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Kennard Consulting's Blog
Case Study: Telefónica Health Portal
This blog entry presents a case study of using Metawidget to provide automatic UI generation for the Telefónica Health Portal system. The Health Portal is a Web-based application designed around a Service Oriented Architecture and built using Google Web Toolkit. It serves the Spanish National Health System and is deployed to some 3,000 hospitals and health clinics across Spain. The integration of Metawidget allowed Telefónica to reduce development and ongoing maintenance costs. It further allowed the Health Portal to offer a level of flexibility and functionality not possible in previous products.
2. Organisation and Product Overview
Telefónica (LSE: TDE.L) is one of the largest fixed-line and mobile telecommunications companies in the world. It operates globally across Europe and Latin America with headquarters in Madrid, Spain (figure 1). Telefónica was founded in 1924, and was originally government owned until being privatised in 1997. Since then it has grown to over 260,000 employees with an annual revenue in excess of 60 billion Euros.
Figure 1: Telefónica headquarters in Madrid, Spain
The company was looking to develop a product for the Spanish National Health System (NHS). The Spanish NHS is similar to that found in many European countries. It consists of a network of health clinics and hospitals across different states and territories. Each centre employs multiple healthcare workers with an array of specialities including General Practitioners (GP), paediatricians and physiotherapists. They are funded through both public, government healthcare and private healthcare insurers.
The Telefónica Health Portal was to be an online platform providing a range of services to health clinics. The Health Portal's functionality would include administering a clinic (see figure 2) and scheduling physicians (see figure 3). Most relevant to this case study, the Health Portal could also serve as an intermediary between clinics and healthcare insurers. Such an intermediary would provide three key benefits compared to existing manual processes. First, it would provide interactivity: if additional documentation or authorisation codes were required during submission of an insurance claim, the insurer could request them at the time the claim was being lodged. Second, it would provide immediacy: after the claim was lodged, the Health Portal would report back a status such as approved, rejected or pending validation. Finally, it would improve processing times: claims could be lodged and payments made more quickly, and clinics could see real-time reports of settled payments against their accounts as they approached month end.
Figure 2: Health Portal administration Figure 3: Health Portal scheduler
This description of the Health Portal, simplified for the purposes of this case study, is depicted visually in figure 4.
Figure 4: Simplified UML diagram of Health Portal
However, business analysis showed that the data needed in order to lodge a claim varied for each private healthcare insurer. Within each insurer, it further varied by speciality (GP, paediatrician, etc.). And within each speciality, it further varied by type of activity (initial consultation, follow-up visit etc.). The Health Portal would need one insurance claim form per insurer, per speciality and per activity. Worse, as new insurance companies signed on to the service, new forms would need to be developed. This ongoing development cost would threaten the economic viability of the Health Portal. Instead, Telefónica decided they needed a way to dynamically define portions of each insurance screen. Indeed, they wanted the insurer to be able to dynamically define their forms themselves. This was where Metawidget came in.
3. Integration of Metawidget
This case study interviewed members of the project team, including the project manager.
The discussion opened around the Health Portal's requirement to dynamically define portions of each insurance form. The project manager explained: "We had a need to dynamically create input data screens, we searched the different alternatives available in the market, and the one that fitted best was Metawidget". He explained they considered several alternatives but "after an exhaustive analysis of available tools we decided that the tool that best fitted our needs was Metawidget".
The Health Portal needed to provide a range of functionality. This required a rich UI with several different types of screens and aesthetics. There was no requirement to automatically generate the entire UI. Indeed for many screens doing so would have been impractical. For example figures 2 and 3 show screens that were manually tuned for usability. It would not have suited the project to impose a generic, stylized CRUD UI (or OOUI) across every screen. The team only wanted to use automatic generation for selected portions of their application. In addition, they had already chosen their preferred UI framework and tools (GWT 2011) and developed several screens using traditional techniques. It would not have suited them if the UI generator had tried to dictate their technology choices. Together, these observations validated Metawidget's approach to defining 'useful bounds' around UI generation (Kennard & Steele 2008).
The team wanted the dynamic portions of their insurance claim forms to be definable by the insurer. They built a UI to allow the insurer to specify their particular fields, including the name, data type and other metadata (such as whether they were optional fields). The team then needed these fields to be reflected on the clinic's screens. The application was built around a rich, Web-based UI making extensive use of JavaScript and client-side AJAX calls to Web services. The design was that, upon initiating an insurance claim, the UI would first invoke a Web service and supply the id of the insurer. The Web service would respond with an XML definition of the insurer's form requirements, including portions that described the dynamic fields. A typical response would be:
<mensaje co_op="R00210">
<R00210>
<cif-aseguradora>00000000X</cif-aseguradora>
<co-facturador>00000000X</co-facturador>
<respuesta></respuesta>
<timestamp>0000000000000000</timestamp>
<agrupaciones>
<agrupacion codigo="0001">
<nombre>AGRUPACION</nombre>
<especialidades>
<especialidad codigo="01">
<nombre>MEDICINA GENERAL</nombre>
<actos>
<acto codigo="0001">
<nombre>CONSULTA</nombre>
<campos-variables>
...GP initial consult dynamic fields...
</campos-variables>
</acto>
<nombre>REVISION</nombre>
...GP follow-up visit dynamic fields...
</actos>
</especialidad>
<nombre>PEDIATRIA</nombre>
...pediatrician initial consult dynamic fields...
...pediatrician follow-up visit dynamic fields...
...more especialidad...
</especialidades>
</agrupacion>
...more agrupacion...
</agrupaciones>
</R00210>
</mensaje>
The UI generator would extract those portions of the XML response related to dynamic fields and use them to generate its UI. This requirement validated Metawidget's approach to performing generation at runtime. It is a scenario where a system's input is itself source code - adding new functionality and screens to an application. Runtime analysis is needed to accommodate such a scenario.
