Baton Rouge is the capital and the second most populous city of the State of Louisiana, and without a doubt one of the most joyful, whether Mardi Gras time or not, you can feel the festive atmosphere of the place for its lively music, gastronomy and people who always take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy the good times.
To start the day well, we recommend you to enjoy the gastronomy of the place from early in "Strands Cafe", your coffee is delicious, as well as everything in your menu.
You will be able to taste the authentic charm of the Louisiana food at breakfast, and you will also have first class service, as this café is acclaimed for its good cuisine and the friendliness of its staff.
A good place to walk and learn is "Louisiana Art & Science Museum". This museum perfectly combines both appreciations and is a highly recommended place for children: it has several rooms where they have activities where they can play, create, draw, learn, create and have fun; as in the special laboratory, where the youngest can perform experiments and encourage their curiosity.
And as an adult the art exhibitions are excellent, they have a large collection and an impressive Egyptian exhibit.
Another incredible place to spend the day is at the "USS Kidd Veterans Museum", where you will get to know the cover of a fletcher type destroyer of the Second World War, and in the museum you will learn how the life of the sailors developed, the artifacts of war that they used at that time and everything about the history of those times. A visit that will be worth it!
As we mentioned earlier, Louisiana is famous for its cuisine, and let us tell you that you are in the right place to try it, since Baton Rouge is the meeting point between Cajun and Creole cuisine, commonly known as country food and the one in Louisiana.
Fortunately, you will not have to decide for just one, as there are plenty of options in your restaurants and you can find both types of cuisines in one menu.
Something we have to emphasize is that the capital of Louisiana celebrates four seasons of seafood: in spring, the most abundant seafood is a crustacean of fresh water; in summer, blue crab dishes will be the most popular; in autumn, we will be able to count on different varieties of shrimp; and in winter, the star dish will be oysters.
This occurs due to the temperature changes of the transitions of stations, which makes an adequate environment for each type of seafood depending on the season.
Visit "Tony's Seafood", a place where every day celebrate the different seasons of seafood, where you should try their delicious crab cakes, stuffed crab, po 'boy sandwiches or shrimp, pudding, Cajun sausage or its different dishes with shrimp.
We also recommend trying different ways to serve oysters in "Jolie Pearl Oyster Bar". This place offers more than 50 types of oysters from all over the country and is dedicated to preparing them in all possible ways: grilled, on toast, raw or with various dressings.
Another option that we suggest is to go to "The Chimes Restaurant and Tap Room". This busy restaurant is dedicated to serving the most classic dishes of the Creole and Cajun tradition, as well as more than 30 types of beers that come from all over the world.
Wherever you go in Baton Rouge, you will realize that people are passionate about their cuisine and are very good at it.
But if you do not know where to start, the "C'est Si Bon Food Tour" tour will guide you. This walking tour, assisted by a guide will take you to different places to taste the most characteristic dishes of Baton Rouge such as seafood po 'boys, homemade gumbo and shrimp with gourmet polenta.
A gastronomic adventure is about to begin, see enlisting your suitcase and your appetite to visit Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
At Grupo Senda we are ready to take you to this destination.


LWIP:itoa Function for FPGA- How to increase the buffer size ?
I am working with Xilinx Ethernetlite (lwip) design. With LWIP Echo template, I am able to make communication between FPGA board and PC (hercules). The issue is in hercules or in itoa Function. I am unable to make sure.
In Hercules, to print the data i am doing itoa conversion Function in echo file. Only if buf size is 32. I am able to read the properly. If i increase the buf size is 1024. I am not able to read the data in Herceuls.
err = tcp_write(tpcb,result,100,1);          // Unable to read the 100 values in Hercules.
err = tcp_write(tpcb,",",1,1); err = tcp_write(tpcb,result,100,1); // Unable to read the 100 values in Hercules.
Need to check the tcp_write return code, if ERR_OK is not returned this indicates that the write was not successful. lwIP TCP raw API has a callback function when a TCP write operation completes, this makes the code more complex, but allows using limited memory.
Also, use wireshark to see the traffic between to devices. Wireshark helps you see what is on Ethernet, thus having a way to see what is being received and transmitted.
Sorry, I can`t understand your point. I am stuck in this problem for past 15 days.
How to increase TCP send buffer size ?? Please follow the below i have posted same thing with Screen shots.
When the recv data comes in, process the packet, then start transmitting, if the transmitter gets full, then save where the last successful transmit was done. Continue the writing the results in the tcp_sent callback function. Using the RAW TCP interface, there is only one thread, so, accessing variables is thread safe. The main issue, is, another recv_callback is invoked while still processing the previous request.
FYI, you can download the lwIP code, there are several examples of using RAW TCP callbacks, i.e http, mqtt etc. The reason for using callbacks, is there might not be enough RAM so, this should work for most applications.
//How much still needs to be written out..
I have not used lwIP on a microblaze. Used lwIP on several other projects.
Thanks for your response. I have changed my code according to your format.
Hercules Window, I have attached. I am getting some constant ASCII values. Again i have pasted your modifies for cross verification.
Oh, the sprintf is using %x, was printing the address of the char * from itoa. You can use sprintf function to convert the DestinationBuffer into a string. I think DestinationBuffer is an array of integers?
Also, added some debug statements it is possible to see how the code works. I think xil_printf is a function that is able to print messages out to the serial port. If so, I typically use a simple DEBUG, __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ prints the current name of the function, __LINE__ is what line the code is at. OK, so, the if statement loops 0, to 100 and if the TCP buffer larger then the buffer, then keep sending.
I did not compile or test the code.
//debug, what is sending out the tcp buffer I think this allows you to see messages on the serial port?
Also, you may want to zero out howMuchToStillWrite if there is room in the buffer.
Thanks . I am getting the data in Hercules only upto length 90. Afterthat in XSDK console, i am getting message :"no space in tcp_sndbuf".
I am unable to add this line code "xil_printf("DEBUG: %s %d %s\n", __PRETTY__FUNCTION, __LINE__, outbuffer )". I am getting an error message "undeclared". So, i have modified the code little bit.
last value i am getting in negative. Why can clarify me ?
>Thanks . I am getting the data in Hercules only upto length 90. Afterthat in XSDK console, i am getting message :"no space in tcp_sndbuf".
Must register the sentFunction with lwIP newpcb using the tcp_sent function. This, lwip will always do a callback when a transmit is complete.
>, i am getting message :"no space in tcp_sndbuf".
Can be two issues, (1) the (tcp_sndbuf(tpcb) > sizeof(buffer)) is always failing (2) sending a few string then the tcp window is full.
To debug issues like this always break up a complex conditional into one check. See new code, the for statement will always loop 0, to 50. the first if statement checks the result of the sprintf will fit into the tcp window, if not, check to see if it is the first loop, if it is, then no string can fit, and it must be broken into smaller chunks,this will require more code. The current code assumes the sprintf will not overrun the 50 byte buffer. There is a safe version of sprintf called snprintf, that checks to size of the buffer so an overflow does not occur. The prior code was checking the tcp window buffer size against the size of buffer, i.e the tcp buffer must have at least 50 bytes free.
Also, I would suggest to code the basics and debug on a PC (Windows or Linux) This way you can single step and debug most of the code, yes, the functions might be a little different, but, you can get general code done. Yes, there is no lwIP stack, but again, get the basics coded and tested.
To find out the error just remove one variable at a time, maybe it is outbuffer, the printf uses the string with %s %d %s must match the variable arguments. ie, the first %s is __PRETTY_FUNCTION__ %d is __LINE__ %s is outbuffer.


