I'm not a big fan of Mexican movies, but every now and then, one catches my fancy. Our latest tourist adventure was inspired by 2014 movie En El Último Trago. Three old geezers set out on a whirlwind adventure, well, as whirlwind as 3 old geezers can spin, to Dolores Hidalgo, specifically to the José Alfredo Jiménez museum. The movie is a hoot. There was nothing for it but to recreate their journey to Dolores Hidalgo ourselves.
It's only about 3 hours from our home, so it was an easy day trip. Thank god, we had no vehicle problems or no random police stops. Nearly all of my proposed visit sites were clustered near the centro, so we parked and hoofed it.
After stopping for refreshment at a torta place, we began our tourist adventure with the Casa Museo José Alfredo Jiménez. I even got some pictures of the signature of José Alfredo Jiménez, which is a key feature of the movie. Entrance is $40 pesos with a discount for teachers and students with appropriate ID. We bought most of our souvenirs here, which meant lugging them around the rest of the day, but after seeing the other gift shops, we decided it was worth it.
We passed the Parroquia de Nuestro Señora de Los Dolores and saw some class trips reenacting the Grito de Dolores.
We went to El Museo del Bicentenario which was disappointing. I wasn't able to exactly understand how the displays came together. The nearest I could figure each room represented an oppressed society. One had posters about censorship in Russia, another Vietnam, 2 full rooms were devoted to China and the last room was all about Israel. There were some exceptional stained glass windows in one room and a few spectacular Catrinas in another, but that was about it as regards to Mexico. Oh, and the two full wall surrealist murals were something to see. Admission was $20 pesos, half price for students and teachers.
Our next stop was La Casa de Los Descendientes de Hidalgo (the House of the descendants of Miguel Hidalgo), which was also an upscale restaurant. The entrance was $30 pesos per person and $10 for camera use. As the name implies, this was the home of the 5th generation descendants of Miguel Hidalgo, the last remaining descendant having just celebrated her 106th birthday. Apparently, after the 5 generations, the blood is no longer pure and the generation count begins again. So the children of the 5th generation, are no longer descendants of Miguel Hidalgo, or so our tour guide told us. This was my favorite museum. There were dioramas depicting some of the most relevant aspects of the fight for Independence. I have to admit, I always wanted to have my own handmade wooden dollhouse and these little scenes made my heart go pitter patter with longing.
We then took a turn around the centro, which was very pleasant, and had some ice cream (another reference to the movie). There were a few nice statues, lots of benches to sit on, and a whole lotta shoe polishing carts. We admired La Casa de Visitas from our park bench.
We hiked a few blocks to the Museo del Vino and the Casa de Hidalgo. Both had a $45 peso admission fee, which seemed a little steep now that we'd been to a few of the other museums. We opted not to tour either. I did peek in Hidalgo's house and was reminded of another movie Hidalgo la Historia Jamás Contada which as far as historical movies go, wasn't bad.
Of course, it could be that Hidalgo, who fathered children with two different women and spearheaded the national fight for Independence, was not quite what you would expect from a Catholic priest. Hidalgo had his own vineyards which were burnt in punishment for his treason against the crown, so the Museo de Vino wasn't a far stretch of the imagination right there next to his house in what used to be a hospital. We did hit the gift shop and bought a locally produced bottle of wine called Lloro de Tierra. It was a nice, sweet, fruity rose and we enjoyed it immensely when we got home.
We did not get to the Museo de la Independencia, nor did we stop to see la Tumba de José Alfredo Jiménez en the Panteon. When we asked for directions to the cemetery, hoping it was close enough to walk to, we were told we'd have to walk "un chingo" to get there. My son's flat feet were starting to ache and we were getting tired, so walking un chingo didn't seem like something we were interested in doing. On the way out of the town, we stopped in another nice park with statues, a playground, some nice fountains (without any water) and benches that resembled sofas. As far as Pueblos Mágicos go, Dolores Hidalgo should be on your must-see list, not for the quality of the museums because they were rather ho-hum, but for the historical significance of the area, and the wine. I would recommend staying more than one day since there are so many things to see.
Thank you for the nice report! Did you try any of the tequila ice cream in the zocolo? Another note to people headed that way; the talavera ceramics, plus antiques and/or antique reproduction and folk art shops on the eastern outskirts of the city are some of the best in Mexico, especially on the back road between Dolores and San Miquel, an hour away.
Another reader mentioned the talavera ceramics. We did go to several ceramic places and were impressed with their quality as compared to other "touristy" towns but we didn't know about the workshops. And we definitely passed a whole bunch of junk places on the way in and out of town–which would be those antique places you mention. There were at least 10 large places. Of course, I wasn't in the market for a huge wagon wheel or statue of Miguel Hidalgo, so we didn't stop, but that might be a separate trip in the future! There was also an entire mini-western town complete with the OK Corral in what was advertised as a movie museum or something like that. So really, a trip to Delores Hidalgo could take several days to fully explore.
We took a day trip from San Miguel de Allende to Dolores Hidalgo. We enjoyed the Parroquia and the Casa de Hidalgo, as well as visit to a Talavera workshop recommended by Creative Hands of Mexico. The weather in January was perfect, and the sky was intensely blue!
It was a really nice place to visit!
The ice cream is exceptional. Have you been to the church of Atotonilco? It's outside on San Miguel. The best in Mexico, seriously.
Trying some of the bizarre ice cream flavors in the plaza is a must, and yes, the church in Atotonilco is well worth tacking on several hours to see. Tony Cohan has a terrific discription of it in his book Mexico Days.
We did have some new flavors!
No, I haven't been there but I will put it on my list of places to visit!


text:
All Things Wonky
Washington's WONK-FM Contributors
Stacy Lyn has been on the radio in the DC metro area for over 20 years. Most recently, as the afternoon news anchor on WBAL in Baltimore and WNEW in DC. She has won numerous broadcasting awards through the years, including Edward R. Murrow awards for breaking news, overall excellence, and best newscast, as well as AP Awards for outstanding newscast and spot news reporting. For many years, Stacy was a morning show host and entertainment news reporter for The Blend on SiriusXM, RadioVoyager and Orbit Rock on Worldspace Satellite Radio, Mix 106.5 in Baltimore and more. She has also been part of the I Heart family, as a DJ and fill-in news anchor on DC 101 and WASH. Stacy's voice is likely familiar to many, as she is a freelance voiceover artist, heard on local and national commercials, public service campaigns and more.
Stacy is on air from 6A to Noon, Monday through Friday.
You can follow Stacy here: Twitter | Instagram | Email
Alexandra Lane is a former reporter for WBAL and the NBC National News desk here at iHeartRadio in DC. She was an on-camera news reporter and executive digital content producer for Larry King's digital network in Los Angeles. She also has experience on the editorial side in magazine and PR capacities in NYC. Like any stereotypical 6-foot tall Southern California native, Alexandra loves to play tennis, do yoga, and drives a hybrid.
Alexandra is on air from Noon to 6PM, Monday through Friday.
You can follow Alexandra here: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Email
Daniel Susskind has been working in and around media for the past 16 years. He worked on Capitol Hill for three years, has produced multiple syndicated political talk shows, and even hosted a talk show of his own.
Jerry Houston is the Director of Digital Content & Creative for iHeartMedia DC. Jerry has led the digital content team for iHeartMedia in Washington, DC, and Baltimore for 21 years. He brings his experience to Washington's WONK-FM to ensure that you're getting the digital stories and social connection that you want and need in D.C. Jerry also contributes to our on-air teams on WIHT, WASH, WMZQ and PRIDE Radio via iHeartRadio.
You can follow Jerry here: Twitter | Instagram | Email
Michael Preacher serves in a duel role as the President of the Washington DC Region and Government Initiatives at iHeartMedia. He is a 22 year media veteran who joined iHeartMedia in 2002 as SVP of Strategic Partnerships, successfully launching the company's Strategic Partnership division.
Michael founded iHeartMedia's Strategic Partnerships and Government Initiatives Division in 2002 and moved to Washington DC in 2016 adding regional responsibilities including oversight of some of DC and Baltimore premier radio stations. In 2019, Michael added WONK-FM to the station portfolio that already included WASH-FM, BIG100, DC101, HOT99.5 and many more.
As President of the Government Initiatives, Preacher has expanded the division into a national platform. Managing a team of marketing and fulfillment professionals who specialize in national and regional multi-platform mobile media campaigns, he has successfully helped government agencies execute over 850 account contracts. Preacher specializes in large strategic initiatives delivering a coordinated multi-market approach using broadcast, digital, outdoor, event marketing, and grass-roots outreach, celebrity integration and engaging social media assets.
Mike is an outstanding member of the Washington DC community where he spends time serving as a Advisory Member for the USO of Metropolitan Washington and Children's National Hospital.
Jeff Kapugi is the Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia's Washington region which encompasses 10 radio stations. Kapugi has been in broadcasting for over 30 years and is in his second stint with iHeartMedia that totals over 20 years. In addition to Washington Kapugi, has programmed stations in Tampa, St. Louis and Chicago.
Michael Czarnecki is the Program Director for WONK-FM. Michael is a Native New Englander. Since 2001, he has been a broadcaster for iHeartRadio in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hamsphire, and Boston. Michael is a skilled programmer in multiple current based music formats, as well as spoken word. He also specializes in re-branding and re-energizing stations. As a lover of craft beer and American history, Michael couldn't be more excited to lead the WONK-FM team in the nation's capital.
Danny Bortnick has spent his entire career in the broadcast industry. His Dynamic leadership launching multiple spoken word brands in both NYC and DC will help bring WONK to market. He started his Career at Katz Radio in NYC, and had his first local AE job at 1010 WINS in NYC, one of the top spoken word brands in the country. He then spent 10 years at CBS/Entercom, joining iHeartMedia in August of 2018.
Cristina Mayer serves as the Regional Marketing Director for Washington's WONK-FM, as well as the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore markets. With over 12 years of experience in radio and live music marketing, she brings a passion for branding, marketing promotions and events to this exciting role.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


