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pushstartgaming
Gaming commentary and news with a healthy dose of opinion.
Archives for posts with tag: MMOs
FFXIV: Looking Heavensward
Oops! I was supposed to come back and post an update on my progress on Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, wasn't I? Last time I posted, I was just two back-to-back dungeons from the end, and hoped to finish the 2.0 campaign that week. Though I didn't post, I did finish the game!
So what have I managed in the last two months? Well, I'm coming up on the end of the 2.x content patches that lead into the first expansion, Heavensward. I'm just at the start of patch 2.5, having just (literally just – as in, about two hours ago) defeated the ice primal Shiva. I've also finished my Augmented Ironworks gear set, but have since glamoured it to look like the Daystar set, as I really wanted a new look after months with the Ironworks gear. You can see how my character currently looks below.
I've also been working through the Hildibrand questline, which is genuinely quite funny. It's made me laugh a good few times so far, as I follow around the bumbling inspector Hildibrand and his ever-faithful assistant Nashu. The last thing I did was fight, err… Greg on a… conspicuously large bridge. Ahem. It's been a lot of fun.
I've also recently got a new tattoo. More on that to come.
So now I'm on the cusp of level 59 and just have patches 2.5 and 2.55 standing between me and my first expansion. My Free Company pals are still miles ahead of me – two of them have now finished Stormblood, the second expansion, while a third is partway through it – but they're still hanging around to help me out. My plan is to finish Stormblood before the third expansion drops, which should be sometime around June next year. I really want to be able to look forward to new content releases, rather than seeing them as some far-off thing I'll get to a year or two later. I've a long way to go, but I've picked up the pace a bit recently. So here's to getting myself through Heavensward (and also being able to unlock some new skills, something I haven't been able to do since hitting level 50!).
Tags FFXIV, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, MMORPGs, MMOs, RPGs, Square-Enix, Stormblood, White Mage
Categories Final Fantasy, MMOs, PC, PlayStation 4, Square-Enix, Windows 10
Eorzea: At Journey's end. Almost.
March 6, 2018 //
Back in July of last year, I wrote about my return to Final Fantasy XIV's realm of Eorzea, after some time away. I thought it was about time to update where I am with the game, but first: a short recap.
I first played FFXIV when it was in beta phase 3, which is when Square Enix let in PlayStation 3 players for the first time. I'd never played an MMO before, though I had been tempted, but being a big Final Fantasy fan, I decided this was the one to break my duck. It also helped that a friend also wanted to play, and though he didn't get into the beta, we both picked up the game at launch, and I rolled a male elezen archer called Khroma Midgard.
Before long, I'd joined a Eurogamer forum-based Free Company and got through a handful of dungeons, but my friend drifted away from the game as he wasn't a fan of the ongoing subscription. My other guildies had also rushed ahead of me, and though I'm sure they'd have been willing, I didn't want to ask for help, as I felt I'd be holding them back. Though I managed to advance him to Bard, I abandoned poor Khroma Midgard at Haukke Manor, never to return, never to run that dungeon.
Though I'd managed to put over a hundred hours into my first ever MMO, it always bothered me that I hadn't finished the Main Scenario. And I sure as heck missed that world; I'd drop in from time to time – one such time being when I bought a PS4 and received a free upgrade to that version of the game – but I found that everyone else had moved on to other Free Companies or servers. At that point, I basically dropped the game entirely, occasionally casting glances at content patches and update news, but not meaning to return.
So what changed? I returned to the game partly because of Noclip's excellent documentary series into the game's turnaround, helmed by Naoki Yoshida, but mainly because a member of the Destiny group I joined last year, who had also played FFXIV in the past, expressed an interest in returning. An interest in starting again. It was the perfect opportunity for me to do the same, only this time on PC. So I re-subbed. And then I created a new avatar, one that would represent a new beginning, while also calling back to my original adventurer in Eorzea. I made a female Miqo'te healer, and as she was a Keeper of the Moon, I named her Khroma Moonsong.
So, after nine months back, what have I achieved? Well, I joined a new Free Company right from the off this time – indeed, I think I was the fourth player to join – I've become a White Mage, and I've long since passed my previous roadblock of Haukke Manor. I'm now less afraid to ask for help from my fellow Free Company members, most likely because they're made up mostly of members of the Eurogamer Discord community, so I find myself interacting with them daily outside of the game. I'm still far behind everyone else – I'm just slow at games, okay? – but I know I can always ask for help when I reach a dungeon or trial.
My goal for last year was to finally finish the A Realm Reborn 2.0 Main Scenario, which I didn't quite manage. But I'm almost there now; the last thing I did in-game is defeat Rhitahtyn sas Arvina, one of the main antagonist's most ardent followers. What stands between me and the end of the game I started more than four-and-a-half years ago is two eight-player dungeons. I'm nearly there! I hope to finally finish this very soon, and will update when I do. After that, I have more quests to do before tackling both expansions. Can I get Stormblood finished before the next expansion comes? Maybe that should be my next goal!
As for our Free Company, Eorzean Gaolers (EG, for Eurogamer, geddit?), we've grown a bit since I first joined. We're now up to 19 members (though a few of those are lapsed), and it's been really enjoyable for me to help newcomers to the game learn the ropes and get through dungeons; there are plenty of great guides out there, but what I feel a lot of higher-level players forget is that sometimes us newbies don't really get MMOs. Often it can help to discuss early-game stuff with players who have walked that same path, and it's really rewarding to help people see how much fun they could be having in Eorzea. Especially as the game now has an incredibly generous trial period, meaning new players are always joining in.
We've also since bought our own Company Estate in the Goblet, and after a lot of grinding for Grand Company seals (and having to suffer through the Aurum Vale with a random tank and DPS, ooh lordy never again), I finally managed to get my own room in the house a little over a week ago.
Now I just need to spend tens of thousands of gil decorating it. So far, I've changed the floor and walls (as a Conjurer of Stillglade Fane, I needed to bring a bit of Gridania with me to the Goblet, so went with a bit of greenery), and added a Glade Fringed Rug, a few Hingan benches, and a bed. It's a bit spartan at the moment, but I want to add to it over time, rather than throw a load of stuff in there and then decide I don't like half of it in a couple of months. Anyway, there's no rush as I still have tonnes of content to play through, and right now, there's an in-game event to celebrate Hinamatsuri that awards a Far Eastern doll display. I guess I'll put that in there when I get it.
Out in the real world, I now have the FFXIV lorebook Encyclopaedia Eorzea, as well as all of the excellent art books, including the latest Stormblood book. I've glanced through that and the two Heavensward books (while trying to avoid spoilers!) and I'd say they're an absolute must for fans of the game, filled with beautiful art and concept pieces from across four years of Final Fantasy XIV. It's safe to say I'm in deep now, and this time I don't intend to get drawn away from Eorzea again. (Also, I really want this)
I'll most likely post another update when I finally finish the 2.0 questline (hopefully this week or next!), but for now, here's one more shot of Khroma, lazing in her room, with her ever-faithful Relm minion close at hand.
Tags A Realm Reborn, Eorzea, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV, Heavensward, Japanese games, MMOs, Naoki Yoshida, Square-Enix, Stormblood
Categories Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, jRPGs, MMOs, PC, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, RPGs, Square-Enix
Overdose on Final Fantasy? Not possible.
I'm a little more than a fortnight into my new Eorzean adventure, so I thought I'd post a little update on my progress.
In the time since my last post, I've joined a Free Company, run the first three 'beginner' dungeons of Sastasha Seagrot, The Tam Tara Deepcroft and the Copperbell Mines with a mix of fellow guildies and randoms – god bless the Duty Finder, which immediately put myself and a tanking friend into a couple of instances – and progressed past level 30. Having joined the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, I'm now heading towards a showdown with the Primal Ifrit, and reeeaaally looking forward to getting my chocobo soon. Because sod running about everywhere.
Upon hitting level 30, I was given a million gil and fifteen extra days of game time, which is very handy as I wouldn't have been able to re-sub until the end of the month. And while waiting for FC members to run Sastasha, I also decided to try out some other classes; on my previous character I was a level 33 Bard, 17 Conjurer, 15 Pugilist and level 9 Weaver, so I decided to try a couple of different classes this time, just to see how they felt. So I'm now a level 31 Conjurer, 11 Thaumaturge and a level 6 Arcanist. If anything, trying these classes out has just reaffirmed that I want to continue on with my Conjurer until she's ready to progress to White Mage.
Hanging out at Aleport, waiting for a Sastasha run
I've also since grabbed the Stormblood expansion, which included Heavensward, from CDKeys for just £15, so I guess I'm in for the long haul now. I'm still really enjoying my time with Final Fantasy XIV, and though I'm still a fair way away from where I was before (I was waiting to run Haukke Manor with members of my old Odin FC at the time), once I get there, I've got a hell of a lot of new content in front of me. Of course, it's been a bit of a different experience anyway, seeing as I'm maining a healer this time rather than ranged DPS – I had played Conjurer to level 17 on my old character, but I don't think I actually ran any dungeons on that class – and it certainly felt fresh, creeping through Sastasha while keeping tabs on a group's HP (who am I kidding, I was basically the tank's pocket healer!).
I've got some work to do before I can become a White Mage, however. It used to be that you needed a second class at level 15 to progress to a full job – in the case of White Mage, you needed Conjurer at 30 and Arcanist at 15 – but things have changed while I've been away from the game. I'm actually not sure how I progress now, but I know I have to be at least level 30 and to have completed a certain main scenario quest – I think it was a quest to do with the Sylph tribe, and all I can remember about them is endless dancing… /dance
Hopefully I can make White Mage before poor Khroma dances herself to death.
In other news, I've also been playing the recently-released Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, which I just couldn't get into back on the PS2. I played for about 12 hours, made it to the Imperial Dreadnought after a meeting with Marquis Ondore, and just left it there. Whether it was the story, the characters or the gameplay, FFXII just didn't grab me back in 2006, yet this time I'm absolutely loving it. I think the fact that it was so different from Final Fantasy X put me off a bit, and the perception that it was an 'offline MMO' didn't help things much. Having actually played an MMO in the intervening years, however, they really don't have many similarities in my opinion. If anything, FFXII's 'Active Dimension Battle' system makes me think more of realtime with pause systems seen in western RPGs. I had wondered quite how I'd manage, playing both Final Fantasys XII and XIV at the same time, but I needn't have worried – it actually feels fantastic to be playing two expansive fantasy-based instalments with plenty of lovely Akihiko Yoshida design work informing the look and feel of both worlds.
Square Enix have done a great job with this remaster.
The Zodiac Age features a 'speed mode' option, which allows you to speed up the action by either two or four times, and using that to zoom through the more mundane sections of Final Fantasy XII – like dungeon combat against trash mobs – means that I made it back to the Dreadnought in around seven hours, rather than my previous 12 or so, and I've even been taking my time to more thoroughly explore towns and other environments this time out. It's a fantastic quality of life improvement that has helped me to genuinely fall in love with Final Fantasy XII – something I never thought would happen, and certainly not 11 years after its initial release. I thought at best that I'd feel more favourably toward this most idiosyncratic episode in one of my favourite series, so the fact that I feel this positive about it is an absolutely wonderful thing; having played so little of XII in the past, it may as well be a new Final Fantasy game to me.
One thing that's still a bit of a mystery to me is the Gambit system. I thought I had my head around it in the early hours, but upon arriving at Bhujerba, hoping to rescue Penelo in the Lhusu Mines, I happened to stop in a Gambit shop and dear god, the options I saw in there. There must have been hundreds of them! I'm going to have to do my homework and figure out more than just useful early-game Gambits, because that shop made my head spin at the potential intricacies of the system. My next stop is King Raithwall's Tomb, but I think I'll need to do a bit of housekeeping before I set out, and try to properly wrap my loaf around Gambits. It feels exciting though, rather than a chore; can I get my battle party working like a well-oiled machine without me even needing to intervene? Time will tell!
No you're not, Vaan. Stop being a silly billy.
It feels good to be so fully immersed in the Final Fantasy series again. I was cautiously optimistic about XV in the lead-up to its release, and I did find a lot to like in the final product, but even though they're each very distinct within the wider Final Fantasy canon, XII and XIV are giving me all kinds of nostalgic, old-school FF feelings. I'd love to see another Matsuno take on a big-budget Final Fantasy, or to see what Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida could do with an offline instalment. Who knows what the future holds? With Yoshida's MMO going from strength to strength (and with a Matsuno-penned, Ivalice-themed raid on the way!) and Final Fantasy XII finding a new audience, I'm genuinely excited for the future of Square Enix and their marquee series.
Tags A Realm Reborn, Eorzea, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Final Fantasy XIV, Heavensward, Ivalice, MMOs, Naoki Yoshida, Opinion, PC, PlayStation 4, Square-Enix, Stormblood, Yasumi Matsuno, Yoshi-P
Categories Hironobu Sakaguchi, jRPGs, MMOs, Opinion, PC, PlayStation 2, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, RPGs, Screenshots, Square-Enix
Three days in Eorzea
It's been a few days now since I restarted my journey in Eorzea, and so far, so good; I'm loving the experience all over again and really wishing I hadn't quit at all three years ago. I'm still taking my conjurer through her paces in Gridania, but progressing rapidly.
I did wonder, when selecting CNJ, if I might get a little weary of the Black Shroud; Gridania was my starting city last time after all, so I've spent many an hour wandering beneath its boughs. I needn't have worried; I loved the forest then, and I love it now. Gridania had always felt like a second home to me and I missed it sorely in my time away. It feels like coming home.
I'm also really loving the pace of things. I mentioned in my previous piece that leveling seems to have been sped up dramatically – I'm getting a 100% xp bonus for everything I do – and after just ten hours, some of which I've just spent wandering around, soaking in the atmosphere, I'm already at level 18! I'm sure things will begin to slow down at least a little bit soon enough, now that I'm into levels that require tens of thousands of xp, but right now, I'm flying.
Everything feels much faster paced, which I appreciate having done all this before, and it means there's much less downtime; where previously I might have needed to grind out a level or two in order to accept my next main quest, I'm now significantly ahead of the curve and free to just carry on with the story. Don't get me wrong, there was always plenty to do to help you level up, such as taking on levequests, participating in FATEs or filling out your hunting log, but this time I've barely touched any of that content, relying mainly on main and side quests to shoot through the levels. I did finish off my tier one hunting log though, if only for old time's sake.
Gridania has always been beautiful
Not everything is smooth sailing though. I'm playing the game across both PC and PS4, and each platform comes with its own set of hurdles for me to tackle. As I'm playing on a laptop, I'm finding target selection a bit of a pain thanks to the machine's trackpad – there's just not enough travel there for me to quickly and reliably switch targets. On console, I managed to remember that handy 'L1+R2' combo to switch to the next nearest enemy, but I can't remember how to reliably target allies – a bit of a problem when you're a healer! I suppose on the PC side I could increase my trackpad sensitivity – and it's something I'll probably play around with – but I think I'd be better off buying a USB mouse (seeing as i can't seem to find one anywhere! I'm sure I had loads of the little buggers knocking about…). As for targeting allies in PS4, well… I'd better figure that out before I hit my first dungeon!
One thing that made me feel genuinely stupid happened late last night, though. I'd forgotten to log out in a sanctuary, so jumped back on for a few minutes to get my Miqo back to the Carline Canopy – she deserved a nice soft bed for the night, and I needs that sweet rested bonus. I entered the Carline Canopy and jumped on a table to dance for a minute while I checked something else (there weren't even any sylphs around), and while I was occupied I heard a notification sound. Someone sitting at the next table over had sent me a tell. "Hello," said a fellow adventurer called Peregrin Took. "New to the game, or coming in from another server?"
'Well that's pretty nice', I thought, 'I'll reply!' Now, I was on PS4 at this point, and I know it's been almost three years since I last played this regularly, but I'm not kidding when I say it took me the better part of five awkward minutes, standing motionless on that bloody table, before I figured out how to do that. Well okay, maybe three minutes to figure that out, and another two to type a message out using the PS4's on-screen keyboard. I mentioned before that I used to be in a fairly busy linkshell – indeed, some days I'd just sit for an hour or more talking in-game – but when I used to do that, I'd have a USB keyboard plugged into my PS3. I'm going to have to dig that out again – luckily, unlike the mouse, that hasn't gone walkabout!
It's all a learning process though, even if it's mostly *re* learning stuff I once knew and have since forgotten. The important thing is that I'm back in Eorzea, and I don't ever want to leave again.
Tags Eorzea, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Gridania, MMORPGs, MMOs, PlayStation 4, Square-Enix
Categories Final Fantasy, jRPGs, MMOs, PC, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, RPGs, Square-Enix
Back in Eorzea, three years later
Recently, I wrote about my return to the time-sink that is Destiny after almost two years away from the game, and it seems as if there must be something in the water; just this weekend, I returned to the realm of Eorzea more than three years after I last logged into Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.
Though there are similarities here – both games are persistent worlds that require a large investment of time and a willingness to group up with others – the situations surrounding me leaving each game were quite different: where Destiny disappointed as much as it thrilled, I loved A Realm Reborn right from the get-go. I took part in phase 3 of the game's closed beta on PlayStation 3, pre-ordered the Collector's Edition, bought a PS4 almost solely to play the upgraded version, and even had a small series on here, called 'Postcards from Eorzea'.
But around April 2014 – not long after I'd upgraded to the PS4 version – I just drifted away from the game. From the official launch on PS3, I'd been playing with a good friend, levelling and running dungeons together, spending hours working on our digital avatars almost daily, and eventually, that friend decided that he didn't want to pay the sub anymore. I understood, of course: a subscription MMO is a commitment, after all, and if you've paid for access you feel like you have to play the game as much as possible. These games have a habit of monopolising your time.
After my friend quit, I tried to soldier on for a bit. I had a group of fellow Eurogamer forumites that I'd chat with in our Linkshell, but they were all far more hardcore than me, and so were much further ahead in the game. It just wasn't the same. So I stopped, and I've honestly missed it ever since. I'd still pay attention to news from the game, I'd sometimes look back through my captured screenshots and reminisce over some of the beautiful landscapes that make up the continent of Eorzea, but I didn't have any plans to come back. So what's changed?
My interest in Final Fantasy XIV was reignited in a big way when noclip's excellent three-part documentary covering the game's development was released just last week. Most people that follow the game will know that the original iteration of Final Fantasy XIV – what Square Enix now refer to as "1.0" – was an absolute disaster, with then-CEO Yoichi Wada going so far as to claim its launch "greatly damaged" the Final Fantasy brand as a whole. Square Enix embarked on an ambitious plan to not only continue to support 1.0, but secretly make an entirely new version of the game under new director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida, dubbed A Realm Reborn. The three-part documentary from noclip is an excellent, in-depth look at the death and rebirth of Square's latest MMO, and I'm honestly quite surprised how open members of the development team were allowed to be in their interviews. It's well worth a watch even if you aren't particularly interested in visiting Eorzea.
However, the main reason behind my decision to dive back in actually does relate to Destiny, in a somewhat round-about way. If you read my piece about going back to that game (and I am still playing! I've recently picked up Rise of Iron and am currently trying to get my hunter up to the required level to do the Wrath of the Machine raid), you'll remember that I joined a group on the100 – a good group of chaps united under the banner of Town Called Malice. One of the players there has also dabbled in Final Fantasy XIV in the past, and had also expressed an interest in going back. So now I had someone to go adventuring with! I was heading back to Eorzea.
I considered grabbing the Starter Edition on PC, as it's currently £7.99 in the Steam summer sale; I already have the PS4 client installed (and it took an entire evening to update!), but I quite liked the idea of splitting my play time between the two platforms. However, I remembered that I'd once bought a Square Enix mystery box which contained a Windows license that I never redeemed – I was fairly sure I wouldn't be playing the game again, back then. So I searched my inbox, and found the email containing my keys from the Holiday Surprise box bought in December 2015. Sure enough, there was a key for A Realm Reborn, but with it being a year-and-a-half old, I wondered if it might have expired. I headed to Mog Station, redeemed the code, and was granted a Windows license and a thirty-day sub! So I'm back in the game without having to spend a single gil!
As my original character, Khroma Midgard, was a male Elezen bard on the Odin server, I decided to roll something different this time. Please welcome Khroma Moonsong, a Conjurer on Louisoix.
I created a pink-haired catgirl. Yes, I know, I'm a walking cliche.
Ahem. Anyway, on my previous character I had played Archer up until Bard (levelling Pugilist along the way to unlock the Bard job, of course), as well as playing Conjurer up to level 17 and dabbling in a bit of Weaving. This time, I want to focus more on healing, so Conjurer is going to be my main class until I can get into White Mage at level 30 (I'll obviously have to get Arcanist up to 15 as well!). I think playing supports so much in Overwatch has conditioned me to dish out the heals rather than the DPS!
So far I'm still in Gridania, and it feels like the pace of levelling has been increased somewhat – after just a few hours I've already hit level 10, and though the last time I did this was almost four years ago, things do seem to be moving at a much faster pace than I remember. I'm guessing this is done to help newcomers get up to speed for the recently-released Stormblood; now that Final Fantasy XIV is two expansions deep, I suppose the dev team want to offer new players an easier ramp up to the late-game content and encourage them to get into the newer stuff.
I don't know what's possessed me recently and made me dive back into two games that demand so much of your time, especially when I'm struggling to get through single players games (I still need to finish Nier Automata, Mass Effect Andromeda and Breath of the Wild) and my backlog continues to grow (Oh hi Valkyria Revolution!), but right now, all I seem to want to do is wander through these populated, persistent worlds. Hopefully this time, I'll actually be able to make it through the base 2.0 storyline, and then I can think about moving onto Heavensward! This time, I'm planning to stick with it. And who knows, maybe I'll even revive Postcards from Eorzea!
Tags Danny O'Dwyer, Documentaries, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Making of, MMORPGs, MMOs, Naoki Yoshida, noclip, PC, PlayStation 4, Postcards from Eorzea, RPGs, Square-Enix, Yoshi-P
Categories Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguchi, jRPGs, MMOs, PC, PlayStation 4, Postcards from Eorzea, RPGs, Screenshots, Square-Enix, Yoshitaka Amano
Postcards from Eorzea: Limsa in the sun
I've never really managed to get my head around Limsa Lominsa. I know my way around my forest hometown of Gridania and I'm sure of my surroundings in the desert city of Ul'Dah. But every time I find myself in the whitewashed, watery environs of Limsa, I'm constantly checking my map. Sure, it's a bit of a tangle of elevated walkways strung between towers that jut proudly from the sea, but I shouldn't find it as confusing as I do. I don't know why I can't seem to learn it's layout, but I never feel at home.
It sure is pretty, though.
I've always loved the way Limsa looks. In fact, I think it's the most beautiful of the three city-states in the game, which makes it all the more bizarre that I just can't seem to get used to it. However, much of my time since getting back into the game has been spent travelling around the more familiar locations, seeing how shiny they now look on PS4, so perhaps I'll get used to it sooner rather than later.
After all, I can't continue the game until a certain friend gets back in game and we can run Haukke Manor together. Miqo'tes eh? They come and go as they please.
Feel free to share your own postcards from Eorzea, and let me know in the comments what you think of Naoki Yoshida and his team's world. I'll share another of my shots next week. To browse through this and previous editions of Postcards from Eorzea, click here.
Tags Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV: A, jRPGs, MMOs, Postcards from Eorzea, Screenshots
Categories Final Fantasy, jRPGs, MMOs, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, Postcards from Eorzea, Screenshots
Postcards from Eorzea: PS4 edition!
Wow, it's been some time since my last Eorzean postcard! My last entry in the series was back in November! Unfortunately I drifted away from the game for some time a few months back, just after finally advancing to the bard job class – I'd just bought both an Xbox One and Wii U, and so they were claiming all of my gaming time.
Funnily enough, it's another console purchase that brought me back to the game today, as my PS4 arrived this afternoon – just in time for the start of the platform's early access period for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. After transferring my PS3 license (for free, I might add!) to the PS4, all I had to do was install the client… which took almost three hours. But anyway, once that was all done, I spent a few hours getting reacquainted with the world; at first, I thought I'd completely forgotten how to play the game, but it all came back to me as I spent a couple of hours touring Eorzea, revisiting my favourite haunts and seeing how they looked on PS4.
With that in mind, here's a call-back to one of my previous postcards – a nice view of the Shroud's Little Solace, temporary home of the Sylphs, only this time in shiny PS4-o-vision.
(you'll have to excuse the renegade mouse cursor – I need to get used to that Dualshock 4 touchpad and stop accidentally brushing it with my finger).
BONUS ROUND!!
Seeing as it's been months since my last series entry, let's celebrate the impending launch of the PlayStation 4 version with a couple more screenshots. First up, here's a nice colourful pic of Nophica's Altar in Gridania. Notice the easter eggs scattered around on the ground – it's Easter in Eorzea, and that means it's time for the Hatching-tide festival!
As part of the Hatching-tide quests, adventurers are given fetching egg-themed headwear. Here's my Elezen bard modelling one of these handsome adornments.
And last, but certainly by no means least, here's a pic of the game on my Vita, running via remote play.
I was in a room directly below the room where the PS4 was, and while the remote play connection wasn't as stable as my Wii U, it was generally very responsive and playable. Controls are somewhat compromised, given the lack of buttons relative to a controller, and while I certainly won't be running dungeons on my Vita it was a perfectly good way to spend a couple of hours in front of the TV doing some crafting. I'll certainly get some use out of it for the slower-paced, more considered side of the game.
That's it for this edition of Postcards from Eorzea. I promise not to leave it so long next time.
Tags Early Access, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, MMOs, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, Postcards from Eorzea, Screenshots, Vita Remote Play
Categories Final Fantasy, jRPGs, MMOs, Playstation 3, PlayStation 4, Postcards from Eorzea, Screenshots, Vita, Vita Remote Play


