Home to major philosophical, religious, artistic, and political traditions that have shaped global history, Asia remains critically important in understanding the contemporary transnational marketplace and international politics. The Asian Studies Program at Holy Cross offers students a variety of courses and a multidisciplinary framework for the exploration and interpretation of the diverse societies, cultures, and polities of Asia and the Asian diaspora.
Led by faculty from disciplines across the curriculum with teaching and research expertise in the Asian region, we offer a major and a minor, and sponsor activities and events beyond the classroom — often in collaboration with other academic departments and divisions. Students have the flexibility to explore their interests through courses in subjects ranging from political science to anthropology or theatre. Course work may focus on a specific area — China, Japan, India, Vietnam, Indonesia or Nepal, for example — or a variety of themes from traditional and contemporary histories to social and political movements, religious foundations and transformations, economic development, philosophical approaches, artistic productions, and more. In addition to serving as a focus of a broad liberal arts education, Asian Studies majors and minors benefit from their interdisciplinary training to go on to careers in international affairs, public policy, law, economics, journalism, scholarship, and the arts.
Access to a robust cocurricular program of campus speakers, visiting artists, panel discussions, symposia and exhibitions in the Cantor Art Gallery.


We've been running flower arranging workshops here at Flowers 'n' Things for around 10 years now, and we just can't get enough of it! We love nothing more than engaging with other enthusiasts and helping to nurture their passion for flowers.
Our workshops are lead by Jo, who will help you create a beautiful floral arrangement using seasonal flowers. No prior experience is required to attend these workshops, as we can support everyone from novices through to more experienced flower arrangers. Our regulars love how fun and informal our workshops are, and alongside all your materials and tutoring we also include coffee and biscuits!
Take a look below at availability and give us a ring to book yourself or a loved one onto one of our workshops now.
These workshops run between 10am-11:30am, and cost £25 per person.
Please call us on 01775 769306 to book your place now!
We are delighted to be able to offer a floristry course aimed at complete beginners who would like a more in depth introduction to floristry than our half-day workshops. Your tutor will be Jo, who will show you a variety of techniques and skills over 5 sessions. We aim to cover hand-tieds, arrangements, wreaths, button holes, and corsages, but usually add in some extra surprises for you too! Our small class sizes, of up to 6 people, means your tutor can focus on you as an individual and you'll become a really close-knit group with your peers too. We provide all materials, tutoring, and even serve coffee and biscuits each week too!
Take a look below at availability and give us a ring to book yourself onto one of our courses now!
These workshops run between 10am-12pm, and cost £195.
Please call us on 01775 769306 to book your course now!


A while back, Mary L. had prepared a nice dinner casserole for us, and she agreed to do more baking for us for the holidays. So, for Thanksgiving, alongside other pies for her own family, she baked a wonderful apple pie for our big family dinner.
But she surpassed herself with another baked item for a New Year's Day party at my neighbor's house. Mary gave me an earthenware pot containing a still-to-be-baked Serbian Cheese Pie called Gibanica along with the recipe sheet and baking instructions. We baked it just before the party but still had to turn it out onto a serving plate. A fly on the wall would've enjoyed the hilarity of that panicked moment. We expected it would be a mess, but the Gibanica came out of the pot clean!


Ccleaner shows 2 instances of TB installed (Win 10, 64bit).
One is version 52.9.1 with 90.8 MB, the other is 45.2.0 with 166 MB.
Both versions have the same date (7/13/2018), very likely from the last update.
However, when I checked Win Explorer I find only one install.
Uninstall might not have removed the entry for 45.2.0 from the windows registry due to some problem, though I have no clue how CCleaner would get the size of the installed program from the registry. Its possible this might be a self inflicted problem due to CCleaner getting too aggressive in cleaning the registry. Some day you might want to evaluate using Bleachbit instead.
The current version of Thunderbird (60.3) takes about 124MB. I think they very recently enabled 52.* updating to 60.* when it runs automatic updates. Beforehand you had to have manually downloaded the 60.* setup program from the web site.
You may be right about CC. I just checked my wife's PC and it also shows two instances of TB.
I just downloaded Bleachbit and will check it out.
My TB says it's up to date although I'm on the update channel. Guess I have to download the new version manually.
I installed Bleachbit and ran it.
However, the 2 instances are still there.
Should I try to uninstall the older version?
I suggest you try uninstalling it. My experience is that will get rid of the bogus registry entries and no longer list it as a installed application, but it might claim that the application didn't exist etc.
Bleachbit doesn't try to clean the registry, it's designed to "free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there".
I tried to uninstall it but it looks like it will uninstall the newer version too. The uninstall location is exactly the same.
Is there any way to get rid of the old entry via the registry?
I don't know of a safe/reliable way to do that for somebody who is not used to editing the registry. If its not doing any harm the simplest thing would be to do nothing.
If you want to uninstall it, uninstalling will not delete your profile unless you explicitly say you want to remove all of your data.. I suggest you download the latest setup program from https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/ , back up your profile (it can be as simple as use help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder to open file explorer at the profile, go up one directory level, and then use copy&paste to save a copy of the profile directory elsewhere) and uninstall the program. Then re-install it.


