text:
Spiral Garden
Butterfly Peace Garden
Monkey's Tale Center
Step by Step Studio
Present Objectives
Future Objectives
Out-of-the-Box Comments
24 Hr Gallery
Beautiful Nonsense – The Book
Even if the Sky Falls
Posted on June 13, 2016 byPaul Hogan
Please allow me introduce Esperanza. Here she is at the window when the train pulls into Maho Junction en route from Colombo to Batticaloa. My window seat on the train and hers in the station align perfectly every time. This is the place where the train reverses direction and proceeds backwards for the rest of the journey, reflecting the interchangeability of backward and forward movement in the Batti rota. You never really know when you're making progress or what it would look like if you were.
Since I last reported here in February I've made three extended trips of about a month's duration each in Batticaloa. At Monkey's Tale work on the Out-of-the Box curriculum inches along at the pace of a snail whose inscrutable meanderings defy prediction, but it hasn't quite come to a standstill. For that I'm much obliged to Kula and Theva who show up faithfully every day when family obligations, religious holidays and more profitable work opportunities don't intervene. Out-of-the-Box funds are a bit stretched and, as you know, money talks or people walk. We were running on empty let last year when an unexpected windfall came in the form of a grant from the Bishop Chong Community Trust in Toronto, facilitated through the good graces of its prescient chairwoman, Susan Crean. We can say with some confidence that work on the fabled 'out-of-the-box' box nears completion thanks to His Remnant's timely intervention.
Esperanza looks out at me and nods as if to say, "You see, all's well Po. You worry too much." Just a nod. No wink. She usually has something to say before the train judders and jolts backwards, heading down line in the opposite direction. The last time she cautioned me, "Life's a show, Po, and the show must go on." Then she winked and closed the curtain.
I spend considerable time on the rotunda at Monkey's Tale babbling to myself about the subtleties of a fool's errand and complaining to the crows when they will listen, which isn't often. Fish guts or chicken bones help. Occasionally there are other callers: the toad residing in room one, the magpie robins in the mango tree and, on rare occasion, the dwarf kingfisher. These charmed and elusive creatures would usurp the playbill entirely were it not for the regular intervention of reality with requests from friends to conjure up another proposal for this or that scheme at the Butterfly Garden or Monkey's Tale, something upbeat and original to keep the dream on drip feed a little longer. Nobody, including myself, wants to admit the Garden has seen its day as it once was.
Toad sits by the door at Monkey's Tale late one moody afternoon anticipating an evening's frolic in the garden. A red laser beam flashes through the keyhole when his gaze and mine meet.
"Don't you have anything better to do than spy on toads?" he asks.
"Not that I can think of, Toby. Bit grumpy tonight, are we?"
"Not at all. No regrets. No doubts. Fine time for a frolic actually."
"Surely regrets and doubt are what life's all about?"
"And a frolic in the rain. That's what it's about tonight."
"You know what they say: ask for rain, you'll get mud."
"And you know what I say? Bring it on! The mud. The flood. The ark. The dark. I'm ready, Lord."
As night closed in he hopped off the porch into the garden jungle. It started to spit. Then splatter. Then sluice down. "Remember Po", he croaks in the distance, "even if the sky falls there's always a tiny hole to get out through".
16.1 What's it all about, Toby?
He won't say it outright, but Toby's been sitting in solitary long enough to have a thought or two on the subject of loss and the dwindling of dreams. It's a matter of knowing how to wade through the remains, or wait it through, without losing heart, finding ways to hunker down and maybe even enjoy hard times, or a least learn from them. New visions will come, new vistas and possibilities. Everything has its day then the tide turns and runs another way. But don't hold your breath. Change follows its own rules and takes its own time.
For the Butterfly Garden, which has all but closed down completely, the time has come time for retreat and reflection. Here's the way Toby put it when he appeared in a dream disguised as an old gypsy fortune teller, Tabitha by name, whose warts and raspy croak gave the old boy away. I'd just arrived back in Bangkok from Colombo. It was my first night there, my first sleep. We were sitting across from each other in a cavernous room sparsely illuminated by the stub of a candle flickering on the side table. Tabitha took my hands in hers calmly reassuring me of everything I already knew, but refused to accept. These are her words as they echo in the vault of memory, received on my own part with sadness and tears.
I have been reflecting deeply on the Garden, struggling to understand its precarious financial position and what can be done. I repeatedly get images of letting the earth lie fallow – a natural death so to say – and of not really trying to take control of this situation but rather allowing a peaceful end to this phase of the Garden's story.
It is not one of failure or of lack of caring but rather seeing that it has fully served the organizational and artistic purpose for which it was created. Those presently working there would find other paths for their lives. The space would remain holding all the positive energy, memories, stories, artistic culture, children's laughter and creativity embodied in its history.
Then slowly, in perhaps six months to one year, I sense you could bring people together as mentioned in the 'Paapam Parliament' you propose and remember all the things learned in the garden, its creative role in the community, reflecting on the needs of children postwar going forward. There will have been a time of sadness at an ending, but if the proper rites of passage are performed then I think everyone who has been part of the Garden will feel at peace with the ending of an era but also with the possibility of rebirth in another form at some point in the future. Those who truly care about the vision of the Garden will come out to support it while others who may have just needed a job or benefited in other ways will have moved on.
Also with a group of people and an organizational culture that has been largely dependent on foreign funding since its inception it is difficult to move into a model of self-sufficiency and sustainability. Creating something newer, smaller, building on the foundation of the garden and its cultural memory from a strictly local perspective is much easier to accomplish.
The candle guttered and the room disappeared into the dark but Tabitha's words travel with me as I sit in the cloudy hills of Chiang Mai sifting through remnants of the Garden's rich and ebullient history wondering which way to go next? It's not easy but I think I'm ready to let go of the single-most transformative and enduring experience of my life, a twenty-year pilgrimage – or hallucination, perhaps – on the Garden Path in Sri Lanka. I know this will entail saying farewell, perhaps for the last time, to the dearest of friends and disposing myself to receive whatever comes next, even if it is the silence of the tomb. At the end of this day, however, I remain convinced of one crucial point.
Many people, especially the children and youth of Batticaloa, have contributed to spinning the pure magic of the Butterfly Peace Garden during days of disaster and depletion. Out of this crucible of dread, with the encouragement of a dedicated administration and devoted animators, they summoned the Dream of the Garden as a sign of hope to rally the children of Batticaloa.
Now these children have grown up. They have taken their place in the community. They are teachers, lawyers, nurses, doctors, bankers, businessmen and women in many professions. They are also farmers, masons, mechanics, weavers, toddy tappers, tuktuk drivers, carpenters and artists. Many are now fathers and mothers themselves. They are beautiful and full of the dreams and vitality that belong to youth alone. I can't help but think the Garden's is in good hands if this generation of butterflies become custodians of its future. That is why I am proposing the idea of the Paapam Parliament: to make way for this possibility.
A chorus of croaks echoes through the night. "If you need a Speaker for this Paapam Parliament Po, I'm your man." Now that's a good sign! Toby's already on the job, in position to serve as speaker with all the basso profundo authority he can muster.
From the dust of dreams denied a new star rises. A star is light we can follow. It constellates within the intergalactic ferment of communities in creative collaboration during times of crisis, transition and change. Wise women and old horn toads tell us that when we frame adversity as challenge we become more flexible. We learn from it, move on, and grow.
16.2 The Paapam Parliament
A favorite word for ending meetings in Batticaloa is "paapam", which means "let's see" in Tamil. The idea behind a "Paapam Parliamant" is to invite all those who made the Garden what it was in its prime back to see how we can find a way forward. The Garden has crashed but it's not kaput. All is not lost. We can ask old butterflies back to read the runes of what remains. What will come of this labour of love? Paapam… let's see.
The Butterfly Garden in its prime was a work of art composed and arranged by many hands, young and old. Its marginality, originality and imagination attracted supporters far and wide. That is how it survived on its beggarly alms rounds among international donors. But then the war went away, the tsunami went away, the donors went away and with that good will went away. Or so it seems. Now the beggar's bowl is empty but the beggar blunders on. Even empty the bowl holds itself.
Art allows us to lose and find ourselves at the same time. In its early formative years we summoned image, story, theatre, music, song and ritual to propagate and renew the life of the Butterfly Garden. We convoked formal and informal talking and listening circles (parliaments) where we opened our hearts, declared our minds, resolved contentious issues and nurtured the long-term process of community wellbeing through art with children being the prime movers behind the whole process.
The question is this: why don't we apply traditional Garden artwork and heart work principles to the current impasse? Maybe the ceremonies of innocence have drowned in mind-numbing bureaucracy? Maybe we've forgotten how we did it, being so long out of practice? Maybe it's an anachronism and no one needs parliament now that we're wired up to smart technology? Maybe it's just too messy and takes too much time to pull together? Or maybe we've grown too old and cynical to care when there's no immediate payoff in financial terms? Chasing the elusive butterfly of happiness is exhausting. Maybe we're just plain exhausted.
Let's ask ourselves what a risen and renewed Garden would look like? Let's go back to our roots. By recognizing our predicament in an open and well-informed forum, one where participants know the history and affirm, if not embrace, the poesis behind Garden Path praxis, we can recoup the vision and renew the vitality of Butterfly Peace Garden and Monkey's Tale Centre from inside out.
This is what the Paapam Parliament is all about. It's about letting the past be past and getting started on renewal for the future. Let's see how we can turn things around at the Butterfly Peace Garden to meet the needs of contemporary post war children in Batticaloa and throughout the country. Let's see how we can promote reconciliation, ecological awareness and better understanding among young people through play. Let's see how children once again can show us the way to compassion through creation in the midst of chaos and collapse of the old structures.
Above all, let's be broadly inclusive about inviting back all those who made the Garden what it was in the old days. The Paapam Parliament, a general assembly of Garden sympathetic souls will be open to all "stakeholders", including management, animators, children (ex-butterflies), and friends from the Garden's twenty-year history.
