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Ugandan Holiday? Thoughts on the Offer of Asylum to Gaddafi
Posted on March 31, 2011	by Mark Kersten
Would Gaddafi "peace out" and head to Uganda? (Photo: undergroundrepublik.com)
Uganda has become the first country to offer asylum, if asked to do so, to Libya's Gaddafi. This comes at a time when ambiguity proliferates as to what fate the international community sees as necessary for Gaddafi.
A few thoughts on the subject:
1. Words matter and the offer of asylum was not an offer of exile. Exile occurs when an individual is either forcibly or voluntarily removed from his/her native country. Asylum, on the other hand, has a long legal history, and requires a state to protect and provide immunity from extradition to an individual who fears being persecuted in their native country. Much of the talk thus far has been on exile. Uganda, as well as other potential asylum destinations for Gaddafi (Chad, Mali, Niger, Eritrea, Sudan, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua), however, have taken their commitment a step farther. Whether it's far enough is another question (see below).
2. Uganda is a member-state of the ICC and its offer of asylum puts it in an awkward position given that the situation in Libya is being investigated by the Court, and Gaddafi himself is being investigated for potential crimes against humanity and war crimes. However – and this is a big however – if Gaddafi were to accept the Ugandan offer, Uganda would currently be under no obligation to detain Gaddafi.
The investigation in Libya by the ICC is currently in a holding pattern until the Court decides whether arrest warrants should be issued. My understanding is that prior to an arrest warrant being issued, no member-state of the ICC has the obligation to arrest Gaddafi.
3. In the case of Gaddafi, the offer of asylum is an implicit recognition that he has committed crimes (see comments for clarification). Yes, asylum would grant Gaddafi immunity, but immunity is only granted to those who "require" it. In other words, if Gaddafi were to be granted asylum it would be an acknowledgment that he has committed crimes. Unfortunately, this type of acknowledgment would be vastly insufficient for those who have suffered because of him.
Will Gaddafi accept an offer of asylum in Uganda or elsewhere? (Photo: The Guardian)
4. It remains unlikely that Gaddafi will, in fact, leave Libya. I think that is obvious by now, although given his unpredictability, it may be wiser to refrain from guessing what Gaddafi will do next. The uncertainty about what the international community believes should be Gaddafi's fate certainly hasn't helped. On the contrary, the ambiguity they are exhibiting may provide incentives for him to stay in power. A conference in London with dozens of foreign ministers this past week did not rule out the possibility of allowing Gaddafi's exile. Paul Koring observed that:
The tough talk of relentless pressure aimed to oust the unpredictable and brutal despot who has ruled Libya for 41 years didn't entirely drown out hints of possible exile and the possibility of avoiding a war crimes trial.
Ambiguity is rife. The Guardian described the myriad of disagreements as such:
the conference hall exposed fault lines in the international community over the next vital stages: whether to arm and recognise the rebels, and whether Gaddafi might leave voluntarily if he was given a chance to take exile rather than stand trial either in Libya or at the international criminal court.
There is a very delicate and, some would say, precarious diplomatic balancing of peace and justice being conducted right now. It is obvious that numerous states, particularly Western states, would like to see Gaddafi brought to the ICC. Gaddafi, however, retains large pockets of support in numerous African states and they, amongst others, have expressed reservations over bringing Gaddafi to the Hague. The emerging compromise appears to be exile.
The problem, of course, is that the longer the international community remains ambiguous about what it sees as the appropriate fate for Gaddafi, the greater incentive he has to continue fighting. While most reports focus on the rebels, Gaddafi clearly has strong backing from many Libyans as well as the money to fund soldiers and perhaps even mercenaries. Orthodox conflict resolution theory suggests that when conflicts cannot be exhausted by the complete victory of one side over another, a negotiated settlement with power-sharing provisions should be sought. Paradoxically, then, the more Gaddafi illustrates his might, the more support he will gain for either a negotiated settlement in which he retains power or a negotiated settlement in which a close of ally (perhaps his son Saif?) shares power and he gets a cozy villa to retire in.
Charles Taylor accepted exile in Nigeria but within a few years found himself in front of judges as the Special Court for Sierra Leone (Photo: Issouf Sanogo)
5. Like amnesties, the granting of asylum doesn't travel well. If Gaddafi is granted an asylum in Uganda, for example, this does not guarantee that it will be respected elsewhere. If he were to leave Uganda, it would be the prerogative of the state (or perhaps its obligation if that state were a member of the ICC and an arrest warrant against Gaddafi had been granted) to detain him. Would Gaddafi accept such a deal? It may depend on his willingness to spend the rest of his days in Uganda or any other state willing to offer him asylum. But it may also depend on the international community. As discussed in an earlier post, the UN Security Council Resolution referring the Libyan situation to the ICC included a preambular reference to Article 16 of the Rome Statute, which allows the Security Council to defer an ICC investigation or prosecution for 12 months, renewable yearly. The international community, for better or worse, set itself up perfectly to negotiate impunity for Gaddafi.
While no context perfectly mirrors another, Gaddafi will surely recall the case of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian warlord now on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, who was offered asylum in Nigeria after a warrant was issued for his arrest. His holiday of impunity, however, lasted only two years, after which Nigeria agreed to extradite Taylor to Liberia. He eventually found himself in front of judges in the Hague where he is in the final stages of his trial. Gaddafi may thus view even the offer of asylum as insufficient. If so, will the Security grant him a deferral and respect his asylum?
What all of this means for Libya, for Libyans, for the ICC and for the fragile coalition of states remains unclear and any posited effects remain pure speculation. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating time for those of us interested in the ever dramatic dynamics and politics of peace and justice.
This entry was posted in African Union (AU), Amnesty, Article 16, Exile, Libya, Sierra Leone, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Uganda, UN Security Council. Bookmark the permalink.
6 Responses to Ugandan Holiday? Thoughts on the Offer of Asylum to Gaddafi
Pablo K says:
On Point 3, is this right? Surely asylum involves only the implicit recognition that an individual has reasonable grounds for fearing persecution in their home nation? Otherwise it would mean that every time someone was granted asylum for fleeing, say, homophobic attacks, this would amount to an admission that they had committed some crime and that the persecution was materially related to some wrong they had done.
Mark Kersten says:
Thanks for the comment Pablo.
I thought about this for a while, and perhaps should have made the distinction more clear.
Asylum presumes that the person has done something against the rules of the country from which they are fleeing. Most of the time, these rules are oppressive so people seek asylum for good reasons or as you say, because they have reasonable grounds for fearing persecution. In your example of someone fleeing homophobic attacks, they receive asylum, presumably because the 'rules' or laws of the state which they flee are oppressive. In the case of Gaddafi, the rules that he allegedly broke are human rights and humanitarian law. If Gaddafi requires asylum, presumably he requires it because he is a leader investigated by the ICC and targeted by a coalition for the acts that he has committed against his own people. The offer of asylum thus implicitly acknowledges he has committed crimes against humanity or war crimes.
Fair enough, but that presumes a lot. Moreover, it underlines that it is the specific circumstances of this particular individual that involve criminality of some sort (in whatever jurisdiction), not the fact of asylum.
On the broader issue, I'm not convinced that 'rules' are implicated. You could be persecuted for your identity in all sorts of ways and be granted asylum even if the laws of the country in question formally protected you from such wrongs.
Will be interesting to see how it pans out though..,
Fair enough. Hopefully it's clear what I meant and that the acknowledgment of criminality is meant only to apply to the context of Gaddafi and Uganda's offer of asylum.
What I meant by rules was that they were necessarily laws, but circumstances where, like you say, you are formally protected but still persecuted. Rules, I suppose, isn't the proper word.
My feeling (and nothing more) is that he wouldn't accept asylum in Uganda. If he isn't arrested or killed, I think Gaddafi will choose a non-member state of the ICC and a bigger country where he can become emblematic of some cause or another against the West. Because he's been a symbol of pan-Arab and pan-African movements, I think he would prefer to remain in northern Africa. It's all speculation, but Sudan fits the bill on all counts.
Paula S.M. says:
Asylum is granted to those who are seeking protection for fear of persecution in their countries of origin. It has nothing to do with whether a person committed a crime in that country or not. Usually, asylum seekers have to fill a number of aplications and provide testimony and possibly evidence that could substantiate their claim for a request of Asylum. This application then should be vetted by an independent/government Board. Most of those that are successful in their applications then are provided official refugee status. Increasingly having committed gross violations of human rights is a reason for countries not to grant asylum to someone but of course the Government of Uganda could unilaterally take the decision to allow Gadaffi to reside in the country but it wouldnt necessarily be under the international legal mantel of asylum law.
Dear Paula,
Thanks very much for your comment. Your insight is greatly appreciated.
I understand that applying or granting asylum, as you say, has nothing to do with whether the person seeking asylum has committed a crime or not in their country of origin. My point, however, as it relates specifically to Gaddafi, is that there is an indirect or implicit recognition that he has committed crimes. If Gaddafi had not committed crimes, why would any state grant him asylum? I may be presuming too much, but I believe he would accept asylum in order to "protect" him from being tried at the ICC.
This is similar to granting amnesties for past human rights violations. If someone is granted an amnesty for human rights violations, the amnesty is a recognition (however indirect) that those human rights violations occurred. Without those violations, an amnesty would be unnecessary. Likewise, if asylum is required or requested for some reason (in this case to evade charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes), then the offer of asylum is a recognition that those crimes likely occurred.
Perhaps I should make this more clear and I may in an upcoming post since it has brought significant confusion.
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Brooklyn Bridge is a high quality, photo real 3d model that will enhance detail and realism to any of your rendering projects. The model has a fully textured, detailed design that allows for close-up renders, and was originally modeled in 3ds Max 2012 and rendered with V-Ray. Renders have no postprocessing.
This water tank 3d model was created with 3dsmax and Vray.
This is a photo-realistic 3d lawn grass.
- Suitable for architectural, landscape visualizations.
- Suitable for any other surfaces, from simple grounds to complex terrains. Ideal for close-up renders.
- The field's dimension is 16mX9.8, but you can change it's size or even create your custom ground. Just click on a new surface and get the result immediately.
- This lawn grass includes 24 various grass blades. You can change the lawn grass's parameters for different output, they are fully customizable.
This is a typical building in Paris, France.
- High quality details, plus maps and textures.
- Exterior elements, like chairs, tables and flowerpots, in fornt of the shops.
- All the models have a lots of details in natural scale and a high quality UV maps.
- Suitable for Valentines Day projects.
3d model of a snowy mountain hut.
If you want to make a Christmas project or a winter project, this is the ideal 3d model.
This hut can be located either in the Rocky Mountains, in the Alps or in the Himalayas! It can also be an old abandoned shelter in Scotland, or it can be even related with the Alpine Club of Canada. You can use it on multiple projects and places and give your render the mood you want. It is easily editable and made in a real world scale.


