text:
Board index Gossip Tabloids
So Is Dolling Dying?
Chatter about anything and everything.
OKami_hu
AKA: Hungarian Slash Queen
Location: all over the place
Contact OKami_hu
Re: So Is Dolling Dying?
Post by OKami_hu » Mon Dec 08, 2014 4:24 pm
Going underground, I like the sound of it.
The problem is this though: There are no new dollers. Because, they look at the DA cats, and all they see are crappy anime traces and failed attempts at their customization. Back in the days, when you went there, you saw bases and dolls, and they were inspiring. Whatever good stuff gets posted on DA now, it's immediately buried under traces and unrelated material.
I think the first step on the right road would be a ban on traced bases. That'd solve the issue. They are talking about change and a bright shining future anyway, it's high time to change a few things. Those few who do good traced bases could go to Pixistar, if it's still around.
Aywas, the better pet site.
Av & sig are done by me; Av base is Glam exclusive.
Consonanta
Avatar Base: Aerieyena
Formerly: Kiwi
Location: Arctic wasteland.
Contact Consonanta
Post by Consonanta » Tue Dec 09, 2014 1:34 am
I have observed a trend of dolling becoming less distinct from related art forms, partially due to deviantART's influence. Pixel dolling is being absorbed into pixel art itself, while tooled dolls are evolving into miniature digital paintings. Dollers are much less reliant on bases and fixed styles compared to years ago, with dolls converging with other forms of art; I myself have experienced this as my work evolves and takes on various influences.
I do not believe that the Customization gallery on deviantART is an accurate indicator of doll output as many artworks that qualify as dolls are submitted to Pixel Art instead, perhaps to distinguish themselves from the My Little Pony traces that seem to have taken over deviantART's accepted definition of bases and infused it with as much stigma as possible.
Dolling is not necessarily dead, but it has begun to take on different identities, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, this undermines the community aspect of dolling. It may be necessary for forums to expand their scope to entice potential dollers, or for dollers to create a stronger presence on larger sites not exclusive to dolling. I am unsure as to how this will work in practice, however.
avatar - Lex
General art
Post by Daenerys » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:55 am
Consonanta, that makes sense. Lots of the 'older' dollers are in danger of loosing sight of where dolling is at now. We take hiatuses, or life barges in and takes us away. But if dollers are taken in by other art forms, then we still lose 'dolling'. Because it has just become part of something else.
That would be a shame... Dolling deserves its own niche.
Location: Asturias (Spain)
Contact Parker
Post by Parker » Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:26 am
To be fair, I think what's killing dolling is this fixation with the past. Most posts dealing with dolling always turn into nostalgia trips rather than a proper discussion on dolling. In other words, we keep talking about this past Golden Age of dolling, what dolling used to be, instead of focusing what dolling is right now. And that's a huge problem because most dollers today are not the same dollers from yesterday, and there's not this sense of the old community anymore. The community has changed, dolling's definition and characterisation has not. Which is why I like Consonanta's post:
Consonanta wrote: Dolling is not necessarily dead, but it has begun to take on different identities, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, this undermines the community aspect of dolling. It may be necessary for forums to expand their scope to entice potential dollers, or for dollers to create a stronger presence on larger sites not exclusive to dolling. I am unsure as to how this will work in practice, however.
Let's be honest here, our previous understanding of dolling is not the only possibility anymore and that's what makes it difficult to create a more inclusive community. Say someone who doesn't know anything about dolling tries to gather some information from dollers: they ask something as innocent as "What's a doll?" and they get twenty different replies. There's no unified idea of what a doll is and it's to be expected when you deal with a hobby, something fun, spontaneous and informal. I'm not asking for an academic disertation of what a doll is, however, we do need to open the scope of the definition. Most of the techniques involved in tooling are derived from those in digital painting. Pixel shading stems from pixel art. Yet, we seem to be too reticent to acknowledge that dolling is not based on the resources employed, but a much more complex entity: dolling is a medium. If you got to DA and browse the Digital Art sub-sections, you'll see many works overlap. A highly detailed fashion sketch done on a computer is pretty close to a digital painting of, say, a woman wearing a gown. Yet, the intention behind each is different: our fashion designer may want to get the main concept down and wants the "fashion" label to stand out, a painter may want to focus on rendering the materials used for the gown or simply in creating a painting. Both are valid, and we could come across some pieces that fall in between. The only definite point all dolls have in common is that their creators intended to doll when making them. It doesn't matter if they have a background or not, if they're tooled or painted digitally, if they're pixeled, if they're big or small, or if the doller drew them with their feet.
It's not so much real life and the need to take a break from the Internet that has made dollers lose touch, it's the lack of perspective. If I'm used to doing things one way, then I expect everyone else, even if it's not intentional, to do it in the same way. And I'll be surprised if I find out that they don't follow my same methodology. That's why in more formal aspects, we have protocols, to ensure that variety of action doesn't compromise effectiveness. In dolling we don't have protocols and there's no real need for them. That's the fun in dolling, you're free to experiment without feeling constrained by any specific rules or limitations, just the common sense of no stealing and giving credit. However, we do impose our personal views on what others do and don't do, and that results in dolling being too limited to people who may want to break away from the old dolls. I'm not saying it's bad or criticising it, I'm just saying we need to try to widen our perspective as a community to make sure we don't set our own limits. And I only mean this as a community project, each doller will do as they please with their own work, of course.
Daenerys wrote: Dolling deserves its own niche.
In order to have a niche, you need an identity and that identity cannot be based on single variables like using a base or colouring a given way. It has to be a series of features that define dolling in an informative yet not excessively restricted way. And to do that you do need to look at the current community, see what works and doesn't work as a doll and create a definition of dolling that is specific in what makes it different from other mediums AND vague enough so as not to restrict creativity.
Once you have that it's very easy to make it work: advertise it, educate people, write resources and share them where people can see them, show what dolling is and what cannot be dolling and support those claims with proper evidence, create events and showcase them within the community. Make a huge dolling contest on DA and have the CVs advertise it: think of people who have a big following and deal with more than one category, who may also know other CVs and may ask them to feature a link to the journal or group hosting the event in their journals. Someone will always come across it and read and see for themselves what it is and choose whether they want to be involved in it or not.
I upload all my images with PostImg.CC
Post by Daenerys » Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:24 am
Parker, that makes sense too.
Maybe it would therefore be a waste of time to try and keep the dolling community together? Because there is no identity anymore and there are no new dollers, not in the sense that we see them where we're used to seeing them.
If we can't describe what dolling is, then it's gone already. Or do you really think that huge contests are the way to go in promoting dolling (once we figure out what dolling is these days)?
I never experienced dA as 'the dolling community', so maybe I just missed too much to even try to get people together to 'revive' dolling.
Frankly, you're post makes so much sense I am probably not going to bother with the community-idea anymore. Seems like a waste of time Let someone younger, newer and better at dolling step up.
Post by Parker » Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:35 am
I don't think there's a need to be so pessimistic, and I'm sorry if my post made you feel that way. The way I see it, as long as you have people making dolls, dolling will still live. We just need to be more open in accepting what dolls are. Instead of still talking about DHF or Angychan as examples of dolling, we could look for more current examples of dolling. DHF, Angychan, Fainelloth, The Gathering... all those things came and went away. Of course they're part of the community, but of its past, not its present. And many people were never part of places like TG and preferred other places with a different theme and atmosphere. And all the different big forums didn't necessarily share their exact same user base, and yet, we could talk of dolling as a unity. We can do that again, but we need to update our perceptions of dolling. Each of us will have their own, and that's a great thing, but that doesn't mean that we can't showcase work by other dollers we like, or create a doll that's totally different from our style every once in a while.
The definition problem, to me, stems from looking too closely at our own techniques an experience. Usually, people explain dolling as taking a blank base and drawing the clothes and hair on top of it. That's good. Then someone shows up that says that we should also remember that dolls can be baseless. Great, we're providing more examples... Until someone adds those dreaded words: "That's not a doll" and doesn't really explain why. When someone tries to open a new path, mostly alluding to the artist's intention, you get comments saying that intention is not a good enough explanation. What do we have left then? At the end of the day, you and I are two different people with very different tastes and interests. We don't even know each other except for the one thing we share, which is dolling. Are you sure you can build a community by severing the main thing that may bring people together? Having one thousand definitions is not the problem, getting into petty discussions on whether a baseless doll is no longer a doll is. And we could say the same with different shading styles, backgrounds or text. I do understand the rejection of traced materials, and that's a necessity into building a healthy community, but I can't wrap my head around the endless debates on whether something is a doll or a base. They sound too similar to those pixel vs tool debates from way back, and they may scare people away. We've grown up, we no longer have forty paragraphs with rules for our bases, we are no longer as immature as we used to be. Let that show through a more flexible community that is willing to give a clear idea of what it is. A good article that I'd like to read would be one explaining dolling's greatest hits, offering a definition based on the fads in the dolling community. The differences in size and style, the different trends in dolling, the different techniques... That would be a great way to explain what doller used to be and what it is now.
We need to cut down on the proper dolling etiquette, which is already happening. Then we need to try to explain clearly what we do and why. And I keep thinking that a more educational approach is the best. Maybe build a community focused not only on the finished dolls but also the process behind them: inspiration, techniques, purpose etc. And by seeing how or why people do things, you get to learn new ways of understanding your hobby. It's not late, and it's definitely open for everyone, including old school dollers. We just need to be open to discuss and to share things. To build up a real community, you need to be constantly negotiating with all members so they feel like they're an active part of it. We do have the spirit and the tools to do it. It's just a matter of time and motivation.
Shixam
AKA: Princess of Pink
Avatar Base: http://aerieyena.deviantart.com/
Contact Shixam
Post by Shixam » Tue Dec 09, 2014 1:52 pm
Decided to procrastinate Capstone work because I have so many thoughts on this now. And I apologize now if I sound harsh at all, but all a few of my pet peeves were touched on so I might but I'll try to hold it in.
1) Everything Parker said.
I fully agree. Some of what I say might be building on top of what she's already said.
2) dA and traced bases.
I don't agree that the solution is to leave dA or to try to strike down all traced bases. I view traced bases as what Parker was talking about with:
Let's be honest here, our previous understanding of dolling is not the only possibility anymore and that's what makes it difficult to create a more inclusive community. Say someone who doesn't know anything about dolling tries to gather some information from dollers: they ask something as innocent as "What's a doll?" and they get twenty different replies. There's no unified idea of what a doll is and it's to be expected when you deal with a hobby, something fun, spontaneous and informal
Dolls on traced bases are an offshoot of dolls on original bases. Even many original base users have admitted to tracing in the past. It was a phase of theirs, and it CAN be a phase of current tracers if we don't view this all as an Us Vs. Them: Original or Traced Bases, Two Bases Go In, One Base Leaves sort of scenario.
Take Holli for example. Holli, if I remember correctly, used to trace bases and use traced bases. And now she does not, but she has a HUGE following of both original and traced base users and my understanding is that she has inspired some traced base users to attempt to make and use original bases.
And I believe THAT is the attitude we need to have towards them. Instead of viewing them as something bad that's killing dolling and that needs to go away in order for dolling to survive, I think we need to encourage and dA clean up the miscats in the Digital Dolls category so that all traced bases are in the Traced category, resulting in original bass and dolls on them getting their rightful attention in their own appropriate categories.
I've taken on the belief that people using traced bases are still dollers, but their dollers who have their own separate community and conventions. And our aim should be to be friends with them, so that maybe some of them will look at our dolls and see what we do and try to copy us like others have with Holli.
But instead we say, "No. This is terrible. This needs to go away and stop. We need to get this off dA." And when we do that, of course they react defensively and fight stay and they form a very specific image of us: We are the enemy. We hate them. We want them and their hobby to go away. If we get traced bases off dA, it will not bring new dollers to Original Bases. It will caused the traced base users to find somewhere else to post and use their bases, and the original base community will still seem as slow as it does now.
However, if we take the time to be kind to them, give them polite C/C, become friends with them, and get to know them, then our community starts to grow because we chose to welcome people into it.
3) No New People
