanCfgTable, table)
    }
  }

  private[this] def toCfgGuideChart(words: Vector[Word], table: MTable, rootSet: Set[Cat]): CfgGuideChart = {
    val allCats = table.flatten.flatten.flatten.map(_._1).toSet
    val catOrdering = makeCatOrdering(allCats)
    val ord = catOrdering.on[(Cat, Set[GuideChartEntry])](_._1)
    new CfgGuideChart(
      words,
      table.toVector.map { row =>
        row.toVector.map { cell =>
          cell.fold(Map.empty[Cat, Set[GuideChartEntry]]) { contents =>
            ListMap.empty ++ contents.mapValues(_._1.to[Set]).toVector.sorted(ord)
          }
        }
      }, rootSet)
  }

  /**
   * Order the categories for iterating such that for any unary rule that
   * rewrites A as B, A is visited before B.
   */
  private[this] def makeCatOrdering(allCats: Set[Cat]) = {
    val allLinks = allCats.flatMap(c => unaryRules.flatMap(r => r(c).map(c -> _)))
    val catOrdering = toDagOrder(allLinks)
    val orderMap = catOrdering.zipWithIndex.toMap.withDefaultValue(-1) // categories uninvolved in the ordering are handled first, as a block
    scala.math.Ordering.by[Cat, Int](orderMap)
  }

  private[this] def newTable[A, B](n: Int, brackets: Vector[(Int, Int)], invalidSpans: Set[(Int, Int)]): Array[Array[Option[MMap[A, B]]]] = {
    val table: Array[Array[Option[MMap[A, B]]]] =
      Array.tabulate(n) { i =>
        Array.tabulate(n + 1) { j =>
          val itoj = (i + 1 to j)
          if (i >= j || invalidSpans(i -> j) ||
            brackets.exists { // if there exists a cross-bracketing
              case (a, b) =>
                assert(a < b, f"improper bracket: ($a,$b)")
                (a < i && i < b && b < j) ||
                  (i < a && a < j && j < b)
            }) None
          else Some(MMap.empty)
        }
      }
    table
  }

  override def toString = f"SimpleFudgCfgGuideChartBuilder(${rules.mkString("[", ",", "]").replace("N2NP,TR1,TR2,TR3,RRC1,RRC2,RRC3,RRC4,RRC5,RRC6,VPSM1,VPSM2,VPSM3", "UNARY")}, ${additionalSupertagAdder})))"
}

object FudgDecisionCfgGuideChartBuilder {
  type Word = String
  def apply(
    rules: Vector[CcgRule],
    additionalSupertagAdder: AdditionalTagAdder[Cat] = new StandardTagDictAdditionalTagAdder[Cat](),
    allowTerminalDeletion: Boolean): CfgGuideChartBuilder = {
    new DecisionCfgGuideChartBuilder(
      new SimpleFudgCfgGuideChartBuilder(rules, additionalSupertagAdder, allowTerminalDeletion = allowTerminalDeletion),
      new SimpleCfgGuideChartBuilder(rules, additionalSupertagAdder, allowTerminalDeletion = allowTerminalDeletion),
      useA _)
  }
  private[this] def useA(supertagSetSentence: Vector[(Word, Set[Cat])], fudgAnnotation: Option[FudgSentence]): Boolean = {
    fudgAnnotation.exists(f => f.edges.exists { case Edge(parent @ FeNode(_), child, label) => false; case _ => true })
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Podcasting is the latest activity for all experts.
Yet many people don't know where to start with their podcast: they might have an idea, a list of people to interview, but can't work out the technical side.
Other people might have an idea, but not have the experience of speaking for a podcast or interviewing guests – and often this is done virtually! I know when I set up my podcast nearly 3 years ago, the technical side was something really scary, then I had doubts about whether anyone would listen to the podcast! Now I have over 2000 downloads a month – and growing!
Since I have had the podcast, people have asked me for help with their podcast set up AND getting it up and running. Whilst there is information on line to do specific things, the quality is varied and the quantity – well, overwhelming! So I have created a step by step online course where you are guided through everything you need; the techie side and also how to make your delivery style engaging for your audience. The course also includes a FREE 30 minute session with me online, to double check everything is working. You will get one to one tuition for 30 minutes where you can ask me any questions and I can solve any techie issues.
This course is currently in production. For more information on when it will be released, please contact me.


