It's officially 2019, which means it's a clean slate in terms of resolutions. So that's what we're doing here on the blog today -- first, we're going to be analyzing our 2018 resolutions to see which of those we've achieved, and then we'll talk about our goals for 2019! So without further ado, let's get into it.
1. Get better at commenting back on blog posts. We're *still* guilty of forgetting to this a lot of the time, so that's definitely something to keep working on in 2019.
2. Read/review more debut authors. This is something we've definitely started to pick up on doing toward the end of this year, so it's safe to say we can check this one off!
3. Attend BEA. Check! We did that this year, and it was AMAZING.
4. Get back on a regular posting schedule. Another one that we achieved! We've been posting daily for the last few months, and it's been great to get back into that swing of things.
5. Make some new blogger friends. Absolutely a check mark on this one, too! This year, we made so many new friends that we want to give you all tons of squeezes because we love you so much.
1. Comment back on other blogs more often. We are SO guilty of this! We read everyone's cool new posts but then we rarely remember to comment, and that's something we really want to change in 2019.
2. Limit our requests of digital ARCs a little bit. Have you ever heard of the phrase "having eyes bigger than your stomach"? That's definitely some of us (*ahem* Amber *ahem*), and we end up requesting so many digital ARCs that we never get to them all. So that's something we want to cut down on this year.
3. Keep up with writing reviews. Sometimes, things pop up and we don't end of writing reviews for books that we end of DNFing or that we read really quickly and forget about. But more importantly, sometimes we wait months before we write a review for a book, so it ends up going up pretty late after we actually read the book. We want to make a conscious effort to review everything that we read this year!
4. Read more books -- duh! Surpassing our previous Goodreads Reading Challenges are always a must.
5. Review more of the books that we read. Sort of like #3, sometimes we forget to review some of the things that we read, so we want to make an effort to stay on top of that.
6. Bookstagram more often. We've been steadily picking up speed with that, but we want to keep going!
7. Attend BookExpo again. Another amazing year with great authors, books, and friends? Count us in!
8. Make even MORE blogging friends! Because you can never have too many friends.
9. Stay active on our other social media platforms more. This kind of ties into #6, but yeah. We spend a lot of our time on the blog itself, or on Twitter, but as a result, some of our other social media platforms (such as our Facebook, Instagram, and our Pinterest) have started to suffer. So that's definitely something to fix in 2019.
So those are our blogging goals for 2019! What are yours? Comment down below and let us know! Here's to a great start to an amazing 2019.
I don't have a post coming out about my goals, but pretty much all of the ones I'm keeping in mind are the same as what you three have! I'm also trying to keep up with comments, reviews, ARCs and hoping to get into BEA in May! Good luck and happy reading!
Your resolutions are definitely ones I need to try too! I definitely need to limit the e-arcs I request and get better at commenting back on my bookstagram/blog.


Discussion in 'Community Made Things' started by ItzEdInYourBed, Jun 10, 2018.
!! KISAK.CLUB, GITHUB.COM, HAK5.ORG, HAKSHOP.COM, DUCK TOOLKIT, ANY OF ITS USERS, OWNERS, STAFF MEMBERS AND I ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS. WHAT YOU DO IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY !!
The Duck Toolkit is an open source Penetration Testing tool for authorized network auditing and security analysis purposes only where permitted. Users are solely responsible for compliance with all laws of their locality. The Duck Toolkit software developers and affiliates claim no responsibility for unauthorized or unlawful use.
This script requires CMD and admin access. Has been tested on Windows 10 but should work on any Windows OS.
This payload can be used right away and does not require any further configuration.
REM !! KISAK.CLUB, GITHUB.COM, HAK5.ORG, HAKSHOP.COM, DUCK TOOLKIT ANY OF ITS USERS, OWNERS, STAFF MEMBERS, AND I ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU DO WITH THIS, WHAT YOU DO IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. !!
REM Visit https://kisak.club/ for more payloads.
REM Selects the main drive.
REM Starts the wipe process.


A few weeks ago, I returned to frigid Philadelphia from California and immediately came down with a nasty case of the flu. My bad for procrastinating getting a flu shot this year until I forgot about it, but I'm also feeling some animosity toward the lady who open-mouth-coughed on me at the Saint Louis Airport on the trip home. I'm sure it was her.
Then my cat Tripoli passed away last week. She was about 14 and it was her time to go, but both Matt and I are still a bit choked-up over it.
It's time to get back on the horse, though, especially since I am in happy possession of the results of my California trip: live recordings of all of my Lola Ridge songs.
To recap: back in 2014, I composed a treble choral setting of an excerpt from Sun-Up by Lola Ridge, a poet whose path from growing up in New Zealand to attending college in Sydney to immigrating to New York mirrors my own journey from Brisbane to Sydney to Philadelphia. She didn't begin writing poetry until she reached America in her thirties, which recalls my own "late" start as a composer in my mid-twenties, a sacrilege in the youth-obsessed world of classical music. And in another parallel with my career, the subject matter of her work was more often than not political and focused on social justice. I wrote about my connection to her and the composition of that first song, It's Strange About Stars in a blog entry at the time.
Bob Geary, the Artistic Director of San-Francisco-based choir Volti (I was their Choral Arts Laboratory composer-in-residence a couple of years ago and wrote The Oath of Allegiance for them) picked up what I was putting down, and approached me about commissioning a couple more songs to complete the set. I wrote Shadows over a cradle... a few months later for a young women's choir he directs, Ancora, then completed Different kinds of shadows last fall for the Volti Choral Institute.
The Choral Institute is a weekend-long gathering for high school choir groups; there's an SATB camp in the fall and an SSAA camp in the winter. Several high school choirs of an exceptionally high standard gather north of San Francisco (near Bohemian Grove!) and spend a weekend learning new music, rehearsing, and participating in workshops. It was wonderful, in all senses of the word. As someone who grew up at a girls' school singing in girl choirs, I felt so completely at home watching these talented and enthusiastic young women sing. And I was so overwhelmed and proud to be their composer—and a woman composer among young women. I tried to inspired them to compose their own works one day (see photo above—one student has already written her own remarkable choir piece, which her choir performed while there!), but more than that, I wanted them to see that the world is theirs if they aren't afraid to express themselves and look beyond whatever boxes society wants to build for them. In part, the proximity to Bohemian Grove made me want to rant: LOOK! OVER THERE! The most powerful men in the world are TERRIFIED of you! The patriarchy has spent thousands of years LITERALLY BURNING TO DEATH women who dare to express themselves and work together and fulfill their potential. They are so scared of you, they have banned you from their ritual costume parties; why else would they do so if you weren't full of such power and potential? They don't want you to rock the boat. ROCK. THE. BOAT. ROCK IT.
I tried to say some of this in a speech toward the end of the weekend, but I got emotional and I'm not sure it came out right.
Nevertheless, here are the videos from the final performance of the Lola Ridge songs, after only a few hours total of rehearsal. The titles above link to the pages on this website where you can download the score (for free!).


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Features, Grocery and Food
Amazon's New Food-Store Rollout
October 15, 2019 By David Merrefield
There is a lack of clarity of details surrounding Amazon's upcoming development of a food-store format that will be entirely distinct from its Whole Foods stores. This seems to be Amazon's M.O. when it comes to its new initiatives. That such a format is under way comes as no great surprise since Amazon said two years ago it was the beginning of its intentions for brick-and-mortar food stores when it acquired Whole Foods. And we've been waiting.
What we do know is that this new fleet of Amazon food stores will be intended for middle-market suburban shoppers accustomed to paying moderate prices for food, and stores will be located in suburbs. By contrast, Whole Foods stores tend to be in urban areas and feature higher prices for specialty items with a customer base to match.
So, the upcoming stores give Amazon the means to cater to major segments of the food market, from top to center. Amazon wisely plays all the bases and is also deeply into the food-delivery business by way of shipping product from its warehouses directly to customers, or by using Whole Foods stores as fulfillment centers.
Let's take an analytical look at some of the details available about this new enterprise, most of which were reported by the Wall Street Journal by revealing new leaseholds in Southern California. Amazon, of course, isn't talking.
Likely Expansion
Amazon has leased space in established shopping centers in the Los Angeles areas of Studio City and Woodland Hills, plus Irvine to the south. We're predicting Amazon may acquire 10 or more locations in the region before too long. Judging by how other Amazon stores spread from west to east, our bet is that the new Amazon stores will crop up in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and elsewhere.
Leases and renovation permits already issued show that the new stores will be about 20,000 to 35,000 square-feet, which will make then substantially smaller than most full-line Southern California supermarkets. Proposed locations will be equipped with kitchens and coffee-making equipment, i.e., set-ups for fresh-prepared food offerings, augmenting a selection of grocery and health and beauty products.
The banner these stores will use is under wraps, but there's a pretty good chance they'll use their own namesake or possibly "Amazon Prime." Using a well-known brand name might help Amazon escape the unpleasant fate of Fresh and Easy stores, the last attempt at a food-store startup in the Southwest.
Fresh and Easy was started by the U.K. food retailer Tesco in 2006. After two bankruptcy filings, the 150 Fresh and Easy stores in the region were shuttered. Tesco took a financial bath of something like $2 billion. The stores failed because the name wasn't well known, locations were poor, customer-actuated checkout systems weren't well-received, product selection was uninspired and much more. What we know about Bezos and his attention to detail, this is not a predictable fate for Amazon. In fact, if history has any lessons here, he may end up squeezing out existing stores as he scales up fueled by his endless piles of money.
The Grand Strategy
We're going on record here with some predictions about some of the broader strategies behind the new food stores.
Practically speaking, the stores could be used to enhance the value of an Amazon Prime membership, as is done with Whole Foods, where steep product discounts are offered to Prime members. The same strategy could play out well at the new stores. Food discounts, along with free shipping and video benefits, make the cost of the annual membership fee of $119 seem nearly negligible.
The stores could be used as fulfillment centers for online food orders, plus additional products. Let's hope the aisle congestion seen at Whole Foods stores caused by legions of online order pullers can be avoided.
The stores may offer opportunities for co-location of its other Amazon physical-store formats (apart from Whole Foods), such as Amazon 4-Star, Amazon Books and even Amazon Go, the cashier-less format. Incidentally, those formats remain underdeveloped and under-realized. None of them have more than a few locations and they don't seem to be particularly relevant. Amazon food stores could give these other models a boost.
The stores may offer opportunities to scale up the cashier-less Amazon Go technology in a larger store format. However, that would be a big leap. Current Amazon Go stores are very small with perhaps 200 or so SKUs. The new Amazon food stores would have to offer in excess of 15,000 SKUs to be anything like a credible food store. Actually, the small size of proposed stores will make it difficult to offer enough product to compete with traditional supermarkets. Amazon, with its algorithmic and analytics power, can offer a curated product mix, exactly on target for the local neighborhood. No waste and customer satisfaction may be a better outcome than following the established format of stocking everything for everyone.
Amazon Has Its Eyes on Domination
Once Amazon grows deep roots in its food store rollout, think about what might be next for Amazon's physical-store ambitions. The sole remaining grocery niche for it to dominate is the deep-discount space primarily occupied by Aldi and to a lesser degree Lidl. It may be just a matter of time.
What's the lesson here? Never underestimate Amazon or sell it short. It has massively disrupted retail with its online domination and changing the rules of retail with its ability to reinvent models with tech-enhanced operations, logistics and customer service. Amazon is the behemoth retailers love to hate as they try to beat the clock to stay alive. Food retailers: Buckle up, You're in for a bumpy ride.
As We Reach "Peak CBD," What, If Anything, Is Really & Truly In It for Beauty Consumers?
Here's What Recent Store Closures Have in Common
Amazon's Migraine: Walmart