And that brings me here. Because everyone's saying that we have no new dollers, but I disagree. I've seen many people join Glam and state in Auditions that they are new to dolling.
The problem isn't that there aren't any new dollers. The problem is new dollers aren't being encouraged enough. Whether it's because the forum has gone through slow periods or because they haven't gotten enough comments and encouragement when there's been activity, new dollers haven't been sticking around because they haven't found the sense of welcome and community that others felt in the past.
And that was a problem even "back in the day." The more talented dollers have always gotten the most attention and comments, and the least talented have either worked their butts off in the hopes that senpai will notice them, or gotten so discouraged that they gave up entirely.
That needs to change too.
When there's a member who says they're new dolling, we need to give them a warm welcome, when they post we need to give them polite, encouraging comments and C/C. We can't just ignore them.
4. We Have No "Pioneers"
This is a thought I've had for a long time.
When dolling first started, a lot of people looked up to dollers like Angychan and DHF. When I started, people were looking up to dollers like Hollay and Pyro.
When I think about this, these are all dollers who did something. Either had a hand in making dolling what it was known to be when it started, or they had a huge hand in inspiring dollers, creating pageants, forums, bases, etc.
The current "generation" doesn't have that.
When I look around, I don't see any "leaders" or "pioneers." There's no one making new forums, there's no one making new pageants, there are very few new bases. I can think of people who could stand out to be that new inspiration, and if I had to pick I'd say Parker is actually the closest we have right now, partly because of talent and partly because I've seen her in conversations like this in the past and she always really strong, well-thought out responses that always make me think of Pyro. I might say Holli too, but I don't know how active she is anymore.
Even on the dA front, we don't really have any new CVs. It basically goes between Rhys, Pyro, and Holli and I don't know if that's because there's a lack of applications now or because there's a lack of QUALIFIED applicants.
A lot of people have this sort of, "I want more [pageants/forums/etc (circle one)], but no one is making them," attitude without realizing that THEY could be making those things themselves.
Like I said, I plan to open up a forum sometime soon. Hopefully next year, but I need the time to properly work on it, and maybe give it another makeover. I know Artzy has reopened Catwalk, and last year (/this year) Bree picked up MDI for pageant season. But the vast majority just kind of want things to happen and then look to other people to make them happen. And I think that's because we're used to "Big Names" leading the way, but we have so few of them now, it seems.
5. Life
And the reason why we have so few is probably largely because life gets in the way.
Think about it: A lot of dollers started around the same age of 13/14. Somewhere between middle school or high school, some people younger and some people older. But most of us could probably be placed the same age range.
And that means that everyone who was really active years ago, was probably really active because they had less going on in their lives. They were too young for jobs and had mom and dad to support them, and middle and high school weren't as intense as college is.
Well, now we've all grown up together and we've collectively entered the work force and college at the same time, meaning we all pretty much simultaneously became too busy for dolling because we're too busy trying to earn our degrees or a living to support ourselves.
And when we have time we come back, but mostly we're just too busy for it. We're going to school, making money, or we've always wanted to make a living off of our art and have put more importance on more traditional art pieces in order to do so. And dolling had to take a backseat to that.
Phone-House-Star-Av
My Charm Bracelet
Artzygrrl
Post by Artzygrrl » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:16 am
Great thoughts, everyone.
Shix, just to add to what you said:
But the vast majority just kind of want things to happen and then look to other people to make them happen. And I think that's because we're used to "Big Names" leading the way, but we have so few of them now, it seems.
made me think of the fact that those people were once just ordinary people doing & learning just how we are now. They weren't 100% awesome at the beginning. It's a journey - there are some dollers who will be "big names" in a couple years if they keep going, who aren't now because they've not been recognized by the community as such. I guess what I'm saying is, if you (the generic "you," not anyone in particular) want there to be "awesome" dollers, become one. Aspire, then learn what you need to learn, practice it and be awesome. (Takes time & hard work, of course, but what I mean is it's a process.)
That's why I did MDF and the Catwalk. One of the biggest reasons was inspiration - I was inspired & wanted to share my inspiration with others. The other reason, I think, that I have had in my mind since the LAST time I was in charge of these things, is that you don't have to be one of the "big" dollers to do something like that. You don't have to be the best at x y & z to run a pageant, or have a doll site, or run a forum. (leadership skills help a lot, though) You can do it and surround yourself with others who have strengths in areas where you are weak. There really is no need for people to depend completely on those they deem "best" at dolling to show them the way. New techniques, ideas, experimental stuff? Sure, those people will be handy. (And Parker & I are working on gathering resources to help new people & old people alike improve & be inspired all in one place, by the way. Stay tuned!)
Mostly I think there's wayyyy less turnover in the dolling world than there used to be. Fewer people coming, but fewer people "going," too. That means that we are going to be around longer & many of us have been here long enough to remember the way "things used to be." But change isn't bad. It's change. We can adapt. I think we are all trying to
Av Base
- My Charm Bracelet -
Post by Daenerys » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:46 am
Parker, I was just depressed out the outline of the amount of work and activity involved. I slumped at my desk, realising that and then typed my response with my head down, sulking. But, after a night's sleep, and Shixam's response and Artzygrrl putting things in perspective actually made me realise the energy is here.
And of course, you made a lot of sense, Parker. It's just that I usually open my mouth to start something and then realise what I am getting myself into.
Maybe, Shixam, Artzygrrl, Parker, anyone, none of 'us' (see??) consider 'ourselves' big names. Maybe we always did rely on some 'leading dollers' to light the way and do the work. Mind you, we're a pretty harsh community sometimes and even though it has also proved extraordinarily supportive, it is just as judgemental about people standing out.
But hey. I think we're not done yet. Let's give this a shot. Glam is still a focal point off-dA.
There have been many tries to get a more educational resource site off the ground for ... literally years now. I think only one really succeeded, and then just sort of evaporated.
There are lots of workshops/tutorials on Glam, that are just lying around on the forum. Maybe we need to transfer more tutorials to dA, for starters? Maybe we need to put some heads together to write awesome tutorials, or guides, ... Just brainstorming here.
Dolling is at its most interesting when it is collaborative, for me. (Not that I don't like baseless, but it's the collaboration that sets it apart, for me.) I will try to set up something with people who have time and energy (see this thread as well).
I like actions, after thoughts and words
Post by Parker » Wed Dec 10, 2014 1:59 pm
I wanted to address one thing from Shix's post: point 4. I think this whole idea of pioneers has been fairly counterproductive in our community. We tend to have this following mentality which consists of: "Someone else will do it", which Shixam has already talked about, but what I want to expand on is the pressure this entails. When you appoint someone as a pioneer, dolling mama or dolling diva you add a tremendous burden to them: they're no longer an individual doller, they become some sort of symbol or emblem for the whole community, which means that people will look up to them and try to copy everything they do. And it also has an impact on people who try to do their own thing. Back in the day if DHF was doing pirates, EVERYONE and their pets would do pirates. To the point that, if some newbie did a Sparrow doll of their character, because all resources focused on those or because they had a Sparrow character, people would tear their work apart if it didn't match the work of that beacon of dolling.
When Pyro became the next big name, things seemed to be more relaxed, or maybe I was more into the community and could see it from the inside. However, it always gave me the impression that there was a lot of pressure on her to be a doller, when she wanted to be an artist that, sometimes, dolled. If Pyro, Lyricanna or Holli didn't make any articles or tutorials, no one did them. And if they did, they went unnoticed: no comments, no feedback, no features, nothing. We don't need the next dolling idol, we need to see dolling as a whole community and accept that there are people who don't do things the same way as your favourite doller and yet they're as valid as them.
There's a saying in Spanish which loosely translates as: "If you want to catch fish, you must be willing to wet your ass" which means that if you want to get things done, you have to put the effort yourself. Well, we won't let anyone catch any fish if we don't let them get near the pond. Let people find themselves through their work and let their creativity flow. I know I refer to DHF way too much. I LOVED that site. It was THE dolling site for me and the big one when I started. I loved the layouts, the dolls, the bases, the events they held, their advent calendars, everything. I started dolling through Xandorra's Palace, but I got acquainted with Photoshop through DHF's. However, I never wanted to be a DHF clone. Not because I didn't like it, obviously, but because there was already a DHF and I wanted to be myself. I didn't follow any of the fandoms (Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or whatever), I had my own ideas, good or bad, and wanted to make them happen. I couldn't do that technique-wise yet, but that would come with practice. All I needed was to believe that I could do it myself, learning through practising, failing and starting over. Developing your full potential as you was not possible, because you were always compared to someone else and judged on it. Many people truly believe that you can get good by copying someone, and that is not true. You will be as good as you think you can be and you need to accept that your ideas are just as valid as the current great doller. You need to work on improving yourself, not being a carbon copy of someone else.
We definitely have people with great ideas and styles (each new doller) and we just need to learn to adapt to that. I think dolling is much more diverse now than it was back then. You cannot make boxes that fit us all anymore. And we get to see many different styles developing through the years. My dolls now have little in common to what I used to do when I joined GLAM, which was what started my DA account as well. Feeling that I was accepted as myself was what made me get a DA account and keep on dolling. I got CC and got to see my flaws anyway, but was never told to copy the style of someone else, which we all know used to be common with newbies in some forums.
Post by Daenerys » Wed Dec 10, 2014 2:26 pm
Parker wrote: . If Pyro, Lyricanna or Holli didn't make any articles or tutorials, no one did them. And if they did, they went unnoticed: no comments, no feedback, no features, nothing. We don't need the next dolling idol, we need to see dolling as a whole community and accept that there are people who don't do things the same way as your favourite doller and yet they're as valid as them.
Unnoticed? The articles I wrote, I wrote on Glam. I even credited who helped out with facts and suggestions and improvements.
The various dolling websites, like Ninique's, with excellent tutorials and articles, unnoticed, because she was not Pyro? Eh? Eh??
... bit disappointed at that, really. Then again, I guess it confirms my idea that the community is incredibly fragmented.
Oh, thanks. Thanks. I mean, I have had articles about dolling and dollmakers, and dresss up games on my site snce.. for ever, at l;east 2003. Great to know no one noticed.
Post by Shixam » Wed Dec 10, 2014 2:38 pm
I think she was talking about Deviantart articles only. Although, the community now admittedly isn't dollsite-centered, so very few seem to think to look at them for anything anymore. Deviantart is better known for them, especially since you can get notifications when they happen. And Holli, Lyric, and Pyro all wrote articles as CVs on dA.
Well, I don't read much on dA, so that explains it. dA is not very inviting as a community for me, and I have always prefered actual sites over dA.
Does that mean that without dA dolling is gone then...?
Shix is right, I was thinking of DA. I'm sorry for not making it more clear, and I definitely didn't want to make anyone feel unimportant, so, if that's the case, I apologise.
Post by OKami_hu » Wed Dec 10, 2014 3:15 pm
I'm going to be an ignorant little thing here and go 'round everything what was said.
Huge-ass traced bases are BAD. Because, pixelart is small. Huge pixelart pictures consists of hundreds of tiny elements; you can't doll that large, it won't look good UNLESS you put a TREMENDOUS effort into it.
The young'uns don't have a positive example before them, something to aspire to, because the example _does not exist_. Back in the day, you looked at a Wayuki doll and you were like "I WANT TO BE THAT GOOD." What do the 'new dollers' see now? The very same things they do. Do the traced base makers eve use their own bases...?
I don't even know why people insist on making PIXEL bases; if they did it with a brush, the bases and the customized outcome would look heaps better.
Also, I still believe that those traced bases aren't there for dolling: they're there to substitute drawing skills. Of course, I can't really defend this statement, because 'dolling' doesn't have a definition whatsoever, and according to what I said, everybody who couldn't make bases back in the Golden Age sucked artistically.
Post by Artzygrrl » Wed Dec 10, 2014 4:06 pm
Dae, to answer your question about dolling being dead without dA, I don't know because it's not really something that's going to happen. Dolling is part of dA, now (not all of dolling, but they're inextricably linked). Personally I enjoy all the spectrum of types of dolling I see there. It's fun to discover new people.
BUT. That doesn't mean that outside of dA the dolling world is dead or dying, either. I have the feeling that it's sort of cyclical. We have periods of hiatus, then periods of revival, then periods of a dolling "boom" when lots of people are involved, then a lull period when everyone has to get back to life or plan new ideas for the next revival & boom. Right now I think we're in a "revival" period. Things are happening, but the community is not in the full swing of activity. But, I think it will be again.
Post by Daenerys » Thu Dec 11, 2014 4:30 am
Parker, thanks. I am a bit sensitive about the amount of work I put into loads of stuff for 'the community' and not really seeing any returns on that. I am working on that. It's stupid to care that much.