In 2010, nearly seven million seniors were not driving, but still needed to perform basic functions like grocery shopping and visiting friends. As the older population expands from 12 to 20 percent of the total population by 2030, there will be a new urgency for transit options.
Aging in Place, Stuck Without Options: Fixing the Mobility Crisis Threatening the Baby Boom Generation, a 2011 report by Transportation for America, examines transit services, and specifically their relationship to an aging population. It then makes policy recommendations for the federal government. Community planners and local government officials can use the report to determine how an aging population impacts their own transportation planning.
The average annual cost of owning a vehicle ranges from $7,600-$8,700 (based on an average of $2.88 per gallon gas price, which is rising). The escalating cost of fuel, combined with the rising number of seniors and the fact that these older adults are living on a fixed income, means that alternative forms of transportation are imperative. Unfortunately, transit infrastructure is not keeping pace, meaning that an additional 3.9 million seniors will have poor transit access between 2010-2015, which is projected to increase dramatically if nothing is done.
The report ranks and compares differing sizes of metropolitan areas with poor transit access. For example, if Atlanta does not expand its transit system, then an estimated 90 percent of all seniors will have poor transit access. In some areas, this percentage is estimated to go as high as the total senior population (100 percent).
The report lists several city transit access case studies comparing figures from 2000 with projections for 2015, including Tulsa, Jacksonville, Burlington, Billings, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Los Angeles. In each case, the need for greater funding and policy change is high.


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You are here: Home / Arts, Culture, Entertainment, Meetings, Events / Mahaffey Theater in St. Pete Announces Two New Additions for Spring 2019 Entertainment Line-Up
Mahaffey Theater in St. Pete Announces Two New Additions for Spring 2019 Entertainment Line-Up
October 22, 2018 by Press Release
St. Petersburg, Fla. (Oct. 22, 2018) – The Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg announces that two new performances have been added to the Spring 2019 entertainment schedule. These two great shows pay tribute to the classic favorites of The Beatles with "1964" and The Bee Gees with the Australian Bee Gees Show.
Tickets for both performances go on sale to the public Friday, Oct. 26 at 10 a.m. Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts members can purchase tickets beginning Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 10 a.m. Tickets may be purchased online at TheMahaffey.com, charged by phone at (727) 300-2000 or in person at The Mahaffey Theater Box Office. The Box Office is open 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday – Saturday.
The Australian Bee Gees Show – A musical tribute to the Brothers Gibb
Coming to The Mahaffey Sunday, March 31, 2019 at 7 p.m., the Australian Bee Gees Show – A Tribute to the Bee Gees is a multi-media theatrical concert experience that takes a nostalgic trip through the legacy of Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
You'll hear hits like "Stayin' Alive," "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Jive Talkin'," and "Night Fever." The performers' authentic take on the trio's clothes, style and moves showcases five decades of the Brothers Gibbs' success as rock and disco legends, while audiences groove to their unforgettable music!
Together for more than 20 years, the Australian Bee Gees Show has mastered the look, sound and personality of the adored trio, while cementing their reputation as the world's leading Bee Gees show.
Tickets: $35, $45 and $55
Strut Productions Presents "1964"…The Tribute
Back in 1964, a historical moment happened when Ed Sullivan brought The Beatles to his "Really Big Show" in New York City and to the Napoleon Ballroom of the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach. It was the U.S. debut of The Beatles, introduced as "Great Britain's cultural gift to America," who went on to become one of the biggest and most influential music groups in history. See the magic recreated as "1964"…The Tribute makes its stop at The Mahaffey Theater on Friday, April 5, 2019 at 8 p.m.
Going strong since the 1980s, "1964" …The Tribute has earned a reputation as the most spectacularly accurate – in both sound and appearance – Fab Four tribute band (Rolling Stone, in fact, calls them "The best Beatles tribute band on Earth"). They are superb musicians and singers.
Performing songs from the PRE–Sgt. Pepper era, "1964" …The Tribute astonishingly recreates an early '60s live Beatles concert, with period instruments, clothing, hairstyles, and onstage banter. In addition to all the beloved hits, from "She Loves You" to "Eight Days a Week," they also perform numerous songs (such as "Michelle" and "And Your Bird Can Sing") the Beatles themselves never played in concert! Notably, "1964" has performed at Carnegie Hall 14 times.
Tickets: $43.50, $48.50, $53.50
The Duke Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater
The Mahaffey Theater, under the management of Big3 Entertainment, is one of Tampa Bay's top-rated performing arts venues. Home to the Florida Orchestra, The Mahaffey hosts top-quality national and international artists and performances – Broadway, pop, rock, comedy, dance, classical and interactive engagements and exhibitions.
Located in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg, the 2,031-seat cultural jewel boasts spectacular waterfront views and is located only minutes away from white sandy beaches and world-renowned museums. Additionally, the theater supports the highly successful Class Acts program, which enables school children to experience the performing arts through in-theater performances as well as in-school outreach and extension programs.
Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts
Founded as a 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2009, the Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts is dedicated to the success and future of The Mahaffey Theater and to the notion that through diverse programing and patron membership support, performing arts should be enjoyed by all of St. Petersburg's citizens. It's your theater!
The Bill Edwards Foundation for the Arts is committed to supporting and presenting all genres of the performing arts at The Mahaffey Theater, funding arts education for school children through the Class Acts performance series and providing its member patrons with unequaled services, entertainment and cultural experiences.
Filed Under: Arts, Culture, Entertainment, Meetings, Events