How to Write a Great Query Letter is a free e-book available for download here.
As a literary agent, Noah Lukeman has dealt with tens of thousands of query letters and decided to analyse the elements that he considers vital in a great query letter – the type that makes him so excited at the end of a long day of trawling through banal submissions that he simply has to pick up the phone and call the author right away, no matter what time it may be.
The most important element, Lukeman says, is sending your query to the right person. This is research that you cannot skimp on. Lukeman has devoted another entire e-book, How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent*, to this topic.
Lukeman recommends taking the approach of using the query letter as a concise and simple introduction with the goal of enticing the agent to request more information.
Formatting is another easy element that agents sometimes base their rejections on. It's a quick visual check they can perform that saves them a lot of time.
The one-page query letter showcases the writer's skill and discipline in word choice. If a writer is capable of condensing an entire manuscript down to a few lines, it suggests that the writer is capable of crafting a plot with equal care. However, Lukeman considers the most important element to be the writer's bio, preferably with a juicy list of previous major publications (because we all know how much writers love a Catch-22).
Your query letter is the crux on which your acceptance or rejection hinges, so it is worth making it as perfect as possible. How to Write a Great Query Letter forms a handy guide against which to check your submission before sending it out to ensure you're not making any of the common mistakes that could count against you before the agent has even read a word of your manuscript.
And, since this little e-book is available for free, you might as well make good use of it.
You may also like to read my review of Noah Lukeman's previous book, The Plot Thickens.
*How to Land (and Keep) a Literary Agent by Noah Lukeman is available on Kindle from Amazon.com.
Thank you. I'm downloading it immediately. Love those Catch 22's!
What a great resource. Thanks for alerting us to it, Elsa, and thanks to Noah for making it available for free.
Great resource. I'm getting ready to write one of these abominations. Honestly I think I might rather see how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Sand-Paper-Pop.
Good one! Query letters are SO important and they can be harder to write than the book itself!
Aaand...downloaded. This will certainly come in handy when editing query letters for clients! They like when I point out grammatical errors, but they love when I tell them how they can improve their query letters.
Helped me craft a beautiful query letter ... which has been rejected 83 times ... but the letter is a masterpiece!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I have the book on my Kindle already and am looking forward to reading it.
What a great resource! Thanks for posting this, I'm downloading it next!


text:
Translated from french by DeepL
The present general conditions of use govern all the relations between the website developed and edited by Postalie, whose identity and contact details are specified in the "legal notice" section, and the website user.
Postalie is a company specialised in sending postcards online.
Within the framework of this activity, it accepts to provide a website to the users to send postcards and letters by internet.
These general terms of use are not general terms of sale or general terms of service.
They are intended to constitute the rule that must be respected by any visiting user using the website developed by Postalie.
The terms defined below shall have the following meaning between the Parties:
Website": website edited by Postalie, accessible by scanning at the following address https://postalie.com/;
Internet": network of networks allowing the exchange of information using a protocol called TCP/IP. Data is routed through networks of different nature that are capable of reading messages according to this technical standard. Each element of this network belongs to private or public bodies which operate them in cooperation without necessarily implying a bilateral obligation of quality;
User": any person visiting the website edited by Postalie;
Parties": in the singular indistinctly means the User or Postalie, and in the plural Postalie and the User together;
Regulation on the protection of personal data" :
the French law relating to data processing, files and freedoms n° 78-17 of 6 January 1978 as amended and its updates or amendments; and
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 (General Data Protection Regulation);
Purpose and description
The purpose of these Terms and Conditions is to set out the terms of use of the Website and all pages of the Website.
This Website allows Users:
to send postcards to any person of their choice anywhere in the world.
Entry into force and duration
The present general conditions of use come into force from the first use of the service proposed by Postalie by a User.


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text:
\section{Introduction:  Landscape Phenomenology}

The cosmological constant problem is one of the greatest puzzles confronting
particle theory and theories of gravity.    Until very recently, string theory
seemed to offer no solution to this problem.  Now, however, there is evidence
that the vast array of possible fluxes in string theory leads to a discretuum
of metastable
states\cite{Bousso:2000xa,Feng:2000if,Becker:1996gj,deBoer:2001px,
Giddings:2001yu,Acharya:2002kv,Kachru:2003aw,Susskind:2003kw}.
The number may well be large enough that a non-trivial
subset have cosmological constant of the order observed.

This strongly suggests that string theory can accommodate the observed cosmological
constant.  While one might hope that some cosmological
effect would pick out the observed vacuum uniquely,
it seems more likely that explaining the cosmological constant in such a framework
will require invoking
anthropic considerations. Absent any real understanding of string cosmology,
adopting the hypothesis
that somehow the universe, in its history,
explores a large fraction of these states, in a more or less democratic
fashion, predicts a cosmological constant in roughly the right
range\cite{Weinberg:1988cp,Garriga:1999bf,Weinberg:2000yb}.

The question is:  having adopted the hypotheses that the landscape
exists and that the universe samples all of these states, can we explain or predict
anything further?  Doing so requires an understanding of the statistics
of string vacuum states\cite{Douglas:2003um,Ashok:2003gk,
Douglas:2004kp,Denef:2004ze,
Denef:2004cf}.  There has already been significant progress in this
direction, and we can begin to address certain questions.  Perhaps the most
obvious is the origin of the hierarchy between the weak scale and the Planck (or
other large) scales.  The familiar proposals:  low energy supersymmetry, with
some sort of dynamical supersymmetry breaking, and technicolor have realizations
in the landscape which are at least partially understood.  So it is natural to
ask whether the landscape might predict low energy supersymmetry, perhaps
with some specific breaking scale and pattern of soft masses, or something
like technicolor (or, probably equivalently, warped geometry), or whether
something totally different might arise.  Perhaps the most troubling alternative
suggested by the landscape is that the solution is similar to that of the cosmological
constant -- there is simply a huge number of states, and anthropic considerations
pick out the observed hierarchy, with no other low energy consequences.

In \cite{Banks:2003es}, a critique of this program was offered, and the
very existence of the landscape was questioned (a more extensive discussion
appears in \cite{Banks:2004xh}, and some possible counterarguments
in \cite{Freivogel:2004rd}), but it was also suggested
that if the landscape does exist, low energy supersymmetry would be a plausible
outcome.  This statement was met by some
skepticism\cite{Douglas:2004qg,Susskind:2004uv}; it was argued that
supersymmetry would necessarily be broken at the Planck
scale. These arguments, while also plausible,
relied on assumptions whose validity has not been established.  A more
refined description of how low energy
supersymmetry might emerge
was presented in \cite{Dine:2004is}.  These
authors distinguished three branches of the landscape.
In the case of Type IIB theories compactified on orientifolds of Calabi-Yau spaces
(or F theory compactifications on Calabi-Yau four-folds), these correspond to:
\begin{enumerate}
\item  States with broken supersymmetry at tree level
\item  States with unbroken supersymmetry and $W \ne 0$ at tree level
\item  States with unbroken supersymmetry and $W =0$ at tree level.
\end{enumerate}
An extensive statistical analysis of
branch 2 was performed in \cite{Denef:2004ze}.  The statistics
of some simple models on branch three has been studied recently in \cite{DeWolfe:2004ns}.
More recently, in \cite{Denef:2004cf} the statistics of states on branch one with small scale of supersymmetry
breaking has recently been analyzed.

In this paper, we will attempt to understand the statistics and the physics of these
three branches further.  We begin by noting that, non-perturbatively,
there is no sharp distinction between the states on the different branches: superpotentials
are likely generated and supersymmetry broken on both branches two
and three. The real distinction between them lies in their
statistics.  If one considers the distribution of low energy lagrangians,
on branch one the measure is smooth in the regions where
$F$, the supersymmetry breaking scale and $\Lambda$ are small.  On branch
two, it is mildly singular in these regions; on branch three it is very singular.

We will discuss a number of features of
branch one.  We review why, in the classical approximation,
the number of stationary points of the supergravity potential is infinite,
and discuss the possible physics of the cutoff.
We give a simple, low energy effective action argument
which yields the statistics of \cite{Denef:2004cf}.  We explain why, on this branch, the vast
majority of the states are not accessible to analysis, so that it is not possible
to determine their statistics.    This means that, at present, one cannot decide, by a priori
theoretical arguments, whether this branch dominates, and, if this branch dominates,
one cannot make predictions.  We will give some reasons to conjecture that if this
branch dominates, it leads to phenomena similar either to technicolor theories or
to Randall Sundrum models.  We argue that there may already be phenomenological considerations
which rule out this possibility.

We then turn to branches two and three.  We want to ask:  if one adopts the hypothesis
that the universe is not on branch one, can one make predictions for quantities such
as the scale of supersymmetry breaking, and the pattern of soft breakings.
We will review some of what is known about branch two, and discuss the question
of computability.  Ref. \cite{DeWolfe:2004ns} considered models on branch three with
small numbers of moduli.  Another perspective on
R symmetries was provided in \cite{Dienes:2004pi}.  We discuss the general problem of finding models with
vanishing $\langle W \rangle$, arguing that this is most likely connected with
discrete $R$ symmetries.  We explain that with discrete $R$ symmetries
statistical considerations will generally
lead to supersymmetric ground states with vanishing $W$.  We discuss in a well-known
model the statistical cost of such discrete symmetries and find that it is substantial.
But we note that a number of selection effects may still favor such vacua; moreover,
as suggested in\cite{DeWolfe:2004ns},
the statistical cost may not always be so high.

We conclude with our views of the prospects for prediction within the landscape.
The question of whether the theory predicts low energy supersymmetry, technicolor-like
theories, or nothing beyond the standard model Higgs seems to be an experimental
one, though there is some reason to think that the usual naturalness arguments -- even
in the landscape and even allowing possible
anthropic considerations -- will disfavor the last possibility.
On the supersymmetric branches, there is good reason to think that low energy
supersymmetry is favored.  Determining whether there are more
detailed predictions -- gauge mediation, anomaly mediation, or something completely
different, requires studies of the statistics of gauge groups beyond those which
have been done to date, but which may well be feasible.