WildSprocket Jerseys for MX and dirt bikes have been created with outstanding quality. The sweat-wicking fabric that bursted out of our R&D department gives you the freedom of movement while keeping you dry. Cotton herringbone tape-lined collar absorbs sweat and prevents itching or rashes.


text:
New laws could pump billions of dollars into Permian Basin's rapidly growing water recycling industry
Business // Energy
Sergio Chapa Aug. 2, 2019
New laws could pump billions of dollars into Permian...
1of17Midland oilfield water company XRI bought the the water treatment and recycling division of Dallas-based Fountain Quail Energy Services in an April 2019 deal. Financial terms were not disclosed but XRI plans to expand water recyling in the aird Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.Photo: Courtesy Photo / XRI
2of17Located off U.S. Highway 285 near Malaga, New Mexico, Solaris Water Midstream's Lobo Ranch Produced Water Recycling and Blending Center can treat up to 80,000 barrels of oil field waste water per day. The facility can also store up to 1.8 million barrels of water that can be used for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects in the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico and West Texas.Photo: Courtesy Image / Solaris Water Midstream
3of17Headquartered in Houston, Breakwater Energy Partners recycles more than 16.8 million gallons of oilfield wastewater per day in the arid Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Once treated, the recycled water can be used again for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects.Photo: Courtesy Image / Breakwater Energy Partners
5of17Headquartered in Houston, Solaris Water Midstream owns and operates the Pecos Star System on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin. Using a series of pipelines, the system receives oil field waste water, cleans it and sends the treated water out to be used again for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects.Photo: Courtesy Image / Solaris Water Midstream
6of17Houston oilfield water management company Solaris Water Midstream owns and operates water recycling and saltwater disposal wells in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.Photo: Courtesy Photo / Solaris Water Midstream
9of17Bill Zartler is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Solaris MidstreamPhoto: Courtesy Image / Solaris Water Midstream
10of17Headquartered in Houston, Solaris Water Midstream owns and operates the Pecos Star System on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin. Using a series of pipelines, the system receives oil field waste water, cleans it and sends the treated water out to be used again for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects.Photo: Courtesy Image / Solaris Water Midstream
12of17Matt Gabriel is CEO of the Midland oilfield water company XRI. The company plans to expand its oilfield water recycling operations in the Permian Bains of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.Photo: Courtesy Photo / XRI
13of17Midland oilfield water company XRI bought the the water treatment and recycling division of Dallas-based Fountain Quail Energy Services in an April 2019 deal. Financial terms were not disclosed but XRI plans to expand water recyling in the aird Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico.Photo: Courtesy Photo / XRI
16of17Headquartered in Houston, Breakwater Energy Partners recycles more than 16.8 million gallons of oilfield wastewater per day in the arid Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Once treated, the recycled water can be used again for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects.Photo: Courtesy Photo / Breakwater Energy Partners
17of17Headquartered in Houston, Breakwater Energy Partners recycles more than 16.8 million gallons of oilfield wastewater per day in the arid Permian Basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Once treated, the recycled water can be used again for drilling and hydraulic fracturing projects.Photo: Courtesy Image / Breakwater Energy Partners
Whether by pipeline tanker, truck or hose, more water is moving around the arid Permian Basin than crude oil at any given moment.
Water has become the lifeblood of the modern energy industry with hydraulic fracturing using high-pressured slurry of water, sand and chemicals to unlock oil and gas from shale formations in Texas and across the country. In the arid Permian Basin, the nation's most productive oil field, drilling and fracking operations consume more than 195 million gallons of water per day in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico — enough water to fill nearly 300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
All this has made water and water management in the Permian a big business that's only expected to get bigger, following the recent enactment of three laws in Texas and New Mexico, the two states encompassing the sprawling oil basin. The laws, which essentially clarify water rights issues and encourage the reuse of water, could pump billions more dollars of investment into the region's rapidly growing water recycling industry.
At least a dozen water recycling companies operate in the Permian Basin, according to the Houston research firm Simmons Energy, and they are attracting increasing interest from from private equity firms and other investors. In December, Houston oilfield water company WaterBridge Resources secured up to $800 million in private equity money to add more water pipelines and disposal facilities.
So far this year, companies have made more than $2.5 billion of water-related mergers, acquisitions, private equity investments and other deals in the oilfield, according to the global energy research firm Wood Mackenzie.
Those deals only expected to accelerate as the new laws take effect. Last week, the Midland oil company Concho Resources entered into a joint venture with the Houston water management firm Solaris Water Midstream with the aim of recycling more wastewater from the oil field. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Encouraging recycling makes sense," said Mark Patton, president of the Conroe oilfield water recycling company Hydrozonix. "Everything you recycle is that much less water that goes into disposal wells. You're keeping it in the hydrological cycle on the surface for a lot longer."
Three New Laws
Wastewater is produced in the oil field in two main ways, through fracking, which uses millions of gallons of water for each well, and drilling, which brings up brackish water left behind by the ancient inland sea that covered central North America in the days of the dinosaur. As many as 15 barrels of water are produced for each of the 4.2 million barrels of oil per day that come out of the Permian.
What to do with all that water has become a problem, particularly in the Permian, where the vast amounts of wastewater — most of it pumped underground into deep disposal wells — are testing the geological limits of the basin. Disposal wells also are blamed for the increase in earthquakes in areas near oil and gas fields, particularly in a 50-mile corridor between Fort Stockton and Pecos.
Texas and New Mexico legislatures began addressing water issues in the oilfield this year. Although the states share the Permian Basin and various aquifers, they vary greatly on water laws.
Texas is a capture state, in which a landowner can drill a water well and keep or sell all the water captured. Following the Spanish colonial tradition and because of its large amounts of state and federal land, New Mexico is a water rights state, in which government issues a permit setting the parameters of how much water can be drawn.
Business Moves: Concho Resources joint venture to boost water recycling in Permian Basin
The different approaches to water rights created a gray area and raised new legal questions about the wastewater — called produced water — that comes to the surface with oil and natural gas. Specifically, if produced water can be treated, sold and reused, who owns it? Could a Texas landowner claim it as theirs under rule or capture? Or could the government claim it under water rights in New Mexico?
Passed into law this spring, New Mexico House Bill 546 and Texas House Bill 3246 determined that oil and gas operators own the produced water and they could sell it to recyclers, who then take over legal responsibility for the toxic brine. The New Mexico law went into effect on July 1 while Texas law goes into effect on Sept. 1.
