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2010.212 (July 31, 2010)
They're Quick and Light
All the digital Wing Commander art that people make is great, but I'm also a strong supporter of more physical arts and crafts as well. The latest example of this is QuailPilot's P-64 Ferret sketch. There's even a backstory to go with it. Keep 'em coming!
This was a quick sketch to help me get back into drawing. I imagine it as a Ferret pilot just about to go on patrol, and is reviewing his waypoints. I realize the Ferret isn't really scaled right, and the hands are a little funky, but I thought you all would enjoy it anyway.
Those are the Drathis stenciled beneath the cockpit, and it says "Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty," on the nose.
Saga Sheds Light on the Darkest Dawn
In advance of a preview trailer for WC Saga, the team has released a teaser with a variety of cut footage. It shows off a handful of the game's signature WC3-era ships in a pitched battle and suggest there will be more to come this "winter." You can download the 21 meg .mp4 video here.
A full length Wing Commander Saga trailer is about to be released. In fact, we are just finalizing the music for it. Watch, and enjoy! There is more to come soon.
Movie Airing in Finland
MTV3-SciFi in Finland will be airing the Wing Commander Movie this week. Air times are July 31 at 3:15 AM and August 1 at 10 PM. Check out their page dedicated to the film here. The Google Translation is pretty funny:
The inhabitants of the planet are fighting on behalf of the Kilrathi-empire. Ohjaaja: Chris Roberts, USA 1999.
Boeing CST-100 Renderings Released
Boeing has recently announced the CST-100, a small spacecraft designed to transport a crew of 7 to the International Space Station or commercial ventures in orbit. The vessel has some similarities in common with the original Apollo capsule and the recently cancelled Orion module, and it would be sized part way between the two. It's one of several programs kicked off by the NASA Commercial Crew Development transport project. A video of what the CST-100 might look like in action is available here.
Boeing is maturing the design of its CST-100 spacecraft under an $18 million Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Space Act Agreement with NASA. The CST-100 can carry a crew of seven and is designed to support the International Space Station and the Bigelow Aerospace Orbital Space Complex. The CST-100 will ... be able to launch on a variety of different rockets, including Atlas, Delta and Falcon.
Video Review Highlights Awesome Port
Brand new Crius.net member Decay has posted a thorough video review of Wing Commander 3 for the 3DO. He's captured tons of video footage and narrates throughout. Unlike the Playstation port, the 3DO version of WC3 has quite a few differences from the PC version. In certain places it has slightly different missions and weapons, plus it adds in some very cool video cutscenes. These clips are higher quality overall, and even the comm vids are in color instead of green. Watch Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
For my first review, I look at one of my all time favorite games. Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger for 3DO.
Countdown: Two Weeks!
We're now less than two weeks away from the CIC's 12th Birthday! In addition to celebrating a dozen years at wcnews.com, we're also pumped up about the Wing Commander series' 20th anniversary this year, so this should be our biggest bash ever! It's easy to stop by #Wingnut and start hanging out with the coolest WC fans in the world. Be sure to come by on Tuesday, August 10, 2010. The party starts at 7:00 pm Eastern US time (4:00 pm Pacific and 11:00 pm GMT) to join the festivities. There'll be plenty of games, prizes and special features to unveil. You can also RSVP at the Facebook Page. See you there!
Starcraft 2 Released
The long-awaited Starcraft 2 was released last night to legions of eager PC gamers. With nearly 12 years since the original game and its expansion, SC fans have quite a bit of patience in common with their WC counterparts. We've heard a lot of comments that the new game feels like a Wing Commander game, and that's no coincidence! The lead Blizzard designer has been quoted as saying "it's very Wing Commander" and that WC was among the dev team's favorite games. Previews have also been citing the similarities for years. The core RTS gameplay is different, but particularly the between-mission gameflow segments and generous video sequences are very familiar. There's even a map table to stand around! When's the first WC mod coming out?
Online TacOps Game Grows Each Week
Avacar continues to make great progress on an online software-based version of Wing Commander TacOps. The database to control ship coordinates is complete, and both popups and forms have basic functionality working. Click the links to test them out, but note that they may not work in Internet Explorer. There's even a bonus tech demo that lets you play with ship movement (again designed for Firefox or Chrome). Up next on the list of tasks is to work on the ship orders (as in commands) system.
Hi Everyone. I have a nice Phase 3 bonus for you. With the skills I picked up on Saturday, and using the framework I built for the Phase2a demo (i.e. this is not database fed, like the real game will be), I give you Fun With Rapiers. The formatting on the dialog is a bit chunky, but it took all of 30 mins to do this entire demonstration.
My next update will likely be longer in coming, as I now have to tackle the actual Phase 3 objectives (build the ship info dialog, and weave it into the code so it is turn/phase database fed. I also intend to build the pilot class, which I haven't done yet, and tie it in).
MSL Goes For First Drive
Here's a neat peek into the clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This webcam recording shows the Mars Science Laboratory rover taking its very first steps. The software that drives this mechanism was partially developed by esteemed Wingnut eddieb, and we can't wait for this thing to start exploring Mars! A second cool follow-up video is also available here.
Happy Birthday Arena!
Wing Commander Arena turns three years old today! Arena might be the baby of the Wing Commander family in terms of age, but that label also applies in regards to how many disparate elements of the series all came together and produce a remarkable blend of history. No other game pulls from so many sources in building its flight roster. Broadswords from WC2/Priv, Arrows from Armada/WC3 and the unique Rapier model from Super Wing Commander all fly side-by-side on the new frontiers of the Terran Confederation. Not since 1994 has there been a WC game so geared towards multiplayer space combat. Capturing satellites, chasing down enemy squadrons and going for the longest streak in the Bearpit are all tons of fun, but coordinating with seven of your closest wingmates to thrash an enemy battlecruiser guarded by eight live foes is as amazing as multiplayer Wing Commander gets.
Arena didn't sell well enough to garner an immediate expansion or sequel, but it continues to hold its own on the XBox Live Arcade sales charts. Contrary to outlandish rumors of delisting, the game holds its own around the 60th percentile (top 40%) of titles in Microsoft's Marketplace. Games are the core of this franchise, but peripheral fiction, books and merchandise are also an important part. The Star*Soldier companion to Arena includes the most comprehensive timeline of the series, which beautiful ties together elements from the television show, movie and latest games and novels. It also acknowledges the diehard fan base with numerous references to dedicated Wingnuts and the work they've done over the last 15 years to bolster the online community.
And all this for only $10! Happy Birthday Wing Commander Arena! And thanks to the team at EA Vancouver and Gaia Industries for putting everything together!
Super Soaker Stockpile Spread Out
It's been six years since Hades and I took a picture of my Super Soaker collection, and I've gotten dozens of new Soakers since then! Digital camera technology has also come a long way in that time, so it's possible to grab a much nicer and higher resolution image these days too. There's about 330 Super Soaker-branded blasters pictured below, and I have a few stragglers that didn't make it into the shot. To learn more about water guns, check out iSoaker.com.
Read Up on the History of 3D
TechRadar has written an article on the evolution of 3D games from 1980's Battlezone to upcoming games that you see in 3D with glasses on new televisions. The piece covers quite a bit of territory and acknowledges the early Wing Commander's scaled sprites as a noteworthy milestone. Origin's Ultima Underworld is also credited for its part. You can find the article here. It's a good companion to the gaming graphics writeup that they published last year.
For much of 3D's history, the trick has been getting the effect of the third dimension without having to do it for real. The early Wing Commander games gave the illusion that you were flying through 3D space, but really they were just scaling sprites up and down.
Ultima Underworld could afford to push these limits because as a role-playing game, it was inherently slower than a shooter, and the audience was more willing to accept the necessary limitations, like the small viewing window. It didn't hurt that while publisher Origin's official motto was 'We Create Worlds', its unofficial credo was 'Your PC Will Cry'. It never did worry about system requirements...
Prelude Part 11 Now Playing
The long awaited Part 11 of Frontier - Prelude to Darkness has been released. It sets the stage for a huge space battle between the two warring factions in the next chapter. Due to the size of this episode, the showdown was bumped to Part 12. Fortunately the next piece is well along, and Part 12 could be just a week or so away! Check out Part 11 now and stay tuned for 12 shortly.
I decided rather than clog it up releasing two episodes at the same time, that I would release Part 11 now and Part 12 when it's finished whish should be about a week or so.
Part 12 is coming along now at 71% – lots of action in this part as it is now purely a space battle scene. Keep checking the updates on facebook. Stay tuned for more next week (and hopefully the release of Part 12).
New Dev Diary for Hostile Frontier
Kevin Caccamo has posted another update on his mod to WC Saga, Hostile Frontier. Space is a lot prettier now thanks to some new background nebulas, and a couple of cool capships have also entered the mix in the form of colorful escort carriers and Exeter destroyers. There's also been further development of the game's plot.
I recently finished converting the Wake-class and the Exeter-class. I also tried to do some high-polyization to the Wake-class model, e.g. recesses for the windows and bulkheads at the back, cylinders for the engines, and modeled bumps on the "bumpy thing" on the top. The modified model also has a changeable nameplate, so it can have "FRLS Independence" or "FRLS Magna Carta" written on it without having to create a new model. Thanks again to the Standoff team for the Wake-class and Exeter-class models.
Digital Downloads Trending Up
The NPD market research company has announced that their latest data shows digital download sales of PC games have nearly reached the number of boxed retail sales in the US. Their surveys list 21.3 million games sold via internet download versus 23.5 million boxed copies. Digital purchases at EA.com came in 4th behind Steam, Direct2Drive and Blizzard's website. In the casual market, EA's Pogo website was second behind Bigfishgames.com. Check out the report here.
While NPD's point-of-sale research shows that PC physical retail sales experienced a year-over-year revenue decline in 2009, it was still slightly larger than PC digital download sales on a unit basis. PC digital downloads represented close to half of unit sales across digital and retail at 48 percent in 2009, and accounted for 36 percent of dollar sales.
Firekkans Get Legs & Straps
Here's the latest shots of Michelle D's Firekkan model. Some basic body armor/clothing has been added and a very preliminary body is now present. Much of the body is still a placeholder as the exact positioning and structure gets tweaked. You can help provide feedback at Crius.net
I think I made a close match of the straps around his body.
Spore 2: The Darkening
Electronic Arts has announced Darkspore, a new sci-fi game for its 2011 lineup. To be more specific, it's an online, science-fiction action role-playing game based on the Spore franchise. It is a story-driven hack-and-slash moreso than a sim-type game, but it sounds like there will still be some nifty creature customization as well. As already well demonstrated, there are some potentially fun possibilities out there. The game is scheduled for a February 2011 release.
Darkspore will feature dynamic, fast-paced action as players battle across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore in a four-player co-operative and full single-player campaign, as well as intense multiplayer battles. In order to defeat the malicious Darkspore, players will need to collect an arsenal of living weapons - genetic heroes with different combat abilities - and upgrade them with tens of thousands of collectible body parts and armor.
Darkspore will feature three unique classes of five different genetic hero types, with a limitless number of upgrades and customizations available through the parts players collect on each planet level. As players progress, Darkspore builds in intensity, with new planets and enemy forces requiring players to strategically select the right squad and ability combinations to succeed in their missions.
Steady Progress Made on Images & Missions
Dundradal has a quick status update on WCPedia updates. A few dedicated fans are hard at work, but more volunteers are always needed. Visit Crius.net if you'd like to help, or check out the most recent updates here.
Wedge has been a image replacing machine the last week! He's been replacing a lot of the crappy images we uploaded at first and replacing them with nicer ones.
The rest of us have been eating away at a variety of projects. I'm down to 2 WC1 missions to complete for basic article format. I've got the SM1 and SM2 scripts from LOAF ready to go when WC1 is completed. So this summer has been pretty productive. Let's keep up the good work in the final month before the bday!
Ascendant Pictures Acquired by Bigfoot Entertainment
Chris Roberts' Ascendant Pictures company has been acquired by Bigfoot Entertainment. Ascendant was an expansion of the Point of No Return endeavor, which was briefly involved in the preproduction of a Wing Commander live action television show. Some of the bigger movies to emerge from Ascendant were Lord of War and Lucky Number Slevin. Check out the full release here.
Los Angeles, July 6, 2010 – Bigfoot Entertainment, Inc. has agreed to acquire the assets of Ascendant Pictures to form Bigfoot Ascendant Distribution LLC. The combined company will drive the foreign sales of both companies' portfolio of titles through Ascendant Pictures' existing distribution channels, as well as build new relationships.