Because the fields were to be defined declaratively, visual IDE tools such as NetBeans Matisse were not applicable. And because the screens must be generated dynamically at runtime, rather than statically at development time, model-based tools such as JSF were not suitable either. What was needed was a runtime generator that could source its metadata from arbitrary sources, in this case embedded in an XML response from a web service. As the project manager commented: "The main feature [of Metawidget] for us was the possibility to dynamically, based on rules stored in our database [and exposed via a Web service], create input screens based on user selections". The team were able to plug in a custom inspector to suit their needs. But they did not require multiple inspectors, as the web service provided a single source of metadata, so they did not require collation. This validated Metawidget's approach to making collation pluggable via CompositeInspector.
Once the UI had been generated and the data captured, it was to be written back into the same XML structure and returned via a second web service. This was an interesting design decision. Its rationale was that there would then be a single piece of XML containing both field names, data types and values. This XML could be stored directly in the database. Screens using it could then be recreated and redisplayed at a later time, even if the insurer's original XML definition changed. For example if, having used the Health Portal for a few months, the insurer decided they needed to alter the fields on their form, the previous several months worth of claims and associated invoices could still be rendered in their original format. This was an unusual requirement because it meant the UI data was not to be stored back to a domain object. Indeed, there was no domain object to store back to. Rather, data values had to be read and written into a fragment of XML. The team were able to plug in a custom widget processor to achieve this, validating Metawidget's approach to pluggable processing.
Finally, the presentation of the dynamic portions was required to be different for different screens, so as to blend with the non-dynamic portions. For the 'lodge individual claim' and 'lodge multiple claims' screens a three column layout was required, as shown in figures 5 and 6. The bottom of each dialog box is generated by Metawidget. For the invoice screen a single column layout was preferred, as shown in figure 7. The centre of the dialog box is generated by Metawidget. These differences in layout validated Metawidget's approach to pluggable layouts.
Figure 5: Metawidget is used while lodging individual claims Figure 6: Metawidget is used while lodging multiple claims
Figure 7: Metawidget is used while printing invoices
Having detailed the organisation and product, and understood Metawidget's integration within it, the case study turned to validating Metawidget's effectiveness.
4. Validation of Metawidget
This case study validated Metawidget against four themes.
The themes were derived from an overarching goal (GQM - Basili 1992) of Metawidget being a general purpose solution accepted by developers and applicable to industry. 'Acceptance' was considered a multi-faceted concern. First, a solution must have an obviousness to it: it must be approachable and straightforward to conceptualise, with a learning curve no steeper than necessary. Second, a solution should be convenient to use: it's API must be powerful but not cumbersome, and be more productive than developing the same application without it. Third, a solution must be adaptable: it must work well within a broad range of architectures, both front-end UI frameworks and back-end technologies. Finally, a solution must be performant: imposing reasonable processor time, bandwidth and memory constraints that do not outweigh its benefits.
Such themes can be tested either quantitatively or qualitatively. There is appeal in the former, as metrics such as 'number of lines of UI code saved', 'hours required to update the UI following changes to the domain model' or 'number of API methods necessary to implement a UI' have an impersonal, impartial character to them that conveys a sense of neutrality. However such thinking misses a critical point of Metawidget: its success is tied to the personal, to the partial. If Metawidget saves developers 25% of their UI code but they find it awkward and laborious to use, it will not achieve developer acceptance in significant numbers. If Metawidget can do more with fewer API calls but those calls are obtuse and inflexible, its long-term adoption in a project will be unlikely to survive handover from one developer to the next. If Metawidget can automatically update a UI in seconds, but that UI does not appear the way the designer intended, it will not pass usability tests.
Rather, a more reliable measure arises from qualitative metrics. Metrics such as developer thoughts, preferences, and satisfaction. It is possible to give these an impersonal, quantitative flavour using techniques such as Likert scales (1932), but again doing so risks losing a critical essence. Given the fragile, elusive nature of a quality such as 'acceptance', it seemed prudent this case study remain qualitative. The next sections discuss Metawidget in the context of the four themes.
4.1. Obviousness
Prior to encountering Metawidget did you have any preconceptions regarding UI generation? If so, how did Metawidget fit with those preconceptions? If not, could you identify with the gap Metawidget defines? One team member recalled: "In our case [it was] more than preconceptions. We had actual requirements. Requirements in concrete cases for generating UI, i.e. we needed a technology compatible with GWT, it had to work with XML, and it also had to be able to work dynamically". The team already had a product specification whose requirements included UI generation, so they were very clear about the gap they needed to fill.
The team member elaborated: "The Health Portal acts like a broker between insurance companies and clinics/hospitals. When data flows between those two parts (e.g. a clinic sends a bill to the insurance company), certain parts are common to all the insurance companies (such as the structure of worker's 'profiles' and of the medical 'acts') and others are not (bill numbering can be different, some include authorisation number etc.). We wanted the insurance companies to be able to define and provide (through XML) themselves these variable data for the benefit of both parties". The team understood this was not a requirement they could fulfil using their existing technologies. It was an explicit requirement for UI generation. This is unusual. It is distinct from a team who, say, were already using manual techniques to construct their UIs and were looking for a way to automate their processes.
As you were getting started with Metawidget, did you find its parts arranged roughly where you expected to find them? Were there any areas that stood out as being designed differently to you expected? If so, what were they and what were you expecting? The team member reflected: "we really didn't have so much expectation about that". Nevertheless, they were comfortable with what they found. The project manager confirmed: "The [Metawidget] concept makes sense, and it gives opportunities to create very flexible applications, where the input screens are easy to adapt to the user needs". Such input screens can be seen in figures 5, 6 and 7, described previously.