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Latest updates on construction law and COVID-19
Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
Canada April 15 2020
Ontario's regulation on mandatory closure of non-essential businesses
Ontario's regulation on mandatory closure of non-essential businesses (discussed in our previous update), will now remain in effect until May 12, 2020.
On April 3, 2020, the regulations were amended to limit the list of essential construction-related businesses to the healthcare sector, critical provincial infrastructure, critical industrial construction activities and residential projects at specific stages. In addition, non-essential businesses could continue construction and maintenance activities necessary to (a) temporarily close construction sites that have paused or are not active; or (b) ensure ongoing public safety.
On April 10, 2020, the regulations were further amended to include construction projects that are due to be completed before October 4, 2020, and that would provide additional capacity in the production, processing, manufacturing or distribution of food, beverages or agricultural products.
The person responsible for a place of business must comply with the advice, recommendations and instructions of public health officials on physical distancing, cleaning and disinfecting.
We have provided practical answers to questions raised by industry stakeholders on the regulations in our webinar, which is available on-demand.
Construction Act – Lien periods and payment deadlines exempt from Suspension Order
The Ontario government previously issued an Order suspending limitation periods and procedural time periods for steps taken in proceedings in Ontario for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency (the Suspension Order). There was a lack of clarity regarding whether the Suspension Order extended deadlines under the Construction Act of Ontario (discussed in our previous update).
The Ontario government has now provided clarity on this point. The suspension will be lifted in respect of any limitation periods and procedural time periods under the Construction Act on April 16, 2020. Once lifted, parties will have the same amount of time to meet deadlines that had been remaining before the suspension began on March 16, 2020.
Accordingly, the deadlines under the Construction Act, including the timeframes in which to preserve and perfect construction liens, will begin running again on April 16, 2020. This is also intended to facilitate the release of holdback by owners, since owners will again have clarity on when the lien period expires.
As the response to the pandemic is evolving rapidly from a business continuity perspective, we encourage everyone to continue to stay informed as new developments arise and communicate to your employees, contractors, suppliers, subcontractors and other stakeholders.
Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP - Richard Wong, Roger Gillott, Lia Bruschetta and Jagriti Singh
Québec makes sweeping changes to its French language laws *
ESG: Increased activity and activism *
No exit: Force majeure and economic risk allocation during COVID-19 *
The freight train of privacy legislative reform keeps rolling *
Treaty rights and resource development: The cumulative effects claims begin to pile up *
Checklist Checklist: Reducing the risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) - guidance for employers (UK)
Checklist Covid-19: How to effectively manage risks to the business

