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BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD – Type 11 light machine-gun
Named to honour the 11th year of Emperor Taisho's reign in 1922, the Type 11 was Imperial Japan's first light machine-gun. It featured an ammunition feed system which, although ingenious, solved one problem only to create another.
Superseded by the Type 96 model in 1936 – which reverted to a more traditional box magazine but failed to resolve other issues satisfactorily – it was not until the introduction of the Type 99 in 1939 that the Japanese arms industry produced a reliable light machine gun. By then, 29,000 of the Type 11 were in use, plus a further 8,600 of the Type 96, effectively committing a significant proportion of the Imperial Japanese Army to imperfect weapons for the duration of the Second World War.
Designed by General Kijiro Nambu, the man behind many of Japan's small arms, the Type 11 was based on the French Hotchkiss M1909, which was employed by many nations during the First World War, including Great Britain and the United States. Unlike the Hotchkiss, which used either a strip magazine or a belt to feed ammunition, the Japanese version had a hopper that could funnel clips of five bullets supplied for the Type 38 rifle. This meant that any infantryman could supply ammunition for the machine gun. But convenience came at a price.
Water or dust could easily enter the firing mechanism through the open hopper, causing reliability issues. This problem was exacerbated by poor dimensional tolerance between the bolt and gun barrel, which could cause spent shells to jam prior to ejection.
An automatic oiling system was included to lubricate cartridges before they entered the chamber. This might work perfectly on the firing range, but on the battlefield, dirt would mix with the oil to create a sludge that could jam the gun. During the Sino-Japanese war of the early 1930s it also became apparent that the hopper feed made the weapon unbalanced (because all the cartridges were packed on the left side).
So General Nambu developed the Type 96, replacing the hopper with a conventional box magazine containing 30 rounds, similar to those fitted to Bren guns. The oiling system was also revised; the automatic oiler was replaced by a manual system fitted to the magazine loader. However, even though the magazine made the Type 96 more dirt resistant than its predecessor, the lubrication system still carried some dirt into the chamber with the oil, leading to jams.
Three years after its introduction, the Type 96 evolved into the Type 99, which had improved primary extraction and so dispensed with the oiling system altogether. This significantly improved reliability.
However, this new system was designed to be compatible with the Type 99 rifle, which fired different ammunition from the earlier models. Therefore infantry units equipped with the older pattern rifles continued to use the matching Type 11 and 96 machine-guns, while those using the 1939 pattern Type 99 rifle received the matching modern light machine-gun. This meant that soldiers using the older models would be out-gunned on the battlefield by almost all Allied troops they encountered.
WAR ZONE – The Isles of Scilly
ALDERNEY – a military history
The Defence of London: AD 1642
Back to the Drawing Board: A39 Tortoise Heavy Assault Tank
Back to the Drawing Board: HMS Glatton


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from nn_config import NetworkConfig
from trainer_config import TrainerConfig
from config import GeneralConfig

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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Carl XII:s kurir är en svensk dramafilm från 1924 i regi av Rudolf Anthoni.

Handling
Generaladjutanten Axel Roos har på Karl XII:s uppdrag att föra en sträng depesch från Bender till Rådet i Stockholm. Resan går tvärs genom det fientliga Europa, där polacker och ryssar har lika stort intresse av att ta honom tillfånga.

Om filmen
Filmen premiärvisades 7 april 1924. Filmen spelades in i Filmstaden Råsunda med exteriörer filmade på Riddarhuspalatset, Häringe gods och Stafsunds gods av Adrian Bjurman. När filmen var klar tvingades Svensk Filmindustri att stämma Rudolf Anthoni och Lars Björck då kostnaderna för inspelningen på 59 105 kronor ej betalats.

Som förlaga har man författaren Esaias Tegnérs dikt Axel som utgavs 1821.

Rollista i urval
Gösta Ekman - Axel Roos
Tottan Skantze - Maria Sobieska
Hilda Castegren - Aurora Sobieska, hennes fostermor
Victor Lundberg - Alexis Potocki
Nils Asther - Stanislaus, hans nevö
Renée Björling - Anna Björnhufvud
Julia Ewert - Värdshusflicka
Annie Bartels - Kammarjungfru
Nils Lundell - Friskareanförare
Anton de Verdier - Carl XII
Aina Bergström
Svea Dahlqvist
John Melin
Linde Klinckowström - polsk adelsdam
Som statister medverkar underofficerare vid Livgardet till häst

Externa länkar

1700-talet i svensk film
Svenska dramafilmer
Svenska filmer 1924
Esaias Tegnér
Karl XII på film
Svenska filmer baserade på böcker
Filmatiseringar av dikter
Svenska 1920-talsfilmer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Mel Patterson didn't score a point in last weekend's Carson-Banning basketball game, but he had a pretty good night. Patterson, a well-known local referee, officiated most of the game alone after partner Simon Peters broke his wrist in the first quarter.
After the 60-58 Carson victory, Patterson received more congratulations than any of the players and, as he toweled off, said he was relieved the game hadn't gone into overtime.
Patterson, easily recognizable by his shaved pate, said, "If it ended in a draw it would have been all right with me. I've worked one-man games before, but a game like this--these two schools, the rivalry, everybody's pumped up, everybody's reaching, pushing--you've got to watch the ball, watch off the ball. It's a tough one. This game would have been tough with two (officials)."
At one point two players had a confrontation and Patterson told them he would brook no nonsense. The players shook hands and there were no further incidents. "I told the two kids if you don't shake hands this game's over," he said.
Patterson said he didn't try to be Superman. "I can only do what I can do. I can't see it all."
The busiest place in town last weekend had to be the Cal State Dominguez Hills gym, where games were run and crowds were shuttled in and out in near assembly-line rapidity.
Between Thursday and Saturday the Carson campus hosted two USC basketball games, two high school games and two of its own games.
USC's game Thursday against Washington--the Trojans are playing three games at Dominguez Hills when the Sports Arena is being used--drew what may be the first turnaway crowd in the gym's history. With more than 4,100 fans standing three-deep, USC radio broadcasters told people listening in their cars on the way to the game to turn around and head home. The crowd outdrew USC's normal Sports Arena crowd by a couple of thousand.
The gym was also pretty well packed Friday for the basketball season's first Carson-Banning game, and the fans were invited to stay for the following Dominguez Hills-Cal State Northridge game. Most didn't.
"It was nice to give our folks a sense of a full gym," Dominguez Hills Athletic Director Sue Carberry said.
Dominguez Hills has solid men's and women's programs but has failed to generate much following in the Carson area. USC, however, may have found a home away from home.
How can a coach tell when his team is ready to play? In Loyola Marymount's case, basketball Coach Ed Goorjian and at least one of his star players were happy to see a few fights break out between teammates in practice last week.
After beating Colorado, Goorjian said, "We had about three fistfights last week. It was nice." He jokingly added, "I started all three of them."
Star guard Keith Smith, who chewed out teammates during the game, elaborated: "After Montana (Loyola lost two games on a road trip there) everybody seemed like born-again basketball players. We played some lousy ball in Montana. I told the guys we gotta get nasty. We had a couple of fights in practice. I got a little uptight with a couple of the guys tonight. It's getting too close to conference to play passive. We're gonna play hard the rest of the way."


