text:
Three Mile Island's Murderous Legacy Still Threatens Us All
by Harvey "Sluggo" Wasserman
The Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station. (photo: AJ)
By Harvey Wasserman, Reader Supported News
orty years ago this week, the Three Mile Island nuke began pouring lethal radiation into our air and water, lungs and livers.
Throughout central Pennsylvania and beyond, people, animals, plants, and the planet began to die en masse.
In 1980, a mile from the plant, I interviewed many of the immediate victims. It was the worst week of my life.
Today 98 US reactors could repeat the slaughter. Worldwide there are about 450. Many are falling apart. Each could deliver a lethal dose of apocalyptic proportions. All heat the planet, emit carbon, kill nearby newborns, suck up public money, hinder renewables, and threaten fresh catastrophes.
None are "zero emission" or "carbon free." None can compete with the solar, wind, battery storage, and LED/efficiency technologies that can save us from a fried planet.
If we're to live on this Earth, King CONG (Coal, Oil Nukes & Gas) must die.
Since TMI, Solartopian costs have become far cheaper than fully amortized reactors.
And nuke costs have soared. Last week Trump slipped in another $3.7 billion in federal loans for two reactors under construction at Vogtle, Georgia. They may ultimately cost $25 billion or more and still never open.
They're bankrupting the state, having already helped gut Westinghouse and Toshiba. They'll never come close to competing with wind, solar, batteries or LED/efficiency, which will create far more jobs.
A quarter-million Americans now work in solar energy alone, with another hundred thousand in wind. More Californians work in solar than dig coal nationwide.
Two nukes in South Carolina were recently canceled at a cost of billions. Two more being built in France and Finland are years behind schedule and billions over budget.
The current crop of nuke fanatics wants more. They'll waste billions of public dollars. But proposed new reactors are so much more expensive than renewables that except for a few big boondoggles, they'll never be built.
The real threat is the reactors that still operate … the Three Mile Islands in progress.
All heat the planet with massive steam and hot water emissions. Their cooling towers kill thousands of bats and birds. The heat, radiation, and chemicals spewed by their out-take pipes destroy entire marine ecosystems, including millions of fish. The radiation from Fukushima still pours into the Pacific.
Most reactors are losing huge amounts of money. In New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio (for starters) owners are demanding billions in bailouts.
Nuke operators in Ohio and California are bankrupt. Pacific Gas & Electric is under criminal parole for killing eight people in a 2010 San Bruno fire. It's being sued for more than $10 billion by residents of northern California, where PG&E started fires that killed 80 people, incinerated 12,000 structures and destroyed one of Earth's most precious ecosystems.
The predecessor to Ohio's bankrupt FirstEnergy blacked out the entire northeast in 2003. But First Energy now runs the crumbling Davis-Besse and Perry reactors.
All nukes worldwide are embrittled to some degree. If cold water is poured in to stop an out-of-control chain reaction, their pressure vessels will shatter like glass, causing an apocalypse.
But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not want to inspect these reactors. With one exception, all US reactors are more than 20 years old. Some are more than forty.
Citizen activists have asked California Governor Gavin Newsom to inspect the two reactors at Diablo Canyon, which could send a radioactive cloud pouring over the ten million people in downwind Los Angeles. Nationwide, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is rubber-stamping new reactor licenses without inspecting to see if they're embrittled, cracked, properly maintained, earthquake-vulnerable, handling their nuke wastes properly … or if the companies that own them are capable of actually running these giant, aging, insanely complex reactors.
Diablo Canyon is surrounded by active earthquake faults. So is New York's Indian Point, north of NYC. Ohio's Perry and Virginia's North Anna have already experienced seismic damage.
Forty years after TMI, the question is: How many more operating nukes will blow up like Fukushima and Chernobyl, or partially melt like Three Mile Island, pouring heat and radiation into the ecosphere?
As the existing reactors fry the planet, we have no excuses. We saw what happened at TMI forty years ago.
We can't let it happen again, especially when the Solartopian alternatives are so cheap and ready to go.
And especially knowing the nightmares that will ensue after the next one explodes.
Harvey Wasserman's Green Power & Wellness Show is podcast at prn.fm; California Solartopia is broadcast at KPFK-Pacifica, 90.7 fm, Los Angeles. His Life & Death Spiral of US History: From Deganawidah to The Green New Deal to Solartopia will soon be at www.solartopia.org.


It's Chriiiiiiiistmaaaaaas! Crack open the mince pies, mull the wine, dig out your festive jumper and settle down with For Folk's Sake It's Christmas 2013.
Our now traditional festive compilation is available to buy now from www.forfolkssake.bandcamp.com. You can get your hands on a lovely digipak CD designed by Sarah Oxley for £9 + P&P, and the record is also available to download in your choice of high-quality format for just £7. All profits go to Médecins Sans Frontières.
A huge thank you to all the brilliant artists who donated their songs to the record. Laish and Left with Pictures have gone one better producing Christmas videos for their tunes. Enjoy!


Melton's historic Swan Porch has missed out on being recognised with a green plaque this year - but will be put forward again for recognition next year.
Leicestershire County Council's Green Plaque scheme recognises individuals or properties which have played an important role in Leicestershire life.
Swan Porch, in Melton's Market Place, has played a major part in the town's heritage and had a pivotal part in an incident in 1837 which sparked the popular saying 'Painting the Town Red'.
But following a public vote it failed to get enough votes to make the list of six winners which will have plaques installed this year.


Diflucan (fluconazole) is used to prevent and treat a variety of fungal and yeast infections. It belongs to a class of drugs called azole antifungals.
Can you buy diflucan at walmart. There are important factors that should be considered when choosing to study in general, but massage school takes special consideration, as it falls into the realm of therapy and, can you buy diflucan at walmart, healthcare.
Diflucan Walmart Cost. Is Fluconazole A Generic For Diflucan Diflucan Walmart Cost. Search. Main menu. Skip to primary content. Skip to secondary content. Home; Diflucan low cost. Posted on cus om by markbyronlen ... 1992 and where can i buy diflucan online.
fluconazole at walmart where can i buy fluconazole for dogs 300mg fungal skin infection diflucan diflucan pill how long until it works fluconazole oral suspension thrush Home; Membership. Dual Memberships. NTOA; OTOA; ITOTA; Application; Training.
Tv, oral medication best price for viagra online, diflucan pdf fluconazole dosage days. Fluconazole en espanol does come generic side effects bloating how many fluconazole should I take for a penile yeast, is sold over the counter at walmart.
Are you a non-profit agency in need of help maintaining your vehicles? In an can you buy diflucan at walmart effort to help you remain on the road, Whistlestop is prepared to can you buy diflucan at walmart offer some assistance in maintaining your vehicles.
Price diflucan walmart Tuesday 15th October 2013 Is it safe to buy online fluconazole shampoo advice buying cialis online how soon after taking azithromycin can I take diflucan 100 pret.
diflucan for candida reviews. I wouldn't say America is a bully anymore.. I'd say it's more of a grim reaper.. diflucan fluconazole buy Thus, the government's forecast was off by over 96%.
How much is 150 mg in the philippines, suspension storage viagra pricing at walmart does fluconazole work for toenail fungus, cost of 150 philippined.


Constructed in 1835, Bethesda Presbyterian Church is a remnant of the Civil War's effect on East Tennessee. As the war began, the congregation divided in two: many sided with the Confederacy, though many more still were Union sympathizers. During this period, the church closed its doors. The Battle of Bean Station took place on December 14, 1863. After this historic battle, Confederate General James Longstreet arrived at Bethesda Church with 25,000 men who were stationed on the land until February 1864. During this time, the church served as a hospital. In the cemetery just outside the church doors, over 80 unknown soldiers were buried in mass graves. While some Union soldiers were laid to rest here, most of the unknown dead are presumed to have fought for the Confederacy.
In October, Federal troops pushed closer to the encampment at Bethesda during an engagement known as "Vaughn's Stampede." In November, Confederate troops pushed the Union soldiers back west towards Knoxville. This battle is known as "Gillem's Stampede." During this push, a cannonball smashed through the eastern wall and caused severe structural damage. The walls were quickly repaired and reinforced with iron bracings and rods that can be seen in the photo to the right. The original pulpit and high-backed pews remain to this day, and the floors lie permanently stained with the blood and disdain of our American predecessors.
As the war ended and soldiers from both sides began to return home, the congregation attempted to compromise and reconvene. Sporadic services dotted the calendars. Between 1866 and 1871, sympathizers of each cause sat in the outer pews, leaving the middle column empty. Eventually, one side left and helped form the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown. The remaining church body stayed through 1875. However, in time, the majority began attending the new Russellville Presbyterian Church.
Bethesda has remained closed since that time, save for a few irregular services held for major Christian holidays such as Easter. Now the building stands to serve as a reminder of the sacrifice of our ancestors in East Tennessee. Within its walls and grounds lies the story of a church body that symbolized the civil issues of the time. This once-unified group of people was just another casualty of a war among brothers.
As for potential paranormal activity, many have claimed to see apparitions of restless Confederate soldiers both inside and outside the church. The apparition of a weeping woman has also been seen on the far side of the cemetery. Her cries are often heard late at night. We have also heard reports of a "witch" buried on the grounds near the woods.
We investigated Bethesda Church and the surrounding grounds this past Sunday evening. Check back soon to see what we found!