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Zend Framework flexible Form Elements with jQuery I'm pretty new to Zend Framework thou i am starting to get the gist of it, however i have once more run into a problem. I want to create a form where it is possible for the user to upload files.
Now the idea is that when the user first visits the page with the form, he/she will see only one form element with wich to upload a file and below that a button to add an additional file and thus an additional element to the form.
I have been looking around and have been suggested to try using JQuery, at this point it is probably good to mention i have never used JQuery, let alone in combination with the Zend Framework.
I have added the ZendX library to the same folder i have the Zend folder in, like this
/Zend Framework
 /library
  /Zend
  /ZendX

I of course have the library folder included in my include_path variable in the php.ini .
According to what i can make of the Zend Refference guide i need to add the following to my Bootstrap.
public function _initJQuery() {
    $view = new Zend_View();
    $view->addHelperPath("ZendX/JQuery/View/Helper", "ZendX_JQuery_View_Helper");
    $viewRenderer = new Zend_Controller_Action_Helper_ViewRenderer();
    $viewRenderer->setView($view);
    Zend_Controller_Action_HelperBroker::addHelper($viewRenderer);
}

Having done that i build the following Jquery form in my content module.
<?php
class Content_Form_JQueryForm extends ZendX_JQuery_Form
{
    public function init()
    {
        $this->setMethod('post');
        $this->setName('frm');
        $this->setAction('content/index/add');

        $date1 = new ZendX_JQuery_Form_Element_DatePicker(
                'date1',
                array('label' => 'Date:')
             );

        $this->addElement($date1);

        $elem = new ZendX_JQuery_Form_Element_Spinner(
                "spinner1",
                array('label' => 'Spinner:')
        );

        $elem->setJQueryParams(array('min' => 0, 'max' => 1000, 'start' => 100));
        $this->addElement($elem);
    }
}

Then in the controller i simply create the form and assign it to a view
public function indexAction() {
    $form = new Content_Form_JQueryForm();
        $this->view->form = $form;
}

And of course in the appropriate view i echo the form
<?php echo $this->form; ?>

And when i run the application i get the following error message
Fatal error: Class 'Content_Form_JQueryForm' not found in C:\wamp\www\ZendProject\application\modules\content\controllers\CategoryController.php on line 10
I am clueless as to what i have done wrong and if anyone could help me out it would really be appreciated.

A: In the end i stumbeled upon this tutorial, http://www.jeremykendall.net/2009/01/19/dynamically-adding-elements-to-zend-form/.
It has helped a tremendous amount on understanding how the forms work in Zend.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


LOVE CAN BE A VERY FUNNY THING IN 2019!!! This Valentine's Day! One of Bakersfield's favorite comedy shows brings some very lovely comedy your way with We Own The Laughs: Valentine's Day Thursday February 14th at Beacon Studios. Wine, Dine, & Laugh with the special love of your life as the show will feature some of California favorite comedic acts including our headliners for the evening MTV/ 2019 AVN Awards host Esther Ku and All Def Digital/Social Media Star Trevor Wallace. The funny festivities will be hosted by none other than Bakersfield's favorite couple Rewind 98.1 Morning Show Danny & Kait Hill.


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Home Sports 2019 Articles Lady Eagles See Improvement as 2019 Season Closes
Lady Eagles See Improvement as 2019 Season Closes
Trey Smart
First-year head coach Everett Hodges had hoped to see some marked improvement in the Waurika fast-pitch softball program during the 2019 season.
And while the season ended with a less than sterling record at 5-16, the Lady Eagles showed great progress in trying to build the fast-pitch program.
The Lady Eagles were competitive in many more games than in the past couple of seasons and with the entire squad slated to return for the 2020 season, there is much optimism for the program.
The 2019 season came to a close last Thursday in the Class A District Tournament at Ringling.
The Lady Eagles fell in the first round to Wilson, 10-6, and then came back to lose to Ringling, 16-6, in the second game.
In the game with Wilson, the Lady Eagles had plenty of chances but just could not get a key hit when it was needed.
Wilson struck for two runs in the top of the second, but the Lady Eagles answered with a single tally in the bottom half of the first. Liberti Simmons reached on an infield hit and advanced around the bases, helped by an error, to get the first run for the Lady Eagles.
In the top of the second, Wilson added four runs on just two hits as the Lady Eagles fell apart in the field during the uprising giving Wilson a 6-1 lead.
The score remained at 6-1 until the Lady Eagles struck for a run in the bottom of the third inning. Hope Cummings drew a lead-off walk and scored when Riley Howell reached on an error. Waurika eventually loaded the bases, but could not cut into the lead and the inning ended with Waurika trailing, 6-2.
In the top of the fourth, Wilson added another run on a double and an error.
Waurika answered with a run in the bottom of the fourth, but again a base running miscue and the inability to get a key hit stopped a rally. Gracie Walling reached on a walk and then scored on Landry Forsyth's double to bring the deficit to 7-3.
Wilson continued to pad the lead as an infield hit, a hit batsman and a double produced two runs to up the lead for Wilson to 9-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Eagles got a leadoff double by Walling and she scored on a ground out by Faith Roberson. The Lady Eagles got a pair of walks, but could not cut into Wilson's advantage,
In the top of the seventh Wilson picked up another run on two hits and an error.
With the Lady Eagles looking at a 10-5 deficit heading to their final at-bat, it was again the lack of ability to take full advantage of opportunities to score.
One-out singles by Kinzie Taylor and Simmons got the rally started. Walling's infield hit loaded the bases and Simmons scored on a single by Forsyth after two were out. The game ended with the Lady Eagles leaving the bases loaded.
In the second game against the eventual district tourney champion Ringling, the Lady Blue Devils wasted no time in putting away the Lady Eagles.
Ringling struck for seven runs in the bottom of the first inning with 11 batters coming to the plate. Two errors, two walks, two singles and two doubles along with a passed ball and two stolen bases helped the Lady Blue Devils plate the seven runs.
The Lady Eagles answered in the top of the second inning with four runs of their own. A single by Alana Lewis was followed by a walk by Cassidie Berry and a two-out single by Simmons loaded the bases for the Lady Eagles.
Walling slammed a double to left field that cleared the bases and cut the lead to 7-3. Walling scored on Cummings' double to leave the Lady Eagles trailing 7-4.
In the bottom of the third, Ringling struck for three more runs on a hit batsman, single, error and a two-run double that increased the Waurika deficit to 10-4.
In the top of the fourth the Lady Eagles scratched a pair of runs. Grace Hill reached on an error and Simmons walked. A two-out double by Cummings scored Hill and Simmons, but the rally ended with Waurika trailing 7-4.
In the bottom of the fourth the Lady Blue Devils ended the game with six runs. Four singles and one error contributed to the uprising that ended the game by the run rule.
Lady Eagles
Waurika Oklahoma
Waurika Sports
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St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (January 31, 2016) – Taylor Canfield has been named '2015 Virgin Islands Sailor of the Year' for the third year in a row by the Virgin Islands Sailing Association (VISA). Others under consideration were Cy Thompson, who is training for the Olympics in the Laser, and Optimist sailor Teddy Nicolosi.
The conferral of the VISA award is what Canfield calls "the icing on the cake" of a successful sailing year. He and his US One Sailing Team started off 2015 on a different tack then usual when they decided to race M32s, a 32-foot catamaran dubbed a high performance 'speed machine' by its builders.
Canfield's desire to test his skills for the first time on two hulls instead of one was driven by three key factors. First, he had an opportunity to train against members of the Nacra 17 US Sailing Team and very much enjoyed the experience. Secondly, the fast double-hull design fit in well with the ultimate carrot of his sailing career, that of sailing in the America's Cup, an event now trending into a multihull competition. Third, the cincher was a ride on a M32 owned by Sweden's Mathias Rahm, a world champion, Olympic and America's Cup contender and inaugural M32 champ in 2013.
Canfield also didn't miss a beat keeping up with his match racing career in 2015. In fact, he successfully defended his title in the Congressional Cup, hosted out of the Long Beach Yacht Club, in California, in May. Canfield joined an elite club being one of only 8 skippers in the 51-year-old Cup's history to win two years in a row. One of these other skippers is fellow U.S. Virgin Islander, Peter Holmberg, who accomplished this feat twice. Canfield ended the year by topping a talented fleet to win the Carlos Aguilar Match Race, in St. Thomas, in December. What's more, he held tight to his No 2 spot in the Open World Match Racing rankings throughout all of 2015.
"Taylor's dominance in the M32 class while at the same time maintaining his number two ranking as a match racer were deciding factors," said VISA president Phillip Shannon.
The 26-year-old U.S. Virgin Islands' professional sailor – a national team and fleet racing champion in high school and three-time All American, two-time fleet racing champion and one-time team racing champion, sloop champion and match racing champion at Boston College – credits the scores of supporters, teammates and coaches who have helped to shape his career. This includes his parents who launched him off the beach at the St. Thomas Yacht Club in an Optimist dinghy at age 6 and who continue to support him.
Canfield also thanks girlfriend, Stephanie Roble (2014 Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year), for supporting him in all of his endeavors and constantly pushing him to be a better sailor and person. Lastly, he gives a shout out to his home island of St. Thomas as the hands down best place in the world to learn to sail.
Canfield will enjoy the best-of-both-worlds in 2016 as he heads back on WMRT and continues catamaran sailing since Tour officials have selected the M32 as it's featured one-design boat.
VISA, which started its 'Virgin Islands Sailor of the Year' award in 2014, is the organization that administers all sailing activities in the US Virgin Islands. We are a Member National Authority of ISAF which is the International Federation that governs sailing worldwide, the Pan American Sailing Federation and Central American and Caribbean Sailing Organization. In addition, VISA was a founding member of the Virgin Islands Olympic Committee, which administers all Olympic sports in the Virgin Islands.