No fairytale foreign agency will come to the rescue of the Garden anymore providing for all contingencies and needs, whims and wishes. No hero will arrive from outside to save the day. The salvation and sustainability of the Butterfly Garden and Monkey's Tale will come from within the Batticaloa community itself or not at all.
The first step is to enlarge the frame of reference, opening up the playing field to a diversity of approaches and ideas that might make this transition possible. By recognizing the roots of the present dilemma we can create a strategic plan for renewal within the Garden based on a mixed economy that balances small income-producing entrepreneurial ventures matched with funds from external Garden Path partners who share the same values.
To get started we can form a Paapam Parliament steering committee to plan and organize such an event, not immediately but within the next six months to a year, as Tabitha recommends.
16.3 Now and Forevermore
In the Garden's early years there was a Professor of Political Science and International Relations from Ottawa teaching at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland who recognized that what we were doing with kids at the Butterfly Peace Garden was different from programs offered to kids in other war zones around the world. The Garden was special, probably unique. We didn't know that but he did, so he promoted, protected, and taught us about the significance of what we were doing.
Under chaotic conditions the Garden cultivated courage and compassion in war-affected children through play, image making, poetry, art, music, and prophetic theatre, by which we mean homegrown theatre that evokes the capacity to outwardly manifest the interior aspirations of the heart. This formed the core Heart Work of the Butterfly Peace Garden just as it had done with physically challenged children at the Spiral Garden in Toronto. We provided a sanctuary for the child's imagination and intuition during times of conflict, disaster, disappearance and systematic human rights abuse, and we made this approach public in our apparitional clown theatre.
Being a poet, rebel, and serious clown at in his own rite, Kenneth Bush intuitively connected with what was going on in the Garden. He saluted and celebrated our efforts abroad, staunchly protecting the Garden from evildoers and do-gooders alike. Not surprisingly he was harder on the good guys, claiming that bad guys were easy to read whereas with humanitarian heroes you never knew quite what they were up to. In 2001 we appointed him Foreign Minister for the Democratic Anarchy of the Butterfly Peace Garden of Batticaloa (DABFoG) in perpetuity.
He was my coach too. Though I was never much of a hockey player Kenneth taught me to stick handle and skate through blistering hot sand in withering tropical heat to score a few goals for the Garden. He was fast, daring, tough, and when need be, a wee bit rough. Only after the game had played itself out was he all sweetness and light, laughter and a jig. Till the jig's up, that is. Then it's back to the front of course, for the battle never ends.
Kenneth's penetrating gaze could perceive and assess a complex social situation back to front, inside out, in a heartbeat. This gift accounts in some measure for the turbulence and passion of our man and, at the bottom of it all, his kindness, for he saw we all have our soft spots and we all have hard lessons too to learn from life.
On Saturday April 16 Kenneth died unexpectedly in Ottawa at 54 years of age. He was born on Halloween, 1961, a scary guy for sure. I still can't believe he's gone from our world when we need people of his caliber more than ever. I'm thinking of the recent massacre in Orlando when I say this, finding myself in tears again. And I'm thinking of an old Chinese wisdom, "Today as our hands part we do not know in what year we will meet again."
I saddens me to confess that I hadn't talked to nor heard from Kenneth for three years when I received news of his passing. I tried to contact him many times over that period but never got a reply. Not one. To this very day I don't know why. Why no phone calls, text messages, Skype visits or e-mail? Nothing. "Sometimes no answer is an answer," he told me once. "So what was the question?"
Ken was a tough teacher but he made learning easy and fun, just like the kids he met in the Butterfly Garden when he visited Batticaoa on many occasions over the early years. We dedicate the Out-of-the-Box Curriculum to him and to the children of the Butterfly Peace Garden. Our Monkey's Tale logo, which was lifted from the one and only Mystery Painting he ever did, also serves to remind us that our very capable Foreign Minister, Dr. Kenneth David Bush Ph.D. (Cornell), represents us in the highest celestial councils of influence and authority, now and forevermore.
16.4 Easy Rider East
Toby returns from his night out in the rain with a new job. He debriefs while along hopping the verandah on his way to bed in the dining hall drainpipe.
"Got a job last night, Po. Three month teaching gig with World University Services of Canada. WUSC for short."
"Great! What are you teaching?"
"Art. I'm a Creative and Behavioral Specialist in Soft Skills Development."
"Really? Very impressive! I didn't know that."
"Neither did I till now."
What I found out the next day is that Toby's going to teach one part of a Motorcycle Mechanics Course, the art part, to a class of about forty boys from back-country Batticaloa. The course lasts three months. Several days are dedicated to augmenting hard skills – for example, learning how to strip down a bike and put it back together from scratch – as opposed to augmenting soft skills, which is? Whatever Toby's does.
"So what exactly do you do?"
"Same thing every night. Get lost in dreams. Find find my way home."
"You're not supposed to. It's called Art. A lot of these kids have had a hard go. They're lost."
"How's art going to help?"
"Getting lost in order to find yourself: classic definition of art."
"How do you teach that?"
"I don't. We do Mystery Painting together. We make Puppet Ladders. Masked Theatre. Story Stone narrations. Conversations with the Story Snake. Voila! What's lost is found. Or at least the kid's got a better idea where to look for it. You're not just Mohammed, Mahesh, or Mohan, the motorcycle mechanic. You're an original!"
Toby made a run with the local WUSC field rep, Jeyakumar, to have a chat with boys in the class at Sarvodaya one fiercely hot day. Somehow it's against grain for a toad to find himself out and about at ten o'clock in the morning, brutally exposed to the reality of mid-day heat, not to mention gearboxes and grease, brakes and clutch pads, gas tanks and spark plug gizmos scattered all over the joint. Not the kind of place you'd usually find a self-respecting toad.
But Toby's says he's doing it because he likes the pluck of the lads and because Esperanza winked at him last time at Gal Oya Junction and then she actually said something. She said, "What the heck Po, give it a go!" A wisp of Mona Lisa lingered in her smile as the train pulled out of the station. Then she confided in a urgent whisper. "Wear your shades, Po. These are bright kids, full of dreams and dread. Deepen the mystery for them. Make them laugh and love themselves a bit more. Remember, life is short but art is long. "
All I can say is you'll never catch a respectable toad out and about in broad daylight like this without his wellies and shades. Wellies in case it rains and shades if it doesn't. Toby quizzed the kids about art and it's relationship to motorcycle mechanics. Where do the two meet? Anything in common? The boys looked a bit puzzled having a toad road test them. Their blank stares told the tale but they were good sports and played along and, after an awkward silence during which Toby performed headstands while twirling a hula hoop to loosen them up, answers spilled out like bonanza beans.
"Can't ride if a bike if it's broke."
"When you ride, nowhere you can't hide."
"Get on a bike and take a serious hike – to the moon and back."
"Say goodbye to the world. Going. Going. Gone!"
"Nobody can find you but you can find them."
"Wind her out free as wind."
"Beware of toads crossing roads at night."
Sounds like art to me, wouldn't you agree? Every single answer applies equally to art and motorcycles. Then came the clincher.
"Whatever you do with your heart, that's art."
Toby was sold.
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Mechanics," he said.
"Somebody already wrote that book, Toby."
"Details, details Po. But I do have a few doubts about the job."
"Well, you know, these kids are all Tamil and I don't speak Tamil. And when I do it sounds like a load of toad twaddle. And time's a little tight too, I mean for performing the miracle expected of me. Then there's all the up and down travel for an old toad, and the prep and the finishing and all that bother. Who's going to do all that? We're talking art here. That means you don't know what you're doing one minute to the next. Ever. And it all happens anyway, so why fuss? But I do. I fuss. You know what I mean?"
"What can I say, Toby, but paapam? Paapam, you know? Let's see."
16.5 Gone Fishing
No money, no honey. No rattle in the piggy bank. A familiar story but one we've overcome many times along the way through contributions made by generous and thoughtful friends like you. And here I go launching yet another fundraising campaign to finish what I started and get myself, my archives and the Out-of-the-Path Curriculum (one, possibly two, of four units) back to Toronto where I intend to establish the Garden Path Foundation as a not-for-profit organization. Not certain where exactly I'll set up shop when I get there. Most plausible destinations, unless fortunes shift dramatically for the better, will either be the Chong Home for Creative Seniors with Karen Montesanto in Hamilton, a residency with the Seeds of Hope Foundation unpacking the Out-of-the-Box Curriculum, or a live-in locker at Queen West Storage.
Hard to believe it keeps coming down to this but it is the Stupid School after all, where Economics 101 is not on the course list; in fact it's on the Index of Forbidden Books. So if you do have a bit of spare change and wish to pass it along I'm trying to raise enough to underwrite the return expedition to Canada this fall. I've already made a good start with donations of approximately $800 from family, friends and colleagues of Kenneth's, given in his memory, to be used for Out-of-the-Box and Garden Path exigencies. I thank Kevin Bush, Kenneth's brother in Ottawa, and everyone who has contributed.
One shocking discovery I made when I researched the record of my Garden Path website reporting to those who donated to the Out-of-the-Box crowd funding campaign last year is this: there have only been 30 hits on the site since it went up in May of last year. That's right, 30! This number totally astounds me since I send out personal e-mails with the Garden Path link www.thegardenpath.ca to each donor (152 in all) with every update, and there have been sixteen updates during the last year. I'm sure I must have logged on at least 30 times myself.
I'm beginning to worry that no one will read this update either. These days everyone's busy. And distracted. The whole world's distracted by distractions from the distraction of distractions. That's the game. And words are a distraction. Especially too many of them. I know. That's why people twitter and tweet these days. Even the president of the United States twitters and tweets. I don't know how how to tweet, birdbrain that I am.
I don't understand these things, nor do I care to, but if anyone out there in Cybercity knows what the opposite of "gone viral" is (… "gone spiral"… "gone gaga"… "gone belly"… or, as they say here … "dingdong"…) please let me know. 30 hits must surely be a noteworthy negative record worthy of kudos and reward. If you wish to make a contribution please drop me a line and I'll forward banking details.
Esperanza wasn't at her window at Maho Junction when I last road the rails to Batti. There was a note however, passed along by the chai walla during our stop. "Gone fishing out to sea" was how it read. The word "sea" was crossed out and replaced by "see." Then the final "e" of "see" was scratched out in favor of "a" once again, as in "sea". Dear Esperanza. Guess I'm not the only one out to sea on a fishing expedition.
© The Garden Path