\section{The Statistics of Branch One}

In string theory, we have become accustomed to the idea that the
more supersymmetry, the more control one has over the analysis of a problem.
As we will see, many features of branch three are particularly easy to
understand.  Ref. \cite{Denef:2004ze} studies the statistics
of branch two and some aspects of those of branch one.
Like KKLT, these authors study principally the Type IIB
theory on an orientifold of a Calabi-Yau space.  In this case, there is a superpotential
for the complex structure moduli in the supergravity approximation, but not for
the Kahler moduli.  Noting KKLT's observation
that the Kahler moduli are likely to be fixed
by non-perturbative effects,
they make the further simplification of ignoring the Kahler
moduli.  The most primitive aspect of
statistics is to simply count the number of stationary points
of the potential.  Here already there is a striking difference
between branches one and two; on the supersymmetric branch, the number
of stationary points is finite, while on the non-supersymmetric branch,
the number is divergent and it is necessary to introduce a cutoff.

In the limit in which the flux numbers are large, DD
convert sums
over fluxes to integrals over the moduli space. The
result has the form, in the supersymmetric case (branch two):
\begin{eqnarray}
{\cal N}_{susy} = {L^{K/2} \over (K/2)!}{\cal N}_o.
\label{nsusy}
\end{eqnarray}
${\cal N}_o$ is given by an expression of the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
{\cal N}_o = \int d^{2m}z \int d^K N e^{-\vert X \vert^2 -\vert Z \vert^2
+ \vert Y_i \vert^2} \delta^{2m}(DW) \vert D^2 W \vert.
\label{nnaught}
\end{eqnarray}
where
\begin{eqnarray}
X= W  ~~~~ Y_i = D_{z_i} W  = F_{z_i}
\end{eqnarray}
In the non-supersymmetric case, the term $\delta^{2m}(DW)$ is replaced
by $\delta^{2m}(V^\prime)$, and an appropriate determinant
We will not need the definition of $Z$; the main point is that it gives
a negative contribution to the exponential.
For supersymmetric vacua, Y vanishes, and the integral is finite.
This is not the case for non-supersymmetric vacua, and
Douglas and Denef argue that the integral is
divergent, and impose
a cutoff on the supersymmetry breaking scale ($F=Y=D_zW$), and argue
that it should not be too large.

While we believe that there may well be a physical cutoff,
we do not have a convincing argument as to whether a physical cutoff exists.
Certainly one cannot calculate, even crudely, at large $F$;
as we will explain, the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion breaks down
badly once $F$ is comparable to the string scale.
We will also see that, for $F$ comparable to the string
scale, most of the would-be metastable states are highly unstable.
But while these arguments suggest that many would-be vacua are not
meaningful states of the theory, some number of states -- possibly infinite --
may still exist.
If there is a cutoff, there is no parameter which would make it small.  So, even
if we demand that states have small cosmological constant and are highly metastable,
most such states will be at the string scale.  The original
assumption that IIB orientifolds (or F theory on CY fourfolds) are representative
is thus not correct (or at least
not meaningful) on this
branch.  The typical states do not look like anything we know how to describe.
This means that we do not know how to do even the crudest counting on this branch.

\subsection{An Infinite Number of Non-Supersymmetric States}

We can demonstrate that the number of
non-supersymmetric stationary points of
the supergravity potential is infinite in a particular
class of flux models:  the IIB theory on $T_6/Z_2$\cite{Kachru:2002he}
The tadpole cancellation
condition reads:
\begin{eqnarray}
-a^o d_o - a^{ij} d_{ij} + b_{ij}c^{ij} + b_o c^o = \ell^*
\end{eqnarray}
for a fixed, positive integer $\ell^*$.  We can satisfy this condition by choosing:
\begin{eqnarray}
b_o = -3N; c^o=N; c^{ij} =N \delta^{ij} = b_{ij}
\end{eqnarray}
and $a^{ij}$, $a_o,d_o, d_{ij}$ numbers of order one which satisfy
the constraint.  Now $N$ can be taken arbitrarily large, so it would
appear that we have an infinite number of possible states.  We might
expect, however, that many of these are equivalent, related by various
modular transformations.  To establish that this is {\it not} the case,
we can do the following exercise.  In the large $N$ limit, the superpotential
takes the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
W= N( -\phi \tau^3 +3 \phi \tau^2-3\tau + 3)
\end{eqnarray}
We can then look for supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric solutions.
We have checked that there are no supersymmetric solutions, but there are
non-supersymmetric
ones:
\begin{eqnarray}
\phi = {1 \over 3}(1 + i \sqrt{2}) ~~~~\tau = 1 + i \sqrt{2}.
\end{eqnarray}
The energy of these solutions is:
\begin{eqnarray}
V_o = 1.5 N^2
\end{eqnarray}

Because the energy at the minimum of the potential is gauge invariant, and because
$N$ can be arbitrarily large, this result indicates that there are indeed an
infinite number of gauge-inequivalent vacuum states in without supersymmetry
in the supergravity approximation.

Note that the energy scales like $N^2$.  This is general for states with
large flux.  Correspondingly, the $F$ components of fields scale like $N$.
This will be important shortly when we discuss the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion.

These stationary points of the effective
action are unlikely to have any physical significance.  As we will explain
in the next section, the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion is invalid for them, and
the vast majority are very short lived.

\subsection{The $\alpha^\prime$ Expansion and the Cutoff on the Non-Supersymmetric States}

It is easy to see that for
non-supersymmetric states, the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion already breaks down
for $F$-terms of order one.
In the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion, we know that there are
terms with additional derivatives of the complex structure ($z$) fields (derivatives
in the ``non-compact" directions.  In the effective
lagrangian, these terms arise from operators in superspace
with extra covariant derivatives, such as:
\begin{eqnarray}
\int d^4 \theta D_\alpha z D^\alpha z \bar D_{\dot \alpha} z^* \bar D^{\dot \alpha} z^*.
\end{eqnarray}
This includes $\vert F_z \vert^4$.

So $F_z$ is a measure of the reliability of the $\alpha^\prime$ expansion.
If all other quantities are roughly order one, it is necessary the $F_z$
be small in order to have any semblance of a controlled analysis.

\subsection{The Number of States at Small $F$}

At small $F$, one can hope to perform a self-consistent analysis.
Douglas and Denef have studied the number of states at small $F$.  Essentially
this involves evaluating the integral of eqns. \ref{nsusy},\ref{nnaught}, but with the delta function
for unbroken supersymmetry replaced by delta functions which enforces the minimum
conditions.  They find that the number of
non-supersymmetric states, with cosmological constant less than $\Lambda_o$ and
$\vert F \vert < F^*$ scales as:
\begin{eqnarray}
{\cal N}(\Lambda<\Lambda_o,F<F^*) \approx \Lambda_o F^{*6}.
\end{eqnarray}

\subsubsection{A Low Energy Understanding of the Douglas-Denef Results}

At first sight, the powers of $F^*$ found by Douglas and Denef may appear
surprising.  But a simple effective lagrangian analysis, coupled with a plausible
assumption about the distribution of couplings, yields the same results.
In the case that $\Lambda_o \ll F^{*2} \ll 1$,
the low energy effective theory is approximately a flat space, supersymmetric
one.
In this case, small supersymmetry breaking requires a light fermion
to provide the longitudinal mode of the gravitino.  In theories with chiral fields
only, this means that there must be at least one chiral field at scales well
below the fundamental scale.  It is certainly more probable to have one than several,
so the low energy theory consists of one chiral field (from the
complex structure moduli).  Call this field $z$, and define it so that the
minimum of its potential occurs at $z=0$ (to avoid any loss
of generality, we will, below, consider a very general class
of Kahler potentials).  Since, by assumption, $F$ is small,
the effective lagrangian is supersymmetric, so it is described by a superpotential
and a Kahler potential.

We can take the superpotential to have the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
W = W_o + \alpha z + \beta z^2 + \gamma z^3 + \dots
\end{eqnarray}
(we will see that terms higher than cubic are irrelevant not only
in the renormalization group sense, but in our analysis below), and a Kahler
potential:
\begin{eqnarray}
K = a + bz + b^* z^* + c z^2 + c^* z^{*2} + d z^* z + \dots
\end{eqnarray}
In perturbation theory, $a,...d \sim 1$, and we will assume that this
is general.

Now we want to impose the following conditions:
\begin{enumerate}
\item  $F$ is small at the minimum, i.e.
\begin{eqnarray}
\alpha + b W_o =F~~~~\vert F \vert < F^*.
\end{eqnarray}
\item  The potential is zero at the minimum.  Since $F$ is small, this means that $W_o \sim F$.
\item  The potential has its minimum at $z=0$.
Douglas and Denef provide a convenient formula for the derivatives of the potential:
\begin{eqnarray}
\partial_z V = e^{K}(D_z D_z W \bar D^{\bar z} \bar W - 2 D_z W \bar W).
\end{eqnarray}
\item  The potential is metastable.  Again, Douglas and Denef provide convenient formulas
for the second derivatives of the potential.  The relevant derivatives for us will be:
\begin{eqnarray}
\partial_z^2 V = e^{K}(D_z D_z D_z W \bar D^{\bar z} \bar W - D_z D_z W \bar W)
\end{eqnarray}
\end{enumerate}

If we assume that the Kahler potential is bounded, $b$ cannot become arbitrarily large.
So from the first two conditions we learn that $\alpha \sim F$.
Then the third condition gives that $\beta \sim F$.
Finally, if $\gamma$ is large, examining the second derivative terms, we see that the
masses cannot be positive; so once more, $\gamma \sim F$.