John Tintera, president of the oil industry trade group Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said 50 water management companies of all types — pipeline operators, disposal companies, recyclers — operate in the Permian Basin. Over the past year, Tintera said he has fielded up to a dozen calls from private equity firms each seeking to invest $100 million in Permian Basin water operations but questions about who owned produced water led them to hesitiate.
"This transfer of ownership was one of the things that had been identified as a potential risk for investors," Tintera said. "At what stage, does who own what? These statutes clarify that. It's a green light to bring those investment dollars in. We're open for business."
'Ocean Under The Desert'
During the first two months of an oil well's life, most of the water that comes to the surface is known in the industry as "flow back," water used during the drilling and hydraulic fracturing process. But after that, most of the water that comes up as already present inside the geological formation.
With the Permian Basin part of an inland sea during prehistoric times, the decayed organic matter that became oil and natural gas over millions of years is also locked underground with ancient sea water that has become hypersaline and mixed with hydrocarbons, heavy metals and other compounds.
"There's an ocean under the desert in the form of this produced water but it's a very salty brine that can be used for very little else outside industrial uses," said Jason Jennaro, CEO of Breakwater Energy Partners.
Fuel Fix: Get energy news sent directly to your inbox
Headquartered in Houston, Breakwater buys and moves freshwater to drilling and hydraulic fracturing sites. The company also recycles around 7 million gallons of produced water per day.
The treated water is reused in the oil field, meaning that companies do not have to find new sources of fresh water in the desert region. Although recycled water is still a proverbial drop in the bucket for the Permian Basin's overall water consumption, Jennaro believes the new laws in Texas and New Mexico will change that.
"It's a sea change of regulation that will open the door to much more recycling across the Permian Basin," Jennaro.
New Mexico Advantage
Recycling has an economic advantage on the New Mexico side of the Permian Basin where the Houston company Solaris Water Midstream has emerged as the largest independent water recycler. Solaris Water CEO Bill Zartler said freshwater for oilfield operations costs generally 40 to 65 cents per barrel on the Texas side of the Permian Basin compared to $1 to $2.25 per barrel sourced in New Mexico.
With recycled water selling for 75 cents to $1.25 per barrel, it is more economical for operators to recycle in New Mexico. The company's Pecos Star System, Lobo Ranch and Bronco facilities in New Mexico receive produced water from nearby operators, treat it and if needed, blend the recycled water with non-potable water before sending it back out for use in the oilfield.
"We're not talking about water going to drinking standards or even irrigation standards, because there's still a lot of salt left in it," Zartler said. "But with today's frac chemistry, the salt is not as big of an issue."
More: Read the latest oil and gas news from HoustonChronicle.com
Just as the recycling technology varies from company to company, so do the deals.
Ryan Duman, a senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie, said some oil companies that sold their water pipelines and disposal wells took off those assets off their balance sheets but keep the rights to the services. Others prefer to hold equity into the water companies that they divested into.
On the day-to-operations side, oilfield water recyclers can buy the water from operators, receive it for free or even get paid to haul it away. Depending on their contract, the recyclers either give the treated water back to the operator or sell it on the open market.
"A lot of it comes down to what level of control that the exploration and production company wants to have over water,' Duman said. "There are extreme cases where some operators want to wash their hands clean of it and let a third-party company take care of it all. On the complete other end of the spectrum, you have companies like Pioneer Natural Resources that have their own water subsidiary that handles their volumes with dedicated resources."
Water has become such a large business in the oilfield that it now has its own conferences. Earlier this month, hundreds of industry professionals attended the Produced Water Management Conference at the Westin Galleria in Houston where recycling was a frequent topic of conversation.
Looking ahead, the industry is ripe for consolidation. Midland oilfield water management company XRI bought the water recycling arm of Dallas-based Fountain Quail Energy Services in April. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but XRI CEO Matt Gabriel said the industry is looking to become more sustainable.
"Our customers are realizing very quickly how cost-effective our technology is compared to more costly saltwater disposal infrastructure and services," Gabriel said. "It is an exciting time for our company to be at the forefront of reshaping water management in the energy industry through sustainable and economic water reuse solutions."
Unsuitable for life
For the moment, the water recycling efforts remain limited to reuse in the oilfield, but some in the industry see the potential of using recycled oilfield water for dust control at construction sites, industrial cooling and irrigation at golf courses.
But that's unlikely to happen easily. Colin Leyden, senior manager of regulatory affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund's Austin office, said his group supports oilfield water recycling, but the organization wants more studied before the water used outside the industry.
"If we don't get the science right before proceeding with this, the industry is potentially creating a huge liability," Leyden said. "History suggests it will be the public and environment that pays the cost."
In the 1920s, an oilfield accident near Big Lake, Texas sent billions of gallons of produced water to the surface, making the land unsuitable for vegetation and animal life. Known as the "Texon Scar," the damage can still be seen from outer space nearly 100 years later.
"Any landowner will tell you that they'd rather have an oil spill on their land than a produced water spill," Leyden said. "It's much easier to clean up an oil spill. Produced water has salts and other compounds that are difficult to remove."
sergio.chapa@chron.com
@SergioChapa on Twitter
Sergio Chapa
Sergio Chapa covers the oil & gas industry for the Houston Chronicle and writes for Texas Inc., a weekly Monday insert dedicated to covering the most powerful business leaders in Texas. Sergio was born and raised in the Lone Star State and studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously worked at the San Antonio Business Journal, KGBT-TV in the Rio Grande Valley and Al Día in Dallas.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Kubernetes, AWS : Service creating extra Security-Group per service I am working on Kubernetes where our pods are running on AWS. I am creating a service with pre-defined LoadBalancer specifications. Still, Kubernetes is adding an extra SG to the loadbalancer. How can I specify not to do that? Thank you.
service.yaml :
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: akeneo-service
    app.kubernetes.io/instance: akeneo-service-instance
    app.kubernetes.io/version: "1.0.0"
    app.kubernetes.io/component: backend
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: kubectl
  annotations:
      # Note that the backend talks over HTTP.
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-backend-protocol: "ssl"
       # TODO: Fill in with the ARN of your certificate.
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-ssl-cert: OUR_ARN
       # Only run SSL on the port named "https" below.
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-ssl-ports: "443"
    service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-extra-security-groups: "sg-0d3a65fc39e47e3cf"
  name: akeneo-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: akeneo-service
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - name: https
    port: 443
    targetPort: 443
  - name: http
    port: 80
    targetPort: 80