Air Raid by Liz Dobson - more info.
'Air Raid' by Liz Dobson - additional information.
One-act historical drama set in a WW2 air raid shelter.
Despair, exhaustion and fear stand shoulder to shoulder with the love, compassion and humour characteristic of the residents of London's East End as they gather in an air raid shelter.


text:
Kingsley christmas card helps disadvantaged children in Sri Lanka
The picture on the front of the Christmas card is a typically bright product of a young children's imagination. However, the reassuring normality of the image coloured by Jesudasan Christina is a tribute to the success of housing and education programmes in Sri Lanka supported by the Lotus Children's Foundation.
The charity, launched by Daya Thayan, CEO of Kingsley Healthcare, his wife Sumi and Kingsley colleagues after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, initially supported youngsters orphaned and disadvantaged by the natural disaster but has gone on to raise the living standards of other children affected by civil war and social deprivation.
All proceeds from the cards, on sale for 25p each at the Lowestoft Journal and EDP office, in High Street, Lowestoft, as well as Kingsley's care homes across the country, will support the charity's work. Mr Thayan, who has grown his business in 18 years from one care home in Oulton Broad to a national group employing 1,600 people, said: The smiles on the faces of the children on the back of the card, including Jesudasan, who all live at the Haldanduwana home supported by our foundation, speak for themselves. My wife Sumi and I visit our former homeland of Sri Lanka every February and love to spend time with the children; it is an opportunity for us to reconnect with the people we are supporting. While we are there, we work hard for the charity and ensure every penny goes to the good causes we are supporting and not administration and other expenses. "It is humbling to see the selfless commitment of our charity workers and uplifting to see the positive effect on the children.
Mr Thayan, who grew up in the north of Sri Lanka, recalled how he and Sumi - who is operations director at Kingsley - were staying at a hotel at Bentota, on the south coast of the island, when the tsunami struck. He said: We heard a very strange noise coming from the sea and noticed the water draw back from the shore. What followed 30 minutes later were massive waves and we were luckily on the third or fourth floor.
A lot of the villages surrounding the hotel, and we saw it first hand, were wiped away. He said their first thought was how to support those children orphaned and left homeless by the tsunami. The foundation we set up, supported by Sumi and I personally as well as by Kingsley, provided financial assistance to the charities that were working on the ground, such as the Ladani Institute, he said. The foundation has since become involved in a variety of projects across the island, to provide housing, education, vocational training and small loans to allow families to set up businesses and stand on their own feet.
Through 17 years, the charity had gone on to support thousands of children and to give them a future of hope. To find the full list of addresses of our care homes where cards can be purchased, visit our website kingsleyhealthcare.co.uk. The cards can also be bought from Kingsley's head office in Clapham Road South, Lowestoft, by first ringing Stephen Pullinger on 01502-502709.
Visit our website: http://www.lotus-foundation.org

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Gaming Discussion - Levine On… Bias, Trust, SWAT & Tennis - View Post
DarthVolod
Watch Your Back! Received 10,000 profile views.
Man or Robot? Managed to avoid being banned for 10 years.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (PS3)
DarthVolod on 31 January 2012
Slimebeast said:
DarthVolod said:
Bioshock Infinite will probably sell in at least the 2-3 million range. I can't tell you why it will, but it probably will as people seem to like this game series for some reason despite the major drop in quality with each title.
You start off with the great System Shock games then the still good but inferior Bioshock 1. We had the awful sequel to Bioshock and now Infinite which looks like a totally different game again, but still has the Bioshock name ... guess they thought Skyshock sounded stupid.
It all kind of reminds me of the Fable series ... start with great title and each title after gets worse and worse and then before you know it we will have on on rails kinect Bioshock game.
But Bioshock has like 95% Meta and is considered a borderline masterpiece by many people. Personally I don't think it's as good as Half-Life 2 but it's a great game.
And Bioshock 2 wasn't made by Ken Levine's studio.
I said that Bioshock was good, but it has some serious flaws that drag the experience down. I think if you ignore the story and just focus on the absolutely gorgeous environments of the game and the fun shooting/plasmid mechanics then you have a really solid game in Bioshock one. The story, aside from the somewhat clever M Night style twist half way through, was quite bland ... kind of a hodgepodge mix of From Russia with Love's underwater city idea and a high school sophmore's comprehension of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Also, the only interesting character in the entire game, Andrew Ryan, was needlessly ejected from the story 3/4 of the way through leaving the stereotypical gangster Fountaine pulling main antagonist duty when he was really more of a bit player in the story.This culminates in one of the lamest final boss fights ever. I think they almost would have been better off cutting out the last 1/4 of the game. Lets not forget that this also introduced the absurdly stupid idea of turning the player into a Big Daddy ... which the sequel would take the ball and run with.
Bioshock 1 is a quality game, and maybe it is even a great game in some respects, but it is no masterpiece. I don't care what critics say either who often have strong incentives to give even the worst crap a 8+ rating (see Gameinformer).
You have very valid points and I agree with all of it. The final 1/4th of Bioshock was a let down as it went from original and sophisticated to becoming conventional and cliché.
Bioshock Infinity looks good but I have a gnawing feeling that it will disappoint.
I don't know, maybe I unconsciously wanted to defend Ken Levine because he is a sympathetic person.
I really do hope for the best for Levine and his team. I go into every game I play hoping it will be good, and, despite my concerns with the series, I will probably buy Bioshock Infinite.
I suppose Levine could have just phoned in a game and made another generic military shooter; but they instead went for something at least somewhat original and different from the mainstream. My expectations are low for Infinite, but maybe it will surprise me.


