Reverse mortgages work by permitting a borrower to take out money with no immediate requirement for repayment (the house is offered as security for the reverse mortgage lender's loan).
There is nothing particularly unique about a reverse mortgage that separates it from other real estate transactions except for the fact that the date upon which the bank collects repayment is less definite than traditional loans that involve real estate.
Typically, these types of mortgages come with three variations. Some lenders provide borrowers with an immediate lump sum payment, others provide smaller lump-sum payments in a manner that mimic a home equity line of credit, and the third option—which is most recently discussed, involves a lender paying the borrower a fixed monthly income.
In my view, it would be a disaster to ever consider the first two options. If you reach a point in life where taking out a reverse mortgage is your most rational option, it is a signal that the sum of your life decisions to that point have not led to the accumulation of significant capital. This is not immoral, or an insight that I offer with any sense of judgment, but it is how I assess the prospect of borrowing a six-figure sum from your house at a late age in life because you have no other financial options.
The most rational option, particularly for someone who purchased a home in a house commensurate with your income and saw that home value appreciate significantly throughout their life, is the fixed monthly option. If your medical expenses and/or other expenses exceed your monthly cash flow without a reverse mortgage, I can understand why taking out a loan against your home late in life is the most rational course of conduct even if it is emotionally painful.
So how does a reverse mortgage work from the perspective of a lender? Well, the lenders protect themselves in a variety of ways to make sure that they are going to make a significant profit.
First, they limit the pool of applicants to only those that that either own their home outright or have a significant amount of equity in their home. This guarantees the lender will be able to have something of value that will ensure repayment.
If you have $350,000 appraised that you own without any liens or mortgages against it, a lender wouldn't hesitate to give you a loan in the amount of $1,000 plus interest. If you live in it for twenty years at an 8% interest rate, the bank would have a $589,000 claim against your property (this hypothetical is simplistic in that it assumes a fixed interest rate throughout, and the fixed monthly payment typically carry a variable interest rate). If your home appreciated at a rate of 3.5% annually over that time, it would be worth $704,000 at the end of the twenty-year period. The bank would collect the $589,000, and the remaining $115,000 would belong to your estate.
A similar analysis could occur if you still had a mortgage or some other lien against your home before applying for the reverse mortgage. If you have a $250,000 property with a $60,000 mortgage remaining, a bank may be interested in letting you borrow $750 per month because once that first mortgage is paid off, there is still a lot of remaining value in the home that they can be confident they'd be able to reach upon payment time.
On the other hand, if you owe $175,000 on a pre-existing mortgage on a $220,000 home, you're not going to be eligible for a reverse mortgage because the prospect of reaching that value is too attenuated. A downturn in the housing market, or issues paying your pre-existing mortgage, would make the property unattractive from the lender's perspective because there is not enough collateral to support the loan.
And thirdly, the triggering events that enable the mortgage lending back to collect are highly favorable. Typically, the balance on a reverse mortgage becomes due in full if: (1) the home that is offered as collateral for the loan is sold; (2) the home is no longer the borrower's principal place of business, e.g. the borrower moves into a nursing home; or (3) the borrower dies.
The execution of this type of mortgage creates a lien against your house that dramatically limits your flexibility because of this immediate payment factor. When this immediate payment factor is triggered, you or your beneficiaries/heirs have the choice to either come up with the cash payment in full or to watch the lender sell the property and take their share of the proceeds.
The upside of this is that a triggering event that occurs early in the loan's life will still entitle you or your heirs to a significant amount of the proceeds.
Assume that you own a $300,000 home outright and take out a reverse mortgage for fixed monthly payments of $1,200 per month at an interest rate of 8%. After receiving proceeds for three years, you die. At this point, your estate owes the lender $48,600. Your heirs/beneficiaries will be promptly confronted with a choice. They can either pay the lender $48,600, have the lien/mortgage removed, and then take ownership of the house, or, if they do not elect this option, the lender will execute upon their lien/mortgage and have the home sold.
Assuming modest appreciation, let's say the home sells for $315,000. The lender would take the $48,600, and the remaining $266,400 would go towards the estate. When people say that taking out a reverse mortgage means that you will lose your home when you die, they are making some implicit assumptions. They are assuming that you do not go to a nursing home or otherwise sell the property, and they are assuming that you live another 15-25 years after the loan is taken out such that the amount owed to the lender is so substantial that it effectively exhausts the property's full value.
On the other hand, the popular advertisements that promise you guaranteed income for life is also misleading. In some states, a bare-bones reverse mortgage will entitle the lender to foreclose upon the home in the event that the amount due on the loan exceeds the appraised value of the home. Theoretically, it is possible that a borrower could live thirty years, there could be a real estate financial crisis or the home could be located in an area that does not appreciate with time or even depreciates, and the lender could have the right to stop making monthly payments to you and foreclose upon the home.
Because of the extreme unattractiveness of this possibility, 39 out of 50 U.S. states require that the lender give the borrower a statement stating that counseling and independent consultation about the wisdom of taking out a reverse mortgage should be considered before applying for the loan, and a borrower has to sign a statement confirming that the lender has provided them with this information.
If the reverse mortgage is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), then there will be an insurance component to transaction. In exchange for paying a $2,000-$5,000 upfront, plus having $25-$125 per month be included in the calculations in addition to interest, a borrower can receive insurance against the possibility of receiving funds that exceed the value of their home. There are also private insurers that provide this option for non-HUD borrowers.
Under a HUD or private insurer scenario, there is no risk for the borrower of outliving their homes. In this case, the loan continues to accrue and, upon a triggering event such as death, the lender is able to take the house and sell it. If it doesn't fully recapture the value of the outstanding loan balance, then they turn to the insurer for compensation rather than your estate.
The misleading aspect of reverse mortgage commercials is that they pretend there are certain types of loans that prevent the borrower from getting kicked out of their home. But it is not the loan that triggers this, but rather, the entry of an insurer into the equation that affirmatively agrees to pay in the event that the borrower outlives the moment when the loan balance exceeds the appraisal value of the home.
But you must either take out a mortgage that requires such an insurer, or you must demand that one join in the transaction. Otherwise, there is nothing that guarantees that you get to live in your home until you die.
Because it is a loan—you either have to pay it back or forfeit a portion of the proceeds from your property until you pay it back—the monthly income you receive are legally regarded as loan advances and are not taxable and do not affect your Social Security benefits. It could affect the calculation of your available resources that determine your Medicaid eligibility. In some states, you are required to spend the proceeds that your reverse mortgage lender advances you in the calendar month in which the advance was made.
The lump sum reverse mortgage option, as well as the options that exclude insurance in the event that the borrower receives more money than the value of their home, seem like a recipe for trouble. If someone has minimal resources late in life, and cannot cover medical expenses, such a mortgage can make sense if they elect the fixed monthly option and have it insured. If you can't pay your bills late in life, and aren't able to work or find another source of income, the fixed monthly insured reverse mortgage is one of the few ways to get your hands on regular cash flow.