UQ's Centre for Online Health and QGC to establish Health e-REGIONS - Australia's first-ever telehealth service specifically for mining communities.
The University of Technology, Sydney's (UTS) ithree institute has launched Helmedix Pty Ltd with a A$1.25 million investment from Australia's Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF).
Dr David Evans, UniQuest Managing Director from 1994 – 2000, has received an Order of Australia award.
UniQuest announces formation of QUE Oncology, Inc.


text:
How about you get to know me?
Here are 20 random answers to 20 random questions
Burritos, hands down. I'd say I average at least 3 burritos (or burrito derivatives) per week. And here's a freebie – the tortilla was the greatest human invention ever.
Current musical obsession?
I'm on a pretty strong Arctic Monkeys kick right now. But I listen to their Pandora station because I refuse to do the Spotify thing.
Favorite color?
Green. Like pine trees and Ireland. It's a wonderful color.
Favorite travel experience?
Hard to choose, but I'd have to say playing golf throughout Ireland and Scotland for my dad's 50th birthday. Got to play St. Andrews Old Course which was such an incredible experience.
Farthest distance run at once?
50 miles. Twice. The first was a 50 mile race, the second was a 100k that I dropped out of at mile 50. Still need to tick that 100k box…
Favorite drink?
Arnold. Friggin'. Palmer. It's sheer perfection. The tartness of lemonade with the bitterness of iced tea to cut the sweetness. It's magical.
Zodiac sign?
Aries. But I exhibit essentially zero characteristics of an Aries…
Guilty pleasure?
Lately, it's been binging Bob Ross episodes on Netflix. He just makes me happy.
Favorite activity?
Besides running? Sitting around a table of good friends eating good food and laughing until our Arnold Palmers come out of our noses.
Other's obsessions you don't get?
Um, kind of ashamed to say it, but Harry Potter. I just, I dunno. I guess I missed that craze somehow… (UPDATE 2021: My Fiance is a massive Harry Potter fan and I've since been exposed to every movie. They're fun, good content pull up a blanket and watch on a cold day.)
Dream home?
A campervan or tiny house is super intriguing to me, but I feel like I would put a whole lot of money into one only to realize I'm super claustrophobic. I'll say mountain cabin.
Favorite Animal?
Cliché, but dogs. I'd like to say something more exotic and interesting, but I would be lying. Because dogs are the runaway leader for the best animal on the planet.
Biggest pet peeve?
Entitlement. I really have a hard time when people act entitled. (UPDATE 9/2021: Greed is becoming increasingly aggravating)
Proudest moment?
It was a long time ago, but when we won our first cross-country State Championship in high school. I was really most proud of all the work we had done to get there and achieve our goal.
Oof. This is going to be embarrassing to admit, but Billy Madison. I know, it's dumb and ridiculous and immature, but I still laugh at the same jokes as I did when it came out.
Most famous person met?
Nick Offerman. Growing up in LA, I would see stars all over and I never thought much about it, but I was super star-struck when I met Nick. He's rad.
Favorite team?
LA Kings. Been a Kings fan since '90, just after the Gretzky trade. Had some rough years in the 2000s, had a great stretch with two cups, now we're circling the drain. Oh well, such is sports. (UPDATE 9/2021: don't sleep on the '21-'22 Kings. Playoff contenders.)
Favorite kid's show?
Gonna go with Ducktales, but that whole after-school Disney line-up was fantastic.
Weird fact?
I'm the 2012 National Beard and Moustache Champion for the Imperial Moustache category. Seriously. Look it up.
What do you wish you had?
A job offer!
How about we grab an Arnold Palmer?


Visual weight is that element in the photograph that catches your attention at once. There are many factors that can affect the visual weight, including color, size, contrast, and even the actual weight of the element. This PhotograFeed article elaborates more on visual weight and how it affects the balance in photography.
Where would we be without balance? Probably rolling off the cliff and crashing down the mountainside. In real life, balance gives us a steady and stable feeling. This is the same feeling that echoes within us when we look at a photograph with the perfect compositional balance. Our need for maintaining equilibrium and harmony in life makes us want to look for balanced images. A major factor for maintaining balance in photography is the visual weight. It is defined as the perceived weight of an element in the photograph, and measures how much attraction the element gets. In simple terms, it is that something in the photograph that gets your attention.
In an image, different objects have different visual weights. Things that are big, bright, and colorful attract more attention than darker, less colorful elements. Contrast, like the presence of a small black dot on a white paper, carries a lot of visual weight as well. The greater the visual weight, the more the eye is drawn to that element in the photograph. The comparative visual weights of the different elements in an image also add to the sense of balance to the photograph. If you are learning the tricks of photography, and want to make your photographs look interesting and well-designed, then here are some tips that will help you get the right visual weight.
There are many factors that affect the visual weight in photography. It is your job as a photographer to balance the different elements so as to perfect the compositional balance of the photograph. Here are some things that you need to check when measuring the visual weight of the elements.
Larger objects appear to have more visual weight that smaller elements in the photograph. A large-sized element occupies more space, and hence, commands more attention. If the subject matter is the focal point of the photograph, then making it larger in size is a good idea. However, if you need to balance a large-sized element in a photograph, you can try placing it next to several small elements or next to an element in a contrasting color. Multiple small objects packed closely together have more density, and hence, greater visual weight.
Very light or dark elements when placed in contrasting surroundings draw our attention immediately. For example, in the image above, the red apple contrasts heavily with the rest of the image. Color contrasts, like using blue and yellow, or red and green, are used to achieve great compositions. These colors complement and accentuate the qualities of other colors. Elements with high contrast have more visual weight and appear significantly prominent.
Whether they are white, black, or gray, colors are an integral part of any design. There are specific colors that attract our attention more than others. Two colors, such as red and blue, have different visual weights. Usually, red is heavier and will draw more attention than yellow, which has the least visual weight. To balance an element in red, a large number of lighter-colored elements in green and yellow would be required. Other than the color, saturation also matters. The more saturated the color, the more attention it gets. So, dark purple will have more visual weight than pale pink.
As compared to lighter colors, darker colors carry more visual weight. Naturally dark objects, when placed in contrast with a lighter object, appear to be heavier and attract immediate attention. The more contrasting the value between the object and the background, the more is the visual weight in photography.
Objects in the upper part of a composition are heavier than objects in the lower part.
Objects on the right attract more attention than the objects to the left.
Objects placed on Rule of Third lines, cross-sections, or in the corners of the composition have more visual weight.
Vertical objects appear visually heavy as compared to horizontal objects in a photograph.
The depth of field is the range of distance that appears sharp in a photograph. This varies based on the camera, the aperture, and the focusing distance. By changing the aperture setting on your camera, you can change the depth of field. If you want to focus the viewer's attention in a specific place, then you can choose to have depth of field in your shot. The greater the depth of field, the more the visual weight.
Your eye is immediately drawn to complex patterns or interesting images. These objects appear visually heavier than objects not possessing these features. Since simple objects are immediately understood, our attention wavers. As compared to this, complex designs and patterns are difficult to understand and process, and therefore, hold our attention for much longer.
It might sound a bit ridiculous, but the actual or the perceived weight of the object does have a bearing on its visual weight as well. Objects that are actually heavy or look heavy, like a large book, or barbells at the gym, can have more visual weight than elements which are lighter, such as a feather.
The concept of visual weight in photography relies heavily on the elements that we are exposed to in the physical world and the responses they evoke from us. To create a balanced image, it is important to give different elements in your composition more or less visual weight. This can be done through size, color, placement, and contrast so that all the heavy elements in your photo are balanced out by something with a lighter weight. This is the key to a balanced and harmonious composition.


