A constructive dismissal occurs when an employee resigns and shows that they were entitled to do so because of their employer's actions. An employee will often rely on an employer's fundamental breach of the implied term of mutual trust and confidence. This implied term underpins all employment relationships.
• Altering your duties, role or reporting lines without good reason.
It is important to obtain legal advice as soon as possible as the timing and reasons for your resignation including any decision to delay are likely be critical to the success of your claim.
If you believe you have a constructive dismissal claim, you must make a claim to an employment tribunal within three months of the date of your resignation. This is a strict legal deadline. You will need to have at least 2 year's continuous service with your employer to be able to make a claim. It is recommended that you submit a formal grievance to your employer before resigning. A failure to submit a formal grievance before resigning means that a tribunal can reduce any compensation awarded to you by up to 25%. You must also complete the ACAS pre-claim conciliation process before being allowed to submit your claim to a tribunal.
We have extensive experience of handling constructive dismissal claims and can provide you with comprehensive advice on your options including the amount of compensation you might receive if you win. We can also help you with any settlement negotiations as an alternative to bringing a claim.


text:
The Resource The Thief
The item The Thief represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Merrimack Valley Library Consortium.
Discover and rediscover the world of the Queen's Thief, from the acclaimed novel The Thief to the thrilling, twenty-years-in-the-making conclusion, The Return of the Thief. The epic novels set in the world of the Queen's Thief can be read in any order.New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner's entrancing and award-winning Queen's Thief novels bring to life the world of the epics. This first book in series introduces one of the most charismatic and incorrigible characters of fiction, Eugenides the thief. The Queen's Thief novels are rich with political machinations and intrigue, battles lost and won, dangerous journeys, divine intervention, power, passion, revenge, and deception. Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Marie Lu, Patrick Rothfuss, and George R. R. Martin.Eugenides, the queen's thief, can steal anything—or so he says. When his boasting lands him in prison and the king's magus invites him on a quest to steal a legendary object, he's in no position to refuse. The magus thinks he has the right tool for the job, but Gen has plans of his own. The Queen's Thief novels have been praised by writers, critics, reviewers, and fans, and have been honored with glowing reviews, "best of" citations, and numerous awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, a Newbery Honor, the Andre Norton Award shortlist, and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award. A Newbery Honor BookAn ALA Notable BookA YALSA Best Book for Young AdultsA Horn Book Fanfare BookA New York Public Library Book for the Teen AgeA Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon BookA Junior Library Guild Selection"The Queen's Thief books awe and inspire me. They have the feel of a secret, discovered history of real but forgotten lands. The plot-craft is peerless, the revelations stunning, and the characters flawed, cunning, heartbreaking, exceptional. Megan Whalen Turner's books have a permanent spot on my favorites shelf, with space waiting for more books to come."—Laini Taylor, New York Times-bestselling author of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone novels and Strange the Dreamer"Unforgettable characters, plot twists that will make your head spin, a world rendered in elegant detail—you will fall in love with every page of these stories. Megan Whalen Turner writes vivid, immersive, heartbreaking fantasy that will leave you desperate to return to Attolia again and again."—Leigh Bardugo, New York Times-bestselling author of the The Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows"Trust me. Just read it. Then read it again, because it will not be the same river twice."—Lois McMaster Bujold, acclaimed and Hugo Award-winning author of the Vorkosigan Saga, the Chalion Series, and the Sharing Knife series"In addition to its charismatic hero, this story possesses one of the most valuable treasures of all—a twinkling jewel of a surprise ending." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)"To miss this thief's story would be a crime."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (starred review)"A literary journey that enriches both its characters and readers before it is over."—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"A tantalizing, suspenseful, exceptionally clever novel."—The Horn Book (starred review)
OVERDRIVE:a00567fc-1ef5-44ea-9d45-044cbe813c9e
http://library.link/vocab/inputERC

 Data from The Thief - Merrimack Valley Library Consortium

Data Citation of the Item The Thief

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Find Cover Letter Samples for Tourist, Medical and Business Schengen Visa Applications.
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text:
Home Working in America Supreme Court Offers Undocumented Workers No Relief from Fear and Danger
Supreme Court Offers Undocumented Workers No Relief from Fear and Danger
The Court's deadlock on DAPA puts many promising organizing efforts in jeopardy.
by Justin Miller
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
Rosario Reyes, originally from El Salvador, and her son Victor, 7, prepare for a news conference in front the Supreme Court to note the importance of the Court hearing the case regarding President Obama's executive order "to expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and implement Deferred Action for Parental Accountability," December 11, 2015.
Welcome to The American Prospect's weekly roundup highlighting the best reporting and latest developments in the labor movement.
(Compiled by Justin Miller-Edited by Harold Meyerson)
When the Supreme Court failed to uphold President Obama's executive programs protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation, it doubled down on things the immigrant community already has aplenty: uncertainty and dread.
The future of the executive orders-along with the fate of many immigrant workers-remains in limbo until a ninth justice is confirmed and the presidential election is decided. The uncertainty hits close to home for the labor movement, putting at risk many promising organizing efforts to improve working conditions in industries where undocumented workers have long been exploited.
At issue was the president's 2014 expansion of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Deferred Action for Parental Accountability, known as DAPA and DACA, to include protections for more undocumented children, and many of their parents. By granting work permits, the expanded program could have brought up to five million people into the mainstream workforce. For the country's undocumented workforce toiling in the margins of the economy hopes of fully integrating into the workforce have once again dimmed.
"Immigrant workers are by far the most likely group to face gross exploitation on the job and we all know that when one worksite is dangerous, the standards for working people everywhere get worse," said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, which represents many immigrant workers in the meatpacking industry. Plant bosses have ordered deportation raids on their own workers when organizing drives began.
The risk of deportation often keeps undocumented workers voiceless, and vulnerable to exploitation and dangerous working conditions. But in the past few years, organizers have had tremendous success building power for undocumented workers. For undocumented domestic workers, among whom wage theft is all too common and their immigration status makes negotiating employment conditions a risk, organizing campaigns in New York and other states have won these workers some basic rights. In Los Angeles, wage theft campaigns in the car-wash industry have also seen success as many undocumented workers have begun to stand up together.
Undocumented construction workers in Texas exposed to wage theft and forced to work long hours with minimal breaks have also seen improvements through organizing. The Workers Defense Project, which organizes laborers in the state, held a vigil outside Texas Governor Gregg Abbott's mansion in response to the ruling. "Not only will we continue to fight to unfreeze [the deferred action programs], but we will fight for comprehensive immigration reform," Workers Defense Project executive director Jose Garza said. "Our families are stronger than their hate."
The Supreme Court's deadlock will ensure that many undocumented workers remain in the shadows.
As immigrant rights advocate Luba Cortés explained in The New York Times, her mother has been undocumented for 16 years and works as a housekeeper. "Housekeepers are the heroes of the immigrant economy-they do their work silently, efficiently, and find money on the table after the job is done," Cortés writes. "There is no exchange of stories. None of the people whose houses my mom has cleaned know that she was a lawyer, that she is an intellectual and passionate person; they don't know that she crossed a treacherous border, or that she lives with the constant fear of deportation."
In 2014, Cortés thought that would change with the new protections granted to undocumented parents. Then the state of Texas, along with 25 other states, sued to stop the program. "For months my mom would call me and ask what was happening with the president's immigration plan. I would tell her, 'Nothing new,' and I could always sense her disappointment," Cortés writes. "Then the calls got less frequent. Thursday morning, I called her. I had to tell her that the Supreme Court had taken the issue on … and deadlocked. The president's program couldn't move forward. My mother still can't get a work permit, or relief from anxiety-ridden nights."
Meanwhile, though the initial 2012 DACA order was not at issue in the case, the fate of the more than 800,000 original Dreamers who were granted work permits is also in peril. As Alexia Fernández Campbell reports in The Atlantic, there's nothing stopping a federal judge from issuing injunctions against the original program using the reasoning in this recent decision. The next president could also do away with the program-which Donald Trump has already said he would do-making the presidential election all the more important for the immigrant community.
The decision impacts not only workers, but employers, too. "Across the country, business owners, growers, hotel builders, they were really looking forward to having a stable and legal workforce," says Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told The Atlantic. "Now we're back to square two."
Justin Miller is a former Prospect writing fellow and is currently covering politics for the Texas Observer.
Read more by Justin Miller


