text:
Virago Made Me: The Hard Parts
"The great enemy to advancement for working-class girls was to become pregnant. This was the terror that kept so many chaste, not moral qualms or a lack of adolescent lust. Pregnancy was the great trap and once in the only way out was abortion. It's important to remember how this problem obsessed women in the pre-contraception era. For that for them was effectively what it was. Men might buy 'something' if they could overcome their embarrassment, carelessness, or distaste. They might or more likely might not be persuaded to use it." - Maureen Duffy, 1982, excerpt from the preface to the Virago Press edition of That's How It Was.
I. That is how it was, in every particular. According to the myth-makers, abortion is an evil that was foisted on women thanks to the invention of reliable birth control and the "sexual revolution." Women know better as British author Maureen Duffy's novel That's How It Was demonstrates; it was one of the first Virago Press books I ever read. And because it was written two decades before I found it, it sent me back to my mother's library to search for more like it, and I am found some, but I get ahead of myself.
"Lucky for me I was born at all really, I mean she could have decided not to bother. Like she told me, she was tempted, head in the gas oven, in front of a bus, oh a thousand ways." That's how That How It Was begins.
That's How It Was could have been alternatively titled Two Against the World; it tells the story of the abiding love between Louey and her daughter Paddy, as they struggle to stay afloat in East London. Just as Paddy's adolescent world is expanding, the worst happens at home: her mother is stricken by tuberculosis and hospitalized where Louey is sterilized after the doctors discover that she is pregnant and perform an abortion. "They took my womb away. Sterilization they call it. You see I was going to have a baby and they said it was either it or me," Louey tells her. Paddy only learns of this when she sees a large incision on her mother's abdomen. Undefeated by trouble, Paddy is able to move beyond her seemingly inescapable working class life although she suffers a tremendous loss when her mother dies. "I was just a girl and life offered only things I despised: houses, children, security, housework. I had to pass. I had to. I had to be different."
Maureen Duffy (b1933) has written novels, plays, a biography of Aphra Behn and The Erotic World of Faery, but That's How It Was, her first novel, is her best known work. In a plot twist worthy of a Hollywood movie, Duffy wrote the novel, more or less on a whim, at the suggestion of a publisher. Duffy grew up in a working class neighborhood in East London, the setting for That's How It Was. Her father, who was Irish, deserted the family when Maureen was two months old; her mother died when Maureen was fourteen. Early on she immersed herself in books, her favorites were tales of faraway places, "stories of Ancient Greece and Rome, folk tales of Ireland and Wales, tales of knightly chivalry and poetry."
II. "…the madness that was born of being a certain kind of wife, with a certain kind of husband; of the suffocating feeling that life was going on elsewhere." - Penelope Mortimer, excerpt from Daddy's Gone A-Hunting, 1958
"I thought I was supposed to lie on a couch and you wouldn't say a word. It's like the inquisition or something. Are you trying to make me feel that I'm wrong? Because I do that for myself."
His diagnosis: she has a fear of sex for pleasure.
Her response: "You really should have been an Inquisitor....Do I burn now or later?" - from a dialogue between a woman and her psychiatrist, excerpted from The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer, 1962
In retrospect, 1962 was an impressive year for novels by women. Although it doesn't fit into my narrative here, Ship Of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter, a novel that took its author more than two decades to complete, became the best selling novel of that year. Partly from of years of anticipation and partly because Porter became famous for her novella-length short stories, it received mixed reviews. We may find it easy to connect the dots between That's How It Was and The Pumpkin Eater because the old truism held then, and still holds: "The slaves always know more about the masters than the masters do about the slaves."
Penelope Mortimer said that she put everything she knew about relationships between men and women into The Pumpkin Eater and, as we now know, she put a lot of her personal history into it as well. Mrs. Armitage, like her creator, has been married several times and her numberless, nameless brood is a "bodyguard of children." Some of the children have been sent away to boarding schools or to live with other relatives, the better to make space for the father's career.
Abortion was illegal in Britain at the time but an exception was allowed for a woman being treated for depression by a psychiatrist. Mrs. Armitage has an abortion and the gynecologist ties her tubes at the same time; in effect there were three people, only two of them conscious, in the operating room – the woman, her husband, and her doctor. At the urging of her own doctor, Mortimer had agreed to an abortion and sterilization after becoming pregnant for the eighth time; her seventh pregnancy had ended in a miscarriage.
Critics applauded the book; Edna O'Brien was an early and vocal admirer. Today, Mortimer's books are mostly out of print, effectively making her unreadable. Her male contemporaries like Kingsley Amis and Graham Greene are still read, and their tone is still narrow minded and overbearing. Mortimer's drollery and her deadpan voice cut through blather like a knife..
Penelope Mortimer (1918-1999) was a native of Wales; her education was limited to a school for "daughters of the clergy" followed by a course at a secretarial college. This modest preparation hardly mattered; she moved to London where she dazzled a series of men into sex, setting up house, and babies. Meanwhile she began writing novels, her short stories appeared regularly in The New Yorker, and she became film critic for The Observer. Although she had not been born to upper class life, through her marriages, first to a journalist and then to a barrister, she ascended the social ladder. As both novels make clear, the constraints placed on female freedom cross all class lines.
III. Mavis Gallant wrote only two novels but A Fairly Good Time (1970) only reprinted this April by New York Review Books.
Although twenty-five year old Shirley Perrigny is a young Canadian widow recently remarried to a Frenchman, she is still essentially a girl, trying to find her voice, worried that the words that come out of her mouth are offensive "toads." During a romantic tryst she takes time to lecture a lover on the ""centuries of female rubbish"" involved in the masculine dream of female rapture. Although Gallant underlines it delicately, abortion is the deus ex machina that sets the plot on its way. Shirley spends a night away from home, watching over her friend Renata who has just had an abortion. Because the abortion is illegal (abortion only became legal in France in 1975), Shirley cannot tell her husband where she has been as it would implicate him in a criminal action. Better to have him suspect an assignation with another man than to know the truth. The event precipitates Philippe's gradual Cheshire Cat-like disappearance from their marriage.
As A Fairly Good Time makes clear, things do change, although slowly. The dissolution of Shirley's marriage is not a tragedy, her friend Renata does not follow through on the impulse to kill herself, and no psychiatrists get to play God with women's lives.
Mavis Gallant (1922-2014) was born in Montreal, Quebec but settled in France in 1950 where she began to write fiction. In Canada she worked as a a journalist. Beginning in 1951 more than one hundred of her stories appeared in The New Yorker.
There is more to the Virago story here, here, and here.
1. Milton Avery - Seated Girl with Dog, 1944, Neuberger Museum, Purchase.
(This painting was used as the cover image for the 1982 Virago reprint of That's How It Was)
2. Milton Avery - Girl Reading, Philips Collection, Washington, DC.


There are many types of funds in mutual fund which makes the selling and purchasing profits securities on various exchange. Rather buying a stock and sell it after some time. So that the price will go up here in this post we will learn what Arbitrage funds are and how it works to give proper profits to its investors. So below let us know everything about it.
Arbitrage is counting advantage practice of a difference prices between one or more than two markets. It will be done with different parasitic prices of a product or asset or Financial Security at one time selling and buying this in various markets. This opportunity is the very short time trading opportunity.
Now understand the Arbitrage concept with easy example.
Mr. X has a popular restaurant and he can serve there are South Indian fast food and the restaurant is very popular for Dosa. And he sells Dosa at per piece Rs. 50. One Dosa's cost price is Rs. 37. His total profit is Rs. 13 (Rs 50 – 47= 13) for each Dosa sold. But he is unhappy with that amount of net profit. He needs an increment in the net profit without rising the Dosa selling price.
But one day Mr. X has tasted a Dosa in their near-by canteen. And he will realise that the taste and quality are equal but they can sell each Dosa is only Rs 25. So, he decided that he will buy Dosa from the near-by canteen in Rs 25 and sell this on their restaurant at Rs 50 per piece. In this situation, he can get net profit at Rs. 25 (Rs. 50 – 25= 25).
The process to purchase from a market and then sell it to another market with by slightly rising the price is called Arbitrage opportunity.
These type of opportunities in trading or investment will exist in the financial market. The securities in the finance such as the stock could be purchased in the cash market in the form of derivatives it could be sold with a bit of higher rates.
Take as an example the price of ABC Company could be at 1000 INR to each share in the cash market of NSE and their is a amount of rupees 1000 with each share in future and option market in the coming month. Therefore an investor will purchase share of ABC of 1000 rupees and on the exact time it will be sold ABC in F&O in rupees 1010. On the date of settlement the investor will make a gain of rupees 10.
The arbitrage Fund is the one that will bring the pricing imbalance that are their in the derivative market and the cash. The fund of the arbitrage strategies to do trade on derivative and cash with a target to generate the returns of fund.
The above mentioned are the explanation of Arbitrage funds and the working process of it. So now as you know everything about it, invest through this process and earn profits.