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Fill out the form to the right to watch this complimentary sales training webinar now.


text:
Exclusive Clip: Brent Spiner Shares A Hilarious Memory On Gates McFadden's InvestiGates Podcast
By AJ Caulfield/May 13, 2021 9:09 am EST
"Star Trek" legend Gates McFadden launched her very own podcast — "Gates McFadden InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?" – on Wednesday, May 12, and in one upcoming episode, she sits down with her fellow "Trek" alum Brent Spiner to catch up, crack a few jokes, and dive into deep and meaningful conversations.
Ahead of the installment's release, Looper can share an exclusive audio clip from McFadden and Spiner's conversation, which is sure to bring out plenty of giggles.
In the clip, McFadden (who played Dr. Beverly Crusher in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and four "Star Trek" movies) tells Spiner (who portrayed the Soong-type android Data) that she "adores" him, and that he's been an amazing godfather to her son, James McFadden-Talbot (whom Spiner calls Jack). When McFadden mentions the priest at her son's christening, she and Spiner both start laughing, with Spiner saying that they have "conflicting stories" about what happened that day. Spiner then hilariously reveals that the "conflicting story" is that he had no idea he was going to be James' godfather.
"You were certain you had asked me," Spiner says. In disbelief, McFadden laughs, "That is so, so space cadet! No, that's so horrible!" Spiner remembers that McFadden "invited all of us to come to the christening," but she remembers inviting Spiner only. Spiner didn't think it was all that serious — "I was literally having a facial that morning," he admits — but ultimately didn't want to hurt McFadden's feelings by not attending. So he did — and he got the shock of a lifetime.
"I had asked you to be his godfather!" McFadden adds, laughing. "See, this is the dilemma. When the priest was holding the baby, and he said to you, 'Who's the godfather?', and you pointed to me and went, 'He is,' I went, 'Huh?'" Spiner says. "He handed me Jack. Well, the deal was sealed at that moment."
Star Trek fans won't want to miss Gates McFadden InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?
That quick clip is but a mere sampling of the goodness packed into the "Gates McFadden InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?" podcast, which will find McFadden sitting down with her fellow "Star Trek" alums for intimate, one-on-one chats. The podcast kicks off with an episode featuring Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker in the "Star Trek" universe. Following the premiere are episodes featuring, in no particular order, LeVar Burton (Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Robert Picardo (the Doctor), Wil Wheaton (Dr. Beverly Crusher's son Wesley), Michael Dorn (the Klingon Worf), Denise Crosby (Security Chief Tasha Yar and Commander Sela), John de Lancie (Q), Michael Westmore (longtime "Star Trek" make-up artist), and Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys).
Basically, if you're a Trekkie, "Gates McFadden InvestiGates: Who Do You Think You Are?" will be your new favorite podcast. "Investigates," produced by the Nacelle Company, is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more.


In the session, each speaker was given just 10 minutes to get across an important message that could be taken back to the healthcare leaders' organizations and have a real impact.
Find the few key critical behaviors that really drive results. According to Mr. Murphy, these are often small changes. "It's usually just [changing] one or two key behaviors," he said. For example, patient perception of care can be greatly improved by having leaders round on patients daily and providing each patient with a post-discharge phone call, he says.
Use the right words. When asking employees to change behaviors, use the right words, says Mr. Murphy. StuderGroup research has found that if leaders use the word "mandatory," 98 percent of people believe they must perform the behavior. If the word "required" is used, 67 percent believe they must perform the behavior; for the word "expected," the percentage drops to 26 percent.
Connect to the "why." Finally, Mr. Murphy added leaders can drive behavior change by explaining the "why" — the reason behind the need for the behavior change.
Next, Beth Keane, MA, a national speaker and coach with Studer Group, discussed the importance of coaching and having hard conversations with employees to ultimately improve behavior and the overall organization. She started her presentation by asking, "Who tells us when we have spinach in our teeth?" Meaning, we all make mistakes, many times unintentionally, and we need people that care about us to alert us. Despite this need, many healthcare workers fear providing criticism or coaching because they worry it will be poorly received, when in fact, "coaching is caring," said Mr. Keane.
I want [this change of behavior].
Jim W. Pichert, PhD, co-director of the Vanderbilt Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy, discussed how Vanderbilt has used a "tiered-intervention" approach to improving physician and other professional clinician behavior that may put quality and patient satisfaction at risk. At top of the tiered intervention pyramid are disciplinary interventions, followed by guided interventions — both of which Vanderbilt tries to prevent by intervening before behavior reaches this point. The health system does this by training clinicians on how to have prior conversations with each other about problematic behavior. At the most basic level are "coffee conversations," which involve a clinician talking with another clinician over a cup of coffee about any concerning behavior observed. In the second level, trained clinicians have "awareness" conversations with physicians who stand out based on monthly data provided to each unit.
The results of Vanderbilt's efforts have been impressive. The number of malpractice lawsuits per 100 physicians has "plummeted" over the last ten years, according to Dr. Pichert. Adherence to hand hygiene protocol among clinicians is now over 90 percent, which the health system hopes to increase to "every patient, every time," he said.
Next, Stephanie Baker, RN, CEN, MBA, a StuderGroup coach and former emergency room nurse, shared tips for ensuring "no ED [is] left behind." ERs in the United States treat more than 124 million patients per year, and the CDC expects that to increase five percent for the next five years, says Ms. Baker. At the same time, more ERs close each year, putting further pressure on the ones that remain open. To deal with this, Ms. Baker encourages leaders to think of the "path of the patient." That is, patients should be quickly triaged and seen by a physician within 30 minutes. Patient flow processes may need to be adjusted to improve efficiency. Ms. Baker also encourages ER staff to round hourly on the ER waiting room. "Hourly rounds saves lives and keeps people connected, " she said.
She closed by saying that values should always be the guiding principles behind efficiency efforts. "There are no bad days; no ED can be left behind. Let's lean forward," Ms. Baker said.
Finally, Rich Bluni, RN, an international speaker affiliated with StuderGroup, talked about the importance of trust, communication and self-assessment in healthcare. In regards to trust, Mr. Bluni said healthcare workers often want to do everything themselves, to ensure it's done right. This, he said, can be a mistake because it leads to burnout, which could result in errors. He recommends employees learn to trust their colleagues and encourage them to solve non-critical problems themselves, rather than bring them straight to a supervisor. Communication is also key as it is the number one cause of sentinel events, said Mr. Bluni. He encouraged leaders to ask their employees to rate them on their ability to communicate and to solicit ideas for improvement. Lastly, Mr. Bluni encouraged the healthcare leaders to self-assess both their work performance and their work-life balance and set goals for improvement in both work-related and personal arenas of life.