Radon gas is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada. It's second only to smoking. That means, for non-smokers, radon gas is the leading cause of lung cancer in Canada.
I'm going to pause for a moment to let that sink in. And while that sinks in, I'd like to tell you a story.
I've spent the last several years trying to get people to test their home for radon gas. Why? Because radon is a naturally-occurring gas that forms underground and seeps into homes through basement foundations and can build up inside a house. Breathing in too much radon gas over several years can lead to lung cancer later in life. But there are steps you can take to project yourself. You can test your home, and testing is easy to do, and if testing shows your home has high radon levels, you can fix your home.
Every home is at risk, so every homeowner should test their home.
This has been a challenging message to get across. Despite annual national and local campaigns to raise awareness, most people still haven't tested their home for radon. After several years of supporting a local campaign, I was beginning to lose steam.
Around this time, I was giving a presentation at a local town hall about radon and lung cancer. Before I spoke, Mark*, a local resident, took the microphone to tell his story. Mark's wife had recently been diagnosed with lung cancer. The news not only devastated them, but also raised a lot of questions. Neither Mark, nor his wife, had smoked a day in their lives. They began searching for an answer, which is when they learned that, for non-smokers, radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in Canada and that radon gas can easily seep into homes. Mark immediately tested their home and found that radon levels were high. They hired a contractor to fix their home.
Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada and high radon levels are found in many homes. Test your home - if radon is high, fix your home. Both are easy to do, and you might save a life.
For more information, drop-in to one of our Radon and Lung Cancer Information Nights in November. Come and ask experts questions about testing and fixing your home and purchase a discounted radon test kit for $35. These drop-in sessions are free and all are welcome.
If you aren't able to make it, but still wish to purchase a discounted Radon Test Kit, you can purchase a test kit online by visiting: WDGPublicHealth.ca/Radon.


For a brief overview of the 2018 Team Challenge, take a look at the Sensors Day 2018 presentation.
The Sensor CDT teaching team is always open to suggestions for future team challenges. Please contact us.


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By FCW Staff
2007 Federal 100 judges
Check the bestseller lists on most weeks, and more than likely you will find a book that claims to have the answers to all our problems. The current book rage is "The Secret," which presents what it calls the great secrets from centuries of oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy.
Generally, we understand and appreciate that there is no mystery or secret to success. We often know instinctively what needs to be done to succeed. But too often, obstacles stand in the way. We know that no secret or magic can help us overcome those obstacles. However, we do have lessons and experiences to draw from that teach us that we can surmount the difficult tasks we face.
In this issue, we highlight some of the secrets of success in the government information technology community. Here are leadership lessons from winners of Federal Computer Week's 2007 Federal 100 Awards. The award winners are exceptional people who have done remarkable things. We hope that these people — all 100 winners — provide insights into success in meeting the important challenges facing this community.
Connect with the FCW staff on Twitter @FCWnow.


>>AppleEvents will be slower than selecting way too much data.
>Neither is stupendously fast; the bottleneck is definitely issuing the individual delete commands for each track.  Both took around 30 minutes to execute.  It seems to take around one second for a delete command to take effect, judged solely on watching the total track count decrease one by one.
Still sounds very slow. What OS & iTunes versions; how big's the playlist and what % is duplicates? I mocked up a 550-item playlist containing 500 duplicates and my script took 50 secs to get through that (iTunes 6.0.1; OS 10.4.3); 10 secs if I close the playlist window first so iTunes doesn't have to update that each time.
>Actually, I have one final question:  is it possible for handles to "time out?"
What you mean by 'handles'? If you mean application object references, remember those are just queries, so they're only as durable as they are unique. A by-id specifier should always identify the same object for as long as that object exists; a by-index specifier will identify whatever object happens to be at the specified position at the time, which may well be different objects at different times if you're moving them around and stuff.


Let the whole world know that your company is unique!
You have a great company, but you are aware that PR, marketing and communications opportunities fall by the wayside. You start wondering if you shouldn't get better known by your target group. You start doubting whether you have enough quality content for your website and social media. You start thinking that you may need to go right back to the basis and analyse who you are and how you should position yourself vis-à-vis the competition.
If you need help with writing riveting texts, creating or revamping your website, or even creating a marketing and communications master plan, you have come to the right address.