The addition of a 'satellite' button to Google Maps 'Beta' seems rather unimpressive compared to multimap's 'aerial photos' which have been running for at least a couple of years now, and long before the invention of the term 'AJAX'.
Here are some 'fun' places to try: Saltburn-by-Sea, Central London, Heathrow Airport and Avebury Stone Circle.
A Whatfettle article by Paul Downey published Wednesday, April 6th, 2005, at 6:18 pm under a Creative Commons License.


text:
<?php
namespace Craft;

class SuperTable_BlockRecord extends BaseRecord
{
    // Public Methods
    // =========================================================================

    public function getTableName()
    {
        return 'supertableblocks';
    }

    public function defineRelations()
    {
        return array(
            'element'     => array(static::BELONGS_TO, 'ElementRecord', 'id', 'required' => true, 'onDelete' => static::CASCADE),
            'owner'       => array(static::BELONGS_TO, 'ElementRecord', 'required' => true, 'onDelete' => static::CASCADE),
            'ownerLocale' => array(static::BELONGS_TO, 'LocaleRecord', 'ownerLocale', 'onDelete' => static::CASCADE, 'onUpdate' => static::CASCADE),
            'field'       => array(static::BELONGS_TO, 'FieldRecord', 'required' => true, 'onDelete' => static::CASCADE),
            'type'        => array(static::BELONGS_TO, 'SuperTable_BlockTypeRecord', 'onDelete' => static::CASCADE),
        );
    }

    public function defineIndexes()
    {
        return array(
            array('columns' => array('ownerId')),
            array('columns' => array('fieldId')),
            array('columns' => array('typeId')),
            array('columns' => array('sortOrder')),
        );
    }

    // Protected Methods
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    protected function defineAttributes()
    {
        return array(
            'sortOrder' => AttributeType::SortOrder,
            'ownerLocale' => AttributeType::Locale,
        );
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}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Kangaroo mouse, (genus Microdipodops), either of two species of leaping bipedal rodents found only in certain deserts of the western United States. They have large ears and a large head with fur-lined external cheek pouches. The forelimbs are short, but the hind limbs and feet are long. Stiff hairs fringe the hind feet, and the soles are densely furred. The soft, silky coat is long and lax.
The dark kangaroo mouse (Microdipodops megacephalus) has buff or brownish upperparts tinted with black and has gray or whitish underparts with a black-tipped tail, whereas the upperparts and entire tail of the pale kangaroo mouse (M. pallidus) are creamy buff and the underparts are white. Kangaroo mice weigh 10 to 17 grams (0.4 to 0.6 ounce) and have a body length of 7 to 8 cm (about 3 inches) and a tail 6 to 10 cm long. The tail is used for balance as the mice move across the ground via leaps and bounds. The middle of the tail bulges slightly owing to its deposit of stored fat, a unique feature of small mammals native to North America. The deposit enlarges during the summer and is used as an energy source during hibernation.
Kangaroo mice live in valley bottoms and alluvial fans of the Great Basin, where stabilized dunes of fine wind-blown sand and other sandy soils are common. Where ranges of the two species overlap in Nevada, the dark kangaroo mouse prefers fine gravelly soil. The simple burrows of kangaroo mice are usually excavated with the entrance near a shrub. When foraging on open ground away from any shrub canopy, they carry food in their cheek pouches to the burrow for storage. The mice are active only during the cool desert nights, and they further reduce their water needs by producing concentrated urine and dry feces. Kangaroo mice do not need to drink water; instead, they obtain what they require from a diet of seeds and the occasional insect. Winter is cold and harsh in the high Great Basin, and kangaroo mice survive it by hibernating from about November until March. Breeding all summer, they can produce multiple litters of two to seven young apiece.
Kangaroo mice are thought of as smaller versions of kangaroo rats. They can be distinguished by the tail, which, unlike that of the larger kangaroo rats, is neither crested nor tufted. Both groups belong to the family Heteromyidae (Greek: "other mice," or "different mice") and are not classified with the "true" mice (family Muridae). Pocket mice are related to kangaroo mice and also belong to the family Heteromyidae, which is related to the pocket gopher family (Geomyidae) within the order Rodentia.


text:
July 3, 2005 - Who Will Say What?
Two weeks ago Karl Rove - the president's chief political advisor, life-long friend, and right-hand man - said this in a speech in New York - "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." What else he said and the fallout from it all was discussed on June 26th in Just Above Sunset in Spin City, with a note that this seems to be part of a larger public relations offensive in Effective Response to Disappointing Numbers.
Something is up.
Rove's comments created a firestorm of anger from a whole lot of New Yorkers, and from the slightly less than half of the country who voted for the other guy in the last round. It seems they didn't like being called cowards and wimps - and traitors on the side of the nation's enemies.
Was this a mistake, or carefully planned as a way to suggest disagreement and questions are tantamount to treason? Or what?
Tuesday night the president was to address the nation on how things are going with our war, and the question was would he piggyback on Rove's comments, or try for moderation and unity, or announce something no one expected.
Readers wondered.
Our columnist Bob Patterson, who writes for us as the World's Laziest Journalist and The Book Wrangler, has some thoughts –
Karl Rove is to politics as a Grand Master is to chess. This cannot be an error or lapse of judgment. He has done this stunt for a reason.
Booby traps work best when you rush into them.
The Democrats are rushing into reminding the world about how they stood shoulder to shoulder with Bush after 9/11.
What would happen if on Tuesday night Bush calls for a renewal of the draft and asks the Democrats to support his call for a renewal of the draft?
Rove isn't dumb. This is a deliberate provocation. He's up to something.
I say it will be a call for renewal of the draft Tuesday night.
I could be wrong, but that's my call.
Rove "has done the stunt for a reason." Is it a booby trap?
It seems to me that if you want to imagine a set-up, imagine this:
Given: The war is going badly and things are generally spinning out of control, and Rove, no fool, sees the political problem with that. As we nearly two thousand of our guys (and gals) dead and more ten thousand maimed or brain-damaged vegetables, or both, this just looks bad. How to make sure that all the dead and crippled don't much impact unquestioning support for Bush and his successors? Given the net and everything else, you cannot really shut down the news. It got too diffused - no one has enough fingers for that dike. So?
Step One: Keep hammering on the idea your side is manly and warlike and really, really, really wants this thing to work - and the other side just doesn't. They're just women. Yes, the facts don't support the idea, but keep saying it again and again until folks are numbed to the idea and, hearing it for the ten-thousandth time, shrug and say "whatever."
Step Two: Pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan late this year or by the middle of 2006, completely, and let those sad places disintegrate, and let the ensuing mess - oil disruptions and regional wars, and the economy destroyed - play itself out.
Step Three: Sadly say you didn't want to do that and, yes, things are a bigger mess than ever before, but what can you do when the women on the other side seduced the nation with all this talk of diplomacy and cooperation and understanding?
Step Four: Suggest the only solution, now that things are so much worse, is eschewing this "female view" - diplomacy and cooperation and understanding - and let the realists, the real men, do things right.
Result? Win all future election in landslides.
A return to a "drafted" Army isn't on the table. That would just piss off people. My scenario works better.
But I bet on nothing. What do I know? As Dennis Miller would say, "I could be wrong."
Rick, the News Guy in Atlanta, points out some problems –
Yes, but why do they need to win in a landslide when they can still claim having "capital" to spend from winning in a squeaker, which is really a much easier way to win?
I mean, appealing to the broad spectrum of the American electorate can only be achieved in a way that would turn off the religious base, and also runs the risk of losing to someone else who does a better job of it, whereas appealing to the evangelicals - something the other side couldn't do anyway - means having a highly motivated bunch of volunteers working for you, and who are also just enough in number to put you over the top!
And even if they're not? You can always try Plan B: Cheat! After all, it's a lot easier to win a squeaker by cheating than a landslide.
But there's one more possible motive to keep in mind, and that is that, even as Bush cannot run again, Rove's career is not necessarily over after this presidential term ends. Is he working on 2006? Is he setting himself up for another candidate in 2008?
I don't know, but I assume time will answer those questions.
Yes, I failed to consider how important martyrdom is to the conservative side - and landslides are not what you want. It's hard to be "the oppressed but righteous and feisty minority" when everyone and their gay brother votes for you. Heck, I even wrote about it once - July 18, 2004 - The Importance of Martyrdom to the Conservative Movement - so what was I thinking? Heck, that item was even cited over at "Conservative Think."
As for cheating? They would do that? Really?
I thought that most likely Tuesday night's Bush speech would be more of the "your government doesn't make mistakes" line, with the usual who-do-you-trust and stay-the-course embellishments. No more. I wondered if Social Security reform would come up in the talk. Maybe. Oil had just hit sixty dollars a barrel and was rising steadily. Mention of that? Probably not.
Preparing for ennui seemed appropriate. Scotch seemed appropriate.
The gay conservative essayist Andrew Sullivan hopes for a big announcement - a resignation –
One way to help rebuild confidence would be to dismiss the architect of the war: Rumsfeld himself. He's proven himself useless in gauging the necessary troop levels, he has presided over the worst PR debacle for the military since My Lai, his recruitment targets aren't being met and he blames the military for decisions that were and are his to make. I love the man personally. But he's got to go. It's very hard to have confidence on our strategy with him still in charge of it.
That seemed unlikely.
Of course, Bush could have come out of the closet and reveal his affair with Rove - there's a reason he calls Rove "turd blossom" of course. Maybe Bush would reveal he's really an alien from the planet Clorox II. Maybe….
We got the expected.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Marsquake: NASA's InSight Lander Detects First Seismic Event on the Red Planet
News18 24 April 2019
NASA's InSight lander appears to have detected its first seismic event on Mars after touched down on the Red Planet in November last year.
The American space agency's InSight lander appears to have detected its first seismic event on Mars after touched down on the Red Planet in November last year.
The faint rumble was picked up by the probe's sensors on April 6 -- the 128th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
It is the first seismic signal detected on the surface of a planetary body other than the Earth and its Moon, the BBC reported.
Scientists say the source for this "Marsquake" could either be movement in a crack inside the planet or the shaking from a meteorite impact.
InSight's scientists say the character of the rumble reminds them very much of the type of data the Apollo sensors gathered on the lunar surface.
Astronauts installed five seismometers that measured thousands of quakes while operating on the Moon between 1969 and 1977.
The InSight aims to identify multiple quakes, to help build a clearer picture of Mars' interior structure.
Researchers can then compare this with Earth's internal rock layering, to learn something new about the different ways in which these two worlds have evolved.
'Is it sunpot? No it's ISS': This NASA photo of the sun is wowing people across the world
50 years later, surviving two astronauts of Apollo 11 mission to meet at launchpad
"Scientists Might Have Felt They Do Not Want To Take Chance"
New Species of Lizard Found Inside 125-Million-Year-Old Flying Dinosaur Named After Lord Indra
Chandra Grahan 2019: What are the Different Types of Lunar Eclipse


