text:
Play as Bulwark of Uselessness
May 4, 2016 Luca Morini 2 Comments
Luca Morini is a Researcher within the Disruptive Media Learning Lab of Coventry University. With a Ph.D. in Education and Communication and a background in psychology, he actually tries to spend most of his time playing, making games or helping people make their own, believing creative playfulness to be the keystone of true, liberating education.
Almost two years ago, halfway through my doctoral course, I found myself in Finland at the "Critical Evaluation of Game Studies Seminar," where, above all the "big names" in the field of Game Studies who spoke there (among which were Aarseth, Deterding, Juul, and Mäyrä), one thing was indelibly imprinted in my memory: Canadian sociologist Bart Simon's characterisation of Game Studies as a true, undeniable "bulwark of uselessness". As a customary "tank" player in MMOs, always relishing the role of defending my teammates in our small, unnecessary virtual struggles, the image stuck strongly.
As I continued climbing toward the completion of my Ph.D. in Education and Communication, largely by playing and making games within communities of amateur game designers, I realized that this powerful image, "the bulwark of uselessness," could be a conceptualisation relevant to all cultural endeavours in their conflicted relationship with utilitaristic economic forces, a conflict that is becoming especially relevant in times of economic crisis. While culture as a whole cannot be constructed or conceptualised on the mere criteria of efficiency and profit, nor in subordination to market imperatives, even public institutions devoted to education and cultural endeavors are being currently subjected to the push toward adopting more market oriented approaches and therefore abdicating the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. What I call "Bulwark of Uselessness" is therefore the diverse set of cultural spaces and activities that are not devoted to profit and production and that indeed can work to resist them. In the current historical-cultural moment, however, this Bulwark finds itself attacked in its very anthropological root, that of play.The "fall" of this bulwark – its full exclusion by public spaces, cultures, and discourse – would be nothing short of catastrophic, strongly curtailing the possibilities of human expression.
As a living example of the utilitarian pressures on the gratuitous and unproductive nature of play, having recently obtained a research position at in an institution aimed at promoting change in Higher Education, I find myself involved in a variety of game-related projects. These projects, each with different degrees of subtlety, involve employing play as a tool aimed at some very specific instrumental purpose, even if noble ones (e.g. sustainability or health). This dynamic reflects education as a whole, pushed more and more away from the general public values of knowledge construction and citizenship toward very specific technical ends, such as the training and upskilling of "employable" individuals. To have to engage with instrumental uses of play, most often directed to some kind of market utility or efficiency, is an uncomfortable position, if one that I am critically coming to terms with as an engaged pedagogist and game scholar.
The Gameful World Revisited
In the last few months, thanks to the positive interactions and discussions occurring in my new workplace, I had the opportunity to engage with gamification (as defined as "use of game design elements in non-game contexts"; see Deterding et al., 2011) in a more nuanced way. I came to appreciate how, when done well, gamification is more than badges and scores stuck onto unplayful activities, but a specific and highly elaborate form of game-design, if one bounded by an inevitably purposive element.
In doing this, I could complexify the utter condemnation of gamification as "bullshit" cast by Ian Bogost. While I still mostly concur with his positions, if not with his rhetorical approach on a philosophical and political level, condemnation is no longer sufficient, as we playful scholars must engage with actual cultural and historical contexts to keep our work meaningful. We can't trivially reject these practices, but we must endeavor to dialectically understand them and highlight exactly when and how they can become means through which to insidiously convey curricula and ideologies, or even all out dehumanizing.
We need to do this particularly with the actual people who seek to explore the possibility for humane uses of instrumental approaches to games and play (under the variety of levels of gamification, "game based learning", serious games, etc.), to come to a complex understanding of the possibilities and the space of games and play in our society. This exploration, however, starts by effectively acknowledging that we have long lived in a "gameful world," one where societal hierarchies and structures are effectively defined by homologues of the "trivial" gamification techniques of scores and leaderboards. From being scored for our achievements in the classroom, to "gaming" electoral systems to maximise delegates, to leaderboards which linearly order and label the "employee of the month" or the "Top 100 Most Influential People", we are already subject to gamification. The most trivial elements of game design, scores and leaderboards, have been an integral part of our society at least since the inception of Fredrick Taylor's "scientific management". And indeed, opposite to the gameful utopia prospected by Jane McGonigal, the understanding of hierarchical feedback systems (be them school or workplace) as assimilable to game mechanics and experiences has only increased, as has been discussed, among others, by Jennifer DeWinter, who straightforwardly frames Gamification as Taylorism 2.0. This simplistic approach to game-like systems has even been criticised from within the gamification community, as much more humane approaches to behaviour and experience design begin when advocated by gamification's most articulate proponents (see, among others Yu-Kai Chou or Sylvester Arnab). However, and despite this emerging plurality of approaches and considerable refinement to the field, most implementations still don't seem to (and maybe can't) be aimed at systemic, structural change, but instead at increasing productivity or learning outcomes – that is, at orienting and directing behaviors. While the intentions of gamificators might be (in many cases) laudable, the conceptual tools that are being developed can be extremely dangerous if wrongly employed (as is the case with most technologies). Through the pervasive application of well-established game design techniques, the odds of the emergence of a panopticon is made to be accepted and indeed embraced through the bait of false playfulness have greatly increased.
See, for a paradigmatic example, the case of China's gamified credit score system "Sesame Credit," that purportedly will control access to credit and special benefits depending on a variety of scored variables, which go from the kind of purchases made to the scores of linked people in social networks. Despite having been probably overblown by western press due to cultural bias and vested interests in discrediting western economies' main competition, Sesame Credit at least hints at the possibility of a whole new kind of systems of social control, where the feedback loops that ordinarily compose games are co-opted for surveillance and purposive behavioral "push."
What is particularly worrisome is indeed the massive adoption of gamification by corporate and political subjects. This happens because, at some level, these typologies of games (or more properly, gamified systems) "work" in an explicit, measurable way, to enact similarly explicit, measurable "change" that is compliant with the currently dominant obsession for measurement and quantification. But, as game designer and activist Paolo Pedercini provocatively wrote: "If you can measure it, then it's not the change I want to see." Quantification and measurement can only amount to management and optimisation of the existent (which of course is, in the right contexts and times, a noble endeavour in itself), but it is not the generation of novel experiences that can only occur through deep, purposeless, playful and liberating engagement in cultural dynamics.
What is completely left out of the picture by all the "gameful" approaches, the design of which is strongly and explicitly self-constrained so as to provide the above discussed measurable outcome, is indeed the role of play as both expression matrix of culture, as discussed since Huizinga. The exclusion of culture (in its widest anthropological sense, including aesthetics, beliefs, meanings, values, and especially their diversity according to each context) from the discourse of gamification proponents is rooted in an adherence to the above mentioned management-oriented measurability model and therefore runs much deeper than the quasi-behaviourist implementations of the "exhaustible machines" of naïve gamificators, trivialising applications of game design elements that are denounced by their own more competent colleagues.
However, even those implementations that have leeways for playfulness are built with a purpose that comes before play and gives it hard boundaries: as a general rule, gamification proponents (paraphrasing Jeff Watson) have still to deliver an example of gamification that isn't about compliance, surveillance, efficiency, and/or skill or information delivery – all criteria which of course have their necessary roles at times and places, but are not to be mistaken for the cores of education, citizenship, or play.
Gamification ultimately seems to rely on an underlying, deep cultural disqualification of playfulness, as discussed by Jaakko Stenros (2015), who highlights how "there is an ideological stance found in much of the literature on serious games and gamification that posits that games and play are somehow inferior unless they are useful." This stance paradoxically takes the exact same form of Caillois' highest praise: "Play is an occasion of pure waste." While "waste" means lot of things in our (relatively) environmentally aware society, most core to our discussion is the fact that true play is, first and foremost, a waste of time. It is characterized by being unnecessary, as Bernard Suits wrote. This makes it radically and explicitly opposed to the above touched Taylorist "scientific management," oriented to maximise optimization and productivity.
And yet, this very waste of time and energy is the messy cultural terrain upon which new possible societal configurations are explored and experimented. "Culture arises in the form of play, that it is played from the very beginning," teaches Huizinga, and Salen & Zimmerman articulate at length the paradox conflict of play, the free movement within and with its rules. All "gameful" approaches, however, unilaterally favor rules instead of freedom, as their first and foremost objective is compliance (as poignantly illustrated by Jeff Watson), implying very specific uses and purposes.
So, what are the risks if we do not nurture, sustain and promote a cultural stance that allows for the above-mentioned liberating, anti-utilitaristic, even (paradoxically) anti-consumerist "pure waste," for a more widespread resistance to purpose? What are the risks if we let this "bulwark of uselessness" that is play be devalued and fall, conquered by purpose and utility?
The Tyranny of Necessity
The key of my argument is that the fall of this "bulwark" under the blows of efficiency and utility would indeed constitute the ultimate ecological catastrophe: to focus all of our efforts, and even all of our games, on the above discussed management and optimisation of the existent means minimising the spaces (both physical and cultural) where novel ideas can emerge through playful experimentation, not bound by efficiency or productivity, as also discussed by Deterding in a recent talk. To put it shortly (and dramatically), this means no less than the simultaneous destruction of not one, but all non-actual possible worlds, collapsed in the monolithic, eternal present of the capitalist "end of history," as famously discussed by Francis Fukuyama after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
I want therefore to conclude by echoing Miguel Sicart's "call to playful arms" against efficiency, seriousness and technical determinism. My appeal is to the citizens of an insidiously occupied land, spaces no more completely public, but more and more colonised by market forces and imperatives. My appeal is to get involved wherever there is the possibility of free, purposeless play, something that, indeed, even gamification systems allow and provide space for, if often unknowingly, dangerously, painfully and implicitly. In this context, the most ethical "purpose" of play can be only and exactly to critique purposiveness itself, a critique which in its praxis comes in (at least) two flavors: to create safe spaces for the emergence of practices and systems which purposes are not known yet and might never find one, and to strip existing practices of their current purpose.