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Lynn-Stone
Privacy Policy of Lynn-Stone Funeral Homes Inc.
MOREAU, GILBERT
Passed away peacefully with his family by his side on Saturday, August 6, 2016. Gilbert Moreau of Phelpston, In his 78th year. Beloved husband of Diane Buchanan. Dear father of Andrew (Jennifer) and Shelley Moreau (Sean O'Neill). Loved grandfather of Matthew, Taylor, Teagan and Lochlyn. Brother of Anita Edgar (the late Jack), Bernard (Prima), Rita (the late Murray) Leddy, Eugene (Josephine), the late Cecile (Ken) Ritchie, the late Frank (Zita), Rosemarie (Clair) Fiaschetti, Raymond and Clair. Brother-in-law of Adrian (Yvonne), Morley (Barb), Donnie (Nancy) Buchanan and the late Earl (Delores) Cripps. Lovingly remembered by extended family Holly & John Wu and children Lindsay and Erika. He will be missed by his numerous nieces and nephews.
Member of the Our Lady of Lourdes Folk Choir, he was on the building and finance committee of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Lecturer and usher at both St. Patrick's Church and Our Lady of Lourdes Church. He loved to curl and belonged to the Elmvale curling club for many years. Gilbert and his brother Frank worked at the family farm machinery business until his retirement. He was a devoted husband, proud father and doting grandfather. He will be sorely missed by all the lives that he touched.
Friends may call at the Lynn-Stone Funeral Home Elmvale from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on Tuesday, August 9 and from 2-4 pm and 7-9 pm on Wednesday, August 10. A funeral mass will be held at 11 am on Thursday, August 11 at St. Patrick's Church in Phlepston.
Parish prayers at 2 pm on Wednesday.
Interment St. Patrick's Cemetery Phelpston.
Memorial donations to Our Lady of Lourdes Church, or the RVH Palliative Care Unit would be appreciated.
Elm Flower Shoppe
52 Yonge St., S
Elmvale, Ontario
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Elmvale, ON
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Comprehensive Grief Care®
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We Are All Connected: Julie and Minerva
Staff Spotlights: Julie A. Scott (L) & Minerva Padron, LPC (R)
Director of Philanthropy and Communications, Julie A. Scott, joined the Judi's House/JAG Institute team in January of this 2020, just 8 short weeks before our worlds changed due to the pandemic. Julie leads our team of fundraising and communications professionals to raise funds, host events, and spread the word about our critical mission throughout the Denver Metro area, the state, and the nation. Much like our direct service and training and education delivery, the development and communications team had to be nimble in creating new opportunities to connect with our Judi's House family and friends.
Julie and her husband Jamie both love to travel. When their plans to travel to Italy fell through, they checked three national parks off their travel list this summer. Now that winter has set in, they both have their hands full with their new puppy and future adventure buddy, Bodie.
"There is so much to love about working at Judi's House from the team, to the selfless volunteers, to the children and families we serve. I have enjoyed learning about the scores of families we continue to impact through our critical work. It's been a joy to get to know some of our longstanding donors and learn why supporting Judi's House is so important to them. What I've found is people are really passionate about the connection and healing we provide to grieving children and families. We look forward to creating more meaningful opportunities for the community to invest in our mission as we embark on a new year."
If you ask Community-Based Care Bilingual Grief Counselor, Minerva Padron, LPC, how long she has been at Judi's House, she'll answer, "It's a long story!" Long story short, Minerva started with Judi's House as an intern and has continued to share her gifts with us as a staff member for the past three years. She carries the Judi's House mission to the many places she provides grief care in the community, specifically through groups in metro area middle schools. With the pandemic, Minnie and our Community-Based Care team expanded the services we provide to virtually share information on grieving, supporting the bereaved, and practicing self-care with caring adults and students in grades 1-12!
In her free time, Minerva loves to play, eat, and create with her family.
"What I like most about working at Judi's House is…all of it: living with purpose in being supportive to others through my service, seeing the power of love expressed through grief in families, learning from the wisdom of children who are grieving, serving Spanish speaking families in their own language, and being part of the community that makes it all possible for our families (and so MUCH more)."
Get the latest news and updates from Judi's House / JAG Institute
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text:
The United States is headed for a battery breakthrough
By Tim Sylvia
A new report by the Energy Information Administration projects U.S. installed battery storage capacity will reach 2.5 GW by 2023. Florida and New York are set to pave the way as massive projects in each state will account for almost half the coming capacity.
Storage is ready to take off in a big way. Image: Tesla
Symbiosis is one of life's most beautiful phenomena. Certain things just work perfectly together and the energy revolution is no different, as renewable energy resources and battery storage go together like peas in a pod.
However, the United States has an operating battery storage capacity of only 899 MW to date. And while that figure is expected to reach 1 GW this year that would still only represent 1/67th of the nation's cumulative solar generation capacity, and an even smaller percentage of the overall renewables capacity.
That could all be about to change dramatically though, as the U.S. Energy Information Administration(EIA) has released a report predicting battery storage capacity will almost treble by 2023, to 2.5 GW.
Past, current and predicted U.S. battery storage capacity levels. Image: EIA
The projections were made based on proposed utility scale battery storage projects scheduled for initial commercial operation within five years. The EIA tracks data with its Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory survey, which updates the status of projects scheduled to come online within 12 months.
As drastic as a prediction of 2.5 GW appears, there is a precedent. Between late 2014 and March, installed battery storage capacity rose more than four times over, from 214 to 889 MW.
A look at the states that brought the U.S. to its current storage reality offers surprising results. Leading the way was California, unsurprisingly. However, of the six states known to pv magazine to have energy storage mandates, California is the only one in the top 10 for installed capacity. The others: Arizona, Nevada, New York, Massachusetts and Oregon; each have less than 50 MW of installed battery storage capacity.
The top 10 states in terms of current installed battery storage capacity. Image: EIA
Texas, Illinois and Hawaii are relatively unsurprising storage pioneers as all three states have strong solar industries and Hawaii especially has been pushing battery storage deployment. Right away, however, the names that stand out on the list are West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. None of those is known as a solar pioneer; they have just under 650 MW of generation capacity installed between them. Special recognition goes to West Virginia on that score, with its 8.5 MW.
So what's with all the storage? Independent of renewables West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio – plus New Jersey, the seventh state on the list – are all members of the PJM Interconnection. PJM was the first large market for battery storage, and uses the technology for frequency regulation.
That list is likely to look different by 2023, however. Of the 1,623 MW expected to come online by 2024, 725 MW will come courtesy of two projects – both in states outside the current top 10.
Two mammoth projects
The first of those is Florida Power and Light's (FPL) planned battery system for its Manatee Solar Energy Center in Parrish. The battery is set to clock in at 409 MW, which would make it the largest solar powered battery system in the world.
In that project's shadow, but nevertheless considerable is the Helix Ravenswood facility, planned in Queens, New York. Almost more impressive than the project's anticipated 316 MW of capacity is the idea of having a storage project of such magnitude in NYC.
FPL's Manatee battery is anticipated to begin commercial operation in 2021, as is the first stage of Helix Ravenswood. That initial phase in New York will represent 129 MW of capacity, with the remaining 187 MW following via a 98 MW second phase and 89 MW final stage. The anticipated commercial operation dates of those expansions have not yet been announced.
We have seen the future and there are batteries, lots of them, demonstrating symbiosis extends beyond the natural world.
battery system
Warren Buffet's MidAmerican Energy puts in Iowa's latest big battery project
Grand Ridge, an existing Invenergy project that combines wind power and energy storage, in Illinois. Image: Invenergy.
The US state of Iowa got its first grid-scale solar-plus-storage system at the beginning of this year, and this has already been followed by the completion of another, larger battery project in the US state this week.
Energy-Storage.news reported last week on the completion of a solar PV system at Maharishi University of Management equipped not only with solar trackers but also with a 1.05MWh flow battery.
This week, project developer Invenergy said a four month "construction sprint" had been successfully undertaken and the company has begun commercial operations of a 1MW / 4MWh lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage system.
Located at a substation in Knoxville, Iowa, the project has been executed for utility MidAmerican Energy, one of billionaire investor Warren Buffet's companies as a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy. MidAmerican serves just under 800,000 electricity customers.
In a November press release, MidAmerican's VP of resource development said the utility-scale storage system would teach lessons about "how best to use an energy storage system, and how it can serve our customers in the future," adding that the primary purpose of the system will be to help manage peak loads on the utility's network.
"Energy storage has the potential to allow us to retain energy when customer demand is low and release it during peak usage times. That would give us new options to manage peak loads, enhance overall reliability and help keep electric costs low and affordable for our customers," Mike Fehr of MidAmerican Energy said.
The utility highlighted four of the main benefits of energy storage that it will explore through the application of the lithium system: flattening and managing peaks in electricity demand through storing off-peak energy for later use, reducing the required run times and capacities of natural gas peaker plants with energy storage, enhancing the value and usefulness of renewable energy through smoothing the output of solar farms before it enters the grid and improving power quality and extending the life of transformers and other grid infrastructure.
"Energy storage is still in the development stages and the economic feasibility on a larger scale is being assessed as well; however, prices are trending downward," Mike Fehr said.
"MidAmerican Energy wants first-hand experience with the technology so we're positioned to quickly and efficiently add it to our system in ways that benefit our customers when the price is right."
For Invenergy, which already owns and operates four other large-scale battery systems it developed, this has been its first project as an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partner.
"We are excited by the new opportunities for battery storage that we are seeing around the country. We are grateful for partners like MidAmerican Energy who are seeking innovative ways to deliver value to their customers and are proud to have provided them with this solution in such a short time," Invenergy senior VP Kris Zadlo said.
Siemens Gamesa Pursues Hybrid Wind and Solar Projects With Energy Storage
The company confirms hybrid systems are a growing focus area.
By Jason Deign
Siemens Gamesa, the leading turbine manufacturer, is looking to go beyond wind — into hybrid systems with solar and storage.
The company's chief technology officer, Antonio de la Torre Quiralte, told GTM that Siemens Gamesa remains committed to the wind market. However, it is increasingly interested in other technologies to reduce renewable energy intermittency.
"Following the merger about one year ago, we realized that our two former companies were quite interested in resolving the renewable problem, which is discontinuity," he said.
"As part of our business strategy, there is a clear mandate from our CEO and our board that we will resolve, with a huge investment in new technologies, solutions for the market that will allow, quite soon, stable renewable procurement of energy."
The development of systems that can provide baseload or near-baseload capacity could involve the hybridization of potentially complementary generation technologies such as wind and solar. But storage is a big part of the equation.
"It definitely is in our roadmap," de la Torre said.
De la Torre said the manufacturer is focused on solutions rather than products, integrating energy storage with renewable plants at the project level.
He also said Siemens Gamesa is looking beyond today's existing utility-scale battery storage capacities, which typically run to tens of megawatt hours, to gigawatt-hour levels of storage.
Batteries will remain the company's technology of choice for standalone hybrid and off-grid systems, which demand storage capacities of between 500 kilowatt-hours and 50 megawatt-hours for onshore wind and PV plant balancing.
But Siemens Gamesa is also investigating a thermal storage system called the Future Energy Solution, which could boast much higher capacities. A demonstration plant currently under construction in Hamburg will be able to deliver 1.5 megawatts of power for 24 hours.
Siemens Gamesa hopes to use this kind of technology for round-the-clock renewable energy generation. "We have to integrate several renewable sources," said de la Torre. "Currently we are investigating all relevant sorts of storage."
Recently, for example, Siemens Gamesa started testing a 120-kilowatt, 400-kilowatt-hour redox flow battery at its La Plana test center near Zaragoza in Spain.