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Top-30 tennis player arrested on domestic violence charge
Nikoloz Basilashvili, the Georgian tennis player, has been arrested on a domestic violence charge in the capital, Tbilisi. In Georgia the charge of domestic violence in the presence of a minor carries a punishment of one-to-three years in prison or 200-400 hours of community service. Basilashvili is Georgia's most successful tennis player in its history as an independent nation, having won three ATP 500 titles and acquired career prize money earnings of ,479,761 (£4,499,431).


There are few brands that shape industries, innovation and cultural trends. Oakley is one of them. So many of us have grown up Idolizing the Oakley brand and the lifestyle they portray. We were humbled to work with Oakley and their creative team on the Heritage collection.
It couldn't have been a cooler project to start things off with Oakley. The Heritage collection brought back so many memories for us. We grew up in the 80's and had front row seats to the radical innovations Oakley was making in the eye-wear industry. We wanted to make sure our visual treatment stayed true to that historical heritage and legacy.
Several rounds of meticulous material & textural testing were logged to get the right look and feel for the several lines of eye-wear. There's no question we only scratched the surface on some of the development and testing Oakley goes through in developing the actual products.
Music and sound design are such a huge part of the project. We were stoked to have the genius composing skills of Carlos Ramirez on the job with us.
The team was challenged on multiple fronts from the 3D model side of the story to the in depth typography animation that made this motion piece stand out. Chris Haag led the motion graphics team in bringing the conceptual typography treatment to life. Check out the animated typography treatment below.
A large part of this project called for a motion treatment that was used to transition different frames and lenses from one to another. We tested several transition animations to see if they fit the style and concept.
We wanted to make sure the typography placement and treatment was not an afterthought to the animated 3D models. We were pumped to find a solid home for the text to live with the glasses.
Oakley developed a very cool distortion transition that played across their entire campaign. We matched the distortion style and implemented that transition across the animation sequences.
It's easy to smack on pre-made shaders and textures to clients products. Oakley was kind enough to offer us many practical pre-production products to make sure we got the exact look, feel and texture to their products. We can't express enough how important that stage of detail is during the production process. Working with clients that appreciate the nuances and details of the digital and practical side of product development is critical.
A massive thanks goes out to Oakley and their creative team. Looking forward to working with that incredible company again in the future.