text:
Macaroni Makes a Difference
April 4, 2016 By Team Up 4 Community
Mineola High School hosted its fifth annual "MINNeola Macaroni Making a Difference" Community Pasta Dinner to benefit the Mary Brennan INN. The Inn, the largest soup kitchen on Long Island, serves over 400 lunches daily to its guests. Faculty, staff, students and their families donated all of the food, beverages and desserts served and students and faculty prepared and served the meal.
Residents from all over the community, including senior citizens, Junior Firefighters, sports teams and district students and families showed their support and generosity by attending the event held in the high school cafeteria. This year, volunteers served over 400 dinners and were able to raise more than $2,750.
In addition, many guests donated items, including towels, toiletries, clothing and canned food, which were given to the INN. As Executive Director of the INN Jean Kelly said as she thanked all the participants.
"Mineola is truly and caring and generous community, and the students and their families are leaders in the efforts to combat hunger and homelessness on Long Island," she said.
Photos courtesy of the Mineola Union Free School District

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Another comprehensive article about feline nutritional needs on Feline Nutrition. What do they really need in their food, and how should it be provided? And what are all those other ingredients on the labels?
The essential building blocks of health aren't isolated in nature. Whole foods contain compounds that work together to support optimal well-being.


Good-for-you breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack ideas, plus low-calorie recipe makeovers, grocery procuring suggestions, and expert food plan recommendation. As your small adjustments turn into habit, you'll be able to continue to add extra healthy selections. We all know a lot of you're concerned about healthy eating, so we send them to a professional nutritionist for thorough analysis too. Plain (unsalted) nuts and seeds contain healthy unsaturated fat and are a coronary heart healthy meals. It's not advisable to eat at odd hours or very late at night, so an early dinner is a good idea.
Whereas some excessive diets might counsel in any other case, all of us need a balance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in our diets to sustain a healthy body. Eat roughly the same quantity of calories that your physique is using and keep a healthy weight. Make Healthy Regular is about including just a few further actions to your day by day routine to increase the period of time spent transferring!
Tracking Healthy Meals Sales: By way of a assessment of healthy food retailer program stories and interviews with program staff and experts within the area, ChangeLab Options has assembled a listing of viable sales data tracking strategies. The more junk meals you eat, the more probably you are to really feel uncomfortable, nauseous, or drained of energy.
Healthy workers are more productive, have extra vitality and better handle stress. It additionally offers a comprehensive overview of native, state and federal economic growth applications that have been or could possibly be used for healthy food retail initiatives. Builds the foundations for healthy progress, growth and studying for infants and children. Healthy consuming is important to healthy residing from the prenatal and early childhood years, to getting old.
This technique seems to be higher than every other because it's faster, requires minimum gear and the food nonetheless tastes good and is as nutritious. The Healthy Land and Water Awards class winners, together with the People's Alternative Award and Minister's Grand Prize, are introduced at a particular Gala Dinner on Friday 1 September 2017! Recent Meals Retail Improvement – Nook Retailer Conversions : This brief seems at methods to create more healthy nook shops by way of modest infrastructural changes and store layout modifications.


text:
Q: finding the quadratic irratonality of simple continued fractions For instance: find the quadratic irrationality of the simple continued fraction [1;2,3].
I have a handful of these problems to do, so any walk-through of one problem should give me the general idea of how to approach the others. I don't quite understand where the quadratic form comes from; the examples in the book derive it out of thin air.

A: The question seems to be about $[1;2,3,3,3,3,3,\dots]$. A simple approach, assuming that the calculation makes sense, is to let $\alpha=[0;3,3,3,3,3,\dots]$.
If you look at this continued fraction, you can see that $\alpha=\frac{1}{3+\alpha}$. Rewrite as $\alpha^2+3\alpha-1=0$ and solve for $\alpha$.  Now it is easy to compute $[1;2,3,3,3,3,3,3,\dots]$. For
$$[1;2,3,3,3,3,3,3,\dots]=1+\cfrac{1}{2+\alpha}.$$
Details: So $\alpha=\frac{-3+\sqrt{13}}{2}$, and our original continued fraction is $\frac{3+\alpha}{2+\alpha}$. After a bit of fiddling, this turns out to be $\frac{3+\sqrt{13}}{1+\sqrt{13}}$. That is a correct answer, but you probably don't want a square root in the denominator, so multiply numerator and denominator by $\sqrt{13}-1$.
Remark: A similar process applies, in principle, to any ultimately cycling continued fraction.  In all cases we get a quadratic irrationality.

A: Thanks Andre and Gerry, I have used your approach to find the answer as such:
$[1;2,3,3,3,3,...]$
Let x = $[1;2,y]$ and y = $[3;y]$. Then $y = 3 + 1/y = (3y+1)/y$ which is to say $y^2 - 3y - 1 = 0$. Solving using the quadratic formula we have $y = (3+\sqrt13)/2$, discarding the negative solution since we know $y$ is positive. Since $x = [1;2,y] = 1+(1/(2+1/y))$ we can substitute in our $y$ value and obtain:
$x = (5+\sqrt13)/2$
which is to say:
$[1;2,3,3,3,3,...] = (5+\sqrt13)/2$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home SportsTop 10 Father's Day Gift Ideas
Top 10 Father's Day Gift Ideas
Star Trek pizza cutter
Who wants a slice of sci-fi? Fans of the trailblazing TV series Star Trek can echo the show's iconic catchphrase as they boldly cut across time, space and pepperoni with this stainless steel pizza cutter in the shape of the show's galaxy-hopping flagship, the USS Enterprise. ($34.99) Buy it now
Ernie Kovacs collection
Tickle your dad's funny bone with The Ernie Kovacs Collection, a bountiful box set of the on-the-air works of the 1950s TV-comedy pioneer whose offbeat wackiness rippled through just about every strain of TV comedy—including Johnny Carson, David Letterman, Captain Kangaroo, Pee-Wee Herman, Rowan & Martin's Laugh In and Saturday Night Live—that followed in his zany wake. ($56.97)
Linda McCartney: Life in Photos
Fab Four fans will really yeah-yeah-yeah for Linda McCartney: Life in Photographs, a collection of shots by Sir Paul's shutterbug wife. The handsome coffee-table book is an eye-opening reminder that, in addition to being Mrs. McCartney from 1969 to her death in 1998, Linda was a first-class rock-'n'-roll photographer, looking through the camera at The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and other musical icons that became part of her star-spangled, inner-circle world. ($41.99)
Baseball Now!
Get out of the dugout and into the game with the second edition of Baseball Now!, packed with profiles of 70 major league players, more than 150 color in-action photos, and a full recap of last year's regular season, playoffs and World Series. Author Dan Bortolotti, a sports journalist, spreads the stats over a rundown of record-setting achievements, dramatic highlights, costly fumbles and the superstar personalities that make America's pastime a summertime delight. ($25.95)
Outback camera
Give your father Swann Security's weatherproof OutbackCam and he finally may be able to capture video of Bigfoot—or anything else lurking around when no one's looking! The two-megapixel color camera shoots both still images and video, is triggered by motion-detection or pre-scheduled time settings, and can be attached to trees, fences or almost any other surface. ($149.99)
Wet Circuit protector
Dad will be pleasantly surprised—but not shocked—when he gets a Wet Circuits water-resistant power strip, with innovative circuitry designed to operate safely even when exposed to rain, snow, sleet, coffee spills or other splashy events. And its groundbreaking safety features make it perfect for use in areas frequented by kids and toddlers. It won't even give a jolt if someone does the very thing you've always told them not to do: stick tweezers, a paper clip, screwdriver or any other metal object into its outlets! ($70 from wetcircuits.com)
When It Was A Game
HBO's acclaimed documentary baseball trilogy When It Was A Game: The Complete Collection, now on Blu-ray, spans the game from the 1930s into the '60s and takes fans for a unique, golden-glow walk down memory lane with vintage home-movie footage, rare snapshots and vivid storytelling about the game's most memorable players and moments, plus commentary by Billy Crystal, Kevin Costner, Geraldo Rivera and other stars, sportscasters, players and writers. ($29.99)
The Yugo
It was widely, almost universally reviled as the worst made automobile of all time, an inexpensive little import that became an international punch line. How did the Yugo earn its spot in the basement of the transportation hall of shame? Jason Vuic's The Yugo, new in paperback, is a fascinating, enjoyably bumpy ride through the optimistic rise and precipitous fall of the lowly, low-cost, low-quality lemon the whole world came to hate. ($14)
Stetson cologne
Stetson has been helping modern-day men saddle up an American West state of mind since 1981. With its wide variety of fragrance products, Stetson lets you keep dear ol' Dad smelling like a million bucks for as little as $11.
Fathers and sons will enjoy connecting across generations with the latest version of The Green Hornet, released theatrically last year and now on DVD, which trails its pop-cultural roots across more than seven decades of radio, television, comic books and movies. With Seth Rogan as a newspaper heir who makes his own headlines by moonlighting as a masked do-gooder, it riffs on the saga's pulpy roots but remains true to its original crime-busting spirit. ($28.95)
Found in: Sports, Traditions


text:
Q: How to force call of componentWillMount method using stacks? I am using reactnavigation with DrawerNavigator to create navigation stack.
I navigate from the client list screen to the client registration screen.
When registering a customer I want to return to the list screen with the list of all registered clients. But the componentWillMount is not called when I return to the client list screen.
Does anyone know how to force the method call componentWillMount When am I browsing through screens?
I searched the internet and saw that I can use redux or mobx to manage the states.But my project is so small that I do not see the need to use something like that. Is there any way to do this in a simple way?
I read something about Context API, does anyone know if I can solve the problem with it?

