text:
The Three Keeps of the Eclipsed Kingdom
There are many, many castles, keeps and towers in the Eclipsed Kingdom, but three above all are emblematic of that nations character, madness, faith and power. So long as these three still stand the Eclipsed Kingdom itself will still exist.
The Infinite Cathedral
In the exact centre of the Eclipsed Kingdom, and therefore in the centre of the world, directly under the black formlessness of God as he blots out the sun, and therefore at the centre of the Universe, is the Infinite Cathedral.
Here is the seat of the Black Pope; Pontifex Nigrum in Tenebras Exteriores. Here is the centre for worship and pilgrimage for a universal faith. Truly and literally Universal for not only on this world is the Gospel of Azathoth spread.
The Cathedral itself squats like a triple-lobed beast. In the centre, just below God, is the Basilica of Nyralthotep. Spreading out in three giant limbs are the infinite naves of the Cathedral. These vast buildings send out buttresses like tentacles into the earth and, though every surface is corrugated with towers, steeples, belfry's and sometimes entire sub-churches, which obscure the shape of the Cathedral when seen up-close, from a distance the three naves can be seen plunging into the ground like vast curling roots.
The Monks of St Culix have explained the shape of the Cathedral in the following way, though few possess the wits to follow them;
By the grace of god it is a shape with one pole and no antipole, with one surface and no edge, with three separate limbs yet they are one.
Like this, but a Cathedral.
To stand in the centre of the Cathedral, before the throne of the Black Pope, is to stand where three gigantic naves meet. From inside the naves seem utterly straight, with no turn, bow or shift of orientation. Each one proceeds off into the distance as far as the eye can see.
The wise have said that if a member of the faithful begins walking down one of the naves, they will return to the point where they began without turning either right or left. This pilgrimage has tested many, for in the distance of the naves, the windows grow dark, the air cold, and then, after a time, the stained glass is lit by the terrible light of alien suns and the pilgrims encountered may be those from other worlds.
This, but forever.
The crypts of the Infinite Cathedral are likewise without end and these form the prison in which are held the most powerful and significant of the enemies of the faith. Also within these crypts are the souls and intelligences of those of the Clergy of the Church who have grown too weak to possess their next body and now wander without flesh.
The monks of St Culix have said that the Cathedral itself is slowly growing, relative to the world in which it is embedded, curling itself deeper and deeper into the earth yet always curling back upon itself.
It is here that the Cardinals of the Faith take their whispered instruction from the Black Pope, here that the Orders of the Holy Inquisition make their base. It is here that the power and glory of god is at its greatest. It is here that Azathoth himself will first incarnate himself on this world, when that time finally arrives, as it inevitably must.
The Silent City Of The Sleeping King
Before the great revelation and the coming of Azathoth, this castle and the city below were the centre of a golden age and the seat of a burgeoning Feudal World-Empire. Now they are the quietest place on earth, home of the Ordinis Carcere, the Silent Knights, and of the Dreaming Court of the Sleeping King.
He is still enthroned there, still with the thirteen poisoned daggers of the first Cardinals of Azathoth in his back, still sleeping, and kept asleep only by the endless insane tuneless piping of the chained and maddened bards who ring his court.
If the piping should ever stop, the King will wake and Azathoth will come for him. All will end.
And it will end, but until that day, he sleeps here. Around him are the selves of his dream. His court. They are undying vision-people conjured from his sleeping mind, as strange, incoherent, protean, beautiful, meaningless and meaningful as dreams themselves. And just as everyone we meet within a dream is us, all of the court are the King.
They dance and speak to each other, sometimes talking idiot poetry, sometimes murmuring only the forms of words like the background players in a masque, sometimes rambling mundanities or dangerously sparking into something near consciousness, their eyes fixing on an individual like the manic targets of a mad beggar. The Fool especially, if he is present, his jokes and bawds sometimes seem to hover frighteningly close to something like awareness of the real world.
Some dream selves fade in and out over a matter of minutes, never to be seen again, some are common characters, often returning albeit in different shapes and forms. Some are monsters, some nightmares, some beauties, some heroes.
The king has been sleeping for a long time and his dream has grown strange indeed.
The only person here who is not a dream, yet who seems like one is his half sister, the Cambion Sorceress Esmerillion.
Nevertheless, this is still the centre of the Temporal Government for the Eclipsed Kingdom. Every Baron must swear loyalty to the King and they must all come here, at least once, to do it.
Not all of them make it out. Some go mad due to the pipes. Some are killed by the Dreaming court for impossible dreamlike reasons; because they remind an imaginary person of a thought, because they have the wrong sign in their name, because they are too small or too large, because they have a look, because they do not have a look.
Others are given quests and orders by a member of the Dreaming court which cannot be completed. "Become your own son", "Bring me the colour blue" "Climb a tower in a ladies eye and bring back the treasure she does not have". Though these are but the dreams of the King, to ignore them might be seen as ignoring the will of the King, and the will of Azathoth, who's prophet he is, and many high lords have been forced to set out on incoherent maddened quests to impossible places, for impossible things, before they can claim their high position.
Beyond the throne room are the silent halls.
Though they were not always of this kind, over the centuries, the Ordinis Carcere have changed and adapted the shapes of the rooms and the nature of the walls.
Perhaps this was simply to avoid the terrible music of the pipes, perhaps it was to more deeply fulfil their oaths of silence, but they have slowly encrusted the halls and rooms of the Castle with strange repeated shapes and bizarre angles until, in every room, in every corridor, there is absolutely no ambient noise.
The halls of the castle are so quiet that those entering say they can hear their own blood pumping in their veins, that they can hear their own scalp moving over their skull. Any noise made is eaten by the strange additions to the walls and ceilings, as soon as a door is closed a scream inside a room cuts out as if a switch had been turned.
The Knights themselves make absolutely no sound whatever the circumstances, moving through the dead-quiet halls like ghosts.
It is here, and in the utterly silent dungeons that the Ordinis Carcere organise and disperse their forces, ranging all over the Eclipsed Kingdom and beyond in search of people to imprison, for whatever reason can be found, and searching also always for bards, to drag them back to the Court of the Sleeping King and set them to piping, for the bards themselves wear out quite quickly and become little more than dried husks after only a few days.
Down within the dungeons are the most significant prisoners of the Carcere, (those not surrendered to the Infinite Cathedral). Many of these are themselves prison breakers and escape artists. The Ordinis Carcere loathes and despises these people especially and makes a point of hunting them down and securing them absolutely. They are chained in cages in the centre of soundproof rooms.
The Castle itself stands on a promontory of volcanic rock. Its multiple battlements tumble down the sides of the stone into the roofs and pinnacles of the Silent City.
Once it was the home of the greatest craftsmen, artists, poets and lords of all the world. Though it is half-sunken in ruin and utterly quiet, this is still where the Eclipsed Kingdom holds the best of its artisans, scriveners, scribes and the small mercantile class which the Kingdom still cannot do without.
I know he's basically the patron saint of the OSR at this point, but what can you do?
Very little can be found in the city without first knowing what you are looking for, the centres of ruined buildings may still hold secret life, unlikely alleys or locked gates may disguise secret homes or places of work. Somewhere in this city a handful of people may still be getting very quietly drunk, or playing a game of silent chess.
The burgers of the town and True Citizens of the Silent City have all had their tongues removed and communicate only by written or gestured sign. Long ago this may have been in sympathy with, or by order of the Ordinis Carcere, but by now it is simply a ritual and proud sign of citizenship and of voting rights in the city's silent council.
The people speak in whispers, if they speak at all.
The city itself is, in effect, an extension of the prison, and of the castle. At night the streets near the Castle are spread with quiet white sand by silent churls and any sign of a footprint before dawn is investigated as a capital crime until the culprit is found. The Carcere are maddened by the idea of one of their most special prisoners escaping, especially since they might well help more prisoners to escape elsewhere! Many citizens of the city have double roles as servants of the Carcere and report back to them in a complex network of informers.
Still, there are conspiracies and lies everywhere. The Kingdom has many enemies and even within the kingdom the various orders, factions, baronies, families and lines plot continually against each other for power. Some half-elven lords and ladies are actually plotting against themselves, with one half being either unaware of what the other half is doing, or simply out of deranged mania. Some sorcerers may be plotting against future or former selves, or alternate versions of themselves.
The Castle Of The Fissure King
Of all the Keeps of the Eclipsed Kingdom, the Castle of the Fissure King is perhaps the strangest and most mutable. Though the Infinite Cathedral twists back on itself in directions impossible to perceive, it at least has a reasonably stable outer form. The Castle of the Fissure King seems to change position, shape, nature and relation according to the situation of those who seek it.
· It is always the home of the Calicem Servi, the Grail Knights.
· It is always the resting place of the Grail itself.
· It is always somewhere in, or on, the Fissure.
Yet for all this, exactly what it is seems to vary with the observer.
Some describe it simply as a vertical castle cut into the walls of the fissure. Some as a single keep standing upon an impossible pinnacle of stone. Some as a kind of bridge-palace crossing the Fissure itself, or as two palaces mirrored, rising like recurved horns from the walls of the Fissure on each side and meeting in the middle. Some as a beautiful and classical castle poised on a mesa or hill in the valley of the Fissure itself. Some as a mansion on an outcrop of stone with a river passing beneath it.
The Fissure itself changes in its form depending on those who seek it, or who seek to cross it. On maps it is described, by most, as a deep, vast valley on the borders between the Eclipsed Kingdom and the wasteland beyond. But any map seeking to describe the Fissure will quickly tear or break, and the tear itself will be at exactly the place that the Fissure is shown in the map. It cannot be represented.
For those who have sought it out it has sometimes been a huge, verdant, valley with a river running through it, full of forests and incredible animals, even the ruins of ancient peoples and lost civilisations. For others it has been the edge of the world, a black cliff proceeding endlessly down into an unknown netherworld, the floor lost in howling mists driven by screaming winds that pile over the rim like tornadoes. For others it has been a deep crevasse, almost impossible to cross, but on the other side, a mirror world exactly like the side just left, or did the Fissure somehow turn them back on their path and return them to their origin? For some it has been a turn or curve in the world itself, where gravity twisted, as if the skin of the world turned over like the bent page of a book and continued on the other side, upside down. For some a rift valley, filled with lava and sulphuric gas with the black castle of the Fissure King rising out of the bubbling poison. Some find it the Cliffside border of a mighty black ocean that appears on no map. Some say it can only be approached from one side and that whatever side it is approached from is the only side that it has.
To seek out the Fissure King is to enter the realm of spirit and of faith. Those who are strong with faith in Azothoth may find their way easily, if their faith is true. Those who lack True Belief, or who deny his Truth may find impossible challenges and situations. Yet sometimes the Fissure will test the faithful and forgive the heretic.
Posted by pjamesstuart at 11:06 5 comments:
Labels: Eclipse Knights
A Timeline of the Zak Wars
[EDIT 11/02/2019 - all my Zak posts, previous to and after this one
July 2014 http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2014/07/zak-smith-is-not-homophobe.html
February 2017 http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-timeline-of-zak-wars.html
September 2017 http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2017/09/fuck-all-of-you.html
February 2019 http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2019/02/you-should-read-this.html ]
This is my attempt to put together a timeline of the case against Zak Smith/Sabbath. I tried to do so, where possible, using only verifiable links that are publicly available for anyone to access.
In situations where harassment is alleged, its very difficult to draw the line between giving exact information and opening people up to potential anonymous abuse. If I don't give names and links for a lot of these things the whole thing becomes an exercise in redaction. If I name a lot of names then I could easily be accused of 'directing harassment' towards those parties.
I've tried to use only links that are still publicly available and to name individuals only when necessary to precisely describe what happened in an incident.
PLEASE. Do not contact any of the people in the links below in any kind of negative or harassing way. It would be better not to contact them at all. No-one in these circles is open to persuasion and nothing will be gained. Just read what they wrote.
it should be noted (as a quick google of my name will confirm) that I am financially (through Maze of the Blue Medusa) and socially connected to Zak, so you should read with that in mind.
My overview of the chronology is at the bottom.
(Also, apologies to anyone sane from outside the culture that has to read through this.)
October 15th 2008 – Zak Starts His Blog
It's called 'Playing D&D With Porn Stars. You can see the opening post here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/hi.html
Archive; http://archive.is/i44G7
Act One.
The Long Build Up/The Sex Wars
Feb 2010 to Dec 2013
This probably has roots in forum arguments in the past but it enters the public record in February 2010 in the Canon Puncture Incident and proceeds through to the Desborough Rape Threat Accusations of December 2013.
This period is characterised by the relatively long periods between each incident and the fact that opponents and arguments don't always carry over or fold into the next incident. Alienation and anger build up slowly, are sometimes diffused, but don't go away.
Most are triggered by arguments over sex and responses to Zaks gaming group (mainly women, mainly models).
· Canon Puncture Incident - Zak defends his group from condescending comments.
· Hyung Tae Kim Incident - Zak argues about the validity of sex in art.
· The Maxim Article - Zak defends his group again, from accusations that their public profile is bad for gaming.
· The Carcosa Thread - This starts off about sexual violence in the game in question.
· The Math Skills Fight - Zak defends his player, is accused of misogyny.
· The Numenera Succubus Incident - Again, triggered by the presence of sexual materials in the game.
· The James Desborough Rape Threat Accusation - Desborough angers many of the same people with his arguments about the validity of rape in games, is then accused of making rape threats.
February 2010 – The Canon Puncture Incident
The hosts of the Canon Puncture Podcast talk about Zaks game with his group. They say some things that Zak regards as condescending towards the girls in the group, Zak requests an apology and the hosts apologise. This gets spoken about on story-games.com and Zak comes in to describe the situation. You can read that thread here;
http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/11540/d-d-with-porn-stars-and-canon-puncture
Archive; https://archive.is/13HKO
February 11th 2011 – The Hyung Tae Kim Incident
Anna Kreider makes an argument against the art of Hyung Tae Kim, you can read it in full here;
https://donotlink.it/Q0Ek
Archive; https://archive.is/zJBbm
Zak disagrees and the two of them get into it. Zak calls her a prude. Later, on March 10th 2015, Kreider posts her own chronology of her interactions with Zak, you can find it below.
I've been asked to point out that Zak wasn't invited into this thread, he just turned up, which is true, he hasn't been invited into any of these threads, but neither has anyone else? They are almost all public posts or they wouldn't be available to link here. This has been described as a scary incident to me.
Well, take a look for yourself.
December 2011 – The Maxim Article
The US magazine Maxim carries an article about Zak and his group. You can read the article itself here;
http://www.maxim.com/women/playing-dungeons-and-dragons-porn-stars
Archive; https://archive.is/2cbyr
