text:
April Ascii Fun
Dwarf Fortress was recently updated. You probably tried to get addicted, but couldn't figure out what was going on. Me too. Here's an illustrated summary of the kind of things we're missing out on. Previously
posted by mccarty.tim (76 comments total) 40 users marked this as a favorite
What's disturbing is that I have trouble understanding Dwarf Fortress without the incomprehensible ASCII interface.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 4:29 PM on April 23, 2010 [4 favorites]
I haven't tried this game but some people who are close to me adore it, so I hear about it a lot. I like new releases because the bug reports are hilarious and amazing. Some highlights from this release, quoted verbatim:
"Likot Nomalstesok, Dwarven Baby cancels Clean Self: Too insane."
Outpost liason dead on arrival. His corpse appeared on the edge of the map in my 2nd winter. There are no relevant combat reports. No blood either.
I found a forgotten beast in the legends. A great humanoid made of vomit and external ribs.
I just managed to find my way as an adventurer through the caves to the great magma sea. Then I fell in by accident. I'm now drowning, but noticed that I was getting no wounds. It took a long time for me to get any wounds, and so far they are very moderate. It seems it takes too long for magma to heat the adventurer's flesh to the point of burning. Adventurers should be perfectly able to swim across fairly wide magma rivers before dying. Maybe longer if they hug blizzardmen first.
I decided to swim across the ocean as a normal, unmodded dwarf, in a normal, unmodded game. Suddenly, I get spammed with "You are melting!" and die.
This is the most entertaining game ever and I don't even play it.
posted by bewilderbeast at 4:35 PM on April 23, 2010 [24 favorites]
I tinkered around with the new version a little, but I'm still waiting on more balancing and bugfixes before I get seriously into it. It's been a very long dev cycle this time, and he's not known for obsessive bug-hunting before release. Things are so different with how combat and materials work (all creatures have their skin, bones, organs, and internal temperatures modeled), that I figure it can't really be working right yet. I'll give it another few revisions before I start seriously digging at it again.
posted by Malor at 4:36 PM on April 23, 2010
Can someone give a brief description or explanation of how this game works? I'm intrigued, but baffled. I don't know what a Rogue-like is or how it is played.
Even a bare-boned sketchy description would be appreciated. Thanks.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 4:43 PM on April 23, 2010
Can someone give a brief description or explanation of how this game works?
You control some dwarfes. You can tell them go build things and do things. Then, it gets insanely involved and complicated.
posted by Jimbob at 4:49 PM on April 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
That 'illustrated summary' made me cackle ridiculously, to the point that a roomie came by and said "What the hell are you laughing at?" I tried to explain DF, and his eyes clouded over before he asked me to stop talking about it forever.
I, also, love this game far too much to ever try playing it. (Well, I did try twice, and both times my own eyes clouded over before I gave up on the UI)
posted by FatherDagon at 4:53 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Reading about Dwarf Fortress always makes me think of the Borges story, "On Exactitude in Science". On imagines it will only be completed when Dwarf Fortress is just as complicated as the real world.
posted by pombe at 4:53 PM on April 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
Man, I only learned about Dwarf Fortress about a month ago, and I think I've seen it mentioned four times since then. I fear this game. I hope I never find myself downloading it.
posted by painquale at 4:53 PM on April 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
Here's my opinion from mefight club about the latest release. tl;dr the game is best experienced secondhand. It's gotten too stupid up close and personal.
Look, I know that there's a ton of people who admire toady's tenacity (I am one) and like his ideas, but the execution remains lacking. My chief complaint is that he spends way too much time building a Real Accurate Materials And Fluids Simulator that has marginal usefulness within the game aside from collateral yuks ("the goblin died inhaling superheated peach nectar vapor! LOOL") and punching the game's performance in the dick. He needs a real devil's advocate he can trust -- while I'm critical of his work, I can completely understand his desire to totally ignore internet critics. Consider this from the changelog above:
(*) fixed broken eyelid relationships
Broken eyelids (and the anatomy system in general) (1) make no sense (are they actually bruised? torn?) and (2) don't really impact the player's decisions or the gameplay as far as I can tell after reading the BigAss DF thread at SA. It's a completely superfluous statistic to track, bereft of merit and meaning. The time spent creating, troubleshooting and patching eyelids could have been better spent fixing dwarf weapon behavior or cleaning up the UI or anything else.
And by no means am I saying that people shouldn't take enjoyment from the game. There's a lot of things to do and explore, even if you're just building a dwarven trading outpost in a serene peaceful territory that are good fun and surprising. I like the complexity toady's programmed in when it's astonishing or funny, but more often than not they seem to be roadblocks to fun.
I still follow the DF dev logs regularly, and I'm heartened by the fact that he plans on merging in a bunch of patches soon. Maybe they'll take care of the things I take issue with.
posted by boo_radley at 4:55 PM on April 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
Why is it that nobody has ever developed a frontend for the game? It's just begging for someone to make it more accessible.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:55 PM on April 23, 2010
You control have some dwarfes. You can tell ask them go build things and do things. Usually they do. Then, it gets insanely involved and complicated.
posted by thecaddy at 4:58 PM on April 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
Since I've never gotten very deep into Dwarf Fortress, sometimes I wonder if there's really nothing going on under the hood and it's some metajoke like Steamshovel Harry.
posted by mccarty.tim at 4:58 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, insanely long and complicated and AWESOME. And I don't even do complex things like build dwarf computers. I made a wave pool to teach my dwarves to swim once and that is about as complicated as my machines get.
And then there are megafauna like dragons! You see a green flashing D on the screen prancing about and scream in anguish as it burninates all before it! And the cats everywhere! And the pebbles that keep your gate open so the hordes of killer elves come and wipe everyone out except for the last baby, who goes insane in short order and throws itself after a long, painful, dramatic crawl into a brook, where it is savaged by a carp.
My computer is too old and slow to play this release. :( Maybe when I get the next computer I can have the upgrade. Ah, it is painful the way my friends mock me for the fact my computer can't manage to run a game comprised solely of symbols. But the thing simulates so many crazy complexities it is no wonder it doesn't really run well on anything that's not a powerhouse.
And then there is a great secret within the game! I shall not spoil it, but if you play you get a SPECIAL TREAT after a while!
posted by winna at 5:01 PM on April 23, 2010 [3 favorites]
A treat called fun?
posted by TwelveTwo at 5:19 PM on April 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
I hate hearing about how great Dwarf Fortress is when I can't play it. Making a great game but making it impossible to learn is one of the meanest things a pair of brothers can do.
I would've waited until it got merged with the last 40d# patch before posting it here, as it still is very buggy.
The 40d19 version is the latest one of the outsourced work in the graphics engine. It has great performance, native ports to OSX and Linux and a lot less bugs than the current official version.
AND, the OSX and Linux ports have a TEXT setting, which means you can play remotely from a terminal, no matter the platform (standard for other roguelikes but a giant breakthrough for DF as the normal graphical interface uses bitmaps instead of real ASCII characters).
posted by Memo at 5:32 PM on April 23, 2010 [4 favorites]
My main problem with Dwarf Fortress is that while it has a ridiculously steep difficulty curve, it plateaus. Once you've gotten familiar with the game, it gets really easy. I mean, it's never not complicated, but it isn't a challenge if you're careful. Now, you can choose to roleplay your dwarves in such a way that it's hard (e.g. insisting on always meeting enemies in battle, and not just locking them out and/or killing them with traps) but it's fairly easy to set up your dwarfhold so it is impregnable.
posted by Kattullus at 5:47 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm not saying it's prerequisite, but to really get to grips with Dwarf Fortress, it helps to have been recently dumped.
posted by Kattullus at 5:51 PM on April 23, 2010 [25 favorites]
Here's a slightly less brief summary -- although I haven't played the new version yet:
A few dwarves show up on a piece of terrain and dig themselves a fortress. They need food (which they can farm), booze (which they must distill), water, housing, clothes, trade goods and eventually weapons. If they trade successfully, new migrants to their fortress show up every year or so. But you can't control your dwarves directly: you have to give them commands, and sometimes they can't obey, and sometimes they won't. Sometimes they go into creative fugues, demand rare objects (like the bone of an animal) to make top-level crats with, and go mad if they don't get it; sometimes they get frustrated if their bedroom is too small. They have favorite kinds of rock, they get married and have kids. They're complicated.
The world around them is also hugely complicated. Seasons change, water flows downhill (a big deal when you're digging tunnels), other civilizations come and go. The terrain is generated for miles underground, with layers of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, magma chambers, gems, air pockets; most of the game's exploring takes place underground.
There's no point to the game. A completely bug-tested Dwarf Fortress would be pointless, because the joy is in creating a little society robust enough to weather the freakiness produced by so many complex, abstract systems raining unpredictable effects down on the bodies of your grumpy-ass dwarves.
posted by Valet at 5:56 PM on April 23, 2010 [4 favorites]
Ergh. Crafts. Top-level crafts. I swear I previewed.
posted by Valet at 5:57 PM on April 23, 2010
jeff-o-matic: Can someone give a brief description or explanation of how this game works? I'm intrigued, but baffled. I don't know what a Rogue-like is or how it is played.
Um. Well, DF isn't really a roguelike. Roguelikes are like, well, Rogue. Rogue was an early computer game where you were an @ sign, exploring a dungeon full of critters; each critter had a unique letter. I don't remember what they were, but D, for instance, was probably a dragon. Small letters were usually small creatures, capital letters were large ones. There have been many later games in that vein; the best-known are probably Nethack, Angband, Omega, and the new Crawl. They're all fundamentally about you driving a single character in a hostile world, trying to kill things and take their stuff.
Dwarf Fortress LOOKS LIKE a roguelike, in that everything is represented with ANSI symbols, but the similarity ends there. You start with, natch, seven dwarves, with various skills that you buy in the Embark screen. You're dumped in hostile terrain with a cartload of supplies and nothing else, and you're supposed to try to build a home for your dwarves.
The thing is, you don't have direct control over anything. You express your wishes, as in, "dig this area out" or "put stairs here" or "build a carpentry shop there". But you don't know when the job will actually get done. You can tell your dwarves what jobs they should pay attention to, and they'll default to doing jobs that match their native skills, but you can't typically say "hey, you, go over here and do this thing." Your mining dwarves, for instance, might be thirsty or tired, and they'll go eat, drink, or sleep when they want to. Maybe they'll throw a party and hang out in the dining room for awhile. Eventually they'll get around to doing their jobs, and they'll pick an available task of the type they're supposed to do. Your control is limited to categorization; from there, the dwarves decide what to do.