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Really, Truly, Fake News
all the news that's fit to facebook
No, there haven't been 18 school shootings this year
February 16, 2018 February 16, 2018 / carrieschreck	/ 1 Comment
The shooting this week is tragic, bottom line. Two nights ago my friend Kai Yu posted a biting comment about school children laying down their lives for the right to bear arms. It was cutting and sharp and I wanted to share the remark. Crediting Kai, I typed the sentiment myself choosing a gaudy, cheerful hearts-and-sparkles Valentine background for the dark post. By lunch the next day, the comment had been shared 2000 times, by the time we started our evening screening 6000, by the end of the film 9000. At home last night I read through the comments, now reaching into the thousands, ranging from support to anger to crazy. Yesterday morning, long before the post went viral, I had read around social media that there were 18 shootings already this year, then I found this What's incredible about this number is that even as the Washington Examiner, USAToday, and Politifact had debunked this information early on 2/15, the 18-shootings figure has been re-tweeted nearly half a million times and has spread through a graphic you've already seen pop up in your own feed. My post's comments bear that dark graphic again and again. Before our screening yesterday, as I read some of the more heinous responses to my post, the director said, "you should respond with this." texting me the same incorrect graphic. The real stats are:
Nine involved no deaths and no gunshot injuries.
Two were suicides, with no other injuries (including the one at the closed school).
Three were unintentional (although one caused injuries)
According to the article, the mis-information is being spread by Everytown USA, the nice people who text you from scammy-looking phone numbers during dinner. I believe in their cause, and I believe in sensible gun-ownership, but hyperbole and false information does more to hurt your argument than help it.
read:
Mostly False: 18 School shootings so far this Year
Alexa doesn't believe in Jesus.
December 28, 2017 February 16, 2018 / carrieschreck	/ Leave a comment
Over Christmas break, my favorite gift to family was an Echo Dot. I reasoned that it's affordable but fun, just techy enough for relatives but easy to use and with lots of cool add-ons like lighting controls and other junk. I know that mostly it will be used to get the weather but everyone seems happy so it's a hit. By mid-afternoon holiday skype sessions and phone calls begin and several friends and family make appearances. One family friend pointed out and interesting detail about my Aunt and Uncle's new smart device: he had personally asked it if it believed in Jesus. Alexa reportedly responded that Jesus was a fictional character. Further questioning revealed that Alexa also believed that Mohammed was a great man. Of course I smelled bullshit and to my great excitement, my Aunt declared that we should look it up on Snopes before believing it. Some simple investigation revealed the claim to be false, having been made in a falsified video internet-evangelist, Steve Crowder, who I would generously describe as "fringy."
What sticks out to me the most in this case is not the spreading of the wacky rumor but the acquisition of the false information into the teller's own experience. The statement over Skype was "I asked Alexa…" not "I heard that someone asked…"
The experience became part of his own memory, even though it couldn't have (Alexa was never programmed to say this.) Was he simplifying the information for the sake of brevity or, a scarier thought, was the information so true, so possible that he believed himself to have heard it from the Echo's mouth?
Check out one of the articles, spread primarily on faith-based sites.
This Guy Thinks Sweden is on Fire
February 20, 2017 February 20, 2017 / carrieschreck	/ Leave a comment
By now you've heard Trump's confounding comments Friday regarding Sweden. "You look at what's happening last night in Sweden," Trump said. "Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They're having problems like they never thought possible."
The next day amid lots of confusion (Sweden reportedly A-OK) Trump took to Twitter to say the comment was in reference to a Fox news piece that had aired. Turns out this brilliant comment started with filmmaker Ami Horowitz appearing with Tucker Carlson a day before, you can watch the interview here.
You can see how conveniently plucked stock footage of fires, attacks, and unrest featured in the classic Fox we-didn't-necessarily-say-it-was-related use of imagery could make a person with some pre-set beliefs about immigration make some assumptions. Where did he get "last night"? Who the fuck knows.
So who the heck is Ami Horowitz? A quick scan of his name turns up a series of articles across the alt-right media reporting a "vicious attack" on him and his team by five refugees in a heavily immigrant neighborhood of Stockholm (although the description seems a lot less harrowing and a lot more about a twerpy filmmaker who wouldn't stop recording when asked.) Looking into his filmography we find "Stockholm Syndrome" a film about just how rapey Sweden has become with its new refugee population. Digging deeper you find the citation for these booming rape stats as coming from – you guessed it- a conservative think tank called Gatestone. Dive further into these numbers on which Horowitz's film is based, you find the key asterisk: the nationality of the accused rapists are not reported, yes there's an increase in reported sexual assault but assuming it related to refugee resettlement is flimsy, in addition to this in Sweden naturalized children of immigrants are still considered immigrants. Conclusion: This stat is bullshit and so is this bullshit film.
Horowitz, a USC alum, is as interested truthful reporting as he is in conducting quality, cinematic interviews. So what does Horowitz really believe? Are his fears grounded in reality? No, but that won't stop him from screaming about them for months to come. Expect to hear more from this one on the right folks.
I Give You the News Source Your President is Reading
THE OFFENDER: Infowars writer Adan Salazar
THE NEWS: CNN cuts off Bernie Sanders after calling them 'Fake News'
THE TRUTH: Sanders makes obvious joke, technical problems ensue
THE RUB: Unverified information, CNN is the Devil
One of the things I'm hoping to illustrate here is that mock-journalism like Breitbart, Prison Planet, and The Daily show (yes, we're gonna analyze both sides, no teams here) do much more implying than they do informing. "A" happened, therefore "C." An article like the one here lets you create "B" from your existing political ideas. Sanders is clearly making a joke, then his IFB fails. CNN is aware that they've been called "Fake news," this is not new information for them. If you don't think critically, you've gone ahead made some assumptions, and what happens when we assume? This "News" by very definition isn't news, because the so-called journalists failed to cite references or verify facts. The story below floats across conservative news sites in a wave- and only conservative news sites- to its final destination: the president's Twitter. Sunday morning 18 hours after InfoWar's posting, the president regurgitates it like fact. Click to watch.
What's more frightening is the next day, this happens:
If that doesn't scare you, it should. Scan Infowars for a bit and imagine the leader of the free world believes the paranoid tidbits are truth.
This is how we're gonna do things.
We are a new site for news junkies. We start the day with NPR and we end the day with BBC. Slate, Huff Post, whatever pops up on our news app, Fox News, several podcasts, scan Infowars, then the Daily Show for laughs. We love information and we love facts. We love political strategy and we love watching it play out in front of us. What we don't love is manipulation, and you are manipulated everyday by click-bait headlines, by assumptions, by implications, by bad journalism. The problem is: bad journalism isn't just feeding our parents mis-information via Fox News anymore, it's swaying elections. The historical purveyors of Fake News have burrowed into our daily information diet. What's worse is they've embraced the phrase "Fake News" and hurled it at back at our trusted news sources. The times have changed, we live in a post-integrity world. On this site we'll be sharing what we think are the day's worst offenders – Left and Right. We need to course correct and its going to start with re-learning what facts and critical thinking are. Let's forget being anti-Trump or anti-Left, let's just be pro-fact. OK here we go.
We're not in Kansas anymore.
"If I watched Fox News I wouldn't vote for me either." Barack Obama
No, there haven't been 18 school shootings this year February 16, 2018
Alexa doesn't believe in Jesus. December 28, 2017
This Guy Thinks Sweden is on Fire February 20, 2017
I Give You the News Source Your President is Reading February 12, 2017
This is how we're gonna do things. February 12, 2017


text:
Full ANC coverage is less than 50% in 81% of Indian districts: State and district-level analysis, NFHS-5 (2019-21)
ANC attendance is critical in the early identification of health issues that may lead to negative outcomes of the pregnancy and working towards managing them and preventing further complications. During these sessions, women are screened for pregnancy-related complications such as anaemia, preeclampsia, sexually transmitted diseases, hypertension, diabetes, etc and appropriate management of these conditions.
Ride the Ferrous Wheel: Break the intergenerational cycle of Anemia
All population groups in India are engulfed by anemia, with women and children affected disproportionately. Iron deficiency-anemia has been the biggest cause of disability for the past 10 years and has contributed towards 20 per cent direct and 50 per cent associated maternal deaths in India.
India is Making Stellar Progress in Caring for the Pregnant Women
The cornerstone of good health of an expectant mother and her child is regular antenatal (ANC) check ups during the 3 terms of pregnancy.
2016: A busy year for health ministry
The year also saw conduct of a single and uniform entrance examination for admissions to virtually all government and private medical colleges, after the Supreme Court in April directed that NEET (Under Graduate) will come into effect immediately.
Ministry of health launches scheme to provide quality antenatal care to pregnant women
The Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan has been launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to provide fixed-day assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care to all pregnant women on the 9th day of every month.


China Wonder (2301 Georgia Ave NW, Ste F near Georgia Ave & Bryant St) - Chinese Food NEW!
El Torogoz Restaurant (4231 9th St NW near 9th St & Upshur St) - Chinese Food NEW!
Grand China Carryout 2 (1201 S Capital St SE near M St & Capitol St S) - Chinese Food NEW!
Jenny's Asian Fusion (1000 Water St SW near M St & 4th St) - Chinese Food NEW!


text:
import errno
import re
import os

class OEList(list):
    """OpenEmbedded 'list' type

    Acts as an ordinary list, but is constructed from a string value and a
    separator (optional), and re-joins itself when converted to a string with
    str().  Set the variable type flag to 'list' to use this type, and the
    'separator' flag may be specified (defaulting to whitespace)."""

    name = "list"

    def __init__(self, value, separator = None):
        if value is not None:
            list.__init__(self, value.split(separator))
        else:
            list.__init__(self)

        if separator is None:
            self.separator = " "
        else:
            self.separator = separator

    def __str__(self):
        return self.separator.join(self)

def choice(value, choices):
    """OpenEmbedded 'choice' type

    Acts as a multiple choice for the user.  To use this, set the variable
    type flag to 'choice', and set the 'choices' flag to a space separated
    list of valid values."""
    if not isinstance(value, basestring):
        raise TypeError("choice accepts a string, not '%s'" % type(value))

    value = value.lower()
    choices = choices.lower()
    if value not in choices.split():
        raise ValueError("Invalid choice '%s'.  Valid choices: %s" %
                         (value, choices))
    return value

class NoMatch(object):
    """Stub python regex pattern object which never matches anything"""
    def findall(self, string, flags=0):
        return None

    def finditer(self, string, flags=0):
        return None

    def match(self, flags=0):
        return None

    def search(self, string, flags=0):
        return None

    def split(self, string, maxsplit=0):
        return None

    def sub(pattern, repl, string, count=0):
        return None

    def subn(pattern, repl, string, count=0):
        return None

NoMatch = NoMatch()

def regex(value, regexflags=None):
    """OpenEmbedded 'regex' type

    Acts as a regular expression, returning the pre-compiled regular
    expression pattern object.  To use this type, set the variable type flag
    to 'regex', and optionally, set the 'regexflags' type to a space separated
    list of the flags to control the regular expression matching (e.g.
    FOO[regexflags] += 'ignorecase').  See the python documentation on the
    're' module for a list of valid flags."""

    flagval = 0
    if regexflags:
        for flag in regexflags.split():
            flag = flag.upper()
            try:
                flagval |= getattr(re, flag)
            except AttributeError:
                raise ValueError("Invalid regex flag '%s'" % flag)

    if not value:
        # Let's ensure that the default behavior for an undefined or empty
        # variable is to match nothing. If the user explicitly wants to match
        # anything, they can match '.*' instead.
        return NoMatch

    try:
        return re.compile(value, flagval)
    except re.error as exc:
        raise ValueError("Invalid regex value '%s': %s" %
                         (value, exc.args[0]))

def boolean(value):
    """OpenEmbedded 'boolean' type

    Valid values for true: 'yes', 'y', 'true', 't', '1'
    Valid values for false: 'no', 'n', 'false', 'f', '0'
    """

    if not isinstance(value, basestring):
        raise TypeError("boolean accepts a string, not '%s'" % type(value))

    value = value.lower()
    if value in ('yes', 'y', 'true', 't', '1'):
        return True
    elif value in ('no', 'n', 'false', 'f', '0'):
        return False
    raise ValueError("Invalid boolean value '%s'" % value)

def integer(value, numberbase=10):
    """OpenEmbedded 'integer' type

    Defaults to base 10, but this can be specified using the optional
    'numberbase' flag."""

    return int(value, int(numberbase))

_float = float
def float(value, fromhex='false'):
    """OpenEmbedded floating point type

    To use this type, set the type flag to 'float', and optionally set the
    'fromhex' flag to a true value (obeying the same rules as for the
    'boolean' type) if the value is in base 16 rather than base 10."""