We can therefore preserve the "bulwark" with two parallel strategies. The first might appear to be simple and trivial: acting to build (actual and figurative) playgrounds, especially in public spaces. This is, again, akin to what Deterding means by "designing against productivity." The second and more risky one is to overtly play with structure and invent new uses and spaces, both within and without games: this is a kind of subversive play, best exemplified by the massive cheating practices which characterized Foursquare, as a creative, playful resistance to measurement, or by more politically charged playful practices such as "meta-kettling".
Subvert mere games into play, because, contrary to Margaret Thatcher's famous saying, there are, indeed, infinite alternatives. As game designers our entire job consists indeed of creating these alternatives, these possible worlds, and this is something we can keep doing only by upholding our Bulwark, and resisting the instrumental purposes of our so-called "reality."
Author's Note: The present article is to be considered a "twin essay" to "(Higher) Education as Bulwark of Uselessness", submitted to the digital journal Hybrid Pedagogy, one that you should really check out if you are in any way interested in teaching and learning. I wrote the two essays together at the same time, as a playful experiment in academic writing: beside some different choices of words or disciplinarily specific remarks the first and last paragraphs are indeed mostly the same, to highlight the deep, if most often distorted (as discussed in both essays), link between play and learning.
Deterding, Sebastian, et al. "Gamification. using game-design elements in non-gaming contexts." CHI'11 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2011.
DeWinter, Jennifer, Carly A. Kocurek, and Randall Nichols. "Taylorism 2.0: Gamification, scientific management and the capitalist appropriation of play."Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 6.2 (2014): 109-127.
Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens Ils 86. Routledge, 2014.
Salen, Katie, and Eric Zimmerman. Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT press, 2004.
Stenros, Jaakko. "Playfulness, Play, and Games: A Constructionist Ludology Approach." (2015).
Suits, Bernard. The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Broadview Press, 2014.
Essay games studies, gamification, Higher Education, Johan Huizinga, Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, Luca Morini, Sebastian Deterding
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install went well (or so i thought). When I opened the program, it crashed and went to a blue screen saying your pc encountered an error and needs to be restarted. see error apc_index_mismatch.
result (even tried a slightly older version....not knowing if it was a glitch in the new version or not). That didnt help anything either.
Any help would be soo greatly appreciated.
If this only happens with that particular program, you might want to contact their support. Looking at the dumps I notice I do not have access to the resources to debug this as the resources are private to the vendor of the program.
Ok Thank you Axe0 Ill see what i can find out talking to them.
would it help if i could supply a program crash log?
Possibly yes, I imagine you could create a ticket or something and they would just ask you to supply what they need.
Ok seems it is now crashing even without the program running....all the logs seem to show this in red. (this is a copy of the most recent dmp as viewed from a program called bluescreenview).
Whenever you would like to upload information about a crash, please run the DM Log Collector and upload the zip it provides.
Information from programs like Bluescreen viewer and WhoCrashed aren't as much help as actual dumps are, and the zip created by the DM Log Collector provides more information on top of the dumps.
Appologies, when I tried using the dm log collector yesterday it only created an empty zip file, so figured that was the best way to get the log up here. Seems to be working fine now though.
Something I noticed in the eventlogs, although they're a few months old, are/were you aware of these?
2019-01-06T10:52:03.615		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:52:01.377		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:59.117		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:56.904		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:53.557		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:50.426		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:48.436		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:45.216		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:43.187		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:39.907		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:36.911		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:34.954		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:32.737		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:29.323		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:27.041		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:24.772		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:51:21.366		The device, \Device\CdRom1, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:32.450		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:30.491		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:28.554		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:26.572		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:24.589		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:21.224		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:17.989		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:15.850		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:12.325		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:10.111		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:06.854		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:03.580		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:49:01.415		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:48:59.152		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:48:55.898		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:48:53.884		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:48:51.667		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-06T10:48:48.495		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2019-01-04T12:07:53.788		The device, \Device\Harddisk3\DR5, has a bad block.
2019-01-04T12:07:53.773		The device, \Device\Harddisk3\DR5, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:10:37.268		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR36, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:10:34.310		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR36, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:10:30.092		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR36, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:10:27.185		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR36, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:10:24.041		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR36, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:40.324		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:37.366		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:34.274		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:31.382		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:28.218		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T23:03:25.090		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR35, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:05:57.901		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:05:57.535		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:05:57.076		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:05:56.684		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:05:56.061		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:02:26.469		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:02:20.473		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:02:17.498		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:02:14.292		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T11:02:11.324		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:30:24.360		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:30:23.977		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:30:23.568		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:30:23.119		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:30:22.620		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:29:56.117		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:29:53.189		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:29:50.296		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:29:47.154		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:29:44.221		The device, \Device\Harddisk1\DR33, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:39.736		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:36.851		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:33.685		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:28.916		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:19.129		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:16.133		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:13.248		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:10.062		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:24:07.092		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:58.436		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:55.481		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:52.595		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:49.351		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:46.453		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:40.342		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:37.400		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:34.208		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:31.316		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:26.026		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:23.015		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:18.698		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:15.766		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:12.564		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:23:09.649		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:21:18.500		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:21:15.603		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:21:12.718		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:21:09.585		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T10:21:06.601		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR31, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:55:06.519		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:55:03.052		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:54:57.136		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:54:53.985		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:54:47.742		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:54:44.749		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-09-13T09:54:38.741		The device, \Device\Harddisk2\DR30, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:42.239		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:34.379		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:27.302		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:20.304		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:13.643		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:06.867		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:31:00.088		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:30:53.225		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:30:46.129		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:30:39.345		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:30:32.532		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
2018-08-11T21:30:25.559		The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.
I notice the dumps are very consistent, everytime before a crash a call is made to the function nt!IopAllocateIrpPrivate.
As this function is a private function I assume it provides a driver with resources to communicate with other drivers and that it returns the memory address to the resources for the driver to use, based on what I know of the public version.
Luckily, one of the dumps shows which driver the resources are going to, a driver from Avast.
Hmmm no, I was not aware of those issues....I dont have a cd rom built in, but instead use an external and also have been known to hook up hard drives via an external enclosure or pin drive use (could that be the hard drive issues they are refering to?) Ok avast has been uninstalled via the avast clear software.
seems its still doing it, even with avast removed...what else could be causing it?
also, can i reinstall avast?
Without a dump it's nearly impossible to say what could be causing it, could you upload the dump C:\Windows\MEMORY.dmp to onedrive, google drive or dropbox and post a share link in your next post. Please note that you will first have to copy it as accessing the file in its original location can cause some problems, I would recommend to copy using powershell or command prompt (command: copy C:\Windows\MEMORY.dmp "<path to directory you want to copy to>").
Could you check if in the Windows partition, in the Windows folder, there is a file named memory.dmp.


