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Boxee is basically an open source media center application based on another critically acclaimed open source media center application called XBMC . I have been using Boxee since its early alpha releases in my Ubuntu and its been a wonderful journey. Boxee is incredibly stable and its ever growing number of apps is proving to be the real difference.An application to easily browse and watch TED videos is my favorite application among hundreds of similar Boxee apps. Boxee recently added support for Live News also which pretty much nullifies the need of a regular TV. You will also find instructions for installing Boxee in Ubuntu in the same link as above.People who pre-ordered from Amazon should receive their Box as early as Nov 11. And the Boxes should start appearing in stores on Nov 17th. You can also pre-order Boxee Box from Amazon right now. More info at Boxee Blog |
Pair say they were detained for 27 hours after filming working conditions of labourers from balcony of hotel Two German broadcasters have said they were detained by Qatari police this month as they attempted to investigate the plight of migrant labourers building infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup. Peter Giesel, a film-maker and the head of a Munich-based production company, and his cameraman Robin Ahne were detained for 27 hours after filming the working conditions of labourers from the balcony of the Mercure Grand hotel in Doha. The pair were following up on the Guardian's investigation into the conditions endured by many of the 1.2 million migrant workers who have flooded into the country to fuel a £100bn-plus construction boom before the football tournament. "They said they just wanted to talk to us, but it wasn't clear about what," Giesel told the Guardian. "But the interrogations went on for several hours and then the security police got involved. They were talking about us sparking a riot by talking to the workers … and that's why we got detained and put in jail." The pair, who say they were treated well while in custody, were told their equipment was being confiscated as they had been filming without permission. "We went to the Nepalese embassy and it was flooded with workers trying to get their passports and documents back," Giesel said. "They tried to manipulate some of the footage and erase some. We weren't finished with the shooting in general, but afterwards I didn't have the nerve for it any more." Documents obtained from the Nepalese embassy in Doha revealed last month that at least 44 Nepalese migrant labourers died between 4 June and 8 August, more than half from heart attacks, heart failure or workplace accidents. International trade unions said up to 4,000 workers could die before a ball is kicked in 2022 if nothing was done to improve conditions for the workers, many of whom are heavily in debt and tied to their employers by law. The Qatar 2022 supreme committee, which is overseeing preparations for the World Cup and has senior representatives from all the key government departments to ensure it is aligned with a parallel 2030 masterplan, has promised to take the issue of worker's rights seriously. Before a key meeting of the Fifa executive committee in Zurich this month, the supreme committee chief executive, Hassan al-Thawadi, said the tournament would not be "built on the blood of innocents". Fifa's president, Sepp Blatter, said he would visit the recently appointed emir to discuss the issue, but drew criticism from campaign groups for promising that the World Cup would go ahead regardless and claiming there was "plenty of time" to resolve any problems. The International Trade Union Confederation called the Qatari response to an international outcry over the issue "weak and disappointing". Giesel and Ahne were seized and held on 3 October, at exactly the same time as Fifa's executive committee was discussing the issue in Zurich. The pair were released after friends and family got in touch with the German embassy in Qatar, prompting the German government's human rights commissioner to get involved. Giesel said they had been treated well and even invited back to Qatar. "They were explaining, saying we know everything's not right in our country," he said. "But I think I should go back one day, just to make sure they didn't fool around with us too much and that what's been said in public there is in some way true. I can't say I will go back, but I might go back." The footage shot by the German broadcasters has been acquired by Sky Sports News. Last week an 18-strong delegation from the Building and Wood Workers' International union claimed they had been denied access to a construction site when they stopped as part of a surprise inspection visit. The group was attempting to examine conditions on a construction site at Lusail, an area 44 miles north of Doha where an entire new city is being built including the stadium that will host the 2022 World Cup final. |
Utopian dreamers, other-worldly explorers and psychonautic adventurers, scholars, activists, students, and critics: we are officially inviting submissions for a new collaborative writing project that combines critical perspectives and creative possibilities. Drawing inspiration from Uneven Earth, an online magazine for political ecology established in 2015, we are excited to announce the launch of a new section, called Not afraid of the ruins, dedicated to science-fiction and utopian imaginings. The goal of this new section will be to regularly showcase new, original, creative and critical reflections to foster intimate and productive conversations across the intellectual and creative arts. The fertile ground between science fiction and social/environmental justice has long been an arena for speculation and exploration by academics, activists, and creative writers. From the academy to the field and beyond, the works of science fiction writers such as Octavia E. Butler, Ursula Le Guin and Margaret Atwood (among many, many others) have presented unique corollaries to the diverse worlds and experiences we encounter in political ecology and social/environmental justice research and activism. Our goal with this project is to create a space explicitly open to exploring such convergences, a space that is neither formally academic nor wholly creative fiction, but instead, in the true spirit of Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed, seeks to tap the potential that exists in the liminal space between these otherwise isolated worlds of thought. We hope that such an endeavor will produce seeds for imagining that will go forward and populate unexpected places both far and near. Submission Criteria There are no strict guidelines for submission in regards to content, format or length although we will maintain editorial oversight of submissions. While shorter pieces up to 2,500 words may be most suitable, we are happy to consider longer pieces, especially as they explore the creative possibilities of such a genre-melding forum. We are particularly interested in pieces that engage with the themes of: Climate, social and environmental justice Feminist and queer theory Critical race studies De-colonialism Anti-capitalist politics (socialist, anarchist, etc.) Post-capitalist ecologies Examples of pieces that we would ideally consider include, but are not limited to: Utopian dreams and/or dystopian nightmares: explorations of queer, feminist, decolonial, afro-futurist, anarchist, luxury communist, degrowth, and post-capitalist ecologies. Conversations between science fiction and political ecology, social, environmental and climatic justice. Critical analysis of academic and science fiction literature, either old or new. Thought pieces blending science fiction and contemporary social, economic, and political struggles. Fictional renderings of field experiences and/or relevant research topics. While the short term aim of this project is to develop a space for cross-cutting collaboration and conversation, we are also hoping to create the possibility for publication opportunities beyond the blog. We regret that we cannot currently offer financial remuneration for submissions to this section, however, Uneven Earth does offer a writing grant for non-fiction pieces. In order to submit a piece, please send us an email to ruins[at]unevenearth.org which includes: A short paragraph about your idea/topics A short paragraph about yourself and your motivation to publish with the blog Deadline: Friday, September 22 (Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere) Deadline: Friday, September 29 In an age of unprecedented climatic, social and political change, we believe that such a project is as important and urgent as ever. We feel compelled, as academics and activists and human beings, to not only critically reflect upon our shared human and ecological condition, but to dare to dream otherwise, to imagine things not only as they are, but to reimagine them as they could be. It is our hope that this blog will provide both space and motivation for doing just that. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, thoughts, or ideas. Much love and happy world building! Claire, Aaron, Hannah, Dylan, Elliot, and Mario Download the poster here. |
Drug Policy Changes Under New Director The Department of Justice will no longer prosecute medical marijuana users who comply with state laws. Some reform advocates hope the move means decriminalization of pot may be in the works. Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske talks about the direction of U.S. drug policy. REBECCA ROBERTS, host: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Rebecca Roberts in Washington. Last month, medical marijuana advocates cheered when Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice will de-prioritize cases against medical marijuana users and dispensaries, as long as they comply with state laws. But Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, says not so fast. Kerlikowske used to be police chief in Seattle, a city known for progressive drug policies like needle exchanges and drug courts, but now he's drug czar. And while Kerlikowske says it's time to ditch the phrase the war on drugs, that doesn't mean that legalization of any drugs is on the U.S. drug policy agenda. So what is on the agenda? Gil Kerlikowske joins us today to discuss drugs and drug policy under the administration. Later in the hour, choreographer Debbie Allen reviews the new Michael Jackson movie, "This Is It," but first if you're a doctor, drug counselor, law enforcement officer, if you've been on the front lines of the war on drugs, what's the issue you would prioritize in a new drug policy? Tell us your story. Our number here in Washington is 800-989-8255. Our email address is talk@npr.org, and you can join the conversation at our Web site. Go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION. With me now in the studio is Gil Kerlikowske. He has spent almost four decades of experience in law enforcement, and he's also served as deputy director for the U.S. Department of Justice under the Clinton administration. Thank you for being on TALK OF THE NATION. Mr. GIL KERLIKOWSKE (Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy): Good, thanks for having me. ROBERTS: I want to start with the new DOJ policy on medical marijuana because it's been in the news, and it's somewhat similar to Seattle's when you were there - the 2003 voter initiative that made marijuana possession a low priority for law enforcement. Were you involved in the drafting of the current DOJ policy, and what does it mean for your office? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: No, I wasn't involved in the drafting. I certainly had an opportunity to look at it and to provide advice. But this is a very narrow piece that comes from the attorney general to the United States attorneys in those 13 states where medical marijuana exists. So it's his policy guidance to them. ROBERTS: And are you - what does it mean for you in terms of those 13 states, in terms of the possibility of it growing to other states? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, we know that there are several other states that are also considering medical marijuana, and I can't go anywhere - and I've been on the road since I've taken this job every week for the last six months - but I can't go anywhere without being questioned about medical marijuana and what does it mean. And so it was important that we were able to look at this policy, but it's important that it also be considered in the much larger context. ROBERTS: And as you get more data from those states that have a medical marijuana policy, will that inform a federal policy? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: What happens right now is that it's very clear - a couple things: First of all, that the raw marijuana plant is not medicine, that using smoked marijuana as a way to administer some type of drug isn't something that is approved through medicine. There may be parts or are parts of the marijuana plant that certainly are being considered through a variety of medical studies, but we'd like medicine, we'd like medical science to answer those questions. ROBERTS: You wrote last week that legalized, regulated drugs are not a panacea. That the argument that regulating illicit drugs, as in some European countries, can cut down on costs and crime. Do you think regulation ever has a value? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, right now we know that we have regulated opioids, for instance. They are highly controlled. They're highly regulated. They're highly taxed. And yet we know that prescription drugs are one of the most - the highest levels of people dying in the United States. We know that they're highly addictive. We know that we can't keep them out of the hands of young people. And these are already regulated, taxed and controlled. ROBERTS: So you see that more as a model than, say, alcohol and tobacco? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I look at alcohol and tobacco, and we tax both of those. I don't think there's any question that the amount of money that the United States or any government gets from taxing those substances begins to pay for either the health costs or the social costs. ROBERTS: You've also said that you don't like the phrase: war on drugs. The president has also said he doesn't like it. What's wrong with it? And what should replace it? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I don't know if we should just turn around and look for another bumper sticker to replace it, but what I do know is that the war on drugs is not a very good metaphor for what we're dealing with. First, we're not at war with people in the United States. Second, when you talk about a war, you really limit the tools that you have. We almost always look at war as the use of force in some way or another. This is not just a public safety problem or a criminal justice problem -the drug problem. It is clearly a social policy and public-health problem. ROBERTS: So if it's - changing the phrase not necessarily to another bumper sticker, as you say, but if it's getting rid of that phrase, is there a commensurate policy change behind it, or is it just a question of semantics? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: No, there is a commensurate policy change, and the policy change would be this, is that we've looked at war on drugs for 40-plus years. We've looked at the criminal justice system as the primary component for dealing with it, whether it's through arrests or drug courts, seizures, et cetera. We need to look at this in a much more balanced way, and we need to bring a lot of other people to the forefront when we talk about this. There are prevention programs that work. I mean, right now, people say gee, war on drugs is a total, complete, absolute failure, and therefore, we must move to legalization. Well, I actually reject that. There are things in prevention that clearly work, and there are treatment programs that clearly work, both of which are less cost than incarceration. ROBERTS: So if it's something between the current war on drugs and total legalization, it's a balance between public safety and treatment and prevention, how do you find that balance? Where do you look to models, and how to measure success? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I think there are a couple ways to measure success. One is that right now, we know that, for instance, drugged driving, which was just recently studied by the Department of Transportation, is a huge and significant issue. And the United States has made great improvement over the last four decades in alcohol-impaired driving. It is down significantly. And yet in 2007, they tested for drugs, and the drugged-driving issue is very high. Well, let's use the model of enforcement and education, which we have for alcohol-impaired driving or alcohol-impaired arrests, and use that same type of model. Those combinations of education and enforcement, messages that get out to young people about the dangers of drugs, messages that get out to parents about how to keep prescription drugs out of the hands of children, these things make a lot of sense. ROBERTS: As someone who comes from a law-enforcement background rather than necessarily a public-health background, how do you think that informs where you find that balance? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I think the best part about the Office of National Drug Control Policy is that we have a deputy director who is a 35-year University of Pennsylvania treatment professional. He is a researcher. So you have this incredible combination of a treatment professional that understands the value and importance of the criminal justice system to this whole aspect. And you have a police chief who understands the value and importance of prevention and treatment. And together, we think we will bring a lot of minds and a lot of thinking into the same place on this issue. ROBERTS: In terms of prevention, that message has also evolved from the sort of just-say-no to something a little bit more sophisticated. Where do you see effective prevention measures happening and what are the best public education methods you've seen? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, there are effective measures. For instance, The Partnership for a Drug-Free America does a very good job, and these messages are clearly tested. In the Office of National Drug Control Policy, we also fund the media campaign. And these are messages that are very, very carefully measured and tested in focus groups and other ways to make sure that they're sending the right messages to parents and the right messages to kids in a very realistic way about the dangers of drugs. ROBERTS: Let's hear from Mary(ph) in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Mary, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. MARY (Caller): Good afternoon. I wanted to just pass on, as someone who is a social worker, who's in the field, I work with both the homeless population, as well as people in both active addiction and in recovery and have seen what hard drugs have done and the damage that they have done to the lives of any number of my clients. Having said that, and having seen that, I think we really must look at the way we're handling marijuana in this country. A lot of the clients that I have dealt with, the repercussions from them have not been from the use of the drug. It has been from the illegality of the drug. It exposes them to criminal elements they wouldn't otherwise have been around. It exposes them to harder drugs they wouldn't ordinarily have been around. And I think if we continue to handle it the way we handle it, we're just - we're not going to make any progress on any of it unless we really sit back and, as a country, go, okay, what's the primary concern here? ROBERTS: Dr� Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, good. I think right there in North Carolina is probably one of the most interesting examples of something called the High Point Program. And it's being replicated in Seattle, it's being replicated in Providence, Rhode Island. And it is about pre-arrest diversion programs. That sounds a little complicated, but essentially what it means is that we know young people get into trouble with drugs. We know that some of them are dealing drugs. And we know that if we make the arrest that quite often there is a stigma attached to that that is pretty difficult for them to get out from under. And so this pre-arrest diversion program has great promise because it gives young people the chance to get out from under what they've done without an arrest record, but it also gives them an opportunity if they need treatment programs, if they need literacy, if they need vocational training. And it all has the sanction of the criminal justice system behind it, which actually quite often is a motivator to keep out of trouble. ROBERTS: And is there political and public support behind it? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Yes, there is. Right now, the key will be, of course, the evaluation that is being done on these programs to make sure they're effective. But you know, what's interesting, after 37 years in law enforcement, when I talk to and listen to my colleagues around the country, they are all very hungry, very thirsty for a different conversation on drugs. They don't want this to be just a police problem or just a criminal justice problem. They want other people helping. ROBERTS: My guest is Gil Kerlikowske. He's the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is a very cumbersome title, which is why people tend to shorten it to drug czar. How do you feel about that nickname? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: You know, I don't - I was studying the Romanovs. I'm not so sure that I like having the czar name attached. (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: But you're right, it is shorthand. ROBERTS: Well, for lack of a better option - coming up, more with White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and how he'll prioritize the different facets of drug policy. We are also taking your calls at 800-989-8255. And you can send us email. The address is talk@npr.org. I'm Rebecca Roberts. It's TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. (Soundbite of music) ROBERTS: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Rebecca Roberts in Washington. We're talking with Gil Kerlikowske. He's the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, otherwise known for simplicity's sake as the White House drug czar. Director Kerlikowske is a former police chief, and we want to hear from those of you who have also been in enforcement or treatment or prevention. When it comes to drug policy, what's the issue that you would prioritize? Give us a call at 800-989-8255. Our email address is talk@npr.org, and you can join the conversation at our Web site. Go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION. Gil Kerlikowske, we were just discussing a pre-arrest intervention program. What are some other law enforcement measures, like alternative sentencing, drug courts? Where do they fit into this? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I think drug courts are an excellent example. There are over 2,300 of them. They exist in all the states. They have been around for 20 years. They have been widely evaluated. And they are the most committed and dedicated groups of jurists, law enforcement professionals, people in the treatment community, and - myself, and I know my colleagues across the country, have attended literally thousands of drug court graduations. And you cannot help but be moved by those people who have gotten their lives and their families back together. ROBERTS: Give us a sense of how they work, just a brief rundown of what a drug court is. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Essentially when a person is arrested and goes through the criminal justice process, they could get sentenced to a certain amount of time or probation, or they can opt for, if it's available, a drug court. And a drug court means that you're going to be coming back every week, that that judge is going to take a personal interest in you, and the people in that court will, also. At the same time, you've got the sanction of the court and the fact that there is random drug testing that's also a part of it. All of those things put together usually end up resulting in a fairly high level of people who are actually able to get it together again and be back in their neighborhoods and working and paying taxes. ROBERTS: And how common are they? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: There - as I said, there are over 2,300 of these, and they've been around for a long time, and I think there is a great deal of support. President Obama has increased the administration support for the next budget to an additional $29 million for them. ROBERTS: Let's hear from Ernie(ph) in Tucson, Arizona. Ernie, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. ERNIE (Caller): Hi. I'm an internal medicine physician, as well as a registered pharmacist in Arizona. I also perform Homeland Security exams for patients that are immigrating to the United States. We're situated about 86 miles from the border, and I see the intersection of those three different fields. And I think personally that they should legalize drugs, all drugs, so that they can control them, tax them, provide prevention and treatment programs just like they do for alcohol, decrease the amount of home invasions across the border, as well as decrease the number of narco-trafficant death along the border, decrease the incentive for people bringing drugs across. I mean, I have a piece of property 26 miles north of the border. People were walking across the border all the time. You have buses full of illegal immigrants on the way to the small town 26 miles north of the border. And from my perspective, what you see on the news are these huge drug busts of kilos of marijuana and cocaine, yet when I report to the local police that there's somebody forging my name on narcotics at the local pharmacy, they send me over to the detectives, I leave a recording, I never get a call back. I've reported this to DEA, and I get the same treatment. So I think that it's all huffing and puffing and that there is no serious program to try to decrease the amount of narcotics that come into this country. And I think it's more for political reasons, that they can get a foothold in these countries to set up more army bases, et cetera. ROBERTS: All right, Ernie, let's give our guest a chance to answer. Thanks very much. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, on the legalization issue, it's not something that's discussed either by myself or in the White House. No country - no country in the world has legalized drugs. And if you think about the legalized drugs we do have, talking about the prescriptions earlier, we know that there are lots of problems. We're not able to control them. We're not able to keep them out of the hands of young people. We're not actually able to keep them from causing deaths among a lot of people. So I don't think legalization is anything that's going to be entertained or discussed at any level. ROBERTS: Let's hear from Jacob in Detroit, Michigan. Jacob, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. JACOB (Caller): Hello? ROBERTS: Hello, you're on the air. JACOB: I'm basically - well, I'm sorry to use the term drug czar, but it is a simplification. I'm basically wondering what your opinion, sir, would be regarding a generalized sort of penal reform in regards to narcotics. Because for me, as someone who follows politics, I really feel as though it's a kind of a political kryptonite. It's not discussed as much as I would like it to be. And I'd like to hear your thoughts, and I'll gladly take my answer off the air. ROBERTS: Thanks, Jacob. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Good. I think Jacob brings up an excellent point. Most of the arrests, most of the laws involving drugs, are not the federal laws. They're the laws done by the states. And a number of states have taken different steps to handle drug cases differently, whether it's through drug courts, whether it's through intervention, whether it's through deferred prosecution. And those states have evaluated some of these. They've looked at some of these programs to see a way of not just using the heavy hand of criminal justice in all cases. What you really want to do is to make sure that you get people back on the right track. And that's why the availability of treatment and prevention programs that actually work are probably as significant and important as anything we can discuss today. ROBERTS: Are there states, either because of their own political climate or their own geographic location, that have issues where you see them ahead of the federal policy, where they are experimenting in a way that's worth watching? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I think the federal policy, when you talk about the sentences, if you look at the Drug Enforcement Administration, the use of the United States Department of Justice, those are finite resources directed toward significant trafficking individuals. But what you see at the state and local level are people arrested for possession, people arrested for drugged driving but also for, of course, sale and distribution. And the states have developed a variety of mechanisms to try and deal with that. And as we know right now, whatever state we're talking about, they're looking at how do they reduce their prison population. Well, if you go into jail, and you have - or you go into prison, and you have a drug problem and we don't spend time and money to treat that problem, it should not come as a surprise that when that person is released, they'll be right back into trouble and probably right back into the system. So we need to be smart about these things and not continue to use just the tool of force or criminal justice. ROBERTS: Let's hear from Kathleen(ph) in Denver, Colorado. Kathleen, welcome to the program. KATHLEEN (Caller): Thank you. Thank you for taking my call. I just wanted to say that, of course, in Colorado now we have legalized medical marijuana. It's helping a lot of people. And it's helping a lot of people who are selling it get jobs in this economy. But beyond that, in my personal experience, having grown up in Boulder, Colorado, in the '70s, I have never known anyone who started smoking marijuana and then went on to harder drugs because they had started smoking marijuana. And I know that law enforcement has told us that for years, but I haven't ever seen it. So I really think that when we're talking about drug laws, we need to separate marijuana from other hard drugs like cocaine and heroin, et cetera, because I don't see that they have much of a relationship. And the students at the University of Colorado now are drinking themselves to death, and yet alcohol is legal. ROBERTS: Kathleen, thank you for your call. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, and I think she brings up, I mean, several excellent points. And that's why when states look at how to deal with marijuana and what types of treatment systems, prevention programs are available as a result of the criminal justice system, what can be most cost-effective - that makes a lot of sense. There's lots of debate around whether marijuana is a gateway drug. And rather than get into that, I would also tell you that I have not met a heroin addict who didn't start smoking marijuana. It doesn't mean that everyone who smokes marijuana - and that is something I think law enforcement used to say. I frankly don't hear that too much from them anymore. So being wise about how we're dealing with this and protecting the public - the one thing I would mention, though, and just looking at my own state of Washington, the number one call to hotlines for people who wanted help with a drug problem was about marijuana. ROBERTS: We have an email from Rachel, who says: What are this administrations' thoughts on the crack cocaine sentencing laws that criminalize crack users - who are more likely to be minorities and poor - at an extremely unfair rate? I remember reading on barackobama.com before the election that the president believes this law is unfair. What is being done to fix the problem? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breur, who was in charge of the criminal division, testified on this issue several months ago. And I believe there is a pending legislation to remove the disparity between the sentences for powder cocaine, federal sentences, and the federal sentences for crack cocaine. So I think the administration has already made a clear statement on this. ROBERTS: We also have an email from Brian in Iowa City, who says: You spoke earlier this week on Iowa Public Radio. You said that prescription drugs were the biggest drug problem in this country. The companies that make these drugs make lots of money and are allowed to advertise their products on TV. If I'm not mistaken, our country is the only country that - in the world - that allows drug companies to advertise their products on TV. Would you consider changing that? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, one, I don't actually, even as a czar, have the authority to do that. But I would tell you that the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries that do advertise drugs. And there is a lot of concern about advertisement that essentially says here is a pill or here is an answer to every possible medical problem, and it's advertised on TV. And I think it certainly bears further review and further inspection. ROBERTS: Is there much communication or coordination among your contemporaries in other national governments? Is there such a thing as a drug czar in other countries, and do you talk to each other? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: There are a couple of things that help. One is the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and there are meetings that are held regularly. President Obama, before he went to Russia, the bilateral agreement that talks about a - the drug czar of Russia, where they have a real drug czar, and myself� ROBERTS: Though not real czar? (Soundbite of laughter) Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: And I'm only a pseudo czar, I think. But they - and they - we are going to a chair a bilateral discussion on the drug problem. You know, the other interesting part that I've found in my travels to Colombia, to Mexico and speaking with the Russian drug czar is that countries that were thought of predominantly as a state that either transited or manufactured drugs are now states that are having significant addiction problems. And as Secretary Clinton talked about reducing our own demand and figuring out how to deal with this more comprehensively right now makes a lot of sense from a global perspective. ROBERTS: Well, to Mexico and Colombia, you certainly need to add Afghanistan in terms of international sources of illegal drugs in this country. Can you give us some sense of where international policy is headed? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, right now, Afghanistan - the poppy and the opium that ends up being produced out of Afghanistan - very little, if any, actually ever comes to the United States. The vast majority of that is trafficked to Russia, to the UK and to Europe. But we know that heroine, cocaine, marijuana, other drugs that flow through or originate out of South America do come to the United States. We also know that in the United States, we produce quite a bit. Homemade methamphetamine, for instance - from the smurfing, it's called, of pseudoephedrine or the buying of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine products in making methamphetamine, a variety of ways that these drugs come to this country. ROBERTS: Let's here from Kris(ph) in Lincolnton, Georgia. Kris, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. KRIS (Caller): Thank you. I was wondering - I'm 62 years old, and when I was in high school, I didn't even know what marijuana was. And I'm wondering why is it so rampant now, and it never used to be? ROBERTS: You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, I wish I had a good answer for that, Rachel. I am - I actually just about two years younger than you are, and so I'm afraid I would put myself in exactly the same mindset. But I think that marijuana is popularized on television shows. It is popularized in media. There is only one antidrug media message out there, and that's the one that the Office of the National Drug Control Policy actually funds, and that - the antidrug.com. There's an awful lot of information about drugs, and it's put forward in a very matter-of-fact and straightforward way that's very helpful to people. So I would tell you that there's more information available there. ROBERTS: This is Jacob in Saginaw, Michigan. Jacob, welcome to TALK OF THE NATION. JACOB (Caller): How are you doing? ROBERTS: Good. JACOB: I'm a recovering addict. I've been 12 years clean now from� ROBERTS: Congratulations. JACOB: �cocaine, crystal meth, mushrooms, acid, all kinds of just college party drugs. And I started with marijuana, sneaking joints from my father when I was eight. But the question I have is, when I was growing up, everywhere you saw you had the ads, this is your brain on drugs and you had DARE and you had - in the schools, you had the drug messages everywhere. Now I have two young children, eight and 10. And I don't care about those things being told to the children. I mean, yes, we have the Web sites, but it's not - if it's such large concern for our children, why don't we have more of the messages being put out there to them like we did back in the late �80s and the early �90s? And I'll take my answer off air. Thank you. ROBERTS: Thanks, Jacob. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Well, one, I think there was some concern that some of the messages - although it sounded very smart to us as adults, they actually didn't resonate or take very well with young people. So we have to be so careful, and the messages have to be so very carefully tested that they don't, in fact, send a different meaning to what the intent is. The other part is whether it's the DARE program or other prevention programs that are school-based, it can't be just in the fifth grade and the eight grade. It can't be just school-based when you think a kid's only spending, you know, less than half a year in school. There has to be a neighborhood, and community based. It has to be parents talking to their children. And that's why the Web sites are also designed for the adults, so that they can actually feel comfortable and knowledgeable about talking to their kids. Without question, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, those ads in helping educate parents about how to talk to their kids about drugs, I think that is, by far, one of the most powerful prevention programs. But it has to be a lot more than just a quick message on TV. ROBERTS: So you've been in office for five months now. Why do you think the president picked you? Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: I think there are a couple of things. One is that after 37 years in law enforcement and knowing something about the law enforcement business, I think that the ability to carry a message about a balanced approach as a law enforcement professional is very helpful. I was able to work with then-Senator Biden and now-Vice President Biden, who is very knowledgeable about law enforcement issues. And to be called upon and asked to take on what most people consider as a very significant challenge is - came - and it's a great opportunity to do that on behalf of this administration. ROBERTS: Gil Kerlikowske is director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He joined me today in Studio 3A. Thank you so much for being with us. Mr. KERLIKOWSKE: Thank you. ROBERTS: Coming up, Michael Jackson's longtime friend-choreographer Debbie Allen reviews the new movie about him, "This Is It." She's next. I'm Rebecca Roberts. It's TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Copyright © 2009 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. |
Alex Steinweiss, who has died aged 94, pioneered the concept of record album covers, when music was still released on 78rpm shellac, and was the inventor of the LP record sleeve. In 1939, while designing ads for Columbia Records, Steinweiss suggested adding art to the company's 78 releases, which were then generally sold in heavy paper and, for multiple-record sets, packaged in plain, book-like binding. His first cover featured the title of a collection of Rodgers and Hart show tunes up in lights on a theatre marquee. A Bruno Walter recording of Beethoven's Eroica showed a huge increase in sales with its new sleeve, and Steinweiss became Columbia's art director. The advent of the long-playing 33⅓ record brought Steinweiss's vision to the fore. The heavy paper used for 78s damaged the narrower and more delicate grooves on the LP record, so Steinweiss designed the folded-over board format sleeve which quickly became the standard packaging for LPs. Although it was patented in his name, its rights were retained by Columbia. Steinweiss's first cover was for a collection of Rodgers and Hart show tunes. Photograph: Columbia Records The cover's format was like a small canvas which lent itself to artistic experimentation, and Steinweiss's work was highly symbolic, incorporating elements of abstraction, and even cubism. His cover for George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue showed a piano standing under a streetlight on an otherwise blue background; for Paul Robeson's Songs of Free Men, he showed a slave's chained hand holding a knife. The distinctive "Steinweiss scrawl" of his signature typeface became instantly recognisable, and soon many artists, including the conductor Leopold Stokowski, were demanding that only Steinweiss should design their covers. His passion for music came from his father, a shoe designer who had emigrated from Poland to the US and met his wife, a seamstress from Latvia, in New York, on the Lower East Side. They moved to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where Steinweiss was born. At Abraham Lincoln high school, a collection of marionettes he made for an art project attracted the attention of the teacher Leon Friend, author of the influential book Graphic Design (1936). Steinweiss was one of a group of four schoolmates whom Friend dubbed "the art squad". After a profile of him appeared in Robert Leslie's design magazine PM, Steinweiss received a scholarship to Parsons School of Design (now Parsons the New School for Design), in New York. Looking to turn professional, he approached the illustrator Boris Artzybasheff, who convinced him to finish his degree instead. After graduating in 1937, he showed up at the studio of the renowned German poster designer Lucian Bernhard, who was so impressed with Steinweiss's portfolio that he found him a job in his friend Joseph Binder's studio. Shortly after starting his own studio, Steinweiss was hired by Columbia, on Leslie's recommendation. During the second world war, he joined the US navy, where he designed posters while continuing to design for Columbia at night. After the war, he stayed with Columbia as a freelancer, opening the way for a legendary line of art directors including Neil Fujita and Bob Cato. This fertile period produced the cover for which he might be best known, the original 1949 Broadway cast album of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, which remains in use today. In the 1950s, he branched out with the major labels Decca and London and smaller ones such as Remington and Everest. He designed film title sequences, the poster for the original Casino Royale (1967) and labelling for a number of distillers. He continued designing record covers until the early 1970s, by which time he began to feel out of touch with the trends in contemporary music. He moved to Sarasota, Florida, in 1974, to concentrate on ceramics and painting, under the pseudonym Piedra Blanca. His series of paintings Homage to Music is based on works by the great composers. In the past decade he had designed CD sleeves for small classical labels including Koch and Bridge. In 2000 he received a lifetime achievement award from the Art Directors Hall of Fame. He has been the subject of two books, For the Record (2000) and Alex Steinweiss: The Inventor of the Modern Album Cover (2009). Steinweiss's wife, Blanche, died last year. He is survived by a son, Leslie, and a daughter, Hazel. • Alex Steinweiss, graphic designer, born 24 March 1917; died 17 July 2011 |
Opposition leader wants government to stop strangling East Ukrainians, start normalizing the situation in Donbass as per the Minsk Agreement KIEV, April 21, (TASS) - The Opposition Bloc in the Ukrainian parliament urges Kiev to lift the economic blockade of the war-torn Donbas region, the chairman of the bloc’s parliamentary faction, Yury Boyko, said on Tuesday. "The Opposition Bloc demands that the economic blockade should be lifted and social benefit payments should be restored under the ruling of the court that has ordered the authorities to do so," Boyko told the Verkhovna Rada. "Ukrainian society will see who really wants peace," the lawmaker said. The politician reminded that the Minsk agreements were signed more than two months ago but the parliament has failed to take steps to put the relevant laws into action for the sake of peace and lives of Ukrainians. The Opposition Bloc has drafted a package of laws that are aimed at normalizing the situation in Donbas, bringing people back home and restoring the normal living conditions there, Boyko said. "We demand that these laws should be considered as urgent and the Ukrainian society will see who really wants peace and who wants the war," the lawmaker said. The package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements signed on February 12 says "modalities" should be defined of a full restoration of social and economic ties, including payments of pensions and other social benefits. |
BENTON COUNTY, Ark. - Houston rapper Travis Scott was arrested Saturday night, police in Arkansas said. Scott, whose real name is Jaques Webster, was arrested after his performance at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion, according to the Rogers Police Department. During the concert, police said Webster encouraged people to rush the stage and bypass the security protocols to ensure concert goer safety. During the rush to the stage, police said several people were injured, including an employee from the security company hired to help monitor and control the crowd, and a member of the police department. It’s unclear how many people were hurt, but police said they were treated at a local hospital. Webster was charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, and endangering the welfare of a minor. Webster is now at the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, police said. When Travis was last seen in Houston, he made headlines after he sat next to Kylie Jenner courtside at a Houston Rockets playoff game at Toyota Center. Copyright 2017 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved. |