4.2. Convenience
Having determined what you wanted Metawidget to do, how difficult did you find getting Metawidget to do it? One team member responded: "Let's say the difficulty was medium. There were some features we wanted but which Metawidget did not have at that time, and that did require some customisation of the code". For these, the team were able to plug in their own inspectors and widget processors.
Were there scenarios where Metawidget demonstrated clear benefits over your usual techniques? The team member validated: "More than clear benefits. With our requirements Metawidget was basically the only option. Our usual techniques would not have done the job. The only other solution that came close to meet our requirements was TICBO [a Customer Relationship Management tool] but in end it did not meet all of them". Metawidget met all requirements because "it was compatible with GWT, could work with XML, and could work dynamically". This was a validation of Metawidget's mixture of useful bounds and runtime generation. They created a solution unlike any other available.
Were there scenarios where Metawidget was demonstrably worse than your usual techniques, or did not represent a compelling advantage? If so, what would have helped tip the balance? The project manager replied there were no demonstrably worse scenarios, but that "we think it would be nice to have conditional fields, so that [a field's] behaviour would depend on the user selections from other fields". Metawidget does support pluggable third-party expression languages for implementing conditional fields for different environments. However it did not cater for the particular combination of front-end and back-end this project chose. Specifically, Metawidget had no solution for client-side, browser-based (i.e. ECMAScript) conditional fields using GWT. More work was needed there, though there was good precedent for incorporating this kind of technology based on the other platforms.
4.3. Adaptability
How did you find Metawidget initially fit with your existing architecture? Were there parts that 'just worked'? The team member responded: "As [I said] before, the use of Metawidget was somewhat concrete and, where we used it, it did meet our requirements and worked. [On top of that] the code was customised to include features not yet present at the time". There were two examples of such customisation. The first was a custom inspector, CamposVariablesInspector. This was used to inspect fragments of the XML response returned by the insurer Web service, as shown in figure 8. This was different to Metawidget's standard inspectors, which generally inspected objects or whole XML configuration files.
Figure 8: Health Portal uses a custom inspector
The second piece of customisation was a custom widget processor, CamposVariablesBinding. This both extracted data values from the XML fragment and wrote them into the generated widgets, and also read them back from the generated widget and inserted them into the XML fragment, as shown in figure 9. Again this was different to Metawidget's standard binding, which bound data values to domain objects.
Figure 9: Health Portal uses a custom widget processor
Were there areas where you had to write your own plugins, and if so how did you find writing them? The project manager explained: "Being able to incorporate Metawidget within an existing UI was important. It's fundamental for our project". Similarly to integrate with their existing back-end: "It was important it supported our back-end. Being able to plug-in our back-end inspectors gave us the flexibility needed, it is impossible for Metawidget to support everyone's requirements". The inverse of this statement is that it is unrealistic to expect everyone to change their application to suit Metawidget's requirements. This ability to integrate was so important, in fact, that the project manager summarised "It was critical Metawidget supported both our front-end and back-end, otherwise we probably would not have even tried it [for the Health Portal]".
Were there areas where Metawidget couldn't be made to fit? The team member couldn't recall any: "No, where we used Metawidget it did fit".
4.4. Performance
How did your application compare, both in terms of speed and memory, before and after the introduction of Metawidget? The team member replied: "In this case there was no before and after. No alternatives to Metawidget were ever developed, it was included from the beginning". However the team had encountered no performance problems, having deployed the Health Portal to thousands of clinics across Spain.
Did you find the before and after reasonable in terms of the costs and benefits of UI generation? The team member opined: "As [I said] before, there were no alternatives developed. However, we consider the choice reasonable in terms of cost and benefits; it was really the only option that met our requirements. If not, these requirements would have had to be changed. That would have meant less flexibility to all the parties of the project. Of course, another option would have been to develop some in-house solution similar to what Metawidget does, but that was never really an option considering the costs and benefits". This validated that UI generation is conceptually a common problem (Kennard, Leaney & Edmonds 2009) that calls for a general purpose solution rather than an in-house one. "[It] did not add any business specific value if we could find a third-party solution that solved the same problem".
In closing, I asked the project manager how he would sum up the team's experiences with Metawidget? "Since we use [Metawidget] as a dynamic information capture tool, it gives us great flexibility towards fulfilling customer requirements in record time. Even more of the information captured is almost as a black box where our application does not apply any business rules, [letting] our customers [the insurers] be the ones that define the business rules. Our application is a bridge between the user and our customer, and from that point of view Metawidget fits our needs perfectly, since it allows us to offer the customer [insurer] with a tool for him to decide and customise, without our help, the information that needs to be captured from the user [clinic]".
This case study gathered responses that were pertinent to its qualitative metrics. In turn, these provided an understanding of its four themes and validated its goal. The case study found industry developers who had accepted, and successfully adopted, Metawidget for use in their application. At the time of writing, the Telefónica Health Portal has been in production for several months and deployed to some 3,000 health clinics across Spain. This presents strong validation of industry applicability and developer acceptance.
Basili, V. 1992, 'Software modeling and measurement: the Goal/Question/Metric paradigm'.
Kennard, R., Edmonds, E. & Leaney, J. 2009, Separation Anxiety: stresses of developing a modern day Separable User Interface. 2nd International Conference on Human System Interaction.
Kennard, R. & Steele, R. 2008, Application of Software Mining to Automatic User Interface Generation. 7th International Conference on Software Methodologies, Tools and Techniques.
Likert, R. A. 1932. 'A technique for the measurement of attitudes', Archives of Psychology, New York, No. 140.