    if boolean(fromhex):
        return _float.fromhex(value)
    else:
        return _float(value)

def path(value, relativeto='', normalize='true', mustexist='false'):
    value = os.path.join(relativeto, value)

    if boolean(normalize):
        value = os.path.normpath(value)

    if boolean(mustexist):
        try:
            open(value, 'r')
        except IOError as exc:
            if exc.errno == errno.ENOENT:
                raise ValueError("{0}: {1}".format(value, os.strerror(errno.ENOENT)))

    return value

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Questions? Contact the Political Science pre-law adviser, Julie Walters.
Pre-law studies at Oakland University offer an academic focus that is interdisciplinary in nature. Offered to all students, this course of study is a compatible addition to many degree programs. It is intended for students who are interested in applying to law school and who wish to pursue careers in law.
Students who are considering pre-law studies are encouraged to fully explore the contents of this site, which not only provides valuable information about the requirements involved, but also information and guidance to help you determine whether or not law school is the right place for you. Students who have already made the decision to apply to law school following graduation will find valuable links and resources to help them navigate through the application process.


text:
Retrial for slaying of Knox pregnant woman nears jury
A jury is expected Tuesday to begin deliberating the fate of a Knoxville man on trial for the second time in the slaying of his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn son.
Retrial for slaying of Knox pregnant woman nears jury A jury is expected Tuesday to begin deliberating the fate of a Knoxville man on trial for the second time in the slaying of his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn son. Check out this story on knoxnews.com: http://knoxne.ws/2xcN000
Jamie Satterfield, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee Published 6:30 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2017 | Updated 6:48 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2017
Norman Eugene Clark during his second murder trial where he is accused of killing his girlfriend, Brittany Eldridge, and their unborn son in Dec 2011. The trial is in Knox County Criminal Court before Judge Monday, Sep. 18, 2017.(Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)Buy Photo
Closing arguments are scheduled Tuesday morning in Knox County Criminal Court in the case of Norman Eugene Clark, 34, in the December 2011 deaths of Brittany Eldridge, 25, and the couple's unborn son, Ezekiel.
Eldridge was weeks away from giving birth when she was found dead on the floor in the bedroom of her Cross Creek apartment off Western Avenue. She was naked but not sexually assaulted.
► RELATED: Suspect in slaying of pregnant woman says he's a player, not a killer
She was both strangled and suffocated, with the killer pressing against her throat possibly with a forearm and clamping a hand over her mouth as she struggled. The killer also grabbed scissors from the bedroom and stabbed her in the neck twice. Ezekiel suffocated inside her womb after she was slain.
Brittany Eldridge (Photo: Brittany and Zeke Foundation)
A real whodunit
There is no forensic evidence directly linking Clark to the slaying, and he has a partial alibi. He insists he is innocent. Eleven jurors in his first trial in August 2015 believed him — or at least believed the state had failed to prove he was guilty — but a 12th juror refused to budge from her vote of guilty. Judge Steve Sword was forced to declare a mistrial.
No new evidence has been unearthed. The only thing that has changed in the case is how Assistant District Attorneys General Leslie Nassios and Hector Sanchez have presented what evidence they do have.
► RELATED: Slain pregnant woman's mom testifies suspect's attitude 'totally changed'
As Sword noted Monday in remarks from the bench, "the only issue present in this case is who did it."
Defense attorney Kit Rodgers contends the killer could have been a burglar surprised to find Eldridge home. There were signs of burglary. The contents of Eldridge's purse were strewn about. Two televisions had been removed from their stands and placed on the floor. Drawers were opened.
Assistant District Attorney General Leslie Nassios, right, and defense attorney Kitt Rodgers talk before the start of the fourth day of testimony in the second murder trial of Norman Eugene Clark Wednesday, Sep. 14, 2017. Clark is accused of killing his girlfriend, Brittany Eldridge, and their unborn son. The trial is in Knox County Criminal Court before Judge Steven Sword. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)
But nothing was taken, including Eldridge's debit card with password code attached. Tiffani Hamlin, who was then a Knoxville Police Department crime scene investigator, testified last week she believed the scene was staged to look like a burglary.
Did Clark have time to commit murder?
On Monday, FBI Agent Kevin R. Horan told jurors of a controversial cell phone analysis method the agency crafted — and has used in such cases as the Boston Marathon bombing — which put Clark's phone within a mile radius of Eldridge's apartment at a time when she would have arrived home from work.
FBI agent Kevin Horan presenting evidence of the location of cellphone towers during the second murder trial of Norman Eugene Clark, accused of killing his girlfriend, Brittany Eldridge, and their unborn son in Dec 2011. The trial is in Knox County Criminal Court before Judge Steven Sword Monday, Sep. 18, 2017. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)
That analysis showed Clark's phone was turned off at 9:06 p.m. on the night she was believed killed. Three text messages were sent from Eldridge's phone to Clark's between roughly 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. His alibi witness — another in a string of girlfriends he was romancing in December 2011 — testified she awoke to find Clark in her bedroom, a short drive from Eldridge's apartment, at 10:40 p.m.
Nassios contends it was Clark who sent that 10 p.m. text to make it appear Eldridge was alive, but she has no evidence to support that. Rodgers insists that 10 p.m. text is proof Eldridge was still alive at that time, and Clark could not have killed her, staged the burglary and arrived at his paramour's place by 10:40 p.m.
Clark told police he actually arrived at his paramour's home sometime around 9:30. She was asleep, he said, so he watched football in the living room before going into the bedroom. Clark can't prove that.
Either way, both sides agree the window of opportunity for Clark to kill Eldridge is a narrow one.
No DNA match on any evidence
TBI forensic sciences supervisor Keith Proctor testified Monday as a defense witness. He confirmed he found none of Clark's DNA on any of the evidence sent to the agency's laboratory for analysis.
He specifically excluded Clark as the source of male DNA found on a negligee that was found partially folded and resting atop Eldridge's body. The source of that DNA has never been identified. There were other items of clothing folded on top of a nearby dresser, and Nassios has theorized it fell onto her body during the struggle.
Nassios contends Clark is the only person with motive to kill Eldridge, arguing he was in relationships with a number of women who did not know about each other, and Eldridge was speaking out about the fact that he was her unborn son's father. She also insists Clark was struggling financially and feared Eldridge would sue him for child support, which would have led another woman with whom he had a child to follow suit.
Knox County Assistant District Attorney Leslie Nassios during the second murder trial of Norman Eugene Clark, accused of killing his girlfriend, Brittany Eldridge, and their unborn son in Dec 2011. The trial is in Knox County Criminal Court before Judge Steven Sword Monday, Sep. 18, 2017. (Photo: Michael Patrick/News Sentinel)
Clark had agreed to meet Eldridge the night of the slaying, but he told police he blew it off, as he had done many times throughout their relationship.
Rodgers argues Clark was a smooth talker who knew how to keep his girlfriends — whom he termed "my females" — happy even if they learned he was sleeping around. Women were still flocking to him after he was charged in Eldridge's death, jail records showed.
Rodgers used testimony from Clark's mother, Estella Clark, to show that she and her husband were always willing to help Clark financially. He lived in their home rent-free, Rodgers pointed out.
Read or Share this story: http://knoxne.ws/2xcN000
Campbell County earthquake felt in downtown Knoxville
Restaurant inspections: Employee smoking in kitchen; buildup on equipment noted
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HomeOpinions'Diving in' with digital reading, distractions and all
'Diving in' with digital reading, distractions and all
Heather Swenddal Opinions
It's a question being asked in all corners of academia, including TESOL:
"… how can universities help students read text thoughtfully, reflectively, and without distraction on digital devices?" — Naomi Brown, 2016.
The digital revolution has transformed education. Gone — or nearly — are the days of overstuffed backpacks, weighty with hardback textbooks. Their replacement: slim tech devices, capable of holding and accessing a lifetime's worth of texts. These are e-readers, tablets, laptops and even phones — each of them gloriously enriched, offering search tools and annotation apps, with in-device access to an Internet universe of contextualizing information.
This is reading in the 21st century: connected.
For some, a preference for print
For those of us who lived through the early days of this transformation, we know it was rife with debate. Even now, book lovers lament the sensory compromise of e-reading: the lack of olfactory comfort, of the earthy pulpy weight that grounded us to the here and now. They point out the downside of device-reading's connectivity: temptation and distractions.
Among the critics of digital reading are some students who find it easier to concentrate with paper texts. This was a major finding of linguist Naomi Brown's recent study, which she summarizes in an overview on The Conversation:
"When asked on which medium they felt they concentrated best, 92 percent replied "print." For long academic readings, 86 percent favored print. Participants also reported being more likely to reread academic materials if they were in print. … in talking about digital screens, students noted 'danger of distraction' and 'no concentration.'"
What's interesting about this finding and many others like it is that it focuses on student perception and preference. But Brown herself reminds us, "student perceptions are not the same thing as measurable learning outcomes."
And perceptions can be changed, as writer Clive Thompson points out in his engaging reflective essay, "Reading War and Peace on my IPhone." He suggests that concentration is more about orientation to the task — the beliefs we're bringing to our engagement with the medium:
"When we believe that reading on a phone is equally "serious" as reading on paper, we internalize that reading just as deeply" (Thompson, 2016).
Recognizing realities of the digital revolution
Whether or not they're concerned about distraction, students' technological practices are undeniable. Smartphones abound. Laptops engulf them. And while it may be tempting to try to ban these devices from our classrooms entirely, a wiser approach may be to view them as affordances, working with students to use them responsibly.
After all, suggests digital-reading scholar N. Katherine Hayles, this is where the world is heading:
"Young people, who vote with their feet in college, are marching in…the digital direction. No doubt those who already read well will take classes based on close reading and benefit from them, but what about others whose print-reading skills are not as highly developed? To reach them, we must start close to where they are, rather than where we imagine or hope they might be." (Hayles, cited here.)
'Diving in' to meet students where they're at
The approach Hayles suggests here echoes a similar call 40 years ago by legendary writing teacher Mina Shaughnessy, who urged her colleagues to respond to the influx of 'remedial' discourse learners in higher education not with condemnation for their habits, but with an earnest interest in their life experiences and orientations, and the patience to engage them in shared discovery.
"[T]he teacher who has come this far must now make a decision that demands professional courage — the decision to remediate himself, to become a student of new disciplines and his students themselves in order to perceive both their difficulties and their incipient excellence," (Shaugnessy, 1976, "Diving in: an introduction to basic writing").
Though Shaughnessy was talking about 'diving in' to education more broadly, her words are transferable to this 21st-century context. For teachers to help students grapple with the distractions that accompany the affordances of learning technologies, we must 'dive in' and understand their experiences. We must engage them in dialogue about our shared goals, and together find ways of managing distraction and using these devices responsibly.
Tips for thriving in a connected classroom
1. Set expectations early and collaboratively. On the first day of class, talk to students about managing digital distractions together. Ask for their suggestions. Do you need two-minute 'tech breaks' every hour? Do you want to all agree to use a social-media blocking app during class time? They've likely thought about this before, and might have better ideas than you!
2. Educate yourself on digital reading literature. The University of California at Berkeley's Center for Teaching and Learning has a fabulous introduction to this topic, complete with teaching suggestions and a wealth of recommended readings to explore.
3. Educate your students about the range of options at their fingertips — including occasional use of print. Print out a headier text from time to time and teach students how to do old-school annotation, with actual margin notes and wet-ink highlights. During post-task reflection, talk about how to transfer these practices to digital reading, and talk through their range of options for getting closely familiar with texts.
Discussed in this post
Brown, N. (2016). Do students lose depth in digital reading. TheConversation.com. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from https://theconversation.com/do-students-lose-depth-in-digital-reading-61897
Center for Teaching & Learning. (2016). What We "Know" About Reading Digitally. Teaching.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://teaching.berkeley.edu/what-we-know-about-reading-digitally
Shaughnessy, M. (1976). Diving in: An Introduction to Basic Writing. College Composition And Communication, 27(3), 234. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/357036
Thompson, C. (2016). Reading War and Peace on my iPhone. BOOK RIOT. Retrieved 28 August 2016, from http://bookriot.com/quarterly/bkr07/
Do you have tips for helping students manage distraction while reading on digital devices? Please share in the comments!