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Tom Savini and Callosum Studios Leave Their Mark on Wrestlemania 37
by Sean McLaughlin April 12, 2021
Wrestlemania 37, which went down this weekend at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL, was an important event in the entertainment world for several reasons. It was not only the…
Restored Version of 'Friday The 13th' To Hit Theaters
by Thomas Tuna September 10, 2020
Fathom Events will help horror fans celebrate the 40th anniversary of the legendary Friday the 13th film with a remastered version slashing its way to movie theaters next month. The newly restored horror classic…
BLUE UNDERGROUND'S 'MANIAC: 4K Ultra HD Edition': THE HORROR NEWS NETWORK REVIEW
by Nick Banks May 26, 2020
Occasionally, a genre film will attract the attention of a mainstream audience in an "unexpected way". Maniac premiered in New York City on January 30, 1981, playing to packed audiences on 42nd…
Tom Savini Visits 'The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs' on May 1
by Nick Banks April 30, 2020
Special effects makeup master Tom Savini's work has certainly been featured at many a drive-in theater, but Savini has never before appeared on an episode of Shudder's The Last Drive-In…
Blue Underground's 'Maniac: 3-Disc Limited Edition Blu-Ray': The Horror News Network Review
by Nick Banks December 10, 2018
Occasionally, a genre film will attract the attention of a mainstream audience in an "unexpected way". Maniac premiered in New York City on January 30, 1981, playing to packed audiences on…
Rest in Peace: George A. Romero Dead at 77
by John Evans July 16, 2017
It is with heavy hearts that the Horror News Network team reports that legendary director/writer/producer George A. Romero has passed away at the age of 77. Romero transformed the horror…
Friday the 13th Video Game – New Trailer and Release Date!
by Larry Dwyer April 22, 2017
It's finally here, gore whores! Like us, we know that you fellow lovers of chaos and carnage have been eagerly awaiting the release (or at least the release date) of the video…
Doug Bradley to Present "The Pinhead Experience"
by Larry Dwyer March 26, 2017
Horror legend Doug Bradley, best known for playing the iconic "Pinhead" cenobite in Clive Barker's Hellraiser, has apparently been brainstorming with his partner Steph Sciullo on a new experience for…
New Friday the 13th Video Game Trailer and Skins!
The lucky folks who attended Pax East 2017 this past weekend in Boston, MA were treated to a brand new trailer for Friday the 13th: The Game and it is…
Ana de la Reguera, Tom Savini & Marko Zaror Join 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series'
by Lynn Sorel April 26, 2016
El Rey Network's From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series has added Ana de la Reguera (Jane the Virgin, Narcos), Tom Savini (From Dusk Till Dawn movie) and Marko Zaror…
5 × = fifteen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The effects of menstrual cycle phases on running repeated sprint ability
I am currently working on this project as my Master by Research thesis at the Edinburgh Napier University. As it is not published yet, I suggest not to use any of the data presented here. It's only a preview of my project.
Authors: Samuele Di Nicola, Mykolas Kavaliauskas, Brendon Ferrier
Female participation in regular sport activities has increased in recent years, yet their representation in the sports and exercise science literature remains low. Therefore, an understanding of the effects different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC) have on exercise responses is important due to the practical and theoretical implications. To date, no research has analysed the effects of MC phases on running repeated sprint ability (RSA). As a result, the aim of this study was to compare performance, physiological and perceptual differences when performing a running RSA during the early-follicular, and mid-luteal sub-phases of the MC. Six healthy, physically active female participants (age: 25.67 ± 2.49 years; height: 1.66 ± 0.08 m; body mass: 69.8 ± 19.34 kg; V̇O2: 46.00 ± 6.76 ml·kg1·min-1) volunteered to take part in this study. After the initial health screening, the participants completed two familiarisation trials before doing the four intervention sessions (twice during each MC sub-phase, with 24 hours in between). The MC sub-phases were determined using a combined approach of an electronic diary and a urinary kit. The RSA protocol consisted of five 'all-out' sprints of six seconds on a non-motorised treadmill with 24 seconds of active recovery (walking) between the sprints. Power output, distance and acceleration were collected during each sprint. Heart rate and exchanged air were measured continuously, and blood lactate samples were taken immediately after, three- and five minutes-post exercise. Finally, the perceptual responses to the protocol were assessed using the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale after each sprint. A two-way and one-way ANOVA with repeated measures, Student's t test, partial eta squared and eta squared were used to analyse the data. Results indicated no significant differences between MC sub-phases in body mass index (BMI) (p = 0.86, d = 0.34), fat mass (p = 0.93, d = 0.23), hips-to-waist ratio (p = 0.98, d = 0.33), mean power output (p > 0.99, d < 0.01, peak power output (p = 0.14, d = 0.16), distance (p = 0.59, d = 0.07), pre-exercise (p = 0.78, d = 0.41) and post-exercise lactate (p = 0.58, d = 0.24), oxygen uptake (p = 0.10, d = 0.30), respiratory exchange ratio (p = 0.47, d = 0.13), ventilation (p = 0.42, d = 0.12), heart rate (p = 0.49, d = 0.17). However, significant differences were found in peak acceleration (p = 0.02, d = 0.40) and RPE (p < 0.0001, d = 0.37). In conclusion, MC phases do not appear to influence RSA performance, thus suggesting that practitioners should not tailor their repeated sprint exercises and tests based on the MC phases. However, data show a difference in perceived effort between the early-follicular and mid-luteal sub-phases that might be due to a learning effect. It is suggested that more studies are conducted about the effects of the MC on RPE.
#physiology #menstrualcycle