Any help would be nice. :-)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
*For all press release inquiries, please reach out to Theresa Meyer (Theresa.Meyer@mail.house.gov)
Emmer Leads Inquiry into Boston Fed-Led CBDC Effort
Washington, D.C. — Today, Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06), the Ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, led a letter with Ranking Member Patrick McHenry (NC-10) to Susan Collins, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, about "Project Hamilton," an initiative to research the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC).
A central bank digital currency is a programmable digital currency issued from a federal reserve. If the CBDC is not crafted with the values of transparency in mind, the currency falls at risk to the financial privacy violations currently on display in China.
It has come to Congress's attention that some firms participating in Project Hamilton intend to use government resources from the project to design a CBDC with the intent to then sell those products to commercial banks.
Emmer said, "Any U.S. CBDC must be open, permissionless, and private."
"The more we learn about the Boston Fed's work on Project Hamilton, the more we have become concerned with the lack of transparency, especially as it relates to their partnership with the private sector. The unfair advantage that some private companies could enjoy from this partnership and the failure to ensure the principles of privacy, sovereignty, and free markets should be concerning to every American," Emmer concluded.
Specifically, the letter asks about Project Hamilton's funding and engagement with the private sector as they seek to develop a CBDC. The letter also asks how the Fed plans to address concerns that many have regarding the dangers a CBDC could pose to financial privacy and financial freedom, which were the subject of over 65% of the letters in response to the Fed's January 2022 report on CBDCs.
Emmer and McHenry were joined on the letter by House Financial Services Committee members Ann Wagner (MO-02), Ted Budd (NC-13), Bill Huizenga (MI-02), Andy Barr (KY-06), French Hill (AR-02), Anthony Gonzalez (OH-16), and Warren Davidson (OH-08).
Project Hamilton is a collaboration between the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Digital Currency Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to research the potential development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States.
Emmer has long expressed concern about the implementation of a U.S. CBDC. In January, Emmer introduced a bill to prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC directly to individuals. You can read more about that bill here.
You can read the letter in full here.
Permalink: https://emmer.house.gov/2022/12/emmer-leads-inquiry-into-boston-fed-led-cbdc-effort


At times, you may have been advised to "put your best face forward," especially at the beginning of your career. And, it is a fact that people make judgments about you based on your appearance – they decide all kinds of things about you within the first few seconds of seeing your face in a photograph. When you run or own a business, it's just the same - people associate your face with the quality of your business.
To be successful, your business needs a high-quality, professional headshot. Taking a selfie with your smartphone just isn't good enough. Neither is asking a good friend who has an expensive camera to take a picture of you. So, if you're a business owner, or a budding entrepreneur, here are five reasons why you should use a professional photographer to take a headshot for your business.
By including a professional portrait on your website and advertising materials, you are giving your business a vital personal touch. Let's face it, most people want to see a photo of the person with whom they might want to do business. What's more, you want your headshot to provide prospective clients or customers with the feeling that you are warm, friendly, and trustworthy – someone they would like to do business with.
It's not only you, as the business owner, who needs a confidence-inspiring headshot. If you have employees that are engaging with prospective clients or customers, these employees also need headshots. A good example is a real estate business where all of the people who will be meeting prospects and showing them their possible new homes need to inspire confidence. It's not enough just to list a name and a narrative – you need a professional headshot for each person.
It's best not to have several different headshots. Pick the best one and use it consistently on your website, your social media platforms, and your mailings. You are sending a message that you're a professional and in control of your business. Several different headshots can make a business appear disjointed, which might be a turnoff for potential clients or customers.
Branding is not just about a catchy logo or tagline. Rather, it's an emotional tie that you make with your clients or customers. In other words, your face also counts as your company brand. It's essential to have a visual brand that presents you in the best light, with an up-to-date look. A sloppy and unprofessional photo can give off a negative vibe about your brand. On the other hand, a professional headshot can do wonders for helping to promote brand loyalty.
You may think that you're not particularly photogenic. Not to worry - professional photographers are trained to bring out the best facets of your personality in a headshot. That's why it's worth the cost. The pros know the best angles and head tilts and all the insider camera strategies for making you look good. They can do wonderful things with lighting and very expensive camera lenses.
Nita Dusek is a professional photographer who understands how to give you a headshot that makes the best impression of your business. For the highest quality in headshots, call Nita Dusek Photography. Nita will meet with you, discuss your business with you, and give you just the right headshot for your particular field of business. Call today to set up an appointment. Remember, there's no second chance to make a first impression, so your business headshot really counts.


