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Iron Enhancement Of Marine Phy Essay, Research Paper 42
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Iron Enhancement of Marine Phytoplankton
As atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase, efforts have been made to help restore these levels to their natural state. An intriguing hypothesis has been put forward in an attempt to reduce these levels. By seeding regions of the oceans, known as high-nitrate low chlorophyll areas, with iron, it is believed that phytoplankton populations will grow. This in turn, through the process of photosynthesis, will lower atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Two major experiments that have been conducted in the last decade, examine the reality of such an undertaking. The potential for this method to be used on a global scale appear to be limited at best.
Ever since the Industrial Revolution began in the late 1700 s, the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere has increased at dramatic rate. The majority of CO2 released into the atmosphere comes from the burning of fossil fuels and from land use such as deforestation, biomass burning and agricultural expansion, which limits the environments ability to recycle CO2 emissions (Walker and Kasting 1992). The concentration of CO2 is expected to double by the middle of the next century, causing global warming to increase by 1.5.C to 4.5.C. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea levels, as well as change precipitation levels and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies (Rao and Chakravarty 1992). Also, numerous animal and plant species could be in danger of extinction due to an altering of their ecosystems, such as an expansion of deserts into existing range lands (Knox 1999). Due to the wide ranging effects of increased CO2 levels in the atmosphere, many scientists are trying to find solutions that will slow the rate of increasing CO2 levels. One solution that has been suggested is the iron enhancement of productivity in marine phytoplankton as a potential method for the reduction of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The rich plant life that can be found in our oceans is the major user of CO2 from the atmosphere. It is now believed that the oceans absorb between 30% and 50% of the CO2 released into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels (King et al. 1992). CO2 levels in the atmosphere and dissolved in the ocean s surface layer determine the ocean-water absorption and emission of gas. The amount of CO2 dissolved in water is in turn influenced by the amount of phytoplankton, which consumes CO2 during photosynthesis (LeBorgne and Rodier 1997). Phytoplankters, which are composed of algae and cyanobacteria, are minute single-celled ocean plants that are responsible for approximately 40% of the planet s total annual photosynthetic production and help to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels (Raven 1994). The phytoplankton reduce atmospheric levels by carrying the CO2 they absorb during photosynthesis and transporting them deep into the ocean by the way of dead plants, body parts, and feces (LeBorgne and Rodier 1997).
It might seem that a simple way to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, would be to increase phytoplankton populations in the oceans of the world. But, there has been some debate as to why phytoplankton populations are not naturally higher than what they currently are. Areas known as high-nitrate, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions, are oceanic systems that have low phytoplankton standing stocks, despite high levels of macronutrients (Boyd et al. 1996). These areas include the equatorial Pacific, Southern Ocean and the Subarctic Pacific (Cullen 1991). Some recent theories have suggested the low phytoplankton stocks are the result of grazing by animals further up the food chain, ammonium inhibition of nitrate uptake, mixed layers in excess of the critical depth or, the most popular theory of late, the lack of an essential micronutrient such as iron (Chisholm and Morel 1991).
Due to the extreme insolubility of iron in oxygenated seawater (Moffett and Zika 1987) the potential role of iron as a limiting factor in phytoplankton productivity was appreciated as early as the 1930 s (Harvey 1938). But it wasn t until the clean techniques developed in the 1980 s, was it possible to determine that open-ocean iron concentrations were indeed below the requirement of phytoplankton (Fitzwater et al. 1996).
The next step was to determine if increasing the concentration of iron would indeed increase phytoplankton growth. To test this, a study was conducted using bottles filled with surface waters from the HNLC regions and iron was added to half the bottles and the other half were left alone as controls (Martin et al. 1991). Phytoplankton abundance was monitored in the bottles by various means to see if the addition of iron allowed the phytoplankton to assimilate additional nutrients. The general results were always the same, the total chlorophyll in the iron-enriched bottles were higher than in the control bottles at the end of the experiment, and nitrates were more depleted in the iron-enriched bottles relative to the control bottles (Martin et al. 1991).
The final obstacle in determining the feasibility of using iron enhancement to increase marine phytoplankton productivity to reduce atmospheric CO2 was to conduct an experiment outside of the laboratory, and in the ocean itself. Two large scale experiments have been conducted in an attempt to ascertain the answer to the previously mentioned question concerning the role phytoplankton could play in reducing atmospheric CO2 levels.
Ironex-I Experiment
A team of researchers led by Kenneth H. Coale organized an experiment named IronEx in 1993, to exam the effects of fertilizing an HNLC zone with iron (Coale et al. 1998). The addition of the iron caused an initial doubling of the amount of phytoplankton, and the rate of growth quadrupled. However, after only one day, the phytoplankton activity leveled off. It was also relatively ineffective in reducing the amount of CO2 in the air above the waters where the iron sulfate was added. The result was that only ten percent of the CO2 was removed as compared to the expected amount for how much iron sulfate was added (Coale et al. 1998).
Ironex-I: The Results
Despite the fact that IronEx did not reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, it did provide definitive proof that iron does indeed limit phytoplankton growth and biomass in the HNLC waters of the equatorial Pacific (Coale et al. 1998). Also gained from this experiment, was a better understanding of how light limitation effects phytoplankton growth. As the iron patch began to sink to a depth below 30m, there was an overall decrease in phytoplankton growth (Lindley and Barber 1998). Because of the rapid loss of iron from the system, phytoplankton growth occurred over only a few cell divisions (Coale et al.
1998). This meant that in order to maintain a viable iron enriched patch on the ocean surface, the scientists had to find a way to prevent the iron patch from sinking too rapidly.
Ironex-II Experiment
A second experiment, conducted in 1995, named IronEx-II, was also performed in the equatorial waters of the Pacific about 800 miles west of the Galapagos Islands. IronEx-II was different from IronEx-I, because instead of dumping in all of the iron at once, the iron was added continuously over a one week period (Cavender-Bars et al. 1999). This eliminated the problem of the iron immediately sinking to the ocean floors. Close to 1000 pounds of iron was added over a one-week period. This increased the surface water iron concentrations by 100 parts per trillion. Within a week, two million pounds of additional phytoplankton had grown.
Ironex-II: The Results
Concentrations of chlorophyll were increased by a factor between 30 and 40. The increase was so great, it caused the waters to turn green. This fertilization caused a growth in phytoplankton, which in turn caused an additional 2.3 million kg of CO2 to be absorbed by the phytoplankton. After ten days, the concentration of CO2 had gone down by 20% (Coale et al. 1996).
Overall, the IronEx-II experiment produced an increase in phytoplankton growth rate and abundance (Coale et al. 1996). Indicators of phytoplankton photosynthetic capacity showed an immediate and sustained increase (Behrenfeld et al. 1996). Also, as the bloom developed, the partial pressure of CO2 in the center of the patch decreased rapidly, reducing the ocean to atmosphere CO2 flux by 60% (Cooper et al. 1996).