We are changing the space of events in the workplace to help educate and inspire employees, clients and other stakeholders with our customised experiential and interactive events. How?
We work with you to create a lasting experience in the workplace, combining your current HR strategies and internal objectives and our mission of supporting others to lead a happier and healthier life.
• Positivity Corner: a chance for attendees to write down happy moments on sticky notes and we will collage them to showcase in the office.
• Wish it box: attendees write down the changes they wish to see in the workplace. This anonymous feedback is invaluable for employers, all of the data will be collated and sent to you.
• Temporary tattoos with positive affirmations: focuses on the positive affirmation whilst also reiterating the temporary tattoo will fade in time, just as tough times will.
• Massages: helping each employee relax and open to possibilities after a 5 minute massage each.
We have a selection of experience and influential experts in the areas of health, wellness, mental health, happiness and more.
Our B.OK Boxes offer just over 2 months of support and is the perfect addition to any event as a gift for the attendees. A chance for them to practise what they have learnt during the event and continue to build on skills individually or amongst colleagues after the event. Incorporate the B.OK Boxes into an accountability buddy system or just inspire a healthy work life balance.
The content, activities and education piece for each event can be customised to suit your audience and occasion.


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My submission on the inquiry into the government's response to Covid 19.
Sunday 28 June 2020 Tim	15 Comments
Written in haste… last minute… as per usual wiki style.
To the Committee.
Submission of Timothy Wikiriwhi
Inquiry into the operation of the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act 2020
My/our comments
It is in the strongest terms that I condemn how the Ardern led Parliament and Police have behaved with respect to the Covid 19 crisis, and I personally stand in protest to it.
Never in the history of New Zealand have these two branches of government… in the course of a single election period behaved with such contempt for the Rights of the citizens of New Zealand.
Rushed Legislation of the most intrusive and power grabbing form… without due public input or time to rally public opposition has become 'the New Normal'… never before has a PM, with such hostile personal ideological bents against what may be described as our traditional values upon which our Nation was built… Tolerance, self reliance, and Freedom… been allowed to impose themselves with Compulsions and prohibitions fully supported by a Police force more than willing to wield such new powers granted them, and enforce such new oppressive measures… without conscience.
This is Nanny State on steroids.
I protest the compulsory Lock downs and strangulation of the economy.
I protest the gross largess by which the government has borrowed billions of dollars to plaster over the real consequences of Ardern's callous Bumbling.
I protest the ongoing closure of our borders.
I protest the drive and intentions of Ardern to make any forthcoming Covid 19 vaccinations compulsory.
My Protest should not be construed to be an 'anti-Vax' tirade either.
I am not Anti-vaccination.
I am *anti-compulsory vaccination*
I protest the drive to impose 'contact tracing' upon everyone and esp the diabolical scheme to use a Credit card as a means to bribe people into accepting this massive government intrusion.
I protest any legislation that erodes the public rights to make transactions in Cash.I protest the government control of the internet and the right of New Zealanders to freely discuss Covid 19 and the government response.I esp protest *The flooding of social media* with Government propaganda designed to overwhelm any alternative opinions.I protest the power of police to enter homes without a warrant… violating the privacy and isolation of that home… merely upon the word of some busybody neighbours who suspect lockdown laws were being thwarted.And I Protest in the strongest terms the laws that allow Parliament to deploy the army against the citizens of New Zealand to force them into compliance!
This is an act of Treason that one expects from such vile tyrannies as China and North Korea!
How is it possible that our Parliament has become so contemptuous of the Rights of the people to protest against parliament?
My protest should not be construed to be an abdication of Common sense… a 'do nothing' approach.
It is no such thing…. yet like so many problems in life… Socialist power trippers *always seek to usurp greater powers to themselves and seek to expand the use of oppressive Political force* that trample upon the rights and self responsibility of the people.
They choose such means instead of maintaining their rightful bounds, and making appeals to the public to voluntarily follow prudent precautions out of self interest and the public good.
For example any Covid 19 vaccination that becomes available might be offered on a voluntary basis, yet it is essential there should be no censorship of dissenting voices on social media who want to discuss any perceived safety risks involved with the vaccine.
I do not suggest that there be no boarder controls at such times as global pandemics… or quarantine of returning citizens… yet I do protest the tyranny of quarantining the whole nation!
Prudence alone is authority enough for rest-homes to implement self-isolation protocols that could easily be contractually legitimised, and so too the elderly and infirm who are at risk from respiratory viruses go into self isolation.
I contend that had this government behaved with such respect for it's own limited powers in response to Covid 19 that our nation would be far better off today… esp with regards to having maintained our freedoms… instead we are now occupied by a belligerent Police state that puts its own agenda first.
This is the refutation of the socialist notion that all these state intrusions are justified for the public good!
Tyranny is *not a public Good!
