text:
Modojo @ Shacknews
Legend of Solgard developer talks Norse mythological roots and strong female heroes
The Norse myths, the tale of Ragnarok, and the notion of a powerful female protagonist all "felt very natural" to the Legend of Solgard developer Snowprint Studios.
As far as ancient folklore goes, the Norse myths stand in a class all their own. Not only are the characters therein often colorful and bizarre, the myths themselves walk the line between pure drama and pure imagination. In short, it's a great foundation on which to start building a unique game, and certainly a fine starting point for the crew at Swedish developer Snowprint Studios, the team behind free-to-play mobile title Legend of Solgard. Shacknews was recently able to sit down with Niklas Malmqvist, founding member of Snowprint Studios and art director on Legend of Solgard, to learn more about the game's Norse mythological roots, including the idea of giving players the chance to play as a strong female hero.
"If you have read about Norse mythology and Norse folklore, you know, it's crazy stories... It opens up your imagination," Malmqvist said. "It's such a big and wild world, and we just needed to get our heads around it and follow that track.
"Apart from the Norse mythology and Norse folklore, we [Swedes] also have a Swedish children's book writer called Astrid Lindgren who wrote several popular children's books, Pippi Longstocking perhaps being the most well-known. [...] [Her books] always had a strong female character as a main character in the book, and that's something we grew up with, so it just felt very natural that in this setting of Norse mythology we would have a strong female character."
Legend of Solgard is available now as a free-to-play title through both the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Players can also learn more about the game through the official Legend of Solgard website. For more hot videos and interviews, be sure to check out Shacknews and GamerHub.tv over on YouTube.
Legend of Solgard
Snowprint
ShackStream: Grave Digger is doing it in the air
The Wide World of Electronic Sports Ep. 16
Kevin Tucker posted a new article, Legend of Solgard developer talks Norse mythological roots and strong female heroes


This limited edition model is from the VIBE grouping, this color/pattern is "Foulard Movember". The best-selling Vibe boxer brief are slim-fitting for smooth layering and come in a fresh line-up of original prints and patterns every season. The breathable 95% viscose/5% spandex fabric sits close to the body to wick moisture, and has a super soft hand for all-day comfort.
Each pair of Saxx houses the patented BallPark? Pouch construction. Designed for contact-free support, this 3D hammock-shaped pouch keeps everything in place, thanks to mesh panels that prevent skin-against-skin friction, and no exposed stitching for chafe-free comfort. All Saxx items feature Flat Out Seams. Saxx reversed the seams so the rougher part is on the outside of the garment, the smoother side against the skin. The inner-seam-free contour front pouch has extra room to allow for a natural resting position.


How to live large with style in a small space.
1. Be creative! Be very creative, make sure you have a few daring elements to deliver big visual impact, while also creating the illusion of more space. Best trick to getting all of these in one is with a large coastal mirror.
2. Character through texture. Varying finishes, starting with one thing and playing off it. Perfect example of this would be driftwood wall art paired with a natural jute area rug.
3. Mix formal and casual. You never want your home to feel stuffy or pretentious. There is more authenticity in bringing different worlds together. Mix up your grandmother's antique accent chair with a beachy white slipcovered sofa.
4. Stay consistent. A house flows better (and seems roomier) when spaces share elements. Carry a style of lighting or a color through rooms, you can achieve this with coastal chandeliers that carry from the kitchen to the dining room.
5. Blur outside and In. "The backyard should function like an extension of the house, this will make the home feel larger and your living space bigger. Try using slipcover sofas outside to give your backyard a living room design.


text:
Leaked Fauci Financials Expose How Millionaire Doctor Profited From Pandemic
Horrifying Video Shows Cops Respond to Barking Complaint By Killing 8-Month Old Puppy
Corporate Media Calls for 'Abolishing Parenthood', Forcing Parents to Turn Children Over to the State
Two Women Arrested, Facing Life in Prison for Throwing Glitter at Man in His Apartment
Cops Accuse Innocent Sober Mom of Being DUI, Beat Her to Bloody Pulp in Front of Children
Police State FAIL – 72 DHS Employees on Terror Watch List, TSA Misses Almost Everything
John Vibes December 7, 2015
Washington DC, – Congressman Stephen Lynch revealed in a recent interview on Boston Public Radio that there are 72 people on the US terror watchlist who currently have jobs with the Department Of Homeland Security.