When you travel a lot you're often asked the same two questions: What's your favorite country? and, What's the worst place you've ever been?
I first visited Bangladesh in 1998, sort of by accident. I was doing some random work in India, and my visa was expiring. Simply put, I needed to cross a border, and well, Bangladesh was the closest border to cross. My 23 year old self thought, "why not".
Together with my traveling partner, the amazing Andrea (who will certainly feature in many more of my 100 stories), I went to the travel agent in Calcutta and shelled out a heap of Rupees for return tickets to Dhaka.
On Dhaka departure day, I woke up to find my friend nearly dying of dysentery. Trouble was she had a visa and I didn't. My only option was to abandon her in the rat-infested guest house in Calcutta and pray we'd meet up in Bangladesh- somehow. May I remind you that travel in 1998 was without internet, cell phones, and travel bloggers.
Before I left, I traded our Nepal Lonely Planet on the Calcutta street for a Bangladesh guidebook and, as we did back then, picked a meeting place in Dhaka from it's pages. We chose the lobby of the Dhaka Sheraton with a wager it was the most likely place in the Lonely Planet to still exist.
Bangladesh started out rough- I arrived to find out it was the final days of Ramadan. This mostly meant two things: there was no food in the city, and almost no guest houses open. (I couldn't actually afford to stay at the Sheraton where we were to meet) . The third thing I learned was that in Bangladesh, there are also mostly no women. Well, there are women, but they keep them hidden out of sight.
Before I even made it from the airport to the city, my boots were stolen from my backpack. The motor rickshaw ride in the dark was long and intimidating, and lodging nearly impossible. After many unsuccessful attempts, I found one local hotel that would take me in. There was a restaurant downstairs where I had to eat behind a curtain, and because of the holiday I was the hotel's only guest. Creepy men continually knocked on my door through the evening, and I moved the furniture in front of the door to barricade myself in.
My sole mission the next day was to get a visa to return to India. I dressed head to toe to hide all my skin and curves. A rickshaw navigated me across the congested town through billions of bicycles, rickshaws, and men leading around goats and cows to be slaughtered for the Eid celebration. I was literally trapped in a gridlock of goats with men staring through me. I wished I could be invisible. Or at least, just get my passport and get the hell out.
I invented things to do all day, biding time til the magic stamp appeared in my passport entering me rights to re-enter India. Mostly I rode a rickshaw through the streets crowded with soon-to-be-sacrificed farm animals, and pretended to enjoy the "must see" sites of Dhaka while being stared at by hundreds of men- like I was more of a must see than the famous pink palace.
And then, things started to unravel.
I showed up right on time at the Indian Embassy to retrieve my visa, and it was closed- for the next four days. I had completely forgotten that India and Bangladesh liked to show that they were different by refusing to be in the same time zone. Bangladesh time was 15 minutes different, and I was late.
How I left the embassy with the visa is another story. What you need to know for this story, is that to this day, that visa never got stamped, and the day got worse.
I found the Sheraton and sat in its lobby for a good six hours, but Andrea never showed up. I waited and waited and asked the front desk nearly every half hour if anyone called looking for me. When the clock passed midnight I realized she must be dead in Calcutta and I became determined to be on the next plane to find her.
In my panic, I sought counsel of the Sheraton concierge to get a plane ticket that would take me in the morning. He led me to the back of the hotel where a man sat shuffling stacks of paper behind a very high counter ignoring me. Impatiently, I stood on tiptoes to lean over his counter to see his important business, and something unusual and beautiful caught my eye. A small square note with two words on it "Andrea" "Stephanie" and a telephone number.
My friend was alive and in Dhaka. She'd been calling, and the hotel told her no one was waiting. She'd met an American from her hometown on her flight who was doing medical work in Bangladesh and his team was caring for her at a local mission guest house. They agreed to pick me up from the Sheraton in the morning.
Had I not been penniless, clueless and 23, I'd have used my credit card to check myself into the Sheraton until morning, but alas, I was all of these things. I went back to the creepy guest house in the middle of the night, moved my furniture against the door, and slept.
What I didn't know when I packed my bags the next morning was that this was the day that they were going to slaughter all of the animals who'd been causing the previous day's traffic jam. It was a long walk to the Sheraton through streets running with rivers of fresh animal blood.
The Bangladeshi's were celebrating Eid, and I was celebrating reunification and rescue.
With Andrea too sick to go back to India, we spent the next week in Dhaka with our new friends who we were convinced were angels, sent to rescue us from ourselves in Bangladesh.
Eventually we flew directly back to Thailand and I wanted to kiss the streets of Bangkok because after Bangladesh they looked so clean.
Though I've vowed in 1998 that I was done with Dhaka after all that, I did travel again to Bangladesh in 2010. Fifteen years has changed some things there, and a lot of things in me too. As I looked around Dhaka, I tried to imagine my 23 year old backpacker self there, and had to laugh. Sure, it's still crowded, and dirty. Women are still missing from the street scene, and men still line up to watch you. But beneath all the insanity is a deep beauty and rich hospitable people. And, um, some amazing shopping.
My lesson is this. We must never confuse bad experiences with bad places. And we should always believe in angels- because sometimes we'll need them.