This hilarious piece is loaded with comedy, both in contextualized situations and laugh-out-loud lines. After tracking down a particular crime to a group of babies, for instance, and relentlessly bullying them into helping my gumshoe earn back her previously good reputation, I was treated to the line, "I can see into your soul, sucky baby. I see into it, and I find it wanting."
The entire work is infused with this sort of silliness, taking place over a variety of declaratively-named locations: ArtistCity is a city of artists, and your home location, DetectiveCity, is a sprawling metropolis of detectives and gumshoe tropes.
The protagonist needs to collect enough Detecto-Points over the next 10 days to keep her job after an embarrassing blunder, hinted at but never explicitly detailed, known as "The Noodletown Incident". Each day is a chapter, initiated by choosing where you'll spend it: you can work a case or take an oddball detour into criminal enterprises, anarchy, or other weird segues.
Each day involves some type of event, ranging from cases (classic logic problems re-styled as mysteries and solved through multiple choices) to embarrassing interactions with your co-workers. After a day, you'll be awarded detecto-points, either stolen, earned for your work, or gifted by a colleague or NPC.
After the ten chapters, the work concludes in a courthouse battle where you can take actions based off of your earlier successes, before you receive a score and the credits appear.
The game mechanics are incredibly satisfying, and the randomization and wide number of paths makes this a very replayable work.
I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys quirky, silly writing and fun Interactive Fiction.
This is a fun, odd little Twine work where you are a hole in the ground, faced with existential questions but continuing to grow and develop.
It's definitely a one-note piece: existential questions are raised but never answered, and there isn't enough material here to even try to answer those questions. What are you? What does it mean that you can choose to grow deeper, cozier, or deadlier? Why do these concepts interest a hole in the ground?
This silly little piece may have been an experiment, or a test lab for a new twine user, or just a silly idea that grew into a longer piece. It's fun and amusing, and shuts off one or two paths by restricting your final choice to only one of the three.
I enjoyed this, but am not sure that I'd really recommend it; as a silly gag piece, it may be slightly too long. I'd either try to add a little more to the actions, or pare it down and make it even more self-aware/tongue in cheek.
This incredibly short (10 second!) piece experiments with time as a constraint, something rarely seen in Interactive Fiction.
A fast and constantly dwindling 10 second countdown speeds you along as you click through the options, expressing your love and living the last few seconds of a romance as the world ends. Wisely, the end of the world--the whys, the hows, etc--isn't examined. The time constraint means it can't be, letting the story of doomed love take center-stage.
I found the experiment at times frustrating, because I was racing through prose; but I think that's a form of success here, as it meant I re-played several times, trying the same and different paths.
Rakovich is clearly a practiced writer, and writes skillfully minimalist descriptive prose about the unearthly dream world the player character is exploring.
I enjoyed the way that traditional parser concepts were transferred to a hypertext work, but am not sure if they were totally successful. Travelling by compass direction in hypertext feels strange--I think it'd be more effective if the movement was clued to what you might expect to find. ("Walk to the river", "Walk towards the clearing", "Walk into deeper forest"). Other aspects, from the hypertext friendly puzzles to the mechanics of "looking away" from things you'd investigated, worked better and added to the atmosphere.
While I enjoyed this piece and am looking forward to the next one, I do think the opening is a rougher spot than the rest of the work. Broadly speaking, it's well-written, but I didn't feel the sense of urgency or agency I hope for in the best IF. I'm told that I'm probably lost, but I don't remember where I was going or how I got here, and given a very binary choice between north and south.
The amnesia open is basically a trope, but it's fine, honestly, as long as I have a sense of urgency and curiosity about who I am, which should start building in that first paragraph. I don't think this piece did that. The choice to go north or south feels meaningless, and in fact, going north just results in the message that it's too dark, so I have to turn around and go south.
I think the opening should probably give me a better sense of the stakes behind my first choice, and make it feel meaningful, or continue the intro and make it a 'click to continue' without the false choice created. Perhaps an explanation that the woods are dark, and the only visible path is left--click to continue--would improve this.
The work becomes far more compelling almost immediately, when a scent leads you to a traumatic memory. I would encourage the author to get to this moment quicker, and to use it as part of the urgency. Why this memory? Why this experience, at this time? Does the memory remind the narrator of anything unfinished/unresolved? Perhaps the disorienting walk through the woods is to figure out something unfinished from that early memory--that would definitely give me a greater sense of investment right off the bat.
Despite the rough opening, this is a strong work, especially after the first memory surfaces, which left me with questions and an interest in completing the future parts.
On categorization: I'm not sure I agree with the label of psychological horror here. That's not criticism of the work, I just wonder if a better label exists?
In any event, I recommend this piece, and appreciated it's clean, minimalist prose and strange, unsettling atmosphere.
Lutz is one of the best Interactive Fiction writers right now due to his strong voice and sense of pacing. This piece takes the amusing, yet common, idea that everyone has a doppelganger and extends it into a slightly disturbing, slightly creepy, work, that makes me smile when I reach the end.
The pacing is aided by the breaks in text and the minimal interactivity--simply clicking the link to progress--throughout the work. Large, bold type over dissociative photos of people in everyday scenes whose faces have been blurred out adds to the creepy atmosphere, while making the text readable and compelling.
I don't think this piece would work by many other writers. What turns a fairly simple, one-note piece into something greater is the strength of the writing, particularly the voice of the narrator.
Babel was ahead of its time in 1997, but this work still stands out a decade later.
The prose is crisp and the characters feel authentic and real. The storyline is riddled with tropes and genre conventions--it begins with amnesia--feels compelling and real. Puzzle design aids the writing; puzzles feel believable and natural in the world the author has created.
Most importantly for horror, the horror feels real, too; I had a sense of danger to the protagonist, and a desire to lead him as safely out as I could. The storyline unfolds in a satisfying way, with twists that are never obvious but are predictable for a careful or imaginative reader.
This is a fairly long work that makes extensive use of backstory, but I played it in one setting, unable to stop reading along. With its fair puzzle design, well-written characters, and compelling story, it's a good example of modern IF design, and a highly accessible classic work for people new to Interactive Fiction.
This work tells the story of expectation and romantic disappointment, as an over-eager and insecure young woman tries to reinvent herself and connect with a woman she finds admirable and impressive.
Nearly every interaction along the way is violent. The protagonist seeks to be a cowgirl and has practiced with a gun, and uses it to advance her story. What at first seems to impress soon disgusts, however, and the violence is turned inward as the rejection becomes complete.
It's a perfect metaphor for the self-loathing and shame that can follow rejection, and the writing and voice feel authentic and real.
Visually the piece is as lovely as the content is depressing. A pixel-aesthetic of burnt orange, reds, and yellows signifies the western theme, and as the majority of actions involve 'shooting' the link text with a gun sight mouse cursor, they are accompanied by a bang noise.
This is a complete short work which left me wanting more from the author and the story. The ending can be read, most literally, as a violent and story-ending moment, or as a metaphor for self-loathing. I'd like to see more exploration of the violence, which I think is lost in the abrupt and sudden twist at the end. I wonder if this would be a better piece if we could make more choices about the violence we dole out, and if the game would sad less or more about this if we had more complicity in it? As it is, the violence is usually required to continue, which robs some of the emotional impact--our only meaningful choice is if we read or not.
The opening feels like a farce, with an appropriate level of slapstick and humor-filled writing, before the early twist that brings this into a darker, more macabre mood.
Groover experiments with navigation frequently, and in this work, the area of play is established as a two-tiered festival ground organized in circles. On either tier, the player heads 'in' to the center, where most of the action occurs, or 'out', to the transit spot between the two tiers.
Mechanics are simple and satisfying, divided into two sets of actions. First the player must explore; second, they must perform the magic trick. Puzzles are fairly constructed and should be easy to solve, aided by well-written prose.
This is a compact, atmospheric piece which I highly recommend. It may be my favorite of Groover's work, which I hold to a high standard as it is some of the best new work appearing.
This linear mystery story uses an inventive puzzle design for a link-based game, taking the form of a multiple choice quiz after most sections. Puzzle design is tough but fair, and provides a great example of modern interactive fiction design: as hard as some of the puzzles may be to solve, the game never ends when you can't get the right answer.
The writing is competent but oddly disjointed from it's inspiration, the work of Arthur Conan Doyle. The Sherlock references didn't quite the mark, partially because the voice and prose didn't feel appropriately Doyle-esque, but also because the protagonist is clearly not Sherlock Holmes but owes him a debt. The protagonist is more of a blank slate. I think the piece may have been better if the protagonist was either Sherlock or a recognizable character in their own right, but I think this would be a challenge for a short work of interactive fiction. I hope that the character expands and develops over the next pieces and comes into its own.
The mystery itself was satisfying and well-plotted, a clear homage to classic Doyle mysteries with a seemingly minor case revealing a much larger one.
While failing a puzzle never ends the game, it does deduct from your final score, a combination of deduction points and action points. The former is the best aspect of this work: thorough investigation will make it fairly easy to get the highest score possible in deduction, but I was unsure of the action phases, which were used less and felt less thought-out. I'm not sure that the best choice from the perspective of the author in each of these sequences was well broadcast, and these were largely a matter of guesswork for me, but I may have missed clues and hints.
I am looking forward to future works by this author, and really enjoyed the creative way they incorporated puzzles into a hypertext piece.