City employees dedicate their professional expertise to bettering the community, but that commitment to public service has gone far beyond regular work duties when it comes to the holiday season. For more than 30 years, a handful of Lakewood Police Department employees have provided help to senior citizens in need through the Caring by Sharing program they created all on their own.
It started back in the early 1980s when a police dispatcher came up with the idea of providing food baskets during the holidays to those struggling with having enough food, and she took the initiative to put the baskets together and deliver them with the help of other employees. That spirit of compassion has continued ever since, led by the dedication and goodwill of police department employees. This year, the program will deliver 40 care packages to senior citizen residences just before the holidays, and the employees' personal efforts have gone even deeper with the addition of hand-tied fleece blankets.
"The blankets were made by department volunteers, department employees and the Caring by Sharing members," says Business Specialist Therese Megargee.
Megargee and fellow Police Department staff members Pam Persch, Lisa Clark and Donna Becker have kept the program thriving as a way to reach residents they know can sometimes be too easily forgotten.
While there is a holiday focus, Caring by Sharing is a year-round endeavor. In 2017, the program has donated $1,000 each to the Ralston House, which advocates for and provides services to abused children, and the Action Center, which provides food and other services for addressing basic human needs and pathways to self-sufficiency for Jefferson County residents and the homeless. The department also joined Mayor Adam Paul's drive to collect socks and food as part of the metrowide Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November for donation to the Action Center.
Caring by Sharing also received the proceeds from this year's Cops that Cook fundraiser, and it regularly organizes a fundraiser for City employees to buy a hot dog lunch grilled on the Civic Center plaza to raise money for the food baskets and gifts for the seniors. The team will ask City employees for cash donations on Dec. 12, and the public can make a donation at any time at Lakewood.org/CaringbySharing.
Through the years, the program has also donated new items such backpacks and school supplies to the Action Center to support families with children in school, Clark notes. "We have also made donations to people in need – furnace repairs, a child with cancer, the homeless and veterans," she adds.
The only thing that has changed over the years is the name of the program. Once named Operation Santa Claus, a City employee contest resulted in the name change to Caring by Sharing in 2007.


Three lessons modern sales professionals can apply from the Da Vinci Code to improve their prospecting results.
Don't worry if you didn't see the movie or read the book because we've translated the movie's lessons to help you better target, understand, and engage your prospects.
The story's protagonist is the professor of symbology at Harvard, Robert Langdon (played by Tom Hanks). As Langdon works to figure out who killed a curator at the Louvre in Paris and why, he follows a trail of clues hidden in the works of Leonardo da Vinci.
As Langdon tries to solve the murder, he runs up against a host of seemingly separate individuals – including a Catholic monk, a bank president, and historian – who end up being connected in a web of intrigue. On his way to unraveling the mystery, he must piece together the roles of these various people. Though your pursuit of new deals and accounts might not be quite as exciting, you will need to map out multiple people at your accounts.
On LinkedIn, you can see how people are connected and tap into a vast ecosystem of players, all of whom can be traced directly back to your core professional circle. Using Advanced Search on LinkedIn, you can identify the key players at any account. You might even discover that some of your colleagues are already connected to these people. Taking a multi-threaded approach and building out a web of connections within target accounts puts you in a stronger position than if you only connect with a single contact at the company.
Langdon may be a world-renowned professor of symbology, but he's out of his element in the criminal world he must navigate to solve the mystery. Fortunately, he has help from numerous allies, including a cryptologist, police detective, and religious librarian, among others. And he's not too proud to think he has to go it alone.
In much the same way, you're all the better for taking advantage of your network of connections, whether to find out more about a target prospect or account, or to request a warm introduction. The assistance might come from a colleague, a common connection, or even a promoter at your target account.
You leverage all these resources for warm introductions into the account. As a bonus, whenever you make a connection through the search engine, the LinkedIn algorithm will suggest five new people you should meet for lead recommendations.
Remember, even if contacts at your target account aren't on the buying committee, they might be able to provide insight into the account's strategic objectives and key players. And don't be afraid to find an executive sponsor – a higher up at your company who can greatly boost your odds of engaging a target account by aligning with an executive at that account.
You probably won't get a clue as clear-cut as "find Robert Langdon," but with a little digging, you can find someone who can greatly boost your odds of engaging prospects and winning the sale.
Influencing B2B Buyers: New Insights into B2B Purchase Drivers.


The LifeServe Conference began today with a flurry of activity. New to the Conference this year was an opening welcome reception which featured live music (who knew they would land Kenny G?), desserts, drinks, a gallery of ministry resources, and Connect Group displays all throughout. You can get a glimpse into some of the activity through the gallery below.
In just a few moments the doors will open for our first general session, hosted by Bob Stromberg and the LifeServe team. Worship will be led by Tom Ewing and our keynote address will be delivered by Robert Gelinas from Denver, CO, Lead-Pastor of Colorado Community Church and author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The adventure of time starts with the need of precision, and performance. How to reach our goals at our highest potential, but at the time point that is necessary.
When is something to be achieved necessary, depends on circumstances and conditions. If for example, one needs to walk 3 km to the next train station, where our last train to the beach will departure at 15.00 and we know we need 30 min to walk 3 Km. then it is clear we need to start walking at least at 14.30 right?
Well, for most people isnt clear that to plan a walk start at 14.30 doesnt mean one will arrive on time.
Time management doesnt mean to set a day schedule with math precision and calculations.
Time management is actually about common sense, awareness, alertness, conscious living, self-knowledge and emotional self-management.
In our previous example, our traveler started to walk at 14.30 and got distracted with a caravan of artists at 14.45, "just for 5 min." with the well known outcome.
It isnt always something we like that captures our attention, and subconsciously moves us to make a choice, a choice that would change our life.
Even if it would change our life in the following hours, to miss a train, in the case of our example could have long term impact in our life. For example if at our destination a job application meeting was scheduled, or for example our marriage.
Sometimes a single emotion would be enough or necessary for us to stay on the road, of our time flow, or to skip our attention of it and "shift into another time line" means into another plan or series of events.
Lack of attention, or emotional non-stability, or eventually just luck (what ever unexpected the day will bring to your life), may completely change the outcome of your day.
In order to complete a day at our highest potential, we must be aware on how we utilize time and address resources, attention and consciousness to every single event, and how we design our day, including the ability to create a space that isnt controlled, where not planned events take place or rise out of the blue.
Time management isnt all about control, on the contrary, is about letting time flow, and ourselves flow within our own life.
How would you prefer to manage your time? which tools would you use? it is an adventure that waits for you, from the starting point when you decide to explore on the nature of time and how time is directly related to your happiness, wealth, joy, and success!