Puppies stolen from Bolingbrook, Naperville found near St. Louis hello Two puppies stolen from Petland stores in Bolingbrook and Naperville were returned Sunday in this kennel to a Petland store near St. Louis. The puppies are expected back in Illinois by Tuesday. Courtesy of Petland Casper the Havanese puppy was stolen Friday from the Naperville Petland Store. The owner of the Naperville store said that the puppy was returned Sunday to a Petland near St. Louis and will be returned soon. COURTESY OF PETLAND Two puppies stolen from Petland stores in Bolingbrook and Naperville Friday are safe near St. Louis, according to company officials. Adam Stachowiak, owner of the Naperville Petland store at 720 S. Route 59, said in an email that a man fled after dropping off the puppies in a kennel Sunday at a Petland store in the St. Louis area. The puppies were with another Maltese puppy that was stolen from a Lake Saint Louis Petland store Saturday afternoon. Police from Lake Saint Louis, which is more than 35 miles west of St. Louis, declined to comment Sunday night. Stachowiak said the puppies appear to be in good condition, and the two from Bolingbrook and Naperville are expected to be back in Illinois on Tuesday. Surveillance video from Friday showed a woman stealing a male, 14-week-old white Maltese puppy named Hercules from the Bolingbrook Petland store at 744 W. Boughton Road. About 30 minutes later, a person who appeared to be the same woman stole a male, 10-week-old white Havanese puppy named Casper from the Petland in Naperville. Petland employees reported that in both cases, the woman asked to see one of the white puppies and then distracted a worker so she could place the puppy in a bag and leave the store. Naperville police didn't have any more information about the case Sunday night; Bolingbrook police said the investigation is ongoing. Stachowiak said that Casper, who was identified from a microchip, probably won't be up for sale again right away because he'll need to get readjusted to the pet store. "I think he's probably going to be pretty popular," Stachowiak said, adding that he hopes Casper's future owner will want him not just because he was in the news but because he is a good fit for them. |
Everything is dream-like. Anything that appears to be more than dreamlike is an inherently existent thing. And our delusion of ignorance that grasps at inherently existent things is dominating our lives at the moment, causing us to experience all our other delusions with all their pain and suffering. (This is carrying on from this article.) For example, if something appears to us as attractive and we latch onto it as real, then what happens? We exaggerate its good qualities or power from its own side to make us happy, believing that any of its apparent good qualities are within it, intrinsic to it. If the object is real, its good qualities are real. So attachment arises. If something is out there that is real and inherently attractive, we naturally want it – we mentally or physically try to go out to it and pull it toward us. I want this. I need it. I must have it. It’s going to make me happy from its own side. Nothing to do with the way I’m looking at it. It just is absolutely essential to my well-being. I just have to eat this pizza right now. Or I just have to get this person’s phone number right now. Or I have to climb the career ladder right now. Or whatever it is. The holy grail of happiness is always out there. I’m always going to go after it; it’s always going to feel real. And I’m going to go after it, and after it, and after it until I feel happy. Because that’s what happiness it. It’s out there. While we remain with ignorance, there will always be items of attachment appearing to our mind. As soon as anything appears nice to us, which happens because of our karma, then we want it. And we’re not happy without it. And if we lose it we suffer. So we are continually like some sort of shark circling around, never resting, trying to absorb that next juicy morsel — something, anything, that will make us happy. I read recently about a dating site called Tinder, where people are stacked up like virtual cards – you swipe the ones you like to the right and the ones you don’t like to the left. It’s apparently addictive — you can never settle on any person because you think the next person just might be better. People get together socially and play with their Tinder app! Even if the first person is gorgeous, if you don’t swipe them to the left you’ll never know what you are missing. There is always someone better one swipe away. I found Tinder a good example (or analogy?) for modern society having so much on demand these days – overwhelming choice means that there is always something better out there than what we are looking at at the moment. It used to take five minutes browsing the TV guide to choose what channel to watch at what time, and then you would just have to settle down to watch it! Now, thanks to Netflix etc., it takes half the evening to choose what to watch, and then we’re still a little bit unsettled, “Meh, that other movie might have been better.” We’re constantly searching to find the next best thing. This is what we are like with attachment. There is always something better around the corner, so the mind is in a constant state of overstimulation, trying to find happiness out there. And why do we have attachment? Because we have ignorance. We think that everything is attractive from its own side. It has nothing to do with the way we are looking at it. Also, from the delusion of ignorance, aversion is born. Due to our karma, something can appear unpleasant or unattractive, and because it appears that way we mistake its appearance for reality, thinking it really is that way. Things are really unpleasant. Instead of recognizing that that person who just took my parking spot right in front of me is just appearing unpleasant to my mind due to some bad karma ripening, and letting it go, the inappropriate attention of anger begins to dwell on all the faults of that incredibly annoying spot-stealing person in the car: “They must do this all the time! They think the world is created just for them. They have no idea that I have to go shopping!” The exaggeration just digs in and, before we know it, we have full-blown irritation, aversion, annoyance. We think that they exist as they appear, and they appear annoying. This is why with anger, attachment, and all the delusions we try to get in there before we start exaggerating. In this instance, for example, we can think, “Maybe this person has a massively important doctor’s appointment or maybe they have to catch their dying mother.” We just put our mind in a different direction so we don’t see all these apparent faults that we have created and exaggerated – clearly exaggerated as we have never met this person in our life, have barely glimpsed them through the car window, and we now have a list as long as our arm about how horrific they are. Where did that all come from? In the case of anger, we are paying inappropriate attention to all their apparent faults. We exaggerate them, we hone in on them, we make them more real. And the reason we seized on their faults is because of our ignorance. With ignorance with have “subtle inappropriate attention,” which functions in our mind all the time and focuses on things being real. So there is someone behind that appearance of someone stealing our spot. They appear annoying, therefore they are annoying. There really is someone from their own side who is annoying, nothing to do with my mind. It’s because of this subtle inappropriate attention that we develop the gross inappropriate attention of anger, attachment, jealousy, fear, selfishness, you name it. Do you want to go around relating to a world that doesn’t exist? I don’t. For as Geshe Kelsang says in Modern Buddhism: The truth is, although things appear to our senses to be truly or inherently existent, in reality all phenomena lack, or are empty of, true existence. This book, our body, our friends, we ourself and the whole universe are actually just appearances to mind, like things seen in a dream. There is nothing there to grasp at. There is no one there to grasp at. Next installment here. Meanwhile, your comments are welcome. Like this? Please share it: Facebook Twitter Reddit Print Email Pocket Google LinkedIn Tumblr Pinterest WhatsApp Skype Like this: Like Loading... Related |
Named after a South American cactus known for its hallucinogenic properties, “Achuma” is part old Harley and part motocrosser, a Shovelhead-powered streetfighter that’s got a style all its own. There’s even a built-in skidplate for inner-city curb jumping! “Yeah, I don’t look too hard at what everybody else is doing,” builder Satya Kraus says about his styling influences. The 35-year-old was born and still lives in the shadows of Northern California’s mighty redwoods. A fairly ordinary early career path led to a computer company gig, but working with his hands, making things he could actually hold and feel called out, and in 2004 Satya chucked it all to build choppers. Ink, awards and bike commissions soon followed, but a rigid frame’s limitations bothered him. Kraus grew up riding dirtbikes and appreciated the spine-friendly benefits of a working rear suspension. “I wanted something with a racier look and feel, a real ‘roadable’ machine,” he says. A collection of old engineering books substituted for formal training, helped by curiosity, trial-and-error, learning from elders and a good dose of common sense. “As far as fabrication and welding and machining and all that stuff, that’s all self-taught. I never went to school for it,” he says. Chief in Kraus’ build philosophy is light weight. “I think people tend to overbuild things, to use a lot of metal because they don’t know how much or how little it really takes,” he explains. “They’re adding needless weight, and then suspension, speed and quickness suffer.” Paint doesn’t tip the scales very heavily, but you won’t find a drop of it on Achuma. It is a full-metal motorcycle. “Me and paint don’t mix,” Kraus states. “I never learned to paint; besides, it’s the first thing that goes. Paint never looks good once it gets hammered on, so I’ve developed a style that doesn’t have that issue.” Not even the frame is painted. Rather it’s been plasma-arc sprayed with a thin coat of real bronze, a nice complement to bike’s shinier componentry. “There’s just something to bronze,” says Kraus. “When you actually get close up, get your hands on it, touch it and feel the difference between paint and a real-metal finish, that’s what really gets you…when you see the perfect imperfection of it.” The forks are Kraus’ take on a traditional springer, brought up to date with a cleaned-up design and a Foes Racing air shock. The latter was originally intended for downhill bicycle racing where heavy-duty mountain bikes plummet down trails at up to 60 mph, getting huge air in the process. Here, it’s more than up to the task and is set up to yield 3 inches of travel. The twin-shock swingarm, braced and running a pair of Foes dampers, gives about 5.8 inches. To power this machine, Satya went with an S&S Shovelhead 93-inch high-compression motor. At about 90 hp, he feels it provides plenty of power for the weight and also gives a nice look, especially after the three-man crew at Kraus Motor Co. takes it apart, shapes some of the fins, smoothes down casting lines, and polishes the cases and covers. Safe to say the bike’s owner, a 30-something member of England’s banking community who prefers to remain anonymous, is happy with his purchase. Kraus reports there’s a touch of hooligan beneath the man’s tailored three-piece suits, an inner brat brought out when Achuma blasts along the proper avenues of London’s financial district. He’s even planning on taking it out to trackdays. Says Satya, “He’s using this bike the way it was intended and this to me is the best honor.” Photography by Mike Chase. For more on Satya Kraus’ work, head over to the Kraus Motor Co. website. |
IT TOOK A MATTER of seconds during a gathering with constituents at a Tucson shopping center for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s (D-Ariz.) life to be profoundly transformed. Ms. Giffords was one of 19 people wounded or killed there last year, allegedly by a deranged young man who inflicted unspeakable damage with the help of a semi-automatic weapon and an extended magazine clip. The bullet that pierced Ms. Giffords’s head left her clinging to life; hers has been a remarkable rehabilitation over the past 12 months, during which she has learned to walk and speak again. But Ms. Giffords has made clear that this journey is far from over. “I have more work to do on my recovery,” she said during a two-minute video released Sunday. She announced that she would not seek reelectionfrom Arizona’s 8th Congressional District and would step down from her post this week after attending President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening. A special election will be held in the next few months to temporarily fill the seat before voters return to the polls in the fall to select a permanent replacement. In announcing her decision to resign, Ms. Giffords displayed the grace and buoyancy of spirit that have come to be hallmarks of her tenure. She could have exploited voters’ sympathy to retain the seat; instead, she placed the needs of her constituents first. Implicit in the decision to step down — or as she put it, “to do what’s best for Arizona” — was an understanding that she probably could not carry out the demands of public life before recuperating further. Ms. Giffords did not refer directly to the events of Jan. 8, 2011, other than to say that she remembered little about that horrific day. But it would be a disservice to her life and that of the others directly affected by this, and tragedies like it, to ignore the factors that precipitated the violence: the easy access to guns; the availability of accessories such as extended clips that make deadly weapons all the more lethal; and a porous and shoddy regulatory system that too often fails to keep these weapons out of the hands of dangerous or dangerously unstable individuals. Mr. Obama last year delivered his State of the Union just weeks after the Tucson massacre and in the presence of victims’ family members. Yet he, like so many politicians intimidated by the gun lobby’s muscle, could not muster a single word about the need for reasonable gun control measures to ward off such violence in the future. Perhaps he will find the courage to speak up this year, as Ms. Giffords looks on during her last State of the Union as a member of Congress. |
Online cat videos have come to be associated with some of the cutest, silliest moments the Internet has to offer. But they can have a dark side too, as a legal sentence handed down Monday in France shows. Stringer/AFP/Getty Images Farid Ghilas of Marseille was sentenced to a year in prison for animal cruelty after posting a video to his Facebook profile last week showing him hurling a kitten against a building. The video quickly went viral, sparking widespread horror and outrage and even death threats aimed at the perpetrator. Though Ghilas is far from the first person to be arrested after publicizing incriminating details on social media, the incident had further, faster reach than most. By the time Ghilas took the video down, Facebook users had copied and pasted his profile information; posted his name, address, and phone number on the Web; and created Facebook pages calling for his arrest. The police ended up taking Ghilas into custody less than 24 hours after the video appeared online. On Monday, just days later, some 200 animal-rights activists, accompanied by about 20 dogs, gathered outside a Marseille criminal court as the 24-year-old man was sentenced on charges of "acts of cruelty against a domestic and tame animal." The offense carries a maximum prison term of two years and a fine of 30,000 euros (about $40,500). According to a translated version of a Metro News article on the ruling, Farid Ghilas gave no clear explanation of what drove him to abuse 5-month-old Oscar. "I do not know what came over me," he reportedly said several times. "I walked around the neighborhood. Cat came to me. I took it, I swung." After the video was shown in court, he murmured an apology. The president of the Society for the Protection of Animals in Marseille, a plaintiff in the case, called the apology weak, Metro News reported. "We must set an example for all those who torment animals," Andy Salviano said, while asking tense and angry protesters to respect the sentence. Other plaintiffs included the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the welfare and protection of animals. An online petition calling for prosecution of the man who filmed the Ghilas video had garnered more than 40,500 signatures at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, the rust and white kitty -- rescued by a bystander who witnessed the ordeal -- suffered a fractured leg when he fell to the concrete and is now being cared for by the Marseille SPA, where, "like all kittens, [he's] just waiting to play," the organization reports. Oscar's guardian will reportedly be able to recover the pet soon. And if the Internet's past record of kindness to vulnerable animals and the many well wishes posted to the SPA's Facebook page are any indication, he now has supporters the world over. Brigitte Bardot Foundation |
A good Samaritan who offered to lend two men short on cash a couple bucks to cover their meal at a Brooklyn eatery ended up beaten and robbed for trying to help, cops say. The victim was savagely beaten by four men inside a Flatbush fried-chicken joint — and then robbed by a fifth as he lay helpless on the floor, cops say. The 37-year-old victim told police that an argument began when he offered to help pay for the two men’s meal, which they were a few dollars short of paying for, inside Texas Chicken and Burgers in Flatbush on March 1. The two men got angry at the offer and soon grabbed the victim’s cane and began striking him in the head and body with it and their fists, police said. The men pummeled the victim harder when he tried to defend himself, and soon two other men entered the location to join in the beating. When the attackers fled, another man entered the Texas Chicken and Burgers spot and emptied the victim’s pockets before fleeing, police said. The victim was taken to an area hospital, where he was treated for multiple broken bones, contusions and lacerations. Video from inside the restaurant shows the vicious attack as it unfolded in full view of other customers. |
It’s the biggest shopping day of the year. There are tons of deals—and not-really-deals—out there. So we combed through every one we could find, and ranked them all. Here’s your Ultimate Black Friday guide: happy hunting. Deals are grouped by category, just like our daily Dealzmodo lists. So you’ll find ebook readers like the Kindle and Nook listed under Personal Portables and Peripherals, while the cheap Xbox 360/Kinect bundles are under Gaming. And this year, we even added a My Wishlist feature that lets you save your favorite deals in one place. Just click the + sign to the right of each item to add it to your wishlist. For online deals—like those at ThinkGeek, for example—you’ll be able to click through to the store. Otherwise, we’ve just collected and organized all of the flyers and circulars that you’d be thumbing through anyway. Advertisement We’ll be updating this continuously throughout the next week, so make sure to keep checking back. Editor’s Note: This post contained scripts and formatting that are not supported by the current version of our CMS, Kinja, so they have been removed. We promise, the deals were really, really good, though. |
Earlier this week, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon arrested over 40 white supremacists in what it calls “Operation White Christmas.” “Merry Christmas,” Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said in a statement. “Here’s a gift from the U.S. attorney.” The investigation began six months ago, when deputies from the sheriff’s office began infiltrating local white supremacist groups, including European Kindred, Rude Krude Brood and Irish Pride. Most of those arrested joined these gangs while in prison, and their crimes largely consisted of intimidating their own members to prevent them from cooperating with authorities. The members of the gang are also involved in the production and distribution of methamphetamine, the trafficking of firearms and the theft of many high end items, including stringed instruments. At the news conference announcing the arrests, the police stash including 74 firearms seized from suspects, as well as table full of cellos, violas and violins stolen from a shipping container behind the Kennedy Violins store last week. “These arrests deal a significant blow to the leadership of these white supremacist gangs,” Multnomah County Sheriff Dan Staton told The Oregonian. Watch The Oregonian‘s coverage of the police’s new conference below. |
For those who somehow didn’t notice, I remind that a city-building game Ostriv is now on closed testing stage. And I have to admit, this was really a damn right decision. A numerous team of testers gathered so much useful information, that would take a year for me to do it alone. Besides, it was a good opportunity to set up all the means for maintaining the feedback and send updates. Sure this will be very useful when the game goes public. Also I’d like to thank all the testers for investing their time to fill in the application form with really inspiring stories! Yes, I read them all 🙂 Sure it takes a lot of time, but I’m happy to learn so much more about my audience! Today I’m gonna release patch 8 for testing version of the game and send out 200 more keys for new testing applicants. Meanwhile, let’s see what’s in the upcoming update: Added/Changed: Prioritizing closest carts Now resources can also be taken from paused construction Production limits: allows to choose how much of each resource to produce Supply options for each building: allows to choose who supplies resources to it Tuned down some of annoying sounds A cowshed can now use nearby fallow field (needs to be activated) Worker is not going back to workplace if workday is over (can go home directly) Improved movement algorythm: better performance, not getting stuck on low fps Showing nutrient demand for each crop in crop selection menu Now on citizen panel you can choose to show his/her path or follow him/her Also showing carried resource in citizen panel Showing migration status in empty houses properties + improved its readability Can also move with arrow keys now (All keys will be optional later) Clay is not refunded from deconstruction anymore. Refunding some nails though Much better code for handling fields: less hiccups, smooth plowing, less navigation fails and crashes Highlighting currently selected building in build queue Less overlapping of fishing boats Rotate field entry with R and T A simple income/expences breakdown table in economy panel Use ostriv_settings.exe to disable multisampling or anisotropic filtering (solves some hardware issues) to disable multisampling or anisotropic filtering (solves some hardware issues) Updated readme.txt with some new information Fixed: Now can normally snap fields to each other (as intended) Another ghost overlay after removing a field Limiting multisampling to supported by GPU – preventing crash on some radeon cards Amount of clay in a pit was increased on each game load Issue with missed keys (WASD or Alt) Newborn cows was not assigned to a cowshed Bottom panel had wrong hitboxes in fullscreen mode Now showing shadow on fences No more kids too old for their mother Small technical improvement preventing some hiccups Bottom panel didn’t work on first click sometimes Now can order plough even when ox is walking 🙂 Routes on worldmap should be displayed correctly on all screen sizes now Incorrect behaviour of construction milestones (building roof before the walls) Sometimes resources could stay reserved after families moved out Now saving doors state properly Crash after save-loaded during boat construction Boat workshop guy can’t walk on water anymore. No underground rowing as well Random crash on pausing construction Stuck on construction when have nails but no wood Sometimes hole disappeared from the well after save/load Some navigation wierdness after demolishing buildings Selection outline for fields was incorrect No more construction flags under water Current crop in crop rotation wasn’t properly saved When ordered oxen or bulls but no cows, nothing was delivered A house between other houses didn’t snap fences A house fence wrongfully removed in certain snapping conditions Can’t place houses overlapping with other houses anymore Proper saving for current agent animation, wagon position and terraforming Now when cancelling construction, foresters will stop chopping trees for it Construction stucked on removing trees after loading game Now changing tree chopping priority when construction priority changed Some more thigs I was too lazy/busy to write down Remember that you can discuss the game with other testers on a subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/OstrivGame/ as long as you avoid posting screenshots and videos. All the immediate news from me on Twitter! See you there! |
‘Powerful People In The West And In Kiev Do Not Want A Ukrainian Settlement’ – Prof. Stephen Cohen I’ve said this for months could easily become as dangerous as the Cuban missile crisis was. June 19, 2015 Arguing that there is a peace and war party in almost every capital, Professor Stephen Cohen, scholar of Russian studies at Princeton and New York Universities, told RT he believes the war party in Washington is against the Minsk agreement. US policies in Ukraine have failed to achieve their goals. With violence flaring up once again, and relations fraught with tensions, diplomacy seems to be the best option. But is there a consensus in the US on the acceptable terms of a political settlement, and how are the dynamics of US internal politics likely to affect its policy toward Russia, especially as the 2016 presidential race heats up? To find answers to these questions RT’s program “Worlds Apart” talked to Professor Stephen Cohen, Professor of Russian Studies and History Emeritus at NYU, and Professor of Politics Emeritus at Princeton University. RT: A few weeks ago US Vice President Joe Biden said that “everybody wants an end to this conflict in Ukraine, but the question is on whose terms and how will it end.” Are the terms to end this conflict are still being negotiated and if so what options are on offer? Stephen Cohen: My perspective is different from that of Vice President Biden. We are now after all in almost two years – a year and a half – of a new Cold War between the US and Russia – an exceedingly dangerous confrontation over Ukraine, which I think and I’ve said this for months could easily become as dangerous as the Cuban missile crisis was. The politics of this have now spread far and wide including in Europe. It seems to me, and this is my fundamental analysis, that in almost every capital – Washington, Brussels and certainly in Kiev, and even to some degree in Moscow – there is what I call a peace and a war party. The Minsk agreements, which were agreed upon by the Chancellor of Germany, the President of France, the President of Ukraine and of course President Putin of Russia represented then a peace party. It set out in addition to a ceasefire in Ukraine very far reaching, fundamental terms of negotiation to end the civil war in Ukraine, to end the proxy war between the West and Russia. It’s clear to me that there are powerful people in the West and in Kiev who do not want a negotiated settlement. RT: Vice President Biden, who recently said that he talks to either PM Yatsenyuk or President Poroshenko on almost a weekly basis – that’s what he said - do you think that Biden belongs to the peace or war camp when he is on the phone with them? Does he preach reconciliation? SC: He says he talks to them three times per week not once a week. But we have evidence, something very dramatic just happened. As you know, in late May Secretary of State John Kerry went to Sochi. First he met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then, remarkably, he met for four hours with President Putin. It was absolutely clear from what was said in Sochi at the press conferences afterwards that Kerry’s mission had been to say that the US, the Obama administration, now fully backed the Minsk agreement. That would put Kerry in the peace party. It was kind of a surprise because he had been taking a very hard line. However, look what then happened. Kerry was attacked, literally criticized, for having gone to Sochi by members of the Obama administration. The most vivid example reported in the New York Times last Sunday I think was that a former very close policy aide to Vice President Biden told the reporter they didn’t know why Kerry had gone to Sochi, and that he had sent bad messages and that his trip had been counterproductive. So you conclude from this - and it confirms my thesis - that there is a war party in every capital and even in the White House itself. RT: Despite this cheerful good guy image that Mr. Biden has, he also has, I would say, a militaristic track record in the Senate. Here was somebody who was in favor of the second Iraq war, NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia, he is in favor of NATO’s expansion eastwards. Do you think there might be a division within the administration itself and if so which side is President Obama more likely to listen to? SC: I just gave you the evidence. It’s apparent that there is a division inside the administration. Kerry goes to Sochi, says certain things with Lavrov and with Putin, he criticizes - by the way, this was the first public criticism I have ever seen by a member of the Obama administration of the Kiev regime, of its leadership. He criticized Poroshenko for saying that he, Poroshenko, would by force take Crimea and Donbass. That’s completely contradictory to what Poroshenko agreed to in Minsk and Kerry criticized him publicly. He said, “if that’s what Poroshenko has on his mind, I advise him to drop this idea and support Minsk instead.” |
The current state of rugby on Canadian TV is dire. Hoping to watch the All Blacks in Chicago this weekend? I hope you bought a ticket for the game itself. This is not going to be a good autumn to be a rugby fan in Canada. With TV rights prices shooting up in the UK and France, Canadian broadcasters have said, “no thanks.” When not even pub and bar pay-per-view vendor Premium Sports declines to pick up the rights, you know things are bad. Yes, the asking price for overseas rights to international rugby matches from Ireland and the UK are obviously so high, Canadian vendors don’t see a way to make any money in re-selling them to venues who would charge a cover charge to interested fans, let alone via standard television distribution. That’s why, for example, there’s no way in Canada, legally, to watch this weekend’s Ireland vs. New Zealand — or any of the All Blacks games this month. Want to watch Wales vs. Australia on Saturday? Nope, won’t be able to. England vs. South Africa on the 12th. Again, nope. New Zealand vs. France on Nov. 26? Again…ok you get the point. (UPDATE: TV5 has France’s games in French.) We’re living in a rugby wasteland. In fact, the only games available from overseas, other than Canada’s tour, are very low-rent. Japan’s home match vs. Argentina is one, the Barbarians’s matches vs. South Africa and Fiji and the New Zealand Maori matches vs. the USA and the Harlequins are the only offerings the US-based online streaming service the Rugby Channel has the Canadian rights for. These are the Rugby Channel’s online offerings for Canadian viewers pic.twitter.com/4QVQl3qKf0 — Patrick Johnston (@risingaction) November 2, 2016 Only one of Canada’s tour, the game vs. Ireland on Nov. 12, is on regular TV (as of now, the matches vs. Romania and Samoa will be on an online stream). The CBC has just picked up the rights, a small piece of good news. They seems to be dipping their toe into a new area of interest, so pleased they were with the interest levels for rugby sevens during the Rio Olympics. Of course, XVs is a whole different beast, but given the decent number (150,000) TSN drew last June for Canada vs. Japan at BC Place and the solid numbers last year’s Rugby World Cup pulled, you can see why the CBC has interest in exploring a new audience. But the high rights fees may preclude all that. Canada isn’t the only place where rugby could go dark: Australia is in the midst of its own TV rights mess. As of this week, the Wallabies’ matches vs. England (Dec. 4) and France (Nov. 20) aren’t going to be on any Australian channel. According to Iain Payten of the Sydney Daily Telegraph, the rights fees were so high that Network 10, the usual over the air broadcaster, declined to bid on any games, pay TV channel Fox Sports declined altogether and BeIN sports only went for the lower-priced matches vs. Wales, Scotland and Ireland. UPDATE: BeIN is now showing all five games for Australian viewers. In the past, some matches have seen rights secured just days in advance, Payten notes, but the mere fact he wrote the column is telling. Don’t hold your breath, was his suggestion. Rugby has gone the way of big-money, and plenty are set to be left behind. If neither the France nor England match are picked up, it will be the first time since 1984 a Wallabies test won’t be anywhere on Australian TV — and that match 32 years ago, long before professionalism, was in Fiji. The Sydney Morning Herald’s Peter FitzSimons notes it’s about not enough Australians wanting to watch, but it’s also about a gamble on the part of the rights-holders: they see a price on interest and assumed foreigners would pay. Will they adjust going forward? Or does the overseas money just not matter anymore? If it’s the latter, Canada will be in the cold for a long time; the former, well Canadian fans can only hope that’s the case. The situation south of the border is somewhat better, as ESPN3 is showing some games, along with NBC Sports (they’ve got this weekend’s action on delay) and the Rugby Channel. So, this November, stay warm and good luck chasing streams, everyone. pjohnston@postmedia.com twitter.com/risingaction facebook.com/tryandtackle |
For the first time in seven years, U.S. forces in Afghanistan went a month without a combat casualty. It’s the third time in a decade there has been a month without combat deaths in Afghanistan. The last time there was a combat casualty-free month in the war was January 2007, according to NBC News. After more than a decade at war in Afghanistan, it’s a milestone for the U.S. and President Obama’s administration, which has sought to de-escalate its military involvement around the world. U.S. troops are expected to fully withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of this year, following Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s refusal to sign the latest security agreement that would have left some troops in the country past 2014. American troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011. Two allied soldiers died in March fighting alongside the U.S., though neither died in combat. To date, 2,176 Americans have died in Afghanistan. Nearly 4,500 Americans died as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The news—and expected withdrawal—come as violence appears to be escalating in Afghanistan, threatening the credibility of an election there. Instability in Ukraine has drawn calls for a more foreceful American intervention from Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. |
On my glass shower door is a message scrawled across in black marker in my distinctly illegible handwriting that says “Look the other way.” It’s not some cryptic paranoid message, but instead it’s a daily reminder to consider other possibilities. I’ve found that, whenever we see everyone jumping on the bandwagon and all nodding in agreement about the next big thing, it’s the perfect time to take a glance over your shoulder and consider the alternative. It’s with this notion that I want to consider our view on recovery. No, I’m not going to cover the topic of over-recovering, as I have in the past, instead I want to consider what recovery does to us psychologically. It starts with a mindset: Whether it’s about ‘growth’, motivation or how we view stress, in the world of behavioral psychology, you can’t escape the term mindset. They are all the rage. The example for stress is a simple one. If little Johnny is on the starting line of a race, looking nervous, we’d be perceived as well meaning coaches if we run over to him and say “Just try to relax.” It’s a common occurrence throughout all sports, and based on the frequency of hearing these words, one would expect such coaching cues were in every coaching handbook known to man. Except, it’s bad advice. For the reason it back fires, we need to look no further than relationships. Why? Much to the bewilderment of confused partners throughout the world, when you tell your partner to ‘relax’ or ‘chill out’ they are likely to send a piercing glare back at you with a few choice words for good measure. While in the moment, you may see this as a horrible overreaction to you simply saying “relax”, what you are actually telling them is “Oh my god! You look incredibly stressed!” Our mind gets the message that if someone is telling me to ‘relax’ I have to look anxious and stressed out of my mind. As I’ve previously discussed on this blog and in the podcast, research shows that how we view stress impacts our ability to perform. See it as a challenge and it becomes beneficial. See it as a threat, and we dip down into survival mode. This might be simplistic, but the point is what matters for now. And that brings us to what we’ll call the recovery mindset. In talking about recovery to my co-author on our next book project, Brad Stulberg, he relayed a recent interview he’d done with mobility expert Kelly Starrett. In that meeting, Kelly stopped Brad in his tracks when he mentioned the word ‘recovery’and said something along the lines of “it’s adaptation, not recovery. You recover from an injury, not a workout.” This simple point was about framing our mindset. When we frame recovery as a repair module, then it all becomes about recovering until the next hard workout. To say we need recovery, is to say that we look pretty beat up. On the other hand, adaptation frames it as we are ‘growing’ and improving. Now, while this might seem like pseudo-psychology BS, if we step back and see how recovery is positioned in the world of sport, it’s a much-needed change. Straight into the tub: Walk into any college or professional team’s training room and you’ll likely see dozens of recovery modalities. From ice baths to sauna’s to compression sleeves that fill with air to any number of zapping, shocking, sounding machines that are all aimed at doing something for recovery. Add in the massage, chiro, adjustments, PT, and whatever else people do now a days and you have a venerable army of ways to get ready to perform. Am I saying that all of these modalities are useless? Absolutely not. They have a time and a place. I’ve discussed periodizing recovery modalities before, but this post isn’t about that. This blog is about the idea of creating dependency. The point is that if you use adjustments, massage, ice baths, or whatever else, you need to prevent the athlete from NEEDING them to perform. If we constantly adjust, in search of feeling perfect, we are constantly telling the athlete that the only way they can perform is if we have Joe do X, Y, and Z adjustment or for you to get in the normatec boots before practice. In other words, we are creating dependency. We are telling the athlete that in order to perform, they need A, B, and C modality performed. And if they don’t get it, they are not ready to perform. If it’s repeated enough, it becomes so ingrained that it’s a necessity. When an athlete is overly reliant on anything it becomes a crutch. When they need their 15-minute massage during the warm-up just to feel right, the message they are getting is that they can’t perform unless they feel perfect. If anything at all is ‘off’ or their legs just don’t feel right, then that becomes a built in reason why they cannot perform up to par. Dependency creates the illusion of a need for perfection. And perfection is a fragile state. Instead, while this might seem idiotic and horrible coaching, I think there is something refreshing to when an athlete has a less than ideal warm-up/pre-race/pre-workout routine and somehow still pulls it off. It doesn’t mean that this should be the ideal, but there’s something freeing when an athlete knows he is going into a warm up feeling subpar, that he or she can still pull out a solid race. I’ve had athletes do nothing but jump rope before a race and still run near PR’s. Was it ideal? absolutely not. But it takes away the reliance on feeling of perfection to run fast. Now, before you stop and say, “you want us to run through everything and never fix anything,” you’re missing the point. One of my high school coaches used to make the point to us, ‘you need to know the difference between pain that is soreness and pain that is leading to an injury.’ His point was that you have expected soreness and you have unexpected. You need to be able to discern when you need help and when you need to let things run it’s natural course. And the same goes with adding in modalities and performing. As coaches, it’s our job to set them up for performance in the best way, which may include using various modalities. But it’s also to engender the ability to perform at the highest stage in as many different venues and situations as possible. Athletes need to be able to perform at a high level, regardless of the state they are in. They need to have expectations of performing up to their abilities even if they are a little sore or flat or simply out of it. They might not perform their absolute best, but they should strive for it. After all, even with the best coaches, scientists, and therapists in the world, we can’t predict how the human body will react. Come Olympic final, you might feel horrible, even if you did everything right. And you need to know that even if you perceive yourself to be feeling subpar, you can still pull out your best performance. That doesn’t come from dependency. That comes from being robust, anti-fragile, and independent. It comes from creating a much needed disconnect between perception of how you feel and the results of the race. Recovery Addict: How overemphasizing recovery creates dependency |
A short report is better than no report! Even mysterious intelligence hackers have to attend school, and as a result, some weeks I won’t be able to feed you with my inner wittiness as much as normally. This is one of those. I ran off with a few screenshots nevertheless! Prettier city backgrounds! Destructible power sources are joining the mix—They can even be armored and have shields! Power outages suck… …unless you’re the cause! Finally, a bit of mysterious disco club poster art! Who will be the mystery guest? This caption is too long for this image! What does the self–proclaimed Duke of Cobalt say about these pictures? “5a7a7a7a2e2e2e206d7973746572792067756573742e2e2e206d7573742062652064756b652e2e2e 206f662064616e636520666c6f6f722e2e2e” Ah, he’s asleep. He has this weird habit of snoring in hexadecimal… Will Trif conquer all of his education shenanigans? Come back next Friday for more Cobalt goodies! |