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Disadvantages: They've begun to almost be beyond what I can afford now that I'm retired.
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Tag Archives: time travel
Star Wars Rebels, Season Four – A Review and an Opinion
Okay, first things first. I have not seen the last six episodes of season four of Star Wars Rebels and, judging by the descriptions, I don't think I want to see them – not any time soon, at least. I know I am a minority opinion in this regard, and if my decision upsets you, I am sorry for hurting your feelings. But we're not responsible for the choices of others; my decision is my own, so don't feel bad if you think I'm wrong. That is your decision, and I certainly don't feel bad about it. Neither should you.
All right, let's review some of the episodes I did see. I mostly enjoyed Heroes of Mandalore, with just a couple of minor points of reserve/annoyance. One, I would have preferred to see Alrich Wren in Mandalorian armor rather than normal attire. He is a Mandalorian, for Pete's sake; dress him like one! He can be less severe than Ursa Wren all day long, but that doesn't mean you have to make him look like a wimp. Two, if Ezra could have actually been there to watch Sabine decide to destroy the Duchess rather than show up and beg not to be shot, I would have been happier.
This was the biggest sticking point for me in these otherwise excellent episodes. Seriously, what is so bad about letting the guy help the girl? Could someone please explain this to me? You could have had Ezra show up and deal with Tiber Saxon's backup while Sabine fixed the Duchess to zap Stormtrooper armor instead of Mandalorian armor, couldn't you? Then Ezra could help Bo-Katan turn Sabine from a desire for revenge to choosing to do what was right. He's a Jedi, and he's been where she is, and so I would think that would add some weight to his advice.
All right, venting done. On the plus side, it was good to see so much more of Mandalore. It was also nice to watch Bo-Katan letting go of her past while helping Sabine see her future, just as it was nice to see the Wren family and Rau survive this battle. Mandalore isn't free yet, but it is on the road to freedom, and that means the Empire's in trouble here for the rest of the Rebellion. (Yay!)
Next we had "In the Name of the Rebellion." Now these episodes were more aggravating for me than the others, and that had less to do with the characters than it did with the way the Rebellion leadership behaved. In the original EU and film trilogy, the Rebellion was about doing, not talking. Whose bright idea was it to make the Rebel leadership so spineless in the new timeline, anyway? When we were originally introduced to Star Wars, the Rebellion was well past this political whining – if it had ever really had to deal with it. Watching them dither about committing troops to a fight or leaving their own bases absolutely grinds my gears.
That said, I agree that Saw Gerrera's tactics are over the top and wrong. And I do agree with the writers' decision to hammer this point home to Ezra and Sabine. Hitting the enemy hard does not mean you put innocent people in danger, which Saw was doing, and they needed to learn that truth.
However, Saw also had a valid point which the writers didn't really do anything to explain; if you fight according to the enemy's rules, you will lose. Because guess what, they are the enemy's rules, and that means the enemy can change them any time they want. If you let the enemy do this to you, you won't be able to adapt to the changes fast enough to survive, let alone win the fight. When you are fighting for freedom from tyranny, fight to win, dang it! Otherwise, get out of the way and let everyone else do their job.
As you can tell, this plot point really got under my skin, but there were things to enjoy here. Watching Kanan help Hera fly blind was great, and seeing a huge khyber crystal was very interesting. I also liked that these shows gave us a glimpse of the scientists the Imperials were using to make the Death Star. We rarely got to see prisoners being rescued by the Rebels in this series, so it was nice watching Ezra and Sabine work out how to destroy the crystal while protecting the prisoners at the same time.
Bonus points, we got a new Stormtrooper scream out of this show. I always love those. 😉
The rest of the episodes were fun and artfully done, from the return to Lothal to the mission to make contact with the Rebellion. I had a few points of disagreement with the writers along the way, though. Watching the Rebellion leadership wimping out again was seriously aggravating, as was the lack of Kallus' presence in these shows when he had promised to have such an interesting part in this season. The general trend in "girrrrrl power" at the expense of the guys' characters and masculinity was another demerit for this season, too.
But I would have to say that "Rebel Assault" was the show I had the biggest problems with, and not just because of the warning about Kanan's impending demise. No, my biggest problems here were how the Rebellion decided to handle this attack and how the writers showed Hera fighting Rukh.
First, we will deal with the Rebellion. In "Rebel Assault," the mission is supposed to be an attack on what is, in essence, a war factory. But somehow Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, General Dodonna, and the rest send nothing more than a couple of measly fighter squadrons to destroy it.
What the Sam Hill….? That makes no sense, even when you consider that Thrawn is the one directing the Empire's defense. When we sent fighter planes over Germany and Japan, they weren't carrying the bombs we dropped, the bombers were. Y-wings certainly have the capability to drop bombs, but they're still, technically, fighters. Hera should have had at least a few corvettes and blockade runners backing her squadrons up on this mission, but that didn't happen.
This mistake on the part of the writers immediately pulled me out of the story when I watched the trailers and led me to the conclusion that Hera's attack was doomed to failure. No commander in their right mind, for a mission like this, would send in just fighters. The Death Star was so darn big that it had to be attacked by little bitty fighters, which it couldn't swat as easily as it could have obliterated a bigger ship.
But in this battle, the Rebels were up against Star Destroyers. Yes, Star Destroyers are big, powerful, and scary. Unlike the Death Star, however, they can be challenged by ships of equivalent or smaller size with relative success.
Dodonna would certainly have known this, and I would think Mon Mothma and Bail Organa would know it, too. The fact that the writers did not send a support force with Hera's squadrons shows me that they either weren't thinking, they don't have even a glancing knowledge of military history, or they were under pressure from their superiors. My money is on the latter, to be honest; these writers have shown a level of skill which makes it hard for me to believe they aren't clever enough to think of these things or don't know at least a bit about history. I can't believe (not right now, anyway) that they would do this out of simple ignorance and thoughtlessness. They're too smart for that answer to fly.
Now we come to Hera's hand-to-hand battle with Rukh. I am sorry, Hera fans, but I had a major problem with this. In this episode, Hera crash lands in the capitol city of Lothal after her failed attack. Obviously, she has to escape back to camp so the Empire can't interrogate and kill her. The main difficulty with this plan is that she faces a Noghri hunter – Star Wars' version of a super ninja – who has been sent to bring her in for interrogation. Yet after crashing and being injured, she still manages to handle Rukh perfectly in close combat, despite having a headache and an injured arm.
Sorry for the blurriness of this shot.
Pardon me, but whaaat….?
Leave aside for a moment the fact that the Noghri are invisible to Force-sensitives (they can't sense them through the Force at all) and that they are good enough at combat to scare competent Jedi like Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and Mara Jade. Leave aside as well the fact that Wookiees, impressive, massive warriors that they are, cannot bring down a squad of Noghri without suffering serious wounds and severe losses. Bottom line, Hera's injuries should have been limiting factors in her fights with Rukh. She should have tried harder to avoid hand-to-hand combat with him because of her weakened state.
A Noghri's size is extremely deceptive; they are strong enough to go hand-to-hand with full-grown Wookiees and match them in physical power. The fact that Hera can somehow, with a bum arm and a headache, throw and hold Rukh so easily shouldn't be possible in-universe. And yet the writers had a wounded Hera Syndulla rather easily hold her own in battle with an alien whose people are veritable super ninjas, beating out the Jedi, Mandalorians, and Mistryl Shadow Guards in terms of skill and prowess. (Author glances from side to side.) Am I the only one who sees a problem here? I like Hera – even though she is not my favorite character – but come on. Am I the only one who looked at this fight and went, "Agh, here we go with the girrrl power motif again"?
Yep, thought so. Told you I was the minority opinion. 😉
Speaking of which, now we come to the last six episodes of the season that I did not view. I missed the first two, where Kanan dies, and I avoided the other four or five in order to find out if they were shows I wanted to watch. From the descriptions I have read, I feel pretty safe in saying that I do not want to see the end of season four for Star Wars Rebels. There are several reasons for this, but to make sense of it, I am going to break it down into parts. Because everyone knows Kanan Jarrus was my favorite Rebel, we will start with him:
Kanan's Death
Yes, part of the reason I do not wish to see the last six episodes of Rebels is because Kanan dies. I had a feeling it was coming, and I knew it was going to be especially upsetting for me personally. HOWEVER; this is not the first time I have seen a major character I liked die, so it is not simply the fact that Kanan croaks which makes me desire to avoid these installments in the series. In fact, when I think of where he died, I dissolve into giggles.
Now you are thinking I am some kind of heartless maniac, right? I don't want to giggle over this – seriously, the guy was my favorite character! I spent lots of pixels talking about and praising him.
But every time I think of him standing on a fuel tank when it goes up, I just start giggling. There's something kind of – I don't know, anti-climactic in picturing someone being blown up while standing on top of a fuel tank. I guess it makes me think of all the bad guys I've seen/wished to see blasted off into kingdom come by a big explosion, or all those idiotic side characters who choose to stand in the wrong place at the wrong time and get blown up. There's also the whole "blow-up-the-fuel-to-save-the-environment-while-standing-on-the-fuel-tank" angle to consider. It's just – it strikes me as a rather comical place to die. And yes, I am giggling while I write this.
Now if I had seen Kanan die, I probably wouldn't be so cavalier about this scene. It sounds like a tear-jerker, which is another reason I want to avoid it right now. None of my friends need me breaking down on them when we're supposed to be relaxing in front of the TV, after all. And if I watched it alone, I would be stuck dealing with me sniffling. That is not nearly as much fun as the movies make it look, readers.
But the bigger reason is that I think that, if Rebels had been allowed to last longer, Kanan need not have died at all. We'll delve into this a little more below, but does anyone else feel like the last six episodes were a bit rushed? It is as though someone told Filoni and the gang, "Season four is your last; kill the show. We don't care how you do it – so long as you don't kill the girls – but end this thing before 2019." The last six episodes are jam packed, proceeding at a near breakneck pace I can sense just from the descriptions. There's barely a pause for breath in each one.
Based on what I have read about these final installments, I think Filoni knew when he started this series that the higher ups at Disney/Lucasfilm wouldn't like it due to their political leanings. He's thrown some political bones into the mixture from time to time over the past three seasons, but on the whole, I would say he was telling a good story well here. There is nothing more aggravating to the "artísts" who insist that every piece of fiction should be a vehicle for one agenda or another. He knew he was on borrowed time, more or less, and that giving Kanan and Ezra their fair shakes would probably cost him in the end.
So when they told him to kill Rebels, he said, "Okay, but can I kill it my way?" They of course said yes, thinking he was being a good little drone doing what they wanted him to do. Personally, though, I believe he blew up Rebels rather than let them get their hands on it. This brings us to my next big problem with how the series ended….
Time-Travel…. Really? REALLY?!?