text:
Q: Unity3D OffNavMesh jump issue I have set up Unity navigation meshes (four planes), navigation agent (sphere) and set up automatic and manual off mesh links. It should now jump between meshes. It does jump between meshes, but it does that in straight lines.
In other words, when agent comes to an edge, instead of actually jumping up (like off mesh link is drawn) it just moves straight in line but a bit faster. I tried moving one plane higher than others, but sphere still was jumping in straight line.
Is it supposed to be like this? Is it possible to set up navigation to jump by some curve? Or should I try to implement that myself?

A: Its recommended to solve your problems via animation. Just create a Jump animation for your object, and play it at the correct time.
The position is relative, so if you increase the Y-position in your animation it will look like the object is jumping.
This is also how the Unity sample is working, with the soldiers running around.

A: I came by this question, and had to dig through the Unity sample. I just hope to make it easier for people by extracting the important bits.
To apply your own animation/transition across a navmesh link, you need to tell Unity that you will handle all offmesh link traversal, then add code that regularly checks to see if the agent is on an offmesh link. Finally, when the transition is complete, you need to tell Unity you've moved the agent, and resume normal navmesh behaviour.
The way you handle link logic is up to you. You can just go in a straight line, have a spinning wormhole, whatever. For jump, unity traverses the link using animation progress as the lerp argument, this works pretty nicely. (if you're doing looping or more complex animations, this doesn't work so well)
The important unity bits are:
_navAgent.autoTraverseOffMeshLink = false; //in Start()
_navAgent.currentOffMeshLinkData; //the link data - this contains start and end points, etc
_navAgent.CompleteOffMeshLink(); //Tell unity we have traversed the link (do this when you've moved the transform to the end point)
_navAgent.Resume(); //Resume normal navmesh behaviour

Now a simple jump sample...
using UnityEngine;

[RequireComponent(typeof(NavMeshAgent))]
public class NavMeshAnimator : MonoBehaviour
{
    private NavMeshAgent _navAgent;
    private bool _traversingLink;
    private OffMeshLinkData _currLink;

    void Start()
    {
        // Cache the nav agent and tell unity we will handle link traversal
        _navAgent = GetComponent<NavMeshAgent>();
        _navAgent.autoTraverseOffMeshLink = false;
    }

    void Update()
    {
        //don't do anything if the navagent is disabled
        if (!_navAgent.enabled) return;

        if (_navAgent.isOnOffMeshLink)
        {
            if (!_traversingLink)
            {
                //This is done only once. The animation's progress will determine link traversal.
                animation.CrossFade("Jump", 0.1f, PlayMode.StopAll);
                //cache current link
                _currLink = _navAgent.currentOffMeshLinkData;
                //start traversing
                _traversingLink = true;
            }

            //lerp from link start to link end in time to animation
            var tlerp = animation["Jump"].normalizedTime;
            //straight line from startlink to endlink
            var newPos = Vector3.Lerp(_currLink.startPos, _currLink.endPos, tlerp);
            //add the 'hop'
            newPos.y += 2f * Mathf.Sin(Mathf.PI * tlerp);
            //Update transform position
            transform.position = newPos;

            // when the animation is stopped, we've reached the other side. Don't use looping animations with this control setup
            if (!animation.isPlaying)
            {
                //make sure the player is right on the end link
                transform.position = _currLink.endPos;
                //internal logic reset
                _traversingLink = false;
                //Tell unity we have traversed the link
                _navAgent.CompleteOffMeshLink();
                //Resume normal navmesh behaviour
                _navAgent.Resume();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            //...update walk/idle animations appropriately ...etc

A: Not sure what version of unity you are using but you could also try this, I know it works just fine in 4:
string linkType = GetComponent<NavMeshAgent>().currentOffMeshLinkData.linkType.ToString();

if(linkType == "LinkTypeJumpAcross"){

        Debug.Log ("Yeah im in the jump already ;)");
}

also just some extra bumf for you, its best to use a proxy and follow the a navAgent game object:
Something like:
AIMan = this.transform.position;
AI_Proxy.transform.position = AIMan;
And also be sure to use:
AI_Proxy.animation["ProxyJump"].blendMode = AnimationBlendMode.Additive;
If you are using the in built unity animation!
K, that's my good deed for this week.

A: Fix position in update()
if (agent.isOnOffMeshLink)
 {
    transform.position =  new Vector3(transform.position.x, 0f, transform.position.z);
 }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Are You a Commercial Landlord?
Landlord - Tenant contractual relationships occasionally result in dispute. When they do, Firth, Bunn, Kerr, Neill ensures our clients are provided efficient and experienced representation.
In landlord-tenant disputes, far too much is involved for either party to attempt to resolve the matter without the assistance of a skilled legal counsel. In the representation of the landlord, Firth, Bunn, Kerr, Neill protects landlord's rights and ensures that every available legal remedy is sought for recovery.
Commercial landlord-tenant laws in Texas and New Mexico encompass the legal relationship between a landlord and a business tenant. However, residential landlord-tenant laws differ greatly from those operating under the terms of a commercial lease agreement. Employing an attorney who is knowledgeable about the difference between the two areas of law will serve to save you time and money in the future. Firth, Bunn, Kerr, Neill is an established elite west Texas and Southern New Mexico real estate litigation firm. Backed by distinguishable accomplishments, we have represented businesses locally and nationally in both commercial and residential tenancies.
Involved in a Residential Landlord - Tenant Dispute?
In residential leases, unlike under commercial leases, the rights of the tenants are more closely defined under Texas and New Mexico law in order to protect the tenant. Under residential leases, landlords must maintain fire and smoke alarms, locks and the general safety of the leased premises. It is important to review your current lease terms and situation with an attorney before taking any action.


text:
Legacies: stereotypes, racism and the civil rights movement
Robertson's golliwogs
Made by James Robertson & Sons, 1960s
Painted plaster
Object number Oldham RH5
Unknown donor
The golliwog, with its stereotypically crude features, was a popular childhood toy across Europe and the USA during the 1800s and 1900s. It originated in a children's story book, The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls, written by American author Florence Kate Upton in 1895. In the story, two dolls, Peg and Sara Jane, are let loose in a toy shop where they encounter Golliwog, 'the blackest gnome', dressed in red trousers, red bow tie and blue coat. He was visually crude, with a black face, unruly hair, thick lips and wide eyes. Golliwog was, in fact, a caricature of the American minstrels; white men who blacked up to perform songs in a manner that was itself a caricature.
Upton's book was hugely popular in Britain and she went on to write twelve more stories, in which Golliwog became the main character. The golliwog quickly became a staple character in children's books, gradually transformed from the original ugly but lovable creature of Upton's stories into a stereotypical villain, mean-spirited and devious.
The golliwog is now probably best remembered in Britain as the brand logo for Robertson's jams. It first appeared on product labels and advertising material in 1910 and was immediately hugely popular. Robertson's capitalised on this with marketing campaigns, producing a range of 'Golly' badges that were collected in exchange for coupons from their jams and marmalades. The golly went on to appear on pencils, knitting patterns, playing cards, toys and ornamental figures such as these in the collection at Gallery Oldham. As late as 1999 Robertson's was still receiving thousands of requests for golly badges each year, despite calls to remove this racially insensitive and, to many, offensive image. After much criticism and prolonged campaigns to expose the racist history of the image, Robertson's finally dropped the golly from its packaging in 2001.
For more information see The Golliwog Caricature by Jim Crow.
Racism and rights for Africans
Punch and Judy puppet
The continuation of racism today
The ongoing exploitation of Africa
Legacies of slavery: music