Founded in March 2002, Ascendant Pictures integrated the creative independence and budget sensibility of Indie film companies with the production and market savvy of major studios, and quickly became one of Hollywood's most promising upstart film companies. Furthermore, Ascendant developed a foreign distribution operation that distributes its films through output arrangements with major territorial distributors and broadcasters.
"This development strengthens our portfolio of film titles," said Kacy Andrews, CEO of Bigfoot Entertainment. "And we believe that this acquisition will help springboard us into the distribution arena which is Bigfoot's primary focus this year."
"We are pleased that Ascendant Pictures has become a part of the Bigfoot Entertainment family," said Chris Roberts, Founder and Chairman of Ascendent Pictures. "We do believe that this will positively impact the industry through the consolidated efforts and resources of bringing the combined company's arsenal of titles to market."
Titles that will now come under Bigfoot Entertainment's rights under this new arrangement include completed films such as Who's Your Caddy? (2007), The Big White (2004), Ask The Dust (2006), Lord of War (2005), and Lucky Number Slevin (2006), as well as other Ascendant Pictures' titles in the works.
Key personnel of Ascendant Pictures will remain on board in the newly-formed Bigfoot Ascendant Distribution LLC to ensure a smooth continuation of operation under the new management team.
About Ascendant Pictures:
Ascendant Pictures is an independent film development, production, finance and foreign distribution company. Ascendant combines the creative independence and budget sensibility of groundbreaking "indie" film companies with the production and market savvy of major studios. Ascendant is striving to identify, develop and produce films in a variety of genres with compelling stories and fascinating worlds that inspire and captivate global audiences while having the potential to grow into franchise entertainment properties. With the expertise and experience of its principals, Ascendant has the distinct ability to move films beyond their linear film medium into the interactive entertainment market.
About Bigfoot Entertainment:
Founded in 2004, Bigfoot Entertainment is an international entertainment company producing independent films for the global marketplace. The company finances and develops feature films, documentaries and reality TV shows, many of which have received industry accolades, festival awards and have been distributed throughout the world. Featuring both well-established and up-and-coming American and international talent, Bigfoot releases have shot on location worldwide including the United States, Hong Kong, China, Africa, Europe and Vietnam. Bigfoot Entertainment produces many of its projects at Bigfoot Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary that encompasses six sound stages and on-site state-of-the-art post-production facilities.
Headquartered in Los Angeles with studios in Cebu, Philippines, Bigfoot Entertainment creates content reflecting a Hollywood foundation with a global perspective. For more information, visit www.bigfoot.com.
Saga Website Revamped
The WC Saga website has been relaunched. Types of content have been arranged by category and the front page now sports an embedded Twitter feed. A handful of new screenshots from their upcoming teaser trailer have also been released. The new site should help lead the way to an upcoming beta test.
Browse our new site, leave us your comments, and stay tuned for exciting developments in the near future.
Help Build the Fleet
Ironduke has posted a list of potential ship graphics that would be helpful in upgrading Wing Commander TacOps and getting it going online. A great many of Marc's awesome ships have been incorporated, but there is potential to add even more. Capships and lesser seen fighters from both Confed and Kilrathi are the least represented at this time. Check out the list here.
This list shows all available graphics for use with the computer-aided version of WCTO. Mainly meant for Avacar right now, but it also shows the progress of the graphical side of the project.
Personally, I'd love to include the WC1 fighters, but their stats would be tricky to balance... Actually, I have all the WCTO ship stats worked out for pretty much all craft from WC1 to WC3 and Privateer - I'm just lacking ship models that are on par with Marc's excellent work.
The Darkening's Composer Interviewed
Square Enix Music Online has posted an interview with famous video game composer James Hannigan. He's been recently responsible for scoring music for the last few Command & Conquer and Harry Potter games, but one of his first projects was the in-game and theme music for Privateer 2: The Darkening. There's some interesting perspective on what new technologies were coming online in the mid '90s and how they've evolved into modern gaming music today. Check out the full Q&A here.
James Hannigan: I've been composing professionally for around sixteen years. After starting out intending mostly to work in film and TV, I was offered a job quite quickly as an in-house composer at EA in 1995, where I then spent a few years before going freelance again. I'd already cut my teeth in games before that though, alongside composing quite a lot of library music and little bits and pieces for TV. I gained some useful experience while at EA, working on numerous EA Sports titles, games such as Privateer: The Darkening, and others, plus I got to grips with various techniques for creating so-called 'interactive music'.
Chris: As a freelancer, you came to prominence working on titles such as Conquest: Frontier Wars, Brute Force, and the appropriately titled FreeLancer. Could you share your experiences on these projects and how they influenced your career?
James Hannigan: A few years before those, I'd composed for the Origin title, Privateer: The Darkening while at EA, and one of the producers of that had a lot of involvement with the formation of Digital Anvil. Martin Galway, the audio director at the company, got in touch and we went from there. As a teenager, I'd heard a lot of Martin's music in various C64 games, so it was really great to be working with him — and we've been in touch ever since.
Secret Missions End in Success
On this day in the year 2655, Christopher Blair and Joseph Khumalo finally pinpointed the location of the Sivar dreadnought in the Vigrid System following a heated chase through the Kilrathi held quadrants of the Epsilon Sector. After an intense battle, fighters from the TCS Tiger's Claw were successful in destroying the enemy superweapon. To atone for this failure, the Grand Admiral of the Kilrathi fleet, Crown Prince Gilkarg nar Kiranka, was executed. His second son, Prince Thrakhath, then succeeded the admiral as second in line to the Kilrathi throne.
Ek'rah Skabak erg Thrak'Kilrah maks Rag'nith!
Wedge has made a high fidelity Kilrathi insignia that he would like to share. It's an accurate representation of the "Kiranka Claw" first introduced in Wing Commander 3. You can also download the source .svg file here. Bob made some Confed counterparts a while back as well.
I think I have been quite faithful to the design as it appears in the Warbirds document from WC3, but I appreciate comments and constructive feedback all the same.
GameSpite has posted an article on "the end of space combat simulators." It's a good topic to talk about, and it frequently comes up in conversation. A lot has to do with the changing tastes of the gaming market, the role of peripheral input attachments, rising game development costs and more. There are also many specific factors that influenced each particular series and company. Gamespite's article focuses on the discontinuation of three series - Wing Commander, X-Wing and Freespace - at the turn of the century. There's a lot of potential confusion about the events that lead up to this, and we're always anxious to set the record straight.
In 1998, Interplay decided to leap in with the confusingly named Descent: Freespace. The name was a curious marketing ploy, considering that Descent was a niche series that played like a corridor-based first-person shooter on three axes, offering only the faint whiff of crossover appeal for space combat fans. But it came at a perfect time, arriving on the heels of the disappointing Wing Commander: Prophecy, which marked EA's attempt to relaunch the series without the input of creator Chris Roberts. Freespace received enough positive word-of-mouth to warrant a sequel, which would be released the following year.
The release of Freespace 2 alongside X-Wing Alliance was part of a confluence of events that would ultimately mark the end of what had been one of the preeminent genres of the 1990s. Roberts had long since left Origin, leaving the series dead in the water after the lukewarm reception given Wing Commander: Prophecy. Interplay was in the process of hemorrhaging money, and X-Wing Alliance marked the end of a trilogy. The stage was set for the genre's demise.
It's a little more complicated than this, especially in regards to Wing Commander. Prophecy was a very successful entry in the series, and while it disappointed some who were in love with the hours upon hours of FMV in Wing Commander 4, it dazzled fans who were anxious for a greater emphasis on space combat. Sales were excellent - so good, in fact, that Wing Commander Secret Ops followed up for free to tide over fans, keep them excited until the next game was released, and test novel new ways to market new Wing Commander games. And these games were well on their way into development through 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Privateer 3 (more, more, more, more, more, more and more) and Wing Commander Strike Team / Shadow Force should have continued the series as everyone expected. But then we got to those changing market conditions, unsustainable FMV budgets and rising costs. Games like Freespace 2, X:BTF and Starlancer did not sell as well as the last crop of Wing Commanders and Star Wars games. New formats such as the massively multiplayer Ultima Online were booming, and so there was a big shift in direction. Wing Commander development transitioned into Privateer Online (more), Wing Commander Online and then Privateer Online again. Electronic Arts also acquired Westwood Studios, which was further along on their space MMO Earth & Beyond. With competing products in the pipeline and a market quickly becoming saturated, the decision was made to launch E&B instead. Wing Commander Online and Ultima Online 2 were sidelined, and Origin didn't recover from the tailspin.
That hasn't kept the powers that be from attempting to pull everything back together, but so far only smaller scale projects (Prophecy Advance, Wing Commander Arena, various ports/rereleases) have made it to see the light of day. Hopefully you find this history fascinating, and someday we'll all be able to look back at this time period and see how it built up into a great relaunch of the series. It's only a matter of time until the next Wing Commander game!
Callitri Continues Concordia Construction
callitri has recovered from some hardware problems (why do artists have so many hard drives destroyed?) and is back at work on his Concordia model. Significant detail has been added to the engines and aft end of the supercruiser. Suggestions or additional reference shots from the Wing Commander Movie are welcome.
Big Battle Briskly Brewing
More pictures of intense battle scenes have been released for the upcoming chapter of Frontier - Prelude to Darkness. There isn't much new information, as lew82 is working to finish Part 11 as soon as possible. Until it's ready, catch up on the first ten episodes below!
"Hey, that's a Kilrathi on the screen!"
Highball is still plugging away at a playthrough of the Wing Commander series, and he's made great progress. The commentary on mission structure, interesting twists and high/low points makes good reading, but it's also a lot of fun to see scores of pictures gracing the page for each new game. Wing Commander, The Secret Missions, Crusade and Wing Commander 2 have all been covered so far. The mission continues next in The Special Operations. Visit the "Chronicles of Wing Commander here.
Missions: VotK re-established the famous "mission tree," with a slight change: there was not an extensive "losing track." Each new system to which the Concordia jumped offered a series of winning track and losing track missions. When players failed a mission or series of missions in any particular star system, they would then play through that system's one series of losing track missions that offered the chance to get back on the winning track. Of course, should the player fail at both a regular series of missions and its subsequent chance at redemption, the player would then see a "losing" ending, which is being reassigned back to Caernaveron station, losing the entire main campaign, and Angel.
Though this does not give the player as much of an opportunity to claw their way back to victory after a series of losses due to some bad luck, it's definitely better than the "all or nothing" approach of Secret Missions and Crusade. Of course, most players never see the losing ending, because VotK gives you the option to immediately replay a mission after a loss, or to "continue script." Which do you think the majority of players are going to choose? I had never seen the above losing screens, in point of fact, until I lost intentionally just to get the screen grabs.
Story: VotK expanded the Wing Commander universe substantially, as well as adding elements of uncertainty, doubt, and fear into the game by using the human traitor subplot; the reveal for which is done very well, keeping you guessing as to who the traitor may be the entire time. Of course, the scripted deaths added just the right element of suspense and impending doom. Developing a relationship with Angel over the course of the game only added to the fear that "anyone can die."
Ultima Online Receives Technical Upgrade
Ultima Online was down briefly this week for maintenance, and the systems updates that were conducted are a big deal. A major upgrade to the underlying databases that run the game has been in the works for years and was finally conducted this week. The investment represents a nice commitment to future of the game!
Why is this significant for us the team at Bioware Mythic? Because while we have worked on it in the background for months, and planned for it for a couple of years, UO has needed it for much longer than we'd like to admit.
While we do understand that game bugs, skills and object balance, and live content are important to the longevity of Ultima Online ... the foundation on which all this is supported was at a critical level. We want you to know we are in this for the long haul! 
We thank you for your patience, and I'm certain you understand the significance of this update as we continue to improve the service of UO.
Test Basic TacOps Tech Demo