Congressman Stephen Lynch stated in his recent interview that he backed a recent bill to change the screening process for refugees because he and other representatives did not trust the Department Of Homeland Security to be in charge of the operation. According to Lynch, an inspector general's report conducted back in August showed that there were a large number of people on both the US terror watchlist and the DHS payroll.
In the interview, Lynch said, "Back in August, we did an investigation—the inspector General did—of the Department of Homeland Security, and they had 72 individuals that were on the terrorist watch list that were actually working at the Department of Homeland Security. The director had to resign because of that."
He also pointed out that they did a review of DHS screening in airports and found them to have a 95% failure rate.
"Then we went further and did an eight-airport investigation. We had staffers go into eight different airports to test the department of homeland security screening process at major airports. They had a 95 percent failure rate. We had folks—this was a testing exercise, so we had folks going in there with guns on their ankles, and other weapons on their persons, and there was a 95 percent failure rate. I have very low confidence based on empirical data that we've got on the Department of Homeland Security. I think we desperately need another set of eyeballs looking at the vetting process," he added.
Later in the interview, Lynch suggested that the entire TSA screening process may be scrapped entirely.
"I think we have very low-paid TSA and DHS workers, I think there's a huge turnover there, when you talk to the people at the airport who are actually working there. When Bush created this system, I think it was 700,000 employees, he basically stripped away their right to join a union. They're trying to use low-wage employees there, I heard from a TSA employee last week who was leaving, and he said there's just no room for advancement there, they're just stuck. I think morale is part of it, and the whole screening process is being revisited now after the inspector general's report," Lynch said.
The fact that there are people working for the DHS who are on the terror watch-list is not necessarily as scary as it sounds, considering the fact that the list itself is a farce, with over a millions names of mostly innocent people, according to the ACLU. However, this does point to the gross incompetence of the agency, and highlights the facade that is 'national security.'
The full interview can be heard below:
John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.
About John Vibes
John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Twitter. John just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his treatments consider subscribing to his podcast to support .

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
John Rhys-Davies reflects on his role as St. Patrick in new documentary
The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc.
John Burger - published on 03/11/20
Evangelizer of Ireland was as real as they come, says actor known for his work in 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Indiana Jones.'
For actor John Rhys-Davies, St. Patrick of Ireland is about as real as they come.
Rhys-Davies, known widely for his portrayal of Gimli the Dwarf in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and Sallah in Indiana Jones, takes on the role of the elderly bishop in a new documentary, I Am Patrick.
There's nothing in the film about driving the snakes out of Ireland or using a shamrock to teach the Irish people about the Holy Trinity. Produced by CBN Films, a division of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, the documentary takes a "sola scriptura" approach. Gordon Robertson, CBN's president, in an introduction, tells viewers that the producers decided to base the production solely on Patrick's own writings — his Confession and his Letter to Coroticus, and shun any legends that have sprung up around the saint's life.
It fell to Rhys-Davies, with his wizened face and rich baritone, to portray the Apostle to the Celts as he sits down in his twilight years to write his life story. Younger actors portray Patrick in his earlier years, from the time he was growing up on the far reaches of the Roman Empire, to when he is a slave in Ireland, to when he returns to evangelize the pagans of Eire.
