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News Need for Speed 2019 will return to "racer vs cops" action
Electronic Arts has reported its fourth-quarter earnings which include some fresh details on their upcoming portfolio of games including none other than the upcoming Need for Speed title. First of all, EA has confirmed (after some ambiguity) that a new Need for Speed will indeed release in 2019 for consoles and PC. According to the […]
News GT Sport: wet weather update could be coming very soon
Gran Turismo Sport is looking set to get a wet weather update soon. In a recently released official Gran Turismo video (seen below), Esports racer Coque Lopez talks us through his hot lap at a very wet Red Bull Ring. His Peugeot RCZ Gr. B car is fitted with "Heavy Wet" tyres which suggest we […]
News Wreckfest's PS4 and Xbox One release date revealed
Last June saw the release of the PC version of the demolition-derby style racer Wreckfest after almost five years in an early access state. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were due to follow in November last year, however, just one month from the scheduled release came the almost inevitable news that the console versions […]
News Next Gran Turismo could be a "combination of the past, present, and future"
Gran Turismo's top man Kazunori Yamauchi has recently shed some light on the potential direction for the very next Gran Turismo title expected to release on the PlayStation 5. Speaking to GTPlanet at the recent Nurburgring World Tour Esports event, Yamauchi hinted that the next Gran Turismo title could well take pointers from classic games […]
News Version 1.6 of DiRT Rally 2.0 now available
Version 1.6 of DiRT Rally 2.0 is now available (across all platforms) which addresses a range of bugs as well as a few tweaks based on fan feedback. Perhaps the biggest highlight of today's update is the new audio package for the iconic Lancia Delta S4. The updated audio features recordings of the real-world Delta […]
News VR racer Touring Karts releasing this year for PSVR, Vive & Oculus
Touring Karts is a kart racer scheduled to launch across the PlayStation VR, Vive, Oculus Rift, and WMR in VR form, and across mobile, PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch platforms in non-VR form before the end of the year. The title will feature four different viewpoints ranging from full VR immersion to a comfort mode […]
News Art of Rally is a top-down racer from Absolute Drift dev
Art of Rally is an upcoming retro-inspired top-down racer from the makers of Absolute Drift. Sporting a handling model that has been overhauled from Absolute Drift, Art of Rally will make for a more predictable and forgiving experience (and that's certainly not a bad thing given the general difficulty found in Absolute Drift). The rally […]
News Utah expansion announced for American Truck Simulator
SCS Software has recently lifted the veil on their latest expansion for American Truck Simulator: Utah. Expected to launch later this year, the Utah expansion (the seventh state in the game) will give players the chance to experience its diverse landscapes, from its famous red rocks to its snowcapped mountain ranges. You can view the […]
News Upcoming GRID reboot suffers a delay
The upcoming GRID reboot from Codemasters was originally due to hit shelves this September, however, the release has now been delayed to give "added exposure" to the title. The delay will see the racer launch on October 11, some four weeks later than originally planned. Codemasters have stated that buyers of the Ultimate Edition will […]
News Forza Motorsport 7's final content update is coming this August
Forza Motorsport 7's post-launch support will soon be coming to an end, as the title's final major update will be released next month. Speaking on the July 2019 edition of the Forza Monthly livestream, FM7's creative director Chris Esaki confirmed the game's support is being wound down so the developer Turn 10 Studios can concentrate […]
News Forza Horizon 4 will sponsor Goodwood Festival of Speed's stunt show Arena
Forza Horizon 4 will be officially represented at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this year, thanks to its sponsorship of the event's stunt arena. As its name suggests, the stunt area (or, to give it its full name, "The Arena presented by Forza Horizon 4: Lego Speed Champions") will be the place to go for […]
News GT Sport's June update out now with new track and cars
Gran Turismo Sport's June update is finally here and its a fairly big one. Today's update adds a total of five new cars, the Sardegna Road track, and the usual array of additional GT League events along with extra Circuit Experience and Scapes content. Update 1.40 adds an interesting mix of cars which span five […]
News Tomorrow's GT Sport update will add 5 new cars & Sardegna Road Track
Gran Turismo Sport's very next update is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, June 27, and will add five new cars to the title as well as the Sardegna Road track. Update 1.40 will add the following five cars: Chevrolet Camaro Z28 '69 (N300) Toyota Tundra TRD Pro '19 (N400) Toyota Sports 800 '65 (N100) Renault Sport […]
News Car Mechanic Simulator out now on PS4 & Xbox One
The Car Mechanic Simulator series has enjoyed several releases on the PC over the years, leaving consoles owners wandering how good of a virtual mechanic they could've been. Now I'm delighted to report the franchise is available from today for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles for the first time. Car Mechanic Simulator enables […]
News Top Gear-themed content coming to Forza next month
A tweet on the official Forza Motorsport Twitter feed has suggested some Top Gear-themed content is coming to at least one Forza game next month. In a preview post for next week's "Forza Monthly" livestream, the "Chevrolet LeBlanc Track-Tor" as devised by Matt LeBlanc for the 25th series of Top Gear can clearly be seen. […]
News Codemasters announces first 12 cars coming to GRID reboot
Codemasters has revealed the first batch of cars that players can look forward to racing in this year's GRID reboot. Of the dozen vehicles confirmed so far, half of them are dedicated racing vehicles. These are further split 50/50 between GT racers like the Ferrari 488 GTE, and touring cars such as the Audi RS3 […]
News AI driver transfers will feature in F1 2019's career mode
An intriguing new feature has been announced for F1 2019's singleplayer career mode: AI-controlled drivers will be able to transfer between teams. While players have long been able to do this themselves in various Formula One game campaigns, this is the first time a Codemasters-developed title has ever allowed the non-player controlled characters to also […]
News The latest KartKraft video has to be seen to be believed
KartKraft has today received a new update bringing the Herman Tilke designed Atlanta Motorsports Park as part of build 0.1.0.1780 of the karting simulator. As you'd expect, a new gameplay video has also been released to show off the new track, and boy does the early access title look great right now. The onboard camera […]
News F1 2019: Formula 2 gameplay with commentary
We're mere days away from the release of F1 2019, in light of that fact, Codemasters has released a series of small gameplay videos showcasing various aspects of the upcoming officially licensed Formula One title. The very first video showcases the much-anticipated Formula 2 content the game has to offer. In the video (below) we […]
News Latest GRID gameplay videos show Brands Hatch track
The very latest GRID gameplay videos from E3 2019 have emerged giving us a look at the Brands Hatch track in action. A total of two videos have been released by Codemasters showing us the Porsche RSR and Chevrolet Corvette racing cars tearing up the challenging UK-based circuit at sunset coating the whole scene in […]
News Take a look at the fast-paced TV advert for F1 2019
To whet our already ravenous appetites, Codemasters has today released their TV advert for F1 2019. The trailer captures the rivalries that have emerged with this year's Formula One World Championship, so you'll see some exhilarating wheel to wheel shenanigans as well as some minor crashes here and there. You'll have to soak in the […]
News E3 2019: Watch the Nintendo Direct showcase here
We've seen the latest from EA Play, the conferences from the likes of Microsoft and Ubisoft, witnessed the latest in VR technology with the E3 VR Showcase, and taken a look at what lays in store for PC owners courtesy of the PC Gaming Show. The very last major showcase, however, belongs to Nintendo. We […]
News Watch Ubisoft's E3 2019 press conference here
The Ubisoft press conference is normally always worth a watch thanks to the usually strong line up of games and of course Ubisoft trying their best to be 'edgy'. This year we expect to see a range of gameplay sequences and trailers for the likes of Ghost Recon Breakpoint, The Division 2, For Honor and […]
News Watch the PC Gaming Show here today at 6pm BST
The PC Gaming Show is back for its fifth annual event at E3 this year. As the name suggests, the show gives us a good look at what we can expect to see across PC games in the coming months. Broadcasting live from the Mayan Theatre in Los Angeles, the show will be hosted by […]
News Watch the E3 VR showcase right here
We're big fans of VR here at Team VVV, so we're excited to see what lays in store for us at the E3 VR showcase today. Games which involve the player sitting in a cockpit environment work particularly well in VR which perfectly suits genres such as racing and flying (two genres we like very […]
News LEGO Speed Champions expansion coming to Forza Horizon 4 next week
Playground Games has announced the LEGO Speed Champions expansion for their open-world racer Forza Horizon 4. Launching on June 13, the LEGO Speed Champions expansion gives players the chance to race and explore a colourful new LEGO Valley brought to life at the Horizon Festival. You can see the upcoming expansion in all its colourful […]
News E3 2019: Watch the EA Play stream here
Electronic Art's EA Play event will kick off this year's E3 2019 activities with a day-long stream. Today's event will reveal new sports titles including the likes of Fifa 20 and Madden 20. Elsewhere, the event will reveal new maps for Battlefield V, the reveal of Apex Legends Season 2, as well as an official […]
News E3 2019: Watch the Microsoft Press Conference here
E3 2019 is almost upon us which means we'll be staying up at an ungodly hour to witness the very latest in gaming goodness. Microsoft will kick off with their big press conference on Sunday, June 9 from 9 pm (GMT). Of course, with the absence of Sony, Microsoft will never have a better chance […]
News MotoGP 19 releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC
The very latest iteration of Milestone's long-running MotoGP series has released today across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC platforms. MotoGP 19 brings several new additions to the series including an innovative and challenging new AI system dubbed 'Neural AI', dedicated servers, and a Race Director mode allowing you to create the perfect multiplayer […]
News Rocket League goes back to the '80s with Radical Summer event
Rocket League's upcoming summer-long event is taking you back to the good old eighties. That's right, the 'Radical Summer' event honours some of the movies, television and culture from one of the most colourful decades in history. Check out the trailer below which includes references from iconic movies such as The Goonies, Ghostbusters, E.T. and […]
News Latest F1 2019 comparisons show dramatic lighting improvements
Besides the long-awaited addition of Formula 2 cars, F1 2019′s biggest selling point will arguably be its very pretty visuals. Codemasters has today released a fresh batch of images comparing the nighttime lighting effects between last year's Formula One title and this year's game launching later this month. As you can see, there are dramatic […]
News MotoGP 19 stream highlights all of the new features
Italian developer Milestone has recently conducted a live stream showing off the latest iteration of their officially licensed racing game MotoGP 19. Producer Michele Caletti first talks us through the changes for this year's title which mimic the real-world changes of the sport including a fresh new team as well as many teams and rider […]
News Latest WRC 8 gameplay showcases changing weather conditions
BigBen has recently shared a new WRC 8 gameplay video showcasing a very tight and twisty rally stage in Argentina. The beta footage gives us a look at a range of camera angles as the Citroen rally car blasts through the sun-shaded mountains kicking up dust as it goes. Around halfway through the stage, rain […]
News After much teasing, Truck Driver finally has a release date
After much teasing of a teaser which itself teases a release date teaser, I'm happy to report that Truck Driver now finally has a release date. That's right, Truck Driver will release across the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 19 with the PC version to follow on November 11. To celebrate the announcement, […]
News Historic Goodwood Motor Circuit now available for GT Sport
Gran Turismo Sport's latest update has now gone live bringing with it the addition of the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit as well as a smattering of other goodies. Unlike the usual updates for Gran Turismo Sport, May's update does not include any cars. Fortunately, the addition of a new track in its place is a […]
News Assetto Corsa Competizione fully releases on Steam
After a string of early access updates, Assetto Corsa Competizione, the Official Blancpain GT Series game, has now officially launched on Steam. The racing sim comes complete with 51 teams, 280 selectable drivers and 14 manufacturers. Utilising the Unreal Engine 4, Assetto Corsa Competizione raises the benchmark for other racing sims to follow boasting variable […]
News Need for Speed 2019 will not be shown at E3 this year
Electronic Art's Global Community Engagement Manager Ben Walke has today revealed that the upcoming Need for Speed title (expected to release before the end of the year) will not feature at this year's EA Play E3 showcase. Walke wrote the following on the official Electronic Arts website, "Are you going to hear more about the […]
News GT Sport: Historic Goodwood Circuit teased before release tomorrow
The historic Goodwood Motor Circuit has been teased via a new trailer ahead of its release in Gran Turismo Sport tomorrow, May 30. Located in the suburbs of Chichester in Southern England, the Goodwood Motor Circuit is a high-speed racing course that features plenty of undulation making for a particularly memorable experience and a great […]
News Goodwood Motor Circuit coming to Gran Turismo Sport on 30th May
The Goodwood Motor Circuit is set to make its official racing game debut next week, when it's added to Gran Turismo Sport on 30th May. In a post on Twitter, the Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi posted a teaser image of the British circuit – or, more specifically, a close-up outline of the venue's St […]
News Reiza Studios reveals Automobilista 2 ahead of December 2019 release
The Brazilian sim developer Reiza Studios has pulled the wraps off its latest project: Automobilista 2. As its name suggests, Automobilista 2 is a sequel to the original Automobilista title from 2016; retaining its predecessor's emphasis on showcasing Brazilian motor racing. While "all major Brazilian racing series, race tracks and manufacturers" will be represented in […]
News Official F1 2019 vs F1 2018 images highlight visual upgrades
Codemasters has released a batch of images which make like for like comparisons between Monaco from the F1 2019 and F1 2018 officially licensed Formula One titles. The first batch of F1 2019 images (not to mention the trailer) wowed us with its obvious leap in terms of lighting, track surface detail, and general crispness […]
News First gameplay videos of GRID showcase San Francisco & Shanghai
Following the GRID announcement yesterday, developer Codemasters has released two new gameplay videos showcasing the locations of San Francisco and Shanghai. The first video gives us a three-minute look at the San Francisco track (which you may remember from the first GRID title, Race Driver: GRID, all the way back in 2008) as we follow […]
News Truck Driver's release date announcement coming next week
We've been waiting oh so patiently for the release date announcement for Truck Driver, that wait will finally come to an end "next week" according to a Tweet from publisher SOEDESCO. Also, the release date announcement is coming next week! — SOEDESCO (@SOEDESCO) May 22, 2019 To coincide with the announcement for the release date […]
News GRID franchise will race back onto consoles and PC on 13th September
Codemasters has confirmed the beloved GRID series will return to PC and consoles, with an all-new mainline entry in the franchise. Much like its GRID Autosport predecessor from 2014, the new GRID strives to offer an accessible-yet-authentic racing experience; allowing players to race on permanent tracks and challenging street circuits in a variety of racing […]
News First F1 2019 in-game trailer revealed in glorious 4K
We're quickly approaching the launch date of F1 2019 and to turn up the heat developer Codemasters has released the very first in-game trailer for the officially licensed Formula One title. The new trailer entitled 'Rise up against your rivals' gives us a one-minute long look at various replay cameras, action shots, and pit sequences […]
News DiRT Rally 2.0's Season Two DLC sees return of Wales rally
As promised, Codemasters has today revealed the full breakdown of their Season Two DLC plan for DiRT Rally 2.0. Season Two brings a mix of rally and rallycross cars, two rallycross circuits (Bikernieki, Latvia and Estering, Germany) and the return of the Wales rally with improved visuals. There are a total of six pieces of […]
News DiRT Rally 2.0's force feedback update out now across PS4, Xbox One, & PC
DiRT Rally 2.0's latest update focuses its attention on improving the title's force feedback for wheel users. Update 1.4.1, out now across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, introduces changes to the behaviour of the suspension. A new 'Suspension' slider has been added to the Input section of the 'Options & Extras' menu which […]
News WRC 8 is being refined thanks to the top WRC Esports players
The development process for Kylotonn's latest iteration of their officially licensed rally game, WRC 8, is being refined thanks to the feedback from the community and the very best WRC Esports drivers. Kylotonn is gathering feedback via "community days" which give fans of the game a chance to voice their opinions on what they like […]
News MXGP 2019 coming to PS4, Xbox One & PC on August 27
After some very cryptic teasing, Milestone has now officially revealed the latest incarnation of their officially licensed motocross title. MXGP 2019 will allow players to experience the 2019 FIM Motocross World Championship when it launches on August 27 across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. MXGP will contain all riders, bikes and teams of the 2019 […]
News Free IndyCar DLC released for Forza Motorsport 7
Forza Motorsport 7's IndyCar content has been fleshed out a bit, thanks to the launch of a new free car pack. Arguably the highlights of the new content are the four, 2019-spec Dallara IR18 racing car, which will complement the 2017 season Dallara DW12s that are already in the game. Like the DW12s depicted in […]
News Milestone reveals MotoGP 19's multiplayer features
Milestone has lifted the veil on MotoGP 19's multiplayer features with some big improvements across the board. MotoGP 19 offers players the ability to browse the Public Lobbies list to jump into the action quickly or set up their own fully customisable Grand Prix to race with friends via the new Private Lobbies option. Milestone […]
News GRIP: Combat Racing's free "AirBlades" update adds anti-grav vehicles
It's not very often an update comes along which radically alters the gameplay of a racing title so we're more than a little surprised to learn that GRIP: Combat Racing's latest free update does just that. The fast-paced racer swaps wheels for propulsion in its "AirBlades" update making the game much less like Rollcage and […]
News Another cryptic MXGP teaser released ahead of reveal next week
Following on from the original two cryptic teaser videos, Milestone has now released a third video teasing their upcoming MXGP title. Much like the previous two videos, the latest teaser includes the date of Tuesday, May 14 – presumably, this is the date of the official reveal where we'll get to learn the name of […]
News Two new cars now available for DiRT Rally 2.0
DiRT Rally 2.0's car count tally has grown an extra couple of notches thanks to the release of the very latest chunk of DLC content as part of the title's ongoing "Season One" DLC plan. The Ford Focus RS Rally car from 2007 and the 2008 Subaru Impreza join the car ranks and can be […]
News Check out the latest F1 2019 images including boxart
Codemasters has recently released a batch of F1 2019 images to whet our appetites for the game's release on June 28, some two months earlier than the traditional August release window. Besides the new images, Codemasters has also revealed the box art for the Anniversary and Legend editions of F1 2019 which you can view […]
News Ride 3's free DLC pack 8 adds new bike & career events
Ride 3's eighth, yes eighth, free DLC pack is now available to grab for no charge across the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The eighth free DLC pack called "Free Pack 8" continues the trend of giving players a shiny new bike as well as yet another career mode volume which includes an additional […]
News Cryptic videos tease upcoming MXGP title ahead of reveal
Milestone has been teasing its upcoming and as of yet unannounced MXGP title ahead of its official reveal expected later this month. Two short videos have been released teasing the date of Tuesday, May 14 which we can only assume is the day the development team officially reveal the game including its name and, of […]
News The future of Slightly Mad Studios' "Mad Box" in doubt
Project CARS developer Slightly Mad Studios has stated that the future of its Mad Box console is uncertain following the loss of some investors. Speaking with PCGamesInsider, online marketing director Nathan Bell confirmed the loss of two of its investors as a result of Google recently announcing their streaming platform Stadia. "We had some solid […]