Avacar has posted a new demonstration of his Tactical Operations game board here. Eager players can punch in coordinates and see a dogfighting duo appear on the board in the designated locations. Although it might look primitive, it's an important foundational step for getting the game working online. Work continues now on the database and background code that would drive unit locations as ships move around during combat.
These Cockpits Deserve Close Inspection
AD found a very cool image in the gallery of Craig Halverson, an artist that worked on Wing Commander 3. The two cockpit shots in the first image below show off some very unique perspectives on the Thunderbolt and Excalibur. The TBolt picture is cropped back from a wider angle, which reveals the full upper strut and more of the dashboard. In the second frame, the Excalibur display is presented with new colors in many of the electrical elements. Great find!
You Have Entered CONFED READYNET
Thanks to all the Wingnuts that have joined the Facebook page for the Wing Commander CIC! It's another way to interact with Wing Commander fans, and we're anxious to use the page more in the future for breaking news events. You can even RSVP for the upcoming Birthday Party! Speaking of the party, don't forget to start exercising all those trivia muscles.
Chinese Conference Connection to WC
A conference on Hollywood animation was recently held in China. A variety of American experts went to Asia to discuss techniques and production processes to help spark the industry in new regions. Global Times briefly covered the event and added an odd footnote. Apparently none other than Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts was on the list of presenters, and a handful of upset participants demanded a refund when he was unable to attend. Curiouser and curiouser...
Aron Warner, the producer of the Oscar-winning cartoon feature Shrek, led a team of Hollywood producers and designers to Beijing to talk about the success of Hollywood's animation industry. Only a quarter of the anticipated number of participants signed up for the three-day course, an outcome the organizer blames on the Chinese cartoon industry being too protected to invest in learning.
Some students requested a 1,000-yuan ($146.40) refund after learning scheduled participant Chris Roberts, producer of Lord of War and the Wing Commander series, was unable to attend because he couldn't secure a visa, according to Tuo.
Birthday Bash Next Month
The next CIC Birthday is just one month away! Come celebrate with fellow fans and watch the website turn twelve years old on August 10, 2010. The party starts at 7:00 pm Eastern US time (4:00 pm Pacific and 11:00 pm GMT) in the IRC channel #Wingnut. It's a great chance to catch up with other Wingnuts, and lucky fans will also have a chance to win rare and exotic prizes. First time partiers can get up to speed via the simple Java interface. Clear your calendars and don't miss it!
Behold the Beautiful Blue Box
CrazySpence recently added a copy of Wing Commander I Deluxe to his collection, and he had to share it with the world. He's posted pictures and described his glee at The Kingdom of Philtopia. What a great feeling it is to get a new Wing Commander game. Check the posting out here.
A few weeks past and I found a set of Wing Commander 1 with the original fighter specs however after some heavy bidding I lost it to someone else and felt rather defeated. I took one more pass at ebay and found a "Buy it now" of Wing Commander deluxe edition IN THE ORIGINAL BOX with FIGHTER SPECS, CLAWMARKS, WC1, Secret missions 1 and 2 plus the install manuals, a 1990 catalog and some other paperwork from Origin! I jumped on that quickly and awaited shipping.
Today it has arrived and it is Christmas in June for me! The box has a dent in it but all the contents are in excellent condition. For being almost 20 years old I would say it has held up pretty damn well and I look forward to liberating the Vega Sector, chasing down the Sivar and liberating Firekka from Kilrathi Occupation!
2010.190 (July 9, 2010)
Shockwave Hellcat Painted for Patrol
WCS has improved his Shockwave Hellcat again. The latest addition is a crisp Confed texture donated by limdaepl. Combined with the starfield in the background, the ship looks ready to talk on some Kilrathi! The next update will likely be in the form of a Confed cruiser or destroyer to fly around. Jump in the cockpit for yourself here. Click on the Confed star and use Q, W, Z, X and the arrow keys as controls.
I am astonished as to how good it actually looks, even if some parts of the texture do not properly align with the mesh ( yet! ).
Gotta Love Those Tachyons!
365 Days of Astronomy has profiled the tachyon, a wonderful time traveling subatomic particle that moves faster than light and has a cool name. If the powerful Tachyon Cannon wasn't famous for its market value in the Gemini Sector, its inclusion on the F-103 Excalibur definitely brought it to the forefront. Scientist Craig Robertson has recorded a podcast that discuses some of the theory behind the physics. The Wing Commander series is later mentioned as using the concept in popular fiction. Check it out here.
The Tachyon cannon is one of my favorites. It packs a real wallop, rarely fails and it's one sleek design.
Fleets Engagement Coming in Prelude Part 11
lew82 has posted a couple more exciting screenshots from the next chapter of Frontier - Prelude to Darkness. Both show off the huge space battle in store for part 11. Looks like it'll be a blast to watch everything go down!
I know that this part is taking its damn sweet time, but let's just say making a battle scene between a opposing fleets is quite complex – one 300 frame shot I did yesterday took twelve hours to do.
The last week has however been massively productive in terms of how much is actually in this latest scene (Scene 25 – the final scene of Part 11). I have managed to squeeze another 10% into the completion status since the last update so by that rule, we should be looking at another 1-2 weeks.
Online TacOps Version in Development
Avacar is working on trying to make an automated version of Wing Commander Tactical Operations on the web. TacOps is a turn-based strategy game with a bunch of fancy stat cards and a polished rule book. Fans have wanted to play something like this for a while, but implementation has been tricky. Avacar has managed to get a static game board implemented on the web, and he's mapped out the next several steps to make the game playable.
Phase 1: Establish a working, static html/css board which successfully overlays the grid on a background, and puts ships in grid cells. Being static, I expect a hardcoded change is necessary to move the ship to a different cell. I also need to work out how ships that are larger than cells will work (since images typically aren't positioned based on their center), and how to handle multiple ships in the same cell.
The key thing shown here, is that we have determined how I'll layer the css and the html, what is a child to what, tag wise, and how I'll move ships around. While this static version can't move ships without a hard code change, *where* to put that hardcode change is obvious.
The next step, I'll put in the hex-coordinates to pixel-position math, and a form to let us control them. Additionally, I may mess with some simple jquery. finally, I'll start playing with the php GD library that lets us rotate the image on-the-fly, and see if we want to do that, or simply store 6 orientations for each ship.
I haven't decided the best way to address if 2 ships are on the same square yet.
Mythic Entertainment Becomes Bioware Mythic
Electronic Arts has restructured its role playing and massively multiplayer game development studios under the Bioware name. Mythic Entertainment, which has maintained Ultima Online, Warhammer Online and Dark Age of Camelot for some time, will now be folded into the new organization. This announcement renames the studio to Bioware Mythic and puts them under the same EA executive that originally founded the first Bioware studios in Canada. Coincidentally, the brand's other satellite studio is Bioware Austin, which is currently developing Star Wars: The Old Republic. The company has struggled somewhat with growing the business of its existing MMOs, but they will soon take direct control of Warhammer's European operations. As part of this change, EA also reaffirmed that Warhammer will "provide players with an engaging battleground for years to come."
New Firekkan Model Swoops In
Michelle D has posted pictures of a model Firekkan. The primary references are the characters as seen in The Secret Missions 2, but without feathers these birds come off as a little creepy so far. We're anxious to see the finished product with brighter colors, softer lines and some cool gear!
I'm not done with the head. I would like to add in instanced feathers, and work on the texture more. I'm not doing a body yet, I'm looking for feedback on the head before I move on to the body. Does it look too bird like or not humanoid enough?
War is Declared
On this day in the year 2634, war is formally declared between the Terran Confederation and Empire of Kilrah. The last straw came in the form of the tragic Anna Magdelena incident. See how descriptions of this event vary slightly over time. The quotes below come from Claw Marks, Victory Streak and Kilrathi Saga/Star*Soldier.
On 2634.186, war is formally declared by the Terran Confederation on the Empire of Kilrah for countless acts of piracy and unwarranted assault.
The Anna Magdelena, ferrying orphans to Dieno, is attacked by a pair of Kilrathi fighters. All hands are lost. In retaliation for this and the five-year string of equally heinous abuses of all known laws of civility, the Terran Confederation officially declares war on the Empire of Kilrah for countless acts of piracy and unwarranted assault.
The Anna Magdelena, a refitted transport ship ferrying orphans to their new homes on Dieno, is openly attacked by a pair of Kilrathi fighters. No one survives. In retaliation for this and the five-year string of equally heinous abuses of all known laws of civility, the Terran Confederation officially declares war on the Empire of Kilrah.
Consider Copious Console Choices
The new poll asks what Wing Commander game for console and handheld gaming systems is your favorite. And there's some great options to choose from! Quite a few Wingnuts got their start on the Super Nintendo versions of Wing Commander and The Secret Missions in the early '90s. These were also recently rereleased for the Sony PSP in EA Replay. Since Wing Commander 2 for the SNES was never released, that one's not an option above. However the Genesis/Sega CD version of WC1 with full speech is there. The Playstation iterations of Wing Commanders 3 & 4 were also very popular, and WC4 is available once again via the PSN store. The 3DO got some of the most fancy ports of the franchise by way of an enhanced WC3 and Super Wing Commander. That leaves one of the most technically surprising games in Prophecy for the Gameboy Advance, and the most recent is the multiplayer powerhouse Wing Commander Arena. I wonder what will be next... but that's for another poll.
The old poll picked Wingnuts' favorite cockpits. The realistic dashboards of Wing Commander 3 won, but there's a pretty even popularity between Privateer, WC1 and WC2 behind it. WC4's spartan HUD also had a fairly strong showing.
Happy Fourth!
Happy Independence Day to our American visitors out there today! Visitors from the US make up the majority of Wingnuts, but we've upgraded our Origin FX fireworks for all. To Wing Commander fans everywhere, have a great day!
Happy Birthday Richard Garriott!
We'd also like to wish Origin founder Richard Garriott a happy birthday! He turns 49 today. To celebrate, Mr. Garriott is flying Zero-G Parabolas over Washington DC and will watch the Smithsonian's fireworks tonight.
OBJ 2 WCP 2 U
Kevin Caccamo has updated his program for streamlining the conversion of OBJ files associated with Wing Commander Prophecy/Secret Ops modding. Version 1.0 now takes advantage of and requires the Java 3D API. Download the program here (13 k zip). Instructions are included with the file, and more information can be found at KC's website. A basic tutorial has also been posted at Crius.net.
OBJ2WCP is a command line application that converts models from Wavefront OBJ format to a pascal source code file, which can then be compiled by WCPPascal into a Wing Commander Prophecy/Secret Ops IFF mesh. OBJ2WCP is written in Java and the source code is available in the download.
-| Features |-
- Reads info from v, vt, vn, and f
- Support for multiple materials
- Support for full lighting on materials with "illum 0"
- Apparently it supports smoothing too.
- Gives statistics about the model
- Tells the user what bitmap goes with what MAT number
- Gives understandable error information
- Attempts to calculate face normals (experimental)
Supersized Saga Ship Sets Sail
The newest WC Saga ship is a transport based on the Belleau Wood from Wing Commander Armada. It's got a darker blue paint scheme and a mean looking gun on the nose. An extended version of the craft will fill the role of the larger assault transport from the WC4 novel. There's quite a few of them in the convoy pictured below!
We intended our vessel to be the same class of the troopship mentioned in the Price of Freedom novel. In the novel, the Pelileu-class assault transport TCS Louis B. Puller deployed the Marines that "rescued" Tuesday Brody from the Border Worlds in the Tyr System. As the sharp eye can see, our concept of this ship is a larger derivative of WC Armada's Belleau Wood-class transport.
Expert Endeavor: Expanding Entries
It's a long three-day weekend coming up here in the US, and any Wingnuts with some spare time on their hands should help out on the WCPedia! Over a hundred registered users have created over a thousand pages. Since the Wiki came online in 2007, there have been over one and a quarter million page views and 8500 individual edits. That means each time you edit something, you're good for an average 150 views! The top three pages are...
The TCS Tiger's Claw
And Christopher Blair
Not a WC expert? That's okay too! Dundradal offers this at Crius.net...
If anyone has any suggestions or is looking for something to do on the project, but not sure what, just let me know. I've got tons of things that people can do to help out!
Invest in Interstellar Industry
NinjaLA's latest WW2-themed propaganda piece implores Confederate citizens to buy war bonds. The more bonds you buy, the more planes will fly! For more posters, also check out Bob's rendition here.
This one is still a work in progress.. but I consider it about 85% complete.
Shockwave Stars Surround Sleek Ship
WCS took our advice and added a starfield to the background of his Shockwave tech demo. A few stars or a nebula always bring an otherwise simple render to life!
Wing Commander Shockwave
Click once in the opening screen ( yes I'll replace it at some point, but I needed a suitably low-compression ratio image to prevent a bug in Adobe Shockwave player for Firefox )
Q,W - Roll
Arrow keys - Yaw, pitch
Z,X - Speed
Home - Return to opening screen