"I've certainly come to love Patrick," Rhys-Davies said in an interview this week. "There is about him such a mixture of the practical and the spiritual, such a mixture of really deep abiding religious intensity and the sense that his own private life…" The actor hesitated, then continued, referring to the opening lines of the autobiography: "When he names himself, the next thing he does is describe himself in his own eyes: 'I am Patrick. I am a sinner.' It's an authentic voice arising from virtually the Dark Ages. This is a man who is abducted in his childhood, becomes a slave, endures the unimaginable horrors of slavery and then the solitude of a shepherd in a strange country, with no one to talk to, nothing but the barest of conditions to work in: cold in winter, wet in summer — a fearful, frightening life. And dear old Patrick endures.
"And then he escapes, goes back to England — or actually to Wales, most likely; Patrick was probably a Welshman, not that they actually had those names for them in those days — and received back into the bosom of the family," continued Rhys-Davies, who himself is from Wales. "And slowly, something is aching inside him, and he decides — because he talks to God and listens — that it's his job to go back and change the attitude of those who had enslaved him.
"And it's such absolute courage, and what I love about this man is that energy that comes from him: 'I'm going to do this,'" Rhys-Davies said. That determination is strong enough to overcome any objections or suspicion that arises. "'Do you think I'm doing this for my own benefit? When people who become converted give me money, I use that to pay for the upkeep and survival of the next lot of priests that we're going to send out. It's not personal benefit or anything like that; it's missionary work,'" Rhys-Davies characterized Patrick as saying. "He is a saint, but in so many ways, like some of the later ones, it is his humanity as much as anything else that we love him at all. St. Teresa of Avila would be, not a similar personality, but you sense the wise woman in Teresa, not just the holy spiritual saint, but you also sense the person, rather than the official image of what a saint should be."
Rhys-Davies, who also lent his voice to a 2017 radio production about St. Patrick from the St. Augustine Institute, spoke by phone from his home on the Isle of Man, apologetic that a month ago he had to cancel a trip to New York for a press screening of the film on concerns about the spreading novel coronavirus.
"I sort of anticipated that this would go like this," he said, referring to the evolving crisis, which has practically shut down all of Italy and sees more and more restriction of movement in New York. He said that he just returned from New Zealand and that he was in a "sort of a self-imposed quarantine for two weeks to avoid the chance of spreading any virus he may have picked up on his trip. "I don't want to be the first on the Isle of Man to infect the entire island and end up killing off a few dozen people," he said.
Commenting on the observation that I Am Patrick is coming out this St. Patrick's Day, in the midst of a worldwide outbreak of COVID-19, and with Ireland canceling all its parades, Rhys-Davies noted that the 5th-century St. Patrick "would say that these misfortunes fell on us because we fell away from Christ; we did not listen to our priests."
"Patrick now would say, 'Well, of course you shouldn't have these celebrations. You shouldn't be celebrating a saint; you should be celebrating the Lord, and that you can do where any two or three are gathered together,'" the actor said. "I think Patrick would be very happy not celebrating him. 'Just keep your eyes on the main job' would be his attitude."


.7 mil Diamond Tip, 33 & 45rpm only, NOT for 78rpm.
Generic Sony ND-100G stylus, used in Sony VL-100G.
This is an EVG PM2843D stylus.
Click the button below to add the SONY ND-100G Needle / Stylus to your wish list.


text:
Minister Cristina Uriarte embarks on an…
News Education, Linguistic Policy and Culture
Minister Cristina Uriarte embarks on an official trip to China
institutional trip
<img src="https://www.irekia.euskadi.eus/uploads/cover_photos/18514/original/20140110_01_0045.jpg" style="max-width:100%" alt="" />
Source: Irekia
The Basque Government's Minister for Education, Linguistic Policy and Culture, Cristina Uriarte, will be on an official trip to China from 24 to 28 March. The objective of the trip is to open up new partnership channels with different academic institutions of the country, both regarding Vocational Training and the University, along with consolidating and giving impetus to the academic agreements already in place.
The trip will be to Beijing and, in particular, the city of Tianjin, just 125 kilometres from the Chinese capital. This city, with over 12 million inhabitants – one of the country's 5 autonomous cities -, has become the country's main seat of academic innovation, together with Shanghai, in recent years. The city is currently embarking on an ambitious plan to build what will be the largest university complex in the world, with a capacity for up to 200,000 students. The university complex is home to the prestigious Tianjin university (known as China's Oxford), along with the main vocational training centre in northern China (AFZ), with 9,000 students.
