text:
Nevada News and Views
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Reid teams up with Sandoval, Ralston to fight Tax Repeal "crazies"
NN&V Staff
(Chuck Muth, Citizen Outreach) – Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid joined the attacks on Nevada citizens who are seeking to repeal the $1.4 billion tax hike passed by the 2015 Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Brian "America's Worst Governor" Sandoval despite the fact that not one of them last year campaigned on such a tax hike and despite the fact that almost 80 percent of Nevada voters rejected the gross receipts tax component at the ballot box last November.
In an interview with Michelle Rindels of the Associated Press, Reid vowed to do "everything I can" to stop our tax repeal effort, declaring that "it would be a real disservice to our state if the crazies were able to prevail."
"Crazies."
He sounds like liberal blogger Jon Ralston.
From the AP story…
"Sen. Harry Reid said he's willing to do everything he can to help Gov. Brian Sandoval's $1.1 billion tax package survive a potential challenge at the ballot, even though he's not actively involved in the fight now.
"The Democratic U.S. Senate leader had high praise for the Republican governor during an interview Thursday in his Reno office.
"'Sandoval and I don't agree on stuff, but we agree on a lot, and I think what he was able to do with that Legislature was masterful,' Reid said. 'I think it would be a real disservice to our state if the crazies were able to prevail.'
"While the tax package garnered more than the necessary two-thirds vote in the Republican-controlled Legislature this spring, conservative opponents say it was adopted against the will of voters who overwhelmingly rejected the margins tax on the 2014 ballot.
"One group has filed a long-shot petition to repeal the entire three-part package, while another group is planning a campaign to repeal just one portion of it. Republican state Controller Ron Knecht, who's involved in the latter effort, said organizers might file a petition as early as next week."
Speaking of Knecht's group, it has now officially filed their PAC (political action committee) with the Secretary of State. "RIP Commerce Tax, Inc." lists the following officers…
Conservative Nevada State Controller Ron Knecht, president
Conservative Las Vegas City Councilman Bob Beers, secretary/treasurer
Conservative former Nevada State Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, vice president
Conservative activist/radio talk show host Theresa Catalani, vice president
Conservative Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman, vice president
I expect RIP Commerce Tax PAC will file its actual tax repeal referendum sometime next week.
So the rosters are set.
On one side there's Sandoval, Reid, Ralston, a bunch of RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and a host of deep-pocketed special interests.
On the other side there's our underfunded army of citizens, taxpayers and small business owners.
You know, "the people."
Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach and the publisher of www.NevadaNewsandViews.com. He personally blogs at www.MuthsTruths.com.
Related ItemsGov. Brian SandovalHarry ReidJon RalstonTax Repeal
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Nevada News & Views is an educational project of Citizen Outreach Foundation, a non-partisan IRS-approved 501(c)(3) organization. It is not associated or affiliated with any political party or group. Nevada News & Views is accessible by the public at no cost. It funds its operations through tax-deductible contributions from donors and supporters and does not accept government money or grants.
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Oct. 25, 2018 / 12:10 PM
1903 World Series program likely to sell for at least $150K
A program from the 1903 World Series is being auctioned off. Photo Courtesy Huggins & Scott Auctions
Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A program from the first World Series is expected to be auctioned off for at least $150,000.
The Pittsburgh program from the 1903 World Series was recently discovered and will be auctioned off from Nov. 2 to Nov. 15 by Huggins & Scott Auctions. Interested bidders can participate in the auction online. Huggins & Scott Auctions estimates its value at $150,000 to $250,000 and bidding will start at $75,000.
There are only two additional known programs from Pittsburgh's Exposition Park. One of them is owned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The other copy sold for almost $250,000 at the 2011 Louisville Slugger Museum auction.
The program being auctioned off belongs to collector Ben Cavallo. It includes a pencilled-in scoresheet from Game 7. That bout featured Cy Young leading the Boston Americans to a 7-5 triumph over the Pittsburgh Pirates. It is the only known copy to exist from Game 7.
RELATED Red Sox storm to 2-0 lead over Dodgers as series moves to LA
The program also features photo headshots of Honus Wagner, Harry Smith, Claude Ritchey, Ginger Beaumont, Tommy Leach, Sam Leever and Deacon Philllippe.
A program from the 1903 World Series is expected to be auctioned off for $150,000 to $250,000 by Huggins & Scott Auctions. Photo courtesy of Huggins & Scott Auctions
Advertisements fill the non-baseball-related pages of the blue, red, white and black print. Those ads promote $3.50 patent leather shoes, the Pittsburgh & Lake Eric Railroad Company and 5 cent cigars, among many more products.
Boston won the 1903 World Series 5-3 in a best-of-nine format. Young posted a 1.85 ERA and a 2-1 record in four appearances, including three complete games during the series. He also hit a triple. Wagner hit .222 and had a double and three RBIs for the Pirates.
RELATED World Series: Red Sox hold off Dodgers in Game 1
About 17,000 fans attended Game 7 on Oct. 10, 1903, according to Baseball Reference. Young struck out Wagner in the first inning.
RELATED NLCS: Dodgers erupt past Brewers, face Red Sox in World Series
Honus Wagner

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Android WebView: Request permission to access camera I am trying to develop an app using HTML and JavaScript which uses camera. But when I export the app using android Studio, the app doesn't request the permission to access camera. So I allowed it manually. Then, it seems the camera worked, but still the problem is that the camera freezes and will continue to work only when I keep touching the screen.
Here is the codes:
AndroidManifest.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools">
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA"/>
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera" />
    <uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS" />
    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:dataExtractionRules="@xml/data_extraction_rules"
        android:fullBackupContent="@xml/backup_rules"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.CameraTest"
        tools:targetApi="31">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>

            <meta-data
                android:name="android.app.lib_name"
                android:value="" />
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

MainActivity.java
package com.test.camera;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.Manifest;
import android.os.Build;
import android.os.Bundle;

import android.webkit.PermissionRequest;
import android.webkit.WebChromeClient;
import android.webkit.WebView;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        WebView webView=findViewById(R.id.webView);
        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        webView.getSettings().setDatabaseEnabled(true);
        webView.getSettings().setJavaScriptCanOpenWindowsAutomatically(true);
        webView.getSettings().setDomStorageEnabled(true);
        webView.getSettings().setMediaPlaybackRequiresUserGesture(false);
        webView.setWebChromeClient(new WebChromeClient() {});
    }
}

index.html

    <title>Video</title>
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">

Top

        <video class="fitter" id="video" style="position: fixed; width: 100%; height: 100%"></video>

code.js
//Camera Setup
navigator.mediaDevices
  .getUserMedia({ video: { width: parseInt(screen.height), height: parseInt(screen.width), facingMode: { exact: "environment" }}, audio: false})
  .then((stream) => {
    video.srcObject = stream;
    video.play();
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    console.error(`An error occurred: ${err}`);
  });

I browsed a lot and tried all of it, but still it doesn't seem to work. Maybe it could be because I am just a beginner in Java.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Unlike regular staff, The Satellite Secretary provides assistance only when you need additional help. You do not need to supply an additional desk or computer, no office supplies are consumed, no office space is used, and no payroll taxes are incurred.
In most lawfirms, workload can vary widely from day-to-day and week-to-week. New clients, unusually large projects, multiple deadlines occurring at the same time, can quickly overwhelm any office. A lawfirm though has limitation periods and other statutory dates that simply cannot be missed. Staffing your office at a level to handle occasional high volumes does not make economic sense. The Satellite Secretary fills this gap in manpower and gets the work completed for you.
Your clients can sometimes arrive with a last minute request, or amendments to agreements need to be made quickly for signing. Just let The Satellite Secretary know when you need the documents returned.
Many times it is easier to get your work down afterhours, when you can work without interruption. If you do work in the evening, send your dictation to The Satellite Secretary before you leave the office. Depending on volume, your work will be in your inbox when your arrive at the office the next day.


So I've been looking for some recipes to add some variety to Oggie's daycare lunch options. This cauliflower cake appeared so many times on my FB newsfeed yesterday that I decided to give it a shot. Despite a minor gaffe (didn't salt the water I cooked the cauliflower in) it tasted good – or so I'm told by the husband.


Register to receive your "Continuum of Science" poster. Choose either Cell Biology or Genetic Analysis, each featuring key discoveries in that area of research.
Please choose which poster you would like?
No purchase necessary. This promotion is available only to life science professionals 21 years or older in the US and Canada. Free poster is available to eligible participants who register on the Life Technologies™ website no later than December 31, 2015 or until gift supplies are depleted, whichever comes first. The estimated value of the poster is $5.00 USD. One free gift per person. By registering, you warrant that you are not prohibited by employment, contract, or law from accepting a gift from Life Technologies. Offer void where prohibited, licensed or restricted by federal, state, provincial, or local laws or regulation or agency/institutional policy. Other restrictions may apply.