The distribution of $W_o$ is known in many examples to be uniform at small $W_o$\cite{Denef:2004ze}.
We will argue
in the next subsection that this is quite general, and also explain
when one expects exceptions.  So
assume that the distributions of $\alpha$, $\beta$ and $\gamma$ are uniform
at small $\alpha,\beta,\gamma$ as complex numbers.  The fraction of states with
suitable $\alpha$ is of order $\vert F \vert^2$; similarly for $\beta$ and $\gamma$.
The fraction with cosmological constant smaller than $\Lambda_o$ is of order $\Lambda_o$.
(Throughout this discussion we are assuming that apart from the separation of the
Planck scale from the supersymmetry breaking scale, there are no other large ratios
of scales, i.e. the string scale and four dimensional Planck scale are comparable.)
In other words, the number of states is of order
\begin{eqnarray}
\int d^2 \alpha d^2 \beta d^2 \gamma d^2 W_o \theta(\Lambda_o -V) \theta(F^*-\vert
\alpha \vert) \theta(F^*-\vert
\beta \vert)\theta(F^*-\vert
\gamma \vert)
\sim \Lambda_o F^{*6}.
\end{eqnarray}

These estimates appear to have a quite general character.  They rely only
on the assumption of roughly uniform densities in the various parameters of the low
energy superpotential.  In the next subsection,
we explain why this assumption is quite weak.
The general result accords quite closely with conventional ideas about
naturalness.  Phenomena on branches two and three, as we will see, are also
consistent with such expectations.

\subsection{Uniformity of the Measure on the Low Energy Parameters}

The assumption of uniform densities about a particular
point in the parameter space, $\alpha_o,\beta_o,\gamma_o,\dots$
is quite weak.  It follows if:
\begin{enumerate}
\item  The number of states near this point is sufficiently large that the distribution
is approximately continuous, i.e. there are many stationary points in this neighborhood.
\item  The distribution function has a Taylor series about the point.
\end{enumerate}

In our case, the assumption of uniformity is the assumption
that the point where supersymmetry breaking small is not distinguished.
In fact, what distinguishes branches two and three from
branch one is precisely the fact that various distributions
are not uniform\cite{Dine:2004is}, because assumption (2) does not hold.
If the origin of supersymmetry breaking is dynamical, then the distribution
of $F$'s behaves as
\begin{eqnarray}
\int {d^2 F \over \vert F \vert^2}.
\end{eqnarray}
In theories with unbroken supersymmetry at tree level, non-renormalization
theorems account for the special character of small $F$.  This sort of singular
behavior also occurs if the hierarchy arises through warping\cite{Kachru:2003aw}.
In the third branch of \cite{Dine:2004is}, the $W_o$ distribution also is singular
at the origin; this is connected with
the fact that the origin is a point of enhanced
symmetry ($R$ symmetry).  Coupled with the requirement
of small cosmological constant, it leads\cite{Dine:2004is}
to an even more singular distribution,
\begin{eqnarray}
\Lambda_o\int {d^2 F \over \vert F \vert^4}.
\end{eqnarray}
It is these behaviors which distinguish the three branches.

\subsection{Stabilizing the Kahler Moduli}

The analysis of Douglas and Denef and the numerical experiments described in the
previous sections ignore the Kahler moduli.  Here we argue that, much as in the original
KKLT analysis, for small $F$ it is likely that the Kahler moduli are often stabilized
at large values of the radii.  Our effective lagrangian setup is particularly
convenient for this discussion.

Following $KKLT$, we simplify the analysis by considering only a single Kahler modulus,
$\rho = i \sigma + \alpha$.
We suppose that the superpotential has the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
W = W(z) + e^{i c \rho}
\end{eqnarray}
($W(z)$ is our earlier superpotential)
while we take for the Kahler potential,
\begin{eqnarray}
K = - 3 \ln(i(\rho -\rho^*)).
\end{eqnarray}
We look for a stationary point of the potential with
\begin{eqnarray}
D_\rho W = {\partial W \over \partial \rho} + {\partial K \over \partial \rho} W
\end{eqnarray}
This equation is particularly easy to analyze with the assumption that the solution
lies at large $\sigma$ and near $z=0$.  Then:
\begin{eqnarray}
c e^{-c\sigma} \approx {3 \over 2 \sigma} W_o
\end{eqnarray}
so
\begin{eqnarray}
\sigma \approx - {1 \over c}\ln(W_o).
\end{eqnarray}

This appears to be approximately self-consistent.
However, the mass
of the $\sigma$ field is not so small.
\begin{eqnarray}
m_{\sigma}^2 \approx {1 \over \rho} \vert W_o \vert^2
 \approx \rho^2 m_{3/2}^2.
 \end{eqnarray}
 The mass of the lightest $z$ field (associated with the small $F$) is of order
 $m_{3/2}^2$.  So one might
 worry that it is not entirely consistent to
first integrate out $z$ and then solve for $\rho$.
The question is:  at our would-be solution, how large is the tadpole for $z$, i.e.
is the shift small.  It is, in fact, easy to see that the shift is of order
$1/\rho$.  Roughly, the potential has the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
V(z,\rho) \propto {1 \over \sigma^3} \left [\left \vert -c e^{-c \sigma} + 3 {W_o+\alpha z + \beta z^2
+  \gamma z^3 \over \sigma}
\right \vert^2 \sigma^2 - 3 \left \vert W_o + \alpha z+ \beta z^2
+\gamma z^3 + e^{-c \sigma}\right \vert^2 \right ]
\end{eqnarray}
As $D_\rho W$ vanishes to lowest order in $1/\sigma$, there is no contribution linear in
$z$ from the first term in the brackets, and the second term is suppressed by $1/\sigma$.

This argument suggests that plausibly all of the moduli can be fixed, with small
supersymmetry breaking, in a subset of vacua.

\subsection{Lifetime of Non-Supersymmetric States}

Perhaps the best reason to suspect the existence of a physical cutoff is the question
of stability.  In our simple model, the infinite set of states lies largely at very large
cosmological constant.  As we explain here (and as is not at all surprising), most of these
would-be states are extremely unstable.

To see this, recall again that the cosmological constant of these would-be
states is of order $N^2$, i.e. it is very large.  They can decay in various
ways.  Consider, first, decays of dS states to the region of large radius.
Simple scaling arguments indicate that the action for the bounce in a semi-classical
treatment scales as $1/N^2$, for large $N$.  In other words, the semiclassical
calculation breaks down already for $N=1$; one expects that the widths of the
states are order one or larger.  Alternatively, one can state this in
terms of supersymmetry breaking scales.  For a scale $F$, the
decay rate scales as $e^{-1/\vert F \vert^2}$.
As we noted in the previous expression,
once $N \gg 1$, all approximations are breaking down in the typical state;
there is no clear sense in which there are metastable states at all.

The actual scaling argument is quite simple.  For this we can follow Coleman
in the case without gravity.  Consider a potential of the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
V = V_o f(\phi)
\end{eqnarray}
for some scalar field $\phi$.  For an $O(4)$ symmetric bounce, the action
is
\begin{eqnarray}
S = \int dr r^{d-1}((\partial_r \phi)^2 + V_o f(\phi))
\end{eqnarray}
Now simply rescale $r= (V_o^{-1/2})u$. to see that the action scales
as
$V_o^{1-d/2}$.

For the subset of states with small cosmological constant, this particular decay
channel is not important, even for large supersymmetry breaking, and we have
seen that there are potentially many such states.

But
there are others which clearly must be considered.  Typically, if we consider
the space of possible fluxes, near the choice of fluxes which leads to a
state of small cosmological constant, there will be AdS states.  We have
not worked out the theory of such decays, but
it is presumably possible to decay with change of flux and
emission of topological defects.
As for ordinary vacuum decay, gravity surely effects these processes in important
ways.  Would-be decays to AdS states, for example, will sometimes not occur.
In cases where they can, the final configuration is likely to be a big crunch,
and the lifetimes, in general, short.  Understanding these sorts of considerations
is likely to bear on the question of the relative importance/likelihood of branch one.

\section{Statistics on Branch 2:  Are they computable?}

Our principle observation of the last section is that one cannot calculate
even the crudest statistics on branch one, the non-supersymmetric branch.
This raises the question:  can one actually do better on branch two (we will
comment on the case of branch three in the next section).

A major point of the KKLT paper was to exhibit supersymmetric AdS vacua with
all moduli fixed in regime in which the string coupling is small and the
compactification radii large.
In the KKLT analysis, large $\rho$ arises when one solves the equation
$
D_\rho W = 0$
with $W = W_o + e^{ic\rho}$.  But this form of $W$ is only valid for large $\rho$,
and there is no particular reason to think that there are not solutions for small $\rho$.
For such solutions, $<W>$ is presumably randomly distributed as a complex variable.
Other quantities, like the values of couplings, might also be randomly distributed.
A priori, it is not clear why these should not be at least as common as the solutions
with large $\rho$.

This suggests that if we ask about states at small $\langle W \rangle$ and
small $\Lambda$, the number with
small $\rho$ is likely comparable to and possibly significantly larger than
the number with large $\rho$ (we thank Shamit Kachru for stressing this
point to us).  Among these states could be states with spectra and
couplings similar to those we observe.

Reasonable assumptions can be used to argue that nature might be in the
large $\rho$ regime.  The observed gauge couplings are small.  In the Type IIB setup,
the (inverse) gauge couplings at large $\rho$ are proportional
to the value of $\rho$.  At small $\rho$ and strong string
coupling, it seems
plausible that they will be more or less uniformly distributed at small coupling.
But remember we want to account for small $\langle W \rangle$
and small couplings.  In the large $\rho$
limit, small couplings are a consequence of small $\langle W \rangle$.  In the small $\rho$ region,
we pay the same price for small $<W>$, and we pay an additional price ($10^{-6}$ perhaps?)
for small couplings.  Small couplings might well be selected by anthropic considerations,
or they may be a piece of data we wish to impose.

If we take coupling unification seriously, something like large $\rho$ looks even
more plausible.  We will not propose here a mechanism to understand even tree level
unification of couplings, but if there is some important class of states for which
unification is common, it is surely more likely to occur in the large $\rho$ region
(or its analog), then randomly in the strong coupling region.

\section{The $W=0$ Branch:  Discrete R symmetries}

In \cite{Dine:2004is}, it was argued that on the $W=0$
branch, small cosmological constant favors very low scale
breaking.  Roughly, the distribution behaves as:
\begin{eqnarray}
{\cal N}(\vert F \vert < F^*,\Lambda < \Lambda_o) \propto \Lambda_o {1 \over F^*}.
\end{eqnarray}
So, while on the one hand, one might expect the fraction of states with
unbroken $R$ symmetry might be small, there is a big gain when one selects
for the cosmological constant.  Further gains might arise from other
selection effects, such as proton decay.