A: In your ListScreen, you can do this:
  componentDidMount() {
    this.navigationListener = this.props.navigation.addListener(
      'willFocus',
      this.stuffsYouWantToDo
    )
  }

So every time you navigate back to ListScreen, it will call stuffsYouWantToDo function.

A: You can use two methods for that.
1) using callback
In your Listing screen, when you open register screen passes callback props.
class ListingScreen extends Component {

    // this method will call when you back from register screen to listing screen
    getRegisterUserList(listOfRegisterUser) {
        this.setState({ listOfRegisterUser: listOfRegisterUser }) //do whatever fuctionality you want to perform with listOfRegisterUser
    }

    render() {
        const navigation = this.props.navigation;
        return (
            <TouchableOpacity onPress={navigation.navigate('RegisterScreen', { callback: this.getRegisterUserList.bind(this) })}> // pass callback when you call your register screen
                <Text>Navigate to register screen</Text>
            </TouchableOpacity>
        )
    }
}

And In your register screen, after successfully register call that callback and pass your list in it.
if (this.props.navigation.state &&
            this.props.navigation.state.params &&
            this.props.navigation.state.params.callback) {
            this.props.navigation.state.params.callback(registerUserList); //you can pass your list here
        }
        this.props.navigation.goBack(null); //this is for back from register screen to listing screen

2) using DeviceEventEmiter
Add Listener to your listing screen
import { DeviceEventEmitter } from 'react-native';

    class ListingScreen extends Component {

    componentWillMount(){
     this.registerUserListener=
         DeviceEventEmitter.addListener('RegisterUser', (e) => {
            //when you successfully register. this listener is called
           // perform your logic for getting register user list
        });
    }
    componentWillUnmount() {
        this.registerUserListener.remove();
    }

    }

And in your register screen, call that listener when the user is successfully registered.
import { DeviceEventEmitter } from 'react-native';

class RegisterScreen extends Component {

//emit listener when user is successfully register
   successfullyRegisterUser(){
      DeviceEventEmitter.emit('RegisterUser', { isRegister: true });
   }

}


text:
Home » NSC: Motor vehicle-related deaths up 9 percent
NSC: Motor vehicle-related deaths up 9 percent
Photo: National Safety Council
Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council show motor vehicle deaths have increased 9 percent through the first six months of 2016 from the first half of 2015. An estimated 19,100 people have been killed on U.S. roads since January, and 2.2 million people were seriously injured.
In addition, NSC is projecting that 438 people will be killed in motor vehicle-related incidents over the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
"Our complacency is killing us," Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of NSC, said in a press release. "Americans should demand change to prioritize safety actions and protect ourselves from one of the leading causes of preventable death."
NSC offers the following tips for safe driving:
Make sure every passenger buckles up on every trip.
Never use a cell phone or hands-free device when driving.
Designate an alcohol- and drug-free driver, or arrange alternate transportation.
Get plenty of sleep and take regular breaks to avoid fatigue.
NSC: Motor vehicle-related deaths top 40,000 for second straight year
Motor vehicle-related deaths down 2% in 2019, NSC estimates
NSC: Motor vehicle deaths reach 40,000 for third straight year in 2018


Any holiday is a great excuse to get together with family. But when you don't have a lot of family in your area it can be a good reason for a getaway. Easter weekend we took the girls on their first vacation. We visited the small New Mexico town of Silver City and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. As excited as I believe we all were to get back to El Paso by the end of the excursion, it was a successful little trip for our family. Nothing went wrong. Everything went right. But as you'd expect, certain moments were sprinkled with a few extra tears here and there, and sleeping your entire family in the same room isn't very restful.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was the food. Since having the babies we haven't dined out very much. No cooking or dishes for three days was a real treat. The first place we ate was Jalisco Café, because your first stop in New Mexico has to be Mexican food. Lunch at Jalisco was immediately fun. The girls were happy to be out of their car seats and sit in a high chair for the first time. After a couple of high pitched squeals of delight they were the café's main attraction. When lunch arrived Phil and I could not resist giving the babes their first taste of beans and rice. I think vacation really inspires you to let your hair down. At home I am very particular about what I feed the girls. I make it all myself (from the finest ingredients of course) and regulate the texture and temperature. I find it comical that we weren't even four hours into the vacation and I'm letting them try rice! Mixed and seasoned with God knows what! And refried beans from a can!
Eight hours into the vacation and they were eating wings! And fish and chips!
During these times I resolved that it was far more important that each member of our family (and everyone else in the restaurant) enjoy their meal than for me to be uptight. In addition to the great Mexican, there's also a fun little brewery in Silver City called Little Toad, a coffee shop I enjoyed called Javalina, and a great bakery named Diane's. Diane's green chile, ham, and cheese croissant is the way I wish I could start all of my days.
Another vacation highlight for me is meeting new people. There's lots of interesting characters in vacation towns, and on this trip it seemed like they all wanted to meet the tiny babies with the blue eyes. This is important for the girls right now, as they have a tendency to cry at every new face. I think it's the most annoying phase of babydom and I look forward to its commencement. On this trip we met a few people who were twins themselves, or had twins, or both. These individuals shared personal stories or lessons they found important to twin life. Particularly friendly were Flower and Rocker who had just driven into town from Las Vegas. (but they'll be headed back as soon as their school bus-turned-home gets its transmission repaired.) Rocker and Flower weren't twins, just a hippie couple still living the dream. And now I wasn't there, but Phil claims to have encountered what he would describe as a punk rock prospector at the coffee shop.
If you're not on vacation for the food or the people, then you're there for the sights. As I mentioned, we explored the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Park with the babes. They are only eight months and they've been to two National Parks. I'm proud of them. If you count all of the monuments, forests, and waterways of the system they only have about 400 more sights to go; and plenty of time. At the visitor center gift shop we purchased a National Parks Passport in addition to our usual grip of postcards. It's a cute little book that contains information on all of the National Parks in the U.S. In it you collect stamps, known as cancellations, each time you visit a National Park site. I think it will be a fun, potentially life-long souvenir project for our family. And I hope it keeps the girls interested in educational vacationing.
In order to give them a good perspective about why the cave dwellings were impressive, we stressed to the girls that while they were only eight months old the cave dwellings were 800 years old. That is a difference of 291,752 days. The caves were initially built by the Mogollon people around 1280. Archeologists were able to accurately date the housing because timber was used in the caves' construction. By studying the growth pattern of the tree rings in the timber one can be certain of the time of its creation. The Mogollon migrated after about 100 years. Later the caves were inhabited by the Apache Indians. Evidence shows that the Apache migrated to the Gila River in the 1500's. Geronimo was born near the Gila in the 1820's. By 1870 the federal government was relocating the Indians to reservations. Geronimo is known for leading his people out. Archeologists arrived in this region around 1886, but it wasn't until 1907 that President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Gila Cliff Dwellings a national monument to prevent damage or vandalism to the area.
We got lucky with our excursion to the cliff dwellings. It was the perfect place to take the babes. I'd recommend it as a destination for families with small kids, for sure. From Silver City to the Cliff Dwellings monument is about a 90 minute drive. It is a fabulously winding mountain road, each of its signs warning for a curve or cattle grates is ridden with bullet holes. I find it odd that they forget to mention on the website that you can use the street signs for target practice on your way through the park. Had I known we could have brought Phil's Glock. Luckily for us, the road has captivating views so we didn't feel the need for further entertainment. We traveled there during the girls' morning nap. The hiking trail leading up to and around the cave site is an easy mile hike. We had plenty of time to enjoy it and picnic lunch before piling back in the car and driving back to town during the afternoon nap.
Silver City itself has a bit of interesting history and characteristics. It was a mining boom town set up by Captain John Bullard. The valley where the town was built in 1870 was originally an Apache campsite. William Bonney's first two arrests were in Silver City by Sheriff Harvey Whitehall. This was before he was known as Billy the Kid. And his mother is buried in the Silver City cemetery.
The town was built in the path of normal water runoff. Businesses sprang up, and the community thrived despite the inconvenience of minor flooding. The city was built with high sidewalks in the downtown area to accommodate high flood waters. But in 1895, a heavy flood rushed through the downtown business district, leaving a trail of destruction. What was once known as Main St. was a new 55 foot deep ditch. The businesses of Main St. began using their back doors as main entrances. Thus, the next street over, Bullard Street became the main street in town. To this day, the incorrect odd/even addressing conventions on the east side of Bullard Street are a reminder that the buildings were addressed on Main Street originally, not Bullard Street.
We showed up back in town Saturday afternoon with plenty of time to walk around town again. Our first stop was Big Ditch Park (a 55 ft. ditch park) and what used to be the old Main Street before the flood took it out.
The curbs around town are the largest I've ever seen. So large in fact, that there are steps at intersections. Which means there are also ramps at intersections.
A bit of an odd attraction, but no less interesting, I also found Silver City's toilet graveyard. Really it was just a salvage yard, but I was still impressed by the mass of porcelain laid out before my eyes in a very organized fashion.
As I am learning, education, oddities, great food, friendly people, and good beer are to be found in any small corner of the United States. I am glad to be back and excited to be (finally) touring with the babes. It was their first long drive, first restaurant foods, first time sleeping together in the pack and play, first time wearing disposable diapers, and first time going almost three days without a real bath. All things considered I think they adjusted quite nicely. And if I had to guess I'd assume they are eagerly awaiting the next getaway.
This entry was posted in Texas, Travels, Uncategorized and tagged Gila, Silver City, travel, twins.