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK TWELVE
HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE DESK OF THE "FUGITIVE" COMMISSIONER
In college, rivalry week is here and there are three big games with Tigers, Tigers, and Tigers. Several berths in the conference championship games are up for grabs this week. There are plenty of great games on both Friday and Saturday.
In the NFL, there are currently six AFC teams with 5-6 records fighting for one playoff spot. There are three games on Thursday.
Happy Thanksgiving from The Fugitive Commissioner and Temecula Calendar
MR. PETE'S LAST VAULT SHOW
ZEBRAHEAD, STRIKE TWELVE, HELP SHOWCASE LOCAL TALENT
Temecula, CA – Last night this reporter attended his last Vault show as Mr. Pete. As it says in Memoirs, music has always been in my life providing more than comfort. As the music scene developed in this valley, the young performers I started writing about came to call me Mr. Pete since I was older than most of their fathers. Last night like a father watching their kid graduate school, the feeling I had was bittersweet, that is, till the opening notes were played.
Last night's 5 band show was a good going away show and was a reminder of the level of talent that T-Town is going to miss seeing live at the end of this month. November 29 is a last free show and the 30th is a private Vault family show party.
We have read the bitter, now the sweet, followed by news of the big man in red. That's right Sports Fans, I have news of Santa and his coming party, after the jump.
WHERE WILL THE MAGIC GO?
Temecula, CA – With the closing of The Vault, an era of this valley comes to an end for the locals,
whether they know it or not. No longer will they, the locals, have an opportunity to hear live original music with some social commentary to it. No longer will this valley be an all-ages [no alcohol sold on premises] magnet to bring touring bands who want to play music for fans who want their music undiluted, non-pasteurized, not filtered and adult; not that commercialized pap that's played on the radio.
So now where will all the punks, the straight edgers, the dweebs, the loners, the young LGBTrs, the malcontents, and the politically young go for tuneage?
Tis the end of an era, a magical era that birthed a genuine 'scene' in the terms of what that entails, as set forth by George Plimpton's experience with Studio 54 in New York. It is the end of an era ignited by Local Punks, Finch, and Full Value Entertainment.
THE JFK ASSASSINATION – 50 YEARS AGO TODAY
THIS REPORTER WAS THERE, SORT OF
Temecula, CA – For those who have read the book, Memoirs of Mr. Pete & Mary Jane Green, see
ad this site, you know Chapter 7, 'Start of the Magical Mystery Tour', a Beatles music reference, heralds my journey into the 'magical' side of life.
If truth be told though, things like my Spidey sense were already waiting for that metaphysical time to begin. One of the first instances that such was the case happened on November 22, 1963. I was in the first few months of college at Wilberforce, Ohio, having graduated Male High School in June '63.
The Central State schedule I set up had a 9-10 class every M-W-F. It was a, I believe, overcast, wintery Friday but not too cold. I came back from class on that nondescript day and since I didn't have another class until in the afternoon, I decided to take a nap. The usual morning bustle was going on outside my dorm room. I fell asleep without any trouble and immediately started to dream. In the dream I was back in time, by about 100 years, and that wasn't all as I rubbed my eyes in the dream.
DEM CHANGES – VAULT RUNS COURSE A TO Z
CHRISTIAN CAUSE CRUSADED
Temecula, CA – "A change is gonna come" – Sam Cooke
By now anyone who reads the Press-Enterprise knows that the all-ages venue known as The Vault
is closing at the end of this month. Vanessa Franco posted a fine story and great pictures from some of the performances hosted there.
The picture at the right shows there was a little more to the place than just music acts, as you can see. After my next update about the Christian group known as Calvary Baptist, the Valley's franchise church, there will be more pictures that you won't see floating around.
When I am in LA some people ask me where I live when they find that I don't live in the country's second largest city. I always tell them "I love LA but I live in a magical valley. The character you see is just one of many that live there."
FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK ELEVEN
NFL - six more weeks in regular season, with the last four teams taking their 'bye' week this weekend (Week #12).
College - some big games this week, and many more big matchups during Thanksgiving weekend to pretty much wind up the regular season.
The Fugitive Commissioner of the FFHL, on the lam from the gambling police
ATTACKING AND SNACKING ON KRAKEN
PIGGING OUT IN LA
Temecula, CA – 'So two Jews walk into a pork barbeque place and one says…"Oy! It's Rosh HoshanaI You should be fasting."
The other replies, "Yes, but I'm not going to leave a tip!"
According to most stories I post about LA, it seems that I am always up there on art or pot
business, but a reporter, like an army, travels on his/her stomach. You have to eat. So this story is about some of the stops to eat at when in LA.
Being a city of millions, this report is just my latest munchies taste treat.
First up, don't bowwow the Sonora Dogs. These street vendor hotdogs, bacon wrapped, and served the way you want them [jalapeños, relish, mayonnaise, mustard, steamed onions – no High Fructose Corn Syrup ketchup, thank you] are great for that first night in town off the commuter train. For those who are political, the money spent here stays on the lowest and most beneficial level. $
MALCOLM X WORDS GAGGED?
BOOK RELEASE DELAY SOUGHT
Temecula, CA – Malcolm X was a great leader and thinker in a day of great leaders and thinkers.
As such, once he saw the truth that the motivation behind the system was greed and sex, not religion, he was doomed to be assassinated, which he was. However, he didn't see the truth at the end but rather a year or so before he was killed. JFK's assassination had quick repercussions. By 1965 he had come to alter his views toward racial separation and the people he once called all 'blue-eyed devils'.
Disheartened with the Black Muslims, an American branch of Islam primarily located in Chicago and New York, Malcolm X joined the Sunni sect and traveled aboard in non-European countries that last year, keeping a journal of his travels. The reproduced transcript was released yesterday but some of the heirs have filed suit to prevent publication. No source has revealed the reason as yet. After the jump, the trailer about the book.
FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK TEN
The NFL playoff picture is still fuzzy, with 7 weeks remaining in the regular season.
In college, there is still confusion at the top of the rankings.
There has been a Tebow sighting, but don't get too excited.
WELCOME TO THE MEATRIX
CHIPOTLE SETS NEW PACE FOR FAST FOOD
Temecula, CA – Nestled here in the valley between two/three hill ranges with arteries I-15 and I-215 running through, it is easy to forget there is an outside world if you don't have to leave these surroundings. Outside political battles are dreams to a bedroom/suburban community like Temecula, but not really. Luckily a local franchise company is leading the fight for better food for its customers – Chipotle Mexican Grills. The full story after the jump.
The following video is for a special group of friends and a demo far beyond the gentle hills of this magic valley. If you thought the GMO food fight was over pretty little middle class kids, back that truck up!
ANDY JACKSON AND THE C MONSTERS
CLASSES OF FOLKS
Temecula, CA – Today as always there are only a few classes of people on the planet. The first and secret class is the controllers. Long ago these were the elongated head Egyptian pharisees that were presented in school to us as been human. They weren't, which is why they were in control.
The next class is the owners. After that is heads of state. These important figures are elected/appointed, like The Pope. Alongside this class are the reigning families such as Queen Beatrice of The Netherlands.
Kowtowing underneath next is the government run by politicians and bureaucrats. After that are the workers and then the dependents.
The program is Work, Consume, Reproduce, and Die. Currency is what makes any circuit hum and so it is with society. After the jump, watch the biggest scam in history which is still occurring as you read this.
Here's a hint: The bankers missed Andrew Jackson but they got Lincoln and Kennedy.
STILL NECK AND NECK ON 522
Temecula, CA - This latest update on Washington State's fight to label GMOs is a letter of thanks to
everyone who contributed in anyway. The letter is presented in full to illustrate how the fight to know what is in the food you spend your hard earned dollars for is spreading.
'Eternal Gratitude! There are not words enough to thank you for helping lead the fight against the most powerful and corrupt corporations on the planet. The battle for Yes on 522 is not over and the fight for GMO labeling is just beginning! We want to give you a quick update of where we stand and what will unfold over the course of the next several days, if not weeks.
Last night voters in Washington cast their final ballots for Yes on 522, the citizen-led ballot initiative to label GMOs.
FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK NINE
We have some big games coming up this week in college:
On Thursday night, Oregon plays at Stanford and Oklahoma plays at Baylor.
On Saturday, LSU plays at Alabama.
The NFL has finished up just over 1/2 of the regular season.
I've even thrown in a horse racing story this week.
FOOTBALL NEWS AFTER WEEK EIGHT
I'm still struggling with jet lag and have put way too much time into this letter, but hope it translates to an enjoyable experience for you this week.
Miami at FSU this Saturday, battle of unbeatens.
(Ed Note: This column is late due to editor also traveling)
A LOOK INSIDE MONSANTO
Temecula, CA – Much has been said in this column about the American multinational giant that would seem to be the heart of the giant squid painted to represent Mankind's woes on the front side of the Kasbah at Occupy LA. From the local T-town GMO fighter Ann-Marie comes this in-depth corporate report about everyone favorite villain, Monsanto.
Following the jump is a 23 page analysis of the giant prepared as if you were going to purchase stock. This is being done in an effort to stay fair and balanced, along with staying aware. Remember, the more you know is the more you know. Also stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup and fluoridated [tap] water [drinking, using with food]. Have a great day.