Vanishing $W$ might arise by accident, or as a result of symmetries.  Ref. \cite{DeWolfe:2004ns}
performed some counting in simple models.  As one might naively guess, in most cases,
these authors found vanishing $W$ results from discrete R symmetries.  It is not hard to see
that such a symmetry is likely to yield both unbroken supersymmetry and vanishing $W$.  Suppose
that one has a discrete R symmetry under which
$W$ transforms by a phase $\alpha$.  Suppose
that there are some number of fields, $Z_i$, $i=1,\dots,n$, which also transform by $\alpha$,
and some number, $\phi_A$, $A=1,\dots ,m$, which are neutral.  Then the superpotential
has the form:
\begin{eqnarray}
W= \sum_{i=1}^n Z_i f_i(\{\phi_A \}).
\end{eqnarray}
Then
provided $m>n$, there will be supersymmetric solutions
with $W=0$.  There will not be supersymmetric solutions if
$m<n$.  One can readily modify this argument in the case that there
are various fields which transform with some other power of $\alpha$.

In the landscape, it is easy to see that
states with $m>n$ are statistically
significantly favored. In the Calabi-Yau case, there is a pairing
of complex structure moduli and fluxes.  Loosely, in order that
the low energy theory respect the symmetry, we expect that for any complex
structure modulus which transforms under the symmetry, we must
set the corresponding flux to zero.  So in order to have a large
number of states, and a small number of vanishing fluxes, we must
have a small number of fields which transform under the symmetry.
So we are in the limit $m>n$, above.  Of course, without a complete
survey, we cannot make a sweeping statement, but it seems likely
that $R$ symmetries in the landscape will lead typically to unbroken supersymmetry
and vanishing $W$.

It is helpful to illustrate these considerations with some examples.
One case where it is possible to be very explicit is that of
$IIB$ theory
on a $T_6/Z_2$ orientifold.  Focus on the point in the moduli space where the
$T_6$ is a product of three two-tori of equal size.  In this case, before turning
on fluxes, the theory has a variety of $R$-symmetries.  There are $Z_4$
symmetries which rotate each of the separate planes; there is also an $S_3$
symmetry which permutes the planes.  We can attempt to turn on only fluxes which
respect the $Z_4$ symmetry in the first plane.  Starting from the list in \cite{Kachru:2002he}
we can make a complete list:
From the subset:
\begin{eqnarray}
\alpha_{ij}= {1 \over 2} \epsilon_{ilm}dx^\ell
\wedge dx^m \wedge dy^j~~~~~
\beta_{ij}= -{1 \over 2} \epsilon_{jlm}dy^\ell
\wedge dy^m \wedge dy^i~~~~~
\end{eqnarray}
$\alpha_{12}$,$\alpha_{13}$, $\alpha_{21}$, $\alpha_{31}$
and similarly for the components of $\beta$.   For simplicity,
take for the RR and NS three-forms, $F$ and $H$:
\begin{eqnarray}
{1 \over (2\pi)^2 \alpha^\prime} F_{(3)}
   = a^{12}\alpha_{12} + b_{12}\beta^{12} ~~~~~
   {1 \over (2\pi)^2 \alpha^\prime} H_{(3)}
   = c^{12}\alpha_{12} + d_{12}\beta^{12}
\end{eqnarray}
Correspondingly, the superpotential is:
\begin{eqnarray}
(a^{12}-\phi c^{12}) {\rm cof}\tau_{12}
   + (b_{12}-\phi d_{12})\tau^{12}.
   \end{eqnarray}
We look for a solution of the form
\begin{eqnarray}
\tau = \left ( \matrix{i & 0 & 0 \cr 0 & i & 0 \cr 0 & 0 & i} \right )
\end{eqnarray}
Then $W=0$, and one finds for $\phi$:
\begin{eqnarray}
\phi = {i a^{12} - b_{12} \over i c^{12} - d_{12}}
\end{eqnarray}

Two remarks about this solution are important.  First, there is a multiparameter
set of solutions.  Many of the elements of $\tau$ are undetermined.
Second, we should also impose the tadpole cancellation condition.  In this
case, this reads:
\begin{eqnarray}
-a^{12} d_{12} + b_{12}c^{12} = L
\end{eqnarray}
with $L \le 16$ (and integer).
Restricting $\phi$ to the fundamental region leaves a limited set of fluxes.
Note, in particular, that if $L=1$, $\phi$ is an $SL(2,Z)$ transform of $i$.
There are hundreds of such solutions.  Additional solutions are obtained by
permuting the planes, and considering points with other symmetries, such as
$Z_6$.  This model is not realistic at many levels.  The vacua which we have
enumerated here, as pointed out in \cite{Kachru:2002he} have more than four
supersymmetries, for example.  Still, they exhibit many of the features
we discussed above.

In these cases, the superpotential transforms with a phase, $\alpha= e^{2\pi i \over 4}$;
the fields
$\tau^{12}$ and $\tau^{13}$ also transform with phase $\alpha$.  The only other
field which transforms non-trivially is $\tau^{11}$.  Because the superpotential
in this model is at most cubic, $\tau^{11}$ cannot appear and is thus not determined.
The rest of the superpotential has the structure:
\begin{eqnarray}
W = \tau^{12} f(\tau^{22},\tau^{23},\tau^{33},\phi)
    + \tau^{13} g(\tau^{22},\tau^{23},\tau^{33},\phi).
\end{eqnarray}

With sufficiently general choices of fluxes, one easily breaks all of the R symmetries.
Still, in this model, one often finds $W=0$\cite{DeWolfe:2004ns}.  This may be
a feature of this class of superpotentials, which are rather restricted polynomials,
but it might also be more general.  This is an important question to investigate.

Now consider the case of a more complicated Calabi-Yau space.  The quintic
in $CP^4$ is well studied, and its symmetries are explained in textbooks\cite{gsw}.
In particular, there is a highly symmetric point with symmetry $Z_5^4$ (times
a permutation symmetry, which we will ignore).  Calling the coordinates
of $CP^4$ $Z_i$, $i=1,\cdots,5$, the quintic polynomial equation which defines the
space is:
\begin{eqnarray}
\sum Z_i^5 = 0.
\end{eqnarray}
This is invariant under the separate symmetries $Z_i \rightarrow \alpha Z_i$,
where $\alpha$ is now a fifth root of unity.  The complex structure moduli are
in one to one correspondence with quintic polynomials.  Now we can require that
the fluxes preserve just one of the $Z_5$'s, say that acting on the
first coordinate.  Then the fluxes which are paired with polynomials (30 in all)
which transform under this $Z_5$ must vanish; examples include $Z_1^3 Z_2^2$,
$Z_1^3 Z_2 Z_3$, and so on.  So, in fact, there are 46 $Z$-type fields, in our
previous notation, and $55$ $\phi$ type fields.
One can try and preserve more $R$ symmetries.  Then many more fluxes must vanish -- and
there are many fewer states.  With a sufficiently large symmetry, there will
only be supersymmetry breaking solutions.

In this example, the dimensionality
of the flux space is reduced by more than 1/3.
While this is a dramatic reduction, there may be other selection effects which favor
such states.  The cosmological constant
itself is one; compared to the non-supersymmetric
case, this could well be a factor of $10^{50}$ or more; compared to branch two,
it could easily be $10^{25}$.  Proton decay is an additional
issue; without symmetries, on branch two, anthropic reasoning alone
cannot explain the value of the proton lifetime, and the anthropic constraint
itself requires a huge suppression ($10^{10}$ in several
couplings).   There may be other important selection effects as well.
How general this rather drastic reduction in the dimensionality of the space -- and, as
a result, in the number of states -- is a straightforward
problem worthy of further study.

Finally, we need to ask about those moduli which are unfixed at the level of the
superpotential equations.  These will be fixed by the dynamics which breaks
supersymmetry.  In general, there is no reason that these effects should
be calculable.  There are, potentially, severe cosmological problems associated
with these fields.  At the same time, this is a framework in which axions
might well arise, and interesting, testable long range forces (we thank
Savas Dimopoulos for stressing this possible positive aspect of these
fields to us).  We will comment further on these possibilities in the next section.

\section{Prospects for Predictions}

Of the three branches of the flux landscape which we have distinguished,
the first, non-supersymmetric branch is the most problematic.  We have seen
that, thanks to the work of Douglas and Denef\cite{Denef:2004ze}, the existence of this
branch is as well established as any branch of the landscape (explicit constructions
of states on branch one appear in \cite{Saltman:2004sn}).
We have given a simple argument based on the assumption
of uniform distribution of couplings in the low
energy effective action which reproduces their
results.  But the same arguments
which establish the statistics of these
states for small $F$ demonstrate that the vast majority of states
in this branch are inaccessible.  While within the set of states which can
be reliably studied, the number of supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric
states are comparable, we can only conjecture whether there are
or are not far more non-supersymmetric
states than supersymmetric ones, or, for that matter,
whether the
number of states on this branch is finite.  Even if we ignore cosmological
issues and simply assume that we should compare the relative numbers of states,
we cannot decide whether or not this branch dominates.  We have indicated
some simple cosmological questions which might affect this question.

If nature does lie on this branch, the situation is very disappointing.  The problem
is not that one does not predict low energy supersymmetry, but that one is
very unlikely to predict anything.  Because of the lack of control, there is
no underlying small parameter and approximation scheme which will allow one
to extract correlations of any kind.  The parameters of low energy physics
then presumably arise anthropically or randomly.

While one is largely in the dark about branch one, an optimist might proceed by
studying statistics at small $F$, hoping that some features will persist into the
inaccessible dominant region.  One question which one can address is how
hierarchies arise.  The work of \cite{Denef:2004cf,Giryavets:2004zr} indicates that warping is common
in the supersymmetric vacua.  This analysis remains valid in the almost supersymmetric
case, when there are
many moduli.  This feature might survive into the strong coupling regime.  An alternative
origin for hierarchies could be conventional dynamical supersymmetry
breaking, as in technicolor theories.  Just as in the case of branch
two, one expects that chiral gauge theories are common, and associated
with these dynamical symmetry breaking and
hierarchical scales.  Of course, problems
of precision electroweak physics, flavor and the like will all require some
resolution.  And the strong coupling problem means that it is probably impossible to
say more than what effective field theorists have argued for many years.