Gradually, you'll encourage them to carve out a home, and build farms and workshops. They can make weapons, which is important for arming your soldiers. You need soldiers because, even in the most peaceful of areas, evil creatures will show up to try to kill your dwarves and take their treasure. The more treasure you have, the stronger they get and the more often they show up. And you, the unnamed guiding spirit, have to try to fight off the hordes and protect your growing fortress.
DF, by the way, is in the WoW school of thought in one regard: the earth is a thin skin over teeming evil. Anytime you dig in WoW, you're pretty much guaranteed to die. DF is similar... most (all?) fortresses in this version have very, very nasty things below ground, so you're trying to balance your tunneling and exploration for necessary minerals against the threat of Digging Too Deep and finding something terrible.
Adding to the overall difficulty level, which is already very high, is the Byzantine interface. There are user-friendly interfaces, user-hostile interfaces, and Dwarf Fortress. I can't think of any program since DOS WordPerfect that was more indecipherable. As I've said before, the interface isn't just bad, it's an active enemy, trying to keep you out of the game. Keys mysteriously change meaning as you move around between different functions, and just because two functions look similar on screen does not mean you necessarily use the same keys to control them. Sometimes, for instance, you use the primary up/down buttons, sometimes you use the secondary up/down buttons, sometimes you use both, and sometimes you use unique keys for that specific task. It makes no sense whatsoever; you have to simply memorize things.
The whole game is like that. Everything is hidden, very little is accessible. Simply understanding what's going on takes serious effort. But eventually, if you stick with it, a little "aha!" switch gets thrown in your head somewhere, and you're suddenly not looking at a bunch of crude ANSI graphics, but rather dwarves, sometimes in a desperate race for survival. Once you get to that point, the game is marvelous, but getting there is a major effort.
I agree, by the way, with the comments upthread that the skin modeling seems pretty stupid and pointless. My favorite of all the versions of Dwarf Fortress was the last of the 2D releases. I loved, loved, loved that game. The later 3D ones are still good, when taken on their own, but all the additional complexity hasn't really added any fun. If I could have any version of DF I wanted, it would be the old 2D version with the late-game bugs fixed.
posted by Malor at 6:01 PM on April 23, 2010 [9 favorites]
Kattallus:... it plateaus. Once you've gotten familiar with the game, it gets really easy.
No kidding. I had a blast and wasted probably a solid week of my life learning how to play. And for what? My last fortress had pumps and waterfalls and horribly cruel defensive systems, all built to fend off an invasion that never came. No dwarves were starving, everybody was surviving just fine and it got really boring.
I wanted the conflict that Boatmurdered promised --- epic battles against worthy foes --- and it just never materialized. The best I got was the occasional siege, and they never made it past the first line defenses.
It's probably been covered a million times on the DF forums, but I so wish DF would get open sourced. It could be so great.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 6:10 PM on April 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
I tried to explain how to play this before but my effort was sabotaged by an unclosed <ul> tag that turned several paragraphs into an impenetrable wall of text. I can't fix it myself, and it doesn't seem to be important enough for a mod to fix. Still, it took me like an hour to compile and write it all, so I'm not going to do all that again.
But I will do this.
"Thank you for purchasing DWARF FORTRESS for your PC Entertainment SystemTM! It is sure to offer you many hours/days/weeks/years of enjoyment. Be sure to read the precautions for how to treat your Dwarf Fortress Game PhileTM. Do not expose it to high temperatures, drag it to your Recycle Bin, or attack it with an axe. Refer to your PCES manual for further precautions."
DWARF FORTRESS is a fantasy colony management simulation. You follow the lives and deaths, labors and joys, victories and defeats of a group of dwarves as they go about digging tunnels, building workshops, making trade goods, and do many, many other things besides, all in an attempt to build a Moria of their very own. You must keep them fed and happy and defend the fortress from invaders. You should probably build them quarters, offices and meeting halls. You can trade with other settlements. How you do all these things is largely up to you, and there are many ways to play the game. You don't have to learn them all now; in fact, many players report that the game is actually more fun when you make mistakes and your dwarfs end up suffering for it. This gives rise to the game's motto, "Losing is fun!" It may actually be more fun than winning, but it also cannot be denied that building and maintaining a successful fortress can be a source of immense satisfaction.
Sometimes your fortress will be attacked by enemies, both monsters and humanoids, and sometimes by armies, so you need to draft some of your dwarfs into a militia, arm them and set them to defend your fortress. You can chop trees, grow crops, you can brew liquor, you can build traps and fortifications, and you can set up siege weapons. You can dig for strange and exotic minerals, happen upon mysterious underground caverns, and eventually maybe wake up demons sleeping far beneath the surface. Or, you can focus on trading, which will eventually attract more dwarfs to your fortress. You can focus on making a large quantity of goods, and treat the "Created Wealth" item on the Colony Summary screen as a "score." Or, you may choose to concentrate on the day-to-day lives of your dwarfs, each of whom have their talents and faults, likes and dislikes. There are as many ways to play as there are players.
The game tracks all of your dwarfs' actions, but you don't actually cause them to do anything directly. You play the role of a kind of overmind for the colony. You determine what the tasks to be performed are; the dwarfs then do them when they get around to it. They have some autonomy: they'll find the stuff needed to carry out a task for themselves, and you'll get a warning message if they can't for some reason. They also feed themselves and have drinks, sleep when they need to, take breaks and even do other things occasionally.
There is no way to "win" at Dwarf Fortress. Your dwarfs' efforts come all for their own satisfaction. Instead you "win" when you successfully build that moat you're working on, or find secret caverns beneath the earth, or mine adamantium, or defeat a goblin siege, or attract the Dwarf King to your fortress to live, or construct a doomsday machine, or take down a dragon, or do anything else you find entertaining. All of these things, if you enjoy them, are "winning." If you don't enjoy these things, find something that you do enjoy. There are an absurdly large number of options.
There are, however, many ways to lose. When you do lose a fortress, you can then play Adventurer mode and try to find and explore the very halls your dwarfs dug as a dungeon crawling adventure! Or you can play a Reclaim Fortress game, sending in a squad of new dwarfs to try to unseat whatever forces stole it from your first group. Eventually you can go into Legends mode and find out more about your fortress that has been discovered by adventurers, or even find out more about the strange and wonderful world in which your dwarfs live.
That is Dwarf Fortress in a nutshell: an amazingly complex colony simulator, but also an amazingly satisfying one. Its fans are some of the most devoted players on the internet, and now you have the opportunity what they are so excited about. So let's get started! Strike the earth!
posted by JHarris at 6:14 PM on April 23, 2010 [7 favorites]
I actually never got into the 2d version. Part of this is that, at least when I was checking it out, the graphics packs were really crude. By now the graphics packs are quite nice. I know it's less hardcore to play with graphics packs, but I just enjoy it better that way. Having a little icon that tells you what something is, instead of memorizing a long list of letters. My brain just doesn't work like that.
posted by Kattullus at 6:15 PM on April 23, 2010
You probably built in a peaceful area; you'll get goblins there, but not usually much else. If you embark in an evil Untamed Wilds somewhere, you'll likely be struggling to survive.
My last fortress was in a fairly tame area, and I was getting sieges of about 100 goblins, as well as the occasional dragon or bronze colossus. By the time that happened, I had so many traps and drawbridges that I had no problem fighting them off. I'd lose some dwarves that were outside, but the bad guys never got past the second layer of traps.
But then, you see, I found adamantine in the depths. Subsequent events proved just how poorly I had, in fact, prepared myself. :)
posted by Malor at 6:19 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh yeah... the most important lessons to learn in Dwarf Fortress are redundancy and hyper-vigilance. One thing to do is to think of all mines that are still producing as mining camps. Set up domiciles for your miners on the other side of a wall of traps, provide them with everything they might need while fully mining out an area. Because trouble can come from any direction. Also, a standing army is essential, sometimes an enemy will make it through your defenses somehow, but usually it's so bedraggled and hurt by then that a highly trained militia can take care of it.
And always have a plan B in place. Always have an overcapacity of farms, carved out sleeping quarters, smithies and so on, because no matter how well you prepare, shit can come down like angry god, in which case an orderly retreat is the best you can manage.
yay! does this mean we'll have another eve thread soon? I love reading about these two games that I will never play...
posted by flaterik at 6:39 PM on April 23, 2010 [7 favorites]
DF 40d is my current obsession, distraction, and stress-buster. I'm working with a 60-dwarf population cap and an aim of 1 billion created wealth.
I'm halfway there, but the dwarf liason died, I've got war dogs, goblin corpses and xX=<narrow cave spider silk sock>=Xxs coming out of my ears and my framerate is bogged at 40FPS, so I may just go back to the autosave from my embark and try to make it better.
I think a previous MeFi thread on DF dubbed it ThesisBane. Very accurate.
posted by subbes at 7:54 PM on April 23, 2010
I posted this in the last DF thread, but for any of you who really want to learn to play, I recommend captnduck's youtube tutorials. He made them for the old release, but almost all of it is still applicable. It will probably take you 8 hours to go through all of them, but that was just one devoted sleepless night for me.
posted by p3on at 7:57 PM on April 23, 2010 [5 favorites]
Uh oh. Nerd alert.
posted by Monkeymoo at 9:25 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've been thinking this game might be one of those few things for which paying someone to have the cool experience for you, so you can live it vicariously and way easier might well be a good cost-benefit proposition. Then I read a thread like this, and realize the damn game probably requires as much time and energy to train the operator as would a space shuttle crewmember, and figure out I'd truly need to have the kind of cash that gets a skillful astronaut trained if I ever want to see this DF thing closer without going mad. My geekish inadequacies, let me show them to you.
posted by Iosephus at 10:21 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've been thinking this game might be one of those few things for which paying someone to have the cool experience for you
I think you'll find my rates both reasonable and affordable.
posted by TwelveTwo at 10:31 PM on April 23, 2010 [9 favorites]
Goonswarm disbanded, eve is boring now.
posted by empath at 10:34 PM on April 23, 2010
Malor: "I can't think of any program since DOS WordPerfect that was more indecipherable."
Well, shit, I figured out how to get that thing to output plate-ready multi-layer postscript (with layer transparency!) back in the day, so, like: BRING IT.
posted by mwhybark at 10:37 PM on April 23, 2010 [6 favorites]
3d rendering of a huge user-generated bridge.
posted by mecran01 at 10:42 PM on April 23, 2010
A Something Awful forums account is only 10 bucks, so it's cheaper than you imagine. They're the ones who produced the sagas of Boatmurdered and Syrupleaf, so the cost-benefit ratio is great.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:45 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