Mitosis epigenetic regulation – Functional analysis of the centromere "histone code"
Our project aims at decyphering this code within the centromeric nucleosomes and at understanding the role of centromeric histone modifications in mitotic functions such as establishment and maintenance of the kinetochore attachment checkpoint, sister chromatid cohesion or kinetochore formation. In particular, we have characterized the function of a specific histone deacetylase isoform, HDAC3, in the deacetylation of a centromeric histone and its role in sister chromatid cohesion.
Given that mitosis is a favorite anticancer "shooting window", we are also interested in the enzymes that catalyze histone modifications involved in mitotic progression. Some of them may indeed become good therapeutic targets.


Mr. Natural 4 months ago.
I'm waiting for them to come up with a way to force it on us 7's during an up date.
Hah! I actually am wondering if something that nefarious might actually be coming — both in terms of secretly installing telemetry even in Group B Security Only updates, and in forced upgrades when Win7 reaches its EOL.
Just yesterday I got a new KB 4023057 which needed a reboot so I would imagine 1809 will be coming down the chute as you report. I turned off feature updates in gpedit though and for some reason it stopped ALL updates except for KB 4023057. I have to manually check for Win Defender updates and I manually installed the SSU for 1803.
Any chance there's another way to update, without leaving notice in the UUP dump?
Admittedly, there are lots of people who've been updated – through various means, over many years – without remembering that they initiated contact….
Windows 10 Home x64 1709 – it tried to update me to 1809 yesterday even with metered connection set (which I do have). It does not care about what you set. I have all the settings recommended on here from various posts. Play cat and mouse with Windows Show/Hide. It will find a way to sneak onto your machine through sedlauncher.exe. I was able to stop it by turning off my WiFi and I was able to uninstall an old kb4023057 that was installed in august (when I purchased my computer). So far it hasn't started up again.
to stop Win10 from updating.
It (shutup10) has capabilities past just blocking Win10 updates. It has an à la carte menu "with suggestions" to choose from.
You could try turning off updates in services.msc and downloading / installing CUs and SSUs manually to avoid feature updates.
Turning Windows Update off in services.msc doesn't work with Windows 10 because MS will 'magically' change it from Disabled to Manual and start downloading updates after a certain period of time.
You need something like Windows Update Blocker (which I use after someone here recommended it) to stop MS from changing the Windows Update Service from Disabled to Manual. Best part is it also works with Windows 10 Home.
And I'm sat here using Windows 7, laughing as I update exactly when, or if I want to.
I really don't know how you guys let MS tell you what to do with your own possessions in your own house. It would rage me beyond belief.
@BobT 'rage' does not go to describe the experience. I have a Win 10 with updates broken on my daily driver, so I experience your bliss, but my others are always up to some no good on regular occasions.
The question is 'are you prepared for the future?' At some stage this insidious infection will have to be caught. I held off for years, but would advise a dual boot or a VM of Win 10 so you at least know your enemy and the inevitable future; one day you will update hardware or need a program to run, and it just won't. Already happened to my much loved Win 9 (8.1).
Woody, thanks for keeping us updated. However, I do notice a problem with the picture of Christmas. The Santa Claus looks like the devil and is apparently making the little boy cry.
Hope everyone has a good holiday and time to enjoy family and friends!
Its not coal in your stocking, its just 1809 on your PC. I think I'll take the coal myself.
lol, coal in the stocking would be an improvement.
Sighhhh~If it forces the PC to update to 1809 when they see it as ready, it better be when I am at home and around 3:30pm or 4pm because I ain't doing it before bed and/or when I come home to see a sign in screen.
Also thank goodness my parents upgraded to 200mbps for spectrum speed. D*** Microsoft and Windows…..Their Xmas grinches and scrooges.
Is this the "home vs. pro" issue? My home laptop running 1803 pro shows no updates available. I did not check for updates, but simply opened windows update.


We handle zero as a special case, and negative numbers by calling integer->big on the negation of the input integer. The heart of the function is the loop that uses quotient and modulo to pick off each big-digit, stopping when the remaining part of the input is less than the radix.
The tests for positive, negative and zero also only look at the signed magnitude in the head of the list.
That's all for today; we'll do some arithmetic in the next exercise. You can run the program at http://programmingpraxis.codepad.org/3RnYkEqN.


Microsoft released upon the world a technical preview of Windows 10 and even though Cortana does not work in this version, there are still assets related to the feature in the build. Because of this, you can crack open these files and take a look at what is coming down the pipe for the platform.
While we now know that package tracking is coming, another new feature will be geo-fenced Wi-Fi activation. Like the last bit of information, this information comes from a resource file pertaining to Cortana, bootstraprules.xml.


text:
Lab personnel shortage means you could wait longer for medical test results: association
By Leslie Young & Abigail Bimman Global News
Posted April 30, 2019 4:15 pm
Updated May 1, 2019 7:41 am
2:00 Lab technologist sound alarm about worker shortage
WATCH: Each year in Canada, medical lab technologists carry out 440 million medical tests. But half of those techs will retire in the next several years, meaning wait times to get tests and results will get worse. As Abigail Bimman explains, the industry wants the federal government to step in and help. – Apr 30, 2019
Canada doesn't have enough medical laboratory technologists to meet the growing demands of our health-care system, and the problem is getting worse, the profession's association warned Tuesday.
"We have reached the point now where some laboratories have been closed for weeks due to insufficient staffing, which is a cascading problem for patients and the health-care system," said Maria Klement, president of the Canadian Society for Medical Laboratory Science.
"Some hospitals are considering whether they can keep their doors open in the absence of on-site laboratory services."
Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Some hospitals are considering whether they can keep their doors open in the absence of on-site laboratory services."
Medical laboratory technologists perform blood tests, do biopsies, and examine fluid or tissue samples to detect disease and infection. They might be looking for things like whether a lump is breast cancer, determining a blood type, or testing a throat swab for strep throat.
About 1.2-million laboratory tests are performed in Canada every day, according to the CSMLS.
Without laboratory capabilities, hospitals and clinics are forced to decide whether to treat people on-site, or send them somewhere where all their tests can be done, Klement said. Rural areas are particularly stretched, she thinks.
READ MORE: Waiting for medical tests, not lack of beds, causing major wait times at ERs, report finds
Read next: Almost all doctors in Canada support moving to pan-Canadian licensing: survey
Klement said there aren't enough lab technologists to deal with growing demands and increasingly complex tests, and many people are set to leave the profession.
"About half of all medical laboratory technologists will be eligible to retire in the next 10 years," she said. "Shortages are already being felt in communities across Canada and the new supply of graduates will not be enough to offset retirements in virtually every province and territory."
WATCH: What can a blood test tell you about your health?
0:41 What can a blood test tell you about your health?
Lab tests are vital to medicine in Canada — from diagnosis to figuring out whether a treatment is working, said Peter Bridge, chair of medical laboratory sciences at the Michener Institute of Education in Toronto, a program that trains laboratory technologists.
Without tests, he said, "The doctors would be left working out their diagnoses somewhat in the dark."
Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: Without tests, he said, "The doctors would be left working out their diagnoses somewhat in the dark."
"The medical laboratory technologists are the third largest workforce in the medical system, and yet the general public, for the most part, has not heard about them," he said.
"They go to see their doctor or if they're in hospital they may see nurses, but as far as what happens to tubes of blood that are collected from them, they just think it goes into a black box. They don't realize the number of individuals required to do those tests, the type of training that they need, the type of equipment that they need."
READ MORE: What blood tests can — and can't — reveal about your health
Read next: U.S. national emergencies for COVID-19 to end in May, Biden administration says
To fill the gap, the society said, they need about 400 new people each year for the next 10 years. The CSMLS has about 14,000 members across Canada right now, Klement said.
While lots of students apply to his program, one of 25 in the country, Bridge said one of the biggest bottlenecks is the amount of on-the-job training required.
With lots of technologists retiring, they don't have much time to train students, he said. "You cannot teach if you don't have teachers, and the teachers are retiring rapidly."
READ MORE: Canadians undergo more than 1 million potentially unnecessary medical tests, treatments a year, report finds
Read next: COVID-19 pandemic in 'transition point,' but remains global health emergency: WHO
The CSMLS is hoping to make it easier for people to enter the profession by creating programs to bridge internationally trained lab technologists into the Canadian system, giving them the additional training needed to be able to work in Canada.
They're also considering things like more virtual reality or simulations to get around the on-site training bottleneck, Klement said. "It could be like taking blood from a rubber arm instead of from a real arm."
"We know workers in the health sector do very important work, and we will work closely with employers and partners to make sure they have the skills and training they need to find and keep good jobs," said Véronique Simard, spokesperson for federal employment minister Patty Hajdu.
Waiting for medical test results is a stressful experience for a patient, Klement said. "When you're not feeling well, 'is it cancer? Is it leukemia? Is it this or that?' Your mind always goes to the worst-case scenario."
While they'll make sure that all vital tests get done, she doesn't want people to be waiting around for routine checks either.
"Bottom line, there is a patient at the other end that we want to make sure we take care of."
Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Bottom line, there is a patient at the other end that we want to make sure we take care of."
Canadians undergo more than 1 million potentially unnecessary medical tests, treatments a year: report
Waiting for medical tests, not lack of beds, causing major wait times at ERs: report
Test Resultsmedical labsCanadian Society for Medical Laboratory ScienceMedical Testslab technicianLab testsMedical Testinglaboratory technologistmedical test results
Statistics Canada to release GDP figures for November
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Keywords: air, aircraft, airplane, atmosphere, background, beautiful, blue, cloud, clouds, cloudy, flight, fly, freedom, high, jet, plane, sky, sun, sunny, sunshine, tourism, transportation, travel, vector, view, white.
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Discussion in 'Miscellaneous [BG]' started by LumpyGravy, Oct 9, 2002.
Antari (www.antari.com)makes a good cheap fog machine for small-midsized rooms.
its only about 70 bucks too which is a plus...we used to use it for our dorm parties....it worked great.
thats the only fog machine I've had extensive use of.
Much of your consideration depends on the typical stage area you are playing on. If you play larger stages get a better machine instead of a lot of cheap machines. I haven't been with a band that used a fog machine since my old touring days.
But VEI makes the best fog I have ever seen/inhaled, ("Visual Effects Industries"). Their machines heat up in no time and cover very large areas. Don't even think of looking at "dry ice" machines - glycol/glycerin + water is a lot less trouble and expense in the long run.
Just a tip from one of our old lighting guys - you position the fog machine(s) ABOVE the band, like on a pole or something else above the band's heads (he used a cheap pole-vaulters rig from a track team).
Because the output of the fog machine is heavier than the ambient air, the fog rolls down from above down on to the band. With colored lights, it looks very "trippy."
THe bars I play wouldnt need a smoke machine. If we had one you wouldnt be able to see the band thru the man-made smoke and the crap the crowd is puffing on.
That would be against the law. California is a no-smoking state.
If you have a vocalist, make sure they don't react badly to the smoke. Some singers find the smoke coats their throat and wrecks their singing voice.
...Some singers find the smoke coats their throat and wrecks their singing voice.
If you're a rock band, that's an asset! It worked for Kurt Cobain and Rod Stewart among many others.
MunjiBunga, you have a keen sense of the obvious. If I were to open a medicinal marijuana bar, it would certainly be legal. Thanx for helping me choose a fog machine. After all, that is the title to MY thread. I am sure glad the Peanut Gallery is ALIVE and WELL.
To the other posters who spend their VALUABLE time on the internet, THANK YOU.
Oooo. I think Lumpy must be one of those bandwidth-conservation guys.