text:
https://www.thebody.com/article/united-kingdom-church-tells-hiv-patients-to-end-me
HIV in Specific CountriesNews
United Kingdom: Church Tells HIV Patients to End Medication
CDC National Prevention Information Network Dec. 6, 2011
At least six people in Britain have died after an evangelical church told them they were cured of HIV and no longer needed medication, Sky News recently reported. The London-based Synagogue Church of All Nations holds a monthly prayer meeting in which people from across Europe seek religious healing from illnesses, the news agency reported.
"We have many people that contract HIV. All are healed," said Pastor Rachel Holmes. After a healing ritual, pastors allegedly tell supplicants that they are healed by God, no longer require medication, and can start a family. To date, at least six people told to stop taking HIV medication have died.
"It is foolish advice and it is tragic advice because the consequences of this kind of advice can only be that people pass on HIV and can only be seriously bad for the individual concerned, including death," said former Health Secretary Lord Fowler.
The church claims that those people who were not healed did not fully accept that God would heal them; however, "only God can determine this," it says.
"Our advice is clear, that faith and prayer are not a substitute for any form of treatment, especially for HIV treatment," the Department of Health said.
CDC National Prevention Information Network
Tags: News, United Kingdom


text:
When fiction attempts some thematic or metaphorical relevance, it's disappointing when the execution is incomplete or incompetent. If the point is not made well then the audience and critics risk reading meaning into what originally had none, or speaking about the fiction's ambition without conviction. These failures occur in every medium but I feel as though video games have a higher proportion of them. I'm talking about games that have no trouble introducing themes but never deliver the payoff. Good ideas that never coalesce into a thesis and so their inclusion comes off as scattershot; a clumsy seasoning instead of a careful foundation.
Some games are able to pull this off, no question, but I think you still see a lot of these missed opportunities. It's an easier process, I would assume, for games that rely heavily or exclusively on cutscenes or other passive media to tell the story, since the narrative rarely interacts with the game proper. Narrative concerns like subtext and metaphor probably come dead last at crunch time. If the story wraps up at all, the conclusion usually owes more to the convolutions of the plot rather than the purity of the theme. It reveals the last piece of the puzzle, reveals the last straw man hiding inside the series of Russian dolls and then has the player fight it.
Either that, or gameplay, when push comes to shove, will take precedence over narrative. The endgame administers the final exam on mechanics and subtext is a secondary priority. This segregation of gameplay and story into two different estates can cause issues of incompatibility to arise, especially when the story intends to progress to where narrative themes dictate the chain of events and the fates of the characters. It's hard to write about determinism or fatalism in an interactive medium. Hard to do stories about how different ideologies interact within a competitive micro-ecology. Hit Self-Destruct is evidently in its high school English phase, so let me use a played-out and familiar example. The boys kill Simon in Lord of the Flies because he represents one thing and the boys and the island represent another. There's simply no way for Simon to survive in that environment. It is dishonest to pretend otherwise: if Simon lives the story dies. Gamers don't expect that honesty. In the Lord of the Flies video game, players want the power to save Simon, headshot all the other boys and ride a motorcycle.
For an example of thematic disappointment, here's Deus Ex: Invisible War, which is about as far as you can get from Lord of the Flies.
The strongest point Invisible War could have made was about humanity. The game takes place in a future heavily dependent on invasive and intractable biotechnology. A faction called the Omar modify themselves beyond simple humanity. They're outfitted with hi-tech and permanent exoskeletons and form a collective consciousness. One character refuses to sleep because he knows the Omar will come and induct him surgically into their ranks.
The game also explores how far actual humans will go in the pursuit of power and advancement before betraying their conscience and each other. The conservative Templars are so single-minded in their opposition to technological enhancement that they become out-and-out killers; murdering sympathisers and collaborators in the interests of preserving human purity. Even the more level-headed of the factions will abduct and execute the main character's colleagues and friends in the hope of coercing him.
The contradiction of Invisible War is that this game, predicated on freedom of choice, is constantly leasing the player's autonomy to NPC factions. For an ostensibly free agent, the player character is always following the orders of a higher institution. This is territory better explored in Bioshock, but its presence here is no less intriguing.
The recurring theme gains prominence when the player, late in the game, meets the character J.C. Denton. Here, as an unfamiliar NPC, Denton has merged with an AI program and is coldly advocating the unwilling draft of the entire race into some kind of a social networking nightmare; linking all human minds together with his own, and he and the AI monitor their needs and administer treatment accordingly. Denton came about this theory after a 20-year isolation and apparently more of the AI remains than his own mind. He demonstrates no human characteristics, no rebelliousness, no compassion (not that he ever had much to begin with.) As Denton was the player character in the first Deus Ex, he was the most human character in the entire Deus Ex canon. Now, he no longer bears any resemblance to the player's original experiences. The transformation is sobering.
As the game escalates, the time seems absolutely right for an acknowledgment or prioritising of the question of the player character Alex's human potential. Alex has been revealed to be less than human, something of an ad hoc genetic experiment created to approximate technologically superior models. The game is perfectly poised to say or prove something about humanity at the denouement, and to make the endgame all about that. About contrasting Alex against all these other characters with their eroding or absent human credentials (one character previously thought to be real turns out to be a computer program, come on, it's not a reach) and asking whether he and the player can be the one to remember and affirm their own humanity. Deus Ex is not prone to emotional displays, which is exactly what would make the reversal so striking.
The theme is crying out to be realised, for a unifying theory that never arrives. It should be connecting the dots, should be crystallising its purpose, but at its finish, Invisible War has only the last link in its hands when it should be holding the whole chain, and then lets it slip from its fingers.