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Home Lifestyle Travel
What Scotland's business sector can do to drive forward the COP26 momentum
Reading Time: 33min read
Scotland must strive harder to build cross-sectoral collaboration and partnership between major corporates, government, and the public sector, to help the vital SME business community play its part in the transition to a net-zero carbon economy, the Scottish Business Insider/ Bank of Scotland round table heard.
Kenny Kemp introduced the panel members setting the key question: 'What can Scotland's business sector do to drive forward and build on COP26 momentum?', before Darren Flynn made some introductory remarks.
"Where we feel we can make a genuine difference is in assisting the acceleration of the transition to a low carbon society and post COP26, if we didn't know this already, financial services in Scotland has a really important role to play. What we want to try and do at Bank of Scotland is try and help our clients as much as possible," said Flynn.
In Insider/Bank of Scotland's third joint round table on environmental change, Darren Flynn said while there were practical steps on lending commitments that the bank has made, it's also about "trying to ensure that the economic recovery is paired with real climate action and part of that is having a voice, sharing thoughts and opinions to help the debate and to support and catalyse meaningful change."
Kenny Kemp, Editor of Scottish Business Insider
Darren Flynn, Managing Director, Wealth and Asset Managers & Regional Head for Scotland Corporate and Institutional Coverage at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking
Tara Schmidt, Sustainability & ESG Finance Director at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking
Francesca Sharp, Lead Propositions & Partnerships, Sustainability & ESG Finance – Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking
Nicola Anderson, Chief Executive of FinTech Scotland
Louise Macdonald OBE, National Director of the Institute of Directors in Scotland
Sandy Begbie, Chief Executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise
Iain Wintour, Tax Partner and Sustainability Lead for Scotland at EY
Dr Rabinder Buttar, Founder and Former President and Chief Executive of Clintec
Bill Thomson, Founder and Partner of Clyde Blowers Capital
Kenny Kemp: COP26 has put Glasgow and Scotland firmly on the global map for environmental change. Many of the key agreements now have the title of Glasgow in their framing, such as the Glasgow Finance Alliance for Net Zero, the Glasgow Food and Climate Declaration, and Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action on Tourism. The question for today, how can we take this legacy forward and embed it in Scottish business?
Darren Flynn, head for Scotland corporate and institutional coverage at Bank of Scotland Commercial Banking
Darren Flynn: Our CEO Charlie Nunn, spent several days in Glasgow during COP26. He is super-passionate about what he heard and identified three key areas of focus that resonated with him, firstly partnership, we all recognise that we need to innovate together across industries, through investment in new technology and through policy change at regional, national, international government level. Secondly, prioritisation and how we must prioritise the practical changes that have the greatest impact. The third area being about the pace of change needed with a collective effort to get to where we want to be and to ensure we continue to drive momentum, building on the legacy of COP26.
Tara Schmidt: My role within the bank is supporting our corporate and institutional clients in their net zero transition with ESG finance. I have attended UN climate change events since before the Paris climate agreement was signed. To advance on climate action, it is clear from COP26 that we will need to focus on how we can make this transition affordable to the most vulnerable in our society, in the face of rising inflationary pressures and in the recovery from Covid.
While COP26 had mixed reviews, it was a real turning point in big business wanting to engage on climate and collaborate to advance solutions. What we need now is the shift from ambition to action – collaborating across business, finance, government and society to drive tangible action plans.
Iain Wintour: As a partner based in Scotland, I've spent much of my career working with EY clients on renewable energy projects. Of course, the renewable energy sector is very important to Scotland and a key part of how we will move to net zero, both here in Scotland and across the UK. On 'ambition to action', as Tara has said, I got a sense from COP26 that we're not talking about 2050 or 2045 anymore, we're talking about 2030.
The pace and momentum is all towards how do we take tangible actions to make a big dent on net zero by 2030. One of the big announcements from COP26 for the business sector is the new reporting commitments required of listed businesses and financial institutions to articulate, by 2023 – next year – how they will get to net zero. So, 2022 really has to be the year to focus minds and kickstart those actions.
Louise Macdonald: We are a membership organisation for CEOs, chairs and non-executives across sectors. Our 'North Star' for IoD is supporting directors on their learning journey and as part of that great governance and board, director competence and ethical leadership are our core business, but also vital components in the work to tackle the climate emergency.
Our work is about how we bring that into the discussion. COP26 had mixed reviews and we do need to inject positivity into the debate, because it can feel pretty overwhelming. We hear a lot from SMEs about the things that are hindering them moving from policy to implementation. Our IoD member survey of 700 members at the end of 2021 showed that many SMEs did not know where to start. There is a danger that those who are not 'in the know' get left behind.
Iain Wintour: I think that's right. It's important there is a just and fair transition to net zero with the creation of green jobs and support for the SME community to adapt to the changing market and regulatory landscape.
Our joint efforts with the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration is an example of a cross-sector forum coming together so that large businesses in Scotland can help and support the SME community. Larger businesses have bigger budgets and it is easier to come up with plans, but we recognise that many SMEs don't have this access. The SME community does need this support.
Dr Rabinder Buttar, founder and former chief executive of Clintec
Dr Rabinder Buttar: I've worked about 35 years in the arena of healthcare, and clinical research and development from my days at Strathclyde University PhD in immunology, and looking at vaccines, which is very topical these days.
I've worked on developing novel medicines for the treatment of different diseases, so I have worked closely with major pharma firms and small biotech companies and, over the last 25 years, I started a business from scratch in Germany, building a global business, covering more than 40 countries. Then, three years ago, I sold my business Clintec, to IQVIA, one of the largest clinical research organisations in the world. I have continued in there for the three years and it has been very challenging during Covid times doing clinical trials across the globe. Because of the restrictions, we've cut down on carbon emissions for travel, and have increasingly used technology to be more effective, with more people working from home.
Nicola Anderson: I'm the chief executive at FinTech Scotland, and we are a 'cluster-management' organisation and we're here to think about the opportunity that fintech innovation presents for Scotland as an economy and our contribution to a significant number of topics, including climate change and climate finance.
We are privileged in Scotland in that we have a community of fintech entrepreneurs, it is about 190 strong. These are problem-solvers able to help us create the solutions we need for the future. Fintech will play an important role in finance more generally but specifically on the climate agenda.
Louise Macdonald: We are talking more about 'purposeful' business, which ties into a 'just transition'. We ran a sustainable conference and the stand-out quote was 'We are all sustainability directors now', everyone on the board should be fighting for sustainability and those responsible for governance have to be addressing these issues.
To this aim, we have published a new IoD guide to ESG including what does a board director have to think about and what are the priorities.
Nicola Anderson: Fintech is also focusing on the legacy of COP26 and looking at the policy agenda and collaborating with the Financial Conduct Authority, particularly through their innovation work, so that policy and regulation can develop at the same time as technology. We will continue to develop and grow that.
Sandy Begbie: Scottish Financial Enterprise launched its strategy last year, and I agree with most of what has already been said. So I'd like to highlight four things that have emerged for our organisation. There is a strong desire in the sector to really explore the ambition of Scotland playing a global-leading role in green and sustainable finance. We have certain assets that allow us to explore this seriously with our world leading energy sector and our long track record in financial services.
We have real strength in asset management, and fintech that we can bring together. We need to be bold and courageous about how we shape this in Scotland. Then there is the issue with reaching our SMEs, and one issue is their access to technical support. They don't have an ESG expert sitting in the corner and able to use their expertise. It is a complex landscape and SMEs struggle to see the investment case and the business return.
There is also the bandwidth given the challenges of the last two years as companies have been recovering from the pandemic. They are focused on the next six months and hit with interest rate rises, inflation, increased costs and labour market pressures and while 80 per cent of SMEs recognised climate as big issue, it is far down the list and unlikely to get to the main focus over the next 12 months, given the immediate uncertainty they are facing at the moment. Consumers will also need support to make that change, and this is around education and support.
We need to think about how we structure mortgages in the future and the way products are designed and priced. There is a big inclusion lens on all of this. There is a danger that this just transition in the consumer space is one that many people will not be able to afford. We need to be more thoughtful and creative around, what one of our CEOs said, how we make it cost-neutral for those who can least afford it.
Nicola Anderson: On the topic of collaboration, we are publishing our research and innovation road map when we think about the opportunity, looking at what finance looks like ten years hence. The priority, coming across from contributions to this research, is we need to focus on climate finance. Here it is about considering data, how we share it and we collaborate around it, as we use this to make better informed decisions. On this, we have to 'lean in' and support our SME community.
Bill Thomson, founding partner of Clyde Blowers Capital
Bill Thomson: One of the biggest challenges for Clyde Blowers Capital is getting a realistic valuation deal on the energy transition assets that we are looking to acquire. I've been working with Clyde Blowers for 30 years working with Jim McColl and we started as an SME with a small engineering factory in Clydebank and 16 years later we had over 100 companies around the world, with 5,000 employees, and £1bn of turnover.
We then transformed into a private equity fund and the majority of our focus has been in the energy sector, at one time coal-fired power stations, nuclear power and, more recently, in wind, and solar arrays. In the last couple of years, we've been looking at energy transition and how we can get involved, especially in hydrogen. I've looked at lots of hydrogen assets but everything we've looked at so far is over-priced by a mile.
Kenny Kemp: But surely hydrogen in Scotland is vital when we are talking about transport and the new generation of offshore wind turbines, and we're hearing a lot about our distilleries planning to use green hydrogen to fire up the whisky stills?
Bill Thomson: We are talking about hydrogen 'hype-mania'. We have made bids on several companies in the last couple of years and we didn't get anywhere near on valuation and I wonder if that bubble is going to burst pretty soon. Also, if I look at the industrial landscape of Scotland, there is not much of a supply chain for offshore wind or hydrogen.
There is not a single wind turbine manufacturer or a gear-box maker in Scotland, we are not even making the towers or the platforms to stand in the water, with BiFab, and at Machrihanish, on Kintyre, are closed. Getting the finance in is one thing, and I'm reading about the second £6bn tranche of green gilts being raised in London, when you look down there is only £9m for the hydrogen facility and electrolysers at Whitelee.
My concern, coming from an engineering background, is where are the factories building stuff for the energy transition in Scotland? And the jobs? We need a serious look at the policy to create jobs in Scotland.
Francesca Sharp: Bill, what you've said really resonates with me. I live on the coast in East Lothian and the local Facebook groups have been watching and commenting as the foundations for wind turbines manufactured in South Korea arrive in the Forth to be installed at the Berwick Bank offshore wind farm. They are asking about why these manufacturing jobs weren't green jobs here in Scotland.
The major theme in my work is not just the implementation of sustainability ambitions but the integration of that ambition and what does it mean for the people working in the businesses we work with and the communities that support them. My role is also about how we 'green' our bankers and what do these green finance jobs actually look like. We have to think how we integrate our green outlook and thinking into existing roles within our businesses and organisations.
Nicola Anderson: We only have a few fintechs focused on climate issues at the moment, and there is a real need for us to share more detail on what solutions will be really useful in the short-term.
We're focused on the topic of gathering ESG data and bringing better clarity to the data but we are starting to see some really interesting innovations across space technology and fintech. What we need in Scotland is a forum where the challenges are set before the innovators, to see if they can come up with solutions for the here-and-now.
Darren Flynn: Many oil and energy companies historically operating in the North Sea have pivoted into the renewables space. We saw the energy crisis in 2016 and companies used their skills to pivot with Scotland now having the highest concentration of green jobs in the UK and we're seeing great strides in what is now a well-developed renewables industry sector, and from a lending perspective we're keen to support. I appreciate what Bill is saying but, for me, there is also a big challenge around the SME end of the market.
SME's account for 99% of UK business representing, three fifths of employment. The responsibility of the financial sector to help in their sustainability journey is undeniable. That journey to net zero will likely involve investment in finance at a time of acute challenge coming out of the pandemic.
Iain Wintour: All businesses are grappling with how they can be more sustainable. Many medium-sized businesses are at early stages in their journey and need more guidance, which is one of the reasons we've set up EY Carbon, with a mission to support businesses to reduce their carbon footprint.
Bill also raised a point about how Scottish companies can take advantage of opportunities. For the SME, this is about looking at their place in the supply chain and how they can become involved in the green economy. ScotWind and the growth of offshore wind recently announced, is a great opportunity for Scotland to be a world leader – although we already are with the first offshore floating wind farm – and we will have a number of new firsts, I am sure. Everyone bidding for ScotWind had to put in a supply chain development statement to ensure green jobs are created locally. I'm hopeful that SMEs in Scotland will get involved in this supply chain.
Louise Macdonald, national director at the Institute of Directors in Scotland
Louise Macdonald: There have been some very important points made, but I wanted to bring in Francesca's point about the loss of biodiversity. I think it's important that we don't just focus on climate but recognise nature, the natural world and biodiversity in the likes of food production are a key part of this discussion. We need to ensure that this is much more than just 'carbon' accounting. Our responsibilities are much broader than that.
Furthermore, there are also a multiplicity of green tools and our members are asking which are the ones we need to use and adopt. When we talk about collaboration, we need to think about what data we are using, so there is a clearer route for organisations and directors. There are increasingly 'purposeful' discussions about the just transition and that nobody is left behind in the transition.
Kenny Kemp: You are absolutely right to speak about the imperative of a just transition. Part of that transition is for Scotland to be a successful economy where everyone is pulled along.
For this we need to ensure that everyone has the opportunity of work, and that taxation is raised to pay for the needs of our civic society. But I'm keen to know, is there a wall of green finance, and is that a true categorisation of what is available?
Sandy Begbie: Yes, finance is not the challenge here. Capital and the availability of capital is not the challenge. Bill raises one of the real challenges, which is the investible nature of the propositions. Whether that is over-inflated asset prices or whatever, that's a challenge.
Then there is unproven technology and there are a variety of different options. Is it VHS or Beta? What are the right decisions to make in this new Industrial Revolution? We've always had a gap in funding of early-stage, start-up businesses and accessing the money. The Scottish National Investment Bank is a really strong step forward in this area.
The other issue is on the skills shortages and how we find enough people to help retro-fit the massive housing stock in Scotland.
Rabinder Buttar: We need to get everyone thinking in a more entrepreneurial way and creating many more spin-out companies. Education is really important, along with what people have already been saying about collaboration and partnership.
I believe in the whole aspect of apprenticeships and utilising the educated workforce we have in Scotland. When SMEs are smaller they are not actively looking at how they get the resources they need to expand. So for larger organisations, when they are looking for suppliers, a percentage should always be going to support SMEs.
Tara Schmidt: People have used technology to transition very rapidly during Covid, and there are probably lessons learned there as we look at climate. There is a lot of work we could be doing on supporting 'tangible' action plans for SMEs.
Bill Thomson: Let me just mention hydrogen again. It is here to stay, for sure. It was tried before, but we didn't have some of the technology. It is only a question of how cheap it will become with the price coming down dramatically. The current gas grid can take 20 per cent hydrogen which will lower emissions.
Kenny Kemp: Darren, we've spent a lot of this session talking about collaboration. So it's a good time to tell us about the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration (SBCC) and how businesses might be able to join it?
Darren Flynn: We were approached by EY, Wood Group and ScottishPower, who were the main drivers, and as Bank of Scotland we were happy to join the SBCC.
It has been a great experience for the bank to be involved, looking at the post COP26 legacy. The power of SBCC is in the collective group, with nine of the largest companies in Scotland, putting our heads together to come up with a plan to collectively make a difference to help Scottish companies on their road to net zero.
The Scottish Government is supportive and fully on board. It will be about creating green skills and training opportunities, best practice in greening the supply chain, and supporting 'climate literacy' knowledge. It will be about how large corporates can support the SMEs we've been discussing today.
Iain Wintour: The SBCC is a great initiative and something we are very proud to be a part of with other leading businesses in Scotland. But we did not set this up to be a 'closed shop'. We'd be very happy to have conversations with all organisations wanting to find out more. There's been lots of positivity about this and for supporting the SME community.
Darren Flynn: Finally, by way of context from the bank's perspective, over the last 12 months we've seen an eight-fold increase in sustainability-linked financing from our client base.
Last year across the UK, we provided £2.3bn of green funding to businesses. The UK Climate Change Committee estimates that between 2022-2050, to reach the climate goals, it will require £1.4 trillion of funding. We're trying to help companies commit to that sustainable journey.
For more information on how Bank of Scotland can help your business build back better, visit bankofscotland.co.uk/sustainability
Electric vehicle charge point fund aims to drive sustainable travel


