Ghana At 58: Anything To Celebrate?
Tomorrow, March 6, 2015, marks the 58th anniversary of our country. As Ghana gears up to celebrate this historic day of nation building, many other nations are in turmoil and on the verge of breaking up as we plod along in unity.
But since Ghana became the first African country south of the Sahara to break the yokes of colonial rule in Africa on March 6, 1957, can we truthfully say all is well with the nation Ghana and that Ghanaians, Africans on the continent and in the diaspora, as well as friends of Africans must celebrate Ghana's day of nationhood and the pace-setting role it played in liberating Africa from the shackles of colonial rule.
Undoubtedly, Ghana has made some modest gains. It is a lower middle- income economy; but it is regrettable that these gains, if not managed well, will be eroded. We seem to view national issues with political lenses, hence enable to provide objective contributions far development, which has resulted in blame game. After 58 years of independence, we still have difficulty with our financial discipline as the country has signed a bail-out agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Some political analyst haw described Ghana as a country that is enmeshed in deficit, which is causing a lot of socio-economic hardships to the citizens with the possibility of the economy being bleak, as small and medium erne-prises are collapsing.
She explained that it was to prove that as a nation, "we are not working for our colonial masters but we are working for ourselves." This was also to inculcate in the Ghanaian a spirit of nationalism and self-determination.
Nkrumah, she pointed out, also believed that in working for ourselves, we should be independent and demonstrate to the whole world that "the Blackman is capable".
Additionally, we were to work towards a continental union as Nkrumah declared during independence that "Ghana's independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent".
This, Ms Samia Nkrumah explained, was aimed at consolidating the gains of independence — economic and political freedom.
She said these were the underpinnings of our missions, aims and objectives of the birth of Ghana and asked where our success had been if after 58 years we were still pleading for aid and had the concept of donor dependence.
In her view, Ghana is not at the commanding height of its economy as it is struggling to be in control of her resources.
Based on these, she added, it was for every Ghanaian to determine the answer of how far we, as a nation, had come and the government must also evaluate its success based on the achievement of those objectives.
But the National Organiser of the National Democratic Congress, Mr Kofi Adams, opines that there is light at the end of the tunnel and the future is bright for Ghana.
He said the country would wish to haw done better at SR. but we must applaud ourselves for the strides we had made so far compared with those of other nations.
In the struggle for independence, Mr Adams pointed out that "we all stood shoulder high and there is no better time to do same than now".
He said at 5, Ghanaians must never allow ethnic or tribal differences to divide them.
"As a ruling party, the NDC accepts there are challenges but we will overcome them. The most important thing to do is to support the President achieve his programmes. Some of these ultimately programmes will come with pain but ultimately 'the patient' will get far better and there will be a lot to celebrate," he stated.
He wished all Ghanaians a happy 58th anniversary.
Congratulating Ghanaians, the National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Paul Afoko, said 58 years in the life of a country was no mean achievement, but pointed out that things did not look well for us at birth.
Economically, he said, our efforts were in the doldrums and regrettably, we were moving towards bigger division and polarisation.
He said it was time to unite as a people in diversity with common destiny pursuing a common dream and vision.
"It is time to talk about the Ghanaian dream and vision;" he pointed out, and asked, "What is our dream as a nation at 58? We have no time to waste," he said.
He said at age 58, Ghanaians should bear in mind that the competition was out there in the global arena.
The fixing of these problems, he advised, must be hinged on addressing the bad management, governance issues and corruption.
The National Chairman of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) also pointed out that if Ghana were a human being, he or she would be nearing retirement at 60 years.
"The question we need to answer is 'what have we, as a nation, achieved at 58 years?'," he said and added that as we looked at what was happening at 58, "the state of Ghana is not in any good shape".
We still have not solved our energy problems. Proportionately, we are educating less of our citizenry today as compared to the percentage in the 1956, 1957 and 1958. We have housing deficit where we have able-bodied Ghanaians living in kiosks. We also have many men and women looking for jobs, whilst on health issues, we are still urinating and defecating on corners of streets and in free range areas. This is not good for creating a healthy environment.
"It is about time we addressed the housing deficit for the people to live a decent life," he stated.
In his view, Ghana is where we are because of incompetent and corrupt leadership. "We, as electorate, must endeavour to elect incorruptible leasers to govern affairs of the country.
"That is why the PPP is still insisting on institutional changes in our governance structure.
"we reiterate our call for separation of the Attorney-General's office from that of the Ministry of Justice to have an independent prosecutor that would be hold to deal with issues of corruption," Nii Brew Hammond said.
According to the PPP chairman, the current nebulous arrangement of picking majority of ministers of state from Parliament also undermined the ability of Parliament also undermined the ability of Parliament to be an effective check on the Executive.
He said the citizens' inability to elect their own chief executive at the district, municipal and metropolitan levels also served to drag local development under the weight of a central government burdened by corruption.


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Latina Lista: News from the Latinx perspective > Columns & Features > BlogBeat > Poll: Latinos Link Education to 'American Dream'
Poll: Latinos Link Education to 'American Dream'
Feb 3, 2014, 12:00 AM
inBlogBeat, zNew Headline
By Katherine Leal Unmuth
Latino Ed Beat
The American Dream narrative is a storyline so deeply embedded in American popular culture that as writers, we use it often in our storytelling.
Most journalists who seek to write narrative stories have used this dream concept before. I framed a story about a young man, Luis Duarte, from El Salvador who went on to attend Harvard University, around this theme. He struggled with the decision to attend Harvard because he worked while in high school to help financially support his family and he was afraid to leave them behind.
At first, I was reluctant to use any sort of American Dream theme in telling his story — it just seemed so cliche. I had once criticized another reporter for using it because it seemed too simplistic. But in the end I couldn't avoid it — since the concept resonated so deeply with Luis himself. For his senior international baccalaureate project, he wrote an essay in Spanish comparing Don Quixote's adventures to the pursuit of the American dream by immigrants.
"The American dream is the ability to move upward in the world as long as you work hard to get there," he told me. "It's that ability to move forward. There are a lot of places in the world where people work hard and they can't move up."
The story also resonated with readers – the year it was published in The Dallas Morning News, it set a record for the most online clicks on one story that year. Hispanic students sent messages to Luis on Facebook, and wrote about how the story impacted them. I could no longer minimize what the American Dream meant to young people and immigrants in general.
So a recent poll by The Washington Post and the University of Virginia's Miller Center caught my eye. The survey found that Hispanics are more likely than whites and blacks to believe in the American Dream. They also frequently cite education as the means by which to achieve their dreams.
Hispanics responded strongly to the question, "Do you think being able to get a college education has meaning for the American dream?" About 64 percent of Hispanics said they agreed very much, compared with 50 percent of whites and 48 percent of African Americans.
Additionally, 70 percent of Hispanics polled viewed education or hard work as key to climbing the ladder.
The post profiled a Bolivian immigrant family. Jorge Garcia paints houses for a living, and his daughters became the first in the country to graduate from college after moving to the United States at ages 11 and. 12, respectively.
"I am an American citizen, both my daughters are professionals and their future is ahead of them," he said. "What more could I ask of life?"
While I love the dream narrative, I would caution against using it too universally. Hispanics still lag other groups in college degree attainment and they lag in income. But these challenges don't mean you can't tell a success story once in a whole.
American Dream, education, Latinos
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Buy this product to earn 17 Points for future purchases.


May 22, 2018, 7:34 a.m.
During his presentation on the theme "Enabling Content on the African Continent", Chief Executive Officer of research firm, Xalam Analytics, Guy Zibi analyzed the African digital journey, highlighting dramatic changes that have altered the dynamics of the digital transformation of the continent.
According to him, the international capacity challenge has been solved, with most coastal countries exhibiting an oversupply of subsea cables serving the continent. However, he noted that the reach of such capacity was still limited due to limitations in the availability of terrestrial open-access fibre which remains extremely low in most markets especially Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Tanzania among others. These limitations have translated into retail connectivity prices as a proportion of income being 2X more expensive in Africa compared to Latin America and the Caribbean and 3X when compared to Asia.


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Q: DB support for optimistic concurrency I have a classic scenario: two updates to the same record that are based on a previously ready value from this record.
I am working under the assumption of optimistic concurrency. It is not hard for me to implement the conditional update by myself- the question is whether I can rely on a certain API from the driver or the DB that will handle it for me?
Naturally, I Googled it, but all I seem to come up with are explanations of WHAT is optimistic concurrency, without mentioning code samples...
I am using JDBC data direct driver.
Thanks!