What about our future? While it might be easier to preserve thematic arcs in cutscenes, I think things are likely to improve as games move away from them. Narratives are becoming more sophisticated in delivery and closely integrated with gameplay mechanics and direct experience. That trend is going to force designers to stop thinking of story as cutscenes whose script and production can be outsourced. It will also, I hope, make them smarter in choosing the things they want to talk about.
The release of the original Deus Ex was delayed six months so Ion Storm could, amongst other things, write endings for disappearing characters. I hope that's the way we're going.
Posted by Duncan at 11:50 AM
Isn't it possible that the desire to offer multiple endings makes it difficult to present a satisfying conclusion?
If you've got a narrative designed around a single theme there can really only been one conclusion. If it starts off as a tragedy and ends as a comedy it feels artificial.
It is possible to present a game with a unifying theme and multiple endings but those endings would have to be tied to manner in which the whole game was played and not just the final level. A game with a theme of humanity could lead to a conclusion that dealt with the lose of humanity or the reaffirmation of humanity but such conclusions would have to feel like they'd been earned, and reinforced, throughout the course of the entire game. You couldn't do it successful if it relied on one single decision point near the end of the game.
The original Deus Ex fell down in this regard, your particular ending was decided upon minutes prior to the end of the game so even if you had played with one philosophy up to that point you could just change it on a whim and conclude the narrative with a different thematic bent.
The desire to explain when and where the decision points are, means it's rare for games to take all your actions into account; even in something like Knights Of The Old Republic that actively tracks your actions throughout the game.
qrter said...
In that regard The Witcher is more interesting, eventhough it does what the original Fallout games did before - sprinkling all the choices throughout the game, with some small direct response to your actions but most of the outcome is told at the very end of the game.
"If you've got a narrative designed around a single theme there can really only been one conclusion."
This I disagree with. Theme does not dictate conclusion - how you as a writer want to comment on that theme, does. There are always multiple possible endings to a narrative, some might suit the writer's agenda more than others. But why not redirect the focus from 'follow my agenda and learn this' to making the choice and the set-up the agenda.
I think where games are going wrong is that there is little emotional involvement with presented themes - this happens in both Deus Ex games, sometimes you feel like you're in an endless lecture that may be interesting but is also very cerebral and unaffecting.
BioShock does something here, it makes the Little Sisters pitiful, a weak and scared little girl. I would save the Sisters and would even feel a pang of guilt seeing their Big Daddies hulk around, thumping walls, moaning for their lost little protege.
And then you hit the real problem - BioShock makes the player emotionally invest and then can't handle it. The game gives us moral ambiguity but not the software to properly react to this ambiguity - you can eat one (1) Little Sister for free, but if you have seconds, you're OUT! Nevermind if your heart was swayed somewhere between the second and third Sister, you've made your choice without knowing.
My point was if the narrative has been designed around the handling of a certain theme a certain way then it needs to carry that through the entire game from introduction to conclusion. Doing otherwise only underminds the theme.
That why I suggested moving towards games that handle all your decisions not just those you make pertaining directly to the endgame. That way each individual choice can contribute to the overall conclusion, and make the particular route of each player consistent with their conclusion.
On the otherhand, I wondered if anybody was going to bring up the Little Sisters. I've never understood how people can seriously bemoan the fact that they can't get away with killing a "few" Little Sisters. Tenenbaum is the moral voice when it comes to them and she makes it very clear from the start that killing any of them is a terrible act. In the end she's the ultimate judge of your actions in Rapture and it's callous to argue you should be allowed "just a couple." It's tantamount to saying: "I should be allowed to murder a few times just to see what it's like."
I'd argue that the real moral ambiguity surrounds not the Little Sisters at all but the Big Daddies.
For me the question with the Little Sisters is not: how many am I allowed to kill - although, interestingly, that seems how the game handles it. The game forces its players to think that way (well, not completely, it depends on the willingness of the player).
I'm saying in a real moral dilemma there is a possibility of redemption, of seeing your own mistakes, of trying to right what is wrong. This does not excuse the previous wrongs, but also does not make one into a psychopath that wants to take over the world (which is what the game seems to indicate).
Frankly, I find it quite rich that I as a player shouldn't be able to change my mind on the issue, but someone like Dr. Tennenbaum, who was one of the main factors in setting up the whole Little Sister project over many, many years and saw what it did to the girls and their families, does get that chance, in fact, she gets to judge me!
At this point I should be fair and say the Ken Levine has stated it was never his intention to create two endings, he was forced to do so by management (which seems strange, though, he was able to get the offscreen killing of little girls through, but not the idea of one ending..?). As far as I am concerned he could've stripped out the whole "do something bad, get more stuff" thing. It would've made the moral choices more honest - do I want to save the Sister because I want to save her, because I think it's the right thing to do. But I guess that's not how gamers think (or how is thought gamers don't think).
I agree with you on the Big Daddies - one of the more chilling parts of BioShock is when you get an inkling of how they are created.
I distinctly remember the queasy feeling I got when the game slowly turned towards the idea of me becoming a Big Daddy. What I thought would happen, was that I would be turned into one of those sad, hulking things and never be able to change back. I'd be a saviour of Rapture, or at least the Sisters, but I'd have to destroy myself, more or less. The idea of going through this dehumanising process made me feel ill, it felt like the most cruel thing that could happen to me.
I only wish the game would've been as cruel as that - it would've been a mean ending, but also meaningful.
Classic Tech Demo
War Correspondent
One Thousand Little Cuts