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2017 JCR, Clarivate Analytics 2018
Frontiers in Psychology
Protective Resources for Psychological Well-Being of Adolescents View all 9 Articles
Original Research ARTICLE Provisionally accepted The full-text will be published soon. Notify me
Front. Psychol. | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01691
Bullied adolescent's life satisfaction: personal competencies and school climate as protective factors
Susana Lázaro-Visa1, Raquel Palomera1*, Elena Briones1, Andrés Fernández-Fuertes1 and Noelia Fernández-Rouco1
1Department of Education, University of Cantabria, Spain
Although adolescence has been defined as a stage of vulnerability, due to the biopsychosocial changes that happen throughout this developmental stage, it is also one of growth. Some of the core personal competencies that have been identified to promote positive development at this stage while simultaneously preventing risks are: (1) a positive self-esteem, (2) self-regulation, (3) decision-making skills, (4) a moral belief system, and (5) prosocial connectedness. There are many factors and contexts that influence adolescent development. The school environment, for example, has the capacity to promote positive development and life satisfaction, yet on the other hand, it is a context within which different forms of violence, such as bullying, can occur. The principal aim of this study, therefore, is to analyze the influence that bullying has on one's life satisfaction, while taking into account participants' socio-demographic characteristics (i.e. gender and developmental stage), their core personal competencies (i.e. self-esteem, empathy, problem resolution strategies, repair of negative emotions and values), and the school climate. To obtain data, a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted with a sample of 647 Spanish students (53.3% female), ranging in age from pre- (10-13 years old; 60.3%) to mid-adolescence (14-18 years old; 39.7%) and belonging to diverse socio-economic contexts (15.3% rural) and schools (32.1% public). After gaining informed consent from both the participants and their parents, students completed the survey voluntarily and under anonymity. Results show gender, developmental stage, and having been bullied as predictors of participants' levels of life satisfaction. Among the personal competencies assessed, self-esteem, emotional repair skills, and social values were those which demonstrated the most significant effect on one's life satisfaction. Finally, after taking school climate into account, gender, developmental stage, experience with bullying and social values did not prove to be significant predictors towards one's life satisfaction, though self-esteem, and emotional repair did. These results have important implications for education objectives, methodologies, and school functioning, which have the capacity to promote adolescent life satisfaction and to prevent the consequences of bullying, while at the same time attend to self-esteem, emotional repair competencies, and particularly, to school climate.
Keywords: life satisfaction, Bullying, Personal competencies, School Climate, adolescence, Emotion Regulation, self-esteem, Well-being
Received: 13 Apr 2019; Accepted: 04 Jul 2019.
Lourdes Rey, University of Málaga, Spain
Carolina Yudes, University of Málaga, Spain
Vicente J. Llorent, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain
Copyright: © 2019 Lázaro-Visa, Palomera, Briones, Fernández-Fuertes and Fernández-Rouco. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Dr. Raquel Palomera, University of Cantabria, Department of Education, Santander, Spain, palomerr@unican.es

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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How is Cross-Platform App Development Beneficial With React Native?
Mobile Technology October 2, 2017
Back in the date, developing a mobile app with the cross-platform was considered as a huge risk. Companies were merely interested in developing a mobile app just for a specified mobile platform. There was a pre-conceived notion in the head of the users and developers that a cross-platform app is not much reliable, less user-friendly and complex to update. Well, currently the scenario is not the same and it has evolved a lot. Even after that, developers are still in dilemma whether to opt for a native app or they should opt for a cross-platform app. Currently, more developers are heading their way towards the cross-platform and not forget also achieving success.
Types of Cross-Platform Apps
Native Cross-platform Apps
These are the apps which are created by using APIs entailed by the Apple or Android SDK but they are implemented in the various other programming languages which are not supported by the vendor operating system. Basically a third party vendor will entail with an integrated development arena which manages the process of creating the native IOS and Android app development with a single cross-platform codebase. Here the end result will be an app that makes use of native APIs and also native level performance. React native, Xamarin and NativeScript are some of the basic examples of the native cross-platform languages.
Hybrid Cross-platform Apps
With hybrid apps, it is possible to integrate HTML 5 apps in a thin native container combining the best parts of both native and HTML5 apps. Hybrid cross-platform apps have never got much popularity because of its performance troubles even when the UI of the app is rich in components. They try to get the total feel and look of the native app as they are web views which run in browsers.
Positive Side of Cross-Platform App for Developers and Product Owners
One of the major advantages you get with cross-platform apps is cost-effectiveness. Building and maintaining these apps is quite cheaper. If these apps have proper architecture then half of the coding can be used across varied platforms. One of the another cost benefit will be cutting on quality assurance. Must be pondering how? UI elements that cross-platform apps have are specific to each and every platform along with having a common codebase containing the general business logic of the app. Well, coming up with cross-platform app won't assist you with UI bugs.
However, the overall debugging time taken will be less as you only need to fix the bugs which are in the common codebase. Unit tests are also written just for once for the common code which will save time and resources for testing. One of the added benefits is that those who want a cross-platform app needs only a single team of developers who are specialized in a just single set of technologies.
Types of Cross-Platform Development Tools to Be Used
The app market is extremely diversified with different mobile devices having the different interface. Cross-platform mobile app development allows the developer to code just for once and launches the app across various platforms. Having variant and abundant tools make making choice quite intimidating for developers. Well, the issue is resolved as there are already predefined leaders in the market. Here are some of the most prominent tools and tech for cross-platform app development.
This framework was particularly developed by Facebook and the development basically started off with hackathon back in 2013. This is a tech developed by the developer that can aid them to accumulate the benefits of two sides agile app deployment and native app performance. There is an entire era of developers investing in developing this framework and one of the reasons being it entails catalogs that give free components that go along with. React Native makes use of different UI blocks to build classy mobile apps for both Android and IOS making use of common JavaScript Codebase. What React Native is good at is availing development tools for bug removal and app packaging which helps in saving time.
This cross-platform tool is Microsoft owned which makes use of C#codebase for developing mobile apps for Windows, IOS, and Android devices. This tool allows sharing code on different platforms and it also enables cloud service which entails the developers for app testing on different devices. Developers are enabled to use SQLite, portable class libraries, Json.Net and ReactiveUI on each and every platform.NativeScript
Being established by Telerik, a Bulgarian software development company and for plenty of years, it was used by Gartner Magic Quadrant for app development platforms. This framework allows the developers to make use of the pure JavaScript to frame native apps which run on a majority of the platforms. Here the UI stack of the app is built on the native platform by making use of the native UI components. This app can have full access to native APIs which is availed by JavaScript. These days the trend is more to write apps with NativeScript by making use of Angular 2 and sometimes TypeScript.
Why opt React Native?
Easy to work with for people having experience in Javascript
If the developer intends to switch from java or swift to react native having basic knowledge of Javascript then it's easy. Some of the UI elements and API is enough to switch. The library of React Native has to debug, Flexbox CSS styling and support for app deployment either to Google plays tore or to the Apple store.
Allows developers to reuse code
By making some modifications to the existing native UI components, it can be applied again to the existing app code. This is perfect for those who want to create an app without having to build it from the scratch.
Depends on fully native controls
By using React Native, developers write react based app but the mobile app has fully native controls. A native app is popular smooth performance, best user experience, and amazing UI. What else React native excels at is using less memory and also fast loading speed. These are the factors that make react native perfect for developing cross-platform apps.
React native focuses highly on UI and hence it results in making the app work like fluid and highly responsive. This happens because of the interactions of the native environment and JavaScript. This will make the app to run smoothly while taking shorter loading time.
A Senior iOS developer and a programmer by heart, I have been working at 360 Degree Technosoft since last 4 years. Engaged in all the tech and app evolution, I dedicate my part time to the company and the rest to implement in my life.
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While competing in the Red Bull Rampage, a freeride mountain bike competition held in Utah, rider Nicholi Rogatkin withstood one of the most frightening crashes in the history of the event. After falling over 30 feet down the side of a cliff, and briefly receiving medical attention, the bold biker dusted himself off and finished his run. Incredible.