While all of this sounds encouraging, most biologists believe that even if the Antarctic Ocean was fertilized with iron for the next hundred years, it would only create an estimated 10% reduction in atmospheric CO2 levels (Peng and Broeker 1991). One of the main concerns, is that iron is not the only factor limiting phytoplankton production. In areas like the Antarctic, factors such as winter darkness and extreme turbulence play an important role in phytoplankton populations (Peng and Broeker 1991).
Another important component of the iron fertilization concept, is the potential change in composition of the phytoplankton community (Landry et al. 1997). Since different phytoplankton groups require iron at varying levels (Cavender-Bares et al. 1999), a complete alteration of the phytoplankton diversity could ensue. This could lead to an upset in the natural balance of the oceans.
While the idea of seeding the oceans with iron to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels may sound appealing, it is apparent that there still remain too many unknown consequences of such an endeavor. A more feasible solution to lowering the increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is to attack the problem at its source, the burning of fossil fuels. If more effort were made to reduce the anthropogenic sources of CO2 being released into the atmosphere, the need for such elaborate solutions would not be needed.
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R. Bidigare. 1999. Differential response of equatorial
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Coale, K., S. Fitzwater, R. Gordon, K. Johnson, and E.
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Coale, K., K. Johnson, S.Fitzwater, S. Blain, T. Stanton
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Knox, R. 1999. Physical aspects of the greenhouse effect
and global warming. Amer. Jour. Phys. 67:1227-1238.
Landry, M., R. Barber, R. Bidigare, F. Chai, K. Coale, H.
Dam, M. Lewis, S. Lindley, J. McCarthy, M. Roman, D. Stoecker, P. Verity, and J. White. 1997. Iron and grazing constraints on primary production in the central equatorial Pacific: An EqPac synthesis. Limnol. Oceanogr. 42:405-418.
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Of Exploding Gas Cylinders & Grenades
Observer News Service | December 31, 2012
By claiming that the "militants killed in Pulwama gunfight were involved in the Bijbehara grenade blast," the Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) may feel that it has added yet another feather to its cap. However, it has failed to realise that by making this claim (which completely contradicts its earlier version), the JKP has only created confusion but unwittingly also eroded its already tottering credibility amongst the public.
The State government and the JKP have been regularly feeding us with 'encouraging' news that J&K is fast returning to normalcy. Using statistical data to 'authenticate' their optimism, they want us to believe that even though 118 terrorist incidents have been recorded during the period January to November this year (which means an average of one incident every third day), not only is militancy on the wane but that certain areas are even 'militancy free'. And even though one invariably finds locals not only amongst the slain militants of the Kashmir based Hizbul Mujahideen but also the Pakistan based outfits like the Lashkar- e- Toiba, they tell us us that the local youth is no more attracted towards militancy!
Of late, it also seems that the JKP has suddenly acquired the expertise in 'hunting down' hard core militants involved in various 'high profile' attacks. In December alone, the following 'notorious' militants, who ranked high in the 'most wanted' list, were killed:
20 December- Shakir Hussain Sheikh alias 'Chota Hafiz' allegedly involved in the 2011 blast outside Delhi High Court in which 16 people were killed.
24 December- Mudasir Ahmad Sheikh and his associate Tamim allegedly involved in a shootout at hotel Silver-Star in Srinagar on October 19 this year in which two hotel employees lost their lives.
28 December- Imtiyaz Ahmed Teli alias Fahadullah who was allegedly involved in the grenade attack at Narwal in November in which one person was killed and five others were injured. The Police also claim that the slain militants were involved in the Bijbehara grenade attack in which four tourist ladies were killed in July this year.
So, while the JKP must have created a record of sorts in successfully 'closing' three 'high profile' as well as 'blind' cases (cases with no leads) of militant violence in a matter of just eight days, its sudden revelation on the blast which occurred in Bijbehara is indeed intriguing. Readers may recall that when this incident occurred, IANS quoted a senior police official as saying that, "Militants tossed a hand grenade at a Tavera taxi carrying tourists in Bijbehara town, 45 km from here. The grenade exploded inside the vehicle resulting in the death of two tourists and injured four others." No sooner had this statement appeared in the press, the Police quickly issued another statement which read, "A cylinder exploded in a vehicle, bearing registration number JK02AP/0676 and which was on way from Srinagar to Pahalgam, at Zuripora (Anantnag), falling under the jurisdiction of police station Bijbehara, in which six passengers were injured, of whom two died."
While the local media reported the initial grenade blast version of the Police and faithfully followed it up with the gas cylinder explosion version given subsequently by the JKP, the national media gave wide publicity only to the initial grenade blast statement and thereafter lost interest in the case. Due to this, the grenade blast version of the incident generated an extremely hostile response in the national media. Selective reporting of the incident by the national media naturally left the local media in Kashmir aghast at what it considered to be deliberate propaganda and a ploy to 'disturb' peace in Kashmir by projecting it as a 'dangerous place' and thereby discouraging tourists. And now that the JKP has suddenly reverted back to its 'grenade blast' theory, the local media is naturally bound to feel piqued for having been led up the garden path!
One does not have to be a forensic expert to discern whether an explosion has been caused by a gas cylinder blast or a grenade, since each leaves behind distinctive traces that makes it as easily distinguishable as sugar from salt. A gas cylinder blast occurs only when the LPG within ignites and this causes fire and leaves behind large debris of the LPG container which is not the case when a grenade explodes. So, why was this done? While no official communication on this can be expected, one can hazard a guess- readers will recall that this incident occurred not only during the peak tourist season but also when the Defence Minister AK Antony was in the Valley to review the proposal for lifting AFSPA from certain areas of the State. So, could it be that this was a 'well meaning' attempt in 'local public interests' on the part of the State government and the JKP to ensure that tourists are not 'discouraged' from visiting Kashmir or was it a deliberate act to portray to the Defence Minister Antony that 'all is well' in Kashmir and thus reinforce the partial AFSPA removal plan? Once again, your guess is as good as mine!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Canopius trumps Haverford's bid for Omega | City A.M.
Lloyd's insurer Omega has received an early stage offer from privately-owned rival Canopius, a day after another investor offered to buy a 25 per cent stake.
Canopius has been in talks over an offer for Omega since January but this is the first time it has named a price for the insurer, which is undergoing a drastic turnaround after turning lossmaking 18 months ago.
Canopius has tabled a potential offer at 83p per share, above Omega's current share price of 74.5p.
The offer matches the highest level offered yesterday by rival bidder Haverford, an investment vehicle owned by insurance executive Mark Byrne, in a clear move to derail it.
"Canopius is seeking a short period in which to complete confirmatory due diligence. Any offer will be conditional on the success of that exercise, as well as other pre-conditions customary for a transaction of this nature," it said in a statement.
Byrne, the son of successful US insurance leader Jack Byrne, offered to buy a 25 per cent stake in Omega yesterday in a deal that would value the stake at up to £50m.
Byrne said he would also take the post of executive chairman and add his father to the board as a non-executive if his offer was accepted.
Omega's board recommended Byrne's offer but has now said it will now consider Canopius' counterbid.
"The board will continue to review the approaches Omega has received in the context of the best interests of the business and all stakeholders and is striving to conclude the process as soon as possible," it said.