text:
Q: What is $A^-$ in topology?
Hartshorne Algebraic Geometry Proposition 1.5 (page5) In a notherian topological space $X$, every nomempty closed subset $Y$ can be expressed as a finite union $Y=Y_1 \cup \cdots \cup Y_r$ of irreducible closed subsets $Y_i$. If we require that $Y_i \nsupseteq Y_j$ for $i \neq j$, then the $Y_i$ are uniquely determined. They are called the irreducible components of $Y$.

I understood the existence of such a representation. But I can't understand a sentence in  the uniqueness part, which I highlighted: Let $Y=Y_1 \cup \cdots \cup Y_r$ and $Y=Y'_1 \cup \cdots \cup Y'_s$ be two such representation. Then we can deduce that $Y_1=Y'_1$ (the details are in the textbook). Now let $Z=(Y-Y_1)^-$, then $Z=Y_2 \cup \cdots \cup Y_r$ and also $Z=Y'_2 \cup \cdots \cup Y'_s$.
What is the operator $^-$? I understood it as a closure, is it right? But then how can I deduce that $Z$ is represented as $Z=Y_2 \cup \cdots \cup Y_r=Y'_2 \cup \cdots \cup Y'_s$?

A: The bar must mean closure. It's clear that $Y - Y_1$ is a subset of $Y_2 \cup \ldots \cup Y_r$ and as the right hand side is a finite union of closed sets, it is closed
and so the closure of this set is also a subset of it. So $\overline{Y - Y_1} \subset Y_2 \cup \ldots \cup Y_r$.
We do not miss any points of $\overline{Y - Y_1}$:
$Y - Y_1$ is open (as $Y_1$ is closed, being irreducible)
and intersects $Y_i$ for $i \ge 2$ (otherwise $Y_i \subset Y_1$, contrary to assumption) and as $Y_i$ is irredicible, every open subset of it is dense in it, which means that the closure of $Y - Y_1$ in $Y_i$ equals $Y_i$, or equivalently $\overline{Y - Y_1} \cap Y_i= Y_i$, for $i=2 \ldots r$, which implies the other inclusion, and hence equality.
We can hold the exact same argument for the $Y'_i$, $i = 2 \ldots s$.


text:
Home News Leader IPO Nnamdi Kanu, Threatens To Kill Obasanjo And Household
Leader IPO Nnamdi Kanu, Threatens To Kill Obasanjo And Household
Nnamdi Kanu and Obasanjo
The Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has threatened to wipe out former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his household should he (Kanu) be killed.
Addressing elders and chieftains at his residence in Ibeku, Umuahia, Abia State on Thursday, Kanu said his organization would kill Obasanjo if he attempts to harm him.
Kanu's threat came after former President Obasanjo commented that Nigerians must do everything possible to stop the campaigning for the secession of Biafra, a cause spearheaded by Kanu.
The former president made the comment on Tuesday while speaking at the International Conference Centre in Abuja during the launch of the biography of the late Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari.
He stressed that a failure to put an end to the Biafra agitation could lead to a repeat of the 1966 coup and the other events that eventually culminated in the civil war.
The Biafran agitator responded with a threat to the elder statesman.
"I remember Obasanjo calling us names. They said we must eliminate Kanu and for those words coming out from his mouth, he is going to die," Kanu declared.
"I told Obasanjo that I have given instructions to IPOB should anything happen to me. Everything that comes from Obasanjo's lineage will die the same day at the same time. It is a standing instruction to IPOB.
"Wherever they are, we will kill them ourselves at the same time, the same day, 12 noon, wherever we find them all over the world. I am not like anything they have seen before," Kanu boasted.
Culled from: SaharaReporters
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The most widely accepted definition of a species is the biological species concept proposed by Ernst Mayr in the 1940s. A species is a population of individual organisms that can interbreed in nature, mating and producing fertile offspring in a natural setting. Species are organisms that share the same gene pool, and therefore genetic and morphological similarities.


text: Q: Ext in Dedekind domains I know and can prove that $\operatorname{Ext}_Z^1(\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z},A) \simeq A/pA$. Does similar formula work for more general rings, such as Dedekind domains and their ideals, i.e. $\operatorname{Ext}_R^1(R/I,M) \simeq M/IM$ ? It seems that the original proof needs the principality of ideals, but I am unable to prove it otherwise or to find some counterexample.