A: No, JDBC doesn't have any support for optimistic concurrency. Optimistic concurrency is handled by JPA by using a dedicated version column to the table, and incrementing the version value each time an update is made. The update query looks like this:
update foo set ..., version = version + 1
where id = :theId and version = :theVersionLoadedInMemory

If executeUpdate() returns 0 instead of 1, it means that someone else deleted the record, or updated it and thus incremented the version.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Top 5 Best Dividend Stocks To Buy Now [2019 ASX Research] | MF & Co.
Today, we'll look at some of the best dividend paying stocks on the ASX in 2019.
Not only are most of these stocks high yield, but they have also been growing their dividends year on year.
In fact, we use high dividend yield stocks such as these along with options income strategies to generate lots of income for our clients.
If you are looking for Australian dividend stocks that have a strong and predictable dividend yield and prefer dividend investing, the best place to look is for companies that are mature and dominant in their field.
With the market correction towards the end of 2018, a lot of stocks which were trading at a lower dividend yield due to strong a stock price.
However, since then these stocks are yielding much higher than before. Even after the rally at the start of the year.
If you are looking to buy Australian dividend stocks for the long-term and looking for strong stable dividend yield, these are some of the best dividend stocks to buy now on the ASX for 2019.
Please note that all the dividend yields are quoted grossed up. This means it includes the franking credits and will also be higher or lower depending on the share price on the day.
The hardest part when it comes to dividend investing is to uncover shares that have the strongest most predictable revenue lines and are market leaders in their field.
Without a doubt, some of these best dividend-paying stocks will be familiar names to you and form the bedrock of many Australian stock portfolios.
Our Research team has been hard at work finding the best dividend stocks to buy now in Australia for dividend investing.
I've outlined 5 stocks that we feel represent some of the best dividend stocks in the Australian market.
Pioneer Credit Limited (ASX PNC) is a financial services provider, specialising in acquiring and servicing retail debt portfolios.
Overall, ASX PNC shares have the potential to surge after three years of strong performance if they continue to grow at the rate they are now.
Leading in corporate governance practices, high EPS growth and outperformance relative to the industry, we expect ASX PNC shares to have a bright future ahead.
PNC pays a strong dividend yield of 9.35% which grew 50% last year and has the potential for not just dividend growth, but capital gains too.
This makes Pioneer Credit one of the best dividend shares as their dividend yield grows with their business.
Read more about Pioneer Credit here.
CSR is an Australian listed company that manufactures and sells building products, aluminium, and house design solutions.
CSR has seen a strong year on year EPS growth with a lower PE ratio than its peers. CSR has a built their business towards sustainability which is in line with new homeowner demand and a good stock to be in for dividend investing.
CSR is currently paying about 11.27% in dividend yield and has a one-year dividend growth of 13.15% and is a great Australian dividend stock.
Medibank Private (ASX MPL) is an Australian-based private health insurance provider. Medibank is in the business of underwriting and distribution of private health insurance policies through the Medibank and ahm brands.
Since this is such a stable industry, Medibank can be considered one of the most stable dividend shares with predictable revenue.
Medibank shares have had a good dividend history and recently increased its interim dividend by 4.8% to 5.5cents.
We consider Medibank to be a reliable blue-chip stock for dividend investing with a strong dividend yield of about 7%.
Read more about Medibank here.
AGL (ASX AGL) is an Australian energy juggernaut that has seen the rise of electricity costs line the electricity provider's pockets.
AGL has outperformed its peers financially and with a lower PE and with higher prices on the horizon. We expect strong profits to continue and will be great for dividend investing.
AGL is paying a massive dividend yield of 13.86% in the past year and one year dividend growth was 115.98%. This can be attributed to the strong performance in the past year from the company.
Read more about AGL here.
Wesfarmers is one of the largest companies in Australia and owns the very successful Bunnings brand.
Wesfarmers has run into some trouble recently with a failed Bunnings UK business and a resurgent Woolworths (ASX WOW) which has put pressure on their supermarket business.
However, they have now cut the Bunnings UK business and just divested their mature Coles business.
This means there is a lot of flexibility ahead for Wesfarmers to perform even better.
Wesfarmers currently pays about 13.55% in dividend yield. Dividend growth was previously 12.63% and after the spin-off of Coles, is now 43.50%.
We can expect dividends to grow even stronger from here on out and this stock is considered to be one of the best dividend shares.
Read more about Wesfarmers here.
Picking the best dividend stocks to buy now for dividend investing, timing the entry and having an edge in the market is not easy.
Download our special report below for another 5 best shares to buy now which comes with an options strategy that we use for our clients.
This strategy can generate additional income over your existing dividend or growth shares without buying or selling the actual shares.


If you find refuge in a book, there is no other place you would rather be in right now. Whether you're a devotee of Agatha Christie's murder mysteries, Paulo Coelho's invaluable lessons on life or Murakami's surrealistic work, our collection of best selling fiction books will leave you spoiled for choice. Not only limited to fiction, discover game changing non-fiction books ranging from self-help to the most inspirational autobiographies and children's books that your kids will find hard to put down. In case you're waiting for new releases, you can pre-order a book on our page to assure yourself a copy! Check out the latest book on pre-order - Everything is F*cked : A Book About Hope by Mark Manson.Check out our World Book Day deals today to discover best prices on international best-sellers.
As Neil Gaiman said, "A book is a dream that you hold in your hand". Imagine, if you could escape into your dreams, visit mythical places and travel back and forth in time. Experience the thrill of letting your imagination go wild. Books have that kind of power. They teleport you to places you might not otherwise get to see in your lifetime.
Many people take up book reading in different ways. Come to think of it, you can classify book readers into a few categories: the hopelessly devoted reader, the all-the-timer/compulsive/voracious/anything-goes reader and the occasional reader. The first two groups are those who cannot live without books. Wherever they go, whatever they do, they need a book with them. They even read between work, or while they eat, just because they can't put the book down. You get the picture, right? And then, there is the last group of readers, who only pick up books when they have free time to spare. They are not as addicted to reading as the first two categories of readers.
Comics: Whoever thinks that comics are only for kids, has never been more wrong. From Superman and Spiderman to Wonder Woman and Black Widow, comics bring to you a world of superheroes that can inspire you to become a better human being. You can add Marvel: Superhero Legends, The Avengers - Battle Against Loki and Marvel Adventures Spider-Man to this category. Also, let us not forget the wise world of Calvin and Hobbes comics or the adventurous tales in Tintin comics.
Short Stories: If you do not have the patience to sit through long novels, and want your tales to be short and sweet, then short stories are for you. Books, such as The New Collected Short Stories by Jeffrey Archer, Interpreter of Maladies: Stories of Bengal, Boston and Beyond by Jhumpa Lahiri, Love Among the Bookshelves by Ruskin Bond and Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman, fall into the category of short stories.
Novels: Whether you are a diehard fan of the Harry Potter series, or you love to delve into the thrilling world of The Millennium Trilogy, novels keep you on the edge of your seat with action-packed tales of adventures. They are often long, and are best for readers who devour books like popcorn. Since we are talking about novels, let us not forget the novellas. These books are shorter than novels but the tales are longer than short stories.
Nonfiction Books: From how-to and technical books to text and reference books, you can find a host of nonfiction titles online. Apart from them, you can also find spiritual, motivational and religious books online. If you are taking a competitive exam, you can seek guidance from entrance exam preparatory books.
Biographies and Autobiographies: These books tread a fine line between fiction and nonfiction. They are usually filled with factual events from a person's life, but can also feature hearsay on certain occasions. Books like Wings of Fire: An Autobiography by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, My Story by Kamala Das, My Experiments With Truth by Mahatma Gandhi are some of the well-known autobiographies. Captain Cool: The M. S. Dhoni Story by Gulu Ezekiel and Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson are a few popular biographies that you can consider reading.
If you are someone who loves reading, then online shopping can be a boon for you. With so many titles available from various publishing houses, these sites offer great discounts coupons online on your favourite books. Find Best selling books online and if you were planning to build a library of your own, this is the right time to do so.
Our World Book Day deals will leave you spoilt for choice. Take a look now!


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Q: trying to build gcc-4.7.2 on CentOS 6, rpath is not find my shared library The following compilation command line fails with the included "no such file" error:
/tmp/test/gcc-4.7.2-build_dir/./gcc/xgcc
    -B/tmp/test/gcc-4.7.2-build_dir/./gcc/
    -B/tmp/test/4.7.2/x86_64-redhat-linux/bin/
    -B/tmp/test/4.7.2/x86_64-redhat-linux/lib/
    --with-cloog-lib=/usr/intel/pkgs/gcc/4.7.2/lib64
    -Wl,-rpath=/tmp/test/4.7.2/lib
    -B/tmp/test/4.7.2/lib
    -isystem /tmp/test/4.7.2/x86_64-redhat-linux/include
    -isystem /tmp/test/4.7.2/x86_64-redhat-linux/sys-include
    -c -g -O2  conftest.c

/tmp/test/gcc-4.7.2-build_dir/./gcc/cc1: error while loading shared libraries: libcloog-ppl.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

How do I include the runtime library path during the build for gcc-4.7.2


Had many naked boys under my bed. Boyfriends spent the night and she never knew.
I didn't go on my official senior trip. My crew went to the ATL when our class went to FL and we had more fun.
Actually had a night job cleaning buildings with my uncle for a few months. I would sneak out when they were sleep.