I mean, why pay for someone for playing it if a bunch of strangers are willing to do it for free for "Internet glory"?
posted by daniel_charms at 10:47 PM on April 23, 2010
fixed broken eyelid relationships [...] Broken eyelids (and the anatomy system in general) (1) make no sense
No no no. What that update in the changelog means is that the relationships between eyelids and eyes were broken, and then Toady fixed them.
Previously, the left eyelid had been modeled as covering both the left and right eyes, while the right eyelid did nothing. It has nothing to do with eyelids themselves being injured.
This does nothing to undermine your point here, of course, which is pretty spot-on.
posted by magnificent frigatebird at 11:01 PM on April 23, 2010 [1 favorite]
mccarty.tim, you really should have worked a bit more on the framing on this post, because right now, it looks like nobody is actually reading the Bronzemurder story - which everyone should read RIGHT NOW, as it's AWESOME - because the link's not visible enough.
posted by daniel_charms at 11:37 PM on April 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
don't really impact the player's decisions or the gameplay as far as I can tell after reading the BigAss DF thread at SA.
I think that DF is best not seen as a game at all, but as a story generator/pet ant colony. If you'll note, every SA thread includes hundreds of people asking to be dwarfed. The specificity of bodily injuries, madness, artifact creation, etc, gives the whole thing a reality that connects people to what is going on that generic 'dwarf guard dies' messages wouldn't.
Honestly, I think he should give up trying to fix the UI and give the dwarfs enough AI to build the dungeon and defend it themselves. I'd watch that.
posted by empath at 11:43 PM on April 23, 2010 [2 favorites]
I think that DF is best not seen as a game at all, but as a story generator/pet ant colony.
This. I was just about to post the same thing. DF is not a computer game in the traditional sense, but more like a computer generated play-world where stories can take place in. I think this actually used to be stated in the development goals - there were a bunch of situations that the game would ideally be capable of generating (these have been removed from the dev page, though). Details like the overly complex body structures are what make up these stories.
posted by daniel_charms at 12:38 AM on April 24, 2010
I think he should give up trying to fix the UI
Fix the UI? Toady One?
Hah, tell me another. :)
posted by Malor at 12:38 AM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Indeed. It's fun to sometimes just watch the little dwarves go about their business. And then watch the fort get inundated by several sieges, which is the DF equivalent of shaking the ant farm to really piss them off.
If you're starting with the most recent version of the game, I suggest you poke around the init file and turn Temperature and Weather off. You won't be missing much except for a really groovy bug which randomly causes everyone's blood to boil and explode. Also, don't even bother with the military just yet. It will only cause headaches.
Still, for all its bugs the game sometimes provides amazing random stories from the most mundane of instances. In my most recent game, one dwarf got possessed by the muse of leatherworking and ended up creating a stunning legendary thong made out of hoary marmot leather and decorated (presumably in uncomfortable locations) by bone and jewels. This attracted the attention of some goblin raiders, who only got as far as my fortress front door before the dwarf on lever duty retracted the Welcome Mat and dropped them into a pool of water. With spikes on the bottom.
I then had my engraver dwarves carve happy decorations all around the front walls. Dwarves will often engrave images or carve statues and figurines based on events that have happened in the fortress' history. I was hoping they'd put up a happy picture of drowning goblins or something.
Instead, they carved a picture that depicted what had happened when I had to reassign the position of Broker because the dwarf who was supposed to be the Broker didn't want to leave a fun drinking party to go trade with the seasonal caravan.
Engraved on the wall is a well-designed image of "Boss" Ringforded the dwarf and dwarves by Rimtar Idengim. The dwarves are refusing "Boss" Ringforded. "Boss" Ringforded is weeping. The artwork relates to the removal of the dwarf "Boss" Ringforded from the position of broker to The Obscure Theater in the late summer of 1052.
Now there's a warning for the outside world, all right: Party too hard and you're gonna get sacked.
posted by Spatch at 12:44 AM on April 24, 2010 [12 favorites]
As I've said before, DF is essentially the pre-alpha of the Matrix.
To add some more content to this post - allow your inner neckbeard to luxuriate in this, from another DF thread.
Having started as your standard DF, the Hamlet of Tyranny was uneventful by normal standards. Sure there would be caravans and immigrants and occasional (though unusually rare) seiges, but there was a dark and DEADLY secret buried beneath the hills. And his name was Ashmalice.
Ashmalice was a fire demon of legendary status. Not only had he existed in the prehistory of the fort, but he had over 550 kills – which included 2 entire tribes of goblins, a handful of elves, and a terrifying ammound of dwarves… one of whom was the king of the mountain-homes.
Fast forwarding to the present time major construction was underway of the fort. Many many immigrants had arrived over the years and times were good for the dwarves. Having many legendary carvers and warriors my friend grew lax in his defenses. And his dwarves paid the price when a miner unearthed a glowing pit deep below the dungeons carved into the mountain.
Within an hour my friend's fortress was besieged by a nearly unending horde of demonic horrors. Ill equipped to deal with the threat immediately, the population of the Hamlet began dropping exponentially. Not even a panicked redirection of the river into the lower levels was enough to staunch the influx of demons, only enough to slow them long enough for the major walkways to be collapsed to buy some precious time.
Luckilly (and cleverly) my friend had built his fortress in such a way that if any large section had collapsed, then all escape routes would lead out into the wilderness and on a path far from the fortress and defendable by collapsing the ceiling via lever to flood seawater into the tunnel. Though no dwarf was alive on that side of the map, or able to reach it to pull the lever, my friend had bought the dwarves much needed time, though when Ashmalice made himself known all seemed futile. Even moreso when Stuvok lost his mind with rage.
Stuvok was one of the founding 7. He was an ex-miner turned blacksmith of legendary status. He was a monster of a dwarf that all dwarves aspired to be. And he had just lost his wife Doken (another of the starting 7) to the demon Ashmalice. His sorrow was felt by the surviving clan as he tore through them one by one unopposed. Only when he ran into his workshop and was locked in did his rage abate.
Morale was rock bottom. Several dwarves commit suicide in this dark hour. And of the handfull who remained of this once great fortress, few were willing to do anything at all, except the only other remaining dwarf of the founders: the engraver Sil. In the months that followed, the floors were carved with graven images of his follow brethren. All hope seemed lost. But this was not the end for the Hamlet. Not just yet…
In his grief and mourning, Stuvok opened his heart to the spirits of the dead. And one day they came to him in spirit. In his posessed mood he plotted and planned and (ironically) with the materials available to him, crafted an artifact clearly in homage to his wife: Endless Death of Tears – a sword with an image of a dwarf holding a piece of glass – glass that his wife used daily in her trade.
My friend had been content to just flood the map with lava and end the game after such losses. But upon seeing this artifact his neckbeard overtook him and he knew that Doken, the dwarves, the king, must all be avenged! And thankfully for me, he decided to continue. Fast forwarding again to the present (the time at which I had come in to see him play) my friend had safely excavated what he could of the fortress and moved all activity to a small corner of the interior. When all levers were erected, dwarves armed, and preparations complete, he unpaused the game for me.
A few dwarves made suicide runs to the bottom of the dungeons and collapsed them – which in turn lowered the debris above into a sinkhole that breached a large hole for the demons to pour from back into the fort. A few more dwarves valiantly fired into the oncomming tide of hate, but they were nothing but fodder that bought precious moments for the true plan to kick in. A masterfully placed lever that had yet been unpulled brought down the entire mountain through the legendary dining hall ceiling; crushing almost half of the intruding horde.
As planned, the demons made a bee-line through the side hallways through rows of blade traps. Demons were chewed up by the blades, but still they came. And so did "He". Ashmalice not only avoided the fatal cave-in, passed the slicing blades, and bypassed the numerous flooding-trap chambers, but he and a squad of equally lucky frog demons carved and scorched their way into the final defensive line. Among their victims was Stuvok; unable to avenge his beloved. And the last handfull of dwarves were quickly reduced to 2 – Sil the engraver and the legendary captain of the guard, Daneken.
As respected and powerful as Stuvok had been, Daneken was that and more. He was a god among his clan, and had once in his long career single-handedly repelled a goblin siege led by a cyclops, and had helped wrestle a dragon to death. And now armed with his dead friend's artifact sword, he was seeing red. Daneken had been stationed at the edge of a chasm (my friend's map had a pit AND chasm that had been unearthed, but it was amazingly only filled with tiny spiders that were easilly dispatched in the early years of the fort). A single bridge had been built to span the chasm, and would have been later expanded as housing. But that plan was no longer. And this was it. This was the end of the dwarves of the Hamlet of Tyranny. But they would not go quietly.
As the demons approached Daneken threw himself at them in a rage. Ashmalice blasted him with demonic flames, but Daneken was imbued with the collective rage of his people and carved through the frog retainers with little signs of stopping. Ashmalice, however, had seen the deaths of a king and was not impressed with the antics of a lowly dwarf and sent him hurtling back onto the bridge – coincidentally knocking Sil over the edge. With his flesh scorching and his blood boiling, Denekan crawled to his feet just in time to see Ashmalice hover over him. With but a single push the fortress would be claimed by demons. But to my friend's and my own utter jaw-dropping amazement, it was the dwarves who claimed him.
Daneken, in a testament to his dwarfdom slashed off one of Ashmalice's arm/wing and plunged Endless Death of Tears into his evil heart. Such was the force of the blow that the demon was hurled backwards off of the bridge and sent spiraling down into the unending darkness; spouting curses the entire way. With his clan and his king avenged, Daneken himself tumbled from the bridge. But… one dwarf remained?
Awestruck by what had just happend, I urged my friend to quickly find the survivor! The menus opened, the tabs clicked, and we see that name. Sil. Sil? But he fell into the chasm! What was going on? With the battle essentially over and the remaining demons blocked from furthur intrusion by an unchecked flood of river water, we peer into the chasm. Several Z-levels down, on a tiny 2-square ledge, lay Sil – broken and bleeding, but alive.
With no way to save him, and with his entire clan residing in the afterlife, we debated how this should end. Should we just abandon the fort outright? Should we try and kill him somehow? What? In the end, however, we decided to let him create one more carving – one last testament to dwarfkind. This decision did not come lightly, as after such an epic climax, anything less would seem an insult. But still we left him to his work. Afterall, maybe he would draw a picture of a plump helmet or something equally random.
What did he draw? Moments before he bled to death? Alone on a cliff? The last gesture of the dwarves of the Hamlet of Tyranny?
A picture of a demon and some dwarves. The demon was in a fetal position. The dwarves were laughing
posted by Sebmojo at 1:31 AM on April 24, 2010 [137 favorites]
Only because it's somewhat relevant to the conversation at hand, you know I interviewed ToadyOne for Gamasutra some time back....