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Psychologies Ambassadors , Self, 360me, The Great Wake Up, How To Achieve Your Goals
Happy Winter Solstice!
Motivational Speaker, Mindset Mentor and Well-being Expert, A Rockstar Mindset
I joined a few hours ago an epic workshop about the Winter Solstice hosted by Colette Baron-Reid with her host the astrologer Jennifer Racioppi, and I loved it from the start to the end!
There is so much hope for the future, and we enter into the Aquarius age, the sign of freedom, equality for more social justice, consciousness for a better world... and this is my astrological sign!
Ladies, I feel thrilled, excited and relieved to enter into this revolutionary era for the next 10 to 20 years.
As Jennifer Racioppi said it: " consciousness is the new currency."
In a nutshell, investing to work on your mindset is a must now because we enter into an era of profound transformation.
I believed that 2020 was just the start, a kind of wake-up call to put our ducks in a row. 2021 will be bumpy for the first months, but this will be our year if you make this choice no matter what.
Today is the longest night of the year.
It's a turning point to give yourself permission to create your vision, to hold space for things to emerge from within, to allow inspiration and creativity to come to you.
From an astrological point of view, we have Saturn and Jupiter in conjunction in Aquarius, an energetic portal and alignment that didn't occur since 1266 which explain why this event is so significant.
Saturn is the planet of discipline, foundations and structures. Jupiter is the planet for personal growth and higher consciousness.
This powerful conjunction is a sign of hope to bring into reality a higher consciousness: social justice, racial healing, collective consciousness, authenticity and being true to your own self.
From a business perspective, it's even juicier! It will be an incredible time for any business to come up with innovative ideas, creativity and ingenuity.
So ladies, if you think that your ideas are unconventional or out of the box, don't dismiss them, to the contrary embrace your innovative attitude!
Astrology is a science of intuition. So take what resonates with you and prepare yourself to surf this next wave in 2021.
Struggling to see where to start? Book an Escape call with me and let's have a chat to make your vision a reality in 2021.
You're not born to struggle, you're born to thrive.
How Restrictions Helped Set Me Free
Back to The Great Wake Up
Seven prompts to close out 2020 and prepare to bring in 2021
Let's start with three qualities which define me, shall we? I am an optimist, I'm innovative and I'm energetic. If you're looking for something unconventional blended with optimism and energy, welcome to the Rockstar Mindset QG. I am a Motivational Speaker, a Mindset Mentor and a Wellbeing Expert. I'm also a UK Ambassador for Psychologies magazine, a publication which inspires and motivates readers to create a life they love through the online Life Labs platform. After 10 years working in the banking industry, I created my wellness consultancy, A Rockstar Mindset, to help ambitious women to become the rockstar of their life. How? By getting out of overwhelm, master your wellbeing and mindset so that you become visible and confident like hell. When I became a mum, I strove to be the best mum possible. I did not foresee that my attitude, my pursuit of perfection, would leave me feeling constantly overwhelmed and on the edge of burnout. But it has long been my belief that positivity is a driver for change and leadership, and when I learned about positive psychology and neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain to change and adapt), I was hooked. "Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living." –- C. Peterson My approach is that there is more than we can see, that it's fundamental to maintain a critical stance and to be independent of thought. I've always been the rebel, the outsider, the one to challenge the status quo and bring new and different perspectives or ideas. My encounter with positive psychology and the neurosciences confirmed for me that my beliefs (that we should think outside the box, focus on the positive) were accurate. I was on the right track! Convinced that there was another way to be successful at work and at home, I delved into the world of neurosciences, positive psychology and metaphysics and created my own system, Do Less, Get More Done – a framework that helps women to be successful with less overwhelm, whilst feeling more present. Positive psychology focuses on strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life rather than repairing the bad and reflecting on values and attitudes such as optimism, gratitude, compassion, self-esteem and resilience. The study of these topics came about from a desire to help people flourish and live their best lives. "It is not primarily our physical selves that limit us but rather our mindset about our physical limits." ― E. Langer It is my conviction that every woman deserves to have a healthy mindset so that she can create a life on her terms. Why? Because we deserve to say stop to the pressure emanating from culture, social media, society. We deserve to be accepted and empowered. Our mind is our ally and must be strengthened as such. Shifting our mindset is vital as well as unlearning, removing the old beliefs holding us back, raising our consciousness and developing our intuition. But there's more. Mindset is important but your wellbeing is primordial. Working on your mindset and wellbeing is the formula to create a life you love. Combining your head and heart in everything you do is what makes all the difference. The difference that you crave to create in your life. The world needs us (as women) to positively make a difference to make the life of women, children, and future generations better. It's time to build a healthy, conscious society based on mutual respect. And I genuinely believe that women have the skills to merge masculine and feminine energy to create something incredible. As for the rest: I love to travel, read books and dance with abandon. I'm married to a marvellous Frenchman and we have a daughter. I am fluent in English and French and I'm an advocate of beauty and women's empowerment. My philosophy is Forward Thinking Communication and I'm here to help you become the Rockstar of Your Life.
The Psychology of Place
Psychologies Ambassadors
Gail Donnan


In the common movie of our business reality, most of our energy focuses on winning new customers. We dedicate our sales and marketing efforts to turning prospects into clients and then we replicate it again and again, too many times forgetting about the ones we've just acquired.
Just like in love building, customer love building takes time and ongoing personalized attention to keep them happy and…loyal.
From our experience as both customers on the one side and services providers on the other, we put together a list of 'how to lose a customer in 10 days' reasons that we recommend each company to avoid.
This drives away your customers and ruins your reputation through an unfavorable word of mouth. It is better to only commit for what you can do best, deliver it flawlessly and then keep on exceeding expectations.
Testimonials and case studies are great ways to prove your expertise and successful deliveries. Make sure yours are authentic, well written and they match reality. Your customers would love to pay your invoices with a smile on their face.
Upselling is one thing, but trying to make your customers captive so they will pay more than agreed is simply wrong. It may work once if you left them no choice, but be sure they will wait for the closest opportunity to leave and never come back.
A pleasant overall attitude based on honesty, openness, and proactivity brings satisfaction to any relationship. Don't get condescending or self-sufficient even if you're so good at what you do, because they have many and maybe more pleasant other options.
As people are sensitive to the experience they get along their contractual journey, you need to make sure your employees know how to handle sensitive situations or feedbacks, additional requirements or how to just be genuinely helpful.
People feel when you care about improving your services and increasing their satisfaction. This feeling builds up through every interaction with your brand, be it through people, products, services or online. So listen, ask open questions and react to any type of feedback with a smile and a set of improvement measures if necessary.
Have you ever committed to delivering at a certain date and then failed to do it? Well, we all have at some point. The least we could do in this case is pick up the phone and offer a new deadline and a good reason for the delay. Don't ignore it as they would never notice. The same applies to timely replies to e-mails or messages on social media. Customers need to feel that there is someone there respecting them and handling their needs, even if not in a perfect way.
In time, even the best relationships get rusty without elements of surprise and delight. It could be anything from proactive ideas, special conditions for the most loyal customers, personalized messages or custom services. It will never cross their mind to leave you and will turn into brand ambassadors that will recommend you every time they can.
We all avoid people that only call us when they need something and use our friendship as a reason. The same applies to customers when you develop only a 'sell, sell, sell' relationship. Think about them as human beings not as nameless means to grow your business. Otherwise, they will start avoiding you and looking for more human companies.
Day 10: Share your own!
What would be in your opinion to add to our 'how to lose a customer in 10 days' list? Share your ideas with us so we can all benefit from them.


text:
Томаша:

 Томаша — река в Архангельской области.
 Томаша — деревня в Верхнетоемском районе Архангельской области.
 Томаша — деревня в Кадуйском районе Вологодской области.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


eye turns golden when using it to seek and destroy Silent for good.
Use your Psychic Powers to save potential victims from Silent Worms.
First shipments of the game will include an exclusive art book. Very cool ^_^.


Whether you're a plumber or a technician, you might not think about leadership as a crucial piece of your business. However, this is a key factor in the most successful home businesses. They are guided by someone who has purpose, vision, and a desire for their team members to be happy and inspired. A true leader's employees are proud to be a part of the business.


text:
More than 120 Industry Professionals Participate in the 6th Annual Exhibitions Day
DANICA TORMOHLEN, EDITOR-AT-LARGE
WASHINGTON, DC — More than 120 industry professionals met with senators, congressional representatives and their staff on Capitol Hill during the 6th annual Exhibitions Day, hosted and organized by the International Association of Exhibitions and Events (IAEE). The association coordinated and set up more than 100 meetings with congressional members and their legislative staff on June 5.
"Exhibitions Day is an important moment for our industry to come together and create change that betters the American business environment for events," IAEE President and CEO David DuBois said. "These unique platforms play a vital role in the success of businesses and our local and national economies. It's critical for us to communicate that value and our concerns with leaders."
The advocacy effort was a key part of Global Exhibitions Day (#GED) festivities that were celebrated around the globe. GED was launched four years ago by IAEE and UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
Prior to Exhibitions Day 2019, IAEE hosted a webinar for first-time participants to help them get comfortable with the process.
On June 4, IAEE offered a briefing on the key issues and tips on how to conduct meetings with members and staff. "What you are doing is vitally important," said Roger Rickard, President & Founder, Voices in Advocacy. "According to a survey by the Congressional Management Foundation, when members and staff were asked what influences you the most in making your decisions, the No. 1 influencer are in-person visits from people like you, constituents, to help educate them on what's going on in the country and their districts."
After an orientation at the Reserve Officers Association, IAEE hosted a networking reception, which was sponsored by Trade Show Executive.
"It's a privilege to support this event and align with one of our global partners," said Gabrielle Weiss, Publisher and Editor of Trade Show Executive, the title sponsor for Exhibitions Day 2019. "This is more than a picture and a post. We are talking to our legislatures and advocating for our industry in a real way. We are here demonstrating our dedication to not only to shine a light on our industry but to improve our ability to expand the exhibitions business."
Each year, the IAEE Advocacy Committee helps to plan and promote Exhibitions Day. With input from supporting organizations like the U.S. Travel Association (USTA) and the American Society of Association Executives the committee starts with a list of six to eight issues and then hones the final cut to no more then four issues, DuBois said.
Participants talked to policymakers about four issues facing the exhibition industry that could be affected by legislation and funding. These include:
Passing the Secure Travel Partnership Act of 2019 (H.R. 1996). Passing H.R. 1996 would rename the Visa Waiver Program to the Secure Travel Partnership Act. Often confused with contentious immigrations bills, the renaming of the longstanding Visa Waiver Program will help lawmakers build support for the Jolt Act and open up secure travel to the U.S. "The Visa Waiver program is the gold standard in travel security because it requires heightened security operations, increased information sharing, and travelers from all 38 participating countries are prescreened before boarding their inbound flights," said Will Brown, Senior Director, Government Affairs, USTA. According to research provided to the group, visitors from the approved 38 countries helped generated a $77 billion trade surplus for the U.S. in 2017. In fact, the 23 million travelers who arrived in the U.S. though the Visa Wavier Program countries generated $190 billion in economic activity.
Supporting the JOLT Act of 2019 (H.R. 2187). More than 1.2 million jobs across America are directly supported by international inbound travel. Advocates encouraged House members to support the JOLT Act, which provides flexibility to the Secretary of Homeland Security to admit new countries to the currently named Visa Waiver Program.
Investing in America's infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forum, inadequate infrastructure is one of the top factors impeding U.S. business, making it extremely challenging to accommodate trade shows within states. Attendees asked Congressional members to support measures that invest in transportation mobility at airports, highways, passenger rail and transit systems.
Protecting Brand USA. Funded by inbound airline passenger fees and private industry, Brand USA is a bipartisan program that promotes the country overseas as a business and tourist destination. A 2019 study by Oxford Economics showed that Brand USA's six-year marketing results equate to an average marketing ROI of 28:1, meaning every $1 of Brand USA marketing generated $28 in spend. Attendees urged Congress to oppose measures to defund Brand USA, and to recognize that reduced funding would hurt the health of our economy.
3 Things You Can Do Now
Contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to sponsor and support the Secure Travel Partnership Act of 2019 (H.R. 1996) and the JOLT Act of 2019 (H.R. 2187). Find contact information for your representatives and a link to their Twitter handles at www.exhibitionsday.org
Provide policymakers with background information on the value of exhibitions and the critical issues that impact the event business. Go to www.exhibitionsday.org for stats and infographics you can download.
Mark your calendar to participate in next year's Exhibitions Day on June 3, 2020.
For more on the key issues, go to the Exhibitions Mean Business website at www.exhibitionsday.org. Next year's Exhibitions Day is scheduled for Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
Be sure to read the full event recap in Trade Show Executive's July issue.
Reach David DuBois at (972) 458-8002 or ddubois@iaee.com; Gabrielle Weiss at (312) 493-7753 or gweiss@tradeshowexecutive.com; Roger Rickard at (480) 488-9150 or roger@rogerrickard.com.