If you suffer from allergies, you might want to try some natural remedies. Many people rely on prescription-only medications or antihistamines but never explore natural remedies. Prescription medications tend to have side effects; however, homeopathic remedies do not usually. You can now find a few homeopathic remedies at your regular drugstore, or you can find them at a health food store.


text:
Си́ла Митрофа́нович Митрофа́нов (Митрофано́вич) (* — †, Бухарест, Волощина) — український вчений-медик, фізіолог, епідеміолог. Доктор медицини. Головний лікар Києва (1770-1771).

Життєпис

Народився в Україні, походження невідоме. Здобув освіту у Києво-Могилянській академії. 1756 продовжив навчання у Московській і Санкт-Петербурзькій шпитальних школах. 1758 дістав звання підлікаря, 1759 — лікаря.

1761 серед десятьох найздібніших молодих лікарів-українців відряджений Медичною колегією на навчання за кордон. 12 вересня зарахований до Лейденського університету, на момент вступу мав 29 років. 1765 захистив докторську дисертацію на тему «Про вільне входження повітря в легені» (De spontaneo aeris introitu in pulmonem). У цій праці на підставі власних дослідів пояснив акт дихання людини як результат дії атмосферного тиску:

У дослідженні є передові для свого часу думки. Зокрема, український вчений одним із перших звернув увагу на роль навіювання у дії лікарських препаратів. У восьмій тезі своєї праці Митрофанов пише, що медикаменти не можуть ліквідувати захворювання «без допомоги людської натури».

У 1765-1769 роках українець стажувався та працював у Парижі. 1769 повернувся в Україну. 1770 призначений старшим лікарем Київського військового шпиталю, одночасно виконував обов'язки головного міського лікаря. Очолював чумний шпиталь під час епідемії чуми в Києві у 1770-1771 роках.

Восени 1771 призначений головним лікарем Першої діючої армії РІА, що діяла проти османських військ на Поділлі та у Волощині. Організовував протичумні карантинні заходи у війську. Помер 27 червня 1772 в Бухаресті, заразившись чумою.

Написав одну з перших наукових праць, присвячену сечокам'яній хворобі — «Про камені у нирках». Рукопис був оприлюднений вже після його смерті, 1801 року.

Боротьба з епідемією чуми в Києві

У вересні 1770 в Києві спалахнула наймасштабніша в історії міста епідемія чуми. Вона тривала до весни 1771 та забрала життя від 4 до 6 тисяч киян. Сила Митрофанов очолював боротьбу з хворобою разом з видатним українським епідеміологом, керівником Васильківського карантину Іваном Полетикою та німецьким лікарем, директором Медичної канцелярії Йоганном-Якобом Лерхе.

Митрофанов, Полетика та Лерхе розробили інструкцію, як треба поводитися з людьми, що захворіли на чуму, та їхніми речами. М'які пожитки належало спалювати, а ті, які лежали в скринях або були заховані в коморах і льохах, — кількаразово ретельно виморожовувати зимової пори. У теплу пору речі обкурювали ялівцем, сосновими шишками та оцтом. Гроші й металевий посуд вимочували добу в кислій гарячій воді з сіллю. У будинках померлих від пошесті одразу ж витягували віконні рами, двері, розвалювали груби, щоб ніхто в них не міг оселитися, а приміщення за зиму вимерзли. Бездомних собак, які могли розносити хворобу, лікарі вимагали винищувати. Людей, які ще не захворіли, з будинків, де мешкали померлі, суворо наказували ізольовувати. Теплої пори їх селили на Трухановому острові, а з настанням холодів — у Кирилівському монастирі, перевівши ченців до інших обителей. Померлих заборонили ховати на цвинтарях парафіяльних церков, а родичам брати участь у похоронних обрядах.