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Collecting 101
Collector Shows
Collector Stories
Fraud Issues
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What Sells Best?
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Vintage Card Sets
Hobby News
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Antique Trader
Numismatic News
Military Trader
Dahlgren's career torpedoed by rumor of marijuana use
Imagine that somebody started a rumor that essentially destroyed your reputation and good standing among your friends and co-workers. The whispers develop a life of their own, and the scurrilous charge is so damning and embarrassing that it first disrupts your career before ultimately putting it to a premature end.
Ben Sobieck
People, sometimes even friends, treat you differently, maybe even coldly or with a passive aggression that seems like a shunning. With nearly everyone you come in contact with, from longtime friend to casual acquaintance, you find yourself wondering, "Does he know?" And you want to ask, desperately, but, of course, you can't directly confront friend or foe, because no one will tell you what the "rumor" is.
That's what Babe Dahlgren found himself faced with when he first heard of the rumor that he was a marijuana user. It was 1943, and he may have already suspected something was wrong without being able to put his finger on it. Despite boasting what may have been the best glove in the league and a solid bat that would produce back-to-back RBI totals of 89 and 73 for the 1939-40 Yankees, he had already begun a nomadic stage in his career that saw him play for eight teams in seven years.
The rumor – or, more precisely, the embarrassment and bewilderment that would plague his effort to clear his name and get his good reputation back – would haunt him for more than a half century, literally to his deathbed in 1996.
We live in a time when the notions of things like privacy, reputation and protecting "your good name" seem quaint and maybe even outdated. The Internet age makes it seem so, but, of course, one's good name and reputation are as vital in 2008 as they were, let's say, 65 years ago.
While we shake our heads in collective disillusionment over the revelations about steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) that were fashioned in the recently released Mitchell Report, its publication coincides with the arrival of a new book that, ironically, brings up all those important questions from another day and age.
In a new, self-published book, Rumor In Town: A Grandson's Promise to Right a Wrong," Matt Dahlgren has undertaken the Sisyphean task of clearing his grandfather's good name, now more than 11 years after his passing at age 84.
For casual baseball fans, Dahlgren may be remembered as the player who replaced Lou Gehrig at first base in April 1939, when the "Iron Horse" took himself out of the eighth game of the season as the toll of the disease that would kill him two years later became too pronounced to keep him in the lineup.
Memorabilia collectors may recall that Dahlgren was once the owner of the last glove that Gehrig used before sitting down on that historic day in 1939 after 2,130 consecutive games played. The grandson, Matt, says the glove was sold to Barry Halper in 1980, for, he thinks, a couple of thousand dollars. It would be the top-selling item nearly two decades later at the Sotheby's sale of the Halper Collection in New York City, bringing an unprecedented $387,500.
In a kinder, gentler world, that would be how Dahlgren might be remembered exclusively, for that exquisite, untouchable link to one of the most beloved players in the history of the game. Instead, Dahlgren feared, even up to the day he died on Sept. 4, 1996, that "the rumor" would overwhelm all the rest of it.
"He turned down old-timer's game invitations," Matt said in a phone interview. "Babe wondered if friends knew, and he was embarrassed about things.
"Babe didn't get the end of life that he should have had," his grandson continued. "He clammed up and stayed away." For many years, he would send letters to baseball commissioners, pleading for help in clearing his name. The first to hear his plea was Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who, according to the book, intoned something to the effect that castration would be an appropriate punishment for the culprit behind the rumor, but ultimately Landis did nothing as far as anyone can tell to address the situation directly.
The image of Dahlgren abjectly pleading for compassion from Landis sounds like a cruel parody of the infamous entreaties from Buck Weaver to the former judge to have Weaver's lifetime ban because of his role in the Black Sox scandal reconsidered, except for one thing: the question of guilt or innocence. Imagine what it would be like trying to convince stranger or friend alike that you didn't do something. It bespeaks a maddening level of frustration that must have frequently flirted with despair.
Fay Vincent, who became MLB commissioner following the death of A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989, is a fan of the book, and according to Hall-of-Fame sportswriter Murray Chass in the New York Times, he would likely have presented a sympathetic ear.
"It's too bad; I wish I had been involved," Vincent is quoted in the Times article from late 2007. "I would have tried to fix it."
Vincent went on to say that people had railroaded Dahlgren for illegitimate reasons. "It's a sad story. He was accused of being on drugs when I doubt very much that he was."
Vincent, perhaps once seemingly overlooked as a caretaker commissioner following the death of Giamatti shortly after the decision in the Pete Rose gambling investigation, now seems something like a former president who finds historians being kinder to him with each passing year. "It's not one of baseball's prettiest stories, and I regret that it didn't get fixed before he died," was Vincent's final comment in the Times article.
Knowing the exact date that a poisonous rumor might have started is about as tough as figuring out when you might have first developed some horrible disease: you might have a feeling when things started to go bad, but you almost certainly couldn't nail it down to a specific moment.
For Dahlgren, the first he heard of the rumor was during contract negotiations in February 1943 with a legendary baseball figure, Branch Rickey. "Do you smoke marijuana," Rickey asked a stunned and bewildered Dahlgren.
The Mahatma, as Rickey was known, had a reputation for pulling elaborate ruses and charades (which sounds a lot nicer than saying lies and dirty tricks) on unsuspecting players in contract talks, so Dahlgren – admittedly outraged – initially thought it was a negotiating maneuver. He stormed out of the room, but not before he flung a pack of Old Gold Cigarettes in Rickey's direction. "Have those analyzed," he snarled at the GM.
Unceremoniously traded to the Phillies (it was his sixth team in five years, all since his two standout seasons for McCarthy with the Yankees in 1939-40), Dahlgren quickly realized that the rumor was out and taking on a life of its own.
His appeal to Landis included submitting to drug tests, at MLB's expense, which was unheard of at the time. It was all to no avail.
Pieced together by his grandson in the book, the most likely theory holds that the "rumor" may have been launched as retaliation from an insecure Joe McCarthy, who chafed about Associated Press reports in the offseason of early 1940 that Dahlgren had received batting tips from Lefty O'Doul.
The legendary Pacific Coast League slugger and the major leaguer with the highest career batting average without being installed in the Hall of Fame (not counting Joe Jackson), O'Doul reportedly clashed with McCarthy and had allegedly made disparaging comments in West Coast baseball circles about the Yankees skipper's tutorial abilities.
This then lies at the heart of the book's contention that the marijuana use allegation was trotted out after McCarthy's initial charge, that Dahlgren's arms were too short for a first baseman, seemed to quickly run out of gas with befuddled reporters.
"It bothered him for years," grandson Matt recounted in trying convey his grandfather's almost epic frustration. "I have letters he sent to Kuhn, Ubberoth and even commissioners before that. He was pleading with these guys for help."
Matt has stacks of letters that his grandfather sent to a host of people in baseball's hierarchy. "For a man of character, how do you explain about something like this to friends and family," he asked rhetorically.
Having been "burned" by a conspiracy of whispers, Dahlgren faced a metaphorical one-two punch when a 1980 fire destroyed his home and all of his memorabilia, including all of the aforementioned correspondence, plus reels of 8mm film that he had made on hitting instruction.
Matt tries to illuminate his grandfather's frustration. "He wanted his name cleared. He tried to think, 'Who dislikes me enough to do this?' "
The realization that it was McCarthy who had started the rumor didn't come to Dahlgren for many years. According to his grandson, Dahlgren had always figured that Rickey had heard it from somebody else. As the former ballplayer agonized over the fate of his good name, he ultimately concluded it had been Marse Joe. In the final years of his career, he would encounter bits of evidence that would point to McCarthy, but Matt would find even more ironclad corroboration nearly 10 years after his grandfather's passing.
In the process of consulting with Marty Appel, arguably the preeminent Yankees historian, Matt was stunned as Appel told him about a conversation he had with New York Times sportswriter John Drebinger in 1973, with the topic being how close the Yankees had come to winning an astounding eight consecutive American League pennants.
According to Appel, the Hall-of-Fame sportswriter told him about McCarthy talking to a small group of baseball insiders at the end of the 1940 season. McCarthy noted that the Yankees would have won the pennant in 1940 had it not been for an error that Dahlgren made in a late-season game against Cleveland. "Dahlgren doesn't screw up that play if he wasn't a marijuana smoker."
Matt was struck most by the realization that he hadn't solicited any of that information from Appel, it had been offered on its own.
I guess that's part of what makes rumors such a devastating bludgeon. Truth may be the first casualty of war, but in these kinds of scenarios it can almost appear to be irrelevant. The anguish felt by Dahlgren for so many years, the sense of having had something so precious taken from him perhaps for any number of nefarious and shabby reasons, is almost unimaginable.
Vindication, had it come in time to actually make a difference during his playing career, or even in the decades that followed it, still winds up being rather impotent in the face of the carnage from the rumor.
Still, you can't help but admire the grandson for trying ... and keeping his word to his grandfather.
At the risk of sounding corny, it was the honorable thing to do.
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August 3, 2022 Science
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Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale
Together: 1995 - 2016
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Gwen Stefani is an American singer and actress who has been married to rockstar Gavin Rossdale since 2002. Stefani was part of the rock group No Doubt until she released her first solo album in 2004, and her third single "Hollaback Girl" became the first song in the world to sell one million digital copies. Stefani is a three-time Grammy Award winner. Husband Gavin Rossdale is the lead singer for rock band Bush and earned a spot on "Hit Parader's" list of the "Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists". Stefani and Rossdale met while her band went on tour opening for Bush in 1995. They were married in 2002 in London, then again two weeks later in a second ceremony in Los Angeles. The couple went through a rough patch when a paternity test showed Rossdale fathered a baby, who was fifteen at the time of the discovery. In late 2005, Stefani announced she was pregnant with the couple's first child, Kingston James McGregor, who was born in Los Angeles in 2006. She gave birth to their second son, Zuma Nesta Rock, in 2008, and welcomed their third child, Apollo Bowie Flynn, in early 2014. They live in London and Los Angeles. In 2015, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale announced that they are divorcing after 20 years together and nearly 13 years of marriage.
Gwen Stefani net worth: Gwen Stefani is an American popstar and fashion designer who has a net worth of $150 million. Gwen Stefani first rose to fame in the...
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Posted in Gaming, Steam Challenge
Steam Challenge: Armello
-Welcome to this series where I resolve to play my Steam games backlog! Here are my discoveries!-
Game: Armello
Time Played: 1.9 hours
I'm continuing the Steam series with yet another game that I Kickstarted last year: Armello.
This game was released as early access in January, and the developers have been tweaking and adding lots of new content ever since. I waited a bit until the dust cleared to play this game and form my opinion.
Now, before I start my review, I'm going to borrow a semi-quote from Sir Mixalot.
Beckaaaay! Look…
It's so…
Everything art-wise from the intro, the board, the characters, the cards… it's a jaw-droppingly beautiful game. The art alone was inspiring enough for me to back it last year. Huge props to the art team on this.
Armello describes itself as:
Armello is a grim fairy-tale board game come to life. Full of swashbuckling adventure combining deep, tactical card play, rich tabletop strategy and RPG elements.
I'd say that's pretty accurate.
Armello is a digital board game that combines moving over a gridded map, drawing and playing cards, RPG character stats and equipment, and rolling dice for battle and skill checks. So it's a pretty huge conglomeration of a lot of different gaming elements all rolled into one.
You can play Armello solo, against three computer AI opponents, or choose to play mulitiplayer (I'm assuming on Steam). I don't know how the multiplayer works since I've only played solo so far. But for competitive enthusiasts, it's probably more fun to play against real folks than the AI.
Choosing your character
Armello is a world of animal creatures, ruled by a king who is slowly dying to the infection of the rot. This is, indeed a "grim fairy-tale" in that it was kinda hard for me to sit there and watch the king's life ticking away each match. I don't know exactly what the rot is, but it's pretty nasty, and even players can become infected.
You play one of four animal heroes within the kingdom, sent by your clan to claim the throne in whatever way necessary. Each hero has their own stats that provide strengths and weaknesses. For example, Thane the wolf is a warrior with a lot of Fight (5 points) and decent Health (4 points), which makes him a natural at battle. His Wits (3) and Spirit (3), are much lower, which hinders his spell casting and the max number of cards he starts with each day.
Each character is a little different, with their own special abilities, which changes things up when you play with each.
You can win the game with one of four victory conditions:
Prestige victory – You earn the most prestige in the game. When the king finally dies to the rot, you win the throne. Easiest condition to earn, and only one I've seen so far, though I haven't won yet.
Spirit Stone victory – You gather four spirit stones that randomly spawn at night, or can be earned in quests. Take them to the palace and cure the king of his rot, while banishing him and earning the throne. Sounds pretty mean.
Kill the King victory – You break into the palace, overcome the palace perils (which isn't easy to do), and kill the king. Sounds pretty mean, too.
Rot victory – You purposely become infected with rot, build up more rot than the king, break into the palace and kill him while rotted to take the throne. Doesn't sound like the kingdom is in any better hands with you on the throne, though. XD
As you can see, there's no kind outcome for the poor king in all this.
My Impressions
I'm not much of a board game player, though I do tend to find them fun. I'm also not strong at playing games with heavy focus on strategy and numbers. So I just wanted to put that out there before my review.
I swear Thane is OP. He beat me in both games I played.
I felt this game looks and runs extremely well for an early access release. I didn't run into any bugs or issues while playing, and was really impressed by the overall presentation and feel of the game.
However, for me, there was a lot of complexity to the game that I had to struggle to get my mind around as a brand new player. There wasn't a tutorial mode, but tutorial screens did pop up from time to time on my first play-through, trying to help me get a grip on all the cards, dice, stats, perils, equipment, card burning, etc that goes on in this game. The game does have an extensive help section, but this requires you to pause the game, go to help and read wiki-like entries to find the information, which isn't very intuitive if all you want to do is jump in and learn the game by playing.
This game has a lot of moving parts, which is a good thing for replay value and for those who enjoy the challenge. Add to it randomly generated maps and more randomness in the cards you draw, the quests you get, the dice you roll, and the daily rule drawn by the prestige leader every morning, and you'd be hard pressed to play the same game twice.
By the end of the first game, which overwhelmed me a bit, I had a basic idea of what to do. I still felt like I was missing a lot of information, though, so I turned to playthrough videos to help me out. This one was very helpful in taking me step by step through what stats meant, what the interface was about and how to play the basic game.
Armed with more information, I played a second round. I wasn't as overwhelmed the second time, but I still found myself struggling to beat Thane, who I swear is OP. Even with an awesome cloak that added a permanent 3 prestige, he still trounced enemies one after another on the map and solidly beat everyone else. Maybe I should play him next time, though I really like Mercurio, being a rat-lover. 🙂
Armello is a good, solid digital board game with a lot of neat elements that combine into unique gameplay. Each round took me about an hour to complete solo, so be ready to spend about that amount of time for each playthrough. It's not a huge amount of time, but not something you can pick up and put down, unless you're playing solo (there is a saving option for solo play).
It looks and feels fantastic, and I've certainly not played anything like it before. All the different elements, while really cool, may be a bit overwhelming for a new player who is not a board gamer. There is a learning curve for those folks, so be sure to check out a video (like above) to ensure this kind of gameplay is something that appeals to you. Especially with the current $25 price tag on Steam.
My personal verdict is that I might pick up this game from time to time for a quick solo play, I don't think I'm going to put hours into it… because I'd rather be spending my time playing a different genre. That's just me. However, I'm proud to have supported this game in Kickstarter and I'm happy that it is being made a reality, because those who love board gaming will probably find a lot to love in Armello.
I'm not sure what the devs can add to this game to make it non-early-access, but I'm looking forward to following the development as it continues to grow.
Yes – If you enjoy board/card/dice gaming. Be sure to check out a playthrough video if you're uncertain, however.
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6 thoughts on "Steam Challenge: Armello"
I did Kickstart this, too. Being, ah, something of a board-gamer, I picked up the mechanics pretty quickly (or rather, recognized them), and I won my second game as Mercurio using a sneaky come-from-behind Prestige victory.
Of course, that was a while ago. I'm sure they've added a lot of things since then. I know the patch notes have been pretty copious. 😀 I'll be interested to see how this ends up, but I must admit I'll probably do the same thing with it as you–play it every once in a while. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing I'd play several times in a row.
Tharevoc says:
I remember not backing this because they only wanted my money through a credit card. I'm definitely interested in it, though.
One concern I do have, which is general for computer board games, is that I might rather have it as an actual board game.
I agree that it's probably not a game to play one after another. One hour is rather short for a strategy game, though it's a prefectly sensible time for a board game.
Dahakha says:
Oooh, another shiny! Thanks for alerting me to this absolutely beautiful game – I can definitely see why you'd back it based on the art alone!
You're quite welcome! I do totally recommend it if you can pick it up on a discount of some sort in the future. It's still pretty new, but I'm sure one day it'll be on a Steam sale. 🙂
Lucek says:
Gah, another game I want to play now. v.v My backlog is going to grow because of you Wren ;P Not that I'm complaining XD
Thanks for alerting me to this, I will probably pick it up if I get the chance. ^^
j3w3l says:
I played this a bit ago and wasn't really impressed unfortunately. The visuals are stunning but I found once I got the hang of it it was a little too easy and the gameplay very formulaic. You kind of follow the same path near every time. I finished it with all the characters multiple times except, the bear person.
It was a little unbalanced too with certain characters, especially thane but I felt that's because the game rewards combat, and certain win states like prestige and king killing a little too much. It's a huge set back plus you get to steal certain items, prestige so it puts you far ahead.
After several goes I just got rather bored with it and there isn't enough differentiation in play to make me want to play again.