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A Gnome's Ponderings
LIE - a whole lot of fun and laughter in some tiny cards
Out of all the Pack O Game series, LIE was the one that interested me the least. It just looked like a Liar's Dice variant. Plus, I was primarily interested in the series with an eye for two players and it looked particularly weak for two-players.
However, when I had the chance to play it with more players at the Rincon Fundraiser, I took it. And everyone had a blast.
Short version for anyone who wants to stop reading now, Liar's Dice is a lot of fun which makes variants of it a lot of fun too.
Like every game in the series, LIE consist of thirty skinny little cards. On each end of every card, there is a picture of a six-sided die face with every pip appearing ten times throughout the entire deck. Out of all the games the series, LIE is easily the plainest one artwise, looking pretty drab compared to the very artistic SHH. However, it does the trick.
At the start of the game, everyone is dealt out five cards. Each player then decides what die they'll use on each card. The way the cards are designed, if you hold them fan-style, you'll cover up the dice that you're not using.
Now, if you're even vaguely aware of how Liar's Dice works, you know what comes next.
The starting player makes a bid in the form of a number and pip of dice, like four ones or three sixes. They are betting that there is that number of that pip spread throughout everyone's hands.
The next player has a choice. They can either raise the bid or they can call the last players, saying they are a liar. Everyone's hand is revealed in that case and you find out who was right. Whoever was wrong is dealt one less card in the next hand.
When someone is all out of cards, whoever is left with the most cards is the winner.
In other words, almost exactly like Liar's Dice.
There are a couple of variants that come in the rules, like playing until last man (or woman) standing. The interesting one is having ones be wild UNLESS the opening bid is for ones. For what it's worth, I have seen those variants with regular Liar's Dice as well.
There is no denying that Liar's Dice is a great, fun game. One way or another, it's been around for generations. You can finds versions played all over the globe. It's a classic and it'll be around for generations to come.
And I do think that Liar's Dice is a better game than LIE. Using actual dice creates more interesting odds and situations. Plus, there's no denying that rolling all those dice is exciting and fun. We are taking about a game that started out as a serious gambling game but works great as a party game.
However, what I didn't anticipate is that even though LIE isn't as good as a truly great game has been vindicated by history and played on every continent except Antarctica (and I might be wrong about Antarctica), LIE is still a very good game. Holding it up to a such high standard turned out to make me not realize that LIE could still be good.
LIE's big twist, of course, is that allows for a measure of hand management. In some ways, that mixes up the way that being a deck of dice flattens the odds. With some groups, it might actually flatten the odds even more but it really does open the doors to some mind games. I even know some folks that might think that makes it better than Liar's Dice but I wouldn't go that far.
Now, I do own a good copy of Liar's Dice with color coordinated cups and dice. And if I know that it was going to get played, I'd pack it. But LIE is not just a game that takes up no room, it's part of a set of games that has become my default travel choice. LIE is a game I can easily have on me.
LIE takes Liar's Dice and makes it even more portable. It adds some control, allowing for interesting choices with the bluffing. Most importantly, it's a really fun game. I'm glad I gave it a real chance and found out that it's a strong part of Pack O Games.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/161383/lie
Posted by Lowell at 8:27 AM No comments:
Labels: bluffing, board game, boardgame geek, Liar's Dice, LIE, micro game, Pack O Games, review
Volcano, one of the classics of Looney Pyramids
If there is a game that truly embraces the unique nature of the Looney Pyramids, it is Volcano.
There are a lot of abstract strategy games in the Looney Pyramid catalog. A good chunk of the early games, for instance most of the games in Playing with Pyramids, are pure abstract strategy games without any random elements.
Played out on a five by five grid, Volcano is a game about collecting sets of pyramids by strategically causing volcano eruptions. Some years ago, I wrote a fairly detailed review and rules summary : https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/202091/very-unconventional-abstract Looking back at it, I have to say that Volcano is much easier to demonstrate than to explain.
The thumbnail sketch of Volcano is that you move the volcano caps around to cause eruptions, which are basically the pyramids playing hopscotch. When a pyramid lands on another pyramid the same size, you get to keep that pyramid for scoring. You get extra points collecting a trio of the same color and when someone gets a pyramid in every color, the game ends.
There is definitely a learning curve to Volcano. As I said, actually understanding how the game works mechanically doesn't seem to click until you see the game in action. The next part of the learning curve is figuring out how to set up good moves :D
Volcano is a game that really requires the stacking nature of the pyramids, as well as three different sizes. It clearly was developed out of the very nature of the pyramids. Plus, there's no denying that, as abstract as it is, the pyramids help it live up to the Volcano name.
Plus, Volcano is a very solid game. Definitely forces you to think in different ways so it is intellectually challenging. At the same time, causing eruptions and collecting colorful pyramids is an off a lot of fun. For such a different game, it's an easy one to get people interested.
I've been playing Volcano for years. Sadly, not regularly enough to get really good at it but I keep coming back to it. I consider it one of the games that really elevated the Looney Pyramid system, a game I'd buy and keep playing even if it was the only game in the system.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13084/volcano
http://icehousegames.org/wiki/index.php?title=Volcano
Posted by Lowell at 10:29 AM No comments:
Labels: Abstract Game, board game, boardgame geek, Icehouse Pyramids, Looney Labs, Looney Pyramids, Pyramid Arcade, review, Volcano
HUE - the gateway to Pack O Games
HUE is the first game in the Pack O Game series and, in some ways, could be considered the ambassador for the series on a whole.
Every game in the series consists of thirty cards, each one cut to about a third the width of a regular card. That means you get stick-like cards and a deck looks literally like a stick of gum.
HUE is the tile laying member of the family. Every card is divided into three squares and three different colors, although about half the cards have the colors divided the long way, making them skinny lines.
Everyone gets five to six cards, including one with a poison symbol in the middle. Special rainbow cards are set out to start the board and then everyone takes turns placing a card on the board. Cards must share at least one edge with cards already out but they can cover one square of a previously placed card.
Now, here's the good bit. You don't play the last card in your hand. You score with it. For each color on the card, you score points equal the largest area of that color on the board. You score double points for the color in the middle of your scoring card. But any area that has a poison symbol is zeroed out and doesn't count for scoring.
The biggest hurdle HUE has to overcome is that there are a lot of time laying games out there and there are even a lot of pocket-sized ones. The Clever Pipe Game and Aquarius were two of the first games I picked up, before I even started collecting games seriously. It takes a lot to stand out in the pack.
But HUE does have a twist that makes it interesting. Your last card being your scoring card, particularly when you get your whole hand at the start. It gives you an end goal at the very start but also gives you the flexibility to change that goal if you have to.
Mind you, HUE doesn't fire Aquarius or small tile laying games for me. However, the more I play it, the more I enjoy it. It keeps growing on me. I don't think I'd turn down a game (it doesn't hurt that the playtime is so short)
None of the first series of the Pack O Game games reinvent the wheel. They all use tried and true mechanics, with just a couple twists to give them their own flair. By being a part of such a large family of tile-laying games, HUE doesn't stand out as much as some of the others like BUS or TAJ. But it is still a solid, well designed game.
HUE really is a good introduction to Pack O Games. It is easy to teach, even to non-gamers. However, the scoring makes it interesting, even for serious gamers. Honestly, the fact that it comes in such a portable package is just gravy.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159143/hue
Posted by Lowell at 12:14 PM No comments:
Labels: board game, boardgame geek, HUE, Pack O Games, review, travel games
Pack O Games continues to prove itself to me
Whenever I go to a convention or any other gaming event, I always take along some games. Truth to tell, I used to always have a game or three in my courier bag until I converted it to a diaper bag :D
When I went to the April 2016 from fundraiser for Rincon, I just put the plastic case that holds the first series of Pack O Games games in my pocket. (I don't wear a coat or jacket much in Tucson but cargo pants do the same trick as far as pockets are concerned)
And, over the course of the fundraiser, I ended playing three different games from that plastic case.
Which really just proves how the Pack O Games really does look to potential of being a game library that can fit in your pocket. Your cargo pants pocket. :D
While I still need to play SHH and GEM (which some folks have said are two of the best games in the series), I have gotten in a decent number of plays of the other six games.
If I were to strip my judgment of these games of their footprint and portability and playing time, I would say most of them are B+ games. None of them are amazing games that are going to become my new favorite game. However, with the exception of FLY which really isn't in a genre I'm interested in, they are all games I am happy to play.
However, when you take the fact that they are incredibly portable with small footprints and short playing times, that is what really makes these games shine. And accessibility, a virtue I've come to treasure more and more over the years. They are easy games for me to teach but they are still satisfying games to play.
In the post Love Letter world, it's not enough to just be small or quick. Micro games aren't just about being small or filling five to fifteen minutes. They have to be actual good games.
The Pack O Game games are definitely portable but the fact that they are genuinely good games is what matters. Having a library of good games that I can take anywhere, that is nice.
Posted by Lowell at 8:03 PM No comments:
Labels: board game, micro game, Pack O Games, review
A fundraiser lets me go to a tiny little convention
One of the really nice things about the Tucson gaming scene is Rincon, the little gaming convention in the middle of the desert. While it's hard for me to gaming conventions back in the Midwest, Rincon not only gives me a local convention but a couple of fundraisers every year, effectively giving me a couple more mini-conventions.
I have been to a lot of conventions over the years, from giant ones like Gencon to tiny local cons. Rincon's one day fundraisers, taking up about three meeting rooms at the hotel, isn't even the smallest one I've been to.
I feel like every time I go to a Rincon event, fundraiser or the actual full con, I keep on having a better and better time. If it isn't well organized, they hide it well. Everyone is friendly and even the fundraisers have good game libraries.
I didn't have any problems finding games to spend the entire afternoon playing. When one group that I was playing with had to leave, I was able to find another to sit down with. Highlights included finally getting to play both Forbidden Desert and TAJ. The low light was Konexi.
While I honestly think that Forbidden Island has a definite place in my collection as a really easy cooperative to teach with plenty of eye candy, Forbidden Desert definitely takes the mechanics up a notch as well as the narrative. It definitely is not a simplified version of Pandemic, which I think is a reasonable description of Forbidden Island. Incidentally, we all died of thirst pretty quickly, which brought back memories of Outdoor Survival.
TAJ is one of the more complex and gamer-oriented games in the first series of Pack O Games. I haven't played GEM so I don't know if it is the most complex. It is a game of hitting goals and price manipulation as you try to get your favored rugs to be worth the most.
While I did enjoy it and I am glad to have gotten in the three player game, since I think two player game would not have done it justice, I was left wondering if actually had too many moving parts, mechanically speaking, for its short playing time. On the other hand, I would cheerfully play it again a few more times before deciding that.
Konexi is a dexterity game and a word game. It definitely has a nice toy factor with the large and stackable plastic letters that you to use. However, I felt like you were really limited in your choices. I also thought that including letters like Q and X made it harder to make words.
Rincon in its various forms continues to not disappoint.