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Kleinkrieg (Hardback)
The German Experience with Guerrilla Warfare, from Clausewitz to Hitler
By Charles D. Melson
Imprint: Casemate
Published: 1st May 2016
You'll be £25.00 closer to your next £10.00 credit when you purchase Kleinkrieg. What's this?
In recent years the great powers of the West—primarily the US and UK—have most often been relegated to fighting "small wars," rather than the great confrontational battles for which they once prepared. It has been a difficult process, with some conflicts increasingly being seen as unwinnable, or at least not worth the effort in treasure and blood, even as the geopolitical structure of the world appears to slip. It is thus worth paying heed now, to the experiences of another power which once encountered the same problems.
This work examines the German analysis to the problem, covering their experiences from the Napoleonic era to the Third Reich. Though the latter regime, the most despicable in history, needed to be destroyed by US/UK conventional force, as well as that of the Soviets, the German military meantime provided analysis to the question of grassroots—as opposed to great-power—warfare.
This work is built around the historical analysis titled Kleinkrieg, provided to the German High Command by Arthur Earhardt in 1935 (republished in 1942 and 1943) which examined insurgencies from French-occupied Spain to recurrent problems in the Balkans. It also calls upon the Bandenbekampfung (Fighting the Guerilla Bands) document provided to Germany's OKW in 1944. In both, conditions that were specific to broader military operations were separated from circumstances in occupation campaigns, and new background in the German experience in suppressing rebellion in World War II is presented.
Edited and annotated, along with new analysis, by Charles D. Melson, former Chief Historian for the U.S. Marine Corps, Kleinkrieg expands our knowledge of the Western experience in coping with insurgencies. Without partaking in ideological biases, this work examines the purely military problem as seen by professionals. While small wars are not new, how they should be fought by a modern industrial nation is still a question to be answered. Rediscovered and presented in English, these German thoughts on the issue are now made available to a new generation of guerilla and irregular war fighters in the West.
They are of great interest for any study of German anti-partisan tactics of the Second World War.
About Charles D. Melson
Charles D. Melson was the Chief Historian for the U.S. Marine Corps, at the Marine Corps University at Quantico, Virginia. Chuck also served as a joint historian with the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. He was the author, co-author, or editor of several official publications and series. He was the recipient of the General Edwin Simmons-Henry Shaw Award for public historians and the General Leonard Chapman Medal. His education includes degrees in Liberal Arts from St. John's College, Annapolis, and in History and Fine Arts from Sonoma State University, California. Chuck and his family currently live on Kent Island in Maryland.
Other titles in Casemate...