Posted by Richard at 5:25 PM
Labels: Metawidget
About Kennard Consulting
Dr Richard Kennard is an independent software consultant with over fifteen years industry experience. He is an active member of the Open Source community, the founder of Metawidget, and a speaker at conferences such as JavaOne and Red Hat Summit, and podcasts such as JavaScript Jabber. He won Australasian PhD Thesis Of 2013, top prize at Hackagong 2014, and is an Honorary Teaching Fellow at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Julianne Kennard is an experienced Human Resources professional having worked in both project and operational environments in large Australian organisations including Westpac, Qantas Airways, the Law Society of NSW and RAMS. Her expertise extends across all aspects of change management, learning design and development, and communication.
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text:
What's at Milemarker 79?
And rolleth under foot as dooth a bal
Dark Corners
I Kidnapped S.T.
After their father died, their mother married the butler, Datty, and that is how he became part of the family. Datty the butler was coincidentally pronounced the same way an upper-class twit might pronounce "daddy", which, as he had married into the family, he was now. Their father, the butler. One and the same.
"Datty," Son-of-mine said, "I know what I want for Christmas, Datty."
"What's that, Son-of-mine?" Datty said. He was delivering a tray of vanilla snowcones, which is all the children would eat during holiday season.
"Datty, I don't want presents from S.T." S.T. was what the children called St. Nick, or Santa Claus.
"Don't you want presents from S.T.?" Datty asked.
"No, Datty, I don't," Son-of-mine said. "And I've been a good boy this year, so I don't want coal."
"Don't you want coal, Son-of-mine?" Datty said. "You've been a good boy this year."
"No, Datty, I don't," Son-of-mine said. "I don't want presents from S.T. I want S.T. himself."
"Make a list," Datty said. "Check it twice."
"You do it, Datty. And leave it on the mantel," Son-of-mine said.
"Yes, Son-of-mine," Datty sighed, and he wrote the list and put it on the mantel for S.T.
Son-of-mine read the list and laughed. "When S.T. comes down the chimney, won't he be surprised," Son-of-mine said to Datty. "He'll read our list, check it twice, and then he'll have to wrap himself and leave himself under the tree. Won't Christmas be über!"
"So über," Datty agreed. Whatever he might really think, Datty had to agree. He worked for them, after all. Their butler, their father. One and the same.
Mother-of-two was in the kitchen, making a casserole and singing "Downpressor Man" from a Sinéad O'Connor CD.
"You'll never guess what Son-of-mine wants for Christmas," Datty said to her. He set down the empty tray on which had sat snowcones.
"He wants S.T.," Mother-of-two said. "He's been talking about it all year, ever since he read about it in a magazine."
"Doesn't he know that will never work?"
"He thinks he's going to get unlimited presents," Mother-of-two said. "Once he has S.T. captive, S.T. will have to give him everything he wants. It's really smart."
"But S.T. is made up!" Datty said. "So actually, he's not going to get anything."
"Hmm," said Mother-of-two. "You'll have to figure something out, Datty."
"Yes, ma'am," Datty said.
"Did you know Denmark claimed the North Pole? Apparently, there's an underwater ridge that goes all the way out there. So Santa's Danish. Who'd have thought?
"He'll probably show favoritism now," Mother-of-two mused.
"What do you want for Christmas?" Datty asked Daughter-of-mine. She was sitting on the carpet, playing with her tea set. Her dolls rode tanks and her cat wore a bandit mask.
"I want a jigsaw puzzle in the shape of the moon," Daughter-of-mine said immediately. "And I want string cheese that tastes like spaghetti. And I want a magic featherduster that can make me into a macaroni. And I want shoes that turn blue at night."
"I'll see what I can do," Datty said. "So, just to reiterate, you want a jigsaw puzzle…"
"In the shape of the moon," Daughter-of-mine interrupted.
"In the shape of the moon," Datty agreed, as he wrote; "and spaghetti-flavored string cheese, and a feather duster that can make you into a macaroni, and shoes that turn blue at night. What do you want from S.T.?"
"That's between me and S.T.," Daughter-of-mine said. "Why do you want to know?" she added suspiciously.
"Well, just make sure to make a list and check it twice," Datty said. "And leave it on the mantel with your brother's."
"I'll put it there on Christmas Eve," Daughter-of-mine said.
Datty sighed and massaged his eyebrows. "Fine. Do you know what your brother wants?" he asked her.
"Brother-of-mine, Son-of-thine, double trouble!" Daughter-of-mine said. "He wants to kidnap S.T. and take all the presents for himself. He wants none of the other kids to have gifts this year."
"What are you going to do about it?" Datty asked her.
"I'm going to help him," Daughter-of-mine said. "In exchange for half of everything."
"We're going to have a problem," Datty reported to Mother-of-two. She was still listening to her Sinéad O'Connor CD. This track was "Obadiah".
"What's that?" Mother-of-two said, putting down her rolling pin and looking disturbed.
"Son-of-mine only wants to kidnap S.T. for Christmas," Datty said. "Daughter-of-mine wants all this nonsense I wrote down, and won't tell me what she wants from S.T. She's going to put out her list on Christmas Eve only. And then she's going to help Son-of-mine kidnap S.T. in exchange for half of everything. By the way, dear, speaking as your husband now, what do you want for Christmas?"
"Funny you should ask," Mother-of-two said. She pulled a list out of her sleeve and gave it to Datty. "This is a list of the things I want. As the butler, I want you to pick them up for me. Those ones near the top are the ones I want to give: to my husband, to my children. Those ones near the bottom are the things I want my husband to buy me. You can tell him, but he'll probably just tell you to buy them."
Datty's face contorted until it resembled a Picasso painting. "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he said. He took the list stiffly and tucked it into a pocket of his one-piece butler suit.
Then he walked out of the house and got on his bike and rode into town. "Christmas is now completely spoiled!" he said.
He was, after all, both husband and butler. One and the same.
Daughter-of-mine took her ear from the glass and the glass from the door. "Well, well, well," she said to Son-of-mine, who was standing next to her, waiting for the report.