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Baseball Great Hank Aaron Dies at 86
January 25, 2021 / by Wellnessprop.com / in Health and fitness
Jan. 22, 2021 — Henry "Hank" Aaron, whose dramatic chase of the Major League home run record in 1974 made him a baseball legend, died Friday at his home in Atlanta.
The Atlanta Braves, his former team, announced Aaron's death at age 86. He died in his sleep, The Associated Press reported, and no cause of death was immediately released.
Aaron, born in Mobile, AL, during Jim Crow, was last seen in public on Jan. 5, when he and former U.N. Ambassador and civil rights leader Andrew Young and former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan received COVID-19 vaccinations together in Atlanta.
Aaron's greatness came not just on the baseball field, where he set records for career home runs, runs-batted-in, extra-base hits, and total bases. He also became a symbol of dignity and grace as he battled fierce racism in his pursuit of Babe Ruth's record of 714 career home runs.
As he neared Ruth's mark, Aaron faced death threats from white people who objected to a Black man holding such a revered record. But Aaron never showed anger, or fear. He just kept hitting home runs.
Aaron's professional career began in 1951 when she signed as a 17-year-old with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues. He was later offered roster spots by both the New York Giants and the then-Boston Braves. While the Giants offer was for a higher-rated league, Aaron signed with the Braves and the extra $50 a month the team offered.
The Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966.
"Honestly, I was scared coming to a high-profile city like Atlanta," Aaron told WSB-TV/Channel 2 in an earlier interview. "Knowing that Dr. King was here, Andy Young and some of the other great civil rights leaders that made their home here, and I'm coming from Milwaukee where there was no activity at all. … It makes you start thinking about what it is, what can you do, what role you can play. And makes you feel like you kind of shortchanged everybody really, you didn't do your job."
Aaron was aware Atlanta was becoming the center of the civil rights movement but was unsure of his place in it.
"To be honest with you, I felt a little ashamed of myself, because I was so far back in the sticks, in the woods, that I didn't know what was going on. It kind of made me start thinking, realizing that, regardless of what I achieved in life, no matter whether it's baseball, football, basketball, life, lawyers, whatever it may be, that I still had a role to play," he said.
Later, after his career as a player ended in 1976, Aaron became an executive with the Braves and a community icon. While never chasing the spotlight, he nonetheless attracted it. President Bill Clinton praised Aaron's work on race relations as paving the way for Barack Obama's election as president in 2008.
While his career record of 755 home runs fell in 2007, many continue to consider Aaron the true Home Run King as Barry Bonds, who passed Aaron's mark, is widely believed to have used performance-enhancing drugs.
WebMD Health News
The Associated Press: "Hank Aaron, civil rights leaders get vaccinated in Georgia," "Hank Aaron, baseball's one-time home run king, dies at 86."
WSBTV.com: "Braves legend Hank Aaron dies at age 86, daughter says."
Mark Found Inspiration Close to Home


Beginning in 1996 with California's Proposition 215, the opportunity for patients to grow their own medical marijuana became a reality in America. Nowadays, the act of growing cannabis at home has become a hobby amongst many enthusiasts. However, even a veteran gardener may not be prepared for the unique challenges that growing cannabis at home might present. Plus, with so much information out there, it can be easy to get bogged down. However, this guide should give you the proper basics you need to start growing your very own plants.
The first thing to consider when deciding to grow cannabis is, of course, the legality of it. As this is written, only nine states, plus D.C., have legalized recreational marijuana. Before starting your new hobby, we first suggest you thoroughly research the legality of doing so in whatever state you may reside.
Now that you're sure that you're allowed to grow cannabis, it is time to decide where to set up your operation. Since you're just starting out, it's not a bad idea to start small with the potential to expand. You may want to start out with only two or three plants. They will be easier to monitor and, as a newcomer, any mistakes you make will be less costly. Luckily, there are likely many places around your house where you can set up. You can choose a closet, a corner of your basement or garage, a tent, cabinet, or a spare room. Just keep in mind that you will have to cater the area to fit your plants, lights, and other equipment. It's also important to remember that marijuana plants can double or even triple in size during their early stages of flowering so an area with plenty of headspace is necessary.
Besides space, there are a few other things to consider. For example, you're going to want to find a dry, cool place to start. It must be clean with limited to no light. These characteristics will give you full control over the environment, giving your plants a more consistent climate. And, of course, since you're going to be checking on your plants consistently, you'll want to ensure they are in a convenient spot.
When it comes to equipment, the quality of light will be your number one environmental factor for growing healthy plants. Your best option is likely HID (high intensity discharge) lights, which have become the industry standard due to their output, efficiency, and value. They may cost more than fluorescent fixtures, but can produce far more light. Alternatively, they may not be as efficient as LED lights, but they are often a fraction of the cost. HIDs use two different types of lamps: Metal halide (MH) for vegetative growth and high pressure sodium (HPS) for the flowering stage. If you can't afford both, it's best to start with HPS since they deliver more light per watt. In addition to the lights, you'll also need a ballast (to help regulate the current) and a hood/reflector for each lamp. Magnetic ballasts are cheaper, but generally run hotter and less efficiently. Alternatively, digital ballasts are generally better, but are more expensive. Finally, unless you're growing in a large, open area, you'll need air-cooled reflector hoods in which to mount your lamps in as HID bulbs produce a lot of heat.
The final light accessory you'll need is a reliable timer. Generally, you will have your lights on for 16-20 hours a day while the plants are in vegetative growth, then only 12 hours a day when they are to bloom. Since the lights need to turn on and off at the same times every day, a timer is essential.
Other than lights, you'll also need to create a steady stream of airflow. This can easily be achieved by means of an exhaust fan placed near the top of the room. Ideally, you want your temperature to range from 70 to 85 degrees fahrenheit when lights are on and between 58 and 70 degrees fahrenheit when they are off. We advise that you set up your lights, turn them on for awhile, and then decide how much airflow you'll need to maintain comfortable temperatures for your plants.
Now you have all the equipment you need and can finally get to planting your cannabis. There are two mediums you can use for growing your plants: soil or hydroponics. Soil, naturally, is the most traditional option for growing. It's also the most forgiving, making it a good option for first-timers. Any high-quality potting soil (without artificial extended release fertilizer) will work. However, the best option is organic pre-fertilized soil – often referred to as "super soil" – which will allow you to grow cannabis plants from start to finish without any added nutrients.
On the other hand, a rising trend in indoor growing is hydroponics. This method requires the use of concentrated solutions of mineral salt nutrients that are absorbed directly by the roots through osmosis. Due to the direct absorption, hydroponics also requires higher precision as plants are quicker to react to over- or underfeeding. Commercial soilless mixes are widely available, but it might be easier for novices to stick with standard soil.
Finally, you have your plants potted, your lights set up, and your fans ready. If you aren't using pre-fertilized soil, you'll have to feed your plants at least once a week. For a healthy plant, you'll require macronutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) and micronutrients (Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Copper). These nutrients are sold in either liquid or powder form and are meant to be mixed with water. It'll be best to start at half-strength when feeding as it is easier to overfeed than underfeed a cannabis plant.
The most important thing to remember during the early phases is to not overwater. Cannabis plants are very susceptible to "root rot," or fungal root diseases, when conditions are too wet. How often you water your plants will depend on size and ambient temperatures. Remember that this is a learning process, which is why it's important to start small. As you grow, you'll learn how to best read your plants to know when they are thirsty or hungry. At the end of the day, like any gardening activity, growing cannabis takes diligence, but will be worth the wait when all of that patience pays off.


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Home > Company Industry Overviews > Symantec Corp
Why Symantec's Buyout Was Expected after Silver Lake's Investment
Silver Lake's strategy to generate returns
Earlier in the series, we looked at Symantec's (SYMC) acquisition of Blue Coat Systems. We also saw the huge gains Bain Capital will make from the sale. In early 2016, Silver Lake made a $500 million investment in Symantec. With the Blue Coat acquisition, Silver Lake has doubled its investment in Symantec.
According to the New York Times, Symantec's acquisition of Blue Coat was expected since it's in line with Silver Lake's working methods. In the past, Silver Lake, a private equity firm, took a stake in Avago (AVGO), a chip manufacturer. It then boosted the company's fundamentals through a range of acquisitions and finally acquired Broadcom in 2015 for $37 billion. It was the largest technology acquisition at that time. In early 2016, we pointed out that Symantec would likely join the acquisition spree.
Apart from Symantec, Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Fortinet (FTNT), and FireEye (FEYE) are some of the other notable players in the cybersecurity space.
Silver Lake's reputation in the technology space is likely to help Symantec's position
According to Ken Hao, managing partner of Silver Lake and a member of the Symantec board, "Silver Lake has had a history of trying to invest in and catalyze leaders in important categories in technology." He added, "Symantec will become the most valuable, profitable and deepest, widest leader in cybersecurity."
Daniel Ives, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets, said that because of Silver Lake's investments and expertise, it has credibility in the tech (technology) space, which will be helpful to Symantec in the current scenario.
Investors who want to gain exposure to Symantec can consider investing in the PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ). QQQ has an exposure of ~27% to application software. It invests ~0.3% of its holdings in Symantec.
In the next part, we'll see why the software space is still in an M&A (merger and acquisition) frenzy in 2016.