The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health today announced nine pilots to develop good practice in supporting people with mental health problems into employment.
The "centres of excellence" will bring together mental health trusts, employment services and councils and are designed to act as exemplars of how individual placement and support (IPS) can be implemented.
IPS involves helping people find work in their area of preference and then providing them and their employers with as much support as they need so the job can be retained.
The Sainsbury Centre said five centres of excellence had been set up in south west London, central and north west London, Essex, Shropshire, and Somerset. Alongside these trailblazing sites, another four 'emerging centres' have been invited into the programme from Sussex, Leeds, Devon and Nottingham.
Learning from these sites will be shared with other areas of England.
The initiative has been launched amid continuing evidence of the low numbers of people with mental health conditions. The most recent official statistics revealed that just 3.4% of adults who have contact with secondary mental health services in England are in paid employment.
Sainsbury Centre joint chief executive Dr Bob Grove said: "Too many vocational training and rehabilitation services are ineffective when it comes to getting people jobs.


• Advising senior Division officials on the development and implementation of Division policy on international enforcement and cooperation issues involving China and other East Asian jurisdictions, and liaising on such issues with the Department of State and other U.S. government agencies.
• Assisting the Division's litigating sections in their matters with international aspects involving Chinese and other East Asian antitrust issues, including facilitating law enforcement and other cooperation between the Division and Chinese and East Asian antitrust agencies.
Major Duties: The Division maintains direct relationships with competition enforcement agencies in many jurisdictions. The senior attorney holding this position will serve as a liaison with the Chinese, and other East Asian antitrust agencies, and be responsible for building and maintaining relationships, keeping the Chinese and East Asian agencies and the Division informed of one another's significant competition policy and enforcement developments, providing advice and support on antitrust issues directly and by coordinating with senior Division management, and coordinating and preparing for high-level contacts between agencies. The senior attorney should have a clear understanding of Chinese and other East Asian governments, economies, and cultures, in order to develop and manage the Division's relationships with these jurisdictions, many of which are major United States trading partners. Foreign language skills, in particular Mandarin Chinese, Japanese or Korean are highly desirable.
3) Possess familiarity with domestic and international regulatory and investigative agencies associated with competition issues.
Salary Information: Candidates are being solicited at the GS-15 level, ranging in pay from $123,758 – $155,500 per annum, depending on current salary and experience.
Location: Washington, DC Relocation Expenses: Relocation expenses will not be authorized.
Internet Sites: Additional information on the Antitrust Division is located on the Internet at http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/. This and selected other legal position announcements can be found at http://www.justice.gov/careers/legal/attvacancies.html.
This entry was posted in Chinese IP Law, HR and tagged Anti-trust, Foreign Commerce, job, US DOJ.


text:
Phyllis Tickle faces death just as she enjoyed life: 'The dying is my next career'
Andrew Gerns
Our prayers and good wishes go out to author Phyllis Tickle who announced in an RNS story that she has Stage IV lung cancer that had already spread to her spine. She is best-known for a range of essays and books on faith and life, including "The Divine Hours," "The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why," and "The Age of the Spirit: How the Ghost of an Ancient Controversy Is Shaping the Church.". Tickle was raised Presbyterian but became what she calls "the world's worst, most devout evangelical Episcopalian."
David Gibson writes in RNS:
On Jan. 2, the very day her husband, Sam, succumbed to a long and debilitating illness, Tickle found herself flat on her back with a high fever, "as sick as I've ever been" and racked by "the cough from hell."
The fever eventually subsided, but the cough wouldn't let go. When she finally visited the doctor last month, the diagnosis was quick, and grim: Stage IV lung cancer that had already spread to her spine. The doctors told her she has four months to live, maybe six.
"And then they added: 'But you're very healthy so it may take longer.' Which I just loved!" she says with her characteristic sharp laugh.
Indeed, that's the kind of irony that delights Tickle, even in sober moments like this, and it embodies the sort of dry humor and frank approach that leaven even her most poignant, personal reflections. It's also central to the distinctive style, delivered in a rich Southern register, that has won her innumerable fans and friends who will be hard-hit by the news of her illness.
Tickle approaches this stage in her life through the eyes of faith.
In spite of this impressive literary lineage, however, it is the cancer that is shaping the last chapter of Tickle's life.
And yet, she displays a remarkable equanimity in the face of this final, and most merciless, deadline.
"At 81 you figure you're going to die of something, and sooner rather than later," she says, sitting at her kitchen table for her first interview about her diagnosis. "I could almost embrace this, that, OK, now I know what it's probably going to be, and probably how much time there is. So you can clean up some of the mess you've made and tie up some of the loose ends."
"I am no more afraid of dying than I am of, I don't know, drinking this coffee," she continues, pointing to her mug. (It's actually filled with Postum since she's had to give up caffeine. She remains, thankful, though, that she can still drink a nightly whiskey. "Jack Daniels, of course!" she says, shocked at the suggestion that a Tennessee native would drink anything else.)
Posted by Andrew Gerns
Paul Powers
I don't know Deacon Lynch, so I don't know the motivation for his question, but it's one I've heard some smokers ask when they hear about someone being diagnosed by lung cancer. Perhaps they're hoping to hear that the person never smoked so that they can rationalize that there's no need for them to quit because they might get lung cancer anyway. Perhaps they need that one extra incentive to quit. Either way, it's an inappropriate question under almost any circumstance. But as the Yorkshire saying goes, "there's nowt so queer as folk," so we should avoid assuming the person asking the question is judgmental, lest we be judgmental ourselves.
Karen Johanns
As someone facing the end of my own life (Stage IV ovarian cancer w/ complete chemo failure), Phyllis' words felt like holy oil running deep into my soul. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm frightened and I will be looking closely at what Phyllis chooses to share about her journey so that I can find some strength and inspiration for myself.
PS: Questions about the lifestyle habits of those with serious illness cause stress, grief, and shame. I'm sure these comments weren't meant that way, but if you're tempted to ask those kinds of questions, please don't.
Reply to Karen Johanns
{{{Karen}}} Prayers ascending, for you and yours.
I had a very good friend who succumbed to Stage IV Lung Cancer of the never-smoked variety, but I could not possibly care less whether Dr Tickle smokes/-ed. I just pray her passing will be meaningful and as pain-free as it can be. Loving Lord Christ, lead her home (and help us find a CURE for this horrible disease!).
Aelred Dean, BSG
It doesn't matter if she was or is a smoker. As Christians, we deal with "what is" and not get involved in Monday morning/night quarterbacking. After all, we cannot change the past as we live in the present. My prayers are with Phyllis and her family that the days ahead are filled with grace, love, and care.
Hunt Priest
I never understand this question and always wonder why it matters. It always feels like judgment.
Nina Leek
Reply to Hunt Priest
I agree completely.. My husband was a smoker and died of lung cancer at 65, but during the two years of his illness we met many non-smokers suffering from this scourge. The new statistics suggest that there is now a majority of non-smokers, many of them young people, with this diagnosis. Those who work in this field need our prayers, as well as those suffering.