"What did you hear?" he asked her. "I mean, I heard it too, because the door's not that thick. But."
"They're going to try some tricks on us. We need to outsmart them," Daughter-of-mine said.
"I'll follow Datty," Son-of-mine said, "and see what he does."
"I'll follow Mother-of-two," Daughter-of-mine said.
Son-of-mine hopped on his tricycle and followed Datty's bicycle tracks through the snow and into town. He stayed just far enough out of sight that Datty never saw him, and Datty was angry enough that he didn't notice the tricycle tracks wherever his bike had been. This is what Son-of-mine saw:
Datty went to the toyshop and ordered a custom jigsaw puzzle in the shape of the moon. He went to the supermarket and special ordered flavored string cheese. He bought a feather duster and a bag of macaroni noodles, and he went to a shoe shop and bought shoes that were blue all the time, not just at night.
Then he went to the costume shop and bought a red tuxedo and a red hat and a lot of fake ermine fur. Then he went to the yarn store and bought a dozen skeins of white yarn and a crochet hook.
Then he bound all that junk to the back of his bike with twine and rode home. Son-of-mine rode his tricycle home through the alleys and arrived first.
Meanwhile, this is what Daughter-of-mine saw:
Mother-of-two waited for Datty to leave the house. Then she listened at the door through a glass in case anyone was outside, which someone was, but they weren't making any noise. Then she turned off the Sinéad O'Connor CD because she didn't really like it, and went upstairs to her room. From a drawer in her desk she produced her Will, and with a fountain pen she struck all mentions of Datty from it. Then she burned her marriage certificate and all of Datty's employment records. She began to sob and laugh maniacally at the same time.
"She's disturbed!" Daughter-of-mine whispered to herself. It was true. Mother-of-two had stopped taking her medications, prescribed when their father had mysteriously died. Now she had nightmares, nightmares about being the one who pushed their father into the industrial meat grinder where he'd died.
Mother-of-two returned to the kitchen and continued to sob. She filled a pitcher full of tears and added lemon juice to it. Then she turned on the Sinéad O'Connor CD again and sang, "Vampire".
Christmas Eve came, and Mother-of-two served the family her special lemonade. Daughter-of-mine and Son-of-mine, neither of them, drank it, and of course Mother-of-two didn't drink it, so Datty had to drink it all.
Then Mother-of-two retired for the night and Datty washed the dishes, and the children were left to themselves, though presumably they'd go to bed—though presumably, they wouldn't sleep very much, in anticipation of the arrival of S.T.
Datty hummed as he worked. He hummed because he knew a terrible secret: Nobody was getting any gifts this year. Not him, not Mother-of-two, certainly not those two spoiled brats he'd waited on year after year and who were now, legally, his children. He'd gone back into town and canceled all the special orders.
He hummed because he knew that in a few hours, S.T. would come down the chimney and ruin all their hopes and dreams.
Datty finished the dishes and went into the living room to stoke the fire. He wanted to keep it burning, so that the children would definitely go to bed. He reasoned that, as long as they stayed up, so did the fire, and S.T. wouldn't be able to come.
He paused in the doorway to the room.
The fire burned merrily in the hearth. The strands and strands of Christmas lights twinkled. Glinting ornaments hung from the Christmas tree. The cookies and milk Datty had placed there earlier sat on the mantel beside the two wish lists. But something was distinctly wrong. His butler sense told him so.
He tiptoed into the room and took a poker from the rack, held it out in front of him like a sword. Then he saw it: the eyes.
Son-of-mine sat between the cushions of the couch, watching the fireplace. He held a slingshot in one hand, made of a forked stick and a rubber band. The shot was a lump of coal that S.T. had brought him another year.
"Son-of-mine," Datty said in his most scolding voice, "you're to go to bed."
"I'm waiting for S.T.," Son-of-mine said from between the cushions. "I can't go to bed."
Datty pulled all the cushions off the couch and threw them into the fire. "Now S.T. will see you, and he won't deliver any presents."
"I don't want presents," Son-of-mine said. "I want to capture him."
"He won't fall for that," Datty said, "because he always comes down the chimney upside down, and peeks out into the room ahead of time to make sure it's all clear."
"Really?" Son-of-mine said. He sprang from the couch, tucked the slingshot into his pyjamas pocket, and allowed Datty to shepherd him off to bed. "What else does S.T. do?"
"If he comes down upside down, how does he get out of the chimney?"
"Why, he does a handstand," Datty said.
"And then what?"
"How does he know what presents to bring?"
"He reads your list and then gets the appropriate presents out of his sack," Datty said.
"I see. And when does he eat the cookies and milk?"
"After he's set the presents under the tree. He needs the sugar rush to do so much work at night."
"I see. And when does he stuff our stockings?"
"Just before he leaves," Datty said. "You're full of questions this year."
"Yes," Son-of-mine said. "Goodnight, Datty. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Son-of-mine," Datty said, and he shut the door.
Downstairs, Datty put the poker back in the poker rack when his butler senses went off again.
"Daughter-of-mine," Datty said, "where are you?"
Daughter-of-mine appeared in the doorway, holding her cat. It was still wearing the bandit mask.
"What are you doing up so late?" Datty said. "You're supposed to be in bed."
"I'm waiting for you to go to bed," Daughter-of-mine said. "I don't want anyone reading my wish list, except for S.T."
"I'm going to be up quite late tonight," Datty said. He walked over the bookshelf and took down a thick and boring book. "See this boring book? I have to read the whole thing before I can go to bed."
"That's okay," Daughter-of-mine said. She set up a sleeping bag on the cushionless couch and snuggled up inside. "I'll sleep here tonight."
Datty ground his teeth. "Fine," he said, and he took the boring book and left the room.
A couple hours later, long after midnight, Datty tiptoed back into the room and surveyed it. Daughter-of-mine sat bolt upright, back to him.