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As a well-established, financially strong organisation, operating from freehold premises, we focus on a vision of continued growth whilst still providing excellence in fulfilment services together with an individual approach to every customer. Each member of the Walker Logistics team has the experience, expertise and insight relevant to offer the best warehousing, distribution and fulfilment activities.
Our modern multi-client Membury HQ is located at Lambourn Woodlands, close to Junction 14 of the M4 motorway and our freehold site includes five main operating units offering over 250,000 square feet of ambient temperature high quality warehousing space with state of the art digital security systems supported by on site guards and canine protection. We have over 80 full time employees plus contracted staff when required, as well as office suites available for customers use should they require them.
Centrally positioned in the South of England we are conveniently located to receive products being only one hours travelling time from both London Heathrow Airport and the Port of Southampton. In addition, proximity to major distribution networks allow for European wide fulfilment in the shortest possible time via our own fleet or vehicles or those of carefully selected partners.
We offer multiple industry/product experience and our philosophy is to create business partnerships with our customers providing dedicated staff and one point of contact and control.
Our flexible approach and expertise enables us to take responsibility for the management of all logistics activities on behalf of our customers and act as a 'one stop shop' supply chain partner. We have an unrivalled reputation for providing efficient e-commerce fulfilment services combined with delivering stock to largescale distribution centres, independent trade or direct to stores complying with the necessary bespoke preparation. These activities include special projects on an ad-hoc or recurring basis where dedicated teams and production areas are provided for re-work, collation, assembly, labelling or specialized packing.
We currently have long term contracts with over 50 UK and International clients in a variety of sectors who use our services because of our customer driven approach, flexibility and high quality standards.
Partnering with Walker Logistics will allow the employees of your company to focus totally on what matters most to them, with the reassurance they have a logistics partner performing to the level and expectations required, that can grow with you and offer continued scalability and cost efficiencies as needed in the future.


Responding is Jim Falcinelli, marketing manager, Hytest Safety Footwear, Rockford, MI.
Safety footwear providers should be capable of assisting you in recommending appropriate footwear for each potential hazard area. The best method is actually walking your plant and viewing the various areas.
When the provider presents the recommended safety footwear, based on your hazard assessment, it should meet your budget, perform as promised and contain all the safety components required. Most important, you should be presented with options for each hazard.
Onsite mobile truck delivery. This method involves a "shoe store on wheels" coming to your plant. Employees simply go out to the truck, and the operator sizes the employee and presents the correct specified footwear options for the work area. A confirmation form is completed and signed by both the operator and the employee. At month's end, an invoice confirming the actual footwear supplied is sent to you.
Keep this in mind: If seasonal weather is a problem in your area, the truck may not be able to get to your facility at the specified time. For this reason, this delivery method can be supplemented with the next two.
Retail locations. Employees can go to stores and select from an extensive line of styles. The employee can pay on the spot or payment arrangements can be made with the service provider.
Keep this in mind: When reviewing the service provider, make sure store personnel are fully trained and understand the directives of OSHA's footwear PPE requirements.
Website ordering. This method involves employees logging on to an employer-specified provider's website and selecting footwear. Usually, shipping is free.
Keep this in mind: Be sure the provider's website has a PPE section detailing PPE requirements and standards of how to don, doff and maintain the footwear. Also, make sure the employee has a way to measure his or her feet, as return rates on website orders are high due to incorrectly fitting footwear.
Upfront, the safety footwear supplier should have a working knowledge of OSHA PPE compliance as stated in 1910.132(f)(1) requirements.
Some suppliers have taken this a step further and employ a PPE-certified specialist to train their sales force in the PPE standards.
The best method of obtaining safety footwear for your employees is a combination of the above elements. Understanding what a specific supplier can and cannot provide is critical to the overall performance you will receive.


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The Perpetual Quest for Efficiency Part 2: Gradient and Morphological Selection
(Part 1 here)
Gradient Selection
Preferential flow phenomena are specific cases of what Phillips (2010, 2011) called the principle of gradient selection: the most efficient flux gradients are preferentially utilized, preserved, and replicated. Gradient selection is based on the twofold notion that (1) the most efficient potential flow paths are preferentially selected; and (2) use of or flow along these paths further enhances their efficiency and/or contributes to their preservation. While Phillips (2010) was concerned with hydrologic flows and geomorphic processes, the evolution of preferential flow paths by gradient selection has broader applicability.
Selection of more efficient paths is not perfect. This selection sometimes occurs deliberately, even intentionally, as when root growth seeks to optimize access to water and nutrients, or a human (or other large fauna) seeks to find the easiest path through thick brush. In other cases, potential transport paths of varying efficiency are encountered by chance (e.g., by sheet flow on a hillslope, or diffuse infiltration into soil). In both cases the mechanisms for route selection are imperfect, and the "decisions" are highly local—in the examples, neither the animal, root, or flowing water can "see" beyond its immediate surroundings.
Karst conduits exposed in a pocket valley, central Kentucky
The strongest forms of gradient selection involve positive feedback, where use of a pathway enhances its flux efficiency—for instance, when karst fracture flow enlarges the conduit by dissolution, or concentrated surface runoff incises a channel. A weaker version is when flow or use simply does not degrade the efficiency of a route. Sometimes this does happen, as for example when material transported by percolating water results in clogging of pores, or when overuse of an unpaved road or path renders it rutted and muddy.
Feedback and efficiency selection in surface runoff.
The positive feedbacks generally involve creating or enhancing features that are relatively resistant and tend to persist, such as gullies, stream channels, macropores, ground water conduits, and well-trampled footpaths. However, this does not always occur, and may be limited, for example when a conduit enlarges to the point of collapse or a trail becomes severely eroded and more difficult to traverse.
Morphological selection
In geomorphology there also exists morphological selection via resistance (Phillips, 2011). Weathering and erosion preferentially or more rapidly remove weaker, less resistant, less stable, and more exposed materials and features, thus preferentially preserving more resistant and stable ones. Sometimes positive feedback accelerates resistance selection via gradient selection, as mass and energy fluxes become concentrated along channels and other pathways cut into weaker materials.
Resistant sandstone, Three Sisters formation, Blue Mountains, New South Wales
But this does not always, inexorably lead toward increasing domination by the more resistant forms. In part this is because of the role of disturbances and changing boundary conditions. But we must also consider differential resistance of the same materials to different processes and in different contexts. Quartz sand, for instance is a strong, stable, low-solubility material that is highly resistant to modification by chemical weathering. However, sandy soils or sediments may be highly vulnerable to wind or water erosion, though even that will vary according to topographic settings, hydrological context, and vegetation cover. Similarly, many limestones have a high degree of physical strength and are resistant to mechanical erosion, but are soluble and have low resistance to dissolution.
Resistance may also change over time, sometimes due to the opposing forces or processes. Aging, senescence, death and decay of organisms and organic structures decreases resistance over time, for instance, and undercutting of slopes increases their propensity for failure. Erosion and weathering may eventually result in increased surficial resistance due to armoring, crusting or sealing, or case hardening. Rock weathering reduces rock mass strength, but also produces resistant residuals and secondary minerals.
Turtle-turbation on a sand bar, Sabine River, Texas/Louisiana. Quartz sand is highly resistant to chemical weathering, and more resistant to transport than silt, but otherwise relatively easy to move around by water, wind, and turtles.
Finally, denudational forces are often applied to layered regoliths, soils, and sedimentary rocks, and to materials and surfaces that are heterogeneous in three dimensions. Thus it is not unusual for the removal of weaker materials to expose more resistant ones.
Next: Barriers to Continuous Increases in Efficiency
Phillips, J.D. 2010. The job of the river. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 35: 305-313.
Phillips, J.D. 2011. Emergence and pseudo-equilibrium in geomorphology. Geomorphology 132: 319-326.
jdp's blog