The Hartsville Visitors Center at The Key provides a resource to residents and visitors alike for the wide variety of events and recreation opportunities in the Hartsville region. At the Key, Hartsville's Visitors Center, Hartsville merchandise from Coker College to Governor's School for Science and Mathematics to locally designed Hartsville spirit wear can be purchased. You can also shop The Key's Online Store!
Interested in Hartsville? Request some brochures and we'll send them to you!


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Q: Trouble converting string into List I have a string that looks like "34,45,74,23" and is dynamically generated. How do I convert this into a List?
var y = numString();
y.ToList();

A: This should give you a List<int>.
str.Split(',').Select(int.Parse).ToList();

If you are not sure that all strings are parsable to int, or your string contains multiple commas like 23,,24,25 or invalid charachters you can use Where to filter the sequence first:
var numbers = str.Split(',').Where(x => x.All(char.IsDigit)).Select(int.Parse);

Or you can use TryParse:
var numbers = str.Split(',').Select(x =>
        {
            int result;
            if (int.TryParse(x, out result)) return result;
            return int.MinValue;
        }).Where(x => x != int.MinValue).ToList();

Probably, TryParse is the best option because char.IsDigit returns true for all digits, not just (0-9).

A: Using Linq:
var numbers = y.Split(',').Select(num => int.Parse(num)).ToList();

A: This should do it for you
string source = "34,45,74,23";
var stringArray = source.Split(',');
var intArray = stringArray.Select(x => Convert.ToInt32(x)).ToList();

A: If you are sure that the format is valid you can use Array.ConvertAll and the List<T> constructor which is more efficient:
string[] numbers = "34,45,74,23".Split(',');
var list = new List<int>(Array.ConvertAll(numbers, int.Parse));

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: mysql - How to handle query search with special characters %(percent) and _(underscore) I have 2 records in my database, Tom%Jerry and Ninja_Kids. One has a special character %(percent) and the other has _(underscore). I tried the following commands in mysql terminal.
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE NAME LIKE '%%%';
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE NAME LIKE '%_%';

Both of the commands returned all the records.
How am I gonna make these return the record that has either % or _.
I know that % is used in mysql like a reserved word but what if there are cases that a record contains special characters mentioned above.
BTW, aside from the 2 do you know other special characters that don't behave normal?
Please help. Thanks in advance.

A: You need to escape % and _. The doc.
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE NAME LIKE '%\%%';
SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE NAME LIKE '%\_%';

A: Try using an escape character() before, like:-
select * from table where column like '\%\_'

to match for string '%_'