Okami, that made me think. Maybe dollers don't want to be 'that good' anymore, maybe they are either happy with the skill level or maybe (maybe) they already think their MLP thingies are the cat's whiskers, the nose of the salmon, ... perfect. They are a new generation with parents who seem to think that everything their little darlings do is beyond criticism. Not all, of course. But you know, the dolling community thrives on getting better through structured CC. Maybe that is absent in the MLP/traced bases community? I dunno, genuined question, because I don't find MLP or badly traced bases interesting enough.
Artzygrrl, I hope so. The thing is, no one 'needs' an active community to doll. Or draw. Or improve. It's just the icing on the cake, if you can find a community that suits you.
But from what I gather, dA is important. That's good to know. I will take that with me in our battle plan ...
Post by OKami_hu » Thu Dec 11, 2014 5:10 pm
I don't even consider MLP bases 'bases'... I think it's because dolls always tended to be humanoid. Sure, there were mermaids and centaurs, but at least half those bodies were HUMAN. Back in the heyday, nobody did customized animals, unless for a background element.
And I'm pretty sure CC does not exist in those circles. What's there to CC? The unique and individual colors or cutie marks...?
Avatar Base: http://unlikely-kisses.deviantart.com/
Post by meisie » Wed Dec 24, 2014 1:10 pm
Skimmed through most of the thread, this is just my two cents...
I'm one of those dollers that took perhaps 7-8 years break from this whole community. when I came back to it, i found most of my favourite web sites didn't exist anymore or hadn't been updated since before 2010 (so sad...do they still pay for the domain?)
Not knowing where else to go i went to deviant art.... when I went to deviant art there was just pages and pages of anime and my little pony traces. not even proper pony bases or anything...just traced images from the cartoon. traced scenes from anime scenes that are just wayy too big and awkawrd.
meh...what...lol
slightly-caustic
Avatar Base: http://pixel-glam.com/
Contact slightly-caustic
Post by slightly-caustic » Tue Dec 30, 2014 12:57 pm
OKami_hu wrote: Back in the heyday, nobody did customized animals, unless for a background element.
Not really true. There were MLP "bases" back in the day but they were proportional to the dolls of the time, so much smaller than now (I know multiple dollers had them the only one I can think of off the top of my head though was Swan Lake). I never saw any other animals as "bases" but there were lots of "templates" of animals and inanimate objects.
Regardless, the problem is not really with removing traced bases, it is with the proper enforcement of the Digital Dolls categories. But that is never going to happen, so don't hold your breath.
As for the Digital Dolls CV job, I guarantee that no one has applied because there is not actually a Digital Dolls CV position listed ... So, um yeah, not looking good on that front either.
Overall, I am not overly surprised that the community is not getting that many new people in. I know that when I started it was because I found the drag and drops and then made my way to the real thing. Pixel (or "Digital Doll") drag'n'drops pretty much do not exist anymore, they have been replaced by apps and stuff with digital artwork. The other main way was by introducing friends and such to it and hoping they would stick. Now we are all old and our friends are as tired and overworked as we are ...
-If you are having trouble shortening my username, you can call me Cat-
Avatar Base: my base :)
Contact mariiii
Post by mariiii » Sat Jan 17, 2015 8:13 am
Another reply from me, since I needed to explain dolling to a friend yesterday. And I had difficulties to do so, cause there's no real description for that (as mentioned above).
I remembered the good old times ,which means the "dollmaker-time", and came to the point that dolling is to dress up an exisiting base. If you don't use a base, you're creating some kind of "miniature"-art, but actually not a real doll. (When you dressed your dolls at home, you also just "styled" them but didn't built the whole body/face).
I don't want to offend anyone (I have done "baseless" dolls, too) but my suggestion for the "description-problem" would be to call our art "Miniature Digital art" and Dolling could be sub-category of that.
And miniature would fit, because I'm pretty sure no one wants to do a doll which is 1000x1000px big. And tool-shaded works fit into this category as well; if they're bigger they're just "normal" digital art but not "miniature".
And if there are really huge dolls (bigger than for example 1000px) it could be still called dolling, just not in the miniature art category.
What about that? Any ideas/critiques? Because we really need to find a clear definition of our "dolling" community....
CC please
Eventhough I often don't change the current doll/base, I will keep in mind for any future works Thank you very much!
Post by Daenerys » Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:58 am
You bring up good points, Mariii.
I think collaboration really is a defining feature of dolling. Not to negate on baseless work, but (unless that base is for more or less common use) it is not what dolling is to me. People who make these wonderful baseless dolls should take pride in their work, and if they can call their work mini-digi art, that doesnt't take away anything from the work, imo.
Collaboration art is pretty unusual, you now. Especially in the way that it evolved here, online in a dolling community. The freedom people have to use a base in any way they see fit (within the basemakers rules obviously), that is unique. We're still making dolls on bases made ten years ago!
We're also the only place where we don't care if a doll has been pixeled, or tooled or mutt-shaded. We're not purists. Which is probably why it's hard to define... and yet, we also blow up over what type of technique is or isnt better. We're a weird bunch, us dollers.
But we identify as such, don't we?
I am all for calling it mini-digital art, with dolling as a sub-category if it is a collaboration between basemaker and doller. Makes sense to me.
I too miss dollmakers. But you know: they;re still around. As apps, as dress up games with larger dolls... it's still around.
Post by Artzygrrl » Sun Jan 18, 2015 10:26 pm
Nah, I don't think we can make a division there. Partly I think it's because intent is important in making dolls. What you are trying to make will influence the result. If that's the case, then we ought to consider intent important in classification.
I suppose if the distinction between something with or without a base was made back when baseless dolls were something very rare & not considered a normal part of dolling by many, we might have been able to make that case. I think its a bit too far gone for that now. Consider, if you will, the method that many tool shaders or tablet dollers use when incorporating a base: they use the base as a guideline for their pose on a separate layer and trace the pose, then create the doll based on that sketch. Now, how different is that from actually starting from scratch with a sketch made from memory or reference images? Only the presence of the base as a rough guideline, really. They're not even using the actual pixels to create the pose, yet choose to credit the base maker (appropriately so). It's so close to the way a baseless doll is created (I make a sketch of the pose, like drawing a base for myself before I begin), that I'm not sure a distinction can be properly made between those two categories.
I'm sure plenty of people would have a serious problem with tool shading being no longer defined as dolling, and I think that if we're going to try and come up with a definition of what dolling is, we should use the natural boundaries of what it is & what it's likely to become, not (quite unnecessarily) create confusion by subcategorizing dolling. We have been talking in this thread & other places about how to get people interested in dolling and I think that being inclusive will contribute to having a welcoming environment. If new people are confronted with several different categories and are expected to keep everything straight, I think it's going to turn them off.
Not to mention, you'll have to try to convince a whole community of those categorizations, and I just don't think that's a realistic expectation.
I think if we're going to define dolling now, at this point in our community development, we have to consider what dolling has become. The collaborative element of using a base made by someone else is a great thought, but what if it's your own base? Is that then a baseless doll? Or are you collaborating with yourself (a concept that to me doesn't make much sense)? I think we could draw the line at humanoid/anthropomorphic characters, and use terms like "generally." Such as, "dolling is an art form that includes characters, either human or humanoid, created on a small scale, generally no larger than 600x600px, but can be as small as 30-40px px tall. They are created using a) a dollmaker, a drag n drop page with bases (bodies created by the dollmaker's author, similar to a Barbie doll without hair), outfits, accessories & hairstyles ready to place on the chosen base; b) a graphics program, such as MS Paint, GIMP, or Photoshop, where the dolls are created using various techniques available. Most "dollers" prefer to use bases, which they then (sometimes) edit themselves & create the rest of the doll from scratch. There are 2 prevailing types of techniques in the dolling community: pixel shading and tool shading. Pixel shading is a technique that involves the placement of individual pixels to create a doll using a pencil tool (as well as a straight or curved line tool if available). Anti aliasing & dithering are sometimes applied to smooth out the shading & edges of these dolls. Tool shading involves the use of automatic anti aliasing tools such as a brush tool in Photoshop, and any other digital tools available, such as the smudge tool or the dodge & burn tools. Some tool shading is much like a miniature version of a digital painting, but tool shaders often still use & edit pixel-shaded bases as part of their creations. Occasionally some dollers, both pixel and tool shaders, elect not to use other artist's bases for their creations, making what is known within the community as a "baseless doll.""
I know that's kind of a mouthful, but it's a fairly truncated definition of what dolling is at this current moment. It doesn't include any lingo about tracing bases (because it's a definition of dolling, not base making) or My Little Pony stuff (because I think we can agree that those are really a different thing, even if they are called "bases" and "dolls" on dA).
I hope this makes sense. I think we should be inclusive to what the community accepts at this point, because it will never fly if we create an "us" vs "them" mentality between those who use bases and those who don't. (I don't think I know anyone who does exclusively baseless dolls and NEVER uses bases, so you'd be creating division between 2 areas or techniques that apply to the same doller making 2 dolls that look very similar or the same in style, but one which has used a base and one which hasn't. I really don't think it makes any sense to create problems like that when the dolling community already has enough drama.
Post by Daenerys » Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:33 am
I don't see it as a division :S
Dolling is a collaboration.
Miniature digital art is not. It's something different from collaboration art, sure. But this is not dividing dolling. Dolling really is collaboration art. Baseless is not.
I think that if I made baseless dolls, I would not call them dolls anymore. In fact, I don't call my work that I make by myself that looks vaguely like a doll, a doll. I just don't.
Dolling is dying, if it is no longer focussing on collaboration art.
And yes, my avatar would be a doll, vbecause it is on a base that is available for all to use, even if it is my own basde. Dolls on your own bases are not baseless, unless there is no base.
It just makes things a lot clearer and give dolling a clear goal: collaborartion.
Post by Artzygrrl » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:56 pm
I think the point i'm trying to make is, good luck convincing the entire community of that. YOU may not classify all your doll-like work as dolls, but other people might. Who's to say that (if we're going back to the original point of dolling) dolling shouldn't be only defined as "making dolls on a dollmaker," and hand-drawing your own clothes & hair on a base would be called something else? I just don't see any reason to consider "collaboration" to be the most important element here. It's simply based on opinion, an opinion which, I might add, is not shared with most or all of the community.
Some of dolling's most interesting work is that of people who decided to try things that other people hadn't really tried before. Look at Pyro - she took her illustrative skills and made phenomenal dolls that really crossed the borders of what others of us had even THOUGHT of. Look at Suzy - she was one of the "pioneers" (because she experimented) in realistic-style dolling and with tooling & lighting effects. Are you prepared to tell Pyro that you think her baseless work isn't a doll? Or that because Suzy didn't actually collaborate...? [Yes, I know you suggested it would still be considered collaborative work, but that makes no sense, because the collaboration didn't actually take place.] I don't know...Hard to retroactively fit a description like that on anything. Let's not forget that a baseless dolling contestant won MDE this year. If you are going to try and make those distinctions, then you run the risk of "disqualifying" contestants based on terms they've previously not had to deal with. Frankly, I won't enter a pageant if I can't make a baseless doll. It's not about collaboration or lack thereof - bases are more like a limitation to me than anything when it comes to something like that. That's not to say I never doll using bases - I do, frequently, doll on them. But if I am forced to do so as part of the terms of a pageant because of a rather exclusive definition, then I will never accept those terms (and a lot of other people won't, either).
I'm not sure about this:
Miniature digital art is not.
I think you may be overreaching here. If I used a reference photo for the pose I sketched to make a doll (say, from SenshiStock), then I am required to credit the source of that photo. Is that not collaboration? Also, "MiniDigiArt" really doesn't roll off the tongue the way "doll" does. I think you're going to run into a host of problems if you try to create categories where none now exist.
One last thing:
I think you're stating this as fact, when it's really your opinion. I think dolling is dying because a) the places we (dollers) got started with dolling are either defunct, or they're not the places where the younger crowd are congregating online anymore, and b) because dolling doesn't have a clear direction/definition. Our community is kind of "sleepy" these days, and because we spend so much time talking about the "good old days" of dolling or lamenting about how great things were back then, we are starting to lose sight of where we can go with it right now. If you did somehow manage to succeed in changing the overall "definition" of dolling, we'd have a c) because the "dolling community" has now splintered into several factions, and there really is no longer such a thing as the "dolling community." I think unity is NOT about uniformity, it's about choosing to accept each other even though our styles or opinions might differ slightly. I'm willing to do that, and I think if we all agreed to have that attitude, the dolling community would look like a more receptive place where people would want to join.
Return to "Tabloids"