I figured that in the warmth (it hasn't been the blistering heat that I was anticipating - but still a whole lot warmer than home!) of South Africa was a no fail combination.
No official "water play" toys. So we improvised. Old school water play. The way my mum did it. Way back when.
Two washtubs, two buckets, some sand pails that had been donated and some empty containers.
I really wanted a colander (or something like it) for the kids to play cause and effect with. No one had a colander. So I improvised. An empty yogurt container and a nail, and I had myself a free water toy.
More water, added grass, leaves and seeds, and kept a story/game evolving for over an hour. I so wished that I could have understood their story. Still need to work on my Zulu.
One little fellow assigned himself to help me with refilling the buckets.
He filled; I carried. We were a good team.
The best part of this activity; the pre school teachers realized how simple it could be.
That looks like my kind of fun! Good job!


New chairs all in normal gachapon, and you release a chair gachapon with ONE chair I've not seen in-game ever !!
Why can't you swap them around so the new chairs are in chair gachapon?!
~ One annoyed chair collector.
There's a reason why this section is called "Rants and Raves".
Well, I half-read the notice and bought a load of chair gatchas thinking the chair I wanted was in them.
Seems like an addiction/compulsion from my perspective.
If you stop collecting chairs, you may be able to save yourself some trouble.
I mean, down the line, would it matter to have collected them all?
Oh no, Sam ! Although out of that collection of chair gachas, did you get the Firefly Forest Chair? If so, can I buy it?!
YES! Chairs = love. Chairs = life.
Whereas some players on maple, crave damage caps and all godly gear... I'm happy with chairs!
Hmm I want to understand the feelings of chair holders.
Do chairs hold any value to you besides collecting?
Do you stare at your chairs in hopes to satiate an invisible desire?
What kind of desire is this?
There really is no "invisible desire"... I like chairs, enough said really..
Why do they need to have a "value besides collecting"?
Do we belittle you for your staring at big numbers on your screen in hopes to satiate an invisible desire?
Fact is, a lot of people like to collect chairs. If there wasn't a widespread interest in them, Nexon wouldn't put them in as grand rewards for events, or as a draw for people to spend real-world money on Gachapon.
Humans are weird. Some of them enjoy one aspect of the game, some enjoy another.
The "why not?" in this case would be that in the initial post you seem annoyed by them adding more chairs rather than enjoying it, and also feel like you must throw money at the gachapon to have them in your collection. Thus then I ask is there a desire besides collecting because you may not have to buy the chairs to fulfill it and would be able to enjoy it.
What I'm interested is understanding the specific nature of your desire for the chairs and why you feel you must buy them. It could be visual stimulation, you could get a rush trying to get the right ones from gachapon, it could be a way to fill boredom. Of course, those are just examples and I don't really know.
I'm just trying to figure out the nature of the desire. Sparklee can think for sparklee-self if the desire is enough.
^ That. Humans are weird. That's an explanation enough!
Also truth be told, I've never really looked deep enough into the reason why I like chairs on maple so much. I just do. You make it seems as though every action I have must have some deep connection to it.. It doesn't.
You're just looking into it too much.
There is always some underlying for our actions and desires. I say this because I've knowledge on some aspects of psychology and physiology. I'm no expert in the field, but the perfunctory knowledge I have leads me to believe that it is the case most of the time, and the cases where it is not would be a type of paradox.
That's one reason why I don't think it's weird. On the contrary, I believe it is normal. I wouldn't argue whether it is weird or not.
We may just not be aware of all the reasons for these things, and whether they are deep or not is perhaps not a concern. Once you learn them, it is simply one of those connections.
It's fine to me if you don't want to think about it, though. It's not too important for me on a personal level to fish out information from you, I just wanted to see if it could help you to think about -- and I also was wondering if I had the right train of thought. Though, if it's something I've never heard or thought about, it could interest me or even be important in the grand scheme of things.
Is this really the time to psychoanalyze? Or is there a reason as to why you need to know the underlying connection for Sparklee wanting to collect something? Is Maple chair collecting that much different from other forms of collection? Many collectors pay for what they like to collect.
If you're interested in if there are any personal ethical principles behind why I post things, then there are.
If I can sum it up, then I disseminate information or ask questions based on potential usefulness to the person, community as a whole, or me, and I do this under the assumption that people can analyze the information and think for themselves and communicate with me in the way they want for reasons -- reasons like they want clarification or debate.
So I do believe introspection is important or potentially useful.
Things that I would consider less than useful or useless would be personal attacks or judgement that is based heavily on emotion or speculation that can't be backed up. I avoid those -- I think those are mainly said for selfish reasons. There are situations where they may be useful, but you would have to know some things about the situation or person first so it wouldn't backfire.
I collect chairs, too! I feel like money spent on chair gachas is well spent, because I know I'm going to love whatever I get. In fact, my setup tab is nearly filled, and I have hotkeys set for my favorite five chairs. Can't say I haven't been disappointed a few times with what I got, but that's just because I ended up with some duplicates.
As for me, the psychology behind my chair obsession is that it's instant gratification, it's fun - like a slot machine - and they're all so pretty! I'll sit here telling myself that I'm only going to buy three boxes at most, and then there's that little voice that tells me, "You have plenty of NX. One or two more can't hurt!" And then magically I don't have enough NX to revive my pets, so I charge, and here we go again, lol! Sometimes I even have to force myself to decide what's more important, actually playing the game, or rolling the dice on chairs.