The Fortieth Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS), sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Mathematical Foundations of Computing, will be held in New York City, NY on October 17-19, 1999. Papers presenting original research on theoretical aspects of computer science are sought. Typical but not exclusive topics of interest include: algorithms and data structures, computational complexity, computational algebra and geometry, algorithmic graph theory and combinatorics, cryptography, biological computing, computational biology, databases, machine learning, applications of logic, parallel and distributed computation, quantum computation, and probabilistic computation.
Authors should submit an extended abstract (not a full paper). An abstract should start with the title of the paper, each author's name, affiliation, and electronic address, followed by a one-paragraph summary of the results to be presented. A scholarly exposition of ideas, techniques, and results should follow, including motivation and a clear comparison with related work. The length should not exceed ten (10) letter-sized pages (not including the bibliography, and using 11 point or larger font, with ample spacing and margins all around). More details may be given in an appendix, but any material beyond the 10-page limit may be ignored at the discretion of the Program Committee. Abstracts deviating significantly from these guidelines risk rejection without consideration of their merits.
Authors are encouraged to submit their extended abstracts electronically. A detailed description of the electronic submission process will be available at http://sigact.acm.org/~focs99/FOCS99.html. Authors who do not wish to submit electronically must submit seventeen (17) printed copies (double-sided preferred) of an extended abstract, together with a cover letter to the FOCS program chair (address below). To facilitate notification, authors submitting printed copies should also send an e-mail to focs-chair@cs.washington.edu indicating that they are submitting in this manner. The abstract, in either form, must be received by 17:59 PDT April 23, 1999. This is a firm deadline; late submissions will be rejected. Simultaneous submission of the same (or essentially the same) abstract to FOCS and to another conference with published proceedings is not allowed.
Authors will be sent notification of acceptance or rejection by e-mail on or before July 1, 1999. A final copy of each accepted paper is required by August 6, 1999. This is again a firm deadline. An author of each accepted paper must attend the Symposium and present the paper, or make alternative arrangements to have it presented.
During the conference, some time will be reserved for tutorials that focus on new developments and research opportunities within a specific topic of interest to the community, given by leading researchers in the area. Proposals for tutorials as well as speaker and topic nominations should be sent to the program chair.
This prize will be given to the best paper written solely by one or more students. An abstract is eligible if all authors are full-time students at the time of submission. This should be indicated in the submission letter. The program committee may decline to make the award, or may split it among several papers.


Katherine Waterston as Katherine in the thriller 'State Like Sleep,' a film by The Orchard.
Sometimes the only way for a person to ultimately overcome their past is for them to delve further into the events that truly changed their life path. That's certainly the case for Katherine Waterston's protagonist in the upcoming thriller, 'State Like Sleep.' The character's spiral into descent over the actions that led to her husband's death are highlighted in the newly released trailer for the film.
The trailer for 'State Like Sleep' was unveiled by The Orchard, which is set to release the drama On Digital and On Demand on January 1, 2019, and then in theaters on January 4. The movie was written and directed by Meredith Danluck ('North of South, West of East'). In addition to Waterston, the thriller features an all-star cast that includes Michael Shannon ('Nocturnal Animals,' 'The Shape of Water'), Luke Evans ('Beauty and the Beast,' 'Dracula Untold') and Michiel Huisman ('The Haunting of Hill House,' 'Game of Thrones').
'State Like Sleep' is set one year after the sudden and untimely death of her celebrity husband, Stefan (Huisman), at which time the young widow, Katherine (Waterston), receives an unsettling phone call that forces her to revisit the past. The call pulls her back to Brussels and the life there that she's tried to forget. Once back, she discovers a web of secrets that compel her to unravel the mysteries surrounding Stefan's last days alive.
Distribution company The Orchard has unveiled the trailer for writer-director Meredith Danluck's thriller, 'State Like Sleep,' which stars Katherine Waterston, Michael Shannon and Luke Evans.


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Early Plays: Async by Ryuichi Sakamoto – S.B.G.
Legendary Japanese pianist and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto will release a solo album in April 2017, named Async. The 15-track LP marks the composer's first original album since 2009's Out Of Noise and will be his first since after recovering from throat cancer.
There are a few tracks available on YouTube, which show rarefied atmospheres, delicate and distant sounds, and the adoption of a substantially slow pace with a minimalistic approach to songwriting. Interesting, but it's quite unlikely that this will remain as one of the most memorable works of who still remains as a great musical genius.