When I read the description for "A World Between Worlds," I handled it pretty well at first. But thinking back over it, I began to get more and more uncomfortable. Even in the old EU, I was not happy with the writers' decision to add time-travel to the Star Wars universe. Star Wars, like The Lord of the Rings and other fantasy stories, has a fixed timeline. You may be able to view the past in some way in Star Wars through the Force, but the idea of sending people backward and forward through time in the mythos never sat well with me.
This is why I didn't like the old EU's penchant for messing with time-travel. The reason I don't like it in Rebels is that it completely negates the ending of season two of the series. In essence, it saves Ahsoka by cheating; sending Ezra back in time to save her instead of letting the Force protect her in some more spiritual/physical manner, knocks everything in Twilight of the Apprentice into a cocked hat.
Now if the "World Between Worlds" had been more like the "Wood between the Worlds" in Narnia, where the spiritual and physical planes sort of "meet" each other more completely than they do anywhere else, I would have been happier. In a case such as this, I would think the writers could have had Ahsoka escape to the "World Between Worlds" from Malachor either on her own or with the help of the Force. While a year or so passed outside the Lothal temple, for her, minutes would have elapsed between her arrival there and Ezra's journey inside.
Because Ahsoka was here, and because this was a place where the physical plane and the Force sort of "touched" each other moreso than they otherwise do, the writers could have had the Emperor chasing the two down in an effort to convert/kill them and take over the place. Then, because this area intersected with the spiritual realm, the writers could have had Kanan's spirit appear to help the two escape/thwart Palpatine.
Though not trained like Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Yoda in keeping his form when he became one with the Force, I don't think Kanan would have needed such training to appear in a place where the Force and the physical plane meet. Writing the story this way would also have allowed him a chance to say good-bye to Ezra while still giving him his "last lesson" as a Jedi. To me, this would not have been nearly so much of a cheat as the story we did receive in "A World Between Worlds" was.
Now we come to the third reason why I will not watch the end of Rebels…
The Battle of Lothal
I have two problems with this battle, and the first is the idea that the Empire left Lothal alone after the remaining members of the Ghost crew blew up all the Imperials on the planet. The idea that, one year out from the completion of the first Death Star and roughly five years before Endor, Rebels could throw the Empire off of a planet as valuable as Lothal and that planet would remain free until the final battle of Return of the Jedi is completely illogical. Anyone who knows anything about history can tell you this. For example, the Battle of Trenton did not free the United States from British tyranny, nor did it keep the British from coming back to Trenton. It took eight long years for us to boot them from our soil and guarantee the safety of all our citizens' from English attack/retribution.
Likewise, the Rising of the Vendee against the revolutionaries who wrought such barbaric terror on France did not free their country. In fact, most of the Vendee fighters were slaughtered by the revolutionaries running the French Republic. The Cristeros in Mexico had it little better, which you will see if you watch the film For Greater Glory. Though the Mexican president was eventually forced to stop fighting them, the Cristeros were still being killed many years after the end of the Cristero War.
The people of Zaragoza, a city in Spain, rose up against Napoleon's army after he conquered their country and threw the best troops in the world out of their city. Months to a year later, however, the Zaragozans were defeated by the vengeful French and the few remaining inhabitants were marched out of a city that was in ruins. The same thing happened to the Tyrolese – twice – when they fought Napoleon's forces in an attempt to rejoin Austria after he had annexed their district from their mother nation.
My point in bringing up these examples is that you do not bloody a tyrant's nose and get off scot free, readers. You have to keep fighting until the tyrant is six feet under, no longer on your country's soil, or you are dead. And at this point in the mythos, Palpatine is still alive. Even considering the destruction of the first Death Star, he should have had forces committed to Lothal to at least wreak his vengeance on that world. The war was touch-and-go from A New Hope up to the moment Luke decided not to kill his father on the second Death Star. Like the rest of the galaxy, Lothal should only have been freed by the Battle of Endor, when Palpatine was killed.
The fact that the writers didn't do this is absolutely mind-boggling to me. It also helps convince me of the theory I mentioned before; the people above Filoni must have told him to kill Rebels but to make it "a happy ending." So he gave them what they wanted, but not what would actually work, ala blowing up the story rather than letting them get their hands on it. I could be wrong of course, but that is why you are reading this as an opinion rather than as a stated fact.
With regards to the splitting of the "space family" at the end of the show, it doesn't sit particularly well with me, either. The whole point of the series seemed to be centered on this family holding together throughout the Rebellion. In keeping with that premise, I would have thought the writers would have kept the whole crew on or around Lothal for most of the Rebellion, until Endor put everything to rights (hence my belief that Rebels was killed early by the people running Disney/Lucasfilm).
If the writers had gone this route, it would have prevented the Ghost crew from running into Luke and the gang during the films, while not derailing Yoda's line about Luke being the last of the Jedi. If Kanan was busy splitting his time between Rebel work and being a father, I don't think Yoda would consider him much of a Jedi. The same would go for Ezra; with such an unorthodox teacher (and maybe a girlfriend of his own at that point), Yoda wouldn't have thought of him as much of a Jedi in such a case.
And that brings me to my earlier point about Kanan not needing to die if the series had lasted longer. Even keeping his death in the story, the rest of this ending is too compressed and illogical to stand the way it is. This means that I think that if I tried watching these last two episodes alone, my head would explode from the sheer absurdity of the ending. It has to be the result, to my mind, of interference from the people running Disney/Lucasfilm. Filoni is too smart, from what I have seen, to do something like this and expect people to buy it.
In conclusion, I have to admit that the ending for Rebels has been a severe disappointment for me. But that is only in the ending. The first three seasons I will happily re-watch for many more years to come. I'll probably watch season four's first nine episodes again, too. And who knows? Maybe I will watch the last six shows at some future date.
For the time being, however, I am content not to watch them, due to the reasons listed above. Call me a coward or stupid or whatever you like, readers, but the fact is that, to me, these last six episodes are a non-ending. In my opinion they do not do justice to their characters, their story, or their audience. And right now I really, really do not need to deal with any of that.
Until next time, readers, may the Force be with you.
This entry was posted in Star Wars Characters and Stories and tagged Ahsoka Tano, Alrich Wren, American Revolution, American Revolutionary War, American War for Indepence, Ashley Eckstein, Bo-Katan, C. S. Lewis, Chopper, Cristero War, Dark Side, Dave Filoni, Death Star, Disney, Disney Star Wars, Disney TV Shows, Disney XD, Disney/Lucasfilm, Emperor Palpatine, Endor, Ezra Bridger, France, Freddie Prinze Jr., Garazeb Orrelios, Hera Syndulla, Jedi, Kanan Jarrus, lightsabers, Luke Skywalker, Mandalore, Mandalorians, Mara Jade, Mara Jade Skywalker, Mistryl Shadow Guards, Narnia, ninjas, Princess Leia Organa Solo, Rising of the Vendee, Rukh, Sabine Wren, Sith, Star Wars, Star Wars Characters and Stories, Star Wars Rebels, Steve Blum, Stormtroopers, Taylor Gray, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dark Side, The Force, The Ghost, The Magician's Nephew, The Noghri, Thrawn, time travel, Tiya Sircar, Trenton, Twilight of the Apprentice, Ursa Wren, Vanessa Marshall, Wookiees, Yoda, Zaragoza, Zeb on April 4, 2018 by The Mithril Guardian.
Book Review – The Time Traders: Firehand by Andre Norton and P. M. Griffin
If the names Andre Norton and P. M. Griffin look good together, then that is because these authors collaborated several times on novels set in Andre Norton's universes. From the Witch World to the Time Traders, P. M. Griffin co-wrote a number of stories with Miss Norton. To the best of my knowledge, the only books she has written on her own are her Star Commandos series. I have not been able to read any of those yet, but hopefully I will get that chance in the future.
Firehand is a novel set in Miss Norton's Time Traders series. Now, I have not read the series all the way through. Heck, I have not even read the first book in the series! Firehand was my introduction to it.
From what I can gather, the Time Traders are units of time-traveling Terran agents who work to ensure that history either remains the same or yields better results than it did previously. But they are not doing this for economic gain. That is, at best, a side benefit. No, the Time Traders' main mission is to protect the Terran timeline and the histories of its allies/potential allies from the interference of strange aliens called Baldies.
Baldies get their Terran nickname from their bald heads. None of these aliens have tried to be friendly or to make first contact with the Terrans. Mostly, they have either tried to eradicate them or to control them.
Ross Murdock, the young time agent, encountered these aliens in Earth's Bronze Age on his first time-trading mission. The Baldies, powerful telepaths, at one point were working hard to take control of his mind and bend him to their will. Running for his life, Murdock could not afford to sleep. Sleep would mean his conscious mind was relaxed, which would mean he could not maintain control of himself. So the Baldies could have him sleepwalk all the way back to their camp or into a river where he would drown, and he would be none the wiser until it was too late.
So Murdock kept moving, becoming more and more exhausted as he fled the aliens. Exhaustion, of course, is a threat as well; the more he tired, the more likely he would fall unconscious or collapse into sleep. This would leave him vulnerable to the Baldies' telepathy as well.
Ross is not a man who submits to domination willingly. In order to stave off sleep and keep the Baldies out of his mind when he rested, he set a fire. Then he put a brand in the fire, took it out, and burned his own hand with it.
That was at the start of his career as a Time Agent. By the time of Firehand, he has been on at least a couple of other missions, gaining more experience and getting tougher by the day.
This latest assignment to the planet Hawaika, though, looks to be his last. With fellow agents Doctor Gordon Ashe and Karara Trehern, Ross had to destroy the time gate to save Hawaika's future. Now, they are all trapped in Hawaika's past.
Not that Karara is too unhappy about that. Melding with ancient Hawaikan magic before the final battle, Karara has become something other than human. To leave Hawaika now would be a death sentence for her. But to stay would be equally bad for Gordon and Ross.
Thankfully, the Time Traders have no intention of leaving their highly trained, very expensive agents stuck in the past. Karara they have to leave behind in time for the new history to remain the same; but Ross and Gordon are coming home…
….To face yet another historical crisis. This time, the world they have to save is the Dominion of the Sun-Star Virgin. When they saved Hawaika, something went wrong in the Dominion's past. Now that world is reduced to a glowing cinder.
So Ross, Gordon, and former Time Trader weapons instructor Eveleen Riordan are going back to Dominion's past to fix this mess.
And that's all I am writing, fellas. If you want to know the rest, hunt up the Time Traders series or skip straight to Firehand. As I have said elsewhere, Miss Griffin is a superb writer. Her work on Firehand is not necessarily of the same caliber as her work on Seakeep and Falcon's Hope from Storms of Victory and Flight of Vengeance, respectively. In fact, if you are paying attention you will see some similarities between those stories and Firehand.
However, the similarities do not cause too much of a problem for me. If anything, they just show the writer's preferences. Every writer has some favorite plots, names, animals, character types, or worlds, etc. Who am I to jump all over P. M. Griffin for being normal?
In a while, Crocodile!
This entry was posted in Book Reviews, Youth Books and tagged Andre Norton, Book Reviews, fantasy books, Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Firehand, Grand Dame of Science Fiction, old books, P. M. Griffin, sci-fi books, sci-fi novels, Sci-fi/Fantasy, Time Traders, time travel, Youth Books on February 24, 2017 by The Mithril Guardian.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