An argument breaks out over representation. Much of this happens on G+ and has subsequently been deleted. You can read a transcript of that (by Zak) here;
http://armsinthewronghands.tumblr.com/post/148473329613/filamena-young-attacks-the-dd-wporn-stars-girls
Archive; https://archive.is/Iv58T
This was the best evidence I could find of the origins of an important disagreement that, like everything in this chronology, forms resentments and hatreds that pile on into the next thing. If anyone has any publicly available links describing or showing what happened then let me know.
February 2012 – 'Confessions of a Dungeon Master' thread on Storygames,
This is an interesting argument over a game transcript from 1980 by John Eric Holmes.
http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/15862/history-of-gaming-confessions-of-a-dungeon-master/p1
This starts out as being between Luke Crane, creator of Burning Wheel and Zak, a lot of classic behaviours are exhibited here and, like a lot of times in this chronology it's based on very different perceptions of, and reactions to, a potentially sexual situation.
Zaks opinion of Luke Crane comes up again four years later in an April 2016 post below.
February 29th 2012 – Zak Encounters Somethingawful
Zak says that the enmity between him and the Somethingawful forum dates from this contact. In his own words;
"The backstory on this is an enmity with Something Awful beginning with me attempting to talk to them about their extreme statements here, years after noticing they took Mandy to task for having extension cords on her wish list"
Link to his post is here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/evil-mastermind-from-grognardstxt.html
Archive; https://archive.is/X91ji
April 2012 – Zak Banned from Story-Games.com
Zak starts a thread about the 2nd Edition of Geoffery McKinneys Carcosa book. An argument breaks out about Anna Krieder, you can read the thread here;
http://story-games.com/forums/discussion/16258
Archive; https://archive.is/sHVHL
September 27th 2012 – The Math Skills Fight on Somethingawful
Zak argues with the posters on the somethingawful forum about dice notation. During this, he is accused of misogyny in regards to one of his players. You can read about that here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/apologizing-in-advance-for-this-hey.html
Archive; https://archive.is/3OxeK
This adds to the enmity between Zak and Somethingawful which he has said is the engine behind the Tom Hatfield Failforward article in July 2014.
August 3rd 2013 – The Numenera Succubus Incident
Game Writer Monte Cook releases his game Numenera. This game includes rules for a Science Fiction Succubus. This causes a massive scandal and argument (google "Numenera Succubus") especially on RPG.NET where the thread runs for 561 posts;
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?697888-Numenera-W-T-F-Monte
August 5th 2013 – Zak Banned from RPG.NET
The succubus thread is what finally gets Zak permanently banned from rpg.net. You can read the exact wording of the ban here;
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?698051-Infraction-for-Zak-S-17)-Permanent-Ban
He's banned by Ettin, which is a name you will see several more times in this chronology.
It's interesting at this point to take a look at the different viewpoints. Here is part of the argument for the ban;
"You serially derail sexism threads with bad-faith arguments. You insist that nobody can ever make generalizations about anything ever (even when they're not), then post generalizations. You pull out arguments that boil down to "words don't mean things" like that's ever been constructive outside the philosophy forum. You're passive-aggressive and occasionally condescending, you post anecdotes as facts, you tell people that things can't be sexist because you know ~females~ who would disagree. You're convinced that you're always right and refuse to consider otherwise, or at least that's the only explanation I can think of for why you keep making up strawmen to dismiss people who disagree with you (cf. the pass-agg "stop assuming all women are alike!" business, asserting that feminist game bloggers and others who disagree with you must be "conservative", every time you say "Tipper Gore" ever). You don't take anything that isn't agreement for an answer, and will argue in circles about it instead of making the positive contributions you could be until you get bored or someone makes you stop."
And here, from the ban itself, is the mods example of Zak doing this;
"Nobody does this research or even seems to ask for it. And they should.
That this idea is going to turn away more women than it brings in has no experimental evidence behind it.
That this idea is going to make folks' attitudes towards women worse has no experimental evidence behind it.
So if your only case against the trope is Monte is being accidentally sexist (via effect) it's pretty much accusing someone of sexism with no evidence.
The idea that this is even a sexist trope in Monte's hands is based on claims it will have a sexist effect. It requires them to be true. It doesn't seem fair or right to do that in absence of anybody trying to test it.
Me, here's who I can test: 2000 blog readers and G+ people. 4 figures of "I Hit It With My Axe" fans on Facebook. Mandy's fans which are like in the 5 figures. We ask what keeps women from gaming: The data we get has nothing to do with content and everything to do with a social environment of weird controlling nerd boys.
But, hey, that's a biased sample
Somebody do some research, rather than assuming all women are like the ones in your environment.
The closest thing we have in terms of experimental data on anything moving the needle of gaming concerning women is the advent of Vampire which proves:
Tim Truman illustrations of sexy vampires --male and female--attract female gamers, a lot of whom want to dress like them.
Folks who run conventions and publishing companies and forums should try to do a better job by publishers, designers and women by actually basing claims about what is and isn't bad for the community on testing stuff."
August 5th 2013 – Zaks 'open letter' to rpg.net
In response to this perma-ban, Zak posts an 'open letter to the managers of rpg.net;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2013/08/open-letter-to-shannon-appelcline-and.html
Archive; https://archive.is/sQpvo
If you look at the comments, waaay at the bottom you will see Shanna Germain, Cooks partner and co-creator talking about her reaction to the arguments made against her and the game.
This is also the first time I recall hearing the name Shannon Appelcline in this history. It will come up again in Febuary 2017. You will see that below.
December 16th 2013 – The James Desborough Rape Threat Accusation
About 10 months prior to this Ben Lehman publicly accused James Desborough, RPG writer, of being "Someone who threatens their critics with rape". Several people +1 this post.
Desborough has been involved in culture-war arguments with this faction for some time and, in my opinion, persistently trolls them. The verbal violence between these groups is intense. Just google "james desborough in defence of rape" or any combination of those words to take a look at the shitstorm.
John Stavropoulus an RPG writer not aligned with Desborough's faction or opinions, checks up on the claim that he threatened people with rape and finds no evidence to back them up.
Zak in his own words; "The short of Jon's research is this accusation turned out to be bullshit even though 80some people +1ed it and it got shared all over the RPG internet.
Now Jon didn't name names, because he "doesn't want a witchhunt". Which is respectable. But I'm not Jon and I do think the RPG community as a whole deserves an apology from every single one of these people for confusing and distorting a very real and very serious issue of real violence that actually affects peoples' lives."
He names names. Some people retract their +1's, others do not. I'm not going to provide a link to that post but it is still up.
Zaks naming of names on this issue is used as evidence of harassment from this point on, in particular as evidence of him having a 'list of enemies'.
Many of the people on this list appear elsewhere in this chronology, almost always as opponents of Zak I think. I can't really point out who because, like I said, its alleged to be an act of harassment or directing harassment towards those parties so if I repeat the same names then this chronology also becomes harassment.
December 17th 2013 – Paul Ettin Recommends plussing the Rape Threat Post
In response to the above incident, Paul Ettin, RPG.NET moderator recommends +1'ing the accusation against Desborough of making rape threats;
https://plus.google.com/115194116430466884350/posts/jefADpVt1rJ
Archive; http://archive.is/mw3GC
.....................................................................................................
Act Two. The Summer of Hate
July 2014 to August 2014
As soon as it came out that Zak and Pundit were consultants on 5e, the attacks, accusations and counter-accusations come in thick and fast. This is a very short period of great intensity.
July 3rd 2014 – D&D 5e Released
The new edition of D&D comes out and it is revealed that Zak and the RPGPundit are counted as consultants. This marks the beginning of Consultancygate.
July 4th 2014 – Ettin Admits Trolling
This is from a chat log you can read here;
http://pastebin.com/nAzfnHbj
In lines 1174 10 1178 he admits that he does not think Desborough made rape threats but plussed the accusation anyway.
July 6th 2014 – Eric Haddock Asks For Evidence on G+
This is in a public thread so I hope he doesn't mind me putting it here;
https://plus.google.com/u/0/114899023370792587252/posts/c6aeERrjbAw
Archive; http://archive.is/itg0y
This is relevant largely because of this quote from Sean Patrick Fannon which gets a blog response from Zak later;
"The Internet is screaming with the harm caused, Zak; this very conversation wouldn't be happening if you'd not actively hurt and pissed off a great many people. You know this as well as I do. You've simply chosen to deafen yourself to it, demanding bullet point accounting that you can then dismiss or refute as you choose.
This is one of your tactics. You ask others to present evidence so you can play your lawyer roleplaying game. You have no actual interest in evaluating your actions or your impact. You are resolutely convinced you cannot possibly be wrong.
You are telling me what I need to know here. You don't acknowledge the harm you've caused, nor your capacity to cause it. Anyone who claims you've harmed them is Swine (or a liar, or worse). I am disinclined to spend any more time on this, since it is clear you've made your choice to stand on the treacherous ground of your own making.
As for being discredited... I think not. Your refusal to give even the slightest ground, to acknowledge even the minimal amount of flaw or fault, delineates your narcissistic arrogance in clear, bold colors.
There was an opportunity here, Zak. You pissed it away. You've discredited yourself, sir.
My credit will remain intact, thanks."
July 7th 2014 – My Defence of Zak
As the abuse of Zak intensifies I write this post about him in defence;
http://falsemachine.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/zak-smith-is-not-homophobe.html
Archive; https://archive.is/b73Rc
July 7th 2014 – The Pigfucker Post
A few hours after I post my defence of Zak, I wake up to find this article in which he lays out his own (by my standards, highly aggressive) policy on internet arguments, and also accuses someone of (metaphorically) fucking a pig;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/why-pigfuckers-fuck-pigs-and-people.html
Archive; https://archive.is/9J0Ls
July 9th 2014 – The "The Internet is Screaming" Post
This is really interesting. It kicks off with the quote from Sean Patrick Fannon above, then leads into an (I think we would have to say alleged) message from Zeea, who I think I recall from the rpg.net threads about Zak. I will include a little bit here;
So, I've spent a few hours doing as much research as I can, and I've talked to folks some more.
I'm not going to equivocate. People made accusations against you without proof, the accusations got amplified and distorted and repeated through the Telephone Game effect, and I bought into it when I shouldn't have.
I don't think anyone I talked to privately is intentionally lying about this. I think they believe it. But perceptions color memories, as does hearing the same event discussed by multiple people, and some of things look a bit stretched by this point. I can't base an opinion on stretchy-looking facts."
The whole thing is quite interesting and you can find it here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/the-internet-is-screaming.html
Archive; https://archive.is/eXjOV
Zeea then (according to this post) retracts their statement based on the 'outing' controversy of July 26th (see below).
July 2014 – The David Hill Death Threats
I think it's about this time that David Hill, game designer, claims that he has received death threats, including the names of his children's teachers and phone calls to his address. These claims go on to become a major part of the case against Zak.
The only publicly available link I could find in which David Hill repeats them is here in post 49 of this forum thread;
http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/general/off-topic/1050412-white-wolf-hires-zak-smith-im-out/page4
Archive; https://archive.is/WjTp4
July 19th 2014 – The Scrap Princess Defence
Scrap Princess, who is trans and who is a co-creator with me of numerous projects, makes a public statement about the accusations (which is blissfully short.) here;
http://monstermanualsewnfrompants.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/just-for-record.html
Archive; https://archive.is/jzaJG
July 21st 2014 – Fred Hicks Weighs In
Fred Hicks of Evil Hat productions makes a public G+ post in which he seems to support the allegations against Zak and apologises for not doing so earlier;
https://plus.google.com/+FredHicks/posts/SJHZ8Jc5SoW
Archive; https://archive.is/KY554
July 26th 2014 – The 'Outing' Incident
This is where Mandy, Zaks girlfriend talks about some of the trolls attacking her and Zak and uses a variety of openly available aliases for someone who turned out to be trans. You can read the post here;
http://mandymorbid.tumblr.com/post/92910013775/more-reasons-people-found-to-hate-me
Archive; https://archive.is/YyJyx
Like every archive in the chronology this link is only frozen from the point of this blog post.
Going forward, this incident forms one of the core pieces of evidence against Zak in future arguments. If you read someone saying that he outs trans people as a form of retaliation or revenge it is probably referring to this incident.
The case against is I think that Zak knew this person was trans and linked two of their names to out them.
The case for the defence is that Zak and Mandy had argued with this person many times, knowing them only by non-gendered internet handles,and had no idea what gender they were, or that the handles referred to identities with different genders, when the two names were linked.
Zak in his own words;
"The person was not revealed to be trans until Wordmercenary/Tom Hatfield said she was. It was not public knowledge so how could Mandy or I have known?"
July 31st 2014 – The Failforward Article
This article is where the real bomb goes off. From this point on the situation massively intensifies. The article is shared by a very large range of people and is cited in nearly every major attack on Zak from this point on.
https://donotlink.it/VY0M
Archive; https://archive.is/pi55s
You can read the clearest and most detailed debunking here;
https://www.seebs.net/log/articles/791/consultancygate-an-overview
Archive; https://archive.is/pYOA8
July 31st 2014 – The First Dongion Accusation
The Dongion is a blog posting sarcastic commentary about the, well I can only really call them the 'social justice' clique. Zak has always claimed that he was not the writer of the Dongion but has said that he 'takes responsibility' for it based on the fact that it is in his blogroll
This tumblr reblog of the failforward article is the earliest I have been able to find that links the Dongion blog to Zak. It also links the Dongion to the Outing Incident.
https://donotlink.it/Wp95
August 2014 – "Get at him" Screencap
In August of 2014, in response to the spread of the Failforward article, Zak posts this. It is used in many subsequent attacks on him as evidence of his harassment campaign;
From the image; "hit him up? Correct him? Eat him?"
Zak – "get on twitter. tweet at him, ask questions, give links.
I have a girlfriend in the hospital and 111 trolls to deal with please just either help or don't but pls no silly nerd questions."
Complete public text of the post (provided by Zak) here;
http://armsinthewronghands.tumblr.com/post/157572020868/complete-text-of-the-get-at-him-post
Archive; https://archive.is/AUorP
August 2014 – "Destroy" Screencap
A few days later, in response to another article, Zak says this;
I remember seeing this go up and thinking that it was the stupidest shit I'd ever seen him do. I should have said something right away at the time.
The Destroy screencap forms a major part of the evidence against Zak and is brought up in most subsequent attacks on him.
It should be noted that the link is aimed at a Metafilter thread and that you can go and look at this thread here, if you want to see if it was, in fact, destroyed:
http://www.metafilter.com/141806/Gender-inclusive-language-in-DandD-5e-raises-roleplaying-questions
Archive; https://archive.is/iXics
Here (from Zak) is the full text of the post;
http://armsinthewronghands.tumblr.com/post/157572086858/complete-text-of-the-destroy-post
Archive; https://archive.is/OLIFc
August 2014 – Zaks Response To The Failforward Article
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2014/08/how-dungeons-and-dragons-is-totally-not.html
Archive; https://archive.is/ZKdRP
In his own words; "it debunks, with evidence, every single claim made up until that point in every single venue"
............................................................................................
Act Three; The Small Wars