Have you ever wanted extra arms to be able to do more? MetaLimbs can help with that. We are talking about artificial limbs that you can control using your feet. It consists of a robotic arm system and positional tracking. It is mapped to your legs and relies on knee, foot, and bending sensors to let you move it.
You will be able to wear robotic hands to get hold things with your hands free. The system features haptic feedback too.


You maybe trying to eat healthy by buying organic fruits and veggies and cooking home meals, but you may not realize the pots and pans you use to cook are poisoning you. You may not even give a second thought about what you use to prepare your meals. You may even feel satisfied that you're doing everything you can for your health by eating as much raw and unprocessed food as possible. Unfortunately, it may not be enough if you're not very selective in your food prep.
What about your cookware? What about that skillet you use to lightly cook your favorite wild-caught fish? Can you trust it to be safe for you and your family? The answer is — probably not… particularly if you use dangerous non-stick cookware. Non-stick cookware is the most popular cookware in America. So what's wrong with it? Well, for starters, non-stick cookware contains perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a synthetic chemical used in production that creates a soap-like slipperiness and non-stick finish. Once heated, non-stick pans will quickly reach temperatures at which toxic fumes release into the air. And it doesn't take much heat to do this — the coating begins to break down and release toxins at a temperature of only 446° F. PFOA has become very controversial because of potential health dangers… and non-stick cookware is right in the middle of the controversy. So why is PFOA so dangerous?
Death of several rat pups due to PFOA exposure.
Changes in the pituitary in female rats, at all doses. The pituitary controls growth, reproduction, and many metabolic functions. Changes in the size of the pituitary indicate toxicity.
Even after you purge your kitchen of unsafe cookware, you may still be harboring danger — this time in the form of aluminum or stainless steel. Aluminum is a "reactive" metal, meaning that it reacts with salty or acidic foods to release itself into your food. Dietary sources of aluminum include cookware, containers, foil, and utensils. You can also face exposure to aluminum when the non-stick surface chips off a coated aluminum pan. Next to the most common cookware alternative is stainless steel, accounting for one-third of U.S. cookware sales. And some cooks prefer the "clad" or "three-ply" varieties that have an aluminum or copper base sandwiched between layers of stainless steel. Contrary to popular belief, stainless steel may not be an inert metal either. All stainless steel has alloys containing nickel, chromium, molybdenum, carbon, and various other metals. Copper is an alternative that provides even heat distribution. However, I recommend that it never has direct contact with your food. When you use copper as your cooking surface, it can leach out in excessive amounts. If enough leaching occurs, you could potentially experience digestive discomforts.* Therefore, most copper pans come lined with other metals, creating the same concerns noted above. And copper pans are also extremely costly.
Cast Iron: Cast-iron cookware is a safe alternative that is well known for its durability and even heat distribution. Cooking with cast iron also saves energy, as it retains heat even after the heating element is turned off.
Ceramic: Ceramic or porcelain coated cookware also offers even heat distribution, and is nonreactive, meaning it won't release compounds into food.
Glass: Glass cookware is the most inert, meaning it will not leach chemicals, metals, or other harmful ingredients into your food. Tempered glass cookware can be used at high temperatures for baking and stovetop cooking.
Clay: Unglazed clay cookware was once a kitchen staple throughout much of history, and today serves as a more natural cooking alternative. Clay is inert and does not leach into food, it holds heat and moisture, and it helps retain nutrient content. However, clay cookware is less durable and needs extra care to protect the life span of the product.
Click here to read more and buy healthy cookware!