text:
<!DOCTYPE html>

	<title>{{category}} {{count}}</title>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta name="description" content="">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
    <meta name="keyowrds" content="mentor, tech africa, mest, tech, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../scripts/assets/css/bs.min.css">
	<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../scripts/assets/bt-3css/message-compose.css">

			<button type="button" class="navbar-toggle" data-toggle="collapse" data-target=".navHeaderCollapse">
		      Toggle navigation

		    </button>

					{% if user.user_profile == "Administrator" %}

					Dashboard

					{% endif %}

Search

Messages

						 {{user.first_name}}

Logout

	<form action="/messages/compose/{{message.receiver.key().id()}}" method="post" id="message-form" parsley-validate>
		<input type="text" style="display: none" value="{{token}}" name="token">

						<select name="type-of-email" id="email-type" required class="btn-block"> Type of email
							<option data-valid="default" value="default">Select a type of message</option>
							<option data-valid="true" value="introduction">Introduction</option>
							<option data-valid="true" value="arrange-a-meeting">Arrange a meeting</option>
							<option data-valid="true" value="48hours-prior">48 hours prior to meeting</option>
							<option data-valid="true" value="within-48hours"> Within 48 hours after meeting</option>
							<option data-valid="true" value="follow-up">Follow-up</option>
							<option data-valid="false" value="other">Other</option>
						</select>

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction">Briefly introduce yourself: mention your name, your role at your company, and your relationship with the MEST Incubator.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction"> Briefly explain why you're writing.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction"> Mention how his/her experience is relevant to helping you.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction"> Make a clear ask, such as an hour-long Skype call, or an introduction to someone.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction"> Keep it short and to-the-point. The briefer and more specific you are, the greater the likelihood of receiving a response.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="introduction"> Check your spelling.

						<button class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#myModal">
						  VIEW SAMPLE EMAIL
						</button>

										<button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

Introductory email sample

Hi Mary,

I'm Kwame, co-founder and CTO of Jhello, an incubator company at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology Incubator. I'm writing to ask your advice on how to scale our technical infrastructure.