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The Best (and Worst) That Mood-Tech Can Be
When Ontario was first placed under lockdown in March 2020, I, like many other psych-service users found myself relying on Skype and phone sessions to reach my therapist. Admittedly, I already felt incredibly privileged to even have a therapist, and one that I really found helpful. Nonetheless, I found myself unhappy with, and limited by our virtual sessions. In order to complement these, I took matters into my own hands and scoured the Internet for the best smartphone applications (apps) to monitor Bipolar symptoms[1]. I eventually settled on eMoods Bipolar Mood Tracker, an app that promised to track my highs and lows in a clear and simple way and boasted over four thousand positive reviews on Google Play.
I clicked download.
I'm a tracker. I've been tracking my steps for several years now and I enjoy seeing the data, the graphs, and the changes that occur over time. Tracking has an affective turn for me – it feels good and exciting to see my steps go up throughout the day and to see the step counter remain high throughout weeks and months. The graphs show that I'm making progress, meeting my goals, or even surpassing them. I thought eMoods would be the same.
The Symptomatic Life
One of the most obvious limitations of most tracking apps is that their primary objective is to rigidly quantify a human experience and emotion. The free version of eMoods has a sliding scale for sleep, and a few other scales: depressed mood, elevated mood, irritability, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, and talk therapy[2]. You can also track your weight through the app as well as add any medications you were taking (supposedly to manage your Bipolar Disorder). While this is fairly expansive (the paid version has higher degrees of customization), the list itself frames your daily experiences exclusively as a collection of symptoms.
The app framed any mood I experienced as a potential symptom of a depressive episode or a manic episode. Within the eMoods algorithm, I wasn't experiencing happiness, only elevated moods, or sadness, only depressed moods. Any bout of frustration or (completely justified) anger was positioned as irritability – yet another symptom. At their core, tracking apps can have the potential to reduce anyone or anything to a collection of customizable scales – to digitize lives and quantify any experience. eMoods had no concern of whether or not I was a little peeved that I was now working from home due to a global pandemic – there was no COVID-19 scale. The app diligently tracked me (and my moods) as if I lived in a vacuum devoid of people, my environment, and a deadly virus. My Bipolar brain did not, and does not, live in a vacuum.
Under a Digital Magnifying Glass
The more I tracked, the more surveyed I felt. Every evening, at the same time I would receive my reminder to chart my symptoms. I am used to managing my moods as they come; taking a step back from work when I'm not at my best and jumping right into it when I feel a bout of energy coming on. I don't tend to fixate on my moods and allow them to flow at their own pace, but the act of daily tracking and persistent reminders to do so brought my emotions to the forefront. I started to obsessively monitor every fleeting moment of sadness and happiness I was experiencing.
Was this a start of a manic episode?
Was I depressed for too long?
Having to input another day of "depressed" mood brought on feelings of shame and inputting "elevated mood" feelings of anxiety. I was no longer "living" my moods as organic and natural processes, but diligently monitoring symptoms. A symptomatic person is a sick person, I reasoned, and as time went on, I began to think of myself as "sick" and in need of monitoring. I was no longer someone living with somewhat unorthodox work patterns, but a patient.
Surveillance Without Borders
Displayed in front of me, little grey and blue graphs served as a constant reminder of my "broken" brain that needed to be monitored daily through a rigid set of criteria. eMoods suggests that these graphs can be presented to therapists and psychiatrists to facilitate a better understanding between client and service provider. That sounds like a report card, I thought at the time. But while a child may show their report card to only their parents (if at all), my mental report card was shared with Google Analytics and Google AdWords, among others. Sergey Brin and Larry Page knew exactly when Iwas depressed. This is all on top of the fact that eMoods had access to my GPS, my photo albums, and a history of other webpages I've visited, all while convincing its users that their data was "their own".
This level of surveillance should be of concern with any user, but especially for psychiatric survivors and service users that have systemically been surveyed, monitored, and tracked. A complete lack of privacy is typical in an institutionalized setting, but apps such as eMoods have the potential to break down the physical walls of psychiatric institutions and extend this surveillance far beyond any physical space.
Feeling "sicker" than ever, and concerned with my data privacy, I deleted the app.
Not All Apps Are Bad
While eMoods proved to be a flop for me, there were several other apps that got me through the pandemic. These were not made for nor by psych-service users, but rather for the simple purpose of connecting people. WhatsApp, Reddit, and Twitter. These three allowed me to connect and share experiences with others around the globe: academics, survivors, and friends. While these platforms are also not without shortcomings and some serious privacy concerns, they allowed me to share in a collective grief of the pandemic and validated my feelings of being lost and unmotivated. The conversations and exchanges that I found most rewarding had very little to do with symptom management but focused on the human experience: on bitter laughter, compassion, and peer support.
At their worst, new technologies in the form of tracking apps can extend psychiatric hold over survivors long after they've left inpatient facilities, they can also increase psychiatry's catchment area and subject even more people to psychiatric surveillance. There are also numerous privacy concerns with such technologies, specifically, who will have access to this personal data? Will employers be able to monitor their employees' mental states? Will this surveillance be normalized and incorporated into other institutions such as schools and universities or act as a far-reaching arm of psychiatric institutions? These are just some of the questions that need to be considered before we all hop on the tech bandwagon.
At their best, new apps can facilitate more conversations and more connections between Mad people, survivors, and service-users. These apps can connect us across the globe and allow a sharing of lived experience, information, and support; fostering a community that too, knows no physical bounds.
But for now, I'll stick to tracking my steps.
[1] My references to my psychiatric "diagnosis" have no intention to instill faith and validity in psychiatric labels or intervention, but rather to provide a quick snapshot of the sorts of "symptoms" I experience. Even here, I am cautious to use the term symptoms as they are more akin to fluctuations in my emotions.
[2] It's important to note that I did use the free version of the app and the paid version may have included more environmental and social factors to track.
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Anna Sui is a PhD Candidate in Health & Rehabilitation Sciences at Western University.