text:
David Fishof Presents
Personality and Why It Matters
Adding Backstory to your PLAYERS Characters as a GM
Colt Kovacek
hello my name is guy and you're watching
how to be a great GM today we're looking at adding backstory to your players
characters. why would we want to add backstory to our players characters
isn't that their job quite simply the answer is no you're missing out on a
great opportunity if you are the dungeon master and you don't do this why why is
this so important let's jump into it when we add backstory we are effectively
adding to the narrative of our players characters and in doing so we are
creating a world that is real to the player character and that invests the
player as well you're suddenly saying your character's backstory that you
wrote out I'm adding a little bit to it but we're not going to add in a complete
story that belongs to the player it's a collective that we are involved in here
a narrative collective so we've got to make sure that what we are adding in
allows for collective addition not just us adding in and entire chapter in this
poor pcs life so we start by saying what actually happened what is it that we
want to add into this backstory to effectively create a quest the quests
that are going to come out of these kinds of things of adding a new
character backstory is quite literally going to be exploring an aspect of this
individual so that we as the game master so that the players and their characters
learn a little bit more about the character that they're on a journey with
these are great adventures to add to your campaign in between the main event
it builds a whole lot of things and principally it tells the players I as
the game ask to respect your character and your story and I want to make sure
that you feel as if you're part of my game because my game includes parts of
you sounds weird but how do we do this so we look at the attitude of the PCs
that's an important thing too understand is if the PCs are angry all
the time what was the reason for that anger their back story might hint at it
their back story might say they were raised by slavers and so oh you're angry
because you're allowed to be you have a horrid horrid background that could be
one it could also not be included in the back story so there's something that you
could look at you know your PC is always argumentative where did that come from
what inspired that let's go find out and you can now create this or start to
create this back story that's going to lead us into learning more about the
character we then need to decide on what type of quest is this going to lead us
to is it a Thornton quest is it a discovery quest as a delivery Quest
wasn't a collecting quest as you can see the whole idea is that if one pcs
backstory is a war ting backstory where they have to go and stop an ancient evil
uncle who was around when they were young and has now taken control of the
family farm that's a swatting adventure on the other hand it could be a case of
you remember your aunt that you were so fond of she's died and you need to come
to town to collect her heirlooms that belong to the family it's a collection
adventure where of course they get there they collect the things but on route
they're attacked by assassins there's a dragon that gets involved
what are these heirlooms that they are collecting this this is a very
interesting story if it's delivery well there's other options that we can go
with there and of course of its discovery who or what is behind whatever
is happening etc understand your players as well it's important to realize that
your players might not like this tampering they might not like you adding
in the fact that in the characters backstory there was this diabolical act
they might go well my character would never do that my character doesn't do
that and so we turn to holes create this event what what what what I'm going to
try and point to this now what is their attitude where did that come from what's
the type of adventure understand the play and then we create holes within
the narrative so we don't explain the narrative specifically we don't say here
is your story we allow the PCs to tell us the story and this is how we do it yeah we had holes we had holes in
everything we couldn't understand where why who done it why they do it what was
their name the idea of leaving holes in a backstory is specifically so that the
player can start to incorporate it into their own story remember this is
collaboration this isn't just you dictating what happened in the past
sorry in the past the idea here's that when you create the backstory you say
things like this happened 25 years ago when you were doing what let the player
fill in the details I was working as a farmer I was a detective with a bad
accent whatever they want the coal is to let them fill in that detail so what
happens is suddenly you're a little seed of 25 years ago the player now takes it
and internalizes it alternatively if you just say 25 years ago when you were
working as a detective the player is gonna go well I don't think I would have
had to be a detective I don't think what I mean does in other words all you are
doing is laying down moments and opportunities for the player to fill in
the details let them give you the color you just provide them the base I think
it's pretty simple but make sure you don't overprescribe
25 years ago was you were doing X you were then involved in Y and that caused
this to happen what was this what was Y and what was X that's for the player to
find out I hope that makes sense okay so we've got this this space
starting to happen what's next next is that we need to know who else knows so
the PC is now starting to develop this background the player is starting to
think how can I incorporate this idea with that idea how can I move forward
now we need to give a name there must be something if the players background says
they were raised in isolation inventor name but you need to insert some names
and if necessary give those names to the player the player doesn't have the names
in their backstory certainly do that be aware that if the player has a long-lost
lover in their backstory and you want to use that lovers that lover in the
adventure make sure that the player is happy with that and then add a family
member always add a family family members are brilliant they come from all
over the place everybody had to be born at some point everybody had a maker an
original creator go and draw on that those creators might have had brothers
or sisters or step brothers or aunts or uncles or hell even the postman's wives
sisters brothers uncles aunt daughter who was the secretary to the family
might know the character you can build a link somehow into the character so make
it a family member why add a family member it makes it personal it tells the
players this is not necessarily something that can be ignored or trifled
with this is important or should be important to your character and this is
not plot related necessarily it's unlikely I mean sure maybe the character
that live one of the characters is the lead hero in the story in which case
family might be used all the time but generally speaking when family are
involved this is now a personal story and then determine the intent so if it
is a swatting adventure is their family member trying to do something taking
over the family farm reinvesting in a new starship all those kinds of things
is their intent good or is it bad is it maybe they don't have an intent if it is
a collection or a discovery or even a delivery what if the players are
delivering their own family member player characters own family member into
a dangerous situation or they have been found that they're in
a dangerous situation and they must now be saved from that so it depends what is
the intent what is the entire purpose behind it but family is important well
of course family is important lot of players are not gonna have family in
their backstory they're gonna literally just pretend they didn't even exist or
they all died that doesn't mean you can't include family in your little
backstory that you're creating in your plot a long-lost aunt a person of
interest from there from from some distant part I was the old man who used
to take your father's dogs for walks and we were this close yes I met him twice
once bringing the dogs back one once bringing them in you know that kind of
stuff when you when you you can find anything and create anything if you just
think about all the characters got they were raised by wolves and they never met
nobody well that's fine because the wolf is now the main reason for the entire
little Side Story use that the wolf died 20 years ago everyone was killed I am
alone well maybe there was a tree oh I used to watch you as a boy you were the
wolves there all right now I was so tired but I was there i watch you from a
distance I love you I don't know where that came from but you can drive through
you get my point okay so the idea is that we are building this narrative the
last thing that we need to add is the outcome what happens if there is no
action if the PCs just they just don't they
don't care they don't follow through the adventure runs in the background and you
don't ever have to worry about adding these kinds of backstory adventure
quests into your game ever again and perhaps it's time to look for new
players as well I know that sounds harsh but if the players are not interested
and they only want to solve the problem because that's the problem and all that
that backstory stuff is just too emo nonsense namby-pamby wishy-washy
digitally nonsense then you as the dungeon master or the game master are
perhaps not being allowed to explore your full creative potential because of
this limited focus so if they don't do anything but they don't do anything
because they can't in actual game your aren't on the fifth moon of wherever it
needs to be rescued we're on the other side of the galaxy and our ship is
broken that's on you GM you should have made sure that when
you're introducing this new quest it is achievable by the characters within the
space of time that they have allocated and that is the important thing
you must allocate time in your plot for the pieces to take action time is always
going to be on your side you control the speed at which everything happens so if
the players feel like they can't leave the main plot because in five days time
the world is gonna end it don't matter what kind of story you're putting into
this background character development story they ain't gonna do it because
saving the world is more important however if you've painted yourself into
a corner and you said the world is gonna end five days if you don't fix it it's
all it's all done and then you want to have this backstory moment it's as
simple as pie to have some other organization caused a delay the PCs find
some kind of bad guy who reports that it there's been a delay because some other
organization attacked the bosses forces and
we've got to regroup or the device is no longer operational and it's gonna take
him a couple days eh it makes a PCS feel like the world is living and breathing
be it buys them some time see it allows you to add in the complication to your
story who's this other organization that caused a delay all those kinds of things
should be playing in your mind so that you can give the PCs enough time to go
up and do these side quests having said that you need to watch out if they run
out of time there need to be consequences if you don't do this your
game is going to feel exceptionally overbearing to the players I know I do
this all the time I literally got to one point where a player turned to me and
said there are so many quests that need to be done now there I don't know which
one to choose and you don't want that you don't want them to have to to choose
between one or the other unless it's a specific setup you're going for but
generally speaking you want the players to be able to go on each quest think of
it in terms of time management on your behalf and it's not difficult to insert
a little bit of time into this whole thing so what is the time frame how long
should it take the PCs to do this and how long can they delay something m'm
portent if you are offering them a quest that is going to delay them for years
they may not take it at the same time if it's just an hour-long journey they may
not take it either because it might not be worth their time so you need to
balance how long is it going to take and what is their current quest going to do
whilst they're on this that's important however however even though you've now
made space in your campaign for the players to play in and to go on this
quest you must still put time in there because there should be pressure there
should be ramifications if the if the PCs don't do it within a certain time
they will fail and that then leads us to the ramifications what are the
ramifications and and how do we do that so that's another important thing is is
how do we put this pressure on how do we run these games without losing a sense
of timing even though they had been given vast amounts of time the important
thing to bear in mind is that when they run out of time if you've given them a
time frame and they run out why the ramifications is the family member dead
is the story day can they pick it up at a later stage is there some way in which
you can bring it back does it mean the PCs didn't really care there's a very
big indicator that what pcs do what they choose to do is where their interest
lies use that but make sure to keep pressure on them so although you might
have given them time with the main story the secondary plot this little side
quest that you've created if they don't do it in a timely manner and it doesn't
matter it ain't part of the big story it is simply something for fun if the PCs
are dragging their feet they're probably not interested in it anyway in which