Labels: convention, Gaming, Rincon, Tucson
What I got out of rereading Goodbye, Mister Chips
On a whim, after being reminded of the book by some graduation announcements, I reread Goodbye, Mister Chips by James Hamilton.
It's been a good twenty years since I last read it, when I went through a phase of reading a bunch of books that you are forced to read in high school English classes in order to hit some of the ones I hadn't been assigned to read.
I remember that I went into the book expecting it to be depressing, something like a British Death of a Salesman. Instead, I remember finding it a relaxing, even uplifting little read. Mind you, I didn't actually remember much more until I reread it.
Truth to tell, I liked even more now, having lived a bit more life.
Goodbye, Mister Chips is the story of an old, now retired teacher, looking back at his long career and how many boys he taught and helped. What I personally got out of it was that it was the story about how a man, with the help of age and humor, learned how to become the glue that held a school and, in a sense, England together.
It's a pretty sentimental piece but Hamilton makes it work by underselling it to us. Brookfield isn't a top of the line school but a good second tier school that turns out its share of good Englishmen. Mr. Chipping, the titular Mr. Chips, is likewise depicted as having an second rare degree and not even being that good at reaching Greek and Latin.
However, he is good at building community.
Hamilton wrote the entire book in a passive voice, telling about what happened in Mr. Chips' life as opposed to showing. Even the death of his young wife in childbirth is undersold, although it is still a tear jerker.
The book does work itself up to a climax, World War I, when Mr. Chips is asked to come out of retirement and help the school. When the headmaster dies, he has to step up and run the school during a war that is shaking the foundations of society. Which, of course, he does.
His crowning moment is calming a class of boys during a German bombardment by having them translate a quote from Caesar about the German tribes. It's a nice moment of believable courage.
When Mr. Chips inevitably dies at the end, which you could see coming from the first chapter, it isn't a tragedy but a testimony of all the lives he's touched and improved.
The moral of the book might be that the old, traditional ways are best or, as per the influence of Mr. Chips' short-lived but progressive wife, that traditional ways need to be tempered by modern ideas. Heck, it might just be that Hamilton really liked his school years.
What I took out of Goodbye, Mister Chips is that the elderly continue to make a valuable, even essential, contribution to both community and society. Long after he retires and even on the night before he dies, Mister Chip continues to be an important part of the life of the school.
The world we live in today is changing even faster than Hamilton's world but I'd like to think that still rings true.
Labels: Goodbye Mister Chips, James Hilton, review
The Emerald City of Oz, where Baum planned on ending the series
Ho boy. This is a big one. The Emerald City of Oz is the book that turns so much of Oz on its head. The Nome King returns, more vindictive than ever. Vast evil armies march upon Oz. Oh, and Dorothy moves to Oz permanently, along with Uncle Henry and Aunt Em.
Okay, it's that last one that really shakes things up and breaks the formula we've become used to. You know, Dorothy somehow ends up in the fairy lands, has adventures and goes home to her loving family that don't quite know what to make of her stories.
Like pretty much everyone alive today, my first exposure to Oz was the 1939 movie with Judy Garland. That version of the Wizard of Oz ends with it all being a dream. Having Uncle Henry and Auntie Em end up living in the emerald city is a huge difference than it all being just a dream.
As is often the case with Baum, real life does have an explanation for this big shift. Baum was wrapping up the series and intended for the Emerald City of Oz to be the last book, which also explains the whole evil armies invading Oz too.
Of course, the fact that he would go on to write eight more Oz books, plus a small short story collection about Oz shows how wrong he was. Unfortunately for Baum but fortunately for those of us who enjoyed his Oz books, nothing else sold nearly as well and he had to go back to Oz in the name of money.
(I do think that Sky Island, which was the last book he wrote before he threw in the towel and went back to Oz is a really good book, by the way)
Anyway, let the spoilers begin as I give a quick summery of the book.
Most of The Emerald City of Oz goes back and forth between two plotlines that dovetail together at the end of the book. On the one hand, we have the villains' storyline. The Nome King is back, planning his revenge on Oz by leading several armies of evil creatures to conquer Oz. On the other hand, we have Dorothy and her family immigrating to Oz and spending some time as tourists before they learn about the impending invasion.
At the beginning of the book, Uncle Henry's about to lose the farm. It turns out that he never was able to financially get over the farmhouse getting destroyed in the first book.
After she learns this, Dorothy arranges with Ozma for the whole family to move to Oz. (So that happens right at the start of the book so I didn't spoil much mentioning it in the first paragraph)
After they arrive, in order to help them settle in and get used to what Oz is like, Dorothy and the Wizard take Uncle Henry and Aunt Em on a road trip where they get a chance to see some of the crazy tiny little kingdoms in Oz.
While Baum is no stranger to oddball places, he really pulls out the stops with this trip. Living jigsaw puzzles, talking utensils and philosophy arguments between crabs and zebras.
The trip does include what I found to be one of Dorothy's most unsympathetic moments. After Toto eats some of the inhabitants of Bunbury, who are living bread, Dorothy takes offense to them having a problem with that since they are food, after all.
The other plotline, which I found more interesting, describes how the Nome King appoints a new general, Guph. Guph then goes out and recruits increasingly nasty allies. The Whimsies are giants with tiny heads that they cover with papier-mâché masks, the Growleywogs are even stronger giants with a total absence of body fat and finally the Phanfasms who have vast magical powers.
Of course, every last one of them, including the Nomes, plan on betraying everyone else. While they don't get a chance to, my money would be on the Phanfasms. The other three groups have their silly elements but the Phanfasms are just plain creepy.
Thanks to Ozma's magical picture, Ozma and company learn about how the Nomes are tunneling to Oz so the armies can invade. They trick the armies into drinking from the Fountain of Oblivion, causing them to lose all their memories and give up this whole evil invasion nonsense.
Glinda the Good then casts a spell that renders Oz invisible to the outside world. Since Dorothy was allegedly the one telling Baum everything that happened, his source has dried up, hence wrapping up the series.
Baum might not have ended up ending the Oz books with the Emerald City of Oz but he certainly does a good job making it a worthy end to the series. While the General Jinjur got farther in her civil war in the Land of Oz as far as conquering Oz is concerned, the Nome King and his allies are a far more serious threat. They are easily the greatest danger that the land faces in all of Baum's books.
Heck, even the degree of silly stops on Dorothy and company's grand tour of Oz exceeds anything else in the series for sheer density of locations. Baum clearly planned on ending in a big way and I'd say he succeeded.
Of course, it wasn't the end. Not by a long shot. But, boy, were things shaken up.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/517
Labels: Dorothy, free children's books, L. Frank Baum, Oz, Project Gutenberg, review, The Emerald City of Oz
My changing philosophy of role playing games
I don't know if it is a shift in my interest in role-playing games or if there is an actual shift in the industry or culture of role-playing games. However, 15 years ago, any game that I would be involved with was at least theoretically a long-term campaign and commitment. Now, there are a lot more games that can be over and done with in one sitting.
I didn't make a Dungeons and Dragons character with the idea that I would only play them for one session. Sure, sometimes that happened because the game fell apart or the character died horribly. But that wasn't the plan.
But now there are games like Fiasco which tells the whole story in two arcs or games like The Quiet Year or Ribbon Drive or Baron Munchausen that are clearly designed for one session. Even indie games designed for longer play, like Polaris or Apocalypse World, are still designed for a limited number of sessions.
Some of that comes purely from mechanics. You can get a game of Fiasco rolling in ten, fifteen minutes. On the other hand, you would spend hours just making a character for Role Master. (And then have them die in five minutes due to the critical roll charts. There's a reason I only played Role Master once)
But the mechanics for a short form game wouldn't exist if the demand wasn't there. More importantly, they keep on coming out which means that there is an audience for them. Possibly even a growing audience.
In the boardgames and now in role-playing games, I find that the concept of accessibility is becoming more and more important. When I first got into role-playing games in the 80s, you had to be pretty serious and dedicated because the rules were so complicated and convoluted. Now, there are games that you can pick up and play, even if you don't have years of Dungeons & Dragons under your belt.
Which has led me to another change. At least for me, I would only be playing two or three rule systems at any given time. Often, only one rule system. Games like Dungeons & Dragons or Call of Cthulhu are life style games. They don't leave a lot of room in your calendar for other systems.
But games like Fiasco or The Name of God are small enough commitments that it's much easier to put a lot of different games. That is definitely a change in how I think about role-playing games.
There is a definite switch from game mastery to game exploration. With more complex systems designed for long term, virtually indefinite play (I knew a D&D campaign that went on for over twenty years on a pretty much weekly basis), you end up doing a lot of research and, by virtue of extended play, practice. In some cases, I've seen it turn into who can use the rules better.
With short forms, it becomes about story exploration. You aren't trying to explore how the nuts and bolts work. You are exploring how narratives work. Sometimes in a comic form and sometimes in a tragic form. And, in my experience, the players are more inclined to collaborate.
I think there is a legitimate shift not just in the design of games but in their philosophy.
Labels: designs, Dungeons and Dragons, Fiasco, indie, Role playing game, short form, traditional
3:16 truly explores carnage among the stars
3:16 Carnage Among the Stars is a brilliantly insidious role playing game. Actually, insidious is the wrong word. It is brilliantly subversive.
In it, you are gung ho space troopers, dropping onto planets and killing every last horrible alien monster there. Think Starship Troopers with a more aggressive agenda and you pretty much have the idea.
You are a part of the sixteenth brigade of the third army, hence 3:16. You are taking part in the great commission of the Terran Expeditionary Forces: to wipe out every alien race that can possibly be found in order to keep the human race safe. It's a big job but you're going to do it, one bug-eyed monster at a time.
3:16 is a dead simple game, mechanically. Characters have a whopping two stars. Fighting ability for when you want to put the hurt on something or someone and non-fighting ability for everything else.
The actual missions are practically a small-scale, stripped down war game. You play out the fight on a very simple board that basically just defines how close the aliens are to you so you know what weapons you're able to use. You roll a ten-sided die to determine successes or failures (rolling under your abilities)
The game master gets a set number of threat tokens that they can use in each planet. Threat tokens are used to keep track of the waves of aliens as they attack as well as activate alien powers. They also serve as a way of pacing the game, creating an economy of danger and action.
If that's all there was to 3:16, it wouldn't be that much of a game. Heck, I have seen board games that pretty much fit the way combat works and that's what you'll be doing most of the time.
However, there are flashbacks.
Flashbacks are when a player pulls out a cut scene that will help them get out of a jam. The player narrates a scene from their past and explain that experience is going to make the key difference. Strengths let a player win on their own terms, wiping out all the threat tokens in a scene. Weakness lets a player lose on their own terms, taking a one threat token out of the scene and removing that character from the scene too.
In other words, flashbacks let you get in some serious role playing and character development and even let you get a mechanical benefit from it too.
So far, 3:16 sounds like a straight forward, space military action adventure game. So what's so subversive about it?
Well, as you read through the book, it becomes increasingly clear that the Terran Empire is not the paradise it proclaims it to be. Forced sterilization, suicide booths, and cultural stagnation, we are talking dystopia here. And what about your ultimate mission? To wipe out all life in the cosmos? That's the crazy end of xenophobia.