At Middle Tennessee Remodeling our customers are the most important part of our work. Please take a few moments to read how some of our clients felt about their remodeling experience with us.
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Tom Hutson commented on your photo.
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Dans ability to envision your remodel from start to finish is nothing less than Genius. Dan has a unique sensibility to what you want done, how it will best suit the style of your home and can execute his plan efficiently and economically. Dan listens to you and designs and gets you what you want, also translates building language very well. Dan you are a wonderful builder, dedicated to your craft. Your finished product is nothing less than Great."
When I met with Dan Watters and shared with him how I envisioned my patio to be covered and screened, I was very particular about not only what I wanted, but exactly how I wanted it to look. Dan came back with everything I wanted and incorporated some ideas of his own, which greatly enhanced the whole plan.
Having experienced a bad remodeling project with a contractor last year, I would like to recommend a company/contractor that just completed an extensive remodel of our kitchen: Middle TN Remodeling, Dan Watters, Owner/Contractor, 615-336-8090. www.middletennesseeremodeling.com . Back in August (2012), I contacted three companies for quotes for our renovation. One company/person delivered a pencil sketch - that eliminated them. One company (after the 2 hour consultation), NEVER sent any plans at all, regardless of our calls and a two week allowance. However, Dan Watters forwarded computerized CAD drawings (virtual 3D) within 3 days and worked with us for 2 weeks on tweaking the plans. After contracting with him, he showed up on the 1st day with 6 workers for the demolition . . . he completely protected our home by creating board/plastic sheeting walls to surround the entire work area. During the three week project he showed up on time, was always friendly and courteous, as were each of his workers. Building permits and sign-offs were seamless, as was his coordination with Southern Electric (our preferred electricians) and the cabinet builder. I wish I could post pictures of our completed project! We were so happy with our experience and the end result - please give Dan a call for projects big and small! As we have had horrible experiences with renovations, to be so completely happy with this one, was a great relief."
Dan is a very nice person and working with him is a pleasure. He is a good carpenter, and has other skills, also, and is responsive to the homeowner's wishes and preferences. He is punctual and reliable, and answers emails and phone calls so that good communication is maintained. Gale H"
Dan was very helpful with the whole process, from the planning stage to the finished product. When Dan came back with the proposal he had computer images that were helpful for us to see what the finished room would look like. His knowledge with windows and doors was very helpful when designing our four season sunroom. When Dan got started with the construction he took the time to explain the process and answer our many questions. When we altered the plans Dan's professionalism stood out, and with his suggestions we were able to make it better. We are going to enjoy our addition for many years to come. We would definitely reccomend Dan. We will call Dan again for all our home inprovement needs."