Simple and elegant Yellow Carnations bouquet.
15 pink roses with greenery.
take this chance to greet your mom a Happy Mother's Day-12 red carnations.
Elegant design with purple roses and carnations.
Champagne roses and Snap Dragons with Greenery.
36 Red Roses with Carnations.
Gorgeous pink hydrangea with elegant wrapping.
Champagne roses and Carnations with Greenery.


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text:
Bad Reasons to Hack on Open Source Projects
Update: the original title was "Reason Why You Shouldn't Hack on Open Source Projects", but commenters pointed out that this title would fit better.
People admire open source contributors, just like they admire entrepreneurs and artists. That's awesome, they'll tell you. Improve the world, I love that. Go for it! (It's easy for them to say.)
But as with anything that becomes more prestigious, people recommending it to you will ignore your opportunity costs, and you may try to do it for the wrong reasons. You shouldn't become an artist so you can be famous, but because there's art inside of you that will kill you if you don't let it out. You shouldn't found a startup to make money, but because it's your life's work. And you shouldn't hack on open source projects because someone told you that your GitHub profile is your new resume, but because you want to code socially. I won't focus on why open source is good in this post, but rather warn you about some common, bad reasons to hack on open source projects.
(image: jalbertbowdenii)
1. Some workaholic company expects you to.
Some companies only want to hire programmers who eat, breathe, and sleep coding, and if your nights and weekends aren't spent hacking on side projects that they can see on GitHub, then you can't prove to them that you're enough of a single-minded workaholic to fit in. So don't–find somewhere else to work.
We've just talked to a lot of companies and a lot of programmers for our Gridmancer challenge job matching. Almost all the good programmers had scant GitHub profiles but felt somehow ashamed of it, as if they were missing some HR checkbox. Most of the employers were looking for that checkbox, but only as a substitute for a portfolio. It's a far stronger signal to have well-presented projects in a portfolio on your personal site, closed-source or not, than to have some hard-to-evaluate code linked to your GitHub profile. (Your GitHub profile is not a portfolio.) If you can present projects that you did at work in a previous coding job, then that's good, too. It's worse when you can't show off any of the great projects you've worked on because your past employers won't let you–but even then, the best way to get jobs is through referrals, not resumes, so if you've even gotten to the HR checkbox phase, you're doing it the hard way.
A variant on this is when you want to work for a particular company, but they insist that you do free work for them so they can see how good you are first. Given how in-demand programmers are right now, this usually only makes sense when either you really want to work at that company and they know it, or you have no experience, free time, and no other way to show them just how great you are.
If you want a job, don't hack on open source just so you can get a job. Just try to get a job.
2. You want love and acceptance.
When you come into an open source project, figure out what needs doing, do a bunch of work to help out, and submit your mighty pull request, you may be like the Peace Corps volunteer proudly saying so everyone on the plane home can hear, "I really helped those people. I helped them a lot." After all, you put in many hours of effort, and you're just trying to be helpful.
But meanwhile, the part-time volunteer maintainer who has to merge your pull request, while appreciative, is already busy and now has to test, understand, and merge your new code, and perhaps your changes interfere with some existing functionality or need documentation or don't quite have the right style. He's grateful (as long as your code actually helps), but he's busy, and he probably doesn't realize how long you spent on this, or even that you're as human as he is–it's the internet, after all. He merges in your pull request, says, "Thanks! Can you sign the CLA?", and that's it.
Some open source projects grow into great communities and are warm and friendly and will go out of their way to get to know you, but most won't. Hacking on open source is usually an inefficient way to connect with other people, since the code is right in front of you, but the coder isn't.
At CodeCombat, we're making a big effort to be friendly and appreciative with our contributors, since we know how hard our Archmages work on the game, but I'll be the first to admit that it's difficult. I really hope that you care about the code more than about me caring about you caring about the code, because the code really needs to be its own reward for you (at least until you're in San Francisco and I can have you over for dinner to express my appreciation).
3. You want to be a hero who transforms the vision of the project.
If you have strong ideas about how the future of some open source project, then it's not going to work to come in with your sleeves rolled up and a manifesto prepared. Even if you are ready to do all the work to transform the project and could just get it done by yourself in two weeks, you still have to understand that it's a community effort, and the community has to agree on things. That's more important than the time you're willing to put in. In the worst case, you split the community and kill the project.
If you want to have control, then start your own project–and either keep it closed-source or make it clear that you're going to be the benevolent dictator. Most open source projects are like early communist countries: the individual is less important than the community, the idealists work hard while others watch, and no one gets paid. If that turns you off, then you can try to find or found a project with a different political system.
4. You want to contribute to a project you don't actually use.
I was visiting the Google Summer of Code IRC channel, and many of the GSoC organizations were complaining about how they have never, ever gotten a good long-term contributor from someone who wasn't already a user of their open source software. I don't know why you would work on software that you don't use, if you had the choice. How can you know what to improve? How can it be any fun?
5. You want to claim credit for contributing and then move on.
This actually works. You can make a few pull requests to several high-profile projects, add "Minor contributor to X, Y, and Z" to your list of accomplishments, and very efficiently impress certain people and employers. It probably won't work this well for long if too many people start doing it, and it seems a little disingenuous, but I guess you did help each project out a bit. So who are we open-source maintainers to complain that you didn't stay and write even more code for free?
I don't know, but I think you'll find it more rewarding to really get involved in a project. You'll at least learn a lot more from truly understanding the codebase and figuring out how to make significant changes.
6. You don't realize how much your time is worth.
If you can code well and want money, then don't fall into the ultra-common programmer trap of undervaluing your time. Many heavy open source contributors are less motivated by money than by filling the world with great software. If that's not you, and you need money, then find a way to get paid, because you're worth it. Don't let anyone convince you that you need to give your time away to open source before you're worth paying.
That's all I could think of. There are many more good reasons to hack on open source projects, and if it's something you want to do, you'll already know most of the obvious ones. Here are three more:
CodeCombat is now in the Google Summer of Code 2014, so if you're a student developer and want to get paid to hack on open source for the summer, then check out our suggested projects (or propose your own). There's some really fun stuff in there, like adding massively multiplayer sandbox play. And if you want to hack on something other than a programming game, there are many other great organizations to work with.
We're also giving away $3250 in prizes for writing open source parsers for your programming language of choice on a new ChallengePost challenge. Like compilers? Choose your favorite language and write your own in-browser parser to the Mozilla abstract syntax tree format. The best parser will win a 13" MacBook Air, and there are also three iPad Airs to claim.
Help the world. In our last post about why startups should go open source, we mentioned that the non-profit peer-to-peer microlending organization Zidisha was considering doing it. Well, we convinced them, and now they're seeing great contributions from enthusiastic volunteers wanting to make a difference and fight poverty. They need a lot of help, and it's really easy to make a big difference, so if you know any PHP, why not see how you can help?
ashmew2
Nice read!
I actually stumbled upon this when I searched for "do people really care about open source?"
Gnialh ush
I really want to start working on some open source projects but the entry barrier is so high. I really don't know where to start. I'm not a student anymore either so can't join events like Google summer of code. :(
We can help! Let's get you set up hacking on CodeCombat, eh? Then you'll have the basics of how open source works without some of the hurdles of joining other projects where they might not have time to teach you the basics. Swing by our HipChat room and let's see what we can do.
Great! I'm in.
CouchDB guy, Apache member, &c.
Reposing my comments here from Twitter.
I liked every point except point four. I don't use CouchDB, but I've been one of the primary contributors since 2007. This point about "knowing what to improve" implies that the only way to contribute is with code, but that's a harmful perspective. What about people who want to write docs, or write blog posts, or work on website design, or help triage tickets? So many ways to contribute. While I started out contributing code, most of my efforts now are about community building, marketing, etc.
I continue to contribute because the people are fantastic, and I care about the project and its goals. So I think a better tip would be: don't contribute to a project you don't care about. I can actually imagine a bunch of scenarios where not using the product yourself is common. Perhaps assistive tech, education, etc. In this instances, it's clear right from the outset that you are contributing to the project because you think the work is valuable, and not because you expect to benefit from it yourself.
I am surprised! Did you use CouchDB at one point–how did you choose to get involved there at first?
I was going to use CouchDB on one of my projects, but CouchDB was very young and didn't have a build system. So I went on a yak shaving adventure, and contributed a build system. That took a little longer than I had anticipated, and eventually, I gave up on the original project. Fortunately enough, by that point, I had already contributed so much to CouchDB, and CouchDB had already become such a rewarding thing to contribute to, that I stuck around. And now I'm one of the primary contributors. I care immensely about the product and the community we've built around it. It doesn't matter to me in the slightest that I don't personally use it.
I think this is quite common, actually. When you look at people in business, how often do you think they are their own customers? And yet, you can still care about the product. You can still care about the problem it solves. You can still care about your teammates, and your culture. You can still derive value and satisfaction from your employment there.
Why should that be any different for OSS? I think because we traditionally think of the small projects that people build for themselves to scratch a particular itch. And yeah, sure, in those instances, it would be a little strange to be maintaining a small tool, if you don't actually use that tool for anything. Where would you find the motivation from?
But when you're working on a product as big as CouchDB, or as big as CodeCombat, I think it starts to get more complex. You have different sorts of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) you have communities forming, things start to become a part of your identity, etc. I mean, CouchDB has been worth it just for the people I have met and the opportunities it has presented. I might not get paid cash to contribute to it, but I get an incredible amount of value out of it. (And what is cash if not one specific sort of fungible value container.)
All I have to say is I can't wait to apply to hack on Code Combat during the GSoC!
Two things that I think would be incredibly rewarding would be building out the mobile site, or the one you suggested of building Code Combat MMO Edition (seriously that just sounds wonderful). Seriously all of the GSoC suggestions you have up there seem like things that I would love to hack on, like I can see the need for all of them. I know if I get accepted my biggest frustration would be selecting just one project. Honestly, I'd probably pick a main one on dabble with all of the other ones at the same time.
And this post reminded me, over on GitHub I said I would go hack on the mobile site issue a while ago... I still really want to do that. I'm just concerned with how it will likely be a huge overhaul of the front end (mostly in terms of the CSS, but still it would be a comprehensive project).
We've Open-Sourced Everything
On CodeCombat Blog
CodeCombat is a programming game for learning to code; a multiplayer coding challenge arena for sharpening your skills; a Y-Combinator-funded startup; and as of this weekend, the largest open source CoffeeScript project and a fantastic way to get into open source and game development. Whether you're a novice programmer wanting to figure out this GitHub thing or an open source guru looking for something to sink your teeth into, check out our GitHub and join over two hundred CodeCombat Archmages in building the best programming game ever.
Yes, we just open-sourced the last year of our lives–all the code, art, and music for CodeCombat–under the MIT and Creative Commons licenses.
"Wait. You're a for-profit startup, but you're giving away all of your code? Are you crazy?"
Nope! Closed source may be the choice made by virtually every startup and every game studio, but we believe this is a convention that needs rethinking. CodeCombat is already a community project, with hundreds of players volunteering to create levels, write documentation, help beginners, playtest, and even translate the game into seventeen languages so far. Now the programmers can join the party, too.
On Imported Blog
Let's talk about programming. Everyone says you need it these days. Even I do. But, how should you learn to code? Codecademy, KhanAcademy, or other pseudo-learning techniques? Maybe a book, like Learn Code The Hard Way. What language should you learn, and what software should you code in? The questions are endless!
I'm here to give you a solution for you (and myself). Here's an 8-step guide for learning to code.
Everyone knows that goals are pointless if they're not specific. If you don't define your success, you're just flailing around randomly. Therefore, have something you want to build.
Think of coding like woodworking. You want to learn how to manipulate wood to make beautiful objects. Would you start hacking away randomly? No. Then why would you do that with code?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Songbook Review: Movements of the Heart
David Lanz
David's Website David's Artist Page on MainlyPiano
CD ReviewAmazon (referral)Sheet Music Plus
Movements of the Heart
2013 / Hal Leonard
Movements of the Heart is the companion songbook to David Lanz's 2013 solo piano album by the same name. Many people (including me!) say that this is Lanz's best and most passionate music in years, and the scores for the book were prepared and edited with great care (I edited the book, so I know!). All thirteen tracks from the album are included and are placed in the same order that they appear on the CD. Published by Hal Leonard, the book is in a 9"x12" format, which makes the pages even roomier and easier to read than the 8 1/2" x 11" format that is becoming more common in sheet music books. Most of the songs in this collection are melodic and structured, but a few are much more ambient and free-form - a fascinating combination of pieces.
None of the music is overly difficult to play, but a few pieces have some challenges. Upper-intermediate and early-advanced pianists will have little trouble mastering most of these songs and should be able to spend many hours getting lost in the emotional quality of this music. A few pieces have chords on the left hand that have a reach of a tenth, but it is always okay to roll those chords, remove a note, or play the upper note with the right hand where it's possible. Dynamics are clearly marked and most of the timing is straightforward and easy to count. In short, it's a great songbook and now one of my favorites to play out of. The book is available from Lanz's website, Amazon, and Sheet Music Plus (links are in the sidebar). Very highly recommended!
The song titles, the keys they are in, and the number of pages are below:
Love's Return - Key of G (1 sharp) - 6 pages
La Luna Dell' Amante - Key of G minor (2 flats) - 8 pages
On Rainbow Way - Key of Bb (2 flats) - 9 pages
To Touch the Sky - Key of F (1 flat) - 8 pages
Rainlight - Key of F minor (4 flats) - 10 pages
I Hear You In a Song - Key of D (2 sharps) - 4 pages
The Way Home - Key of C (0 sharps or flats) - 7 pages
Movements of the Heart - Key of C minor (3 flats) - 9 pages
White Horse - D minor (2 flats) - 8 pages
In Moonlight - Key of Bb - 6 pages
Midnight Adagio - Key of G minor (2 flats) - 6 pages
Here and Now - Key of G minor - 8 pages
I See You In the Stars - Key of E (4 sharps) - 6 pages
More reviews of David Lanz songbooks
Joy Noel
Christmas Eve (easy piano)
East of the Moon