Seriously, 3:16 is just a couple chaos gods and an eldar away from being Warhammer 40K
And it gets better. As you rise up in the ranks (and if your currents character doesn't survive, it's easy to make a replacement and keep on going), someone will eventually become the Brigadier, who has nothing to do with Nicholas Courtney. By then, you'll have the weakness Hatred From Home. You will learn that no one in the Expeditionary Force is ever allowed to go back to Terra. And you'll have access to The Device, which destroys 1d10 PARSECS and automatically ends the game.
So, without ever explicitly stating it, the end goal of a 3:16 campaign is for someone to go insane and wipe out the human race.
3:16 is a anti-war game that uses nothing but war to get the point across. No, it's not a coincidence that the title is a blatant reference to John 3:16
Would I ever play 3:16, knowing the likely endpoint? Yeah. It looks like an interesting journey.
http://gregorhutton.com/boxninja/threesixteen/
Labels: 3:16 Carnage Among the Stars, indie, review, Role playing games
Treehouse was the killer ap for Loony Pyramids
When discussing the Looney Pyramids, it's impossible to not touch on Treehouse because it was an important change in the way that the system was sold and marketed.
When Looney Labs rose from the ashes of IcehouseGames, they needed a lower cost product since they needed to work up to the production costs of the pyramids. Andy Looney came up with Fluxx, which became their flagship game.
In a lot of ways, Treehouse was meant to pull a similar trick.
Before treehouse, the primary way to get the pyramids was in colored caches of fifteen. Both Ice Towers and Zendo came in boxed sets but it was a lot easier to find the caches. The problem was that you needed multiple caches to play virtually anything and the caches themselves didn't come with any rules.
So if you wanted to get into the pyramids, you had to invest in multiple sets, along with digging up the rules. Mind you, that wasn't a problem for me. By the time treehouse came out, I have gotten every single color that was available and bought the Playing with Pyramids book of rules. But I am kind of crazy that way.
What Treehouse did was give you a low price entry point into the world of pyramids. You got fifteen pyramids divided into five colors (so you got one of each size in each color), a die and the rules to Treehouse. Instead of buying a bunch of parts, you bought a complete game.
Treehouse was a pretty simple game. Everyone got one trio of pyramids, with an extra one set in the middle in the treehouse formation. On you were turned, you would roll the die in the results would give you different ways of moving your own pyramids, with your goal to have your pyramids matching the treehouse.
(I wrote a review of the game shortly after it came out which describes the rules in greater detail: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/121940/ever-changing-treehouse-icehouse)
Treehouse didn't just represent a new way to package the pyramids. It also showed a new philosophy for the game design. Before Treehouse, most of the pyramid games were pure abstracts. Treehouse is a quick, luck-filled little filler.
And, as near as I can tell, Treehouse did succeed at being a killer app for the pyramids. Treehouse is still in print after 10 years and has had several different editions. In general, I've seen the different forms of pyramids sold in more stores than I did back in 2006.
Compared to a number of other pyramid games, Volcano and Zendo in particular, Treehouse doesn't seem that strong to me. It really is just a little time filler with the die often forcing you to make choices you'd rather not make.
But... I have gotten a lot of games of Treehouse in over the years. 15 little plastic pier meds and one plastic guy makes for a game that you can carry in play just about anywhere. You don't have to worry about it getting wet or muddy so it's perfect for restaurants and coffee shops and picnics.
So maybe my inner game snob just to has to own up to the fact that it is a fun little game.
And there is no is no denying that Treehouse helped spread the pyramid system and helped make it more mainstream.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/21955/treehouse
http://www.looneylabs.com/looney-pyramids
Labels: board game, boardgame geek, filler, Looney Labs, Looney Pyramids, review, Treehouse
Into the Odd, old school with some indie ideas
I want to like Into the Odd so much more than I do. True to its name, it's an odd combination of indie mechanical sensibilities and serious old school theme. And that's something that should work but, in this case, it came out feeling half-baked.
At its heart, Into the Odd is an old school dungeon crawl. And I mean 1974 Darkmoore old school, before dungeon crawls were codified into medieval European sword and sorcery.
Character creation and mechanics are dirt simple. You make a character by rolling 3d6 three times for strength, dexterity and will plus a d6 for hit points. You then cross reference your highest stat and your hit points to get your starting pack. Which doesn't just include equipment. You also get things like supernatural powers or disfigurements. The chart is the great equalizer. If you have lousy stats, you get great equipment and powers.
If you're trying to do something that doesn't involve hurting folks, you need to roll under the appropriate stat on a d20.
For combat, you don't need to roll to hit. You just roll for damage and subtract the other guy's armor from it. Hit points are really just ablative. After you work through them, you start damaging strength with a chance at doing critical damage. Some things, like poison, do extra nasty stuff with critical damage.
That's pretty much the rules in a nutshell. It takes about a minute to explain the rules and another minute to roll up a character. Of course, quick character creation and simple rules aren't that hard to find.
What actually makes Into the Odd interesting and ultimately, heartbreaking for me is the setting. It owes more to Jack Vance's Dying Earth than it does to Tolkien or Howard or Leiber. Although it's never actually explicitly stated, it sure feels like a post-apocalyptic world where the good times are so far gone that they are just vague myths. Not quite to the point of the Dying Earth but working its way there.
It's clearly not medieval since there are things like guns and factories and steam engines. On the other hand, most of the world seems to be nothing ruins and wilderness with city states being the biggest form of government.
Adventuring in the world of Into the Odd consists of going out into the wilderness and ruins and forgotten catacombs to find the lost wonders of the ancient world. So scavenging and grave robbing is clearly a major economic force.
What really gives the setting a distinctive flavor is the Arcana, the lost wonders and treasures of a forgotten age of miracles. These are not your generic magic items. They range from tchotchkes that can fit in your pocket to pieces of architecture.
And they do very specific, ridiculously specific things. Think the mini-series The Lost Room things. Figuring out what Arcana can do and then how to make that useful is definitely a distinct part of the game.
I do have to say that the book doesn't just include the standard starter dungeon but a good-sized wilderness area around it, complete with a wandering encounter table and encounters and story books on different hexes. As long as you're willing to wander around the Fallen Marshes, there's a decent amount of adventuring a GM can run in the fly.
Here's the rub. Into the Odd has simple rules and will make for a good quick and dirty dungeon crawl. But neither of those things are that hard to find. There are a lot of options out there for either one of them.
It's the setting, which is so old school that it touches the primordial roots of D&D that is the selling point for Into the Odd. And while the city of Hopesend Port and the Fallen Marshes do give you enough to run a short campaign, I wanted to see so much more of the setting. Yes, minimalism fits the old school feel but I could have easily enjoyed more than twice as much setting material.
Simple rules are nice but the flavor and setting was what I took away from the game and I wanted so much more.
Into the Odd is a quirky game that is three quarters Old School Revival with one quarter indie sensibilities about simple, intuitive rules. If it wasn't for that being a such extreme juxtaposition, I don't know if I'd consider it a indie game at all.
It's really not a game that I'd suggest. These days, my interests are in narrative driven games. But if someone else wanted to play it, I'm sure I have fun.
http://lostpages.storenvy.com/products/10964031-into-the-odd-print-pdf
Labels: dungeon crawl, indie, Into the Odd, Old School, Old School Revival, review, Role playing game
Building the apocalypse out of your own fears
It is after the end. Civilization has collapsed. Everything has fallen apart. Your fears are all around you, threatening to destroy you and everything you hold dear. Yet, somehow, you keep clinging to hope and keep on trying to keep on moving forward.
The Last One is a post apocalyptic horror RPG designed for two players, one who will play the last one and one who will play the other, the cruel world that will to its uncaring best to snuff out the last one and their hope.
In addition to being designed for only two players, the Last One is also a short form, designed to be played out in seven scenes. It is also almost entirely narratively driven but has a fairly tight structure for that narrative.
The player begins by coming up with three fears, a hope, and a safe house that is the end goal for the last one. The other will use these things to come up with the world after the end.
An important idea is that the fears shouldn't be the fears of the character. They should be the fears of the player. Personally, I find that a big, bold idea. It's pretty obvious that the guy who designed The Last One wanted to make sure that it was an emotional gut punch to the player.
There are two kinds of scenes in The Last One, After Scenes and Before Scenes. As the names suggest, they are either set before or after the apocalyptic event that ended the world as we know it.
In the seven scenes that will make up a game of The Last One, the After Scenes are the odd-numbered scenes. They are also the ones that have crucial choices that will impact the last one on their journey.
You see, both the player and the other are dealt seven cards at the start of each after After Scene. When the player wants to make a critical action, the player and the other lay one to two cards face down and simultaneously reveal. High card wins and that person gets their way.
It will always be the decision of the player to make a choice. The other cannot force them to make a choice but if the player chooses not to make a choice, then the other determines the consequences of not making a choice. If you decide to not do anything when someone starts shooting at you, the consequences can be pretty extreme. I
After three choices have been made, the other will resolve the scene and bring it to an end. The other isn't allowed to kill the last one or destroy their hope until the seventh and last scene. Every horrible thing short of killing them is fair game, though.
The even-numbered scenes are flashbacks that explore who the last one is, how they handled the end of the world and why their hope is important to them. There are no choices or other card play but the other gets to ask three tough, probing questions.
While the flashback scenes might not allow the other to do any harm to the last one or their hope, they definitely help with the whole character development and role-playing part of the game.
There are a number of things that I like about the Last One. In particular, I like how there is a lot of freedom while there is still a tight structure. The end of the world could be through disease or nuclear bombs or zombies or something else. The player's hope could be their child or lover or dream of freedom or their pet cat. And, of course, the fears can be anything.
At the same time, all of that will be explored in seven scenes that use the choices and questions to pace the scenes. Sometimes you need a framework to get the job done.
At the same time, making the game all about the player's fears might be a bit much. That might cross the line between fun and engaging and go into disturbing.
I will admit that my absolute first choice for a short form or game for two players is Baker's Murderous Ghosts. It has a very interesting structure that definitely keeps the tension circling in upon itself, one way or another. The card play in Murderous Ghosts feels like it's much more tightly connected to the narrative. Plus, the danger and the horror are more immediate and visceral.
The Last One explores horror in a completely different genre and fashion. With the flashback scenes, it becomes a more thoughtful and reflective way to deal with horror. Still, it is nice to have options and different views.
I do have to make one more note about The Last One. Each page was thematically decorated with splatters the blood over the black lettering. Maybe it's because I'm colorblind but it was really hard for me to read.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/131888/The-Last-One-english-edition
Labels: indie, Murderous Ghosts, Narrative, Post Apocalyptic, review, Role playing game, The Last One, two-player RPG
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91 acres of tillable farm land. Great soil index. Fronts on 2 paved roads and secondary road splits property. Access to property is very good. Currently being farmed but could be used for cattle, horses,recreational, or home sites. Not many farms like this every come on the market.