Dear Next Big Thing: So you made it into Moto3. Well done. That feat alone makes you one of the most talented motorcycle racers on the planet. You may think that the hardest part of the battle is behind you. You would be wrong. You have your foot on the bottom rung of the ladder to MotoGP stardom. It is a rickety old thing, slick with grease, littered with broken rungs and what look like short cuts and easier routes. Before you embark on your Grand Prix adventure (and what an adventure it is!) some words of advice from someone who has been in the paddock long enough to have his illusions shattered. 1. You will get nowhere on talent alone The fact that you are in Moto3 means that your talent is not in question. To get here, you will have beaten the kids your own age, simply by being better at racing a motorcycle than them. That is already an impressive achievement. The trouble is, Moto3 is full of kids who have all done the same. They have come up through the same system, beat the same kids, towered head and shoulders above their contemporaries. They are at least as good as you are, and some of them will now have a couple of years of experience on you. Getting into the Grand Prix paddock is 90% talent. From here on in, you can't rely on just talent any longer. So how do you beat a rider who is just as talented as you are? You work on the details which make a difference. Switch your focus from talent to preparation, from being fitter and stronger than the riders you face. The fitter you are, the less quickly you tire. The less quickly you tire, the easier it is to concentrate as the race goes on. You need to be able to sustain your body at or above your anaerobic threshold for 45 minutes. If you can't do that, then the equally talented kid who is fitter than you will beat you in the last five laps. Fitness and talent together are a good basis, but they are not enough either. The last two pieces of the puzzle are by far the most important. Intelligence and attitude are the difference between a competitive rider, and a rider capable of winning. Intelligence is not pure IQ. It is being aware of what you know, and what you don't know, and what you need to know. It means understanding what your role is, and how you can play your part in winning. It means being able to analyze what you are feeling on the bike, prioritize what is most important, and communicate it as clearly as possible. It means deciding whether the dive under braking, mid-corner chatter or lack of grip on corner entry is your current biggest problem, and telling your engineer about it. Which brings me to attitude. Get the people in the garage on your side, and they will go the extra mile to help you win. Sure, you can be angry when they make mistakes, and angry when you don't achieve the results you want. But shouting all the time won't make you faster. Use your anger when it matters, when it will achieve results, but focus on what is important. You want to win? You need the help of the people around you. 2. You need a manager, but beware of the sharks You probably made it into Grand Prix thanks to the hard work of your parents, or perhaps a friend of the family. Along the way, they learned a lot about dealing with teams, and the way the business of motorcycle racing works. They want to make the next step with you, and will want to help you on your way. They won't be able to provide the help you need in Grand Prix, however. The Grand Prix paddock is a village, and like all villages, are a spider's web of relationships, a network of trust. Unlike most villages, however, the paddock sees a mass of new faces every year. Most only last a season or two. Very few newcomers make it past their third or fourth year. If you want to get on in the paddock, you need one of the old guard, one of the established members of the village to look after your interests. Managers who have been in Grand Prix racing for a while will know the teams, will know team managers, and most importantly, will have a network of sponsors they can call on for backing. Your manager from outside the paddock may be able to find you a great deal with a team. What they won't be able to do is sort out your helmet and leathers sponsorship, energy drink sponsorship, and a host of other smaller patches which will fill your leathers and make the difference between scraping along and having a solid financial foundation. A word of warning here, however. Most of the managers you will meet will be vampires out to suck you dry, signing you to deals which generate the most income for them, but which could potentially jeopardize your future in racing forever. For far too many of those who play at being rider managers, they see it as an easy way of making money, leeching off the back of the talented. Your problem is distinguishing between the good, the bad, and the ugly. How to do that is the hardest thing in the world, and something I can't help you with. Beware of big promises, and always ask yourself what a manager hopes to gain when they present an offer to you. Talk to other riders, and pay special attention to their horror stories. Those stories are probably your most important resource. 3. Ditch your dad (or your mum) Your parents are the most important people in your life. Their hard work and sacrifice is what put you in the situation you are today, staring your big opportunity in the face. Without them, you would not even be here. Time to ditch them. The Grand Prix paddock is full of people who have far more experience of every aspect of motorcycle racing than your parents ever had, even if they are former racers themselves. Your mother and father can't help manage you, they can't help set up your bike, they can't help motivate the team, they can't help you manage yourself at the racetrack. In any direct role at the racetrack, they will be more of a hindrance than a help. That does not mean that you never see them again. It can be a comfort and a help to have one or both parents around. But their role should be just that: a support, and a comfort. Someone to talk to away from the track, someone to help your relax, a shoulder to cry on from time to time. Above all, someone to help with the practical aspects, driving to and from the track, organizing travel and carrying bags. Once at the track, though, they cannot help you. After all, do you go their place of work and tell them how they should be doing their job and how they should handle their boss? There are great examples of how a parent can help alongside a rider. Dek Crutchlow, father of Cal, is one. He provides practical support and help, and is around to provide entertainment and light relief. His only involvement at track side is to hold Crutchlow's pit board. That is enough, and in that role, he is a hundred times more helpful than some of the parents hanging around other garages. 4. You need a good team You are talented. You know you are fast. You have taken my advice about physical fitness, about hard work, about attitude, about using your intelligence to heart. You enter the paddock filled with hope and optimism. You are ready to conquer the world. Unfortunately, you face perhaps the biggest hurdle of all. The paddock is filled with teams which are at best mediocre, and at worst verging on incompetent. That is not to say they are not passionate about racing – they give up so much to be here that they have to be passionate – but passion alone is not enough. What do they do wrong? They don't work systematically, relying more on instinct to try to set up the bike than raw data. They don't have the experience with analyzing data to be able to use it properly. They don't have the right personnel to do the work needed. They don't have the skill or experience to prepare every tiny detail of the bike as perfectly as the top teams do. Most of all, they don't have the money to fix these problems. Most likely, they have turned to you to solve this issue. You, as a rider, have been told you need to bring money to help pay for your ride. This is your bargaining chip: find out who the good mechanics are, who the good data engineers are, who the good crew chiefs are. If you are paying to ride, you want to buy the best ride you can afford. That means having the right people in place to help you. How can you tell which team you should ride with, which crew chiefs you should be working with? Compare the results of riders when they switch teams. If a rider goes from running in the top 5 one year to struggling for points the next, the chances are the new team is to blame. Likewise, if they went from struggling one year to podiums the next, you know which of the two teams to join. It may not even be technical expertise or experience, it may be simply not understanding how to manage a rider. Want an example? Mika Kallio, 2014 to 2015. At the Marc VDS Racing team, he had a crew chief who understood him, knew when to follow his feedback, and knew when to pull him back and tell him to ride what he has. At Italtrans, they listened to Kallio too much, and he disappeared down the rabbit hole of minutiae which Kallio believed would lead him to perfection. Instead, it led him to the middle of the field. 5. Paying for a ride? Make sure you get value for money Unless you came in with a top team, you will have been asked to pay for your ride. It is a deplorable aspect of motorcycle racing, but it is hardly new. We used to call racers who paid for a ride privateers. Now we call them, well, riders. Given how hard it is to get in to Grand Prix, you may well feel a sense of gratitude at being given a chance. Lose that feeling as soon as you can. The reality is that a team which is asking you to pay is probably not very good at something, namely, raising sponsorship. Why are they not good at raising sponsorship? Because they don't have the people to help their riders get results, and they don't have the people to sell their product – motorcycle racing – to potential sponsors. If you are bringing money to a team, you are a customer, which means you get to make reasonable demands. You need assurances of good equipment, and good people around you. If you end up paying €300,000 or more for a seat on a Moto3 or a Moto2 bike, you had better make sure you get value for money. That's a lot of cash to stump up to finish 28th every week. 6. It's not about you - don't take criticism personally The biggest shock you will face in Grand Prix racing is when you return to the pits after the first session of practice. All of a sudden, three or four people will crowd around you, pens and clipboards at the ready, waiting to take note of your every word. That can be extremely intimidating, and can cause you to feel nervous about what you say. Some riders even just either shut up altogether, or say anything, so as not to look stupid in front of their team. Don't do that. All those people who surround you have the same goal: to get you around the track as fast as possible, and hopefully, ahead of everyone else. Be honest about what you feel on the bike, tell them what the biggest problem was preventing you from going any faster, tell them what the bike did well and what it did badly. If the bike felt fine, say so. If it didn't, say what was wrong, and where it was holding you up. Be honest and open in your criticism of the bike, do not hold back to spare the feelings of your crew chief and mechanics. But in turn, be prepared for them to criticize you. You may tell them that the bike feels terrible going into a particular corner, but they may respond by telling you that the problem is with you. They may see you need to brake later, or harder, or deeper, or sit on the bike differently, or any number of different things. Don't take that personally: it really isn't about you. Their comments are not an attack on you as a person, as a young rider. When they tell you to brake at a different point, they are not saying you suck at braking, they are telling you that they know from the data and from experience that that particular corner needs a particular approach. They are offering suggestions to you to help you go faster, not saying you suck. You need their honest feedback to help you go faster just as much as they need your honest feedback to help make the bike better. The end goal is the same: to go faster. 7. The bike will always be shit And now, for the greatest secret to success of all. The hopeless hunk of junk you just jumped off, that won't allow you to brake where you want to, that can't get you out of the corner how you want to, that needs all your strength to get around the corner? That's as good as it is going to get. The bike you have underneath you is what you have to deal with, and will never be anywhere near perfect. It won't even be particularly good. What about all the great racing motorcycles of the past? I hear you say. The honest truth is they were all awful. That magnificent Yamaha M1 which dominated 2015 with Rossi and Lorenzo? Sure, it went round corners and accelerated, but it was weak on the brakes, wouldn't let you force it into the corner, and needed to be treated with kid gloves in every corner, or you would lose half a second. The dominant Honda of Stoner and Márquez? Sure, it was a monster on the brakes, but it had a horribly aggressive power delivery and took every ounce of strength just to control it. So how did Lorenzo, Rossi, Stoner, Márquez all win their world championships? Like all of the great champions who came before them, by shutting up and riding the bike. By understanding that they can make the bike a bit better in some places, but that it would always feel terrible in others. By working on their riding styles, their approach, their technique to get the best out what the factories had given them. By understanding what strengths of the bike they could exploit, and how to minimize the weaknesses of the bike. When Casey Stoner was on the Ducati, he had to trick the bike into overcoming its understeer, find a way to lose the front and save it just to get around the track and win anyway. At the ripe old age of 36, Valentino Rossi had to teach himself a completely new riding style, to manage a bike very different from the one he rode when he first entered the class. He watched the young kids who had painted a target on his back, then worked his ass off to copy and improve upon the tricks they used against him. This is the point. The bike your team will give you will be the best bike they can build for you, using your input to try to get the set up as near perfect as possible. They will try to give you a bike that gives you the confidence you need to lap the racetrack as quickly as you can, and quicker than the rest. The bike will still feel awful, it won't do the things you want it to, and it will be worse than other bikes at some points in the track. It will feel like the bike wants to pitch you into the gravel everywhere, and is looking for a way to betray you. What you have to remember is that your bike isn't the only one that is shit. Every other rider on the track is going through exactly the same thing. They too are screaming in their helmet about how awful their bike is, how it won't turn, won't brake and won't accelerate. They are using exactly the same words to describe their bikes as you are. The only difference is they are doing it in a different language, in Italian, Spanish, Czech, Japanese, German, French, or Dutch. Their teams are telling them the same thing as your team is telling you: brake earlier here, or later there. Use more throttle here, and less there. We can fix this on the entry to Turn 1, but we can't do anything about Turn 3. A final word Motorcycle racing is a mechanical sport. The machine on which you compete is a key part of the equation. But the key part of any sport is the human factor, the individuals involved. The bike is important, but not as important as the people you surround yourself with, and the way you communicate with those people. Whatever the machine you find yourself on, in the end, it will come down to you. You will make the difference between success and failure, by your approach, your attitude, the effort you put in, and the way you treat those around you. It won't be easy. In fact, it will be the hardest thing you have ever done. But it isn't impossible. Good luck. You will need a bit of that too. Gathering the background information for long articles such as these is an expensive and time-consuming operation. If you enjoyed this article, please consider supporting MotoMatters.com. You can help by either taking out a subscription, buying the beautiful MotoMatters.com 2016 racing calendar, by making a donation, or by contributing via our GoFundMe page. |
I am often asked: “Is there a God?” When I respond “Yes”, I am then asked: “Since you can talk to the dead, have you seen God?” To which I frequently respond: “Since God is not dead, no.” However, in my work, I have spent an enormous amount of time communicating with angels, who are in regular communication with, and within the presence of, God. This communication leaves behind a very distinct energy signature that, just like when I’m reading for an individual, can be decoded, at least in part, and observed. Though I don’t think I’m the most dull bulb on the tree – I’m confident that I’m not able to comprehend the full breadth and width of God, in all of It’s applications and dimensions. I am humbled to be cognitive of many aspects of God – yet many I am certain remain out of my periphery, simply because I would not be able to identify, or frankly, comprehend them. After all, I’m just one lone Clairvoyant, folks. Though we’d all love to be treated to that dramatic Cecil B. DeMille moment of seeing, with our own eyes, a fearless God clad in golden robes barreling through the clouds on a chariot made of lightning, His Abraham-like flowing hair silver in the moonlight – it appears that “feeling God” is a much more common occurrence for Humankind. I would never presume to be so arrogant as to claim that I was speaking directly for God with any of this blog posting – I’m not a self-proclaimed prophet or Jim Jones, mind you, and no one will be required to drink any kool-aid after reading this article. Yet because of my work, especially with Spiritual Physics – something that God wrote the book on — I do seem to have a comfortable working grasp on the “face of God” in a way that I am able to understand. I say “able to understand” because though God’s character is the same, It will represent itself differently to each one of us, depending on not only where we are at in our lives, but how we’ve been raised. I do know, through my work with angels, that God meets us where we are at — not the other way around. It is ego that demands that others meet us where we are at. God has no ego at all. An ego is a reflection of ourselves that is dependent upon on the actions, words, or deeds of others. Since God is not dependent on our acknowledgment or understanding of It – then ego has no place in the character of God. The fact is, one does not require any additional spiritual aptitudes to “see God”, as the entity, or energy that we call God is present all around us, everyday. If you’ve seen the spark of one’s smiling eyes – you’ve seen God. If you’ve been stopped in your tracks by a gorgeous sunset – you’ve seen God. If you’ve ever burst into tears due to being in the presence of someone who has moved your heart to the point of bursting with love – you’ve seen God. If you’ve ever had food that melts in your mouth and causes your eyes to roll back in your head – you’ve experienced God. If you’ve ever smelled a fresh rose while it was still growing from the stalk, or inhaled high mountain pine trees – you’ve experienced God. If you’ve ever forgiven someone who has greatly wronged you – you have become the heart of God. God is often difficult to comprehend for us, as It is a singluar consciousness yet an all-encompassing force, the fabric of all things, with a distinct personality that differs in delivery for every person alive. Imagine if you had the ability to instantaneously know exactly how to represent yourself to every human being walking the earth. Now, imagine that such a phenomenal ability makes absolutely no difference to you – because you are already one with every single person walking the earth. In fact, you’d consider this “ability” as simply “your existence”. God is hardly impressed by It’s own design. I say “It” not out of disrespect to an amazing Parent Creator, of whom I’m only able to glean tiny pieces based upon my own understanding of the Universe, but out of acknowledgement that wow – this entity, this consciousness, is WAY past having a gender. God was “the Father” when the administrators of God’s identity were Patriarchal. God was “the Mother” when the administrators of God’s identity related the ability to give birth to giving life, ergo – Matriarchal. God was “Great Spirit” when the administrators of God’s identity had no social attachment to whether or not one gender was greater than another in the balance of life. Again, we personify God to give ourselves a reference point for deference when referring to God. God doesn’t need to “Godify” us to understand us – because we are already part of what God is. We just don’t realize it, and God does. The fact is – in my years of experience in identifying energy signatures (which is the same aptitude I use when working with law enforcement on cold cases) there is no other energy signature that I have encountered, in this Universe or any other parallel to ours, that shares the exact same attributes as God. God is a one-off. Though many items, including people, in this third dimension (as well as in many other dimensions) have “God’s fingerprint” all over their design, including angels – that is a far cry from finding another “god” out there. Just because I can identify the energy behind a missing person’s handprint doesn’t mean they are there in the room. We are not separate from our Parent Creator. We never have been. It is a crafted lie of the Darkness that has attempted to convince us over the eons that we must stand and shout to the sky toward a distant and punishing entity who remains deaf to our cries for help, disgusted by our iniquities, and numb to our pain. That is not God. Again, that is humanity’s personification of an abusive parent god. Our Parent Creator simply would never experience that type of response to Humankind – but another human certainly would. Especially one who is attempting to control humanity through fear by creating the mythology of an all-powerful vengeful entity who will toss us on the “disqualified” pile for – yep, you guessed it – being human. GOD isn’t that petty, but PEOPLE certainly are. The wrong doctrine that “we are not worthy to participate with our Parent Creator due to our humanity” is, in effect, in direct opposition with Spiritual Physics Golden Rule of Like Attracts Like. Ergo, if God created Humankind, and God is all things, then God would not be repelled by our negative “flaws”, as those flaws are part of God’s design, which is perfect in it’s balance. God is all about cause and effect. And God has the time to watch the pendulum swing from one side to the other, while balance is restored. To God, the “act of achieving balance naturally” appears to be the most important aspect of holding all of this mayhem together. Since God doesn’t have an expiration date, God can “wait”, or more accurately, continue to exist in the moment indefinitely while all of this “balancing” is occurring. What may seem like great injustice to we who are hanging out down here on this spinning rock called Earth for a mere blink of 80 years or so – about half the lifespan of a sea turtle and about one tenth the lifespan of a Saguaro cactus — that same injustice is simply part of God’s plan to create justice, which may, in its perfection, take 300 years to complete. In this “leveling process”, it’s been my observation that many, many more lessons and progressive movements forward are made by Humanity than when the pendulum is either at the far side of chaos, or rocked back into the deep end of contentment. Learning patience in how the balance is restored is part of the lesson that humanity is experiencing right now, in this extreme transition known as the “2012 phenomenon”. The human preoccupation with whether or not God is real has always fascinated me. God, just like air, is a moving, visceral thing that though breathed in everyday, remains widely unnoticed until something erupts into it, giving it color. For instance, every picnicking couple lives a clear day. The very thing that this couple is celebrating, the clear day, is nothing but endless, unencumbered air. Yet oddly, it is not the clear air that receives the praise for the glorious weather, but the visible sun. If the clear day is interrupted by a forest fire, whose smoke then hangs in the air, our attention is suddenly drawn to the fact that my goodness – the sky is huge, as it’s filled up with high-plooming clouds. Humanity needs a reference for which to experience God, because God in God’s native format is all things at once. Understanding this concept is a little bit out of humanity’s wheelhouse, and the concept of God then becomes too vast, and too vague, for each one of us to get our brains around. We are spiritual beings hyper-connected to one another through the Spiritual Fabric that weaves together all living matter, yet we are having a singular physical experience, so the “we are all one but separate” concept is both real – and confusing – to Human Beings. As such, our learned realm of understanding is developed by what we can see, hear, taste, touch – what we can experience on a physical level, because plain and simple – it’s easier. Since God is both physical and spiritual, we tend to associate God with physical markers that evoke an emotional response – a crucifix, ocean waves crashing, doves flying overhead, or a moonrise. Human Beings are “signs and wonders” junkies, feeling our way through life no different than a catfish dragging it’s whiskers across the murky muddy bottom of the Swanee River. Like the catfish, we tend to only “see” what we can “feel” right in front of us, and the rest is out of our realm of eyesight because our environment is clouded with the murk of Darkness. And make no mistake — Darkness knows how to snare us in this environment. Just like “catfish Noodlers”, the fearless fellas who submerge themselves in the pitch black waters of the Louisiana swamps and stick their hands in the grinding mouths of giant catfish in order snatch them up out of the water by the gills – Darkness has no problem reaching straight into our spirit and trying to grab us, to drag us further down into the mud. Like the Noodler, Darkness expects to get it’s hand bit a little. It’s part of the job. But like the Noodler, Darkness decides it’s well worth it if the prey snagged will feed a village. One way that Darkness keeps us pinned by the gills is to whisper in the ears of the fearful that there is only ONE way in which God is represented. This is a very touchy subject for many, especially those raised in an incredibly religious household. There is no difference in the vitriol of the Zealous Evangelical Christian, the Zealous Radical Muslim, and the Zealous Atheist, though all would be highly offended by that statement. (We do tend to loathe in others the tendencies we often loathe in ourselves.) Atheists are interesting, in that to me, they have much more in common with the Religious Right, which also subscribes to a black and white “it is or it isn’t” belief system — like “all science is Voo Doo” and “dinosaurs are a government conspiracy”. The Atheistic act of claiming that there cannot exist in the Universe any intelligent energetic force greater than ourselves that would affect us is, to me, much too limiting, when we, as a species, aren’t even sure what’s exactly at the bottom of our oceans — let alone different dimensions. It is one thing to claim that one does not subscribe to any organized religion, or any preconceived notion of a god made in our own image. But to simply claim there IS NO GOD, especially when science is thrown under the bus as the “underwriter” of that opinion – contradicts itself wildly, as Quantum Physics breaks matter down to an energetic level that often can’t be explained. Plus, often times the zealous Atheist argument tends to read as someone with a personal ax to grind, as those people have often been harmed emotionally in the name of God, by some dictatorial jerk who claims to work for God. Let’s face it — if I was punched in the face repeated times by someone wearing a New York Yankees shirt, who claimed to be a hardcore fan – I’d probably hate the Yankees, too. But let’s not all throw the baby out with the bathwater. Grey area, people – grey area. Religion and God have nothing to do with one another, except Religion decided to franchise the concept of God, without paying any licensing fees. Nice. Conversely, to go the opposite route, the route of Religious Zealots who attempt to own a singular denominational copyright on the identity of God, is — simply put – ludicrous. It’s even more ludicrous to suggest that the fullness of the identity of this one-off entity known as God could be captured in only ONE book told through the experience of only ONE culture in only ONE part of the world. I say this from the perspective of someone who, even in my limited understanding of God, can identify countless energy strains and signatures within God that are so vastly different, and so enormous, that one book simply couldn’t hold it all. Sheesh, even J.K. Rowling wrote more than one Harry Potter book. Again, seeing as that we Human Beings are “signs and wonders” junkies, having a religious book to outline the partial character of God, at least in respect to Humanity, through the re-telling of tribal histories, allegories, fables and parables, seems to be a winning combination from religion to religion. From the Christian Bible to Islam’s Quran to the Book of Mormon to the Jewish Tanakh to the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and even to The Tao, God is represented and re-represented over and over again, in different ways, to appeal to the different cultures who wrote the text. Yet miraculously, though all of these texts were penned by Human Beings – God is always saying the same thing, imparting the same lessons, from culture to culture. If there was ever any confusion about whether or not God somehow had a hand in writing any of these religious texts – therein lies a compelling argument: The exact same concepts being represented over and over again, yet in different languages, different histories, different geographical areas, different cultures – and even different epochs. Darkness wishes Humanity to fight over which version of God is “correct”. As long as we are fighting, this astounding fact that so many versions of “God’s Word” state the exact same lessons, even though so many cultural, moral, and historical timeline differences exist between the many religious texts — goes unnoticed. However, this rather uncanny fact should be enough to stop Humanity in our tracks to evaluate this most ponderous set of written “evidence”, enough to put down our verbal and literal weapons to agree: Maybe this entity is real? And maybe It understands us better than we understand ourselves? And maybe in It’s infinite wisdom, It realized that It needed more than one visual aid, and written modality, to unify the whole world? And maybe, the minute we, as a species, truly accept that one nation or the other doesn’t need to own the proprietary rights to God – we would be able to feel God, in the connectedness we’d feel for one another? And maybe, in fully relaxing into this connectedness – we’d truly see God, for the first time? Now there’s a thought. However, to give up the power that any one person, or any one nation, is able to wield over a population by dividing the masses on “God’s word”, means that the masses must no longer respond to the hollow misrepresentations of God. And as long as there are people who operate under a limitation consciousness, there will be room for Darkness to exploit this blatant Entity Identity Theft on behalf of religions everywhere. Yes, there are Spiritual Physics to dealing with Light and Dark. When I’ve encountered demonic entities, they don’t turn tail and run when I state “In the name of Buddha.” They do, however, scatter like angry cockroaches under a resentful spotlight if I evoke the name of Jesus. This could be that I was raised in a Christian household, and as such, put great weight and energy into my belief of the power of Jesus over Darkness. However, just as God has an identifiable energy that is all It’s own – I’ve noticed that so does Jesus – and it’s a pretty BIG energy. Not to say that there aren’t other very big energies out there, but Jesus is my “go to” for many situations in life. So as much as I’d like to ruminate on the thought that my sheer BELIEF is enough to chase away the demons – I think the fact that I am towing the big Jesus energy behind me is probably what is spooking the roaches under the sink. That, and they are particularly uncomfortable with Michael the Arc Angel, and he appears to pop in during demonic clean-ups. However, I have used Buddhist centering techniques to keep myself calm in the face of demonic entities, and it greatly reduces the effect that the demonic entities have had on me, or the environment. Calm is calm, and chaos is chaos, and one does not beget the other. But this isn’t a dissertation on which version of God is the most powerful. It’s an observation on how the God energy is understood by Humanity, and translated into a spiritual defense against Darkness. All guns can kill, but not all are fired the same way. God is real. However, God is not the “white haired guy on a cloud” that we have fashioned after King James. Jesus also didn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes. But the good news is that according to what I’ve witnessed in working with these angels, God could care less how we paint God, because every version of God that we can create to mirror ourselves – has already been accounted for by God, because for God – we ARE part of the body of God, ergo, all of our versions of God are part of God as well. Give free will and infinite creativity to Humanity and watch Humanity create a thousand versions of God. According to God’s law of Like Attracts Like, that’s all cause and effect – and the system is working perfectly. C.S. Lewis captured this ideal so eloquently in one of his Narnia books, where the main characters were in Narnia (heaven adjacent) and saw one of the followers of Tash (Satan adjacent) wandering around the green paradise pastures. One of the characters became incredibly upset that this Tash-worshipper wasn’t doomed to the underworld, but was instead relaxing in Narnia, and mentioned it to the Great Aslan (Jesus adjacent). Aslan’s response was to calm down the zealous and upset character by mentioning that the man in question was welcome to be in Narnia because he had been worshipping ASLAN the whole time, even though the man called him TASH. The implication was that God knows our heart, and what we “call” God is inconsequential. When you feel love, you feel God. When you feel compassion for someone you’ve never met, you are feeling God. When you create something from scratch, whether it’s a great pie or a song or an oil-painted masterpiece, you are manifesting a miracle out of thin air – loaves and fishes – and you are one with God’s process of creation. Our ability to create anything or any situation, Good or Bad, is part of our spiritual genetics. We are miracle makers on two legs, yet we believe ourselves to be victims of a tyrannical system, because we have bought into the belief system of personal limitation that has been presented as an option to Humanity, by Darkness. You don’t need to fear that God doesn’t hear you, because it is impossible for God not to hear you, as we are all part of the body of God, and part of each other. Sometimes, it may take a moment for God to get to your petitions – your prayers – not because God is “too busy”, but because each prayer has attached to it an infinite number of cause-and-effect issues that, when the prayer is answered, will then affect the three-dimensional environment in which the prayer is manifested, creating a “butterfly effect” that must immediately be addressed, somewhere else, in a beautiful way. God never breaks God’s own rules, and the biggest rule is: There must be balance in all things. So be patient, and realize that God is not some mystical thing that is out of your reach. God is love, and we are all part of the God, and therefore, we are love, which is why we panic and hurt so badly when we feel as though love is not within our grasp. It is as though we are losing our very essence, and in many ways, that is true. We cannot be without love, for ourselves and for others. God is within you, and outside of you, and in your kind actions, and in the beauty of the sunset and sunrise, and in the delight of a hot chocolate cake. God is joy and free will and creation and tempered wisdom in choice making. God is waves of peace during times of chaos and that “knowingness” that it’s all going to be okay, even though the roof is falling in. We may not always experience God, or feel God with us, but that’s not because God doesn’t care about us, or has abandoned us. We are the body of God, and to abandon us would be like sawing off our own right arm and leaving it on the floor in the middle of the room. When we feel that God is not with us, it’s because our focus is on our pain at the time, on the immediacy of whatever is wounding us, rather than relaxing into “the whole” around us, to re-connect with that ever-present energetic current that flows around all things — often knowns as “The Holy Spirit” — the same current that, if we pay attention, directs us around obstacles. This myopic response to discomfort is part of what makes us Human. God doesn’t become offended when we are too caught up in any number of dramas in our life to take the time to experience the peace that we have within us – to be offended would infer that God feels as though It is not the focus of our lives, and in fact, God can’t NOT be the focus, because God is all things. As such, God hangs back while we explore how deeply we hurt, though I’m certain God would rather us be not hurting – not because God fears for our hearts, but because the act of remaining in pain doesn’t serve us after awhile. Again, we are out of balance, and God seeks balance for us, in all things. It is in this balance that we are free to experience God, and God loves nothing more than to commune with us at our own pace. What parent isn’t the biggest fan of their own children? If anyone tells you that God will not love you, for one reason or another – they are lying to you out of their own self-loathing. If anyone tells you that you are not good enough to be in God’s presence – they are lying to you, out of their own feelings of being lesser than another. If anyone tells you that there is only ONE true religion – they are lying to you, out of their own fear that they would make a wrong choice. If anyone tells you that there is no God – they are lying to you, out of their pain of having been abandoned by people who they have trusted. If anyone claims to oppress or kill for God – they are lying to themselves. People lie to themselves all the time about God, because to accept the idea of what God truly is – not the checklist-heavy petty middle-management figure in the Bible, but what God TRULY is — means to accept that they, too – are worthy of love. And regrettably, most people have been programmed that they are a terrible person, and need to remain a terrible person, in order to be a humble servant of God. However, God does not want us to serve “It”, as much as God sees the wisdom in us serving the system of goodness, respect, dignity and kindness to one another, and since God is the system, it is probably easier for people to simply boil that all down to “serving God.” And, to “serve God” means to serve the greatest good, as God IS the greatest good, period. When we take selfish action against another, it creates an imbalance in the flow, and that imbalance must be righted with an apology, or with making restitution somehow. As Humans, we tend to have knee-jerk reactions based on fear that require a little clean-up in aisle nine, and it’s in our best interest to simply accept this fact, to be patient with one another through these times, and heck – maybe even offer to bring our own mop and bucket to the clean-up, even if we didn’t make the mess. The bottom line is that no matter how much a part of God we are – we are not God. We are able to snap away glimpses of the enormous character and complexity of God, and we are able to smell and touch tiny parts of God on occasion, like when cuddling a newborn baby whose spirit has yet to be defined and molded by this limitation-heavy third dimension. We are not responsible to know it all, or to be perfect, yet we are responsible to be accountable for our own actions. Nowhere in any religious text does it state that each one of us can act like an unruly douche bag to one another, with no repercussion – simply because God loves us. Sure, God will love us, no matter how we choose to behave. Again, God doesn’t possess the “petty” gene. But, we can’t say the same for the neighbor that we’ve dramatically wronged. The act of forgiveness is not about granting absolution to another who has wronged us. Frankly, “absolution” is completely out of our jurisdiction, as Human Beings. That’s an issue of spiritual alchemy that happens between an individual and God Itself. The act of forgiveness is all about freeing ourselves from the energy that has been thrust upon us, as not to become the energy that has been thrust upon us. In other words, if I am mugged, and I do not process and release the feelings of fear and anger that I now feel – that not only have been drummed up in me, but have been transferred to me from the mugger, who felt fearful and angry enough to mug me – then I am, in essence, no longer who I am, but a walking shrine to the energetic state of the crime. Forgiving the mugger does not mean forgetting it happened. We must always remember what happens, as our journey through that difficulty later defines who we choose to be in this world. Forgiving means “letting go of” our participation with the identity of the energy left behind in our spirit, so that we do not “become” the incident in our everyday life, but instead learn about who we really are in our transcendence of the pain. Bad things happen to good people. That’s being part of the chaotic third dimension. But out of bad events, good people become even better. And that’s another sign that God is with us, even in our darkest moments. God does not exist simply to be our conscience, the moral judge and jury. In fact, the act of Humanity turning God in to the Universal Police is a little… juvenile, and really, we’d be better suited simply to hire a security company to tell us when we’ve stepped over the line. God is so much greater than we allow It to be in our everyday lives – It’s the greatest artist I know, and the most well-thought-out scientist, and the most fascinating decorator, the best doctor, the most compassionate neighbor, and one heck of a comic. God is all things Unity. We are not on the end of God’s “wrath”. God isn’t spiteful enough to have wrath – “spite” is human — though Darkness, through the law of cause and effect, has a LOT of smack-down coming for it, when the pendulum finally swings away from chaos. God even has the courtesy, in God’s cause-and-effect consciousness, to warn Darkness that the consequence of it’s actions will result in it’s eventual demise. But, in its design – Darkness ignored the obvious and continues to create chaos. And Darkness is simply fulfilling its function in creating balance. Sometime I’ll blog about my experience in tracking down how “Darkness” came to be born. But not today. Here is to our Parent Creator God – the only thing in the Universe more misunderstood than Johnny Depp. May God – the actual all-encompassing entity known as God, not one of the many gods we’ve created in our own Human image to use as a bludgeoning tool – may God truly bless you today. In fact, you can’t help but be blessed, as part of the body of God. We are all part of the fabric of God. Just make sure to allow the blessing. Since we do have free will, and we are allowed to deny any good feelings we wish. We are, indeed, allowed to be our own wet blanket if we so choose. However, don’t let the off-track messengers — those scary TV evangelists, or hateful politicians — dupe you into not participating with your spiritual heritage of love. Think of God more like Johnny Depp — I bet if Captain Jack Sparrow were delivering you good tidings –you’d probably smile, and say thank you. So here is to our Parent Creator God – and Pirates. Two entities both blamed for countless deaths, yet both represented onscreen by Charlton Heston. And people say God doesn’t have a sense of humor. |
Dev Blog: OSRS Mobile We said we'd keep you updated on the progress of Old School Mobile, and this new developer's blog represents our commitment to providing you with all the information you desire. The emphasis in this blog is on the TLI, or Top Level Interface. To catch up on other information you may have missed, visit the FAQ transcript from July's Mobile Q&A and read the first of our Mobile Dev Blogs in which we covered a number of our key considerations. Here is the current UI (user interface) as described in the above section. Minimap & compass World map button Chat filter buttons Tabs: Inventory Stats Combat Spellbook Prayers Quests Equipment Settings Social Logout/World switcher The chatbox is expanded above, and hidden below. With work continuing on Old School Mobile, it’s time to start looking at the TLI (Top Level Interface). Having the game run correctly on a mobile device is by far the most important thing to perfect, but not far behind is the interface – the thing you actually use.It’s certainly a challenge to take a very compact and button-heavy interface such as the one for Old School and create a mobile-friendly adaptation, especially when it needs to be fully functional on a 5” display! In this post, we’ll go over an example concept as well as an explanation of the thought process surrounding it.Kicking things off is a screenshot of Old School Mobile in its current state. The buttons are small, cramped, and prone to fat-fingering. The chatbox is way too small and hard to read with no background. To a new player this is in no way intuitive. Basically - we need to fix this.Firstly, we need to figure out what needs to be displayed perpetually. This includes the information and interface elements which need to be immediately available to the player at a glance. For example, the minimap is absolutely integral to the RuneScape experience and needs to always be available to the player. It isn't something that can be hidden behind a menu. With this in mind we can start to compile a list of elements that we need to have on-screen at all times:You may have noticed that the chatbox is missing along with the Friend & Ignore lists and Clan Chat. The chatbox is something that covers a huge area, especially on a small display and so it makes sense that it be hidden by default to keep as much screen space dedicated to the game frame as possible. With a toggleable expand button alongside the usual coloured buttons to alert you of any messages it allows for it to be tucked away neatly when not in use; similar to clicking the chat filter buttons on desktop resizable. Whilst this button isn’t necessary, and the chat filter button functionality works fine for what we need, it isn’t exactly intuitive to use in this way which goes against what we’re aiming for with OS Mobile.An added benefit of this tab is that we can use it as a draggable interface element to expand the chat box vertically when a secondary interface isn’t open such as the bank, quest journal or keyboard, with it shrinking back to the default size when one is open.The next biggest challenge comes with the stone tabs that expand different windows such as the inventory and stats panel. Since we’re on a mobile device the current size of these icons is far too small to be used comfortably and accurately. An effect of this increased size is that we now we have problems with placement. They just don’t fit properly and a solution to this is to split them into two different groups based on frequency of use.The choice to have thesetabs placed on the right is for two reasons. Firstly, we need to be able to open these tabs whilst having windows such as the bank visible simultaneously and secondly, as a bit of a coincidence but it’s worth pointing out, 85-90% of the population are right handed and although we in no way aim to discriminate between players for whichever is their more prominent hand, this placement is ideal for the clear majority of our potential user base if general population statistics are anything to go by.As noted earlier, there is no dedicated button for the three different social tabs (Friends, Ignore, and Clan) but instead they are consolidated into a single menu and function like the quest tab in that you can switch between different sub-windows such as quests, achievement diaries, minigames and Kourend favour. This lets us save space, clean up clutter and generally make everything look a lot more appealing for new players.This outlines some of our thinking behind the interface design for Old School on mobile. We welcome any and all feedback you might have. We'd urge you to re-read the sort of things we've had to take into consideration when designing the TLI, and if you feel that you have your own ground-breaking insight then present us with a mock-up. We'll be watching closely for any suggestions on how we can improve what we’ve shown in this blog post!As always, we're very interested to hear what you have to say about this blog. Discuss it on our forums |