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Scope and Speed of Educational Gag Orders Worsening Across the Country
By: Jeffrey Sachs December 13, 2021
Betty Sawyer, a supporter of critical race theory, center, exchanges views with a group of women opposed to the theory, after a protest organized by the Utah Educational Equity Coalition outside of the Capitol in Salt Lake City on May 19, 2021. Photo by Kristin Murphy/Deseret News
Monthly Roundup, December
This post is part of a blog series from PEN America tracking the progress of educational gag orders and censorious legislative efforts against educational institutions nationwide. These bills are tracked in our Index, updated monthly.
It's a frightening time to be an educator. As if COVID-19 wasn't enough, our November report, Educational Gag Orders: Legislative Restrictions on the Freedom to Read, Learn, and Teach, documented 54 state-level bills around the country that would stifle teaching and learning about race, sex, gender, and American history in schools, universities, and state agencies. Educators who don't comply could lose already scarce funding—or their jobs.
And it's getting worse. In the month since the report's release, state lawmakers introduced 12 new bills, bringing the total to a staggering 66 educational gag orders for the year in 26 states, 12 of which have passed into law.
Here's what's happening:
The recent group of bills includes seven in Missouri and one each in New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
All 12 of these bills target K–12 schools, four include provisions that would impact colleges and universities, and four include a focus on state agencies, other state-funded institutions, and "places of learning."
Six of these bills specifically ban "critical race theory," making a total of 20 state-level bills introduced this year with such explicit prohibitions.
Six of these bills contain explicit prohibitions against teaching or using curricular materials from "The 1619 Project," bringing the total of these to 17 for the year.
All of these bills are tracked in our Index.
While disturbing, these developments are not surprising. In recent weeks, these gag orders have grown more sweeping in scope and become law with increasing speed. Two examples from November tell the story.
In South Carolina, two state representatives prefiled a bill called the Freedom from Ideological Coercion and Indoctrination Act. This bill would apply to any entity receiving state funds or that benefits from tax exempt or nonprofit status, including public and private schools and universities, all levels of state government, state contractors, charitable organizations, and many private businesses.
In other words, an enormous number of South Carolinians.
Under the bill, those entities would be prohibited from teaching, endorsing, or compelling the adoption of certain "discriminatory" concepts, including that:
"a group or an individual, by virtue of his or her race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, heritage, culture, religion, or political belief is inherently racist, sexist, bigoted, ignorant, biased, fragile, oppressive, or contributive to any oppression, whether consciously or unconsciously;"
"an individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of his or her race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, heritage, culture, religion, or political belief;"
"an individual's moral character, value, or status, whether wholly or partly, is necessarily determined by his or her race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, heritage, culture, religion, or political belief."
While some of this language is similar to that found in other bills analyzed in our Educational Gag Orders report, South Carolina's legislation breaks new ground by censoring speech about heritage, culture, religion, and political belief. The implications of this are deeply troubling.
For instance, racism, fascism, and homophobia can all be understood as cultural or political beliefs. Under the bill, educators would be prohibited from describing those who hold such beliefs as bigoted or oppressive. Nor would they permitted to suggest that anti-Semites, for instance, ought to feel discomfort or anguish on account of their anti-Semitism, or that racism reflects poorly on a person's moral character.
In fact, under this bill, it would be illegal for history teachers to make statements condemning or criticizing participants in the regimes of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, since this would seemingly violate the bill's prohibition against teaching that any group or individual is inherently racist or oppressive by virtue of their political beliefs.
Other dangerous provisions in the bill include a prohibition on any discussion with minors about "gender identity or lifestyles" or "age-inappropriate materials"—language so vague that implementation would be impossible. Teachers and professors would also be punished if they "repeatedly distort or misrepresent verifiable historical facts," "omit relevant and important context," "advertise or promote ideologies or sociopolitical causes or organizations," or "create an atmosphere hostile to open and respectful inquiry and discussion." The bill neither defines these terms nor explains what their prohibition would look like in practice.
And what does punishment look like? Complete loss of state funding, tax exemption status, and any other state-provided accommodation or privilege. For a college or university in South Carolina—even a private one—this would be a death sentence. Given such drastic consequences, the chilling effects could be grave, forcing teachers and professors to give any content that is even remotely risky a wide berth.
Also in November, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed HB 1508 into law. HB 1508 prohibits K–12 public schools from including in their curricula "critical race theory," which the law defines as "the theory that racism is not merely the product of learned individual bias or prejudice, but that racism is systemically embedded in American society and the American legal system to facilitate racial inequality."
We do not yet know how this law will be interpreted or applied, but a chilling effect is inevitable. As the North Dakota ACLU notes, "It is natural that many will interpret a ban on 'critical race theory' to mean a ban on discussing or raising issues of race in the classroom at all." Given the prohibition on discussions of systemic racism, "how is a history teacher supposed to discuss slavery, the civil rights era, or teach high school students about the history of redlining, an explicitly systemic policy initiative that purposefully segregated housing?"
But as sweeping as HB 1508 is, equally remarkable is the speed with which it became law.
The bill was introduced on November 8. Two days later, and after virtually no debate, it was passed by the House. The Senate voted to pass it the following day, and the governor signed it into law later that evening. From introduction to enrollment, HB 1508's journey through the North Dakota legislature took just five days.
It is doubtful that legislators fully considered the implications of this law or its impact. So why the haste? Lawmakers concede that critical race theory is not being taught in North Dakota schools. One state senator actually described the law as "preemptive." Another suggested that it was more about managing constituent fears than solving an actual problem:
"If we can do something to reassure parents that in public schools we are not having a political agenda, then I think that we should do that. The fear and the outrage are very real, even if I may believe that fear and outrage was manufactured."
And this seems to reflect a growing trend. For a certain kind of lawmaker, it does not matter whether there is any genuine problem for these bills to solve. They are simply good politics, and the more sweeping the bill, along with the greater speed with which it can be signed into law, the better.
As new legislative sessions begin next year, and so long as lawmakers believe that the public will reward their efforts, we expect to see this same dynamic play out in state houses across the country.
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Tags: campus free speech, Censorship, critical race theory, culture, discrimination, educational gag orders, Free Expression, Free Expression and Education, free speech, gender, history, homophobia, politics, race, racism, religion, Sexism, South Carolina, United StatesGenre: BlogTopic: Campus Free SpeechCategory: News & AnalysisCountry: United States


Have you seen SCIE's videos on the Mental Capacity Act? I find one in particular quite astonishing. Former Eastenders star Leonard Fenton plays a rather irritated man. It could easily be my dad – perhaps even me in a few years' time. The character wants to spend £50 on lottery tickets. His home care worker is, at first, reluctant, but eventually gives in. Come Saturday night when the numbers are being called, days of misery give way to moments of absolute joy as the man checks – and organises – his tickets.
We never find out if he wins anything. That's not the point. What does matter is that he decides for himself how he spends his time and his money. It's about respecting the right of people to make what might be seen as unwise decisions.
Gosh, how much harder is that to do than it sounds? Balancing safety and respect is difficult enough for professionals, but for the rest of us, the overwhelming instinct is usually to protect. Living longer has consequences for family, friends and peers and we are, as yet, distinctly unprepared.
Frankly, most of us just aren't used to relating to adults with diminishing mental or physical capacity. Until quite recently, people were 'looked after' in detached institutions. If that was ever good enough for some people, it certainly isn't for loved ones, now. But in aspiring for more, one challenge is to ensure we don't either over-protect, or smother people with so much care that their personal will is stifled. In order to respect dignity, we have to learn not to project our perceptions of wellbeing onto others, but to understand what people want for themselves. This requires skill.
Nurses can refer to what is known as 'professional curiosity', to engage with people to find out more about them. It assists them in knowing when to administer care – and when to step back. It enables them to be aware of broader circumstances that impact on health. It is facilitated by 'reciprocal engagement'; that is, building interaction in the relationship rather than relying on one-way transactions. Being able to draw out information from people in a deliberate and iterative way helps establish a more reliable picture of their own gifts, wishes and interests.
With care increasingly drawn into community settings rather than being held in impervious institutions, each of us shares responsibilities for respecting dignity; not just to loved ones, but to those we come into contact with on a day-to-day basis. In the halcyon days when communities were less atomised, nosey neighbours probed and pried into everybody's business. Arguably, their curiosity was driven by their own significance rather than altruism.
So, bringing back nosiness isn't the answer. But, what is called for is a conscious effort to generate a culture at neighbourhood level, where purposeful and disciplined engagement is normal, not intrusive. Just as we encourage the take-up of health and safety skills in schools and workplaces, perhaps there is a case for people to learn reciprocal engagement.
Respecting the rights of people to make decisions is a skill that requires encouragement. Just like the home care worker who concludes that, yes, the character played by Leonard Fenton, can indeed buy lottery tickets irrespective of whether we think it wise or unwise.
This blog was written by Sukhvinder Kaur-Stubbs, Managing Director of Engage-Us. It was published on the Social Care Institute for Excellence website on 21 October 2015. Click here to read Building Contingent Capacity.