The valuable lessons New Zealanders should have learned from this is how quickly we can be robbed of our cherished Rights and liberties… how that currently our Parliamentary system has gaping holes allowing heavy handed politicians to pass legislation that is not the will of the people… in fact is without their consent.These holes need to be Welded shut!
There needs to be a public constitutional discussion about removing from parliament the licence to pass laws that are contrary to our Bill of Rights.
There also needs to be a Police code of conduct and oath that they will uphold the Bill of Rights as the highest law of the land and that as such The Bill of Rights automatically makes any new whimsical parliamentary laws null and void if they are inconsistent with the Bill of Rights!
Had such constitutional protections been in place before Ardern took power we would not be in the mess we are in today because there would have been no way for Ardern to impose her foolishness and tyranny upon us… and we would have had to handle the crisis very differently… and have gotten very different results.
Contray to all the propaganda. what Ardern has done has been an abject failure yet we are expected to believe it was a fantastic victory… thanks to 'The greatest Leader on Earth'!
By Golly Ardern and the media must think the people of New Zealand are morons!
The initial plan was never *elimination* of the virus but to 'flatten the curve'…. which is something very different… and something that would have happened… if less draconian means were under taken as was the case in other nations like Sweden and South Korea.
Flattening the curve was a strategy by which the nation would be exposed to the virus in a controlled manor… at a rate by which our medical system could cope… and had this been achieved we could today have reopened our boarders by now and began to rebuilt our Tourist industry that is so vital to our economy.
'Flattening the Curve' was a rational strategy that had a desirable End in sight… where as Ardern's about face and lie that the game plan was now in fact complete elimination… that is a completely foolish and counter productive 'own goal'!
She has effectively put us back at stage 1… and we are at risk of Outbreak just as we were at the very start despite borrowing and spending the billions… despite having ruined countless lives and businesses!
The Idea that Ardern's strong hand has saved lives is absolutely fallacious.
Not only did it become obvious early on in the lockdown that Covid 19 was no where near as deadly as we had been led to believe, but also understanding of the virus and how to deal with it effectively began to expand.
Even without a vaccine, effective treatments have been discovered, such as a course of Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc being highly effective even among demographics of the highest risk… the elderly with pre-existing heath conditions.
Also the roll of Vitamin D.
These are the sort of Covid 19 facts that Governments, and the World Health Organisation have been very lax on sharing with the public… in fact they have been hostile to it… because their own agenda is to promote compulsory vaccinations.
In the years that follow many uncomfortable truths will become common knowledge that are currently being suppressed and 'flooded over' by Government propaganda.
It has been the global propaganda that has affected how New Zealanders have perceived the threat of Covid 19, and the resulting hysteria from this source goes a long way to explain why the Ardern Parliament was able to act so rashly… with minimal public outcry.
The systemic corruption with how people were treated in US hospitals… the gross breaches of standard ethics… and esp the fabrication of National records of Covid 19 deaths… due to political interests that seek to panic the people, and the massive financial schemes tapping into all the Covid 19 Billions the governments of the world are throwing about like confetti… Every death recorded as being covid 19 related getting thousands of Dollars in funding.
Some interests dont want the crisis to end…. Billions are changing hands.
We can be certain that when the full truth is known that the real death toll will be well below 50% of what is currently claimed.
Yet it is Politicians like Ardern who rely on the current grossly exaggerated data… the now absolutely discredited computer models, etc to justify the vile and corrupt actions they took… all of which just so happened to suit her own political aims… against the what we know as the Cultural norms of New Zealand as a free Nation.
Conversely the true horrific costs of Ardern's tyranny in Death and Economic ruin as a result of the lockdown will become better understood to the degree that her 'remedy' will easily prove worse than the disease.
The National Suicide tally, Deaths from Cancers and other ailments due to the cessation of surgeries and health checks.
The Job loses, and business closures, the marriage break ups that result from the stress… all need to be weighed up and laid at Ardern's Jackbooted feet.
Then you will start to get a real idea of the magnitude of destruction and injustice the Ardern government has inflicted upon us via their gross over reaction and usurpation's.
We are now expected to accept her police state as 'The new Norm'… well I for one absolutely and categorically reject this and demand my full rights and liberties back!
I demand all lock down legislation that curtails my rights, hurriedly passed to be abolished so that that under no circumstances is a PM and parliament allowed to repeat such an imprisonment of the entire population under threat of the Police!
Never again!
It is my hope that any attempt by Ardern or Parliament to initiate a second lockdown will be met with mass peaceful protest and non-compliance.
I call upon this committee to report back to parliament of the Public outrage at how they absolutely mishandled this so-called crisis esp the contempt they have shown for our Rights!
I call for a wide ranging public constitutional debate and process to enshrine the Bill of Rights as the highest law of the land by which all other legislation must comply… One Law, One citizenship, Equal for all.
I would like opportunity to present an oral submission should that be available.
My/our recommendations
UPdate: 1-7-20
MY COVID-19 FACEBOOK PAGE. TYRANNY AND THE POST-FREE SPEECH ERA.
"UNITE AGAINST COVID-19 NEW ZEALAND" . THE SUBTILITY OF THE SERPENT THAT BEGUILES.