When Vichy abolished rugby league France's Contrastin tackles Great Britain's Valentine during the Rugby League World Cup final at the Parc des Princes, Paris in November 1954. The Great Britain team became champions with a 16-12 victory $image.copyright France might be rugby league minnows – as their World Cup campaign has demonstrated – but, as MICK O’HARE explains, the sport in the country has had to fight for its very survival Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. You don’t need to know much about rugby to know that the two codes of the game – rugby league and rugby union – have enjoyed what might at best be described as a fractious relationship since the former lurched into the sporting firmament in August 1895. Formed in Huddersfield in response to claims from working class players for compensation for missing work on Saturdays to play, rugby league was always considered the pariah game by those running the rugby union establishment from which it split. In the United Kingdom and elsewhere players could, until union itself began openly paying players in 1995, be banned from union for life for even playing a game of amateur rugby league in the park. And while a truce of sorts now exists between the codes and their supporters, some old wounds run deep. Yet nowhere did the rancour between the two cut deeper than in France during the Second World War. For there, the difference between playing and supporting one code or the other could mark you out as collaborator or patriot. It’s often said that watching rugby league in France is as much a political statement as it is a sporting one. If you think the historical antipathy between the two rugby codes in Britain, Australia or New Zealand marks a sporting nadir then visit France and think again. It wasn’t merely life bans and enmity as in the rest of the world. For it was here that the battles fought between the codes were the hardest and dirtiest. And that’s because France remains the only country where the entire sport of rugby league was banned by law. If today it seems astonishing that a whole game could be outlawed, the background to the ban needs to be understood. In 1930 only rugby union was played in France. The younger version of the game, born in the north of England, had spread to New Zealand in Australia in the early 20th century, but the union authorities had taken steps to stop it growing. It was outlawed in the armed forces and places of higher education, and anybody caught playing – or in some notorious cases even watching – it would receive a life ban from the union authorities. However, in 1931 the French national rugby union team was prohibited from playing internationals against England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, ostensibly because they considered French players too violent but also because they were breaking union’s strict amateur ethos and paying players; anathema to the Corinthian powers ruling union in the British Isles. Starved of international union competition, the French began to turn to néo rugby. League, or rugby á treize in France, is played with 13 players, two fewer than union, and its faster, more open rules and playing style appealed to French players and supporters. In 1934 the upstart rugby began taking France by storm, with union clubs and players switching codes in hordes. In 1939 the French rugby league team became the first French team in any sport to beat England in England and became European champions. French rugby union was under siege. Then came the Second World War, and the French Nazi puppet state of Vichy. Establishment rugby union figures in the German-backed government grasped the opportunity to eradicate rugby league, which was also politically associated with the left-wing Popular Front party, the wartime resistance, and also – echoing down to the 21st century – Catalan nationalism. As Professor Tony Collins of De Montfort University and rugby historian of both codes wrote in The Oval World “Vichy’s settling of scores with rugby league was not just ideological. It was personal”. League’s assets were seized, its offices ransacked and, on December 19, 1941, actually playing the sport was banned in a decree signed by Vichy’s head of state Marshal Pétain. League players were encouraged to return to union so that, according to French Union Federation president Dr Albert Ginesty “their moral and technical re-education could take place”. Vichy’s minister for family and youth, Jean Ybarnégaray said of the “morally decrepit” sport that “rugby league’s life is over. It will be deleted”. As French-based, British journalist Mike Rylance, author of The Forbidden Game, wrote: “The destruction of rugby league was the perfect example of how a right-wing political regime might express its reactionary, vengeful and essentially petty nature”. But as Robert Fassolette, one-time organiser of Treize Actif, a group that has lobbied the French government demanding reparations for the Vichy ban and subsequent post-war proscription in French schools, has said: “Barely anyone in France is aware of the extraordinary fact that the Vichy regime actually stopped people from playing a sport. It was simply abolished and its stadiums taken over by rugby union.” Yet despite being on the right side of history, persecution did not end following liberation. Vichy officials moved into posts in the new free French government. Rugby league was effectively banned from schools because PE teachers could not earn a qualification to teach it. The sport wasn’t even allowed to use the name ‘rugby’, as rugby union people transferred their dominance to the postwar government. For decades rugby league was known only as jeu à treize or ‘game of thirteen’. But still treize refused to die, especially in south-east France: Languedoc, through the Aude and Roussillon. Its heartlands are towns like Limoux, astride the twisting river Aude, and birthplace of the world’s first sparkling wine, despite Champagne’s competing claims, or Villeneuve-sur-Lot, from whence hailed Jean Galia the player credited with bringing rugby league to France, and captain of the first touring team to England. Villeneuve is the home of the first rugby league club in France and Galia’s statue stands in Ille-sur-Têt. To the south-east is Carcassonne famous for its fortified medieval Cité and its cassoulet, but known to treizistes as the home of Puig-Aubert, or ‘Pipette’, the chain-smoking hero of French tours to Australia in the 1950s. He too has a statue, outside the Stade Albert Domec where AS Carcassonne, once France’s most successful club, plays. Visit Chez Felix on Place Carnot, where supporters and players congregate post-match, or stay at Hotel Terminus alongside the station, traditional home to visiting international teams. And onto Perpignan, deep in Catalonia, home to the sang i or, the Catalan name for the blood and gold shirts of Union Treiziste Catalan, the biggest club name in French rugby league. Spend the morning viewing the restored 13th-century Palace of the Kings of Majorca, then walk the sun-drenched Avenue de l’Aérodrome to Stade Gilbert Brutus. UTC’s first team, now going under the moniker of the Catalan Dragons, and playing in the British Super League, aim to return French rugby league to its 1950s glory days when the national team defeated Australia twice on Aussie soil, a never-repeated event. The Dragons recently secured their place in the Super League and the national team has just been competing in the World Cup down-under, sadly with less success than their 1950s counterparts. Ignominious defeat to Lebanon in the opening match of the competition showed how far the national team has sunk in recent years. Renowned rugby union writer Frank Keating once opined that as soon as rugby union turned openly professional (as it did in 1995 after pretending for years it hadn’t) then rugby league would have no raison d’être, it would cease to exist. His error was to have no understanding of what drove rugby league. Certainly its supporters think it’s the better of the two codes, but in places like Perpignan, Carcassone and Narbonne in the south east of France, there is history, painful history, and an imperative not to forget. And if it is true that in France, watching rugby league is as much a political statement as a sporting one, take your seat, watch and listen. There will be talk of Catalan independence across the Spanish border, whether Brexit will mean French and British clubs will have difficulty exchanging players or indeed whether the Dragons will still be able to compete in a British league.And some of the older treizistes will, if questioned, talk angrily of the years when league was banned and ‘rugby’ was a word they weren’t allowed to use to describe their sport. There will be hope that the Catalan Dragons will soon be joined in the British Super League by Toulouse Olympique, also rapidly rising through the British leagues. There will certainly be concerns that the richer French Rugby Union will continue to poach league’s best young talent. And while younger fans care less about Vichy and more about taking selfies with the players, there is still a sense of passionate ownership about the sport, no longer found in, say, football. The New European has recently been running a feature suggesting that if Brexit were a work of art, it would resemble various egregious examples. Turn that right on its head. If remoaning were a sport it would be rugby league. It’s not going to go away. And, after a while spent among the treizistes of a beautiful part of southern France, maybe you’ll realise why it is the game that refused to die… Mick O’Hare is a writer and editor for New Scientist magazine and is the author of Does Anything Eat Wasps? and Why Don’t Penguins’ Feet Freeze? He also freelances as a rugby league writer |
Colonel Gaddafi’s Green Book, his political manifesto, constitutes the theoretical ideological framework for the Jamahiriya, Libya’s experiment with socialist nationalism. Much of The Green Book, particularly its author’s simplistic endorsements of direct-democratic participation in governance and a radical egalitarian economic system, is tedious and redundantly written; but the leader’s language springs to life in discussing nationalism, and this is clearly the topic in which Gaddafi shows himself to be the most personally interested. “The Social Factor; the National Factor, is the dynamic force of human history,” he begins his exploration of the social basis of his Third Universal Theory. “This social bond, which binds together human communities from the family through the tribe to the nation, is the basis for the progression of history.” “Social causes are […] national,” stresses Gaddafi, “and the national relationship is a social one.”1 More urgently, he continues: Nations whose nationalism is destroyed are subject to ruin. Minorities […] are nations whose nationalism has been destroyed. The social factor is, therefore, a factor of life – a factor of survival. It is the nation’s innate momentum for survival. Nationalism in the world of man and group instinct in the animal kingdom are like gravity in the domain of material and celestial bodies. If the sun lost its gravity, its gases would blow away and its unity would no longer exist. Accordingly, unity is the basis for survival. The factor of unity in any group is a social factor; in man’s case nationalism. For this reason human communities struggle for their own national unity, in which its national survival lies. The National Factor, the social bond, works automatically to impel a nation towards survival, in the same way that the gravity of an object works to keep it as one mass surrounding its focus. The dissolution and dispersion of atoms in an atomic bomb are the result of the explosion of the nucleus, which is the focus of gravitation for the particles around it. When the factor of unity in those component systems is destroyed and gravity is lost, every atom is separately dispersed. This is the nature of matter. It is an established natural law. To disregard it or to go against it is damaging to life. Similarly man’s life is damaged when he begins to disregard nationalism – the social factor – for it is the gravity of the group, the secret of its survival. Only the Religion Factor is a rival to the social factor in influencing the unity of one group. The Religious Factor may divide the national group or unite groups with different nationalisms, however, the social [i.e., national] factor will eventually triumph. This has been the case throughout the ages. Historically each nation had one religion. This was harmonious. […]2 Consequently, Gaddafi advises the “sound rule […] that each nation should have one religion. For it to be otherwise,” he claims, “is abnormal. Such an abnormality creates an unsound situation which becomes a real cause for disputes within one national group.”3 He also discourages intermarriage between different national groups: “Though both man and woman are free to accept whom they want and reject whom they do not want as a natural rule of freedom, marriage within a group, by its very nature, strengthens its unity and brings about collective growth in conformity with the social factor.”4 Regarding the relationship of the individual and the family to societal growth, Gaddafi metaphorically approaches the problem as one of agriculture: Societies in which the existence and unity of the family becomes threatened due to any circumstance are similar to fields whose plants experience uprooting, drought, fire, weathering or death. The flourishing society is that in which the individual grows naturally within the family and the family within society. The individual is linked to the larger family of mankind like a leaf is to a branch or a branch to a tree. They have no value or life if they are separated. The same holds true for the individuals if they are separated from their families – the individual without a family has no value or social life. If human society reaches the stage when the individual lives without a family, it would then become a society of tramps, without roots, like artificial plants.5 “Common origins and a shared destiny, through affiliation, are the two historic bases for any nation, though origin ranks first and affiliation second,” Gaddafi writes in allusion to the reality of race. A nation is not defined only by origin, even though origin is its basis and beginning. In addition to its origin a nation is formed by human affiliations through the course of history which induce a group of people to live in one area of land, develop a common history, form one heritage and face the same destiny. A nation, irrespective of blood bond, is formed through a sense of belonging and a common destiny.6 What of the multicultural United States? Does Obama’s U.S.A., when viewed through the lens of Gaddafi’s Third Universal Theory, coalesce into anything resembling a “nation”, and is a single American “nationalism” even possible given the country’s present demographic constitution? “When a political structure embraces more than one nation, its map will be torn up by each nation gaining independence under the banner of each respective nationalism,” Gaddafi forecasts7. “All states,” he continues, “which are composed of several nationalisms for whatever reason – religion, economics, military power or man-made ideology – will be destroyed by national conflict until each nationalism obtains its independence, because the Social Factor will inevitably triumph over the Political Factor.”8 Rainer Chlodwig von K. Endnotes Qaddafi, Muammar. The Green Book. Ottawa: Jerusalem International Publishing House, 1983, p. 67. Ibid., pp. 69-70. Ibid., pp. 70-71. Ibid., p. 71. Ibid., pp. 72-73. Ibid., pp. 79-80. Ibid., p. 81. Ibid., p. 82. Originally published at Aryan Skynet |
Torontonians Support a $15.00 Minimum Wage Toronto, April 6th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 840 Toronto voters, (70%) approve of an increase to the minimum wage in Ontario, from $11.40 to $15.00. Only (25%) would disapprove, and (5%) don’t know. Respondents most likely to say that they support raising the minimum wage include those aged 34 and younger (72%), 45-54 (72%), or 65+ (70%), females (75%), earning $20,000-$40,000 (84%), the least educated (79%), and supporting the Green Party (89%). Respondents most likely to oppose an increase to the minimum wage include those aged 35-44 (31%), males (32%), the most wealthy (31%), with a college/university degree (28%) or post-graduate degree (27%), and supporting the Progressive Conservatives (43%) “Torontonians are strongly supportive of an increase to the minimum wage in Ontario, with seven in ten saying they would support $15.00. An increase could make the rising cost of housing, already an issue for many Torontonians, that much easier to handle,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603. |
The US sale to Saudi Arabia includes 84 new Boeing F-15 fighter jets and 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s [GETTY] The United States plans to sell up to $60bn worth of military aircraft to Saudi Arabia, the US state department has announced, the largest US arms sale ever. Andrew Shapiro, the assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs, told a news conference on Wednesday that the US administration did not anticipate any objections to the sale from Israel, traditionally wary of arms sales to nearby Arab countries. The sale, which had been expected, includes 84 Boeing F-15 fighter jets and 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s. It also includes 70 of Boeing's Apache attack helicopters and 36 AH-6M Little Birds, lightweight helicopters often used in special operations. Under the deal, Saudi Arabia also has the option to buy 72 Black Hawk helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. Al Jazeera's John Terrett, reporting from Washington said "the Saudi's are not getting what Israel already has, and that is the F-35, or Joint Strike Fighter, the newest aircraft out there." "The US congress now has 30 days to block the deal, and if they don't, then formal negotiations about the delivery date will open up." Shapiro said the total value of the package would not exceed $60bn, although he emphasised that Saudi Arabia may not choose to exercise all of its purchase options during the programme, which will last from 15 to 20 years. Alexander Vershbow, the assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs, said the US had discussed the matter with Israel, and concluded that it would not undercut Israel's qualitative military edge in the region. "We have consulted with Israel as this sale has taken shape [...] based on what we've heard at high levels, Israel does not object to this sale," he said. 'Dangerous neighbourhood' Vershbow and Shapiro both stressed that bolstering Saudi Arabia's own defence capabilities would improve US security in a vital part of the world where fears are growing over Iran's nuclear programme. "This is not solely about Iran," Shapiro said. "It's about helping the Saudis with their legitimate security needs [...] they live in a dangerous neighbourhood and we are helping them preserve and protect their security." "The State Department is spinning things very carefully, putting the emphasis on jobs, because this is going to preserve hundreds of thousands of US defence jobs at companies like Boeing and UTC," our correspondent reported from Washington. Vershbow said the sale would improve Saudi Arabia's ability to co-ordinate with the US on shared security challenges "so it means we may have to station fewer forces on a continuing basis in the region". US and international concern about Iran's growing military capability includes advances in a nuclear programem the West believes is aimed at developing atomic weapons - accusations Tehran denies. Washington has also flagged concern about Iran's growing missile capabilities and has been helping Arab states boost their missile defences. That includes the expected sale of the THAAD missile defence system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp to the United Arab Emirates. Similar talks are underway with Saudi Arabia. US officials are also discussing a possible deal to upgrade Saudi Arabia's navy, which one official estimated could be worth an additional $30bn. |
HE looked like a wise, hippy lion — but very still, nothing spontaneous, other than the occasional tremor. Earlier this week, Billy Connolly was beamed in from beachside in Florida, sporting a tropical shirt somewhere between very expensive and complete piss-take, as he received a lifetime achievement gong. He fingered the extremely ugly glass ornament with great care, the eyes fully alive to the absurdity of this and many, many other situations. But his words faltered and wandered just a bit too often; there was a helpful edit midway, for a man who could once stream consciousness at will, never mind stream video. His farewell was wee, quiet and distant. There’s not much more that a certain generation of us can take of the public dimming of the Partick supernova known as Billy Connolly, due to his advancing Parkinson’s and cancer. But as he continues to accept his invitations and his celebrations, so must we deal with it. As the supreme comic of human frailty and our subversive bodies — always something leaking, smelling, sticking out or needing covered up — you might have wondered what Connolly would do if his own body started to profoundly rebel. New material, new routines? Well, new opening music: in any future performing plans (and there are some), he wants the opening track to be Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. As manifested by his participation in last month’s BBC love letter to the Big Yin, Billy and Me, Connolly also seems to want to be something much more dignified: a ruminative, tie-dyed, inspirational icon. Around which many are gathering, to pay deepest respects. At least two of the three giant Glasgow wall murals of Connolly commissioned by the BBC, and announced this week — I will pass over Jack Vettriano’s efforts in silence, though of course Billy would be more generous — are worthy of Connolly’s energy and inventiveness. Rachel Maclean has him as a day-glo, pop-art clan chief, standing proudly outside a chippy selling sausage suppers. The ancestral symbol that adorns him is that of a bicycle wedged between two bum cheeks sticking out of the ground. This is a reference to the punchline of the joke that Connolly told on his first appearance on the Parkinson show, in 1975 — the gig that kickstarted his UK national career. It concerned a man who had murdered his wife, burying her bottom-up, “so he’d have somewhere to park his bike”. Now, from one viewpoint in the brand new Scotland of 2017, this reference belches out of a brutal and not that distant past — misogynist, violent, playing up not against Scottish stereotypes — that we must instantly deplore. But there are few more supple with gender politics than Maclean in Scottish contemporary arts. And indeed, with his Big Yin sash, tea-cosy crown and bearded sporran, this is far from the oppressive, household-terrifying patriarch of industrial-era yore. The “polymorphous perversity” of Maclean’s Big Yin (Billy will know this term: his wife Pamela Stephenson is a psychotherapist, after all) also points back towards what could be just as profound as Connolly’s comic legacy: the way he opened up about the emotional and sexual chaos of his own working-class background. When he and Stephenson clicked, on a comedy show at the cusp of the 1980s, she claimed to have identified that something terrible and fatal lurked beneath the boozing and coke-taking that Connolly was gripped by. “I thought, ‘If I leave this man, he’s going to die’.” The various revelations Stephenson unearthed — a mother fleeing as quickly as she could out of a grim wartime family situation, casting Billy upon deeply resentful aunts; a father coming back damaged from the Second World War and then inflicting physical and sexual damage on his son William — were published in her psychobiography, titled Billy, in 2001. Amid all this, the story that Connolly tells of when he first realised that humour might save him is almost too symbolic. “I can remember the moment in the school playground. I would have been seven or eight and I was sitting in a puddle and people were laughing. I had fallen in it and people found it funny. And it wasn’t all that uncomfortable, so I stayed in it longer than I normally would because I really enjoyed the laughing. My life was very unhappy at the time, and laughter wasn’t something I heard all the time, so it was a joy. And I realised quickly that if you can have an audience this way, life was rather pleasant.” In later life, “staying in the puddle” finds its equivalent in learning some of his wife’s spiritual practice, as a buffer against the sulphurous grip of the past. Buddhism’s “living in the moment is very good for that”, said Connolly last month. “This is all there is. The past doesn’t exist. You have to make it exist by thinking about it. Moments are all created.” It’s funny how time makes sages of us all. I now find the New York/LA, embrace-all-reject-none Billy Connolly of his last two working decades compelling — even more so than the Connolly who transmuted Scottish class anger into soul-saving humour in his first three. But there certainly was a period in the 1990s when Connolly’s wide-open celebrity palling-around stuck in the craw. In particular, his tales of hanging around with Prince Charles and other sundry royals, sat ill while what remained of industrial Scotland was being socked around the jaw. Does that explain why, when Connolly popped his head around my band’s dressing room just before a Renfrew Ferry gig in the early 1990s, I coldly told him to take a hike and “let us get our heads together, OK Billy?” He slunk off, and I continued in my wankerish manner. But, of course, we’re all much wiser now... More than any Scottish performer I know, Connolly explores the tension between “roots” and “routes”. Meaning the things that anchor you and keep sending you energy from your past; and the places you want to explore when you want to test that identity, those sources, against the great variety of the world. We need more artists who come from the tougher parts of Scottish society, who find their voice while articulating their experience, but who then ask why their ambitions can’t be exponential, even global — without being accused of sell-out, or pimping their past. (I often see the brilliant Scottish rapper Loki, otherwise known as Darren McGarvey, falling foul of those who can’t cope when he seems to be critiquing “above” his station). I remember watching Connolly make his contribution to the memorial service for Jimmy Reid, the Clydeside radical who, like Connolly, had sought to make his shipbuilding experience a resource for the world. Connolly started to choke up when recalling Reid’s famous lines from his 1970 Rectorial lecture on Alienation. He said: “Reid put things simply, complex things, that just knocked me back three steps. I remember him saying that if you look at these housing estates and high-rise flats, behind every one of these windows is somebody who might be a horse-jumping champion, a Formula One racing champion, a yachtsman of great degree, but he’ll never know because he’ll never step on a yacht or Formula One car — he’ll never get the chance. Those words still haunt me to this day.” They must be haunting him at his back, because Billy Connolly has only ever been driven forward. Not exactly a friend to independence? Well, not every artist and performer who make Scots feel like they possess themselves, and their culture, has to support a Scottish nation-state. As Rachel Maclean’s portrait makes perfectly clear, Billy Connolly is his own sovereign realm. As he sinks inexorably below the waves, let us salute and love him all the way. |
"No words, I'm so proud of these nine-year-old little kids," Allred said. "Her and her best friend Erica [Borden] to do this and to just hand me over this money to go instead of wanting to go and buy stuff for themselves. I cannot explain, I can't, there are no words. I'm just, I'm so grateful. She is a sweetheart, I mean this girl, she helps me more than I help her at times." Before Allred knew it, New Mexico State Police Officers were among the many stopping by helping them reach a total of $568.10. The family turned to social media expressing their gratitude saying, "From the bottom of our hearts, Kaden's family would like to deeply thank each & every person that stopped by! Tears were shed on more than one occasion." There will be a bake sale on Saturday, June 11 at Hastings on Turner St. from 2 to 4 p.m. |
Niki Ariyasinghe, R3's associate director for product strategy in APAC, says over the next 12 to 18 months, various trade finance pilots will be tested in the market, and within three years, real trade in physical goods could be underpinned by smart contracts executing payments on a blockchain. "I think you will see an actual, live in market proposition within two to three years," he said last week at an panel, Emerging Digital Futures: Global Trade, hosted by Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Bank launches pilots R3 is working with its members – which include CBA, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Macquarie Group – to create common standards that banks and their customers can plug into. CBA has completed more than 25 blockchain-related experiments over the past year and now reckons trade finance is one of the areas offering the most potential for blockchain, which refers to networks of computers holding synchronised copies of information. At present CBA has three projects under way with global banks and export clients, including one sending shipments of cotton abroad. In this trial, a humidity monitor inside a cotton container, linked to GPS technology connected to the "internet of things", can provide the insurer of the goods and the buyers with real-time status of the physical condition of the commodity. Ariyasinghe says a similar pilot is under way by a Singapore-based start-up, Hellosent, which monitors the condition of French wine being exported to Singapore. This allows insurers to receive automatic, real-time data feeds about the temperature inside the container and conditions at sea that might spoil the wine. Standard Chartered, HSBC, Bank of America and Singapore's DSB Group are all looking at blockchain trade finance applications, according to Bloomberg. Banks are thinking that the technology will also help to reduce growing incidences of fraud in trade-related documentation. Advertisement R3 was originally formed 18 months ago to help banks learn about blockchain and develop protocols for its use. The consortium has investigated payments and trading commercial paper. As well as trade finance, it is also testing how blockchain can be used to verify identity. Ariyasinghe says R3 is trying to solve big challenges for financial services and adjacent sectors. "The underlying thesis behind R3 is to solve some of these global challenges and you really need to be able to partner with a large number of providers. It could be banks, obviously, and will also be insurance providers, regulators and players working on a regional and global scale, not just in financial services." Sowing in wheat Start-ups are also working on bringing diverse players in trade together. One Australian blockchain start-up, Full Profile, is preparing for a commercial pilot to run during the wheat harvest in October that will see a buyer of wheat pay growers over a blockchain, eradicating the settlement risk held at present by farmers. It typically takes about 30 days for grain growers to be paid upon delivery. In 2014, growers lost $70 million in NSW and Victoria alone due to grain trade insolvencies. This resulted in an estimated $200 million loss in economic activity across regional Australia. Full Profile's technology enables automatic payment upon title transfer or physical delivery of grain, removing the risk to growers of buyers becoming insolvent or having problems with payments. Founder Emma Weston, a former lawyer for the Australian Wheat Board, says trade finance "is shaping up as a really good use case [for blockchain] and will expand activities that have taken place in financial services to the broader market, which is a natural evolution". In June, Full Profile won both the 2016 Westpac blockchain hackathon and the blockchain start-up pitch event at the Blockchain Summit organised by the fintech venture capital firm Sapien Ventures. The company will provide a global demonstration of its agribusiness blockchain at the FinovateFall in September in New York. Once the technology is trialed and working in a domestic context, Weston says Full Profile will work on applications for external trade. Her key challenge is getting all the different parties to agree on standards for the "smart contracts" underpinning the payments transactions. But she remains optimistic this will come together. Advertisement The federal government's Grains Research and Development Corporation is a beneficiary of the trial and Weston says she has found a "real willingness in the various regulators and state and commonwealth governments to engage with the private sector on blockchain". "The onus is on us to move blockchain into production and help the government understand the possibilities of the technology and help solve regulatory issues together." An attractive area King & Wood Mallesons partner Scott Farrell is the blockchain co-ordinator of the federal government's fintech advisory group set up earlier this year by Treasurer Scott Morrison. He agrees that trade finance is an attractive area where the technology can be applied. Farrell also says the government will play an important role to bring blockchain to reality and one of the areas where governments can take a leading role is on identity. "The crunch point of blockchain is the validity of what you put in at start, the entry points," Farrell says. "The most important input is who you are. But most identity frameworks have their source in the public sector, not the private sector." Treasury and the CSIRO are conducting an inquiry into the application of blockchain for the Australian economy which will include a real-world pilot of the technology. The area for the pilot has not yet been chosen. Confidence shaken Advertisement Confidence in blockchain and smart contracts was shaken in June, when the Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO), which was planning on operating an investment facility after raising $US150 million from 11,000 members, was attacked and $US50 million moved to a different account. Farrell says the DAO events provided a very important lesson to parties building smart contracts on blockchains but did not demonstrate a failure of the technology generally. "It demonstrates the need to take extreme care with the automation of contracts on a blockchain but the platform itself worked as expected," he says. "Future smart contracts should be more robust." Australia should consider itself a start-up in the development of blockchain applications, and with the technology moving into pilots around the world, Farrell says it makes sense to develop local capability for the technology to be applied in ways that suit our economy and society. "The combination of the trust engine of distributed ledger technology with the technology of the internet of things is not just about making things more efficient for banks but also more convenient for their customers. People who use finance will actually care about this." |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO TAKE measure of Vivian Maier’s photos without taking stock of her story. She was by all accounts remarkably private, someone who didn’t always enjoy the company of other adults. And yet her photographs feel like a celebration of people—a celebration of what Studs Terkel, the late grand oral historian, liked to call “the etceteras” of the world. (One photography scholar I spoke with suggested Terkel and Maier would have made a formidable pair, like James Agee and Walker Evans.) Her subjects are often caught looking directly at the camera, apparently making eye contact with Maier, but she used a Rolleiflex, a box-shaped camera that requires the photographer to look downwards through the viewfinder. In other words, as it turns out, Maier didn’t need to directly engage with her subjects, and many undoubtedly were unaware that she was, in fact, memorializing their images. But I’m getting ahead of her story. In the winter of 2007, John Maloof, a 26-year-old realtor who was co-writing a book on his Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago, stumbled upon a box of negatives at an auction house. He paid $400, hoping it might hold some vintage photos of his neighborhood. He stuffed the box in a closet. There the images sat for a couple of months, until he had time to scan a few into his computer. There were no photos of Portage Park, but they were captivating images, and it became clear they belonged to a single photographer. “Little by little I realized how good they were,” he told me. He learned the auction house had sold more boxes of negatives, and so he sought out the buyers to purchase those, as well. In the end, he collected more than 100,000 negatives, including a few thousand rolls of film. In one of the boxes, he eventually found an envelope with the name Vivian Maier scrawled on it. He googled her name and found a Chicago Tribune obituary. She had died a few days earlier. She was 83. Maloof posted 100 of Maier’s photos to a blog, but when that didn’t generate much interest, he posted on Flickr. One visitor wrote, “Wow! This is amazing!” Another: “The images speak for themselves and are an inspiration to all photographers.” Soon, he was receiving hundreds of emails. Maloof learned that Vivian Maier had made her living as a nanny, first in New York City, then from the late 1950s until the late 1990s for well-to-do families in the Chicago area. A writer for Chicago magazine contacted some of the children she cared for, and it became clear that no one knew the extent of her photography. Her former charges—all now adults—recounted with great affection how she’d take them on outings to the city, always carrying her Rolleiflex. She had little patience for those who put on airs—and she did little to call attention to herself. Everyday dresses. Small-brimmed hats. In one self-portrait, she’s looking away from the camera, awkward and uncomfortable. In another, much of her face is hidden by a shadow. She was a loner of sorts. She never married. Families she lived with have said they couldn’t recall her ever receiving a personal phone call. All of which is somewhat astonishing, given the incredible intimacy of her photographs. Unlike, say, Walker Evans—who hid his 35 mm camera behind a buttonhole in his coat while taking photos in New York’s subways—Maier wore her camera around her neck. But many of her subjects don’t seem to have noticed her. They are not looking at her (or us). They’re just looking, often as if they were caught in mid-thought. Others—especially children—seem to be responding to her, as if there was something reassuring about her presence. It seems that wherever she went, she brought her camera—and shot. An African American teen riding a horse bareback under an elevated train. Two men—one hefty, the other lean—perched on a wooden fence. Three children—two black, the other white—sitting on one end of a seesaw. A man in a pinstriped suit, asleep across the front seat of his car. Each feels like the beginning of a short story, a bit mysterious, not unlike Maier herself. She never exhibited her work. Indeed, from what Maloof can gather, she didn’t share her photos with anyone, except some of the children in her care. My friend Tony Fitzpatrick—a Chicago artist whose collages, like Maier’s images, capture the contradictions in this city—revels in the fact that she saw no need to show off her work. “It tells you the most important thing about her,” he says. “She made them for all the right reasons. She made them to hold on to her place in the world. She made them because to not make them was impossible. She had no choice.” MAIER’S WORK IS PART OF THE decades-old genre of street photography, a field that has included such giants as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, and Diane Arbus. (Judging by her collection of books on photography, Maier was likely aware of their work.) These photographers speak to the profoundly democratic impulse to acknowledge that we all have a place—that our stories matter. She took photos of the downtrodden and the well-heeled. She took photos of festive people and people in distress. She took photos of children and the aged. She took photos of whites and blacks (notable, given the times). Her work is marked by serendipity; she appeared to have no agenda, but instead captured what she stumbled upon. Joel Meyerowitz, the co-author of Bystander: A History of Street Photography and a renowned photographer in his own right, says of Maier’s images: “They are full of wit and surprise and playful spirit…Her basic decent humanism is evident everywhere in her photographs.” Not long ago, I stopped by to visit Maloof at his home. We’d set a time to get together, and when I arrived, he appeared flustered. He’d forgotten I was coming. He asked me to wait in the vestibule as his wife, who’d just gotten out of the shower, dressed. It was 10 a.m., and though he’d been up for three hours, he hadn’t eaten yet. He seemed discombobulated. Maloof, by his own admission, is besieged by the breadth of what he’s discovered. That week, he was preparing for a lecture at an international photography conference in Derby, England; a gallery owner was visiting from New York; a foundation planned to stop by to talk about assisting him with the collection; and he was meeting a filmmaker with whom he’s working on a documentary about Maier. Maloof has dropped his real estate work and become a kind of Maier savant. He collected not only her negatives, but also all her belongings, steamer trunks filled with clothes and newspaper clippings, old receipts and uncashed Social Security checks. In one corner of his attic office sit a pair of Maier’s fire-engine-red shoes and one of her signature felt floppy hats. He’s learned tidbits about Maier, like the fact that she apparently believed Americans smiled too much (her mother was French) and that she didn’t like going to doctors, because too many other people couldn’t afford to. She liked to talk about films and plays, but only with those she felt were knowledgeable about the subject at hand. “She lived life on her own terms,” Maloof told me. “She didn’t need to live by society’s boundaries.” Maloof’s life now revolves around curating Maier’s work. He treats her as he imagines she’d want to be treated: without hype, without self-promotion. “I’m doing this because I think I have to,” he told me. (Sound familiar?) Maloof would like to make back the money he’s invested, as well as enough to allow him to continue scanning her negatives—he has roughly 90,000 to go—and promoting her work. There may not be a big financial gain, as the real value is usually in prints the photographer made. (Maier’s are mostly of poor quality.) Meyerowitz, who intends to include Maier’s work in a new edition of Bystander, told me, “I’m as moved by Maloof as I am by her. There’s a kindness to his act.” Maloof loaned Chicago 80 photos for a free exhibition at the city’s cultural center. Her work was exhibited in Norway and Denmark last year (signs on Danish buses read “Viva Vivian“), and there’ll be an exhibit this summer in London. Maloof is at work on a book of her photos. Vivian Maier’s photographs are tender, exhilarating, and at times unsettling. They are the product of someone who—despite her outward appearances—clearly had a profound connection with the world around her. She just connected in the one way she knew how, looking downward through the viewfinder of her Rolleiflex—and the results are piercingly honest, even revelatory. In the lives and experiences of everyday people, Maier saw a certain beauty and dignity—and through her photos, she gets us to see it, as well. |
I am contemplating the train wreck revolving around the revelations about our National Security Agency’s appetite for spying on U.S. citizens, along with the train wreck that swirls around the revelations about the deployment of the IRS for partisan vengeance, along with the train wreck that is the fiscal, administrative, and, ultimately, medical catastrophe called ObamaCare (aka, the un-affordable “Affordable Care Act”), not to mention the train wreck that was the administration’s reaction (“What difference does it make?”) to the murderous Islamic terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, along with . . . well, you get the picture. Thinking just about the first, the NSA part of the current entertainment, I am reminded of a friend’s note to me about how it fits in with the administration’s gradual transformation of itself into an unaccountable nomenklatura with more or less unlimited powers. The concomitant transformation, it does not quite go without saying, is the transformation of us citizens — formerly the employers of all those “public servants” (it sounds funny now, doesn’t it: "public servants" forsooth!) swanning about in Washington on our money — the transformation, I say, of us citizens into serfs, i.e., slaves working for a feudal master. My friend quoted Obama’s statement about the behavior of the NSA when it came to your phone/internet/banking/whatever data. “It's important to recognize,” said the leader of the formerly free world, that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience. We're going to have to make some choices as a society. And whatI can say is that in evaluating these programs, they make a difference in our capacity to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity. As my friend noted, Obama leans toward the security side of the equation, and he does so with, so to speak, a vengeance. Right: we have to debate this issue, “but he puts his thumb on the scale. And because of the secrecy involved, no one outside his top-secret circle can make an informed judgment about the efficacy of these powers.” Just like those unpleasant chaps in Orwell’s 1984, the fact that we are now and apparently ever shall be on a war footing means that we are living in a state of perpetual emergency, which in turn means that he, the man in charge, can do pretty much whatever he wants to whomever he wants, and so can his minions. Either you’re part of the nomenklatura, or you’re not. |