Jhello is a private social network for members of the African diaspora. We're growing very rapidly, and we're having difficulty handling the influx of sign-ups. Considering your experience scaling infrastructure for multiple social networks, I'd love to get your advice on how to do this most effectively.

Would it be possible to Skype for an hour sometime next week to discuss helpful strategies?

Regards,

Kwame Annan

										<button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Decide on a date and time that works for both of you.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Send a calendar invite with an agenda.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Share contact details (Skype, Google Hangouts etc).

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Set up demo account and include log-in details if applicable.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Send screenshots/documentation if applicable.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Use Fuze for screen sharing.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Check your Spelling.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="arrange-a-meeting"> Keep it short and crisp.

						<button class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#myModal2">
						  VIEW SAMPLE EMAIL
						</button>

						        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

Arranging a meeting email sample

Hi Mary,

Does a Skype call on Wednesday, June 11th, at 15:00-16:00 GMT work for you?

Here's the login info for a demo of the app:

login url: (login url)

username: (demo userid)

password: (pwd)

Here's my proposed agenda to guide the discussion:

An overview of the technologies we use at Jhello, and some growth and retention metrics

How we've tried to scale the system in the past

Feedback from you on what we're doing now, and what we can improve

My Skype ID is kwameMINC. Kindly let me know yours, or let me know if you would prefer another means of communicating.

Looking forward to the conversation!

Cheers,

Kwame

						        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="48hours-prior"> Send an email reminder about the meeting.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="48hours-prior"> Include agenda items.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="48hours-prior"> Proofread the email one more time before sending.

						<button class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#myModal3">
						  VIEW SAMPLE EMAIL
						</button>

						        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

48 hours prior to meeting email sample

Hi Mary,

Hope you're doing well. This is a quick reminder for our meeting in two days, on June 11th, at 15.00 GMT.

1) Here's the login info for the app demo:

login url: (login url)

username:(demo userid)

password:(pwd)

 2) Agenda items:

An overview of the technologies we use at Jhello, and some growth and retention metrics

How we've tried to scale the system in the past

Feedback from you on what we're doing now, and what we can improve

Many thanks, and talk to you soon!

Regards,

Kwame

						        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="within-48hours"> Thank them for their time and insight.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="within-48hours"> Detail action items with deadlines and who is responsible for them.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="within-48hours"> Define what the next steps will be.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="within-48hours"> Proofread the email one more time before sending.

						<button class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#myModal4">
						  VIEW SAMPLE EMAIL
						</button>

						        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

Within 48 hours after meeting email sample

Hi Mary,

Once again, on behalf of the entire Jhello team, I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to support us. Your insight so far has been invaluable.

 Here is a summary of action items.

Kwame: review technical documentation

Nii: begin recruitment efforts - target is three more engineers

Mary: make email introduction to the person who scaled Facebook's technical infrastructure

We tentatively set a date for a follow-up meeting on October 19th at 17:00 GMT. I'll send out calendar invites shortly.

Kindly let me know if I omitted anything in this summary, and I look forward to speaking again in a few weeks!

Regards,

Kwame

						        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="follow-up"> Send summary of what you've been up to since the last meeting.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="follow-up"> Describe whatever challenges you faced executing mentor's recommendations.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="follow-up"> Include agenda items for the next meeting.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="follow-up"> Send screenshots/documentation if applicable.

							      <input type="checkbox" parsley-group="follow-up"> Proofread the email one more time before sending.

						<button class="btn btn-primary btn-lg btn-block" data-toggle="modal" data-target="#myModal5">
						  VIEW SAMPLE EMAIL
						</button>

						        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

Follow-up email sample

Hi Mary,

Hope you're doing well. This message is in follow-up to the extremely helpful mentor call we had a few weeks ago. We've implemented most of your recommendations:

With regards to our next meeting, I'd like us to delve more deeply into UI/UX:

We changed the color palette, typography, and the general user flow of the test site to encourage the creation of multiple widgets. Do you think the changes support this objective?

Are there any UI/UX best practice resources you can direct me to?

Which member of your team handles UI/UX? Would you mind introducing me to that person?

Looking forward to our next meeting.

Regards,

Kwame

						        <button type="button" class="btn btn-default" data-dismiss="modal">Close</button>

Some useful tips

Important: edit and proofread before hitting "Send." You only get one chance to make a good first impression, so make it count. :)

Use simple English, and say exactly what you mean. Aim for clarity, not impressiveness.

Put your most important point in the opening sentence or paragraph. If you put it in the middle or the bottom, it might not get seen.

Always enter a descriptive subject line. For example, instead of "Logo," try "Follow-up to logo design brainstorm"

Be clear about what you're asking. Being straight-forward makes it easy for the mentor to help you.

 Link to referenced documents or resources whenever possible. Don't simply say "Kindly refer to the marketing plan document." Instead, provide a link to that document. Make things as easy as possible for your reader.

Avoid using ALL CAPITALS - some people consider them to be the email equivalent of shouting.

As a general rule, PLZ avoid textspeak (abbreviations and acronyms): you may be ROFLOL (rolling on the floor laughing out loud), but your reader may be left wondering WUWT (what's up with that).

Be brief and polite. Remember to say "Please" and "Thank you."

If your message runs longer than two or three short paragraphs, consider (a) reducing the message, or (b) providing an attachment.

Add a signature block with appropriate contact information (in most cases, your name, business address, and phone number).

Reply promptly to serious messages. If you need more than 24 hours to collect information or make a decision, send a brief response explaining the delay.

Stick to one topic for each email.

Avoid excessive compliments.

Always, always proofread email before sending!

							<input class="form-control" type="text" id="recepient" value="To: {{receiver.first_name}} {{receiver.last_name}}" disabled>

							<input class="form-control" name="notify-email" type="email" parsley-type="email" id="notify-email" placeholder="Send response notification to: {{user.notify_mail}}" value="{{notify_email}}" required>

							<input class="form-control" name="subject" type="text" id="subject" maxlength="65" placeholder="{{message.subject|truncate(65, true)}}" value="{{subject}}" required>

						<input type="text" style="display: none;" id="message_content" value="{{content}}">
						<input type="text" style="display: none;" name="message" id="final-message">
						<input type="text" style="display: none;" name="recipient" id="final-message" value="{{receiver.key().id()}}">
						<textarea id="message" class="form-control message" col="60"row="600" placeholder="Type away your message..."></textarea>

Cancel

Send

	</form>

	        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

	        Please select a type of message.

	        <button type="button" class="close" data-dismiss="modal" aria-hidden="true">×</button>

	        Message content can't be blank.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


It's Easter weekend which is one of my favorite holidays for decorating– so much pink! Everything is new again and the flowers are *almost* ready to bloom in my front yard! I've gathered a few of my favorite things about this spring to share with you.
Flower crowns go home decor: How do they keep them from wilting? Maybe we'll never know but they sure are pretty! If real flowers aren't your thing, I love this Easter snow flake craft for making perfect place settings!
Healthy Easter desserts: I love ways to include something sweet that still is good for you! I plan to make these Superfood Bars for my Easter dessert.
Young Coconut Kefir: If you do splurge on the Easter candy, aid your recovery with this probiotic kefir. It is made from coconut water and is vegan, soy and gluten-free, and it is handmade in my hometown of Minneapolis. How cute is the packaging!?
Natural dyed eggs: Does anyone's actually ever turn out this pretty? I wish.


text:
Written by Alisha
If You Like
It is a great time to be reading Fantasy. One of my favorite writers is Brandon Sanderson, a prolific writer and always seems to have a new book or series coming out. But, if you are like me and are waiting for the next book in the Stormlight Archive, which is scheduled for 2020, the wait can seem pretty long.
Have no fear! There are plenty of Fantasy series to read in the meantime. If you love Brandon Sanderson, you may like one of the following series:
The Shadowfell Series
SHADOWFELL
By Juliet Marillier
Neryn is only fifteen when she sets out for Shadowfell, a training ground for a rebel group of magic practitioners. The land of Alban has seen dark times and those with magical strengths are being rounded up and captured. When Neryn meets a fellow traveler who is a soldier and then the Good Folk, they tell her that it is she, and she alone, that can save Alban from its oppressive king.
The Name of the Wind Series
NAME OF THE WIND
By Patrick Rothfuss
A hero named Kvothe, now living under an assumed name as the humble proprietor of an inn, recounts his transformation from a magically gifted young man into the most notorious wizard, musician, thief, and assassin in his world.
Throne of Glass Series
Celaena Sardothien has served her time. She is eighteen and has already served a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes. But when Crown Prince Dorian offers her freedom on the condition that she act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin, she starts down a path that will change her life forever.
The Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan
THE EYE OF THE WORLD
By Robert Jordan
Emond's Field is a sleepy little village of no importance. But when the fields are attacked by the savage troll-like followers of the Dark One, the villagers realize that the war in the western lands is closer than they think. Three young men, sheepherder Rand, blacksmith Perrin, and prankster Mat must face their destiny and The Breaking of the World.
Brandon Sanderson famously finished this series after Jordan's death, so chances are you've already read it if you're a Sanderson fan. If you haven't, though, now's the time!
The Belgariad
PAWN OF PROPHECY
By David Eddings
The Belgariad is an epic fantasy of immense scope, telling the tale of struggles between ancient Gods and mighty Kings, and of men in strange lands facing fated events, all bound by a prophecy that must be fulfilled. Garion is just a simple farm boy being raised by his impressive Aunt Pol on a small farm holding. But when the old magician comes to the farm, Garion's life changes forever.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There's no hint of that, though, in this latest show, put together by Bissett as part of Falkirk's year-long response to its recent Creative Scotland Creative Place award. For What The F**kirk? – now on tour around community halls in the Falkirk area– emerges as a cross between a documentary and a 55-minute stand-up set, with powerful live music by Adam Stafford, and an attractive solo performance by Bissett as narrator. His theme is the remarkable if little-known, history of Falkirk, and the view of Falkirk taken by local people themselves; and so the show interweaves his jokes and commentary with a series of films featuring clubbers, schoolchildren and senior citizens reflecting on what Falkirk means to them.
And the story that emerges, in a highly entertaining evening, is often a moving one. What Bissett argues is that the well-worn stereotype of Falkirk as a hard-drinking, street-fighting town is perhaps better understood as a real willingness of the town's people to stand up for themselves, and for ordinary folk everywhere. "Touch Ane, Touch Aw", says the town's motto; and if Falkirk is now on the move – with the coming of those magical Kelpies – it's to be hoped that that instinct for solidarity will survive; and produce more work that has something to say to all of us about how to retain a sense of identity and dignity, in a world that would often rob us of both.
First performed at Slamannan Community Centre, Falkirk, June 2015. Commissioned by Falkirk Community Trust. Live music by Adam Stafford. Directed by Sacha Kyle.