These notes are for advanced users who want to work with MicroBlocks on ESP32 boards and are comfortable with the extra technical challenges involved.
The ESP32 is a module from Espressif Systems that combines a 32-bit dual-core processor with WiFi and Bluetooth functionality. Boards based on this module are available for around $11 on Amazon. OddWires makes a nice ESP32 board along with a family of add-on boards called the IoT-Bus Io.
Installing and using MicroBlocks on ESP32 boards is more complex than other boards such as the BBC micro:bit, so the ESP32 is not yet recommended for beginners.
Windows users could also try Flash Download Tool (ESP8266 & ESP32) available here, although the MicroBlocks team has not tested it.
A new ESP32 needs to have three firmware files installed in Flash memory before it will boot: some hardware settings, the second stage bootloader (the primary one is in ROM), and a Flash memory partition table. You can download those three files from here.
Note: Some ESP32 boards require that you hold down a button in order install firmware. Check the documentation for your board.
These files are fixed for a given ESP32 device, so once they've been installed you will usually not need to do this step again. You might need to reinstall the files if your Flash memory gets corrupted or, in some cases, if you program your board with another programming system (for example, one that uses an incompatible Flash partitioning).
Further details about what these files are used for can be found here.
To download the latest version, go to here and click the "View raw" link. In most browsers, that will actually download, not view, the file. The file vm.ino.esp32.bin will be downloaded.
It should find the correct serial port automatically. You'll see a bunch of stuff print in the terminal as the install happens. The entire process takes 40-45 seconds.
Start MicroBlocks, click the "Connect" button, and select the serial port. The indicator should turn green.
The user LED on your board should light up, showing that the board is connected. You're ready to code!
© by John Maloney, Jens Mönig and Bernat Romagosa. MicroBlocks is free software, released under the Mozilla Public License v2.0.


For those who may otherwise find the story hard to follow, Urban Dictionary defines the verb twerk as "to work one's body, as in dancing, especially the rear end." Of more import is the definition given by Scripps Ranch High School in San Diego (viz., obscene and sexually suggestive) as well as the actions school officials have taken toward 33 seniors who made a video of themselves twerking. All have been suspended and barred from attending the prom and commencement.
NBC News San Diego notes that the video was created by students enrolled in a media class at the high school. Thirty-two students gyrated while another used school property to video record the group. Later, the student used school editing equipment to add music and post the clip to YouTube.
Jack Brandais, a spokesman for San Diego Unified School District, refused to comment on the suspension, saying the district does not discuss student discipline, but invited interested parties to peruse the section of the district website that outlines the suspension appeal process.
Suspended, banned from prom, and prevented from walking at graduation all because of an awesome twerk video. I don't understand.
Another attempted to rally support for the suspended students by organizing a "twerk-in" at lunch last Tuesday.
A parent who spoke with NBC expressed the view that the school should have used the incident as a teaching moment to remind students that when a person is videotaped, he never knows where it's going to go. With reports surfacing the same day that 62 percent of high schoolers in Montgomery County (Md.) flunked their algebra final, it seems there are more critical teachable moments the nation's schools are ignoring.


It's been great to see an impressive worldwide resurgence in Lotus User Groups over the last few years. I've experienced this myself as Turtle have helped with UKLUG and also participated in great LUG events in Ireland, Netherlands and Denmark. You know, its now hard to think that at one time it was said that few Lotus technical events happened in Europe!
So I am very pleased to say that Warren Elsmore and myself will be moderating a 'Birds of a Feather' discussion on Lotus User Groups at Lotusphere 2010. The aim is to share experiences about setting up and running a Lotus User Group - such as what works (and what doesn't!) and the logistics involved.
If you have not been to a BOF before its all pretty relaxed and informal. The idea is that anyone can come along and have an open discussion about a particular topic, whether you want to participate or just listen is entirely up to you.
So please join us if you have ever thought about setting up a User Group, or successfully run one yourself, or went to an event, or are just interested in the topic.
Its BOF508 'Creating and running a Lotus User Group' at 5.45pm on Wednesday 20th January in the Swan Hotel 's Heron Room. Look forward to seeing you there.
I'll be there (with some colleagues), as our BLUG is having a full day event on March 30th, in Brussels.
We can sure use some advice !
I'm going to try to make this as well.
Great to hear you can join us and looking forward to seeing you at the BOF.
@Theo - Hope we can help with advice, if only to say where we went wrong!


Can I be honest for about two sentences here? Sometimes I wonder who I am writing this for or maybe more exactly, who reads this? I hope that you enjoy my posts and would love to know if you care for any of it at all. I am pretty new to this whole blogging world and it would mean so much to know what you think! After all I can't be the only who loves pizza enough to cook it in a skillet? Or do you prefer frozen pizza from the grocery store? Leave a comment below!
Couple of my favorite things about this pizza in general; try the fresh mozzarella version and get your hands on some real parmigiana-reggiano cheese. It pays to invest in the real deal. I tried some neapolitan pizza for the first time last summer and thus thin crust pizza has really become my thing of late. Unfortunately I am unable to crank my oven to 900 degrees to produce such deliciousness myself so here is my homemade substitute. There is something about having just enough bread to hold the sauce and cheese that makes the whole thing more balanced instead of feeling like you just ate a whopping sandwich. Oh the deep dish has a place too, I won't argue, but for now we are loving on this not-so-deep version.
For the dough: in a food processor, combine flour, yeast and salt. With the machine running, drizzle in oil and water. Continue to let the processor run until the dough clears the sides of the bowl, 1 1/2 - 2 minutes.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead a couple of times to form a smooth ball. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to stand in a warm place for 1-1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size.
For the sauce: in the meantime, heat a medium skillet on medium heat, add olive oil. Once the oil is heated, add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add 1/8 tsp of salt and oregano, turn down the heat and add the diced tomatoes.
Bring to a slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes, allowing for the sauce to reduce slightly. Add additional salt & pepper to taste, set aside to cool slightly until needed.
For the pizza: heat your oven to 500 degrees and lightly brush an oven safe skillet with oil.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and roll out into an 11-inch circle. Transfer the rolled dough into the skillet.
Ladle and spread the desired amount of prepared sauce onto the dough (about 1 cup). Sprinkle with chopped basil, red pepper and lay mozzarella cheese out in a single layer. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
Cook pizza in skillet over high heat for about 3 minutes until the crust starts to set then transfer to the oven and finish baking for 7-10 minutes. Serve with remaining parmesan cheese and pepper flakes.
*recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen Cooking for Two 2010 cookbook.