The first part of the trip will focus on Vocational Training (VT). As the guest of the President of the CSMC (the Tianjin Machine Tool Vocational Training Institute and located within the aforementioned VT main centre – AFZ), Minister Cristina Uriarte will visit its facilities and analyse the degree of collaboration that currently exists between that institute and the IMH – the Basque Machine Tool Institute – (a vocational training public centre of the Basque Government). This successful relationship has been in place for over 10 years and is now being further consolidated.
From the start of the current academic year, CSMC local students are taking part, for the first time, in a higher training cycle - "Advanced Technical Diploma in Machine Tool Production Programme" - regulated and linked directly to Basque Vocational Training. The IMB is responsible for structuring the educational model, the curriculum material and training the centre's academic staff. It is a project that seeks to train its students to met the demand of the local industrial companies, particularly Basque companies. In fact, this close relationship between Basque VT centres and Basque companies was one of the most highly rated aspects by the Chinese authorities when embarking on this agreement. The relationship in place between the IMH and AFM (Association of Machine Tool Manufacturers) has become a benchmark for business-training relations in the Asian country. Each year, there will also be work placement in Chinese companies, through CSMC, for a group of IMH students, and vice versa.
This initiative is giving impetus to one of the objectives in the "Basque VT Strategic Agenda 2015": to foster the internationalisation of Basque VT, by consolidating collaboration with those places where educational innovation can help Basque VT in its continuous improvement.
The first part of the trip will also include a visit to the Fagor Automotion premises in Beijing, a factory with a close relationship with CSMC and which will be strengthened by the better training of its students and the need by the Basque companies located there to contract qualified workers.
Tianjin University
The Vocational Training centres share a campus with Tianjin University. In recent years, the university has been firmly committed to driving first-rate programmes and to supporting numerous research centres. During the meeting planned with Tianjin University representatives, Minister Uriarte will seek, as the representative of the Basque university system - and in coordination with those universities -, to consolidate and expand the existing relations between that university and the Basque Country, particularly in those areas linked to technical qualifications. This will be achieved by fostering student exchange programmes, working together on academic programmes, or supporting research programmes.
Deusto University already has academic agreements in place with this University and the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) is about to sign a collaboration agreement. Mondragón University has also told the Minister that it is ready to embark on a beneficial relationship with Tianjin University for their students.
BTV Television Station
After these meetings covering education and training, the Minister's schedule includes a meeting with representatives from the BTV television station, which has access to over 800 million viewers.
BTV and EITB are currently negotiating a partnership agreement request by the Chinese television station, in order to have audiovisual material produced by the Basque public television station.
This agreement will also include the BTV producing a far-reaching documentary on the Basque Country. This would involve a team travelling to the Basque Country in the near future.
This impetus focusing on Vocational Training, the university and BTV come under the "Basque Country Strategy", an initiative where the Basque Government is seeking to open up borders, by creating ties with economic, social, cultural or educational stakeholders and institutions. The future of the Basque Country is global, is open. Following in the steps of companies, universities, technology centres or cultural entities, the Basque Government is firmly committed to everyone going in the same direction.
This international outreach and openness to the world has be to underpinned by an integral strategy, the Basque Country Strategy, which, based on our strengths and unique characteristics, positions us as a benchmark for excellence, as a model for quality of life and social cohesion, as a competitive and innovative territory. The aim is for the values shared by Basque society, such as the culture of hard work, commitment, the capacity to overcome or social justice, are associated with the image of the Basque Country and become our international business card.