It says some cosmetic fixes needed, but I really don't see too many. The interior looks great besides the driver seat belt holder, and the exterior looks good besides the cloudy passenger headlight. It seems like a pretty good deal to me.


Frodomar City is allegedly the hometown of Ritchie. It is an anime-exclusive location in Kanto, and is only mentioned in the dub. It is also possible that this city does not exist, and that Ritchie was lying so as not to alter time, considering that the only time the place was mentioned was in Celebi and Joy!, where Ritchie was transported several years into the past by Celebi.


This week Nursery & Reception children performed their nativity play. Well done to all children who worked hard learning their songs and dances. Thank you to all the parents who provided all the fantastic costumes. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas.


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But England's capital is oddly quiet. There are no cars and very few pedestrians, whilst those people they do meet appear really quite English indeed. And all the while they are monitored by cameras feeding images into a secret control room.
Something strange is happening in the city. Traitors are running wild, and nothing and no-one are quite as they seem.


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Home Home & Office Networking Mobile Carriers
Google blames Docs downtime on exposed memory bug
Google has explained the downtime that struck its Docs productivity apps last week, blaming it on a failed attempt to improve the products' functionality.The hour-long outage struck on Wednesday, with Google offering no explanation for the incident at the time.
Written by David Meyer, Contributor on Sept. 12, 2011
Google has explained the downtime that struck its Docs productivity apps last week, blaming it on a failed attempt to improve the products' functionality.
The hour-long outage struck on Wednesday, with Google offering no explanation for the incident at the time. On Friday, the company admitted it had brought the systems down during an upgrade.
"The outage was caused by a change designed to improve real time collaboration within the document list," engineering director Alan Warren wrote in a blog post. "Unfortunately this change exposed a memory management bug which was only evident under heavy usage."
Warren explained that the memory management bug had caused the machines that look up Google's servers when modifying Google Docs documents to not recycle their memory properly after each lookup. He said this caused them to "eventually run out of memory and restart", during which time other machines had to pick up the load.
The chain reaction "meant that eventually the servers couldn't properly process a large fraction of the requests to access document lists, documents, drawings, and scripts which led to the outage you saw on Wednesday," Warren said.
Warren pointed out that Google's systems had alerted the company just 60 seconds after the failure rate increased sharply, and the rollback of the upgrade in question began 23 minutes after the first alert. The rollback took 24 minutes, and capacity was restored around five minutes after that.
"Since resolution, we have been assembling and scrutinising the timeline of this event, and have assembled a list of steps which will both reduce the chance of a future event, decrease the time required to notice and resolve a problem, and limit the scope which any single problem can affect," Warren wrote, noting that a full incident report would be released once the investigation is over.
Comments on Warren's post were mostly appreciative, but one 'bjbraams' asked whether any explanation would be forthcoming regarding a "blackout" that apparently hit the Documents List feature of Google Docs on 26 August.
Microsoft says services have recovered after major outage that affected Teams and Outlook users
Google parent Alphabet says it is cutting 12,000 jobs


The ferry to Senja island, where I was headed, departs from Brensholmen in Troms. Right next to it is a beautiful little island called Sommarøy, where an acquaintance I met in Lofoten during last year's bicycle tour happens to live. So I paid her a visit.
Sommarøya to the right, connected by a bridge to the main island Kvaløya.
You might not expect views like this in North Norway, but there are actually quite a few nice beaches around.
Elaine is one of those fun people who seems to have life figured out. She knows what makes her happy and then simply goes out to do it. She's even more of an outdoor person than me, spending a lot of time out on her kayak in the fjords, sometimes even paddling among orcas and other whales. Or she's hiking, sailing, biking, or just generally enjoying nature however and whenever she can. Usually with her camera - she has quite a good eye for photography. She says she tries to learn a new hobby or activity every year, which sounds like an excellent idea.
It was great to see a familiar face, so we talked for hours while I recharged my various devices. I suppose few people know the area as well as Elaine, so I interrogated her for tips on where to go for the good views and photo opportunities. Often when I see a photo of a great location, I try to find out where it is and mark it with a star in Google Maps. Now that I'm on tour I do the same by asking people for suggestions on where to go.
When I left, armed with many new stars on my map, I first head to the nearby hill. She had said eagles like to play there in the winds rising up the cliff wall in the mornings. While waiting for the midnight sun to climb higher, I shot several time-lapses of the far-reaching ocean landscape.
The Håja island served as inspiration for Tromsø's Ishavskatedralen (The Arctic Cathedral).
The view towards Senja, my next destination.
Eventually, just as promised, I saw a great brown eagle with a massive wingspan flying below me. It circled for a while and then dove out of sight. I did some quick calculation. If I ran to get the camera, the time-lapse it was taking would be ruined. But I would have many opportunities to shoot similar videos, while this could be the only chance in a long time to score an eagle in the viewfinder. Despite my 24-70mm lens being a poor choice for bird photography, I decided it was worth trying.
I scampered off to fetch the camera and tried my best to stroll back inconspicuously. But the bird was already gone. While waiting for it to return I spotted its nest in the cliff face about 50 meters away. Realizing I may an unwelcome visitor too close to the eagle's home, I made a wise choice to remove myself from the premises.
After all, I was standing very close to the edge of a sheer drop into the ocean. An altogether precarious position. My mind conjured an image of a pissed off sea eagle with talons the size of my head raining great vengeance and furious anger from the sky. It could probably toss me off the mountain like a toddler discarding a lollipop.
It was not a comforting thought. I took my stuff and left, making a mental note to do some research on these killer eagles.