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Home PCDIY Builds The ROG Strix X99 Gaming motherboard illuminates a Broadwell-E gaming build
The ROG Strix X99 Gaming motherboard illuminates a Broadwell-E gaming build
Geoff Gasior
Today's PC gamers are much more than just players. They're streamers, competitors, audiences, and spectators. Some of them even create original skins, items, and mods for their favorite titles.
Increasingly, PC gamers are also builders. In part thanks to the fervent evangelism of the PC Master Race, the DIY scene is in the midst of a renaissance. Assembling a complete system and overclocking it to the limit has never been easier, and there are more options than ever for creating a custom aesthetic that reflects your personality. We've fully embraced these advancements with the ROG Strix X99 Gaming motherboard.
Priced at $339, the Strix represents a new entry point into the ROG family for X99—and a new twist on our gaming DNA. To see what the board is like in its natural environment, we used it as the foundation for a high-end gaming machine equipped with one of Intel's latest Broadwell-E processors. Needless to say, the results look fantastic.
Let's be honest; aesthetics matter. If they didn't, we'd still be building PCs inside boring beige boxes. The advent of RGB LEDs has opened up a whole new world of cosmetic customization, and the Strix X99 Gaming is at the forefront. The board's Aura lighting illuminates the PCIe slots, I/O shroud, and central ROG logo along with standard "5050" RGB LED strips plugged into an onboard header. With our intuitive Aura software, you can choose from a range of colors and effects for each zone or synchronize everything to maximize the impact of a specific look. The onboard LEDs work in standby, as well, complete with different colors and effects.
With access to the full rainbow, it's easy to match colors with other system components. Future software updates will also extend lighting synchronization to other Aura-compatible hardware for a more harmonious full-system glow. The 10 effects on tap offer something for everyone, from subtle breathing to streaking comets. You can rock out to your favorite music with the glow pulsing in time or watch the colors change based on the CPU temperature.
Thanks to CableMod WideBeam Magnetic RGB strips, it only took a few minutes to light up the build's internals with more lens flares than a J.J. Abrams movie. The strips give off plenty of light even when they're tucked out of sight, and their magnetic backs make it easy to tweak the positioning to make things look just right. Chaining strips together is simple, and the motherboard comes with an extension cable that lets you start anywhere in the chassis. We used three 60-cm strips, well within the header's support for up to two meters of lighting at full brightness. At $23 a pop, the strips represent money well spent if you're serious about showing off your rig.
The Strix X99 Gaming extends color customization to the decals on the chipset heatsink and I/O shroud. Orange decals come pre-installed, but you can swap them for pink, green, and silver replacements included in the box. The decals can also be removed for a stealthier grayscale look.
Corsair's new ROG Certified Dominator Platinum memory adds a splash of red that blends in nicely with the rest of the build. The 16GB kit is rated for speeds up to DDR4-3200, and configuration is simple: just select the XMP profile in the UEFI or flip the associated switch on the board. The Strix does the rest.
The 4 x 4GB kit takes full advantage of Broadwell-E's quad-channel memory controller, delivering more than double the bandwidth of more mainstream Intel processors for LGA 1151. LGA 2011-v3 is bigger, with room for not only more memory channels, but also additional PCI Express lanes and CPU cores. Broadwell-E tops out at 10 cores—and 20 thread via Hyper-Threading—in the Core i7-6950X. Modern games aren't multithreaded to that degree, so we scaled back a smidgen to the i7-6900K, whose eight cores effectively double what's available in Core i7s based on Skylake. We'd expect nothing less from a chip that costs more than a grand aon.
Despite the $1100 price tag, the Core i7-6900K doesn't come with a cooler. You wouldn't want a typical stock heatsink, though. Broadwell-E squeezes an incredible amount of horsepower and bandwidth into a tiny area, and serious cooling is required to keep temperatures in check when overclocking. We're using Corsair's H100i v2 liquid cooler, which dissipates heat across a 240-mm radiator connected to dual 120-mm fans. Available for $105, the all-in-one design is sealed at the factory to prevent leaks from clumsy plumbing. It kept our CPU stable all the way up to 4.4GHz, with temperatures low enough to avoid throttling even under demanding video encoding loads.
Liquid cooling pumps have particular power requirements, so they can respond poorly when powered by headers that treat them like fans. To ensure optimal cooling with minimal fuss, one of the Strix X99 Gaming's fan headers is configured specifically for pumps. Plug liquid coolers into it and their associated radiator fans into the usual CPU headers, and you're set. The board also has an amped-up header capable of supplying up to 3A to the industrial-grade fans favored by some hardcore overclockers.
There are five fan headers in total, and the pump header can be switched to air-cooling mode to make six, which easily covers the cooling needs of most gaming PCs. The headers automatically detect whether fans are three-pin DC or four-pin PWM designs and then adjust their behavior to match. While the defaults are fine, it's best to run the integrated calibration routine, which maps the exact range of rotational speeds for each connected fan. You can then precisely adjust how the fans respond to temperature changes by shaping their response curves with a graphical UI, tweaking their spin-up and spin-down times to minimize jarring acoustic transitions, and linking fans to different temperature sensors to optimize cooling for different regions inside the case. These options are available in not only our Fan Xpert 4 software, but also the UEFI.
Fan controls admittedly aren't as sexy as overclocking options, but they're arguably more important for everyday use. System noise affects your experience at all times, regardless of whether the machine is idling, gaming, or pinned with a punishing workload that hammers all the CPU cores.
The graphics card is by far the most important component for gaming performance, which puts us in a bit of a quandary. This build was specced before Nvidia introduced the GeForce GTX 1080, and the new hotness has cast a shadow over everything that came before it. Despite costing less than the $710 ROG Matrix GTX 980 Ti we used in the system, the GTX 1080 delivers better performance and additional enhancements for both VR and multi-monitor gaming. If you're building a new gaming rig, we wholeheartedly recommend holding out for the new card.
The GeForce GTX 1080 comes in multiple flavors, including Founders Edition cards based on Nvidia's reference design. We recommend our custom ROG Strix version. It has higher clock speeds than Founders cards, a beefier triple-fan cooler with support for GPU-regulated system fans, and customizable Aura RGB LEDs that nicely complement the motherboard and system lighting. Although the Aura software update that will synchronize lighting across the graphics card and motherboard isn't ready yet, you can at least match the colors and effects manually—and avoid the clashing ROG badge that stands out in the sea of red in our build. You can learn more about the Strix GeForce GTX 1080 in this article.
It may not be the latest and greatest, but the ROG Matrix GTX 980 Ti is still a beast. It maintained the maximum "Very High" quality throughout Valve's SteamVR Performance Test, with no frames dipping below the 90-FPS target established by the Oculus Rift and HTV Vive headsets. Like the Strix X99 Gaming motherboard, the Matrix GTX 980 Ti and Strix GTX 1080 graphics cards are both certified by our Beyond VR Ready program, which tests compatibility with popular VR headsets to ensure the best possible experience.
Modern graphics coolers are heavy, which causes the telltale sagging seen in many gaming rigs, including this one. The impact is more than just cosmetic, too. Heavy coolers can damage graphics cards and motherboards if complete systems suffer rough handling during shipping or when traveling to LAN parties. We strengthen our graphics cards with metal backplates to prevent sagging from damaging the circuit board, and we've now developed a reinforced PCIe slot that protects the motherboard. Dubbed SafeSlot, this new design integrates metal strips into the walls of the slot via an insert-molding process. The slot is then secured to the motherboard with additional solder points to prevent it from pulling away under physical stress.
Our internal testing shows that SafeSlot is stronger in every direction than similar solutions from our competitors. The Strix X99 Gaming's primary graphics slot features full protection, while the remaining slots have additional solder anchoring.
While we've opted for a single graphics card here, a second can easily be added to further improve performance. The benefits may be particularly apparent in future VR titles, with both NVIDIA and AMD offering the ability to target each of the dual displays in current VR headsets with a dedicated GPU. Broadwell-E is particularly well-equipped for multi-GPU configurations, as well. The Core i7-6900K has 40 PCI Express 3.0 lanes, which is enough to supply a pair of graphics cards with a full 16 lanes each and still have 8 lanes leftover for another card or multiple PCIe SSDs. Skylake processors for LGA 1151 are capped at 16 PCIe lanes, which introduces bandwidth limitations for multi-card configs.
Having capacity for PCIe SSDs is particularly valuable now that there are some really good options on the market. The Strix X99 Gaming is compatible with all of them thanks to its native M.2 slot and U.2 port. The two interfaces have four lanes of Gen3 connectivity between them.
For a system drive, we opted for Kingston's HyperX Predator 240GB, which is only $130 online. This "gumstick" M.2 SSD pushes transfer rates up to 1400MB/s, nearly three times the speed of SATA SSDs, and it plugs right into the motherboard, which makes the installation particularly clean. Although the drive is only 80 mm long, the motherboard supports M.2 SSDs up to 110 mm. The slot is located in the lower-right corner of the board, away from hot spots around the graphics card and CPU. Numerous tech sites have shown M.2 SSDs throttling performance as they heat up, so we want the drive to have as much airflow as possible.
While solid-state storage is a must for modern PCs, it's hard to get by on flash alone. The fact is that mechanical storage is still way cheaper per gigabyte, and that's a big deal when your Steam library is pushing into terabyte territory. To provide ample storage for games, media archives, and everything else in your digital life, we equipped the machine with a WD Black hard drive that weighs in at a whopping 6TB. The drive has a 7,200-RPM spindle speed, so it's still pretty quick for a mechanical unit. More importantly, it delivers a boatload of storage for only $292—or about five cents per gig.
The Strix X99 Gaming has 10 SATA ports in total, two of which reside in a SATA Express connector. There's loads of USB connectivity on top of that, including Type-A and Type-C flavors of USB 3.1, plus front- and back-panel access to USB 3.0. Networking is handled by an Intel Gigabit Ethernet controller and a dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi module with MU-MIMO support. The wireless module is part of the board, so it doesn't occupy a valuable expansion slot. It also offers Bluetooth support for wireless gamepads, smartphones, and other devices.
Audio is also integrated into the board, complete with several enhancements designed specifically for gamers. Clarity is critically important in the heat of battle, so the audio circuitry and codec are shielded to reduce interference from other system components and onboard devices. The board has premium Nichicon capacitors to ensure the best possible sound, plus dual op-amps to drive headphones with impedance up to 300Ω. On top of that, our Sonic Radar II software gives gamers an unfair advantage by mapping the origin and direction of in-game sounds on a visual overlay with a revealing view of the battlefield.
We built our Strix X99 Gaming rig in Corsair's Graphite Series 760T mid-tower for several reasons: the edge-to-edge window provides an unrestricted view of the components and lighting, the spacious internals make building a breeze and can easily accommodate future upgrades, and the smart cable routing options let anyone put together a clean-looking rig without too much effort. Oh, and it looks like the mutant offspring of a Cylon and Scout Trooper, which is pretty sweet. Just don't tell anyone we removed the 140-mm exhaust fan to better expose the motherboard's I/O shroud—that'll be our little secret. The airflow from the liquid cooler was sufficient to keep the memory and VRMs cool even with the CPU overclocked, so the fan wasn't strictly necessary. You can grab the 760T for $180 online.
While the chassis gets a lot of the credit for the clean build, the Corsair RM850x PSU also contributed. The fully modular unit has separate leads for just about everything, which cuts down on excess spaghetti. With 850W on tap and six PCIe power connectors, it has enough juice for another graphics card, if not a third. And the intelligent fan turns itself off under lighter loads. Add the 80 Plus Gold efficiency rating and affordable $110 price tag, and this was an easy choice.
There's more to putting together a system that merely assembling the components, but the Strix X99 Gaming streamlines the rest of the setup process. You can download and update to the latest firmware from right in the UEFI, before you even install the operating system. Once you're in Windows, our 5-Way Optimization software takes care of complete system tuning. With a single click, it automatically adjusts fan profiles, tweaks power settings, and overclocks the CPU. The auto-overclocking intelligence is much smarter than most competing solutions, which rely on pre-baked profiles that don't take into account the natural variance between individual chips—or the differences in cooling between various systems. 5-Way Optimization overclocks like a seasoned enthusiast, by gradually increasing the clock speed and testing stability at each step along the way. The parameters are highly configurable, so you can adjust the algorithm's behavior for different conditions.
With our Core i7-6900K and H100i v2 liquid cooler, 5-Way Optimization reached a stable all-core speed of 4.4GHz with a single-core peak of 4.5GHz. The chip normally maxes out at 3.2GHz with all cores active and 3.7GHz with the favorite core at full speed, so we far exceeded the stock configuration. More impressively, we did so with a process simple enough for even newbies to pull off.
Experts can use 5-Way Optimization to reach a stable starting point from which to proceed with more hardcore tweaking. If that's your style, be sure to check out our upcoming Broadwell-E overclocking guide. Instead of seeking higher frequencies, we decided to see what an eight-core chip like this can do in a gaming context. And we weren't disappointed.
Arma 3 is one of the more CPU-intensive games around. It supports dedicated servers, so we started one on the machine and then joined it with the game client. After that, we kicked off a Twitch stream with XSplit Broadcaster, added a webcam feed of the system's internals, and started a local video recording on top of that. We then loaded up our own stream in a browser for an appropriately meta final touch.
As it turns out, our over-the-top modern gaming workload barely made the system break a sweat. Even when we were running and gunning with 10 AI teammates in front of an audience of one, CPU utilization hovered around 50%. The system remained surprisingly responsive as we switched between windows, and the gameplay was silky smooth throughout. The results of this little experiment underscore the colossal computing power available in Broadwell-E—and the Strix X99 Gaming's ability to harness it effortlessly.
This is just one of three systems we put together to celebrate the arrival of Intel's new Core i7 processors for LGA 2011-v3. Don't miss our prosumer workstation based on the X99-Deluxe II and value-conscious VR contender built on the X99-A II. The trio nicely illustrates the range of options with our latest X99 motherboards. The possibilities for the Strix X99 Gaming are easily the most varied, with the board's extensive customization enabling the next generation of personalized gaming PCs. Making a PC your own is perhaps the most satisfying thing about building a system from scratch, and the Strix lets you do that in ways that no other board can.