The test center had previously been used by Gamesa to put together a hybrid system combining traditional gensets with wind, solar and storage in 2016. Customer interest in hybrid systems with storage has grown in the last six to nine months, de la Torre said.
One example is the Bulgana Green Power Hub project owned by Neoen in Australia, where Siemens Gamesa will be acting as an engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and will be integrating a 194-megawatt wind farm with 34 megawatt-hours of Tesla storage.
Hong Zhang Durandal, a business analyst with MAKE Consulting, said Siemens Gamesa's growing interest in hybrid systems reflects a wider trend within the wind industry. OEMs are not interested in having storage as a product, he said, but see value in adding other technologies to wind farms, for example to help avoid curtailment or smooth out imbalances.
It also makes sense for Siemens Gamesa to explore thermal or redox flow technologies for bulk, long-duration storage, he said. "For lithium-ion, getting to gigawatt-hours is just cost-ineffective," he said. "It's too large a system to justify the cost of the batteries."
In a recent question-and-answer session published by Wood Mackenzie, Durandal said wind-plus-storage could offer new opportunities for energy production in the U.S.
"Wind farms paired with energy storage can shift energy from periods of low prices to take advantage of spikes and shift energy in bulk when it is most needed," he said.
Pairing wind with energy storage also helps with ramp-rate control, can avoid curtailment and could open the door for project owners to compete for ancillary services revenues.
"We are seeing increased interest by wind turbine OEMs across the globe in exploring and developing utility-scale wind-plus-storage systems," Durandal said. "Not only can the development of such systems strengthen the portfolio of the OEMs in key markets, [but] hybrid systems can also play a significant role in the deployment of more wind energy in the future."
The World's Biggest Solar Project Comes With a 'Batteries Included' Sticker
By Brian Eckhouse and Mark Chediak
The world's biggest-ever solar project — a $200 billion venture in Saudi Arabia — comes with a "batteries included" sticker that signals a major shift for the industry.
SoftBank Group Corp. partnered with the oil-rich Saudis this week to plan massive networks of photovoltaic panels across the sun-drenched desert kingdom. The project is 100 times larger than any other proposed in the world, and features plans to store electricity for use when then sun isn't shining with the biggest utility-scale battery ever made.
The daytime-only nature of solar power has limited its growth globally partly because the cost of batteries was so high. Utilities that get electricity from big solar farms still rely on natural gas-fired backup generators to keep the lights on around the clock. But surging battery supplies to feed electric-car demand have sent prices plunging, and solar developers from California to China are adding storage to projects like never before.
Cheaper Batteries
Costs are expected to drop in half by 2025 as factories ramp up battery production
"The future is pretty much hybrid facilities,'' said Martin Hermann, the CEO of 8minutenergy Renewables LLC, a U.S. company that's expecting to include batteries in the vast majority of the 7.5 gigawatts of solar projects it's developing.
Affordable batteries have long been the Holy Grail for solar developers. Without them, some of the best U.S. solar markets, like California, have too much of electricity available at midday and not enough around dusk when demand tends to peak.
Wind Wins
While the solar industry has grown, it still accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity supply and has been outpaced by investments in other green technologies. Wind farms are set to overtake hydroelectric plants next year as the biggest source of renewable energy in the U.S., accounting for more than 6 percent of the nation's electricity generating capacity, government data show.
Now, the economics of storage is shifting. The price of lithium-ion battery packs tumbled 24 percent last year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, and the U.S. is allowing solar-dedicated storage to qualify for a federal tax credit. More utilities and local energy providers are mandating that new solar farms include batteries to store power.
Adding batteries to solar plants could revolutionize the industry. California has contemplated going all-renewable by 2045. It won't be able to do that without storage, said Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of SolarReserve LLC, a solar project developer that uses molten-salt energy-storage technology.
"Storage just adds control," said Logan Goldie-Scot, a San Francisco-based energy storage analyst at BNEF. "In a number of markets, you are seeing customers seeking a greater deal of control."
By the end of 2018, it's possible that U.S. utilities may be asking for batteries on every solar project proposed, said Ravi Manghani, an energy analyst at GTM Research. That would mean the country is about to embark on a major battery boom. Only about 1 gigawatt of storage had been installed in the U.S. through the third quarter, according to BNEF.
Several large developers already are proposing storage units as part of their projects, including NextEra Energy Inc.
Cypress Creek Renewables LLC, which builds clean-power plants, is contemplating batteries at every one of its early-stage solar projects, according to Chief Executive Officer Matthew McGovern. The company installed batteries at 12 solar farms last year.
The shift isn't just in the U.S.
The Saudi-SoftBank project calls for an astonishing 200 gigawatts of generating capacity that would be built over the next decade or so, with the first electricity being produced by the middle of next year. Based on BNEF data, the project would dwarf the total solar panels that the entire photovoltaic industry supplied worldwide last year.
A key feature of the project will be the construction of "the largest utility-scale battery" in two to three years that will supply "evening hour" power to consumers, Masayoshi Son, SoftBank's founder, told reporters in New York this week.
Tesla Inc., the Palo Alto, California-based carmaker that's building batteries with Panasonic at a giant factory in Nevada, will supply the storage units for a solar project in the Australian state of Victoria. Houston-based Sunnova Energy Corp. is selling solar and battery systems in Puerto Rico, where Hurricane Maria devastated the island's power grid in September and tens of thousands of people still don't have electricity.
China-based Trina Solar Ltd., once the world's largest maker of photovoltaic panels, is seeking to invest 3.5 billion yuan ($556 million) in integrated energy projects this year that could include power generation, distribution grids and storage, Vice President Liu Haipen said Wednesday in an interview in Beijing. Most of the investment will be in China, but the company is exploring opportunities in Germany, Spain, Australia and Japan, he said.
Cheaper batteries are even providing a boost in the residential market for solar systems.
"It's a game-changer," said Ed Fenster, executive chairman of San Francisco-based Sunrun Inc., the largest U.S. installer of residential solar systems. "The demand that we're seeing is outstripping our expectations."
— With assistance by Stephen Cunningham, Vivian Nereim, and Feifei Shen
How Energy Storage Can Limit the Impact of Extreme Weather
John Jung, President & CEO, Greensmith Energy
Photo Credit: Howard Scott
Last month, the National Hurricane Center reported that Hurricane Maria, the sixth fastest hurricane on record, caused an estimated $90 billion in damage in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. This would make it the third costliest hurricane in history, following Katrina and Harvey.
Now seven months later, there are still parts of Puerto Rico that are still without power. I can only imagine how this prolonged outage is making relief and recovery efforts difficult.
For those of us in the energy business, we see a better pathway for communities to avoid prolonged outages that hinder relief and recovery efforts.
One solution – already in the marketplace and in use around the world – is the combination of energy storage and islanded grid systems.
Islanded systems, also known as microgrids, can operate with or without a connection to grid. When you add energy storage, communities benefit from a more flexible, versatile distributed energy resource.
What exactly does that mean?
Traditional grid operators, without adequate energy storage, follow conservative limits on the deployment of distributed energy resources to maintain reliability.
Energy storage enables integration of more renewable energy sources so that grid systems can better respond to dynamic fluctuations in electricity consumption, and lessen greenhouse gas emissions. As solar, wind and hydro become the world's main energy sources, renewables are no longer an incremental component in energy production.
And, renewable energy costs are the lowest ever. So, with islanding and storage combined, microgrids can safely lift limits on renewables, bringing a substantial benefit in places where electricity prices exceed the cost of electricity for renewables.
The Graciosa Hybrid Renewable Power Plant, located on the island of Graciosa in the northern part of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, is a recent example of a Greensmith microgrid project that will combine solar and wind generation, together with energy storage using lithium-ion batteries. When completed, the Graciosa plant will enable 1 MW of solar and 4.5 MW of wind power to be supplied to the grid, reducing the region's reliance on imported fossil fuels and significantly reducing GHG emissions.
Credit: Howard Scott
Beyond the advanced energy storage technology Greensmith is known for, we help a growing number of power companies and developers integrate and maximize a diverse mix of grid resources using our industry-leading GEMS software platform. Our suite of proven grid-scale and microgrid energy storage solutions delivers renewables integration, reliability and resilience. In fact, more than one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the United States is running on Greensmith's GEMS software platform, which provides full visibility into a grid system operation and can pinpoint and isolate any malfunctions.
Faster response time means a greater chance of avoiding power outages. And, as we have seen in Puerto Rico, and the bomb cyclones that hit the northeast in March, extreme weather events were happening much more frequently across the country and the world.
The frequency of natural disasters is an important reason that more of us should look at energy storage and microgrids as a necessary infrastructure improvement for customers and utilities.
It's clear that, while microgrids are complex systems, when deployed with energy storage solutions, they are essential to the evolution of our power grid.
EMERALD SKYLINE TO DEVELOP SOLAR FARM IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA WITH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT FACILITY TO PURSUE ELECTRICAL STORAGE TECHNOLOGY.
"Solar generation and electricity storage technology are rapidly evolving sustainable energy alternatives. The combination of solar power generation and electricity storage is being utilized in projects around the world"
May 1, 2018 from Emerald Skyline Corporation
BOCA RATON, FL, May 1, 2018 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Today, Emerald Skyline announced that it will develop land located in southern Arizona for the purpose of solar generation and electricity storage technology research. The project, Emerald City Solar, recognizes that both solar generation and electricity storage technologies are rapidly evolving and will continue to become more cost effective. The southern Arizona project will include research and development facilities to continue to evaluate new technologies as they emerge. It is expected that the total generation of the solar farm will continue to increase along with the value per kilowatt hour of the electricity generated as new technologies are deployed. Emerald Skyline believes the future of renewable energy is in the storage technology and will be exploring novel ways of delivering and storing energy. They have assembled a world-class team to conduct research and development to drive innovation and advanced sustainable technologies to manage surplus renewable power for use on demand and supply of power.
The site of the solar farm development enjoys the best solar profile in the United States and is near major urban centers including San Diego, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The electricity generated could be sold to the local electric power utility company at prevailing Power Purchase Agreement rates of about .07 per kilowatt hour (KwH). However, through the use of proven electric storage technology, the value of the electricity could be significantly increased through the selling into the power grid during peak demand periods at much higher spot market prices. Selling power in this manner is called Regulation Services.
ELECTRICITY STORAGE
Deployment of electricity storage is increasing at explosive rates and has been described by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) as a game changer in the industry. Several new companies can provide large battery-based storage units and have the operating systems required to interact with the electricity grid. Through storing electricity and injecting the stored power into the grid during peak demand periods the cost of peaking power can be greatly reduced. By selling power into the grid during peak demand at much higher prices the value of the solar power farm can be greatly enhanced.
"As a sustainability and resiliency consulting and LEED project management firm, this partnership enables us to collaborate with a host of industry partners to not only produce energy but also to test and demonstrate the benefits of solar energy storage technologies. When electricity storage is not available, excess solar electricity is wasted. When storage is installed, the excess energy can be saved and subsequently used to reduce the use of a fossil fuel," reports Abraham Wien, LEED AP O+M, Director of Architecture & Environmental Design for Emerald Skyline.
To find out more information about Emerald City Solar or electricity generated from renewable sources such as solar and the current development in electrical energy storage technologies for a greener tomorrow, please contact Abraham Wien at aw@emeraldskyline.com or call us 305.424.8704.
Emerald Skyline
regulation services