Volunteers working with the Israeli chapter of Republicans Abroad made phone calls to U.S. citizens living in Israel and the Jewish settlements in the West Bank on Sept. 5. (William Booth/The Washington Post) The rabbi hadn’t voted in a U.S. election in 25 years. “Didn’t see the point,” he said. Now Chaim Spring said he was all in for Republican nominee Donald Trump. The 80-year-old, whose sunny villa in a Jewish settlement was lined with religious tomes, described himself to reporters as “a big Trump supporter” who watches “a lot of Fox News.” He pronounced Trump “good for America and good for Israel.” The rabbi especially admired the Trump family vibe. “You can tell he really loves his children,” Spring told The Washington Post. “That says a lot.” Spring was born in New York and moved to Israel more than 40 years ago. As a U.S. citizen, he is eligible to register and vote. GOP activists in Israel say there are a lot more voters here like the rabbi — as many as 400,000 U.S. citizens living in Israel today. Bumper stickers produced by Israeli supporters of Donald Trump are stacked on a table in newly opened offices in the West Bank settlement of Karnei Shomron on Sept. 5. (Ruth Eglash/The Washington Post) Nobody knows the exact number, not even the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which declined to give an estimate. U.S. citizens are free to come and go to and from Israel and many other countries without a visa, and many do not register with their local embassies. A group named I Vote Israel says there are 200,000 possible voters. “We have the same influence on this upcoming election as numerous states in the union,” the organization states. “That’s really something.” Democrats here say the total number is probably less — but still a lot. [U.S. and Israel reach agreement on an unprecedented amount of military aid] Polling experts say there may be enough American voters in Israel to matter in a tight race, especially in a swing state such as Florida, which is exactly where the Israeli Republicans are laser-beaming their focus. In many cases, a U.S. citizen living abroad — even one who has not resided in the United States for years — can register to vote in the last state in which they lived. Others who have never lived in the United States can register where their parents lived. Working off lists, several hundred GOP activists in Israel are phoning potential voters and knocking on doors, telling them that their votes count. Volunteers with the group Democrats Abroad in Israel register voters in Jerusalem's German colony neighborhood on Sept. 16, 2016. (William Booth/TWP) Their pitch: Remember the 2000 race between Al Gore and George W. Bush, which came down to 537 votes in Florida? Much of the 2000 recount action was centered in Palm Beach County, with its notorious “butterfly ballot.” Palm Beach also has one of the largest Jewish populations in the United States. Last week, the rabbi’s house became the fifth campaign office for the group Republicans Overseas Israel, as well as the first Trump headquarters in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. There was a big banner in the driveway in Hebrew that read “Trump: In Israel’s Interest.” The Israeli Republicans declined to say how much they are spending or who their top donors are. At a news conference, an organizer for the Republican effort, Tzvika Brot, said the decision to open an office in Karnei Shomron did not signal an appeal to supporters of Jewish settlements. Standing beside him, Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Abroad, said, “That’s not entirely true.” He also said he preferred not to call them “settlements” and disagreed that the Israeli army “occupied” the West Bank. Zell said it was very symbolic that the GOP was here. There are about 400,000 Jews living in more than 200 communities in the West Bank, and as many as 15 percent of them are dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, according to researchers. The settlements are on the land that many Jews say is their biblical and historical home. It is also land the Palestinians want for a future state. The international community calls the Jewish settlements “illegal”; the United States considers them “illegitimate” and “an obstacle to peace.” Israel disputes this. Zell praised the Republican Party and Trump for endorsing a plank at the convention that gave full-throated endorsement to Israel. “The platform eliminated any reference to Israel as an occupier,” Zell said. “That wasn’t just a play on words; that was a real statement that coincides with Donald Trump’s own statements recently that when it comes to building homes and synagogues and schools for Arabs and Jews in Judea and Samaria, this is an issue for the Israeli government to decide.” Judea and Samaria are the historical and biblical names many Jews and Israel supporters use for the West Bank. Zell, who lives in a Jewish settlement, said that he has eight children, now all adults, and that all are registered to vote and ready to mail in their ballots for Trump. Earlier this month, Trump said Israel would be destroyed unless he is elected president. He said the Jewish state faced an existential threat from Iran and criticized the nuclear pact that President Obama and other world leaders signed. In comparison, Democrats on the left, led by public intellectual Cornel West, pushed hard for a convention plank to condemn the almost 50-year Israeli military occupation of the West Bank, a fight ultimately lost to Hillary Clinton supporters on the platform committee. But unlike the GOP platform, the Democratic one still calls for a two-state solution that would give the Palestinians a sovereign nation. [Israel to launch one of the most advanced missile defense systems in the world, with U.S. help] The Democrats Abroad organization is mostly invisible in the 2016 campaigns in Israel. “The Republicans are taking advantage of the fact that the Democrats have taken this time to reorganize in Israel, and the Republicans see an opening for them,” said Sheldon Schorer, former spokesman for Democrats Abroad here. “The Republicans are aware that in the last 30 years a very large proportion of Americans who have moved to Israel are Orthodox, and they are generally right-wing both in Israeli and American politics,” said Jonathan Rynhold, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University in Israel. “Whether the Republican campaigners here are right and there are enough American Israelis who can vote in the swing states remains to be seen,” Rynhold said. “Obviously, many Jews come from New York, and that is not a swing state, or they are from California, also not a swing state. I am not sure about New Jersey.” But Florida? “My sense is that maybe, if the election is very close, it could make a difference,” he said. Recent studies by the Pew Research Center found that 68 percent of Jewish Americans are Democrats or lean that way. In Israel, many observers say the pattern is reversed. The group I Vote Israel released a poll during the 2012 race that found that 85 percent of the U.S. voters in Israel went for Mitt Romney. The survey was criticized as an unscientific snapshot taken at polling stations at Jewish religious schools packed with Republicans. Polling in Israel finds Obama unpopular here. Yet among Jewish Israelis who are not U.S. citizens, surveys say they are equally split over who they’d like to see in the White House. Haim Rosenfeld, 18, was one of the young volunteers making phone calls to possible voters from the dining-room table at the rabbi’s house. Rosenfeld was born in the United States but moved to Israel as a baby with his family. He now lives in the Jewish settlement of Tel Mond. “I sit in an office and make lots of phone calls to Americans,” he said. “I tell those I speak to that Trump has a great staff, he has [vice-presidential candidate] Mike Pence, and they have every reason to vote for him. I tell them that he wants to make America great again and that he was successful in his field of business and is very successful in life.” What else? “I also say that Trump has a staff of advisers who are very experienced and will not let him do stupid things,” he said. Read more: Ten years after last Lebanon war, Israel warns next one will be far worse Israel, Hamas and Egypt form unlikely alliance against Islamic State affiliate Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world |
Film director and screenwriter Peter Strickland unveils his Late Junction Mixtape. Strickland is the director of the award-winning horror movie Berberian Sound Studio (2012) and the critically acclaimed drama The Duke of Burgundy (2014). His work has seen him collaborate with musical luminaries such as Bjork, Broadcast and Cat's Eyes. Tracklist: 1. Bebe & Louis Barron – Bells of Atlantis (USA) excerpt - soundtrack to ‘Bells of Atlantis’ by Ian Hugo 2. Ernő Király/Katalin Ladik – Reflection 7-T (Hungary) excerpt 3. Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg – The Main Thing (Belgium) edit 4. Ennio Morricone – soundtrack to the television series, ‘Spazio 1999’ (Italy) 5. Martin Davorin Jagodić – Tempo Furioso, side A (Serbia) excerpt 6. Bruno Nicolai – untitled music from the soundtrack to ‘A Virgin Among the Living Dead’ by Jess Franco (Italy) 7. Reynols – Blank Tapes (Argentina) excerpt 8. Luis de Pablo – Love Letters (Spain) – soundtrack to ‘The Spirit of the Beehive’ by Victor Erice 9. Piotr Skrzynecki - Wyprzedaz Teatru (Poland) excerpt 10. Manos Hadjidakis Ensemble – Garoufallo st’auti (Greece) – soundtrack to ‘Laterna, ftoxia kai filotimo by Alekos Sakellarios 11. Franco Battiato – Canto Fermo (Italy) excerpt 12. Ennio Morricone – Victima Paschali Laudes (Italy) excerpt - soundtrack to ‘The Devil is a Woman’ by Damiano Damiani 13. Angus MacLise – Shortwave-India (USA) excerpt 14. Duotronic Synterror – Wer Ist Petra Schürmann? (Germany) edit 15. Jim O’Rourke – Tacere Fas (USA) excerpt 16. Disintegrators – Oscillations excerpt 17. Alain Goraguer – Mira et Ten (France) – soundtrack to ‘Fantastic Planet’ by René Laloux and Roland Topor 18. Romolo Grano – Mark (Italy) excerpt 19. Maciunas Ensemble and Kanary Grand Band – Man and Bird (Netherlands) excerpt 20. Paul Funk/Manfred Roost - Trarira, der Sommer, der ist da (Germany) edit 21. Stavros Xarhakos – Peripatos (Greece) – soundtrack to ’Girls in the Sun’ by Vasilis Georgiadis 22. Les Roche Martin – Tu as peur de bruit (France) edit 23. John Cale, Tony Conrad, Jack Smith – Cold Starry Nights (USA) excerpt 24. Levente Mezei, Ferenc Jámbor, Sándor Csányi, Alexandra Beaujard, Gavriche, Antal Mocsel (Rémusz), Antal Mocsel (Rémuszka), Lajos Mocsel (Öcsike), Levente Mocsel, Piroska Mocsel, Erika Demeter, István Kiss - Gyertek fiúk (Romania) 25. Włodzimierz Kotoński – Aela (Poland) excerpt 26. Jacques Morali – Je me prépare á l’amour (France) edit - soundtrack to ’La Marge’ by Walerian Borowczyk |
Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a debilitating condition that can leave those affected bedridden for years. It's linked with as many as 60 symptoms, the most common being a feeling of constant exhaustion — 'like a dead battery'. The condition first reached mainstream consciousness in the Eighties following outbreaks in New York and Nevada. By then it was officially known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). For a time, it seemed everyone knew someone who was affected by it, and it was derisively dubbed 'yuppie flu' because it seemed typically to affect young professionals. For years there's been a long-running and bitter debate between doctors and patients about its cause and how to treat it. Myalgic encephalomyelitis can leave those affected bedridden for years. It's linked with as many as 60 symptoms, the most common being a feeling of constant exhaustion (file pic) The lack of a clear physical cause meant many doctors dismissed it as all in the mind. This infuriated patient groups who insisted it was all too real and the result of an infection or immune system failure. Even now, when it is generally accepted that ME/CFS is a genuine condition, it remains one of the most angrily contested areas of medicine. But the battle lines are no longer drawn just between patients and doctors: the medical community itself is at loggerheads. The issue: the best way to treat ME. This has huge significance for the estimated 500,000 people in Britain affected by it. The official NHS treatment for their condition is delivered by psychologists and involves a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) which involves doing a little more each day. The idea is that doing regular aerobic exercise would help patients a lot, but that they are held back by 'fear' of activity: the CBT is meant to overcome this. Many patients and doctors claimed this combination provided little if any benefit. This dispute has now broken out into the public arena in an extraordinary fashion. Two weeks ago the Journal of Health Psychology published what was effectively an attack on the official NHS treatment. INSULTS TRADED BY BOTH SIDES Three editors resigned from the journal in protest at this stance. In a leaked email, one of the resigners was described as a 'disgusting old fat neo-liberal hypocrite' and an 'ol' sleazebag' by an editor who supported the journal's approach. But the insults swing the other way, too — recently, a scientist described patients critical of the CBT approach as 'borderline psychopaths' and likened them to animal rights activists. The row is about a trial published in The Lancet in 2011 that helped form the official guidelines on treating the condition. This was a large trial, called PACE, involving 641 patients, costing £5 million. It was paid for by the Government and carried out by psychologists at Queen Mary University in London. For years there's been a long-running and bitter debate between doctors and patients about the cause of ME and how to treat it (file pic) PACE found that patients being treated with the combination treatment — 14 sessions with a therapist over a six-month period — improved by 60 per cent, while the 'recovery rate' (which implied a 'cure') was 20 per cent. But a new analysis of the data has suggested that patients experience just a 20 per cent improvement, and only 5 per cent are classed as recovered. 'This has cast serious doubts on the recovery rates being claimed,' adds Dr Charles Shepherd, honorary medical adviser to the charity the ME Association (Dr Shepherd was also a member of the Chief Medical Officer's Working Group on ME/CFS and the Medical Research Council's Expert Group on ME/CFS research). 'The trust of patients has been lost. PACE needs to be withdrawn.' In fact, patient campaigners have been claiming for years that the psychological approach is profoundly wrong because it implies the problem is the way the patient thinks about it. They consider that they're suffering from a physical disorder. The re-analysis of the PACE data has set the cat among the pigeons. A challenge to evidence supporting a NICE-approved treatment is unusual, not least because the data was only made available after a protracted battle by patients. Ever since its publication in The Lancet, the PACE trial had been questioned by patient groups. They wanted to see all the data the trial had gathered to check the statistics. For five years patient advocates and some doctors sent letters and Freedom of Information requests to the researchers — Professor Peter White (of Queen Mary University of London), Professor Michael Sharpe (Oxford University) and Professor Trudie Chalder (King's College London) — without success. Grounds for refusal included risk of revealing patient identities and claiming the demands to hand over the data were vexatious or a form of harassment. Indeed, one expert witness for the researchers drew parallels between these ME/CFS 'activists' and animal rights groups, suggesting there was a serious risk of violence to researchers if the data was released. But then the Information Commissioner's Office became involved and the university was ordered to cough up the data. It refused and then spent more than £200,000 to have the order dismissed. This was rejected by a tribunal (as for the claim of threats being made, under cross-questioning the expert witness admitted there hadn't been any). When the trial data was finally re-analysed and checked by two independent academics, Philip Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California, Berkeley and Professor Bruce Levine from the Department of Biostatistics at Columbia University, it 'revealed that the study contained little evidence that CBT and graded exercise add anything to standard medical care in terms of patient recovery', according to Professor Levin. This was backed by Jonathan Edwards, an emeritus professor of connective tissue medicine at University College London. 'The results of the re-analysis shows that the call for access to the PACE data for independent analysis was justified,' he said. 'It confirms that this study failed to provide reliable evidence for useful, sustained benefit from either CBT or graded exercise therapy.' Professor Edwards, a rheumatologist, has previously found that patients with ME/CFS as well as rheumatoid arthritis (file pic) reported great improvement when they were treated with the powerful anti-inflammatory drugs used for their arthritis. A trial of this is now under way Sir Simon Wessely, Regius professor of psychiatry at King's College London, has long been identified with the psychological approach. When he was asked about the data re-analysis last year, he was quoted as saying: 'OK folks, nothing to see here, move along please.' He added that patients did improve and that the treatments were moderately effective. ARTHRITIS DRUGS MIGHT HELP The Journal of Health Psychology gave the original researchers the right to respond to the criticisms — they said they stood firmly by their findings, and that 'the PACE trial... along with other studies provide patients, healthcare professionals and commissioners with the best evidence that both CBT and GET are safe and effective treatments'. COULD IT BE CAUSED BY INFLAMMATION? At the heart of the issue is what causes ME. Patient activists and some doctors consider it a physical disorder. This 'biological' theory appeared to be reinforced by recent reseach from Stanford University in the U.S. that identified a new set of 'messenger' molecules in the blood that are part of the immune system and behave differently in ME/CFS patients. New, sophisticated equipment allowed a team to run a very detailed analysis of the blood of 192 patients, comparing it with nearly 400 healthy people. They found that immune system messenger molecules (cytokines) that trigger inflammation and produce flu-like symptoms were higher in patients with the most severe symptoms. An independent expert, Gordon Broderick, a systems biologist at Rochester General Hospital in New York, commented that it was a 'tremendous step forward'. But what about the 'biological' theories of ME/CFS and the new research published recently suggesting a link with raised levels of molecules linked to inflammation? Commenting, Dr Alan Carson, reader in neuropsychiatry at the University of Edinburgh, said what wasn't clear is whether a higher level of these molecules 'necessarily make you feel worse'. He added: 'It's highly unlikely it will lead to a blood test any time soon.' Yet Professor Edwards, who has described the PACE trial as 'poorly designed, poorly executed and inappropriately interpreted' believes that studies are needed. 'Here in the UK we've spent far too much on the psychological aspect,' he says. 'Understanding the biology is what's going to lead to an effective treatment. Professor Edwards, a rheumatologist, has previously found that patients with ME/CFS as well as rheumatoid arthritis reported great improvement when they were treated with the powerful anti-inflammatory drugs used for their arthritis. A trial of this is now under way. Meanwhile, PACE continues to have support among psychiatrists and psychologists. It seems unlikely that it will be withdrawn, and so the struggle between the doctors and patients continues. |
When my husband and I got married at 22, I figured our young age would hold off questions of kids for a couple of years. Friends and family would know that we'd spend our 20s traveling and establishing our careers and talk about having kids when we were ready. I thought people would respect us enough to hold their questions for when we were a little older. Boy was I wrong. As soon as we got back from our honeymoon it felt like people became more interested in my ovaries instead of me. And it's been like this for four years. It's only gotten worse over time! Now when we're with people who have babies, if I hold the baby I start to hear, "Doesn't that make you want a baby?" or "Your biological clock is ticking, you better get to it!" Don't get me wrong, I love my friends and their sweet babies and I love being an aunt more than anything else. But it seems like a lot of people don't understand how that makes people feel. People need to keep in mind that sometimes different paths are taken in life that may or may not include having children. Below are five reasons why you shouldn't ask someone when they're having kids. 1. They Don't Want Kids. Nothing kills a mood faster than when you tell someone you don't want kids. People don't want to hear why you don't want to have kids and that's the sad truth. They start to wonder what's wrong with you or tell you, "It's different when you have your own" or "You'll change your mind in a few years." If someone tells you that kids aren't in the cards, don't try to change their mind or convince them otherwise. Even if they do change their mind in a few years, it's their journey and they'll figure it out when they're ready. Or they have figured it out and have decided that kids just aren't for them, nothing wrong with not reproducing! 2. They Can't Have Kids. I have several friends who are struggling with infertility and it kills them when they're asked when they are going to have kids or why they don't have kids already. They're going through something personal and painful and hearing this question only makes them feel worse. 3. Their Marriage is Under Strain. Sometimes one spouse is ready to have kids before the other. This, and other things, can put a strain on a marriage and at that point it's not a healthy environment to bring a new life into the world. The question of when they're having children causes a further rift between them because one is ready and the other isn't. You never know what goes on behind closed doors. 4. They Want Kids, Just Not Now. If someone is in their 20s, it may not be a good time to have kids yet. The couple is focusing on their marriage, their careers or want to travel and accomplish things before settling down with a baby. If you're in your 20s and have life figured out, that's great! I'm 26 and have days where I still don't feel like a grown-up and am still Googling how to do "adult" things, like how to file taxes or clean my oven. 5. They're Too Scared. It's hard to admit if you're too scared to have a baby. The worry of being a good parent, the idea of keeping a human alive for 18 years, the changes in your body, the changes in your life. You also want to have a house that's big enough, and have enough money or the support system for daycare/care. |
JavaScript: What Are Pure Functions And Why Use Them? James Jeffery Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jun 21, 2017 Pure Function Example The first time I heard the term “Pure Function” I was confused. What was wrong with a regular function? Why does it need to be pure? Why do I even need pure functions? Unless you already know what pure functions are you’re probably asking the same questions. They’re actually really simple. Let me show you … What Is A Pure Function? The definition of a pure function is: The function always returns the same result if the same arguments are passed in. It does not depend on any state, or data, change during a program’s execution. It must only depend on its input arguments. The function does not produce any observable side effects such as network requests, input and output devices, or data mutation. That’s all there is to a pure function. If it passes the above 2 requirements it’s pure. You’ve probably created a pure function in the past without even realising. Before I show you an example of a pure and unpure function lets discuss the dreaded “side effects”. What Are Observable Side Effects? An observable side effect is any interaction with the outside world from within a function. That could be anything from changing a variable that exists outside the function, to calling another method from within a function. Note: If a pure function calls a pure function this isn’t a side effect and the calling function is still pure. Side effects include, but are not limited to: Making a HTTP request Mutating data Printing to a screen or console DOM Query/Manipulation Math.random() Getting the current time Side effects themselves are not bad and are often required. Except, for a function to be declared pure it must not contain any. Not all functions need to be, or should be, pure. I will discuss use cases for pure functions in a moment. But first, let’s show some examples of pure and impure functions … Pure Function Example In JavaScript For demonstration purposes here is an example of a pure function that calculates the price of a product including tax (UK tax is 20%): function priceAfterTax(productPrice) { return (productPrice * 0.20) + productPrice; } It passes both 1, and 2, of the requirements for a function to be declared pure. It doesn’t depend on any external input, it doesn’t mutate any data and it doesn’t have any side effects. If you run this function with the same input 100,000,000 times it will always produce the same result. Impure Function In JavaScript I’ve showed you a pure function, now lets look at an impure function example in JavaScript: var tax = 20; function calculateTax(productPrice) { return (productPrice * (tax/100)) + productPrice; } Pause for a moment and see if you can guess why this function is impure. If you said it’s because the function depends on an external tax variable you’d be right! A pure function can not depend on outside variables. It fails one of the requirements thus this function is impure. Why Are Pure Functions Important In JavaScript? Pure functions are used heavily in Functional Programming. And, libraries such as ReactJS and Redux require the use of pure functions (ps. If you don’t know ReactJS learn it. It will change your life). But, pure functions can also be used in regular JavaScript that doesn’t depend on a single programming paradigm. You can mix pure and impure functions and that’s perfectly fine. Not all functions need to be , or should be, pure. For example, an event handler for a button press that manipulates the DOM is not a good candidate for a pure function. But, the event handler can call other pure functions which will reduce the number of impure functions in your application. Testability And Refactoring Another reason to use pure functions where possible is testing and refactoring. One of the major benefits of using pure functions is they are immediately testable. They will always produce the same result if you pass in the same arguments. They also makes maintaining and refactoring code much easier. You can change a pure function and not have to worry about unintended side effects messing up the entire application and ending up in debugging hell. When used correctly the use of pure functions produces better quality code. It’s a cleaner way of working with lots of benefits. Note that pure functions are not limited to JavaScript. For an in depth — mind numbing — explanation of pure functions see here. I also highly recommend reading this and this. |
What The Disney Acquisition Of Lucasfilm Actually Means: One ‘Star Wars’ Geek’s Analysis “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced…” Several Star Wars fans may have felt this way or even recalled the above quote with the announcement on October 30 that Disney had acquired Lucasfilm, and were proceeding forward with the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy commencing with the release of Episode VII in 2015. Some may have even had strokes. The news was initially perceived to be a possible joke by many fans, and I’m sure many pondered whether it was actually April Fool’s Day and not Halloween. In spite of this, the news is very real, and the new Disney Lucasfilm (is that actually a name now?) is steaming ahead with upcoming and current projects. Following the breaking of the news, I followed the link to the Disney Investors Conference Call to listen in on the full sordid details on the acquisition. It was a bizarre experience; I felt like I was eavesdropping on the Empire in some kind of twisted livestreaming Space Watergate, but it was incredibly informative. Since then, I’ve got many thoughts and theories and opinions on this massive purchase by Disney, and while I’m going to go through them on the latest Social Blend podcast, I wanted to put fingers to keyboard here at Geeks Of Doom. The Sequel Trilogy: I Was Right The principal item I want to get out of the way is the bragging rights. I’ve persisted in asserting the opinion that one day there would be a Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, that it was inevitable. People called me crazy. “George Lucas does not want to do another one,” they’d say. Or they’d point to the numerous times Lucas had said the story was now complete (more on that little chestnut in a different article) and that I was wrong and I was nuts for advocating this position. I can finally say to all of those people: you were wrong, you silly little neckbearded jackasses. I’ve lost count of how many times I pointed out that Lucas had also flip-flopped on the concept of doing other Star Wars movies before the Prequels were released, or the mind-numbingly obvious profit from further movies that could be made. I mentioned my standpoint on this many times on the Social Blend podcast, and nearly a decade ago had a complete section of my Shadow Of The Sith site (now defunct) obsessively dedicated to the Sequel Trilogy. You can see some of the material at The Internet Archive’s Way Back Machine, which was captured in 2003. It was a geeky OCD I held in the pre-WordPress days of the interwebs. Consequently I’d like to take this opportunity to lift the middle finger to the naysayers, say “fuck you” and do my Star Wars happy dance. Righto, gloating over, we move on. What This Acquisition Actually Is All About From one bold (but accurate) call to a new one, nobody has really questioned specifically WHY this acquisition took place. I’m not criticizing the purchase, but very rarely are huge financial decisions made like this without reason or motive. And at the same time as the motivation for Disney is clearly revenue, for George Lucas there seems to be all quiet on the Skywalker Ranch perch. Lucas scored big time in 1976 when the movie studios thought Star Wars had no chance, and he asked for the licensing rights for his quaint space opera. Over 35 years later, he had retained those rights the entire time. So, why the hell would you sell now? The authoritative word from the Disney exec’s in the investor conference call is that George Lucas has, and has had, his eyes on retirement for some time now. But this explanation doesn’t add up to me. I’m sure there are plenty of entrepreneurs who retired but conserved their hold on specific rights. I’m afraid, my friends, that my theory as to why Lucas sold his company to Disney is rather sad, morbid, and negative. I think and believe that George Lucas is in all probability, dying. This is perhaps the only logical reasoning behind Lucas resolving to make this decision right now. He’s had the rights for nearly 40 years, why give them up now? Something changed, that’s why – and I don’t think it was retirement. With an impending “best before” date, Lucas could have (and has had) time to choose the company that would deal with Lucasfilm the best way possible after his passing. He also gets to contribute as an advisor for the early and pre-production of Star Wars Episode VII to ensure his vision of the Star Wars universe is positioned on a good course. In many ways, it would make sense from a legal perspective that Lucas makes these decisions now, rather than have Star Wars rights and Lucasfilm ownership tied up in legal arguments after his passing. Not only has he got the chance to send his baby, Star Wars, on its way with Disney, but he also gets a $4 billion inheritance for his children. That’s no chump change right there. You might think I’m somewhat disturbed or fucked up or melancholic to be thinking this way, but on a lower-financial tier, I’ve seen this kind of behavior and decision-making process in another person before: my mother, who was diagnosed with cancer in late 2003. She died in 2005, but during the entirety of 2004 while undergoing treatment, she was able to plan in incremental stages where and what she wanted to happen to her property. She was able to find closure on a lot of different things, and seeing this deal between Disney and Lucasfilm just reminds me so much of someone making arrangements for their ownerships before their passing. There’s nothing really morbid about it, it is simply a practical approach – and many others who have dealt with family members and friends dying from cancer will agree with me here. In this manner, George has his say on what happens to Star Wars before his passing – as opposed to clinging onto the rights before his death which would be followed by all kinds of legal ownership bullshit. Lucas gets the last laugh: he can assure that Star Wars is in the good hands of a company that has done an exceptional job at managing “classics.” This is my bold call, and I’m sticking to it. The Expanded Universe May Now Become An “Alternative” Universe While eavesdropping in on the Disney Investors conference call announcing the acquisition of Lucasfilm, I noticed that emphasis was being made on two major areas: movies and toys. Video games were mentioned briefly, but the two foremost areas the Disney head honchos were salivating over were the upcoming films and the ownership of toy merchandising rights. Arguably these are the two areas that must cause financial boners during board meetings. There was unquestionably no attention spent on the Expanded Universe of comic books, novels, graphic novels, and so on. In fact, I wonder how Dark Horse is pondering this new ownership of Lucasfilm now, particularly with no mention of how the transaction was going to affect them in the long run. Being a Star Wars EU nut as well, I was a little uneasy by this. Add in to the mix that Disney have already started early production on Episode VII, and the script and production will be based upon a treatment evolved by George Lucas between 1977 and 2012. OK, so I’m a little more than uneasy – I’m unreasonably petrified that my obsessions with Grand Admiral Thrawn and Prince Xizor and the Yuuzahn Vong Invasion will now amount to nothing more than glorified fan fiction written by authors paid to put the stories out there. Maybe this isn’t the case, but in a realistic situation, what this means is that Lucas does not have to shadow the continuity established by the Expanded Universe. Hardcore continuity nerds call this material “non-canon” – meaning that it may not have any bearing on the “canon” content released as Star Wars movies. In completely different hands, being Disney, there is entirely no emphasis or need for them to want to follow the Expanded Universe continuity. Why would they care about continuity? They still can’t explain how Goofy and Pluto are both dogs for crying out loud. In fact, if you compare this with their other acquisition, Marvel, you might see a parallel I’m driving at here… Marvel Movies have their own continuity – while the animated shows, comics, books, games, and all else are not dependent on that film continuity; and neither are the films dependent on the other media. I am guessing there’s a good chance we might see this happen with Star Wars media as well. Conversely, one of the executives did mention during the investor conference call that the Star Wars stories and universe span a fictional timeline of “over 20,000 years.” Maybe, just maybe, they might adhere to the whole continuity. But they’re certainly not obligated to do so. I’m crossing my fingers and legs that they stick with it though. Overall Thoughts Principally, this acquisition is good news for Star Wars fans. It means we get more Star Wars films and the ongoing life of the franchise is assured by being in the hands of Disney. They have a precedent for working well with Lucas (Star Tours as one example), and some people forget that Disney’s Pixar property originated in Lucasfilm’s hands as well. Above and beyond that, while fans had reservations about the Marvel acquisition in 2009, take a look at how that property has progressed since that time. Captain America and Thor did exceptionally well in 2011, and look at what Joss Whedon achieved with The Avengers this year! While some fans will be thrilled with the forthcoming Star Wars content, the purists who poke with the “Original Trilogy Only” mentality will see nothing good in this today and in years to come as well. In spite of this, like I’ve told the purists before in the past, they’re wrong. They’ve always been wrong. Because taken as a whole, Star Wars will be in good hands with Disney. |
Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, the Los Angeles Times’ letters editor, and it is Saturday, July 1. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti begins his second term (an extra-long one of five and a half years) today. Let’s take a look back at the week in Opinion. Abandon hope, all Trump voters who convinced themselves that holding a job as monumental and humbling as the American presidency would tame the brash businessman’s worst instincts. Donald Trump may be in his sixth month as commander in chief, but he still tweets as if the petty battles of reality TV, which might be good for ratings, are worth fighting as president. On The Times’ Opinion L.A. blog, Doyle McManus breaks down President Trump’s latest vulgar tweetstorm, directed at “Morning Joe” hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, and all the ways it ought to trouble those who hoped a 71-year-old man will mature into his role as the world’s most powerful person: Note the gratuitous cruelty, which Brzezinski presumably earned by daring to criticize Trump’s policies. Note the scarcely veiled misogyny; Brzezinski is no dummy, but to Trump, she’s just another low-IQ blonde. Note, above all, the self-absorption. Doesn’t the president of the United States have more important things to think about than the chatter on a morning show? Apparently not. This is, alas, the same Trump who mocked Republican campaign rivals with childish insults, who raged over crowd estimates on Inauguration Day and who made his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s television ratings. When this president rises every morning, he doesn’t think first about making America great again or helping the struggling voters who put him into office. He thinks mostly about himself. And then he tweets, his self-obsession untempered by self-restraint. >> Click here to read more “Folks, it’s official. Donald Trump is the most insecure man in America.” Cassady Rosenblum notes that Trump’s insults of Brzezinski sound familiar to many women who have crossed powerful men: I didn’t want her, she wanted me. She’s dumb (self-projection, anyone?). And, ew, blood. Trump likes to portray himself as a tough, ruthless counterpuncher, but his feud with “Morning Joe” reveals more about his crippling self-doubt. L.A. Times Your desire to drive fast endangers cyclists and pedestrians. Manhattan Beach resident Peter Flax, who commutes by bike, has listened to his fellow South Bay denizens gripe about their slightly slower drives along the newly “road dieted” Vista del Mar west of Los Angeles International Airport long enough. The city of Los Angeles’ decision to remove lanes of vehicle traffic along the routes preferred by local commuters is about making our streets less dangerous for humans, he says, not sticking it to drivers. L.A. Times We were warned: Gorsuch is turning out to be the new Scalia. Usually, new justices show restraint in their opinions while getting used to the awesome power of their job, writes UC Irvine law professor Richard L. Hasen. But not now: “The early signs from Justice Neil Gorsuch, who joined the Court in April, show that he will hew to the late Justice Scalia’s brand of jurisprudence, both in his conservatism and his boldness.” L.A. Times Elon Musk is digging a small tunnel on property he owns, and it’s being hailed as a transportation breakthrough. Never mind a century’s worth of utility lines and existing subterranean infrastructure that would have to be thoroughly reworked to accommodate a buried freeway system or the fact that building a single five-mile tunnel to finish a local interstate met fierce opposition. If Elon Musk throws it out there, people (and by people, I mean some journalists) marvel. Vanity Fair Stop saying the Trumpcare tax cuts will be funded by Medicaid “blood money.” Columnist Jonah Goldberg think’s we’re at a “particularly dumb political moment” because Democrats are casting Republicans as borderline homicidal for trying to roll back President Obama’s Medicaid expansion. “Taken literally, such rhetoric means that entitlement reform is impossible, because any attempt to get our fiscal house in order would require some people, somewhere, to lose some benefits,” Goldberg writes. L.A. Times Reach me at paul.thornton@latimes.com. |
Movie Review: Marwencol | By How does one begin to describe a film like Marwencol? The best place, I suppose, is what attracted me to the film. In recent months I’ve found myself swirling deeper and deeper into the 1/6th scale realm and by chance I saw a post mentioning a new movie that was about a man who had built a whole 1/6th town. Marwencol, on the surface at least, is a film about a man so heavily immersed in building a 1/6th scale imaginary world with action figures, that he basically lives out a fantasy life through them. It’s like “Second Life”, but with toys. The story that is presented in the trailer is that Mark Hogancamp, a former member of the US Navy, was brutally attacked one night in a bar by a gang of five guys. Mark was nearly beaten to death and suffered brain damage. He was in a coma for several days and it took him months to “recover”. When he emerged, he had forgotten a lot of his past and eventually, turned to building a 1/6th scale world set in WWII, to help his recovery. It became his therapy. Watching the film we find that this is essentially true. Marwencol, as it turns out however, has a lot more to it than just toys. Hogancamp uses a variety of 1/6th scale figures and has built an entire town in his backyard. He has a collection that pretty much anyone would be envious of. Mark is no elitist either. While he has plenty of nice Sideshow and Dragon figures, he will just as easily mix in a good Barbie or two if they fit his storylines. Perhaps that’s the best part about Marwencol, both the fictional town and the documentary. Marwencol is layered with lots of in-depth stories. Mark Hogancamp knows who every character in the town is and he’s got plenty of stories for each. He imagines feuds, rivalries and creates tons of small scale accessories to make sure his characters have far more depth than most adults would even dream of. While Mark doesn’t get on his hands and knees and shout “pew-pew” when he sets up his scenes, he very much is playing. He takes thousands of photos and it seems although he may not have the characters speak aloud, he certainly hears the voices in his head. A lot of the early portion of the film seems to hinge on the idea that Mark’s brain damage caused him to come out of his coma this way. That he woke up one day and became an odd man. The truth is, Mark Hogancamp was always an odd man. He’s the kind of guy that you bump into in the grocery store and as you politely make small talk in the checkout line, he tells you entirely too much about his life story. Before the attack, Hogancamp was a man seemingly on edge, an alcoholic and a guy struggling to be a square peg fitting into a world of round holes. Coming out of his coma, Mark is no longer a alcoholic, but he’s definitely still a square peg. This movie isn’t about the 1/6th scale at all. It’s not about toys or a toy collector. We never really learn about Mark’s customizing or where he buys his figures. There’s no details about what he likes about the scale or his favorite brand of toy. It’s not even about his strange trip once he emerges from the coma, although there is a fair amount of that as well. Parts of Marwencol are disturbing and I suspect some people will get a little uneasy as the film goes on. Marwencol is an examination of a peculiar man. At times, Mark is downright creepy. He obsesses over a neighbor woman, who not only is married, but eventually has to sort of tell him to back off. As Hogancamp takes his daily walks (with a 1/6th jeep pulling alongside him) he stops and leers eerily at the neighbor woman’s house. If this was a drama and not a documentary, the next scene would be Mark sneaking in to murder her. Instead, it’s back to Marwencol where Mark takes out his sexual frustration and anger in storylines where he battles Nazis and hosts catfights. On one hand, Marwencol is about an incredible fantasy world that a disabled man has created to help bring him stability. On the other, it’s a movie about a repressed crossdresser’s nearly maniacal obsession with dolls and their shoes. If Mark was a little bit more one way or the other, he could be dangerous. So can I really say Marwencol is a movie about how a strange man’s incredible fantasy world has saved his life? I’m not certain. Instead I see Marwencol more as a documentary about an offbeat fellow, who serves to remind us that our society is not made for everyone. Mark never fit in and he never will. Mark is a real guy. A strange guy, a nice guy, but a real guy. We live in a world where a guy like Mark Hogancamp will always be looked at as strange. Mark is well aware of this and as much as he’d love to be able to share our world with us, he knows he can’t. Instead, he’s created Marwencol. His world. We’re just lucky that he’s nice enough to share a bit of his world, with us. If you’re interested in Marwencol, it’s available right now as instant streaming on Netflix. There is also a website set up at Marwencol.com where you can find out more info and order the DVD. It’s worth checking out on Netflix, even if Mark doesn’t interest you. His photography and 1/6th world are incredible to behold. |
Remember that overrated 1980s feminist dystopian novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, that you were supposed to think was a profound critique of the patriarchy and a "chilling" vision of a not-so-alternative reality? Well, it's back as a television series that the Left is hyping as a "timely" vision in the era of Ultra-MisogynistBigotedHitlerianXenophobe Donald Trump. But one person who is clearly not a huge fan of Margaret Atwood's book is the inimitable Norm MacDonald, who weighed in on the novel on Twitter in a way that only he can do. In response to an interview with Atwood about her resurrected novel, in which the interviewer and author tried to tie it to the era of Trump, MacDonald offered up some thoughts on the "sub-par piece of science-fi trash" in a series of tweets. Rather than Atwood celebrating her "cheap, dystopian" book as "timely," said MacDonald, the author should be "apologizing for her execrable prose." As for the supposed relevance of the "deeply paranoid feminist vision," the comedian dismissed the claim as just a "cynical cash-grab." Here's what he wrote, in paragraph form (tweets below): I've just read an incredible article where "The Handmaid's Tale", a sub-par piece of science-fi trash, is defended by its author. The author, who rightly should be apologizing for her execrable prose, not only defends it but calls it "timely". The book has been made in to some sort of cable mini-series. I'm Canadian, so had to suffer through this book as a young person. It's one of those cheap, dystopian tracts. The difference with this one is it has a deeply paranoid feminist look into the future. The story is as impossible as most of these " frightening looks into the future". But to call it timely, when the possibility of this fiction ever becoming fact even more of a joke, is just a cynical cash-grab. I've just read an incredible article where "The Handmaid's Tale", a sub-par piece of science-fi trash, is defended by its author. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 The author, who rightly should be apologizing for her execrable prose, not only defends it but calls it "timely". — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 The book has been made in to some sort of cable mini-series. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 I'm Canadian, so had to suffer through this book as a young person. It's one of those cheap, dystopian tracts. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 The difference with this one is it has a deeply paranoid feminist look into the future. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 The story is as impossible as most of these " frightening looks into the future". — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 But to call it timely, when the possibility of this fiction ever becoming fact even more of a joke, is just a cynical cash-grab. — Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) April 26, 2017 In an interview with The Daily Beast published on Wednesday, Atwood indeed goes to great lengths to talk about just how relevant her utterly unbelievable dystopian vision is now that Trump's in charge. Under Trump, she says, "this might actually happen." A few excerpts will give you the flavor of the exchange. Atwood on how Trump "might well" roll back women's rights (interviewer's questions in bold): The Hulu adaptation was obviously in the works long before anyone thought Trump would be president, but how do you think that fact will change how it is received? Well I think it’s already changed it. The cast woke up on November the 9th and thought, this just took on a different meaning. And that is true. So I think had Hillary been elected, you would have had a reaction to it more like, look at an alternative reality that might have happened. Whereas now you’re getting: this might actually happen. Not in quite the same way, not with the same outfits, and probably they will not be able to shut down women reading. But the rollback of rights might well happen. On the importance of keeping up the anti-Trump protest "momentum" : In the book, the narrator talks about the early protests being “smaller than you might have thought.” I know you attended one of the women’s marches in January. Were you heartened by the size of those demonstrations? Yeah, they were bigger than everybody thought. So that was a pleasant surprise in the other direction. But what people are wondering now, of course, is can people keep up the momentum? But you also have to add into that mix: not all forms of protest are getting out onto the street. There’s other things that people can do that may not be as immediately visible, but that are nevertheless forms of protest. |