Story continueseven more. Stripper Salma wakes up at a bed with thighs and tied hands. All the two men show up and begin to fulfill their demands. The match finishes as Salma gets connected to the X type cross.


text:
The Outer Worlds › Interviews
The Outer Worlds at E3 2019: Interview with Game Director Leonard Boyarsky
by Bryan Vitale on 16 June, 2019
It's been about half a year since Obsidian Entertainment first unveiled The Outer Worlds on The Game Awards stage. We were lucky enough to be able to get a live preview of the game late last year as well as talk to Narrative Designer Megan Starks about some of the game's philosophies about companions and choice. Half a year later, and Obsidian led off Microsoft's E3 2019 presser with a new trailer and a release date.
Afterwards, we were able to see about 30 minutes of new footage from the game taking place on the inhospitable Monarch (the footage was also shared on the E3 Colisseum webcast.) After the demonstration, we were able to sit down to chat with Game Director Leonard Boyarsky to talk about the identity of The Outer Worlds, comparisons to Fallout (Both Obsidian's New Vegas and the Interplay original), level scaling, the possibility of an eventual sequel, and more.
After graduating Cal State Fullerton and the Art Center College of Design with not one but two degrees in illustration, Leonard Boyarsky started working in the game industry as a freelance artist in 1992. After completing various art tasks on Unnatural Selection (eventually published by Maxis), Leonard became a full-time employee of Interplay Entertainment, as one of the lead artists on Stonekeep. After completing work on Stonekeep, Leonard became the Art Director and designer on the title he is best known for, Fallout, where he created the iconic '50's look, the Vault Boy character, and the intro and outro for the game among many other things. After completing the design for Fallout 2, Leonard became one of the co-founders of Troika Games in 1998, where he fulfilled a multitude of roles, including CEO, art director, concept artist, animator, modeler, designer, and writer on the classic games Arcanum (2001) and Vampire: Bloodlines (2004). From 2006 - 2016 Leonard worked at Blizzard Entertainment on Diablo 3 (2012) and its expansion, Reaper of Souls (2014) as the World Designer, conceiving and writing many of the new areas of the world and backstories for the new classes. In 2016 Leonard left Blizzard to become the co-Game Director on The Outer Worlds.
RPG Site: So what's it like to have your game lead off the Microsoft E3 Press Conference this year, is that something you ever thought would happen?
Leonard Boyarsky: Nope, it was quite a very nice surprise.
RPG Site: What's it like to be able to leverage that kind of opportunity?
Leonard Boyarsky: With the exception of my time at Blizzard, everything I've gotten to work on has been relatively obscure things without a high profile -- back when I worked on the original Fallout even, no one knew what it was or cared.
RPG Site: So what is your specific role or title for this game? You and Tim Cain are often paired up, both acting as co-Directors, but what's been your focus specifically when it comes to The Outer Worlds?
Leonard Boyarsky: Well we both make sure to have a hand in the world building -- we create the world together, but I'm in charge of the writing, story, and art, while Tim focuses on more systems design and gameplay. But yes, we both do act as co-Directors.
RPG Site: People are often very quick to make comparisons to game's like Bioshock and especially Fallout: New Vegas, what do you feel when you see those comparisons made? Do you ever worry people are going to expect the game to be something different than what it is?
Leonard Boyarsky: Well, I think it's unavoidable that those comparisons are made, especially regarding Fallout. and I thought Bioshock did a fantastic job of world-building as well; the games we've been compared to are generally considered top tier, fantastic games so when the comparisons are made favorably, that really excites us. It's really funny, because we when made [the original] Fallout, it was something no one had really seen before. It was kinda steam-punk as it was at that time -- we didn't have all these other punks like diesel-punk, cyber-punk, so now there's this wider genre already out there. So we still wanted to make The Outer Worlds something people haven't really seen before.
RPG Site: So what sets The Outer Worlds apart?
Leonard Boyarsky: I think it's the tone and feel of the world, and the fact that it really reacts to your choices. There are a lot of games that do that now, at least more than there used to be, but I feel that we take it further than other games. That was one of the reasons that we didn't want a voiced protagonist. Because you know, once you do that you set the personality of the player at least partially in stone.
RPG Site: Speaking about Fallout, there's a sort of relevant tangent there as voice acting was added and it's not always seen as the best change the series has undertaken.
Leonard Boyarsky: Yea, I can't speak as to why Fallout went that direction, but for us it wasn't even a discussion to voice the player-character. It was always assumed from minute one that we would not. There's two aspects to it -- no matter what voice you 'pick', someone is going to feel that who they hear isn't who their character is. On the other side of that, if you're recording player voices you have to restrict what you write. If you come up with five more ideas or choices, but there's no opportunity to record new lines, then you can't really go further with ideas and you can't easily go back to add choices that weren't there before. So it gives us a lot more freedom, and it allows the player to completely imagine who they are in our world without anything in their way.
RPG Site: So about the characters that are voiced, the companions -- last year I got to talk about them a little bit with the game's first showing, but a couple of things were kept under wraps. We only knew of Felix and Ellie and since then Parvati. Is Nyoka (a companion showcased during the E3 demo) new?
Leonard Boyarsky: We didn't make a big deal about the reveal, but she was in our PAX demo a couple of months ago. So those are the four companions that we've talked about, and we aren't sharing yet the ultimate number or who the others might be. As always, we want the companions to be very integral to the game world. For instance, Nyoka is from Monarch, so when the player is running around this area, other characters will recognize her and have that history with her. She'll probably help call out a few people that are actually full of shit and trying to mislead you.
RPG Site: Seems like something she'd say.
Leonard Boyarsky: Exactly, and not only that but we tried to emphasize the Leadership characteristics in our demo, where companions are buffed to be even more important, and they'll even give part of their skills back to the player, so we don't just have companions as sounding boards, they'll have that gameplay role as well.
RPG Site: In some games with a system of companions, sometimes there are cases where two companions will never see eye-to-eye and you have to pick and choose. Is that the case in The Outer Worlds?
Leonard Boyarsky: No, in our mind, we wanted to make a rich group of characters that will effectively become your crew. Now, these characters all have deep ties to different parts of the world, but we didn't want to lock off characters behind allying with different factions or something like that. We didn't want to tell players "Oh, if you side with the Board, this is what companion we allow to side with you". We really wanted to allow players to build their crew as a group of smugglers or however they wanted to play it, and having this choice was always a conscious goal of ours.
RPG Site: Can you explicitly turn down a character from joining you, or lock yourself out of recruiting one?
Leonard Boyarsky: You can't lock yourself out of a companion, don't worry. You can send them away, however, and there are a few places where you'll specifically get chances to do that if you wish. It's all story-based though, there isn't a system like morale or influence, nothing like that. So having companions join up will never be a surprise, but there will be cases where they might want to leave if you keep going against them, but even then if you have a high Leadership you might be able to convince them to stay anyways.
RPG Site: Last year, I asked Megan if it was possible to kill any character in the game, and the answer was yes. I just want to make sure: is that true and still the case?
Leonard Boyarsky: [After a pause] There is one character that you can't kill until the end of the game. But every character in The Outer Worlds can be killed.
RPG Site: It's a pretty stark design decision to declare that you're going to allow that sort of freedom.
Leonard Boyarsky: It's always a goal of ours, I think - I can't remember if this is true - but even in the very first Fallout, that was a goal on our part, with the exception of one person that couldn't die because they were a ghost, so that's not cheating. Somewhat of another exception here are companion characters.
RPG Site: Oh?
Leonard Boyarsky: What I mean is, you can kill them before they become allied with you, but once they are, you don't have friendly fire options to be able to past that point. You can send them away and they'll disappear from the game, but as companion characters, they do work slightly differently. So I guess that's technically a caveat. Tim just did a playthrough where he killed almost everyone he came across, so he finished the game fairly quickly because he couldn't do most of the side quests. But he was able to complete the main story no problem.
RPG Site: It must be difficult to plan for that, to be able to allow the player to keep progressing despite playing like a lunatic murderer, I wouldn't want to play that way, but if you have even one person who does..
Leonard Boyarsky: It again wraps back to that degree of freedom that we want players to have, and to say some players not able to roleplay that way because they are in a safe place or because certain characters are invulnerable just takes away the immersion and makes it feel less genuine.
RPG Site: The ship that is showcased in a couple of the trailers, you've mentioned in the past it acts as a hub of sorts and it's where companions will hang out. I know this game isn't a space-sim, but I'm wondering if you'll be able to customize it or fly it?
Leonard Boyarsky: We did, early on, talk about being able to modify the ship, and as you complete quests and go throughout the game, it will change in some small ways, but it's not like you'll be able to change out the engines or upgrade parts of it or things like that. It was considered, but as a new IP with a smaller budget, we wanted to focus on character choices and things like that.
RPG Site: Another cool part of the game are the Science Weapons you've shown off, both the shrink ray and the face rearranging weapon, are there any others you're showing off at the moment?
Leonard Boyarsky: No, those are the only two we've shown off. We have kind of an internal logic behind the weapons, our world is very pulpy and Sci-Fi and we think those two are really emblematic of the tone which is why they've been kind of at the front.
RPG Site: In the demo we saw today, you showed off the disguise system in your game, I was wondering if there was also any system like Fallout: New Vegas, where certain gear could act as a disguise for entering places owned by different factions?
Leonard Boyarsky: The way the Holographic Shroud works is that once you get an ID cartridge for a certain faction, you can plug it into this device in order to mask your identity temporarily by creating this sort of 3D hologram around you. It works as a sort of timed meter which will slowly drain, but the disguise is lost faster if you run, or shoot at people, things like that. It plays also into the dialogue system as well, you'll have checks you'll need to pass one someone spots you once the meter is out, and I think on the final check you have to actually have two different buffed up dialogue skills in order to maintain the disguise.
RPG Site: So is having that item or ability available to everyone? Or is it like a quest reward or how does that work?
Leonard Boyarsky: Every player will always have it, but the challenge is being able to find the ID cartridges that will work for it, and then of course players with specific builds will be able to make better use of it once they have it. If you enter an area without it, you'll get a notification showing that it's restricted.
RPG Site: And then the player will have to think about where or what quest line might lead to getting an ID card for that area.
Leonard Boyarsky: Exactly.
RPG Site: You've mentioned previously that the level cap is 30. How high is that relative to the scope of the game? If I was being thorough and completing all the quests I see, how quickly would I hit it?
Leonard Boyarsky: We're balancing it right now, actually. We've had problems before where you'd reach max level too soon, so we're expanding that. We really don't want players to hit level 30 too far before the end, because then you've hit the ceiling, so to speak. So if you're just powering through, we have to figure out where players should be ability wise, and also the same for players that do every little quest.
RPG Site: How does level scaling work? Are a certain group of enemies in a location always going to be, say, level 12, and another region always something different?
Leonard Boyarsky: We're changing stuff like this every day, so this might still be tweaked, but what we have right now is limited level scaling. So if you go to a place early on that you're allowed to be, enemies might scale a little bit lower compared to if you return to that area later. Everything is sort of bracketed. Half the fun of an RPG is being able to overcome something that kicked your ass earlier and then coming back and effortlessly laying them out, and we wanted to preserve a part of that. But because this is a game that is story driven, there are a few places that will be locked off for story reasons that should feel valid and shouldn't come across as arbitrary at all -- we want to make sure things never feel too easy or have players feel unfairly penalized for exploring out from the story path.
RPG Site: Does The Outer Worlds have any sort of optional area whose difficulty supersedes the main questline? One cool part I look forward to in RPGs is the big optional area, the tough superdungeon, or something like that. Anything like that here, like maybe a big secret forest on Monarch?
Leonard Boyarsky: Well, if you stay on the main story path, things are going to stay a little bit easier relative to some other stuff near the end of the game, where if you go away from that road you're taking more chances. In the demo you saw the Mantiqueen, which is definitely a tough (optional) challenge. There's also something called 'mega', where monsters can be buffed even stronger.
RPG Site: If I were able to take on the Mega Mantiqueen and defeat it, how does loot work? Am I hoping for some percentage drop of gear from it, or maybe some rare material?
Leonard Boyarsky: Again, these things are constantly changing at the moment, but there's a certain amount of randomness, but we also have specific loot tables. You're never gonna loot a Mantiqueen and find...well, actually I think they can eat people and they can drop armor - I think. So it is random, but we try not to have it where a monster will drop a gun when it doesn't make sense.
RPG Site: Outer Worlds was announced for Game Pass for both Xbox and PC, if I wasn't subscribed to Game Pass, but did want to buy it this year on PC on Microsoft's store, I can do that this year?
Leonard Boyarsky: Yes.
RPG Site: We just learned that Witcher 3 is coming to Nintendo Switch. Is there any chance for The Outer Worlds? I know it seems like a crazy question, but so did the idea of Witcher 3.
(Director of Communications Mikey Dowling steps in to answer)
Mikey Dowling: We'll have to see, right now we're just focused on our current announced platforms of PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.
RPG Site: Let's say that The Outer Worlds is a hit..
Leonard Boyarsky: Let's say that! Let's say that a lot.
RPG Site: (laughs) But if it's a hit, and the opportunity to follow up with a sequel or DLC or something is announced. Whose decision would that be? Obsidian's, Microsoft's, or Private Division?
Mikey Dowling: It would be Microsoft, if a sequel would happen.
RPG Site: Thank you for your time!
Consoles:
Publisher: Private Division
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Original release dates:
The Outer Worlds Screenshots
The Outer Worlds Artwork