AustriaVisit to Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens.
Visit to Murano Glass Showroom in Venice.
Visit to Piazalle Michelangelo in Florence.
Guided City Tour in Rome.
Switzerland Visit to Mt.Titlis with Cliff Walk and Lucerne.
FranceA Chance to see the Paradis Latin Show and an illumination Tour of Paris.
Guided City Tour in Paris.
Welcome to Munich. On arrival, you will be met by your Tour Manager / Local Representative outside the customs area, who will welcome you (Group will depart for Innsbruck at 1400 hrs). We, then proceed towards Austria and visit the amazing Swarovski Crystal World in Wattens. Next, we drive to Innsbruck. On arrival, we take you on an orientation tour of Innsbruck. See the 'Goldenes Dachl' - the Golden roof, an ornate Gothic balcony and a symbol of the city. Also see the Heiblinghaus, a building resembling a wedding cake. Overnight at the hotel in Innsbruck.
glass. We return to St. Mark's Square, the most photographed Square in the world and soak in the unique atmosphere of this charming city. Overnight at your hotel in Padova / Venice.
After a continental breakfast, we check-out of the hotel and drive to Pisa. We visit the 'Field of Miracles', wherein stands the grand Romanesque Pisan styled marble Cathedral. See the Baptistery and the bell tower, known throughout the world as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Remember to take a photograph of your family against this wonder of the world. We, then journey towards enchanting Florence, the art capital of Italy. Take a breathtaking panorama view of Florence from Piazalle Michelangelo. See the impressive Duomo, the imposing 14th century Palazzo Vecchio Tower and Ponte Vecchio, Florence's most distinctive bridge on the Arno River. Overnight at the hotel in Florence/Arezzo.
After a continental breakfast, we proceed on a day trip to Rome, the capital of Italy. On arrival, visit St. Peter's Basilica, the world's largest Cathedral, which will amaze you with its size, beauty and splendour. Later, on your guided panoramic city tour of Rome see Piazza Venezia and the colossal Victor Emmanuel II Monument, built to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Italian reunification. Relive the thrills of historic Rome as you view the ancient Roman & Imperial Forums. See the gigantic Colosseum - symbol of Rome. It is said that when the Colosseum falls, Rome will fall and the world will follow. Overnight at the hotel in Florence/Arrezo.
mountain scenery, sparkling lakes and folklore traditions. Overnight at the hotel in Switzerland.
hewn from a limestone cliff to commemorate the bravery and loyalty of Swiss Guards. You may take a stroll across the Kappelbrucke- the world's oldest covered wooden bridge, originally built in 1333 over the Reuss river. You have free time at Schwanenplatz to shop for Swiss army knives, chocolates, watches, souvenirs, etc. Overnight at the hotel in Switzerland.
After a continental breakfast, the day is free to relax in the hotel OR we suggest a visit to Jungfraujoch and picturesque Interlaken. Our scenic drive to Lauterbrunnen, from where we board a train to Jungfraujoch the highest altitude railway station in Europe at 11,333 ft. takes us along lovely lakes and mountain passes. Marvel at the changes in alpine scenery as your charming cogwheel train takes you on a unique journey to Jungfraujoch, the very Top of Europe. On top of Jungfraujoch, you have free time to explore the modern complex. Experience the magic of the mountains at the Sphinx Terrace. See the breathtaking Jungfrau Peak and the awesome Aletsch Glacier. Also, visit the Ice Palace, where you see a beautiful display of sculptures made of ice, while being encased in ice yourself. Send a postcard to your friends and relatives from Europe's highest altitude Post office with its own special postmark.
Thereafter we proceed to Interlaken, one of Switzerland's best known health and pleasure resorts. There's time to relax at the many cafes or shop for Swiss watches, chocolates, Swiss memorabilia, etc. Overnight at the hotel in Switzerland.
After a continental breakfast, we check out and drive to Paris. On arrival, we check into the hotel. This evening is free OR we suggest an 'Evening in Paris' that includes great entertainment at the Paradis Latin show. Experience the charm of striking ballets, shimmering costumes and talented dance troupes. After the show, we take you on an Illumination tour of Paris. See the famous landmarks of Paris - the city of lights, magically lit up. A perfect end to this beautiful evening!!! Overnight at the hotel in Paris.
After a continental breakfast, we proceed for a guided panoramic city tour. See Place de la Concorde, the majestic Arc de Triomphe, the fashionable Champs Elysees and the magnificent Opera House. Next, we visit Eiffel Tower, the symbol of Paris, where a bird's eye view from the 2nd level will leave you breathless!
Later we take you on an exciting trip to Disneyland, Paris. Get charmed by Cinderella's castle. Take an exciting roller coaster ride down the Thunder Mountain. Visit Fantasyland and meet Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Peter Pan and Snow White. Get thrilled by the legends of Aladdin and Indiana Jones at Adventureland. Ride a space shuttle to the moon at Discoveryland. Encounter Ghost Ships, Steam trains and Western scenes in the Wild West town of Frontierland. In the evening we take you for dinner and then return to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel in Paris.
and tell us how you enjoyed your holiday and any suggestions you may have for the future.
Destinations Covered : Munich, Innsbruck, Budapest, Bratislava,..