text:
My Story with Anil Yadav
06:00 PM - 07:00 PM (America/Los_Angeles)
Webinar link to join:
My Story – Inspiring Journey of an Entrepreneur Featuring Anil Yadav – Becoming one of the largest operators of leading hospitality industry franchise brands!
How do you pull yourself from an entry-level job to the very top of the restaurant and hospitality industry? This is what Anil Yadav has accomplished going from being a fry cook at a Jack in the Box in 1984 – a skill he can teach to this day – to being the country's largest operator of the same restaurant concept. Anil emigrated from India to America in 1981 when he was 17 years old in the hopes of a better education and life. With his family, he lived in a small, two-room house in Redwood city . He soon went to work for a Jack in the Box restaurant on El Camino Real, just three blocks from his house, where he landed a position as a fry cook making tacos. Over time, Yadav was promoted to better fryer positions, then to team leader, assistant manager, and finally, restaurant manager of the same store. In 1989, he applied and was accepted to be a franchisee with Jack in the Box, and with help from his friends and family, was able to purchase that first Jack in the box, in South San Francisco. Today, Yadav, who is still based in the Bay Area, owns 232 Jack in the Box locations in Northern California and Texas. He now also owns and operates Taco Cabana (franchisor), 151; Denny's, 77; TGI Fridays, 75; El Pollo Loco, 6; Sizzler, 4; Corner Bakery Cafe, 3; plus a few resorts and hotels
Join us virtually for this inspiring talk to ask questions, learn from the experience of a highly successful entrepreneur known for building and scaling successful businesses in a traditional industry, and to connect with other aspiring entrepreneurs on Tuesday March 22, 2022.
TiE Host & Moderator:
Naveen Bisht, Chair, My Story Program, TiE Silicon Valley
About Anil Yadav
Anil Yadav is Founder, President and CEO of Yadav Enterprises. Yadav came to the U.S. in 1982 when he was just 17 and looking for a better way of life. He went from being a fry cook at Jack in the Box in 1984 to restaurant manager, and is now the largest Jack in the Box franchisee in the U.S. His holdings consist of 8 food brands and a number of hotels spread across 15 states. He's also a partner at TriArtisan Capital Advisors, a New York-based private equity firm that owns TGI Fridays worldwide, one of his brands. In recent years, Yadav has gone beyond franchising, purchasing two resort properties in California. In addition to running his vast business, Yadav helps countless others through his partnerships with Denny's "No Kid Hungry" campaign, Jack in the Box's "Blessings in a Backpack," the March of Dimes, and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. In addition, he contributes to a program of international broadcaster Univision to provide scholarships to high-achieving Hispanic students.
6:00 PM – Introduction and Program
6:40 PM - Q & A
7:00 PM- Adjourn
Want to know how he did it and how you can apply his learnings in your business? Then join us for this inspiring virtual session on Tuesday, March 22, 2022
My Story – TiE SV Original Program
This talk is part of TiE SV's monthly program "My Story – Inspiring Journey of an Entrepreneur" to celebrate entrepreneurship and bring stories from successful entrepreneurs in their own words that are both inspiring and educational. The invited speaker(s) share their entrepreneurial journey and talk about lessons learnt, mistakes they wish they had avoided and key decisions that helped make their venture successful. Audience questions are encouraged.


Virginia Huntington, 87, of Auburn Maine died on Apr. 7th, 2019 at the Hospice House in Auburn after a brief illness.
She was born in Lewiston, Maine on March 28th, 1932 to parents John and Doris (Record) Huntington.
Virginia graduated from Edward Little High School in 1950, and made her home at Bradman St for 80 years.
She enjoyed sewing, crafts and especially loved visiting with family, neighbors and friends.
She was predeceased by her parents; sisters, Shirley Beaudoin; Phyllis Latlippe and her husband Robert; and a nephew, Michael Latlippe.
Surviving her are her nieces and nephews; great nieces and great nephews; great-great nephews and great-great nieces; and a brother-in-law, Joseph.
There will be no services. A private burial will take place at Litchfield Plains Cemetery at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Virginia's memory to the Hospice House c/o Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, 15 Strawberry Ave. Lewiston Maine 04240.


text:
Q: Issue adding gridlayout support library to project? When I click on my widget, which uses the gridlayout support library, I get this error:
10-12 17:15:14.373: E/dalvikvm(3957): Could not find class 'com.example.awesomefilebuilderwidget.Drag_and_Drop_App$MyDragListener', referenced from method com.example.awesomefilebuilderwidget.Drag_and_Drop_App.onCreate
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957): FATAL EXCEPTION: main
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957): java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.example.awesomefilebuilderwidget/com.example.awesomefilebuilderwidget.Drag_and_Drop_App}: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #2: Error inflating class android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1833)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1854)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1500(ActivityThread.java:135)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1041)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:150)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:4333)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Native Method)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:507)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:839)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:597)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(Native Method)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957): Caused by: android.view.InflateException: Binary XML file line #2: Error inflating class android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:518)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:570)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:386)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:320)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:276)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at com.android.internal.policy.impl.PhoneWindow.setContentView(PhoneWindow.java:231)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.Activity.setContentView(Activity.java:1712)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at com.example.awesomefilebuilderwidget.Drag_and_Drop_App.onCreate(Drag_and_Drop_App.java:22)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1072)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:1797)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     ... 11 more
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957): Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.constructNative(Native Method)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:415)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:505)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     ... 20 more
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957): Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: android.support.v7.gridlayout.R$dimen
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.<init>(GridLayout.java:255)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     at android.support.v7.widget.GridLayout.<init>(GridLayout.java:274)
10-12 17:15:14.433: E/AndroidRuntime(3957):     ... 23 more

I followed the official android developers guidelines to add the support library to my project but I am still getting the errors.
As I believe this is more or less my fault somewhere along the line heres the steps I took to add it:
1)Went to File->Import->Existing Android Code into Workspace->found the v7 gridlayout file and clicked finish
2)Went to the support gridlayout package and to the libs folder, right clicked on the .jar file, and added it to my build path (I did the same with the bin file)
3)Clicked on my own project->Properties->Library pane->Add JARs (as seen below)

Then I also have the order and export tab as marked below:

Then the two libs show up in my projects "Referenced Libraries" section.

But no matter what I do, I still get that same error. Did I go about doing this correctly?

A: Your steps are incorrect. Instead of this:

3)Clicked on my own project->Properties->Library pane->Add JARs (as
  seen below)

Do this (from the Adding libraries with resources section in the instructions):

*

*In the Project Explorer, right-click your project and select Properties.

*In the Library pane, click Add.

*Select the library project and click OK. For example, the appcompat project should be listed as android-support-v7-appcompat.

*In the properties window, click OK.

Except use gridlayout instead of appcompat, of course
Also, the remaining steps that you did (with the Build and Export tab) should be done to the gridlayout project, not your own project (also detailed in the same section of the instructions).