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Preserving family memories is one of my passions. I love the thought of documenting our life knowing that my boys can look back at our memories from their childhood and our life as a family. That for me is priceless. I started out as a traditional scrapbooker (paper, printed photos, embellishments, etc), but as time passed I had less time to devote to documenting memories; and honestly my tastes changed (I wanted a cleaner more streamlined look to my memory keeping). I began using Digital Project Life and LOVED it! I used this process until the App came out. The Project Life App was a game changer for me. What used to take me 20-30 minutes to make a page, I could finish in 3 minutes or less. Amazing! The app is so user friendly. I love to tell everyone I know about this awesome system! I am completely up to date in documenting our 2016 family yearbook, which is the first time ever for me! I cannot wait until December 31st, I will be able to print and have my 2016 family yearbook in my hands ASAP.
Here is a quick video I made to give you a fast overview of the app.
I am using the Project 52 2016 edition (in the Project Life App) to document this year. I love everything about it; the colors, designs, and I know you will too.
I document each week Monday-Sunday (that way the weekend is kept together). Each Monday, I open up my app and pull up a new layout and open the new week card (example: Week 31 and the type the dates August 1-7, 2016). Now as the week unfolds, I will slide pictures from my phone (or ones taken with my camera) into the layout for the week. All with the touch of a button. I usually like to choose about 5 pictures per page, 1 4x6 title card, 1 3x4 filler card, and 1 3x4 Journaling Card. You can type any memories on the journaling card that you want to remember about your week or you can use Siri and speak the memories and they will be transferred onto the card (so incredibly simple).
One thing that I didn't show you in the video is you can easily move the pictures and cards around in your layout, by touching the card or picture and holding down for a second and then move it and drop it in a different box. It's so fast and easy to rearrange your pictures to get your page looking just right!
After I have completed a layout I will export it to my computer for safe keeping (and I also upload to my photo book through Blurb). I keep adding layouts to my book throughout the year, and then when the year is done, I can print my book (they run nice sales frequently, so I wait for a good coupon code before printing).
You can also print your pages through the app, or through Persnickety Prints, and then slip them into page protectors in an album. I'll talk more about printing your pages into a book or as individual sheets in another post soon.
Are you ready to start preserving your family memories today?
You can download the Project Life App HERE.
You can purchase the Project Life Physical products HERE.
You can purchase the Project Life Digital products HERE (for those with access to Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Photoshop Elements).
If you have any questions, leave me a comment below, I would love to answer it for you. What is your favorite way to preserve your family memories?
What a cool app. Thank you so much for sharing, Kate. Now I need to see if there is such a thing that I can also add to my computer to help me make sense of the thousands of photos I have there. I just took about 2,000 pictures during a trip last week and am thinking this might be a great alternative to what I was planning on working on this evening.
Heather, this system would be perfect for documenting your, and Hana's, trip to Rio. You could even print as its own book! If you can put them all in drop box you can have easy access to them in the app! We can chat more about this!