This is a series of spot fires or low-level conflicts based around particular incidents. During this period we get mutual counter-accusations, the Ennies walkout and the Magpie Games Incident. So far as I know the accusations against Zak don't widen in scope or intensify, but no-ones position changes. This is something like a 'Cold War' period.
Inexact Date but probably Jan 2015 – The Ettin Dongion Accusation
Ettin, the rpg.net mod, accuses Zak of running the Dongion, which he calls a harassment blog andwhich you can find on his tumblr;
https://donotlink.it/m0RJ
Archive; https://archive.is/pyQ7J
A link to the blog is here;
http://thedongion.blogspot.co.uk/
January 1st 2015 – Mandys Chainmail Bikini Feminist Defence
Zaks girlfriend Mandy makes a long post on her tumblr giving screencaps of various kinds of abuse she has received and talks in detail about the alleged outing of a trans person. You can read it here;
http://mandymorbid.tumblr.com/post/106857162470/im-a-chainmail-bikini-feminist-and-im-fucking
Archive; http://archive.is/w8Wvr
March 10th 2015 – Anna Krieder Posts Her History With Zak
Anna Krieder makes this post;
https://donotlink.it/gGQo
Which is a chronology of her interactions with Zak from her perspective, so now you have a chronology in your chronology.
It's quite interesting and I recommend going through it if you have the time and if you want to see the whole fucking cavalcade through the eyes of someone on the opposite side. It's almost like the mirror/antiverse version of this post with many of the same events from an entirely different perspective.
Amongst other things it locates their first contact in January 2011 and the the opening of hostilities to the storygames thread in April 2012, not the Hyung Tae Kim Incident in February 2011 as I have above.
March 13th 2015 – The Sampat Mob Assault Accusation
A brief moment of levity here to give everyone a break. Elizabeth Sampat accuses Zak of riling up a "mob to the point that I was assaulted in front of witnesses."
Elizabeth SampatVerified account@twoscooters
 Follow
More
I RTed a blog post about how Zak has pushed women out of the industry. Zak riled up mobs to the point I was assaulted in front of witnesses
Elizabeth SampatVerified account@twoscooters · 13 Mar 2015
I'm sure rational minds can discern which one of us is an abuser. And that's the last I'm going to say.
karolyn ⚔gehrigVerified account@karolynprg · 13 Mar 2015
Saying"this isn't a great time, but I really don't like what you're saying about my friends Zak & Mandy online" is not assault.@twoscooters
2 replies1 retweet1 like
Reply
Retweet
@karolynprg Wait, were you the one who dumped the drink on me, or was it your friend?
1 reply0 retweets0 likes
@twoscooters nobody dumped a drink on you. A glass of water spilled a full 6 feet away & more spilled on her than you.
https://twitter.com/twoscooters/status/576553462562840576
Archive; http://archive.is/zFIHj
This is Karolyn Gehrig, disabled activist https://twitter.com/karolynprg
The other accused member of the mob was Charlotte Stokely. Adult film actress https://twitter.com/char_stokely
August 2015 – Red and Pleasant Land Wins At The Ennies
Zaks book Red and Pleasant Land wins multiple awards at the Ennies. Stacy Dellorfano of Contessa, the feminist game organisation gives a speech to accept the award in his absence and a few people walk out in protest.
August 1st Zak documents the twitter response to his win here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-reaping-of-tears.html
Archive; http://archive.is/l687z
August 4th, Kiel Chenier talks about that incident and about the abuse he got for supporting Zak here;
http://dungeonsdonuts.tumblr.com/post/125851772599/i-am-so-very-tiredtired-and-angry
Archive; http://archive.is/wbYjp
October 20th 2015 – Zak Mocks David Hills Views on Star Wars
In this post, Zak persistently mocks and argues against David Hills views on the Star Wars franchise.
This has been described (in the comments below) as "a blatant attack on David Hill, using screenshots of social media accounts that Hill has said he blocked Zak from."
http://archive.is/20151021233535/dndwithpornstars.blogspot.de/2015/10/the-fetid-shit-stink-of-right-wing.html?zx=ab04705888fd97b7
Zak's defence, from the comments;
"I am blocked from David's social media, it is still public information available to anyone not logged in.
Criticism is not harassment. David Hills Star wars problem is he hadn't seen it when he made his years worth of irrational accusations about it."
Both sides get deep into it in the comments of this post if you want to read more.
April 11th 2016 – "Why There's No Tabletop RPG Theory
In this post by Zak he goes further into his numerous and deep disagreements with the Storygames community.
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/why-theres-no-tabletop-rpg-theory.html
Archive; http://archive.is/lEwEr
I was asked to bring this in becasue people think Luke Crane is misrepresented in this post, and in particular becasue of the request for people to contact Lukes friends which apparently people did try to do.
It has stuff on Luke (half way down), Cam Banks, Ettin and a few other people. You can read one of the interactions with Luke Crane in a storygame thread entry for 2012 above.
August 26th 2016 – Zak Calls His Critics Psychotics
Also knuckle-draggers, edition-warriors and sociopaths. This is claimed to be an act of harassment by some (see the comments to this post). You can read it here;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/3-dozen-psychotics-agree-go-buy-vornheim.html
Archive; http://archive.is/IyQzs
July 26th 2016 – The Magpie Games Incident
Mark Diaz Truman, one of the heads of Magpie Games, a storygames publisher, writes an article about aspects of his gaming circles that trouble him. You can read it here;
http://www.magpiegames.com/2016/07/26/two-minutes-hate/
Archive; http://archive.is/CDQkA
He is accused of defending Zak and therefore aiding a harasser. All the usual people arrive to do all the usual things.
Peoples responses and attitudes to this article become another form of contention which is carried forwards into future arguments. I mean, come on, if you've read this far you know how it works by now.
July 28th 2016 – The Invisible James Raggi Accusations
In this public thread by Mark Diaz Truman;
https://plus.google.com/+MarkDiazTruman/posts/2aRBa37wEtf
Someone accuses James Raggi, one of Zak's publishers, of.. something? Then deletes the accusation. You can still see the replies to the ghost accusation but not the thing itself.
I think this was about Raggi postulating the possibility of working with Varg Vikernes, an actual 100% blood-and-soil white nationalist and actual murderer, but I'm not sure.
July 28th 2016 – Zak Talks About Mental Illness in the RPG Community
In this post Zak, without mentioning anyone specific, talks about how to talk to mentally ill people;
http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/mental-illness-in-rpg-community.html
Archive; http://archive.is/6S1d0
This has been described, (in the comments below) as "an accusation that his critics fabricate and distort facts due to being mentally ill. I would argue this is a clear attack, and in the context of the previous posts can be understood as continued harrasment "
August 4th 2016 – Zak on Anna Krieder
You've seen Anna Krieders chronology from March 10th 2015, now you get to read Zaks, equally long, response to that. And yes all of this is slowly killing me
http://armsinthewronghands.tumblr.com/post/148469806573/anna-kreider-wundergeek
Archive; http://archive.is/CNj7B
..................................................................................................................
Act Four; We Eat Blood
Feb 2017 - Ongoing
Zak brings out a collaboration with White Wolf and all the old accusations are resurrected and combined with new ones.
February 17th 2017 - 'We Eat Blood' Begins
White Wolf announce that they have produced an interactive text game with Zak. Their announcement is here;
https://blog.white-wolf.com/2017/02/17/a-howl-for-our-bloody-writer-artists/
Archive; https://archive.is/WGOMv
February 19th 2017 - The We Eat Blood rpg.net megathread
On discovering the news that Zak is working with White Wolf, outrage begins immediately. Numerous threads are started, the primary one on RPG.NET ;
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?798635-necro-Whitewolf-Hires-Zak-Sabbath-and-Denies-Harassment
(I was banned from this thread).
The main charges against Zak are;
· That he is a known harasser of transwomen, gays, minorities etc.
· That he used a false name on Reddit, impersonating Shannon Applecline, the owner of RPG.NET.
· That he named one of the characters in the game, Avery, after one of his enemies.
'Known Harasser'
See everything in the above thread as evidence used by various parties.
The SAppelcline Situation
I remembered seeing the SAppelcline identity on Reddit multiple times, very often after a thread was pointed out by Zak on G+.
If you can't see these well, they are from here; https://donotlink.it/QZ7E
I was bothered enough by this that I contacted Zak directly about it.
He gave me a response with enough detail to persuade me that it was likely true. But;
· Even if true, it still indicates questionable behaviour. Zak knew the person using the identity, treated it as a joke and did nothing to prevent them.
· It's utterly unverifiable to any neutral observer.
I've since been contacted by people known to me who also think Zak was directly behind the SApplecine identity on reddit.
This, more than anything else, damages Zak in the eyes of many people.
Also, if anyone else ever did this to him he would absolutely, unquestionably, never forgive them and would refer to them as an identity thief till the end of time.
The Avery Situation
Zaks argument is that;
· This name was chosen with no particular reference to anyone real.
· The only opponent of his it could be named after is Avery Alder, the creator of Monsterhearts and they had no significant contact until the Magpie Games Incident, July 2016. He says the script for the game was finished and locked before that point.
· He regards the Avery character as a hero in the game, someone witty and funny and cool who saves your life, it would make no sense for him to name her after an enemy.
· The Avery character is directly based on Zaks (trans) friend Bailey Jay, with her approval.
I'll editorialise a little more than usual here. Claiming making a trans character a sketchy hyper-sexualised slut as an act of aggression seems a bit mad to me since Zak is a sketchy hyper-sexualised slut and so are most of the people he likes and he, and they, have all been pretty open in both speech and deed about how they think this is a pretty great way to live. It's a bit like saying the Pope wrote a a book and condemned the villain by making them a catholic.
February 19th 2017 – Stacey Dellorfano Responds
Stacy Dellorfano, who runs the feminist Contessa event, responds to the accusations against Zak and describes the various different kinds of harassment and abuse she has received, sometimes from the same people who are opposed to Zak, whilst trying to make Contessa a thing;
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+StacyDellorfano/posts/9DgcEuirpPP
Archive; https://archive.is/cPSMA
February 21st 2017 – Sarah Horrocks Responds
The co-creator of the We Eat Blood game, Sarah Horrocks, is trans. You can read her tumblr response to the accusations here;
http://mercurialblonde.tumblr.com/post/157525001658
Archive; https://archive.is/AF2Mt
Which include, interestingly, an anonymous commenter, without irony, explaining to a trans woman what transphobia is and that she doesn't really understand how it works.
February 22nd 2017 White Wolf's Response
White Wolf responds to the accusations here;
https://blog.white-wolf.com/2017/02/22/breathing-the-same-shadow/
Archive; https://archive.is/BCvrq
May 13th 2017 - Still Eating Blood
White Wolf has released a bunch of information about its new edition. Kenneth Hite is confirmed as the lead designer. This kicks off another thread on RPG.NET;
https://donotlink.it/wvWo
If you've gone through all of this you will see the same accusations from the same people, everything basically unaltered. This thread got locked soon after I posted it here, with 290 posts on it.
Then, the thread from back in February, got woken up. As of the time of writing that one has 1390 posts. (Looks like that has been shut down as well.)
June 20th 2017 - The Mark Rein-Hagen Thread
Mark Rein-Hagen, game designer and original creator of Vampire: The Masquerade, opens a Facebook post about play-testing of his new board-game;
https://www.facebook.com/Reinhagen/posts/10155667328577240?comment_id=10155667453877240
http://archive.is/ZmKON
After a few nice posts, this comes up;
Which, as you can see, has 358 replies as of the moment of this entry. So far as I can see the accusations are all things covered so far.
August 3rd 2017 - 'Art and the Artist' on RPG.NET
Thread opens with this; "If he was just some asshole, I'd still buy his books, because I believe in supporting a skilled person if even they kinda suck. But this stuff about driving people out of the industry, calling people's phones to harass them, targeting their families, it sounds super skeevy and crazy.
I'm not trying to start any fights here, but can someone give me some links or information on the above? Being an abravise person who use's sock accounts, and makes some dumb blog where you talk shit all day, that's shitty and all, but it's not really enough to send me over the line of "I'm not doing to buy your books".
The Mods then ban all mention of Zak. Then I get kicked off (2nd 3-day ban)
Oh and I found this cool list of every thread with 'Zak S' as a tag.
August 13th 2017 - I am Banned from Defending Zak on RPG.NET
Text of the ban; "Dear pjamesstuart,
You have received a warning at RPGnet Forums.
Since your previous ban, we've reviewed your posting history and noticed that you've been posting exclusively in threads discussing a permabanned friend of yours. Specifically, you've been trying to reframe these discussions around a blog post you wrote. Though you present your views as a reasonable, neutral foundation for discussion, your posting mostly consists of attacks on other users and anyone who disagrees with you. Some of these posts are simply drive-by speeches directed at hypothetical future lurkers, and don't engage with the discussion in any meaningful way.
You've made it clear that you have personal and financial reasons to continue this behavior, and have no intention of changing. After discussion, we've decided to formally topic ban you from discussing Zak Smith, including linking to blog posts discussing him. You're still free to promote and discuss any games you've worked together on, provided you focus on the games themselves. You're also free to discuss any other topic on RPGnet, and we hope you take this opportunity to find other threads you'd enjoy participating in.
Warnings serve as a reminder to you of the forum's rules, which you are expected to understand and follow.
RPGnet Forums"
Image of the ban;
August 15th 2017 - 4Chan False Identity Accusation
We are back with David Hill on the following twitter thread; https://donotlink.it/WbaL
Hill accuses Zak of having a 4Chan identity;
Based on the use of the phrase 'get at him' in this anti-Hill comment;
And this G+ thread you will remember from August 2014 (see above).
And including what I think is an accusation of Fascism?
I'm blocking all the commenting identities here to limit the emotional fallout but its all on a public and open twitter thread. I'm also going to repeat my request from the beginning of the post;
"PLEASE. Do not contact any of the people in the links below in any kind of negative or harassing way. It would be better not to contact them at all. No-one in these circles is open to persuasion and nothing will be gained. Just read what they wrote."
And if you are thinking; "Does this mean someone can publicly accuse me of Fascism and I can't publicly reply because my reply would be considered harassment?" Then yes, that is what it means. Those are the rules of the Culture War I'm afraid.
Later on we get Zaks denial of the accusation (G+ link may not be accessible to all);
.......................................................................................................
My overview is that its fucked.
It's one of the most epic, intense, byzantine and overwhelming tragedies I've ever seen. Its like Moby Dick if there were about 20 whales all called Moby Dick (and this is not a comment on the weight of the people involved).
I mean holy fuck what a gargantuan and insane mess. It staggers the mind.
And its a tragedy in the classical sense I think. Everyone involved is way too deeply bound to their narrative to turn back or let go now. The only way is forward, forward to doom.
As for its structure; we can see major responses and spikes whenever Zak is found to have worked, or to be suspected of working with, a different gaming company or group or whenever his popularity spikes. Firstly in the long build up, many arguments come about from the 'Playing DnD With Porn Stars' Escapist Series, which grew in popularity as it went on.
Then directly after he works on 5e we get the Summer of Hate. Then the Ennies win. During the Magpie Games Incident Mark Diaz Truman has to publicly state that he is not going to work with Zak after people allege that a planned project with Zak is the reason for his post.
Then after Zak is linked to White Wolf, we get another eruption and the lava is still flowing on that one. (Still continuing as of last edit.)
...............................................................................
I had to close the comments as things were getting too crazy in there to keep track of. If anyone has new evidence or new accusations from a publicly available link then you can let me know on G+ or Facebook or Reddit. You can find my social media in the site reached by the link at the top right of the blog;
Posted by pjamesstuart at 14:28 34 comments:
Labels: Absolute Clusterfuck
A Review of the Leopard (issue Zero) by Sarah Horr...
Well, that did not take long...
Enemies of God and King
DCO Reformation
Orders of Chivalry in the Eclipsed Kingdom
Philosobaker
Saints of the Black Church
Feathersmithing in the Eclipsed Kingdom
Races of Men in the Eclipsed Kingdom
Some Horses of the Eclipsed Lands
G+ Seminar - Wizards in Towers