This use case develops two scenarios in which the first one illustrates the ultra-large-scale of a QoS-aware system in terms of concurrent users, while the second one illustrates the case of an agility-based choreography.
By "citizen journalism", we refer to the emerging practice of members of the public who play an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. This trend is gaining particular importance thanks to the diffusion of social networks, blogs and internet enabled mobile devices with photo and video capabilities. An example of a breaking news blog page showing contents from common people is shown in the following figure. However, we are still far from considering people interacting on social networks or blogs with their smart phones as a new media because of lack of coordination and verification of provided contents and contributions to the news/events story telling. Large scale choreographies are of major relevance in this domain where run-time integration of services provided by different users is needed and where it is necessary to raise trust and reputation among the various stakeholders. For instance, in the Citizen Journalism scenario described below, a lot of different kinds of actors are involved and some of them can be represented by millions of users around all over the world.
A number of users are equipped with smart phones (i.e., programmable devices with broadband connectivity, GPS, photo and video cameras, bar code reader etc.) and are distributed geographically across Europe. During their everyday life, they interact in a Web 2.0 way as part of a social community. In particular, using their smart phones they can share information about weather conditions, public transportation, events, accidents etc. that may happen in a particular location in a certain moment. They can enrich this information with audio, photo and/or video contents or they are able to describe an event or situation by speaking in their own native language.
During the event users can join, leave or change their role.
The actors involved in the choreography are depicted in Figure 4. All these activities are performed continuously and simultaneously as long as the event lasts. The resulting process is a complex mix of automatic and human activities. Furthermore, the high dynamism of the scenario and the wide range of possible events/news to cover lead to the need of dynamically re-synthesizing parts of the choreography and of dynamically substituting services with others.
Many brands aim to create and maintain communities of faithful customers as well as participative workforce. They try to involve both employees and end-users in the development of the brand itself. E.g., a consumer electronics and software company could directly involve end-users to investigate their needs and requirements as per a new innovative product line. In the same way, a telecommunication company could involve mobile phone users in order to elaborate new ideas about added-value services to be provided through their mobile network. Depending on the dimension of the user base, the currently available means for aggregating people and fostering long-lasting discussions (e.g., traditional social networks) could prove insufficient. New advanced tools are required to support the coordination of large-scale discussions or brainstormings. Large scale choreographies could play a key role to tackle this issue where several levels of behind-the-scenes coordination tasks must be performed to filter information provided by different groups of users, properly dispatch it to other groups, aggregate different information sources etc.
Based on these considerations, the company decides to adopt an advanced choreography based collaboration tool enabling the coordination of large-scale brainstormings. Such tool is able to support discussions among groups of users by means of online tools such as shared whiteboards, outliner, videochats. Each group has a profile, and one or more declared "goals". Moreover, each group can provide the "results" of their discussion in terms of documents, images, links etc. that can be tagged and classified by the group itself or in an automated way. The collaboration tool acquires such outputs and, basing on the information provided by the group (e.g., tags) or extracted (e.g., lexical analysis of the content of the documents) is able to dispatch them to other groups that are discussing. This way, such material becomes an input and a new subject of discussion for other groups. The results are continuously circulated and therefore foster the overall discussion. This process may last days or weeks.
The mechanisms for circulating "ideas" among the discussing groups and acquiring results can be monitored and customized on the fly by the moderators. Moreover, external source of information (e.g., technical specialized blogs) can be linked in order to provide other inputs to the groups.


What happens when a clairvoyant driving instructor takes on a demon-worshipping one-hit wonder? Hilarity, romance and a lot of ectoplasm. This Irish comedy is a brilliant piece of work, honoring quite a few films that inspired it (shout out to The Exorcist and Ghostbuster!). Extra Ordinary is such an enjoyable ride with "Rose's Driving School" that will have you grinning and giggling the whole way through.
Rose (Maeve Higgins) is a kindhearted driving instructor, leading a simple life in her quaint home. Though, things aren't as simple as they seem for her, as she possesses the gift of communicating with the dead. As a child, her father ran a successful business as a "ghost hunter", with Rose right by his side. After tragedy struck her family, she decided to give up on her talents and create "Rose's Driving School", hiding from her past.
Although Rose will be pulled back into the paranormal when single father Martin (Barry Ward) seeks her out for help. As his teenage daughter has caught the eye of a washed up singer (played by Will Forte) whose taken to the dark arts to revive his dead career. Rose is reluctant to help at first, but she takes a liking to Martin and becomes keen on helping him.
The charm of this movie begins with Higgins, who I just absolutely adored throughout. Her sweet, subtle humor left me smiling the entire time. She is every woman who has ever felt unseen, but is extraordinary, if only you get to know her. Additionally, Forte brings his characters wacky persona to life brilliantly and steals every scene.


text:
The West Is Trapped In By Own Propaganda
Politics / Mainstream Media May 12, 2011 - 07:35 AM GMT
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
One of the wishes that readers often express to me came true today (May 11). I was on the mainstream media. It was a program with a worldwide reach--the BBC World Service. There were others on the program as well, and the topic was Hillary Clinton's remarks (May 10) about the lack of democracy and human rights in China.
I startled the program's host when I compared Hillary's remarks to the pot calling the kettle black. I was somewhat taken aback myself by the British BBC program host's rush to America's defense and wondered about it as the program continued. Surely, he had heard about Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo detainees, CIA secret torture prisons sprinkled around the world, invasion and destruction of Iraq on the basis of lies and deceptions, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya. Surely, he was aware of Hillary's hypocrisy as she demonized China but turned a blind eye to Israel, Mubarak, Bahrain and the Saudis. China's record is not perfect, but is it this bad? Why wasn't the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs criticizing America's human rights abuses and rigged elections? How come China minds its own business and we don't?
These questions didn't go down well. None of the other interviewees or guests thought that Hilary had made a good decision, but even the Chinese guests were not free of the common mindset that frames every issue from the standpoint that the West is the standard by which the rest of the world is judged. By pointing out our own shortcomings, I was challenging that standard. The host and other guests could not escape from the restraints imposed on thought by the role of the West as world standard.
What has happened to the West is that it can see itself and others only through the eyes of its own propaganda. There was a great deal of talk about China's lack of democracy. As the BBC program was being broadcast, the news intruded that Greeks had again taken to the streets to protest the costs of the bailout of the banks and Wall Street--the rich--being imposed on ordinary people at the expense of their lives and aspirations. The Irish government announced that it was going to confiscate with a tax part of the Irish people's pension accumulations. It simply did not occur to the host and other guests that these are not democratic outcomes.
It is a strange form of democracy that produces political outcomes that reward the few and punish the many, despite the energetic protests of the many.
Political scientists understand that US electoral outcomes are determined by powerful monied interests that finance the political campaigns and that the bills Congress passes and the President signs are written by these interest groups to serve their narrow interests. Such conclusions are dismissed as cynicism and do not alter the mindset.
While the program's host and guests were indulging in the West's democratic and human rights superiority, the American Civil Liberties Union was sending out a bulletin urging its members to oppose legislation now before Congress that would give the current and future Presidents of the United States expanded war authority to use, on their own initiative, military force anywhere in the world independently of the restraints imposed by the US Constitution and international law.
In other words, in the great American "democracy," the president is to become a Caesar.
Paul Craig Roberts [ email him ] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan's first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal . He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He was awarded the Legion of Honor by French President Francois Mitterrand. He is the author of Supply-Side Revolution : An Insider's Account of Policymaking in Washington ; Alienation and the Soviet Economy and Meltdown: Inside the Soviet Economy , and is the co-author with Lawrence M. Stratton of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice . Click here for Peter Brimelow's Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.
© 2011 Copyright Paul Craig Roberts - All Rights Reserved
12 May 11, 15:44 scary
for me the first thought that came to mind after reading your post was pre WW2 Nazi Germany. At that time Hilter was given full power by the elected congress to do whatever he needed to do to fix germany and their economy, in essence to cut through all the red tape to "fix" things. There are distinct parallels here that are worrisome.