How do I pray? This question is a recurring one in my dialogue with people. It is one thing to believe there is a God who is just and concerned about me and the world, it is quite another to figure out how to speak with and hear God. We're encouraged to "pray without ceasing" but what in the world can that mean for me and my schedule? And more critically, how do I pray for the world much less myself when things seem so out of kilter? In an effort to help you create a discipline of prayerful contemplation, the Pastor and Deacons have scheduled a Prayer Retreat for all day Saturday, June 3rd at Bon Secouer Retreat Center. The cost is a mere $25 and includes breakfast and lunch. Spaces are limited so be sure to sign up on Sunday where fliers will be available with more information.
Why must we suffer? Right along with the question of prayer, this question is at the top of most people's list. Some religious folks simply accept suffering as God's will. Others question how there could even be a God as long as there is suffering in the world. Christianity has at the center of its narrative a story about a suffering servant messiah. First Sunday Bible Study in both May and June will be a read and discussion of the book of Job, led by our Aspirant associate, Tonetta Landis-Aina. The study takes place after worship on those two Sundays and as well, Tonetta will preach on the book of Job in May. Mark your calendar, sign up with Tonetta and prepare to have a rich and meaningful study/discussion about a crucial human experience and question, suffering.
Our choir and music team continues to inspire us and we are grateful, particularly for Easter Sunday's beautiful worship service. If you have a musical skill, please let Lauren know. As we proceed into the second year of our interim worship at Jefferson Middle School, we are talking about and working on how we might expand to a second service in our community. If you are interested in helping us reach out to young adults especially and provide innovative ways both in schedule and mode of worship, please speak with Pastor Bledsoe.
We are a vibrant community. We are dedicated to loving one another and we have a vision that takes us into the future.


text:
THE CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION
OF THE MIDDLE WEST AND SOUTH
Follow @camwsclassics
About CAMWS
Loeb Classics Library
CAMWS First Book Award
The Subcommittee on the CAMWS First Book Award asks for your help in identifying distinguished first scholarly books (or digital equivalents) in the field of classical studies (including, but not limited to, the languages, literatures, history, religions, philosophy, art, architecture, archaeology, economy, and reception of Greek and Roman antiquity) published by CAMWS members in 2017, 2018, or 2019. Self-nominations are encouraged. Please note that nominated authors must be members of the Association in good standing and for at least the previous year and that CAMWS has a separate award for pedagogical books (see Bolchazy Book Award). In the case of co-authored books, all authors must meet "first book" and membership eligibility requirements.
Please send nominations, including titles and publishing information, to the committee chair by email (firstbook@camws.org).
The Committee will close its list for the 2020 award on September 1, 2019.
Books published after that date may be considered for the 2021 award.
The current committee's guidelines for awards include
wide significance within its genre
awareness of international trends in its field
All other factors being equal, the committee is looking for something that shifts the conversation substantially in the area covered by the book.
Recipients are encouraged to accept this award in person at the annual CAMWS business meeting.
Andrew C. Johnston of Yale University was a recipient of a 2019 First Book Prize for The Sons of Remus: Identity in Roman Gaul and Spain (Harvard University Press, 2017)
Thomas Keeline of Washington University St. Louis received a 2019 First Book Prize for The Reception of Cicero in the Early Roman Empire: The Rhetorical Schoolroom and the Creation of a Cultural Legend (Cambridge University Press, 2018)
2019 Award Citations
Subcommittee on the CAMWS Award for CAMWS First Book
Return to CAMWS Home Page
MAKE A DONATION TO CAMWS
Join/Renew Institutional Membership
Awards/Scholarships
CPL Funds
OUP Discount
700 East Broadway,
Monmouth, Illinois 61462
Email: camws@camws.org
FOLLOW CAMWS:
Classical Journal


Shafir Systems has over 30 years of experience in planning and building automated systems for different industries in Israel and abroad.
The company has executed hundreds of projects for large Israeli companies and continues to be a leader in the field of robotics and control, along with developing some of the latest technologies in the field.
The ability to integrate the most advanced controlled automation technology in manual production processes is a supreme asset for our customers, helping them significantly reduce the costs of production, increase output while maintaining or even enhancing the quality of their products.
• Studying the current process – Locate, study and document the existing production methods to acquire a firm understanding of the current process.
• Characterizing the new process– The customer writes up a PDR document describing the desired process, in terms of output, products and work schedules.
• Developing a solution and concept presentation – The development of an automated system that meets all the customer's requirements as described in the PDR document.
• Getting the customer's approval – Presenting the concept and getting the customer's approval to start the new system's production and assembly process.
• Certifying the process at Shafir – Assembling the system at Shafir and carrying out a full test run. Getting the customer's go-ahead to install the system.
• Installing the system at the customer's site – Assembling the new system on the customer's site and giving comprehensive instruction to the line workers on how to use it.
• Warrantee and service – Shafir provides a manufacturer's guarantee on all its systems and will make on-site service calls as needed by the customer.


This is a placeholder page for Kenneth Carson, which means this person is not currently on this site. We do suggest using the tools below to find Kenneth Carson.
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text:
Petr Kapoun (* 28. května 1942 Praha) je československý basketbalista, vicemistr Československa 1961 a trenér mládeže.

V československé basketbalové lize odehrál celkem 13 sezón (1960-1973). Hrál za kluby Spartak Sokolovo / Sparta Praha (11 sezón), Dukla Mariánské Lázně (1 sezóna) a Dukla Olomouc (1 sezóna). Se Spartou Praha získal 6 medailí, jednu stříbrnou za druhé místo v roce 1961 a pět bronzových za třetí místa (1964, 1966 až 1969). V československé basketbalové lize po roce 1962 (zavedení podrobných statistik zápasů) zaznamenal 1872 bodů.

S týmem Spartak Sokolovo se zúčastnil Poháru evropských mistrů 1960/61 s postupem až do čtvrtfinále (bilance 5 vítězství ze 6 zápasů).

Za reprezentační družstvo Československa v letech 1965-1967 hrál celkem 21 zápasů.

Po skončení hráčské kariéry byl funkcionářem a trenérem v klubu SK Aritma Praha.

Hráčská kariéra

kluby
 1960-1961 Spartak Sokolovo - 2. místo (1961)
 1961-1963 Dukla Mariánské Lázně 10. místo (1962), Dukla Olomouc 8. místo (1963)
 1963-1973 Sparta Praha: 5x 3. místo (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969), 3x 4. místo (1971, 1972, 1973), 5. místo (1965), 7. místo (1970)
 Československá basketbalová liga celkem 13 sezón (1960-1973), 1872 bodů a 6 medailových umístění
 vicemistr Československa (1961), 5x 3. místo: (1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969), 3x 4. místo

 Evropské poháry klubů - s týmem Spartak Sokolovo
 Pohár evropských mistrů 1960/61, postup do čtvrtfinále, vyřazeni CCA Bukrešť (60:50, 47:65)

Československo
 Za reprezentační družstvo mužů Československa v letech 1965-1967 celkem 21 utkání.

Odkazy

Reference

Související články
 Československá basketbalová federace • basketbalová liga • basketbalová reprezentace • statistiky
 BC Sparta Praha • Dukla Mariánské Lázně • Dukla Olomouc

Externí odkazy
 Sparta Praha v lize basketbalu mužů
 Historická tabulka střelců Sparty v 1.lize (1962–2005)
 BC Sparta Praha web bcsparta.cz
 Aritma Praha web cbf.cz
 SK Aritma Basketbal web skaritmabasketbal.cz
  Champions Cup 1960-61 web linguasport.com

Českoslovenští basketbalisté
Čeští basketbalisté
Muži
Narození v roce 1942
Narození 28. května
Narození v Praze
Možná žijící lidé

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


SQL Server 2005 improves an already great database management system. This book shows you how to put it to work in a hurry. You'll find out how to use the SQL Server Management Studio and the SQLCMD utility to write T-SQL code, retrieve data from single or multiple SQL Server tables, add data using the INSERT statement, and much more.