This is the study guide for the citizenship test that seniors are required to pass in order to graduate!!
1) What is the supreme law of the land?
2) The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution.
3) What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
4) Who is in charge of the executive branch?
5) How many U.S. Senators are there?
6) We elect a President for how many years?
7) In what month do we vote for President?
8) What is the name of the President of the United States now?
9) What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
10) What is the highest court in the United States?
11) How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
12) Who is the Governor of Tennessee now?
13) What is the political party of the President now?
14) What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
15) How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
16) When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?
17) Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
18) Who was the first President?
19) Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
20) What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?
21) What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
22) What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
23) What is the capital of the United States?
24) What is the name of the national anthem?
25) When do we celebrate Independence Day?


text:
dkirschner's Wolfenstein: The New Order (PC)
[April 21, 2020 01:10:32 PM]
Wolfenstein 3D was a game heavy in my rotation as a kid. And the game is nestled inside The New Order. It's a "nightmare" that you have while you sleep. That attention to detail is one thing I loved about The New Order. The game is slick as hell and they nailed the tone. It's dark, moody, emotional, and oddly funny at times. The story is an alternate history where the Nazis won WWII and dominate the world. Resistance cells have been squashed...well, almost. BJ Blazkowicz has a backstory setting him up for love, hate, and revenge. But mostly, he just wants to do what he's best at: killing Nazis. You kill hundreds of them, but some of the good guys die too. I actually teared up during one moment. A couple that I had saved earlier in the game was killed. This wasn't shown during a cut scene or anything. It's something the player finds through exploring the resistance base (which is really well fleshed out with characters and environmental storytelling), the couple embracing on a bed and shot to death. It was really sad. I think part of the emotional response to the game is negative attitudes toward Nazis, eugenics, white supremacy, and the like. I hated all the bad guys more so than in other video games because Nazis are real.
The combat is fast-paced and feels great. I haven't played a quick FPS in a long time, so I had to adjust to the speed of it. Enemies don't stay in one place for long, and you will constantly switch weapons to defend yourself against various enemy types. You will also die a lot, which forced me to develop strategy and was much appreciated. Many weapons have alternative fire modes, and you can dual wield most anything. It's excessive being a whirlwind of destruction. And for some reason the assault rifle gets a rocket launcher attachment. Because why not? I think you get that attachment on the moon. The Nazis have a moon base. I love this game.
Even though the game is generally fast-paced, some levels slow it down to a stealthier approach, or at least give you the option. You get a metal cutting tool that allows you to enter air ducts, and there are some incentives for being stealthy. Most notable is not alerting commanders. Commanders are special enemies with headsets who can call for reinforcements if they detect you. Best to sneak around and put a knife in their backs before opening fire on anyone.
Another incentive for stealth--for varied playstyles really--are the perks. These offer mini-goals and I had a lot of fun trying to unlock as many as I could (and I got almost all of them!). One perk tree rewards you for doing things like racking up stealth kills or killing commanders with throwing knives; a gun-oriented perk tree gives you ammo and reload upgrades for killing enemies from cover or getting so many headshots. Other perk trees encourage the use of explosives and heavy weapons. I liked that Steam achievements were tied to each perk, so an unlock in the game was also a reward on Steam.
The one thing I found a little disappointing was the lack of really interesting boss battles. I can remember two noteworthy ones (London Monitor, General Deathshead). Usually, another character talks in your ear telling you how to defeat the enemy. The hints made the fights too easy. But, in a cruel/wonderful twist of game design, there are no such hints with either phase of the final boss. You have to figure it out. The boss is hard anyway, but having help removed was disorienting! I wasn't sure if I was progressing the fight because there was little feedback. All of a sudden, phase one was over. And on like the 15th attempt at phase two, as I chanced standing in front of him emptying all of my ammo in a fury, the boss died. Granted, it was hard to see him potentially displaying injury through all the jets of flame.
I knew I would like the game, but was surprised by how good it was. Part of me expected a cheese fest. As soon as I get the 35GB expansion downloaded, I'll dive right back in to shooting Nazis.
GameLog started on: Friday 3 April, 2020
GameLog closed on: Monday 20 April, 2020
Fast, guns blazing! Just trying to get gun perk unlocks...Excellent game. Loved the tone.
See info on Wolfenstein: The New Order
This is the only GameLog for Wolfenstein: The New Order.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I had the thrill of fulling a dream of recording music in Havana, Cuba. Yes, I was in the stuiod with Degnis Bofill, a FABULOUS Cuban Percussionist. His rhythms are captivating. Degnis also joined me with his vocals on the journey of Project Eléctrico.