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For retro gamers, it is definitely a concern. And we are legion.
Ace Grace about Current Gen Games
Dream: The Hypersloth Interview - t...
Rayman Fiesta Run Review...
Dream: The Hypersloth Interview - Part 1
16/11/2013 at 14:31 Dale Morgan 4 COMMENTS.
Source - Hypersloth
- Hypersloth, Dream, Indie, PC, Interview
As teased yesterday, here's the first part of our Interview with Hypersloth, creators of Dream. In the first part, we mainly cover the game itself and some of the approach that the team have taken with their design as well as the origins of the title. We'll have the second part for you tomorrow, which covers the next-gen, the industry and Oculus Rift. Enjoy!
Hi Sam, care to introduce yourself and the team to our readers?
My name's Sam Read, and I'm one of the co-founders at Hypersloth; I work mainly on the level design of the game.
We also have Lewis Bibby, our lead artist. Our last co-founder is Ashley Sidebottom. We hired our first guy a few months ago: Gary Lloyd, who's also an artist. [Author's note: Gary is doing a lot of the environmental and 3D work on Dream].
Who does the narration and music for the game?
We actually have two people who we outsource to. We have Jonathan [Keith] who's our great voice actor and he actually does all the voice acting for the game. So far, we only have the one character in the game. We're looking at maybe expanding that, but [if we do] we won't have many.
Then our musician is Norman Legies [Author's note: for anyone wondering, it's pronounced Lee-Jiss!]. We're really happy with all the music that Norman's done for the game.
I've certainly enjoyed all of the music that I've heard so far. Jonathan Keith actually reminded me a bit of the narrator in The Stanley Parable.
The game's set in England, so you play an English graduate. We wanted the voice to sound quite British and we think Jonathan does that quite well. He's quite a posh London boy himself, which is definitely the sound we were going for! [Laughs]
We actually met him at the Eurogamer Expo last year, and we were lucky to have him working on the booth with us this year, so everyone got the chance to talk to the voice behind Howard.
It's been a while since we last spoke. How have things been going since the Eurogamer Expo in September?
We put out our Halloween patch, so we had to gear up for that, and now we're sort of back on track with what we have to be doing with the next update, so we've been pretty busy!
So tell me a bit about Dream. What is it?
We always like to think of it as an atmospheric-exploration game. So when it comes to the gameplay you're exploring these environments; we try to make it so that there's always something for the player to see and do and then on the way to doing that, they'll see something else. We always want things to be popping out at the player. It's also very narrative-driven. So you play as a guy called Howard Phillips, who's a young graduate who doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life. He goes into his dreams to sort of introspect and find out who he is; then we try to marry that up with the gameplay as much as possible as obviously you're exploring through these worlds.
How long roughly do you think it might take people to complete the game, from start to finish?
For a normal-paced run, probably around 8 hours; to see everything and go and do all the side-missions, probably closer to 10.
That's very good actually. A lot of the experience-led games that are coming out at the moment tend to be fairly short in length.
Yeah, games like Dear Esther and Gone Home are about 1 or 2 hour experiences. We've been working on our game for about a year and a half now and both of those games came out whilst we've been in development, so we've been able to see what they've been doing. But it's actually quite nice not to have been swayed that way, as obviously if we were to develop it now we would have had those ideas in our head that it should be that length. So in a way it's nice that we wrote and designed our game before those came out so we weren't swayed by them at all.
I think it's great because one of the criticisms that often gets mentioned with games like that – as fantastic as I and many others think they are – is the length of them, particularly relative to the price. Personally I think that's a bit strange, but 8-10 hours is great – you get some full-price £40 games now that offer less content than that, for example.
Yeah. Obviously one thing that we have to make sure of is that the quality stands with the quantity. We definitely think it is at the minute, it's just one thing we always look at and we know we have to make a fun 10-hour experience, not just a 10-hour experience.
You've pretty much answered this one already, but "Experience gaming", "not-games", "games-as-art"... no-one seems to know quite what to call this new blossoming genre. If someone asked you to categorise Dream in a few easy words, how would you describe it?
We normally say it's an exploration game. Obviously you're exploring the environment and in this game you're also exploring your character and we try to do that all through the game, whether it's exploring the world or going through [in-game] PC files and exploring.
I've talked to Dan Pinchbeck [Creative Director for The Chinese Room] a lot about how they talk about Dear Esther and they also try to call it an exploration game.
What was the inspiration behind Dream? Were there any games in particular that influenced your direction, or did it more come out of discussions between yourself and the rest of the team?
So, in the year before we started development, Lewis (one of our artists) wanted to develop a dream world for one of his projects at University. Me and him were working on a game together anyway and we just thought "ok, we'll scrap that and we'll start this game, where it's in dream worlds, but we'll take this year to develop the idea and talk about it."
So then he went off and did that, and made a really nice Desert world, which probably grew into the sort of world you saw at the Eurogamer Expo. And then Ash was working with someone else on another thing, just another project and we saw what he was doing and thought that was really interesting, so we brought him on board and then the three of us started up Hypersloth. We've been doing that for about a year and a half. We got Gary on board once we got funding, so it was nice to grow the team and bring more talent into the company.
You mentioned when we spoke at the Expo that after release, you wanted to go back to University and finish your degrees, as you'd taken a year out.
Yeah. We did two years of our degree and then instead of doing a placement at a studio, we did a year-long business course so we could start our own business. And then just after that year finished, we got funding to finish the game, so we decided to take another year out. At the minute, we're sort of still classed as students but really we're away from University completely for this year. But then yeah, definitely all four of us want to go back and finish our studies next year.
If Dream becomes successful, how do you think you'll manage that alongside your University work? It must be quite an intimidating prospect.
[Laughs] Obviously, we want it do well. We'd love for it to take off! It's one of things where myself and Lewis were designing it and working out what direction we wanted to take for a year beforehand, and then it's been a 2-year lifecycle developing it. I think we'd actually quite like to do that again over the final year: make some prototypes and think what our next game's going to be; not rush it, just sort of work it out. Then when we finish university we can just start straight away.
Any plans or ideas for post-release content at all, or is the game going to stand as its own thing?
We think it will stand as its own thing. Obviously we'll do the general patch updates. I don't know, we may add one or two things but I don't think there's going to be any DLC.
Any prospect of a developer commentary to listen to while you're playing through the game? It's something a couple of games are doing these days now.
I think that's actually something we would probably like to do. It's more if we do it, we'd have to think about putting it in other languages. The contract we have with our publisher says we have to do everything in about 6 or 7 languages. But it's definitely something we'd be interested in doing. Obviously when it comes to things like Portal 2 – well, all the Valve games do it now – I really enjoyed playing through those with the commentary, so it's something I've enjoyed in the past.
I think Gone Home has recently had a commentary track added to it. I believe they did a free DLC update.
Oh really? I didn't know that, it would be interesting to play that again with a commentary.
I noticed that the main character, Howard Phillips, is a cheeky reference to H.P Lovecraft and his Dreamland works. Are there any other links with his works to be found?
Not so much with Lovecraft. There are more references to other writers and novelists. When it gets into the story, a lot of the stuff that we've left out of the early access happens to be that kind of thing. When it comes to the full game, a lot of that stuff will be in the second and third acts, so we've tried not to give any of that sort of thing away, but there will be other references to creative writing.
I'm sure a lot of people will have fun discussing amongst themselves whether the references mean something other than just being there for a bit of fun, or if there are wider links to the game and things like that.
That's what we're hoping! We've also tried to link it in to Howard and his uncle Edward, who's also one of the main characters in the game. He's just passed away, so you never see him and he's not actually in the world with you, but his presence is quite strong in the game so we try and link that with other authors and what may have influenced them, and what they would like, and so it all actually makes sense in the [game's] universe as well.
Parts of the game show a very dark, almost sinister tone. If you remember, the maze section made me jump the first time I played through it! Was it a conscious decision to unnerve the player and introduce almost a horror vibe in parts of the game, or did it evolve over time?
It's definitely something we wanted. We wanted your heart to race a little playing the game. It's more that with exploration games, if it was just exploration it would maybe get a bit tedious. You need these ups and downs. Gone Home I think does it in a great way, where when you walk into one of the bedrooms a branch bangs on the window and makes these scratching sounds. And in Dear Esther there are the ghosts up on the cliffs which you can see. So it's more something we feel that you need to keep the player interested and invested [in the experience].
It's also for that exact reason that we added puzzles to the game. There's actually going to be quite a few horror sections and quite a few puzzle sections so it varies and never stays too stilted.
I'd definitely agree with that. You've done a good job with the pacing so far. I'm looking forward to getting my teeth into the final game when you finish it.
Thank you! I don't know if you've seen it yet because it's something we only recently put in a few weeks ago, but we put out our update during Halloween, where we added the first Nightmare. So with the mazes, we sort of implement a bit of jump-horror; you'll go around a corner and there'll be a monster there. When it came to the nightmares, they're all set in the house that you start in. We wanted those to be more psychological horror, so in the nightmare that we've currently released, there are these cameras watching you and writing on the walls. That was a lot of fun to do!
I think a lot of people will like that, with some of the suspicions surrounding things like Kinect and the new consoles.
[Laughs] Yeah!
And that's it for the first part of the interview! Check back tomorrow for the second part. Hope you enjoyed it!
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