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text:
European Defence Agency global defence&nbsptrends
The European Defence Agency recently released its latest Defence Data report for 2018, which detailed spending by the 27 member states.
The report states total defence expenditure stands at €223 billion, which represents a 3% increase on 2017 and marks the fifth straight year of increased defence spending.
Overall defence spending by the 27 EDA Member States has almost returned to pre-financial crisis levels, €225 billion in 2007 compared to €223.4 billion in 2018.
EDA expenditure
The EDA believe that the increase in defence expenditure, comes from instability from the Ukraine and the destabilization of the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region.
Despite the rise in total defence expenditure, spending on fulfilling collective benchmarks has failed to keep pace. Spending on areas where collective benchmarks have been agreed – Defence Investment; Defence Research and Technology; European Collaborative Defence Equipment Procurement; and European Collaborative Defence R&T – all still remain below 2008 levels.
There has, however, been recognition from member states that significant investment had to be made due to ageing military equipment and a lack of funding in defence research and development (R&D). Following the financial crisis of 2007/2008, investments in defence equipment procurement and R&D were dramatically hit – Between 2007 and 2014, defence investments decreased by 22%, reaching a record-low of €35.8 billion in 2014.
Defence spending is on the rise
Since 2014, defence investment – new equipment and R&D – has been slowly on the rise again, reaching €44.5 billion in 2018, representing 19.9% of Total Defence Expenditure against a collective benchmark of 20%.
The report also revealed that 14 Member States spent 20% or more of their defence budget on investment in 2018, up seven states from 2014's number
Jorge Domecq, EDA's Chief Executive, said: "It is extremely positive that defence budgets have almost fully returned to pre-financial crisis levels, with 2018 marking the fifth consecutive year of increased spending.
"Our report is evidence that Member States have put a renewed impetus into defence spending after suffering heavily in the years following the financial crisis. Nevertheless, EDA's findings do paint a mixed picture in terms of European collaborative defence, with a worrying fall in both equipment procurement and R&T spending in a European context.
"While European collaborative defence R&T still remains significantly below 2008 levels, it is encouraging that the value and number of ad-hoc R&T projects under EDA is increasing."
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NATO defence expenditure
DCI and Defence Online launch UK Infrastructure – Opportunities in Defence report


None of these are familiar places OR familiar faces. They're all grim.
Good job it wasn't delayed like the last one.
Hmm, where he hid his chainsaw. . . Inter-dimensional pocket, in a hue of black? Or maybe it wasn't "not-coloured in" yet.
I loved Madworld. But yeah, the cutscenes were pretty stupid. And "Being badass is expensive" needs to be a t-shirt.
"Hi. My name is Just Jack. You can call me JJ. Now when I reach for a cigarette, I reach for a smooth, full-flavoured Salem cigarette."
SALEM CIGARETTES: WOOH! WOOH! WOOH!
Also the whole thing sounds like an old-fashioned radio play. Close your eyes and listen to it again if you don't believe me.
Not only that, his hands were about twice the size of his head!
God, is the whole game really all black and white (yeye and red)? This must be really annoying.
Not the best episode, but I blame the game. More gritty means less talk and action meaing less to make fun of.
He's voiced by Wolverine, so ...his arm...I guess?!
Dammit, you can't go anywhere without Steve Blum voicing someone can you?
I loved madworld...especially the Pimp cutscenes for bloodbath challenges.
I laughed the hardest on the Darkwing Duck reference.
Holy mother of Elune, that game makes my eyes hurt. I barely made it through the video (that's not Graham and Paul's fault though, funny as ever).
If that was supposed to be the President at that press conference, I kept expecting "Nothing moves the Blob!"
The Blob? I kinda thought that was the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man myself.
I'm pretty sure Spike could take him.
And did anyone else notice that after he punched the guy he shook out and stretched his robotic hand. I'd think one of the reasons to get a robotic hand was that you could punch someone in the face and not have your hand be sore.
Best line of a hilarious video.
I didn't know Darkwing Duck ran a no-holds-barred championship fighting league.
Trust me it was (sure the black and white give it a graphic novel style). With the mono colours it lack sense of depth so there was a few time I got stuck for not "seeing" it properly were I shouldn't have that problem in the first place if it was in colour.
OT- I chuckle with the demon wearing the mayor skin joke.
I got my collective "GYUH!" for this episode so I'm all good.
Two dozen. But who can blame you in the face of a thick Eastern Bloc accent?
And yes, it's a cel-shaded black-and-white experience, with stylized red blood, like something out of Sin City. Love it or hate it, it was woefully underappreciated as a Wii title.
Who doesn't love the Darkwing Duck reference.
Quick, Jack, if you are to survive, you must get dangerous!
Love mad world, but I'll be damned if I'm ever forced to take it seriously. Nice unskippable, guys.
Maybe it's just me, but Steve Blum's voice doesn't seem to fit well with a muscular body.
I do like the vid, though. Another job-well-done, guys.
Funny, I got an Ultimate X-Men mojo vibe myself.
Did he really shake his metal robotic fist as if he hurt the nerves in it?
The Black Baron (stop starin')?
Nope you sure can't. I was playing dragon age origins and I swore he was a random NPC dwarf. That man hustles!
Tip, bring Oghren to Gorim in Denerim. Watch Steve talk to himself. hilarity ensues.
Ha! Love the video description!
This episode was great, per always.