The Department of Health is advising Nunavummiut that the influenza virus (flu) is confirmed and active in all three regions of Nunavut.
Influenza symptoms include fever, chills, cough, nausea, sore muscles and feeling tired. People who have the flu or flu-like symptoms should stay home.
Protect yourself, your family and your community and remember that babies and elders are most at risk! The flu vaccine is free and available at all community health centres in Nunavut, and at Iqaluit Public Health, building 1091.
For more information please visit www.flunu.ca or download the Flu Facts factsheet available on The Department of Health's website.


Song performed by G.R.L., which is obviously some reduction from the word "girl", although result happened having even more characters. Perhaps this band of 5 girls weren't informed that the reduction is intended to reduce, rather than increase the number of characters in the final writing. Vivid images of women's bodies operated in this pop work to the fullest. Weak plot in which for some reason boys and girls live together while the girls do all the work, and guys act like pigs. Reference: More about "Vacation", the debut single recorded by American-British-Canadian girl group G.R.L.


text:
Verso Books
Imagined Communities: An Introduction
Is Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities more relevant than ever? Now 50% off as part of our Student Reading Sale.
Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism remains the most influential book on the origins of nationalism, filling the vacuum that previously existed in the traditions of Western thought. Cited more often than any other single English-language work in the human sciences, it is read around the world in more than thirty translations. It is one of the core texts on our student reading lists and 50% off for the month of September as part of our Back to University sale.
Here we present an excerpt from the Introduction.
Perhaps without being much noticed yet, a fundamental transformation in the history of Marxism and Marxist movements is upon us. Its most visible signs are the recent wars between Vietnam, Cambodia and China. These wars are of world-historical importance because they are the first to occur between regimes whose independence and revolutionary credentials are undeniable, and because none of the belligerents has made more than the most perfunctory attempts to justify the bloodshed in terms of a recognizable Marxist theoretical perspective. While it was still just possible to interpret the Sino-Soviet border clashes of 1969, and the Soviet military interventions in Germany (1953), Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968), and Afghanistan (1980) in terms of – according to taste – 'social imperialism,' 'defending socialism,' etc., no one, I imagine, seriously believes that such vocabularies have much bearing on what has occurred in Indochina.
If the Vietnamese invasion and occupation of Cambodia in December 1978 and January 1979 represented the first large-scale conventional war waged by one revolutionary Marxist regime against another, [1] China's assault on Vietnam in February rapidly confirmed the precedent. Only the most trusting would dare wager that in the declining years of this century any significant outbreak of interstate hostilities will necessarily find the USSR and the PRC – let alone the smaller socialist states – supporting, or fighting on, the same side. Who can be confident that Yugoslavia and Albania will not one day come to blows? Those variegated groups who seek a withdrawal of the Red Army from its encampments in Eastern Europe should remind themselves of the degree to which its overwhelming presence has, since 1945, ruled out armed conflict between the region's Marxist regimes.
Such considerations serve to underline the fact that since World War II every successful revolution has defined itself in national terms – the People's Republic of China, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and so forth – and, in so doing, has grounded itself firmly in a territorial and social space inherited from the prerevolutionary past. Conversely, the fact that the Soviet Union shares with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland the rare distinction of refusing nationality in its naming suggests that it is as much the legatee of the prenational dynastic states of the nineteenth century as the precursor of a twenty-first century internationalist order. [2]
Eric Hobsbawm is perfectly correct in stating that 'Marxist movements and states have tended to become national not only in form but in substance, i.e., nationalist. There is nothing to suggest that this trend will not continue.' [3] Nor is the tendency confined to the socialist world. Almost every year the United Nations admits new members. And "many 'old nations,' once thought fully consolidated, find themselves challenged by 'sub'-nationalisms within their borders – nationalisms which, naturally, dream of shedding this sub-ness one happy day. The reality is quite plain: the 'end of the era of nationalism,' so long prophesied, is not remotely in sight. Indeed, nation-ness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time.
But if the facts are clear, their explanation remains a matter of long-standing dispute. Nation, nationality, nationalism – all have proved notoriously difficult to define, let alone to analyse. In contrast to the immense influence that nationalism has exerted on the modern world, plausible theory about it is conspicuously meagre. Hugh Seton-Watson, author of far the best and most comprehensive English-language text on nationalism, and heir to a vast tradition of liberal historiography and social science, sadly observes: 'Thus I am driven to the conclusion that no "scientific definition" of the nation can be devised; yet the phenomenon has existed and exists.' [4] Tom Nairn, author of the path-breaking The Break-up of Britain, and heir to the scarcely less vast tradition of Marxist historiography and social science, candidly remarks: 'The theory of nationalism represents Marxism's great historical failure.' [5] But even this confession is somewhat misleading, insofar as it can be taken to imply the regrettable outcome of a long, self-conscious search for theoretical clarity. It would be more exact to say that nationalism has proved an uncomfortable anomaly for Marxist theory and, precisely for that reason, has been largely elided, rather than confronted. Reflections on the How else to explain Marx's failure to explicate the crucial adjective in his memorable formulation of 1848: 'The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie'? [6] How else to account for the use, for over a century, of the concept 'national bourgeoisie' without any serious attempt to justify theoretically the relevance of the adjective? Why is this segmentation of the bourgeoisie – a world-class insofar as it is defined in terms of the relations of production – theoretically significant?
The aim of this book is to offer some tentative suggestions for a more satisfactory interpretation of the 'anomaly' of nationalism. My sense is that on this topic both Marxist and liberal theory have become etiolated in a late Ptolemaic effort to 'save the phenomena'; and that a reorientation of perspective in, as it were, a Copernican spirit is urgently required. My point of departure is that nationality, or, as one might prefer to put it in view of that word's multiple significations, nation-ness, as well as nationalism, are cultural artefacts of a particular kind. To understand them properly we need to consider carefully how they have come into historical being, in what ways their meanings have changed over time, and why, today, they command such profound emotional legitimacy. I will be trying to argue that the creation of these artefacts towards the end of the eighteenth century [7] was the spontaneous distillation of a complex 'crossing' of discrete historical forces; but that, once created, they became 'modular,' capable of being transplanted, with varying degrees of self-consciousness, to a great variety of social terrains, to merge and be merged with a correspondingly wide variety of political and ideological constellations. I will also attempt to show why these particular cultural artefacts have aroused such deep attachments.