posted by JHarris at 1:39 AM on April 24, 2010 [3 favorites]
SebMojo, that is awesome!
posted by JHarris at 1:45 AM on April 24, 2010
The menu navigation keys are actually one of the few sensible parts of DF. Not saying it couldn't be better, but the uses of the arrow/updown/ukhm keys make sense. They're not an affront to nature like (for example) the Stockpile Settings screen.
posted by fleacircus at 2:55 AM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
One of my favorite Dwarf Fortress anecdotes involved a dwarf set to work engraving the walls of the dining-hall. Early on, he produced a masterwork engraving depicting an epic battle with a fire-imp that was a major event early in the life of the fortress.
A little while later, he produced a second masterwork engraving. It depicted the dwarf himself, carving a masterwork engraving depicting an epic battle with a fire-imp...
posted by rifflesby at 4:15 AM on April 24, 2010 [6 favorites]
I'm finding this very useful: the aptly-named Complete and Utter Newby Tutorial for Dwarf Fortress.
posted by Drexen at 6:30 AM on April 24, 2010 [6 favorites]
"Complete and Utter Newby Tutorial"
I can't believe I never noticed that
posted by Kattullus at 9:07 AM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Man. The thing I loved most about DF - because I can't really ever play it again, until I'm officially and permanently retired - was the wealth management, knowledge acquisition and trading systems.
I was never particularly interested in building terrifying fortresses and level upon level of deadly traps to slay great beasties. I wanted a Rivendell for my dwarfs, proof that they could attain a level of cultural sophistication unrivaled by the humans or even the elves in the game. I would pick "easier" and larger maps. My fortresses would be palatial - I'd move immigrants into massive quarters stocked with glorious furniture, stockpiled with delicious food. Every inch of the place would be covered with masterwork, gilded, all of my soldiers armed with every different sort of masterwork weapon. I would train up my dwarfs in all the many various forms of craftsmanship; they would all take turns serving in the various political positions. This is a great way to attract immigrants, though, so I would play until my computer could take no more, take a snapshot of the place and leave it behind. There are a thousand ways to play this games.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 10:56 AM on April 24, 2010 [2 favorites]
From the DF Forum - The Most Awesome Caveswallowman ever! There's a summary on the Wiki, but the forum thread has more fun details and some fan art.
posted by gamera at 11:16 AM on April 24, 2010 [3 favorites]
Sebmojo: "his neckbeard overtook him"
OMG crying with laughter
posted by mwhybark at 11:16 AM on April 24, 2010
A calculator constructed in DF.
A computer constructed in DF.
posted by BeerFilter at 11:39 AM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Up here in Ottawa, the dwarves manning (dwarving?) the locks for the canal lower the water level to make it better for ice skating during the winter.
But now they're refilling it. I live near a pond, which is connected to the canal by a tunnel. The pond is refilling. And now carp are spawning in it.
I'm worried.
posted by sebastienbailard at 1:32 PM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
The Syrup of Cults has embarked to found Dimpledbolts.
WHAT HAVE I DONE? WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
The pond is refilling. And now carp are spawning in it.
Miner cancels Drink: Interrupted by carp.
posted by chrominance at 4:38 PM on April 24, 2010 [1 favorite]
Anyone have recommendations for the best graphic/tileset to use? Or must one experience the nerdery in full ASCII glory to truly be one with the neckbeard?
posted by Justinian at 5:15 PM on April 24, 2010
I like the May Green set, myself. Instructions for using it on Mac or Linux are in the sidebar under "DIY DFG".
posted by rifflesby at 6:52 PM on April 24, 2010 [3 favorites]
The Mayday Tileset rifflesby links to is a big hit with lots of people. Probably not least because he packaged it along with the binary instead of asking people to: download a PNG, save it as a 24-bit BMP, drop it into their data/art folder, then edit their init file appropriately. Which is what you'd have to do to use the modified Guybrush ASCII set that I use, for example.
posted by fleacircus at 7:07 PM on April 24, 2010
I like the Mayday tileset.
http://mayday.w.staszic.waw.pl/~mayday/df.php
posted by Mr Bismarck at 7:15 PM on April 24, 2010
That'll teach me to take way too long to press "Post."
So, what Riffles said.
But aren't tiles somewhat broken in DF2010? It's why I haven't tried them out yet.
posted by JHarris at 7:54 PM on April 24, 2010
I'm playing 2010 right now with the Mayday set without issue.
Though I'd stab my own Dwarf-Mother in the eye for some soil.
PS3, Xbox360, and Wii be damned; DF is my all time favorite game of all time, ever. I've wistfully shelved it until I can take my dwarves out onto the world map and conquer stuff.
posted by Terheyden at 10:53 PM on April 24, 2010
I'd actually like to see a few thing in DF.
Magic: I get that dwarves are fairly unmagical in this world, but since you have dragons and undead, etc, it makes since that there should be some kind of sorcery or at least enchantment. Even if it's random or they have to buy them from caravans.
Non-dwarven cities:
Why not human settlements and elf forest cities? They're already in adventure mode, I think, why not let us build those, too?
A Big Bad/epic ending:
I think at some point, I'd like to see a caravan show up with a band of adventurer's asking their dwarven allies to contribute an army to fight the great evil which is blighting the lands and so forth. Or even a final stand against a massive orc army with human and elven allies.
In fact, it would actually be a pretty good ending that would lead naturally into adventure mode. The end of the first age -- A god goes evil, and corrupts half the land, he's defeated, but all lay in ruins, and civilization doesn't recover until centuries later.
posted by empath at 1:38 PM on April 25, 2010 [1 favorite]
A Big Bad/epic ending
I really hope not.
For what it's worth, you can build in them. Or under them. Just pick a human settlement as your embark site, dig a giant cavern under the whole thing in order to cause a cave-in, watch as the entire town is swallowed by the earth, and then turn the bones of the residents into fine crafts.
Or you could choose to coexist peacefully with your neighbors, I suppose.
posted by magnificent frigatebird at 11:45 PM on April 25, 2010 [4 favorites]
I haven't seen it mentioned much, but DF has extensive modifiable data files, and there is a fairly active DF mod community on the DF message board, though of course with the big new version things are in flux. For 40d, I liked Relentless Assault.
posted by fleacircus at 1:11 AM on April 26, 2010
Maybe I should elaborate, while the thread is still open, on the "I really hope not" comment I made to empath's otherwise insightful ideas.
First, there already is something like that in the game. The "end game" of Dwarf Fortress, playfully referred to in the wiki (and sometimes by ToadyOne) as "Hidden Fun Stuff" or HFS, is similar to that. From here on I'm talking SPOILERS so...
A long-standing feature of the game, inspired nearly directly by Tolkien I think, is the idea that there is a horrible demon deep underground that will destroy the fortress if awakened. Back in the 2D days demons were presented as things that lived in weird little pockets deep into the mountain, and if you mined adamantium there would be a small, cumulative chance (based on amount mined) that the game would just *end* due to demon attack, after which you could bring in an adventurer and try to defeat the demon.
In the early Z-axis age there was (and may still be) chambers deep in the rock in some places containing demons and tortured, caged humanoids. Now, perusal of the wiki reveals, there are demon fortresses deep in the earth that can be uncovered, each with a horde of demons that emerge once it is found. This is the closest DF has to something like what empath suggests, but it's important to note that it is occurs due to player action. If you don't want to deal with a horde of demons, just don't dig down there.
The problem with putting in a literal "big bad" (a term I hate, sorry Whedon) into the game is that it imposes an external narrative upon the game. Dwarf Fortress was conceived as a kind of algorithmic narrative generator, the things the player's dwarves do and undergo arising from a combination of chance, character decisions and the player's decisions about the fortress. That freeform structure is not a weakness, it is a strength.
If players had to worry about defeating some overlord or "final boss" it would lessen the simulation aspect of the game. The video game tendency to ramp up opponents until a boss is a narrative technique, but narration is nothing like real life. Instead, narration is something that we invented to explain some things about real life. It seeks to place random events into a pattern. To go about it the other way around, to confirm random events so they fit a preconceived narrative, is the route that 99% of games take. Not Dwarf Fortress, and I think that is part of what is so refreshing about it.
posted by JHarris at 12:50 PM on April 28, 2010 [2 favorites]
I'll post another comment, because people are still linking to this discussion.
JHarris, you summed up what intrigues me the most about this game:
I do wish he'd bring in someone else to work on the interface, like he's done with the Mac & Linux Ports. But you're right, the point of the game is that there's this incredibly detailed simulated world, and on top of that, someone has grafted a crude game. The game is fascinating and deep because of the incredible clockwork of the simulation.
Toady One can keep following his weird urges as much as he wants, as far as I'm concerned. I don't question Great Art. How he's managed to do this almost by himself (his brother doesn't code the game) in about 5 years is beyond me. Everyone should be donating to him, whether they play the game or not.
posted by keratacon at 5:29 PM on April 28, 2010
I've found the user interface isn't that bad; it just has exceptions. If you're creating a stockpile or designating a mine, you just press enter on the corners of the rectangle you want. If you're making a farm plot, or building a floor, you instead have to increase the height or width of the rectangle step by step. Which is pointless and weird, but after you've done it twice you remember that it just works differently. I think the lack of graphics is the main thing that should be addressed. Alternative tile sets are useful, but they still don't make it visually appealing.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to the game. I've got a weaver who's gone mad and just keeps chasing a mule around the dining room, and I've got an ecological crisis going on in my main fishing lake.
posted by Jimbob at 5:16 PM on April 29, 2010
Oh no I just started a new fortress and my food piles are overrun with rats because the alternative is a goddamn catsplosion
posted by subbes at 6:52 AM on April 30, 2010
subbes: Could you maybe just bring one cat? Or, since animals have genders now, you could just take along all one sex. Of course, eventually migrants will probably bring along cats of their own, but that happens regardless.
The Toady One would counter with a new feature: 10% uncertainty guessing the gender of a cat. Just to make it realistic.
posted by sebastienbailard at 4:49 PM on April 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
The solution is usually chains and cages, but my outpost leader loves cats so (as I learned with a legendary champion with similar proclivities) she'll go around adopting cats as soon as they're uncaged or born.
These days I usually embark with one or zero cats and pick more up from a caravan the second year as long as no-one loves cats, and rely on traps in the meantime - also provides food for those strange dorfs that like to eat vermin out of traps.
The champion thing ended badly when her three pet cats were killed by an angry unicorn and the champion threw a tantrum that took out a brand new marble block road, two war dogs and a visiting Elven caravan (the elves had it coming).
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dorf fortress is awesome
posted by subbes at 1:55 PM on May 2, 2010 [1 favorite]
« Older USA Weightlifting, Episode IV: A New Hope | Hubble Space Telescope, this is your life Newer »
There and Back Again December 8, 2013
Behind-the-scenes of Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit." June 7, 2012
Dwarf Fortress 2012! February 14, 2012
The Story of Oilfurnace September 6, 2010
Slaves to Armok: God Of Blood, Chapter 2.0 October 29, 2007
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BronzeMurder