There are some phenomenological reasons to think we might
not be on branch one.  As we have just said, it would be necessary
to understand why solutions of the usual problems of
technicolor and/or warped spaces are solved in some
generic fashion.  More generally, in this strongly coupled regime,
the parameters of low energy physics would seem to be
either random or anthropic.  While it is plausible that several of the parameters
of the Standard Model are anthropic, it is implausible that most of them are.
There are clear patterns and regularities.  The small value of $\theta_{qcd}$
is one example\cite{Banks:2003es,Donoghue:2003vs}.  The heavy quark and lepton masses and mixings do not
appear random, yet they are probably not anthropic; the neutrino masses are much
larger than one might expect to arise
randomly in such a picture, and again there is no
obvious anthropic explanation.  (Of
course, these may be arguments that not only are we not on
branch one but that the landscape itself is not correct.)

One example of a prediction which is {\it not} likely to arise on
branch one is split supersymmetry
with very large scale of supersymmetry breaking\cite{Arkani-Hamed:2004fb}.  Small masses
for all the gauginos are probably not required anthropically.  One needs
broken supersymmetry at the high scale, but an unbroken $R$ symmetry.
But we have given simple arguments that in the landscape, unbroken $R$
symmetry is necessarily associated with unbroken supersymmetry -- in fact,
that this puts one on branch three.  A form
of split supersymmetry with a scale of order $10$'s of TeV's might arise for
other reasons\cite{Dine:2004is}.  But while the phenomenology
of much larger breakings is interesting to
to explore, it
it is not a generic feature of states of the landscape.

On branches two and three, it is more likely that one can make real predictions,
and resolve some of the puzzles of the Standard Model.  The number of states
appears to be finite, and the statistics seem compatible with conventional
notions of naturalness.  In \cite{Dine:2004is}, some features of branch two
and three were noted.  Here we looked mainly
at the relative populations
of branches two and three.  We adopted the point of view that vanishing $W$ arises,
in general, as a result of discrete $R$ symmetries.  This viewpoint finds some
support in the work of \cite{DeWolfe:2004ns}, who, while finding some cases
where vanishing $W$ arises by accident, largely found that the explanation
lies in such symmetries.  We explained why discrete $R$ symmetries are likely
to lead to both unbroken supersymmetry and unbroken $R$ invariance.   We also
explained why some moduli are likely to be unfixed in these models, before
non-perturbative effects, and particularly supersymmetry breaking, are taken
into account.  This is potentially problematic for cosmology, but also could be
a striking prediction\footnote{We thank Savas Dimopoulos for stressing this aspect
of light moduli to us.}

We asked the fraction of states which have vanishing $W$ at tree level in
a particular example with a large number of moduli.  In one example,
we found that requiring an
R symmetry reduced the dimension of the moduli space by about 1/3.  This is
presumably an enormous price in landscape terms, quite possibly larger than the
gain (about $10^{40}$) which one might imagine comes from the ease of obtaining
a small cosmological constant.  On the other hand, discrete symmetries might
be required by other considerations as well:  proton stability and dark matter.
These could easily introduce additional compensating factors of $10^{40}$ or so.

Making further progress on the phenomenology of branches two and three requires
more knowledge of the distribution of gauge groups and chiral matter content;
some preliminary
studies of these questions have been reported\cite{Kumar:2004pv,Conlon:2004ds,Blumenhagen:2004xx}.
More information
about statistics of discrete symmetries is also essential.
It would seem straightforward to
explore these questions.  With this sort of data, we could, for example,
assess the likelihood of low energy dynamical supersymmetry breaking
in branches two and three.  As explained in \cite{Dine:2004is}, if gauge
singlets are not common, on branch two one is lead to a prediction which in fact coincides with
one version of split supersymmetry.  On branch three, there are a rich set of
questions one might hope to address.  We have begun some preliminary studies
of these statistics.

Finally, the observations of this paper
suggest a more refined (perhaps we should
say mature) view of naturalness.  In the landscape,
conventional ideas of naturalness often have
a sharp realization.  Our success in reproducing the
formulas of Douglas and Denef is an example.  Enumerating the
terms in a low energy effective action, and assuming
uniform distributions for them, yields
the results of DD's more sophisticated microscopic
calculation.  Our arguments about
physics in the different branches, and about the relevant populations of
branch two and three are similar.  But we are presently stymied in our
efforts to decide about the population of, and importance of,
branch one relative to branches two and three.  Taking the cutoff in the DD calculation
to be order one makes it plausible that branch one and two
have comparable populations; the work of Silverstein
and collaborators\cite{Saltman:2004jh} and of Bobkov\cite{Bobkov:2004cy},
suggesting that there are numerous
other constructions of non-susy vacua, might suggest
that the population of branch one is
huge compared to that of branch two.
It is also possible that cosmological
considerations will ultimately force us to phrase the question in some very different
way.

From all of this, it appears that it is difficult, in principle, to decide
whether or not the landscape predicts supersymmetry.  If one hypothesizes
that it does, than one may be able to make predictions about the
scale and nature of supersymmetry breaking.  If it does not, it will be
difficult to extract any real predictions; at best, one might give a rationale
for the appearance of technicolor or warping in low energy physics -- or their
absence.

\noindent
{\bf Acknowledgements:}
We thank B. Acharya, T. Banks, F. Denef, M. Douglas, S.
Dimopoulos S. Kachru, G. Moore, S. Shenker, E. Silverstein, L.Susskind and S. Thomas
for sharing their insights and expertise on these questions.  We are particularly
grateful to Michael Douglas for critical reading of an earlier version of the manuscript.
This work supported in part by the U.S.
Department of Energy.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Home » Games » DOS games » Role-playing » Treasures of the Savage Frontier
Play it online!
Treasures of the Savage Frontier
After the party's victory in Gateway to the Savage Frontier over the forces of Zhentil Keep, evil forces stir once more with a new plan to discredit the great city of Waterdeep and plunge the region into civil war that only these heroes can dare to stop.
Beyond Software, Inc.
Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Game published
Game perspective
1st-person
Game theme
D&D / AD&D
Licensed Title
Treasures of the Savage Frontier (1992) is a Gold Box Dungeons and Dragons role-playing video game. It was developed by Stormfront Studios and published by SSI for the Amiga and DOS. Play Treasures of the Savage Frontier online!
Treasures of the Savage Frontier game description
A few weeks after the events of Gateway to the Savage Frontier, the mage Amelior Aminitas magically summons the party (by now called the "Heroes of Ascore") to eliminate the (apparently) last remaining troops of the Zhentarim from the dwarven city of Llorkh.
Afterwards, the party is given a seemingly simple mission – to protect ambassadors of the "Lord's Alliance", which holds together the different cities of the frontier. However, the ambassadors are kidnapped, the Zhentarim and its allies (the Kraken Society and the Hosttower of the Arcane) plot to break up the alliance to conquer the region, and the party is framed as traitors.
The sequel to Gateway to the Savage Frontier is a role-playing game using SSI's standard Gold Box gameplay system. You can import existing characters from playing the first game. The game is viewed from above, as you move your party into mystery, buildings and combat. The game now includes weather changes that affect movement and NPC interaction.
The game, based as it is on the Gold Box engine, continues to use the grid-based, 3D system wherein the world is viewed from a first-person perspective with 90° turns and movement spaces. As with nearly every Gold Box game, party members were displayed in the upper right hand corner along with hit points and armor class. Random enemy encounters would provide combat opportunities within the game against mixed groups of foes, providing experience.
When combat would start, a tactical turn-based system was used to display the battlefield viewed from an isometric perspective. Every member of the party including each monster were shown as individual icons that had a limited number of moves onscreen. The player was challenged to maneuver their party on the map, take cover behind obstacles such as wells, or even block doorways and act as tanks in order to protect their spellcasters.
As this game was developed some time after the previous Gold Box titles were, it had also followed their lead in terms of its of copy protection by eschewing the cumbersome translation wheel that had been initially used.
Play Treasures of the Savage Frontier online
You can play Treasures of the Savage Frontier online here, in web browser for free!
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It's not like we can't go to the local grocery story and buy a can of coconut milk from the bakery section nowadays. Coconut milk has become so mainstream that we don't even need to schlep to our go-to asian market, which is FABULOUS. Can opener to can, spoon to swirl contents of said can around, and voila, you've got gata (coconut milk) for your dishes or dessert.
Not that I'm old, but I can actually remember a time, IN THE USA, that I had to sit on a bench thingy called a kabayo that had a sharp razor device at the end and would kayod (scrape) the coconut meat from it's shell so that my mom or lilay (mother's aunt - in which I recently found out is NOT a filipino word or term but something I made up as a child and the entire family went along with it) could make milk from scratch. Now that I think about it, that was a dangerous job for a 5 year old! However I am grateful, because I remembered how to make it and most importantly know how much better fresh coconut milk is than canned.
Here's a tutorial that I hope will inspire you to make your own gata. Let me know how it turned out!