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BACKGROUND: Duration of rehabilitation is an important rehabilitation clinical outcome both from a clinical and administrative point of view. Very few studies have looked at predictors oftreatment duration in out-patient rehabilitation setting especially in patients with orthopedic-traumatologic conditions.
AIM: We undertook a prospective study to assess treatment duration and identify variables predicting this outcome measure (primary outcome) and efficiency in range of motion and activities of daily living (secondary outcome).
DESIGN: Prospective and observational study.
SETTING: Out-patient Service for Rehabilitation.
POPULATION: Two hundred and ten patients admitted to Out-patient Service for Rehabilitation of orthopedic disorders were enrolled: 94 patients had limb fracture (35 wrist fracture, 28 ankle fracture, 27 shoulder fracture), and 120 and undergone elective orthopedic surgery (27 cruciate reconstruction, 93 rotator cuff repair).
METHODS: Univariate Regression analysis was applied to analyze relationships among variables and length of rehabilitation while backward stepwise regression analysis was used to predict treatment duration. The independent variables were age, gender, work, type of physical therapy, comorbidity, pain, onset to admission interval, initial disability, initial range of motion percentage (ROM), and diagnosis group.
RESULTS: Mean treatment duration was 29.7±15 days. Treatment duration following rotator cuff repair was significantly longer than that of cruciate reconstruction (P=0.005), wrist fracture (P<0.001), and ankle fracture (P=0.002). Treatment duration was related to working status, admission disability, onset to admission interval, diagnosis group, admission pain, and admission range of motion. In multivariate regression analysis, admission range of motion and onset to admission interval were the only independent predictors of treatment duration and efficiency in range of motion, while admission range of motion and admission Health Assessment Questionnaire were predictors of efficiency in Health Assessment Questionnaire score.
CONCLUSION: The study highlights that rehabilitative treatment duration has strong relationship with admission range of motion and onset admission interval.
CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT: These findings should be useful for physicians for planning therapeutic measures in patients with orthopedic-traumatologic conditions and for managing the usual activities of an Out-patient Rehabilitative Service.