text:
Q: How to show only categories with values greater than 0 in R plotly? I am trying to generate a plot in shiny app using reactive table.
While generating pie plot the categories are showing as expected. But when I try to generate the barchart I am seeing labels for categories that I do not want to show which are categories with count 0. Currently I am seeing all the labels in xaxis for bar chart.
Below is the code I am using to generate the pie and bar graph. I am only choosing first 10 rows so I want to see the plot for 10 categories only. Pie chart is fine but the barchart is the issue.
  output$fig_pie <- renderPlotly({
    fig <- req(summarised_frame()[1:10]) %>% plot_ly(labels = ~concept_name, values = ~count) %>% add_pie(hole = 0.6)

  })

  output$fig_bar_plotly <- renderPlotly({
    req(summarised_frame())

    p <- summarised_frame()[1:10]

    fig <- plot_ly(p, x = ~concept_name, y = ~count, type = "bar")
    fig
  })

A: I was able to figure out the issue. The datatable I was using to reder the plot had the categories as factor so it retained the factor level even when I filtered/selected only 10 rows. Once I removed the factors for unused categories the barchart was fixed.
output$fig_bar_plotly <- renderPlotly({
req(summarised_frame())

p <- summarised_frame()[1:10]

p$concept_name <- droplevels(p$concept_name)

fig <- plot_ly(p, x = ~concept_name, y = ~count, type = "bar")
fig

})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Android calling class functions from second class How can I call a function defined in class#A from class#B? Class#B extends AsynchTask and fetches remote data from a web service. The class#A function I am attempting to call from class#B is used to send the retrieved remote data for Class#A to display.
I am trying to pass the current instance of class#A to class#B using this but that just passes the context so the functions are not recognized.
I also tried using static but as the function runs a new thread, defining the function as static generates a compiler error.
The code I am trying to call is as follows:
public void test(List<DATA> Data){
        this.Data = Data;
        runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                // TODO Auto-generated method stub
                for(DATA data : MainActivity.this.Data){
                    Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, data.title, Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                }
            }
        });
    }

A: From your question, I understood that u want to show the result of asynctask in another class. You can use onProressUpdate api of asynctask. You can do the work in doInBackground and then call publishProgress(value) whihc in turn calls onProgressUpdate and run on UI thred.

 private class DownloadFilesTask extends AsyncTask<URL, Integer, Long> {
     protected Long doInBackground(URL... urls) {
         int count = urls.length;
         long totalSize = 0;
         for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
             totalSize += Downloader.downloadFile(urls[i]);
             publishProgress((int) ((i / (float) count) * 100));
             // Escape early if cancel() is called
             if (isCancelled()) break;
         }
         return totalSize;
     }

     protected void onProgressUpdate(Integer... progress) {
         setProgressPercent(progress[0]);
     }

Other way:
You can define a handler in class#A and call it from class#B
Sorry if i mis understood your question.

A: as I understand you start from A an AsyncTask B, cause web fetching only works in async way in Android. You want the result of the fetch to be accessible for an object in A.
A would code something like this.
public class A extends FragmentActivity {
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        TextView fetch = (TextView) findViewById(R.id.fetch);
        new B(getApplicationContext(),fetch).execute();
        // This will update a TextView when fetching is done.
    }
}

public class B extends AsyncTask<Void, Integer, Void> {
    Context c;
    TextView f;
    public B(Context c, TextView f) {
        super();
        this.f = f;
        this.c = c;
    }

    @Override
    protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
        // TODO: the fetching: fetch()
        String t = fetch();
        f.setText();
        return null;
    }
}

You can do other tricks with pre and post execute methods. I hope I could help!