"Still awake?" Daughter-of-mine asked. "Don't worry, I am, too. If you finished your long and boring book, you can put it back now."
Datty smiled grimly. He looked from the back of Daughter-of-mine's head to her wish list on the mantel and back to her. "Goodnight, Daughter-of-mine," he said.
"Goodnight, Datty," Daughter-of-mine said.
Datty waited another hour and listened at the doorway, until he was sure Daughter-of-mine had fallen asleep. Then he went to the broom cupboard, where he had stashed his red tuxedo. In secret, late at night, he'd sewn all the edges with the fake ermine fur, and made himself a hat, and crocheted a beard with the white yarn. He put all these on now and slipped out the front door, climbed the drainpipe to the roof, and, feet crunching in the snow, approached the chimney.
"Drat," he said. It was still smoking. With Daughter-of-mine there, he hadn't been able to put out the fire.
Datty put on a pair of gloves and took a screwdriver out of his pocket. He unscrewed the cap on the chimney and put on a pair of goggles and peered down the chute. "What an idiotic way to get into people's houses," he said. "Honestly."
He tossed a heavy sack full of beans down the chimney, hoping that would put out the fire. Instead, the sack got stuck halfway and Datty had to crawl in after it, holding on to the top of the chimney with his fingertips while he kicked at the bag of beans.
Presently, in a shower of soot, the beans shifted enough for the bag to come loose, and it fell and put out the fire, and sprayed ash and sparks into a smoked-out living room. Without anything to stand on, Datty suddenly had a lot of weight to support with just his fingers, and he dropped, and landed on the sack.
"Ugh," he said.
He peered from the hearth to survey the room, and noticed all of Daughter-of-mine's dolls on the carpet, sitting on their tanks. The barrels of the tanks pointed at the fireplace, where S.T. would come. Daughter-of-mine herself was sound asleep on the couch.
"Close one," Datty said out loud, but quietly. "This must be why S.T. comes down the chimney upside down."
He clambered out of the fireplace and cast about for the cookies and milk. Mysteriously, they were now on the far side of the room. Datty's eyes narrowed, but before he'd taken one step, he noticed the popgun protruding between the branches of the Christmas tree, and felt something sock him in the stomach.
"Got him!" Daughter-of-mine cried triumphantly. Son-of-mine reloaded his popgun and they both took to beating S.T. with plastic baseball bats. When they'd subdued him they tied him up and put him in a cardboard box under the tree, and tied it with a ribbon.
"This is going to be the best Christmas ever!" Daughter-of-mine said.
"Über!" Son-of-mine said.
They hurried to the fireplace and tore open S.T.'s gift sack. The beans spilled into the living room.
"What's this junk?" Son-of-mine demanded. "All S.T. brought is beans!"
"Never mind," Daughter-of-mine said. "We have S.T. now. He'll have to give us whatever we want."
The next morning, Mother-of-two came downstairs to find the scene of a battle: dolls on tanks, a cat wearing a bandit mask, soot all over the living room, a torn sack leaking beans, and a great big box under the tree.
Daughter-of-mine and Son-of-mine stood proudly at attention, ready to show her what they'd done.
"What's all this," she wondered to herself. "And where is Datty?"
To the children she said: "Did S.T. not come this year, little ones?"
"Oh, he did," Son-of-mine said.
"He sure did," Daughter-of-mine agreed.
"But he didn't eat the cookies," Mother-of-two said.
"No," Son-of-mine said. "I moved them, to give us more time to capture S.T. Datty explained how it worked: first he comes down the chimney upside down, and when all's clear, he checks the list and gets the presents from his sack, and then he eats the cookies, and stuffs the stockings, and then he goes back up the chimney."
"Tada!" Daughter-of-mine cried triumphantly, pulling the ribbon on the cardboard box and revealing…
"He's dead!" Son-of-mine exclaimed. "S.T. is dead!"
He certainly looked dead.
"We didn't put any holes in the box," Daughter-of-mine said. "He must have suffocated!"
"What's the matter with his beard?" Son-of-mine said. "It looks so…fake."
He pulled S.T.'s beard off, revealing…
"Datty!" all three of them cried.
"So Datty was S.T.?" Son-of-mine said.
"No wonder he wanted to see the Christmas list," Daughter-of-mine said. "But little did he know, it's blank."
She turned to Mother-of-two. "Speaking of which, where are all our presents?"
"Children, please!" Mother-of-two said. "Your father is dead. You killed him."
"He's not our real father," Son-of-mine said. "Our real father's dead. He's just called Datty."
Mother-of-two began to cry.
"Besides, what's the big deal if we did kill Datty? It's no worse than finding out he was S.T."
"He wasn't S.T.," Mother-of-two said. "There is no S.T.! I hope you're happy now."
"It's not like it matters," Son-of-mine said. "I already knew that. I just wanted to screw things up."
"I'll go get you some lemonade," Daughter-of-mine suggested. She returned with the pitcher. "Now, now, Mother, don't cry. Everything is going to be fine. You can be our new butler."
"I should call the police," Mother-of-two said. "And report this accident."
"Not so fast," Son-of-mine said. "If you tell on us, we'll tell on you. We know what happened with the meat grinder."
"You can't know!" Mother-of-two said, as she drank her lemonade. "Wait, this tastes like…" She keeled over.
"Poison," Daughter-of-mine agreed.
The children looked at each other. Both seemed to be thinking: "Well, now what?"
All Content © 2019-2023 Kai Swanson-Dale

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Last Access Time not as expected. Ubuntu 17.04 A few days ago I was checking last access of some files of my own and I noticed that some of them was accessed from strange date and hours.
I recently changed my OS from Ubuntu 16.04 to 17.04, I did a backup of my files and folders on external storage and copied them on Ubuntu 17.04.