text:
Netanyahu: Race-Mixing to Destroy Liberal Jews
Jews Get Another Holocaust Day: the Portuguese Must Bow Down
Edwin Wright: Zionist Jews Worked to Capture US Government
Cultural Enrichment: MS-13 Savages Sacrifice Teenage Girl to Appease Demon
Leonidas the Spartan
This Is America, 2020
Facts of Racial Science Blatantly Suppressed
Degenerate Art Sells for $110 Million
Rosemary W. Pennington (Editor) · 13 June, 2017
AN ABSTRACT PICTURE of a skull that The New York Times describes as "forged from oil stick and spray paint" has sold for $110 million in an auction making it one of the most expensive paintings on earth. It was produced by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Haitian immigrant graffiti artist who died of a drug overdose…
Paris Mural Artist Depicts Whites Getting Murdered, Raped, and Enslaved
Bradford Hanson (Editor) · 15 May, 2017
PEOPLE SEEM TO BE catching on to the mural that was painted beneath the Eiffel Tower last September. The mural depicts White and Black figures intertwined and in the middle a Black male figure looks like he's having sex with a White female figure. Many of people have pointed out the shape of the figures…
Why No High Art?
Bradford Hanson (Editor) · 1 April, 2017
IF LOW ART is defined as that art over which the artist has minimal control, then it is hard to argue that art is not in a state of decline. Primitive art is by definition low art as the primitive does not know enough about his materials and his medium to fully control them and achieve the desired effects.…
David SimsEssays
Art: Fraudulent and Real
Bradford Hanson (Editor) · 30 September, 2016
by Adolf Hitler IT IS STRIKING to observe that in 1910 our artistic level was still extraordinarily high. Since that time, alas! our decadence has merely become accentuated. In the field of painting, for example, it's enough to recall the lamentable daubs that people have tried to foist, in the name…
Andrew HamiltonEssays
Revisiting Tom Wolfe's Radical Chic (1970)
Rosemary W. Pennington (Editor) · 29 March, 2016
by Andrew Hamilton I STOPPED reading contemporary literature — works by living novelists and short story writers — when I was in my late teens or early twenties. I found it aesthetically and intellectually unrewarding. The sole exception was the work of journalist-turned-novelist Tom Wolfe, the…
The Triumph of Beauty
Kevin Alfred Strom (Editor) · 30 January, 2016
American Dissident Voices broadcast of January 30, 2016 by Kevin Alfred Strom "YOU HAVE lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty…. I don't want to understand you." So said the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov (pictured) more…
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Simon Schama: A Case Study in Jewish Verbosity and Ethnic Activism
Bradford Hanson (Editor) · 3 December, 2015
by Andrew Joyce I'VE NOW spent more than fifteen years researching the Jewish Question and the impact of Jewish influence on the West. During that time I've encountered and documented a number of Jews who almost single-handedly encapsulate and characterize the Jewish modus operandi, as well as the…
Wagner and Multiracialism
by Irmin Vinson IN HIS ANALYSIS of Nikolaus Lehnhoff's production of Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) Michael Polignano mentions that "desecrating Wagner … is something of an industry in post-World War II Germany." The recent Stuttgart version of Wagner's…
Italy: Modern Art Removed by Cleaners Who Thought it was Trash
Rosemary W. Pennington (Editor) · 28 October, 2015
Sometimes the least educated have better sense and taste than the miseducated. CLEANERS AT A museum in Italy threw away one of the exhibits thinking it was mess left over from a party on Friday night. (ILLUSTRATION: This is what the installation used to look like…) The empty champagne bottles,…
Berg, Berg, and Berg
Rosemary W. Pennington (Editor) · 9 February, 2015
TOM WOLFE has written an entertaining and ironic précis of the American art scene from 1945 to 1975, which he predicts will go down in history as the age of the Painted Word. This is also the title of his new book (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), which further predicts that the painters and paintings …


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« Mark Johnson: Unsettled Weather
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Nina Jordan: Floods and Houses: New Prints
Untitled, Flooded Home VII, 2021
Untitled, Small Flood IV, 2021
Open Gate, Banner Avenue, 2021
Malta Street Pineapples, 2021
Avenue L Monumental, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home V, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home VI, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home III, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home I, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home II, 2021
Untitled, Flooded Home IV, 2021
Untitled, Small Flood III & I, 2021
Untitled, Small Flood II, 2021
Reception: Thursday, February 10, 2022 6-8pm
Nina Jordan's art can raise thoughts to finer thinking, the spirit to a sweeter state. Her work does not deny the world its fearsome energy, but harnesses it to create something beautiful and of lasting value. –James Servin
Click here to download the exhibition checklist.
Shop the Floods and Houses: New Prints exhibition by Nina Jordan.
Planthouse is pleased to present Floods and Houses, fourteen new woodcuts by Nina Jordan, opening on January 27, 2022. Jordan continues to explore images of homes in this new series of works. The flood series, eleven prints drawn from pictures of recent climate disasters, presents scenes where the sense of place has been washed away. The marked heavily grained woodblock plays to the distressed surfaces of the homes and flows with the floodwaters. Jordan's use of color and loose carving technique create a painterly and texturally rich materiality, which informs the content. In the aftermath of tragedy, the threats to our survival as individuals, households, and communities are displayed. The three larger woodcuts are images of Brooklyn real estate. The large format is employed to awaken our appreciation of these everyday properties/homes and reveals the interplay of grandeur and value, shelter and security.
Jordan writes, "I use images from real estate listings as references for my prints. The listings are often poignant and strange and speak of our search for safety, our struggle for survival. The houses tell the story of our many different economic and personal realities. In appropriating these images, I speak of the conflict between home as a commodity and home as a habitat essential to survival. With these prints, I ask: who lives in this house, who wants to live in this house, and what does that say? A recent series depicting homes partially submerged by floodwaters addresses the question of shelter in this time of climate crisis. These images ask the same questions: who lives in this house, where are they now, and what does that say?"
Nina Jordan is a painter and printmaker living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She is the recipient of a NYFA fellowship in printmaking and artists' books. Her prints and artists' books are in many collections, including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the New York Public Library, the Yale University Art Gallery, and the University of Richmond Museums.
Tuesday-Saturday 12-6 PM – By Appointment – info@planthouse.net