Військовий шпиталь не міг розмістити всіх хворих, тому Сила Митрофанов організував чумний шпиталь у приміщенні Кловського палацу, яке передала Києво-Печерська лавра. У квітні 1771 тут він зустрівся з видатним українським лікарем Данилом Самойловичем, який був у Києві переїздом.

Митрофанов запровадив нові підходи до лікування інфекційних недуг. Всупереч тодішнім інструкціям, які приписували застосовувати кровопускання та давати хворим проносне, головний міський лікар навпаки — наказував лікувати закріплюючими препаратами, що зменшило кількість летальних випадків. Згодом його методику застосовували Д. Самойлович і К. Ягельський під час боротьби з епідемією чуми в Москві у 1771-1772 роках.

Джерела

 Бойчак М., Лякіна Р. До історії Київського військового шпиталю у XVIII ст. // «Військово-історичний альманах», 2001, ч. 1 (2).
 Криштопа Б. Митрофанов Сила // Києво-Могилянська академія в іменах XVII-XVIII ст.: енциклопедичне видання. — Київ: Видавничий дім «КМ Академія», 2001.
 Плющ Василь. Нариси з історії української медичної науки та освіти. Книга І: Від початків української державности до 19 століття. — Мюнхен, 1979.

Народились 1732
Померли 1772
Померли в Бухаресті
Випускники Києво-Могилянської академії
Випускники Лейденського університету
Доктори медицини
Медики Російської імперії
Українські медики
Українські епідеміологи
Персоналії:Київ
Військові лікарі
Військові лікарі Російської імперії
Померли від чуми

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


My baby is eight weeks old. Eight! I can't believe how fast the time has gone, but also how much I've learnt in that time.
Let me tell you on thing that I have learnt, and that's that there is no set rule on how to be a parent. There is no one size fits all, rather more the case of 'winging it'. However, it's amazing how much Edith has taught me, not just about being a mum, but about myself in general.
When we first laid eyes on Edith, it's safe to say that our whole world changed. We became a family of three, rather than just a married couple. I can't say that our new lifestyle has become a big shock though. I won't pretend that the first couple of weeks of sleepless nights weren't hard, but they weren't impossible. Becoming a parent is all about finding what works for you and your baby. It's not about following a book on parenthood.
What is sleep? No, in all honesty, we have been pretty lucky with Edith, in that she does sleep pretty well at night. In the first two weeks though, we were like walking, talking zombies. Edith did not like sleeping anywhere that wasn't on me. I did end up co-sleeping with her, because it was the only way that we would get any form of rest. However, co-sleeping just wasn't for me. I didn't feel safe having her in the bed with us, so we were desperate for something to help our baby sleep. That's when we invested in a Sleepyhead Deluxe+, and let me tell you, it was the best thing we ever did. Edith loves it, sleeps in it, and gives us the sleep that we need!
Dobby likes the Sleepyhead too!
I was always told that I would know what my baby would want when she cries. I don't. Instead, I work with the power of elimination to try and work out what it is she wants. That doesn't mean to say that I don't know when shes just stirring, as opposed to crying. If Edith is hungry, it's pretty obvious that shes hungry, what with the rooting and hand sucking, but I'd be lying if I said I knew every time she cried.
Before becoming a mum, I swore to myself that I would make sure that I'm still doing things for me. That might sound selfish, especially when my baby is still so young, but from what I've learnt over the last few weeks is that it's so important to not lose who I am.
When I say 'do things for me', I mean putting on a bit of make up, maybe paint my nails, or even just enjoying a hot cup of tea. Something that I can do for me. Something that gives me a small break from being a milk machine.
Getting out of the house is so important.
If you've read some of my earlier posts, especially the pregnancy related ones, you'll know that I was pretty anxious whilst I was pregnant. That hasn't stopped. That doesn't mean to say that I worry about everything, because I don't, but I think that's because I avoid putting myself in a situation where I'll worry about Edith.
I heard a lot of comments, whilst being pregnant, about how much love I'd feel for my baby and how it's unlike anything I will have ever felt. That was the truest piece of information I think I ever received.
Well, I thought I knew what love was, especially after being married and having a pretty big family, but then Edith was born. Truly, I've never known love like this, ever (sorry Max!). No, in all seriousness, it's a completely different kind of love. The kind of love where everything that you do becomes about that tiny, wrinkly human, and being 100% ok with doing it. Just magical.
What were some of your favourite things that you learned with a newborn?


text:
Why the President of Venezuela Should Learn to Take a Joke
Venezuela's crackdown on comedians is the latest flashpoint for one of oldest forms of political dissent.
Mark Hay
Over the past few months, comedians in Venezuela have found it increasingly hard to get new gigs. The bars and clubs they used to frequent are increasingly getting shuttered and their performances are getting canceled. At first blush, this seems like another symptom of the oil-rich nation's tanking economy, where even essentials have become so rare and expensive that procuring the basics has become almost a full-time job. In this environment of scarcity, comedy might seem like a frivolity. But there's a demand for comedians in Venezuela, where jokes about toilet paper shortages and the price of water versus the price of oil are seen as therapeutic. The economy is not the problem for these comedians—instead, it's a hyper-sensitive government, eager to quash criticisms of the once-beloved socialist system set up by the late Hugo Chavez, as it succumbs to external pressures and internal corruption under the regime of his bumbling successor, President Nicolas "Mango" Maduro.
"They think that because we did jokes about Chavez or Maduro, we are going to bring down the government," local comedian Alex Goncalves recently told National Public Radio.
Although Maduro and his government deny all charges of cracking down on comedians, local funny men like Luis Chataing, Goncalvas, and Laureano Márquez all insist they're being shut out of government-run venues and denied performance permits in towns run by Maduro supporters. Most are getting by performing at private clubs, in opposition-held towns, and for corporate event audiences, but some have still suffered in incidents that directly seem to implicate the government. Chataing for one, lost his beloved talk show the day after he mocked the government's persistent claims—always backed up by iffy evidence—that sinister forces were plotting an imminent coup against them. And last year a major political cartoonist got sacked for jokingly depicting the national health care system in shambles—a bit of commentary that was dangerously (for him) on the nose.
Laureano Márquez, Venezuela's most populat stand-up comedian, has been fined and otherwise pressured by the government for his political humor. Image by the Committee to Protect Journalists via Wikimedia Commons
This comedian crackdown may seem like just one minor element in a larger trend towards iron-fisted authoritarianism in Venezuela. Whether this trend is a desperate reaction by a nation beleaguered by destabilizing forces or just a sign of a failing, once-beloved socialist system under bad new management is a whole different debate. But in truth, the decline of comedy in the nation is like the silence of a canary in a coalmine. Just about as long as we've had human society, comedy has been one of the great bastions of critique and dissent, capable of maneuvering even the most treacherous terrain. Its collapse robs people not just of a vital mental vent, but a necessary form of speech and protest.
Many of us have become used to seeing our "socially conscious" and overtly political comedy acts as a chance to withdraw, snarl, or roll our eyes, rather than a stirring call to action. Yet comedy's original function, in the form of the fool archetype, was expressly political and dissenting. The role of the fool, epitomized in the medieval jester, was to voice concerns that others feared to make in otherwise oppressive societies. The insight of these fools became vital to decision-making processes, as well as the wellbeing and sanity of common peoples who might have otherwise felt themselves stymied and alone. After all, while critiques from an opponent told point-blank can sound bitter and insulting, critiques coming from disconnected observers who take issue with everyone sting a bit less. And for those not directly involved in power structures, but just observing comedy, the spoonful of sugar that is a punch line can make a grim reality feel more amusing and convivial than depressing.
Luis Chataing's satirical news show was canceled just one day after he criticized government paranoia
Historians like to note the direct influence of the jester Jenny von Stockach, who advised the Duke of Austria on war strategy in the 14th century, as an example of fools' direct political power. But individuals like Charlie Chaplin, whose works made salient-yet-slapstick points on the life of the industrial worker and fascism to wide audiences, had perhaps even more power via their ability to nudge entire societies' viewpoints around. Sometimes these bids for mass critique backfired, as when some Athenian nobles tried to persecute Aristophanes for his wry critiques of the local political climate in public performances. But throughout history, while occasionally a jester or two did get run through by a saber, a shocking number of fools managed to make important points while escaping any major danger.
While men jumping around in institutionalized motley faded with the decline of those antiquated court systems, modern comedians have carried on the tradition of providing unique insights and influencing the public sphere. Just think of Jon Stewart and his creative progeny, whose contributions have become an indispensible facet of modern news culture, inveighing against and prompting activism on numerous social and political issues. And there are similar comedians tacitly but powerfully contributing to political dialogue and nudging the world of public policy left and right all over the world, even in places where public dialogue and influence seem weak in the face of government control.
"Humor is the last place of liberty," Venezuelan funnyman Laureano Márquez told NPR. "When you lost freedom [sic] in other places, freedom can be alive in humor."
President Nicolas Maduro, who doesn't seem very funny. Image by newsonline via Flickr
Attempts to silence Venezuela's comedians (or censor Brazil's comedian pundits, Egypt's Bassem Youssef, Myanmar's Zarnagar, or any other political jokesters) don't just constitute a petty move by thin-skinned rulers. The effort is an assault on a major pillar of public discourse, and one that becomes even more important in general environments of censorship and authoritarianism. It's hard to predict what will happen in a given nation when you take that outlet for discourse and therapy away. Given the overall crumbling of Venezuela, the crackdown doesn't seem likely to relieve pressure on Maduro and company. Far more likely is that the attempt at censorship will prompt the kind of silenced desperation that spills over into less channeled, more direct, and even violent dissent. The regime probably would've been better off growing thicker hides and letting the comedians crack wise about them. But that's a lesson they'll have to learn the hard way.
comedy venezuela elections and politics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Judge picks new county to hear Danny Hembree murder case.
Jurors for Danny Robbie Hembree�s next first-degree murder trial will come from Burke County.
The convicted killer made an appearance in Gaston County court Thursday morning. Attorneys presented a slew of motions for the upcoming trial set for March 2013.
Hembree, 50, was convicted of killing 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009. He was sentenced to death.
Hembree went on trial again in 2011, accused of killing Randi Dean Saldana.
Saldana, 30, was found dead in York, S.C., just two weeks after Catterton�s body was discovered, partially naked in a culvert.
Saldana�s body had been wrapped in bedding and set on fire.
Hembree�s second trial went on for weeks and was in the hands of the defense when Superior Court Judge Beverly Beal declared a mistrial.
Hembree has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in December 2009, but the case involving Catterton was the only capital case.
The first trial captured regional media attention, showing up on TV and in newspapers before and during the proceedings.
That attention prompted defense attorneys to ask for a change of venue during the Saldana trial.
Beal came up with a compromise � the jury would be selected from Rutherford County then bussed to Gaston for the trial.
Now assigned to the new case, Superior Court Judge James Morgan stayed with the same set up. The only revision is that this jury will come from Burke County.
Morgan expected to hear another round of motions from attorneys in January.
The cases of Catterton and Saldana had a multitude of similarities, according to Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell.
Their bodies were found near each other. Their deaths happened just weeks apart. They ran with the same crowd.
Hembree also confessed to police that he killed them both in his mother�s house and stored their bodies in a closet in the basement.
Jurors in both trials watched video confessions in which Hembree recalls details about the slayings. But during each trial, Hembree recanted those confessions from the witness stand � saying that he lied to detectives to distract Mecklenburg officers who wanted him for a string of armed robberies.
Segments of the video confessions were redacted during both trials.
Bell wants them to stay that way.
Jurors during the two trials never heard that Hembree is also charged in a third killing � the 1992 death of 30-year-old Deborah Denise Ratchford.
Ratchford�s death was different from the others.
Catterton was suffocated. Saldana was strangled. Ratchford was cut repeatedly and left to die in Oakland Street Cemetery in Gastonia.
But they share one common thread. Hembree told investigators in 2009 that he killed the three women.
No physical evidence ties Hembree to Ratchford�s death, according to Bell so he said there�s no reason to confuse jurors with the topic.
Cummings said admission of such evidence is crucial to his case.
Hembree was convicted of capital murder in November 2011 for suffocating Catterton.
His first-degree murder trial in the death of Saldana began in March of this year and ended in a mistrial in April.
No trial date has been set in Ratchford�s case.
The waters are muddier in the older case, Bell said in court Thursday.
Some of the witnesses have since died.
According to Bell, Hembree brought up Ratchford�s name to police multiple times over the years. Hembree came in contact with detectives often, having spent more than half his life in prison.
When he was interrogated in the other women�s killings in December 2009, Hembree told detectives that he held Ratchford down while James Swanson cut her.
Swanson and Hembree were both charged with murder.
Charges were later dismissed against Swanson.
Bell said in court Thursday that he had to let Swanson go in order to pursue a capital case against Hembree. He said in order to get Swanson he�d have to make a deal with Hembree. That�s a deal he wasn�t willing to make.
�I told law enforcement that I would not make a deal with Mr. Hembree,� Bell said.