case you should move on and get back to your main plot it's simple as that
really once we've got this in place we've worked out how we're going to fit
this all in and everything is now going to be working that allows us to add in
these very interesting backstories these very interesting ideas that really
incorporate the player into the game in a way that we haven't before realized
perhaps they are now invested because this real-life situation we've all had
it and that for me is the key takeaway from this particular video is if you can
emulate what happens in real life to the players themselves it makes the game
feel more real now by that I mean it's not a case of going through the players
personal history and pulling out stuff to get them to go through that
absolutely not and you should be very careful if you are handling delicate
situations that could have intense emotional attachment on behalf of the
player that goes without saying the important thing is is that when we
talk about flying on a starship through space we don't have any
personal context we don't do that yet as a species at least not in the way that
we talk about in science fiction so there's no grounding there's no reality
but when that starship comes across the annoying mother-in-law or the brother
who is a layabout and doesn't do anything and just sits around all day
that is something that a lot of us will have a connection to everybody has an
uncle who drinks a little bit too much is slightly slimy and no one really
likes it he's always around because he's he's really into family he just as a
greaseball we all have a bigger pardon we all have those so include that into
again find bits of reality that you can insert into your narrative and your
narrative your story your adventure becomes that much realer because we
identify with it rather than just having to imagine what it's like adding in
these little moments adding in these backstory quests will raise your game to
the next level like you cannot believe and I cannot emphasize enough how much
fun you can have whilst planting these very loosely woven holed adventures all
over the place and letting the players help you to create something truly
awesome from their backstory until next time however well I apologize
my accent was just everywhere today it's just crazy crazy this is a new thing
we're trying out so give me give me give me give me some leeway now if you want
to support the channel head on over to our patreon where we've got a whole
bunch of things that you can get there's a podcast that comes out every week
currently series is called dungeons of diabolical design which is where I have
a whole bunch of friends who come along and we design a dungeon and I heard
speaking about the philosophical institution as to how one would design a
dungeon and let me tell you some of the options we come up with pretty damn
crazy it sounds like a lot of fun to play so we got that we've got a whole
bunch of maps for you we want adventures for you every month have a look support
the channels see what you see what you're like and well that's the end of
this video and the axe
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56 thoughts on "Adding Backstory to your PLAYERS Characters as a GM"
30noir says:
I wish I came across a GM who gave a damn about backstory. In most things I play who you play doesn't seem to matter in the slightest.
Bryan Boyle says:
Agreed, Guy. It's up to you as a GM to create the narrative. Weave in their stories, build sub plots, have decisions affect the campaign, etc. And it makes them feel vested in the tale. Decent Yank accent, m8.
Garrett Campbell says:
The detective accent was great
Sheldon Hildebrand says:
Great job with the back and forth with yourself. Keep it up brother.
mrdan says:
My lazy ass players couldn't be bothered to make their own back stories, so I started the campaign with all their characters being brought back to life with no memory of their past selves, at the beginning it was just a way for me to explain why they have no past, but after a time it turned into a great plot hook, and suddenly the whole campaign turned to they searching their own past and trying to figure out who they are.
The Dungeon Coach says:
I always see it as the GM needs to get the backstory of all their PCs to a "functional" level. They need to feel plugged in with goals. This is a Huge video for ALL GMs
This really got me pumped up!
Demiurgus, The Arrogant God says:
Guy as a hard-boiled detective from the deep American South (probably Georgia, Mississippi, or Louisiana) was on fucking point. 10/10 accent.
Reaper Aktual says:
I love this new format for your videos! So much information and the bits even help out! Absolutely fantastic!
SuperTamaru says:
I had great fun when I created my pathfinder character Asphodelle, a Tiefling alchemist. When I was finished with her background, I had given her a somewhat delusional twin sister, an older brother, a summary of her parents and where they lived and what their current status is, as well as what they did in their youth. Ended up with roughly two pages, and I got two more characters for Pathfinder to experiment with, although I've never had the chance to play her older brother. Yet.
gamer-war-tanker8 8 says:
I must ask this, I'm planning on building a campaign without potions. I'm still allowing spells and I want to know if I can utilize anything else to help with the handicap I gave my players.
PhyreI3ird says:
I sense a bit of Seth Skorkowsky in that detective character/accent and I approve xP
Even though I never do accents in my game, I really respect your commitment to them
Eric Johnson says:
It makes feel good you covered what I have been doing. Sometimes I felt like I was to involved with backstory development and you discussing it made rethink if I was doing what you said don't do. Thanks.
I like to set up a google document with the player when they give me their backstory and then I highlight and add notes with questions or ideas. I try to work some part of the campaign's backstory or connect with other players with or without the players knowing they been connecting until they share ingame.
Rob Kinney says:
Your detective with a "bad accent" sounds like a late Perry Mason
clericofchaos1 says:
Just make sure you run your ideas by the player before you just spring it on them in the middle of a game. I made a character once who was a noble but he was a knight. Basically the lowest form of noble, and I had it in my backstory that my family was very wealthy but a relatively small noble family, not really involved in government. My gm took a liking to the character though and I ended up being the prince of an entire kingdom…which I did not know until one of his npc's asked me about it…and then I was on the spot and had to improvise "well, ofcourse i'm a prince, obviously. Just look at my regal appearance and bearing, how could I possibly be anything else?" I didn't mind the change I just wish the gm had warned me first, cause it started getting serious after that and I was just stumbling through it all.
KhaosZand3r says:
1) I like the back and forth narration.
2) I've been trying to do this with my main party. For 3 of the 5 I have personal quests planned, but the campaign has been progressing slower than anticipated so they havent started to really come up yet
Sebastien Cormier says:
Channeling a bit of Seth S. in this video I see. I like it.
Michael Kuehne says:
Guy, another great video. One type of game you could add is Evade. I've had PCs running from their past or trying to evade someone after them. It could turn into Thwart eventually.
Riot Javelin says:
I wouldn't have minded if a DM added in some relationships or fuckups in my character's past, but one straight up tried to tell me that my character who was CG had murdered many innocent people. He wasn't super creative and he used this as a way to introduce me to the plot, but a backstory I had previously created could have been used to the same effect was rejected. I was introduced as a criminal who was incarcerated and was allowed free to aid the heros. My character was a drunk, I could have been in jail for public intoxication or even damaging property and this would have made sense. But he tried to force me to be a murderer. I tried to spin it as someone trying to frame me but he wasn't really having it. Was pretty frustrating.
Olivia Bean says:
I kinda liked it, in real life it's pretty normal for some people to slip in and out of accents if they have lived in different parts of the planet for a long enough time.
Karoht Stouthorn says:
Instead of making them into sidequests, I've had some success in making these part of the main story. I had a player who didn't really come up with a backstory but gave me permission to fill in the blanks. I gave him a pretty grandiose backstory woven into the larger narrative. No amnesia, but some reincarnation is at play, sort of. It's given some useful clues about the main villain, and some of the forces they have faced and are about to face. It's also allowed me to give better characterization about other NPC's and even a trio of goddesses.
I also used one character whose wife and daughter had died in a viking raid on their homeland. Him moving through his grief was an element, but also when he went to visit her spirit in Asgard, there were little details I was able to sprinkle in. Like the lullaby he used to sing to his daughter. And all of it were clues towards dealing with another NPC.
Dustin Besser says:
Hurray for detective-noir Guy!
Bamce says:
When players have prekilled all their family, give them more. Have a street urchin take a liking to them. Have a city guard be impressed and want to squire under them. A singer at a tavern sees them as a method to write great songs.
There are piles of people out there that will latch onto them.
TheForgottenProgidy says:
Every time I watch one of your videos I always think :" Is this shadiversity with a different name?"
So, are you??
Alhanar says:
For me as a DM I normally think that my Job is to create drama, and what better Drama than to mess with the motivations and backstories of the characters? Aren't they the center of the story? I normally ask my players to leave spaces in their backstory and its normal for the players to tell me "I have left this part here for you to fill in and maybe hook an adventure"
Also I ask them 3 questions regarding their backstory "what do you tell everyone?" "what do you tell only your friends?" "what you don't tell anyone?". With those I can create some interesting adventures that can make use of those secrets. Again….Drama…
El Thor-O says:
Why is there an obvious trap in this museum-y environment, I wonder. See that split stone at the upper end of that door, which is not only actually two stones, but they do not even rest ontop of other stones. They just seem to hover there until a character walks through that hole in the wall underneath to give'em a serious head ache 🙂
tropico boy says:
I add backstory to my players caracters after they create it like if they say I lived in a village of rogue I searched for something as close then I fill in the names of places and organizations they would know. I find it fun.
Derek Kevin says:
Your 'American' accents are killing me, Guy! I had to go back and listen again to actually absorb the content. Wonderful!
Darth hrongl says:
This is just what I needed I was trying to do player missions but they didnt do much in term of backstory
Xenophes says:
I super love this format, since it provides the fun tidbits from your older videos, and then the cohesiveness of your newer ones. The only thing I think could be changed in my opinion, would be keeping the text on the left hand side, like before. Mainly it's just because as someone who reads left to right, it feels a bit unnatural to be starting from the center of the screen to read the points. It might just be because I have ADHD, but it kinda causes me to either pick you or the text to pay attention to at a time, where in the previous format, it just kinda seamlessly flowed from left to right. My two cents, anyhow, but great work regardless; loved the video!
Alverant says:
As a US native, I love how you're changing the American accents. 🙂
Kevin Merrifield says:
It was a small point but well observed that if the players aren't given a means to buy-in and moreover successfully contribute by filling in the holes of the proposed backstory, it isn't likely to be something they'll readily accept. Similarly the Cyberpunk 2020's Lifepath background generator later inspired the idea of the plotpath for organising just these kinds of "loose" PC threads and encourage that kind of buy-in. Nice work, Guy, another useful concept for any system.
Galax Gunz says:
Also talk to the players about filling in some of the details With blanks, and that they have to figure it out. Good for curious players thats helps motivate them. Give them a reason to find out.
dracone says:
I like this format for this kind of video
Captain ManX says:
I enjoy your videos and characters, however you present them. I need to play more.
Bryant Van Miller says:
I remember one game I attended, one person. A male human fighter, was an older man in his fifties.
He had lived a life in service of his local liege once as just a levy solider who not only survived combat multiple times, but managed to save troops from routs and fleeing, as well as assisting in a critical battle. He was soon promoted and eventually taken in as of sorts by his liege, given a formal education and taught history of battle.
He would wed and have many children with his wife, and his backstory eventually became that while he was out leading in campaign against his lieges enemies. His lieges ally turned against his liege and attacked, siezing the capital city and beginning to sieze the nearby lands. Soon word arrived the citizens were butchered on mass along with the royal family.