Where do you get those glasses?
Heather says: Amy has shared a fantastic tutorial on making dried tomatoes at home. They look amazing and I think I'm just going to have to make some as tomatoes come into season. Step By Step Easy Sun Dried Tomatoes Recipe.
Heather says: Here's a quick and easy vegetable / snack idea. It's pretty much no effort and sounds like a good spin on the usually plain Jane raw cauliflower. Give it a try. Marinated Cauliflower | Feels Like Home.
Heather says: Looking for some fun, kid friendly ideas for St. Patrick's Day? Head over to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam where Jen has put together recipes for shamrock cupcakes and punch. Enjoy. Food for St Patricks Day.
Heather says: This recipe is going straight into my to try pile. I doubt it will ever replace my morning cup of coffee, but it sounds like it would be a nice treat on a chilly afternoon. Butter and Oven Mitts: Instant Chai Latte Mix. Enjoy!
Heather says: Hoosier Homemade has done it again, she's got some gorgeous Mardi Gras cupcakes. I gave my friend making the King cake my natural food dye or these would be added to my to-do list for today. Mardi Gras Cupcakes with FREE Printables | Hoosier Homemade.
Heather says: Nutella and almond butter? Yes, please. Go, read, then eat. Savory and Sweet: almond butter nutella swirl cookies.


text:
Man Shot By SFPD Identified
by Bay City News | September 8, 2009 10:52 am	| in Crime | 1
9/8 10:52 AM: A San Francisco man who was shot and killed by police after he allegedly came at them with a meat cleaver early Saturday morning was identified by the medical examiner's office today as 37-year-old Xiyu Li.
Officers were dispatched to a home in the first block of Raymond Avenue, near Bayshore Boulevard, in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood shortly before 4:30 a.m. after a 911 caller reported Li was threatening tenants and that one man had been stabbed.
Responding officers found Li standing at the top of a stairwell holding a solid metal meat cleaver, police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said.
The officers ordered him in both English and Cantonese to drop the cleaver, but he refused and told the officers they would have to shoot him, Tomioka said.
The officers tried for more than half an hour to convince Li to put down the cleaver, police said. When he continued to refuse, the officers employed less-lethal weapons to try to subdue Li "with no effect," Tomioka said.
Police fired a single round at Li after he failed to drop the cleaver and advanced on officers in a threatening manner, police said.
Li was struck by the bullet and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 5:48 a.m.
The stabbing victim, a man who also lived at the home, was treated at the hospital for injuries to his ankle and arm.
Li's family told police he had a history of mental health issues and had moved to the U.S. from China a few years ago. Police said Li was unemployed.
9/5 7:14 PM: A San Francisco police officer fatally shot a man with mental health issues armed with a meat cleaver in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood this morning, a police sergeant said.
Officers received a call at 4:24 a.m. from a resident in the area of Bayshore Boulevard and Raymond Avenue, who said an Asian man was threatening other tenants with a knife and that one person had been stabbed, San Francisco police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said.
Responding officers found the suspect standing at the top of a stairwell holding a solid metal meat cleaver amid a cluttered home, according to Tomioka.
The officers tried for more than half an hour to convince the suspect to put down the cleaver, and when he continued to refuse, the officers employed extended range impact weapons at the suspect "with no effect," and then entered the building through the rear of the property, she said.
At that point, the officers were still talking with the suspect, but he repeatedly refused to listen to the officers' orders, Tomioka said.
Then, the suspect allegedly charged at the officers with the meat cleaver and one officer fired a single round at the suspect, striking him, Tomioka said.
"He went toward the officers in a manner that the officers believed their lives were in immediate danger," she said.
The suspect was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 5:48 a.m., she said. His identity is not being released pending notification of next of kin.
The officers had requested hostage negotiators for assistance, but they did not arrive before the shooting, Tomioka said.
At a news conference at the Police Department today, police Inspector Antonio Casillas said the suspect's sister told them that her brother had a history of mental health issues, Tomioka said. She said her brother had been in the U.S. for only a few years and had struggled with mental health disorders when he lived in China.
Casillas said the suspect was currently unemployed.
The stabbing victim sustained a left ankle injury and a cut to his upper right arm, Tomioka said. He was transported to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening.
The stabbing victim and landlord who had called police, both adult males, lived with the suspect, Tomioka said. They were not related to the suspect.
Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting, the Police Department's first fatal officer-involved shooting this year.
"We will investigate fully and determine what was going on prior to arrival," Tomioka said.
Police Chief George Gascon will provide further details on the incident at a community meeting on Sept. 9 at the Visitacion Valley Community Center.
9/5 9:05 AM: A San Francisco police officer fatally shot a suspect armed with a knife in the city's Visitacion Valley neighborhood this morning, a police sergeant said.
Officers received a call at 4:24 a.m. from a resident in the area of Bayshore Boulevard and Raymond Avenue, who said a person was threatening other tenants with a knife, San Francisco police Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said.
Responding officers found the suspect standing at the top of a stairwell with a knife to his own throat, according to Tomioka.
The officers told him to put the knife down, but he refused and told the officers they would have to shoot him, Tomioka said.
The officers employed extended range impact weapons at the suspect "with no effect," and then entered the building through the rear of the property, she said.
Then, the suspect made a move toward the officers, and one officer fired a single round at the suspect, striking him, Tomioka said.
The suspect was transported to San Francisco General Hospital where he was pronounced dead, she said.


bad caller b87 (since 9/22/2011) called my cell phone which i have NOT given out. no message. also called last year on december 9, 10, 11 and this year on june 4, 5, and 11. i do NOT answer numbers i do NOT recognize !!! if not scammer rt telemarketer, they are bill collectors for a previous owner of cell phone number that wont take "wrong number" for an answer .
called my cell which have not given out. bad caller 87. left no message. phone is on dnc list.
Have been getting calls and they do not leave a message. I answered today and she was trying to sell dental insurance. I told her i was on the do not call list and not to call again.
do not know anybody in findlay ohio and what is a mistea ra mudah .?
I don't know anyone in Toledo, so it can't be anyone I want to talk to.


Tabela 1--Resultado da Analise Fatorial Confirmatoria Carga STD Erro CI1 <-- Cinismo 0,69 0,175 CI2 <-- Cinismo 0,86 0,213 CI3 <-- Cinismo 0,86 0,167 CI4 <-- Cinismo 0,69 EE1 <-- Exaustao 0,68 0,087 EE2 <-- Exaustao 0,70 0,086 EE3 <-- Exaustao 0,86 0,083 EE4 <-- Exaustao 0,78 0,091 EE5 <-- Exaustao 0,84 ET1 <-- Eficacia Trabalho 0,51 ET2 <-- Eficacia Trabalho 0,63 0,1 42 ET3 <-- Eficacia Trabalho 0,67 0,210 ET4 <-- Eficacia Trabalho 0,96 0,303 ET5 <-- Eficacia_Trabalho 0,52 0,128 T -Valor Sig Alpha CI1 7,671 *** CI2 9,028 *** 0,84 CI3 9,768 *** CI4 EE1 9,3 12 *** EE2 9,811 *** EE3 12,870 *** 0,84 EE4 11,351 *** EE5 ET1 ET2 8,3 92 *** ET3 6,251 *** 0,82 ET4 6,370 *** ET5 5,337 *** Fonte: Elaborado pelos autores.
Three liters collected from each station for EE2 analysis were treated with 5 mL methanol and 5 mL sulphuric acid.
Abbreviations: BSEP, bile salt export pump; EE2, 17[alpha]-ethenylestradiol; ES, estradiol benzoate; RT-PCR, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.
Para avaliar o dano muscular, assim como no presente estudo, foram analisados os indicadores de microlesoes: CK (antes e 48 horas apos o exercicio), ADM (antes, 2 e 60 minutos e 48 horas apos) e dor muscular (24 e 48 horas apos), foi usado o mesmo protocolo tanto para EE1 quanto para EE2.
UCSF researchers reviewed the literature on estrogen in water, and found that hormonal birth control contributes only a negligible amount of synthetic estrogen to waterways, and that the chemical EE2 is minimal or nonexistent in drinking water.
E1 EE2 constituye el principal ingrediente activo de la pildora anticonceptiva, utilizandose tambien ampliamente en las terapias de reemplazamiento estrogenico y en el tratamiento del cancer de pecho.
Kidd's team introduced ethynylestriadol (EE2) into a remote Ontario lake, maintaining a concentration (about 5 nanograms per liter) well within the range of EE2 concentrations observed in polluted surface waters.
The scientists found that oxygen-deprived tanks remove most of the E1 and E2 that enter them, while oxygenated tanks remove most of the EE2.
By 2002, Kutaragi said, SCE expects to have developed the EE2, which will incorporate 40 million transistors.
This layer did not always stain well, appearing as a sparsely filled space between EEl and EE2 after its formation.
0029 EE2 Where: GP24h is gas production after 24 h of incubation (ml gas/200 mg DM); CP is the crude protein (g/kg DM); and EE is the ether extract (g/kg DM).
Nominal test concentrations were highly consistent across the range tested, between 68 and 72% of nominals (specifically, for nominal EE2 exposure concentrations of 1, 2.