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text:
Q: How can my program know an exception from a separate method I am writing a python program.
It calls a private method which has try...except... and returns a value.
Such as:
def addOne(x):
    try:
        a = int(x) + 1
        return a
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)
def main():
    x = input("Please enter a number: ")
    try:
        y = addOne(x)
    except:
        print("Error when add one!")

main()

The output is this when I entered an invalid input "f"
Please enter a number: f
invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'f'

I want to detect the exception in both main() and addOne(x)
So the ideal output may looks like:
Please enter a number: f
invalid literal for int() with base 10: 'f'
Error when add one!

Could anyone tell me how to do? Thanks!

A: Handling an exception prevents it from propagating further. To allow handling the exception also in an outer scope, use a bare raise inside the exception handler:
def addOne(x):
    try:
        a = int(x) + 1
        return a
    except Exception as e:
        print(e)
        raise  # re-raise the current exception

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Things were good back in '89. Madonna's Like a Prayer was the song of the year, Michael Keaton took Batman to a whole new level, and Price of Persia was the the gamers' game. Hard to believe that was 23 years ago.
While Madonna has seemingly fallen of the face of the earth over the past few years, Batman received new life with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, and, now, Ubisoft has resurrected Prince of Persia for mobile devices. And they made it better.
It's basically the same game that many of you probably remember from your childhood, but Ubisoft has refreshed the graphics to be more cutting edge. Aside from the throwback gameplay, it also offers a few different game modes: Normal, where you'll learn the basics and get used to playing the game; Time Attack, where you race against the sands of time and must complete the game in one hour or less; and Survival mode, where you have less than an hour to beat the game without dying.
PoP will set you back three bucks - hit the widget to relive the glory days.


St. Alcadia's Darkest Secret about to be revealed!
The Carnal Battle ends with a surprising finale!
Saori, Ruri and Yuuki's sexual maneuvering finally got them to access the safe box where the infamous "Student Registry" was hidden. While the "Secret Party" was in full swing, the computerized security system malfunctions and discovers the trio's intrusion!


Speidi to Return to "I'm a Celebrity..."
Probably the last thing that the cast and crew of I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here — and the good people of Costa Rica — wanted to hear has come true: Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are returning to the show!
But before you start aiming a shotgun at your TV, don't worry. They're not returning to to compete.
A source inside the production of the NBC summer hit has confirmed to OK! that the newlyweds, who exited in a huff after one day, returned hours later, exited again in a bigger huff the subsequent day, begged to return two days later, were allowed back after spending the night in a shack with some jungle wildlife, only to leave soon thereafter when Heidi fell ill and was taken to the hospital… (did we miss anything?)… Well, they'll be returning, along with the rest of the evicted celebs for the show's finale on June 24.
Whether or not the hyper-sensitive twosome will be able to stick it out for the entirety of that episode… that remains to be seen.


Do something active every day. Run, ride a bike, walk the dog, or play ball. Being active is fun!
Kids and teens should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day. But it doesn't have to be all the same activity, and you don't need to do it all at once. You may already do this much, or more!
Running, walking fast, bicycle riding, sports, and jumping rope are all good activities. Can you think of more things like this that you do all the time?
Is there an activity you want to learn more about? Not sure of how to play or what gear you need? It's all right here.
Calling all healthy girls, 8-14 years old, who live in and around Raleigh, Durham, or Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to join the Body Weight and Puberty Study. We want to find out if body weight affects when a girl starts puberty.


text:
What does it mean that nearly 1,000 people are still "missing" in the California wildfire?
By Alison Durkee
The Camp Fire in Northern California, one of two wildfires ravaging the state, has become the deadliest fire in California history, killing 77 people as of Sunday.
In addition to the confirmed deaths, nearly 1,000 still remain missing. The Butte County Sheriff's Department confirmed 993 missing people Sunday, lowering a previous count of 1,202.
But what does that statistic actually mean? The wildfire has ripped through 150,000 acres of Butte County and destroyed nearly 13,000 structures, at one point spreading at the rate of one football field per second. The fire is 65% contained and is expected to be fully contained by Nov. 30, according to authorities cited by NPR.
The staggering length of the missing person list has been partially attributed to clerical errors and the overall chaos surrounding the wildfires. According to the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, the list includes every person reported as missing in a 911 call to the Butte County Sheriff's Office, including when the fire first began, and names are also being compiled using calls to the missing person hotline and emails to the sheriff's office.
As a result, the list includes duplicate names and people who aren't actually missing, but may simply have unreliable cell phone service or be unaware that family members or friends are looking for them.
Messages on a bulletin board at The Neighborhood Church in Chico, California
"I want you to understand that there are a lot of people displaced, and we're finding that a lot of people don't know that we're looking for them," Butte County Sheriff and Coroner Kory Honea said, CNN reported.
For instance, Carmen and Tim Titus ended up on the list despite living in Portland, Oregon — the couple also maintains a residence in the now-devastated Paradise, California.
"Obviously, I am not missing," Carmen Titus told the LA Times. "We don't know how our name got on that list. But we are OK."
Authorities are going through shelters and tent camps to check evacuees' names off the missing persons list, the LA Times reported. Those whose loved ones have been found safe or were reported missing in error should call the Butte County Sheriff's Office, the agency said on its website.
"If you see anyone on the list who is no longer missing please contact us so their name can be removed," the website reads. "Staff working the Missing Persons Task Force can be reached at: 530-538-6570, 530-538-7544, 530-538-7671."
NBC News noted Saturday it had been more than a week since anyone was found alive in the Butte County fire zone, and searchers combing through the area are now only finding human remains.
"We already know that his house has been burned down and his car was in his garage," Sadia Quint told CNN on Sunday about her uncle who remained missing. "So now we're just waiting for the sheriff's department to go out there and let us know if his body's in there or not."
Sisters Alli Benefield, left, and Kassy Parish embrace during a vigil for the lives and community lost to the Camp Fire.
It is still unclear how the missing persons list will reflect the final death count; the LA Times reported it took authorities weeks to sort out a missing persons list from a 2017 fire in Northern California, which was significantly smaller than the Camp Fire. Though that list initially included over 900 names, more than 40 people died in the fire and everyone else was accounted for.
For those who know potential victims of the fire the wait can be agonizing. Paradise resident Maurine Johnson told the LA Times the uncertainty of not knowing whether friends had survived was as bad as knowing they had been killed by the fire.
"I'm sick of platitudes, of people saying, 'Something good will come of this,' or 'God has a plan,'" Johnson told the LA Times. "Shout it out if you've got a plan, God. I don't see it."