If you want to have a successful financial life, you need to budget and manage your money. You likely have examples in your life of people who make a lot of money, but who never seem to be able to stay on top of finances. Conversely, you might know a person or a family that seems to do very well even with modest earnings. In most cases, you'll find the presence or absence of a sound budget makes the difference between success and failure.
When it comes to budgeting and money management, there are many variables and even more paths to success. But here are a few foundational money management tips to consider as you plan your monthly budget.
Grab a pen and paper or create a budget spreadsheet on your computer and start listing out every expense you pay each month. It may be helpful to rank them by size or by importance. This will make it easier to prioritize and potentially eliminate expenses.
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Variable expenses are areas where it's often easy to overspend. However, when your budget is stretched thin, these are also areas where you'll find easy ways to save money. This is where you spend money on groceries, dining out, entertainment, fuel and utilities like electricity and water. With some extra effort and self-discipline, you can create big savings every month.
If you have extra income after you pay monthly expenses, smart budgeters will attack their debt. While minimum payments might fit under your fixed expenses, making bigger payments will eliminate your debt faster and give you more money to spend elsewhere each month.
If your income doesn't cover your expenses, your first option is to spend less each month. However, earning more income is always an option. If you can't negotiate a raise with an employer or get a higher paying job elsewhere, there's always money to be made if you're willing to take on a second job.
Observe the people in your life who have their financial matters in order and ask them for tips on how to better manage your money. And when you're ready to dive deeper, there are countless free and paid resources available to help you bring order to your financial life.
As your financial partner, Community Bank of the Chesapeake can provide you with tools that can help you establish a budget and build financial momentum. Give us a call or come in today to for a fresh perspective on budgeting.