I know that designers are always trying to be innovative and cutting edge…but I just can't jump on the boat with the sideways heel. I've seen this before with Marc Jacobs and I am pretty sure it didn't really catch on. This heel looks awkward. It's not even attractive to look at. I'd say that being creative with shoes for the masses has limitations… boundaries that one has to stick to in order to make it appealing to everyone. This pump should stick to the couture runways.


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Please keep your receipt. The original receipt should accompany all returns. If name and phone number are provided by the customer at the time of purchase, purchase records may be looked up on the Countryside point of sale system. golden midget watermelon days - This compact-growing melon is a good choice for smaller gardens. The tough green rinds turn golden-orange when the inch melons mature. The watermelon is an annual that has a prostrate or climbing habit. Stems are up to 3 m long and new growth has yellow or brown hairs. Leaves are 60 to mm long and 40 to mm wide.
90 days. [Pre, GA. The thinner rind made it hard to ship, so this was the variety that commercial watermelon growers would save for their own families!] 14 in. x 16 in. melons average 25 lbs. Very sweet pink-red flesh, white seeds. Above-average disease resistance, excellent drought 90 . Belonging to the Citrullus genus (Citrullus lanatus 'Golden Midget'), Golden Midget is a variety of capsadewata.info Midget is a hybrid heirloom variety. Blooms appear in these approximate colours: Burn capsadewata.info appear approximately as a Grade 1 Paint Green colour.. This vine produces small round melons about the size of a large mango. Golden Midget Watermelon - Early Maturing. A beautiful 3 lb miniature watermelon that's widely adapted with very sweet and refreshing rich-red flesh and dark-colored seeds. " oval melons grow on compact vines and only need a small space, great for small or urban gardens.5/5(3).
An outstanding little watermelon, with golden-yellow rind and salmon pink flesh. Pleasantly sweet, about 3 pounds in weight. Bred by Elwyn Meader and Albert Yaeger at UNH in ; a cross between New Hampshire Midget and Pumpkin Rind. 70 days. A very early watermelon, this little beauty has a lot of things going for it. A great choice for people with a short growing season or who just want early watermelons, it produces small, serving sized watermelons that are about 3 pounds each. Always the earliest watermelon in our fields, with eye-catching yellow rind and salmon flesh. Tropical pink flesh is juicy and sweet with a foolproof ripeness indicator: rind turns golden yellow when ready.