text:
var addEvent = function(elem, type, eventHandle) {
  if (elem == null || elem == undefined) return;
  if (elem.addEventListener) {
    elem.addEventListener(type, eventHandle, false);
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    elem.attachEvent("on" + type, eventHandle);
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    elem["on"+type]=eventHandle;
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};
function TinyPass() {
  this.cameraMatrix=Matrix.I(4);
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  this.customDraw = function() {};
}
function TinyWGL(canvas,zfar,yfov,resizefunc) {
  // Attempt to initialize WebGL
  var gl = canvas.getContext("webgl") || canvas.getContext("experimental-webgl");
  this.gl = gl; // always assign this so we can check if it's bogus because constructors can't fail
  if(!gl) return null;
  if(!yfov) yfov=60;
  if(!resizefunc) resizefunc = function(canvas) {
    canvas.width=window.innerWidth;
    canvas.height=window.innerHeight;
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  // Set up function calls
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  this.getShader = getShader;
  this.draw = draw;
  this.createVertexBuffer = createVertexBuffer;
  this.createIndexBuffer = createIndexBuffer;
  this.applyShader = applyShader;
  this.setTexture = setTexture;
  this.loadTexture = loadTexture;
  this.defaultTexLoad = defaultTexLoad;
  this.pow2TexLoad = pow2TexLoad;
  this.createRenderTarget=createRenderTarget;
  this.drawRenderable = drawRenderable;
  this.lastshader = null;
  this.lastarraybuffer = null;
  this.lastindexbuffer = null;
  this.needredraw = false;
  this.Mat4x4 = function(v,x) { gl.uniformMatrix4fv(v, false, new Float32Array(x.flatten())); };
  this.Float1 = function(v,x) { gl.uniform1f(v,x); };
  this.Float2 = function(v,x) { gl.uniform2fv(v,new Float32Array(x)); };
  this.Float3 = function(v,x) { gl.uniform3fv(v,new Float32Array(x)); };
  this.Float4 = function(v,x) { gl.uniform4fv(v,new Float32Array(x)); };

  // Set up internal variables
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    {"PMat" : this.Mat4x4,
     "ModelMat" : this.Mat4x4},
    [["Position",3,0,0]]);
  this.imgShader = this.createShader("texture-shader-fs","texture-shader-vs",
    {"PMat" : this.Mat4x4,
    "ModelMat" : this.Mat4x4,
    "Color" : function(v,x) { ref.Float4(v,!x?[1.0,1.0,1.0,1.0]:x); },
    "s0" : function(v,x){ ref.setTexture(v,x); } },
    [["Position",3,20,0],["TexCoord",2,20,12]]);

  this.identity = Matrix.I(4);
  this.perspectiveMatrix = this.identity;
  this.perspectiveCameraMatrix=this.identity;
  this.pass = [new TinyPass()];

  this.imgIndices=this.createIndexBuffer([0,1,3,0,2,3]);

  var v = [];
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    v[i*5]=(i&1);
    v[i*5+1]=-((i&2)>>1);
    v[i*5+2]=-1;
    v[i*5+3]=(i&1);
    v[i*5+4]=(i&2)>>1;
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  this.imgVerts = this.createVertexBuffer(v, 5);

  // Setup WebGL and the window.
  gl.clearColor(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0);
  gl.enable(gl.DEPTH_TEST);
  gl.enable(gl.BLEND);
  gl.blendFunc(gl.SRC_ALPHA, gl.ONE_MINUS_SRC_ALPHA);
  gl.depthFunc(gl.LEQUAL);
  var on_resize = function(event) {
    resizefunc(canvas);
    ref.canvaswidth=canvas.width;
    ref.canvasheight=canvas.height;
    gl.viewport(0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
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    ref.needredraw=true;
    ref.hfov=2*Math.atan(Math.tan(yfov*Math.PI/360)*canvas.width/canvas.height);
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  addEvent(window,"resize", on_resize);

  window.requestAnimFrame = (function(){
  return window.requestAnimationFrame ||
      window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame ||
      window.mozRequestAnimationFrame ||
      function( callback ){
          window.setTimeout(callback, 1000 / 60);
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  })();

  on_resize({});
}
function drawRenderable(type, shader, verts, indices, params) {
  var gl = this.gl;
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    shader.props[p](shader.propLoc[p],params[p])
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  if(!indices) {
    gl.drawArrays(type, 0, verts.count);
  } else {
    if(this.lastindexbuffer != indices) {
      gl.bindBuffer(gl.ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, this.lastindexbuffer = indices);
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    gl.drawElements(type, indices.count, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0);
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}
function createShader(ps,vs, props, attributes) {
  var gl = this.gl;
  var fShader = this.getShader(ps);
  var vShader = this.getShader(vs);

  var shaderProgram = gl.createProgram();
  gl.attachShader(shaderProgram, vShader);
  gl.attachShader(shaderProgram, fShader);
  gl.linkProgram(shaderProgram);

  if (!gl.getProgramParameter(shaderProgram, gl.LINK_STATUS)) {
    alert("Unable to initialize the shader program.");
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  shaderProgram.props=props;
  shaderProgram.attributes=attributes;
  for(var i = 0; i < shaderProgram.attributes.length; i++) {
    shaderProgram.attributes[i][0] = gl.getAttribLocation(shaderProgram, shaderProgram.attributes[i][0]);
  }
  shaderProgram.propLoc={};
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    shaderProgram.propLoc[p]=gl.getUniformLocation(shaderProgram, p);
  }

  return shaderProgram;
};
function getShader(id) {
  var gl = this.gl;
  var shaderScript = document.getElementById(id);
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    return null;
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  var str = "";
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    if (k.nodeType == 3) {
      str += k.textContent;
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    k = k.nextSibling;
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  var shader;
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    return null;
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  gl.shaderSource(shader, str);
  gl.compileShader(shader);

  if (!gl.getShaderParameter(shader, gl.COMPILE_STATUS)) {
    alert(gl.getShaderInfoLog(shader));
    return null;
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  return shader;
}
function defaultTexLoad(img,tex) { // works for all texture sizes
  var gl = this.gl;
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_S, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_T, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
  gl.texImage2D(gl.TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl.RGBA, gl.RGBA, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, img);
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, null);
}
function pow2TexLoad(img,tex) { // only works for power of two size textures
  var gl = this.gl;
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex);
  gl.texImage2D(gl.TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl.RGBA, gl.RGBA, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, img);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, gl.LINEAR_MIPMAP_NEAREST);
  gl.generateMipmap(gl.TEXTURE_2D);
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, null);
}
function loadTexture(path, onload) {
  var tex = this.gl.createTexture();
  var img = new Image();
  var ref=this;
  img.onload = (!onload)?function(){ref.defaultTexLoad(img,tex);}:function(){onload(img,tex);};
  img.src=path;
  return tex;
}
function setTexture(uniform,tex,cur) {
  var gl=this.gl;
  if(!cur) cur=0;
  gl.activeTexture(gl["TEXTURE"+cur]); // gl.TEXTURE0
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex);
  gl.uniform1i(uniform, cur);
}
function createRenderTarget(w,h) {
  var gl = this.gl;
  var fb = gl.createFramebuffer();
  gl.bindFramebuffer(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, fb);
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  fb.height = !h?this.canvasheight:h;
  var tex = gl.createTexture();
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_S, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_WRAP_T, gl.CLAMP_TO_EDGE);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MAG_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
  gl.texParameteri(gl.TEXTURE_2D, gl.TEXTURE_MIN_FILTER, gl.LINEAR);
  gl.texImage2D(gl.TEXTURE_2D, 0, gl.RGBA, fb.width, fb.height, 0, gl.RGBA, gl.UNSIGNED_BYTE, null);
  var rbuf = gl.createRenderbuffer();
  gl.bindRenderbuffer(gl.RENDERBUFFER, rbuf);
  gl.renderbufferStorage(gl.RENDERBUFFER, gl.DEPTH_COMPONENT16, fb.width, fb.height);
  gl.framebufferTexture2D(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, gl.COLOR_ATTACHMENT0, gl.TEXTURE_2D, tex, 0);
  gl.framebufferRenderbuffer(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, gl.DEPTH_ATTACHMENT, gl.RENDERBUFFER, rbuf);
  gl.bindTexture(gl.TEXTURE_2D, null);
  gl.bindRenderbuffer(gl.RENDERBUFFER, null);
  gl.bindFramebuffer(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, null);
  return {"rt" : fb, "tex" : tex, "renderbuffer" : rbuf};
}
function createVertexBuffer(vertices, elem) {
  if(!elem || (~~(vertices.length%elem)) != 0) {
    alert("vertices.length % elem is not zero! Elem should be the size of each vertex (the number of coordinates in it).");
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  var gl=this.gl;
  var r = gl.createBuffer();
  r.elem = ~~elem;
  r.count = ~~(vertices.length/elem);
  gl.bindBuffer(gl.ARRAY_BUFFER, this.lastarraybuffer=r);
  gl.bufferData(gl.ARRAY_BUFFER, new Float32Array(vertices), gl.STATIC_DRAW);
  return r;
}
function createIndexBuffer(indices) {
  var gl=this.gl;
  var r = gl.createBuffer();
  r.count = indices.length;
  gl.bindBuffer(gl.ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, this.lastindexbuffer=r);
  gl.bufferData(gl.ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, new Uint16Array(indices), gl.STATIC_DRAW);
  return r;
}
function applyShader(shader,verts) {
  var gl = this.gl;
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        gl.disableVertexAttribArray(this.lastshader.attributes[i][0]);
      }
    }
    if(this.lastshader == null || this.lastshader.attributes.length != shader.attributes.length) {
      for(var i = 0; i < shader.attributes.length; i++) {
        gl.enableVertexAttribArray(shader.attributes[i][0]);
      }
    }
    gl.useProgram(this.lastshader=shader);
  }
  if(verts!=this.lastarraybuffer)
    gl.bindBuffer(gl.ARRAY_BUFFER, this.lastarraybuffer=verts);
  for(var i = 0; i < shader.attributes.length; i++) {
    var attr = shader.attributes[i];
    gl.vertexAttribPointer(attr[0], attr[1], gl.FLOAT, false, attr[2], attr[3]);
  }
}
function draw() {
  var gl=this.gl;
  var ref=this;
  window.requestAnimFrame(function(){ ref.draw() });
  var timeNow = (new Date()).getTime();
  this.delta = timeNow - this.lastTime;
  this.delta *= this.timeWarp;
  this.time += this.delta;
  this.lastTime = timeNow;

  if(this.timeWarp===0.0 && !this.needredraw) return;
  gl.clear(gl.COLOR_BUFFER_BIT|gl.DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);
  this.needredraw=false;

  for(var j = 0; j < this.pass.length; j++) {
    var pass=this.pass[j];
    pass.onDraw();
    this.perspectiveCameraMatrix = this.perspectiveMatrix.x(pass.cameraMatrix);
    gl.bindFramebuffer(gl.FRAMEBUFFER, pass.rendertarget);
    pass.customDraw();

    for(var i = 0; i < pass.renderables.length; i++) {
      var r = pass.renderables[i];
      if(!r.render(this)) {
        ref.applyShader(r.shader, r.verts);
        ref.drawRenderable(r.type, r.shader, r.verts, r.indices, r.params);
      }
    }
  }
}
function TinyRenderable(type, shader, verts, indices, params, renderfunc) {
  this.type = type;
  this.shader = shader;
  this.verts = verts;
  this.indices = indices;
  this.params = params;
  if(renderfunc == null) renderfunc = function() {};
  this.render = renderfunc;
}
function TinyImage(path,tinywgl,shader,pow2) {
  if(typeof path === 'string') path = [path];
  if(!shader) shader = tinywgl.imgShader;

  var params={"ModelMat" : Matrix.I(4)};
  for(var i = 0; i < path.length; ++i) {
    params["s"+i] = tinywgl.loadTexture(path[i],!pow2?0:function(img,tex){tinywgl.pow2TexLoad(img,tex);});
  }