text:
[Animals] Meet the Mice Who Make the Forest
Locked [Animals] Meet the Mice Who Make the Forest
By ProToCrisP
November 30, 2022 in Animals
ProToCrisP
It's easy to look at a forest and think it's inevitable: that the trees came into being through a stately procession of seasons and seeds and soil, and will replenish themselves so long as environmental conditions allow.
Hidden from sight are the creatures whose labor makes the forest possible — the multitudes of microorganisms and invertebrates involved in maintaining that soil, and the animals responsible for delivering seeds too heavy to be wind-borne to the places where they will sprout.
If one is interested in the future of a forest — which tree species will thrive and which will diminish, or whether those threatened by a fast-changing climate will successfully migrate to newly hospitable lands — one should look to these seed-dispersing animals.
"All the oaks that are trying to move up north are trying to track the habitable range," said Ivy Yen, a biologist at the University of Maine who could be found late one recent afternoon at the Penobscot Experimental Forest in nearby Milford, arranging acorns on a tray for mice and voles to find.
"The only way they're going to move with the shifting temperatures is with the animals," Ms. Yen said of the trees. "Will personality affect that? Will there be individuals who are more likely to help?"
Ms. Yen is a doctoral student in the lab of Alessio Mortelliti, a wildlife ecologist who arrived in Maine nearly a decade ago with a peculiar interest: how seed dispersal intersected with the emerging study of animal personality.
Although researchers already studied the ways that animals move seeds across landscapes, the possible role of their personalities had gone largely unexamined. The Penobscot Experimental Forest, with its 1,800 acres of closely monitored woodlands managed according to various forestry techniques, offered a landscape-scale setting to explore this question.
Each summer for the past seven years, Dr. Mortelliti's students have trapped deer mice and southern red-backed voles in their study plots — about 2,000 animals in all — and run them through tests that measure where they fall on a spectrum between bold and shy. Before being released, each is tagged with a microchip, not unlike those used to identify lost pets.
The tags trigger sensors, like the one that Ms. Yen had mounted above her tray of acorns. Each acorn was painted with colored bands to indicate its species: red oak, bur oak, black oak, white oak, swamp white oak, scarlet oak, pin oak, willow oak. Red oak are already abundant in the region, but the other species have arrived only recently or are expected to, as rising temperatures push their ranges north.
Whether these trees succeed in this slow-motion migration — and eventually grace new landscapes with their noble, carbon-sequestering, shelter-providing, wildlife-nourishing presence — will be a function of countless encounters between a mouse or a vole and an acorn.
Does the animal take the nut? If so, is the nut eaten promptly or saved for later? Where does the animal cache it? How often do they fail to return, either because they forget the location or — as so often happens to bite-size creatures in a forest full of hungry predators — because they are eaten first, thus giving the acorn a chance to germinate?
"People see that a forest is regenerating," Dr. Mortelliti said. "But what people don't see is that the forest is regenerating following the decisions of small mammals."
In Dr. Mortelliti's study sites, each such encounter is documented. As a mouse or vole approaches an acorn-laden tray; a sensor reads their microchip, identifying the animal; a motion-activated camera captures the moment, recording which nut they took. Over the course of this season, Ms. Yen said, she would put out more than 1,800 acorns.
On this autumn night, Ms. Yen set out five trays, each about 100 feet apart. Surrounding each she scattered a nontoxic fluorescent powder that temporarily adheres to the feet of visitors. When she returned before dawn, equipped with an ultraviolet flashlight under which the powder fluoresced, small constellations of footprints surrounded each tray and trailed off into the darkness.
People don't realize just how many mice and voles there are, Ms. Yen said. She estimated that, for every 13 steps she took on the way to the site, she passed a mouse or vole — not out in the open but hidden beneath a leaf or cozy in a grass-lined burrow. By the light of twinkling stars and a toenail moon, the rodents had performed their quiet labor. Every acorn was gone.
One by one, Ms. Yen followed each trail. The tiny footsteps glowed under her flashlight, leading around mossy hummocks and beneath fallen branches and up tree trunks and then back down again. As the mouse walks is the opposite of as the crow flies: Some trails petered out, the powder exhausted. Others ended in a cache — a hollow beneath a root, a decaying stump, a hole dug into the earth and carefully covered back up. Ms. Yen marked the final spots with small orange flags.
Some acorns, stored for the coming winter, were intact. Others had been consumed, but from the painted shell fragments Ms. Yen identified the species. With the help of Elizabeth Pellecer Rivera, a graduate research assistant, she made notes about each one. The sensor data and camera recordings would later show that much of the gathering was performed by one notably industrious deer mouse known to the researchers as 982091062973077, a 13-gram male trapped in late September and revealed by tests to be fairly shy, although with a cautiously exploratory streak.
When the season winds down, Ms. Yen, Dr. Mortelliti and two graduate students, Maisie Merz and Brigit Humphreys, will analyze all this data and look for patterns.
Maybe certain personality types will prove more likely than others to select certain oaks. It may take an especially bold rodent to hoist a massive bur oak acorn, then stagger under its weight, vulnerable to predators, until finding a hiding spot. Perhaps shy mice will be more likely to secret them in places best suited to germinate a forgotten nut.
The results will join a procession of studies that have emerged from the experiment over the past several years, most of them led by Allison Brehm, Dr. Mortelliti's first doctoral student and the person who taught Ms. Yen how to track.
In a 2019 study in Ecology Letters, which Dr. Mortelliti described as a "proof of concept," the researchers showed that the personalities of small mammals influence their choice of seeds. Earlier this year the team described how some deer mice, depending on their personality, were more likely than others to cache red oak, white pine and American beech nuts in ways that promoted germination.
In turn, the personality-specific foraging strategies of rodents changed when predators were around, the researchers showed in an Oikos paper in 2021.
And land use alters these dynamics. For instance, the 2019 study found that, in areas that had been logged years earlier, small mammals tended to be bold. A study the following year revealed that a more natural forest, with a mix of habitats rather than the uniformity favored by most commercial logging, contained a greater diversity of personalities.
"This diversity of personality types is maintained in populations because it's a good thing, just like genetic diversity is a good thing," Dr. Brehm said.
Rafał Zwolak, an ecologist at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland who studies seed dispersal and animal personality, called the research "absolutely pioneering."
"I hope their work will inspire researchers in other labs, working in other ecological systems, to focus on this topic," he said.
Asked to define the practical implications of his research, Dr. Mortelliti said, "Preserve a diversity of personalities." There's no one ideal personality; rather, different individuals perform different roles. Depending on circumstance — drought, natural disturbances, fluctuations in predator populations — different personality types may come to the fore. These nuanced dynamics don't preclude timber-cutting, Dr. Brehm said, but they do argue for taking care.
"If you have to manage a landscape, you don't want to manage it all the same way," she said. "You want to manage different parts differently so that you have a heterogeneous landscape." Techniques can be used that maintain a variety of tree species, ages and sizes, attempting to mimic what would happen naturally.
Much remains unstudied, Dr. Mortelliti noted. Measures of shyness and boldness are not the entirety of animal personality; they're just relatively well-characterized and easy to measure in the field. Oaks aside, hundreds of other plant species are shifting their ranges, each following their own animal-mediated trajectory.
As Ms. Yen finished her work, night gave way to pre-dawn twilight. A blue jay called; a red squirrel chittered. Both are seed dispersers with personalities that may affect their contributions to the forest. The same could be said of bears, foxes, crows, turtles, even ants — a whole menagerie as yet unexamined, affecting not only plants but even fungi.
"I'm only looking at two species at night," Ms. Yen said. "It's a very small snapshot of what is happening." A full picture may not emerge for decades, but the outlines are already clear: It takes a lot of personalities to raise a forest.
Source : https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/science/climate-forests-seeds-mice.html
Dec 1 ProToCrisP locked this topic