Spend moments to gain bonuses to saves and/or AC (or avoid effects altogether) as you manipulate the time stream. Spend a lot of moments to teleport, as you skip ahead to where the planet has rotated a little bit.
Benefit: You can treat any non-double melee weapon you wield in two hands as a double weapon, using the hilt of the weapon as the second head. The hilt deals bludgeoning damage with a base damage of a weapon two sizes smaller. Enchantments and other effects applied to the weapon also apply to the hilt. Similarly, any other properties that the weapon is made with (such as weapon templates and masterwork) also apply to the hilt. Regardless of the weapon used, the hilt is not considered a reach weapon, nor do any other special bonuses of the base weapon apply to it (such as bonuses to disarm attempts or the ability to be used as part of a trip attempt). The hilt is not otherwise considered a distinct weapon from the normal weapon, and any effects that would specifically affect the hilt instead affect the weapon as a whole.
Hmm... so screw double weapons, then? This makes any weapon better than pretty much all of them (which isn't saying much, but still...), since you only have to pay for one "head". This also gives a nice alternative to spiked chains (or guisarme + armor spikes). I guess the reduction in damage is a big enough drawback, though. Overall, I like it.
Benefit: You have a knack for turning your opponent's size against him as well as using your own size to better suit the situation. Treat your opponent as one size category smaller than it actually is for purposes of grappling if it is advantageous to do so. This means that you can grapple with a target three sizes larger than you, and that its size bonus to grapple checks is lowered by 4 when grappling with you.
Special: A Fighter can take this feat as a fighter bonus feat. A 6th level monk may take this feat as a bonus feat if he took Improved Grapple as a bonus feat at 1st level. He need not meet the prerequisite of BAB +6.
Alternately, I'm thinking of a way to allow AoOs while grappling and being able to keep Dex to AC against other opponents too. There's also the annoyance of the -4 on attacks with unarmed strikes, natural weapons, or light weapons.
Benefit: You can apply this metamagic feat to any spell with a casting time of one standard action and a non-instantaneous duration other than concentration. For spells with level-based durations, this only applies to spells with durations of 1 round/level or longer. For spells with fixed durations, this only applies to spells with durations of 1 minute or longer. For spells with durations involving concentration, consider only the non-concentration component of the spell's duration. This metamagic feat cannot be applied to spells with other durations. The duration of the spell is dramatically reduced, but its casting time becomes 1 swift action instead of 1 standard action. If the spell had any targets, its target becomes you. If the spell had a range longer than personal, its range becomes personal. If the spell was designed to affect objects instead of creatures, it instead affects one or more objects in your possession (as applicable), but only while they remain in your possession. The level adjustment of this metamagic depends on the duration of the original spell.
If the spell does not have a duration exactly matching an entry on the table below, use the longest-duration entry for which the spell has a longer duration.
A Swift Spell's duration cannot be further modified by other metamagic, spells, or abilities.
When wielding a reach weapon made for a creature of your size, the weapon only doubles the natural reach as determined by your size. Feats such as Inhuman Reach do not allow you to double the reach granted by the reach weapon. However, if you are able to wield a reach weapon of appropriate size to your combined reach from size and effects like Inhuman Reach (such as a Large weapon for a medium character with Inhuman Reach) then you may gain the extra reach from the weapon.
Or we could just simplify things by saying reach weapons made for X size creatures may only give a maximum amount of extra reach equal to double the normal reach of a creature of that size. Small and medium are capped at +5, large is +10, huge is +15, etc.
Taking a cue from 5E (D&D Next) and taking it a step further, what if saving throws were skill checks? You'd have your huge list of skills, some of which you had ranks in, some of which you didn't, just as things are now. Classes would have base Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha save bonuses, which you could use in place of your ranks of the skill in question when making a save. Different spells and effects would have different skill saves. Web would be an Escape Artist save, Fireball a Tumble save, Charm Person would be a Sense Motive save, Rock to Mud would be a Jump save, Discern Lies a Bluff save, and so on and so forth.
Actually, let's make everything skill checks. Sorcerers cast with spellcraft, etc. Have to rebalance, though, skill checks are too easy to boost.
That won't work for 3e without a serious overhaul of saves and skills. The reason that saves, BAB, etc. aren't skills already is that they implicitly require a basic level of competence for all PCs; even a low-BAB low-Str arcanist needs to make attack rolls sometimes. Adventures won't grind to a halt if no PC has ranks in a certain skill--being unable to see hidden people, know about monster weaknesses, and such won't kill you, so it's okay to allow characters to not invest ranks in them. But if you put 0 ranks in Sense Motive and have a total mod of +3, say, and then have to use that to resist a DC 24 dominate person, you're kinda screwed.
Spell DCs already give the caster the advantage, because a caster uses his highest stat to set the DCs but can target the weakest of three saves of his target, usually keyed to a secondary or tertiary stat. Opposing spells with skills is replace three saves with over twenty separate saves. If you give classes a base progression in the different saves, you effectively have six saves instead of three--congratulations, you've only made the problem twice as bad instead of seven or eight times as bad.
On the other hand, if people invest in a certain skill, they pass their saves with flying colors. See the Mind Over Body maneuver, where you replace a save with a Concentration check, and if you max out Concentration your ranks are around double your base save at all levels. If a save DC is set assuming the base save progression, rolling a skill check will pass it easily; any character who invests in Sense Motive basically gains immunity to charm effects unless they consistently roll low against higher-than-average save DCs.
Quite frankly, the stats-as-saves thing only works in 5e (for a very loose definition of "works") because their math is crap. The scaling is minimal to nonexistent, competent characters fail easy checks half the time while "godlike" DCs can be hit by 3rd level characters, rogues barely need to roll to pass the majority of skill checks while fighters have a hard time jumping a few feet in the air, and so forth.
Now, if you were making a 3e variant from the ground up so that saves, attack rolls, and skills advance roughly at the same rate, that might be more workable mathematically, but you still have the problem of people investing no ranks vs. investing full ranks in certain skills. Look at SWSE: the difference between "no ranks" and "full ranks" is +10 at most, skill training is worth +5, bonuses above +1 or +2 are hard to get, and it's very hard to stack bonuses from more than one or two sources. Yet even with the similar progressions, Force powers using opposed checks (which consist of one skill, Use the Force, against a selection of other skills such as Perception/Acrobatics/etc.) are far too good against untrained enemies, and Force powers against defenses are only balanced at mid levels when trained Use the Force is within a few points of automatically-progressing defenses, with Force powers dominating at low levels and falling off at high levels with less than a +10 skew either way.
Speaking of save DCs, what if the save DCs of spells (and similar effects) were based on the save they targeted? Int for Reflex saves, Wis for Fort saves, and Cha for Will saves (and for when save DCs are needed for effects without saves for whatever reason)? Shuffle it around as you see fit. Different classes wouldn't necessarily even need the same stats for each save type, although the consistency would be good.
That would be pretty good to have. It does help make Offense Diversity more a thing than outright victory.
PM me what you're giving Kudos for please.
Another Martial Discipline, focused on throwing: specifically, trowing axes and javelins (as per the gloves of endless javelins).
Another Martial Adept: Iron Heart; Diamond Mind; Mystic Eclipse; the Throwing Discipline above. Theme, strategic use of attacks.
I can work on these, perhaps. Since I write martial adepts like it's my job.
Well, I was talking about people who should just get paid for all of their work on stuff for D&D.
Then I remembered that you said you do some of this during downtime at work.
Life Domain - Similar to the Healing domain, but mostly just an excuse to add in some SpC spells and tweak the list to be a bit more useful.
Power: Once per day, you can cast a single healing subschool spell targeting only willing subjects as a swift action instead of a standard action. Spells with longer casting times or with any non-willing subjects are not affected.
Coagulate (Clr 1, Healer 0, Medic 1): Stops bleeding, prevents subsequent bleeding wounds for 1 minute.
Rebirth (Drd 7): Returns subject to life in a newborn body equivalent to its own, mimicking its original body's lifetime of growth and physical development over the course of 1 day.
Rejuvenation, Lesser (Drd 1, Healer 1, Medic 1): Subject heals 1d4+CL/3 hp each round for 3 rounds.
Rejuvenation (Drd 3, Healer 2, Medic 2): Subject heals 2d4+CL/3 hp each round for 3 rounds.
Rejuvenation, Greater (Drd 5, Healer 4, Medic 4): Subject heals 4d4+CL/3 hp each round for 3 rounds.
Regenerate, Lesser (Clr 4, Drd 5, Healer 4, Medic 4): Heals cosmetic damage, stops bleeding, reattaches severed limbs.
A base class (or maybe PrC) all about teleportation.
Jaunt (Sp): Once per round, you can teleport up to [distance] as a move action. You must have line of sight and line of effect to the target location. [Insert text about being shunted if you can't arrive.] As a spell-like ability, using Jaunt provokes an attack of opportunity, but see Tumbling Teleportation. Jaunt is the equivalent of a 1st-level spell.
Tumbling Teleportation (Su): Whenever you use a teleportation ability that provokes an attack of opportunity you can make a Tumble check to avoid provoking the attack of opportunity, as though moving through a threatened space. You do not suffer any penalty on your Tumble check for teleporting the full distance, although your still cannot use the Tumble skill in this manner if your movement is slowed armor or encumberance.
Blink Strike (Su): Whenever you teleport at least 5 feet, you can leave yourself slightly between the planes and between locations for a short while. Attacks against you strike thin air where you were a moment ago, and your strikes simply slip past your opponent's guard in less than the blink of an eye. [Bonus precision damage and AC as Skirmish.] [Counts as Skirmish for stuff.] You gain the benefits of Blink Strike whenever you teleport, and its effects last until the beginning of your next turn.
Warp Breach (Sp): [High level ability.] As a standard action, you can randomly teleport all matter in a 40-foot radius burst centered on a point within medium range to random locations on random planes. This deals 30d6 damage, ignoring hardness, to all creatures and unattended objects in the area except those that you designate. Creatures and objects that are reduced to 0 hp or lower by this damage are disintegrated, and their component atoms are scattered across the multiverse. Attended objects that are no longer attended due to the creature attending them being annihilated in this way are also subject to this damage. A successful Will save (DC 10 + [Class level] + [Ability modifier]) halves this damage. Warp Breach is a teleportation effect and is the equivalent of a 9th-level spell.
When cast, this spell instantly reveals to you the exact distance and direction of the location at which the last creature to die within the spell's range died. This only detects the deaths of creatures with 1/2 or more HD that died within the past week; creatures with less HD simply do not register, and the metaphysical echoes of deaths more than a week past are too faded to detect. If multiple creatures died at the exact same moment, only the nearest is detected. This spell does not reveal any information about the dead creature other than the location of its death. A creature that died and was moved or even animated as undead or returned to life are still detected (as the event of their death is what registers to this spell, not the dead creature itself). Creatures that are not alive and thus do not die (such as Constructs and Undead) do not register to this spell. If no valid creatures within range have died within the past week, this spell indicates it by providing no location.
This spell is somewhat ineffective in the wilderness and in large cities where the natural predation of animals and larger vermin frequently occurs, masking the deaths of more important entities.
Material Component: A drop of blood.
You are meek and timid until you fly into a destructive frenzy.