A summer festival in June 2014 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Photo by Jens Karlsson/Getty Images It started in Soho, then moved to Chelsea and the East Village. Riots in Tompkins Square in 1988 earned it some headlines but didn’t stop its creeping advance. It moved on to lower Harlem, then jumped the river to Park Slope. Williamsburg and Fort Greene followed; today, it threatens even Bedford-Stuyvesant. New York isn’t the only city where it spreads. San Francisco, Washington, and Boston have arguably been even more affected by it. Seattle, Atlanta, and Chicago have experienced it on a large scale, too. The “it,” as you may have guessed, is gentrification. If you live in one of these cities, you probably think you know how it works. Artists, bohemians, and gay couples come first. They move into run-down—but charming and historic—homes and loft spaces close to the urban core. Houses are restored. Funky coffee shops appear. Public safety improves. Then rents and home prices start to go up. The open-minded, diversity-loving creative types who were the first wave of gentrifiers give way to lawyers, bankers, and techies. As rents and home prices continue to rise, the earlier residents—often lower-income people of color—are forced out. That’s the story, at least. Read the Atlantic’s City Lab, and you regularly encounter titles such as “Why Gentrification Is So Hard to Stop” and “There’s Basically No Way Not to Be a Gentrifier.” Liberals and conservatives alike agree that it is bad (although liberals blame developers, and conservatives blame onerous regulations that limit development). Even Jezebel has joined in. It recently chided Taylor Swift (who earlier this year traded her comparatively affordable $2 million apartment in Nashville for a $20 million penthouse in Tribeca) for including an “obtuse” “gentrification anthem” in her latest album. That gentrification displaces poor people of color by well-off white people is a claim so commonplace that most people accept it as a widespread fact of urban life. It’s not. Gentrification of this sort is actually exceedingly rare. The socio-economic status of most neighborhoods is strikingly stable over time. When the ethnic compositions of low-income black neighborhoods do change, it’s typically because Latinos and other immigrants move into a neighborhood—and such in-migration is probably more beneficial than harmful. As for displacement—the most objectionable feature of gentrification—there’s actually very little evidence it happens. In fact, so-called gentrifying neighborhoods appear to experience less displacement than nongentrifying neighborhoods. It’s time to retire the term gentrification altogether. Fourteen years ago, Maureen Kennedy and Paul Leonard of the Brookings Institution wrote that gentrification “is a politically loaded concept that generally has not been useful in resolving growth and community change debates because its meaning is unclear.” That’s even truer today. Some U.S. cities do have serious affordability problems, but they’re not the problems critics of gentrification think they are. Worse, the media focus on gentrification has obscured problems that actually are serious: the increasing isolation of poor, minority neighborhoods and the startling spread of extreme poverty. * * * Gentrification, as it is commonly understood, is about more than rising housing prices. It’s about neighborhoods changing from lower-income, predominantly black or Latino neighborhoods to high-income, predominantly white neighborhoods. Demographers and sociologists have identified neighborhoods where this kind of displacement has occurred. Wicker Park in Chicago, Harlem and Chelsea in Manhattan, Williamsburg in Brooklyn—these places really did gentrify. Sociologists and demographers captured these changes in case studies and ethnographies. But starting a decade ago, economists began to ask more nuanced questions about the displacement the other social sciences were documenting. Simply documenting that low-income people were being forced out of a neighborhood whose housing prices were rising didn’t mean in and of itself that gentrification was causing displacement, they noted. Poor people often move away from nongentrifying neighborhoods, too. Indeed, low-income people move frequently for a variety of reasons. The real question was whether low-income residents moved away from “gentrifying” neighborhoods at a higher rate than they did from nongentrifying neighborhoods. Fans watch as Solange performs during the Northside Festival at McCarren Park on June 16, 2013, in Brooklyn. Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images One of the first people to explore this question in a sophisticated way was University of Washington economist Jacob Vigdor. In 2002, Vigdor examined what had happened in Boston between 1974 and 1997, a period of supposedly intense gentrification. But Vigdor found no evidence that poor people moved out of gentrifying neighborhoods at a higher than normal rate. In fact, rates of departure from gentrifying neighborhoods were actually lower. It wasn’t just Boston. In 2004, Columbia University economists Lance Freeman and Frank Braconi conducted a similar study of gentrification in New York City in the 1990s. They too found that low-income residents of “gentrifying” neighborhoods were less likely to move out of the neighborhood than low-income residents of neighborhoods that had none of the typical hallmarks of gentrification. Of course, displacement is not the only way in which gentrification could harm the poor. Residents of gentrifying neighborhoods might stay put but suffer from rising rents. Freeman and Braconi found that rents did rise in gentrifying neighborhoods in New York. But rising rents had an unexpected effect: As rents rose, residents moved less. “The most plausible interpretation,” the authors concluded, “may be the simplest: As neighborhoods gentrify, they also improve in many ways that may be as appreciated by their disadvantaged residents as by their more affluent ones.” In 2010, University of Colorado–Boulder economist Terra McKinnish, along with Randall Walsh and Kirk White, examined gentrification across the nation as a whole over the course of the 1990s. McKinnish and her colleagues found that gentrification created neighborhoods that were attractive to minority households, particularly households with children or elderly homeowners. They found no evidence of displacement or harm. While most of the income gains in these neighborhoods went to white college graduates under the age of 40 (the archetypical gentrifiers), black high school graduates also saw their incomes rise. They also were more likely to stay put. In short, black households with high school degrees seemed to benefit from gentrification. A man walks in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in September 2010. Courtesy of Korye Logan/Flickr McKinnish, White, and Walsh aren’t the only researchers whose work suggests that blacks often benefit from gentrification. In his book, Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhoods and the End of Progress Toward Racial Equality, sociologist Patrick Sharkey took a close look at black neighborhoods that saw significant changes to their ethnic composition between 1970 and 1990. He found that when the composition of black neighborhoods changed, it wasn’t because whites moved in. That rarely happens. For black communities, neighborhood change happens when Latinos begin to arrive. Sometimes these changes can be difficult, resulting as they often do in new political leaders and changes to the character of the communities. But Sharkey’s research suggests they also bring real benefits. Black residents, particularly black youth, living in more diverse neighborhoods find significantly better jobs than peers with the same skill sets who live in less diverse neighborhoods. In short, writes Sharkey, “There is strong evidence that when neighborhood disadvantage declines, the economic fortunes of black youth improve, and improve rather substantially.” In other words, the problem isn’t so much that gentrification hurts black neighborhoods; it’s that it too often bypasses them. Harvard sociologists Robert Sampson and Jackelyn Hwang have shown that neighborhoods that are more than 40 percent black gentrify much more slowly than other neighborhoods. The apparent unwillingness of other ethnic groups to move into and invest in predominantly black communities in turn perpetuates segregation and inequality in American society. While critics of gentrification decry a process that is largely imaginary, they’ve missed a far more serious problem—the spread of extreme poverty. Last year, economists Joseph Cortright of the Portland, Oregon–based Impresa Consulting and Dillon Mahmoudi of Portland State University set out to examine how America’s poorest urban neighborhoods had changed over time. They started by going back to 1970 and identifying 1,100 census tracts—the county subregions that demographers use as a basic unit of analysis—located within 10 miles of the central business districts in the 51 largest cities with high levels of poverty. They then asked a simple question: How did the socio-economic status of these places change during the next 40 years? The answer: Most had not. Two-thirds of high-poverty neighborhoods in 1970 were still high-poverty neighborhoods in 2010. Only about 100 neighborhoods saw their poverty rates decline to below the national average. The typical metropolitan area had one or two high-poverty neighborhoods that could conceivably be described as gentrifying. However, Cortright and Mahmoudi did find another, more significant change. Whereas in 1970, 1,100 census tracts within 10 miles of central business districts had poverty rates of 30 percent or higher, by 2010, the number of poor census tracts had jumped to 3,100. In other words, the number of high-poverty areas close to central business districts had nearly tripled. To make matters worse, the number of people living in extreme poverty in those areas had doubled. The residents of these neighborhoods are disproportionately black. * * * If gentrification occurs so infrequently—and if it may help rather than hurt existing residents—why are so many people so upset about it? There are at least a couple of reasons. The first has to do with where it happens. According to Cortright and Mahmoudi, just three cities—New York, Chicago, and Washington—accounted for one-third of all census tracts that saw poverty rates decline from above 30 percent in 1970 to below 15 percent in 2010. Half of all the areas in the nation that “gentrified” (if we still want to call it that) were located in those three cities. No wonder New Yorkers and Washingtonians think gentrification is a big deal. People at a park in Brooklyn during the summer of 2011. Courtesy of Cesar Perdomo/Flickr The other reason we continue to talk about gentrification probably has more to do with middle-class fears. Housing prices in America’s most expensive coastal cities have risen sharply since the end of the Great Depression. Expressing concern about “gentrification” in those cities may simply be another way of expressing concern about rising housing prices. But in fact, different types of cities have very different kinds of affordability problems. In coastal cities, the cost of housing is often far higher than the cost of construction. That is primarily because supply is constrained. Builders in Washington can’t turn Adams Morgan’s row houses into a high-rise apartment district, so row house prices rise. High demand plays a role too, of course. Some of that demand reflects a preference for older, close-in housing stock. The fact that global cities deliver high wages to the most skilled workers is almost certainly more important though. Gentrification isn’t the cause of these cities’ affordable housing problem. It’s a symptom. There’s a large group of cities with a very different affordability problem. These are Rust Belt cities such as Detroit where housing sells at or below the cost of construction. These are cities with an income problem. Cities where the cost of housing is far higher than the cost of construction require different policy solutions than cities where the situation is reversed. Coastal cities can benefit from requirements that developers set aside a portion of new units as affordable housing, although some economists argue that such zoning requirements can actually backfire by raising the cost of new housing even more, and all agree that the effect of such set-asides will be minimal. It certainly won’t reverse the transformation of these cities into enclaves for the rich. In contrast, many residents of Rust Belt cities would benefit from rent subsidies (or cash subsidies, period), not set-asides. Yet policymakers all too often fail to fit remedies to the circumstances. Rust Belt cities require set-asides just like San Francisco, while Bay Area institutions such as Stanford hand out generous housing subsidies to new faculty, a measure that only serves to drive housing prices up, instead of searching for ways to increase supply. Retiring the term gentrification won’t do anything to address these problems, of course. But it will remove a distraction. Let’s examine how neighborhoods really change and why some don’t. Let’s debate supply constraints (in addition to providing affordable housing) in the San Franciscos of America and figure out how to provide rent subsidies in the Rust Belt. It won’t be as fun as decrying or defending gentrification, but at least it will be directed at problems that are real. |
Untitled a guest Jan 12th, 2014 177 Never a guest177Never Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up , it unlocks many cool features! rawdownloadcloneembedreportprint text 53.87 KB Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.14-a0-1128-gf332958 (tiles) character file. 3190446 00 the Conqueror (level 27, 285/285 HPs) Began as a Hill Orc Fighter on Jan 8, 2014. Was the Champion of the Shining One. Escaped with the Orb ... and 6 runes on Jan 11, 2014! The game lasted 06:02:39 (111256 turns). 00 the Conqueror (Hill Orc Fighter) Turns: 111256, Time: 06:02:40 HP 285/285 AC 49 Str 24 XL: 27 MP 42/42 EV 19 Int 13 God: the Shining One [******] Gold 7972 SH 0 Dex 16 Spells: 6 memorised, 11 levels left rFire + . . SeeInvis . V - +9,+8 triple sword (holy) rCold + + . Clarity . p - +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" {rElec rN+} rNeg + + + Conserve + (no shield) rPois + rCorr + I - +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" {rPois} rElec + rRot . B - +2 orc cloak {rCorr, Cons} (curse) SustAb + . Spirit . O - +2 pair of gloves {Str+3} rMut + Warding . (no boots) Saprov + . . Stasis . s - amulet of resist mutation t - ring "Reilem" {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} Z - ring of Jaemowew {SustAb rC+ Str-2} @: studying Bows, glowing, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy A: rugged brown scales 1, saprovore 1 a: Divine Shield, Cleansing Flame, Summon Divine Warrior, Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink 0: Orb of Zot }: 6/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, slimy, silver, abyssal, fiery You escaped. You worshipped the Shining One. the Shining One was exalted by your worship. You were not hungry. You visited 16 branches of the dungeon, and saw 74 of its levels. You visited Pandemonium 3 times, and saw 16 of its levels. You visited the Abyss 2 times. You visited 3 bazaars. You also visited: Labyrinth, Ossuary and Wizlab. You collected 11521 gold pieces. You spent 3549 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand weapons V - a +9,+8 triple sword of holy wrath (weapon) Armour p - the +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" (worn) {rElec rN+} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Swamp) It insulates you from electricity. It protects you from negative energy. B - a cursed +2 orcish cloak of preservation (worn) I - the +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" (worn) {rPois} (You acquired it on level 1 of the Orcish Mines) It protects you from poison. O - a +2 pair of gloves of strength (worn) Magical devices c - a wand of disintegration (8) e - a wand of teleportation (2) y - a wand of teleportation (5) M - a wand of digging (12) P - a wand of heal wounds (2) W - a wand of hasting (5) Y - a wand of heal wounds (6) Comestibles d - 8 meat rations h - 8 bread rations Scrolls j - 3 scrolls of fog k - 4 scrolls of identify l - 2 scrolls of enchant armour m - a scroll of amnesia v - 6 scrolls of teleportation F - a scroll of silence H - 5 scrolls of remove curse J - 2 scrolls of magic mapping L - a scroll of vulnerability X - a scroll of fear Jewellery b - a cursed ring of teleport control i - an uncursed ring of regeneration n - an uncursed ring of see invisible {unknown} r - a cursed amulet of resist corrosion s - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck) t - the ring "Reilem" (right hand) {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) [ring of protection from fire] It affects your intelligence (+2). It protects you from cold. It insulates you from electricity. It lets you blink. w - an uncursed ring of protection from fire z - an uncursed amulet of clarity C - a cursed -2 ring of dexterity N - an uncursed ring of flight Q - a cursed ring of positive energy S - a +3 ring of protection T - the amulet "Moidood" {Gourm rF+ MR++} (You found it in a labyrinth) [amulet of the gourmand] It protects you from fire. It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments. U - the ring of Kygrud {+/*Tele +Inv MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Abyss) [ring of teleportation] It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments. It lets you turn invisible. Z - the ring of Jaemowew (left hand) {SustAb rC+ Str-2} (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar) [ring of sustain abilities] It affects your strength (-2). It protects you from cold. Potions a - 2 potions of flight g - a potion of brilliance q - 9 potions of curing u - 4 potions of speed A - 4 potions of restore abilities D - 6 potions of agility E - 3 potions of resistance Books f - the Grimoire of Excruciating Air (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) Spells Type Level Shock Conjuration/Air 1 *Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 *Flight Charms/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 3 Mephitic Cloud Conjuration/Poison/Air 3 Airstrike Air 4 Throw Icicle Conjuration/Ice 4 *Silence Hexes/Air 5 x - a manual of Bows Skills: O Level 27 Fighting O Level 27 Long Blades - Level 21.2 Armour O Level 27 Dodging - Level 3.2 Shields + Level 10.6 Hexes * Level 12.3 Air Magic - Level 21.3 Invocations - Level 13.0 Evocations You had 11 spell levels left. You knew the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Blink Tloc N/A 100% 2 ###.... b - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air ###....... 86% 2 ###.... c - Song of Slaying Chrm #....... 100% 2 ###.... d - Confusing Touch Hex ####...... 12% 1 ##..... e - Flight Chrm/Air ###....... 99% 3 ####... f - Silence Hex/Air ####...... 99% 5 ######. Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (16/16) Temple (1/1) D:7 Orc (4/4) D:12 Elf (3/3) Orc:3 Lair (8/8) D:10 Swamp (5/5) Lair:3 Snake (5/5) Lair:4 Slime (6/6) Lair:6 Vaults (5/5) D:14 Blade (1/1) Vaults:3 Crypt (5/5) Vaults:3 Tomb (1/3) Crypt:2 Hell (1/1) Dis (0/7) Hell Geh (0/7) Hell Coc (0/7) Hell Tar (2/7) Hell Zot (5/5) Depths:6 Depths (6/6) D:16 Altars: Ashenzari Cheibriados Elyvilon Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Makhleb Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Sif Muna Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Beogh Lugonu Shops: D:14 * D:16 ( Orc:1 ? Orc:2 * Orc:4 %(!! Snake:1 != Snake:2 } Vaults:1 + Depths:3 ! Portals: Hell: Depths:1 Depths:2 Depths:3 Depths:4 Depths:5 Depths:6 Abyss: Depths:4 Pandemonium: Depths:1 Depths:3 Annotations: D:8 exclusion: door Depths:1 exclusion: 2 statues Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations You can tolerate rotten meat. You are partially covered in rugged brown scales (AC +1, +3% HP). Message History A ynoxinul comes into view. The ynoxinul bellows! The ynoxinul gestures. There is an open door here. You slice the ufetubus!! You kill the ufetubus! No target in view! No target in view! There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here. Your crystal plate armour "Omapupla" prevents you from hitting the ynoxinul. You slash the ynoxinul! The ynoxinul convulses! The ynoxinul is almost dead. The ynoxinul gestures at you. The iron shot misses you. You carve the ynoxinul like a ham!!! You kill the ynoxinul! The Shining One accepts your kill. No target in view! There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here. You have escaped! ...........#...# #....'.# # ...........#.#.###.####.# # .......###.#.#..'..##...# # .####### #.#.#.###.##.### # ####### #.#.[.# #(#### # ......# #.##### #(#### # ...##.# #.# #.##.## ...##.# #.# #(##..## # ...##.# #.#######.##...# # ...##.####.#.....#3.'.#.# # #'###...##.#.#@#.#5##...# # #.###.7.7#.#.....#.##..## # #.....#.##.##...##.##.## # ###.7.7.7#.###'###.######## #......#.# #.....#......# #.7.7.7#.# #####.#......# #......#.#######.#......### ###...7.7#................... .........#########......##### .........# #.###..#.### .........# #.# #......# There were no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures Cerebov (Pan) the royal jelly (Slime:6) 5 orbs of fire (Zot:5) Khufu (Crypt:3) 3 greater mummies 6 ancient liches the Lernaean hydra (Swamp:5) Margery (Tomb:1) Lamia (Snake:2) 2 Killer Klowns (Zot:5) Geryon (Hell) 17 golden dragons 12 pandemonium lords 4 curse toes Jory (Vaults:3) 4 Brimstone Fiends (Pan) A profane servitor (Depths:6) 3 electric golems 13 bone dragons Nikola (Vaults:2) 12 liches 4 Hell Sentinels (Pan) A hellephant (Pan) 24 tentacled monstrosities 26 Orb Guardians 4 Ice Fiends (Pan) 2 deep elf blademasters (Elf:3) Murray (Hell) 9 titans 7 Shadow Fiends 2 quicksilver dragons 11 Executioners 2 deep elf master archers (Elf:3) A kraken (Hell) 18 storm dragons 6 sphinxes (Tomb:1) 12 acid blobs Rupert (D:15) Agnes (Vaults:1) 7 tengu reavers 13 shadow dragons Frances (Vaults:5) An eldritch tentacle (Tar:1) Kirke (D:15) 3 ancient champions (Crypt:4) 4 draconian monks 3 revenants (Crypt:2) 6 azure jellies 5 ghouls (Crypt:3) A draconian scorcher (Zot:4) Donald (Crypt:1) Wiglaf (Blade) 17 frost giants 12 fire giants Maud (D:16) 6 draconian knights 7 deep elf sorcerers 3 tentacled starspawn A ghost moth (Zot:3) 12 vault wardens A ghost moth (shapeshifter) (Depths:4) Louise (Vaults:1) 5 orc warlords 10 cacodemons A curse skull (Crypt:4) 31 balrugs Gastronok (Orc:4) 6 draconian zealots A draconian annihilator (Zot:1) 19 reapers 4 draconian shifters 47 stone giants 7 deep elf demonologists 2 draconian callers 4 grey draconians 7 greater nagas 23 green deaths 6 eidola 3 green draconians 9 red draconians 23 blizzard demons 6 deep elf annihilators 10 mottled draconians 6 lorocyprocas 5 purple draconians 10 black draconians 14 white draconians 11 yellow draconians 4 vampire knights An unborn (Crypt:3) 7 pale draconians Snorg (Elf:1) 5 death oozes (Slime:6) 19 ettins 15 fire dragons 11 deep elf death magi A mummy priest (Tomb:1) 10 death cobs 34 vault guards 4 jiangshi 9 ironheart preservers A deep elf high priest (Elf:3) A minotaur (Lab) 23 hydras 4 great orbs of eyes Fannar (Elf:2) 24 yaktaur captains Harold (D:10) 22 dancing weapons Nessos (D:16) 5 ravenous feature mimics 4 anacondas 26 ogre magi 15 ice dragons 11 deep troll earth magi An anaconda (shapeshifter) (Vaults:5) 8 spectral elves 11 alligators 2 deep dwarf death knights 5 hell hogs 4 plague shamblers 9 death yaks 2 thrashing horrors (Abyss:3) 6 vampire magi 3 wretched stars (Abyss:3) 4 rakshasas 32 naga warriors 15 deep troll shamans 3 tengu warriors Urug (D:10) 72 sun demons 83 slime creatures 38 centaur warriors 5 orc high priests 6 iron golems 24 soul eaters 3 storm dragon zombies 8 deep elf knights 7 iron trolls 16 very ugly things 4 shadow wraiths A fire crab (Vaults:1) A catoblepas (Lair:7) 11 ice devils 76 skeletal warriors A spatial maelstrom (Abyss:3) 19 hell knights 6 wizards 3 spectral humans An unseen horror (D:14) 17 swamp dragons 45 large abominations 32 deep trolls 18 shadow demons 17 hill giants 5 flayed ghosts A death drake (Abyss:3) 11 shadow dragon zombies 19 necromancers Erolcha (D:12) 3 crystal golems (Crypt:5) 22 harpies A deathcap (Zot:3) 24 giant amoebae 10 ironbrand convokers 2 lindwurms A lindwurm (shapeshifter) (Vaults:1) Joseph (D:10) A golden dragon skeleton (Depths:2) 2 red wasps 4 shining eyes 12 orc sorcerers 4 frost giant zombies 10 phantasmal warriors 11 hellions 2 griffons 21 cyclopes 12 deep elf conjurers A wolf spider (Vaults:2) 20 orc knights 41 sixfirhies A stone giant zombie (Vaults:1) 5 shadow dragon skeletons A very ugly thing skeleton (Crypt:2) A flaming corpse (Crypt:2) A moth of wrath (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) An oklob plant (WizLab) A draconian zombie (Zot:5) A draconian (shapeshifter) (D:14) A sphinx skeleton (Vaults:1) A spiny worm (Vaults:3) 28 moths of wrath 6 deep elf summoners An apocalypse crab (Abyss:3) 3 fire giant skeletons Maurice (D:10) 2 stone golems (WizLab) 6 eyes of devastation 2 guardian serpents 7 elephants 11 stone giant skeletons 8 vault sentinels 3 frost giant skeletons A queen ant (Lair:4) 18 spiny frogs 44 smoke demons Psyche (D:8) 33 black mambas 24 small abominations A pale draconian zombie (Zot:5) A satyr skeleton (Crypt:1) A storm dragon simulacrum (Vaults:5) 46 orange demons A feature mimic (Bazaar) A green draconian zombie (Crypt:1) 7 brown oozes 81 yaktaurs A golden dragon simulacrum (Depths:2) 24 tormentors 6 iron devils 19 efreet 3 silent spectres 6 demonic crawlers An iron troll zombie (Vaults:1) A white draconian zombie (Zot:1) 8 guardian mummies A spriggan (shapeshifter) (Vaults:2) 4 fire drakes 21 blue devils 42 hellwings 4 ancient zymes (Abyss:3) 37 naga magi 9 spriggans A siren zombie (Crypt:2) 35 red devils A tengu conjurer (Depths:6) A green draconian skeleton (Abyss:1) 7 hell beasts A red draconian skeleton (Abyss:3) 3 giant fireflies (Lair:8) 6 komodo dragons A troll (shapeshifter) (Depths:6) 7 deep elf priests A hydra zombie (Crypt:4) An iron troll skeleton (Crypt:3) 7 death drake zombies A giant leech (shapeshifter) (Depths:6) Sonja (D:12) A wandering mushroom (Zot:3) A queen bee (Lair:6) 12 trolls 2 fire vortices (D:8) 15 blink frogs 7 baby alligators A frost giant simulacrum (Crypt:1) 6 giant leeches An ice dragon zombie (D:15) 2 hydra skeletons A wind drake (shapeshifter) (Elf:3) 2 dryad zombies 6 boulder beetles A baby alligator (shapeshifter) (Vaults:3) A moth of wrath zombie (Zot:5) 13 death drake skeletons 6 fire dragon zombies 15 shadows A stone giant simulacrum (Vaults:5) A red wasp zombie (Vaults:1) A minotaur skeleton (Crypt:4) 2 blink frogs (shapeshifter) 3 bog bodies 33 two-headed ogres A fire giant simulacrum (Vaults:5) A griffon zombie (Vaults:1) 4 basilisks 2 fire dragon skeletons 20 wraiths 4 ettin zombies 8 metal gargoyles (Hell) 123 ugly things 9 sharks An ugly thing zombie (Depths:3) 73 ynoxinuls 8 grizzly bears (Lair:8) A black mamba zombie (Crypt:4) A hog (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) 28 deep elf magi 2 tarantellas (Elf:1) 2 ettin skeletons A water elemental (Hell) 4 chaos spawn 54 flying skulls An ice dragon skeleton (Crypt:1) A tarantella (shapeshifter) (Depths:3) 6 golden eyes (Pan) A fire elemental (Abyss:1) 3 redbacks 9 hungry ghosts Eustachio (Orc:2) 5 hill giant zombies 19 humans (D:14) 23 vampire mosquitoes 3 steam dragons 6 vampires 25 neqoxecs Grum (Orc:4) 3 wyverns 63 yaks A yak (shapeshifter) (Depths:5) 2 clay golems 2 spiny worm zombies 5 hill giant skeletons 23 soldier ants 33 wolves A giant leech zombie (Crypt:3) 8 necrophages 23 deep elf fighters 8 hippogriffs 2 rock worms 22 hell hounds A deep troll zombie (Vaults:5) A death drake simulacrum (Abyss:3) An orange crystal statue (Tomb:1) 5 raijus 52 swamp worms A mottled dragon (Zot:3) A spatial vortex (Abyss:3) 94 nagas 12 freezing wraiths 2 manticores 16 porcupines 11 swamp drakes A deep troll skeleton (Vaults:5) 7 phantoms 51 orc warriors 2 yellow wasps 7 black bears 3 ice beasts An ettin simulacrum (Vaults:3) 2 sky beasts A spiny frog skeleton (Crypt:2) 13 giant goldfish 3 tengu A boring beetle (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) 5 lava worms (Hell) 56 ogres 8 crocodiles 4 fire bats (D:8) 36 water moccasins A centaur (shapeshifter) (Depths:5) 61 centaurs A blink frog skeleton (Abyss:3) 3 elf zombies (Ossuary) 2 lost souls (Elf:3) 7 wargs 3 brain worms (Abyss:3) 7 giant slugs 7 rotting devils 6 big kobolds 13 giant frogs A giant slug zombie (Vaults:1) A hell hound zombie (Tar:2) A yaktaur zombie (Crypt:5) A glowing shapeshifter simulacrum (Vaults:3) 12 agate snails A komodo dragon skeleton (D:12) 2 cyclops skeletons 8 eyes of draining A boulder beetle zombie (Vaults:3) 20 insubstantial wisps A yak zombie (D:9) 5 lava fish (Hell) 46 wights 9 jellyfish 2 pulsating lumps 6 electric eels 49 killer bees 3 quasits A troll skeleton (D:11) A hippogriff skeleton (Crypt:4) 26 crimson imps 12 starcursed masses 3 centaur zombies 13 jellies 4 goliath beetles A spider (Pan) 3 lava snakes (Hell) 9 human zombies A centaur skeleton (D:9) A giant frog zombie (D:12) 14 big fish 6 hounds 3 iron imps 35 orc priests 9 iguanas 2 scorpions A human skeleton (Crypt:3) 9 orange rats (Abyss:3) 33 worker ants 38 orc wizards A shapeshifter simulacrum (Crypt:1) A demigod zombie (Crypt:3) Ijyb (D:2) 2 big kobold zombies A sky beast zombie (D:8) A demigod skeleton (Crypt:2) 3 ogre zombies 9 sheep 20 mummies 2 mottled dragon skeletons 4 boggarts 2 hound skeletons A naga skeleton (Crypt:4) 7 orange rat zombies 35 adders 36 green rats 11 lemures An orange rat skeleton (Abyss:3) A gnoll (D:3) 8 shadow imps A white imp (Abyss:3) 4 giant mites 4 giant centipedes 16 worms 82 ufetubi 2 adder zombies An iguana zombie (Crypt:3) A giant centipede zombie (D:13) 11 giant eyeballs 7 giant geckos 4 oozes 184 orcs 3 bat skeletons 7 giant cockroaches 17 goblins 27 hobgoblins 23 jackals 40 kobolds 12 quokkas A ball python (Snake:3) A ball python skeleton (Crypt:2) A ball python zombie (Crypt:1) 38 bats A giant gecko skeleton (D:4) 9 giant newts A giant spore (D:12) A goblin skeleton (Crypt:2) 2 goblin zombies (D:5) A green rat skeleton (Crypt:3) 7 hobgoblin zombies (Ossuary) 4 illusory rakshasas (Vaults:1) A jackal zombie (Ossuary) A kobold skeleton (D:4) 12 kobold zombies (Ossuary) An orc skeleton (D:5) 9 orc zombies 19 rats A rat skeleton (Crypt:1) A rat zombie (Ossuary) 8 ballistomycetes 3 crawling corpses (Elf:3) An eldritch tentacle segment (D:6) 2 fungi 6 starspawn tentacles 6 tentacles (Hell) A tentacle segment (Hell) 7 toadstools (WizLab) 4760 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) An Orb Guardian (Zot:5) An Executioner (Pan) 2 balrugs (Pan) A black draconian (Zot:5) A sun demon (Pan) 2 red devils (Pan) 2 ufetubi (Pan) 10 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) An Orb Guardian (Zot:5) An eldritch tentacle (D:6) A tengu reaver (Vaults:5) 6 daevas A ghost moth (shapeshifter) (Vaults:5) A cacodemon (Pan) 3 angels A deep elf high priest (Elf:3) 2 holy swine (Pan) A wretched star (Abyss:3) A human zombie (Zot:5) 2 large abominations 2 stone giant zombies (Vaults:5) A wolf spider (Vaults:5) A sixfirhy (Pan) A small abomination (Elf:3) A naga mage (Snake:5) A fire vortex (D:8) A baby alligator (Swamp:5) A ynoxinul (Pan) An ugly thing (Vaults:2) A deep elf mage (Vaults:5) 2 neqoxecs A deep elf fighter (Elf:3) A giant goldfish (Swamp:5) An orc warrior (Pan) An ogre (Vaults:5) 10 lost souls A lava snake (Pan) A jelly (Slime:1) A mummy (Tomb:1) An ufetubus (Pan) An orc (D:15) 3 giant spores 4 butterflies 99 eldritch tentacle segments 5 fungi A plant (Swamp:2) 5 starspawn tentacles 47 starspawn tentacle segments 7 tentacles (Hell) 565 tentacle segments (Hell) A toadstool (WizLab) 790 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 5560 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | 00, the Hill Orc Fighter, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 19/19 MP: 0/0 114 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 23/26 MP: 1/1 529 | D:1 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 30/33 MP: 2/2 697 | D:2 | Reached skill level 4 in Long Blades 1116 | D:2 | Noticed Ijyb 1154 | D:2 | Killed Ijyb 1154 | D:2 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 24/39 MP: 3/3 1392 | D:3 | Reached skill level 5 in Long Blades 1596 | D:3 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 1609 | D:3 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 2006 | D:3 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 43/46 MP: 4/4 2704 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Long Blades 3377 | D:4 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 47/52 MP: 5/5 3451 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 3509 | D:5 | Reached skill level 7 in Long Blades 3578 | D:5 | Found a sand-covered staircase. 3635 | Ossuary | Entered an ossuary 4113 | Ossuary | Reached skill level 8 in Long Blades 4113 | Ossuary | Reached XP level 7. HP: 49/59 MP: 3/6 4625 | Ossuary | Reached skill level 9 in Long Blades 5152 | D:5 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 59/66 MP: 7/7 5332 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Long Blades 5771 | D:6 | Found a snail-covered altar of Cheibriados. 5985 | D:6 | Reached skill level 11 in Long Blades 6971 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 69/72 MP: 8/8 7038 | D:7 | Reached skill level 12 in Long Blades 7720 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 7749 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 7922 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Warmaster Okawaru 8077 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting 8202 | D:7 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 8259 | D:7 | Identified a scroll of acquirement 8518 | D:8 | Noticed Psyche 8526 | D:8 | Killed Psyche 8526 | D:8 | Reached skill level 13 in Long Blades 8535 | D:8 | Acquired Okawaru's first power 8789 | D:8 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 58/83 MP: 6/9 9199 | D:8 | Noticed a spriggan baker 9202 | D:8 | Killed a spriggan baker 9202 | D:8 | Reached skill level 14 in Long Blades 9240 | D:8 | Noticed a burning bush 9240 | D:8 | Noticed a burning bush 9318 | D:8 | Gained mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [potion of beneficial mutation] 9928 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 9928 | D:10 | Noticed Maurice 9994 | D:10 | Noticed Urug 10346 | D:10 | Killed Maurice 10346 | D:10 | Reached skill level 15 in Long Blades 10374 | D:10 | Killed Urug 10374 | D:10 | Reached XP level 11. HP: 59/93 MP: 7/10 11008 | D:10 | Noticed Joseph 11381 | D:9 | Reached skill level 16 in Long Blades 11400 | D:10 | Killed Joseph 11400 | D:10 | Reached skill level 10 in Fighting 11791 | D:10 | Found a staircase to the Lair. 11858 | D:10 | Noticed a hill giant 11866 | D:10 | Killed a hill giant 11937 | D:10 | Noticed Harold 11953 | D:10 | Killed Harold 11953 | D:10 | Acquired Okawaru's second power 11971 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts 12236 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 17 in Long Blades 12796 | Lair:2 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 12928 | Lair:2 | Reached XP level 12. HP: 95/104 MP: 9/11 12984 | Lair:2 | Got a fine cloak 12988 | Lair:2 | Identified the cursed -5 cloak "Voem" {Str+2 Int+3} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) 13746 | Lair:2 | Killed a one-headed hydra 14230 | Lair:3 | Found a staircase to the Swamp. 14596 | Lair:3 | Received a gift from Okawaru 14665 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 18 in Long Blades 15187 | Lair:4 | Found a staircase to the Snake Pit. 15206 | Lair:4 | Found a labyrinth entrance. 15233 | Lab | Entered a labyrinth 15416 | Lab | Noticed a minotaur 15429 | Lab | Killed a minotaur 15435 | Lab | Got a warped emerald amulet 15436 | Lab | Identified the amulet "Moidood" {Gourm rF+ MR++} (You found it in a labyrinth) 15447 | Lab | Got a faintly glowing broad axe 15448 | Lab | Identified the cursed -2,+2 broad axe of Floods {distort, rPois} (You found it in a labyrinth) 15640 | Lair:4 | Reached XP level 13. HP: 114/114 MP: 9/12 15724 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 19 in Long Blades 15738 | Lair:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 16320 | Lair:2 | Paralysed by you for 3 turns 16996 | Lair:5 | You fall through a shaft! 16996 | Lair:6 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 18350 | Lair:6 | Found a staircase to the Slime Pits. 18713 | Lair:7 | Reached skill level 20 in Long Blades 18903 | Lair:7 | Received a gift from Okawaru 19211 | Lair:7 | Reached XP level 14. HP: 57/126 MP: 11/13 19291 | Lair:7 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 19791 | Lair:8 | Entered Level 8 of the Lair of Beasts 20679 | Lair:8 | Received a gift from Okawaru 20730 | Lair:8 | Reached skill level 15 in Fighting 20730 | Lair:8 | Reached skill level 21 in Long Blades 21204 | Lair:8 | Received a gift from Okawaru 21783 | Lair:2 | Reached skill level 5 in Armour 23420 | D:11 | Reached XP level 15. HP: 100/136 MP: 14/14 23533 | D:12 | Noticed Sonja 23598 | D:12 | Noticed Erolcha 23608 | D:12 | Killed Erolcha 23875 | D:12 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 24075 | D:12 | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin. 24075 | D:12 | Noticed an angel 24402 | D:12 | Killed Sonja 24537 | Orc:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Orcish Mines 24727 | Orc:1 | Found Ecaerrul's Magic Scroll Shoppe. 24773 | Orc:1 | Bought a scroll of acquirement for 728 gold pieces 24775 | Orc:1 | Got a brightly glowing helmet 24779 | Orc:1 | Identified the +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" {rPois} (You acquired it on level 1 of the Orcish Mines) 25167 | Orc:4 | Entered Level 4 of the Orcish Mines 25211 | Orc:4 | Found a roughly hewn altar of Beogh. 25498 | Orc:2 | Found a burning altar of Makhleb. 25532 | Orc:2 | Found Onank's Assorted Antiques. 25616 | Orc:2 | Noticed Eustachio 25636 | Orc:2 | Killed Eustachio 25860 | Orc:4 | Noticed Gastronok 25885 | Orc:4 | Killed Gastronok 26055 | Orc:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 26405 | Orc:4 | Noticed Grum 26418 | Orc:4 | Killed Grum 27194 | Orc:4 | Found Reda's Weapon Emporium. 27194 | Orc:4 | Found Nitzoar's Food Emporium. 27200 | Orc:4 | Found Viomonuf's Distillery. 27213 | Orc:4 | Found Crit's Distillery. 27219 | Orc:4 | Bought 2 potions of heal wounds for 90 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 48 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of speed for 88 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of curing for 32 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of curing for 32 gold pieces 27561 | D:13 | Reached skill level 10 in Armour 28576 | D:14 | Received a gift from Okawaru 28583 | D:14 | Found a gate to the Vaults. 29047 | D:14 | Found Thrixuex's Assorted Antiques. 29055 | D:14 | Bought a scroll of recharging for 176 gold pieces 29496 | Snake:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Snake Pit 29568 | Snake:1 | Reached XP level 16. HP: 148/148 MP: 15/15 29652 | Snake:1 | Found Vamaegg's Jewellery Shoppe. 29855 | Snake:1 | Found Kucsif's Distillery. 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought 2 potions of heal wounds for 72 gold pieces 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 36 gold pieces 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 36 gold pieces 30343 | Snake:2 | Found Frijuhof's Gadget Emporium. 30928 | Snake:2 | Noticed Lamia 30946 | Snake:2 | Killed Lamia 30946 | Snake:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 32217 | Snake:4 | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon. 32273 | Snake:4 | Found a gateway to a bazaar. 32299 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 32341 | Bazaar | Found Shriungi's Jewellery Boutique. 32347 | Bazaar | Found Faniyd's Antique Weapon Shop. 32376 | Bazaar | Found Waiha's Distillery. 32380 | Bazaar | Found Xyapoak's Gadget Shop. 32383 | Bazaar | Found Luxiun's Magical Wand Boutique. 32422 | Bazaar | Bought the ring of Jaemowew {SustAb rC+ Str-2} for 369 gold pieces 32432 | Bazaar | Bought a bloodstained war axe for 162 gold pieces 32435 | Bazaar | Identified the +8,+3 war axe of the Hierophant {chop, +Fly MR++ Str-2} (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar) 33418 | Swamp:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Swamp 34723 | Swamp:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 34724 | Swamp:2 | Got a slimy crystal plate armour {god gift} 34751 | Swamp:2 | Identified the +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" {rElec rN+} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Swamp) 35012 | Swamp:2 | Reached skill level 15 in Armour 35037 | Swamp:2 | Reached XP level 17. HP: 159/159 MP: 16/16 35229 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [potion of mutation] 35229 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You evolve. [potion of mutation] 35229 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You possess an exceptional clarity of mind. [potion of mutation] 35255 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You can spit poison. [evolution] 36981 | Swamp:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Swamp 37537 | Swamp:5 | Noticed the 27-headed Lernaean hydra 37722 | Swamp:5 | Killed the 17-headed Lernaean hydra 37939 | Swamp:5 | Got a decaying rune of Zot 38541 | Snake:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Snake Pit 38625 | Snake:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Dodging 38681 | Snake:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 38802 | Snake:5 | Identified Sif Muna's Reference Book on Flamy Augmentations 39315 | Snake:5 | Reached XP level 18. HP: 163/171 MP: 17/17 39796 | Snake:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 40215 | Snake:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 41490 | Snake:5 | Got a serpentine rune of Zot 41526 | Snake:5 | Gained mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [evolution] 41785 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Blink 41961 | D:15 | Entered Level 15 of the Dungeon 42554 | D:15 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru. 42571 | D:15 | Noticed Rupert 42593 | D:15 | Killed Rupert 42791 | D:16 | Entered Level 16 of the Dungeon 42791 | D:16 | Noticed Nessos 43254 | D:16 | Killed Nessos 43254 | D:16 | Received a gift from Okawaru 43594 | D:16 | Found a staircase to the Depths. 43635 | D:16 | Noticed Maud 43646 | D:16 | Killed Maud 43678 | D:16 | Found Zylimayd's Weapon Shop. 43682 | D:16 | Noticed Kirke 43701 | D:15 | Killed Kirke 43836 | D:16 | Gained mutation: You are partially covered in rugged brown scales (AC +1, +3% HP). [potion of beneficial mutation] 44417 | Vaults:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Vaults 44417 | Vaults:1 | Found a gateway to a bazaar. 44450 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 44450 | Bazaar | Found Wather's Assorted Antiques. 44450 | Bazaar | Found Heegaz's Magic Scroll Shoppe. 44454 | Bazaar | Found Xujeosch's Jewellery Shoppe. 44456 | Bazaar | Heegaz's Magic Scroll Shoppe was a mimic. 44462 | Bazaar | Xujeosch's Jewellery Shoppe was a mimic. 44471 | Bazaar | Found Leisir's Assorted Antiques. 44476 | Bazaar | Bought a viscous brown potion for 25 gold pieces 44481 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 81 gold pieces 44499 | Vaults:2 | Noticed Nikola 44543 | Vaults:2 | Killed Nikola 44894 | Vaults:2 | Reached XP level 19. HP: 187/187 MP: 18/18 45327 | Vaults:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 45600 | Vaults:2 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging 46330 | Vaults:1 | Noticed Agnes 46351 | Vaults:1 | Killed Agnes 46361 | Vaults:1 | Noticed Louise 46406 | Vaults:1 | Killed Louise 46923 | Vaults:1 | Found Zeageqet's Book Emporium. 47524 | Vaults:1 | Received a gift from Okawaru 47525 | Vaults:1 | Got a faintly humming shield {god gift} 47526 | Vaults:1 | Identified the +3 shield "Stututu Prou" {Acc+6} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 1 of the Vaults) 47628 | Vaults:3 | Reached skill level 22 in Fighting 47905 | Vaults:3 | Gained mutation: You are agile. (Dex +2) [evolution] 48526 | Vaults:3 | Reached XP level 20. HP: 196/200 MP: 18/18 48583 | Vaults:3 | Found a staircase to the Crypt. 48595 | Vaults:3 | Noticed a lich 48610 | Vaults:3 | Killed a lich 48846 | Vaults:3 | Found a staircase to the Hall of Blades. 48910 | Vaults:3 | Noticed Jory 49205 | Vaults:3 | Killed Jory 49649 | Vaults:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 49902 | Vaults:4 | Reached skill level 23 in Fighting 50768 | Depths:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Depths 50768 | Depths:1 | Found a one-way gate leading to the halls of Pandemonium. 51078 | Depths:1 | Gained mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [evolution] 51081 | Depths:1 | Found a gateway to Hell. 51253 | Depths:1 | Received a gift from Okawaru 51713 | Depths:1 | Reached skill level 24 in Fighting 51980 | Depths:2 | Reached XP level 21. HP: 216/216 MP: 17/17 52481 | Depths:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 53369 | Depths:2 | Got a crude copper amulet 53435 | Depths:2 | Reached skill level 15 in Dodging 53619 | Depths:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 53624 | Depths:2 | Identified a +1 orcish cloak of preservation (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Depths) 53982 | Depths:3 | Found Ypuxek's Distillery. 