text:
September Book Haul
September was the month I bought too many books yet again. I can't even say I regret anything because those were all books I've wanted for a while. Also, why is autumn such a good season for book releases? There are so many good ones! Wow. And since I've been to France, I of course had to get some French books as well and I chose to buy my favourite books. That they have gorgeous covers is only another plus, so nothing negative here, right? And without further blabla, let's see those books I got.
Isobel is a prodigy portrait artist with a dangerous set of clients: the sinister fair folk, immortal creatures who cannot bake bread, weave cloth, or put a pen to paper without crumbling to dust. They crave human Craft with a terrible thirst, and Isobel's paintings are highly prized. But when she receives her first royal patron—Rook, the autumn prince—she makes a terrible mistake. She paints mortal sorrow in his eyes—a weakness that could cost him his life.
Furious and devastated, Rook spirits her away to the autumnlands to stand trial for her crime. Waylaid by the Wild Hunt's ghostly hounds, the tainted influence of the Alder King, and hideous monsters risen from barrow mounds, Isobel and Rook depend on one another for survival. Their alliance blossoms into trust, then love—and that love violates the fair folks' ruthless laws. Now both of their lives are forfeit, unless Isobel can use her skill as an artist to fight the fairy courts. Because secretly, her Craft represents a threat the fair folk have never faced in all the millennia of their unchanging lives: for the first time, her portraits have the power to make them feel. (goodreads)
The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
They say the thirst of blood is like a madness – they must sate it. Even with their own kin.
On the eve of her divining, the day she'll discover her fate, seventeen-year-old Lil and her twin sister Kizzy are captured and enslaved by the cruel Boyar Valcar, taken far away from their beloved traveller community.
Forced to work in the harsh and unwelcoming castle kitchens, Lil is comforted when she meets Mira, a fellow slave who she feels drawn to in a way she doesn't understand. But she also learns about the Dragon, a mysterious and terrifying figure of myth and legend who takes girls as gifts.
They may not have had their divining day, but the girls will still discover their fate… (goodreads)
Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff
Nevernight #3
The Republic of Itreya is in chaos. Mia Corvere has assassinated Cardinal Duomo and rumors of Consul Scaeva's death ripple through the street of Godsgrave like wildfire. But buried beneath those same streets, deep in the ancient city's bones, lies a secret that will change the Republic forever.
Mia and her brother Jonnen must journey through the depths of the ancient metropolis. Their quest will take them through the Godsgrave underdark, across the Sea of Swords, back to the library of the Quiet Mountain and the poisoned blades of Mia's old mentors, and at last the fabled Crown of the Moon. There, Mia will at last discover the origins of the darkin, and learn the destiny that lies in store for her and her world. But with the three suns now in descent, and Truedark on the horizon, will she survive? (goodreads)
Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
The year is 2380, and the graduating cadets of Aurora Academy are being assigned their first missions. Star pupil Tyler Jones is ready to recruit the squad of his dreams, but his own boneheaded heroism sees him stuck with the dregs nobody else in the Academy would touch…
A cocky diplomat with a black belt in sarcasm
A sociopath scientist with a fondness for shooting her bunkmates
A smart-ass techwiz with the galaxy's biggest chip on his shoulder
An alien warrior with anger management issues
A tomboy pilot who's totally not into him, in case you were wondering
And Ty's squad isn't even his biggest problem—that'd be Aurora Jie-Lin O'Malley, the girl he's just rescued from interdimensional space. Trapped in cryo-sleep for two centuries, Auri is a girl out of time and out of her depth. But she could be the catalyst that starts a war millions of years in the making, and Tyler's squad of losers, discipline-cases and misfits might just be the last hope for the entire galaxy. (goodreads)
Dark Age by Pierce Brown
Red Rising #5
For a decade Darrow led a revolution against the corrupt color-coded Society. Now, outlawed by the very Republic he founded, he wages a rogue war on Mercury in hopes that he can still salvage the dream of Eo. But as he leaves death and destruction in his wake, is he still the hero who broke the chains? Or will another legend rise to take his place?
Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile, has returned to the Core. Determined to bring peace back to mankind at the edge of his sword, he must overcome or unite the treacherous Gold families of the Core and face down Darrow over the skies of war-torn Mercury.
But theirs are not the only fates hanging in the balance.
On Luna, Mustang, Sovereign of the Republic, campaigns to unite the Republic behind her husband. Beset by political and criminal enemies, can she outwit her opponents in time to save him?
Once a Red refugee, young Lyria now stands accused of treason, and her only hope is a desperate escape with unlikely new allies.
Abducted by a new threat to the Republic, Pax and Electra, the children of Darrow and Sevro, must trust in Ephraim, a thief, for their salvation—and Ephraim must look to them for his chance at redemption.
As alliances shift, break, and re-form—and power is seized, lost, and reclaimed—every player is at risk in a game of conquest that could turn the Rising into a new Dark Age. (goodreads)
The Lady Rogue by Jenn Bennett
Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She's read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world's most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn't have is her father's permission. That honor goes to her father's nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora's life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.
Until Huck arrives from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora's help in rescuing him. Armed with her father's travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.
Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren't the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it. (goodreads)
Vita Nostra by Sergey & Marina Dyachenko
While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin.
As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it's the only place she should be. Against her mother's wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education.
As she quickly discovers, the institute's "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want. (goodreads)
Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova
Alex is a bruja, the most powerful witch in a generation…and she hates magic. At her Deathday celebration, Alex performs a spell to rid herself of her power. But it backfires. Her whole family vanishes into thin air, leaving her alone with Nova, a brujo she can't trust, but who may be Alex's only chance at saving her family. (goodreads)
Alex, approximately by Jenn Bennett
Classic movie buff Bailey "Mink" Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by "Alex." Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.
Faced with doubts (what if he's a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn't tell Alex she's moved to his hometown. Or that she's landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she's being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she's starting to feel for Porter.
And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately. (goodreads)
When America won the Revolutionary War, its people offered General George Washington a crown. Two and a half centuries later, the House of Washington still sits on the throne.
As Princess Beatrice gets closer to becoming America's first queen regnant, the duty she has embraced her entire life suddenly feels stifling. Nobody cares about the spare except when she's breaking the rules, so Princess Samantha doesn't care much about anything, either . . . except the one boy who is distinctly off-limits to her. And then there's Samantha's twin, Prince Jefferson. If he'd been born a generation earlier, he would have stood first in line for the throne, but the new laws of succession make him third. Most of America adores their devastatingly handsome prince . . . but two very different girls are vying to capture his heart. (goodreads)
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong.
Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end? (goodreads)
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Shadow Fold, a swathe of impenetrable darkness, crawling with monsters that feast on human flesh, is slowly destroying the once-great nation of Ravka. Alina, a pale, lonely orphan, discovers a unique power that thrusts her into the lavish world of the kingdom's magical elite – the Grisha. Could she be the key to unravelling the dark fabric of the Shadow Fold and setting Ravka free? The Darkling, a creature of seductive charm and terrifying power, leader of the Grisha. If Alina is to fulfil her destiny, she must discover how to unlock her gift and face up to her dangerous attraction to him. But what of Mal, Alina's childhood best friend? As Alina contemplates her dazzling new future, why can't she ever quite forget him? (goodreads)
Grisha #2
Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land, all while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. But she can't outrun her past or her destiny for long.
The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling's game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her—or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm. (goodreads)
Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo
The capital has fallen.
The Darkling rules Ravka from his shadow throne.
Now the nation's fate rests with a broken Sun Summoner, a disgraced tracker, and the shattered remnants of a once-great magical army.
Deep in an ancient network of tunnels and caverns, a weakened Alina must submit to the dubious protection of the Apparat and the zealots who worship her as a Saint. Yet her plans lie elsewhere, with the hunt for the elusive firebird and the hope that an outlaw prince still survives.
Alina will have to forge new alliances and put aside old rivalries as she and Mal race to find the last of Morozova's amplifiers. But as she begins to unravel the Darkling's secrets, she reveals a past that will forever alter her understanding of the bond they share and the power she wields. The firebird is the one thing that stands between Ravka and destruction—and claiming it could cost Alina the very future she's fighting for. (goodreads)
Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett
It's the roaring twenties, and San Francisco is a hotbed of illegal boozing, raw lust, and black magic. The fog-covered Bay Area can be an intoxicating scene, particularly when you specialize in spirits…
Aida Palmer performs a spirit medium show onstage at Chinatown's illustrious Gris-Gris speakeasy. However, her ability to summon (and expel) the dead is more than just an act.
Winter Magnusson is a notorious bootlegger who's more comfortable with guns than ghosts—unfortunately for him, he's the recent target of a malevolent hex that renders him a magnet for hauntings. After Aida's supernatural assistance is enlisted to banish the ghosts, her spirit-chilled aura heats up as the charming bootlegger casts a different sort of spell on her.
On the hunt for the curseworker responsible for the hex, Aida and Winter become drunk on passion. And the closer they become, the more they realize they have ghosts of their own to exorcise… (goodreads)
Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan
Girls of Paper and Fire #2
Lei, the naive country girl who became a royal courtesan, is now known as the Moonchosen, the commoner who managed to do what no one else could. But slaying the cruel Demon King wasn't the end of the plan—it's just the beginning. Now Lei and her warrior love Wren must travel the kingdom to gain support from the far-flung rebel clans. The journey is made even more treacherous thanks to a heavy bounty on Lei's head, as well as insidious doubts that threaten to tear Lei and Wren apart from within.
Meanwhile, an evil plot to eliminate the rebel uprising is taking shape, fueled by dark magic and vengeance. Will Lei succeed in her quest to overthrow the monarchy and protect her love for Wren, or will she fall victim to the sinister magic that seeks to destroy her? (goodreads)
The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
In 1872, New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead. But to seventeen-year-old Celine Rousseau, New Orleans provides her a refuge after she's forced to flee her life as a dressmaker in Paris. Taken in by the sisters of the Ursuline convent along with six other girls, Celine quickly becomes enamored with the vibrant city from the music to the food to the soirées and—especially—to the danger. She soon becomes embroiled in the city's glitzy underworld, known as La Cour des Lions, after catching the eye of the group's leader, the enigmatic Sébastien Saint Germain. When the body of one of the girls from the convent is found in the lair of La Cour des Lions, Celine battles her attraction to him and suspicions about Sébastien's guilt along with the shame of her own horrible secret.
When more bodies are discovered, each crime more gruesome than the last, Celine and New Orleans become gripped by the terror of a serial killer on the loose—one Celine is sure has set her in his sights . . . and who may even be the young man who has stolen her heart. As the murders continue to go unsolved, Celine takes matters into her own hands and soon uncovers something even more shocking: an age-old feud from the darkest creatures of the underworld reveals a truth about Celine she always suspected simmered just beneath the surface. (goodreads)
book haul new books september book haul
Books that feel like autumn
LITERARY GRAND TOUR – OCTOBER TASK