Before addressing the questions raised above, it seems advisable to consider briefly the concept of 'nation' and offer a workable definition. Theorists of nationalism have often been perplexed, not to say irritated, by these three paradoxes: (1) The objective modernity of nations to the historian's eye vs. their subjective antiquity in the eyes of nationalists. (2) The formal universality of nationality as a socio-cultural concept – in the modern world everyone can, should, will 'have' a nationality, as he or she 'has' a gender – vs. the irremediable particularity of its concrete manifestations, such that, by definition, 'Greek' nationality is sui generis. (3) The 'political' power of nationalisms vs. their philosophical poverty and even incoherence. In other words, unlike most other isms, nationalism has never produced its own grand thinkers: no Hobbeses, Tocquevilles, Marxes, or Webers. This "emptiness' easily gives rise, among cosmopolitan and polylingual intellectuals, to a certain condescension. Like Gertrude Stein in the face of Oakland, one can rather quickly conclude that there is 'no there there'. It is characteristic that even so sympathetic a student of nationalism as Tom Nairn can nonetheless write that: ' "Nationalism" is the pathology of modern developmental history, as inescapable as "neurosis" in the individual, with much the same essential ambiguity attaching to it, a similar built-in capacity for descent into dementia, rooted in the dilemmas of helplessness thrust upon most of the world (the equivalent of infantilism for societies) and largely incurable.' [8]
Part of the difficulty is that one tends unconsciously to hypostasize the existence of Nationalism-with-a-big-N (rather as one might Age-with-a-capital-A) and then to classify 'it' as an ideology. (Note that if everyone has an age, Age is merely an analytical expression.) It would, I think, make things easier if one treated it as if it belonged with 'kinship' and 'religion', rather than with 'liberalism' or 'fascism'.
In an anthropological spirit, then, I propose the following definition of the nation: it is an imagined political community – and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign.
It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion. [9] Renan referred to this imagining in his suavely back-handed way when he wrote that 'Or l'essence d'une nation est que tous les individus aient beaucoup de choses en commun, et aussi que tous aient oublié bien des choses.' [10] With a certain ferocity Gellner makes a comparable point when he rules that 'Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist.' The drawback to this formulation, however, is that Gellner is so anxious to show that nationalism masquerades under false pretences that he assimilates 'invention' to 'fabrication' and 'falsity', rather than to 'imagining' and 'creation'. In this way he implies that 'true' communities exist which can be advantageously juxtaposed to nations. In fact, all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact (and perhaps even these) are imagined. Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity/genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined. Javanese villagers have always known that they are connected to people they have never seen, but these ties were once imagined particularistically – as indefinitely stretchable nets of kinship and clientship. Until quite recently, the Javanese language had no word meaning the abstraction 'society.' We may today think of the French aristocracy of the ancien régime as a class; but surely it was imagined this way only very late. To the question 'Who is the Comte de X?' the normal answer would have been, not 'a member of the aristocracy,' but 'the lord of X,' 'the uncle of the Baronne de Y,' or 'a client of the Duc de Z.'
The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a billion living human beings, has finite, if elastic, boundaries, beyond which lie other nations. No nation imagines itself coterminous with mankind. The "most messianic nationalists do not dream of a day when all the members of the human race will join their nation in the way that it was possible, in certain epochs, for, say, Christians to dream of a wholly Christian planet.
It is imagined as sovereign because the concept was born in an age in which Enlightenment and Revolution were destroying the legitimacy of the divinely-ordained, hierarchical dynastic realm. Coming to maturity at a stage of human history when even the most devout adherents of any universal religion were inescapably confronted with the living pluralism of such religions, and the allomorphism between each faith's ontological claims and territorial stretch, nations dream of being free, and, if under God, directly so. The gage and emblem of this freedom is the sovereign state.
Finally, it is imagined as a community, because, regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each, the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship. Ultimately it is this fraternity that makes it possible, over the past two centuries, for so many millions of people, not so much to kill, as willingly to die for such limited imaginings.
These deaths bring us abruptly face to face with the central problem posed by nationalism: what makes the shrunken imaginings of recent history (scarcely more than two centuries) generate such colossal sacrifices? I believe that the beginnings of an answer lie in the cultural roots of nationalism.
1. This formulation is chosen simply to emphasize the scale and the style of the fighting, not to assign blame. To avoid possible misunderstanding, it should be said that the December 1978 invasion grew out of armed clashes between partisans of the two revolutionary movements going back possibly as far as 1971. After April 1977, border raids, initiated by the Cambodians, but quickly followed by the Vietnamese, grew in size and scope, culminating in the major Vietnamese incursion of December 1977. None of these raids, however, aimed at overthrowing enemy regimes or occupying large territories, nor were the numbers of troops involved comparable to those deployed in December 1978. The controversy over the causes of the war is most thoughtfully pursued in: Stephen P. Heder, 'The Kampuchean–Vietnamese Conflict,' in David W. P. Elliott, ed., The Third Indochina Conflict, pp. 21–67; Anthony Barnett, 'Inter-Communist Conflicts and Vietnam,' Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, 11: 4 (October–December 1979), pp. 2–9; and Laura Summers, 'In Matters of War and Socialism Anthony Barnett would Shame and Honour Kampuchea Too Much,' ibid., pp. 10–18.
2. Anyone who has doubts about the UK's claims to such parity with the USSR should ask himself what nationality its name denotes: Great Brito-Irish?
3. Eric Hobsbawm, 'Some Reflections on "The Break-up of Britain" ', New Left Review, 105 (September–October 1977), p. 13.
4. See his Nations and States, p. 5. Emphasis added.
5. See his 'The Modern Janus', New Left Review, 94 (November–December 1975), p. 3. This essay is included unchanged in The Break-up of Britain as chapter 9 (pp. 329–63).
6. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, in the Selected Works, I, p. 45. Emphasis added. In any theoretical exegesis, the words 'of course' should flash red lights before the transported reader.
7. As Aira Kemiläinen notes, the twin 'founding fathers' of academic scholarship on nationalism, Hans Kohn and Carleton Hayes, argued persuasively for this dating. Their conclusions have, I think, not been seriously disputed except by nationalist ideologues in particular countries. Kemiläinen also observes that the word 'nationalism' did not come into wide general use until the end of the nineteenth century. It did not occur, for example, in many standard nineteenth century lexicons. If Adam Smith conjured with the wealth of 'nations,' he meant by the term no more than 'societies' or 'states.' Aira Kemiläinen, Nationalism, pp. 10, 33, and 48–49.
8. The Break-up of Britain, p. 359.
9. Cf. Seton-Watson, Nations and States, p. 5: 'All that I can find to say is that a nation exists when a significant number of people in a community consider themselves to form a nation, or behave as if they formed one.' We may translate 'consider themselves' as 'imagine themselves.'
10. Ernest Renan, 'Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?' in OEuvres Complètes, 1, p. 892. He adds: 'tout citoyen français doit avoir oublié la Saint-Barthélemy, les massacres du Midi an XIIIe siécle. II n'y a pas en France dix familles qui puissent fournir la preuve d'une origine franque . . .'
11. Ernest Gellner, Thought and Change, p. 169. Emphasis added.
12. Hobsbawm, for example, 'fixes' it by saying that in 1789 it numbered about 400,000 in a population of 23,000,000. (See his The Age of Revolution, p. 78). But would this statistical picture of the noblesse have been imaginable under the ancien régime?"
Imagined Communities
by Benedict Anderson
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text:
Q: Writing a Webextension for Thunderbird Firefox I am new in JavaScript/web extensions can someone tell me how web extensions work? And how I can write a web extension for my own?
Thank you.