Home English Section News (EN) Robin Gibb - New video "I Am The World (New Version)"
Robin Gibb - New video "I Am The World (New Version)"
Robin Gibb - "I Am the World (New Version)"
The new video for Robin's "I Am the World" is finally ready. It partly shows the outtakes from "In Our Own Time" that was once on RobinGibb.com where Robin visits with Barry the Manchester cemetery or Tin Pan Alley.
In hindsight, we can see how thin and frail Robin was looking even at that point in mid-2009. It is beautiful but very poignant.


text:
Education policy promises under the spotlight
Don't leave schools out of new deals for city regions
May 21, 2015 1.17am EDT
Kate Reynolds, Bath Spa University
Kate Reynolds
Dean of Education, School of Education and Institute for Education, Bath Spa University
Manchester Town Hall. Will education be part of greater devolution? Dave Wood Liverpool Images
It's 25 years since the abolition of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA). Its passing marked a turning point: local control over education in Britain has never been the same again. Now plans led by the chancellor, George Osborne, to reinvigorate the idea of "city region" deals outside London, such as the Northern Powerhouse, could offer the chance to bring back some of the local accountability for education that some believe has been stripped out of the system.
What started out in the mid 1960s as a special sub-committee of the Greater London Council (a forerunner to the current Greater London Assembly, but with greater powers), the ILEA was the only directly elected education authority in England. Made up of 13 inner London boroughs, it had responsibility for early years, nursery, primary and secondary education, further education, youth services and lifelong learning across the capital.
Regarded as ground-breaking in terms of the professional development of teachers, resources for children and young people, it even had its own recording studio, a precursor of the now defunct "Teachers TV". It had its own policies and procedures and was at the forefront of anti-racist and anti-sexist initiatives in education.
The ILEA's research and data team were also pioneering in education analysis, developing families of schools to support school improvement. In many ways, they were ahead of their time in collecting comparative data that grounded education achievement in the socio-economic context of London's pupils. Such initiatives became the forerunner of the highly successful and well-regarded London Challenge initiative, which was launched in 2003.
At the ILEA's core was a commitment to a local, democratic and accountable education system in the interests of all London's children and young people. In elections to its board of 53 elected members, 44% of the electorate voted: much better than the 15.1% in 2012 elections for police and crime commissioners.
The levels of turn-out for elections to its board of 53 elected members was not huge – 44% of the electorate voted in elections across the 13 inner-London boroughs – but much better than turnout in elections for more recent devolved positions of authority, such as police commissioners.
Localism reined in
The legislation that brought forth the abolition of the ILEA also brought large-scale reform that changed the face of schools across the country. The Education Reform Act 1988 gave individual school governing bodies control and accountability for their own budgets and staff under a system that gave each inner-London borough the powers of a local education authority. Alongside many other changes, it also introduced the National Curriculum, dictating what schools taught.
The writing was on the wall. "Main Block of the County Hall plaque to ILEA" by MRSC via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA
More importantly, the 1988 Act signalled a shift in the relationship between local government and Westminster in the way it moved many powers from local to central government. The relationship between central and local government and their relationship with schools, the dynamic has always been a fluid one, altered by respective governments to align with their own political agendas.
Given the backdrop of last year's independence referendum in Scotland and the prime minister's ensuing call for greater devolution of powers to local and regional arenas, it is no surprise that the spectre of a Northern Powerhouse as a new city region has reared its head.
Osborne's plans for city-led devolution have been an early priority for the new Conservative majority government and a Cities Devolution Bill is expected in the Queen's Speech on May 27. The driving idea behind the Northern Powerhouse is economic: to develop a northern hub capable of generating more jobs, more productivity and more wealth. This is reflected in demands for more city devolution by the Core Cities group of the UK's 10 biggest cities outside of London.
Tucked behind some of the economy-led debates around devolving power is the notion that these new "city regions" could have responsibility for post-16 education and skills. Such proposals are tied up in the economic argument that skills equal jobs. They build on the idea of local enterprise partnerships, which have not delivered as much growth locally as hoped for. However, there could be the beginning of a move towards a more local sense of accountability over adult education.
Time for a rebalance
A wider issue remains about the extent to which public funding should be accountable to people locally and to what extent local politicians should have some say over local services. This is critical when it comes to schools education since, alongside the NHS, they are one of the key elements of a nationally funded system of public services, paid for by direct taxation.
There has been very little discussion of the rebalancing that is needed under the current status quo to ensure that schools serve their local communities and are accountable to them through a framework that enables democratic control. Local education authorities used to ensure a "national system, locally delivered". But they were replaced by the last Labour government as part of the children's services agenda under the Children Act 2004. More recently, under the coalition government, regional schools commissioners were created to bridge the widening chasm between Whitehall and the regions as more schools become autonomous under the academies programme.
A more radical approach has been mooted by organisations such as Compass in its Big Education Inquiry. Focusing on a notion of accountability which is broader than just league tables and published measurement scores, the Big Education Inquiry argued for greater local control over schools and education and a democratic input into local school systems.
Communities need to feel connected to their schools and schools need to be accountable to their communities. The lessons of 25 years ago might shine some light on how we can shape the future of education and re-engage people in the local and national democratic process.
March 9, 2015 Creativity could be the clear blue water between Labour and Tories on education