A: You can make an interface ie.:
public interface RecieveDataDelegate {

    public void receiveData(Object dataFromWebService, boolean success);
}

Have Class#A implement the interface.  And when calling the asyncTask from Class#A pass itself to a contructor for the AsyncTask that has a parameter of type ReceiveDataDelegate.
new AsyncTask1 (this).execute();

And setup AsyncTask with a constructor and send data back to Class#A onPostExecute() so you can update ui.
 class AsyncTask1 extends AsyncTask<Void, Void, Boolean> {
    Object dataReceived ;
    protected RecieveDataDelegate delegate;

    public AsyncTask1 (RecieveDataDelegate delegate) {
        this.delegate = delegate;
    }
    protected Boolean doInBackground(Void... params) {
      //do your service request and set dataRecieved
    }
    protected void onPostExecute(Boolean result) {
        super.onPostExecute(result);
        delegate.RecieveDataDelegate (dataReceived, result.booleanValue());
    }

That way any class that implements the interface can use the same asyncTask.

A: This is how you would do it:
In MainActivity:
ClassBAsyncTask mat = new ClassBAsyncTask(this, .., ..);

ClassBAsyncTask's contructor:
public ClassBAsyncTask(MainActivity context, .., ..) {
    mContext = context;
    ....
    ....
}

To call MainActivity's method test(List<DATA>) from within ClassBAsyncTask:
((MainActivity)mContext).test(yourListVariable);

Look into weak references to make sure that the AsyncTask does not use mContext when the activity no longer exists.


text:
Q: DataReader Error with Lazy Singleton Pattern in C# when Manager Called More Than Once I'm using the lazy singleton pattern in C# for my data managers. The code in my manager looks like this:
 private static readonly Lazy<ConditionManager> singleton =
                new Lazy<ConditionManager>(() => new ConditionManager());
 public static ConditionManager Instance { get { return singleton.Value; } }

Then in my code, I am trying to see if the item exists before I create it:
 //see if condition exists. If it doesn't then create it.
            List<Condition> conditions = ConditionManager.Instance.Select
                              (question.Id, ConditionType.ProjectQuestion);
            Condition c;
            if (conditions.Count == 0)
            {

                c  = new Condition(question.Id, ConditionType.ProjectQuestion, ReleaseId);
                c.Id = ConditionManager.Instance.Insert(c);
            }

The problem is that, when I call the Insert, I get the dreaded error: "There is already an open DataReader associated with this Command which must be closed first." I have found a workaround (I have one call to the ConditionManager that both checks to see if it exists and then returns either the existing one of the newly created one), but what is the proper way to handle this? How do I close the first instance?


text:
Ferrante Amendola (1664-1724) was an Italian historical painter, active in Naples.

Biography
He studied under Francesco Solimena, in whose style he painted for some time, but afterwards imitated that of Luca Giordano. He painted many works at Naples, among them two altar-pieces in the Church of the Madonna di Montevergine. Nagler mentions an ingenious picture, by this artist, of a Quack Doctor's Shop in the Royal Gallery at Munich. Bernardo de Dominici says that Amendola's chief merit consisted in a practical facility of coloring, and that he completely failed in his attempt to imitate the masterly style of Giordano, especially in the draperies.

References

1664 births
1724 deaths
17th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
18th-century Italian painters
Painters from Naples
Italian Baroque painters
Place of birth unknown
18th-century Italian male artists

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Morning Sun is een single uit 2010 van de Britse zanger Robbie Williams. Het is de derde single van het achtste studioalbum Reality Killed the Video Star. Het nummer wist niet net als de twee voorgaande singles de top tien te bereiken.

Tracklist
 Morning Sun (Radio Edit) 3:50
 Elastik 4:36

Hitnoteringen

Radio 2 Top 2000

Single uit 2010
Nummer van Robbie Williams


HEAVEN IS MISSING 7 CHICKENS.
It's that time of a year when families & friends gather together for a good laugh and some great food!
WaGaLiGong's Pot Luck Christmas Party took place on Sunday evening, the 23rd of December. Remember last year's event – delicious roast chicken and pot luck? That event was such a success we decided to do it again; a pot luck Christmas dinner for family, friends and of course our hostel guests. Thanks for everyone that showed up, especially those who brought along a special dish to be shared with everyone. Also a very special thanks to Yong-yi who made sure the 7 roast chickens were roasted to perfection in the traditional Taiwanese chicken chimneys. Heaven is missing 7 chickens..


Lifestyle is only one factor that contributes to our likelihood to get some diseases like cancer. Others are environmental, which we may be able to change, and genetic, which we cannot.
However, even though we cannot change our genetic make-up, we can use knowledge of it to ward off cancer. That's where cancer genetics testing comes in.
"We look at each individual's family history, genetics, lifestyle and environment to evaluate their risk of getting cancer," explains Jennifer Scalia Wilbur, MS, a cancer genetic counselor and program manager of the Women & Infants Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program.
More than one relative on the same side of the family with the same cancer or related cancers.
Cancer diagnosed at an early age, such as breast cancer before the age of 50.
People with more than one type of cancer.
Ovarian cancer diagnosed at any age.
Multiple colorectal polyps or people with such polyps at a young age.
Breast or ovarian cancer and Easter European Jewish ancestry.
Counseling is a two-visit process. The genetic counselor will review your medical and family history, discussing the chance that cancer is inherited in your family. If you go for genetic testing, which involves bloodwork, the counselor will talk about the results with you and, based on the test results, recommend cancer screening and any possible risk reduction.
"Women with certain genetic mutations – and we're finding more mutations all the time – might opt to have their breasts or ovaries surgically removed to reduce the risk of getting cancer," Wilbur says.
Comprehensive cancer risk assessment and prevention counseling is available at locations throughout Rhode Island. For more information please visit the Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program.


Pittsburgh, Pa. - Lee Guttman, founder, president and director of the Nationwide TV and Appliance buying group, died of a heart attack on July 18. He was 65.
He was 65 and had no prior history of pulmonary disease.
An ordained rabbi with a background in CE and majaps retailing, Guttman founded Nationwide in 1969 and helped it grow to more than 2,000 members with $8 billion in annual sales.
Indeed, much of the success of Nationwide has been attributed to his strong relationships with vendors and his passionate concern for member dealers. While a succession plan was reportedly in place for the 65-year-old president, it remains unclear how his passing will ultimately impact the buying group. Senior executives at Nationwide were unavailable for comment.
Guttman's passing comes two weeks prior to Nationwide's bi-annual convention and buying show, which remains set for Aug. 3-6 at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. At his final PrimeTime! meeting, held last February in Dallas, he delivered his customary pep rally in which he outlined market opportunities and big-box retailer weaknesses, and exhorted members to guard against complacency.
A former MARTA chapter chief and merchandising executive with Trader Horn, the now defunct New York metro area CE and majaps chain, Guttman was active within Pittsburgh's Jewish community and did much to support local religious schools. He is survived by his wife Margot, six children including Gershon, who holds a management position with Nationwide, and numerous grandchildren. A scholarship fund has been established in his name at 1400 Summit Street, White Oak, Pa. 15131.


text:
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Risk Management
Vorys Attorney Robin Canowitz spoke at a webinar sponsored by the American Health Lawyer's Association on April 23, 2019. The webinar was titled, "Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Risk Management" and discussed privacy and cybersecurity with a highlight on children, and how to appropriately manage these risks and respond to breach and security incidents. Topics of discussion include:
Privacy requirements specific to children, including behavioral health and other sensitive information
Risks faced by hospitals including children's hospitals (cyber-attacks and litigation)
Risk analysis and gap analysis
Best practices on managing risks and assessment
Tips on how to respond to an incident
Robin Canowitz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Eating out while traveling is definitely one of the things I love the most when I'm visiting a new city. After all, I've often said that you get to know a city trough its food, trough its markets, and little hole in the wall places serving authentic dishes.
Eating out while traveling is definitely one of the things I love the most when I'm visiting a new city. After all, I've often said that you get to know a city trough its food, trough its markets, and little hole in the wall places serving authentic dishes.
Simple meals are the foundation of my kitchen. Frittatas are on the list as one of those dishes you could have for brunch, lunch or dinner. One pan salmon with roasted sweet potatoes is another favourite. As for lunch, I believe you can have a healthy meal that takes no time to make without having necessarily to use leftovers.
Toasts and tartines have been on repeat at our home lately. A few weeks ago, a multigrain sprouted toast topped with homemade hummus, grilled halloumi and avocado was my choice after crossfit. Not only does it have my go to ingredients, but has the right amount of healthy fats, complex carbs and protein. Things that I keep always in mind when planning a dish. Plus doesn't homemade hummus makes everything better?
Recently I made avocado toast with roasted shrimp, a lunch that I will be making for days to come. How not to love avocados though? I grew up eating them in salads, as a side dish with tons of lemon and olive oil, and on baguettes with tomatoes and red onions. In defence of the ever popular avocado toast, I don't think it's a millennial food as it's been called lately. Let's just agree that avocado has been king for a long time now. It's what you need to have to top your fish tacos, the essential ingredient in all the lunch bowls I make, and what makes these toasts shine.
In this recipe, avocados gets seasoned with sea salt, pepper, onions and olive oil, topping a soft and buttery bun. Adding roasted shrimp, salty feta and cilantro will make it a lunch to remember. One that you'll be making over and over again.
Peel shrimp, and place in a bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil, minced garlic, juice of 1 lime plus salt and pepper to taste. Let marinate for 15 minutes.
In the meantime, slice avocados and mash them in a medium bowl, with 1 tbsp of olive oil, onion, salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
Grill shrimp, and once ready, warm each bun,(alternatively, it can be sautéed) top each side of Crustini buns with some avocado, shrimp, feta cheese, chili flakes, green onions and cilantro. Finish the dish by drizzling some chili oil on top.
This post was created in collaboration with 150 buns of summer, however all views, opinions and recipe development are my own.