text:
Lisbeth McNabb Joins the Linux Foundation as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
Linux Foundation, Press Release
SAN FRANCISCO, May 14, 2018 – The Linux Foundation, the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build and advance open technology, today announced Lisbeth McNabb is joining the organization as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO).
McNabb brings extensive finance and operations experience to The Linux Foundation, having lead teams at large organizations such as Match.com and PepsiCo. McNabb will manage the finance and operations teams at The Linux Foundation.
"Lisbeth's wealth of experience will be a tremendous asset to The Linux Foundation and help manage our continued growth and expansion," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "The expertise she brings to The Linux Foundation will ensure we are well equipped to continue to support and advance the thriving open source community."
"Open source software has become the foundation of modern technology, affecting virtually every person on the planet, and The Linux Foundation is doing the work that supports the most critical open source projects," said Lisbeth McNabb, CFO/COO at The Linux Foundation. "I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to help drive The Linux Foundation to new heights."
About Lisbeth McNabb
Lisbeth McNabb is an experienced innovation and high-growth executive, a Public Company Board of Director, with results in B2B2C, Ecommerce, Brands and Consumer Package Goods, Media, Education, Retail and Technology industries. Her experience includes Match.com and PepsiCo marketing and innovation, finance and operations, big data analytics, and integrated marketing digital execution and revenue monetization successes.
Lisbeth is the CFO COO of The Linux Foundation, the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build and advance open technology. She is an expert at driving finance, strategy, operations, analytics and revenue strategies at the high-growth scaling inflection stage. Her professional background includes 20+ years in innovation in growth and emerging stage businesses at Illuminate Education, founder DigiWorksCorp and w2wlink, American Airlines, AT&T and Sodexo.
Lisbeth is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and Women Corporate Directors, a board of director, audit chair of Nexstar Media Group, a media company $4.6B market value, and an advisory board member of Southern Methodist University and University of Nebraska Business Schools.
She is a former advisor to American Airlines, ClubCorp, 4Word, SitterCity, Tandy Brands and several technology start-ups.She frequently speaks on innovation, recurring revenue, AI/Analytics and integrated digital marketing.and has been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, CMO and CIO magazines.
She received her B.S. at University of Nebraska and M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. She was honored in 2015 as NACD Top 50 Director 2013 as Digital Director 50, Financial Times Agenda Magazine, 2011 as Distinguished Alumnae by SMU Cox School of Business and Top 25 Women in Business, and 2014 as Top 25 Women in Technology, by Conde Nast's Dallas Business Journal.
About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the organization of choice for the world's top developers and companies to build ecosystems that accelerate open technology development and industry adoption. Together with the worldwide open source community, it is solving the hardest technology problems by creating the largest shared technology investment in history. Founded in 2000, The Linux Foundation today provides tools, training and events to scale any open source project, which together deliver an economic impact not achievable by any one company. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.
The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
https://live-linux-foundation.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/lf_logo.svg 0 0 The Linux Foundation https://live-linux-foundation.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/lf_logo.svg The Linux Foundation2018-05-14 09:00:102020-12-20 06:56:40Lisbeth McNabb Joins the Linux Foundation as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer


July 2018 Paint pARTy Schedule Now Live!
Summer time is at its peak in July and so it the Texas sun. Looking for some FUN activities in Houston that you can do inside to beat the heat? Look no further than Painting with a Twist! We are excited to bring our guest another month full of paint pARTies for all ages and experience levels.
Bring Your Creative Kids to Our Summer Art Camp!
Our kids camps offer painting fun for all ages. Our campers our guided by our professional artists to will create a finished work of art every day of camp. We provide all the painting supplies and even clean up the mess after!
May 2018 Paint Party Schedule Now Live!
We're already gearing up for the summer and our May paint party schedule is now live for ALL STUDIOS! May is full of fun and paint pARTy worthy celebrations.
Paint Party Experts is the blog for Painting with a Twist Houston locations - Westheimer, Midtown, The Heights, Memorial, Katy, Cypress, and Sugar Land. Here you will find information and ideas to help you plan your next event. Whether it be a girls night out, date night, birthday party, or business team building event, Painting with a Twist will provide everything you need to host a successful paint party!


The rate of change in genomics, and 'omics generally, shows no signs of slowing down. Related analysis software is struggling to keep apace. This paper provides a brief review of the field.
For the bioinformaticist, and still more so the traditional genetic epidemiologist, the big view on how to tackle genomic data analysis looks daunting. Only a few years ago, the genome-wide association study (GWAS) represented the overshadowing Everest on the landscape, and commentators fretted about the computational feasibility of analysing 500,000 or so single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) against one phenotype variable. Now, the single-phenotype GWAS is a foothill from which to launch attacks on datasets of much greater scale and variety. A new term - systems genetics - has emerged to describe this expanded world view. Analytical tools for dealing with molecular data have always lagged behind the acceleration of high-throughput methods for generating them, and that seems especially true at the present time. Here, I provide an overview of the software currently available, and look ahead to future developments.
First, a look at more familiar territory. The software package PLINK  has become the favoured work-horse of GWAS analysis, thanks to the untiring efforts of Shaun Purcell to keep the software well documented, flexible, fast and compact in its use of data structures. Few other packages surpass PLINK as far as basic quality control and first-pass SNP-by-SNP analysis are concerned, and many other, more advanced features are available and are being expanded continuously. In addition to SNP probes, modern GWAS panels are equipped with additional probe sets for interrogating copy number variation (CNV). PennCNV  is a popular software for calling these. CNV call uncertainty poses downstream problems for association analysis, and software for dealing with this has been reviewed recently in this journal . Another trend is towards imputation of SNPs that are not present in the GWAS panel but can be inferred via linkage disequilibrium (LD), also reviewed here recently . Popular choices are Mach,  Impute  and Beagle . A more specialist imputation problem, but one of general interest due to the role of the immune response system in many diseases, is to call classical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes from SNPs typed in the HLA region of chromosome 6. Recently improved software from Gil McVean and colleagues is available for this .
SNP annotation tools provide the most straightforward window from GWAS hits and also sequence data into the wider 'omic universe. A recent review is by Rachel Karchin . The SNP Function Portal  provides one of the more comprehensive lists of annotation for each SNP, including those arising via LD proxy or 'tagging'. Other options include FastSNP,  PupaSuite,  SNPnexus,  SNPinfo,  SNPselector,  F-SNP  and TAMAL . WGAviewer  is geared specifically towards the analysis of GWAS results, and has a nice visual interface. All these tools struggle to keep up with the rapidly expanding set of available annotations. For example, several different datasets are now publically available that combine GWAS SNP data with genome-wide gene expression data (so-called genetical genomics or expression quantitative trait locus [eQTL] data). Currently, however, no one tool integrates the ability to search all these datasets simultaneously. One option for the more proficient investigator is to keep one step ahead by using the Galaxy web tool  to design their own application for integrating different annotation tracks with their GWAS hits. SNAP  is a useful tool for feeding LD proxy information into such a custom-made Galaxy application.
Beyond SNP annotation, there are more formal attempts at linking genetic data into functional networks. These may be created from internal sources, such as p-values for SNP-SNP interactions, or extrinsic sources, such as protein-protein interactions (reviewed here recently ) and gene ontology categories. A repository of types of network data is available at http://www.pathwaycommons.org. While network visualisation tools were previously the domain of expensive commercial software, Cytoscape  has become an excellent freeware alternative. For formal statistical significance of coincident patterns within these networks, there is a rapidly expanding literature and no consensus yet on the best approach to take. Two examples are ALIGATOR  and gene-set enrichment analysis (GSEA). The latter has been adapted from gene expression studies and applied to GWAS p-values. Web-based implementations are available at http://bioinfo.vanderbilt.edu/webgestalt and http://www.broadinstitute.org/gsea.
How can one keep up to date in the rapidly changing world of genomic software? Certainly, review sections such as the one here in Human Genomics will help. Nucleic Acids Research publishes a useful annual review of web server applications,  now also available online http://bioinformatics.ca/links_directory. The Applications Note section of the journal Bioinformatics provides the best, but by no means only, location for primary literature on new software. Looking ahead, software for handling high-throughput sequencing is an area where we can expect much development in the coming months. Bioinformatics has a useful online 'virtual issue' on tools for next generation sequencing which they are recurrently updating http://www.oxfordjournals.org/our_journals/bioinformatics/nextgenerationsequencing.html. One wonders whether 10,000 feet will be high enough for a synoptic view in 12 months time.