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text:
Who Is James Charles Dating? His Relationships History, Latest Update, Everything You Want to Know!
By David D. Ramey On Feb 22, 2022
This is what people said about Charles in 2016. He was the first CoverGirl for men. When Allure asked him how he felt, he said that it had been a dream come true. She said, "This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me." "As far as cool things go, I'm about 12 years old, so this is the best one. Having the chance to work with one of the most famous beauty brands in history, as well as celebrities like Katy Perry, is a huge honour."
After becoming a makeup artist in 2016, the first CoverBoy was born. He was just 17. After he asked to retake his high school yearbook picture so that his cheekbones looked their best, Charles became an overnight star. Before he had his yearbook picture spread around the world, he made his highlighter stand out. He also started to show up all over the internet. Soon, the teen was taking the world of beauty by storm.
Charles signed a deal with CoverGirl soon after, and now he is one of the most popular young beauty vloggers in the business. Even if you're a boy in a traditionally female-dominated field like fashion, it's not always easy to be in the spotlight at a young age. It's not just Charles who is making a name for himself. Here's how he's handling all of this new success and looking fierce while he does it.
Does James Charles have a boyfriend?
He's back in the news for all the wrong reasons. Two men have recently come forward and said that they had inappropriate conversations with James when they were younger. This led to a lot of people calling for James to be cancelled and for other YouTube stars like Shane Dawson and David Dobrik to be too. Comments James made about talking to boys in high school that he made on Logan Paul's podcast came back up. This only made things even worse.
There's no doubt that James has been called out before for this kind of thing. In the "BYE SISTER" scandal of 2019, another beauty YouTuber, Tati Westbrook, said that he was putting his sexuality on men who were not gay. Because of the accusations, James made a video apology on April 1, 2021, and put it on his YouTube account then. In "holding myself accountable," James says that he talked to some of these guys when they were underage, but that they told him they were older than they were.
When he found out, he cut off all communication with them. She and her friends and family are sorry. He apologises to the men who are said to be 18 or older, as well as to his friends and family. When the video comes to an end, James says that he's single and wants to be in a relationship. I want to be in a relationship with someone my age or older that I can connect with and that can make me laugh, he said. The person hasn't been found yet.
Because he wanted to be with someone, he didn't do the work he should have been doing to make sure they were old enough.
Read more:-Who Is Madison Beer Dating? Her Relationship History, Latest Update, Everything You Want to Know!
James' love life isn't really clear!
James Charles came out as gay almost as soon as he became well-known. A lot of people say he's had some relationships since then, but there aren't a lot of facts to back them up. He was rumoured to be dating Grayson Dolan, a member of an unofficial YouTube group called the Sister Squad, in 2018. Both of them said they didn't know each other. Charles wrote this in December 2018.
Affair Post says that "I wish people would stop focusing on the friendships of popular social media influencers and just enjoy them for what they are: friends. Enjoy it as it is. It can be toxic, frustrating, and really start to affect us in private. Some of the rumours are so outlandish that they're not even funny." It was the same year that Charles told Entertainment Tonight about his dating problems.
Read more:-Who Is Kevin Costner Dating? His Relationships History, Latest Update, Everything You Want to Know!
Is James Charles dating Tfue, a YouTuber?
He said that he was looking for a boyfriend at the time, but didn't like dating apps. "I don't have the time. I need a boyfriend right now. Sit here and scroll through people and send messages back and forth. I don't want to do that. Like, hey, no!" In 2019, there were rumours that Charles had a relationship with another makeup influencer named Manny MUA, but those rumours died down when Manny said he didn't. During the 2020s, Charles went on a date with Turner "Ttfue" Tenney. The two never said if they went on a second date.
When February 14 rolled around and Tfue found himself single, he responded to James Charles' tweet asking who would be his Valentine by claiming it would be him. The YouTuber swiftly agreed, and fans assumed the situation was resolved. It's easy to believe this is all a prank and that the two will never follow through… However, this is incorrect.
Read more:-Who Is Brent Rivera Dating in 2021? His Relationships History, Latest Update, Everything You Want to Know!
David D. Ramey
My name is David D. Ramey. I write about topics ranging from the net worth of celebrities. Apart from this, I write about technology and entertainment for many years.
Who Is Melody Holt Having a Relationship With? The Reality-tv Star's Day-to-day Life
Who Is Charli D'Amico Dating?
Odele Ventimiglia's Death: Why John Ventimiglia Shocked by Death of Daughter?
Death Of Chris Benoit: Why Did Chris Benoit Kill His Entire Family?
Why Does Bella Ramsey Face Look So Bad? Is Bella Suffering From a Mental Illness?
Who is Triana? and How is She Related to Yung Miami?


text:
package CPANPLUS::Selfupdate;

use strict;
use Params::Check               qw[check];
use IPC::Cmd                    qw[can_run];
use CPANPLUS::Error             qw[error msg];
use Locale::Maketext::Simple    Class => 'CPANPLUS', Style => 'gettext';

use CPANPLUS::Internals::Constants;

$Params::Check::VERBOSE = 1;

=head1 NAME

CPANPLUS::Selfupdate

=head1 SYNOPSIS

    $su     = $cb->selfupdate_object;

    @feats  = $su->list_features;
    @feats  = $su->list_enabled_features;

    @mods   = map { $su->modules_for_feature( $_ ) } @feats;
    @mods   = $su->list_core_dependencies;
    @mods   = $su->list_core_modules;

    for ( @mods ) {
        print $_->name " should be version " . $_->version_required;
        print "Installed version is not uptodate!"
            unless $_->is_installed_version_sufficient;
    }

    $ok     = $su->selfupdate( update => 'all', latest => 0 );

=cut

### a config has describing our deps etc
{

    my $Modules = {
        dependencies => {
            'File::Fetch'               => '0.15_02', # lynx & 404 handling
            'File::Spec'                => '0.82',
            'IPC::Cmd'                  => '0.36', # 5.6.2 compat: 2-arg open
            'Locale::Maketext::Simple'  => '0.01',
            'Log::Message'              => '0.01',
            'Module::Load'              => '0.10',
            'Module::Load::Conditional' => '0.28', # returns dir for loaded
                                                   # modules
            'version'                   => '0.73', # needed for M::L::C
                                                   # addresses #24630 and
                                                   # #24675
                                                   # Address ~0 overflow issue
            'Params::Check'             => '0.22',
            'Package::Constants'        => '0.01',
            'Term::UI'                  => '0.18', # option parsing
            'Test::Harness'             => '2.62', # due to bug #19505
                                                   # only 2.58 and 2.60 are bad
            'Test::More'                => '0.47', # to run our tests
            'Archive::Extract'          => '0.16', # ./Dir bug fix
            'Archive::Tar'              => '1.23',
            'IO::Zlib'                  => '1.04', # needed for Archive::Tar
            'Object::Accessor'          => '0.34', # mk_aliases support
            'Module::CoreList'          => '2.09',
            'Module::Pluggable'         => '2.4',
            'Module::Loaded'            => '0.01',
            'Parse::CPAN::Meta'         => '0.02', # config_requires support
            'ExtUtils::Install'         => '1.42', # uninstall outside @INC
        },

        features => {
            # config_key_name => [
            #     sub { } to list module key/value pairs
            #     sub { } to check if feature is enabled
            # ]
            prefer_makefile => [
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    $cb->configure_object->get_conf('prefer_makefile')
                        ? { }
                        : { 'CPANPLUS::Dist::Build' => '0.24'  };
                },
                sub { return 1 },   # always enabled
            ],
            cpantest        => [
                { 'Test::Reporter'  => '1.34',
                  'YAML::Tiny'      => '0.0'
                },
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    return $cb->configure_object->get_conf('cpantest');
                },
            ],
            dist_type => [
                sub {
                    my $cb      = shift;
                    my $dist    = $cb->configure_object->get_conf('dist_type');
                    return { $dist => '0.0' } if $dist;
                    return;
                },
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    return $cb->configure_object->get_conf('dist_type');
                },
            ],

            md5 => [
                {
                    'Digest::MD5'   => '0.0',
                },
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    return $cb->configure_object->get_conf('md5');
                },
            ],
            shell => [
                sub {
                    my $cb      = shift;
                    my $dist    = $cb->configure_object->get_conf('shell');