54623 | Depths:4 | Noticed a golden dragon 54632 | Depths:4 | Killed a golden dragon 54666 | Depths:4 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 3 turns 54837 | Depths:4 | Identified the Volume of Confrontation and the Volcanoes 54856 | Depths:4 | Identified the Grimoire of the Mutagenic Frostbite 54866 | Depths:4 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 54949 | Depths:4 | Reached skill level 25 in Fighting 54960 | Depths:4 | Identified the Catalogue of Scorching Attacks 54962 | Depths:4 | Identified the Grimoire of Excruciating Air 54991 | Depths:4 | Identified the Collected Works on Boosts (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) 55012 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 2 spell: Repel Missiles 55015 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 2 spell: Song of Slaying 55160 | Depths:4 | Reached XP level 22. HP: 228/228 MP: 18/18 55172 | Depths:4 | Identified the Catalogue of the Mutagenic Rocks 55183 | Depths:4 | Identified Naryzagu's Collected Works on Shifting Calling 55391 | Depths:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 55591 | Depths:4 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 55591 | Depths:4 | Found a one-way gate to the infinite horrors of the Abyss. 55884 | Depths:4 | Lost mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [evolution] 56038 | Depths:5 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 56691 | Depths:5 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 56791 | Depths:6 | Entered Level 6 of the Depths 57251 | Depths:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 57791 | Depths:6 | Reached XP level 23. HP: 241/241 MP: 20/20 57845 | Depths:6 | Gained mutation: Your spells are a little harder to cast, but a little more powerful. [potion of beneficial mutation] 57996 | Depths:6 | Reached skill level 26 in Fighting 58273 | Depths:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 58279 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You evolve. [evolution] 59265 | Orc:1 | Bought a scroll of magic mapping for 49 gold pieces 59365 | Orc:3 | Found a staircase to the Elven Halls. 59463 | Elf:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Elven Halls 59864 | Elf:1 | Found a magical portal. 59892 | WizLab | Entered a wizard's laboratory 59982 | WizLab | Identified Sireul's Tome of Hurtful Contamination 59984 | WizLab | Identified Sif Muna's Tome of Icy Dislocation 59986 | WizLab | Identified A Primer on Hermeneutics 59989 | WizLab | Identified Khes' Witchery, Part One 60144 | WizLab | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 60376 | Elf:1 | Noticed Snorg 60389 | Elf:1 | Killed Snorg 60867 | Elf:2 | Found a flickering gateway to a bazaar. 60908 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 60908 | Bazaar | Found Qoczac's Book Boutique. 60908 | Bazaar | Found Citzelueng's Distillery. 60980 | Bazaar | Found Kunad's Magical Wand Emporium. 60987 | Bazaar | Bought a wand of heal wounds (2) for 540 gold pieces 60995 | Bazaar | Found Buler's Armour Shoppe. 61007 | Bazaar | Found Muidue's Food Shoppe. 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of beneficial mutation for 455 gold pieces 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 39 gold pieces 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of speed for 71 gold pieces 61070 | Bazaar | Bought a wand of digging (10) for 420 gold pieces 61134 | Elf:2 | Noticed Fannar 61146 | Elf:2 | Killed Fannar 61164 | Elf:2 | Identified the amulet "Biop" {Inacc rF+ Dam+3} (You found it on level 2 of the Depths) 61214 | Elf:2 | Gained mutation: Your flesh is cold resistant. [potion of beneficial mutation] 61392 | Elf:3 | Entered Level 3 of the Elven Halls 63195 | Elf:3 | Reached XP level 24. HP: 175/253 MP: 21/21 63350 | Elf:3 | Got a transparent brass amulet 63357 | Elf:3 | Identified the amulet "Thruyv" {+Rage rF+} (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls) 63533 | Elf:3 | Got a glittering jade amulet 63598 | Elf:3 | Received a gift from Okawaru 64133 | Vaults:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Vaults 64854 | Vaults:4 | Reached skill level 27 in Fighting 65140 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 65144 | Vaults:5 | Got a smoking triple sword {god gift} 65145 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +12,+2 triple sword "Vutylych" {antimagic, rPois rC+ Dex+3} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 65145 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +12,+2 triple sword "Vutylych" {antimagic, rPois rC+ Dex+3} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 65290 | Vaults:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 65414 | Vaults:5 | Killed an ancient lich 65510 | Vaults:5 | Noticed Frances 65534 | Vaults:5 | Killed Frances 65705 | Vaults:5 | Identified the amulet "Geibusea" {Inacc -Tele rC+ MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls) 65712 | Vaults:5 | Got a crude marble ring 65929 | Vaults:5 | Identified the ring of Arahenn {MR++ AC+5 Acc-3} (You took it off a tengu reaver on level 5 of the Vaults) 65945 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 66158 | Vaults:5 | Identified the Almanac of Mutagenic Poisoning 66178 | Vaults:5 | Got a crude steel ring 66543 | Vaults:5 | Reached XP level 25. HP: 223/264 MP: 21/21 66890 | Vaults:4 | Identified the ring "Reilem" {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) 67304 | Vaults:5 | Got a silver rune of Zot 67862 | Vaults:5 | Gained mutation: You have large cloven feet. [potion of beneficial mutation] 68137 | Vaults:5 | Got an ivory great sword 68138 | Vaults:5 | Identified the cursed +3,+2 great sword of Etemetu {freeze, rElec SInv} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) 68194 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 68195 | Vaults:5 | Got a bloodstained triple sword {god gift} 68196 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +8,+3 triple sword of the Wraith {slice, Dex+3 Int+4} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 68196 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +8,+3 triple sword of the Wraith {slice, Dex+3 Int+4} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 68890 | Slime:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Pits of Slime 68915 | Slime:1 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 68927 | Slime:1 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 68976 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 68988 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 68997 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 69311 | Slime:5 | Gained mutation: Space occasionally distorts in your vicinity. [a shining eye] 69418 | Slime:6 | Entered Level 6 of the Pits of Slime 69499 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 3 turns 69515 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 69524 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 69698 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 69814 | Slime:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 69823 | Slime:6 | Got a faintly glowing great sword {god gift} 69863 | Slime:6 | Identified the +3,-3 great sword "Forayss" {slice, MR+ Stlth++} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 69863 | Slime:6 | Identified the +3,-3 great sword "Forayss" {slice, MR+ Stlth++} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 69916 | Slime:6 | Noticed the royal jelly 69919 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a great orb of eyes for 7 turns 69935 | Slime:6 | Killed the royal jelly 69935 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 70109 | Slime:6 | Got a smoking pewter ring 70129 | Slime:6 | Identified the ring "Zuely" {+Inv rC+} (You found it on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 70150 | Slime:6 | Identified the Tome of Good Luck 70255 | Slime:6 | Got a slimy rune of Zot 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You have large cloven feet. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You can spit poison. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: Space occasionally distorts in your vicinity. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You possess an exceptional clarity of mind. [potion of cure mutation] 70959 | Temple | Fell from the grace of Okawaru 70959 | Temple | Became a worshipper of the Shining One 71468 | Crypt:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Crypt 71509 | Crypt:1 | Noticed Donald 71516 | Crypt:1 | Killed Donald 71516 | Crypt:1 | Reached XP level 26. HP: 275/275 MP: 22/22 71776 | Crypt:1 | Acquired the Shining One's first power 72006 | Crypt:1 | Acquired the Shining One's second power 72475 | Crypt:2 | Found a staircase to the Tomb. 73091 | Crypt:3 | Acquired the Shining One's third power 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed Khufu 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed a greater mummy 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed a greater mummy 73617 | Crypt:2 | Killed a greater mummy 74205 | Crypt:3 | Killed a greater mummy 74722 | Crypt:3 | Killed Khufu 75059 | Crypt:3 | Found a basalt altar of Yredelemnul. 75273 | Crypt:4 | Acquired the Shining One's fourth power 75295 | Crypt:4 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru. 75770 | Crypt:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Crypt 76155 | Crypt:5 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 76155 | Crypt:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 76163 | Crypt:5 | Killed an ancient lich 76163 | Crypt:5 | Reached XP level 27. HP: 188/285 MP: 22/22 77731 | Blade | Entered the Hall of Blades 77758 | Blade | Noticed Wiglaf 77853 | Blade | Killed Wiglaf 78103 | Vaults:3 | Identified a cursed -1 rod of inaccuracy (10/10) (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) 78216 | Tomb:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Tomb of the Ancients 78835 | Tomb:1 | Noticed Margery 79045 | Tomb:1 | Cast into the Abyss (the power of Zot) 79090 | Abyss:1 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 79239 | Abyss:1 | Found a roughly hewn altar of Beogh. 79450 | Tomb:1 | Escaped the Abyss 80260 | Tomb:1 | Killed Margery 80921 | Depths:4 | Voluntarily entered the Abyss. 81045 | Abyss:1 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 81274 | Abyss:3 | Got a heavily runed granite ring 81287 | Abyss:3 | Identified the ring of Kygrud {+/*Tele +Inv MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Abyss) 82696 | Abyss:3 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 82700 | Abyss:3 | Got an abyssal rune of Zot 82730 | Abyss:3 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 82771 | Depths:4 | Escaped the Abyss 82874 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 83074 | Pan | Noticed Levvisau the pandemonium lord 83088 | Pan | Killed Levvisau the pandemonium lord 83856 | Pan | Gained mutation: You are somewhat resistant to further mutation. [a cacodemon] 84105 | Pan | Gained mutation: Armour fits poorly on your strangely shaped body. [a neqoxec] 84151 | Pan | Noticed Xutypnyow the pandemonium lord 84177 | Pan | Killed Xutypnyow the pandemonium lord 84962 | Pan | Found an exit through the horrors of the Abyss. 85257 | Pan | Noticed Tryneun the pandemonium lord 85267 | Pan | Killed Tryneun the pandemonium lord 85335 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 85942 | Hell | Entered the Vestibule of Hell 85942 | Hell | Noticed Geryon 85954 | Hell | Gained mutation: You have a fast metabolism. [a cacodemon] 86212 | Hell | Killed Geryon 86276 | Hell | Found a gateway to the decaying netherworld of Tartarus. 86313 | Hell | Noticed Murray 86335 | Hell | Killed Murray 86516 | Hell | Found a gateway to the Iron City of Dis. 86656 | Hell | Found a gateway to the freezing wastes of Cocytus. 86779 | Hell | Found a gateway to the ashen valley of Gehenna. 87076 | Zot:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Realm of Zot 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You have a fast metabolism. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Your spells are a little harder to cast, but a little more powerful. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Armour fits poorly on your strangely shaped body. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Your flesh is cold resistant. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You are somewhat resistant to further mutation. [potion of cure mutation] 89449 | Zot:2 | Reached skill level 27 in Dodging 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 27 in Long Blades 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Invocations 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Evocations 91659 | Zot:3 | Got a pitted amber ring 91716 | Zot:3 | Identified the ring of Peace {Hunger- Str+3 Dex+3} (You found it on level 3 of the Realm of Zot) 92100 | Zot:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Evocations 92414 | Zot:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Invocations 92994 | Zot:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Realm of Zot 93500 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Evocations 93679 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 93708 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94025 | Zot:5 | Was forgiven by Okawaru 94124 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 94130 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94571 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94632 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Invocations 94818 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94840 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 94867 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94877 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 94886 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 94892 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94941 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 95245 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 95267 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 95314 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 15 in Invocations 95669 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 95690 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 95802 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 95812 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 96640 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 96705 | Pan | Noticed Qikhlag the pandemonium lord 97395 | Pan | Entered the realm of Cerebov. 99072 | Pan | Got a steaming turquoise ring 99092 | Pan | Identified the ring "Opiceo" {Hunger- MR++} (You took it off an efreet in Pandemonium) 99439 | Pan | Noticed Cerebov 99730 | Pan | Killed Cerebov 99795 | Pan | Got a fiery rune of Zot 99819 | Pan | Got a flickering marble ring 99928 | Pan | Identified Jeanel's Compendium of Poisoning (You found it in Pandemonium) 99931 | Pan | Identified the ring of Reimbursement {+/*Tele Acc+6} (You took it off an efreet in Pandemonium) 100166 | Pan | Noticed Riki the pandemonium lord 100200 | Pan | Gained mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [a cacodemon] 100420 | Pan | Killed Riki the pandemonium lord 100617 | Pan | Gained mutation: You occasionally shout uncontrollably. [a neqoxec] 100697 | Pan | Gained mutation: Your vision is a little blurry. [a neqoxec] 100947 | Pan | Gained mutation: You sometimes yell uncontrollably. [a neqoxec] 100954 | Pan | Gained mutation: You tend to lose your temper in combat. [a neqoxec] 100964 | Pan | Gained mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [a neqoxec] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You are agile. (Dex +2) [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You sometimes yell uncontrollably. [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You occasionally shout uncontrollably. [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You tend to lose your temper in combat. [potion of cure mutation] 101007 | Pan | Gained mutation: You digest meat inefficiently. [a cacodemon] 101149 | Pan | Found an exit through the horrors of the Abyss. 101457 | Pan | Noticed Moigg the pandemonium lord 101465 | Pan | Killed Moigg the pandemonium lord 101652 | Pan | Noticed Frefuviv the pandemonium lord 101666 | Pan | Killed Frefuviv the pandemonium lord 101892 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 102133 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 1 spell: Confusing Touch 102137 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 3 spell: Flight 102385 | Tar:1 | Entered Level 1 of Tartarus 102405 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 1 in Hexes 102518 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 1 in Air Magic 103294 | Tar:1 | Paralysed by an eldritch tentacle for 6 turns 103872 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Air Magic 104241 | Tar:2 | Reached skill level 5 in Hexes 104826 | Tar:2 | Learned a level 5 spell: Silence 105269 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 105290 | Pan | Found a gateway to a ziggurat. 105336 | Pan | Noticed Ircheust the pandemonium lord 105357 | Pan | Killed Ircheust the pandemonium lord 106699 | Pan | Noticed Daetutt the pandemonium lord 107009 | Pan | Got a brightly glowing helmet 107013 | Pan | Identified the +2 helmet "Shre Mogo" {Str-1 Int+3} (You acquired it in Pandemonium) 107305 | Pan | Noticed Feomet the pandemonium lord 107314 | Pan | Killed Feomet the pandemonium lord 107454 | Pan | Reached skill level 10 in Air Magic 108283 | Pan | Noticed Opluhow the pandemonium lord 108293 | Pan | Killed Opluhow the pandemonium lord 108316 | Pan | HP: 7/285 [Hell Sentinel (11)] 108834 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: Your vision is a little blurry. [potion of cure mutation] 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [potion of cure mutation] 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: You digest meat inefficiently. [potion of cure mutation] 110271 | Zot:5 | Got the Orb of Zot 110690 | Depths:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Hexes 110754 | D:15 | Noticed Cehos the pandemonium lord 110798 | D:15 | Killed Cehos the pandemonium lord 110904 | D:10 | Noticed Tygic Olud the pandemonium lord 110920 | D:10 | Killed Tygic Olud the pandemonium lord 111016 | D:7 | Noticed Suthroip the pandemonium lord 111026 | D:6 | Noticed Cienoirgh the pandemonium lord 111038 | D:6 | Killed Cienoirgh the pandemonium lord 111256 | D:$ | Escaped with the Orb! Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Falchion | 150 | 358 | 589 | | | | | | || 1097 Double sword | | | 86 | 561 | 6 | 51 | | | || 704 Great sword | | | | 173 | 2070 | 2232 | 2533 | 2299 | 780 || 10087 Triple sword | | | | | | | | | 5501 || 5501 Invok: Heroism | | | 1 | 27 | 16 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 7 || 123 Divine Shield | | | | | | | | | 7 || 7 Summon Divine War | | | | | | | | | 9 || 9 Abil: Evoke Teleportati | | | | 2 | | | | | || 2 Spit Poison | | | | | | 1 | 3 | | || 4 Evoke Blink | | | | | | | | | 5 || 5 Evoke: Wand | | | 10 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 21 || 61 horn of Geryon | | | | | | | | | 1 || 1 Use: Potion | | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 56 || 84 Scroll | | 1 | 15 | 28 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 53 || 153 Stab: Confused | | | 1 | | | | | | || 1 Fleeing | | | | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 || 4 Invisible | | | | | | 4 | | | || 4 Held in net/web | | | | | | | | | 1 || 1 Distracted | | | | | | | | | 3 || 3 RAW Paste Data Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup version 0.14-a0-1128-gf332958 (tiles) character file. 3190446 00 the Conqueror (level 27, 285/285 HPs) Began as a Hill Orc Fighter on Jan 8, 2014. Was the Champion of the Shining One. Escaped with the Orb ... and 6 runes on Jan 11, 2014! The game lasted 06:02:39 (111256 turns). 00 the Conqueror (Hill Orc Fighter) Turns: 111256, Time: 06:02:40 HP 285/285 AC 49 Str 24 XL: 27 MP 42/42 EV 19 Int 13 God: the Shining One [******] Gold 7972 SH 0 Dex 16 Spells: 6 memorised, 11 levels left rFire + . . SeeInvis . V - +9,+8 triple sword (holy) rCold + + . Clarity . p - +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" {rElec rN+} rNeg + + + Conserve + (no shield) rPois + rCorr + I - +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" {rPois} rElec + rRot . B - +2 orc cloak {rCorr, Cons} (curse) SustAb + . Spirit . O - +2 pair of gloves {Str+3} rMut + Warding . (no boots) Saprov + . . Stasis . s - amulet of resist mutation t - ring "Reilem" {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} Z - ring of Jaemowew {SustAb rC+ Str-2} @: studying Bows, glowing, quite resistant to hostile enchantments, extremely unstealthy A: rugged brown scales 1, saprovore 1 a: Divine Shield, Cleansing Flame, Summon Divine Warrior, Renounce Religion, Evoke Blink 0: Orb of Zot }: 6/15 runes: decaying, serpentine, slimy, silver, abyssal, fiery You escaped. You worshipped the Shining One. the Shining One was exalted by your worship. You were not hungry. You visited 16 branches of the dungeon, and saw 74 of its levels. You visited Pandemonium 3 times, and saw 16 of its levels. You visited the Abyss 2 times. You visited 3 bazaars. You also visited: Labyrinth, Ossuary and Wizlab. You collected 11521 gold pieces. You spent 3549 gold pieces at shops. Inventory: Hand weapons V - a +9,+8 triple sword of holy wrath (weapon) Armour p - the +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" (worn) {rElec rN+} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Swamp) It insulates you from electricity. It protects you from negative energy. B - a cursed +2 orcish cloak of preservation (worn) I - the +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" (worn) {rPois} (You acquired it on level 1 of the Orcish Mines) It protects you from poison. O - a +2 pair of gloves of strength (worn) Magical devices c - a wand of disintegration (8) e - a wand of teleportation (2) y - a wand of teleportation (5) M - a wand of digging (12) P - a wand of heal wounds (2) W - a wand of hasting (5) Y - a wand of heal wounds (6) Comestibles d - 8 meat rations h - 8 bread rations Scrolls j - 3 scrolls of fog k - 4 scrolls of identify l - 2 scrolls of enchant armour m - a scroll of amnesia v - 6 scrolls of teleportation F - a scroll of silence H - 5 scrolls of remove curse J - 2 scrolls of magic mapping L - a scroll of vulnerability X - a scroll of fear Jewellery b - a cursed ring of teleport control i - an uncursed ring of regeneration n - an uncursed ring of see invisible {unknown} r - a cursed amulet of resist corrosion s - an amulet of resist mutation (around neck) t - the ring "Reilem" (right hand) {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) [ring of protection from fire] It affects your intelligence (+2). It protects you from cold. It insulates you from electricity. It lets you blink. w - an uncursed ring of protection from fire z - an uncursed amulet of clarity C - a cursed -2 ring of dexterity N - an uncursed ring of flight Q - a cursed ring of positive energy S - a +3 ring of protection T - the amulet "Moidood" {Gourm rF+ MR++} (You found it in a labyrinth) [amulet of the gourmand] It protects you from fire. It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments. U - the ring of Kygrud {+/*Tele +Inv MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Abyss) [ring of teleportation] It affects your resistance to hostile enchantments. It lets you turn invisible. Z - the ring of Jaemowew (left hand) {SustAb rC+ Str-2} (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar) [ring of sustain abilities] It affects your strength (-2). It protects you from cold. Potions a - 2 potions of flight g - a potion of brilliance q - 9 potions of curing u - 4 potions of speed A - 4 potions of restore abilities D - 6 potions of agility E - 3 potions of resistance Books f - the Grimoire of Excruciating Air (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) Spells Type Level Shock Conjuration/Air 1 *Repel Missiles Charms/Air 2 *Flight Charms/Air 3 Static Discharge Conjuration/Air 3 Mephitic Cloud Conjuration/Poison/Air 3 Airstrike Air 4 Throw Icicle Conjuration/Ice 4 *Silence Hexes/Air 5 x - a manual of Bows Skills: O Level 27 Fighting O Level 27 Long Blades - Level 21.2 Armour O Level 27 Dodging - Level 3.2 Shields + Level 10.6 Hexes * Level 12.3 Air Magic - Level 21.3 Invocations - Level 13.0 Evocations You had 11 spell levels left. You knew the following spells: Your Spells Type Power Failure Level Hunger a - Blink Tloc N/A 100% 2 ###.... b - Repel Missiles Chrm/Air ###....... 86% 2 ###.... c - Song of Slaying Chrm #....... 100% 2 ###.... d - Confusing Touch Hex ####...... 12% 1 ##..... e - Flight Chrm/Air ###....... 99% 3 ####... f - Silence Hex/Air ####...... 99% 5 ######. Dungeon Overview and Level Annotations Branches: Dungeon (16/16) Temple (1/1) D:7 Orc (4/4) D:12 Elf (3/3) Orc:3 Lair (8/8) D:10 Swamp (5/5) Lair:3 Snake (5/5) Lair:4 Slime (6/6) Lair:6 Vaults (5/5) D:14 Blade (1/1) Vaults:3 Crypt (5/5) Vaults:3 Tomb (1/3) Crypt:2 Hell (1/1) Dis (0/7) Hell Geh (0/7) Hell Coc (0/7) Hell Tar (2/7) Hell Zot (5/5) Depths:6 Depths (6/6) D:16 Altars: Ashenzari Cheibriados Elyvilon Fedhas Kikubaaqudgha Makhleb Nemelex Xobeh Okawaru Sif Muna Trog Vehumet Xom Yredelemnul Zin the Shining One Beogh Lugonu Shops: D:14 * D:16 ( Orc:1 ? Orc:2 * Orc:4 %(!! Snake:1 != Snake:2 } Vaults:1 + Depths:3 ! Portals: Hell: Depths:1 Depths:2 Depths:3 Depths:4 Depths:5 Depths:6 Abyss: Depths:4 Pandemonium: Depths:1 Depths:3 Annotations: D:8 exclusion: door Depths:1 exclusion: 2 statues Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations You can tolerate rotten meat. You are partially covered in rugged brown scales (AC +1, +3% HP). Message History A ynoxinul comes into view. The ynoxinul bellows! The ynoxinul gestures. There is an open door here. You slice the ufetubus!! You kill the ufetubus! No target in view! No target in view! There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here. Your crystal plate armour "Omapupla" prevents you from hitting the ynoxinul. You slash the ynoxinul! The ynoxinul convulses! The ynoxinul is almost dead. The ynoxinul gestures at you. The iron shot misses you. You carve the ynoxinul like a ham!!! You kill the ynoxinul! The Shining One accepts your kill. No target in view! There is a staircase leading out of the dungeon here. You have escaped! ...........#...# #....'.# # ...........#.#.###.####.# # .......###.#.#..'..##...# # .####### #.#.#.###.##.### # ####### #.#.[.# #(#### # ......# #.##### #(#### # ...##.# #.# #.##.## ...##.# #.# #(##..## # ...##.# #.#######.##...# # ...##.####.#.....#3.'.#.# # #'###...##.#.#@#.#5##...# # #.###.7.7#.#.....#.##..## # #.....#.##.##...##.##.## # ###.7.7.7#.###'###.######## #......#.# #.....#......# #.7.7.7#.# #####.#......# #......#.#######.#......### ###...7.7#................... .........#########......##### .........# #.###..#.### .........# #.# #......# There were no monsters in sight! Vanquished Creatures Cerebov (Pan) the royal jelly (Slime:6) 5 orbs of fire (Zot:5) Khufu (Crypt:3) 3 greater mummies 6 ancient liches the Lernaean hydra (Swamp:5) Margery (Tomb:1) Lamia (Snake:2) 2 Killer Klowns (Zot:5) Geryon (Hell) 17 golden dragons 12 pandemonium lords 4 curse toes Jory (Vaults:3) 4 Brimstone Fiends (Pan) A profane servitor (Depths:6) 3 electric golems 13 bone dragons Nikola (Vaults:2) 12 liches 4 Hell Sentinels (Pan) A hellephant (Pan) 24 tentacled monstrosities 26 Orb Guardians 4 Ice Fiends (Pan) 2 deep elf blademasters (Elf:3) Murray (Hell) 9 titans 7 Shadow Fiends 2 quicksilver dragons 11 Executioners 2 deep elf master archers (Elf:3) A kraken (Hell) 18 storm dragons 6 sphinxes (Tomb:1) 12 acid blobs Rupert (D:15) Agnes (Vaults:1) 7 tengu reavers 13 shadow dragons Frances (Vaults:5) An eldritch tentacle (Tar:1) Kirke (D:15) 3 ancient champions (Crypt:4) 4 draconian monks 3 revenants (Crypt:2) 6 azure jellies 5 ghouls (Crypt:3) A draconian scorcher (Zot:4) Donald (Crypt:1) Wiglaf (Blade) 17 frost giants 12 fire giants Maud (D:16) 6 draconian knights 7 deep elf sorcerers 3 tentacled starspawn A ghost moth (Zot:3) 12 vault wardens A ghost moth (shapeshifter) (Depths:4) Louise (Vaults:1) 5 orc warlords 10 cacodemons A curse skull (Crypt:4) 31 balrugs Gastronok (Orc:4) 6 draconian zealots A draconian annihilator (Zot:1) 19 reapers 4 draconian shifters 47 stone giants 7 deep elf demonologists 2 draconian callers 4 grey draconians 7 greater nagas 23 green deaths 6 eidola 3 green draconians 9 red draconians 23 blizzard demons 6 deep elf annihilators 10 mottled draconians 6 lorocyprocas 5 purple draconians 10 black draconians 14 white draconians 11 yellow draconians 4 vampire knights An unborn (Crypt:3) 7 pale draconians Snorg (Elf:1) 5 death oozes (Slime:6) 19 ettins 15 fire dragons 11 deep elf death magi A mummy priest (Tomb:1) 10 death cobs 34 vault guards 4 jiangshi 9 ironheart preservers A deep elf high priest (Elf:3) A minotaur (Lab) 23 hydras 4 great orbs of eyes Fannar (Elf:2) 24 yaktaur captains Harold (D:10) 22 dancing weapons Nessos (D:16) 5 ravenous feature mimics 4 anacondas 26 ogre magi 15 ice dragons 11 deep troll earth magi An anaconda (shapeshifter) (Vaults:5) 8 spectral elves 11 alligators 2 deep dwarf death knights 5 hell hogs 4 plague shamblers 9 death yaks 2 thrashing horrors (Abyss:3) 6 vampire magi 3 wretched stars (Abyss:3) 4 rakshasas 32 naga warriors 15 deep troll shamans 3 tengu warriors Urug (D:10) 72 sun demons 83 slime creatures 38 centaur warriors 5 orc high priests 6 iron golems 24 soul eaters 3 storm dragon zombies 8 deep elf knights 7 iron trolls 16 very ugly things 4 shadow wraiths A fire crab (Vaults:1) A catoblepas (Lair:7) 11 ice devils 76 skeletal warriors A spatial maelstrom (Abyss:3) 19 hell knights 6 wizards 3 spectral humans An unseen horror (D:14) 17 swamp dragons 45 large abominations 32 deep trolls 18 shadow demons 17 hill giants 5 flayed ghosts A death drake (Abyss:3) 11 shadow dragon zombies 19 necromancers Erolcha (D:12) 3 crystal golems (Crypt:5) 22 harpies A deathcap (Zot:3) 24 giant amoebae 10 ironbrand convokers 2 lindwurms A lindwurm (shapeshifter) (Vaults:1) Joseph (D:10) A golden dragon skeleton (Depths:2) 2 red wasps 4 shining eyes 12 orc sorcerers 4 frost giant zombies 10 phantasmal warriors 11 hellions 2 griffons 21 cyclopes 12 deep elf conjurers A wolf spider (Vaults:2) 20 orc knights 41 sixfirhies A stone giant zombie (Vaults:1) 5 shadow dragon skeletons A very ugly thing skeleton (Crypt:2) A flaming corpse (Crypt:2) A moth of wrath (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) An oklob plant (WizLab) A draconian zombie (Zot:5) A draconian (shapeshifter) (D:14) A sphinx skeleton (Vaults:1) A spiny worm (Vaults:3) 28 moths of wrath 6 deep elf summoners An apocalypse crab (Abyss:3) 3 fire giant skeletons Maurice (D:10) 2 stone golems (WizLab) 6 eyes of devastation 2 guardian serpents 7 elephants 11 stone giant skeletons 8 vault sentinels 3 frost giant skeletons A queen ant (Lair:4) 18 spiny frogs 44 smoke demons Psyche (D:8) 33 black mambas 24 small abominations A pale draconian zombie (Zot:5) A satyr skeleton (Crypt:1) A storm dragon simulacrum (Vaults:5) 46 orange demons A feature mimic (Bazaar) A green draconian zombie (Crypt:1) 7 brown oozes 81 yaktaurs A golden dragon simulacrum (Depths:2) 24 tormentors 6 iron devils 19 efreet 3 silent spectres 6 demonic crawlers An iron troll zombie (Vaults:1) A white draconian zombie (Zot:1) 8 guardian mummies A spriggan (shapeshifter) (Vaults:2) 4 fire drakes 21 blue devils 42 hellwings 4 ancient zymes (Abyss:3) 37 naga magi 9 spriggans A siren zombie (Crypt:2) 35 red devils A tengu conjurer (Depths:6) A green draconian skeleton (Abyss:1) 7 hell beasts A red draconian skeleton (Abyss:3) 3 giant fireflies (Lair:8) 6 komodo dragons A troll (shapeshifter) (Depths:6) 7 deep elf priests A hydra zombie (Crypt:4) An iron troll skeleton (Crypt:3) 7 death drake zombies A giant leech (shapeshifter) (Depths:6) Sonja (D:12) A wandering mushroom (Zot:3) A queen bee (Lair:6) 12 trolls 2 fire vortices (D:8) 15 blink frogs 7 baby alligators A frost giant simulacrum (Crypt:1) 6 giant leeches An ice dragon zombie (D:15) 2 hydra skeletons A wind drake (shapeshifter) (Elf:3) 2 dryad zombies 6 boulder beetles A baby alligator (shapeshifter) (Vaults:3) A moth of wrath zombie (Zot:5) 13 death drake skeletons 6 fire dragon zombies 15 shadows A stone giant simulacrum (Vaults:5) A red wasp zombie (Vaults:1) A minotaur skeleton (Crypt:4) 2 blink frogs (shapeshifter) 3 bog bodies 33 two-headed ogres A fire giant simulacrum (Vaults:5) A griffon zombie (Vaults:1) 4 basilisks 2 fire dragon skeletons 20 wraiths 4 ettin zombies 8 metal gargoyles (Hell) 123 ugly things 9 sharks An ugly thing zombie (Depths:3) 73 ynoxinuls 8 grizzly bears (Lair:8) A black mamba zombie (Crypt:4) A hog (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) 28 deep elf magi 2 tarantellas (Elf:1) 2 ettin skeletons A water elemental (Hell) 4 chaos spawn 54 flying skulls An ice dragon skeleton (Crypt:1) A tarantella (shapeshifter) (Depths:3) 6 golden eyes (Pan) A fire elemental (Abyss:1) 3 redbacks 9 hungry ghosts Eustachio (Orc:2) 5 hill giant zombies 19 humans (D:14) 23 vampire mosquitoes 3 steam dragons 6 vampires 25 neqoxecs Grum (Orc:4) 3 wyverns 63 yaks A yak (shapeshifter) (Depths:5) 2 clay golems 2 spiny worm zombies 5 hill giant skeletons 23 soldier ants 33 wolves A giant leech zombie (Crypt:3) 8 necrophages 23 deep elf fighters 8 hippogriffs 2 rock worms 22 hell hounds A deep troll zombie (Vaults:5) A death drake simulacrum (Abyss:3) An orange crystal statue (Tomb:1) 5 raijus 52 swamp worms A mottled dragon (Zot:3) A spatial vortex (Abyss:3) 94 nagas 12 freezing wraiths 2 manticores 16 porcupines 11 swamp drakes A deep troll skeleton (Vaults:5) 7 phantoms 51 orc warriors 2 yellow wasps 7 black bears 3 ice beasts An ettin simulacrum (Vaults:3) 2 sky beasts A spiny frog skeleton (Crypt:2) 13 giant goldfish 3 tengu A boring beetle (shapeshifter) (Depths:2) 5 lava worms (Hell) 56 ogres 8 crocodiles 4 fire bats (D:8) 36 water moccasins A centaur (shapeshifter) (Depths:5) 61 centaurs A blink frog skeleton (Abyss:3) 3 elf zombies (Ossuary) 2 lost souls (Elf:3) 7 wargs 3 brain worms (Abyss:3) 7 giant slugs 7 rotting devils 6 big kobolds 13 giant frogs A giant slug zombie (Vaults:1) A hell hound zombie (Tar:2) A yaktaur zombie (Crypt:5) A glowing shapeshifter simulacrum (Vaults:3) 12 agate snails A komodo dragon skeleton (D:12) 2 cyclops skeletons 8 eyes of draining A boulder beetle zombie (Vaults:3) 20 insubstantial wisps A yak zombie (D:9) 5 lava fish (Hell) 46 wights 9 jellyfish 2 pulsating lumps 6 electric eels 49 killer bees 3 quasits A troll skeleton (D:11) A hippogriff skeleton (Crypt:4) 26 crimson imps 12 starcursed masses 3 centaur zombies 13 jellies 4 goliath beetles A spider (Pan) 3 lava snakes (Hell) 9 human zombies A centaur skeleton (D:9) A giant frog zombie (D:12) 14 big fish 6 hounds 3 iron imps 35 orc priests 9 iguanas 2 scorpions A human skeleton (Crypt:3) 9 orange rats (Abyss:3) 33 worker ants 38 orc wizards A shapeshifter simulacrum (Crypt:1) A demigod zombie (Crypt:3) Ijyb (D:2) 2 big kobold zombies A sky beast zombie (D:8) A demigod skeleton (Crypt:2) 3 ogre zombies 9 sheep 20 mummies 2 mottled dragon skeletons 4 boggarts 2 hound skeletons A naga skeleton (Crypt:4) 7 orange rat zombies 35 adders 36 green rats 11 lemures An orange rat skeleton (Abyss:3) A gnoll (D:3) 8 shadow imps A white imp (Abyss:3) 4 giant mites 4 giant centipedes 16 worms 82 ufetubi 2 adder zombies An iguana zombie (Crypt:3) A giant centipede zombie (D:13) 11 giant eyeballs 7 giant geckos 4 oozes 184 orcs 3 bat skeletons 7 giant cockroaches 17 goblins 27 hobgoblins 23 jackals 40 kobolds 12 quokkas A ball python (Snake:3) A ball python skeleton (Crypt:2) A ball python zombie (Crypt:1) 38 bats A giant gecko skeleton (D:4) 9 giant newts A giant spore (D:12) A goblin skeleton (Crypt:2) 2 goblin zombies (D:5) A green rat skeleton (Crypt:3) 7 hobgoblin zombies (Ossuary) 4 illusory rakshasas (Vaults:1) A jackal zombie (Ossuary) A kobold skeleton (D:4) 12 kobold zombies (Ossuary) An orc skeleton (D:5) 9 orc zombies 19 rats A rat skeleton (Crypt:1) A rat zombie (Ossuary) 8 ballistomycetes 3 crawling corpses (Elf:3) An eldritch tentacle segment (D:6) 2 fungi 6 starspawn tentacles 6 tentacles (Hell) A tentacle segment (Hell) 7 toadstools (WizLab) 4760 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (collateral kills) An Orb Guardian (Zot:5) An Executioner (Pan) 2 balrugs (Pan) A black draconian (Zot:5) A sun demon (Pan) 2 red devils (Pan) 2 ufetubi (Pan) 10 creatures vanquished. Vanquished Creatures (others) An Orb Guardian (Zot:5) An eldritch tentacle (D:6) A tengu reaver (Vaults:5) 6 daevas A ghost moth (shapeshifter) (Vaults:5) A cacodemon (Pan) 3 angels A deep elf high priest (Elf:3) 2 holy swine (Pan) A wretched star (Abyss:3) A human zombie (Zot:5) 2 large abominations 2 stone giant zombies (Vaults:5) A wolf spider (Vaults:5) A sixfirhy (Pan) A small abomination (Elf:3) A naga mage (Snake:5) A fire vortex (D:8) A baby alligator (Swamp:5) A ynoxinul (Pan) An ugly thing (Vaults:2) A deep elf mage (Vaults:5) 2 neqoxecs A deep elf fighter (Elf:3) A giant goldfish (Swamp:5) An orc warrior (Pan) An ogre (Vaults:5) 10 lost souls A lava snake (Pan) A jelly (Slime:1) A mummy (Tomb:1) An ufetubus (Pan) An orc (D:15) 3 giant spores 4 butterflies 99 eldritch tentacle segments 5 fungi A plant (Swamp:2) 5 starspawn tentacles 47 starspawn tentacle segments 7 tentacles (Hell) 565 tentacle segments (Hell) A toadstool (WizLab) 790 creatures vanquished. Grand Total: 5560 creatures vanquished Notes Turn | Place | Note -------------------------------------------------------------- 0 | D:1 | 00, the Hill Orc Fighter, began the quest for the Orb. 0 | D:1 | Reached XP level 1. HP: 19/19 MP: 0/0 114 | D:1 | Reached XP level 2. HP: 23/26 MP: 1/1 529 | D:1 | Reached XP level 3. HP: 30/33 MP: 2/2 697 | D:2 | Reached skill level 4 in Long Blades 1116 | D:2 | Noticed Ijyb 1154 | D:2 | Killed Ijyb 1154 | D:2 | Reached XP level 4. HP: 24/39 MP: 3/3 1392 | D:3 | Reached skill level 5 in Long Blades 1596 | D:3 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 1609 | D:3 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 2006 | D:3 | Reached XP level 5. HP: 43/46 MP: 4/4 2704 | D:3 | Reached skill level 6 in Long Blades 3377 | D:4 | Reached XP level 6. HP: 47/52 MP: 5/5 3451 | D:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Dungeon 3509 | D:5 | Reached skill level 7 in Long Blades 3578 | D:5 | Found a sand-covered staircase. 3635 | Ossuary | Entered an ossuary 4113 | Ossuary | Reached skill level 8 in Long Blades 4113 | Ossuary | Reached XP level 7. HP: 49/59 MP: 3/6 4625 | Ossuary | Reached skill level 9 in Long Blades 5152 | D:5 | Reached XP level 8. HP: 59/66 MP: 7/7 5332 | D:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Long Blades 5771 | D:6 | Found a snail-covered altar of Cheibriados. 5985 | D:6 | Reached skill level 11 in Long Blades 6971 | D:7 | Reached XP level 9. HP: 69/72 MP: 8/8 7038 | D:7 | Reached skill level 12 in Long Blades 7720 | D:7 | Found a staircase to the Ecumenical Temple. 7749 | Temple | Entered the Ecumenical Temple 7922 | Temple | Became a worshipper of Warmaster Okawaru 8077 | D:7 | Reached skill level 5 in Fighting 8202 | D:7 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 8259 | D:7 | Identified a scroll of acquirement 8518 | D:8 | Noticed Psyche 8526 | D:8 | Killed Psyche 8526 | D:8 | Reached skill level 13 in Long Blades 8535 | D:8 | Acquired Okawaru's first power 8789 | D:8 | Reached XP level 10. HP: 58/83 MP: 6/9 9199 | D:8 | Noticed a spriggan baker 9202 | D:8 | Killed a spriggan baker 9202 | D:8 | Reached skill level 14 in Long Blades 9240 | D:8 | Noticed a burning bush 9240 | D:8 | Noticed a burning bush 9318 | D:8 | Gained mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [potion of beneficial mutation] 9928 | D:10 | Entered Level 10 of the Dungeon 9928 | D:10 | Noticed Maurice 9994 | D:10 | Noticed Urug 10346 | D:10 | Killed Maurice 10346 | D:10 | Reached skill level 15 in Long Blades 10374 | D:10 | Killed Urug 10374 | D:10 | Reached XP level 11. HP: 59/93 MP: 7/10 11008 | D:10 | Noticed Joseph 11381 | D:9 | Reached skill level 16 in Long Blades 11400 | D:10 | Killed Joseph 11400 | D:10 | Reached skill level 10 in Fighting 11791 | D:10 | Found a staircase to the Lair. 11858 | D:10 | Noticed a hill giant 11866 | D:10 | Killed a hill giant 11937 | D:10 | Noticed Harold 11953 | D:10 | Killed Harold 11953 | D:10 | Acquired Okawaru's second power 11971 | Lair:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Lair of Beasts 12236 | Lair:1 | Reached skill level 17 in Long Blades 12796 | Lair:2 | Noticed a seven-headed hydra 12928 | Lair:2 | Reached XP level 12. HP: 95/104 MP: 9/11 12984 | Lair:2 | Got a fine cloak 12988 | Lair:2 | Identified the cursed -5 cloak "Voem" {Str+2 Int+3} (You found it on level 2 of the Lair of Beasts) 13746 | Lair:2 | Killed a one-headed hydra 14230 | Lair:3 | Found a staircase to the Swamp. 14596 | Lair:3 | Received a gift from Okawaru 14665 | Lair:3 | Reached skill level 18 in Long Blades 15187 | Lair:4 | Found a staircase to the Snake Pit. 15206 | Lair:4 | Found a labyrinth entrance. 15233 | Lab | Entered a labyrinth 15416 | Lab | Noticed a minotaur 15429 | Lab | Killed a minotaur 15435 | Lab | Got a warped emerald amulet 15436 | Lab | Identified the amulet "Moidood" {Gourm rF+ MR++} (You found it in a labyrinth) 15447 | Lab | Got a faintly glowing broad axe 15448 | Lab | Identified the cursed -2,+2 broad axe of Floods {distort, rPois} (You found it in a labyrinth) 15640 | Lair:4 | Reached XP level 13. HP: 114/114 MP: 9/12 15724 | Lair:4 | Reached skill level 19 in Long Blades 15738 | Lair:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 16320 | Lair:2 | Paralysed by you for 3 turns 16996 | Lair:5 | You fall through a shaft! 16996 | Lair:6 | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 18350 | Lair:6 | Found a staircase to the Slime Pits. 18713 | Lair:7 | Reached skill level 20 in Long Blades 18903 | Lair:7 | Received a gift from Okawaru 19211 | Lair:7 | Reached XP level 14. HP: 57/126 MP: 11/13 19291 | Lair:7 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 19791 | Lair:8 | Entered Level 8 of the Lair of Beasts 20679 | Lair:8 | Received a gift from Okawaru 20730 | Lair:8 | Reached skill level 15 in Fighting 20730 | Lair:8 | Reached skill level 21 in Long Blades 21204 | Lair:8 | Received a gift from Okawaru 21783 | Lair:2 | Reached skill level 5 in Armour 23420 | D:11 | Reached XP level 15. HP: 100/136 MP: 14/14 23533 | D:12 | Noticed Sonja 23598 | D:12 | Noticed Erolcha 23608 | D:12 | Killed Erolcha 23875 | D:12 | Found a staircase to the Orcish Mines. 24075 | D:12 | Found a glowing silver altar of Zin. 24075 | D:12 | Noticed an angel 24402 | D:12 | Killed Sonja 24537 | Orc:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Orcish Mines 24727 | Orc:1 | Found Ecaerrul's Magic Scroll Shoppe. 24773 | Orc:1 | Bought a scroll of acquirement for 728 gold pieces 24775 | Orc:1 | Got a brightly glowing helmet 24779 | Orc:1 | Identified the +0 helmet "Frovirghoi" {rPois} (You acquired it on level 1 of the Orcish Mines) 25167 | Orc:4 | Entered Level 4 of the Orcish Mines 25211 | Orc:4 | Found a roughly hewn altar of Beogh. 25498 | Orc:2 | Found a burning altar of Makhleb. 25532 | Orc:2 | Found Onank's Assorted Antiques. 25616 | Orc:2 | Noticed Eustachio 25636 | Orc:2 | Killed Eustachio 25860 | Orc:4 | Noticed Gastronok 25885 | Orc:4 | Killed Gastronok 26055 | Orc:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 26405 | Orc:4 | Noticed Grum 26418 | Orc:4 | Killed Grum 27194 | Orc:4 | Found Reda's Weapon Emporium. 27194 | Orc:4 | Found Nitzoar's Food Emporium. 27200 | Orc:4 | Found Viomonuf's Distillery. 27213 | Orc:4 | Found Crit's Distillery. 27219 | Orc:4 | Bought 2 potions of heal wounds for 90 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 48 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of speed for 88 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of curing for 32 gold pieces 27222 | Orc:4 | Bought a potion of curing for 32 gold pieces 27561 | D:13 | Reached skill level 10 in Armour 28576 | D:14 | Received a gift from Okawaru 28583 | D:14 | Found a gate to the Vaults. 29047 | D:14 | Found Thrixuex's Assorted Antiques. 29055 | D:14 | Bought a scroll of recharging for 176 gold pieces 29496 | Snake:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Snake Pit 29568 | Snake:1 | Reached XP level 16. HP: 148/148 MP: 15/15 29652 | Snake:1 | Found Vamaegg's Jewellery Shoppe. 29855 | Snake:1 | Found Kucsif's Distillery. 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought 2 potions of heal wounds for 72 gold pieces 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 36 gold pieces 29859 | Snake:1 | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 36 gold pieces 30343 | Snake:2 | Found Frijuhof's Gadget Emporium. 30928 | Snake:2 | Noticed Lamia 30946 | Snake:2 | Killed Lamia 30946 | Snake:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 32217 | Snake:4 | Found a white marble altar of Elyvilon. 32273 | Snake:4 | Found a gateway to a bazaar. 32299 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 32341 | Bazaar | Found Shriungi's Jewellery Boutique. 32347 | Bazaar | Found Faniyd's Antique Weapon Shop. 32376 | Bazaar | Found Waiha's Distillery. 32380 | Bazaar | Found Xyapoak's Gadget Shop. 32383 | Bazaar | Found Luxiun's Magical Wand Boutique. 32422 | Bazaar | Bought the ring of Jaemowew {SustAb rC+ Str-2} for 369 gold pieces 32432 | Bazaar | Bought a bloodstained war axe for 162 gold pieces 32435 | Bazaar | Identified the +8,+3 war axe of the Hierophant {chop, +Fly MR++ Str-2} (You bought it in a shop in a bazaar) 33418 | Swamp:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Swamp 34723 | Swamp:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 34724 | Swamp:2 | Got a slimy crystal plate armour {god gift} 34751 | Swamp:2 | Identified the +11 crystal plate armour "Omapupla" {rElec rN+} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Swamp) 35012 | Swamp:2 | Reached skill level 15 in Armour 35037 | Swamp:2 | Reached XP level 17. HP: 159/159 MP: 16/16 35229 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: Your muscles are strong. (Str +2) [potion of mutation] 35229 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You evolve. [potion of mutation] 35229 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You possess an exceptional clarity of mind. [potion of mutation] 35255 | Lair:2 | Gained mutation: You can spit poison. [evolution] 36981 | Swamp:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Swamp 37537 | Swamp:5 | Noticed the 27-headed Lernaean hydra 37722 | Swamp:5 | Killed the 17-headed Lernaean hydra 37939 | Swamp:5 | Got a decaying rune of Zot 38541 | Snake:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Snake Pit 38625 | Snake:5 | Reached skill level 1 in Dodging 38681 | Snake:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 38802 | Snake:5 | Identified Sif Muna's Reference Book on Flamy Augmentations 39315 | Snake:5 | Reached XP level 18. HP: 163/171 MP: 17/17 39796 | Snake:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 40215 | Snake:5 | Reached skill level 5 in Dodging 41490 | Snake:5 | Got a serpentine rune of Zot 41526 | Snake:5 | Gained mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [evolution] 41785 | Lair:2 | Learned a level 2 spell: Blink 41961 | D:15 | Entered Level 15 of the Dungeon 42554 | D:15 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru. 42571 | D:15 | Noticed Rupert 42593 | D:15 | Killed Rupert 42791 | D:16 | Entered Level 16 of the Dungeon 42791 | D:16 | Noticed Nessos 43254 | D:16 | Killed Nessos 43254 | D:16 | Received a gift from Okawaru 43594 | D:16 | Found a staircase to the Depths. 