Effect: When not in a rage, frenzy, or similar state, treat your Strength, Constitution, and Charisma scores as 2 points lower than they actually are (minimum 1).
Prerequisites: Con 13, ability to rage.
Benefits: Whenever you rage, you can push yourself further into a frenzy. While in a frenzy, you gain a +2 morale bonus to your Strength score (which stacks with any bonuses granted by your rage), temporary hit points equal to your character level, and you can make a single attack with a -5 penalty on your attack roll once per round as a swift action. However, you cannot choose to end a frenzy prematurely, and at the end of the frenzy you are exhausted for the duration of the encounter (or fatigued if you have the Tireless Rage ability or a similar effect). Each round spent in a frenzy counts as one extra round when determining how long you can remain raging.
Benefits: While in a frenzy and at negative hit points, you remain stable and do not die, regardless of your hit point total. You remain conscious and can continue to act normally. Nonlethal damage staggers you, but never causes you to fall unconscious. Each round spent in a frenzy while you are negative hit points or would normally be unconscious due to sufficient nonlethal damage counts as two extra rounds when determining how long you can remain raging (this stacks with the extra round that Frenzy costs).
Prerequisites: Con 17, Frenzy, Deathless Frenzy.
Benefits: While in a frenzy and at negative hit points, you gain fast healing equal to half your negative hit point total, rounded up. While in a frenzy, you can use your full maximum hit points in place of your actual hit points (whichever is better) when determining the effects of nonlethal damage.
6 Black Cloud 20 ft.
9 Black Cloud 30 ft.
15 Black Cloud 50 ft.
18 Black Cloud 60 ft.
Note to self: Spell list must be expanded. See Sirpercival's house rules.
Hexblade's Curse (Su): Hexblades are known for their ability to curse their foes, stealing skill and fortune with a glance. You can attempt to curse any target within 60 feet. Unless otherwise stated, curses take a swift action to use and last 5 minutes unless removed earlier (you can dismiss any of your curses as a free action). If a curse allows a saving throw, the DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 your Hexblade level + your Charisma modifier. You can use your curses a total number of times per day equal to your Hexblade level plus your Charisma modifier (minimum 1/day). Some curses, particularly stronger ones, require multiple daily uses to effect.
Most curses normally only affect one or a few targets. However, beginning at 6th level, you gain the ability to bring your curses into effect as a black cloud of misfortune. Each curse that can be used this way indicates its effects when effected as a black cloud. Curses that do not indicate their black cloud effects cannot be used as a black cloud. The radius of your black cloud is 20 feet at 6th level, and increases by 10 feet every 3 levels thereafter, to a maximum of 60 feet at level 18. You can dismiss your curses from each subject of a black cloud individually, without affecting the other subjects or the cloud itself. A curse effected as a black cloud appears as a thin black mist that does not impede vision.
A given subject can only be affected by a single one of your Hexblade's Curses at once. Any creature only has a finite amount of luck to steal away. To apply new curses, you must first dismiss your older ones (a free action). As you gain levels, you learn to steal even more dregs of fortune from your victims. Starting at 10th level, you can affect your subjects with 2 curses at once, Increasing to 3 curses at level 20. This limit applies only to your own Hexblade's Curses. Hexblade's Curses from other Hexblades and curses from other sources and abilities (even your own) are not subject to this limit.
Curse of Misfortune: The simplest of all curses, the curse of misfortune steals a bit of the subject's luck away, impeding its abilities in a general, unfocused manner. Curse of misfortune targets a single creature. If the subject fails a Will save, it suffers a -2 luck penalty on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks while the curse remains. This improves to a -4 penalty at level 7, a -6 penalty at level 13, and a -8 penalty at level 19.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, curse of misfortune becomes an emanation centered on a point in space. All opponents within the area must save against the normal curse of misfortune when the cloud comes into effect or when they first enter it. Subjects are affected by the curse only while they remain within the cloud, but are subject to the curse again if they enter once more.
Curse of Stupor: Another simple curse, the curse of stupor addles the mind and prevents the subject from focusing on the task at hand. Effecting curse of stupor is a standard action, and it targets a single creature. If the subject fails a Will save, it is dazed for 1 round and fascinated for the remainder of the curse's duration. As normal for the fascinated condition, any obvious threats allow the subject a new saving throw and can even break the effect entirely. Curse of stupor is a mind-affecting ability.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, curse of stupor becomes a spread centered on a point in space. All opponents within the area must save against the curse or be fascinated for the curse's duration, although they are not dazed.
Chaotic Commands: Beginning at 5th level, you learn to curse the order and cohesion of fighting groups. Chaotic commands targets a single creature. The subject becomes unaffected by morale bonuses caused by creatures other than itself. It can neither use nor benefit from aid another attempts. It cannot voluntarily allow creatures to pass through its space, nor can it voluntarily give up its saving throw against effects caused by creatures other than itself. The subject always treats creatures other than itself as opponents, never as allies. This does not force the subject to attack its former allies, but this does influence how its abilities affect others.
Black Cloud: Chaotic commands cannot be used as a black cloud.
Ill Tidings: Beginning at 5th level, you learn to block the second sight that diviners rely on. Ill tidings targets a single creature. When you effect this curse, make a dispel check (1d20 + your Hexblade level) against each ongoing Divination spell or Clairsentience power affecting the subject (DC 11 + the effect's caster or manifester level). On a success that effect is dispelled. In addition, for 5 minutes, the subject must succeed on a Will save to successfully cast or manifest each Divination spell or Clairsentience power it attempts, and for 24 hours any such effects that have a percentage chance of giving meaningful or accurate results have a 50% chance of providing the least useful answer.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, ill tidings becomes an emanation centered on a point in space. Divination spells and Clarisentience powers reveal no information about the area inside the cloud unless their users succeed on a caster or manifester level check opposed by your dispel check.
Chains of Adversity: Beginning at 8th level, you learn to link the misfortune of two creatures together. Chains of adversity targets two creatures. While the curse remains, if either creature fails a saving throw against a non-harmless effect, both creatures are subject to the full effects of the failed save, even if the other creature succeeded on the saving throw or wasn't targeted at all. If the curse ends for one subject, it is also ended for the other. Effecting chains of adversity costs 2 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, chains of adversity becomes a spread centered on a point in space. All opponents within the area that fail a Will save are linked as per the normal version of this curse. If the curse ends for all but one subject, it is also ended for the last one. Effecting chains of adversity as a black cloud costs 5 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Mystic Contrariness: Starting at 11th level, you can curse the mystic energies in enchanted items. Mystic contrariness targets a single object. The subject's magical properties are suppressed while the curse remains. Further, if the subject is a weapon, a suit of armor, or a shield, it acts as through it had a -2 enhancement penalty (reducing attack and damage rolls or the bonus it grants to armor class). If the subject is a tool, it applies a -4 circumstance penalty on all skill checks made involving it. Intelligent items are allowed a Will save against this effect, but not other magic items. Objects without magical properties still apply an appropriate penalty.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, mystic contrariness becomes a spread centered on a point in space. All unattended magic items (including magical traps) and one random magic item attended by each opponent in the area (select which one as if the opponent failed a saving throw on a natural 1) have their magical properties suppressed if they fail a Will save. Unlike the normal form of this curse, affected objects do not apply further penalties when used. Effecting mystic contrariness as a black cloud costs 2 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Dark Companion: Starting at 14th level, you can call on a capricious or vengeful spirit to haunt your enemies. Dark companion targets a single creature or object. The subject's suffers a -2 penalty on all saving throws and you can always pinpoint its location while the curse remains. Further, you can channel your spells and curses through the spirit into the subject. While the curse remains, you always treat yourself as having line of sight and line of effect to the subject and the space it occupies (although not other creatures or objects in that space) for the purpose of spells and curses, and you can cast any spell or effect any curse with a range of touch or greater targeting the subject or the space it occupies regardless of range. This does not allow the effects or your spells and curses to ignore the normal rules of range and line of effect, just the initial targeting. Effecting dark companion costs only 1 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse, as normal, but each additional curse you effect or spell you cast through the dark companion's link costs an extra daily use.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, dark companion becomes an emanation centered on a point in space. All creatures other than yourself and objects other than those in your possession within the cloud are considered subject to the normal effects of the dark companion curse while they remain there. Effecting dark companion as a black cloud costs 3 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
The Same Doubled: You learn to turn the pain others can inflict back on them at 17th level. The same doubled targets a single creature. Whenever the subject deals damage to a creature other than itself, it must make a Will save or deal twice that much damage to itself. This retributive damage is considered to be from the same attack as the original damage, but is untyped damage that cannot be prevented by resistances or immunities, rather than the original damage type. Effecting the same doubled costs 2 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Black Cloud: As a black cloud, the same doubled becomes a spread centered on a point in space, affecting every opponent within it. Whenever a subject deals damage to a creature other than itself, it must make a Will save or deal half as much damage to itself. This retributive damage is considered to be from the same attack as the original damage, but is untyped damage that cannot be prevented by resistances or immunities, rather than the original damage type. Effecting the same doubled as a black cloud costs 3 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Karmic Imbalance: The ultimate curse, karmic imbalance at first appears to be a blessing instead. Beginning at 20th level, you can fill a creature with the luck of the gods, far more than a mortal creature can tolerate. Karmic imbalance targets a single creature. Whenever the subject would make a d20 roll, it instead rolls twice and takes the higher result. However, whenever the subject rolls a natural 20, it must make a Will save, rolling only once (not twice), or die immediately after resolving the action the roll was involved in, and the curse ends. A natural 20 on this Will save in turn prompts another such saving throw to resist death. Karmic imbalance is a death effect. Effecting karmic imbalance costs 5 daily uses of Hexblade's Curse.
Black Cloud: Karmic imbalance cannot be used as a black cloud.
Arcane Resistance (Su): 2nd; Cha to saves vs. spells.
Mettle (Ex): 3rd; No partial effect on successful Fort or Will save.
Siphon Misfortune (Su): When you steal away the luck of others, it need not go to waste. Starting at 4th level, you gain a +1 luck bonus on all attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks for 1 round after effecting a curse. This improves to +2 at level 12 and +3 at level 20.
Aura of Unluck (Su): Even when you aren't actively willing it, luck just isn't with your enemies. Beginning at 16th level, all melee and ranged attacks directed against you, except those that you specifically allow through, have a 20% chance of missing entirely. This stacks with (and is checked separately from) other miss chances, such as those from concealment and incorporeality.
Benefits: Allies within your black cloud gain the same Siphon Misfortune bonus as you do.