text:
26 July 2019 | Star Wars: Outer Rim
A Retrospective Journal from Corey Konieczka
#OuterRim
I started working at FFG on July 1, 2005. Before then, I had designed games as a fun hobby, so being able to do it as a career was (and still is) an unbelievable privilege. At the time, FFG had twenty or so people, and we had no idea that the company (and the hobby games industry) was about to grow in leaps and bounds.
It doesn't seem that long ago until I do math and realize that I've been doing this for fourteen years. While I still have much to learn, I have experienced much through my years at FFG, and I thought it might be fun to examine my career through the lens of the games I've worked on.
World of Warcraft: The Board Game – 2005
I started my career at FFG designing bosses and equipment for World of Warcraft: The Board Game. I remember spending an afternoon solo-testing boss fights that went roughly like this: roll a handful of D8s on my desk with a clatter. Record data. Scoop and repeat.
Warrior Knights – 2006
We had the rights to republish Derek Carver's Warrior Knights, and my boss wanted more than just a new coat of paint. Bruno Faiduitti and Pierre Cléquin took a stab at a redesign, and I was asked to take it even further.
When testing the game, I vividly remembered one piece of advice from Christian T. Petersen: "Your game is too short." This really caught me off guard. The game was already three hours long, and I'd been doing everything I could to shorten it. I didn't heed this advice, and when the game was released, the fan feedback was: "The game ends just when it's getting exciting." Luckily, I got to fix this in an expansion, but this greatly shaped how I evaluate feedback from others.
This was also the first time I worked with Andrew Navaro on a project. The gorgeous graphic design and cardbacks were made by the man who would one day become the head of FFG studio!
Twilight Imperium: Shattered Empire – 2006
I'm not going to talk about expansions in this article, but I have to make an exception for this one. The third edition of Twilight Imperium was the game that introduced me to Fantasy Flight Games.
Before working at FFG, my friend Gary and I created a small homebrew expansion for the game. Months later, when I applied to work at FFG, I included a copy of it with my resume. Luckily, they liked my additions, and I was hired. A year later I was given the opportunity to work on a Twilight Imperium expansion, and some of my fan content ended up in it!
While working on Shattered Empire, I vividly remember writing hilarious backstories for the new planets. I soon found out that Twilight Imperium is a serious universe, and I had to start over. In hindsight, this was pretty obvious.
Tide of Iron – 2007
My name probably shouldn't be on the box of this game. I designed a few scenarios and helped out, but I didn't design any of the core mechanics. Fun game though!
StarCraft: The Board Game – 2007
I was introduced to the StarCraft videogame at a LAN party in high school. I was hooked immediately, and I sank way too much time into that game and its awesome map editor.
Needless to say, I was over the moon when I was given the opportunity to design the board game. Christian proposed zooming out the scale of the game to show multiple planets, as well as the idea of using A Game of Thrones: The Board Game-style order tokens (but stacking them). With those mandates I dove into my first "from scratch" game design.
Looking back on it, I still like most of the individual mechanics, but holy cow, is it complicated. A 48-page rulebook? Was I crazy?
World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game – 2007
The goal was to create a simpler World of Warcraft game that could be enjoyed by both casual gamers and hobby gamers. In the end, I learned that trying to appeal to everyone meant that it appealed to no one. Except one guy. And he really liked it.
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game – 2008
I spent the next six months working on game expansions, and then came the opportunity of a lifetime: we had secured the rights to do a Battlestar Galactica board game.
After my first playtest of the game, I knew that we had something special. Instead of needing to strong arm people into playtesting my game, I had people approaching me to ask when my next playtest was. To top things off, some of these people had never even seen the show!
I think what made the game successful was not in how it recreated the events of the show, but how it made people feel. The game exudes an intoxicating mix of deception and mistrust, which was rare among board games. When you secretly look at your loyalty card and see that you're a Cylon, your heart rate immediately picks up. As much as you want to smile, groan, or shout, you have to pretend that your card is blank. It's exhilarating.
Middle-earth Quest – 2009
I was tasked with creating an asymmetric game that had one player taking on the role of Sauron and the other players embodying heroes of Middle-earth. It was a unique design challenge in that I was really designing two different games: Sauron was playing a strategy game, while the heroes were playing an adventure game. I love a challenge.
My most vivid memory for this game was spending a week at Christian's house rewriting the rulebook in his home office. I learned more about rulebooks in that week that I had in my first four years at FFG.
Space Hulk: Death Angel – 2010
The moment that sticks with me about this game was when the late Harald Bilz (in charge of our partner Heidelberg at the time), played my game and said: "It is good, but not great." He then listed the issues with the main card mechanic and how it did a poor job of capturing the theme. He was right. The original mechanic was shelved and would later find its way into the Gears of War boardgame.
I really appreciated the frank feedback, and I think it was instrumental in making this game a great success.
Runewars – 2010
Back in 1998, FFG made a fantasy take on Twilight Imperium known as Battlemist. I was tasked with making a spiritual successor that lived in our Terrinoth universe (used both in Runebound and Descent: Journeys in the Dark).
While the premise of the game was the same, the mechanics were designed from scratch. This was definitely one of my heavier designs and included everything from huge strategic battles to heroes sent on personal quests. In hindsight, it was probably trying to do too much, but perhaps that was part of the charm?
Mansions of Madness First Edition – 2011
My most vivid memory of this game was a discussion with Tim Uren that went something like this: "If we tell players to not, under any circumstance, go into the freezer, do you think they'll listen?" "Hard to say. Let's make players lose the game if they ignore the warning."
The answer is that when you tell players not to do something, it jumps to the top of their wish list. Many people died because of my curiosity, and I learned a lesson.
Rune Age – 2011
This one has a special place in my heart. It was my attempt to add direct player interaction to a deckbuilding game. While it wasn't a huge hit, it still has some dedicated fans and I'm proud of the game.
Gears of War – 2011
I had dipped my toe in the "co-op" design pool with Death Angel, but this was my first deep dive into a fully cooperative board game. I'm most proud of the AI system I designed to control the Locust enemies, and this design later became an inspiration for AI in apps like Road to Legend for Descent: Journeys in the Dark.
My favorite memory was visiting the Epic Games studio to play my prototype with the Gears of War dev team. It was great to show them my game and meet everyone, including the great Lee Perry, who would later help design a little game called Fortnite.
Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition – 2012
The planned amount of content in this game was staggering, with more hours of scripted playtime than I'd ever been a part of. Luckily, we had a big team (including myself, Adam Sadler, and Daniel Lovat Clark). The plan was to draw on Kevin Wilson's first edition, but to include a campaign from the start. I learned how to split up design tasks among big teams and gained a new appreciation for this style of game.
Eldritch Horror – 2013
I was tasked with building a world-spanning Lovecraftian adventure that borrowed heavily from Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson's amazing Arkham Horror Second Edition.
Nikki Valens came in halfway through the design process and asked some hard questions about this game. She was a key proponent in streamlining the mechanics to what it is today. Before that point, there were probably twice as many token types (including money tokens).
Star Wars™: Imperial Assault – 2014
A Star Wars version of Descent: Journeys in the Dark? Sign me up!
The biggest challenge with this game is that we wanted to have two distinct games in the same box: a traditional dungeon-crawling campaign and a two-player head-to-head skirmish mode. I spent most of my time working on the skirmish game, and I got to geek out and design abilities for this little-known character called Darth Vader.
Star Wars™: Rebellion – 2016
Christian was a fan of the old Rebellion video game, and he thought it would be the perfect inspiration for a board game. Although I had only played that game once growing up, I loved the idea of the game.
I focused my design on what I enjoy most about two-player games: bluffing and mindgames. It's a game about outthinking your opponent and living out Star Wars fantasies in a unique way. If you've ever wanted to blow up a planet, this game is for you.
Star Wars™: Destiny – 2016
In my youth, the Decipher Star Wars CCG was one of my favorite games, so to have an opportunity to work on a new Star Wars collectible card game was a dream come true.
Lukas Litzsinger was the lead designer on this, and it was a pleasure to work with him on this one. From the start, we knew that we wanted to use unique printed dice, and that presented a huge challenge. CCGs with dice have a notorious history, so our first goal was to find a way to integrate them in a fun and novel way. I am super proud of the end result, and I think we created a unique CCG that is engaging, fun, and accessible.
Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition – 2017
This project was weird in that I played the role of guide and overseer, while the actual development work was done by the talented Dane Beltrami. I helped identify the best parts of third edition that we wanted to keep, and I also provided ideas to try and improve an already great game system. My favorite contribution was the new trade system and how it provided even more opportunities to form and break alliances.
I could talk for hours about the development of Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition, and if you want a glimpse into this, be sure to check out the wonderful mini-documentary that Shut Up & Sit Down created.
Discover: Lands Unknown – 2018
I first pitched this game idea in 2014 as my homage to exploration and survival video games. It later was combined with Christian and Eric Lang's brilliant idea of creating a board game in which no two copies in the world are the same (the full history of which is cataloged here).
I feel like this game was a little lighter than many people expected, but I'm really proud of how it turned out, and I think it deserves a second look (especially if you haven't seen the fully cooperative rules).
Star Wars™: Outer Rim – 2019
This game is inspired by space exploration videogames from the mid '90s, like Wing Commander: Privateer.
My goal was to create a game that wasn't about delivering colored cubes from one space to another, and instead lean into the flavor of the universe. My fondest game memories always revolve around the people and the stories, and I think we've provided all the tools scoundrels need to tell emergent stories in the Star Wars universe.
....................................................................................................................................................................
Looking back on fourteen years makes me realize how malleable memory can be. Did we have the concept meeting for Battlestar Galactica on a plane ride to visit Blizzard? I think so, but I'm not sure. Human memory doesn't work like a computer, it flows and rewrites itself to make sense of the world. Memory is built from impressions, feelings, and snippets of conversation—our mind fills in the gaps, but I'm never quite sure which bridges are fabricated.
I do know one thing for certain though: this long list of games are not my accomplishments; they are the accomplishments of hundreds of people. They only exist because of other designers, producers, artists, graphic designers, editors, licensors, playtesters, and more.
I was born in the right place and in the right century, and I have had the pleasure of working with wonderful people to craft fascinating games. The future beckons, and my journey continues.
Star Wars™: Outer Rim is the boardgame of bounty hunters, mercenaries and smugglers for one to four players. Take control of one of eight iconic Star Wars scoundrels and gain fame by delivering illegal cargo, hunting down bounties, and more! What stories await you on the Outer Rim?
© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.
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So, I just LOVE it when my clients come up with crazy, creative concepts for their engagement shoot. Karnis & Alex completely came up with concepts & sketched out everything from the locations down to the minutest details of their outfits for this rockin' Los Angeles session! We covered themes from the iconic American Gothic portrait by Grant Wood to some of Norman Rockwell's famous works to comic book lovebirds, Clark Kent & Lois Lane. This had to be one of the funnest engagement shoots EVER!! It's hard to express how excited I am for Karnis & Alex's upcoming wedding at the gorgeous Sherwood Country Club. These two must be planning to honeymoon on the planet Krypton! Thanks guys, for an INCREDIBLE experience!!
I know Karnis & Alex want to know what you think about this session, and you KNOW I do too! Holla back!