                    ### we bundle these shells, so don't bother having a dep
                    ### on them... If we don't do this, CPAN.pm actually detects
                    ### a recursive dependency and breaks (see #26077).
                    ### This is not an issue for CPANPLUS itself, it handles
                    ### it smartly.
                    return if $dist eq SHELL_DEFAULT or $dist eq SHELL_CLASSIC;
                    return { $dist => '0.0' } if $dist;
                    return;
                },
                sub { return 1 },
            ],
            signature => [
                sub {
                    my $cb      = shift;
                    return {
                        'Module::Signature' => '0.06',
                    } if can_run('gpg');
                    ### leave this out -- Crypt::OpenPGP is fairly
                    ### painful to install, and broken on some platforms
                    ### so we'll just always fall back to gpg. It may
                    ### issue a warning or 2, but that's about it.
                    ### this change due to this ticket: #26914
                    # and $cb->configure_object->get_conf('prefer_bin');

                    return {
                        'Crypt::OpenPGP'    => '0.0',
                        'Module::Signature' => '0.06',
                    };
                },
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    return $cb->configure_object->get_conf('signature');
                },
            ],
            storable => [
                { 'Storable' => '0.0' },
                sub {
                    my $cb = shift;
                    return $cb->configure_object->get_conf('storable');
                },
            ],
            sqlite_backend => [
                {   'DBIx::Simple' => '0.0',
                    'DBD::SQLite'  => '0.0',
                },
                sub {
                    my $cb   = shift;
                    my $conf = $cb->configure_object;
                    return $conf->get_conf('source_engine')
                        eq 'CPANPLUS::Internals::Source::SQLite'
                },
            ],
        },
        core => {
            'CPANPLUS' => '0.0',
        },
    };

    sub _get_config { return $Modules }
}

=head1 METHODS

=head2 $self = CPANPLUS::Selfupdate->new( $backend_object );

Sets up a new selfupdate object. Called automatically when
a new backend object is created.

=cut

sub new {
    my $class = shift;
    my $cb    = shift or return;
    return bless sub { $cb }, $class;
}

{   ### cache to find the relevant modules
    my $cache = {
        core
            => sub { my $self = shift;
                     core => [ $self->list_core_modules ]   },

        dependencies
            => sub { my $self = shift;
                     dependencies => [ $self->list_core_dependencies ] },

        enabled_features
            => sub { my $self = shift;
                     map { $_ => [ $self->modules_for_feature( $_ ) ] }
                        $self->list_enabled_features
                   },
        features
            => sub { my $self = shift;
                     map { $_ => [ $self->modules_for_feature( $_ ) ] }
                        $self->list_features
                   },
            ### make sure to do 'core' first, in case
            ### we are out of date ourselves
        all => [ qw|core dependencies enabled_features| ],
    };

=head2 @cat = $self->list_categories

Returns a list of categories that the C<selfupdate> method accepts.

See C<selfupdate> for details.

=cut

    sub list_categories { return sort keys %$cache }

=head2 %list = $self->list_modules_to_update( update => "core|dependencies|enabled_features|features|all", [latest => BOOL] )

List which modules C<selfupdate> would upgrade. You can update either
the core (CPANPLUS itself), the core dependencies, all features you have
currently turned on, or all features available, or everything.

The C<latest> option determines whether it should update to the latest
version on CPAN, or if the minimal required version for CPANPLUS is
good enough.

Returns a hash of feature names and lists of module objects to be
upgraded based on the category you provided. For example:

    %list = $self->list_modules_to_update( update => 'core' );

Would return:

    ( core => [ $module_object_for_cpanplus ] );

=cut

    sub list_modules_to_update {
        my $self = shift;
        my $cb   = $self->();
        my $conf = $cb->configure_object;
        my %hash = @_;

        my($type, $latest);
        my $tmpl = {
            update => { required => 1, store => \$type,
                         allow   => [ keys %$cache ], },
            latest => { default  => 0, store => \$latest, allow => BOOLEANS },
        };

        {   local $Params::Check::ALLOW_UNKNOWN = 1;
            check( $tmpl, \%hash ) or return;
        }

        my $ref     = $cache->{$type};

        ### a list of ( feature1 => \@mods, feature2 => \@mods, etc )
        my %list    = UNIVERSAL::isa( $ref, 'ARRAY' )
                            ? map { $cache->{$_}->( $self ) } @$ref
                            : $ref->( $self );

        ### filter based on whether we need the latest ones or not
        for my $aref ( values %list ) {
              $aref = [ $latest
                        ? grep { !$_->is_uptodate } @$aref
                        : grep { !$_->is_installed_version_sufficient } @$aref
                      ];
        }

        return %list;
    }

=head2 $bool = $self->selfupdate( update => "core|dependencies|enabled_features|features|all", [latest => BOOL, force => BOOL] )

Selfupdate CPANPLUS. You can update either the core (CPANPLUS itself),
the core dependencies, all features you have currently turned on, or
all features available, or everything.

The C<latest> option determines whether it should update to the latest
version on CPAN, or if the minimal required version for CPANPLUS is
good enough.

Returns true on success, false on error.

=cut

    sub selfupdate {
        my $self = shift;
        my $cb   = $self->();
        my $conf = $cb->configure_object;
        my %hash = @_;

        my $force;
        my $tmpl = {
            force  => { default => $conf->get_conf('force'), store => \$force },
        };

        {   local $Params::Check::ALLOW_UNKNOWN = 1;
            check( $tmpl, \%hash ) or return;
        }

        my %list = $self->list_modules_to_update( %hash ) or return;

        ### just the modules please
        my @mods = map { @$_ } values %list;

        my $flag;
        for my $mod ( @mods ) {
            unless( $mod->install( force => $force ) ) {
                $flag++;
                error(loc("Failed to update module '%1'", $mod->name));
            }
        }

        return if $flag;
        return 1;
    }

}

=head2 @features = $self->list_features

Returns a list of features that are supported by CPANPLUS.

=cut

sub list_features {
    my $self = shift;
    return keys %{ $self->_get_config->{'features'} };
}

=head2 @features = $self->list_enabled_features

Returns a list of features that are enabled in your current
CPANPLUS installation.

=cut

sub list_enabled_features {
    my $self = shift;
    my $cb   = $self->();

    my @enabled;
    for my $feat ( $self->list_features ) {
        my $ref = $self->_get_config->{'features'}->{$feat}->[1];
        push @enabled, $feat if $ref->($cb);
    }

    return @enabled;
}

=head2 @mods = $self->modules_for_feature( FEATURE [,AS_HASH] )

Returns a list of C<CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module> objects which
represent the modules required to support this feature.

For a list of features, call the C<list_features> method.

If the C<AS_HASH> argument is provided, no module objects are
returned, but a hashref where the keys are names of the modules,
and values are their minimum versions.

=cut

sub modules_for_feature {
    my $self    = shift;
    my $feature = shift or return;
    my $as_hash = shift || 0;
    my $cb      = $self->();

    unless( exists $self->_get_config->{'features'}->{$feature} ) {
        error(loc("Unknown feature '%1'", $feature));
        return;
    }

    my $ref = $self->_get_config->{'features'}->{$feature}->[0];

    ### it's either a list of modules/versions or a subroutine that
    ### returns a list of modules/versions
    my $href = UNIVERSAL::isa( $ref, 'HASH' ) ? $ref : $ref->( $cb );

    return unless $href;    # nothing needed for the feature?

    return $href if $as_hash;
    return $self->_hashref_to_module( $href );
}

=head2 @mods = $self->list_core_dependencies( [AS_HASH] )

Returns a list of C<CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module> objects which
represent the modules that comprise the core dependencies of CPANPLUS.

If the C<AS_HASH> argument is provided, no module objects are
returned, but a hashref where the keys are names of the modules,
and values are their minimum versions.

=cut

sub list_core_dependencies {
    my $self    = shift;
    my $as_hash = shift || 0;
    my $cb      = $self->();
    my $href    = $self->_get_config->{'dependencies'};

    return $href if $as_hash;
    return $self->_hashref_to_module( $href );
}

=head2 @mods = $self->list_core_modules( [AS_HASH] )

Returns a list of C<CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module> objects which
represent the modules that comprise the core of CPANPLUS.

If the C<AS_HASH> argument is provided, no module objects are
returned, but a hashref where the keys are names of the modules,
and values are their minimum versions.

=cut

sub list_core_modules {
    my $self    = shift;
    my $as_hash = shift || 0;
    my $cb      = $self->();
    my $href    = $self->_get_config->{'core'};

    return $href if $as_hash;
    return $self->_hashref_to_module( $href );
}

sub _hashref_to_module {
    my $self = shift;
    my $cb   = $self->();
    my $href = shift or return;

    return map {
            CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module->new(
                $cb->module_tree($_) => $href->{$_}
            )
        } keys %$href;
}

=head1 CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module

C<CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module> extends C<CPANPLUS::Module> objects
by providing accessors to aid in selfupdating CPANPLUS.