text:
Interview With Coleen Rooney
23rd January 2016 20th April 2016
Q. How do you think that motherhood has changed you?
A. It hasn't changed me dramatically. I have always been a maternal person and I come from a big family full of kids so I was always looking after them. I am a hands on wife & mother, that's just part of my personality. What I would say has changed the most is the spontaneity. Wayne often doesn't know when he is going to have a day off, so before kids we would just go out for a meal or do something together when he found out he had one. Now everything takes much more planning. Overall, though, life hasn't changed that much.
Q. Is Wayne a hands-on dad?
A. When we had Kai it was all new to him, whereas I had more experience through my family. By the time Klay came along he knew how everything worked and was really confident. It's natural to him now.
Q. What are your favourite things to do together as a family?
A. My favourite thing to do together is simply stay in, play and spend time as a family. That's why Lamaze is great, it helps you interact with your baby in a fun way.
Wayne and I also make sure we have a date night once a week – something as simple as going to the cinema, going for something to eat or going to a show. We have managed to make that last and I hope to continue to do it when baby number three arrives. It's important that you give each other the time.
Q. How do you feel about reaching thirty?
A. I don't feel anxious about it, I still feel young! I'm looking forward to it.
Q. You have just been appointed the new brand ambassador for Lamaze, tell us about that?
A. When Lamaze approached me I jumped at the chance to come on board.
When I was pregnant with Kai lots of people bought Lamaze gifts for us, which is how I first discovered the brand. I was amazed at what Lamaze had to offer him right from birth, so by the time I had Klay I knew I wanted to use Lamaze again – Klay was lucky because he had Kai's old Lamaze toys and we also bought a lot of the newer range. I am really looking forward to using Lamaze again with baby number three and often buy the toys for friends and family.
Q. What do you like about Lamaze toys?
A. The colours and textures are brilliant, you can really see your baby discovering new things while playing, which is amazing. They are developed with experts and are educational but they are also great fun – I think the best way to learn is through enjoyment and this is something that is really great about Lamaze's range.
I also really like that your baby can play by itself with the products, but can also interact with you through them. Learning, bonding and playing are all very important to me and these things are central to Lamaze toys.
Beautiful Organic Baby Brand Finn + Emma now available in the UK
Win a Rocksteady Floor Bouncer from Ickle Bubba – COMPETITION NOW CLOSED


So travelling to foreign countries can be really beneficial for many people especially for the ones who want to make their careers in work related to foreign lands.
Sometimes you want to settle permanently into foreign lands for better lifestyle and growth aspect suiting your situation.
Work related, job related, business related matters are on top priority in foreign lands for many.
Then you start working towards this area to move out successfully to the foreign lands but discover that your all attempts fail every single time.
You have visited astrologers, tarot card readers, done many religious remedies but nothing has worked in your favour.
Visas getting rejected every time etc etc. So now if this has happened several times then you need to check whether any supernatural elements are blocking your path of foreign settlement or travels?
Consult a satvik healer. Get your diagnosis done for this area or problem.
we will tell you the exact reason of the problem. This diagnoses will be a paid service.
Further details can be asked in the mail given above.


Belfast is set to relive the legend that was the Pound Club on the lead up to its 50th anniversary.
The old Pound was at Oxford Street beside Roddy's Bar. The new club will be launched at 44 Dublin Road, the site formerly occupied by The Bar With No Name, and before that the legendary Auntie Annie's bar and club.
This historic Belfast Club, saw many local legends grow to global superstars. The club will commemorate and celebrate such artists as The Group, Light and in its later years U2, The Undertones and Cat Stevens.
The Pound Music Club was the first bar in Belfast to have an entrance charge, a case was taken against the club, after a victory was won the club continued to charge and grow legends in it.
The official opening of the club is September 10 with John Wilson's Taste of Rory, playing tribute to the great Rory Gallagher. This evening sold out in a day and therefore due to demand a second day had to be added on the September 16.
Saturday Pound Sessions are back with weekly house band paying tribute to all eras of The Pound. This 2pm –5pm slot was the foundation of the original club. Originally an animal pound, it then became a rehearsal studio and then Belfast's place to be.
Friday nights in the club will host The Pound Reunion, this playing tribute to many local legends that played the original pound. From Thin Lizzy tributes to John Wilson's Taste of Rory Gallagher, complete with original drummer..
The club will soon re-open its doors to new talent in Belfast, giving the stage back to a new Rory Gallagher, Cat Stevens or Eric Bell for a NEW era of The Pound.


Woven within a chestnut roundwood or sawnwood panel, these are attractive long lasting woven fences.
ALL FENCING AND TRELLIS CAN BE CONSTRUCTED WITHIN A 15 MILE RADIUS OF PRICKLY NUT WOOD. FOR THOSE FURTHER AWAY, A KIT OF COMPONENTS CAN BE SUPPLIED, TO BE COLLECTED FROM THE WOODYARD OR DELIVERED BY COURIER.