When I was installing the Ubuntu 17.04 I remember I created a new partition table. This is how my partition looks like now:

*

*Name: Appunti.odt
Last access: 6 May 2017 at 23:43:56 (Last time I opened this file it was for modification, so 10 April 2017.

*
Who open those files? How the system determine what is last access?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Mom Complete 7th Season (2-Disc)
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A single mom's newly found sobriety has given her the ability to see her life clearly, and she does not like the view. Now she must untangle years of reckless decisions in order to make a better life for her and her kids.
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Christy (Anna Faris) is still sober and has her life mostly back on track, though she's continually tested by her mother, Bonnie (Allison Janney). Together, the two work to overcome their mistakes and build a better future. Now, Christy is well on her way to becoming a lawyer, while Bonnie is in a healthy romantic relationship and has just married Adam (William Fichtner). Through it all, they rely on their support system from AA, including the wise Marjorie (Mimi Kennedy); the wealthy and sometimes misguided Jill (Jaime Pressly); the overly emotional Wendy (Beth Hall); and Bonnie's foster sister, Tammy (Kristen Johnston), who was recently released from prison. Collectively, they help each other stay sober in the face of whatever life throws at them.
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Last Sunday, 17th January 30+ dogs took part in a charity walk on behalf Animal Rescue Centre and The Arthur Rank Hospice from Downham Market to the rescue centre in Denver.
Friends and family of Angie, who is currently receiving care from the hospice is why all breeds from Chihuahua's to St Bernard's came out for the glorious winter stroll.
Long term Tesco employee, mother and grand-mother Angie from Soham managed to make the start of the event and see them all off despite her illness which inspired all the participants to raise more money than they expected.
Angie is also a prolific fund-raiser herself. Her colleagues and friends recently raised £1000 for Macmillan.
At the end of the 1 hour walk, hot refreshments were on hand to warm those winter chills.


text:
Northern Lights Elementary Students Hit the Slopes
Mason Kroll,
DULUTH, Minn. – Students at Northern Lights Elementary in Superior had a chance to hit the slopes of Spirit Mountain Wednesday.
The three-week program at a discounted rate is put on through the school's snow club.
49 kids will learn the basics on how to ski or snowboard. Each week, kids start by getting into groups and will work their way up from tier one to tier three which are the big hills.
"I think it's a great winter sport. I started snowboarding when I was maybe 18 years old, switched to skiing just last year. So, I enjoy it, I think it's a good winter activity to get them active and moving," Northern Lights Elementary Snow Club Coordinator, Kari Miller says.
FOX 21's Morning Meteorologist Ken Slama was one of the parents in attendance, helping his kids and others get the hang of the slopes.
"This is my second year and it's a lot easier to organize this year, first year was a little wonky back and forth. But yeah, it's not too bad, it's pretty organized, parents are really good at communicating, just getting that stuff out there early in the year was also a bonus," Miller says.
And who knows, maybe some of these kids will take on the sport professionally down the road.
Categories: Education, News, News – Latest News
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text:
The Secret World of Plants
by Science Vs
Plants aren't just sitting around looking cute; they're doing all sorts of stuff, like defending themselves, and even warning other plants about danger. Today, we're talking all about the weird and wily world of plants with Professor Beronda Montgomery from Michigan State University. She has a new book out called "Lessons From Plants."
Transcript: https://bit.ly/3kQ2bHg
This episode was produced by Taylor White, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Nick DelRose, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn and Michelle Dang. Fact checking by Taylor White and Nick DelRose. Mix and sound design by Catherine Anderson and Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka and Peter Leonard. Special thanks to the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.
Adderall: What's It Doing to Your Brain?
Science Vs
There's an Adderall shortage across the U.S., and it's causing huge problems for people with ADHD. But on the flip side, we hear people saying that we shouldn't be giving this drug out anyway. So we wanted to know: What is Adderall, exactly? What is it doing in people's brains? And is there any truth to this idea that Adderall is like meth — could it be dangerous? We talk to psychiatrist Prof. Rach...
When Science and Superstitions Collide
This is the THIRTEENTH season of the show! So we're diving into stories about superstitions and luck. We'll share the eerie tale of a 13-legged sea creature. We'll talk about a hot new telescope that's trying to look back 13 billion years ago to uncover the secrets of the universe. And we'll talk about a squeaky superstition that involves a rat — as the tooth fairy. We speak to marine biologist Dr....
Hypnosis: Does It Really Work?
What is hypnosis? Is it mind control? Are some people just faking? We're revisiting this episode in which we explore the science of hypnosis and take Science Vs to the edge of consciousness. In the service of journalism, Wendy tries to get hypnotized at a comedy club and in a doctor's office. We talk to comedian Jim Spinnato, Prof. Philip Muskin, Prof. Amanda Barnier, and Prof. Amir Raz.
More from Science Vs


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text:
Q: Filtering UDP packets accidentally sent to my port I am designing a simple protocol on top of UDP and now I've realized that someone else can send a packet to the port I'm listening on. Such packet will obviusly be incorrect for my application (I'm not concerned about security now)
Is there the way of filtering these invalid messages? I was thinking about adding some fixed magic number at the beginning of each packet, but how large should it be? Is 16 bits enough?

A: I believe the typical solution is to require a handshake (that could include a "long enough" magic number) in the beginning of the session. Of course the "session" is something your protocol needs to keep track of, UDP does not have the concept. Keeping a list ip, port and last packet receive time for all current sessions should do it: then you can drop all packets from a peers that have not done the handshake beforehand. This not only prevents random unknown app traffic from breaking your application but will also prevent multiple legitimate peers from screwing up each others traffic.
Additionally you could add either a session id or an increasing packet sequence number (with allowances for missing packets) to packets if you need to ensure that the peer agrees with you on which session this is.