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


VHS CSS Animation is a post future CSS animation with different transparency and pixel sizes. It is an exclusive effect for text. Using the code you can design blur, fade, flicker, highlight the text, pop, pulsate and zoom effects.
You can set time duration and iterations count for the effect and iterations may be infinitive. Incoming & leaving effects and play & pause modes are also utilizable.


text:
Did Schengen ruin the romance of travel?
The Schengen Agreement was born in Luxembourg Credit: © GFC Collection / Alamy/GFC Collection / Alamy
Chris Leadbeater, Travel writer
26 March 2015 • 12:00am
Chris Leadbeater
As with many revolutions that redefine landscapes, it started with the stroke of a pen and a firm handshake rather than a rumble of bulldozers or the stomping of troops on the ground.
Nor did it come to pass in a major metropolis. There was no grand setting – Paris, Madrid or Berlin – for this rotation of the guard, no commandeering of Versailles for a photo opportunity.
Rather, it happened in a tiny dot on the map of one of the continent's smallest entities – a place far removed from the great offices of state.
Open highways: Schengen Zone borders are little more than signposts in the road (Photo: Alamy)
But the moment changed Europe nonetheless – and hugely altered the concept of travel within it.
It was 20 years ago today that the Schengen Agreement came into force – on March 26 1995 – and almost 30 since the pact was signed into existence (on June 14 1985) by five members of what was then the European Economic Community (EEC).
Officials from those states – Belgium, West Germany, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – came together to rubber-stamp an area of unrestricted travel within their borders, an enclave where citizens could move without need for passports or queues at crossing points.
The presence of the latter duchy in the quintet was significant. It was Schengen – a town in the south-east of Luxembourg, near to the pivotal spot where its frontier meets both France and Germany – which witnessed the event. It was a place whose name was unfamiliar in 1985.
It is rather better known now.
Although it would take a decade for the arrangement to become reality, it would radically reconfigure the flow of people across the European landmass. As of 2015, the Schengen Area covers most of western – and a sizeable portion of eastern – Europe.
It encompasses 22 of the 28 current member states of the European Union, the outsiders being (relatively) recent arrivals at the party Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus, plus the two refuseniks, Ireland and the UK.
The Schengen Area
In addition, it effectively embraces the microstates of Monaco, the Vatican City and San Marino, and opens its arms to non-EU countries which are affiliated to the organisation by trade relations – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
It is an enormous expanse – some 1.6 million square miles of terrain, ranging from the frosted upper edge of Scandinavia to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
In theory, you can drive between the North Cape of Norway and the small Spanish town of Tarifa (from where Morocco is clearly visible, 12 miles across the Strait of Gibraltar) – a road trip of some 3,524 miles, assuming you take the Oresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark – without having to produce your passport once.
All change: Border controls between Austria and Germany are removed in 1998 (Photo: EPA)
This is perhaps the most obvious way in which Schengen has reshaped Europe. While there are, of course, other issues at the heart of the matter – notably the impact that the agreement, along with the wider structure of the EU, has had on migration patterns and labour markets – it is the smashing of the shackles on journeys across the Continent which has most affected the traveller.
To return to the example of that hypothetical road trip from Nordkapp to Andalusia, which apparently takes 57 hours if you stick to every speed limit, and don't pause for sleep – had you attempted such an odyssey prior to 1995, you would have needed to negotiate seven international border control points (eight if you fancied a detour into Portugal, which lies close to the fastest route), each with its own layers of bureaucracy and box-ticking, its tailbacks and traffic jams, its vulnerability to summer strikes and surges in numbers. Certainly, 57 hours would have been a fantasy.
No stopping: Traffic passes through the open border between Germany and Denmark (Photo: Getty)
Is this a good thing? In terms of the functioning of a cross-frontier community in the 21st century, the idea has its advantages (hugely simpler motion, by road and rail at least) and its disadvantages (if tourists have freedom of movement, so do criminals). But in terms of the sheer romance of travel, I cannot help thinking that something has been lost. If we are to use Robert Louis Stevenson's ever-quotable statement from his 1881 essay El Dorado as a yardstick, then we have swapped the "better thing" of "to travel hopefully" for the basic procedure of "to arrive". The convenience of the journey has replaced the character.
What do I mean? Well, I am old enough that I have – tucked away in a draw – a first passport which is littered with stamps from holidays in Europe. Not fearless expeditions across the torso of the Balkans, but (very) mildly adventurous mid-Eighties family breaks which – in an epoch before budget airlines – involved an estate car stuffed with sleeping bags and an occasionally fraught search ("Are we nearly there yet?") for campsites in the sunshine.
So the nine-year-old me gathered inky markers which said he had been to Italy, France, Austria, Spain and Belgium. The passport for my teenage years collected similar souvenirs from Portugal, Malta and Greece. Both are documents of early experiences – and they cannot be obtained now. Here in 2015, you all but have to cross an ocean to pick up a blue smudge of transit. To be exact, if you are flying from London, your nearest passport stamp is courtesy of a Serbian immigration officer 1,300 miles away in Belgrade.
Perhaps I am guilty of rose-tinting the past. Perhaps, in reality, all European border crossings were as dull and frustrating as the inevitable hour you spend at JFK airport in New York, waiting to be processed along with the new arrivals on the seven other flights which have landed at the same time.
Or perhaps not. Eight years ago, I passed through an international checkpoint fraught with tension – the road gateway between the Israeli resort of Eilat and its Egyptian counterparts in Taba. It was a lengthy affair – bags were checked, questions were asked, bags were checked again, previous passport stamps were perused. There were X-rays and pattings down; there were crowds of scowling staff, standing around and staring. But I was in no rush, and at the end of it all, I felt like I had leapt between continents. Which, in effect, I had – and I have two muscular imprints on two separate pages of a former passport as evidence; a meaty travel tale to dine on. You don't find as much on a dash down the E29 highway between Germany and Luxembourg.
It happened here: A small monument in Schengen marks the agreement (Photo: Alamy)
You can, however, find something else. For those keen to learn more about the Schengen Agreement, the town offers further detail. You cannot visit the precise location of the signing – this was a boat, the Princess-Marie-Astrid, on the River Moselle – but you can head to the European Museum (00352 26 665 810; schengen-tourist.lu; daily 10am-5pm; free) for an explanation of how the Schengen Agreement was born, and its ramifications.
In contrast, for those who hanker after a lost age, the following European borders still require a conversation with a serious man in uniform – and, maybe, a sense of nostalgia.
Four European borders with proper passport controls
Finland/Russia
The frontier between Finland and its far larger neighbour falls some 115 miles to the east of Helsinki. A road trip between the Finnish capital and St Petersburg is certainly possible – it is a journey of a mere 241 miles along the E18 highway, a short skip in Russian terms – but you have to clear the border checkpoint at Vaalimaa to do so. The biggest barrier, however, is likely to be car-hire terms and conditions. If you have your own vehicle, an International Driving Permit (postoffice.co.uk/international-driving-permit; £5.50) – and a Russian tourist visa (ru.vfsglobal.co.uk; £38.40) – the city of the Tsars should beckon.
Tense: Delays at the Gibraltar-Spain border in 2013 (Photo: AP)
Gibraltar/Spain
The UK sits outside the Schengen zone, so Gibraltar – as a British Overseas Territory – is also roped off from the freedom-of-movement club. Not that this border – which runs for three quarters of a mile below the Spanish town of La Linea de la Concepcion – is ever less than a controversial issue. Spain closed it to road traffic in 1969, and again in 1970 – and it remained in this semi-frozen position until 1985. Fresh tensions between London and Madrid in 2013 also saw Spanish officials impose extra checks on vehicles leaving The Rock – resulting in snaking standstills and furious exchanges under the baking sun.
Bulgaria/Turkey
The point where Bulgaria rubs its shoulder against Turkey is a significant international line in the sand. It currently delineates the south-eastern edge of the European Union, to the extent that two thirds of this 150-mile frontier is now (or is about to be) blocked off by metal fencing and barbed wire – a bid to shore up the EU's soft underbelly against the troubles in Syria. There is, though, a gateway between the Bulgarian village of Kapitan Andreevo and its Turkish counterpart Kapikule – a location where the two countries also meet Greece (though you cannot enter the latter here). A road trip (750 miles) between Istanbul and the (hugely underrated) Bulgarian capital of Sofia would feasibly come this way. You need a driving licence with photo to be allowed behind the wheel in Turkey.
Can you cross a border which does not officially exist? Only Turkey recognises the Republic of Northern Cyprus. However, the frontier which cuts off the upper portion of the Mediterranean's third largest island – annexed in the Turkish invasion of 1974 – from the Greek-Cypriot south is very real. It was a locked gate until 2003, and even now, there are only six crossings along its 112-mile length. Only one of these, at Astromeritis, in the north-west, is open to road vehicles (and hire cars are not permitted). More accessible is the Ledra Palace Crossing in Nicosia, where you can walk through with an EU passport.
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WetCanvas > Explore Media > Pastels > Soft Pastel Studio and Gallery > my first pastel drawing!
View Full Version : my first pastel drawing!
I like how you achieved the look of backlighting on the eagle, almost as if the flag has an illuminating quality of its own. You can see it especially on the tips of the wing feathers. Cool! The effect is achieved even more by the dark shading of the eagle, like it's landing in a shaded spot close to the viewer and the flag is off in the sun.
Thank you Yogi and Bobbie!!! I appreciate your comments and your positive feedback on this first pastel drawing has boosted my confidence!! ;) Thanks again!!