text:
Subject: To fill my now useless time, amiwrong.com
Written By: ChuckyG on 03/13/03 at 07:59 p.m.
I'm thinking of doing for movies, what I've done for music..
if you have any ideas as to what you'd like to see, let me know.. and that goes for amiright too..
I have classes to do work for, and my job hunt to work on, but otherwise, I plan on spending as much time as possible bringing a new site into existance.. I might not have this much free time once I do find a job, so I want to take full advantage of it.
Subject: Re: To fill my now useless time, amiwrong.com
Written By: DarkJon64x on 03/13/03 at 09:05 p.m.
I think that would be cool. Misheard lines on movies? Hmm... I suppose people with video cameras and a lot of time could submit parody movies... I know I've made a couple!
I suppose there would be just as many funny additions to be made, such as things like... hmm... if two actors/actresses were put together, what would their movie be called (based on movies they have been in), things like that.
Anyway, good luck with that, as well as your job search!
Written By: LyricBoy on 03/14/03 at 04:25 a.m.
Well Chucky, an amiwrong.com for movies is a way cool idea. �I STILL think at some point you could commercialize this nonprofit empire you are building. :D :D :D .
Anyway, here are a couple of things you could have on amiwrong.com :
1. �Movies that have the most instances of "fruit stand knocked over in a chase scene"
2. �Movies that have the most instances of "the chatty villian", in which the perp has the drop on the good guy, but because he can't shut up and keeps talking, either the good guy or a buddy blows him away instead.
3. �"Concept rip-off movies or scenes", such as the lame shark movies that came out after Jaws. �(There was a movie called "Grizzly" whose plot sequence was almost identical to Jaws, except they used a grizzly bear. �There was even a concept ripoff of the famous "cardboard shark" incident).
4. �"Top Sequels that should never have been made". �(Like the kitzchy Jaws 3-D sequel)
5. �"Sightings of the microphone or production crew in the scene"
Best of luck! �The new site is gonna kick butt! ;D
Subject: ...or a thought for amiright
Just an idea: a "random parody" link which takes you to any parody at random - with the new date-linked bits, I sometimes follow dates at random and see what turns up...
PS I'm not too hot on movies, but favourite quotes would have to be in there somewhere... "OK, so she's a dog" ;-)
Written By: Kimba T. Dogg on 03/14/03 at 07:46 a.m.
Would you include movie mistakes - five hubcaps on the Charger in Bullet; Mustang in Diamonds are Forever going through the alley on one the driverside and coming out the alley on the passengerside - and other mishaps?
I'm not sure about movie mistakes, since IMDB seems to have that market sewn up at the moment.. it's a great idea, but I don't want to try and compete with something that's already well established.. (plus I'll get people just cut and pasting from imdb)
those are excellent, I didn't even think of trying to use similar categories from amiright to begin with..
bandwidth is precious, so movie clips are probably outta the question.. plus ifilm.com has a lot already..
my goal is to avoid competing against other sites that have already nailed a subject.. so if imdb or some other large site is doing it, I probably want to avoid it (and just link to it or something)..
ahh.. the first couple sound like cliche's.. maybe we should begin by naming as many movie cliche's as possible (or better yet, creating a simple page on amiwrong to start with to collect them).. we could then branch out from there..
#5 sounds like something imdb does already, movie mistakes.. which is good for an entire site on it's own.. so I'm going to avoid it for now..
Written By: Kiwi_Thunderer on 03/14/03 at 12:05 a.m.
I think it's a good idea. It would give us a place to squiggle about how bad movies are. Give people a place to write reviews, and they will come to you.
hey I can write articles about movies! ;)
I was thinking how bout music videos for pardies, but you said bandwith space, so I guess not.....hmmm...how bout most overused lines.characters....it appears to me that Roberto Benigni (sp?) plays the same character type in every movie he is in, except for "life is beautiful"...
most overused scenes:
The scene where the protagonist and his gf/love/who cares kiss and the whole crowd around them claps
how bout parodies about movies?
most overused line: "I'm too old for this sh*t" honestly, is this not the most overused line in the history of movies?
Written By: LyricBoy on 03/15/03 at 02:51 p.m.
Billy, you may be on to something there. Some actors who seem to play the same character in most every movie, just different titles and costumes:
-John Candy
-Rosie Perez
-Jim Carrey
-Chris Farley
-Amy Madigan
-Paul Lynde
Just to name a few...
hey I can write articles about movies! �;)
how bout parodies about movies? �
most overused line: "I'm too old for this sh*t" �honestly, is this not the most overused line in the history of movies?
well.. some of the suggestions made me think I should do something listing out movie cliche's, but it looks like a site has already listed them all out: http://www.moviecliches.com/ it's not a very big site, but it appears to have been at it for awhile.. I was going to use a list of cliche's, and then have people check off movies which used them.. which would be more interesting than what this site has done, but I don't want to to recreate the wheel...
I did however have another idea.. coming up with a list of various phobias, and then listing movies which would have scenes that might contain that phobia.. exempting obvious ones like fear of open spaces, (since most movies take place at some point outside). There's plenty of phobia lists like http://www.phobialist.com/ and http://www.ojohaven.com/fun/phobias.html but there's soo many, I'm not sure how easy it would be to filter it down effectively...
I'm kind of thinking of CAPALERT, http://www.capalert.com/ which is a review site for Christians, which is sooo over the top, it would be funny if it were a joke. They come up with all these silly things that the critique a movie for having..
I love the ideas people have been proposing so far, so keep them coming.. I want to start implement something next week..
Written By: PF4Eva on 03/18/03 at 06:46 p.m.
Amiwrong could be more Amiright-esque:
Writing and submitting scenes from your own original parodies of popular movies. Writing an entire parody of a movie could take pages and pages and pages.
Writing portions of mock and/or unlikely sequels to popular movies.
Movie decade messageboards: 1920s-2000s, misheard lines from movies, etc.
Inappropriate/insulting lines from a movie.
Movie reviews.
A list of people who have written parodies of scenes from a movie or unlikely sequel.
I don't think I would want to do movie reviews, only because I think that it's been done by so many other sites, I doubt I could offer a fresh perspective at this point.
parodies of movie scenes? yikes.. that sounds like it would be a lot of work, and I don't know how effective using a form to submit something long like that would be..


text:
cask 'little-snitch' do
  version '3.6.2'
  sha256 '5f97dca66673c5dab58056af7f7236ca587dddf4fed147b62b3eb6ca542012b2'

  url "https://www.obdev.at/downloads/littlesnitch/LittleSnitch-#{version}.dmg"
  name 'Little Snitch'
  homepage 'https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/'
  license :commercial

  installer manual: 'Little Snitch Installer.app'