Vitoria-Gasteiz, 21 March 2014
There are still no comments
20140110_01_0045.jpg 300 KB (jpg)
Cristina Uriarte Toledo
Consejera de Educacion, Política Lingüística y Cultura (X term)
Itziar Alkorta Idiaquez
Viceconsejera de Universidades e Investigación (X term)
Minister Cristina Uriarte promotes Vocational Training and Basque universities in China
Education, Linguistic Policy and Culture
La jornada Getxolinguae 2018 se centra en el Plan Lector de centro y en el hábito de lectura del alumnado
El Gobierno Vasco participa en el acto de inauguración del curso 2016-2017 de la Universidad de Deusto
Subtitled (Closed Captions)
Reunión entre la consejera Cristina Uriarte y el ministro Pedro Duque
El lehendakari visita el grupo Gureak
Basque Government X leg
El lehendakari preside el acto inaugural del curso 2014-2015 de la Universidad de Deusto
Presentación del documento de Bases para el Acuerdo. Nueva reunión para impulsar un Acuerdo por la Educación
Cristina Uriarte renueva en Argentina el convenio anual entre HABE y FEVA
La Consejera de Educación, Cristina Uriarte, participa en el Primer Encuentro sobre Políticas de Igualdad LGBTI: La Universidad
La consejera de Educación asiste a la apertura oficial de curso de Mondragon Unibertsitatea en el Basque Culinary Center
DECRETO 258/2016, de 27 de diciembre, por el que se dispone el cese de la Directora de Innovación Educativa.
DECRETO 118/2016, de 27 de julio, por el que se autoriza a la Administración de la Comunidad Autónoma de Euskadi la toma de participación en la ampliación de capital de la sociedad San Mamés Barria, S.L.
ORDEN de 12 de septiembre de 2017, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que resuelve el desdoblamiento de la planificación para los cursos escolares 2017-2018 / 2021-2022 y la concertación del curso escolar 2017-2018 del centro docente privado CPEIPS Salesianos…
ORDEN de 10 de marzo de 2017, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que se cesa y nombra vocal del Consejo Asesor de Estudiantes Universitarios de Euskadi.
ORDEN de 28 de mayo de 2019, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que se dispone el cese, nombramiento y renovación de los miembros del Consejo Escolar de Euskadi.
2019 July 2
ORDEN de 26 de octubre de 2018, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que se dispone el cese y nombramiento de los miembros del Consejo Escolar de Euskadi.
ORDEN de 28 de febrero de 2017, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que se dispone el cese y nombramiento de los miembros del Consejo Escolar de Euskadi.
DECRETO 107/2017, de 11 de abril, por el que se dispone el cese del Director de Recursos Materiales e Infraestructuras.
ORDEN de 9 de mayo de 2017, de la Consejera de Educación, por la que se hace pública la adjudicación definitiva de destinos del concurso de traslados 2016-2017 de ámbito estatal del personal funcionario de carrera de los Cuerpos de Inspectoras e Inspectores…


In Luke the 7th Chapter, a Pharisee named Simon invited Jesus to dinner.
As the story rolls out, it becomes obvious that it wasn't a "special" invitation. Jesus arrived to a very generic, all-male environment, believing that he was a special guest, but was ushered in to be seated as if he's one of hundreds at a Golden Corral Buffet.
You see, Simon wanted to be "the guy." He wanted to be that fellow who was open-minded enough to extend an invitation to Jesus. But at the same time, he was sure to portray that he was not getting on board with the Carpenter's crowd.
So Jesus plopped down to have dinner, thoroughly ignored.
Except for one woman. She was a whore. Luke makes it clear that she was not an out of work prostitute, nor one who had decided to forsake her profession.
Matter of fact, we are led to believe that she had just come from the job site to see Jesus. She probably still had the smell of a man on her. She certainly had the look of evil to those religious men who had presumably gathered to consider the turn of some phrase uttered by a prophet a thousand years ago.
She brought a gift–ointment. She brought her tears, and she used her hair to dry those tears as they drizzled on his feet.
It was a sensual experience.
It was so intimate that the Pharisees, especially Simon, became infuriated that Jesus did not stop the awkwardness of the moment.
When Jesus realized they were critiquing the woman's gentleness and mocking her right to be considered, he spoke up.