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Q: ASP.NET Core Access User.Identity in Controller Constructor I have a scenario where I need to access User.Identity Claims in my Constructor's Controller.
I need this because the Claims have information required for me to spin up a custom DB Context (Connection String)
How can I go about accessing this? I would just inject in the DBContext, but based on the user, they may need to access a different DB.
Is there a better way to think about this?
[Authorize]
public class DefaultController : Controller
{
    public DefaultController()
    {
        // this is NULL
        var authenticatedUser = User.Identity.Name;
    }
}

A: As of version 2.1 of ASP.NET Core, HttpContextAccessor is provided. For this we must follow the following steps:
Configure the service using the standard implementation in the ConfigureServices method of Startup.cs:
services.AddHttpContextAccessor();

Perform the dependency injection of IHttpContextAccessor on the controllers. Use HttpContext property for access to User
[Authorize]
public class DefaultController : Controller
{
    public DefaultController(IHttpContextAccessor contextAccessor)
    {
        // Here HttpContext is not Null :)
        var authenticatedUser = contextAccessor.HttpContext.User.Identity.Name;
    }
}

A:  This code I using to get the calims

 --------

      int user_id = 0;
      int Account_id = 0;
      List<string> roles;

    public TEMP_CON_Controller(DatabaseContext context,IHttpContextAccessor,httpContextAccessor)
    {
      _context = context;
      if (httpContextAccessor.HttpContext.User.Identity.IsAuthenticated)
      {
        var user = httpContextAccessor.HttpContext.User;

        this.user_id = int.Parse(user.Claims.FirstOrDefault(c => c.Type == ClaimTypes.NameIdentifier)?.Value);

        IEnumerable<Claim> claims = user.Claims;

        var accId = claims.Where(x => x.Type == "AccountId").Select(c => c.Value).SingleOrDefault();

        if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(accId))
          this.Account_id = Int32.Parse(accId);

        roles = claims.Where(x => x.Type == ClaimTypes.Role).Select(c => c.Value).ToList();

      }
    }

A: To access User.Identity Claims in .Net core you need to use HttpContext. Here is my below implementation
First register
services.AddSingleton<IActionContextAccessor, ActionContextAccessor>();

And then register in Service or Controller class
private readonly IHttpContextAccessor _httpContextAccessor;

public UserService(
            IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor,
            IUnitOfWork unitOfWork,
            UserManager<User> userManager,
            SignInManager<User> signInManager,
            RoleManager<ApplicationRole> roleManager)
        {
            _httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
            _unitOfWork = unitOfWork;
            _userManager = userManager;
            _signInManager = signInManager;
            _roleManager = roleManager;
            _currentUserGuid = _httpContextAccessor?.HttpContext?.User?.FindFirst(UserClaimsKey.Sub)?.Value;
            _currentUserName = _httpContextAccessor?.HttpContext?.User?.Identity?.Name;
            _currentUserEmail = _currentUserGuid == null ? "" : userManager.FindByIdAsync(_currentUserGuid)?.Result?.Email;
        }

The detail of the implementation can be found here
Please let me know if you have any problem

A: From Rabea AlTaradeh above link:
    Startup.cs
     //services section
     services.AddSingleton<IHttpContextAccessor, HttpContextAccessor>();

[Authorize]
public class HomeController : Controller
{
  #region DI
  private string UserEmail;
  private readonly IHttpContextAccessor _httpContextAccessor;
  public HomeController(IHttpContextAccessor httpContextAccessor)
  {
    _httpContextAccessor = httpContextAccessor;
    UserEmail = _httpContextAccessor.HttpContext.User.Claims
                .FirstOrDefault(c => c.Type == "preferred_username")?.Value;

  }
  #endregion DI
   public IActionResult Index()
   {
      ViewBag.UserEmail = UserEmail;
      return View();
   }
}

A: In Asp.net Core v.2+ you don't have to inject HttpContext or something. Acces User just like this:
public IActionResult GetMe()
{
    return Ok(User.Identity.Name);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


R is for Ronnebeck!: Random Photo Share Time.
This post is kind of random, It's just a few pictures I've taken with my iPhone (which iLove by the way) over the last weekend. My photos kind of get lost on my phone without ever getting the appreciation they deserve. So here we are, a photos of RANDOM.
The first two are photos of the Memory shelf that I put together this weekend - we have a big 5X5 unit in our living room, and each shelf / cubby has a little character. I decided to clean one off and make it my Memory shelf for Grandma Nani and Momma. The Top photo are the things I treasure from my Momma, her Woody Wood Pecker Cup, Her Jiminy Cricket Cup, an Angel that a friend gave to her while in Hospice care, her Whisk, a photo of her when she was little, and one piece of her China set - a Tea cup and Saucer. Behind that elevated on my Oxford annotated bible, is the picture I adore of Nani and I from when I was little, a clown that she had in her apartment / house for as long as I can remember, and the Smurfette glass she let me drink out of, and lastly, a piece of her china a Teacup and Saucer. I love the way this came together, a little corner of love for my two ladies.
This is my "Bout fit" I plan to wear to my friend Megan's home opener in February. Go Carnies!
And lastly, a photo that I'm rather proud of that I took this weekend as I was leaving the Bowling alley from our Relay for Life Kickoff.


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which netted no less than 10 different leopards in 21 sightings!!
There will be blogs highlighting some of the more spectacular sightings coming in the near future but for now, the Leopard ID Project would like to thank the hospitality of Machaba and its staff.
comfortable tents, all with indoor and outdoor showers. elter from the blistering Botswanan sun is provided by a myriad of towering, gnarled trees that prosper in the nutritious soil close to the river and each tent boasts unobstructed views out over the water. Most afternoons and mornings, the sight of hippos basking and huge elephant bulls plodding knee deep through the water as they savoured the lush grasses that thrive on the banks graced us.
What makes Machaba camp even more unique is its policy of eco-tourism and the camp's dedication to using natural resources to facilitate its day to day running. We were fortunate enough that the general manager of the camp, Chris Kruger was at the camp during our stay and he insisted on giving us a personal behind the scenes tour to illustrate the good work that they do. He proudly showed us their solar panel bank that charges battery cells in order to supply the camp with power day and night as well as explaining the processes and planning needed to operate such an establishment deep within Africa's wilderness.
such as their cool room/African fridge. Keeping fresh produce cool in soaring temperatures, that tipped the scales in the low 40's during our trip, is a major hurdle. Using local knowledge passed down through generations, an ingenious design of a coal 'wall', held in place by chicken wire, is doused in water at regular intervals throughout the day and as the breeze blows through, the air is cooled and circulated. Walking into the room, the temperature immediately drops by about 10 degrees – a remarkable feat to achieve such a result without the use of expensive and noisy air conditioning units!
In between game drives, the tranquility of the area can be enjoyed from the cooling pool, also overlooking the river, or from the comfortable and relaxing main lodge area. Herds of parched impala, lechwe and waterbuck were regular visitors to the life giving water's edge and the skies were lit up by the acrobatic antics of yellow billed kites as their calls echoed over the camp. Ever present, ensuring that no drink ever went empty were Chief and Bots, the barmen, whose vitally important role was never once neglected!
We at the Leopard ID Project are incredibly grateful to the whole Machaba team, who more than adequately complimented the amazing game viewing and looked after us as their own. The camp is a true jewel, shining bright in an area of already radiant beauty; a place where one can experience a real piece of wild Africa and yet feel as comfortable and content as if you were in your own home.
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Leopard statuses and happenings by Leopard ID Project team leaders.