  zap delete: [
                '~/Library/Preferences/at.obdev.LittleSnitchNetworkMonitor.plist',
                '~/Library/Application Support/Little Snitch/rules.usr.xpl',
                '~/Library/Application Support/Little Snitch/configuration.xpl',
                '~/Library/Application Support/Little Snitch/configuration.user.xpl',
              ]
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Sun, Aug 09, 2020 page4
Mont Blanc glacier nears collapse
AFP, COURMAYEUR, Italy
An Italian alpine resort on Friday remained on high alert over fears that a vast chunk of a glacier on the slopes of the Mont Blanc massif could plummet in high temperatures.
"No one gets through! No cars, bikes or pedestrians," was the message at a checkpoint where an automatic barrier and two guards blocked the small road snaking up into a lush valley below the Planpincieux glacier, near the town of Courmayeur and the Italian-French border.
The blockade has largely been greeted with contempt by the locals, one of whom said: "It's a joke."
A security officer looks through binoculars at the Planpincieux glacier in Courmayeur village, Val Ferret, northwestern Italy, yesterday.
The huge ice block measuring around 500,000 cubic meters — "the size of Milan cathedral or a football pitch covered in ice 80m thick," an official said — could yet break free of its perch about 2,600m to 2,800m above sea level.
Late on Wednesday, authorities ordered the evacuation of a "red zone" at the base of the slope for at least 72 hours, so far moving just 75 people — about 20 locals and the remainder holidaymakers.
At this time of year, the small Val Ferret valley, now blocked off, is usually busy with tourists heeding the call of the mountains.
Located in the Aosta Valley region, the spot is not far from where a vital road tunnel pierces the Alps between France and Italy.
The "red zone" is at least 4km from the tunnel entrance, while tourists could still be seen strolling through the streets of Courmayeur.
It was "urgent and vital" to move people directly out of the path of a potential ice fall, Courmayeur mayor Stefano Miserocchi said, highlighting an "elevated state of alert" during the 72-hour evacuation.
The coming three days are expected to bring especially high temperatures as much of Europe sizzles under a heatwave.
There are more than 4,000 glaciers — vast, ancient reserves of ice — dotted throughout the Alps, providing seasonal water to millions and forming some of Europe's most stunning landscapes. They are under severe threat from climate change.
A study last year by Swiss scientists found that Alpine glaciers could shrink between 65 and 90 percent this century, depending on how effectively the world can curb greenhouse gas emissions.
At Planpincieux this week, "it's an especially delicate situation because [the temperature] upsets the water level between the ice and the rock, and in turn the stability of the glacier," Aosta Valley natural risk management director Valerio Segor said.
"Our problem now is that not enough water can escape; it stays under the glacier like a bubble and risks lifting it up" — which could prompt its most fragile section to tumble into the valley, Segor added.
During a helicopter flyover, a reporter saw a gaping chasm on the lower part of the Planpincieux, from which two cascades of water flowed toward the valley, as it hung from the mountainside like a gigantic block of grey polystyrene.
Last autumn, another section of ice from the Planpincieux glacier threatened to collapse, prompting road closures in the area, and officials have introduced heightened surveillance.
In Courmayeur, as in the small neighboring commune of La Palud, leading to Val Ferret, the evacuation came as an unwelcome surprise, arousing criticism from residents and tourism professionals, worried about the impact on their activity.
In this typically Alpine hamlet, wooden chalets with slate roofs and balconies festooned with pink geraniums and greenery nudge up against hotels and restaurants which advertise their inviting "mountain menu."
"I looked at where the glacier was, where the danger was. It doesn't affect the center of Courmayeur at all, so we continued the visit," said Loic Hamelin, a Parisian tourist who came for the day with his family.
The threat does not appear to have put off the walkers for an instant, as they bustle through the streets with backpacks and boots to start a trail.
"It's a joke," said Rocco, who owns a hotel in La Palud. "Every year, they [the local authorities] do the same thing to us. After the COVID-19 epidemic, it's a new disaster for tourism."
"We have been receiving calls from worried customers asking if they should cancel their reservation, but there is absolutely no problem," Rocco said.
Another hotelier in the area, Ludovico Colombati, was equally dismissive after having to evacuate his home, which is "the closest to the glacier," just under 2km away.
"We live in the mountains, so there is always a risk. But in this case, it is very, very, very low," said Colombati, whose family has lived in the valley for four generations.
"With climate change, the hot summer, the glacier moves, blocks are detached, it's normal," he said, criticizing the "psychosis" of administrators "who cover themselves for fear of having to assume the slightest responsibility."
"Several times a day, my ears hear the glacier being triggered... That's life in the mountains, especially when you live at the foot of a wall," he said.
"The day after tomorrow, it will be all open," he added.
Virus Outbreak: Australian scientists raise doubts over vaccine efficacy
Australian scientists have raised questions over the efficacy of the AstraZeneca and University of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine in establishing herd immunity, calling for a pause on its widespread rollout as the country recorded one new case of the virus yesterday. Opposition to the vaccine casts a cloud over Australia's immunization plans, with 53 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab already on hand. "The question is really whether it is able to provide herd immunity. We are playing a long game here. We don't know how long that will take," Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology president Stephen Turner said. Turner added
Australia to kill bird that crossed Pacific from US
A racing pigeon has survived an extraordinary 13,000km Pacific Ocean crossing from the US to find a new home in Australia. Now authorities consider the bird a quarantine risk and plan to kill it. Kevin Celli-Bird yesterday said he discovered that the exhausted bird that arrived in his Melbourne backyard on Dec. 26 last year had disappeared from a race in the US state of Oregon on Oct. 29. Experts suspect the pigeon that Celli-Bird has named Joe — after US president-elect Joe Biden — hitched a ride on a cargo ship to cross the Pacific. Joe's feat has attracted the attention
Unusual snow brings much of Spain to a halt
A persistent blizzard on Saturday blanketed large parts of Spain with an unusual amount of snow, killing at least four people and leaving thousands trapped in vehicles or at train stations and airports that suspended all services. The national weather agency reported that as of 7am, the snowfall in Madrid reached a level unseen in a half-century. More than 50cm of snow fell in the Spanish capital, the weather agency AEMET said. The bodies of a man and woman were recovered by the Andalucia region emergency service after their car was washed away by a flooded river near the town of Fuengirola.
Virus Outbreak: China sees cases jump despite city lockdowns
China has recorded the biggest daily jump in COVID-19 cases in more than five months, despite four cities in lockdown, increased testing and other measures aimed at preventing another wave of infections in the world's second-biggest economy. Most of the new infections were reported near the capital, Beijing, but a province in northeast China also saw a rise in new cases, official data showed yesterday, amid a resurgence that has seen more than 28 million people under home quarantine. The Chinese National Health Commission said in a statement that a total of 115 new confirmed cases were reported in the country, compared


text:
Q: null pointer exception when calling textField.getText() ok so I have a GUI with some textFields and combo boxes. Whenever I try I get the text textField.getText() and comboBox.getSelectedItem() I get a null pointer exception.
even though my comboBox defaults to a set String or I have text in the textField.
I run the GUI_preGame class and type stuff into the boxes and then call getText().
Sorry that the code is so messy (partly due to using window builder group layout)
I call this Class from another by using GUI_preGame.PetNames();
Error is with this line: 498 (a print statement I put in to just print it!)
System.out.println(textField_3.getText().toString());
package tamagotchiAssignment;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;

public class GUI_preGame extends JFrame {

    private static JPanel contentPane;
    private static JTextField textField;
    private static JTextField textField_1;
    private static JTextField textField_2;
    private static JTextField textField_3;
    private static JTextField textField_4;
    private static JTextField textField_5;
    private static JTextField textField_6;
    private static JTextField textField_7;
    private static JTextField textField_8;
    private static JTextField textField_9;
    private static JTextField textField_10;
    private static JTextField textField_11;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_2;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_3;
    private JLabel lblPlayer_1;
    private JLabel lblPlayer_2;
    private JLabel lblPet_1;
    private JLabel lblPet_2;
    private JLabel label;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_7;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_8;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_9;
    private JLabel label_1;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_10;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_11;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_12;
    private JLabel lblPet_4;
    private JLabel lblPet_5;
    private static ArrayList<String> playerTexts = new ArrayList<String>();
    private static ArrayList<String> petTexts = new ArrayList<String>();
    private static ArrayList<String> speciesTexts = new ArrayList<String>();
    private static JComboBox comboBox_4;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_5;
    private static JComboBox comboBox_6;

    /**
     * Launch the application.
     */
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                try {
                    GUI_preGame frame = new GUI_preGame();
                    frame.setVisible(true);

                } catch (Exception e) {
                    e.printStackTrace();
                }
            }
        });
    }

    /**
     * Create the frame.
     */
    public GUI_preGame() {
        setResizable(false);
        setTitle("Tamagotchi: Pre-Game");
        setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setBounds(100, 100, 800, 600);
        contentPane = new JPanel();
        contentPane.setBorder(new EmptyBorder(5, 5, 5, 5));
        setContentPane(contentPane);

        JLabel lblNumberOfPlayers = new JLabel("Number of players:");
        lblNumberOfPlayers.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        final JComboBox comboBox = new JComboBox();
        comboBox.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"3", "2", "1"}));

        JLabel lblPlayerNamesopt = new JLabel("Player names: (Optional)");
        lblPlayerNamesopt.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        JLabel lblNumberOfPets = new JLabel("Number of Pets:");
        lblNumberOfPets.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        textField = new JTextField();
        textField.setColumns(10);

        JComboBox comboBox_1 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_1.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"3", "2", "1"}));

        textField_1 = new JTextField();
        textField_1.setColumns(10);

        final JComboBox comboBox_2 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_2.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"3", "2", "1"}));

        textField_2 = new JTextField();
        textField_2.setColumns(10);

        comboBox_3 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_3.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"3", "2", "1"}));

        JLabel lblPetNamesoptional = new JLabel("Pet names: (Optional)");
        lblPetNamesoptional.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        JLabel lblPet = new JLabel("Pet 1");

        lblPet_1 = new JLabel("Pet 2");

        lblPet_2 = new JLabel("Pet 3");

        JLabel lblPlayer = new JLabel("Player 1");

        lblPlayer_1 = new JLabel("Player 2");

        lblPlayer_2 = new JLabel("Player 3");

        textField_3 = new JTextField();
        textField_3.setColumns(10);

        textField_4 = new JTextField();
        textField_4.setColumns(10);

        textField_5 = new JTextField();
        textField_5.setColumns(10);

        textField_6 = new JTextField();
        textField_6.setColumns(10);

        textField_7 = new JTextField();
        textField_7.setColumns(10);

        textField_8 = new JTextField();
        textField_8.setColumns(10);

        textField_9 = new JTextField();
        textField_9.setColumns(10);

        textField_10 = new JTextField();
        textField_10.setColumns(10);

        textField_11 = new JTextField();
        textField_11.setColumns(10);