text:
Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 11 December 2014.#František Ryneš v Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů.#Request for a preliminary ruling from the Nejvyšší správní soud.#Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 95/46/EC — Protection of individuals — Processing of personal data — Concept of 'in the course of a purely personal or household activity'.#Case C‑212/13.
Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 11 December 2014.
František Ryneš v Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů.
Request for a preliminary ruling from the Nejvyšší správní soud.
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 95/46/EC — Protection of individuals — Processing of personal data — Concept of 'in the course of a purely personal or household activity'.
Case C‑212/13.
ECLI identifier: ECLI:EU:C:2014:2428
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fourth Chamber)
11 December 2014 ( *1 )
'Reference for a preliminary ruling — Directive 95/46/EC — Protection of individuals — Processing of personal data — Concept of 'in the course of a purely personal or household activity''
In Case C‑212/13,
REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Nejvyšší správní soud (Czech Republic), made by decision of 20 March 2013, received at the Court on 19 April 2013, in the proceedings
František Ryneš
Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů,
THE COURT (Fourth Chamber),
composed of L. Bay Larsen, President of the Chamber, K. Jürimäe, J. Malenovský, M. Safjan (Rapporteur) and A. Prechal, Judges,
Advocate General: N. Jääskinen,
Registrar: I. Illéssy, Administrator,
having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 20 March 2014,
after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:
Mr Ryneš, by M. Šalomoun, advokát,
Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů, by I. Němec, advokát, and J. Prokeš,
the Czech Government, by M. Smolek and J. Vláčil, acting as Agents,
the Spanish Government, by A. Rubio González, acting as Agent,
the Italian Government, by G. Palmieri, acting as Agent, and by P. Gentili, avvocato dello Stato,
the Austrian Government, by A. Posch and G. Kunnert, acting as Agents,
the Polish Government, by B. Majczyna, J. Fałdyga and M. Kamejsza, acting as Agents,
the Portuguese Government, by L. Inez Fernandes and C. Vieira Guerra, acting as Agents,
the United Kingdom Government, by L. Christie, acting as Agent, and by J. Holmes, Barrister,
the European Commission, by B. Martenczuk, P. Němečková and Z. Malůšková, acting as Agents,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 10 July 2014,
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (OJ 1995 L 281, p. 31).
The request has been made in proceedings between Mr Ryneš and the Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů (Office for Personal Data Protection; 'the Office'), concerning a decision by which the Office found that Mr Ryneš had committed a number of offences in relation to the protection of personal data.
Legal context
Directive 95/46
Recitals 10, 12 and 14 to 16 in the preamble to Directive 95/46 state:
'(10)
… the object of the national laws on the processing of personal data is to protect fundamental rights and freedoms, notably the right to privacy, which is recognised both in Article 8 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and in the general principles of Community law; … for that reason, the approximation of those laws must not result in any lessening of the protection they afford but must, on the contrary, seek to ensure a high level of protection in the Community;
… there should be excluded the processing of data carried out by a natural person in the exercise of activities which are exclusively personal or domestic, such as correspondence and the holding of records of addresses;
… given the importance of the developments under way, in the framework of the information society, of the techniques used to capture, transmit, manipulate, record, store or communicate sound and image data relating to natural persons, this Directive should be applicable to processing involving such data;
… the processing of such data is covered by this Directive only if it is automated or if the data processed are contained or are intended to be contained in a filing system structured according to specific criteria relating to individuals, so as to permit easy access to the personal data in question;
… the processing of sound and image data, such as in cases of video surveillance, does not come within the scope of this Directive if it is carried out for the purposes of public security, defence, national security or in the course of State activities relating to the area of criminal law or of other activities which do not come within the scope of Community law.'
Under Article 2 of Directive 95/46:
'For the purposes of this Directive:
"Personal data" shall mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person ("data subject"); an identifiable person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference … to one or more factors specific to his physical … identity;
"processing of personal data" ("processing") shall mean any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organisation, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, blocking, erasure or destruction;
"personal data filing system" ("filing system") shall mean any structured set of personal data which are accessible according to specific criteria, whether centralised, decentralised or dispersed on a functional or geographical basis;
"controller" shall mean the natural … person … which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data ...'.
Article 3 of that directive provides:
'1. This Directive shall apply to the processing of personal data wholly or partly by automatic means, and to the processing otherwise than by automatic means of personal data which form part of a filing system or are intended to form part of a filing system.
2. This Directive shall not apply to the processing of personal data:
in the course of an activity which falls outside the scope of Community law, such as those provided for by Titles V and VI of the Treaty on European Union and in any case to processing operations concerning public security, defence, State security (including the economic well-being of the State when the processing operation relates to State security matters) and the activities of the State in areas of criminal law,
by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity.'
Article 7 of Directive 95/46 is worded as follows:
'Member States shall provide that personal data may be processed only if:
the data subject has unambiguously given his consent; or
processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by the third party or parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where such interests are overridden by the interests for [sic] fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection under Article 1(1).'
Article 11 of Directive 95/46 provides:
'1. Where the data have not been obtained from the data subject, Member States shall provide that the controller … must at the time of undertaking the recording of personal data … provide the data subject with at least the following information, except where he already has it:
the identity of the controller ...;
any further information such as
the categories of data concerned,
the recipients or categories of recipients,
the existence of the right of access to and the right to rectify the data concerning him
insofar as such further information is necessary, having regard to the specific circumstances in which the data are collected, to guarantee fair processing in respect of the data subject.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply where, in particular for processing for statistical purposes or for the purposes of historical or scientific research, the provision of such information proves impossible or would involve a disproportionate effort or if recording or disclosure is expressly laid down by law. In these cases Member States shall provide appropriate safeguards.'
Article 13(1) of the directive provides:
'Member States may adopt legislative measures to restrict the scope of the obligations and rights provided for in Article … 11(1) … when such a restriction constitutes a necessary [measure] to safeguard:
the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences, or of breaches of ethics for regulated professions;
the protection of … the rights and freedoms of others.'
Under Article 18(1) of Directive 95/46:
'Member States shall provide that the controller … must notify the supervisory authority … before carrying out any wholly or partly automatic processing operation or set of such operations intended to serve a single purpose or several related purposes.'
Czech law
Paragraph 3(3) of Law No 101/2000 Sb. on the Protection of Personal Data and the Amendment of Various Laws ('Law No 101/2000') provides:
'This Law does not cover the processing of personal data carried out by a natural person solely for personal use.'
Paragraph 44(2) of that law governs the liability of the personal data controller, who commits an offence if he processes that data without the consent of the data subject, or if he does not provide the data subject with the relevant information or if he does not comply with the obligation to report to the competent authority.
Under Paragraph 5(2)(e) of Law No 101/2000, the processing of personal data is in principle only possible with the consent of the data subject. In the absence of such consent, personal data may be processed where doing so is necessary to safeguard the legally protected rights and interests of the data controller, recipient or other data subjects. However, such processing must not adversely affect the data subject's right to respect for his private and family life.
The dispute in the main proceedings and the question referred for a preliminary ruling
During the period from 5 October 2007 to 11 April 2008, Mr Ryneš installed and used a camera system located under the eaves of his family home. The camera was installed in a fixed position and could not turn; it recorded the entrance to his home, the public footpath and the entrance to the house opposite. The system allowed only a visual recording, which was stored on recording equipment in the form of a continuous loop, that is to say, on a hard disk drive. As soon as it reached full capacity, the device would record over the existing recording, erasing the old material. No monitor was installed on the recording equipment, so the images could not be studied in real time. Only Mr Ryneš had direct access to the system and the data.
The Nejvyšší správní soud (Supreme Administrative Court, Czech Republic; or 'the referring court') notes that Mr Ryneš's only reason for operating the camera was to protect the property, health and life of his family and himself. Indeed, both Mr Ryneš and his family had for several years been subjected to attacks by persons unknown whom it had not been possible to identify. Furthermore, the windows of the family home had been broken on several occasions between 2005 and 2007.
On the night of 6 to 7 October 2007, a further attack took place. One of the windows of Mr Ryneš's home was broken by a shot from a catapult. The video surveillance system at issue made it possible to identify two suspects. The recording was handed over to the police and relied on in the course of the subsequent criminal proceedings.
By decision of 4 August 2008, following a request from one of the suspects for confirmation that Mr Ryneš's surveillance system was lawful, the Office found that Mr Ryneš had infringed Law No 101/2000, since:
as a data controller, he had used a camera system to collect, without their consent, the personal data of persons moving along the street or entering the house opposite;
he had not informed those persons of the processing of that personal data, the extent and purpose of that processing, by whom and by what means the personal data would be processed, or who would have access to the personal data; and
as a data controller, Mr Ryneš had not fulfilled the obligation to report that processing to the Office.
Mr Ryneš brought an action challenging that decision, which the Městský soud v Praze (Prague City Court) dismissed by judgment of 25 April 2012. Mr Ryneš brought an appeal on a point of law against that judgment before the referring court.
In those circumstances, the Nejvyšší správní soud decided to stay proceedings and refer the following question to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling:
'Can the operation of a camera system installed on a family home for the purposes of the protection of the property, health and life of the owners of the home be classified as the processing of personal data "by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity" for the purposes of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46 …, even though such a system also monitors a public space?'
Consideration of the question referred
By its question, the referring court essentially asks whether, on a proper construction of the second indent of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46, the operation of a camera system, as a result of which a video recording of people is stored on a continuous recording device such as a hard disk drive, installed by an individual on his family home for the purposes of protecting the property, health and life of the home owners, but which also monitors a public space, amounts to the processing of data in the course of a purely personal or household activity, for the purposes of that provision.
It should be noted that, under Article 3(1) of Directive 95/46, the directive is to apply to 'the processing of personal data wholly or partly by automatic means, and to the processing otherwise than by automatic means of personal data which form part of a filing system or are intended to form part of a filing system'.
The term 'personal data' as used in that provision covers, according to the definition under Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46, 'any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person', an identifiable person being 'one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference … to one or more factors specific to his physical … identity'.
Accordingly, the image of a person recorded by a camera constitutes personal data within the meaning of Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46 inasmuch as it makes it possible to identify the person concerned.
As regards the 'processing of personal data', it should be noted that Article 2(b) of Directive 95/46 defines this as 'any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, … such as collection, recording, … storage'.
As can be seen, in particular, from recitals 15 and 16 to Directive 95/46, video surveillance falls, in principle, within the scope of that directive in so far as it constitutes automatic processing.
Surveillance in the form of a video recording of persons, as in the case before the referring court, which is stored on a continuous recording device — the hard disk drive — constitutes, pursuant to Article 3(1) of Directive 95/46, the automatic processing of personal data.
The referring court is uncertain whether such processing should nevertheless, in circumstances such as those of the case before it, escape the application of Directive 95/46 in so far as it is carried out 'in the course of a purely personal or household activity' for the purposes of the second indent of Article 3(2) of the directive.
As is clear from Article 1 of that directive and recital 10 thereto, Directive 95/46 is intended to ensure a high level of protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, in particular their right to privacy, with respect to the processing of personal data (see Google Spain and Google, C‑131/12, EU:C:2014:317, paragraph 66).
In that connection, it should be noted that, according to settled case-law, the protection of the fundamental right to private life guaranteed under Article 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union ('the Charter') requires that derogations and limitations in relation to the protection of personal data must apply only in so far as is strictly necessary (see IPI, C‑473/12, EU:C:2013:715, paragraph 39, and Digital Rights Ireland and Others, C‑293/12 and C‑594/12, EU:C:2014:238, paragraph 52).
Since the provisions of Directive 95/46, in so far as they govern the processing of personal data liable to infringe fundamental freedoms, in particular the right to privacy, must necessarily be interpreted in the light of the fundamental rights set out in the Charter (see Google Spain and Google, EU:C:2014:317, paragraph 68), the exception provided for in the second indent of Article 3(2) of that directive must be narrowly construed.
The fact that Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46 falls to be narrowly construed has its basis also in the very wording of that provision, under which the directive does not cover the processing of data where the activity in the course of which that processing is carried out is a 'purely' personal or household activity, that is to say, not simply a personal or household activity.
In the light of the foregoing considerations, it must be held that, as the Advocate General observed in point 53 of his Opinion, the processing of personal data comes within the exception provided for in the second indent of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46 only where it is carried out in the purely personal or household setting of the person processing the data.
Accordingly, so far as natural persons are concerned, correspondence and the keeping of address books constitute, in the light of recital 12 to Directive 95/46, a 'purely personal or household activity' even if they incidentally concern or may concern the private life of other persons.
To the extent that video surveillance such as that at issue in the main proceedings covers, even partially, a public space and is accordingly directed outwards from the private setting of the person processing the data in that manner, it cannot be regarded as an activity which is a purely 'personal or household' activity for the purposes of the second indent of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46.
At the same time, the application of Directive 95/46 makes it possible, where appropriate, to take into account — in accordance, in particular, with Articles 7(f), 11(2), and 13(1)(d) and (g) of that directive — legitimate interests pursued by the controller, such as the protection of the property, health and life of his family and himself, as in the case in the main proceedings.
Consequently, the answer to the question referred is that the second indent of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46 must be interpreted as meaning that the operation of a camera system, as a result of which a video recording of people is stored on a continuous recording device such as a hard disk drive, installed by an individual on his family home for the purposes of protecting the property, health and life of the home owners, but which also monitors a public space, does not amount to the processing of data in the course of a purely personal or household activity, for the purposes of that provision.
Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main proceedings, a step in the action pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court. Costs incurred in submitting observations to the Court, other than the costs of those parties, are not recoverable.
On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:
The second indent of Article 3(2) of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data must be interpreted as meaning that the operation of a camera system, as a result of which a video recording of people is stored on a continuous recording device such as a hard disk drive, installed by an individual on his family home for the purposes of protecting the property, health and life of the home owners, but which also monitors a public space, does not amount to the processing of data in the course of a purely personal or household activity, for the purposes of that provision.
[Signatures]
( *1 ) Language of the case: Czech.