This character took what remnants of the army that still followed his command and began a guerilla styled war with these two powers. Eventually his rebel army was crushed and he was forced to flee the battlefield.
Without a purpose in life, without kin or hearth or coin to him. He would drift along the world, doing whatever jobs he could to provide for himself.
Eventually coming across a party of a one wood and one high elf (Homebrew setting, these elves were a mix of Lord of the rings and elder scrolls) and two mountain dwarves (Typical dwarfs).
Seeing this party fighting a group of bandits, seeing them as once remnants of his army. He would rush to the scene and begin to attempt negotiating with the bandits, to no avail.
The party and human soon dispatched the foes, the wood elf and one dwarf began to loot the dead, while the high elf and other dwarf would speak with this man.
I found this story to be quite long already without having to go into detail on the characters entire lively hood. But I do think some people may like this story
So many good back stories come to mind.
The fourth/fifth son of a noble family, young and tenacious. Seeking to prove himself or wishing to see the world, claim land and riches, or to acrue power and usurp his family and become lord.
Trained and educated in military strategy, tactics and other such necessities in life.
Giving a player a good character with room for improvisation.
An exile from a long distance land. Adorned in foreign armour, clothing and or weapons.
Sent away from their lands for possible crimes commited, exiled for self proclaimed reasons.
Maybe they were cast away and they are sent on a quest to search for some rare artificat of their people and can only return if they may bring it back.
Or maybe they cannot or will not return back and thus is forced to make life anew in this land.
Maybe a character that ran away from an oppressive life, be it controlling family or slavery.
Abit.. obscure in the details but let me explain.
If you were say example. A slave. You could have been captured by a force as a child and sold into slavery. A scholar whos education facility was ransacked by barbarians or an enemy force of your nation, and forced to do work for a master.
Born into slavery, fleed slavery.
Or maybe like a spartacus type of character.
Captured by a cult and tortured, forced to endure tortment and only saved by an adventuring party.
A simple farmer whos farm was attacked by bandits. Maybe you put up a decent fight and they figured they could make some money by selling you to slavers.
Or maybe.. a soldier who fought in an army against a foriegn army and lost. Was captured and sold into slavery, maybe forced to fight in the foriegn army as a slave soldier but managed to escape.
Or fought in an arena and won your freedom.
Or were bought and became a slave masters body guard. Killing your slave master during a revolt.
Or maybe a cultist who fled the destruction of their cults hide out or compound.
Or like the pilgrims, fleeing religious persecution and just wanting to live in peace.
LightningInvoker says:
I'm a player in two campaigns right now, Shadowrun and 5E. Both my backstories have a base event that happened and nothing else provided so the GM can fill in the blanks as needed (and so it's more of a surprise for me!). In Shadowrun, my rigger used to be a member of the Lone Stars. She has a big gap in her memory, where her unit was called in on a mission…something happened…and she was the only survivor and she barely escaped with her life. She doesn't remember what happened or how she survived. In our game so far she's learned how she survived but still doesn't know what happened. In the 5E game, which is a post apocalyptic Lovecraftian horror setting, my character has a backstory of surviving encounters with "other worldly beings" but continues to be plagued by touches of madness. She had a daughter who one day vanishes without a trace. My GM has been given free rein to use that however he wants.
It's really fun to see how things develop and what interesting things the GM comes up with!
Всеволод Рычков says:
It feels like you adding another character to illustrate points might take too much effort and time for the little benefit it brings.
The ideas are great as always, though.
Jesse W says:
Had no luck finding the podcast mentioned at the end. Shucks.
Drudenfusz says:
As a GM I do that, but I always ask the players if it fits into their idea of the character, and thus the theme of a character is very important to me, and I want and GM who likes to add things to my character also take very carefully into consideration what the theme is that I am going for with the character. Like let's take the family thing, I am personally very found of the found family trope, and thus my character might have very deliberately no family, since I want to explore more how families can happen without blood ties. Sure, it is always possible to have a conflict with a blood relative to drive the point home that family has not be based on blood, but that is something that will not work for every character, for maybe the player is just alienated from the family and has not a real conflict with them, and thu bringing them up would just weaken the theme of found family.
Dahrqbrü says:
I'm swinging for the fences in my campaign; going to extremes.
I agree with what I see as the spirit of this video, but I'm not sure I agree with letting the players in on all my contributions to their backstories. In my campaign, I've gone to great lengths to encourage and help players with their character backstories, and everyone (except the "loner") has a roster of NPCs which have been created as companions, questgivers, and questionable relations so the characters are presented in the spirit of collaboration to provide a solid grounding in our world.
I see the player's backstories as being limited to what their characters understand and believe about their past. Life is full of surprises and perspectives are subjective, so I've really enjoyed adding distinct twists to the player's original contributions.
On the subject of dungeon design, Shad of Shadiversity has actually mentioned in a few of his videos that Fantasy dungeons actually infuriate him with their design, mostly because he has an architecture background and can easily identify real issues that the dungeon would have it was built, the dungeons that are basically nothing more than a natural formation he has less of a beef with because of how natural formations happen. He actually has done a few D&D type videos, I recommend checking him out and Guy reaching out to him if he already hasn't.
Overkillius says:
Ok this format is uh
Hilarious. Love the way this video is paced
Necroceine says:
I never really thought about it, but I'm used to GMs adding things to my PC backstories, and adding to the backstory of PCs. It kind of ties into making hooks, as mine often contain holes.
One of my most recent characters saw the GM add a lot to their backstory and I'm ridiculously involved in the world, to the point where I have specific ties to more than half of what's going on so far. This is the advantage of getting your backstory into the GM while they're still worldbuilding.
gnarth d'arkanen says:
Okay, I like this new format, Guy… Just hope it doesn't over tax your creativity coming up with new Characters for videos.
I don't see it mentioned elsewhere, BUT I did notice a low hum in the audio while you were…. erm… yourself. It's not terrible, but you may have something audio-related that's getting ready to die or has some dirt in the contacts… something. It may also be nothing, but I'd feel remiss as a viewer to overlook it and you have something actually wrong over there.
The "detective with the accent" scenes didn't seem to have it, though. If that tells you something, hopefully you'll get to the bottom of it… or it's going to turn out that there isn't a problem tech'wise at all.
…hopefully… ;o)
xenodorian says:
I had no idea he was trying an american accent until the word "past". He let "pahhhst" roll off his tongue naturally, and he spit out "past" like it was the name of a pest. But then he immediately turns around and says "idear" instead of "ideah". So I can only assume he is, as the british say, "taking the piss".
101jir says:
"I want to make sure you are part of my game because my game includes parts of you." Guy 2020
So… does added backstory even have to create a quest? What about added backstory that changes how the game plays, for example if the player picked a race that was nearly wiped out and needs to be constantly in disguise as a different race to hide from their race's exterminators, that could still enhance gameplay where rather than adding an active quest that needs to be done, it influences quite a bit of how they interact with the rest of the world. Or is this just a bad idea?
Tyler McIntee says:
Great video. Wish my previous GMs had seen it. Everytime they ever decided to add backstory to my character it went horribly wrong and either contradicted who my character was or their background.
I played a Barbarian once who was from a clan in which 'family' in the traditional sense didn't exist. The clan is the family. He didn't know who his blood was because his people don't respect blood. He grew up in barracks and the other people on there were his brothers and sisters, they even refer to each other as such. Loyalty and strength was valued above bonds of blood and he himself had absolutely no value for it. It was one of his flaws. The DM later went against this introducing his parents and brother and then was super annoyed with me playing my character as not giving a fuck about them despite it being one of his flaws. I'm not against introducing them, but anyone could have seen it coming that he wasn't going to accept those weaklings as his family. I rp'd with them and engaged with the story, but my character did NOT like them at all which the DM didn't like and told me I was playing against my character's normally happy-go-lucky, full of bravado character. Which really bothered me. Especially considering how his opinion on wizards or warlocks was well-established at that point (He doesnt like them. He views them as weak individuals who seek strength through illegitimate means and that it typically leads down a dark road that inevitably leads to stuff like necromancy. On the flip side he doesnt mind clerics/paladins/druids as the former two are chosen by the gods and he was very religious, and they had druids within his clan. I actually played him intentionally with the druid handicap in regards to metal as he followed that type of religion.) and one of them was a wizard.
There was another instance when I made a character with a brother and the character's main goal to start out was to reconnect with their brother who they hadn't seen in years since their parents divorce. When we finally got to him the DM basically retconned my characters backstory so that the two had a working, ongoing sibling relationship the whole time and it hadn't been years since we talked and – get this – the event that made my character rethink their life and want to reconnect with their brother? The thing that made them decide to go try and find them after all those years? Yeah, the brother was there during that. And they talked. like, they knew each other were there and everything. It made my head explode.
And what's worse is I always provide a paragraph or two of basic backstory and a couple bullet points of noteworthy people from their past (like the barbarian's clan chief, 'brothers and sisters', and the clan's trainer all of whom he was close to.)
Raymond Claus says:
Columbo fan?
Gen Dor says:
Hold up, where did the Diabolocal philosophy dungeon go? Was that a Patreon only thing?
Ash Ketchum says:
I appreciate your videos, you do an excellent job of giving me new ideas. I'm a fairly new GM, I've been GMing for a group of friends for about a year now, and I'm happy to say I've gotten better as time goes on. I used this particular video's ideas for player backstory recently, and it really got the players excited and brought their characters to life. Thank you for your ideas, tips and tricks!
Schnieder6 says:
That PC: "My family is dead and everyone I knew is gone."
GM: What happened, how did they die?
PC: "I killed them because they were sick with idonthaveafamily-itus."
GM: Ok, as the party is leaving town you notice that someone is calling your name. You look around and spot a young woman. You recognize her as the daughter of your neighbor where you grew up.
PC: "Oh, I also killed the neighbors too. She was there and also died."
GM: sinister grin She's still calling your name. The rest of the party begins to notice her calling to you. What do you do?
Firestorm says:
Lol I've actually got a bit of a reputation regarding my backstories.
Gm: "This isn't a backstory this is part 1 of a full length novel!"
Me: yep! I'll be writing the rest as we go along.
Gm: "oh you f**k"
Me: says a sentence in grammatically perfect french
Gm: "since when did you speak French?"
Me: I don't actually, my character does.
Gm: "oh f**k you!"
Gm: "Ok here's the setting of the new campaign, don't forget to send me your 300 page backstory" laughs at his own joke
Me: laughing "don't tempt me I will actually do it"
Gm realizing his mistake: "you… oh f**k"
konkyolife says:
Sharp insight as always.
Jon Gibson says:
Doing a character with an accent that's trying to do accents of other characters? I don't think you need to apologize about those accents sounding a bit off at all! Very well done bud, love your videos and hope I can get some good backstory payoffs in my next campaign!
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text:
Guido Neri (Cesena, 27 de gener de 1939) va ser un ciclista italià, que fou professional entre 1962 i 1970. Fou el primer ciclista a guanyar la Classificació dels punts calents introduïda al Tour de França de 1966.