Each year we plan, we budget, we set goals. Then we run reports, we monitor, we assess. If things are going according to expectations we pat ourselves on the back and go our merry way. But what happens when things aren't going according to expectations? How do you figure out what went wrong? Is it wise to change plans in the middle of the year? When do you decide it's time for a mid-course correction to get things back on track? Join us for a session that connects the dots between plans, trends, actions and outcomes.


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Q: What floor function identity makes this true: $(-1)^{\lfloor x\rfloor} = -2\lfloor x\rfloor + 4\left\lfloor\frac {\lfloor x\rfloor}2\right\rfloor +1$? I know that the graph of these two functions is the same:
$$(-1)^{\lfloor x\rfloor} = -2\lfloor x\rfloor + 4\left\lfloor\frac {\lfloor x\rfloor}2\right\rfloor + 1$$
Both of them interchange sign at integer points in the same manner. I'm trying to figure out what identity allows them to be equal, though. I know that I cannot apply a logarithm as that wouldn't do any good. I'm just trying to figure out how I could relate this to floor as an identity rather than just two  alternate forms for the exact same function.

A: The only property of the floor function you need to use is, for $n$ integer:
$$
\left\lfloor\frac n2\right\rfloor=
\begin{cases}
\frac{n-1}2&\mbox{if $n$ is odd}\\
\frac n2 &\mbox{if $n$ is even}\\
\end{cases}
$$
Prove the result by writing $n:=\lfloor x\rfloor$; then argue by cases.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: String not being added correctly in C++ I've spent about 3 hours trying to figure this out by searching Google and other threads and haven't found a solution that is working for me.
I'm creating an inventory program and I've run into a pretty unique problem.
When I run the data files I'm given, the program throws a lexical_cast boost exception. I know the exact line that is throwing the exception, however it doesn't make sense as to WHY the exception is being thrown.
If I take the data from the text file I'm given and copy and paste it to a brand new text file, the program runs it perfectly fine. 100% functional. However, when I run the original data files, the year string is suddenly deleted when it's added.
std::cout << year << std::endl; //prints out year perfectly
std::string date_str = "";
date_str += year; // <-- Here's the Problem. //Gets added as an empty string
std::cout << date_str << " Year should be added" << std::endl;
date_str += month;
std::cout << date_str << " month added" << std::endl;
date_str += date;
std::cout << date_str << " date_str" << std::endl;
std::cout << year << std::endl;

//The following line is what is throwing the exception:
boost::gregorian::date d = boost::gregorian::from_undelimited_string(date_str);

The print out is:
2010
 Year should be added //Notice the space at the beginning where year should be.
05 month added
0501 date_str
2010
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'boost::exception_detail::clone_impl<boost::exception_detail::error_info_injector<boost::bad_lexical_cast> >'
what():  bad lexical cast: source type value could not be interpreted as target
Abort (core dumped)

EDIT: There was a \r character at the end. I added an erase method call to year and the code works perfectly now.


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Agreement reached for the sale of Veolia Environnement's stake in Berlinwasser
Veolia Environnement announces the signature of an agreement with the Federal State of Berlin authorities to sell its 24.95% stake in Berlinwasser for €590 million, supplemented by €12 million for miscellaneous items and the share of dividends and interests due in respect of financial year 2013. This divestment would be a direct contribution to the Group's 2-year €6 billion asset divestment program, now almost achieved.
Press releases listing
Veolia_PR (28.68 KB)
This sale is subject to approval by the Senate and Parliament of Berlin, as well as EU antitrust authorities, and is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
Veolia's commitment in Berlinwasser dates back to the partial privatization of the municipal water and wastewater company in 1999. Since the sale by RWE of its shares in Berlinwasser in 2012, the State of Berlin has retained control over the company with a 75.05% share and has agreed with Veolia to achieve full control. This fruitful partnership has succeeded in a substantial modernization of the company, which has improved efficiency while securing the highest ecological and social standards and continuous infrastructure investment.
Veolia Environnement will remain active in Germany and continue to grow its water and waste management operations for municipal and industrial clients, in line with the strategic priorities of development and profitable growth as defined and implemented for the past 18 months by Antoine Frérot, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
"The decision to end this partnership has been taken in mutual agreement with the State of Berlin. For Veolia, Germany otherwise remains one of the most important countries with an excellent potential for future development."
Antoine Frérot
Veolia Environnement is a corporation listed on the NYSE and Euronext Paris. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations or beliefs and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These factors and uncertainties in particularinclude risks related to customary provisions of divesture transactions and those described in the documents Veolia Environnement has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Veolia Environnement does not undertake, nor does it have, any obligation to provide updates or to revise any forward-looking statements. Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of documents filed by Veolia Environnement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from Veolia Environnement.
Laurent Obadia - Sandrine Guendoul (Group)
Matthias Kolbeck (Germany)
+49 (0)30 206 29 56 - 73
Analyst and investor relations
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Veolia Environnement (Paris Euronext: VIE and NYSE: VE) is the worldwide reference in environmental solutions. With 220,000 employees*, the company has operations all around the world and provides tailored solutions to meet the needs of municipal and industrial customers in three complementary segments: water management, waste management and energy management. Veolia Environnement recorded revenue of €29.4 billion*in 2012.
(*) Excluding VeoliaTransdev employees and revenues currently under divestment
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Looks real nice Michael. Using alcohol on the epoxy is fine if you let it cure sufficiently. It can make a mess of things if you don't. I'e never had any issues doing this after 24 hours. IN cold weather it might be a bit longer, but once cured, the epoxy can take wipe downs just fine. Looking forward to starting to see the zip come together. I know it's been a long road for you getting to this point. It'll be another nice feather in your cap when finished though.
Slowly transitioning into the next phase of the build.
Frames 2, 4 and 5-1/2 are all screwed to the construction form. I was very pleased with the centerline alignment of the stem. You can't really tell from the photo, but it was dead-on. Soon I'll epoxy it into place. Currently prepping the inside of the transom for partial encapsulation & primer coat. In the photo, you can also see my 3/4 laminated keel laying in the floor & awaiting placement.
yes you are! Looks great.
Really nice work so far Mike. The extra effort on the frames is showing.
Of course, now that you say that... I've decided to hold off on that encapsulating & primer work on the transom for now. I set the transom on the form last night, took a few measurements and centered it just to see how it would look. I couldn't resist going ahead and screwing it to the form.
The board I'd bought for the breasthook support was not long enough to attach to the other sets of legs. Not sure what I was thinking there. I had attached it to the front set of legs, but found the extended board could easily get kicked out of alignment. So, I took another scrap board I had on-hand & attached it firmly to the back 2 sets of legs, and gusseted it to the "skinny" board. That worked.
Hopefully, I'll get the stem glued on this weekend.
Looking great, form looks sturdy!
Got the stem attached today. I added a little extra blocking. It should be a pretty solid joint.
Since I had some epoxy mixed anyway, I went ahead and did a little encapsulation on the transom, too.
You might think about a chine block. It looks like the zip chines come in at a pretty flat angle.
Nice work Mike. I remember agonizing over my stem and frame 6 for weeks, before finally just taking the plunge and gluing it up. You've done a fine job there. So is the excitement building?
mrintense wrote: So is the excitement building?
It is. Doing this the second time around is nice, because I know what to expect. Of course, as you know, the excitement of "accomplishing" one task quickly gives way to the reality that it was merely prep work for the next. Thank God boatbuilding is really a labor of love!
Today, while coating the inside of my garage in red sawdust, I also managed to cut some 2" x 1/2" strips for the chine lamination. Two are 6 feet long, and the other two are roughly 3-1/2 feet. Given their lengths, I won't be able to make one full-length chine, because it would require two scarf joints, with one unavoidably in a sharp bend. However, at least these are ready to be used with future pieces.
I also trimmed the keel, leaving myself a little extra at the back just in case. I clamped the forward end into place, and was extremely happy that the curvature of the bend matched the stem almost exactly.
Looks great, Micheal! Everything looks very precise from here.
Hahaha... my two slow me down plenty. That's okay, though. I don't want my time with them to go by any faster than it has to.
If it looks I've made and quick progress on my build, it's merely an illusion. It all went together on the form quickly, just because all the frames had already been long-built. I built the stem in 2013, and spent a year from 2016-2017 just on Frame #2, working at a snail's pace.
My latest progress is that I've drilled holes in the keel and the transom knee, in preparation for attaching the keel. The motor board on my transom apparently is thinner at the top than at the bottom, leaving an 8" tapered gap between it and the transom knee. I made a wedge-shaped shim that tapers from about 1/8" to 0" to remedy that. The epoxy is curing on it right now.
Michael, I have stuff like that all over my boat!
Epoxy and bilge paint cover a multitude of sins.