text:
Cold Years Are A Band For Anyone Who's Dreamed Of Something More
With their new album Paradise, Aberdeen's Cold Years are ready to break free from the monotony of small-town Britain
David McLaughlin
It's six o'clock on a Monday morning and Cold Years are freezing their arses off on Aberdeen beach. They're furtively filming the music video for their latest single Life With A View, trying to nail the shot-list before too many people wake up and get in the way. This kind of thing doesn't usually happen here, you see. Round here, on rugged Scotland's north-east coast, they're not like everybody else. Round here, they're the ones who the locals look at with sideways glances and barely contained disdain – for daring to be different, for having ideas above their station, for dreaming of a life that reaches beyond the opportunities that their parents had, and their parents before them.
It's the same scene in small towns and cities-in-name-only the whole world over. This is the kind of place where you get beaten down for trying to build yourself up, or doing something outside of the norm. Even at the crack of dawn.
"Some old bastard was out walking his dogs and he stopped to take the piss," recalls the band's singer and guitarist, Ross Gordon, evidently still stinging about the exchange a few weeks later. "He went, 'Oh look, it's a fucking boyband!' and laughed at us. But what the fuck does he know about life, with his house in the country and two Audis in the driveway? There's no counterculture or appreciation for art in Aberdeen. It's full of fucking dinosaurs here. But why should you accept the limitations of your circumstances forever? You shouldn't. No-one should. You should want to do something with your life."
That's precisely the quest Cold Years currently find themselves on, as they prepare for the imminent, yet long-delayed, release of their debut album, Paradise – 13 rousing tracks of hopeful punk rock righteousness. The quartet – completed by guitarist Finlay Urquhart, bassist Louis Craighead and drummer Fraser Allan – have been bubbling under in the British alternative scene for a number of years now. Filled with promise from the off but denied a full-length launch by one thing or another until now, COVID-19 is just the latest in a litany of setbacks they've grown accustomed to. On the eve of the record's big reveal however, Ross is allowing himself a rare indulgence with optimism, despite the mounting evidence to the contrary that he could choose to focus on. A record that's been ready and sitting on ice for months now carries even greater resonance in a world completely turned upon its head.
"I think it's lyrically even more relevant than ever," the frontman argues. "We got the vinyl delivered last week, so on Saturday night, I opened a bottle of wine and listened to it in full for the first time in months. I sat and closed my eyes and you know what? There's not a single thing on there that I would change, and I usually hate listening to my own music."
Armed with fresh perspectives on the songs – songs etched in deeply personal yet universal experiences, and born from a place you don't have to know to instinctively recognise – Ross realised how Paradise reaches further than he'd previously reckoned. It speaks to a generation whose opportunities have been limited by a series of damaging government regimes, as the yawning divide between the haves and have-nots leaves far too many young people behind. Songs spiritedly soar against a backdrop of pro-Brexit Britain and a society self-medicating unchecked mental health issues with drugs and alcohol. They seethe with anger, but run on a belly full of iron cast belief in the power of positive action. Ross and his mates aren't rock stars trying to change the world. They're just regular guys who play music trying to make sense of it – to fend off frustration and bitterness, to keep their spirits up while doing the best with what they've got.
"Listening back to the album made me realise there were a lot of things wrong in my life at the time I was writing the songs," the frontman reflects. "There were a lot of things I stood for that I shouldn't have, whether that was my work-life balance, bad relationships, poisonous friendships or a small-minded attitude towards what I deserved as a person, and accepting a fate that was shit and not expecting to find a way out.
"But I have found a way out," he adds, buoyantly, "and I look back now and realise I've grown so much as a person. All of us have. It makes you realise how lucky you are to have the things you've got."
But luck doesn't have much to do with the Cold Years story. Theirs is ultimately one of defiance, grit and determination. It's one that should inspire and spark hope in others who can relate to the challenges of their circumstances and struggles. If they can make it work from the relatively remote wilds of Aberdeen, with all of the odds stacked against them balancing day jobs, relationships and real life responsibilities, then anyone can. And that isn't limited to musical pursuits. The irony of being laughed at while filming the Life With A View video is not lost on Ross. It's a song about not caring what others think and chasing your dreams, no matter who stands in your way or says you shouldn't. It's a blazing carpe diem call to 'fight the good fight, drink the good booze' and squeeze every drop of joy you can out of life. That's a resolution that can only come from a place where that kind of optimism once seemed far out of reach. But no more.
"I've sorted a lot of the problems I had out," Ross now states proudly. "I dropped all of the negativity I was carrying around with me. I cut all that shit out of my life. I'm done writing songs about being miserable. Now there's a light at the end of the tunnel and I have a much more positive outlook on life. We're all in a really good place at the minute."
Even if that place, physically, is still Aberdeen? Well, for the time being…
"I don't want to live here for much longer, it's grating on me now," Ross admits, weighing up his love-hate relationship with the place he was born. "Your hometown is always going to be a part of you and you can never escape that, but I'll go anywhere – anywhere that's not fucking Aberdeen! I've been restless here for so long, it's not a part of me that I associate with anymore."
That spirit, he says, will be reflected in the next batch of songs the band work on, having been busy getting ahead of themselves by writing new stuff during the recent lockdown. That's a different story for another day, though. This one is still developing and while there are a lot of reasons to be downhearted about the state of the world right now, Cold Years are living proof that good things can come out of the most trying of times. Paradise may be about life in a small city in the north-east of Scotland, and the feeling of growing up somewhere and feeling like you don't fit in, but Aberdeen could be your town and Paradise could be your life. In a way, perhaps it already is.
Paradise is released on September 4 via Inside Job/eOne – pre-order your copy now, along with other merch bundles.
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Cold Years
Hear Cold Years' wonderfully uplifting charity cover of Lizzo's Good As Hell
In partnership with the Scottish Association For Mental Health, Cold Years have joined forces with the RR Gospel Choir for an epic cover of Good As Hell by Lizzo.
The 50 greatest albums of 2020
The only countdown that matters: Kerrang!'s 50 greatest albums of 2020.
Now Hear This: Will Gould On The Best New Post-Punk, Alt.Rock And Rock'N'Roll
Creeper and Salem frontman Will Gould brings you the new bands you need to check out now, including Walt Disco, Swears and WACO...
Now Hear This: Sophie K On The Best New Rap-Metal, Canadian Rock'N'Roll Cool And Blue-Collar Scottish Punk
Kerrang! Radio host Sophie K brings you the new bands you need to check out now: from Cold Years to Oxymorrons to OBGMs
Album Review: Cold Years – Paradise
Northern lights Cold Years come of age on spirited debut, Paradise.
Cold Years Announce Debut Album, Paradise
Listen to Cold Years' new single Night Like This, taken from the band's upcoming album Paradise.
Cold Years Get Political In New Single And Video, 62 (My Generation's Falling Apart)
Watch the video for Cold Years' ace new single, 62 (My Generation's Falling Apart).
Cold Years Gear Up For Their New Album With Awesome New Song Breathe
We've got Cold Years' new video for Breathe right here! Stick it in your eyes!


3-D Monster: Walking Dead Casting Updates: New Pic and ZOMBIE SCHOOL!!!
Walking Dead Casting Updates: New Pic and ZOMBIE SCHOOL!!!
OK - I'm guessing that this new zombie photo is the "bicycle zombie" from the first issue when Rick leaves the hospital.
I am soooo jealous of these guys!!! I would kill to be a zombie on this show!!!


The new Educational Health Care (EHC) plans replace the traditional Statement of Education Need (SEN) and all those with a statement will be transferred through an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The issue of EHC plans, September 2014 and will be rolled out in phases over the next 2/3 years.
What is an Education, Health & Care Plan (EHC Plan)?
The Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan is an exciting new way of working that puts you – children, young people and families – at the very centre of the assessment and planning process, to make sure that your views are not only heard but also understood. This is called person centred planning and is all about increasing your choice and control. This new process focuses on what is important for children and young people – what they and you want to achieve now and in the future. Young people and families have helped to design the plan and so far people are saying that they feel more listened to and more involved in decision-making in ways that make sense to them.
Who is an EHC Plan for?
The EHC plan is for children and young people who have special educational needs (SENs) and/or disabilities. Your child's needs will be assessed by education, health and social care professionals to see if you should have a EHC plan.
What age does an EHC Plan cover?
Disabled and SEN children and young adults aged 0-25.
The whole process lasts 20 weeks.
At the start of the assessment, you and your child will have the opportunity to say what's working, what's not working and what you think needs to change. Information from the other people involved will be shared and a meeting arranged for you all to agree the outcomes and how you think they can best be met. At the end of this process, the multi-agency group will meet again to confirm the EHC plan and decide what support you might be eligible for to meet the agreed outcomes. The plan will be clear about how much things cost and will have agreed timescales to make sure that it is updated and reviewed regularly, for example annually. The plan will go with your child or the young person as they change services or change schools.


text:
Northwestern pulls together, gets past pesky Immaculate in Class M
WINSTED - Northwestern needed someone to step up down the stretch Tuesday night in its Class M first-round matchup with Immaculate. Luckily for the Highlanders virtually the entire team answered the call.
Emma Beltrandi scored 16 points and Rasa Hamel added 15, including a pair of clutch free throws with 10 seconds to go to lift the 14th-seeded Highlanders to a 45-42 victory over the No. 19 Mustangs on Tuesday night.
The Highlanders (16-7) move on to face No. 3 Haddam-Killingworth in the second round Friday night while the Mustangs' season ends with a 12-9 record.
"We played together and I thought the kids played within themselves," Northwestern coach Fred Williams said. "If we do that we can be successful."
Coming out of the rugged SWC, Immaculate (12-9) wasn't intimidated and went right at Northwestern. The Mustangs had an early 7-2 lead but the Highlanders battled back and were up 21-20 at the half. The game was tied, 30-30, entering the fourth quarter and that's when Northwestern really pulled together.
"We were nervous at first and we knew they were quick," Hamel said. "We started to pull together at the end. There were a few times when I was thinking that we had to catch up but we pulled it out in the end."
In the end it was a total team effort that made the difference. The Highlanders took the lead for good, 40-38, on a pair of free throws by Beltrandi with 2:37 to go. The Highlanders got the ball back after Liz Newkirk got on the floor to force a jump ball and a free throw by Hamel on the ensuing possession made it 41-38 with two minutes to play.
Newkirk made a pair of baskets in the fourth and made a handul of other key plays on defense while Kathleen Wysocki scored on a layup off a nice give-and-go with Arielle Oemcke to put Northwestern up 43-40 with 46 seconds left.
Danielle Cerrone (14 points) scored on a drive to cut the Highlanders' lead to 43-42 with 32 seconds on the clock and Northwestern ran the clock down to 10 seconds before Hamel, a first-team All-Berkshire League player, was fouled. The senior calmly sank two free throws and Cerrone came down and missed a three and the putback was no good before the horn sounded.
"Rasa was able to do a little bit of everything for us, she really can play all five positions and Emma has been playing her best basketball of the season and really improving her game over the last few weeks, when we really need it," Williams said.
Immaculate 7-13-10-12 - 42
Northwestern 6-15-9-15 - 45
Immaculate (42) - Danielle Cerrone 5 4-5 14; Kathryn Kerins 1 0-0 2; Jena Mazzucco 4 5-6 13; Amanda Loya 1 0-0 2; Jaclyn Daily 4 0-2 8; Taylor Guth 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 9-13 42.
3-pointers: Guth.
Northwestern (45) - Rasa Hamel 6 3-4 15; Kathleen Wysocki 1 1-2 3; Liz Newkirk 3 0-0 6; Emma Beltrandi 6 4-5 16; Arielle Oemcke 2 1-1 5. Totals 18 9-12 45.


Quote course code WS-5 or email us to book your place on this course.
The course will consist of a mixture of classroom based tuition and workshop based practical exercises.
Learners should attend equipped with appropriate PPE including head, foot, eye and ear protection plus gloves and overalls.
Anyone needing the skills and understanding to make electro-fusion joints.