text:
hits 1 - 10 | 272 hits
American Physical Society (APS) (272)
Surface physics, nanoscale physics, low-dimensional systems (22)
Magnetism (21)
Nuclear Reactions (18)
Structure, structural phase transitions, mechanical properties, defects (18)
Superfluidity and superconductivity (18)
Nuclear Structure (15)
Condensed Matter: Electronic Properties, etc. (14)
Condensed Matter: Structure, etc. (10)
Electronic structure and strongly correlated systems (9)
Nuclear Astrophysics (9)
Quantum optics, physics of lasers, nonlinear optics, classical optics (8)
Semiconductors I: bulk (7)
General Relativity and Gravitation (6)
Semiconductors II: surfaces, interfaces, microstructures, and related topics (6)
Atomic and molecular structure and dynamics (5)
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (5)
Dynamics, dynamical systems, lattice effects (5)
General relativity, gravitation (5)
Plasma and Beam Physics (5)
Springer (2,814)
American Chemical Society (1,631)
Nature Publishing Group (1,036)
Wiley (680)
American Institute of Physics (AIP) (674)
Wiley-Blackwell (666)
American Geophysical Union (AGU) (624)
Blackwell Publishing Ltd (571)
Oxford University Press (537)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (459)
Copernicus (260)
International Union of Crystallography (IUCr) (252)
American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) (204)
National Academy of Sciences (198)
Springer Nature (186)
American Journal of Science (AJS) (178)
Cambridge University Press (CUP) (155)
American Meteorological Society (139)
Separation of electron and hole dynamics in the semimetal LaSb (2017)
F. Han, J. Xu, A. S. Botana, Z. L. Xiao, Y. L. Wang, W. G. Yang, D. Y. Chung, M. G. Kanatzidis, M. R. Norman, G. W. Crabtree, and W. K. Kwok
American Physical Society (APS)
In: Physical Review B
Description: Author(s): F. Han, J. Xu, A. S. Botana, Z. L. Xiao, Y. L. Wang, W. G. Yang, D. Y. Chung, M. G. Kanatzidis, M. R. Norman, G. W. Crabtree, and W. K. Kwok We report investigations on the magnetotransport in LaSb, which exhibits extremely large magnetoresistance (XMR). Foremost, we demonstrate that the resistivity plateau can be explained without invoking topological protection. We then determine the Fermi surface from Shubnikov–de Haas (SdH) quantum o... [Phys. Rev. B 96, 125112] Published Thu Sep 07, 2017
Keywords: Electronic structure and strongly correlated systems
Published by American Physical Society (APS)
Dynamical and many-body correlation effects in the kinetic energy spectra of isotopes produced in nuclear multifragmentation (2018)
S. R. Souza, R. Donangelo, W. G. Lynch, and M. B. Tsang
In: Physical Review C
Description: Author(s): S. R. Souza, R. Donangelo, W. G. Lynch, and M. B. Tsang The properties of the kinetic energy spectra of light isotopes produced in the breakup of a nuclear source and during the de-excitation of its products are examined. The initial stage, at which the hot fragments are created, is modeled by the statistical multifragmentation model, whereas the Weissko... [Phys. Rev. C 97, 034614] Published Tue Mar 20, 2018
Keywords: Nuclear Reactions
Vibrational properties of the Au-($\sqrt{3}×\sqrt{3}$)/Si(111) surface reconstruction (2018)
B. Halbig, M. Liebhaber, U. Bass, J. Geurts, E. Speiser, J. Räthel, S. Chandola, N. Esser, M. Krenz, S. Neufeld, W. G. Schmidt, and S. Sanna
Description: Author(s): B. Halbig, M. Liebhaber, U. Bass, J. Geurts, E. Speiser, J. Räthel, S. Chandola, N. Esser, M. Krenz, S. Neufeld, W. G. Schmidt, and S. Sanna The vibrational properties of the Au-induced ( 3 × 3 ) R 30 ∘ reconstruction of the Si(111) surface are investigated by polarized surface Raman spectroscopy and density-functional theory. The Raman measurements are performed in situ at room temperature as well as 20 K, and they reveal the presence of vibra... [Phys. Rev. B 97, 035412] Published Wed Jan 10, 2018
Keywords: Surface physics, nanoscale physics, low-dimensional systems
Vibration eigenmodes of the Au-(5×2)/Si(111) surface studied by Raman spectroscopy and first-principles calculations (2016)
M. Liebhaber, B. Halbig, U. Bass, J. Geurts, S. Neufeld, S. Sanna, W. G. Schmidt, E. Speiser, J. Räthel, S. Chandola, and N. Esser
Description: Author(s): M. Liebhaber, B. Halbig, U. Bass, J. Geurts, S. Neufeld, S. Sanna, W. G. Schmidt, E. Speiser, J. Räthel, S. Chandola, and N. Esser Ordered submonolayers of adsorbate atoms on semiconductor surfaces constitute a playground for electronic correlation effects, which are tightly connected to the local atomic arrangement and the corresponding vibration eigenmodes. We report on a study of the vibration eigenmodes of Au-covered Si(111… [Phys. Rev. B 94, 235304] Published Mon Dec 19, 2016
Keywords: Semiconductors II: surfaces, interfaces, microstructures, and related topics
Vibrational properties of LiNb_{1−x} Ta_{x} O_{3} mixed crystals (2016)
M. Rüsing, S. Sanna, S. Neufeld, G. Berth, W. G. Schmidt, A. Zrenner, H. Yu, Y. Wang, and H. Zhang
Description: Author(s): M. Rüsing, S. Sanna, S. Neufeld, G. Berth, W. G. Schmidt, A. Zrenner, H. Yu, Y. Wang, and H. Zhang Congruent lithium niobate and lithium tantalate mixed crystals have been grown over the complete compositional range with the Czochralski method. The structural and vibrational properties of the mixed crystals are studied extensively by x-ray diffraction measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and density… [Phys. Rev. B 93, 184305] Published Mon May 23, 2016
Keywords: Dynamics, dynamical systems, lattice effects
Strain-induced quasi-one-dimensional rare-earth silicide structures on Si(111) (2016)
F. Timmer, R. Oelke, C. Dues, S. Sanna, W. G. Schmidt, M. Franz, S. Appelfeller, M. Dähne, and J. Wollschläger
Description: Author(s): F. Timmer, R. Oelke, C. Dues, S. Sanna, W. G. Schmidt, M. Franz, S. Appelfeller, M. Dähne, and J. Wollschläger After deposition of rare-earth elements (Dy, Tb) on Si(111) at elevated temperatures, a formerly unknown 2 3 × 3 R 30 ∘ reconstruction is observed by low-energy electron diffraction, while scanning tunneling microscopy measurements exhibit a 3 × 3 R 30 ∘ reconstruction. On the basis of density-functional theor… [Phys. Rev. B 94, 205431] Published Mon Nov 28, 2016
Elastic breakup cross sections of well-bound nucleons (2014)
K. Wimmer, D. Bazin, A. Gade, J. A. Tostevin, T. Baugher, Z. Chajecki, D. Coupland, M. A. Famiano, T. K. Ghosh, G. F. Grinyer, M. E. Howard, M. Kilburn, W. G. Lynch, B. Manning, K. Meierbachtol, P. Quarterman, A. Ratkiewicz, A. Sanetullaev, R. H. Showalter, S. R. Stroberg, M. B. Tsang, D. Weisshaar, J. Winkelbauer, R. Winkler, and M. Youngs
Description: Author(s): K. Wimmer, D. Bazin, A. Gade, J. A. Tostevin, T. Baugher, Z. Chajecki, D. Coupland, M. A. Famiano, T. K. Ghosh, G. F. Grinyer, M. E. Howard, M. Kilburn, W. G. Lynch, B. Manning, K. Meierbachtol, P. Quarterman, A. Ratkiewicz, A. Sanetullaev, R. H. Showalter, S. R. Stroberg, M. B. Tsang, D. Weisshaar, J. Winkelbauer, R. Winkler, and M. Youngs The 9 Be( 28 Mg, 27 Na) one-proton removal reaction with a large proton separation energy of S p ( 28 Mg)=16.79 MeV is studied at intermediate beam energy. Coincidences of the bound 27 Na residues with protons and other light charged particles are measured. These data are analyzed to determine the percentage ... [Phys. Rev. C 90, 064615] Published Fri Dec 19, 2014
GaN m-plane: Atomic structure, surface bands, and optical response (2015)
M. Landmann, E. Rauls, W. G. Schmidt, M. D. Neumann, E. Speiser, and N. Esser
Description: Author(s): M. Landmann, E. Rauls, W. G. Schmidt, M. D. Neumann, E. Speiser, and N. Esser Density-functional-theory calculations are combined with many-body perturbation theory in order to elucidate the geometry, electronic, and optical properties of the wz-GaN(11̅ 00) surface, i.e., the so-called m-plane. The optical absorption and reflection anisotropy related to electronic tran... [Phys. Rev. B 91, 035302] Published Wed Jan 07, 2015
Pressure-induced spin reorientation and spin state transition in SrCoO_{3} (2015)
J.-Y. Yang, C. Terakura, M. Medarde, J. S. White, D. Sheptyakov, X.-Z. Yan, N.-N. Li, W.-G. Yang, H.-L. Xia, J.-H. Dai, Y.-Y. Yin, Y.-Y. Jiao, J.-G. Cheng, Y.-L. Bu, Q.-F. Zhang, X.-D. Li, C.-Q. Jin, Y. Taguchi, Y. Tokura, and Y.-W. Long
Description: Author(s): J.-Y. Yang, C. Terakura, M. Medarde, J. S. White, D. Sheptyakov, X.-Z. Yan, N.-N. Li, W.-G. Yang, H.-L. Xia, J.-H. Dai, Y.-Y. Yin, Y.-Y. Jiao, J.-G. Cheng, Y.-L. Bu, Q.-F. Zhang, X.-D. Li, C.-Q. Jin, Y. Taguchi, Y. Tokura, and Y.-W. Long A series of high-pressure measurements including resistivity, ac and dc magnetic susceptibility, neutron powder diffraction, and synchrotron x-ray diffraction were performed to investigate the crystal structure and electronic states of the itinerant ferromagnet SrCo O 3 . Two pressure-induced phase tra… [Phys. Rev. B 92, 195147] Published Tue Nov 24, 2015
Interplay between sequential and prompt two-proton decay from the first excited state of ^{16} Ne (2015)
K. W. Brown, R. J. Charity, L. G. Sobotka, L. V. Grigorenko, T. A. Golubkova, S. Bedoor, W. W. Buhro, Z. Chajecki, J. M. Elson, W. G. Lynch, J. Manfredi, D. G. McNeel, W. Reviol, R. Shane, R. H. Showalter, M. B. Tsang, J. R. Winkelbauer, and A. H. Wuosmaa
Description: Author(s): K. W. Brown, R. J. Charity, L. G. Sobotka, L. V. Grigorenko, T. A. Golubkova, S. Bedoor, W. W. Buhro, Z. Chajecki, J. M. Elson, W. G. Lynch, J. Manfredi, D. G. McNeel, W. Reviol, R. Shane, R. H. Showalter, M. B. Tsang, J. R. Winkelbauer, and A. H. Wuosmaa The first excited, J π = 2 + state of Ne 16 at E * = 1.69 ( 2 ) MeV is well populated in neutron knockout reactions with a Ne 17 beam and the correlations between the momenta of the three final fragments following 2 p decay were measured. The correlation pattern showed aspects of both sequential and diprotonlike… [Phys. Rev. C 92, 034329] Published Wed Sep 30, 2015
Keywords: Nuclear Structure