text:
Q: GitLab Vagrant VM takes forever to provision, due to Berkshelf backup? I have a GitLab VM with Vagrant based on the GitLab Cookbook in production mode. I was running fine, until I had to restart the host today.
This is my output when I am running vagrant provision:
$ vagrant provision
[Berkshelf] This version of the Berkshelf plugin has not been fully tested on this version of Vagrant.
[Berkshelf] You should check for a newer version of vagrant-berkshelf.
[Berkshelf] If you encounter any errors with this version, please report them at https://github.com/RiotGames/vagrant-berkshelf/issues
[Berkshelf] You can also join the discussion in #berkshelf on Freenode.
[Berkshelf] Updating Vagrant's berkshelf: '/Users/admin/.berkshelf/default/vagrant/berkshelf-20140116-30359-fggony-default'
[Berkshelf] Using gitlab (0.6.4)
[Berkshelf] Using yum (2.4.2)
[Berkshelf] Installing magic_shell (0.3.2) from git: 'git://github.com/customink-webops/magic_shell.git' with branch: 'master' at ref: '447b4b67420d3a7a749d2dd3b13a7f9aceb54c36'
[Berkshelf] Installing monit (1.4.0) from git: 'git://github.com/phlipper/chef-monit.git' with branch: 'master' at ref: '276c99ba08869ebd5117267d91a2ff6aa0d9fc6b'
[Berkshelf] Using redisio (1.7.0)
[Berkshelf] Using ulimit (0.3.2)
[Berkshelf] Using ruby_build (0.8.0)
[Berkshelf] Using postgresql (3.3.4)
[Berkshelf] Using apt (2.3.0)
[Berkshelf] Using build-essential (1.4.2)
[Berkshelf] Using openssl (1.1.0)
[Berkshelf] Using mysql (4.0.10)
[Berkshelf] Using database (1.5.2)
[Berkshelf] Using aws (1.0.0)
[Berkshelf] Using xfs (1.1.0)
[Berkshelf] Using postfix (3.0.4)
[Berkshelf] Using phantomjs (1.0.3)
[Berkshelf] Using chocolatey (0.0.5)
[Berkshelf] Using powershell (1.1.2)
[Berkshelf] Using windows (1.11.0)
[Berkshelf] Using chef_handler (1.1.4)

Now it stays forever (more than 40 minutes) here ... after looking at some lsof output I found out that Berkshelf is creating a backup of all my files from home_git, which contains the application and repositories several GB in size.
ruby      10049 admin    7r     REG                1,2   59361467  99893126 /Users/admin/********/home_git/gitlab-satellites/*********/**********/.git/objects/89/61108fd29d60d311dd44b0e4d7ed0ddd7233ee
ruby      10049 admin    8w     REG                1,2   56639488 103952415 /Users/admin/.berkshelf/default/tmp/d20140206-10049-1q37zex/gitlab/home_git/gitlab-satellites/********/*********/.git/objects/89/61108fd29d60d311dd44b0e4d7ed0ddd7233ee

But these files don't have to be backed up, when I provision the VM.
Questions:

*

*It looks like Berkshelf is treating these files as part of one of my cookbooks?

*How could I tell Berkshelf to ignore this folder?

... or any other hint is very welcome! I also tried to disable Berkshelf without luck.
Workaround
If I move away the home_git folder the provisioning process runs through fast and smoothly.

A: Berkshelf 2 needed all of the cookbooks in a single location, since it compiled the metadata requirements on the fly. Berkshelf 3 uses a hosted API server, so this is no longer the case for most cookbooks.
However, it's also worth nothing that we are pushing people away from Vagrant Berkshelf and into Test Kitchen, as explained in this blog post: https://sethvargo.com/the-future-of-vagrant-berkshelf/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
A Dark Sky Tour Is Coming to Colorado That Includes Remote Towns With Starry Skies
It's no secret that the stars shine brightly in the Colorado night sky. An overnight camping trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park is a highlight on many visitors' itineraries for the startling desertscape set against the Sangre de Cristo mountains, but the nighttime views are another kind of spectacle.
Officially named a certified International Dark Sky Park (IDSP) by the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) this past May, Great Sand Dunes has earned the attention of many stargazers around the world, but locals know there are other places to ponder at the galaxies.
Great Sand Dunes National Park courtesy of Thinkstock.
After winning a $25,000 marketing grant from the Colorado Tourism Office (CTO), The Dark Sky Tour of Colorado will be underway in early December 2019. The tour will soon map out specific locations around the state known for their dark skies and connect them for a magical, once-in-a-lifetime road trip.
The tour, which is considered to be the first of its kind nationwide, will highlight rural communities, lesser-known parks and isolated mountain towns throughout numerous counties in the hopes that the stars will draw tourists away from overcrowded destinations such as Estes Park, Denver, Aspen, Colorado Springs and Breckenridge and disperse them so that they discover less populated regions instead.
According to Lindsey Diamond, chief storyteller for VistaWorks — the marketing agency behind the Dark Sky Tour — Huerfano, Custer, Alamosa, Mineral and Hinsdale counties have announced their partnership with plans to highlight the small Colorado towns of Westcliffe, La Veta, Creede, Cuchara, Crestone and Lake City in addition to the Great Sand Dunes.
Westcliffe. Photo by Scott Dankof courtesy of VistaWorks.
At 303, we hadn't even heard of some of these towns, so we're sure it's bound to be a pretty remote adventure. Diamond says the intrigue in stargazing and other skywatching events — especially out West — has only increased after the Solar Eclipse in 2017 that brought a lot of tourists to rural counties in Wyoming.
"People are really searching for this. We have all of our data and analytics and we know what people are looking for. Stargazing is always really hot. Once we started marketing [stargazing] in Westcliffe, their lodging tax was up 20% this summer," Diamond said.
Diamond says the fascination with stargazing has been great for smaller towns who are often forgotten and don't see a lot of foot traffic. Hinsdale County is one of the most remote counties in the contiguous United States based on its number of forested acres and wilderness areas — making Lake City, Colorado the most remote town. Getting people to come here is difficult as an understatement.
"The thing with stargazers is they have to spend the night. They're putting money into local economies because they're getting hotel rooms or Airbnbs and they're spending money on dinner," Diamond said. "Our ultimate goal is to promote tourism in these rural areas. The big towns in Colorado are doing just fine. These rural communities — their economies are struggling. If we can get them [tourists] to just spend the night, they have a day that they can fill with activities."
Visitors on the Dark Sky Tour in Colorado won't have to search long and hard to find things to do either. The official tour guide, which will live on Colorado.com, will list dark sky events including constellation and planet appearance dates, festivals, star parties and other astronomical happenings. The website will also include suggested itineraries with daytime recommendations including ATV tours, hiking trails, restaurants, historical sites and other attractions.
As for where to stargaze, VistaWorks is working to narrow down specific sites around the featured counties that are working on becoming dark-sky certified, have already received their dark sky certification or are just great places to check out the stars in general. Each community featured on the Dark Sky Tour is located at a high altitude and features low humidity, which allows for some of the best stargazing in the world.
For those attempting the official designation though, earning a dark sky certification from the IDA is no easy feat. Westcliffe, which officially earned its International Dark Sky Community Designation in 2015, worked on its certification for years according to Diamond, while Lake City is currently undergoing an arduous attempt to certify a park three miles south of town.
"It's not an easy process. It can take a couple of years depending on what you're applying for. There a couple of things you have to prove to the association. You have to prove community involvement — that involves hosting meetings. You have to create certain light ordinances in town. All the lights have to be shielded, so nothing is pointing upwards. It's a multi-year process. It's not something done overnight," she said.
Photo by Deb Adams and courtesy of VistaWorks.
Not all of the stargazing sites require strategic planning though. Diamond says some towns have more infrastructure for stargazing and include observatories, which will also be mapped out on the Dark Sky Tour.
"Westcliffe has the Smokey Jack Observatory in town, which is a really popular place to observe the stars. There are people who are often there on certain nights to operate the telescope for you. They host star parties," Diamond said. "They're so passionate about their stars and they recognized early on that it was going to be a big draw."
Diamond says she's humbled by the appreciation from these rural communities, who up until now, haven't had any incentive to drive tourism.
"They are really grateful. A lot of communities don't realize what they have and so we come in with fresh eyes. There is so much to do and they have no idea," Diamond said.
Diamond knows these towns are special, but the stars themselves are worth the trip alone even if you're just passing on through for the night. They're one of the reasons why Diamond moved to Colorado.
"People are really aching for this connection because it's just so lost in our culture. So many people live in cities and they don't know what it's like to really see a truly dark sky," she said. "I remember the first time I saw it. I grew up in New York and I came to Colorado for the first time when I was 15. I went camping. I remember that moment so clearly. It transformed me. I moved to Colorado and spent most of my time outside for as long as I could."
Diamond knows that helping people see the dark skies in our state is an important mission.
"To give that experience to people is pretty magical," she said.
Correction: the article was updated to add Creede and Cuchara and remove Del Norte, the San Luis Valley and Joyful Journey Hot Springs Spa from the Dark Sky Tour. Additionally, the lodging tax increase in Westcliffe rose to 20% after marketing the town's stargazing opportunities.
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The world community recognized the increased Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiations on the Earth surface owing to depletion of Ozone layer is a cause of concern as it affects human health and eco-systems. This led to the signing of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone layer on 22nd March, 1985 and subsequently the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer on 16thSeptember, 1987 to protect the Ozone layer.
The United Nations General Assembly on 23.1.1995 adopted a resolution 49/114 which proclaims 16th September as the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer, to commemorate the signing of the Montreal Protocol on the Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer which was signed on 16th September, 1987.
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer is universally recognized as the most successful environmental treaty in history. The Montreal Protocol in 27 years of its operation, extraordinary international cooperation led to phase-out of several Ozone Depleting Substances (ODSs).One of the key factors in this successful achievement was that the developed countries acknowledged their historic responsibility for production, consumption and emissions of ODSs that had led to the ozone hole. The developing countries took on commitments for phase-out of ODSs. Such common but differentiated responsibilities led to the success of the Montreal Protocol which can now serve as an example of excellent international cooperation for addressing other environmental challenges.
India became a Party to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone layer as early as on 18th March, 1991 and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer on 19thJune, 1992 and has ratified all the amendments to the Montreal Protocol.
Since then, India has played a key role in negotiation of the Protocol and implementation of phase-out of ODSs as per the Montreal Protocol schedule by adopting various policy measures,including National Awareness Campaign.Awareness of Ozone issues is the key to promote switching over to non-ODS technologies in the industry.In accordance with the UN resolution, the Ozone Cell, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India has been celebrating the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer since 1995 at National and State levels.
The Ozone Cell, MoEF&CC, Government of India celebrated the International Ozone Day on 16th September, 2014 at Hyderabad, India. The Theme for the 20th International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer for the year 2014 is "Ozone Layer Protection: The Mission Goes On".The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone layer has so far been successful in meeting the targets on phasing out ODSs. As a result, the abundance of ODSs in the atmosphere is declining and the Ozone layer is expected to recover around the middle of this century. This year's theme seeks to galvanize all stakeholders to increase their efforts to address the challenges.
(a) Painting, poster, Slogan writing competitions for school children.
(b) Publication of a poster, painting and sticker for distribution to industry, institutions, Government Departments, schools and students and others with a view to raise public awareness.
(c) Publication of booklet Titled "The Montreal Protocol : India's Success Story" highlighting the initiatives undertaken and achievements made by the Ozone Cell, MoEF&CC, Government of India,on implementation of the Montreal Protocol in India.
(d) Telecasting of a video film on the Montreal Protocol and Ozone layer by the Doordarshan.
The winners of the competitions in various categories were presented awards comprising of cash award, mementoes and merit certificates at the function organized on the occasion of the 20th International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone layer.