A: Probably. Java uses 32 for .class files (0xcafebabe). But you only have 534 bytes in practical UDP so you might need to save a couple.


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Home / Articles / Adobe After Effects / Pyrotechnics: Creating Fire, Explosions, and Energy Phenomena in After Effects 7.0
Pyrotechnics: Creating Fire, Explosions, and Energy Phenomena in After Effects 7.0
By Mark Christiansen.
Article is provided courtesy of Adobe Press.
Date: Nov 13, 2008.
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Sci-Fi Weaponry
In a Blaze of Glory
Humans are so familiar with fire that we can tell when it looks wrong, even if we don't understand the physics of explosions and fireworks. By using Mark Christiansen's After Effects techniques, however, you can provide at the compositing stage what the filmmaker couldn't afford on set: realism.
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Adobe After Effects 7.0 Studio Techniques
The forest fire shot also contained a large explosion in a clearing. There's no huge fundamental difference between how you composite an explosion and how you composite fire, except that an explosion is far more likely to require a mixture of strategies. It's largely a question of what's exploding.
Explosions are caused by rapidly expanding combustible gases; implosions are caused by rapid contraction. Just by looking at an explosion, viewers can gauge its size and get an idea of what blew up, however, so you need to design the right explosion for your situation, or your result will be too cheesy even for 1980s television sci-fi. How do you do it?
Light and Chunky
Each explosion you see is a little bit unique, but to narrow the discussion I'll organize all explosions into two basic categories. The easier one to deal with is the gaseous explosion, one made up only of gas and heat. These behave just like fire; in fact, in the shot in Figure 20 the explosion is fire, a huge ball of it where something very combustible must have gone up very quickly.
Some shots end up looking fake because they use a gaseous explosion when a more "chunky" explosion is needed. A debris explosion contains chunks of various types of exploding debris. The need for debris is one reason that exploding miniatures—and even, when possible, full-scale explosions—are still in use. The debris cues viewers to several important pieces of information about the shot. First of all, how big was the explosion? The slower-moving and bigger the amount of debris, the larger the explosion probably was. For this reason, effects pyrotechnics tend to use miniatures shot with a high-speed camera. The resulting slow-motion effect makes the explosion seem much bigger than it was.
If your shot calls for a chunky explosion and you don't have any chunks in your source, you need to add them somehow. Many 3D programs these days include effective dynamics simulations; if you go that route, be sure to generate a depth map as well, because each chunk will only be revealed as it emerges from the fireball. (Many other concerns associated with this option are beyond the scope of this discussion, because they must be solved in other software.)
One effect that seems to come close in After Effects is Shatter, but it's hard to recommend this effect unless it's specifically a pane of glass or other plane that breaks. Shatter isn't horrendous for a decade-old dynamics simulator, but its primary limitation is a huge one: It can only employ extruded flat polygons to model the chunks. A pane of glass is one of the few physical objects that would shatter into irregular but flat polygons, and Shatter contains built-in controls for specifying the size of the shards in the point of impact. Shatter was also developed prior to the introduction of 3D in After Effects; you can place your imaginary window in perspective space, but not using a camera or 3D controls.
A wide selection of pyrotechnic explosions is also available as stock footage from such companies as Artbeats. In many cases, there's no substitute for footage of a real, physical object being blown to bits (see Figure 23).
Figure 23 Pyrotechnics footage is just the thing when you need a big explosion, filled with debris. (Images courtesy of Artbeats.)
5. In a Blaze of Glory | Next Section Previous Section
Working with Shape Layers in Adobe After Effects CC (2015 release)
By Lisa Fridsma, Brie Gyncild
Animating Text in Adobe After Effects CC (2014 release)
By Andrew Faulkner, Brie Gyncild
Saving Assets with Adobe Generator
By Brie Gyncild, Andrew Faulkner
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Starting in Neos Marmaras, you will ascend up the mountain to the old village of Parthenonas. The village goes back to the days of pirates, when the locals sought a high vantage point to protect them from danger. There are two options to reach your goal, either a more strenuous path to an old water mill and through olive groves, or an easier forest path. Parthenonas has a couple of taverns to enjoy.


Travis Spencer, a graduate of Grangeville High School, was recently selected to participate in the 2019 EMS Leadership of Tomorrow executive training program.
CALDWELL – Former Grangeville resident Travis Spencer was recently selected to participate in the 2019 EMS Leadership of Tomorrow executive training program.
For 18 years, Spencer has dedicated his career to EMS as a certified paramedic, community paramedic and licensed practical nurse in Payette County. In 2006, Spencer joined Canyon County Paramedics in Southwest Idaho as a paramedic where he provided ALS 911 level of care, as well as non-emergency transport services. In his 10-year tenure there, he also served as assistant supervisor, field training officer and reserve mentor.
In 2016, Spencer joined Payette County Paramedics as a paramedic/community paramedic where he was integral in developing the agency's Community Paramedic Program. His responsibilities included preparing grant submissions, providing treatment and resources to patients in non-emergent settings, and gather data for various state initiatives. Spencer is a vocal advocate for identifying innovative solutions for rural health service delivery and was named a 2018 Idaho Rural Health Hero by the Idaho Rural Health Association.
Spencer is also an instructor for the Community EMT/AEMT program at Idaho State University; is a member of the Crisis Center Workgroup that assisted in the development of a mental health crisis center in Canyon County; and successfully applied and was awarded a telehealth grant in Payette County from the state of Idaho for innovative healthcare design.
Spencer holds multiple EMS-related professional certifications, including tactical emergency casualty, flight paramedic, ACLS, PALS, neonatal resuscitation, critical incident stress debriefing and emergency neurological life support.
Spencer is a graduate of Grangeville High School and is the son of Bill and Kim Spencer of Grangeville.