text:
Exclusive interview: Chen shows one-child policy is China's 'nuclear issue', says Congressman
Rep. Chris Smith has been at the forefront of championing Chen Guangcheng's release, and fighting China's brutal one-child policy.
Mon May 7, 2012 - 4:56 pm EDT Sat Jun 19, 2021 - 10:40 am EDT
WASHINGTON, May 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Chen Guangcheng and his family nearly lost everything for attempting to expose one of China's most horrific secrets. Now as the blind dissident fades from international headlines this week in diplomatic limbo, one human rights leader is determined to keep the cause Chen has devoted his life to from fading as well.
LifeSiteNews.com on Friday evening spoke with Congressman Chris Smith, who has worked for years to raise Chen's visibility as part of a decades-long struggle on Capitol Hill against the Communist country's one-child policy.
Smith was highly critical of the Obama administration's sweep-it-under-the-rug attitude towards Chen in the face of high-level talks in Beijing the same week.
"From the very beginning was this hurry up attitude," he said. "I was told he wanted to talk to me. So I placed a call, it never got through, I left a message with the right people as to why I was calling, never got to talk to him. And he said other people had tried to get to him."
If U.S. embassy officials had let Smith speak with Chen as the human rights activist had wished, Smith said, he would have warned him against his decision last Wednesday to step back onto Chinese soil.
Click 'like' if you are PRO-LIFE!
Once he did speak to Chen, said Smith, "He told me, 'They were up all night working on this. They barely got any sleep.' I said, Chen, that's not necessarily a good thing. They're trying to get you out of the embassy to get this resolved before the big summit because you can't let Chen Guangcheng complicate the summit.
"That's what the summit should have revolved around."
"Here's a guy who's been traumatized, almost beaten to death several times, and very seasoned diplomats are talking to him about his options – I think he needed a true time of reflection," he said.
Chen's future is still precariously uncertain. Although several U.S. universities offered him fellowships – a typical safety valve for vulnerable dissidents, according to Smith – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left China this weekend without Chen and his family on her plane, as Chen had said he ardently hoped he would be.
Meanwhile, according to the latest reports, Chen remains under police lockdown in a Beijing hospital with his two children and wife – a unity won at a high price. Chinese officials had threatened to send his wife back into the hands of guards in their hometown if he did not leave the U.S. embassy he fled to after 19 months of extra-judicial home imprisonment, beatings, and other mistreatment.
Smith also said that Chen was extremely worried about his extended family, including his mother and nephew, the latter of whom has been detained and Chen fears is being tortured.
Although emphatic that Chen and his family must be rescued, Smith said the affair was in a way less about one man's drama than the dirty secret China was hoping to hide.
The maltreatment of forced-abortion opponent Chen Guangcheng, he said, serves to highlight the Communist country's sensitivity over its population control policy, which several investigations have confirmed includes the routine forced abortion of women, even through the ninth month of pregnancy.
"This could be a pivotal moment getting the world to see that" forced abortions are among "the worst crimes against humanity," said Smith.
Smith said he was optimistic that Chen and at least his immediate family would be allowed to flee China because "the Chinese realized that the firestorm of complaint and scrutiny" surrounding Chen revealed the "underlying issue, which is forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations."
"They want to keep that under wraps," he said.
Smith, who has worked against the one-child policy for the last 30 years, described a Communist regime "obsessed with population control" – and one that regarded mention of the policy in diplomatic talks "the unpardonable sin."
During one trip, Smith recounted the "sore nerve" he and Rep. Frank Wolf struck with China's premier at the time, Li Peng, when abortions under the one-child policy were mentioned.
"He made outrageous statements like, there's more abortions in America than in China," he said. Similarly, Peng Peiyun, Chairperson of National Population and Family Planning Commission, told Smith in a different meeting that "you're making it up, you're lying about it."
China "without doubt" had the one-child policy at the forefront of its mind in dealing with the Chen crisis, Smith said. "I know for a fact because I've been fighting it for three decades," he said.
Chen Guangcheng
One Child Policy
Chen Guangcheng has escaped house arrest, may be safe at embassy: reports
Chen says U.S. abandoned him after threats to family forced him out of Embassy: report
Chen to Obama: 'Get our whole family out!'
Dilemma? What dilemma? The U.S. must protect Chen Guangcheng. Period.
Brutal forced abortions continue to savage China's women: Chen Guangcheng's field notes
Obama refuses comment as Chen Guangcheng's fate hangs in the balance
Pro-life leaders demand Obama ensure safety of Chen Guangcheng
U.S. Congressmen: Time running out for Obama admin to fix 'scandalous' handling of Chen situation
UPDATED: Clinton 'pleased' at Chen's departure, but advocates say Chen still calling for help
Video: Chen calls into emergency Congressional meeting, inquires after fate of mother and brother


Hi guys, please check out my Twitch TV project. It took me a long time to complete this as i was busy with something at work but i didn't lose motivation and kept at it. This isn't responsive as i would liked it to be but it does scale well. Do check it out on a desktop/laptop to enjoy its full features. I haven't incorporated full features on mobile version due to lack of time, and i would like to move on.


text:
'Bachelor' Host Chris Harrison Says He's Working With a 'Race Educator' After Getting Canceled By Leftists
Brittany M. Hughes , @RealBrittHughes
March. 4. 2021
"The Bachelor" host Chris Harrison says he's been working with a "race educator" ever since getting blasted by leftists on social media for daring to defend a show contestant who'd once worn an Antebellum costume at a college party.
In an interview earlier this year, Harrison, who hosts the popular reality dating show, defended "Bachelor" contestant Rachael Kirkconnell, who'd come under fire after pictures circulated showing her wearing a costume to a 1800s Southern-themed frat party in 2018. Social media also lit up with unverified allegations that she'd once shamed a friend for dating a non-white man, and the fact that her parents reportedly voted for Donald Trump for president.
"We all need to have a little grace, a little understanding, a little compassion," Harrison had said at the time. "Because I have seen some stuff online — this judge, jury, executioner thing where people are just tearing this girl's life apart and diving into, like, her parents, her parents' voting record. It's unbelievably alarming to watch this."
Harrison added that a person's entire life shouldn't be destroyed for something they did back in college, when social standards were different and certain things weren't necessarily seen as offensive.
Related: Dr. Seuss Books Top Amazon's Best Selling List After Six Titles Got Censored For 'Racism'
But after facing backlash for his comments, the TV host has since apologized and condemned Kirkconnell's actions, saying he understands that he helped perpetuate racism. He's even turned tail on the contestant he once defended, now saying he understands that "Antebellum parties are not OK - past, present, future, knowing what that represents is unacceptable."
"I am an imperfect man I made a mistake and I own that," Harrison told Michael Strahan on "Good Morning America." "I believe that mistake doesn't reflect who I am or what I stand for. I am committed to the progress not just for myself also for the franchise."
And according to Page Six, Harrison's also working with an actual professional "race educator" to help train him out of his white supremacist ways.
Harrison also said he's been working with race educator Dr. Eric Dyson, who has taught him the idea of "counsel, not cancel." As a result, Harrison said he's taken "full accountability" for his actions and is learning from the black community by listening.
"Racism, oppression, these are big dynamic problems and they take serious work. I am committed to that work," he told GMA, adding that he will be returning to The Bachelor - assuming his penance has been completed.
Nothing like a good ol' brainwashing to convince you you're a racist when you're not.