Pt. Solid Gold Berjangka ~ Harga minyak menurun di awal perdagangan Kamis, memberikan kembali dasar setelah kenaikan terbesar dalam lebih dari dua bulan.
Di New York Mercantile Exchange, minyak mentah light dan sweet untuk pengiriman Agustus turun 39 sen, atau 0,8%, ke $ 49,49 per barel. Minyak mentah Brent di bursa ICE Futures London untuk pengiriman Agustus turun 44 sen, atau 0,8%, ke $ 50,20 per barel.
Oil prices eased in early trading on Thursday, giving back ground after their biggest gain in more than two months.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in August fell 39 cents, or 0.8%, to $49.49 a barrel. August Brent crude on London�s ICE Futures exchange fell 44 cents, or 0.8%, to $50.20 a barrel.
The retreat follows the biggest rally for U.S.-traded crude prices since early April, after oil stockpiles there posted a bigger-than-expected drop of 4.1 million barrels in the most recent week. Elevated oil inventories in the U.S. have been a key driver of the two-year slump in oil prices.


With its 80m main boom, the 6 axle Demag AC 250-1 has one of the longest main booms in its lifting capacity class. Furthermore, the Demag AC 250-1 boom extension is hydraulically offsetable under partial load up to 40°. The Demag AC 250-1 has speed-dependent rear axle steering for increased manoeuvrability and driving stability and an innovative Demag IC-1 crane control system with touchscreen. The Demag AC 250-1 is roadable with just a 12te axle load.
Axleload calculation based on basic machine with hook block.
Technical information provided here for the Terex Demag AC 250-1 is indicative only. Please note the content of the "Disclaimer" notice applicable to this website and contact us to confirm the detailed technical specification for the Terex Demag AC 250-1.
Engine Water-cooled 8 cylinder DaimlerChrysler diesel engine OM 502 LA, rating 450 kW (612 HP) at 1800 1/min, torque 2700 Nm at 1300 1/min, certified in compliance with EURO MOT 3a, Tier 3 and CARB. Fuel tank capacity 660 l (for carrier and superstructure).
Axles Axles 2, 4, 5 and 6: driven, 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6: steering. Transverse differential lockout control on axles 2, 4, 5 and 6. Longitudinal lockout control on axles 4 and 5.
Tyres 12 wheels fitted with 16.00 R 25 tyres (Michelin or Bridgestone).
Steering 12 x 10, ZF dual-circuit semiblock mechanical steering with hydraulic booster and mechanical steering limiter, speed-dependent steering, 5th and 6th axles provide for independent rear axle steering.
Driver's Cab Highly comfortable ergonomic cab with clearly arranged dashboard, rubber mounted steel cab, corrosion-resistant powder coating with 2-pack top coat. 3.00 m wide, 2 comfortable seats, with pneumatically sprung and heated driver's seat incl. head and arm rests, and three-point seat belts, vertically adjustable steering wheel, safety glass used throughout, electric windows, heated and electrically adjustable mirrors, windscreen defroster fans, engine-dependent hot water heater, electric windscreen washer and wiper, roller blinds, radio with CD player, stowage compartment, air-conditioning.
Crane Drive Two variable displacement axial piston pumps with automatic power control enabling the operator to engage four independent working movements simultaneously, separate pump for slewing. Hydraulic oil cooler included as standard.
Hoist Axial-piston variable displacement motor, hoist drum with integrated planetary gear reducer, and spring-applied multi-disk brake. Hydraulic brake, drum rotation indicator.
Slew Fixed displacement axial piston motor.
Telescopic Boom Boom base and 6 telescopic sections fabricated from fine grain structural steel, anti-deflection Demag Ovaloid profile.
Crane Cab Highly comfortable cab with sliding door, roof window and large hinged windscreen, safety glass used throughout, sprung and hydraulically damped operator's seat with head and arm rests, wiper for windscreen and roof window, self-contained hot water heater with timer and 'Heizmatic' for sensitive heat flow control, dashboard with instrumentation and crane controls, e.g. drum rotation indicator for hoists I and II, load moment limiter, outrigger loading indicator, 2 working lights, air-conditioning. The crane cab can be tilted back hydraulically 18°.