Palmarès
 1960
 1r al Giro del Casentino
 1961
 1r a la Coppa Collecchio
 1r a la Coppa Mobilio Ponsacco
 1964
 1r al Trofeu Laigueglia

Resultats al Giro d'Itàlia
 1962. 24è de la classificació general
 1963. 47è de la classificació general
 1964. 27è de la classificació general
 1965. 64è de la classificació general
 1967. 40è de la classificació general
 1968. 51è de la classificació general
 1969. 45è de la classificació general
 1970. 87è de la classificació general

Resultats al Tour de França
 1966. 77è de la classificació general. 1r de la Classificació dels punts calents
 1967. Abandona (11a etapa)

Resultats a la Volta a Espanya
 1969. 37è de la classificació general

Enllaços externs
 Fitxa a museociclismo.it
 Fitxa a memoire-du-cyclisme.eu
 Fitxa a cyclebase.nl
 Fitxa a museociclismo.it

Ciclistes de Cesena

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Sacrament of Confirmation calls us to live a life of holiness and obedience to God's will. That call is primarily through a renewal of our baptismal promises that were, in most cases, made for us by our parents when we were baptised. The Sacrament is usually conferred by a bishop who lays his hands on those being confirmed and anoints them on the forehead with holy oil. By these signs the grace of their Baptism is completed. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and the many gifts He has to offer, as the apostles were at Pentecost, and they are united more firmly with Christ and His Church.
The celebration of Confirmation for our young people is another highlight of our church year which normally takes places in May or June. If you would like to understand more about Confirmation, click here and take some time to read and watch the videos.
This is a Deanery-wide programme for young people from the Salisbury Catholic Churches and from the parishes of the Sacred Heart, Tisbury and Christ the King, Amesbury. We invite young people to apply in September when they are in Year 9, with the preparation classes starting in October.
We get together during term time, normally on a Tuesday evening from 6.45pm – 8.30pm and there are between 12 and 15 sessions. During the programme we have one away-day and a residential retreat weekend at Buckfast Abbey. We also take part in the annual 'Expression' weekend prayer festival which is held in February in Salisbury with other young people.
The preparation of adults for the Sacrament of Confirmation usually takes place in the context of our Journey in Faith/RCIA group, please contact Fr Michael or Fr Saji on 333581.
What are Confirmation sponsors for?
The Church identifies three roles for Confirmation sponsors: First, as a role-model in the faith. Because of this, the Church asks that a sponsor be at least sixteen years of age, be fully initiated in the Church (has celebrated the sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation), and be a practicing member of the Church. Second, a sponsor is a companion on the candidate's faith journey. Ideally, this should/could be one of the candidate's baptismal godparents. This is encouraged by the Church to show the close connection between the two sacraments. Finally, the Confirmation sponsor witnesses for the candidate before the Church. By their presence at the Confirmation celebration, the sponsor publicly proclaims the candidate's readiness.
What if I decide not to be Confirmed at this time?
Sacraments are not "things" that happen on someone else's timetable. There is no penalty for waiting to be Confirmed. What is important is that each candidate feels ready and willing to undertake the responsibilities of the Christian life.
At what age can I be Confirmed?
Confirmation can be conferred when a baptised individual is determined to have the use of reason, has been suitably prepared and is properly disposed and able to renew their baptismal promises. In practice, the most common age to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation is around 14. We invite anyone who is in School Year 9 or above to join our programme of preparation.
If you are an adult who has not been Confirmed and would like to be prepared to receive this sacrament, please contact Fr Michael or Fr Saji on 333581.


Posted by Murphy Realty Group on Thursday, May 31st, 2012 at 11:47am.
Foreclosures filings fell 5 percent between March and April of this year, and by 11 percent as compared to one year ago. The data comes from RealtyTrac. The foreclosure-tracking firm tallied fewer than 189,000 foreclosure-related actions last month -- the fewest number since July 2007.
Rapidly-declining foreclosure figures are another signal that the U.S. housing market may already be in recovery.
According to RealtyTrac's methodology, a "foreclosure filing" is any one of the following foreclosure-related events : (1) A default notice on a home; (2) A scheduled auction for a home; or, (3) A bank repossession of a home.
Furthermore, April's bank repossessions figure is notable. With just 51,415 homes reclaimed by banks, last month's total represents a 26 percent drop from April 2011, and is the 18th consecutive month during which bank repossessions fell. This figure suggests that banks are seeking alternatives to foreclosure, including loan modifications and short sales, when appropriate.
Indeed, the National Association of REALTORS® reports that 11 percent of April's home resales were short sales.
Whether you're a first-time home buyer or an experienced one, homes in various stages of foreclosure can be alluring. They're readily available and often come cheap as compared to non-distressed properties. However, make sure to look beyond just the "list price". Foreclosed homes are often sold as-is. This means that the property could be run-down or rife with defects that render it uninhabitable and/or un-lendable.
If you plan to buy a foreclosed property in Ulster County, therefore, engage an experienced real estate professional. You can learn a lot about how foreclosures work by doing research on the internet, but when it comes to writing contracts and checking homes for defects, you'll want an experienced Ulster County Real Estate agent on your side.


text:
Q: How to view two small balls bumping into each other as passing through each other(2016 Pascal Contest Q24)? Here is a question from 2016 Pascal contest(Waterloo, Canada). The question and its full solution are accessible via https://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca/contests/past_contests.html
Please find below screenshots for quick references.

I couldn't understand the following two parts and look for some help:

*

*How to view two small balls bumping into each other as passing through each other?

*How does the configuration provided in the solution preserve the orginal motions and work out so well?

Thank you!

A: As it says in the question, when two balls collide they both swap directions but keep moving at the same speed. So in other words, a moment before the collision you have one ball going $1\ ms^{-1}$ to the right and one ball going $1\ ms^{-1}$ to the left. Then a moment after the collision you have one ball going $1\ ms^{-1}$ to the left and one ball going $1\ ms^{-1}$ to the right - so if you can't tell which ball is which then nothing has changed.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Re Gracie Attard
Reference: 14 June 2001/23 Oct 2001
Court: Family Division
Judge: Bennett and O'Connell JJ
Date of judgment: 14 Jun 2001
Summary: Family - Children - Reporting Restrictions - Injunction - Privacy - Confidence - Press Complaints Commission Code of Conduct - s.12 Human Rights Act 1998
Appearances: Desmond Browne QC - Leading Counsel (Appellant)
Instructing Solicitors: Marcus Partington, MGN Legal Department
After an operation to separate conjoined twins, the parents of Gracie Attard applied to vary a Family Division injunction which restrained any publication likely to identify either of the twins. They had negotiated a contract with The News of the World and The Mail on Sunday to tell their exclusive story together with photographs of Gracie in return for a large payment. Bennett J allowed the application and varied the order so as to permit publication of the exclusive story in the chosen newspapers. On the day of the application, the Manchester Evening News published a photograph of Gracie with her parents on the steps of a Manchester Hospital. The photograph had been taken from a public highway with a long lens. The Mirror newspaper applied to vary further the order so as to allow it to publish photographs of Gracie.
(1) Whether the injunction should be further varied; (2) Whether the publication of the photograph of Gracie in the Manchester Evening news meant that the original order could no longer stand; (3) Whether Gracie's privacy could be bought and sold; (4) Whether the Family Division should use its jurisdiction to preserve the commercial value of such an exclusive deal
(1) The application further to vary the injunction was refused; (2) the publc domain argument failed, it was only one of the factors to be considered under s.12 and the photograph on the steps of the hospital had arguably been obtained in breach of the Press Complaints Commission Code to which the Court had to have regard under the section; (3) It was perfectly permissible to sell Gracie's privacy; (4) the jurisdiction was being invoked to promote the best interests of Gracie. She stood to suffer financially if the exclusivity of the deal could not be preserved.
The decision in this case is very unusual. Not only was the Court using its powers to secure an exclusive deal with a media organisation, it also restrained further publicity of a photograph which had clearly come into the public domain. The justification for doing so – acting in Gracie's best interests – is hardly a convincing basis to justify such a significant restriction in the applicants' rights of freedom of expression. Interestingly, the Attards' complaint to the PCC regarding the publication of the photograph by the MEN was rejected. The PCC – in an overt snub to the Court – adjudicated: "Privacy is not a commodity which can be sold on one person's terms." The injunction was finally varied so as to allow The Mirror to publish photographs of Gracie on 23 October 2001 (O'Connell J).
£500,000 media deal for conjoined twins story - The Guardian
Press Complaints Commission Ruling


Life in the big city can be tough, and as many urban dwellers know, it can lead to feelings of isolation and even promote a greater risk of developing a mental disorder such as depression.
But what accounts for that increased risk? Is it something about the city itself, or is it unique to the people who gravitate to the intense pace of urban life?
Stanley Zammitt, a psychiatry professor at Cardiff University in Wales and University of Bristol in England, says it's the city. Zammitt led a group of researchers in a study of Swedish citizens born in 1972 and 1977, and found that the isolation and social fragmentation common to urban life added to people's risk of developing psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.