An elegant fingerprint impression dewdrop charm, capturing your loved one's own fingerprint in solid silver or gold. Each charm is traditionally lost-wax cast capturing your unique fingerprint impression on the front, and a personalised message engraved on the back. Perfect to add to your own necklace.
~ charm approx. (h) 21mm (w) 16mm (d) 2mm.


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Plummer House may refer to:

Plummer House (Beebe, Arkansas), listed on the NRHP in Arkansas
John A. Plummer House, Marianna, AR, listed on the NRHP in Arkansas
Capt. John Plummer House, Addison, ME, listed on the NRHP in Maine
 Plummer House (Rochester, Minnesota), listed on the NRHP in Minnesota as "Henry S. Plummer House"
Plummer Homestead, Milton, NH, listed on the NRHP in New Hampshire
Amos and Lillie Plummer House, Hillsboro, ND, listed on the NRHP in North Dakota
Baty-Plummer House, Paris, TX, listed on the NRHP in Texas


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Talking Point: Are You A Player Or Collector?
© Disney / Marvel
GRID Autosport — Wulverblade — Planet Alpha — I Am Dead — Among Us — Oniken + Odallus Collection — Evergate — Wandersong — The Gardens Between — Rive — Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch — Killer Queen Black — Bastion…
Spread throughout this page is a non-exhaustive list of Switch games I've bought over the past year or so and either haven't touched at all (as in I've never started the software), or have played for five or ten minutes before getting distracted by another game or life event, big or small.
I've been preoccupied with my ever-growing backlog for some time now, but over the holidays I scrolled through the icons sitting on my Switch's home screen menu and realised I'd bought more games than I'd played in 2020 — a lot more.
They're all just sitting there, collecting digital dust on the menu. I knew while cruising the Switch eShop that I wouldn't have time to play many of them, but still downloaded them anyway. This isn't even all of them. I bought a new Switch (gotta have that better battery life) at the tail end of 2019 and there's a load more older titles ready and waiting on my eShop accounts to be redownloaded when I get a large enough micro SD to accommodate them. My wishlist is loaded with yet others I've got my eye on. And there are a bunch more that I've played for an hour or two which could easily qualify. Ring Fit Adventure, anybody?
… Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit — Super Mario 3D All-Stars — Octopath Traveler — Dragon Ball Fighterz — Journey of the Broken Circle — Agent A: A Puzzle In Disguise — Mark of the Ninja: Remastered — Don't Starve — Deadly Premonitions: Origins — Castlevania Anniversary Collection — Contra Anniversary Collection — Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection — Not Tonight…
So much good stuff…
To be fair, a handful of them were free downloads that I grabbed just because they were there. Others I picked up with a handful of Gold Points, or quite literally for a few cents. Some of them I own and have played on other platforms, and despite having a rule not to buy duplicates on Switch just to 'have' them, who could say no to a handheld copy of Bastion or Grim Fandango for a couple of quid?
Many, however, are acclaimed and celebrated games I'm eager to dive into. So why haven't I got around to playing them?
Well, evolving life situations make it tough to carve out spare time for gaming. Tiny humans who also live under my roof soak up an awful lot of my off-hours, and as much as I'd like to zone out with a game once they've gone to bed, it's also the only real time I get with my partner. Sure, we'll fire up Overcooked 2 of an evening but having advanced to the later levels, that's often a more stressful experience than we're looking for; an episode of Peaky Blinders isn't quite as demanding. Some light, intelligent conversation with an adult human can also be invigorating, especially after the nonsense last year threw at us on a daily basis.
Some of these games I've snapped up simply because I love the developer and want to support their work. Others I had every intention of playing immediately but it just didn't happen. I've also justified plenty of purchases with the old 'I write about games for a living!' excuse. Comes in handy, that one, especially with retro purchases (also not included here).
… Toki Tori — Soldam — Transistor — Inside — West of Loathing — Neonwall — Binaries — Grim Fandango — REKT — Mana Spark — #RaceDieRun — Abzu — Night in the Woods — Undertale — Starlink: Battle for Atlas — Fire Emblem: Three Houses…
The fact that all of the games listed here are digital made it easier to accrue a huge backlog, too. There's debates to be had over the merits of digital versus physical; if all these titles were stacked in a creaking Billy bookcase and overflowing across my desk, I'd be inclined to pause for thought before hitting 'Download' on another eShop bargain. Frequent digital sales are another factor. I paid full whack for only a few of these; all others were grabbed for a fraction of their launch price. It'd be rude not to, no?
It's also worth noting that I have actually played some games this year. I've got '275 hours or more' logged on Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Think how many of these others I could have got through in that time! Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity took up 75 hours, and I've pumped many hours into older games like Breath of the Wild and DOOM in an effort to find some calm and catharsis in 2020.
I played plenty of shorter games to completion, and hit a couple of older ones, too. The incredible Rogue Legacy soaked up nearly 30 hours that I could have spent on the equally fantastic Hades, but I have no regrets. I was planning to tick a few more off the backlog over the holidays, but I got consumed by Dicey Dungeons.
© Nintendo Life
… Infini — Pocket Mini Golf — My Memory of Us — EQQO — Xeodrifter — To The Moon — What Remains of Edith Finch — The Touryst — Sky Rogue — Lydia — Into The Breach — Galak-Z: The Void — A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher — Soul Searching — Runner3 — Drawful 2 — DOOM II — DOOM 3 — Runbow…
Here's the thing though: I'm beginning to look at the ever-present backlog in a different light. It's not an never-ending laundry list of work to grind through, but an expanding library — a treasure trove filled with delights to dip into. There's pleasure to be had from playing the games, obviously, but there's also a thrill in thumbing through them (or scrolling through the icons) and picking something to suit your mood. There's pleasure in the possibility of play.
It's tempting to think 'oh, I'll get to them all someday!', but the reality is I almost certainly won't. There'll be more games over the coming years — hundreds, thousands of them — and I'll want to play all of those, too. And that's just on Switch. I've heard rumours that 'other' consoles exist which also host some rather good video games. I know!
Nope, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm much more of a 'collector' these days. I can dream of a six-month sabbatical where all other responsibilities and demands on my time make way for a blissful deep-dive into my backlog, but that would be a full-time occupation. Much like my Steam library that's been bloated by years of Humble Bundles, and the Twitch Prime games I redeem every month and never, ever play, my Switch collection will be there to flick through when I need it with a cracking game to suit my mood on that hypothetical Saturday morning in the future when I might have a couple of hours free to pluck and play something from the library.
I mean, I'll probably just fire up Animal Crossing and spend that valuable free time fishing or something. But hey, the mere promise and potential of playing a great game is worth the price, no?
Better than the deed? Better than the memory? Let us know below if you've become more of a collector than a player these days, and how you feel about it.
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Home > Blog > Emissions Trading in China: First Reports from the Field
Emissions Trading in China: First Reports from the Field
by Ranping Song and Hongpeng Lei - January 24, 2014
View from Tianjin Tower | Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Editor's note: This blog post was originally posted on ChinaFAQs.
When Tianjin launched its carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) on Dec 26th 2013, it became the fifth ETS operating in China, following Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. Now that five of seven pilots have started trading and the rest are expected to start in 2014, the aggregate of all emissions regulated in China through the seven pilots will be the second largest in the world, following only the European Union.
The Chinese emissions trading pilots come at a time when environmental and climate issues are increasingly at the top of the Chinese agenda. In September 2013, the central government released its Air Pollution Control Action Plan, which included a target of limiting coal to 65 percent of primary energy consumption and a ban on new coal fired power plants around Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Last year also saw China announce an investment of $277 billion to clean up air pollution over the next five years. Taken together, the events of 2013 show that emissions trading is just one of the ways in which China is trying to tackle it many challenges involving climate and environmental issues.
ETS with Chinese Characteristics
So far, it seems the pilots have made significant progress in experimenting with how to use ETS in a Chinese context. The five launched pilots have successfully designed essential building blocks such as: determining how the ETS would apply to various greenhouse gas types, sectors, emissions sizes, and accounting boundaries; choosing how emissions allowances will be allocated; establishing the size of cap and reduction trajectories; the monitoring, reporting, verification (MRV) of emissions; and several other components.
Focusing only on carbon dioxide, the pilots cover roughly 40 to 60 percent of a city or province's total emissions, and apply to power and other heavy manufacturing sectors such as steel, cement, and petrochemicals. Since electricity prices are heavily regulated in China, power plants cannot pass their carbon costs on to consumers through electricity prices. This policy therefore provides little incentive for demand-side electricity management. To address this issue, the Chinese pilots also require large electricity users to submit emissions permits to the government. This is a distinct feature that complicates the carbon accounting, since it means counting emissions from power plants and from electricity users, generally resulting in double counting. A typical Chinese pilot also requires third party verification of emissions data, allows participants to purchase offsets for 5-10 percent of their emissions, reserves allowances for carbon price stabilization, and has a one-year compliance period.
Differences Amongst the Pilots
Despite some similarities, such as those mentioned above, the Chinese pilots are very different from each other—due in part to varying economic contexts. Beijing and Shenzhen have small industrial emissions and a large service economy, and are more likely to peak their emissions in the near future. In order to increase the percentage of emissions covered by the ETS, both Beijing and Shenzhen have required key companies in the service sector to join the scheme. Beijing is the only pilot that requires annual absolute emission reductions for existing facilities in the manufacturing and service sectors. Companies in these sectors will receive fewer allowances each year—starting with 98 percent of their average 2009 to 2012 emissions in 2013 and dropping to 94 percent in 2015. Although power and heating plants are not expected to reduce absolute emissions through the ETS, Beijing plans to replace all of its coal-fired power plants with natural gas plants by 2017, putting it on a path to peak emissions very soon as a result of a combination of market and administrative policies. Companies in Shenzhen are not required to make absolute reductions, but will need to reduce their carbon intensity per unit of Industrial Added Value (gross domestic product GDP due to industry) by 32 percent below 2010 levels over the next three years while limiting their annual absolute emissions growth to less than 10 percent, using 2013 as a baseline.
Shenzhen and Tianjin allow individual investors and entities that are not covered in the ETS, such as financial institutions, to participate in trading, resulting in higher trading frequency and potentially larger price fluctuations. In fact, Shenzhen's carbon price has already fluctuated dramatically, ranging from RMB 28 to RMB 130 ($4.5-$20) over the past six months.
With a total emissions cap around 388 million tons (Mt), Guangdong is the largest ETS in China and second largest in the world in terms of emissions covered.1 Guangdong is the most transparent ETS pilot in disclosing not only the number of allowances allocated, but also those reserved for new entrants and government interventions to stabilize the market. This information is typically kept private in China's other ETS pilots. Guangdong is also the only pilot requiring companies to buy a portion of their allowances through auction (3 percent of total in 2013, increasing to 10 percent by 2015), which will generate at least RMB 630 million ($101 million) a year to finance emission-reduction actions.
Shanghai expanded its ETS coverage to require six Shanghai-based airlines to submit emissions permits for their domestic commercial flights. Theoretically, Shanghai's effort to regulate aviation emissions can be scaled up as a measure comparable to the EU's attempt to include aviation in the EU ETS. Shanghai also stands out from the other pilots by recognizing companies' energy saving efforts retrospectively. According to the Shanghai allocation rule, companies can be awarded extra carbon dioxide allowances for energy saving actions taken between 2006 and 2011.
Going Beyond Pilots
While two of the seven pilots haven't started trading yet, local and national officials are already studying how to potentially go beyond pilot programs. Development and reform commissions from Beijing, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shangdong recently signed a memorandum, agreeing to join hands to research cross-region emission trading. At the national level, the government has also commissioned research to explore what a national scheme would look like.
One of the practical obstacles for scaling up to a national ETS is that all of the pilots are using slightly different approaches. Given the diversity of existing pilots and local circumstances in China, an expanded or national ETS might be built on some common elements such as MRV, while allowing local authorities some flexibility on other building blocks.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is already working to create some common ground. In November 2013, NDRC published the GHG accounting and reporting guidelines for 10 industries, while guidelines for 10 other industries are being developed. NDRC is also working to roll out a national system to register GHG emissions from key enterprises as soon as 2014. On the other hand, the differences in the pilots may be significant enough that the national government will not attempt to scale up by linking them, but rather, will design a uniform national system based on the lessons learned from the pilots.
The legal basis for emissions trading is another puzzle that needs to be solved. Beijing and Shenzhen have passed local legislation to support ETS, while others set up ETS through administrative orders. A solid legal foundation is needed at the national level to scale up ETS. NDRC is leading an effort to finalize development of a Climate Change Law which may provide the legal authorization needed.
For fear of market risks, all pilots are currently banned by the national government from developing derivative products such as futures. However, for ETS to be an effective mechanism for driving down emissions-reduction costs, the market needs to have reasonable liquidity to provide credible price signals and accommodate different compliance strategies.
The First Step of a Thousand-Mile Journey
While pilots are generally functioning as designed so far, it remains to be seen whether China's ETS experiment is successful. This year could provide early indications: most ETS pilots will finish their first compliance period, where the whole cycle of activities like allowance allocation, permit trading, and allowance submission can be evaluated for the first time. Lessons learned from these pilots can help determine how ETS schemes will impact China's emissions and appetite for coal—and may provide early indications of whether the country will approach a national carbon-trading scheme.
1. Guangdong is also cooperating with California on emissions trading by sharing emissions data and other information. California is also cooperating with Shenzhen on their ETS pilot. ↑
Tags: Air Quality, carbon, china, climate change, emissions, energy
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text:
package mb.nabl2.spoofax.primitives;