After spending several days surfing on the coast, Chris Bezamat woke up in Portillo, 160 miles away in the Andes, to severely overcast skies and firm snowpack. The mountain had good coverage, but the light was flat and things looked grim. As the evening rolled around, flakes started to fall.
July 25: The light is still flat, but it's snowing hard. Wind gusts are here and there, but for the most part the flakes are falling straight down with increasing quantity. Bombs go off all morning; there is at least two feet of fresh and it's perfectly cold. We get a brief break in the storm at around 3:45 and things look good for tomorrow and many people are calling for blue bird.
July 26: Blue bird it is! Maybe six more inches fell on top of the previous day's two feet and the mountain looks fantastic. Ski school instructors in their blue uniforms start to attack the slopes as we ride our first lift up. The lake run and Roca Jack lift are closed for the day, but there is plenty of powder to harvest. This could be our big day as clouds are forecasted for the next day.
After countless laps of knee- to waist-deep turns, we head up to Tio Bob's for lunch and beers. Wisps of clouds start to blow in as we watch the ski patrol helicopter bring explosives to the ridge up above the famous Roca Jack lift. Cornices fall, bringing some slough down the faces, but no real avalanche activity happens.
July 27: We wake up to some high gray and milky skies, but decide to attempt the Super C couloir anyway. We take the Roca Jack early and begin to put in the boot pack straight up the face above it. The going is very slow since we are wallowing in waist-deep pow up a steep face. It's 3,500 feet of boot-packing and as we finish the first third of the hike, the clouds part and the sun starts heating up the snow and put our safety into question. Big, Cinnabon-style roller balls start to fall as we finally reach the sketchy traverse that leads into the neighboring chute that will bring us to the top.
The traverse is really steep for about 10 feet and to fall means ping-ponging through rocks into a dead-end chute of death. Todd Ligare inches his way across successfully and the rest follow suit without incident. The final 1,000 feet of boot-packing was more like post-hole digging since you had to clear a trench through the lighter powder snow as you advance. I took the lead and instantly fell into a hole up to my armpits. Had my skis not been across my back, I would have disappeared. After four and half hours, we reach the saddle and have the small sandwiches we made at breakfast and cold beers.


2LT Garret Faulkner, a Terran, is currently a Marine officer aboard the USS Columbia.
Life was tough on Gallentine, replicators were nearly non existant, and their use was generally restricted to the high ranking and important inhabitants. The Average lifespan of an inhabitant is 30 years under perfect conditions. Garret could happily say his early life was free of problems, but when he decided to move on with his life fate reared it's ugly head.
Jacob, his younger brother fell in with the gangers running wild on Gallentine, and the day Garret shipped off to Starfleet he got the news, his brother had been shot in a gang dispute and was killed, hopefully without much suffering. Garret put off mourning and focused on his studies, seeming to use them to build a wall between the real world and himself, his teachers and superiors gave him the name "Mr Smiles" sarcastically, as they never once saw him do so.
Several months into his studies he received the news, his parents had been died in a mining accident that had blow up most of the station, the remaining inhabitants were currently being evacuated and reintegrated to other planets. A year into his time at the academy he decided to take on a marine major and become a Starfleet Marine Corps officer. This new focus seemed to finally bring Garret back to life, he began talking to people again, made friends (and enemies) in the next few years. During his time at marine training he received high marks, especially during the leadership and hostage rescue courses, and upon graduation it was said that he actually smiled.
This page was last modified on 12 September 2016, at 17:18.


The Gracious Ladies Will Return Friday!
Dear readers! We do apologize for the slight delay in new Handbook entries. As you know we were recently attacked by a large horde of zombies. We are busy making improvements to our current shelter as well as sending out search teams to scout new locations. It has, unfortunately, been determined that we are in a highly concentrated zed zone. We have lots more to share about shopping around for real estate, moving and other new shelter essentials. Stay tuned! Regular posting will resume on Friday.


To amend Section 40-18-21, Code of Alabama 1975, relating to the income tax credit for taxes paid on income from sources outside the state; and to provide that the income tax credit for taxes paid on income from sources outside the state only offset the portion of the taxpayer's income tax liability that is attributable to income derived from non-Alabama sources.
(a)(1) For the purpose of ascertaining the income tax due under the provisions of this chapter by individual residents of Alabama whose gross income, as defined herein, is derived from sources both within and outside the State of Alabama, there shall be allowed a credit against the amount of tax found to be due by such resident, on account of income derived from outside the State of Alabama, the amount of income tax actually paid by such resident to any state or territory on account of business transacted or property held, directly or indirectly, outside the State of Alabama. Resident individual owners of Subchapter K entities, Alabama S corporations, and beneficiaries of estates or trusts who include their proportionate share of the income arising from one or more of these entities in their Alabama gross income shall be allowed a credit for their proportionate share of the income tax actually paid by the entity to any state or territory on account of business transacted or property held outside the State of Alabama, whether the payment was made on behalf of the resident individual owner or because the entity was not recognized by such state or territory as a non-taxable pass-through entity. For purposes of this subsection, income tax shall be defined to include, but not be limited to, any tax based in whole or in part on the entity's net income, net profits, or gross profits; provided, however, that the term income tax shall not include any tax based on the entity's net worth, capital, or asset values, and shall not include any tax for which an exclusion or deduction is claimed in the calculation of taxable income reported on the Alabama income tax return.
(2) In case the amount of income tax actually paid by or on behalf of an individual resident of Alabama, or by one of the entities described in subdivision (a)(1) above, to another state or territory is in excess of the amount of tax that would be due on the same income computed using the applicable Alabama income tax rates, then only such amount as would be due in this state on such taxable income shall be allowed as a credit. In no event shall the credit for income taxes paid to another state or territory exceed the amount of tax that would be due on the same taxable income computed using the applicable Alabama income tax rates.
(3) As a further limitation, the credit for taxes paid to another state or territory shall only be utilized against that portion of a taxpayer's Alabama income tax liability that is attributable to income from other states or territories to which income taxes were paid with respect to that tax year, which shall be determined by multiplying the taxpayer's Alabama income tax liability before consideration of any credit described in subdivision (a)(1) by a fraction, the numerator of which is the taxpayer's Alabama adjusted gross income attributable to other states or territories to which income taxes or the equivalent thereof were paid by or on behalf of an individual resident of Alabama, or by one of the entities described in subdivision (a)(1), and the denominator of which is total Alabama adjusted gross income.
(3) (4) If the amount of income tax actually paid by or on behalf of an individual resident of Alabama to any other state or territory on account of business transacted or property held is less than the amount of tax that would be due, as computed using the applicable Alabama income tax rates, then the income tax levied herein shall be computed on the entire taxable income from sources from both within and outside the state as defined herein, and the tax shall be paid less the credit allowed in this section for tax paid on income derived, directly or indirectly, from outside the state.
(4) (5) Before a resident of Alabama may claim the credit allowed under this subsection (a), he or she shall file with his or her Alabama income tax return a certificate showing the amount of gross and net income derived, directly or indirectly, from sources outside this state, together with the amount of tax paid or to be paid on such income.
(b) Any taxpayer described in Section 40-18-2(1) or Section 40-18-2(6), who, during any year, has been assessed a job development fee as described in Section 41-10-44.8(b), shall be allowed a credit against the amount of income tax due under the provisions of this chapter in such year in an amount equal to the job development fee withheld from the taxpayer's wages during the year.
(c)(1) A resident individual taxpayer, who is either a partner or member of a Subchapter K entity, a shareholder of an Alabama S corporation, or a beneficiary of an estate or trust, during all or part of a year, shall be allowed a credit equal to fifty percent (50%) of his or her proportionate share of the income taxes paid or accrued, including a payment recognized by 26 U.S.C. §901, to a foreign country with respect to the trade or business or investment income of such business, including related operations and affiliates.
(2) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the credit allowed in this subsection shall not exceed the amount of income tax that would otherwise be imposed by Alabama on the individual's income derived from the foreign country."
Timely filed petitions for refund of overpaid income tax for the 2013 through 2017 tax years shall be granted, as otherwise appropriate, without consideration of the additional limitation provided in Section 40-18-21(a)(3) of this act or the limitation contained in the version of Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-3-21-.03 as of the effective date of this act; provided, however, that refund petitions for overpayment of income tax paid for tax years prior to 2017 related to the credit for taxes paid to other states or territories must be filed with the department by the earlier of (1) the expiration of the period in which to file refund petitions set forth in section 40-2A-7, or (2) Saturday, June 30, 2018. No adjustments included in or portions of any preliminary assessment or final assessment, or proposed adjustments or portions of proposed adjustments of income tax attributable to the application of the additional limitation provided in Section 40-18-21(a)(3) of this act or the limitation contained in the version of Ala. Admin. Code r. 810-3-21-.03 as of the effective date of this act may be entered or issued with respect to tax years ending on or before December 31, 2017, and any such assessment, adjustment, or portion thereof entered in violation of this provision shall be void and unenforceable and shall promptly be withdrawn, revised, or dismissed with prejudice by the department.
The department may promulgate rules to assist with the administration of this act.
This act shall become effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2018.
March 22, 2018 H Assigned Act No. 2018-465.