Recharge your batteries in the open air Stressed, tired or simply lovers of the countryside? Off to Burgundy! Its lush greenery provides an ideal environment to re-energise. Put together a personalised stay: lazing and taking walks, or a sports programme for the most active, in all seasons.
Moments of calm in the Burgundy nature.
The undulating Burgundy countryside is a real invitation to relaxation.
And if you take advantage of your holidays to "snuggle up"? In Saulieu, the relais Bernard Loiseau Spa welcomes you year-round for a moment of relaxation. You can then have lunch or dinner in the adjoining 3-star Michelin restaurant . In the heart of the Charolais-Brionnais, chef Michel Troisgros' Colline du Colombier cadoles [wine growers' sheds] are a truly peaceful haven.
Nature lovers, drop your bags in Morvan Regional Natural Park. Nearly 100 km of trails await hiking enthusiasts. In Anost, don't miss a stroll along the paths joining Settons Lake, Autun and Bibracte.
In the Nivernais or Côte-d'Or, you can, respectively, walk, go on horseback or bicycle through the Bertranges forest and that of the châtillonnais area. Both forests have a wide variety of flora and fauna.
Complete your knowledge of the Burgundian terroir by a stopover on one of the region's farms with the "Bienvenue à la ferme" [Welcome to the farm] or "Accueil paysan" [Farmer's welcome] label. Farmers will be happy to show you their work, let you taste some of their best products, and if need be, provide you with accommodation.
You can also enjoy the pleasures of dining in one of the region's Logis de France restaurants, which offer tasty gastronomy based on local products. For more simplicity, cafés and country bistros or farm inns open their doors to you and offer authentic and tasty products in a warm atmosphere.
If you are looking for something unusual, let a room in a water tower in the Forterre area. You can also sleep aboard a horse-drawn carriage in Iguerande or reside in the Saint-Firmin houseboat, near Le Creusot. If you prefer more collective types of accommodation, you can pitch your tent or let a cabin in one of the many campsites in the area, unless you opt for a stay in holiday village, such as the VVF in Châtel-Censoir.
Finally, if you want an original option for a green holiday, there is always river tourism, of which Burgundy, with its 1000 km of waterways, is an emblematic region.
For those who cannot imagine a holiday without physical activity, Burgundy lends itself to many sports activities, in all seasons.
A cycling region par excellence, Burgundy is criss-crossed, from north to south, by routes dedicated to cycling. Stop in Vézelay and follow the bike path that takes you on a discovery of the village's heritage: The Basilica of St. Mary Magdalene, winegrower's houses, Renaissance homes, etc.
The water's edge is also suitable for cycling. The banks of theBurgundy canal are specially designed to accommodate bicycles. You can also take the Greenway's marked trails on the Tour of Burgundy by bike, which passes near charming towns, monuments or even the heart of vineyards. You will have the opportunity to cool off at one of the water points and in the swimming areas that you will come across during your ride.
In addition to the circuits dedicated to mountain biking , it is possible to practise many sports in the Morvan Regional Natural Park. Visit the Cure or Chalaux for a session of rafting, kayaking or white water swimming ; visit each of the Morvan's lakes for the full range of water activities (swimming, water sports, fishing, etc.). You can also saddle up to wander around the Morvan Equestrian Centre on the back of a proud horse. Climbing enthusiasts will appreciate the accrobranches [Aerial High Ropes] course in Saint-Père or the climbing one in Lormes.
Finally, the countryside of Burgundy is also festive and there is something for everyone year round: The French music festival in Lormes in July, the Auxois musical festival in August, the Awaranda festival in Iguerande in September, and the history show of the Château de Saint-Fargeau all summer.


Local food takeaways and restaurants delivering in Bradford. The best selection of takeaways in Bradford - order online using the "go to menu" button now. Click on the links below to view menu and order tasty meal online.


The Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 requires named public authorities, including Ayrshire Valuation Joint Board, to submit a Records Management Plan to be agreed by The Keeper of the Records of Scotland.
To assist all named public authorities, The Keeper has developed and published a Model Records Management Plan which we have adopted and forms the basis of our Records Management Plan. Our plan was approved by The Keeper on 19th May 2016, and sets out how Ayrshire Valuation Joint Board manages the many records it currently holds and how it will manage and develop those records in the future.
A self-assessment review mechanism for public authorities, known as a Progress Update Review (PUR), was formally announced in the Keeper's Annual Report published on 12th August 2016.
AVJB has voluntarily taken part in the PUR process which will allow us to recognise the need for good records management practices, comply with our statutory obligation under section 5(1)(a) of the 2011 Act to keep our Records Management Plan (RMP) under review, and it will also allow us to identify where additional efforts are required to enhance and improve our existing RMP.
A copy of the Keepers Final Report on the AVJB Progress Update Review, published on 4th July 2018, can be viewed by clicking on the link below.


View alumni that have participated in Kern Valley High School Gymnastics. If you participated in Gymnastics while at Kern Valley HS, register now and add your name to the list with a message to your old friends.
Looking for Kern Valley alumni who participated in Gymnastics but are not listed? Classmates.com® has hundreds of more Kern Valley alumni listed.
If you participated in Gymnastics while at Kern Valleyhigh School, be the first to add your name.


I wasn't entirely surprised when I woke up suddenly at 4 a.m. one Monday morning with a lengthy to-do list running on a repeat loop through my head.
This particular Monday morning, I woke up to find our neighbourhood blanketed with more than 15 cm of fresh snow. Now, this is certainly not a weather phenomenon here in Ottawa where a forecast for a "snowmaggedon" is what we call a regular Tuesday between November and March, but this was the first major snowfall of the season.
In the early morning hours, our street was a picture-perfect winter wonderland. It was a scene straight out of a movie – all that was missing was a horse-drawn carriage and Bing Crosby singing.
Everything was quiet, save for the sound of someone shovelling somewhere down the street. Everything seemed to slow down and take a more relaxed pace.
I found myself smiling while I sipped my morning coffee and watched the snow to continue to fall. After weeks of rushing around with holiday prep and business planning, I felt a sense of calm come over me while taking in the winter scene outside. It was one of those moments in life that make you stop and truly appreciate the simple and everyday things that we all too often rush by or ignore – a beautiful, snow-covered winter morning.
My midday break that usually ends up involving laundry (thrilling, I know) was replaced with baking cookies while singing along to my Christmas playlist (full of Bing Crosby, of course).
And in true snow day style, the afternoon was capped off by challenging my husband to a snowball fight. I lost.
The best part of my self-approved snow day was that I didn't feel guilty about taking a little time to treat myself. I felt recharged. And I was energetic and productive with the work that I still accomplished that day.
It's the little things in life – like a tranquil snowfall, hot cider, and a Bing Crosby playlist – that can make a world of a difference.
Sometimes we're just too busy – or think we're too busy – to allow ourselves the indulgence. But every now and then, it's okay to slow down and take a snow day.


In the world of programming, they say that once you learn one coding language, you pretty much know them all. It's a little more nuanced than that, but the sentiment is more accurate than you think. The difficulties of programming - especially with regards to games - are not the actual coding, but learning the paradigm of how a game works and how to use those language to organize and translate your though into reality.
Here are a few useful tutorials.
His tutorials focus on 2D game programming using the SDL graphics library. Aaron's site has a whole section on sample arcade games that he's created using SDL. He has full tutorials for creating a Tetris clone, a Pong clone, and a Breakout clone.
Tuts+ is just a great resource in general when it comes to learning new computer skills, and game development is one of the things they teach. Tuts+ has hundreds of game development articles that touch on topics from starting a new project, to planning and organization, to actual implementation of the code, to game balance, to actually finishing up a game before moving onto your next project.
GameDev.Net is an online community of game developers from around the world. It's been around for almost 15 years. At GameDev, you will find lots of articales aimed at beginners, but the best way to benefit is to visit their forums. There are dozens of different sections that cover topics like "from scratch" development, beginners questions, finding helpers and other coders, the business and legal side of game development, and even workshops for honing your skills with various languages and engines.


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text:
Q: How to perform double buffering with atomic pointers? Atomic newbie here. My code currently looks like this (simplified):
std::atomic<Object*> object;

void thread_a()
{
  object.load()->doSomething(); // (1)
}

void thread_b()
{
    Object* oldObject = object.load();
    Object* newObject = new Object();
    // Update new object accordingly...

    while (!object.compare_exchange_weak(oldObject, newObject));

    delete oldObject;
}

In words, my idea is to let thread_b atomically swap the shared object (double-buffering), while thread_a performs some work on it. My question: can I safely assume that the shared object will be "protected" against data races while thread_a calls doSomething() on it, as done in (1)?

A: The fetching of the pointer with load() will be atomic, but the call to doSomething() itself will not be atomic.
That means the pointers could be swapped after load() is called but before doSomething() is called (which means doSomething() is called on the wrong and now deleted object).
Perhaps a mutex could be a better choice here?