import static mb.nabl2.terms.matching.TermMatch.M;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Optional;

import org.spoofax.interpreter.core.InterpreterException;

import mb.nabl2.spoofax.TermSimplifier;
import mb.nabl2.terms.ITerm;

public class SG_focus_term extends NaBL2Primitive {

    public SG_focus_term() {
        super(SG_focus_term.class.getSimpleName(), 1);
    }

    @Override protected Optional<? extends ITerm> call(ITerm term, List<ITerm> terms) throws InterpreterException {
        final String resource = M.stringValue().match(terms.get(0))
                .orElseThrow(() -> new InterpreterException("Expected resource as first term argument."));
        return Optional.of(TermSimplifier.focus(resource, term));
    }

}


Paul Stark Seeley has been a favorite author and lecturer over the years. He was a practitioner, teacher, lecturer and editor of the periodicals. The first collection of his articles and lectures explains how Christian Science enables you to overcome all forms of evil.
His lectures were expressions of spiritual logic that were both unusual and inspiring. Mr. Seeley was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and attended Riverside Military Academy. He was a graduate of Princeton University and of Harvard Law School. In 1909, he joined The Mother Church and moved to Portland, Oregon. In 1912, he attended Primary Class, and served as Committee on Publication for the state of Washington. In 1916, he became a lecturer , and a teacher. After attending Normal Class in 1919, he served as President of The Mother Church, and was an Associate Editor of the periodicals from 1943 to 1948. He taught the Normal Class in 1961 and contributed many outstanding articles to the periodicals.


Now imagine being the giver of this gift and, despite all the help you are willing to give to care for this treasure, the recipient takes the gift and rejects all of your guidance. How would you feel if you saw your gift slowly deteriorate and fall to pieces due to the lack of proper care? Would you be hurt? Would you be offended?
Life is just that—a precious gift from God that needs to be handled with great care, otherwise it can easily be shattered by sin. When God gives us this gift, he also gives us a choice: We can follow God's way so that life can grow more beautiful and radiate under the protection of our heavenly Father's love, or not. God knows taking care of this gift isn't easy, especially when left to our own resources. That's why God's Word became flesh—through the faith, hope, and love of Mary, the Blessed Virgin.
Therefore, as we wait to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ—the first coming of our Savior—let's also renew our desire and prepare ourselves for the Second Coming of Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life that will lead us to heaven. To do so, let's reach out to Mary, our Blessed Mother, who is our perfect guide to Jesus. Our Lady, in all humility, shows us how to allow holiness into our lives—God's gift to us—during this season of Advent.
"The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.…For nothing will be impossible for God," said the archangel to Mary at the annunciation (Luke 1:35, 37). Mary's reply: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). With our Lady's consent to heaven's Almighty, the Holy Spirit and the Son of God nestled within Mary. Then, and for her entire life on earth, Mary lived in perfect unity with the Holy Trinity.
When we embrace Mary, we open ourselves to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Like Mary, we can live in unity with the Holy Trinity by giving our consent to be used as God's instruments of loving mercy in our world. Our consent is more than a verbal affirmation of believing in God; it is an offering of our body, mind, and soul to God's will. Such was the offering of Mary that brought Jesus into the world for our salvation.


text:
The pioneers of the next generation of the gaming industry
Video games have changed different media forms; the games are included in everything from music to film, which the mass receives and consumes very well. Not only that, even in the education sector, we have seen a new change due to console or video games that help teachers and students communicate innovatively; one such example is the educational games Brain Age.
In 2020, the gaming industry value increased to the whopping price of $197 billion, which is still expected to grow by $268 billion in 2025. The reason is that the developing video gaming industry has started to invest in several other sectors apart from Online games, including esports, video game streaming, and console gaming, which are popular among gamers these days. In the industry of Esports, they organize video game competitions across the world that have single games as well as multiplayer. The participants who won these competitions won a heavy prize, making the players gain celebrity status in the gaming community. On the other hand, mobile gaming has also become a convenience for the average person as they can play games they like without investing in a gaming console or a PC.
The credit goes to the developer who is creating games that keep the gaming culture relevant and not let them get lost in the translations. These gaming companies have proven themselves to be the next big thing, listed below.
Aristocrat Leisure Limited
Aristocrat Leisure Limited is a global gaming company based in Australia. They are known as top-tier developers of mobile games with over 7,000 employees over the globe. The company produces high-quality electronic gaming machines, systems of casino management, and free mobile games. They also offer technical assistance in different things, for example, casino design and consulting. Aristocrat Leisure Limited has three operating divisions: Pixel United, Aristocrat Gaming, and Anaxi.
LAN – GAMES LTD
LAN GAMES LTD is a small Europe-based company specializing in software development of online multiplayer board games, such as Rento monopoly, LUDO, Chess, Backgammon, Happy Words, and many other popular board games. Lan – Games was founded on February 3th, 2012, and operates on the global market, but its most considerable online presence is in China, Russia, the US, Germany, Italy, and other countries.
Rento Monopoly is said to be more played and downloaded than the original Monopoly game and is cross-platform multiplayer available on every platform.
The main partners of LAN – GAMES LTD are Platform Distributors such as Steam, Microsoft, Apple, Valve, Google, Sony, Nintendo, AppTutti, and a few others.
The second category of valued partners is the Advertising network mediators: Appodeal, SetupAd, Ad Mob, and a few more.
Entain Plc
It is the world's most significant and leading sports betting and gaming company; they operate both in the physical and online gaming industry. Entain Plc offers online betting, poker, casino, and bingo services through its Bwin and Bet boo brands.
Tim Sweeney formed this American corporation in 1991. Epic Games has beaten the competitors and become a leading video game developer. It has developed several famous games since its foundation, including Fortnite, Infinity Blade Series, and Gears of War. Fortnite is considered one of the world's most popular games, with over 350 million accounts with friend connections of 2.5 billion. Epic Games also develop the Unreal Engine, which powers the world's most popular games. The product is also a powering force behind various industries, like cinema, television, automotive, architecture, manufacturing, and simulation.
Sea Limited
Sea Limited is a tech organization that provides digital entertainment, financial services, and e-commerce. The company also produces the popular game, 'Garena Free Fire,' with 150 million active users in 2021. The digital platform of Garena entertainment allows access to mobile and console PC games, eSports, and other entertainment content, through the live streaming game where you can chat and online forums. Sea Limited also provides its consumers with digital financial services, including payment processing, e-wallet services, and other financial products.
Topics #gaming #gaming industry
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