Barrett cancelled yesterday because he was sick, but today he finally got started. He said he started laying out the fancy border design as he went, but then the cement was drying before he could finish, so he decided it was easier to lay out the floor with the basic grid and borders, and then tomorrow he will pop out the appropriate white pieces and replace with green pieces.
This pattern was pulled from a period tile catalog. We doubled up all the borders to get the pattern to work better with our room dimensions.
The dog children are learning to hang out together. For the most part they are both doing great, but Shasta still doesn't want to cuddle with Bailey, nor does she have much interest in sharing her treats.
It's pretty hard to wait the 2 weeks until Bailey's suture heals to be able to let her really play hard. The poor thing is going a little stir crazy because we're having to keep her leashed at the dog park.
Oh btw the floor looks stellar.


text:
Items Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman
This item may be viewed onsite in the Library for the Performing Arts Learn more about using our dance archives
Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman, 1975
Jerome Robbins Dance Division
Silverman, Irene, 1916-
Gruen, John
Dance Audio Archive
Silverman, Irene, 1916- (Interviewee)
Gruen, John (Interviewer)
Shelf locator: *MGZTC 3-650 (former)
Bowman, Patricia
Zambelli, Carlotta, 1875-1968
Fokina, Vera Petrovna, 1886-1958
Haakon, Paul
Gambarelli, Maria
Rothafel, Samuel Lionel, 1881-1936
Michel Fokine Dance Studios
Roxy Theatre (New York, N.Y.)
Radio City Music Hall (New York, N.Y.)
Radio City Music Hall (New York, N.Y.). Corps de ballet
Content: Title supplied by cataloger.
Venue: Recorded by John Gruen 1975, November 30 New York (N.Y.)
Funding: The conservation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The support of the National Endowment for the Arts is also gratefully acknowledged.
Content: Streaming file 1 (approximately 47 minutes). Irene Zambelli Silverman (stage name: Irene Zambelli) speaks with John Gruen about her memories of Patricia Bowman; their classes together at Michel Fokine's studio; her impression of Vera Fokina; her memories of the Roxy Theater including an anecdote about Jan Peerce; Bowman as a dancer; Paul Haakon including his adoptive father's suicide and his divorce and remarriage; Bowman and Radio City Music Hall; Maria Gambarelli; Silverman's years at Radio City Music Hall; being invited to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo; more reminiscences of Bowman and of her own experience at Radio City Music Hall; taking class with Madame [Carlotta] Zambelli in Paris [ends abruptly].
Content: Streaming file 2 (approximately three minutes). Irene Zambelli Silverman speaks with John Gruen about her memories of Roxy (Samuel Lionel Rothafel) and the holiday shows at Radio City Music Hall [ends abruptly at 2:25 minutes; remainder is blank].
Extent: 1 audiocassette (approximately 50 min.) : quarter-track; 1.875 ips.
Sound quality is good. The recording is marred by extraneous noise including "tape hiss" and occasional short gaps, but, overall, the speakers' voices are easily intelligible.
Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman conducted by John Gruen on November 30,1975 in New York City, as research for an article on Patricia Bowman in Dance magazine. The article, entitled: Patricia Bowman: showcased in showbiz, her artistic maturity during the 1920's and '30's coincided with a period in our dance history when her art could not find its proper setting, appeared in the October 1976 issue.
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): ed622c70-3158-0132-4c1f-3c075448cc4b
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1975. http://digital.gallery.nypl.org/items/ef229500-3158-0132-5a71-3c075448cc4b
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. "Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman" New York Public Library Digital Collections. Accessed January 21, 2020. http://digital.gallery.nypl.org/items/ef229500-3158-0132-5a71-3c075448cc4b
Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library. (1975). Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman Retrieved from http://digital.gallery.nypl.org/items/ef229500-3158-0132-5a71-3c075448cc4b
<ref name=NYPL>{{cite web | url=http://digital.gallery.nypl.org/items/ef229500-3158-0132-5a71-3c075448cc4b | title= (sound recording) Interview with Irene Zambelli Silverman, (1975)|author=Digital Collections, The New York Public Library |accessdate=January 21, 2020 |publisher=The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations}}</ref>