A: I do this quite often, but... with shared pointers, and it's lock-free!
There's a problem with your design, as Some Programmer Dude suggested in his answer. But if you do this with shared_ptr, and your program logic allows it, you'll be fine.
The reason why this works with shared_ptr is that your object will not be deleted by force, as long as it lives somewhere else. So, this is how you do it:
std::shared_ptr<Object> object;

void thread_a()
{
  std::atomic_load(&object)->doSomething(); // (1)
}

void thread_b()
{
    std::shared_ptr<Object> oldObject = std::atomic_load(&object);
    std::shared_ptr<Object> newObject = std::make_shared<Object>();
    // Update new object accordingly...

    while (!std::atomic_compare_exchange_weak(object, oldObject, newObject));
}

EDIT: This atomic_load is specialized for the shared_ptr. This seems to have caused confusion in the comments: https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/memory/shared_ptr/atomic


text:
Taxman ponders Xero offer to cut transformation costs
As an auditor general's report lifts the potential cost of Inland Revenue's transformation to NZ$1.9 billion, Xero says it will build open tax filing interfaces for free.
Written by Rob O'Neill, Contributor
Rob O'Neill Contributor
Rob O'Neill is a writer for CBS Interactive based in Auckland, New Zealand covering business and enterprise technology for ZDNet. <p>He has previously worked for IDG, The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's The Age as well as various business titles, most recently editing the Business Sunday section of New Zealand's weekly national newspaper, Sunday Star-Times.
on April 30, 2015 | Topic: Government
Cloud accounting software developer Xero is offering the New Zealand Department of Inland Revenue (IRD) a way to save NZ$50 million or NZ$100 million on its 10-year transformation costs.
CEO Rod Drury said the company has already built prototype public interfaces for filing GST returns, and is prepared to build payroll and income tax interfaces for free.
Rod Drury
Yesterday, an auditor-general's report put the potential cost of the IRD's project at between NZ$1.3 billion and NZ$1.9 billion, opening the door to costs well above the IRD's estimated maximum of NZ$1.5 billion.
Drury, a vocal critic of the IRD's transformation plans when they were first announced, said his company has been talking to the IRD constantly about technology. However, in the last two years, that collaboration has become very close.
"Some of the front-end work IRD has to do the private sector has to do anyway," he said.
Drury said he is encouraging the IRD to think of itself as a wholesaler, and allow the private sector to build the public forms.
At the Xerocon conference in Auckland on Friday, he said he is also encouraging the IRD to adopt platform as a service (PaaS) as the architecture for its transformation. Since AWS and Microsoft have invested in datacentre capacity in Australia, he said, that falls under New Zealand's Closer Economic Relations treaty and offers a potential path to a modern architecture.
He said a PaaS strategy would offer another series of opportunities to cut project costs and lower risks.
The auditor-general's report said the IRD's program has been operating for about four years, and has an anticipated further eight to 10 years to go.
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"It involves significant public spending (estimated to be between NZ$1.3 billion and NZ$1.9 billion, dependent on decisions to be made by ministers and by Cabinet), with NZ$83 million spent as at the end of November 2014," it said.
"We have found that Inland Revenue's governance of the program has provided clear direction, and supported clear and effective decisions. However, Inland Revenue needs to watch and carefully manage specific risks to effective governance. Inland Revenue is aware of these risks."
Drury said that Xero isn't just engaging with the IRD, but with organisations such as Statistics NZ and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) as well.
He has talked about a new "financial web" linking small and large businesses and government.
"It's quite a big change from the way people think about small business software," he said.
On Friday, Xero's New Zealand boss Victoria Crone announced new partners to its Business Connect ecosystem in addition to Z Energy and BizRewards, which went live last year. PlaceMakers and NZI are now going live, and Meridian Energy, Watercare Services, and Office Max will be integrated by the end of the year.
Xero Business Connect integration automates invoice processing and the transfer of documentation and information.
Cloud | CXO | Security | Innovation | Smart Cities
Join Discussion for: Taxman ponders Xero offer to cut transformation...


The Minister for Housing, Disability and Ageing recently requested that Disability Services Commissioner (DSC) expand our oversight of Category 1 Incident Reports to include all forms of client assault, injury and poor quality of care. This agreement took effect from 1 July 2016.
The purpose of the Ministerial referral is to further strengthen the safeguards for people with a disability through DSC providing an independent review of individual incidents and the extent to which responses to incidents address and promote the wellbeing, safety and rights of the clients involved. The referral also provides for DSC to make recommendations about and monitor systemic improvements in incident review processes.
It is important to note that in undertaking this role, DSC is able to enact the powers of s. 122 of the Act in order to compel attendance or call for evidence and documents in order to carry out its responsibilities in this role.
This independent oversight of incident reports represents an important opportunity to identify practice and service improvements, both on an organisational and a sector level, to better safeguard the rights of people with a disability.
For more information about DSC oversight of incident reports, please click here.


What I'm actually doing – hitting the Seventh Sanctum site and other random generators, generating names for taverns, pirate ships and magical artifacts.
Actually, there are some really cool generators on there that have turned out some great things I've modified to fit some of my plots and characters. It's so easy to lose time randomly generating names and things, and also great fun. Try it for yourself – but only when you have time to procrastinate.
I went one whole step better today in my procrastination, and made my own manual random generator. I printed out a whole bunch of different character traits on paper, cut them out, folded them up and put them in a shoe box. The idea is that I come up with a character name (probably from an online generator or randomly picking a page in my baby name book), and then pick three traits for my new character and go from there. I have a couple of wild cards in the box called "Specials". If I get that trait, I get to pick from the Special Traits box, which includes such things as has super powers, has an addiction, is famous, is pregnant, is dead among others. I'll add to it as I come up with more interesting things with which to terrorise my unsuspecting characters with.
Clementine, student, 16 – decisive, sullen, (special) engaged – teenagers, huh?
Can't say I'd find a use for any of these characters in my novels as yet, but you never know. Enough procrastinating for one day. I'm off to randomly generate a Ninja for the YA novel I'm working on. Then maybe a pub for my underage characters to get busted in.


text:
Fraser Island, Australia
Photo: Sensenmann (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
So you think all islands are the same? You picture white-sand beaches, palm trees, and bougainvillea. They're lined with sprawling resorts, sun loungers, and turquoise water. While sunburned tourists float in infinity pools and zip around on jet skis. Not so fast. First, that doesn't sound too bad—minus the sunburns, of course. But, second, it's not true. There's an Australian island famous for so much more.
Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and the only place on Earth where a rainforest grows in the sand. The 75-mile-long island lies off the southern coast of Queensland. It's home to a sand highway, more than 100 freshwater lakes, and wild dogs called dingoes. It's part of Great Sandy National Park and is included on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. While four-wheel-drive vehicles are the easiest way to explore the island.
You arrived on the island yesterday afternoon after renting your own vehicle in Hervey Bay and riding the ferry from River Heads to Kingfisher Bay on the western coast. From there, it was a short drive along a sandy road to the Kingfisher Bay Resort. Most visitors camp on the island, but with dingoes, venomous eastern brown snakes, and god knows what else, you wanted to sleep between four walls. You followed the Balarrgan Circuit along Dundonga Creek to the White Cliffs Lookout, sampled Australian specialities (emu spring rolls, smoked kangaroo carpaccio, and a calamari-and-crocodile salad) at Seabelle Restaurant, and watched nocturnal creatures (flying foxes and ringtail possums) emerge from the rainforest after the sun set. Then you retired to your secure room for the rest of the evening.
Photo: Tourism and Events Queensland
Despite those sturdy walls, an orchestra of birds and frogs wake you up early this morning. You push open the glass doors, stand on the timber deck, and stare out at the water. The daytrippers have yet to arrive, so it's still peaceful and quiet. You decide to head to the lakes first. Lake McKenzie looks like the ocean with crystal blue water and pure-white sand. Lake Wabby, a green lake at the edge of Hammerstone Sandblow, is filled with catfish and turtles. While Lake Boomanjin is the largest perched lake in the world.
Drive north along Seventy-Five Mile Beach. That's right, drive. This sandy highway runs the length of the beach. But it's also a runway, so keep an eye out for small airplanes with the right of way. Pass the rusty Maheno, a steam ship that wrecked on the east coast during a 1935 cyclone en route to Japan. Stop at the Pinnacles and the Cathedrals, the reddish sand cliffs. Hike Indian Head for gorgeous views over the island and sharks swimming in the water below. Then play in the Champagne Pools, natural jacuzzis named after the bubbles that break over the volcanic rocks.
You've seen lakes and pools, cliffs and wrecks, dingoes and sharks during your time on Fraser Island. You've gone driving, hiking, and swimming. You ate some interesting, if not entirely mouthwatering, new food. There were no jet skis, and few people spent the day around the pool. Plus, no one seemed to be the least bit sunburned. All islands are certainly not the same.
Posted in Australia, OceaniaTagged FraserCoast, FraserIsland, GreatSandyNationalPark, QueenslandBy npreseault2 Comments
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