Trump cancels the summit with North Korea's Little Rocket Man for 'angry statements' that followed Trump spoke persons such as Bolton stating that they were planning a Libya model for North Korea's future i.e. regime collapse. Whilst the announcement may have come as a surprise to the mainstream press. However, as my article of 2 weeks ago illustrated that I thought that even if a meeting took place between the two that it would not amount to more than a publicity stunt for Trump's ego who feels he's due a fake Nobel peace prize like the one handed out to Obama for apparently just getting elected.
The big picture as illustrated by in-depth analysis of BEFORE Trump took office is United States under a Trump Presidency galloping towards War with China.
And here is the letter sent to Little Rocket Man on Friday that it is likely was written by Trump himself.
The letter implies that Trump is still hoping for that Nobel price, but if it doesn't happen then he is prepared to go in all guns blazing for regime change Libya style that the likes of Bolton keep iterating.
Whilst Little Rocket Man's North Korea has always been just one of a dozen flash points / proxy wars that the US and China are engaged in against one another as my following video illustrates which IS counting down towards an INEVITABLE nuclear confrontation as China attempts to punch a hole through the ring of US military bases that encircle China and its inevitable nuclear war consequences.


text:
Burmese refugees freed by police
ETLJB 01 december 2012 - The East Timor Police have released four Burmese nationals who were arrested by marine police officers in the Timor Sea in August of this year.
The four Burmese were heading to Australia to seek political asylum after fleeing ethnic and religious violence in Burma.
According to an English translation of a Tetum-language report in the Timor Post on 30 November 2012, the Head of the Immigration Police Service, Jose da Costa, said that the law did not permit the police to deport the Burmese asylum seekers but have freed them so that they can decide whether to leave for Australia or some other country.
"We are not allowed to deport these people, but we only free them to leave the country," Mr da Cost is reported to have said.
Diario Nacional reported on 3 August last that the Burmese nationals has been arrested and detained along with four Indonesians on an illegal ship near Atabae.
Earlier in the year, in March 2012, Radio Timor Leste reported that another 26 Burmese asylum seekers had been found by local communities on the southern coast of the District of Vikeke after the boat on which they were fleeing experienced some technical problems at sea. Those 26 Burmese were presented by the Vikeke district police to the Public Prosecutor for processing. It was believed that they were also heading for Australia to seek asylum.
Author: Warren L. Wright Sources: Timor Post, Diario Nacional, Radio Timor Leste.
SIC hands Burmese people to Immigration police
Note: Article 10 (Solidarity) of the Constitution of East Timor provides that:
1. The Democratic Republic of East Timor shall extend its solidarity to the struggle of all peoples for national liberation.
2. The Democratic Republic of East Timor shall grant political asylum, in accordance with the law, to foreigners persecuted as a result of their struggle for national and social liberation, defence of human rights, democracy and peace.
at Saturday, December 01, 2012
Witchcraft, Conflict and Resolution in Timor-Leste
Conservation International records illegal exploit...
Defiant Lobato attacks East Timorese courts as pol...
Murder and witchcraft in Timor-Leste
Additional Public Holidays in Timor-Leste on 24, 2...
Media encouraged to self-regulate to ensure good i...
Draft Law on State Budget 2013, Fireworks Banned, ...
Timor-Leste declares war on drugs
Brothel operating near Presidential Palace
Convicted former Justice Minister Lucia Lobato sti...
Former militia members sentenced by Dili District ...
Draft Laws on Reparations and Public Memory Instit...
250000 East Timorese still in Indonesia 13 years s...
CPD-RDTL continues to be a thorn in the side of th...
New website to facilitate public access to justice...
Military chief intervenes again in public policy
Five more drug-related arrests in Timor-Leste
Former Justice Minister Lucia Lobato to go to jail...
Police and military commit serious human rights vi...
Child Sex Offender Sentenced to 15 Years Imprisonment
Perception of corruption in Timor-Leste improves b...
Police arrest 6 Indonesian women suspected of bein...
The Lack of Proportion and Rationality of Megaproj...
Meeting of the Council of Ministers of 5 December ...
Young victims of domestic and sexual violence have...
Mass poisoning of children believed to be an act o...
Incestuous pedophile father sentenced to 9.5 yrs jail
Fundasaun Alola: Women's rights in Timor-Leste
JSMP appeals to Indonesian government to implement...
East Timorese and Indonesian police cooperate to t...