I wanted to try the Document.setPreferJavaDates today and see how it worked.
I called Document.setPreferJavaDates( true ); to ensure that no (Notes)DateTime objects were created as I didn't need them/didn't want to deal with recycling.
This returned a Vector of DateTime.
This also returned a Vector of DateTime.
LOL. I'm sorry Tommy, but... ahahahahahaha. Yeah, the switch doesn't violate the contract rules of the Java interfaces in lotus.domino. It can't. And therefore it never, ever, ever, ever works the way any smart person such as yourself would expect.
It wouldn't break the contract of getItemValue..?
The app I was doing it in is more or less 100% SSJS (doing maintenance).
To use org.openntf.domino would require some work (or very verbose code) I would imagine..?


Personality means a person in reality. It is a combination of the most vital aspect of the person's life. Persona means a mask that people wear to make themselves stand different from the crowd. We often say that "A's" personality is somewhat similar to "B's" personality, but in the true sense, no two people have a same personality, not even identical twins.
1. Possess a Positive Attitude– Everyone dislikes to be surrounded with negative people or energies. Become a creator of Optimistic thoughts. A person possessing positive attitude is always considered to be having the most dynamic personality . Positive attitude is the most important factor of a person's personality . Positive attitude plays a vital role in deciding the success of an individuals professional and personal life . A person might acquire different set of skills and techniques but positive attitude adds spark to the skills of a person .
For instance : Two participants need to climb a mountain which is 50,000 ft. in height and are provided with clips ,ropes and all the necessary equipments for climbing but here positive attitude plays a very important both the participants have the same technique ,judgement and skills but the one with positive attitude will wins because he had faith in himself from the start to accomplish the task that YES I CAN . while the one who fails would always look towards the task and think with doubt that Can I ?? The positive attitude of a person hence plays a major part of his/her success.
Communication plays an important factor in building relationships with people . A person in any field or any designation right from a student or an executive to a manager needs the best communication skills for presenting himself , developing business ,negotiating with clients . Communication is not only how a person speaks but it is how a person presents himself communication includes appearance of a person , listening skills , understanding skills which when put together present him/her as an effective communicator or a pleasing personality.
Appearance is the most vital aspect of a person's personality. Appearance the word itself explains that it is the first impression of any particular object or person coming into sight. Appearance plays a part in creating an image of a person before communication . Reflection of a persons personality is completely dependent on his/her appearance. A perfect body structure and appropriate dress code adds a perfect appearance to the personality of a person.
nderrated aspect when it comes to personality development but the opposite is true . Being an active listener Is all about self control , Good communications can be started by a speaker but to make the conversation interesting the speaker has to be a good listener . It is very important for the speaker to listen and understand the conversation and hence give a view on it which would create a create a lasting impression on the public .
Developing an Effective personality requires the different aspects of Positive attitude ,Effective communication, Appropriate appearance , listening skills that when put together creates an excellent persona .