A dual structural world which emergence was caused by an excavation of a forgotten civilization. The discovery was made by Sanada and Rara 22 years ago.
The difference between the real world and the parallel world is the phenomenon surrounding that forgotten civilization itself, namely, it's 'political status quo' and the 'super weapon'. However, the most significant difference is the existence of Kazuki Yotuga, the protagonist.
Kazuki Yotuga, a high school boy, is having trouble seeing "visions" in the real world. And because of this, the most popular girl in school, Mitsuki Sanada, got interested with the "visions" this boy is seeing. She brought Kazuki to her father, Mr. Ken Sanada. Mr. Sanada is a physicist who wanted to study Kazuki and his visions, but accientally transports Kazuki and Mitsuki to the Parallel World.
And that's where the adventure, and the trouble, begin!
Dual brings together qualities of Evangelion, Tenchi Muyo!, and El Hazard. This is not all that surprising, due to the fact that the creator of Dual, Masaki Kajishima, is the same man who created both Tenchi and El Hazard. It's interesting to see how Kajishima-san includes barts of both into the story.
Kajishima-san pulls things from Tenchi, such as the fact that seemingly every female Kazuki meets fights for his attention, and Mr. Sanada can certainly be compared to Washu in the mad scientist category.
Kajishima-san also pulls things from El Hazard, shuch as how Kazuki and Mitsuki get transported to the Parallel World, much like Makoto and Nanami to El Hazard. Also, Kazuki has the ablilty to control one of the Core Robots, which were created to be only controlled by a female pilot. Makoto can do the same kinds of things in El Hazard, such as unlocking Ifurita's memories and utilizing the ancient artifacts/technology that have been found in the world of El Hazard.
It has been said about Dual that it's simply a satire of Evangelion, and some people don't enjoy it for that reason. I say to watch each new anime series that you find with open eyes and minds. Create your own opinions about the series, don't base it on what other's have said. I found Evangelion to be a more serious and darker anime, where as Dual is more light-hearted and fun.
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