Happy Sunday to all. The weather is hot and so humid, but we have been getting some rain for the last 4 days and then back to the horrible heat! I have been working on 2 projects, Nesting and York Lodge blocks. The border for Nesting is not complicated so I am pretty sure I can finish it by the end of the month or before! Tomorrow is Radio Frequency treatment for my back – they cauterize the nerves from the waist down and it really helps! So while 'resting' I will work on Nesting as soon as the twilight wears off!
Progress is being made on Nesting. The top border has 2 Red Birds, and each border side there is a Blue bird. On the bottom border there is a nest with eggs! Each corner has the 4 leaves. There is some embroidery left to complete, but I usually do this when all the applique is complete. This is going to be a striking quilt and will be hand quilted! Hummm maybe this will be one that is going to be loaded on that new Grace Z44 frame that I purchased over a year ago.
The other project I am working on is York Lodge. I have completed 10 of the 30 blocks that make up this quilt. I am excited because each time I make one it takes less and less time! Guess the saying 'practice makes perfect' still goes! I am thinking that Wednesday or Thursday I will begin to cut some HSTs and add them to each corner in order to square each block. The blocks will square to 10″ finished and 10 1/2″ unfinished so these are not large blocks I am making! A lot of work, but I do believe this will be a great Show Quilt next year. I have not seen anyone else making it. The pattern is neatly tucked away in a Quiltmania book!
I am not sure, but that orange star with that dark background may be the first to square – just in case there is a problem. It will not hurt my feelings if I have to make another orange as this background really sticks out like a sore thumb. But that was my mood for the day! LOL I am very happy that all my points are turning out perfect, and crossing my fingers that all works out when I square the block or I will be one upset puppy!
I am off to cut out 5 more blocks and then hopefully I will complete one more for today. the block on the bottom is the one I completed this morning. My goal is for 2 per day and hopefully 3 a day as I get closer to completion. Final goal would be end of July to have it completed. The quilt will be put together with a sashing and there will not be a need for a border as this would take away from the floating star effect. I am not sure which fabric I will use for the sashings, but thinking about the P&B white or a Batik white.


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記錄 420 之 662
作者 Rosenfeld, Beth
書名 Memory bank: Focus Ethiopia
國際標準書號 9781124018751
請按以下連結
連線到 http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=1476748
說明 50 p
附註 Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 48-05, page: 2552
Advisers: Gretchen Coss; Cybelle Jones
Thesis (M.A.)--Corcoran College of Art + Design, 2010
The Memory Bank project, based on the concept of a bank as a place for safekeeping, was designed to show a means of producing an exhibit whose objective was to enable and facilitate the sharing and preserving of knowledge about a transplanted ethnic group. Both the importance and necessity of cultural preservation as well as the methodology for soliciting input from a focus group with the content of the exhibit dictated by and archived for the community's members was validated by research. Memory Bank: Focus Ethiopia was focused for the purposes of demonstration on the Ethiopian community in Washington, DC. Personal accounts, photographs and memorabilia were used to reflect on where this ethnic group originated and where it has come to be. The "memory" stories, pictures and objects relating to individuals, families and their traditions and communities were used to describe the Ethiopian heritage as it was remembered in the old country and as it is experienced in the new place. These memory "objects" solicited from members of the local Ethiopian community were designed to array what best represented those aspects of their culture that they felt should be preserved and shared by way of an organized exhibition and in post-exhibit archives. Memory Bank: Focus Ethiopia was primarily divided into two sections, the "There/Then" and "Here/Now" galleries. The "There/Then" space offered an informational core to serve as a historical and cultural backdrop against which the personal memorabilia was displayed; the "Here/Now" area was focused on these same kinds of personal experiences to describe the Ethiopian heritage as it has emerged and developed in the local Washington, DC landscape. The exhibition was set out to raise awareness and pride within the local Ethiopian community as well as to inform other non-Ethiopian participants. With this project, a model was developed that could be used for other ethnic groups or interest-based communities as a guide to appreciating and preserving their heritage. An exhibition could become a vehicle to provide a better understanding about a particular cultural group; it could also serve as an enabling factor for the preservation of that group's heritage with presentation and archiving, demonstrating that this method of creating an exhibit could be translatable to any community with a view towards preserving its heritage
School code: 0501
Host Item Masters Abstracts International 48-05
主題 African Studies
Anthropology, Cultural
Design and Decorative Arts
Alt Author Corcoran College of Art + Design. Interior Design


The Kung Pao Chicken from Manchurian Rice Co. is stir-fried to order.
What impressed me first about the Kung Pao Chicken ($8.99) at this new Harbor East eatery was its boisterous fire. The pepper heat comes up front, with an intensity many Asian restaurants won't offer unless you ask for it.
The Kung Pao declares the kitchen is not afraid to scare off wobbly Western palates, which are no doubt less timid than they used to be. Manchurian's heat in this dish is pleasantly risky.
The consistency of the bean sauce carried nice smoky notes, and there's no question chilies were at work. You could see signs of them everywhere in the mix.
I also detected the strong presence of garlic, both on the tongue and in the sauce itself, coarsely minced and still crunchy. The heat was intense enough to make me question whether it was indeed garlic or a spice combo that was doing a good imitation, but garlic squares with the Western version of this dish and Manchurian's liberal use of it is another sign of the kitchen's daring. And it tasted good.
The chicken competently conveyed the sauce. Cut to 1/8-inch-thick slices, it was, as all stir-fries here, wokked to order. Big chunks of onions also carried the sauce well, while maintaining firmness and establishing a dominant presence. Same with the red bell pepper chunks that also added color flair.
Along with a fear of getting stuck with a bland sauce, peanuts are another reason I generally steer clear of Kung Pao. First, they're a pain to grip one-at-a-time with chop sticks. Life and lunch time are both too short.
Manchurian includes the peanuts, but does so judiciously. There were enough in this dish to add contrast and help check the heat.
For a place that bills itself as a rice company, Manchurian's white rice was competent and nothing more. I stuck with the steamed white rice that comes with the dish at $8.99. For another couple bucks, you can get the dish with fried rice. Manchurian offers four fried rice choices.
Whether you dine in or carry out, your orders are packed in sturdy plastic covered containers. If you do dine in, your seating options include a few small tables on street level and many more in the higher capacity upper room. The upstairs dining room has the perfunctory feel of a car dealership waiting room that, along with the carry-out containers, makes you wonder if Manchurian isn't expecting many sit-down customers. Or they could simply be dealing as efficiently as possible with the relatively small space at their disposal.
Judged strictly on carry-out standards, Manchurian Rice Co. should easily rank among first choices for the area.


Stratcomm Africa, Ghana's total communications agency, has urged oil and gas companies operating in Ghana and abroad to use professional communications support in order to avoid challenges especially crisis situations.
"Extractive industry organisations that ignore the use of professional communications support tend to face challenges, including serious crisis situations" said Gillian B. Heathcote, Senior Communications Manager for Stratcomm Africa.
This was contained in a statement released in Accra on Tuesday to announce the opening of the company's booth at the ongoing AGI Oil and gas exhibition at the International Conference Centre.
She said: "We are excited about the opportunity for Stratcomm Africa to support local companies to make their impact as local partners in Ghana's growing oil and gas industry.
"As a company with deep local knowledge and tremendous international exposure and expertise, Stratcomm Africa is very well positioned with service and product offerings that meet the needs of individuals and organisations, public and private, local and international".
Stratcomm Africa is providing opportunities to organisations and individuals to discuss the services the company provides to facilitate corporate communications, including stakeholder relationship building as well as brand identity projection and management.
Working with the theme, 'We get your message down to raise the bottom line', Stratcomm Africa is demonstrating to companies its capabilities, particularly with regard to supporting them within the Ghanaian context.
The exhibition is open from October 8 to October 11.
Stratcomm Africa is a specialised communication and reputation management agency dedicated to using communications as a means of enhancing performance.


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The US Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of the Inspector General released a proposed rule building on the Administration's efforts to lower prescription drug prices. The proposal would update the discount safe harbor in the Anti-Kickback Statute to explicitly exclude reductions in price offered by drug manufacturers to pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), Part D and Medicaid-managed care plans from the safe harbor's definition of a "discount." It would also create a new safe harbor designed specifically for price reductions on pharmaceutical products, but only those that are reflected in the price charged to the patient at the pharmacy counter. PBMs have become a potential target for lawmakers and the Administration as an area for reform under the auspices of addressing the rising cost of prescription drugs. This is the first proposal from the Administration that directly challenges the role of PBMs.
For more information visit the McDermottPlus Payment Innovation Resource Center or contact John Warren at 202-204-1451 or jwarren@mcdermottplus.com.


The Principles of Good Transitions have been endorsed by many organisations that provide support for young people with additional support needs, the Scottish Government and national bodies. They are being used to shape improvements within organisations, local authorities and at a national level.
Below are some examples of how the principles are being put into practice across Scotland.
If you would like to let us know about examples of good practice in relation to transitions in your local area please do not hesitate to get in touch.