I can picture this elegant scene unfolding; I can visualize those footprints penning that 'soft-footed poem.' Use these summertime experiences to help enhance poetry in your own gardens - the humble beginnings of your own design. Learn something from every creature you encounter in your summertime jaunts. When you go back to your own outdoor space, enhance your habitat. Create organically and make whatever size space that is yours a space that welcomes nature's poetry.
Images of White Heron from the Internet – amazing image!


text:
Georges Laraque says the NHL has a drug problem
By Joe YerdonNov 5, 2011, 2:33 PM EDT
Georges Laraque has been a social crusader since retiring from the NHL and now he's striking a blow against the league in his new book. In his book, Laraque says the league has a serious problem with performance enhancing drugs, in particular he says steroids are prevalent amongst both the talented players and brawlers alike.
Apparently Laraque is aiming to be the Jose Canseco of hockey with such a bombshell of a book.
Laraque's claims are huge and in a league where performance enhancing drugs don't really get much discussion at all, having a former player blowing the whistle like this is something the league should take serious. While hockey players aren't hitting home runs and challenging long-held records like those in baseball, hockey has another issue that could tie into things when it comes to concussions.
If you've got a horde of players out there juiced up and punishing each other on the ice, the possibility that some guys are on steroids makes that issue a bit more curious to ponder. There's no link to steroids and concussions, but there's certainly the added danger of having guys being artificially stronger and faster and hitting each other.
One difference between hockey and baseball, however, is that the NHL was proactive in getting mandatory drug testing put into the CBA in 2005. After all the issues baseball had with drugs, the NHL and NHLPA were wise to make sure they kept up with the times. If Laraque's allegations are at all true, then both sides will need to revisit the issue this summer during CBA talks.
Until there are more players busted on drug tests, however, fans will find it hard to take Laraque at his word about how prevalent drugs are in the league.