        JButton btnCancel = new JButton("Cancel");
        btnCancel.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                System.exit(0);
            }
        });

        final JButton btnOk = new JButton("OK");
        btnOk.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {
            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                dispose();
            }
        });
        JLabel lblPetSpecies = new JLabel("Pet species:");
        lblPetSpecies.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        JLabel label_3 = new JLabel("Player 1");

        label = new JLabel("Player 2");

        label_1 = new JLabel("Player 3");

        comboBox_4 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_4.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_5 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_5.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Kuchipatchi", "Mametchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_6 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_6.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Tarakotchi", "Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi"}));

        comboBox_7 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_7.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_8 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_8.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Kuchipatchi", "Mametchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_9 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_9.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Tarakotchi", "Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi"}));

        comboBox_10 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_10.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_11 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_11.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Kuchipatchi", "Mametchi", "Tarakotchi"}));

        comboBox_12 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_12.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"Tarakotchi", "Mametchi", "Kuchipatchi"}));

        JLabel lblPet_3 = new JLabel("Pet 1");

        lblPet_4 = new JLabel("Pet 2");

        lblPet_5 = new JLabel("Pet 3");

        JLabel lblDaysToPlay = new JLabel("Days to play:");
        lblDaysToPlay.setFont(new Font("Tahoma", Font.PLAIN, 14));

        JComboBox comboBox_13 = new JComboBox();
        comboBox_13.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(new String[] {"1", "2", "5", "10", "15", "20", "30", "40", "50"}));

        GroupLayout gl_contentPane = new GroupLayout(contentPane);
        gl_contentPane.setHorizontalGroup(
            gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                    .addGap(267)
                    .addComponent(lblPet_3)
                    .addGap(69)
                    .addComponent(lblPet_4)
                    .addGap(88)
                    .addComponent(lblPet_5)
                    .addContainerGap(285, Short.MAX_VALUE))
                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                    .addGap(272)
                    .addComponent(lblPet)
                    .addContainerGap(487, Short.MAX_VALUE))
                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                    .addGap(185)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                            .addComponent(lblDaysToPlay)
                            .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.UNRELATED)
                            .addComponent(comboBox_13, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                            .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED, 199, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                            .addComponent(btnOk, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 62, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                            .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                            .addComponent(btnCancel)
                            .addGap(138))
                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                .addComponent(lblPetSpecies)
                                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                    .addComponent(lblPlayer_1)
                                    .addGap(18)
                                    .addComponent(textField_6, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                    .addComponent(textField_7, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                    .addComponent(textField_8, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                    .addComponent(lblPlayer)
                                    .addGap(18)
                                    .addComponent(textField_3, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                    .addComponent(textField_4, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                    .addComponent(textField_5, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.TRAILING)
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                                .addComponent(lblPlayerNamesopt)
                                                .addComponent(textField, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                                .addComponent(textField_1, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                                .addComponent(textField_2, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                                .addComponent(lblPetNamesoptional))
                                            .addGap(18))
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addComponent(lblNumberOfPlayers)
                                            .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.UNRELATED)
                                            .addComponent(comboBox, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)))
                                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                        .addComponent(comboBox_2, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                        .addComponent(comboBox_1, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                        .addComponent(lblNumberOfPets)
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.TRAILING)
                                                .addComponent(lblPet_1)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_3, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                            .addGap(69)
                                            .addComponent(lblPet_2))))
                                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addComponent(lblPlayer_2)
                                            .addGap(18)
                                            .addComponent(textField_9, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                                .addComponent(label_3, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 39, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                                .addComponent(label_1, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 39, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                            .addGap(26)
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_7, 0, 90, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_4, 0, 90, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_10, 0, 90, Short.MAX_VALUE))))
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addComponent(textField_10, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                            .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                                            .addComponent(textField_11, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                            .addGap(8)
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_5, 0, 95, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_8, 0, 95, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_11, 0, 95, Short.MAX_VALUE))
                                            .addGap(18)
                                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING, false)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_6, 0, 96, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_9, 0, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE)
                                                .addComponent(comboBox_12, 0, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, Short.MAX_VALUE)))))
                                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                                    .addComponent(label, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, 39, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED, 339, Short.MAX_VALUE)))
                            .addGap(221))))
        );
        gl_contentPane.setVerticalGroup(
            gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                    .addGap(22)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                            .addGap(35)
                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                                .addComponent(lblPlayerNamesopt)
                                .addComponent(lblNumberOfPets)))
                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                            .addComponent(comboBox, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                            .addComponent(lblNumberOfPlayers)))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addComponent(textField, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_1, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addComponent(textField_1, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_2, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.LEADING)
                        .addComponent(textField_2, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_3, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGap(18)
                    .addComponent(lblPetNamesoptional)
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(lblPet)
                        .addComponent(lblPet_2)
                        .addComponent(lblPet_1))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(lblPlayer)
                        .addComponent(textField_3, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_4, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_5, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(lblPlayer_1)
                        .addComponent(textField_6, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_7, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_8, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(lblPlayer_2)
                        .addComponent(textField_9, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_10, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(textField_11, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGap(18)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.TRAILING)
                        .addComponent(lblPet_3)
                        .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createSequentialGroup()
                            .addComponent(lblPetSpecies)
                            .addGap(9)
                            .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                                .addComponent(lblPet_4)
                                .addComponent(lblPet_5))))
                    .addPreferredGap(ComponentPlacement.RELATED)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(label_3)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_4, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_5, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_6, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGap(18)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(label)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_7, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_8, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_9, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGap(18)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(label_1)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_10, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_11, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_12, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE))
                    .addGap(42)
                    .addGroup(gl_contentPane.createParallelGroup(Alignment.BASELINE)
                        .addComponent(lblDaysToPlay)
                        .addComponent(comboBox_13, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE, GroupLayout.DEFAULT_SIZE, GroupLayout.PREFERRED_SIZE)
                        .addComponent(btnOk)
                        .addComponent(btnCancel))
                    .addGap(52))
        );
        contentPane.setLayout(gl_contentPane);
        }

    public static ArrayList<String> PetNames() {
        System.out.println(textField_3.getText().toString());
        petTexts.add(textField_3.getText().toString());
        petTexts.add(textField_4.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_5.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_6.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_7.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_8.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_9.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_10.getText());
        petTexts.add(textField_11.getText());
        return petTexts;
    }

    public static ArrayList<String> playerNames() {
        playerTexts.add(textField.getText());
        playerTexts.add(textField_1.getText());
        playerTexts.add(textField_2.getText());
        return playerTexts;
    }
    public static ArrayList<String> speciesNames() {
        System.out.println("hello");
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_4.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_5.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_6.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_7.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_8.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_9.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_10.getSelectedItem().toString());
        speciesTexts.add(comboBox_11.getSelectedItem().toString());
        return speciesTexts;
    }
    public void disablePlayer23() {
        disablePlayer2();
        disablePlayer3();
    }

    public void disablePlayer2() {
        textField_1.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_2.setEnabled(false);
        textField_6.setEnabled(false);
        textField_7.setEnabled(false);
        textField_8.setEnabled(false);
        lblPlayer_1.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_7.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_8.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_9.setEnabled(false);
        label.setEnabled(false);
    }

    public void enablePlayer2() {
        textField_1.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_2.setEnabled(true);
        textField_6.setEnabled(true);
        textField_7.setEnabled(true);
        textField_8.setEnabled(true);
        lblPlayer_1.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_7.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_8.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_9.setEnabled(true);
        label.setEnabled(true);
    }

    public void disablePlayer3() {
        textField_2.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_3.setEnabled(false);
        textField_9.setEnabled(false);
        textField_10.setEnabled(false);
        textField_11.setEnabled(false);
        lblPlayer_2.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_10.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_11.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_12.setEnabled(false);
        label_1.setEnabled(false);
    }

    public void enablePlayer3() {
        textField_2.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_3.setEnabled(true);
        textField_9.setEnabled(true);
        textField_10.setEnabled(true);
        textField_11.setEnabled(true);
        lblPlayer_2.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_10.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_11.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_12.setEnabled(true);
        label_1.setEnabled(true);
    }

    public void enablePlayer23() {
        enablePlayer2();
        enablePlayer3();
    }

    public void disableP2Pet23() {
        disableP2Pet2();
        disableP2Pet3();
    }

    public void disableP2Pet2() {
        textField_7.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_8.setEnabled(false);
    }

    public void disableP2Pet3() {
        textField_8.setEnabled(false);
        comboBox_9.setEnabled(false);
    }

    public void enableP2Pet2() {
        textField_7.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_8.setEnabled(true);
    }

    public void enableP2Pet3() {
        textField_8.setEnabled(true);
        comboBox_9.setEnabled(true);
    }

    public void enableP2Pet23() {
        enableP2Pet2();
        enableP2Pet3();
    }
}

A: All your fields are initialized in GUI_preGame's constructor.
As PetNames() is a static method, though, you can access it without having to call GUI_preGame's constructor first.
When you do that, as all those textField_* objects are not initialized, they will be null and any attempt to execute a method from them will throw a NullPointerException.
Solution: Make PetNames() non-static so it is attached to a GUI_preGame instance (that will only exist if the GUI_preGame's constructor is called), or, better yet, make PetNames() and all your other static methods and fields non-static, as your code right now is making a bad use of the static feature:
public static ArrayList<String> PetNames() { //<-- remove "static" from this line
    System.out.println(textField_3.getText().toString());
    petTexts.add(textField_3.getText().toString());
    petTexts.add(textField_4.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_5.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_6.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_7.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_8.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_9.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_10.getText());
    petTexts.add(textField_11.getText());
    return petTexts;
}

A: *

*Don't use static in this way.  It smacks of poor design and will only restrict what you can achieve in the long run.