What's 'race' got to do with it?
Well its not like the Jeremy Kyle show but did you know that none of us are "racially pure". We've all got a pick 'n' mix of different ethnicities within us.
For the braniacs amongst you, DNA has traditionally been used to trace one's roots or identify a genetic medical condition/disorder. But there's also a smart use of this technology to counter racist and sectarian ideas.
With the powers of DNA testing we can now use science to show people that supremacist ideas just don't hold any water. So to put it bluntly I am not 100% white and Irfan isn't 100% brown.
Most mainstream scientists agree that Africa was the cradle of civilisation, so we all originated as a species from Africa and spread all over the globe.
This information is locked into our genes and our bodies carry this evidence, which will be passed onto our kids. You can't erase the story of our origins. You can't deny it, just like your thumb print. Pretty cool right?!
With a DNA test we have shown racists and supremacists that their ancestors came from all around the world. So a woman from Huddersfield could have DNA from a nomad tribe in the Saharan desert and a teacher from Nairobi could have DNA from a chef in Eastern Europe.
When I demonstrate these tests in front of school kids or community groups it has a very profound effect. It becomes impossible to take a supremacist seriously when you've just revealed they're a tenth Middle Eastern or Latin American.
So, what does your DNA say about you?
On the other hand, Irfan's views on racism come from a scholarly Islamic perspective.
An important part of being a Muslim is to strive for clear understanding, therefore scientific explanations are deeply respected and appreciated as they help to have a greater understanding of Allah. After all He is the greatest architect of all. The Holy Qur'an has an account of the beginning of Creation which is close to Dave's modern scientific theory on DNA and why race is a social construct.
There is further an Islamic tradition (tafseer, commentary) of the Quran that explains that God created the body of Adam from a collective mass of earth gathered from all over the world. This explanation helped me to further appreciate and reconcile the "genetic" theory that Dave is so passionate about.
The ultimate point of convergence is that whether you look at it from a religious point of view of creationism or a scientific, genetic perspective – difference just doesn't matter!!
This was Dave and I's first conversation and in fact it lead to the start of the Me and You project. We created a conversation and believe passionately that through the conversation we can overcome the hatred and bigotry that leads to extremism and potential terrorism.


A.P.C. has yet to respond to Timberland's statement and West has neither confirmed nor denied his role in approving Touitou's show theme.
It's easy to conclude that the white president of a company based in a country with a history of race and religious-related conflicts would understand how problematic it is to use a minority slur in a public presentation (on posters no less) and yet the European fashion industry has a history of presenting itself as clueless when it comes to representation and description of people of color.
While by no means exclusive to Europe, New York magazine last year rounded up some examples that included noteworthy race-related missteps in an article called "A Recent History of Vogue's Tone Deaf Editorials." There are many other examples, including a Dutch magazine called Marilyn in 2011 that described Rihanna as a "niggabitch" in an editorial, a description it refused to apologize for though the editor stepped down eventually. And while all casting directors in the four major fashion cities are viewed as reluctant to cast black models, Paris and Milan are viewed as particularly problematic, an issue that Buzzfeed shed light on with an article that asked casting directors why runways are so white.


Over the past 30 years, the share of renters in the United States spending over 30% of their income on rent, and thereby qualifying as rent burdened, has increased. This trend has particularly affected low-income families. At the same time, owners of thousands of privately owned, publicly subsidized rental housing units have left, or "opted out," of subsidy programs across the country. The efforts of local governments to preserve these properties as affordable housing are handicapped by a lack of understanding of the underlying factors that drive owners' decisions to opt out. This paper employs a unique dataset on subsidized properties in New York City and uses hazard models to explore why property owners in the Mitchell-Lama program, a New York State affordable housing program, choose to opt out. Our results suggest that properties located in neighborhoods with high property value growth, those with for-profit owners, and those past the affordability restrictions on all subsidies, are more likely to opt out. While our study focuses on Mitchell-Lama properties, the findings have broader implications for properties around the country that receive supply-side rental subsidies.


text:
Tropical Storm Andres churning in eastern Pacific
The first named storm of the 2021 Eastern Pacific Hurricane Season has formed.
Tropical Storm Andres is located about 1000 km south of the southern tip of Baja California with maximum sustained winds of 65 km/h.
There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect and no land impacts are expected.
The storm is expected to weaken on Monday.


text:
Meech Lake Accord
Eleven days from the brink, Rachel Notley's dice roll brings back memories of Mulroney and Meech
David J. Climenhaga
Alberta's premier is more disciplined than the old Irish-Canadian baritone from Baie-Comeau. The words "roll the dice" will never pass her lips. Dice are rolling just the same.
Distinctive way forward on Quebec and the constitution
rabble staff
Brian Mulroney is remembered for his unctuous manner and the whiff of corruption that surrounded him. In fact, his was a consequential government. Part 1 of 2.
Looking forward by looking back, 1988 -- Part 1
The rehabilitation of Brian Mulroney: There's a reason he's looking so good these days
There's a major campaign under way to improve former Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney's image for posterity, and it's happening for a reason.
Rethinking democracy, part four: Swiss referendums and direct democracy
Rick Salutin
It turns out referendums aren't just an aspect of Swiss democracy, they're its most distinctive, beloved element. On a national level they're usually held four times a year, with multiple items.
How far will Prime Minister Stephen Harper go with separatists to hang onto power?
Will Prime Minister Stephen Harper sup with the separatists? It is said here he is bound to. And don't count on him using a long spoon!


Jerome and I preparing a big feast of fish and fowl!
For my birthday we went to the Lego store and bought a bunch of containers of pieces. Jerome got right to it, and made this sweet kitchen. I thought it would make for a great place for the Lego versions of us to do some major cooking!
What the hell... how do you have your own mini-figs? I'm sure those weren't just randomly in there.


text:
Easy es una cadena de venta de artículos para la construcción y equipamiento para hogar y jardín. Cuenta con sucursales en Chile, Argentina y Colombia. Es propiedad del holding chileno Cencosud.

Historia
Fue fundada en Argentina en 1993 y luego en 1994 se expandió también hacia Chile. En 2002 integra a sus operaciones en Chile la cadena especialista en productos agrícolas Proterra (pertenecientes a Empresas Iansa) y las tiendas Home Depot en Argentina, que abandonaba sus operaciones sudamericanas.

En 2007 se integra al grupo la empresa argentina Blaisten, especializada en cerámicas, griferías, baño y cocina.