Eventually, I wasgoed connected and found out they do have a Sergeant with the same name spil the llamativo officer who very first called mij.
The officer asked mij to confirm a number on an active, state issued license I've held for a number of years. The number sounded finta normal but I checked my files to be sure. When I asked why the question came up, the officer explained that someone had used my license to create a fake license for themselves. I remembered exactly where the photo had bot posted. Instantly, I began to worry what else I may have collective that now I wish I hadn't.
The officer asked mij to confirm my address and to provide my date of birth. By this time, considering the information she'd told mij earlier, I wasgoed already te a state of high omzichtig. I asked why she needed to know my birth date.
"Ter order to opstopping a criminal case with the District Attorney," she answered.
I asked hier to have patience with my fresh reluctance to give out that information, having just bot enlightened to the identity theft of my license. She understood entirely and suggested to give mij the main number to the Police so I could call hier back and confirm that she wasgoed who she claimed to be.
The officer asked if I would be willing to pursue criminal charges against the person ter question. I hesitated for a ogenblik before I reluctantly agreed. She said the case would be filed with the District Attorney who will most likely go after up and ask mij for extra information.
Straks, I began to question the fact that I talent out my date of birth to some stranger on the phone and I began to fright. I looked up the number for the Police Department online. This talent mij more reason to be worried. It wasn't the number I'd bot given.
The webstek that came up spil a result of typing ter the phone number pinpointed a location ter Houston. But when I read further under the Google Search, I spotted the name of a foreign country associated with the number. This made mij truly jumpy.
Looking up the main number for the area police, I came across a broad multiplicity of departments dealing with different crimes including homicide. Eventually, I found a verbinding to the main number and got through to a helpful person named Courtney, who said they had no such officer te their list of that division. My heart rate began to accelerate spil I explained my situation.
Eventually, I wasgoed connected and found out they do have a Sergeant with the same name spil the innovador officer who very first called mij. The receptionist dreamed to connect mij instantly, but I begged hier to response some questions before she transferred the call.
The officer wasgoed the one to whom I'd originally spoken. After apologizing profusely, I told hier that at this point I wasgoed getting utterly paranoid about having given out my private information ter addition to the photo that embarked the entire scene.
I searched for the pic on Google and located it instantly, along with a dozen or so other people who, proud of their accomplishment of having finished the curriculum, had posted their pictures also. I sent an email to the Hub Team who assisted mij ter removing the photo from the Google cache since they were the contemporáneo hosting webpagina.
Similar to when you buy a fresh car, you begin eyeing more of that specimen on the road than everzwijn before. At this point, I'm noticing a lotsbestemming of postings where people have pridefully collective their private information, like I did, without a concern about how this might be used to our disadvantage.
The photo you postbode may be used against you or to substitute you or fairly possibly, to stalk you.