*You are shadowing your variables...

For example, you declare a class level field...
private static JComboBox comboBox_2;

But in your constructor you re declare it as a local variable...
final JComboBox comboBox_2 = new JComboBox();

Meaning that the class level field is still null


text:
Hobbies Playing Music
The Best Electric Guitar Songs From the 80s
Use Guitar Tab to Learn Songs From the 1980s That Sound Great on Electric
Tab, Chords & Lyrics
Dan Cross
Dan Cross is a professional guitarist and former private instructor who has experience teaching and playing various styles of music.
The following songs have been selected to highlight some of the best electric guitar songs from the 1980s. Each song includes links to tab, and wherever possible links to free audio versions of the song. A guideline for the difficulty of each song has been included. The assumption with these guidelines is beginner guitarists can play the basic essential open chords, F major, plus basic power chords. Difficulty assessments do not include the guitar solos.
Summer of '69 (Bryan Adams)
Album: Reckless, 1984
Although this one does briefly use a barre chord (B minor), the song primarily consists of open and power chords. Included is a simple sing-note riff that should provide a good, surmountable challenge for beginners. You'll need to bone up on your palm muting to play this one well.
Money For Nothing (Dire Straits)
Album: Brothers In Arms, 1985
There isn't anything explicitly difficult with this song, but some of Mark Knopfler's small chord shapes might just feel a little unusual to guitarists mostly familiar with power chords.
Sweet Child O' Mine (Guns 'N Roses)
Album: Appetite For Destruction, 1987
The opening riff might tie beginner guitarist's fingers in knots, but it's a pretty good challenge. The tempo is slow, and the pattern is straightforward. Even some of Slash's solo parts are fairly simple to play. The full guitar solo is clearly going to be out of reach for beginners.
Rock You Like a Hurricane (Scorpions)
Album: Love at First Sting, 1984
There are some pretty frenzied lead guitar parts happening throughout this song, but the chords underneath are straightforward power chords. If you are comfortable with power chords, this shouldn't be much of a challenge.
Rock This Town (Stray Cats)
Album: Stray Cats, 1981
Legs (ZZ Top)
Album: Eliminator, 1983
Rebel Yell (Billy Idol)
Album: Rebel Yell, 1984
Guitarist Steve Stevens has put together a pretty great guitar part for this song - he turned what could have easily been a basic power chord part into something more interesting. Listen closely to the recording to nail the rhythm pattern being played throughout the verse.
She Sells Sanctuary (The Cult)
album: Love, 1985
Level of difficulty: Advanced Beginner
This should be fun for beginners to play - and not too difficult. The song's main riff couples an open D string with various notes being played higher up on the G string. With a little work, beginners shouldn't have a hard time with this one.
Photograph (Def Leppard)
Album: Pyromania, 1983
Another One Bites the Dust (Queen)
Album: The Game, 1980
There's not much to this Queen hit in terms of guitar - it's mostly a basis riff doubled for guitar. There is some brief funky rhythm playing from Brian May, but you can probably learn this one in under five minutes.
867-5309 / Jenny Jenny (Tommy Tutone)
Album: Tommy Tutone 2, 1981
Call Me (Blondie)
For the movie "American Gigolo", released as a single in1980
Eye Of The Tiger (Survivor)
Album: Eye of the Tiger, 1982
Paradise City (Guns 'N Roses)
Album: Appetite for Destruction, 1987
Back in Black (AC/DC)
Album: Back in Black, 1980
Includes one of the most famous AC/DC riffs, and has a tricky timing on the bend and the last bar.
I Love Rock and Roll (Joan Jett)
Album: I Love Rock and Roll, 1981
Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield)
Album: Working Class Dog, 1981
La Bamba (Los Lobos)
Album: La Bamba Soundtrack, 1987
Livin' on a Prayer (Bon Jovi)
Album: Slippery When Wet, 1986
Runnin' Down a Dream (Tom Petty)
Album; Full Moon Fever, 1989
Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash)
Album: Combat Rock (1982)
We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister)
Album: Stay Hungry, 1984
You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Album: Synchronicity, 1983
Top 80s Songs for Acoustic Guitar
Top '90s Songs for Acoustic Guitar
Top Classic Country Songs for Acoustic Guitar
Easy Heavy Metal Guitar Tabs for the Novice
The Best First Songs to Learn on Electric Guitar
Alternate Tuning Guide
Easy Folk Songs on Guitar
Easy Alt Rock Songs on Guitar
The 10 First Songs You Should Learn on Guitar
Top AC/DC Songs of the '80s
The 15 Best Guitar Solos of All Time
The Best Heavy Metal Albums Of The 1980s
How to Play in DADGAD Tuning
A Primer on Playing Funk Guitar


Ribbons and Tags have been here for a long time. They are definitely one of the common designer's decorative tools. Fairly often you can catch them on restaurant websites or personal portfolios. They add a note of elegancy and in some cases sophisticated retro touch. Ribbons have usually been used as a background for titles, while tags have been implemented as logos.
Today I want to renew my previous year collection of ribbons and tags utilization in website design with 26 brand new inspirational examples.


Guest columnist Charles Belson writes that as a result of this confusion about gas wells and land conservation, the conservation tax levy on the Gates Mills November ballot appears to be in danger of not being renewed for the first time since 1991.
Guest columnist Charles Belson was the co-author of the Gates Mills Issue 56 Charter Amendment (by petition), which passed in November, giving voters the right to veto any council ordinance approving leases for deep horizontal gas wells on village-owned land.
Should local land conservation tax levy funds be used to purchase properties that have existing gas wells? That is one of the questions Gates Mills residents asked the mayor, the president of the local land conservancy, and others at a June 14 meeting at the mayor's office.
This November, voters here will decide whether to renew their conservation Charter Amendment tax levy, which they have done every five years since 1991. The tax levy generates about $170,000 each year. This is a significant sum for a village of only 2,300 residents. Using a voter-approved tax levy to establish a conservation fund to purchase land has been viewed as good public policy since 1991.
In July of 2015, the village council approved a precedent-setting ordinance using $43,000 in conservation funds to purchase land with an existing gas well. At the June meeting at the mayor's office, residents asked that the tax levy language be amended to exclude the use of conservation funds for the purchase of land with existing shallow vertical gas wells, and the purchase of any land with an existing mineral lease that allows for future deep horizontal gas wells. Residents also asked that this language be added to the tax levy in order to better protect conserved land from industrial uses, noting that the Village Zoning Code still listed oil and gas drilling as a Class U4 Prohibited Use.
In response, village officials and conservancy officers said the tax levy renewal language could not be changed as requested by residents without risking the income loss of a 10 percent State of Ohio bonus for unchanged grandfathered renewals. They said the ability to use conservation funds to buy both land with existing gas wells and land with mineral leases allowing future horizontal fracking was absolutely critical to the mission of the land conservancy.
The village law director acknowledged that residents had the right to initiate their own conservation Charter Amendment by petition, although others believed that two Charter Amendments on the same ballot might result in a loss for both. Afterward, the village council met and approved the first reading of an Ordinance using the 1991 language as the basis for council's 2016 conservation Charter Amendment tax levy renewal.
Unfortunately, council and the conservancy do not appear to be listening. Their message on the issue of providing more protection for conserved land is muddled somewhere between "we have to be able to buy land with gas wells now, so we can save the village from gas wells in the future," and "we have to be able to ignore zoning use regulations now, so we can enforce zoning use regulations in the future." As a result of this confusion about gas wells and land conservation, the conservation tax levy appears to be in danger of not being renewed for the first time since 1991.