The relationship between Nintendo and indie developers seems to be getting stronger by the day. We've seen characters such as Shovel Knight represented as an assist trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and now the developer behind Crypt of the NecroDancer is working on a special Zelda cross-over known as Cadence of Hyrule.
Really surprised Graceful Explosion Machine has stayed up there. Especially since Shovel Knight was also a launch title on Switch.
The only one I have on this extended list is SteamWorld Dig 2 and even then, that's only the physical copy.
Don't have Overcooked 1 or 2, Graceful Explosion Machine, Kamiko, or Golf Story. Have every other one mentioned though, and all fun!
Meant to add - Also, been finding most good indies are more fun than major retail games as of late.
This list makes sense. Bit of a crime Crypt of the Necrodancer didn't make top 10 though. Super excited for for Cadence of Hyrule. Super surprised Shovel Knight isn't top 10.
So basically, the ones that sold well everywhere else?
I find the lack of Wargroove disturbing... Then again it's less than two months old. It'll eventually show up in that list, I hope.
The Messenger should had been up there too, that was my go to indie game cause it had the best of both worlds.
Also kinda bummed to see Iconoclasts failed to take off when Metroidvania games remain so popular, that game was outstanding.
@SmileMan64 it's not even in the charts in the UK, and it was number 22 in the download only bit only a couple of days ago. Not great if you ask me.
Stardew Valley's selling power is unbelievable. I think it's been in the top 10 best selling games on the eShop ever since it launched, usually right near the top.
Of those on the list, I've got Hollow Knight, Golf Story, Celeste, and Overcooked.
I'm most surprised to see Graceful Explosion Machine. That's a game I've never seen recommended on Switch message boards anywhere.
Enter the Gungeon is a phenomenal game for Roguelike bullethell enthusiasts with a sense of humor.
@Heavyarms55 gonna have to give those a closer look, golf story and iconoclasts. I feel like you and I have similar tastes in how you worded all that.
@Alto Golf Story was often compared to the GBA Mario sports games with some Earthbound flavor. Iconoclasts feels a lot like a the namesakes of Metroidvania - Castlevania and Metroid.
Though that soon will change, as I've ordered the LRG physical version of Celeste, and I'm thinking about getting Dead Cells shortly as well. Also interested in a physical copy of Hollow Knight when that one becomes available. And I'm hoping for a retail release of Undertale.
Only one I'm missing from that is Overcooked 2, which I haven't bought because I haven't found much opportunity to play the first game. Good to see Celeste up there as out of all the amazing indie games on the Switch, it's the best of the lot.
How much time did you spend on it ? I really didn't enjoy the first 5 hours, and came to loving it.
I could be wrong but on the European e-shop I've not seen shovel knight reduced in sales either at all, or by any significant amount. I keep a look out as I'd like to buy it when it comes down in price. Maybe that's why it's not longer in top 10?
Undertale, graceful explosion machine and golf story are the ones I've not purchased/played on this year's list.
No Yoku's Island Express on this list is a crime. It's half price right now so anyone reading this that doesn't currently have it downloaded should go and do it right now!
Hollow Knight feels like an additional day job. Its main flaw in my opinion is it takes itself too seriously, and does not have any respect for the players' time. I do understand that the 'git gud' crowd loves it, but it is not worth my time after having a full time job.
P.S.: Love Stardew Valley and Celeste among the others in the list.
I really didn't enjoy hollow knight but I only got a few hours into it. I'll give it another chance but I really didn't see the big deal with it. Stardew Valley is amazing though, can't stop playing it!
Hollow Knight has left a gaping hole in my gaming heart. After 50 hours of play, it has set the bar so high that any other platformer or metroidvania feels so lacklustre. I'm yet to try The Messenger or Iconoclasts, hopefully one of them manages to fill the void.
@PBandSmelly I'm the opposite. I really didn't like how Hollow Knight looks, so it took a while before I even tried it, but then I liked almost everything about it and was hooked.
@Scottwood101 Iconoclasts is completely different, but very good. It feels a bit like the gameplay of Metroid Fusion mixed with a SNES-era JRPG story.
I own all of them but Overcooked 1&2 and Stardew Valley, which I deliberately skipped (as of now). It's amazing to see Graceful Explosion Machine there, such a gem and the devs are lovely.
@Scottwood101 Word. After finishing HK and playing it exclusively for 60 hours, I was like "I guess I have to play something else now? But in won't be as good as Hollow Knight, will it..."
I played Celeste on Xbox One and couldn't get into it.
@PBandSmelly Genuinely curious what you see as flaws in Hollow Knight? To my thinking it's been one of the tightest games, in controls and design.
@San_D I'm also curious what you mean by not having respect for the player's time? It seems to me that HK is almost entirely meaningful content without much filler at all. What do you define as not having respect for your time and how could it have more?
Fair do's on all of these although Celeste should be right up the top. What a game, not just an indie game.
@NintendoFan4Lyf Me too. Even though I love strawberries.
The only game on the present list I have on Switch is Hollow Knight, and I really loved that. Been meaning to try Golf Story and Stardew for ages, just never pulled the trigger. I have Gungeon on PS4 and that's when I realized I hate the die-and-lose-everything nature of most rogue-likes. The rest don't really interest me at all.
STILL Undertale?? I wouldn't have thought.
Enter the Gungeon absolutely crushed me. Still haven't gotten past even the secomd level. Will have to give it another try at some point.
I have half the list and have considered getting most of the rest on this.
@PBandSmelly Only flaw I found was the tedious amount of backtracking late in the game due to the lack of a good fast travel system. But then, I am something of a completionist.
@frabbit One of the best games I've ever played, period.
everyone asking where is shovel knight.. the list is 2019, I assume shovel should be at least top 3, 2017 and or 18... i finished shovel and celeste and i started hollow knight.. it's SO hard to decide which one is the best..
@NoxAeturnus the problem is not with content. In fact, I believe the large volume of content makes the game all the more daunting and sterile. However the biggest problem I have with it is the way its mechanics are designed. The amount of travel to reach the point you died at, and then defeating the shade before you can try a pesky boss battle only to die again - it's tremendously cumbersome. I do acknowledge that games can be hard and many players enjoy this, but for me it falls more in the range of annoying than challenging. On top of that, combat is a very important aspect of this game, but the mechanics are not really perfect, with very little options. For example, I always prefer a more ranged approach to combat. Hollow Knight is terrible in that aspect. And to top it off, there is no option to make the game palatable for those who do not enjoy these aspects of the game. It is almost like a singular vision of the developers packaged in a git-gud-or-get-out kind of a game.
"Mate, this Hollow Knight is not for me, I keep dying!"
"Don't know if I'm going to stick with this"
Have 4/10: Hollow Knight, Enter the Gungeon, Undertake and Celeste.
As for difficulty, I never saw the regular difficult of HK particularly hard. Gungeon (I'm which I am still only at level 3 average, but is awesome) and even some games like Snake Pass were more difficult for me.
While I got and definitely enjoyed Celeste, I see it as massively overhyped. After all the press coverage I was expecting some sort of incredible tale, and the plot just fell cliched.
Nice to see Hollow Knight. Best indie on the Switch IMO. The complaints about the difficulty are expected as not everyone wants a challenge, but the hardest content is optional and most bosses only took me a few times to figure out. However this game is very much one where you have to learn the bosses moves and dodge. You can't tank the bosses like many games. That being said the game is gorgeous, the controls are tight and precise and it offers a ton of content.
Shame Into The Breach is not on here. Amazingly addictive game and one of the better games out there. Check it out if you are not familiar.
@San_D Odd that one of the things you felt was a barrier actually seemed like good design in my opinion. I felt that benches were often very near boss rooms, which made the travel back for a retry almost nonexistent, and they always made sure you could recover your shade before restarting the boss fight. I agree that HK has very little in the way of ranged combat, but that's clearly a design choice, not a flaw. The combat mechanics are very tight and responsive, and I found that spells and charms added plenty of depth, but I can see that if you don't prefer Hollow Knight's combat the game would feel lackluster. It does what it does very well, but it sounds like what it does is not your kind of game. That singular vision made for a very focused product; it doesn't have to please everyone and it doesn't try, and that's to the designer's credit in my opinion. Oh well, not for everyone.
@frabbit I don't think it's any tougher to start than any platformer. I certainly didn't feel like it took 5 hours to get into. I mean, you have move, jump, sword, and heal to start, and early enemies charge, jump, crawl, stand, or fly aimlessly. It's really not that bad. HK is not a hard game despite it's apparent infamy for being hard. Shovel Knight was WAY harder both to get into and to keep progressing. I felt that Crypt of the Necrodancer was also much harder to start than HK.
Suprised the messenger was left out.
@NoxAeturnus I dunno. I got to Brooding Mawlek really early, before I had the wall jump or anything by down-slashing up across the spikes on the way to his location and spent ages on that a** hole before realising I was underpowered for the fight. Still, everyone has different skill levels I suppose.
Definitely a decent list from what I've observed. My OCD wishes that both Overcooked games would be listed next to each other though.
@frabbit Fair, but then again you used an innovative technique to overextend yourself in the exploration. In a way, your high skill played against you that time.
@Wendigo i honestly got so mad at that game that I deleted it from my Nintendo switch... so hard!
I have 7 of the top 10, as well as Fast RMX. All top-quality games, even if I haven't gone very far yet in a few of them. A couple of these have given me many times the enjoyment I got from games that cost three times as much.
When I clicked on the "Hollow Knight" link in the article, it opens up the Overcooked 2 game page.
Hollow Knight is a masterpiece, I'd love to see Hornet as Smash DLC.
I love hollow Knight, even though I thought I wouldn't, it's now one of my favourites. In terms of design, how it looks, the lore and the controls it's amazing. Yes it's hard, but never unfair imo. I had so many hours already in Stardew on PC I'm still reluctant to buy again, but I might. Didn't love golf story.
It must not be a real list. Wandersong- Singing Simulator isn't up there.
@NintendoLife the hyperlinks are messed up. Hollow Knight links to Overcooked, tc.