The federal minister of the Family and member of parliament for Quebec, Jean-Yves Duclos, invited caution in the folder of the 18 000 records of immigration that the provincial government wants to throw at the basket.
Even if he insisted on the fact that it was the government of Quebec to address the issue of 18 000 immigration files waiting for processing, Mr. Duclos has called for caution, on the sidelines of the annual gathering of business people, the theme of which was precisely the issues of labor and immigration.
"It is the government of Quebec, to each his responsibilities. But we must be careful: Quebec has always been recognized to provide a good home, but it is in competition with other countries and other provinces to welcome the immigrants", said the minister, who considers that the communication remains good between Québec and Ottawa in the matter of immigration.
"The relationships go well and they will go even better over the next few weeks," he said, confident of reaching an agreement in this matter with the government of François Legault.
"It must be recognized that there is a big issue in Quebec, which is larger than elsewhere in Quebec, and bigger still than elsewhere in Canada (in regards to the shortage of manpower). Among the solutions, there is the pane of the temporary and the permanent part, and we support the permanent part. We want people to come to Quebec permanently", he added.
A few minutes earlier, the quebec minister of Immigration, Simon Jolin-Barrette, had delivered a speech at the opening of the annual Meeting of business people in which he had defended his bill 9.
"This bill modernizes the immigration system by anchoring it with the needs of the labour market. The idea is that the people that we welcome to meet a need. Before, there was a scoring grid that valued education, but not necessarily the areas where there were needs of the workforce," he explained, citing the unemployment rate of immigrants would be double that of the native population of Quebec.


Genuine guy who loves friends ,family,travel and life seeks soul mate to accompany him on lifes adventures.
Honest, trustworthy, reliable , caring , loving, romantic,sexual with a good sence of humour!
I am an average guy who likes outdoors activities like camping , fishing, travelling. I am Quiet and not pushy . I like to try and live a healthy life and not be too wasteful.
I'm a single Dad looking for my soul partner.


Airports in Scotland and N Ireland to remain closed as volcanic ash threatens chaos again.
The main Irish hub of Dublin, the capital, shut down later on Wednesday, cancelling all flights until 03:00 GMT on Thursday.
Flights to and from Scotland and Northern Ireland closed from 07:00 GMT, and UK authorities said that the ash threat might reach northwest England and Wales, but not London.
On Tuesday, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) opened seven airports, including Dublin and Shannon, at 12:00 GMT after they were shut from 06:00 GMT as a precautionary measure.
There were also closures over the Outer Hebrides, a group of islands off the western coast of Scotland on Tuesday, imposed by CAA.
But flights to and from Northern Ireland and Outer Hebrides resumed from 12:00 GMT.
Airspace across Europe was closed down for up to a week last month after the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano, but was reopened after emergency talks between European governments, airlines and regulators.