The FireRed & LeafGreen arc starts off with Green about to meet her long-lost parents, but they are sucked into a vortex created by a mysterious Pokemon! Red and Blue want to help, but first they must improve their battle skills. Then, the Three Beasts of Team Rocket are up to their old tricks again! In the Emerald storyline, Gold and Crystal are back! Professor Oak sends the two friends to help rescue Red, Yellow, Blue and Green - who have all been turned to stone! But first, the pair must fight a fearsome creature that Archie, the former leader of Team Aqua, wished into existence using the powers of the Wish Pokemon Jirachi! For all ages.


This is something I've wanted to talk about for a while: why do authors write under pseudonyms (which is defined as anonymous, fictitious, etc. etc.) and then print right on the book who they really are?!
I mean, I totally understand writing under a pseudonym. Especially if you're someone like JK Rowling, and you're kind of known for one thing. I was really surprised to find out JK wasn't writing under a pseudo.
And I can even understand Janette Rallison deciding to publish her sci-fi fantasy books under CJ Hill. Because they are totally different from her contemps, and I don't blame her for wanting people to see them in different lights, or whatever the reasoning was. But she still keeps the two names separate. It's not a super secret that JR is also CJH, but it's also not shouted to the rooftops (at least, not that I've noticed).
<--- But what about this? I feel like this defeats the purpose. Why would you write under a pseudonym, and then WRITE YOUR REAL NAME ON THE BOOK?! Were the books not as successful as your other books? DUH! You should have known that going in! You should have just published a mystery series under your actual name! Mystery and romance aren't that different, right?
So I want to know what you guys think. How do you feel about authors using pseudonyms in general? And how do you feel about them not keeping those pseudonyms a secret? Does anyone know why already-established authors choose pseudonyms? What's the main reason? And why do they not keep the names separate?
Maybe I'm just extra passionate about this because I am a pseudonym writer, and I take almost neurotic care to make sure that my pseudonym and my real name remain totally separate. If you google both of my names together, you get no results! So... why don't authors take pseudonyms as seriously? I'M SO CONFUSED!
In the case of Nora Roberts/ JD Robb (both names are pseudonyms, btw) its because she writes so prolifically, her publishing house asked her to take another name so they could publish more of her books per year. Her dual names have always been an open secret, as far as I can tell. I only know this from having spent many years working in bookstores - it's a discussion that came up a lot!
For Jayne Castle, she had signed a contract in which she sold her name to her publisher. This forced her to publish under other names.
I have not heard of that other author, though!
So, in a case like that, where the pseudonym is about marketing more than secrecy, we understand why people are open about it. But in a case like yours, where you are trying to protect your real identity, things are different.
If you look up why authors choose pseudonyms, there are a lot of articles. I've read a fair amount about it, as I'm considering using one for self-publishing.
I don't like them in general unless - like in the case of Erin Hunter, mentioned above, it's several people collaborating and publishing under one name. Only because, in my opinion, it's harder to get people to read co-written books.
But Nora Roberts is just silly.