Please enjoy listening to this accompanying piece referenced in this article.
Welcome to the third installment of our series on EarthBound and its philosophical ramifications. This is truly the third-strongest episode, in which we'll look at three mighty individuals: Lier X. Agerate, Frank, and the Beak Point trumpet player.
Before we begin, a big thanks this week goes to Pat Ward of AmPatCorp, sole corporate (and so-far-imaginary) sponsor of Bookwarm Games. Pat was one of my co-writers on those Zelda: A Link to the Past-inspired stories I mentioned last time, and ever since then his insights about education and practicing what you preach have been an inspiration. Indeed he's been a main impetus for getting this project realized. He's been a loyal listener since those days we used to ride the bus to school and back, spinning yarns, and he follows the podcast even though he's never actually played EarthBound. He's got his first kid now to think about, though, so who knows, once he's a little older maybe they'll play through some of the old classics together.
Being a teacher in public schools for about a decade and now also online, I've been thinking that video games might someday soon be taught the way books are taught, but I recognize the devil's in the details of the way books are taught. Anyone who's gone to school and had reading ruined for them simply by it being assigned, because that compulsion in itself and the association of reading books with assignments and sitting through boring classes and unpleasant teachers and all the cliché trappings of school-related misery are enough to do it, even if the book in itself might be good or even great. There's been a regrettable attempt to 'engage' kids with books that are supposedly more 'relevant' to their lives, so great books, and the very concept of a great book, are being culled from reading lists, and from our thinking about teaching–but, contrariwise, this could be the very thing that fuels a renaissance in people actually then reading them, you know, because most students won't read what's assigned anyway, but kids do get intrigued by whatever they're told they're not supposed to do. So if they're told reading these books is not good for them, or if reading them is taken as actually good by someone whose values they admire more than they dislike reading, either way, there's hope.
So it's a delicate balance, this art of getting people to read great stuff and think about it, but I have seen it work, both in schools where there's a healthy culture and, by that kind of reverse psychology, in ones where there isn't; and certainly after people get free of school, later on in life their interest in actually learning, not just rebelling or doing desultory work for a grade, can really become reborn. I believe there's an audience of people like this out there, and so I hope these words of encouragement find their way to them in a good hour!
As with reading great books, playing the best games ultimately speaks for itself. And maybe the same ones won't say the same things to everyone, but what schools could be are places for people to share whatever good they have been able to take from books and games, and certainly places to learn the language in which to do this, to begin to see patterns in them, and to benefit from a kind of cultural inheritance free for the taking: the wealth of what people before us and in other places and times have gained.
Picking up the thread from the last couple of weeks, then, with Buzz Buzz's words ringing in your ears and their unexpected echoes in Hamlet in your mind, the Sound Stone in your pocket, or down at the bottom of your yellow backpack, and a taste of Proust's petite madeleine–or whatever you named your favorite food, since that's many letters too long–lingering in your nostrils, on your breath, on your tongue, you set out from home once more, in the daytime now, to find the first Your Sanctuary location, Giant Step, and to explore your hometown, Onett.
First, you may recall that Lier X. Agerate, the strange and slightly creepy guy who lives up the hill, asked for you to visit him so he could show you something. You don't need to go pay that visit–the story will progress just the same whether you do or not–but if you choose to retrace your steps to his door, you'll find him waiting eagerly for you, one of those people one hardly has the heart to let down, hard as it is to take pity on or feel curiosity towards him. For me Lier X. Agerate represents the limits of imaginative sympathy: he's just sort of sad and gross. And yet if you do follow him down the hole he's dug through the floorboards of his house and through the winding tunnel he's excavated into the hill, his face turned eagerly to see if you're following all the way, at the end you'll come to a small chamber lit by the eerie sheen of a golden statue. As he rambles on about his garlic diet and his hopes for further discoveries, you may notice the statue's horns, its sword, the way its eyes seem to follow you, the surreal sparkles emanating from it, which if you inspect with the check command–or the L button, for convenience–are accompanied by a synesthetically twinkly sound effect, seeming to echo in some space larger or otherwise-dimensioned than the little dead-end room. You learn later–after you leave Lier X. down there, climbing back toward the light and fresh air of your adventure and leaving him to his spades and wheelbarrows of dirt and his meretricious promise of a further hoard–that this one treasure will be taken from him, betraying and abandoning him soon enough, so that despondent he'll dig no more for the rest of the game.
Possibly Lier has an analogue in the old man in the cave in Mother–though my Mother lore is rusty, I seem to remember a character who lives deep in a cave–or in the Beatles song "Fool on the Hill." He certainly has a parallel in Carpainter, the cult leader whom we next see in the company of what we'll learn is known as the Mani Mani statue, two weeks or so from now, then later in Monotoli, still some months away, and at last in Ness–or whatever name you've chosen–after you've completed the Sound Stone melody and must confront your shadow, the form of your inner demon which is none other than the golden figure idolized by Lier and his greedy ilk.
But just as tantalizing as that sparkly sound effect or these foreshadowings is the connection between Lier X. Agerate and the creator of EarthBound, Shigesato Itoi, who also made his name in advertising (like Lier, he's a billboard guy. Also like Brickroad, a dungeon designer you meet later in Winters, one of my favorite characters in the game). For this week's commentary, and as we go along, too, I'll begin availing myself of a few secondary sources. The best I know of is Legends of Localization, by a localizer named Clyde Mandelin, who has also been instrumental in the online community surrounding EarthBound on starmen.net, under the handle Tomato, where you'll find an incredible profusion of fan-made materials and resources about the game. In the second book in that series, some amazing material on Itoi is brought to light. Part of the reason I talk about this now is because Itoi's real-world writing is highlighted in the form of the magazine stuffed behind the couch in the house on Beak Point overlooking the sea. When later in the game you're able to afford this property, you go in not only to find that magazine story but also to find that the entire back wall has been missing the whole time. It's a kind of visual pun on breaking the fourth wall.
Often I like to imagine, in a Flatland-esque sort of way, what it would be like to see the other sides of things in the game, to which you only ever have the top-down view. What would it be like to explore the background of that broken wall, to jump down onto the beach? It is something like the way that you get to pass through the hole in the back of the traveling entertainers' shack to access the caves leading to Giant Step. I especially like to imagine what it would be like to go on over the other side of the hill where the meteorite landed. I wrote a story about that once, too, with Picky as the protagonist. As the online community at starmen.net amply attests, many who played the game have felt drawn, in a similar way, to explore it and add onto it imaginatively.
EarthBound is known for its unconventional ideas and creative gameplay mechanics, yet the game wasn't designed by a normal game designer at all!
The Mother series was created by Shigesato Itoi. Itoi has participated in so many different professions throughout his career that it's hard to even begin to describe him. He's primarily known for his famous copywriting work — his catchy slogans and inventive marketing phrases rocketed him to the top of the industry during Japan's "copywriting boom" in the 1990s.
This is just the tip of the iceberg and doesn't even cover all of the awards he's won in different industries. Basically, Shigesato Itoi has the knack for seeing things in interesting new ways, so it's no wonder that his game-related side projects were filled with unique inventiveness, too.
I don't normally give too much credence to contextualizing works by looking at their authors' lives outside the work itself; I think it's a bit ad hominem and not always that productive. But I feel like in that last paragraph Mandelin does a good job answering the most important question: 'OK, so what?' In this case, it is an interesting reflection as we're looking at a few memorable individuals in the game to see the incredible individuality of the guy who is primarily responsible for creating the game.
Now not to go into this too much, because it comes much later in the game, and has to do with the final boss fight against Giygas, but a couple of memories from Itoi's life in particular give us some important perspective on these central themes of family, home, and self.
Shigesato Itoi has stated that the mixture of pain and joy that Giygas speaks about was inspired by a traumatic childhood memory. As a young boy in the 1950s, Itoi visited a movie theater but accidentally went into the wrong screening room. He saw a scene from Kempei to Barabara Shibijin ("The Military Policeman and the Dismembered Beauty"), a mystery film with elements that were considered dark and appalling at the time.
The scene in question involved a woman being murdered while making love to her fiance. The sickening mixture of pain and pleasure greatly disturbed the young Itoi, who ran home and barely spoke a word that night. Itoi wanted players to experience that same feeling during the final battle of Mother 2, so he wrote Giygas' text to include a combination of pain, pleasure, and more.
Gyiyg snaps and loses his mind, as you know. Well, this probably isn't the nicest topic to bring up, but a long time ago I happened to witness a traffic accident. A young woman was lying on the ground, but instead of saying "I can't breathe!" or "Help!", she cried out, "It hurts!" That really disturbed me. I felt that having Gyiyg say this same line would make you reluctant to attack him, even though he's the enemy. He's even calling your name the entire time. As for the line "It's not right", it means "What you're doing isn't right, and what I'm doing isn't right." I have to say, a chill went through me when I was coming up with all of these lines.
A chill goes through me, too, but again it's warmed somewhat with the story, the funny tabloid story in the house by the beach, which connects it all back to motherhood and the drive towards the goal.
Outside the seaside real estate with its easter egg, out there on the point, accessible right from the start of the game, is the second of our triumvirate, the trumpet player. Like any other townsperson, he walks in place, but he always faces west (you know, the opposite of east; east, where the sun rises) unless he turns briefly to face you when you talk to him. Talking to him, like checking the statue did, triggers a sound effect, only this time it is a recognizable melody: the opening of the second movement, Largo, from Dvorak's Ninth Symphony, 'From the New World.' Both names, 'largo' and 'new world,' are actually descriptions. The one tells you how to play the music, and thus read is part of its form: largo meaning slow, literally long, pulling out the notes, or if you like lingering over each one. The melody itself somehow expresses longing, whether it is because Dvorak wrote it in America inspired by the musical ideas he encountered here, Native American songs or African American spirituals (that other venerable secondary source, Wikipedia, and notes I've seen in programs when it's performed will tell these sort of stories)–so either it is the longing of people in America (their spiritual strivings, as W.E.B. DuBois would put it), or it comes out of Dvorak's longing for his own homeland. The musical motif seems to be cognate in many cultural traditions, rooted in the pentatonic scale. Simple and moving as initially stated, it is developed in the full symphony into something very complex, one of the great compositions of any time or place.
I don't have more words to say about it; to describe the music in words seems, again, to represent an imaginative limit, not of sympathy this time but of what I can articulate. But listen to the piece, if you have time, and it will take you on a journey well worth taking. If it is a description of the American land and its peoples, as grasped by this visitor from the old world, we are honored by the depiction; if it is a love letter from Dvorak to his own homeland, we can take credit for the separation which gave rise to it–but most likely it is both at once, and in a more abstract sense it conjures the very idea of homeland, universal, innate, shining through the particulars because of the sort of beings we humans are. It's an interesting choice of melody for the trumpeter to play because of the way that its largo cuts across the allegro, upbeat Onett theme. It reminds us of the underlying similarity of the notes which make up the home and town themes, how it is only the style and tempo or rhythm which are different. Between these songs for your home and hometown and, by the most abstract extension of the same principle, all songs from all places and times, subject to all subjective interpretations, the same notes underlie them all. Everything is in how they are arranged, into what apparent chaos or cosmos they resolve themselves, how the notes are related and how they are played, for that form will become indissoluble from their meaning for us.
I think that's what is meant by the trumpeter calling it 'My haunting melody'. Being only the opening, too, that first part of the largo especially parallels the first your sanctuary melody, which you're ready to pick up soon: it breaks off without resolution, and so haunts in that sense until you reconnect it to the rest of the whole from which it is taken, to its context in the reality of you as the player. And this I take to be part of EarthBound's insistence on calling attention to itself as a game throughout, to remind you to integrate playing it within a much fuller, real life outside of and including the game.
Before you either go on with your quest for the Sound Stone or save the game and turn it off, however, there's one more stop to make here in town, this time in the heart of Onett, not on its outskirts, and this time an encounter with a clear foil for Ness, not a kind of imaginative limit or extreme–except in this respect: that Frank is your first real challenge of the game. It is at those limits that one faces such challenges, which hold out the possibility of significant growth and of failure, too. You can see Frank, with his red suit and his blond mullet and angular shades, strolling around the backyard of the arcade, and some sort of contraption–I used to think it looked like a doghouse, but it turns out to be a tank, a battle-robot, Frankystein Mark II–crouched behind a tree. Of course you can't just jump the fence as you could easily do in real life if you learned how at a young age so as to avoid fiddling with pesky latches on gates, and for the sheer exuberance of it, because you saw an older friend do it once and conceived the determination that you should be able to as well… Instead you have to fight your way through the streets on the block circumscribing the arcade and the (coming soon) Mach Pizza parlor–great location for it!–and it's good for you that you do, for without the experience you gain trouncing his cronies, you would have little hope of overcoming 'Fail-proof Frank'.
Quite possibly, like me you'll even lose against a gang of Sharks or under Frank's brandishing a knife one too many times. But if this happens don't despair, you can return after summoning all your courage and energy to try again–or just reset the game to avoid losing half of any cash you had on you and all your PP (Psychic Points). Losing, as everyone knows, is part of the game, and a good game teaches you how to deal with it: to learn from it, to reset, and then to fix what went wrong or at least to prepare better first the next time, so that if it was just bad luck, you won't be as susceptible to it. Buy a couple more hamburgers or dig them out of the garbage cans, gain another level or two picking off Sharks by ones and twos rather than fighting them en masse–like their real world corollaries, ignorant and faceless yes-men, fierce young rebels on wheels, hip-gyrating youths with or without hula-hoops to cloak their lechery, the Sharks all seek attention by blending in with one another, which suggests they mostly crave belonging, and are harmless when dealt with individually, or in twos and threes, but can overwhelm you in crowds.
Or better yet, to see the contrast, make your way to the treehouse hideout where Ness' friends are playing. Each of them is a distinct personality, though they aren't given names. And needless to say, they don't attack you, not even as Everdred in Burglin Park will do later, in a spirit of roughhousing competition rather than the rudderless aggression of the Sharks–or so he'll claim. Instead, one tells you about a dream he had, about you traveling with a girl, and asks you to tell her hi from him; one gives you his Mr Baseball cap, a sturdy protection for the head, a kingly gift; and one confesses bashfully, bravely, how much he likes you, which, if anything will, should give you renewed heart to take on Frank. A few of the Sharks, too, it must be said, forebear jumping you and show flashes of individuality and differentiation. One is coming to accept his love of fresh veggies, seeing whether he can reconcile this with his super-cool persona or not. One claims Frank is not building a mechanized weapon out back, but meditating on peace and love. One recites a poem–incorporating onomatopoetic saliva–about chewing gum.
When you do reach Frank himself he loses his patience quickly when you are silent in response to his asking your name. Presumably this represents not fear clamming you up but your unwillingness to compromise, even to bandy words with the laissez-faire leader of the town hooligans. It suggests also, for me, another of the great limitations of this game, though, and one brilliantly picked up on by the strongly EarthBound-influenced and surprisingly wildly popular recent work, Undertale: that the story only progresses through RPG-style battles, and the only way to win them is by RPG-style fighting, leveling up, with some very small room for luck or guts or strategy–except in the Giygas fight, unforgettably breaking out of this formula to adumbrate the sort of thing Undertale would develop in a much more thoroughgoing way and integrate into its thematic material, which will certainly merit discussion in its own right.
All I can say in EarthBound's defense is that its violence is highly stylized, only ever taking the form of light- and sound effects based on text commands and numerical calculations of costs, damage, etc. It comes to represent in a fairly straightforward way the struggle in pursuit of your goal; the obstacles that in overcoming them make you more capable to deal with future ones; the accumulation of experience and the gradation of levels; plateau after plateau of further development; measurable improvement; a kind of upward spiral that feeds on itself. The psychic powers which are unlocked seem clearly representative of new knowledge, new understanding, wisdom. You are not only responsible for dealing out damage, of course, you take it, too: your health scrolls down with each blow. Each choice you make to attack leaves you open to being attacked in turn, and you never know when the smaaash will go against you (fairly consistently, as it turns out, when fighting those Rowdy Mouse denizens of Giant Step). You suffer, not physically, of course, but in sympathy with Ness and his friends when they fall. You certainly feel frustration when you're knocked out and have to restart or quit, which is galling.
And it must be said, you suffer a certain amount of tedium, fighting all these battles and leveling up, though EarthBound addresses this in a few novel ways. Not only is there an autofight command so you can zone out during battles, read something else if you want, but, as the friendly mole explains, if you sneak up behind enemies you can surprise them and frequently, if you catch them on their own, you win without a fight. In this respect we get a glimpse of the ideal toward which you strive, another kind of limit: victory, not effortless exactly but in an ultimate sense at times actualized in these glimpses of wu wei, action without action, in the eastern conception, or something like grace in the western. All your sufferings, the stylized violence, is for a purpose. It's not that your might makes you right, but that you must make the sacrifice of doing hurt as well as being hurt so as to get to a place of peace which actually means something. A mixture of pleasure and pain, which maybe is not so pleasant, but that's the rules of the game. One other little detail I always appreciated about EarthBound's approach to violence: enemies are always defeated or tamed; you're not actually killing things.
As was touched on at the end of the last episode, the obsession with violence and strength dramatized in all these games from the 90s, and in most video games and mass media, actually, seems to me to be a response to the violence of the 20th century as much as it is aligned with far older myths of monster-slaying heroes. For a proud country like Japan, having been not only defeated but devastated, exposed to the unimaginable catastrophe of nuclear annihilation, then to put itself back together in close cooperation with the former enemy, the US, with the vast shifts in economy and culture and society that go with such a transformation, the portrayal of these three solitary individuals, and of Eagleland/Onett as a whole, begins to brim with significance.
Lier X. Agerate highlights the loneliness, the temptation to dig inward when all that is there to be found is specious refuge, specious strength, gilded resentment, delusions of grandeur, like Dostoevsky's Underground Man or Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Frank, on the other hand, seems to have the right idea, going to Giant Step, as we're told by one of the townspeople, and trying to meditate on peace and love, but the place doesn't speak to him, as you refuse to speak to him, for he's surrounded himself with flunkies given over to their basest desires, rather than to gather to himself true friends like yours in the treehouse, or those you'll meet on your adventure. He relies on his own strength and, when that fails, on that of his contraption, but only after failure does he begin to see where he went wrong and what he was missing, that which Ness and his friends possess, but none of their foes do: the capacity to grow stronger–apparently limitless potential. To Frank's credit he realizes this, and visiting him thereafter he'll offer the same effect of recovery as visiting home.
The arcade is once more made safe for everyone and not just those who wear the right outfit and project the right persona. The image of people gathered together to play, yet each separate on his or her own arcade game, is so interesting symbolically as to almost but not quite make up for the fact that the games are not actually playable as mini-games. But again, perhaps this should indicate Ness' purity, the kind of strength he is after–not going to waste his time playing video games, is he! We'll look more at the social and political and economic dimensions of Eagleland next time.
The last of our three individuals, the trumpet player on the point overlooking the sea, calls himself the happiest man in the world, yet plays a haunting melody. 'My haunting melody' he calls it, having made it his own the way you make Your Sanctuary your own, and sharing that insight, that inspiration, with the whole town, if only they can hear, as you go out to save the whole world, the earth which lends its power to your own. The westernmost figure in the town, most representative of the conquering western culture, he plays a song from another reality altogether, from our own, hearkening back to another homeland, Dvorak's Bohemia–and yet in facing west, looking over the ocean, he is in fact oriented toward the far east, the homeland of the game developers who are irrevocably permeated with the same globalizing forces which allow us, in our living rooms in the US, to play this work created in Japan.
As if that weren't enough, I'll just note in passing the two allusions made by Giant Step, the footprint of some incredibly powerful yet apparently absent being–he was heading up over the mountain, to judge by his footprint there, to that inaccessible other side. First there's the Giant Steps jazz album of John Coltrane, for music something like what Proust was for literature, and those who've followed in the spaces he opened up–jazz and the blues led to rock 'n roll, another big influence on EarthBound. Second, there's a connection to the astronaut Neil Armstrong's phrase, conflating the small step and the giant leap. Walking on the moon and seeing the whole round earth from a new perspective, that of a traveler who has left it and hopes to return, is like what games and other great works of art do metaphorically, showing everyday things in their true light again when they're too often taken for granted.
We'll return next week to speak about the arcade, the library, the town hall and the police station, these social settings, wrapping up for the moment our discussion of our hometown, and reflecting on the social critique EarthBound shares with the film Ikiru (To Live) by Kurosawa, in turn replete with allusions to classic literature. Until then, take care.
Another great essay and now I'm really enjoying Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 'From the New World'! I don't recall that I've ever listened to it before, and I enjoy "Classical" music a lot, so thanks for expanding my horizons.
I was just thinking, what kid would've got the reference to New World in EarthBound? It convinces me that Itoi was an endearingly self-indulgent and insane genius!
Fantastic! The music in EarthBound is one of my favorite things about the game, and the inclusion of musical samples like this one from Dvorak is one of the things that makes EB's music so cool.
As a kid, I didn't get a lot of the references, but going back later and thinking about them really adds another layer to the game. Again, I can't recommend Clyde Mandelin's work highly enough on this score!