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Home › INDIA-UNEP › Overview
India's engagement with United Nations Environment Programme
India has had a close engagement with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) since its inception and there are certain ongoing and implemented UNEP projects in India.
Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change is the nodal Ministry dealing with India's engagement with UNEP. India's High Commissioner to Kenya is accredited as the Permanent Representative of India to UNEP.
Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Information & Broadcasting and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Prakash Javadekar, visited Nairobi from June 25-28, 2014 to lead Indian delegation at the Ministerial segment of the inaugural session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Hon'ble Minister addressed the UNEA sessions on "Sustainable Development Goals and post-2015 Development Agenda including Sustainable Consumption and Production" and "Illegal Trade in Wildlife". On the sidelines of the UNEA, Hon'ble Minister had bilateral meetings with over a dozen Environment Ministers including Kenya, Mongolia USA, Iran, Germany, UK, Bangladesh, Egypt, Sri Lanka etc.
The Global South-South Development Expo 2013 was held in Nairobi from 28 October to 1 November, 2013. During the Expo, an IBSA Fund exhibition was launched jointly by India, Brazil and South Africa
Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director (ED), visited India during June 2011 on the occasion of the global launch of World Environment Day in India.
The UNEP Executive Director also visited India in October 2012 to attend the 6th meeting of Conference of Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-Safety (MoP-6) and eleventh meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP-11 to CBD) held in Hyderabad. UNEP serves as the Secretariat to the CBD.
India makes an annual financial contribution (US$ 100,000) to the General Purpose Funds of UNEP and to several Multilateral Environment Agreements.
Pavan Sukhdev, an environmental economist, was named as a goodwill ambassador for UNEP by UNEP ED on October 16 2012 in Hyderabad. Mr. Sukhdev was the Study Leader of the UNEP study on 'The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity' (TEEB) and also worked on the UNEP report on The Green Economy.
UNEP activities in India
Recent India-UNEP collaboration include the following major areas :
Solar Loan Project : Collaboration with Indian banks to finance solar lighting projects in rural areas.
Male Declaration on Control, Prevention of Air Pollution and its Trans-boundary Effects in South Asia
Montreal Protocol: Implementation of the Technical Assistance component of the CFC production sector phase out project (with the World Bank) and the policy and customs training and awareness components of the national refrigeration and air-conditioning servicing sector strategy; Transition strategy to stop use of CFCs in the MDI manufacturing sector; Development of the HCFC phaseout Management Plan (HPMP) in cooperation with UNDP, and in developing the Technical Assistance component of the HCFC production sector phase out in collaboration with the World Bank; horizontal capacity-building activities (South-South cooperation - custom and technician training; preparation of guidelines)
Atmospheric Brown Cloud: The Government of India nominated two scientists to participate in the Science Team and steering committee meeting.
Project Surya: To provide sustainable, pro-environment, pro-poverty, pro-health, pro-women action plan, infrastructure and technologies to switch to cleaner technologies such as efficient cooking stoves in rural areas. A pilot phase of Project Surya is being implemented.
Assessment Activities : Preparation of regular 'State of the Environment' Reports. A number of scientists from India are authors for Global Environment Outlook-5, and involved in other assessments.
CSO network : Specialized agencies, namely The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), Development Alternatives (DA), and Centre for Environment Education (CEE) have been assisting UNEP with implementation of projects and programmes in India and South Asia. CEE has been hosting the Secretariat for the South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN). TERI and Development Alternative (DA) has been the Collaborating Centre for the Global Environment Outlook.
Awareness: UNEP launched the environmental awareness campaign 'Batting for the Environment' in partnership with Indian Premier League (IPL) and named Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar as a UNEP Goodwill Ambassador; the 19th Commonwealth Games 2010 Organizing Committee signed a MoU with UNEP to host a green game; Plant for the Planet : Billion Tree Campaign.
GEF 5 Process: Wetland management, invasive alien species, transboundary mountain ecosystems, Persistent Organic Pollutants (Mercury, National PoPs Monitoring) and hybrid energy systems for low carbon development for possible funding under the System for a Transparent Allocation of Resources (STAR) allocation. Additionally UNEP to participate in the UNIDO-led GEF V project on phasing out production and use of DDT. UNEP has secured GEFSEC approval for 2 new GEF IV project concepts (PIF) on Biosafety Protocol and Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) in India.
Biodiversity: South Asia level sub-regional meeting in India to prepare for the CBD COP 10 meeting; preparation of ABS proposal for the GEF submission; working with National Biodiversity Authority to prepare the benefit sharing guidelines; international consultation on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) Protocol in Feb 2011. The 6th meeting of Conference of Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Bio-Safety (MoP-6) and eleventh meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CoP-11 to CBD) was held in Hyderabad in October 2012.
Ecosystem Services Economics: Collaboration with Indian Institute of Forests Management, Indian Society for Ecological Economics, Green Indian States Trust (GIST), state of Himachal Pradesh, Indian Statistical Institute, and Institute of Economic Growth.
Marine and Coastal Ecosystem: UNEP supported South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) in the preparation of the Marine Biodiversity Assessment and Outlook Report that includes India. An international workshop on 'Deltas: coastal vulnerability and management' was held in Dec 2009 in Chennai. UNEP supported Indian Nitrogen Group and Society for Conservation of Nature to organize a regional workshop on 'Reactive Nitrogen Flows and Budgeting in Agriculture and Environment' held in April 2010 in New Delhi. The Asia Platform of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management (GPNM) was launched in the meeting. The 5th International Nitrogen Conference was held in New Delhi in Dec 2011 in partnership with International Nitrogen Initiatives (INI).
Sustainable Consumption and Production: Round Tables to raise awareness; Promotion of sustainable tourism at national, state and local levels.
Paryavaran Mitra Programme 2010-13 targeted at students in classes 6-9 to encourage, guide, build capacity and facilitate 20 million school children to become 'Paryavaran Mitra'.
India was the global host for the World Environment Day for 2011. The weeklong events to mark the occasion were inaugurated in New Delhi by Hon'ble Minister for Environment & Forests Shri Jairam Ramesh along with Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP on June 5. The theme was "Forests: Nature at your Service". The series of events included a workshop on Journalism & the Environment, a green bazaar of non-timber forest products at the Dilli Haat, a special session on Building a Green Economy hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) in New Delhi, Green Marathons and walkathons and a conference on 'Nature and Livelihoods: Women's Perspective' in New Delhi. UNEP's report on "Green Economy and Forests" was also launched on June 5 in New Delhi.
Asia-Pacific Tunza Conference : UNEP and Centre for Environment Education (CEE) will organize the Asia Pacific TUNZA conference for Children and Youth in India in February 2012 in Ahmedabad.
Collaboration with National Productivity Council
Environmental Information System alongwith INFOTERRA, IRPTC and GEMS of UNEP.
Low carbon transport (IIMA, IITD, CEPT University, Ahmedabad) alongwith German government


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Zoulikha Oudai foi uma mulher argelina chenoua que faleceu durante a Guerra da Independência da Argélia. Ela nasceu a 7 de maio de 1911 em Hadjout e cresceu em Cherchell. Ela teve cinco filhos; depois de o seu marido e um dos seus filhos terem sido executados pelas forças francesas, ela comprometeu-se com a causa da independência e juntou-se à Frente de Libertação Nacional (Argélia) como chefe regional de Cherchell. Ela então passou à clandestinidade e tornou-se numa notável agente de inteligência da Frente. Ela foi capturada pelas forças francesas em 1957 e executada após 10 dias de tortura infrutífera. O seu corpo não foi recuperado até 1984; ela está agora enterrada num cemitério de mártires em Menaceur.

Guerra de Independência Argelina

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Members of the European Parliament adopt EU legislation on your behalf. But what if the users of this website and citizens in general could decide the outcome of each vote?
Here you can see what the result of 20 votes which took place in the European Parliament in the last five years would have been, if the users of this website had voted on them directly. You can also see what the latest PollWatch2014 prediction of the composition of the new European Parliament would mean for the outcome of each of the 20 votes.
And finally can create your own scenario, by predicting how many seats each European political group will win in the European elections.
Who will win the EP elections ?


Rumble / Entertainment Life - Oh man Hollyscoopers, do I have some news for you! The end may be near for Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson.
Khloe Kardashian DEMANDS TRUTH From Tristan Thompson!
Khloe Kardashian Fans RIP Tristan Thompson To Pieces!
Tristan Thompson ABANDONS Khloe Kardashian In Cleveland!
Khloe Kardashian Hires PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR To Follow Tristan Thompson!


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UFS traditional medicine expert heads up WHO Regional Committee
20 August 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Barend Nagel
Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of the Free State (UFS), has been appointed as the chairperson of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Regional Expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19.
Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of the Free State (UFS), will lead Africa's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic with his appointment as chairperson of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Regional Expert Advisory Committee on Traditional Medicines for COVID-19.
Prof Matsabisa has been chosen over 25 other experts from 27 African countries to head this expert committee tasked with setting up research and clinical trials for COVID-19 and beyond. The committee is also supported by the African Union (AU), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC – Africa), and the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP).
This committee was established by the WHO and the Africa CDC on 22 July with the aim of providing independent scientific advice and support to countries on the safety, efficacy, and quality of traditional medicine therapies. It is also an effort to enhance research and development of traditional medicines for COVID-19 in Africa.
"This is a huge continental and global responsibility being laid on my shoulders as a chairperson. I have to keep the committee together and ensure that it delivers on its set mandate and terms of reference. I need to ensure that the committee helps the continent and region to get the scientific and legislative aspects on traditional medicine development on track."
"I have taken this position and responsibility, knowing quite well what it entails. I want to do this for the continent and for the sake of good science of all traditional healers and consumers of traditional medicines on the continent and beyond," says Prof Matsabisa.
According to Prof Matsabisa, he is looking forward to working with a team of dedicated experts from 27 countries in the African region, and being of help to countries that need assistance with clinical trials, including preclinical work to move to clinical research.
Prof Matsabisa says he is also looking forward to countries asking South Africa to be part of their multi-centre studies in clinical trials for traditional medicines, and to help set up clinical trial teams that include Western-trained clinicians to get into traditional medicine studies.
The work of the committee
According to Prof Matsabisa, his new position took effect the same day as his appointment and will run as long as COVID-19 is part of our daily lives and even beyond. It entails supporting member states to implement the WHO master plan for clinical trial protocols in order to generate credible data for COVID-19 results, based on traditional medicines. The committee will also coordinate support to member states in the African region to collaborate on clinical trials of traditional medicine-based therapies – elevating standards by pooling expertise in multicentre studies, as well as complying with GCP and good participatory practice guidelines for trials of emerging and re-emerging pathogens.
"The committee will also advise on strengthening the capacity of national medicine regulatory authorities to accelerate the issuance of marketing authorisations for traditional medicine products that have been well researched for safety, efficacy, and quality, as well as to expedite the approval of clinical trials on traditional medicines. This will help to meet the national registration criteria and the WHO norms and standards of quality, safety, and efficacy for the management of COVID-19 and others."
"It will also provide independent scientific advice to the WHO and other partners regarding policies, strategies, and plans for integrating traditional medicines into COVID-19 responses and health systems," explains Prof Matsabisa.
Aiming for the top spot
Prof Matsabisa has been described as having the third highest research output – something he is not satisfied with.
"I was disappointed that only one point separated me from the second place. I will push for first place as this is my ultimate aim. My motivation for this is simple – I like what I am doing, I do not take it as a job but do it because I love research."
"I always like to tell students that we should be proud to one day see products in the shops that we can relate to and to which we have contributed or that we have made. This is what drives me and my staff. I have a beautiful team of students, staff, and postdoctoral fellows who share my vision of research. We all have a shared vision and strive to be relevant at all times in science research, development, and teaching."
•	Prof Matsabisa was recently part of a national conference with the theme: Harnessing science, technology, and innovation in response to COVID-19: A national and international effort. The conference was hosted by Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, with Pres Cyril Ramaphosa, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health, Ebrahim Patel, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, Prof Sarah Anyang Agbor, African Union Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology, and Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organisation, in attendance.
From wheat protein to perfect pizza
Barend Wentzel received his PhD at the Department
of Plant Sciences during the university's
winter graduation ceremony.
He is pictured here with Prof Maryke Labuschagne,
professor in Plant Breeding at the UFS.
Barend Wentzel, an alumnus of the University of the Free State's Department of Plant Sciences, is passionate about plant breeding.
He literally eats and lives wheat proteins. In 1989 he initiated a breeding programme on arum lilies. "This breeding programme is at an advanced stage," he said. Besides reading, playing the piano and accordion, Barend, due to the nature of his research at the Agricultural Research Council, also experiments with different types of ciabatta recipes made from sour dough. "I usually make my own pizza on Saturday evenings," he said.
He is working at the Agricultural Research Council – Small Grain (ARC-SG) at the Wheat Quality Laboratory where he established a Cereal Chemistry Laboratory.
Complexity of flour quality
He explains that the focus of his research is on wheat protein composition. "The research conducted for my PhD study explains the complexity of flour quality to a certain extent, and it further emphasises the influence of the environment and genetic composition on selected baking characteristics.
"Wheat protein can be divided into different types of protein fractions. These protein fractions contribute differently to dough properties and baking quality and the expression is affected by different components in the environment, including locality, rainfall and temperature.
"Protein content alone does, however, not explain the variation in baking quality parameters, such as mixing time, dough strength and extensibility, and loaf volume.
"Several methods can be applied to quantify the different protein fractions. I am using high-performance liquid-chromatography (HPLC). The procedure entails the separation of a wheat protein extract through a column with chromatographic packing material. The injected sample is pumped through the column (known as the stationary phase) with a solvent (known as the mobile phase). The specific procedure, size-exclusion high-performance liquid-chromatography (SE-HPLC), is also used by the university's Department of Plant Breeding, as well as in several international Cereal Chemistry Laboratories," said Barend.
Dough strength and to loaf volume
"One of the highlights from the study was the positive contribution of the albumin and globulin protein fractions to dough strength and to loaf volume. The findings were wheat cultivar specific and the growing environment influenced the expression. The contribution of these protein fractions was much larger than previously reported for South African wheat cultivars," said Barend.
"Previous reports indicated that these protein fractions had a non-specific contribution to the gluten network during dough formation. The findings from this PhD justify further research on albumins and globulin proteins."
The Cereal Chemistry Laboratory at ARC-SG is involved in postgraduate student training under Barend's guidance. He serves as co-promoter for several MSc and PhD students. He is also a collaborator on an international project with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) in Mexico. Barend is furthermore working on improving wheat quality for processing and health purposes as a member of the expert working group of the International Wheat Initiative.