First, he asks Simon's permission to speak to him. He doesn't yell. He doesn't offer counsel where it is not wanted. He asks for the grace to share.
And then he explains the three essentials to reaching people–whether it's for God or for business.
All humans need all three of these.
We need water to be cleansed. We need water to drink. We need water to be refreshed, instead of having things withheld, leaving us thirsty.
I, for one, am sick and tired of ministry that has no connection. It takes more than three or four scriptures being read aloud for us to feel caressed.
The human race has not failed. Rather, the messengers of God have settled for meetings in dark rooms to discuss minutia.
The woman gave Jesus a kiss and he said it was good.
There is no ministry without intimacy. If you don't plan on looking deeply into someone's eyes, drying their tears and hugging them, then quit. Save yourself the aggravation of performing religious duties that have become meaningless.
And finally, it was the oil–the oil of gladness, the oil of healing.
How magnificent is it to know that you are a woman who has just risen from the bed of being with a lover, and worked up the gumption to come to Jesus' feet humbly, admitting your confusion, and know that you moved him?
Ministry is not about theology.
Ministry is not about church.
Ministry is not about praise and worship.
It's about bringing the water for cleansing, the kiss for intimacy and the oil for healing.
Jesus did not come to Earth to explain Heaven.
Jesus came to Earth so we once and for all could make sense of Earth.
Fire, wind and water–the three ingredients of the Day of Pentecost.
It was the appointed time in the history of human kind when God once and for all infused His spirit inside our spirit, to create what He hoped would be a spirit of revival.
The fire–the spoken word through our tongue.
The rushing mighty wind, displaying the power of God.
And the water of baptism, to wash away the enormity of sin.
But you see, this all just sounds like a sermon–the kind of clever parallels that ministers and theologians put together in the privacy of their "den of simplicity," to try to impress congregations with a bit of insight to mingle with their devotion to God.
Honestly, it's just too religious. Truthfully, it bores.
Because if you get fire, wind and water out of order, nothing is effective.
To lead with fire–or talking–burns everybody up.
Too much wind of religious practice blows out the fire, leaving just a hint of smoke.
And water can just drown us, dousing everything so that it's impossible to ignite the flame.
What I would like to do is take the religion and holiness out of all this speak and instead, make it clear exactly what it means to be Jesonian, a follower of Jesus, instead of a generic Christian–one who reveres Christ.
Because if the ideas of Jesus of Nazareth did not set us free by offering truth, but were just another path of righteousness, then perhaps the notion that one well-beaten path is as good as another would be well-founded.
But Jesus didn't come to start another religion. He came to generate a reasonable and transferable lifestyle.
No one is better than anyone else.
These words set ablaze all the prejudice, superiority, self-righteousness and arrogance that exist in our world, and purge the forest of misunderstanding.
Find out what you can do and do it well.
After all, just speaking, promising, blustering and preaching don't carry any mighty effect. But the confidence you gain by realizing that you have a talent and purpose, and then multiplying that ability to the point where you believe you can do it well, creates a breeze of creativity and hope to those around you.
Get what you need out of life and then share the balance with everyone else.
Life is neither about fasting nor is it about hoarding. It is about securing the air mask on your own face before you try to help others breathe.
It is knowing exactly what satisfies your soul and not feeling the need to have more–or less–but if you do have more, strategically getting rid of it to the souls that God sends your way.
The Jesonian lifestyle is realizing that the power of God is in the fire, the wind and the water. But rather than teaching about it figuratively, we go out and speak and live that "no one is better than anyone else" as we find out what we can do, discover opportunities to do it well, and in the process get what we want–and give away the rest.
It is why I am a follower of Jesus. Every other philosophy and religion deals in too much symbolism.
These three can change our world.


This content was paid for by an advertiser and created by the NBC News Brand Studio. The NBC News editorial organization was not involved in its creation or production. This content represents the views and opinions of the advertiser, who is responsible for all of the material contained therein. Links are not endorsements by NBC News.