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This week a short interview with Heather Malenshek, VP of global marketing at Harley-Davidson, brought a smile to our face. She explains why Harley-Davidson don't buy into the concept of 'millennials', and why they market to individuals, not generations.
Let's get straight to it!
The messy, confusing future of TV? It's here.
Is the number of streaming services you subscribe to starting to get out of hand? Kevin Roose considers a future in where we have more subscriptions than we know what to do with. We wrote last week about Disney's split from Netflix to start their own branded service and Facebook launching their dedicated content channel. So it seems the industry isn't showing any signs of slowing down.
At Rerun, we're wondering if this fragmentation will result in some companies combining their content, to offer bundled services? This seems unlikely for the near future, as the market is plentiful with cord-cutters willing to part with subscription fees for their favourite shows with advertisers eager to follow them.
As the decline of traditional TV creates a gold rush for ad dollars and consumer attention, every tech and media company seems to be heading to the mine, pickax in hand.
Pay TV numbers rise in Kenya as DTT FTA boxes decline
In Western markets, most cable networks are fighting the change in viewing habits, with more and more users 'cutting the cord' in favour of skinny bundles and subscriptions to likes of Amazon Prime. However in Kenya, an emerging economy, TV trends are completely different; digital-terrestrial pay TV subscriptions are rising while the number of free-to-air channels is declining.
While the population of Kenya has risen, government figures highlight the steady growth in pay tv and broadband subscriptions. The research also highlights that digital-terrestrial networks now reached 75% of the country's population. This highlights a growing appetite for TV & content in Kenya. At Rerun we think it will be interesting to see how consumption habits develop in Kenya, in comparison to Western trends.
digitaltveurope.net
Roku clamps down on pirate channels
Roku originally introduced private channels to allow developers test content before public release. But some devious pirates have been using these channels to share illegal content. As a result Roku are clamping down on this activity, especially since Roku intends to offer public stock later this year.
Facebook tests showing eBay Daily Deals in Marketplace
Last year Facebook's launch of Marketplace showed the social network's interest in peer-to-peer ecommerce. With over 1.3 billion daily active users, they would seem well positioned to overshadow competitors in the space like CraigsList and eBay.
Interestingly, Facebook is now partnering with eBay to promote discounted items through a feature called Daily Deals. It's a partnership to watch for sure. Facebook will be testing the new feature with certain groups before rolling it out on a bigger scale.
Amazon opens up access to developer tools for adding Alexa to commercial products
At Rerun, we believe voice will become a major interface. Amazon's latest announcement could be an exciting step in the development of voice interactions with devices.
Amazon wants to make Alexa, its virtual assistant, available on more devices outside of its own device offering. As a result Amazon is opening up access to Alexa, with the Alexa Voice Service Device SDK toolset. This will allow commercial device makers to build connected products powered by Alexa.
Developers will be able to add a fully functional version of Alexa to their devices which can handle speech recognition, as well as other Alexa features, such as streaming media, using timers, alarms and notifications. One potential use we see at Rerun, could be Alexa's integrations with Smart TVs to help improve search and navigation.
Dota vu: Valve's world cup of e-sports is having another moment in the spotlight
Dota 2's The International is one of the biggest esports tournaments, with over $20m in the prize pool. As esports goes it also has some of the highest production values and best support for spectators.
That said, for newcomers, the coverage is still almost impenetrable. This article in The Verge breaks down many of the mainstream adoption hurdles that not only Dota 2 faces, but pretty much every esport. There are plenty of constructive ideas in here that borrow from existing sports broadcasting and also imagine what could be potentially better.
"I'd put it down to three things: the game's inherent complexity, the consequent visual busyness and difficulty of following what's happening on screen, and Valve's presentation style."
Apple said to be spending $1 billion on original content in 2018
Shonda Rhimes leaves ABC for Netflix
Amazon to shut down Lovefilm in UK and Germany
Essential Phone now available to order
Vudu sets launch date for Apple TV app
Netflix's Ted Sarandos
Ever wondered what 'Netflix and chill' means to Netflix?! Well Ted Sarandos, Netflix's content chief explains, in series of quick fire questions with Variety, reveals how Netflix perceive the term. He also reveals that sleep and time, are in fact Netflix's biggest competitors.
Previous issue 11th August 2017