text:
Hazel Irene Umphrey
Name Hazel Irene Umphrey [1]
Born 2 Sep 1887 Morning Sun, Louisa County, Iowa [2, 3]
Iowa State Census 1895 Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa [4]
Hazel Umphrey, age 7, female, single, born in Louisa County, Iowa
Census 1900 Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa [5]
Hazel Umphry (sic), daughter, white, female, born in September 1889, age 11, single, could read, could write, could speak English
Card #: 697, Hazel Umphreys (sic), Post Office: Morning Sun Iowa
Residence Jul 1925 Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa [7, 8]
Census 1930 Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa [9]
Hazel Schwob, wife, female, white, age 42, married, age at first marriage 21, did not attend school since September 1929, could read and write, born in Iowa, father's birthplace Iowa, mother's birthplace Ohio, state code: 65, could speak English, occupation none
Residence Nov 1950 Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa [10]
Residence May 1953 Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa [11]
Died 14 Aug 1980 Morning Sun Manor, Morning Sun, Louisa County, Iowa [2, 3]
Obituary 15 Aug 1980 Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa [3]
The Hawk Eye
Wapello (IA) -- Mrs. Hazel Irene Schwob, 92, Wapello, died Thursday, September (sic: August, the paper was printed in August) 14, at Morning Sun Manor.
She was born September 2, 1887, at Morning Sun to Thomas J. and Mary Copeland Umphrey. She married Henry Schwob at Atalissa on April 29, 1909. He died June 30, 1958.
Surviving: Two daughters, Mrs. Ronald (Mary) Archibald and Mrs. Ralph (Virginia) Stone, both of Wapello; five sons, Harlan Schwob, Iowa City, Walter, Eufala, Oklahoma, Thomas and Robert, both of Wapello, Richard, Anaheim, California; 19 grandchildren, and 25 great-grandchildren.
Funeral: 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Presbyterian church, Wapello, the Reverend Richard Smith; Wapello cemetery.
The body is at the Pierce funeral home, Morning Sun. A memorial has been established to the church.
Social Security Administration Information
Hazel Schwob; born: 2 September 1887; died: August 1980; last residence: 52653 (Wapello, Louisa, Iowa); state where issued: Iowa
Cemetery Info/Epitaph Louisa County, Iowa, Cemetery Records [14]
Name: Hazel Irene (Umphrey) Schwob; Sex: F; Born: 1887; Died or Buried: 1980; Age: 93; Buried: Wapello (township = Wapello); County/State: Louisa, Iowa; Military Service: none; Book: LCC ©1990 - page W-92; Notes: born 2 September 1887; died 14 August 1980
Buried 17 Aug 1980 Wapello Cemetery, Wapello Township, Louisa County, Iowa [3, 14]
Person ID I1173 All Families
Father Thomas Jefferson Umphrey, b. 30 Dec 1850, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 11 Jul 1925, Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa
Mother Mary Belle Copeland, b. 25 Oct 1858, Belmont County, Ohio , d. 11 Feb 1908, Louisa County, Iowa
Married 15 Aug 1876 Louisa County, Iowa [1]
Alt. Marriage 15 Aug 1876 [15]
Iowa Marriage Records
(ancestry.com:) Umphrey, Thomas J.; Spouse: Copeland, Mary B.; Marriage Date: 15 August 1876; County: Louisa.
(Family Search Labs:) Groom's Name: Thomas J. Umphrey; Bride's Name: Mary G. Copeland; Marriage Date: 15 August 1876; Marriage Place: Louisa County, Iowa; Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I10111-4; System Origin: Iowa-EASy; Source Film Number: 1006646; Reference Number: p 48; Collection: Iowa Marriages, 1809-1992
Thomas J. and Mary B. (Copeland) Umphrey's grave is located at Elmwood Cemetery near Morning Sun, Iowa. The epitaph on the stone is: "Thos. J. Umphrey, December 30, 1850 - July 11, 1925; Mary B. Umphrey, October 25, 1858 - February 11, 1908"
The Headstone of Thomas J. and Mary B. (Copeland) Umphrey
Family ID F78 Group Sheet
Family Henry Schwob, b. 29 Apr 1885, Iowa , d. 30 Jun 1958
Married 29 Apr 1909 Atalissa, Muscatine County, Iowa [3, 17]
Groom's Name: Henry Schwab; Groom's Birth Date: 1884; Groom's Birthplace: Wapello, Iowa; Groom's Age: 25; Bride's Name: Hazel Irene Umphrey; Bride's Birth Date: 1887; Bride's Birthplace: Wapello, Iowa; Bride's Age: 22; Marriage Date: 29 April 1909; Marriage Place: Atalissa, Muscatine, Iowa; Groom's Father's Name: Emanuel Schwab; Groom's Mother's Name: Rosina Dill; Bride's Father's Name: Thomas Umphrey; Bride's Mother's Name: Mary Bell Copeland; Groom's Race: White; Groom's Marital Status: Single; Bride's Race: White; Bride's Marital Status: Single; Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M02546-0; System Origin: Iowa-EASy; Source Film Number: 1003492; Reference Number: 1003492 pg 102; Collection: Iowa Marriages, 1809-1992
Residence Mar 1931 Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa [19, 20]
1. Harlan H. "Harley" Schwob, b. 8 Jun 1910, Iowa , d. 10 Aug 1990
> 2. Mary Elizabeth Schwob, b. 4 Jul 1911, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 18 Nov 2003, Wapello Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa
> 3. Walter Dayton "Pete" Schwob, b. 4 Oct 1912, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 23 Dec 1988, Eufaula, McIntosh County, Oklahoma
> 4. Thomas Emmanuel "Tommy" Schwob, Sr., b. 31 Jan 1916, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 13 Jul 1992, Burlington Medical Center, Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa
> 5. Barbara Schwob, b. 12 Aug 1922, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 29 Sep 1967, Mercy Hospital, Davenport, Scott County, Iowa
> 6. Robert David Schwob, b. 24 May 1924, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 12 Feb 2009, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa
> 7. Richard Edwin Schwob, b. 28 Feb 1927, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 31 Oct 2009, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa
> 8. Virginia Rosena Schwob, b. 24 Jan 1929, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa , d. 12 Oct 2012, Wapello Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa
Relatives Called to the Deathbed of Geoffrey Paul Umphrey from the Vicinity of Wapello, Iowa
Published in The Burlington Hawk-Eye, March 12, 1931.
[S30] Louisa County, Iowa - Louisa County History 1911, Arthur Springer, (The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1911, Chicago, Illinois), pages 537-538 (Reliability: 3).
[S634] Louisa County, Iowa - Cemetery Records Through 1997 (Rootsweb).
[S637] Schwob, Hazel Irene (Umphrey) - Obituary, (originally published in The Hawk Eye, page 9, August 15, 1980; Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
Louisa County, Iowa; Morning Sun Township; Sutro Library, San Francisco, California; Sutro Microfilm Roll #553, Reel 67 of 121
Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa; enumeration district: 87, supervisor's district: 74, sheet number: 12A, page number: 94; enumeration date: June 16, 1900
[S4157] 1905 Iowa State Census (Reliability: 3).
Morning Sun, Louisa County, Iowa; Roll: IA_96
[S8078] Umphrey, Thomas Jefferson - Obituary (Davenport Democrat), (originally published in The Davenport Democrat and Leader, page 16, Tuesday evening, July 14, 1925; Davenport, Scott County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
[S8079] Umphrey, Thomas Jefferson - Obituary (Morning Sun News-Herald), (originally published in The Morning Sun News-Herald, front page, July 16, 1925; Morning Sun, Louisa County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
Wapello city, Wapello Township, Louisa County, Iowa; enumeration district: 58-20, supervisor's district: 15; sheet number: 3A, page number: 106; enumeration date: April 7, 1930
[S631] Umphrey, James Garland - Obituary, (originally published in The Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, page 15, November 3, 1950; Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
[S8460] Houtz, Lorinda Fern "Loie" (Umphrey) - Obituary, (originally published in The Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, page 17, May 22, 1953; Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
[S5474] Sheridan, Barbara (Schwob) - Death Notice and Obituary, (originally published in The Burlington Hawk-Eye, front page, September 29, 1967; Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
[S776] Social Security Death Index (Reliability: 3).
[S634] Louisa County, Iowa - Cemetery Records Through 1997 (Rootsweb) (Reliability: 3).
[S252] Umphrey, Mary Belle (Copeland) - Obituary, (originally published in The Wapello Tribune, February 14, 1908, page 1; Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).
[S26] Iowa Marriages, 1851-1900 (ancestry.com) (Reliability: 4).
[S13] Iowa Marriage Collection, 1809 -1992 (Family Search) (Reliability: 3).
[S253] Umphrey, Thomas Jefferson and Mary Belle (Copeland) - Headstone Photograph, (their grave is at the Elmwood Cemetery, Morning Sun Township, Louisa County, Iowa; photograph provided courtesy of Marjorie Naomi "Marge" (Walker) Kimble and Becky Ruth (Kimble) Murphy) (Reliability: 3).
[S372] Umphrey, Geoffrey Paul - Funeral Report (SE Iowa Newspaper), (originally published in an unknown southeast Iowa newspaper, likely The Wapello Republican, about March 19, 1931) (Reliability: 3).
[S629] Umphrey, Geoffrey Paul - Wapello Relatives Called to Deathbed (Burlington Hawk-Eye), (originally published in The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Page 3, March 12, 1931; Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa) (Reliability: 3).


text:
Character: Matthew Fenwick
Matthew Fenwick
Built chest, somewhat slim.
Short, brown dirty hair
Brown.
Knife scar on his right arm, causes twitching and slight shakes on occasion.
His vision blurred, he wakes up in the forest with what seemed like the biggest headache known to man. Matthew was just a young survivor in a cruel world, doing what he can do to survive while retaining some old world traditions as he calls them. Some seem to respect it, others.. not so much.
He wakes up from his unintentional slumber in the middle of the soggy mossy ground, and looks up towards the cloudy sky. Bird sounds are vacant, with the autumn leaves rustling in the slight, gentle breeze. His hands covered in mud and grass, he slowly gets up and stumbles, holding onto a tree to hold his balance. He looks around as his vision becomes more clear with not a soul to be seen.
He memory was foggy, he couldn't quite put his finger on how he got to where he was. He wiped away the blood away from his busted nose and began to walk alone.
He could remember his home life and his family. The joys of a beer on the Friday night after a long work week. He remembered the first of the infection that hit the UK, and he remembered the sorrow he felt knowing his parents committed suicide by overdone in their bed, as to not become a Stumbler as Matthew called the infected. However, after trying as hard as he could, he could not remember how he got to the country, but only parts of the bigger story such as Germany at The Hole as it was called. A small traveler town created by a small pocket of humanity, and even then the memory seemed clouded in his mind and heart . His name was never forgotten though and he firmly kept that very close to him, as losing his identity was losing his humanity, as he thought.
He carried a big weight on his shoulders. With his apparent, hopefully short term amnesia, holding him back it was up to him and him alone to pick up the pieces of his memory and hopefully remember what brought him to the epicenter of the infection, and with the scars he held on his arms, he began his journey.