These objects are returned by all methods of C<CPANPLUS::Selfupdate>
that return module objects.

=cut

{   package CPANPLUS::Selfupdate::Module;
    use base 'CPANPLUS::Module';

    ### stores module name -> cpanplus required version
    ### XXX only can deal with 1 pair!
    my %Cache = ();
    my $Acc   = 'version_required';

    sub new {
        my $class = shift;
        my $mod   = shift or return;
        my $ver   = shift;          return unless defined $ver;

        my $obj   = $mod->clone;    # clone the module object
        bless $obj, $class;         # rebless it to our class

        $obj->$Acc( $ver );

        return $obj;
    }

=head2 $version = $mod->version_required

Returns the version of this module required for CPANPLUS.

=cut

    sub version_required {
        my $self = shift;
        $Cache{ $self->name } = shift() if @_;
        return $Cache{ $self->name };
    }

=head2 $bool = $mod->is_installed_version_sufficient

Returns true if the installed version of this module is sufficient
for CPANPLUS, or false if it is not.

=cut

    sub is_installed_version_sufficient {
        my $self = shift;
        return $self->is_uptodate( version => $self->$Acc );
    }

}

1;

=pod

=head1 BUG REPORTS

Please report bugs or other issues to E<lt>bug-cpanplus@rt.cpan.org<gt>.

=head1 AUTHOR

This module by Jos Boumans E<lt>kane@cpan.orgE<gt>.

=head1 COPYRIGHT

The CPAN++ interface (of which this module is a part of) is copyright (c)
2001 - 2007, Jos Boumans E<lt>kane@cpan.orgE<gt>. All rights reserved.

This library is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.

=cut

# Local variables:
# c-indentation-style: bsd
# c-basic-offset: 4
# indent-tabs-mode: nil
# End:
# vim: expandtab shiftwidth=4:

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Preventing Juvenile Crime: The CHINS Law
TUE, OCT 7, 2003 (1:49:59)
Molly Armstrong
Martha P. Grace
Neva Grice
Harry Spence
Patricia Wynn
This forum examines the CHINS law with the intent to put forth a positive vision for reform. Thirty years ago, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts established a system called CHINS ("Children in Need of Services") to address problems of troubled youth. The law was intended to help keep these youth out of further trouble, steering them toward more productive pathways through services and other help. The reality is that the system is currently not working. A study by the state's Commissioner of Probation found that over half of all CHINS youth were arraigned for adult criminal or juvenile delinquent offenses within three years of their first CHINS petition. This event is part of the Community Safety Forum Series hosted by The BostonFoundation, The Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation and coordinating partnersMassINC and The Crime and Justice Institute.
+ BIO: Molly Armstrong
Molly Armstrong began her career as a caseworker with adolescent girls. In 1986, she built a transitional living program for homeless teenage girls and mothers. After graduating from law school and spending some years as a public defender in the District of Columbia, she joined the Vera Institute of Justice in New York. At Vera, she built a 24/7 response system, Project Confirm, to address the over-representation of foster youth in the juvenile justice system by coordinating among the City's Department of Juvenile Justice, Probation, and child welfare systems. Molly authored the Family Court Improvement Project court processing study for New York State. She helped the leadership at the Administration for Children's Services, New York City's then newly created child welfare agency, at the start of its reform, diagnose a series of challenges with adolescent practice, kinship care, and data systems. Over eight years, she researched, designed and implemented a series of other interventions to address overlap among the child welfare, juvenile justice, substance abuse, and mental health systems. In 2004, she received the Kathryn McDonald Award for Excellence in Service to the Family Court from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. After leaving New York City to assist Governor Blanco's juvenile justice reform efforts in Louisiana, she joined New Jersey's Department of Children and Families as Director of Policy and Planning. There she focused on rebuilding New Jersey's foster care recruitment and licensing practice and developing the performance metrics, tools, and capacity used to drive reform. Molly specializes in utilizing intensive field and data diagnostics to identify challenges and then design and implement practical, effective and efficient solutions. She is a graduate of Yale University with a law degree from New York University and a Masters of Law in Clinical Advocacy from Georgetown.
+ BIO: Harry Spence
Harry Spence is Lecturer on Education. He served from December 2001 until June 2007 as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Social Services, where he was responsible for the Commonwealth's child welfare program, supervising 3,400 employees, with an annual budget of $750 million. He developed the "next generation" child welfare practice model, which involved the teaming of social workers, a national innovation that won the Kennedy School Innovations in Government Award in 2006. He served from 1995 to 2000 as the Deputy Chancellor for Operations for the New York City Board of Education, and from 1991 to 1995 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance as the Receiver for the City of Chelsea, where his responsibilities included the rebuilding of the city school system and enactment of municipal charter reform. He has provided consulting services to major national organizations with a focus on education and held a Lecturer appointment at the Kennedy School of Government from 1988 to 1991. Mr. Spence holds a JD from Harvard Law School (1974).
+ BIO: Patricia Wynn
In 2006 Patricia established Princeton Printing, LLC which took over the ownership of a printing business that had operated for twenty years at the company's Somerville, MA location. As Owner and CEO, Patricia leads the company's efforts to meet the highest standards of print production and customer service. Before joining the print industry, Patricia practiced law in Massachusetts, serving the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in various capacities including, Deputy Chief Counsel of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Chief Counsel to the Massachusetts House Committee on Ways and Means and Assistant District Attorney for Plymouth County. Patricia also practiced law in the private sector, specializing in criminal defense and bankruptcy. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Suffolk University Law School and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Boston University.
Boston Foundation
FRONTLINE: Country Boys Series
Preventing Homelessness: Success Stories


Booths are no longer available at the Race Expo for approved vendors. Expo Vendors are encourage to provide fun, interactive, and engaging booths with promotional items for all attendees to enjoy.
If you or your company has a free-standing display larger than 10'x10', special arrangements must be made for additional space. Additional fees may be assessed. Electricity is EXTREMELY LIMITED. Should you require electricity, you must receive approval from the event coordinator.
Set-up from 6:45 -7:30 am. ALL EXHIBITORS MUST BE SET UP BY NO LATER THAN 7:30 AM. Non-sponsored interior booths will be assigned the week before the race. Unclaimed booths will be dismantled after 7:45 am.


Reiki (ray-key) is a Japanese technique for healing founded by Dr. Mikao Usui in the early 1900's.
"Rei" means universal. It more accurately means higher knowledge or spiritual consciousness. Essentially it is the wisdom that comes from God or the Higher Self that knows and understands the cause of all problems and how to solve or heal them.
"Ki" is the universal life force that animates all living things. It is what makes your heart beat, digestion work, blood flow through your veins and lungs' breath. It is what tells the plants to sprout in the spring and the leaves to fall in the winter. Anything that is living has "Ki" (in Chinese this is referred to as "Chi"); plants, animals, humans and the universe itself.
When our energy is high we have a lot of "Ki" and we may think more clearly and are less likely to become ill. We may feel vibrant and creative and be motivated about our lives. When our energy is low, we are more vulnerable to physical, emotional and spiritual difficulties.
"Ki" is the non-physical energy that surrounds us. This energy is what is used by all healers. It can be accumulated and directed or channeled to others to promote healing.
Reiki healers use "Ki" but not all healers use Reiki. Reiki is a special kind of energy that can only be channeled by someone who has been attuned to it by a Master Reiki practitioner. Reiki energy is at a very high vibrational level and is a powerful energy. There are approximately 60,000 Reiki Masters in the USA today. Techniques like Reiki have been around for thousands of years.
What does a Reiki Practitioner do during Treatment?
A Reiki Practitioner places their hands on the client. The Reiki Practitioner will usually begin by centering themselves and ask that the Reiki energies begin to flow. The Practitioner will place their hands on various parts of the client's body (head, shoulders, arms, torso, hips, legs and feet). There are approximately 12 different hand positions they may use. They will spend a few minutes (3-5 or so minutes) at these positions. The positions are in sync with the 7 major and 10 minor Chakra centers (energy vortexes in the body). The client is fully clothed.
Prior to a session, the client may think of an intention for the treatment. Most important for them is to feel comfortable, calm and relaxed. Reiki energy has an intelligence of its own and will go to where it is needed. Reiki energy can do no harm. It is always helpful.
Many people ask what they might experience from a session. It can vary from one person to the next. People have shared that they felt heat, cold sensation, vibration or tingling sensations or a release. The client may fall asleep, go into deep relaxation, cry, laugh or have a dream-like experience.
Find out about the benefits of Reiki.
© Copyright 2019 Heart of Joy Reiki - all rights reserved.


Sharm Dreams Co. for Tourist Investment was founded as an Egyptian joint stock company in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 159 of 1981 and its regulations with the provisions of Law No. 95 of 1992 and its regulations, and registered in the Commercial Register in Giza Governorate on 25/09/1996, No. 108903.
The issued & paid up capital 450 Million Egyptian Pounds.


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Liberty Property Trust sponsor Music@Malling
Liberty Property Trust are sponsoring Music@Malling again in 2017. The developers of King's Hill, Liberty Property Trust will support Music@Malling in its work with the three schools on King's Hill including two family events at The Discovery School with performances of Prokofiev – Peter and the Wolf. The Control Tower – one of the surviving parts of the original airfield – is the venue for a concert given by internationally renowned Chamber Domaine. Now an art gallery and the offices of Liberty, this iconic 1930's building was built when the site was Maidstone Airport. "It is great to be working with Liberty Property Trust on broadening out our offer to the area and engaging new audiences in one of the most rapidly developing and aspirational places to live in the UK." Thomas Kemp, Artistic Director, Music@Malling.


Project partner K and I worked on the actual coats part of the LED blinky coats in a couple of recent work sessions.
K opened the linings, and we put Gorilla Tape over all the points where the LEDs will poke through the lining and through the fur. Then we drilled (with a normal 1/2″ bit). Lots of drilling, 200 holes per coat x 3 coats.
Then we pushed the LEDs through the holes, and (not shown) taped the extra loops together to hold the LEDs tightly against the fur (they tend to dangle out).
The effect is great, though I haven't managed to get the actual Arduino to work with the LEDs in place yet. There have been two more minor smoke release incidents. Debugging is proceeding.