Zenpolitics it seems has taken January off, almost unwittingly. It's a month for battening down the hatches, keeping out the winter chill and all that sort of stuff, but unless you're a determined recluse in acres of snowy countryside with a icy wind blowing so you hardly dare venture out, and ideally there are one or two wolves a-roaming and howling just to drill home the message… unless you're all that and a bit more you'll be on the train to work, driving round the M25, all the usual headaches but just a bit more in the dark than at other times of year.
And with almost February comes the snow and the ice, but no wolves yet.
Now the serious stuff. January has been the month of Charlie Hebdo, and much talk, wise and foolish, on the subject of free speech. And inequality in the wider world, with wealth ever more concentrated, has had a local reflection in the impact of the spending cuts on social welfare in the UK.
'Like most religions, Christianity contains a faintly left-wing, anti-wealth message,' said Jeremy Warner in the Telegraph. 'Naively utopian, anti-growth.' Christianity, Jeremy, was around long before left and right-wing came into common speech, and we trust that the message from the archbishops, wiser men than you, that economic growth alone won't solve the country's economic problems, and that the effect of recent spending cuts has been seriously damaging, will resonate with many, including most Telegraph readers. Rarely has a journalist looked so egregiously foolish.
Just to even things out, there's Polly Toynbee, in the Guardian, claiming that in linking his mother and his faith, and suggesting (playfully) he might punch someone who insulted his mother, the Pope is using, in her words, 'the wife-beater's defence'. Quite how she got there only she knows, but it's cheap and anyone who listened to the Pope's actual remarks will know that it entirely misses the subtlety of the point he was conveying. To misrepresent wilfully (and I assume it is wilfully) is … let's just say poor journalism.
Faith let it be remembered is deeply personal to countless millions and they will take insults against their faith seriously. If discrimination, bigotry or cruelty attaches to a faith it should be criticised, I'd almost say hammered, but for the attachments it carries, not for the faith that lies at its heart.
Free speech is priceless and an absolute, but so too are compassion and understanding. And of their nature, or rather human nature (everyone having their own point of view, as many shades of opinion as there are individuals on the planet), they will conflict, and we all must strike a balance as best we can.
But, please, avoid barmy remarks, and cheap swipes. We can all do better than that.
England can get no greyer than this, which lunch at another, lesser country pub hardly alleviated. The sin of serving no real ales was cardinal and all but unforgivable. And yet there was something appealing about the desolation of the Cotswold landscape, and braver, healthier souls than us were walking the country paths and straggling along the roads, and leaving muddy boots in pub porches.