En 2007 entró en marcha blanca al mercado colombiano en un joint venture con la Casino Guichard-Perrachon, de manera que Cencosud tuviera el 70% de las acciones y Casino el 30%. En 2008 Cencosud adquirió la totalidad de las acciones de Easy Colombia S.A.

Posicionamiento

Las ventas en 2015 ascendieron a CLP 1.469.246 millones (US 2.077 millones), donde la operación chilena explican el 33,7 %, la operación argentina el 62 % y la operación colombiana el 4,3 % restante.

Asimismo, al 31 de diciembre de 2015, posee 50 tiendas en Argentina (383.786 m²), 35 tiendas en Chile (325.315 m²) y 10 tiendas en Colombia (82.320 m²).

Como actor relevante del mejoramiento del hogar, es el número uno en término de ventas en Argentina y el número dos en Chile y Colombia. En los tres países su más cercano competidor es Sodimac, del grupo Falabella.

Véase también
Cencosud
Jumbo

Referencias

Enlaces externos
 Easy Chile
 Easy Argentina
 Easy Colombia
 Cencosud

Bricolaje
Grandes almacenes de Chile
Grandes almacenes de Argentina
Grandes almacenes de Colombia
Cencosud
Marcas chilenas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


This brass earring is about 1.75" long and 1" wide with 2 5mm peridot stones set point out in fine silver. The backing of the stone includes a small pinhole to let light in and the post is made of sterling silver. This item is M2O=made to order.


In recognition of the talent and foresight of the motorcoach industry throughout its rich history, and continuing on to this day, ABA has created two awards to celebrate the progress, humanitarian spirit and long-standing achievement of key individuals and leading organizations.
Book a luxury car at reasonable prices at Bellingham International Airport from USA car rentals.
Voyages en autocar à prix discount dans toute l'Europe.
The only car rental company located at the world's busiest port of entry San Diego/Tijuana Border.
The global taxi provider services all of North America and Europe's major International Airports.
Transportation success ever since the city and county of Honolulu first took over public ownership in 1971. Ridership has grown from 30 million passengers per year to approximately 71 million today.
A membership-based marketing organization comprised of privately owned and operated transportation companies providing a wide range of travel-related services.
The UMA State Legislative Update provides a quick, convenient and reliable up-to-date resource for our state association partners and members who are concerned with and track legislation affecting the bus and motorcoach industry in their respective state.


text:
En la mitologia irlandesa, la deessa Airmed (també anomenada Airmid) era una de les Tuatha Dé Danann. Amb el seu pare Dian Cecht i el seu germà Miach, va curar els ferits a la Segona Batalla de Magh Tuiredh.

Després que el seu pare gelós matés el seu germà, Miach, Airmed va plorar sobre la seva tomba. Regades per les seves llàgrimes, totes les herbes curatives del món (365 en nombre, segons el nombre d'articulacions i venes de Miach)  van sorgir de la terra sobre el cos de Miach, i Airmed les va recollir i organitzar totes, estenent-les sobre la seva capa. Un cop més, el seu pare va atacar i va escampar les herbes. Per aquest motiu, cap humà viu coneix tots els secrets de l'herbologia. Només Airmed ho recorda.

Juntament amb Dian Cecht, Ochtriullach i Miach, Airmed va ser un dels encantadors que l'encanteri cantat sobre el pou de Sláine va poder ressuscitar els morts.

Referències

Tuatha Dé Danann
Cicle mitològic


Stop and think about this for a moment. What do people like to talk about the most? Themselves, perhaps? Not only that but we find that people like to hang out in communities with like minded people. Have you ever considered how to leverage this sort of thing in a business context?
If you look at social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook, we see people who want to connect with each other both as friends/colleagues or in common interest groups. They want to share what they are doing and they want to be part of a solution to a problem.
What would it mean to your business if people had the desire to solve problems based on the expertise they could bring to the table?
Recently, I was talking to an IT Manager about Social Business and how they could use it to harness the collective expertise of his organization. His response was that this was not something that they would need as they already know what everyone in the business had to offer. The fact is, he is completely wrong. There is so much that we don't know about the people we are close to, let alone employees. People have so much expertise that may never appear on their Résumé. An employees life experience is bound to add incredible value to an organization. The best ideas often come from the least likely of people.


The Harper Conservatives are marking December 6 this year by destroying the federal long-gun registry and its more than seven million records.December 6 is the day we remember and mourn the 14 women killed at the école Polytechnique in Montreal 22 years ago.? We take time to reflect on this extreme example of violence against women.
The pace is picking up and the BC PSAC women are active and involved.? Next week the Women chairs will be meeting and at the end of the month we will participate in a one day think tank on attacking cutbacks to federal public services.? Earlier this month, I participated in the? vigil for Sisters in Spirit in Kelowna.? This is a annual national event and PSAC along with many other organizations issued a heartfelt statement ....??


text:
Q: Required field only if another field has a value, must be empty otherwise My question is about Laravel validation rules.
I have two inputs a and b. a is a select input with three possible values: x, y and z. I want to write this rule:

b must have a value only if a values is x.
  And b must be empty otherwise.

Is there a way to write such a rule? I tried required_with, required_without but it seems it can not cover my case.
In other words, if the previous explanation was not clear enough:

*

*If a == x, b must have a value.

*If a != x, b must be empty.

A: You have to create your own validation rule.
Edit app/Providers/AppServiceProvider.php and add this validation rule to the boot method:
// Extends the validator
\Validator::extendImplicit(
    'empty_if',
    function ($attribute, $value, $parameters, $validator) {
        $data = request()->input($parameters[0]);
        $parameters_values = array_slice($parameters, 1);
        foreach ($parameters_values as $parameter_value) {
            if ($data == $parameter_value && !empty($value)) {
                return false;
            }
        }
        return true;
    });

// (optional) Display error replacement
\Validator::replacer(
    'empty_if',
    function ($message, $attribute, $rule, $parameters) {
        return str_replace(
            [':other', ':value'],
            [$parameters[0], request()->input($parameters[0])],
            $message
        );
    });

(optional) Create a message for error in resources/lang/en/validation.php:
'empty_if' => 'The :attribute field must be empty when :other is :value.',

Then use this rule in a controller (with require_if to respect both rules of the original post):
$attributes = request()->validate([
    'a' => 'required',
    'b' => 'required_if:a,x|empty_if:a,y,z'
]);

It works!
Side note: I will maybe create a package for this need with empty_if and empty_unless and post the link here

A: Required if

required_if:anotherfield,value,...
  The field under validation must be present and not empty if the anotherfield field is equal to any value.

'b' => 'required_if:a,x'

A: Laravel has its own method for requiring a field when another field is present. The method is named required_with.

A: In Laravel 8+ check if prohibited and prohibited_if validators work for this:
'b' => 'required_if:a,x|prohibited_if:a,!x'


text:
Q: How to integrate specific input styles from bootstrap material design to existing project? I'm facing some issues while integrating only some of the styles defined in https://github.com/FezVrasta/bootstrap-material-design, namely the inputs on an existing theme with custom bootstrap styling applied.
In a less file I'm importing the input less file like this and the required variables and mixins for it to work properly:
@import '@{bower-path}/bootstrap-material-design/less/_colors.less';
@import '@{bower-path}/bootstrap-material-design/less/_mixins.less';
@import '@{bower-path}/bootstrap-material-design/less/_inputs.less';

and in a js file I'm initializing the inputs:
$.material.input();

but it doesn't display correctly, fi: it doesn't display the colored border-bottom on focus.
Any ideas to make this work properly?

A: As pointed in https://github.com/FezVrasta/bootstrap-material-design/issues/665, the issue was in the vendor prefixes which were not included in the original less files.
By adding the less autoprefixer plugin into the workflow, the issue was solved.