As you can probably tell, I love my food. And when anyone asks me what my favourite dish is, I find it almost impossible to decide…and then my mind drifts to this dish…Parmigiana di Melanzane. This is a classic Italian dish incorporating my favourite ingredients…aubergine (eggplant), tomato and parmesan. I remember the first time I ate it when I was working in an Italian restaurant as a school girl. I couldn't believe anything could taste so good! The smokiness of the soft aubergines, the punchy, sweet tomato sauce and the richness of the parmesan which ends up in strings as you lift your fork to your mouth. I adore it.
Last weekend I was out food shopping when I saw a basket of beautiful, plump, shiny, deep purple aubergines. They looked like a work of art. I had to have them. This dish popped into my mind immediately. I knew I had parmesan in my fridge, chopped tomatoes in my cupboard and fresh cherry tomatoes in a bowl on my kitchen worktop. Alas, I completely forgot to buy some basil while I was out. I have killed my last 4 basil plants at an astonishingly fast rate lately so I've been steering clear of it. But I'm so used to having a plant by my kitchen window, I didn't think to buy some more when I was out. So this recipe excludes it but if you're going to make this at home, please include it as it really should have basil in it. I've included it in the ingredients list, you just won't see it in my photos!
Heat your oven to 200C/fan 180C/400F/gas 6. Start by making the tomato sauce…mix together the garlic and 4 tbsp of the olive oil and fry gently for 3 mins.
Tip in the tomatoes, then simmer for 8 mins, stirring every now and then.
Stir in the tomato purée. Simmer for about half an hour, or until the sauce is thick and rich. Season well with salt and pepper, and a little sugar to taste.
Meanwhile, heat a griddle pan or frying pan until its very hot. I personally prefer a griddle as it gives the aubergines that lovely charred, stripy look. Brush a few of the aubergines with a little oil, then add to the pan.
Cook over a high heat until well browned and cooked through, about 5-7 mins. Turn them halfway through cooking.
When griddling or frying aubergine slices, you'll find that they will absorb any amount of oil instantly. Don't be tempted to add more! As they cook, aubergines release their juices along with some of the absorbed oil.
Lift onto kitchen paper and do the next batch.
When all the aubergines are cooked, lay a few of them in the bottom of an ovenproof dish, then spoon over some sauce.
Dot with the torn mozzarella and sprinkle with Parmesan and basil leaves.
Add seasoning, then repeat this process with the remaining ingredients.
Finally, finish off the dish with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan, then bake for 30 mins or until the topping is bubbling and golden.
Serve with a fresh salad and crusty bread to mop up the juices.
What I love about this dish is that its easy. Yes, it takes a bit of time to griddle all the slices of aubergine but once that's done, its a simple task of layering the dish. This is a lovely dish to make on a Saturday morning if you want to serve it that night. Ideally, I like to make this dish a day before I want to serve it as the flavours get time to develop.
It also freezes really well so I tend to make it in big batches and freeze it in portions.


The Camp will emphasize the technical/tactical development of the individual player with morning and afternoon training sessions. Daily small-sided games will give players confidence, allowing them the maximum amount of time with the ball. Larger sided field games will be featured each evening. Players will spend a week in a total soccer environment. Campers will be able to interact with college coaches about "what it takes" to be successful at the college level.
The camp will offer a wide variety of activities including a "college search night" and "peer talks" with MSU athletes. Campers will develop friendships with players and coaches from many different areas.
*Girls Individual Camp will be held in conjuction with the Girls Team Camp.
All campers will receive an Adidas soccer ball, an Adidas camp shirt, a water bottle and a personal planner. An awards ceremony will be held at the conclusion of camp.
Girls Individual Camp check-in will be from noon - 2pm, Thursday, the first day of camp. Check-out will be approximately 11:45am, Sunday, the last day of camp.
The cost for the Girls Individual Camp Resident option (Goalkeeper Camp included) is $480 per week. This includes 3 nights lodging, 8 meals (Dinner on the first day through breakfast on the last day of camp). The cost for the Girls Individual Camp Commuter option (Goalkeeper Camp included) is $420. Commuters do not receive lodging or breakfast. A $50 deposit along with the registration form is required for camp. The remaining balance is due at check in.


text:
Pac-12 media rights: Kliavkoff expects critical…
Pac-12 media rights: Kliavkoff expects critical process to stretch into 2023
Commissioner George Kliavkoff also called certain officiating mistakes "unacceptable" on media call
By Jon Wilner |
PUBLISHED: December 1, 2022 at 11:23 a.m. | UPDATED: December 2, 2022 at 4:19 a.m.
The Pac-12's media rights negotiations won't be completed before the New Year, commissioner George Kliavkoff said Thursday while indicating there is "no rush" for a resolution.
The future of the conference depends on the outcome of the negotiations, which began in July after USC and UCLA announced their departures for the Big Ten.
Since then:
— The Big Ten has agreed to a seven-year deal, beginning in 2023, that's estimated to carry a minimum valuation of $62.5 million per school per year.
— The Big 12 has renewed its media contracts with longtime partners ESPN and Fox for a reported $31.7 million per school starting in 2025.
— The University of California Board of Regents is reviewing UCLA's entry into the Big Ten. A final decision from the governing board, which has the authority to rescind the move, is expected Dec. 14.
If the Bruins are forced to remain in the Pac-12, which is unlikely, the dynamics of the media negotiations could change drastically.
Asked about the timing of a media deal, Kliavkoff said: "I would not expect an announcement in the balance of this calendar year."
He added that the 10 schools "remain committed to each other."
The conference is negotiating with its current partners, Fox and ESPN, and with a group of newcomers to the college football media space, including Amazon.
Because rights to the Big Ten and Big 12 have been locked up into the 2030s, the Pac-12 stands as the only Power Five conference with football inventory available on the market through the remainder of the decade.
Once a media deal is reached, Kliavkoff said, he will take the proposal to the university presidents and ask them to sign a grant-of-rights agreement binding their media revenue to the conference.
"I don't anticipate any issues," he said.
Only then would the conference explore expansion options.
All in all, the future shape and structure of the Pac-12 could take several more months to resolve.
Kliavkoff's remarks, along with those from Merton Hanks, the executive associate commissioner for football operations, came in advance of the Pac-12 championship game Friday in Las Vegas.
USC is poised for a playoff berth if the fourth-ranked Trojans defeat Utah.
"USC deserves everything they're getting," Kliavkoff said, referencing the school's massive investment in coach Lincoln Riley and his staff. He added that the conference is "incredibly proud" of USC's success.
Other notable comments from Kliavkoff and Hanks:
— When asked about football officiating, Kliavkoff differentiated between judgment calls and procedural errors. He called the latter, which included a missed down in the Oregon-Washington State game, "unacceptable." Hanks said the conference "will be aggressive" in rectifying the issue.
— Kliavkoff is "thrilled" that the College Football Playoff will expand in the 2024 season. News of the accelerated start date came Thursday morning. Early expansion is critical for the Pac-12, which will be without the Los Angeles schools that season.
— Average TV viewership of Pac-12 games on Fox, ABC and ESPN is up 18 percent year-over-year, Kliavkoff said.
— The conference has extended its agreement to hold the championship game in Las Vegas through the 2023 season.
— The USC-Utah game on Friday night is sold out.
*** Send suggestions, comments and tips (confidentiality guaranteed) to pac12hotline@bayareanewsgroup.com or call 408-920-5716
*** Follow me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline
*** Pac-12 Hotline is not endorsed or sponsored by the Pac-12 Conference, and the views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Conference.
Jon Wilner


text:
Q: Derivation of angular momentum commutator relations I'm trying to understand the derivation of the angular momentum commutator relations. How is
$$[zp_y, zp_x] ~=~ 0?$$
How is
$$[yp_z, zp_x] ~=~ y[p_z, z]p_x?$$

A: Remember that
$$[AB,C] = A[B,C] + [A,C]B$$
With this, the first identity follows directly from the canonical commutation relation
$$[x_i,p_j] = i \hbar \delta_{ij}$$
along with
$$[x_i,x_j] = [p_i,p_j] = 0$$
For the second, the same relations tell us that $y$ and $p_x$ commute with everything else in sight, and so can be treated as C-numbers.

A: $[zp_y,zp_x] =  zp_yzp_x - zp_xzp_y$
A very trivial fact is that $p_y = \frac{d}{dy}$
$zp_yzp_x = (-ih)^2 \frac{d}{dx}z\psi'=(-ih)^2 \psi''z$
$zp_xzp_y = (-ih)^2 \psi''z$
so their commutator is 0
This is because $\frac{d}{dx}(z) and \frac{d}{dy}(z) = 0$
Answer 2
$[yp_z,zp_x] = yp_zzp_x - zp_xyp_z$
$ = yp_zzp_x - yp_xzp_z$
Because $p_x$ acts on y and z in the same way
$= [p_z,z]yp_x$