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Home // About GGC // News // GGC News Archives // 2012 // GGC accepted into STARS, establishes Technology Ambassadors
GGC accepted into STARS, establishes Technology Ambassadors
Georgia Gwinnett College has been accepted to participate in the Students & Technology in Academia, Research & Service (STARS) Alliance, a National Science Foundation-supported organization. GGC's participation will provide $14,000 in funding for the implementation of best practices at the college, including a leadership program for students interested in technology.
The mission of the STARS Alliance is to increase the participation of women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing disciplines through recruiting, retention and leadership development initiatives. It focuses on students from middle school through graduate school.
"This funding enables GGC to expand its outreach activities by equipping students to serve as technology ambassadors who will conduct workshops for middle school students, demonstrate innovative use of technology, serve on planning teams and attend professional development events," said Nannette Napier, assistant professor of information technology and a program liaison. "Such service-learning experiences will build technical competence, leadership skills, a sense of community and an interest in computing."
Program funding will provide a stipend for up to 10 students and two faculty members for two academic years, beginning August 2012. Selected students will attend the annual STARS leadership conference.
Candidates for the program must complete at least one information technology course, obtain a GPA of at least 2.5, commit to working five hours per week for the 2012-13 academic year, and show interest in community service, technology and leadership skills. Women and members of groups under-represented in computing (African-American, Hispanic and Native American) are strongly encouraged to apply.
"This program will broaden the educational experience for students in the program's targeted groups," said Kristine Nagel, GGC's associate vice president for Educational Technology Development and Evaluation. "The technology ambassadors will receive intense mentoring from GGC faculty and peers. They will develop a support system that will encourage their persistence in college and in technical fields."
For more information visit teacherweb.ggc.edu/nnapier/content/tap.


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Q: How to use context-sensitive grammar in sentiment analysis? Is it possible to use context-sensitive grammar in sentiment analysis? If yes, then how?
Basically, I want to do some phrase-level analysis.

A: Phrase structure and syntactic analysis (via a context-free or context-sensitive grammar, a dependency parser, etc.) would generally be performed in an earlier stage and used as input to sentiment analysis. You'd usually extract features from the parse tree and use in your sentiment classification stage (for example features, see the papers referenced below).
Phrase structure (in the form of parse trees) has been shown to be effective for other downstream tasks (see, for example, Fisher and Roark, 2008, "The utility of parse-derived features for automatic discourse segmentation" and Punyakanok et al., 2008, "The importance of syntactic parsing and inference in semantic role labeling").
I don't know offhand how much difference parse structure makes for sentiment analysis, but intuitively, it seems like it ought to help.
One question: Why are you interested in context-sensitive grammars? Even mildly-context-sensitive formalisms are dramatically more expensive to process (often by orders of magnitude), and - in my opinion - don't generally seem to improve downstream performance enough to warrant that additional expense. But if you have an application that would benefit from context-sensitive analysis vs. context-free, that would be a worthy and interesting goal.
If you decide that context-free phrase structure is sufficient for your needs, I'd recommend you take a look at the Stanford Parser and the BUBS Parser. The Stanford toolkit is more flexible, and BUBS is faster (full disclosure - I'm one of the primary developers of BUBS). I don't have enough experience with any of the context-sensitive implementations to make a recommendation there.


We're barely out of summer 2015/16 but already the 2016/17 outdoor beer festival season is starting to take shape.
Among the first to declare is a new event for Melbourne: Brewers Feast, which will take over the beautiful grounds of Abbotsford Convent for two days in October.
It promises to be a little different from most, and not only because of the location; just a dozen Victorian breweries have been approached to exhibit while there's a strong focus on the food side of things, particularly on the Friday evening when the entry price includes a tasting plate and beer food experts on hand to help you find the best pairings from the beers on offer.
The Friday Night Beer & Food Tasting Adventure is from 6pm to 11pm.
It features live music from local artists including Michael Moss, who has performed alongside the likes of Billy Joel, The Richie Family, Richard Clapton and Australian Crawl.
The Saturday Beer and Food Festival runs from midday to 9pm.
It features live music from local artists including Woodlock, Harrison Storm, Jed Rowe and The Hunter Express.
You can also check out Flying Brick Cider Co.
Abbotsford Convent is at 1 St Heliers Street, Abbotsford.
We've lined up 15 VIP Packages for the Friday night for Crafty Pint supporters who've signed up to The Crafty Cabal. Look out for registrations opening in your member's area in late August.


We are proud to say that we work with some of the finest experts in the industry, and that we will always go the extra mile to make sure that our customers are completely satisfied at any given moment. Of course, when you do come to our team, it's important to know that we are continually training so that we can give our customers the best experience and we also do everything we can to make sure that you are happy with the service that you have been given. For this reason, it doesn't matter whether you need to get some painting done or whether you need to try and repair that annoying cupboard in your bathroom because we will always get the job done at a time that suits you and we will always do it on-budget as well.
So what helps us to stand apart from our competition? The main thing that helps us to stand apart is the fact that we only work with the best. Our team know how to do just about any job with flawless efficiency. They also know how to do it safely as well, and this is one of the many reasons why we continue to stand out as being the best of the best. With years of experience, it's safe to say that you won't find anyone else who can do what we can, and you also won't find anyone who cares as much as we do either. For that reason, if you want to find out more or if you would like to see how we can help you, get in touch with us today. We can't wait to hear from you and we are very excited to work with you as well, so don't hesitate to give us a call.


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2 марта 1919 года в Лихтенштейне был проведен двойной референдум. Избирателям было задано 2 вопроса: одобряют ли они увеличение числа прямо избираемых членов Ландтага с 12 до 17, и следует ли снизить возраст участия в выборах с 24 лет до 21 года. Оба предложения были отклонены 54,8 % избирателей.

Итоги

Увеличение числа членов Ландтага

Снижение возраста участия в выборах

Примечания

Референдумы 1919 года
Референдумы в Лихтенштейне
1919 год в Лихтенштейне


Google surveyed the shopping habits of 263 millionaires (shoppers 25 to 64 with an income of more than $1 million [emphasis mine]) and 730 ultra-affluents (net worth of $1 million, household incomes of $250,000 or more for married couples).
Given that the usual definition of millionare ('A person whose wealth exceeds one million units of any currency') would cover all of these people, I feel almost sorry for the 'ultra-affluents' whose million-dollar net worths and quarter-million incomes just don't cut it any more. I wonder who is going to break the bad news?
Now that is just plain wrong. Surely, if being a millionaire means anything at all, it means that working full time is a distant nightmare. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that I don't want to be a millionaire at all. After all, you are earning more than $1million per year, and by definition you lack the imagination to do anything else with your considerable resources than turn up for work each day.
No, from now on you'll find me slumming with the 'ultra-affluents', thanks.


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Lutyens Bungalow Zone
2002 World Monuments Watch
In 1911, the British Government of India decided to move the country's administrative capital from Calcutta to Delhi, inaugurating New Delhi in 1931. Designed on a radial plan by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with several key buildings by Sir Robert Baker, New Delhi is not a Western-style city transported to the Subcontinent, but rather a synthesis of Indian and European civic and architectural ideals, with gracious vistas, manicured gardens, watercourses, and tree-lined avenues. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone, a 2,800-hectare area built to house government officials and their administrative offices. It gives New Delhi a distinctive and rare character. Though the Bungalow Zone comprises less than two percent of present-day Delhi, an official lobby of politicians and builders is determined to demolish it, branding the zone's buildings as sprawling, space-consuming, and beyond repair. Their intention is to replace them with high-rise, high-occupancy residential and commercial developments to augment the capital's housing needs. Advocates for the preservation of the Bungalow Zone have offered to draw up alternative and adaptive proposals, noting that the uniqueness of New Delhi lay in the fact that it is a city of gardens. They hope to galvanize public opinion to preserve a unique British legacy in India. Insensitive redevelopment would sound the death knell to this magnificent district, turning it into another urban nightmare.
Since the Watch
Shortly after the 2002 Watch announcement, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) issued a charter for the importance of the Lutyens Bungalow Zone and the threats it faces. In 2003 a 42-member delegation of the United Kingdom-based Lutyens Trust visited Delhi and participated in workshops, tours, and meetings. In October 2007 a photography exhibition on Edwin Lutyens' work was mounted at the British Council in Delhi. In 2008, a plan of the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) proposed the establishment of a protected district encompassing an area with a high concentration of bungalows. The plan also called for infill design and demolition in other bungalow precincts, and met with the approval of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC). Later in the same year, after DUAC, NDMC, the Delhi Development Authority, and INTACH failed to reach an agreement on this plan, the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi asked that the plan be modified. These discussions took place in the context of the development of a new master plan for Delhi, MPD-2021. In May 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Delhi Chapter of INTACH and the Lutyens Trust. The first object of the partnership will be to conduct a preservation planning study for presentation to the Ministry of Culture. The two parties anticipate seeking World Heritage status for the Lutyens Bungalow Zone in the future. An international conference with the title "Conservation of Shahjahanabad and Lutyens' Bungalow Zone: Contrasting Conservation Imperatives for the Growing Metropolis of Delhi" was convened by the Delhi Chapter of INTACH in April 2010, and focused on the Lutyens Bungalow Zone as a historic precinct in need of careful management. Over the years, inappropriate alterations to historic bungalows have persisted, in spite of their protected status. Now, the Lutyens Bungalow Zone is threatened again by a plan to relax existing restrictions in order to allow high-rise real estate development. December 2013


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