43635 | D:16 | Noticed Maud 43646 | D:16 | Killed Maud 43678 | D:16 | Found Zylimayd's Weapon Shop. 43682 | D:16 | Noticed Kirke 43701 | D:15 | Killed Kirke 43836 | D:16 | Gained mutation: You are partially covered in rugged brown scales (AC +1, +3% HP). [potion of beneficial mutation] 44417 | Vaults:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Vaults 44417 | Vaults:1 | Found a gateway to a bazaar. 44450 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 44450 | Bazaar | Found Wather's Assorted Antiques. 44450 | Bazaar | Found Heegaz's Magic Scroll Shoppe. 44454 | Bazaar | Found Xujeosch's Jewellery Shoppe. 44456 | Bazaar | Heegaz's Magic Scroll Shoppe was a mimic. 44462 | Bazaar | Xujeosch's Jewellery Shoppe was a mimic. 44471 | Bazaar | Found Leisir's Assorted Antiques. 44476 | Bazaar | Bought a viscous brown potion for 25 gold pieces 44481 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 81 gold pieces 44499 | Vaults:2 | Noticed Nikola 44543 | Vaults:2 | Killed Nikola 44894 | Vaults:2 | Reached XP level 19. HP: 187/187 MP: 18/18 45327 | Vaults:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 45600 | Vaults:2 | Reached skill level 10 in Dodging 46330 | Vaults:1 | Noticed Agnes 46351 | Vaults:1 | Killed Agnes 46361 | Vaults:1 | Noticed Louise 46406 | Vaults:1 | Killed Louise 46923 | Vaults:1 | Found Zeageqet's Book Emporium. 47524 | Vaults:1 | Received a gift from Okawaru 47525 | Vaults:1 | Got a faintly humming shield {god gift} 47526 | Vaults:1 | Identified the +3 shield "Stututu Prou" {Acc+6} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 1 of the Vaults) 47628 | Vaults:3 | Reached skill level 22 in Fighting 47905 | Vaults:3 | Gained mutation: You are agile. (Dex +2) [evolution] 48526 | Vaults:3 | Reached XP level 20. HP: 196/200 MP: 18/18 48583 | Vaults:3 | Found a staircase to the Crypt. 48595 | Vaults:3 | Noticed a lich 48610 | Vaults:3 | Killed a lich 48846 | Vaults:3 | Found a staircase to the Hall of Blades. 48910 | Vaults:3 | Noticed Jory 49205 | Vaults:3 | Killed Jory 49649 | Vaults:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 49902 | Vaults:4 | Reached skill level 23 in Fighting 50768 | Depths:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Depths 50768 | Depths:1 | Found a one-way gate leading to the halls of Pandemonium. 51078 | Depths:1 | Gained mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [evolution] 51081 | Depths:1 | Found a gateway to Hell. 51253 | Depths:1 | Received a gift from Okawaru 51713 | Depths:1 | Reached skill level 24 in Fighting 51980 | Depths:2 | Reached XP level 21. HP: 216/216 MP: 17/17 52481 | Depths:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 53369 | Depths:2 | Got a crude copper amulet 53435 | Depths:2 | Reached skill level 15 in Dodging 53619 | Depths:2 | Received a gift from Okawaru 53624 | Depths:2 | Identified a +1 orcish cloak of preservation (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 2 of the Depths) 53982 | Depths:3 | Found Ypuxek's Distillery. 54623 | Depths:4 | Noticed a golden dragon 54632 | Depths:4 | Killed a golden dragon 54666 | Depths:4 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 3 turns 54837 | Depths:4 | Identified the Volume of Confrontation and the Volcanoes 54856 | Depths:4 | Identified the Grimoire of the Mutagenic Frostbite 54866 | Depths:4 | Found a deep blue altar of Sif Muna. 54949 | Depths:4 | Reached skill level 25 in Fighting 54960 | Depths:4 | Identified the Catalogue of Scorching Attacks 54962 | Depths:4 | Identified the Grimoire of Excruciating Air 54991 | Depths:4 | Identified the Collected Works on Boosts (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) 55012 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 2 spell: Repel Missiles 55015 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 2 spell: Song of Slaying 55160 | Depths:4 | Reached XP level 22. HP: 228/228 MP: 18/18 55172 | Depths:4 | Identified the Catalogue of the Mutagenic Rocks 55183 | Depths:4 | Identified Naryzagu's Collected Works on Shifting Calling 55391 | Depths:4 | Received a gift from Okawaru 55591 | Depths:4 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 55591 | Depths:4 | Found a one-way gate to the infinite horrors of the Abyss. 55884 | Depths:4 | Lost mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [evolution] 56038 | Depths:5 | Found a shattered altar of Ashenzari. 56691 | Depths:5 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 56791 | Depths:6 | Entered Level 6 of the Depths 57251 | Depths:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 57791 | Depths:6 | Reached XP level 23. HP: 241/241 MP: 20/20 57845 | Depths:6 | Gained mutation: Your spells are a little harder to cast, but a little more powerful. [potion of beneficial mutation] 57996 | Depths:6 | Reached skill level 26 in Fighting 58273 | Depths:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 58279 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You evolve. [evolution] 59265 | Orc:1 | Bought a scroll of magic mapping for 49 gold pieces 59365 | Orc:3 | Found a staircase to the Elven Halls. 59463 | Elf:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Elven Halls 59864 | Elf:1 | Found a magical portal. 59892 | WizLab | Entered a wizard's laboratory 59982 | WizLab | Identified Sireul's Tome of Hurtful Contamination 59984 | WizLab | Identified Sif Muna's Tome of Icy Dislocation 59986 | WizLab | Identified A Primer on Hermeneutics 59989 | WizLab | Identified Khes' Witchery, Part One 60144 | WizLab | Found a blossoming altar of Fedhas. 60376 | Elf:1 | Noticed Snorg 60389 | Elf:1 | Killed Snorg 60867 | Elf:2 | Found a flickering gateway to a bazaar. 60908 | Bazaar | Entered a bazaar 60908 | Bazaar | Found Qoczac's Book Boutique. 60908 | Bazaar | Found Citzelueng's Distillery. 60980 | Bazaar | Found Kunad's Magical Wand Emporium. 60987 | Bazaar | Bought a wand of heal wounds (2) for 540 gold pieces 60995 | Bazaar | Found Buler's Armour Shoppe. 61007 | Bazaar | Found Muidue's Food Shoppe. 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of beneficial mutation for 455 gold pieces 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of heal wounds for 39 gold pieces 61050 | Bazaar | Bought a potion of speed for 71 gold pieces 61070 | Bazaar | Bought a wand of digging (10) for 420 gold pieces 61134 | Elf:2 | Noticed Fannar 61146 | Elf:2 | Killed Fannar 61164 | Elf:2 | Identified the amulet "Biop" {Inacc rF+ Dam+3} (You found it on level 2 of the Depths) 61214 | Elf:2 | Gained mutation: Your flesh is cold resistant. [potion of beneficial mutation] 61392 | Elf:3 | Entered Level 3 of the Elven Halls 63195 | Elf:3 | Reached XP level 24. HP: 175/253 MP: 21/21 63350 | Elf:3 | Got a transparent brass amulet 63357 | Elf:3 | Identified the amulet "Thruyv" {+Rage rF+} (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls) 63533 | Elf:3 | Got a glittering jade amulet 63598 | Elf:3 | Received a gift from Okawaru 64133 | Vaults:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Vaults 64854 | Vaults:4 | Reached skill level 27 in Fighting 65140 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 65144 | Vaults:5 | Got a smoking triple sword {god gift} 65145 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +12,+2 triple sword "Vutylych" {antimagic, rPois rC+ Dex+3} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 65145 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +12,+2 triple sword "Vutylych" {antimagic, rPois rC+ Dex+3} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 65290 | Vaults:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 65414 | Vaults:5 | Killed an ancient lich 65510 | Vaults:5 | Noticed Frances 65534 | Vaults:5 | Killed Frances 65705 | Vaults:5 | Identified the amulet "Geibusea" {Inacc -Tele rC+ MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Elven Halls) 65712 | Vaults:5 | Got a crude marble ring 65929 | Vaults:5 | Identified the ring of Arahenn {MR++ AC+5 Acc-3} (You took it off a tengu reaver on level 5 of the Vaults) 65945 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 66158 | Vaults:5 | Identified the Almanac of Mutagenic Poisoning 66178 | Vaults:5 | Got a crude steel ring 66543 | Vaults:5 | Reached XP level 25. HP: 223/264 MP: 21/21 66890 | Vaults:4 | Identified the ring "Reilem" {+Blink rElec rF+ rC+ Int+2} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) 67304 | Vaults:5 | Got a silver rune of Zot 67862 | Vaults:5 | Gained mutation: You have large cloven feet. [potion of beneficial mutation] 68137 | Vaults:5 | Got an ivory great sword 68138 | Vaults:5 | Identified the cursed +3,+2 great sword of Etemetu {freeze, rElec SInv} (You found it on level 5 of the Vaults) 68194 | Vaults:5 | Received a gift from Okawaru 68195 | Vaults:5 | Got a bloodstained triple sword {god gift} 68196 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +8,+3 triple sword of the Wraith {slice, Dex+3 Int+4} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 68196 | Vaults:5 | Identified the +8,+3 triple sword of the Wraith {slice, Dex+3 Int+4} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 5 of the Vaults) 68890 | Slime:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Pits of Slime 68915 | Slime:1 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 68927 | Slime:1 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 68976 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 68988 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 68997 | Slime:3 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 69311 | Slime:5 | Gained mutation: Space occasionally distorts in your vicinity. [a shining eye] 69418 | Slime:6 | Entered Level 6 of the Pits of Slime 69499 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 3 turns 69515 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 69524 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 69698 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 4 turns 69814 | Slime:6 | Received a gift from Okawaru 69823 | Slime:6 | Got a faintly glowing great sword {god gift} 69863 | Slime:6 | Identified the +3,-3 great sword "Forayss" {slice, MR+ Stlth++} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 69863 | Slime:6 | Identified the +3,-3 great sword "Forayss" {slice, MR+ Stlth++} (Okawaru gifted it to you on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 69916 | Slime:6 | Noticed the royal jelly 69919 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a great orb of eyes for 7 turns 69935 | Slime:6 | Killed the royal jelly 69935 | Slime:6 | Paralysed by a giant eyeball for 2 turns 70109 | Slime:6 | Got a smoking pewter ring 70129 | Slime:6 | Identified the ring "Zuely" {+Inv rC+} (You found it on level 6 of the Pits of Slime) 70150 | Slime:6 | Identified the Tome of Good Luck 70255 | Slime:6 | Got a slimy rune of Zot 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You have large cloven feet. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You can spit poison. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: Space occasionally distorts in your vicinity. [potion of cure mutation] 70563 | Lair:2 | Lost mutation: You possess an exceptional clarity of mind. [potion of cure mutation] 70959 | Temple | Fell from the grace of Okawaru 70959 | Temple | Became a worshipper of the Shining One 71468 | Crypt:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Crypt 71509 | Crypt:1 | Noticed Donald 71516 | Crypt:1 | Killed Donald 71516 | Crypt:1 | Reached XP level 26. HP: 275/275 MP: 22/22 71776 | Crypt:1 | Acquired the Shining One's first power 72006 | Crypt:1 | Acquired the Shining One's second power 72475 | Crypt:2 | Found a staircase to the Tomb. 73091 | Crypt:3 | Acquired the Shining One's third power 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed Khufu 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed a greater mummy 73342 | Crypt:3 | Noticed a greater mummy 73617 | Crypt:2 | Killed a greater mummy 74205 | Crypt:3 | Killed a greater mummy 74722 | Crypt:3 | Killed Khufu 75059 | Crypt:3 | Found a basalt altar of Yredelemnul. 75273 | Crypt:4 | Acquired the Shining One's fourth power 75295 | Crypt:4 | Found an iron altar of Okawaru. 75770 | Crypt:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Crypt 76155 | Crypt:5 | Found an ancient bone altar of Kikubaaqudgha. 76155 | Crypt:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 76163 | Crypt:5 | Killed an ancient lich 76163 | Crypt:5 | Reached XP level 27. HP: 188/285 MP: 22/22 77731 | Blade | Entered the Hall of Blades 77758 | Blade | Noticed Wiglaf 77853 | Blade | Killed Wiglaf 78103 | Vaults:3 | Identified a cursed -1 rod of inaccuracy (10/10) (You found it on level 4 of the Depths) 78216 | Tomb:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Tomb of the Ancients 78835 | Tomb:1 | Noticed Margery 79045 | Tomb:1 | Cast into the Abyss (the power of Zot) 79090 | Abyss:1 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 79239 | Abyss:1 | Found a roughly hewn altar of Beogh. 79450 | Tomb:1 | Escaped the Abyss 80260 | Tomb:1 | Killed Margery 80921 | Depths:4 | Voluntarily entered the Abyss. 81045 | Abyss:1 | Found a sparkling altar of Nemelex Xobeh. 81274 | Abyss:3 | Got a heavily runed granite ring 81287 | Abyss:3 | Identified the ring of Kygrud {+/*Tele +Inv MR++} (You found it on level 3 of the Abyss) 82696 | Abyss:3 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 82700 | Abyss:3 | Got an abyssal rune of Zot 82730 | Abyss:3 | Found a corrupted altar of Lugonu. 82771 | Depths:4 | Escaped the Abyss 82874 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 83074 | Pan | Noticed Levvisau the pandemonium lord 83088 | Pan | Killed Levvisau the pandemonium lord 83856 | Pan | Gained mutation: You are somewhat resistant to further mutation. [a cacodemon] 84105 | Pan | Gained mutation: Armour fits poorly on your strangely shaped body. [a neqoxec] 84151 | Pan | Noticed Xutypnyow the pandemonium lord 84177 | Pan | Killed Xutypnyow the pandemonium lord 84962 | Pan | Found an exit through the horrors of the Abyss. 85257 | Pan | Noticed Tryneun the pandemonium lord 85267 | Pan | Killed Tryneun the pandemonium lord 85335 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 85942 | Hell | Entered the Vestibule of Hell 85942 | Hell | Noticed Geryon 85954 | Hell | Gained mutation: You have a fast metabolism. [a cacodemon] 86212 | Hell | Killed Geryon 86276 | Hell | Found a gateway to the decaying netherworld of Tartarus. 86313 | Hell | Noticed Murray 86335 | Hell | Killed Murray 86516 | Hell | Found a gateway to the Iron City of Dis. 86656 | Hell | Found a gateway to the freezing wastes of Cocytus. 86779 | Hell | Found a gateway to the ashen valley of Gehenna. 87076 | Zot:1 | Entered Level 1 of the Realm of Zot 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You have a fast metabolism. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Your spells are a little harder to cast, but a little more powerful. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Armour fits poorly on your strangely shaped body. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: Your flesh is cold resistant. [potion of cure mutation] 87418 | Depths:6 | Lost mutation: You are somewhat resistant to further mutation. [potion of cure mutation] 89449 | Zot:2 | Reached skill level 27 in Dodging 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 27 in Long Blades 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Invocations 91654 | Zot:3 | Reached skill level 1 in Evocations 91659 | Zot:3 | Got a pitted amber ring 91716 | Zot:3 | Identified the ring of Peace {Hunger- Str+3 Dex+3} (You found it on level 3 of the Realm of Zot) 92100 | Zot:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Evocations 92414 | Zot:4 | Reached skill level 5 in Invocations 92994 | Zot:5 | Entered Level 5 of the Realm of Zot 93500 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Evocations 93679 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 93708 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94025 | Zot:5 | Was forgiven by Okawaru 94124 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 94130 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94571 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94632 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 10 in Invocations 94818 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94840 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 94867 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 94877 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 94886 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 94892 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 94941 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 95245 | Zot:5 | Noticed an ancient lich 95267 | Zot:5 | Killed an ancient lich 95314 | Zot:5 | Reached skill level 15 in Invocations 95669 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 95690 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 95802 | Zot:5 | Noticed an orb of fire 95812 | Zot:5 | Killed an orb of fire 96640 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 96705 | Pan | Noticed Qikhlag the pandemonium lord 97395 | Pan | Entered the realm of Cerebov. 99072 | Pan | Got a steaming turquoise ring 99092 | Pan | Identified the ring "Opiceo" {Hunger- MR++} (You took it off an efreet in Pandemonium) 99439 | Pan | Noticed Cerebov 99730 | Pan | Killed Cerebov 99795 | Pan | Got a fiery rune of Zot 99819 | Pan | Got a flickering marble ring 99928 | Pan | Identified Jeanel's Compendium of Poisoning (You found it in Pandemonium) 99931 | Pan | Identified the ring of Reimbursement {+/*Tele Acc+6} (You took it off an efreet in Pandemonium) 100166 | Pan | Noticed Riki the pandemonium lord 100200 | Pan | Gained mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [a cacodemon] 100420 | Pan | Killed Riki the pandemonium lord 100617 | Pan | Gained mutation: You occasionally shout uncontrollably. [a neqoxec] 100697 | Pan | Gained mutation: Your vision is a little blurry. [a neqoxec] 100947 | Pan | Gained mutation: You sometimes yell uncontrollably. [a neqoxec] 100954 | Pan | Gained mutation: You tend to lose your temper in combat. [a neqoxec] 100964 | Pan | Gained mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [a neqoxec] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You are agile. (Dex +2) [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: Your magical capacity is low (-10% MP). [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You sometimes yell uncontrollably. [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You occasionally shout uncontrollably. [potion of cure mutation] 100982 | Pan | Lost mutation: You tend to lose your temper in combat. [potion of cure mutation] 101007 | Pan | Gained mutation: You digest meat inefficiently. [a cacodemon] 101149 | Pan | Found an exit through the horrors of the Abyss. 101457 | Pan | Noticed Moigg the pandemonium lord 101465 | Pan | Killed Moigg the pandemonium lord 101652 | Pan | Noticed Frefuviv the pandemonium lord 101666 | Pan | Killed Frefuviv the pandemonium lord 101892 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 102133 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 1 spell: Confusing Touch 102137 | Depths:4 | Learned a level 3 spell: Flight 102385 | Tar:1 | Entered Level 1 of Tartarus 102405 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 1 in Hexes 102518 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 1 in Air Magic 103294 | Tar:1 | Paralysed by an eldritch tentacle for 6 turns 103872 | Tar:1 | Reached skill level 5 in Air Magic 104241 | Tar:2 | Reached skill level 5 in Hexes 104826 | Tar:2 | Learned a level 5 spell: Silence 105269 | Pan | Entered Pandemonium 105290 | Pan | Found a gateway to a ziggurat. 105336 | Pan | Noticed Ircheust the pandemonium lord 105357 | Pan | Killed Ircheust the pandemonium lord 106699 | Pan | Noticed Daetutt the pandemonium lord 107009 | Pan | Got a brightly glowing helmet 107013 | Pan | Identified the +2 helmet "Shre Mogo" {Str-1 Int+3} (You acquired it in Pandemonium) 107305 | Pan | Noticed Feomet the pandemonium lord 107314 | Pan | Killed Feomet the pandemonium lord 107454 | Pan | Reached skill level 10 in Air Magic 108283 | Pan | Noticed Opluhow the pandemonium lord 108293 | Pan | Killed Opluhow the pandemonium lord 108316 | Pan | HP: 7/285 [Hell Sentinel (11)] 108834 | Depths:3 | Escaped Pandemonium 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: Your vision is a little blurry. [potion of cure mutation] 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: You are dopey. (Int -2) [potion of cure mutation] 109598 | Elf:2 | Lost mutation: You digest meat inefficiently. [potion of cure mutation] 110271 | Zot:5 | Got the Orb of Zot 110690 | Depths:1 | Reached skill level 10 in Hexes 110754 | D:15 | Noticed Cehos the pandemonium lord 110798 | D:15 | Killed Cehos the pandemonium lord 110904 | D:10 | Noticed Tygic Olud the pandemonium lord 110920 | D:10 | Killed Tygic Olud the pandemonium lord 111016 | D:7 | Noticed Suthroip the pandemonium lord 111026 | D:6 | Noticed Cienoirgh the pandemonium lord 111038 | D:6 | Killed Cienoirgh the pandemonium lord 111256 | D:$ | Escaped with the Orb! Action | 1- 3 | 4- 6 | 7- 9 | 10-12 | 13-15 | 16-18 | 19-21 | 22-24 | 25-27 || total -------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------++------- Melee: Falchion | 150 | 358 | 589 | | | | | | || 1097 Double sword | | | 86 | 561 | 6 | 51 | | | || 704 Great sword | | | | 173 | 2070 | 2232 | 2533 | 2299 | 780 || 10087 Triple sword | | | | | | | | | 5501 || 5501 Invok: Heroism | | | 1 | 27 | 16 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 7 || 123 Divine Shield | | | | | | | | | 7 || 7 Summon Divine War | | | | | | | | | 9 || 9 Abil: Evoke Teleportati | | | | 2 | | | | | || 2 Spit Poison | | | | | | 1 | 3 | | || 4 Evoke Blink | | | | | | | | | 5 || 5 Evoke: Wand | | | 10 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 21 || 61 horn of Geryon | | | | | | | | | 1 || 1 Use: Potion | | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 56 || 84 Scroll | | 1 | 15 | 28 | 16 | 14 | 10 | 16 | 53 || 153 Stab: Confused | | | 1 | | | | | | || 1 Fleeing | | | | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 || 4 Invisible | | | | | | 4 | | | || 4 Held in net/web | | | | | | | | | 1 || 1 Distracted | | | | | | | | | 3 || 3 |
Tim Murray by 10 million dogs and 4 million cats are tortured to death in China each year, according to animal rights groups N Cats Terrified by Chinese Torturers ews item: Thousands of dogs are slaughtered at annual meat festival, "where every year animals are kept dozens to a cage before being electrocuted, burned and skinned while alive and conscious" This delightful practice, if imported to Canada, would undoubtedly make our society more "vibrant". Canada was such a boring place when the dominant British population founded the SPCA on the model of the RSPCA in their home country. Now that we are blessed with a large and growing Chinese population, we can hopefully expect that they too will copy many of the quaint traditions that exist in their home country. Surely it would be worthy of a government grant. Empathy and compassion for animals is a "White" thing you know. It's another relic of Western 'privilege' that must be uprooted and cast aside to make way for other cultural perspectives, which of course are as legitimate as ours. (Canadian axiom: All cultures are created equal).Seriously, it is no coincidence that European-founded nations evidence the largest percentage of dog owners and the highest per capita expenditures on dog care. Some 18,000-32,000 years ago, long before the advent of agriculture, European hunter-gatherers developed a symbiotic relationship with dogs which proved to be invaluable in tracking and bringing down game. These dogs were descended from a distinctly powerful, aggressive and mega-faunal wolf that evolved into animals that were selected for behavioural traits that served European preferences and needs. It is reasonable to conclude that over tens of thousands of years the utilitarian and mutually beneficial relationship between Europeans and their dogs accounts for our intrinsic affection for canines. This suggests that our bond is more than simply cultural, but built into the psychology and physiology of both partners.Of course, cruelty toward animals has long been a feature of European-based societies too. But, thanks to the persistent efforts of humane organizations, there was a sea change in how these societies perceived animals. Much of their success, however, can be attributed to the fact that they were able to draw upon currents of compassion that already ran through the culture. One need only look at how animals were humanized in children's literature, or at the appearance of a horse in an English cathedral after the Church of England officially declared that horses have souls. I rather doubt that I will ever see the photo of a horse standing inside of a mosque. In my community, people brought their dogs into the local church to be blessed on the occasion of St. Francis of Assisi Day. A much better fate, I would think, that being skinned and burned alive at a Chinese festival or tormented, beaten and sliced open by Muslims in Sharifabad on the northern Yazdi plain.But given the scale and rapidity of Canada's multicultural make-over, one wonders if dogs, cats and horses will be continued to be held in such high regard. Will humane societies make the cut?Perhaps, if the SPCA is to survive the purge, Canadians of European origin can be removed from its board and replaced by Afghani tribesmen, Somali villagers, and Islamists from Pakistan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, and other "New Canadians" with a solid reputation in caring for animals. After all, it is imperative that any nation which is proud to call itself "multicultural" be "inclusive", and that every government agency or governing body reflect in its composition the community that it serves. According to the Anti-Racist Research Council, Afghanis and Somalis continue to be under-represented in the SPCA, a fact that can only be a result of systemic racism and our parochial, culture-bound aversion to dog-fighting.The Chinese too seemed to have been neglected in SPCA recruiting efforts, which indicates that Canada, specifically British Columbia, continues to struggle with its legacy of anti-Asian racism. Despite years of intensive indoctrination in the nation's classrooms, many Canadians appear to be unaware that not too long ago, Chinese Shi-Tzus and Pugs, as well as Indian Pariahs and Spitz, were barred from entry into this country. In 1916, in fact, a ship of rescue dogs from India was even turned away by Vancouver Port Authorities, and it was not until recently that both Parliament and the Provincial Legislature acknowledged this shameful episode in our history and made a formal apology. Compensation is also apparently in the offing.Reflecting upon this development, an unnamed Chinese-Canadian History Professor at the University of British Columbia gleefully predicted that English Setters, Scots Terriers and Irish Wolf-Hounds are on their way out, "soon be relegated to the dustbin of this province's history".I think we would do well to look to the Chinese for direction in these matters. Since they have been in the civilization business for millennia, it must be assumed that their values, beliefs and traditions are the result of the accumulated wisdom of 8,000 years. To think that our ways are a match for theirs, or that somehow our relatively kind attitude toward dogs and cats testifies to a higher level of consciousness and ethics, is the height of ethnocentric arrogance. What you perceive to be wanton cruelty is, from an Asian or Afghani perspective, just the value-judgment of a White hegemonist afflicted by 'colorism'. So remove your lens and check your privilege!Seriously, the Chinese know a lot more about dogs than we do. The Chinese love dogs — so much so that in China dogs are found in every wok of life. |
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A former University of California, Los Angeles, graduate student shot dead his estranged wife at her Minnesota home before driving halfway across the country to UCLA, where he killed a professor and himself, authorities said on Friday. Mainak Sarkar, who killed a UCLA professor and took his own life, also killed a woman found at this house pictured in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, north of Minneapolis, police said on June 2, 2016. REUTERS/David Bailey Gunman Mainak Sarkar’s first victim was Ashley Hasti, a 31-year-old medical school student with a love of acting and stand-up comedy, her sister, Alex Hasti, said on Facebook on Friday, two days after Sarkar’s attack sparked a two-hour lockdown of UCLA’s sprawling urban campus. Sarkar fatally shot 39-year-old engineering professor William Klug and intended to kill a second professor, police said. The native of India was convinced that Klug had stolen software he had developed, according to police, who called Sarkar’s claim unfounded. So far no motive has emerged to explain why he killed Hasti in the home they had shared in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, some 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from Los Angeles. Hasti was found dead early on Thursday morning of multiple gunshot wounds, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement. “Because this was an unwitnessed death, a more accurate date and time of death cannot be determined,” the statement said. Sarkar is believed to have forced his way into Hasti’s home through a window, which was found broken, Brooklyn Park police said in a statement. Police only decided to check on Hasti after finding a note at the Los Angeles crime scene written by Sarkar, 38, asking authorities to check on his cat at his home in St. Paul. The bizarre hint led to the discovery of a “kill list” that included Klug, Hasti and the second professor, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told reporters on Thursday. Alex Hasti on her Facebook post offered no indication of what might have provoked Sarkar. “My sister, Ashley Hasti, was the smartest, coolest, and funniest person I knew. She could do anything she dreamed of,” the sister said. “Unfortunately, she won’t get to see that last dream come true as her life was cut short much too soon by her estranged husband ... I’m still in a state of shock right now.” Sarkar was armed with twin 9mm semiautomatic handguns and multiple extra clips of ammunition, authorities said. The two guns were legally bought in Minnesota, according to Meredith Davis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. She declined to say who bought the weapons. Investigators on Friday were still searching for Sarkar’s car, a 2003 Nissan Sentra, said Los Angeles police spokesman Aareon Jefferson. The shooting drew a massive response of heavily armed police. Students hid in classrooms behind doors, some of which did not lock, according to social media posts. It was just the latest in a long string of deadly shootings at U.S. schools, including an October attack at an Oregon community college that killed nine and a 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, in which a gunman killed 32 people, was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. PAIR WED IN 2011 Ashley Hasti married Sarkar in 2011, according to a copy of a marriage license obtained by Reuters. An active Facebook page belonging to Hasti shows pictures of Sarkar, none more recent than May 2011. A page apparently belonging to Sarkar, with no public posts since 2011, prominently displayed several photos of them together. Sarkar came from India’s eastern state of West Bengal, where he graduated from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur in 2000 after studying aerospace engineering, according to an ex-classmate and the university’s alumni list. A Los Angeles Metro Police officer stands watch on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus after it was placed on lockdown following reports of a shooter in Los Angeles, California June 1, 2016. REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon Staff at his secondary school in the industrial town of Durgapur remembered him as an able student who passed his exams with good results. “My initial reaction was one of shock and disbelief,” said Gautam Biswas, who taught Sarkar in the 9th and 10th grades at St. Michael’s School in Durgapur, West Bengal. “How could he do this? That was the question that racked my mind for long hours.” |
When confronted about the stolen potato chips, the man “produced a machete, threatened the victim, and fled in a vehicle with the female suspect, investigators reported. PANAMA CITY BEACH — Law enforcement chased a Florida man across the Hathaway Bridge and up State 390 on Monday afternoon after he allegedly threatened a person with a machete over $17 of potato chips. The incident began about 11 a.m. Monday when the Bay County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) was called to Panama City Beach restaurant Scampy’s in reference to Dustin Odum, a 26-year-old Pasco County man recently released from prison who allegedly stole $17 worth of items. The victim, who drove a delivery truck, said he saw Odum enter the vehicle and hand a “carton of potato chips” to a woman standing near the truck. “When confronted, the man produced a machete, threatened the victim, and fled in a vehicle with the female suspect. The victim was able to describe the vehicle to deputies,” a news release from BCSO stated. “Deputies and investigators ... responded and began looking for the vehicle. It was spotted by an investigator on the side of the road at the intersection of Surf Drive and Choctaw (Street) on Panama City Beach. No one was in the vehicle, so several investigators began to watch the vehicle.” At some point, Odum returned to the vehicle and fled from officers, BCSO said. Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said Monday evening he was not sure why Odum had a machete or how long he was in Bay County. Numerous police cars and helicopters joined in the chase, during which Odum rammed an investigator’s vehicle “head on” and fled, leaving behind the female suspect, Jasmine Elizabeth Mundy, BCSO reported. Authorities lost sight of Odum’s vehicle when they pursued him over the Hathaway, but they soon spotted it and followed him again on State 390, the release stated. Investigators said he then drove through a neighborhood, rammed more law enforcement cars and slammed through a chain-link fence during the chase. Not longer after, he returned to “Highway 390, where he crashed the vehicle into a ditch at Highway 390 and Jackson Way and fled on foot. He was apprehended a short distance later,” the release stated. “Four different law enforcement vehicles were rammed during this incident and two deputies were taken to a local hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. One is home and another remains hospitalized in good condition.” BCSO declined to release the identity of the two deputies. Odum faces several charges, including aggravated fleeing and eluding with injuries, three counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and armed robbery. He had “several hundred dollars” on him when he was arrested, Ford said. “He will be going back to prison,” Ford said. The woman believed to have been standing near the delivery truck, 24-year-old Mundy, also from Pasco County, was wanted on an active warrant for several charges, including violation of probation for possession of alprazolam, and now also is charged with armed robbery. Odum previously served time for grand theft auto, burglary of an occupied conveyance and being a felon in possession of a firearm. |
The HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE are notable devices for many reasons, but today they become notorious: they're the first devices to face an import delay at US Customs for potentially infringing an Apple patent. We've learned today that the One X and Evo 4G LTE are indefinitely delayed at Customs as the agency investigates patent issues with Apple, and sources have further confirmed that some shipments are indeed being held back. The One X is also currently out of stock at AT&T's online store and at most AT&T retail stores we've called — and few had any information on when more units would arrive. Apple won a wide-ranging exclusion order banning the importation of HTC Android devices at the International Trade Commission last December — the ITC found that Android's messaging app and browser infringed upon Apple patent #5,946,647, which covers automatically converting things like phone numbers and email addresses into actionable links that open a menu of options. The ban was delayed so HTC could engineer around Apple's patent claims, but it went into effect on April 19th — and although HTC claimed so-called "data tapping" was a "small UI experience" that would be completely removed from its US Android devices, Customs is now reviewing the One X and Evo 4G LTE. Customs orders are completely classified — excluded even from the Freedom of Information Act Although the ITC order was handed down before the One X was even announced at Mobile World Congress, it's open-ended enough to block importation of any HTC Android device — the ITC broadly prohibited the importation of HTC "personal data and mobile communications devices" running Android that infringe the '647 patent. Customs and Border Protection is in charge of executing the order, and it's allowed to handle things pretty much any way it wants; there are really no formal rules governing how exclusion orders are interpreted or enforced. What's more, the final enforcement instructions delivered by Customs to its officers are totally classified — they're even excluded from Freedom of Information Act requests. At this point HTC is basically in limbo while it waits for Customs to issue a decision. HTC can certainly try to stay the ban while it further appeals the case; the company's official statement is below. We've also reached out to Apple, AT&T, and Sprint, we'll update you as we learn more. |
Pokemon Black White Evolution Guide This is a complete guide of all the new Pokemon that evolve and the conditions that they will evolve. They are listed according to the Unova Pokedex. #001 Snivy (lvl. 17) - >#002 Servine (lvl. 36) - > #003 Serperior #004 Tepig (lvl. 17) - > #005 Pignite (lvl. 36) - > #006 Emboar #007 Oshawott (lvl. ) - > #008 Dewott (lvl. 36) - > #009 Samurott #010 Patrat (lvl. 20) - > #011 Watchdog #012 Lillipup (lvl. 16) - > #013 Herdier (lvl. 32) - > #014 Stoutland #015 Purrlion (lvl. 20) - >#016 Liepard #025 Pidove (lvl. 21) - > #026 Tranquill (lvl. 32) - > #027 Unfezant #028 Blitzle (lvl. 27) - > #029 Zebstrika #030 Roggenrola (lvl. 25) - > #031 Boldore #035 Drilbur (lvl. 31) - > #036 Excadrill #038 Timburr (lvl. 25) - > #039 Gurdurr (Trade) - > #40 Conkeldurr #041 Tympole (lvl. 25) - > #042 Palpitoad (lvl. 36) - > #043 Seismitoad #046 Sewaddle (lvl. 20) - > #047 Swadloon #049 Venipede (lvl. 22) - > # 050 Whirlipede (lvl. 30) - > #051 Scolipede #057 Sandile (lvl. 29) - > #058 Krokorok (lvl. 40) - > #059 Krookodile #060 Darumaka (lvl. 35) - > #061 Darmanitan #063 Dwebble (lvl. 34) - > #064 Crustle #065 Scraggy (lvl. 39) - > #066 Scrafty #068 Yamask (lvl. 34) - > #069 Cofagrigus #070 Tirtouga (lvl. 37) - > #071 Carracosta #072 Archen (lvl. 37) - > #073 Archeops #074 Trubbish (lvl. 36) - > #075 Garbodor #076 Zorua (lvl. 30) - > #077 Zoroark #080 Gothita (lvl. 32) - > #081 Gothorita (lvl. 41) - > #082 Gothitelle #083 Solosis (lvl. 32) - > #084 Duosion (lvl. 41) - > #085 Reuniclus #086 Ducklett (lvl. 35) - > #087 Swanna #088 Vanillite (lvl. 35) - > #089 Vanillish (lvl. 47) - > #090 Vanilluxe #091 Deerling (lvl. 34) - > #092 Sawsbuck #096 Foongus (lvl. 39) - > #097 Amoonguss #098 Frillish (lvl. 40) - > #099 Jellicent #101 Joltik (lvl. 36) - > #102 Galvantula #103 Ferroseed (lvl. 40) - > #104 Ferrothorn #105 Klink (lvl. 38) - > #106 Klang (lvl. 49) - > #107 Klinklang #108 Tynamo (lvl. 38) - > #109 Eeltrik #111 Elgyem (lvl. 42) - > #112 Beheeyem #113 Litwick (lvl. 41) - > #114 Lampent #116 Axew (lvl. 38) - > #117 Fraxure (lvl. 48) - > #118 Haxorus #119 Cubchoo (lvl. 37) - > #120 Beartic #125 Mienfoo (lvl. 50) - > #126 Mienshao #128 Golett (lvl. 43) - > #129 Golurk #130 Pawniard (lvl. 52) - > #131 Bisharp #133 Rufflet (lvl. 54) - > #134 Braviary #135 Vullaby (lvl. 54) - > #136 Mandibuzz #139 Deino (lvl. 50) - > #140 Xweilous (lvl. 64) - > #141 Hydreigon #142 Larvesta (lvl. 59) - > #134 Volcarona Item Evolution #017 Pansage (Leaf Stone) - > #018 Simisage #019 Pansear (Fire Stone) - > #020 Simisear #021 Panpour (Water Stone) - > #022 Simipour #023 Munna (Moon Stone) - > #024 Musharna #052 Cottonee (Sun Stone) - > #053 Whimsicott #054 Petilil (Sun Stone) - > #055 Lilligant #078 Minccino (Shiny Stone) - > #079 Cinccino #109 Eelektrik (Thunder Stone) - > #110 Eelektross #114 Lampent (Dusk Stone) - > #115 Chandelure Trade #031 Boldore (trade) - > #032 Gigalith #094 Karrablast (trade with Shelmet) - > #095 Escavalier #122 Shelmet (trade Karrablast) - > #123 Accelgor Friendship #033 Woobat (friendship) - > #034 Swootbat #047 Swadloon (friendship) - > #048 Leavanny 37 Responses to "Pokemon Black White Evolution Guide" Comment posting has been disabled on this article |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Watch and listen as visually impaired players test the "Blind Legend" game Creating a video game bereft of any actual video might seem like an unusual idea. But the concept is being adopted by a growing number of games designers, to help make the industry more accessible to blind and visually impaired people. "Video-less" games use a production technique known as binaural recording, to construct an immersive, audio-only world. The technique involves fitting a dummy with tiny condenser microphones that mimic the way our ears naturally hear sound. Each scene in the game is recorded using this method and the result is a more realistic, three-dimensional experience. What is binaural technology? Image copyright Thinkstock It's a sound production technique that mimics the natural hearing cues created by our ears It captures sound using two microphones to record "3D" stereo audio Binaural sound itself is not a new idea - a rudimentary form of binaural stereo dates back to 1881. The most famous use of the technology was the Barber's Haircut video, created by audio software developer QSound Labs in 1996 As there are no graphics players must rely on their aural senses to navigate through levels. The latest game in this genre has just been launched by a team of creative developers in France. They used a crowdfunding campaign to raise more than 40,000 euros (£31,000) to turn their demo into a functioning prototype. "It's such an exciting and cool project," Nordine Ghachi told the BBC. The creative technologist is part of a team of three at Dowino studios in Lyon, who came up with the "Blind Legend" game for handheld devices. "We wanted to put blind and disabled gamers in the same field of quality as sighted gamers. That was our main aim. That was our main challenge," he said. "Pierre-Alain Gagne, the Chief Executive of Dowino, came up with the idea of the crowdfunding campaign and managed it for months. Jerome Cattenot is our art director and he made the whole game and all its universe so appealing." 'Use your imagination' Blind Legend follows the story of a knight, who has lost his eyesight and journeys through a forest to free his wife from her violent kidnappers. Image copyright Dowino Image caption The team behind the project, from left, Pierre-Alain Gagne, Jerome Cattenot and Nordine Ghachi The intuitive game-play makes it completely immersive. The main character's movements are controlled using a touch screen, so players move their feet or their sword through simple swiping motions on their phone. The screen remains dark at all times. "You should definitely wear headphones to get the full benefits. You can hear what's happening all around you," said Nordine. "The noises of the forest, the birds flying above and the river flowing. You hear these sounds, and that information helps the gamer locate themselves in that environment. "The hero is helped by his daughter. You liaise with her and follow her. You use your imagination to make your own effects." It has been tested on several gamers with little or no eyesight, and has garnered support from charity organisations like the Valentin Haüy Association. Thriller It's not the first time binaural technology has been used in this capacity. In 2010 British games studio Somethin' Else, launched Papa Sangre - an audio-driven thriller, which does not have any graphics in the game. It proved to be extremely popular, particularly with blind gamers, and the company went on to release a number of follow-ups. Robin Spinks, from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said the development of such games tapped into a "huge market". There are two million blind and partially sighted people in the UK - and 285 million worldwide. Image copyright Other Image caption A still from Papa Sangre II, which also requires players to rely on sound instead of sight "This type of gaming experience removes the barriers blind and partially sighted people encounter every day," he said. "It's wonderfully inclusive. Most blind people are precluded from accessing the majority of gaming content. This type of game sets the bar for other developers. "We've spent a lot of time trying to encourage app developers to a create accessible apps. It's actually very simple. "One of the major reasons that's not happening is a lack of awareness. Developers don't come in to contact with blind and partially sighted users of their apps and games." 'Isolating world' A lack of inclusivity is a problem Nathan Edge is very familiar with. The 20-year-old gamer from Mansfield had been visually impaired since childhood, but lost his eyesight entirely in recent weeks. He told the BBC: "It can be a very isolating world sometimes. You want to do the things other people are doing and playing. It gives you something to talk about with your friends. "I can't play any of the text-based video games I played before. I've been very frustrated trying to find games I can use. " Image copyright NAthan Edge I've been very frustrated trying to find games I can use Nathan Edge , Blind video gamer Nathan felt so aggrieved that he wrote to a well-known games company to complain about the lack of gaming options available to him. He said he was pleased smaller, independent companies were filling those gaps. "I came across Papa Sangre II at the weekend and I can't stop playing it. "I don't usually share things like that on Facebook or Twitter, but I've been telling everyone about it. "It's great news to hear other developers are making similar things. The more developers who do that the better. It will be such a relief." Nordine claimed people like Nathan were at the forefront of his mind when developing Blind Legend. "Most studios make the game first and then try and make it accessible," he said. "But making it work for blind people was our first priority. We want to make games that change people's behaviour and attitudes towards subjects like disability. "We also wanted to make sure the environment and atmosphere was at the level that sighted gamers expect. It really is a game for everyone." Blind Legend will be free to download - in either French or English - on iTunes next year. |
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