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No. 100 of 179 in the BBC classic series DVDs/Blu-rays series
Starring: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson & John Leeson
By: Bob Baker & David Martin
Rating: 5 (7 votes) Vote here
Review: Poor animation Read more (1 in total)
Edition: US (DVD)
When: July 2010
Format: 1 x DVD
Note: Only released separately in the US. In the UK & Australia, this story was released as part of the Myths and Legends box set instead.
At the very edge of the known universe, the TARDIS materializes on an aging spacecraft, the R1C. On board, the Doctor and Leela meet Jackson and his crew, who are doggedly pursuing their mission to recover the Minyan race banks from a ship that left their home planet centuries earlier.
Closing in at last on the P7E, Jackson risks everything to follow the trail into the heart of a newly formed planet. Can the Doctor face his greatest challenge yet, and secure the future of the Minyans?
DVD EXTRAS INCLUDE:
Audio Commentary by actors Tom Baker (the Doctor) and Louise Jameson (Leela) and co-writer Bob Baker
Into the Unknown "Making Of" documentary featuring script editor Anthony Read, actors Jonathan Newth (Orfe) and Norman Tipton (Idas), designer Dick Coles, and video effects designer AJ "Mitch" Mitchell (30 mins)
Underworld — In Studio Time-coded video clips offer a rare glimpse into the recording of this story (17 mins)
Photo Gallery (6 mins)
Production Note Option
PDF materials (DVD-Rom — PC/Mac): Radio Times Listings
Digitally remastered picture and sound quality
Originally transmitted January 7 - 28, 1978


Service Untitled» Blog Archive » What employees should be kept in the loop about.
What employees should be kept in the loop about.
Yesterday I shared about how to keep employees in the loop. Today's post is about what employees should be kept in the loop about. What should they be told? What shouldn't they be told?
There are a lot of answers to that question. It can depend on what group or department (engineering, customer service, etc.) the employee is in, what level they are at (frontline, executive, etc.), and what type of information it is.
This post is going to discuss mainly what customer service employees should be kept in the loop about.
If there is an outage or similar downtime event, the customer service staff should be the second group that should be notified (engineering or whoever is in charge of fixing it should be notified first). Chances are, though, that they already know about the outage.
What's being done about it.
When it will be back up and running.
What's being done to prevent the problem from happening in the future.
What, if any, compensation the client will get.
Who to ask if you have any more questions.
The customer service team should know all of those answers – that way they can pass the answers onto the customer.
Most modern technology companies have some sort of software to keep track of bugs and what is being done about them. Customer service should have access to this software and should be kept in the loop about reports.
The product development groups should keep customer service in the loop about about what is planned, what's coming when, etc. That way, customer service can tell customers about when they can expect certain features and developments.
If marketing is planning a huge campaign, customer service should know all about it. If the campaign is successful, there will be a lot of new customers/upgrades/etc., which is very resource intensive. At the very least, customer service will probably have to answer a lot of pre-sales questions and deal with billing issues.
Even though I claim customer service isn't about metrics, everyone likes to see numbers. The customer service staff should be given frequent updates about their satisfaction scores, how many emails they are replying to, average number of time it takes for a resolution, total number of elevations, etc. Having numbers allows everyone to see how they are doing.
As a customer service representative or manager, what information do you find useful? What should employees, particularly in customer service, be kept in the loop about?


A Feast for Mac Bethad mac Findlaích – Zero Equals Two!
On August 15, 1040, Mac Bethad mac Findlaích killed King Duncan I of Scotland killed in battle, then succeeded him as King. Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, aka Macbeth, was immortalized by Shakespeare's famous play. Interestingly, Macbeth himself was killed 17 years later, also on August 15.
In honor of the famous King, we bring you recipes for fowl with red pepper sauce, Lady Macbeth's curse, porter rhubarb, egg Macbeth, and witches' brew: Fowl Is Fair.
Biography: Macbeth: Military Leader, King.
Man has the right to eat as he will.


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Coutts Million Pound Donors Report shows £15bn donated to charitable causes in last decade
/ November
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10th anniversary of Coutts' Million Pound Donors Report reveals highest value and number of charitable donations gifted in 2016.
The Coutts Million Pound Donors Report tracks the number, size, scale, and destination of £1m+ donations made by individuals, foundations and corporations in the UK.
Now in its 10th edition, the Coutts Million Pound Donors Report - produced in association with the University of Kent - tracks the number, size, scale, and destination of £1m+ donations made by individuals, foundations and corporations in the UK.
The findings of the 10 year anniversary report show that a total of almost £15bn in large £1m+ gifts has been donated by individuals, foundations and corporations over the past decade. This is broken down into 2,416 gifts and was distributed among 913 different charitable organisations.
Analysing key trends in major philanthropy over the past ten years, the report shows that there has been a boom in philanthropy since the financial crisis in 2008, with a record high of £1.86bn donated in 2016, and the number of donations of £1m+ is going up by two-thirds over the decade. There has also been a surge in corporate giving, with the total value of corporate donations rising from just under £50m in 2006/7 to over £500m in 2016 – an increase of over 900%. The total number of donations of £1m or more from corporations has also risen by 282% (from 17 in 2006/7 to 65 in 2016).
London retains its position as the hub of major philanthropy in the UK. However, the biggest and most consistent rise in the total value of donations has been in the North East, although donations came from almost every region of the UK. The report also shows that the number of donations to UK-based charities from donors located outside the UK has increased since the report began - from 3 to 30. The total value of these donations has increased by over 2,500% - from £9.8m in 2006/7 to £263.5m in 2016.
Dr Beth Breeze from the Centre for Philanthropy at the University of Kent, and co-author of the UK report, commented: "Philanthropy affects the lives of everyone because most people give some money or time at least once a year, and because we all benefit from the gifts of past and present donors. We began this research project at a time when knowledge of million pound donations was mostly anecdotal. Ten years on we are proud to have created a strong base of knowledge and insight into major donation motivation, which I hope will inspire others to begin or accelerate their philanthropic journey."
Lenka Setkova, Executive Director, Coutts Institute, said: "While mega-gifts (donations of £100m or more) tend to attract the headlines, £1m is the most common donation. Giving exactly one million appears to be economically and psychologically a significant figure, which resonates with both donors and charities. Our report also shows that universities received the highest number of donations of £1m or more (600), while foundations received the highest total value at £5bn. This reflects a trend we see at Coutts with an increasing number of clients using our philanthropy services to establish charitable trusts so that together with their family, they can make a difference to the causes they care about."
Read the full Coutts Million Pound Donors Report here.
Supporting communities Coutts Charity 2017
Coutts launches Offset Mortgage
Coutts' new mortgage offering will provide clients with more options when purchasing a property.
Coutts reignites partnership with Coram, the UK's oldest children's charity after 210 years
Coutts has chosen Coram, the UK's oldest children's charity as their new partner.


learned during the query for the well-known name.
not secure and remaining steps described below are not needed.
4.  Send DNS AAAA query for the NAT64 FQDN.
6.  Perform DNSSEC validation of the DNS AAAA response.
and Dave Thaler, for significant improvement ideas and comments.