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
Index Fungorum

#### Published in
Mycol. Pap. 58: 14 (1955)

#### Original name
Parodiopsis perae var. protii

### Remarks
null


The Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith Award commemorates the Australian Professor of Anatomy whose major scientific contributions were in the field of comparative anatomy and evolution of the nervous system. Until 2008 it was awarded for the best essay on a neuroscience topic by a Student Member of the Society. Since 2009, the Sir Grafton Elliot-Smith Award has been presented for the best poster by a Student Member of the Society at the Annual Meeting.
Applicants for this Award must tick the Student Poster Prize box on their online registration/abstract form when registering for the Annual Meeting of the Society. At the abstract submission deadline, candidates must be a Student member of ANS and must not have submitted a thesis for a doctoral degree.
Tick the box on the conference website when you register for the annual ANS conference. Deadline for submission will be the same as the deadline for receipt of registration/abstracts for the meeting.


text:
The team gave Annica back the joy to live
Annica Liljekvist's life took an unexpected turn in November of 2017. The lump she had noticed in her breast turned out to be an aggressive type of breast cancer. After going through tough treatments for several months, she was finally done. Only one month after her last treatment, Annica submitted an application to participate in the Team Rynkeby project. "I don't think rest of the team realise how much they mean to me," she says.
Team Rynkeby became Arild's therapy when he lost his 6-year-old son to cancer
Arild Østbø lost his 6-year-old son to cancer in 2012. Shortly afterward, he became involved in establishing Team Rynkeby in Norway. It became his way of dealing with his sorrow.
"It means a lot to have the chance to say thanks"
Betina Vedsted cycled the first three kilometres of Team Rynkeby's ride to Paris together with her son Jacob, who has been through a long and difficult treatment for cancer.
Record number of Team Rynkeby cyclists start the tour in Copenhagen
550 cyclists from 12 different teams departed as a group in Copenhagen today as Team Rynkeby began its 18th Tour de Paris.
How Team Rynkeby begins the ride to Paris - see times and places
Team Rynkeby's 54 teams will begin the ride to Paris in 47 events in 41 cities in 6 countries over 7 different days. Get the full overview here.
Follow the trip to Paris minute by minute
You can follow Team Rynkeby's trip to Paris minute by minute. With the help of the Swedish GPS company, Axtech AB, we're live tracking Team Rynkeby for the entire trip to Paris online.
Team Rynkeby is getting ready for a big blowout in Paris – see the time and place
Thousands of people are expected to head to Paris to welcome Team Rynkeby when the charity cycling team arrives in the French capital on 6 July 2019.
Team Rynkeby is dropping the physical Tour de Paris – will instead focus on virtual cycling
Team Rynkeby's annual cycling trip to Paris will be virtual starting in 2021. This is in order to bring the charity cycling team to a larger and more global target group.
A quarter of a million children will participate in the Team Rynkeby School Run
Nearly a quarter of a million schoolchildren will take part when Team Rynkeby Foundation holds the annual "Team Rynkeby School Run" for the benefit of critically ill children.
Team Rynkeby gets a record number of sponsors on the cycling wear
This year, 1,342 companies are getting their logo on Team Rynkeby's cycling wear. It is the highest number of clothing sponsors ever.


text:
11. Mistrzostwa Polski w Zapasach 1935 – zawody sportowe, które odbyły się 16 i 17 marca 1935 w Katowicach.

Mistrzostwa rozegrano w stylu klasycznym.

Medaliści

Uwagi

Przypisy

Mistrzostwa Polski w zapasach
1935 w polskim sporcie
1935 w zapasach
Zawody sportowe w Katowicach

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Нора Ней (, наст. имя и фамилия Соня Нейман;  — ) — польская киноактриса.

Биография
Нора Ней родилась в д. Селяховске Белостокского уезда, Гродненской губернии Российской империи (ныне гмина Василькув Белостокского повята в Подляском воеводстве Польши). Актёрскую профессию получила обучаясь в частном Кинематографическом институте Виктора Беганьского в Варшаве  в 1925-1926 годах.

Дебютировала в кино в 1926 году. Во время Второй мировой войны находилась в СССР, в 1946 году уехала в США. Умерла в Энсинитас в штате Калифорния.

Избранная фильмография
  — Золотая лихорадка / Gorączka złotego
  — Красный паяц / Czerwony błazen / Czerwony błazen — Мария, жена инспициента
  — Орлёнок / Orlę — продавщица
  — Зов моря / Zew morza — Йоля
  — Полицмейстер Тагеев / Policmajster Tagiejew — Юзя
  — Женщина, которая хочет грешить / Kobieta, która grzechu pragnie — Марына из-за потока
  — Краса жизни / Uroda życia — Татьяна
  — Сердце на улице / Serce na ulicy — Надежда
  — Голос пустыни / Głos pustyni — Джемиля, жена шейха
  — Дочь генерала Панкратова / Córka generała Pankratowa — Анюта, дочь генерала Панкратова
  — Женщины над пропастью / Kobiety nad przepaścią — Лора Вентана, директор хореографического института
  — Доктор Мурек / Doktór Murek — ''Арлета, танцорка

Ссылки
 Актриса на сайте filmpolski.pl
 Фотографии на сайте fototeka.fn.org.pl

Актёры и актрисы, известные под псевдонимами
Киноактрисы Польши


supporting up to 32 Universes intended for lighting enthusiasts and professionals.
~ Comes in PCB, PCB KIT, Fully Assembled options!
~ Many uses for DIY holiday entertainment, Stage, props, convention sets and more.
One of the unique traits of the Megapixel Controller is its receiver board. This allows the highest signal quality to be delivered to the first pixel. One Controller has two Receiver boards that allows flexible placement of Power and Pixel data Terminations. We have tested up to 30ft from controller to the first pixel using Cat5e Cable. Why does this matter? most pixel controllers do not use RJ45 / cat5 cat6 cable for signal delivery. The common result for common controllers is signal degradation. This can cause flickering and other undesirable effects. The receiver boards also allow power injection to happen much closer to the first pixel reducing the chances of severe voltage drop.


The two key words in this devotional are Employment and Deployment. A successful career should not be your goal in this life. More than a good job, our goal as citizens of the kingdom should be a successful deployment. Now I suppose you would say, what do I mean by that? Well, lets look at the word deployment versus employment; two words that are related but not the same.
As a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, hour employment, your job--meaning the place where you earn a paycheck--gives you an opportunity to serve and to use the gift God the Creator has given you in the context of a corporate group. Your actual place of employment may be large or small. It even could be at your place of residence. In most cases, your influence will be relatively limited. However, to be deployed as a citizen of God's Kingdom means that you have discovered what your gifts are and you are able to "serve your gift" to your entire generation. You are serving in the context of a much larger group of people and for a much larger "organization", the Kingdom of Heaven. As you work and serve, you are doing far more than earning a salary or a paycheck, and doing your small part to keep your local economy moving. Working and serving comes from your relationship with the King, and you are obeying His wishes. You are able to do your work because you can draw on the energy and other resources that He supplies. Keep this in mind, deployment is the giving of your natural gift to the world around you. When you get deployed, you serve up your gift to this world. Deployed as a Kingdom Citizen, you can be sure that the results of your labor will have eternal significance. Your work matters and the fruit of your work remains. Remember, what King Jesus stated: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
An individual who has been deployed has come into a position and is ready for use, much like a soldier who is positioned in battle formation alongside other soldiers. Once again, I will remind you that your faith in God's Word is your greatest asset in the Kingdom. It is the key.