  TinyRenderable.call(this, tinywgl.gl.TRIANGLES, shader, tinywgl.imgVerts, tinywgl.imgIndices, params, function(wgl) { this.params["PMat"] = tinywgl.perspectiveCameraMatrix; })
}
function FullScreenQuad(tex,tinywgl) {
  var v = [];
  for(var i = 0; i < 4; ++i)
  {
    v[i*5]=((i&1)<<1) - 1;
    v[i*5+1]=-((i&2) - 1);
    v[i*5+2]=0;
    v[i*5+3]=(i&1);
    v[i*5+4]=(i&2)>>1;
  }
  TinyRenderable.call(this, tinywgl.gl.TRIANGLES, tinywgl.imgShader, tinywgl.createVertexBuffer(v, 5), tinywgl.imgIndices, {"PMat" : Matrix.I(4), "ModelMat" : Matrix.I(4), "s0" : tex });
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Model of Professionalism
Teaching Profession Opinion
By David Ginsburg — December 11, 2010 3 min read
"I'm stale," Bill Buchanan said, in reaching out to me for classroom coaching. "And I'm boring the kids to tears." It was September 2003, and Bill was in his 19th year as a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) math teacher, originally at Farragut High School and by this time at Foreman High School. And I, after eight years in the classroom, was in my first year as a CPS math coach serving Foreman and seven other schools.
Oddly enough, our experience gap wasn't the biggest reason I was surprised Bill asked me to coach him. What made it even more unlikely was the response I got from other teachers. Make that lack of response. My coaching services were optional, and out of 150 teachers at eight schools, Bill was my only "customer" that first month or so on the job. Still, I didn't begrudge teachers for this, since I too would have been wary of someone coming from the regional office to "help" me. The fact Bill Buchanan was my only taker early on is not therefore an indictment of 149 teachers, but rather testimony to one. Bill had been rated a superior teacher throughout his career, and was halfway through the National Board Certification Process. He didn't need coaching; he wanted it. And he wanted it for one reason, as his "boring kids to tears" comment suggests: to do even better for his students.
It took time for me as math coach to fit in at each school when I could only be there twice a month. Far less time, however, at Foreman than other schools thanks to Bill, who insisted we have lunch together my first day there. We met for lunch most of my visits thereafter, along with many of Bill's colleagues across all departments. And this wasn't misery loves company commiseration, but rather collegiality at its best, with Bill setting the tone. For so many of us who worked with Bill, to have him as a colleague was to have him as a friend. He was so generous and likeable that I often found myself pulling for his beloved Cleveland sports teams--not against Chicago teams, of course.
Just as Bill helped me find my way at Foreman, so too did he go beyond the call to help new teachers. And he was always optimistic about a teacher's prospect for success. "You have to see [so and so] teach--frickin' awesome," Bill would say to me. And with Bill's support, even when these teachers struggled, they would eventually succeed. "Bill helped me through one of the toughest times of my life," recalls one of those teachers, Esteban Medina. "He would give up his free periods to sit in on my lessons, and then take time to give me meaningful feedback and much-needed encouragement."
Bill also found good in situations when others felt put out. As he and I left a six-hour training that seemed like six days to me, I was about to say, "What a drag," when Bill broke in with "Great stuff." He then brainstormed how he would apply that "stuff" when he took over as Foreman's math chair the following year. Bill was really looking forward to the math chair role, but was such a team player that, just weeks before he was scheduled to (and eventually did) take over, he offered the job to a teacher he was recruiting to come to Foreman.
Bill and I remained friends after I left CPS, and talked about the possibility of working together again. Bill died last month after a six-year battle with cancer, so I'll never know if we would have worked together again. But never mind what might have been. What matters is what was. And for me and many others who had the privilege of working with him, Bill Buchanan was a once-in-a career colleague and cherished friend. He was also--and will always be--a model of professionalism whether you knew him or not.
Image provided by Bob Cohen with permission.
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The International Circulation of 'Cesare deve morire'
by Elena Prati / April 18, 2019
Cesare deve morire, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, written together with Fabio Cavalli, was produced by Kaos Cinematografica, in collaboration with Stemal Entertainment and Rai Cinema. It is largely filmed in black and white, and the directors declared in various interviews, that the idea came from seeing performances of Shakspeare's Julius Caesar in Neapolitan and Sicilian.
In Italy, the distribution of Cesare deve morire was organized through 41 screens and lasted 16 weeks. In the first weekend of theatrical release the film grossed $116.172 and reached a total of $961.469, through a total of 135.298 admissions.
The film had a very positive critical reception, both nationally and internationally, and won a large number of prices. In 2012 it won the Golden Bear at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival (the last Italian film winning a Golden Bear was 21 years earlier, with Marco Ferreri's The House of Smiles in 1991). In the same year, it was also nominated for eight David di Donatello of which it won five including Best film, Best Director, Best Producer, Best Film Editing and Best Sound. Between 2012 and 2013, it collected numerous nominations and prizes in other Italian and international festivals.
First Weekend ($)
Box Office ($)
IT 2 March 2012 41 16 116.172 961.469
CH 17 Aoril 2014 / / / 34.827
FR 17 October 2012 / 15 5.063
UK 1 March 2013 / 1 10.896
USA 1 February 2013 4 20 10.002
Sources: LumièrePro, BoxOfficeMojo
In Switzerland the was distributed by the Cinématèque Suisse on April 17th, 2014, but as of September 2019 it does not present any SVOD or VOD distribution in the region.
The official release in French theatres was on October 17th, 2012, but the following year the movie took also participated at the Festival d'éducation d'Evreux, in December 2013. The official title in France was César doit mourir, and it was distributed by Bellissima Films. It can be rented or bought through VOD services like CanalVOD, RakuntenTV and others.
OTT - SVOD
OTT - Rent/Buy
IT 961.469
/ Chili, RakutenTV, iTunes, Google Play
CH 34.827
FR 20.345
/ Canal VOD, Imineo, Videofutur, FilmoTV, RakutenTV
UK 10.896
Amazon Prime Video /
USA 76.908
/ Kanopi iTunes, GooglePlay, YouTube
In UK Caesar Must Die was presented on February 15th, 2013 at the Glasgow Film Festival and distributed by New Wave, from March 1st, 2013. It remained only a few days in the theatres.
In the US the movie was distributed by Adopt Film from February 1st, 2013. However, Caesar Must Die has had several early presentations in different film festivals, including the New York Film Festival (September 29th, 2012), Hawaii Film Festival (October 14th, 2012), Starz Denver Film Festival (November 10th, 2012) and St. Louis International Film Festival (November 17th, 2012).
Tags: Cesare deve morire, Taviani
Elena Prati / The International Circulation of 'La Bestia Nel Cuore'
February 28, 2019 in Articles
Giuseppe Previtali / The International Circulation of Italian Mondo Movies
December 18, 2018 in Articles
Paola Brembilla / The Critical Reception of 'Saturno Contro' Abroad


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Q: Apache mod_rewrite rule for redirecting an url from one with directorys to one with a hashtag Im trying to write a redirect rule with mod_rewrite, but somehow it never functions, so i must be doing something wrong :(
The below is the rewrite rule as i've defined it in an .htaccess file, it should be noted that there's another  block above this one, that comes from WordPress, i tried combining that one and the below into 1 rewrite rule to see if that was maybe the issue, but that also didn't fix things. Anyway, this is what i have:
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =facebookexternalhit\/[0-9]+(\.[0-9]+)*
RewriteRule ^/hash/([A-Za-z0-9-]+)/?$ \#$1 [R]
</IfModule>

The RewriteCond part checks if the request comes via Facebook (kept out of the equation so far during my testing of the RewriteRule) i'm not sure if this actually works, but i came across it in multiple StackOverflow questions, so i'm assuming that's fine (honestly it doesn't really matter, and i may omit that condition all together, just posted here in-case it turns out to be invalid)
The RewriteRule part should redirect all url's containing /hash/ too url's containing #, so what this means is that http://www.example.com/hash/home should redirect the browser too http://www.example.com#home
I've tried a load of different iterations of the above, but whatever i try, it simply doesn't appear to function, hence this question, does anybody see anything wrong with the code? would it be an issue that there are multiple  blocks defined in 1 .htaccess file?
Finally, is this even a valid solution? the actual underlying problem is this:
I have a site that uses hash-tags to navigate to certain pages, in the site there are some sharing buttons that share the current url a user is looking at, Twitter LinkedIn and Google+ all handle the shared url's (containing a hash-tag) without issue, but Facebook strips the hash-tag from the url in the sharer (if send it along as # hash-tag, if i try send it along as url encoded %23 hashtag Facebook reports a 404 on the url), so i need to make a workaround for Facebook where i can share a url without a hash-tag with Facebook, and then redirect those url's to something actually understood by the website when a visitor or the Facebook sharing api 'comes knocking'.
Any help highly appreciated!


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What is the electron configuration of the neon atom?
Chemistry Electron Configuration Electron Configuration
Doc Croc.
[2,8] or #1s^2 2s^2 2p^6#
Neon has atomic number 10, so a neon atom has 10 protons in its nucleus and therefore 10 electrons. The n=1 shell can only hold 2 electrons, so the remaining 8 electrons fill the n=2 shell.
The more detailed version of the electronic configuration reflects the sub-shells in the n=1 and n=2 shells, where the n=1 shell just has a single s-sub shell containing a single s-orbital which can hold up to 2 electrons. The n=2 shell consists of an s-sub shell with a single s-orbital and a p-sub shell with three p-orbitals, so a total capacity of 8 electrons.
How do electron configurations in the same group compare?
How do the electron configurations of transition metals differ from those of other elements?
How do electron configurations affect properties and trends of a compound?
What is the electron configuration for a sodium ion?
What is the electron configuration for a nitride ion?
What is the electron configuration of chromium?
What is the electron configuration of copper?
What is Hund's Rule?
What is the ground state electron configuration of the element germanium?
What are some examples of electron configurations?
See all questions in Electron Configuration