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text:
Have your say on our sustainability planning document
Helping to ensure that new buildings in the district minimise their environmental impact is the purpose of a draft sustainability document published by East Herts Council.
Now the council wants to hear your views on the Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) by 8 October.
Graham McAndrew, executive member for environmental sustainability, said: "Buildings are responsible for almost half of UK carbon emissions and about a quarter of all raw materials used in the economy. It is important we reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, and the design and construction of new development has a key role to play.
"We're committed to doing everything we can to reduce carbon emissions to zero by 2030 and this SPD is an exciting opportunity to have a real impact and help us to tackle climate change, so please have your say before October 8."
The draft document provides technical guidance on sustainable design and construction to improve the environmental sustainability of new development in East Herts.
It covers a number of topics to encourage a more prudent use of resources, to protect the environment and to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The SPD sets out detailed guidance on how schemes can both meet and exceed policy requirements, encouraging excellence in sustainable development.
You can see the document and some useful FAQs and make your comments at www.eastherts.gov.uk/sustainabilityspd
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Don't miss this beautifully-maintained brick colonial in desirable Marple Newtown School District! This move-in ready home is packed with desirable features. Open kitchen and dining area features breakfast bar, oak cabinets with matching pantry, and stainless steel appliances. Natural oak hardwood flooring in many rooms. Convenient upper level features 3 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and laundry. Extra usable space available in the partially finished basement. Many heating/cooling options including 2 mini-split systems, wood pellet stove in living room, and natural gas boiler with wood boiler backup. Newer roof installed in 2014. Large fenced backyard with concrete patio, perfect for summer BBQs. House is on quiet street walking distance to schools. This is a great opportunity to own a solid home with LOW TAXES!


Training The Person not just the company!
Our Program will give you the tools in order to move your team ahead to the point where they will EXCEED your client's expectations in every point of contact. Let us guide you through the process of allowing each and every member of your team to become the very best at what they do.
In some instances administrators believe that only THEIR leadership team can benefit from training like what we offer. In fact we have developed a set of tools for everyone regardless of where on your corporate ladder they may find themselves. Remember a positive experience is something that your clients deserve at every contact point in your companies process.
One of the major decision points in our training process comes before you ever enter the classroom. During our initial interview we will determine whether your most important priority is to generate new business or cultivate more income opportunites from your existing client base. In sales most folks think the only way to increase the bottom line is to sell to more customers. Instead, perhaps they should become a subject matter expert on a single item to solve a single issue, and then come back season after season with a new solution to an existing problem time and time again.
Yet the key elements of creating business are NOT being taught!
You can create new business on the phone. But is that the BEST method for your particular industry? You may go through your entire training budget for a YEAR and not find another program that will walk your team through creating the tools they need to have the confidence REQUIRED to make that first contact properly.
Connecting with the client. Many professionals know how to promote their own business, what they are missing is how to become someone their client can trust and believe in, certainly not within the 3 – 5 minutes they have their attention. The greatest presentation on the worlds BEST product will fail if it does NOT address the client at the point that they relate! Professionals will often mis read the client or worse, use what's worked on their LAST sale and completely AVOID the opportunity to connect with their prospect.
Regenerate yourself EVERYTIME!. The key to generating NEW business that will introduce you to pre-qualified referrals is to service them with what's important to THEM. Not what worked for YOU the last five sales. Meet your customers where they live and they will make sure that YOU live very well indeed!
Self-Starters. - This is the most OVER used phrase in sales employment ads, but that's because its not just a good idea, but it's a requirement! Professionals need to understand how to create self-motivation. Professionals require self discipline and personal initiative. True North educates your team on their most important weapon, THEMSELVES! By becoming a student of themselves, they will understand her/his unique needs, communication and decision making styles and be able to convert this information into spectacular, long term success!
A choice of our customized, Results Driven Sales Training Systems.
Assessments that deliver targeted, relevant training for each participant.
Live, on-site application of material.
Unmatched implementation and reinforcement programs.
Your team of professionals will be personally coached to make REAL prospecting calls DURING the training. These calls usually generate more new business than most organizations have produced in months, thereby insuring your RETURN on your INVESTMENT!
Results Driven Sales Training works to eliminate the fear of prospecting in your sales force by teaching the principles of sales training and providing ON-SITE APPLICATION of the material.
We will train and assist your sales team in getting appointments with key decision makers.
Sales professionals will be IGNITED for LONG TERM results.
Section 101- Find Your Way – Most business owners are ALREADY busy, if their day isn't full you don't want to talk to them. But you MUST understand and make the most of the FIRST 90 second's in their presence. After THAT, they will give you all the time you need. Our initial class helps your team develop the "Elevator Speech" that will get the customers attention and KEEP their business. We discuss the desires of the 4 prime personality styles and how YOUR understanding of them will allow you to customize your programs to their needs.
Section 102- Integrating to their behavior – You know their personality, you know what their most aggressive issue is and now you'll find out how YOU can solve that for them. We will demonstrate how, by applying the basics to understanding and recognizing the customers personality and the underlying motivation of their reason for business. We address the do's and don't of connecting with the customer.
Probing questions for the personalities.
Verbal and non-verbal buying signals.
Section 201- Selling to the Personalities- Tools for closing the sale that are not manipulative, tricky or theoretical. You will learn from seasoned sales professionals who have been applying these tools for decades to the benefit of the customer and themselves. Bring your AVERAGE closing rate into the 70% range where it should be!
Section 202- What direction is YOUR staff desiring to move? Every Employee is heading in one of four directions, if you are a Sales Manager you need to know which direction that is, if YOU are the employed Professional you need to determine which direction YOU want to head! Using our toolset we will help you determine what direction you're currently headed, and if needed help YOU change your direction and speed at YOUR best pace!
Discover how to apply the 1- 5 close (and MANY others) to each personality style.
We help YOU develop your own road map through the selling process in your most productive and profitable way.
Instead of just TALKING about how to do it we walk you through it, on the phone wih YOUR toughest prospects. Turn your "projects" into prospects and your prospects into customers. All before you leave class!
Group phone training will be customized to meet the needs of the client organization and delivered on-site at the time and location of the clients' choice.
301 – Phone Strategy Level 1 – You can jump in the deep end of the pool, but if you're NOT prepared, you are going to sink or need a water wings. We walk you through the PROPER preparation of your material to best suit the needs of your contact and your process.
302 - Telephone Success Session – EVERY sales person will make calls. This session is to continue the excitement and further hone skills. Future goals are defined.
We are ready to help you create the future. Together we'll examine the where your organization is today. Next we'll identify what you want your organization to become as we tailor customized programs to insure your organizations success.