A: I recomend you to read MDN for Mozilla Products.
WebExtensions
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions

An extension adds features and functions to a browser. It's created using familiar web-based technologies—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It can take advantage of the same web APIs as JavaScript on a web page, but an extension also has access to its own set of JavaScript APIs. This means that you can do a lot more in an extension than you can with code in a web page.
  To help illustrate how to develop extensions, we maintain a repository of simple example extensions at https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples. This article describes the WebExtension APIs used in that repository.

...

These examples work in Firefox Nightly: most work in earlier versions of Firefox, but check the strict_min_version key in the extension's manifest.json to make sure.
If you want to try out these examples, you have three main choices:

*

*Clone the repository, then load the extension straight from its source directory, using the "Load Temporary Add-on" feature. The extension will stay loaded until you restart Firefox.

*Clone the repository, then use the web-ext command line tool to run Firefox with the extension installed.

*Clone the repository, then go to the build directory. This contains built and signed versions of all the examples, so you can just open them in Firefox (using File/Open File) and install them permanently, just like an extension you would install from addons.mozilla.org.

Thunderbird Extensions
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_extensions

Getting started with Thunderbird
A brave, young developer wants to develop an add-on for Thunderbird. These links to help through this journey. Note: This documention series is not yet updated for version 60.

*

*Start by reading the tutorial and learn how to build a Thunderbird extension.
  (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_extensions/Building_a_Thunderbird_extension)

*Also see Thunderbird 57-60 add-ons guide (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird/Add-ons_Guide_57) for changes introduced in Thunderbird 60.

*Read about the main windows (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Main_Windows) to learn about « thread pane », « preview pane », and « folder pane ».

*Play with a demo add-on (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_extensions/Demo_Addon) that exercises some more advanced Thunderbird-specific features

*Want to do even more? Don't reinvent the wheel: steal from the thunderbird-stdlib (https://github.com/protz/thunderbird-stdlib) project (doc here: http://protz.github.io/thunderbird-stdlib/doc/symbols/global.html). Functions for dealing with messages (delete, archive, change tags, etc.) are included.

*Haven't found what you need? Read the Thunderbird how-tos (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Thunderbird/Thunderbird_extensions/HowTos); they contain many recipes for things extensions want to do.

*Still stuck?  Ask in a community communication channel on the right.

*Feeling really brave? Read the source using a fancy interface (http://doxygen.db48x.net/comm-central/html/); you can often find tests that demonstrate what you're trying to achieve.

Thunderbird Extensions Developing
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Developing_WebExtensions_for_Thunderbird

Being both Gecko based, Thunderbird supports many of the APIs Firefox supports, with some differences, see browser compatibility for manifest.json and browser support for JavaScript APIs for details. (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Browser_compatibility_for_manifest.json)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


I'm back after another long absence from my blog. My time away has been a mixture of tedium – taxes, taxes and more taxes – and fun – a fabulous holiday to New Zealand's South Island.
People rave about New Zealand's beauty. It has a reputation I thought might be hard to live up to. But New Zealand actually is as stunningly beautiful as people say it is. The land is raw and untamed and magnificent.
And it was the whole place. Everywhere we traveled (and we covered a good deal of the island) was just lovely.
After Australia's hot dry flat landscape, those steep snow capped hills are wondrous.
And all those lakes, rivers, streams and waterfalls are glorious!
And – it's true – there really are sheep EVERYWHERE!
It was hard work coming home and getting back into routine. But it was nice to get back into my own kitchen, after a few weeks of cooking in a motor home!
After weeks without homemade sweet treats, the kids were keen for me to get straight back into baking. This slice has a wonderfully soft moist cake-like texture and a lovely fruity flavour.
Preheat oven to 180C. Line loaf pan with baking paper.
Soak apricots and cranberries in hot tea until fruit softens and absorbs tea.
In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add egg and beat in well. Add flour and beat in again.
Stir in fruit mixture and mix until well combined. Pour into pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan before gently removing.
Another school year underway, and so begins another round of fund raising opportunities with food.
Our first event for the year was our Welcome Night Movie on the Green. Families come early for kids to eat and play until dark, and then everyone settled on the grass in front of a giant screen to watch Ice Age 4. Even if you've seen the movie, it's a wonderful way to start the school social calendar!
The key is to start the event early- so that at some point in the proceedings pretty much everyone there decides they need something to eat!
One of my contributions to the night was this lovely slice. It has vague pretensions to health, with dates and wholemeal flour, and isn't too sweet. The texture is soft and slightly chewy, but not too heavy.
Preheat oven to 180C. Line 20 x 30 cm baking pan with baking paper.
Place dates and 225ml water in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently for about 5 minutes or until water almost completely absorbed. Add baking soda and mix well. Set aside to cool.
Process butter, flour, baking powder, vanilla, eggs and milk in a food processor until well mixed. Add the dates and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared tray. Cook for 20 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool.
Heat milk, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add sifted icing sugar, stirring as you add it to avoid lumps. Stir until very smooth and paler in colour. Spread over cooled slice and top with coconut.
My grandmother entertained a lot, and always had people dropping in. She was keen to be the perfect host at all times, and so needed to have something sweet ready to whip out at a moment's notice. When she baked cookies she always made 3 different varieties so her guests had a selection to choose from. So that she kept things fresh (and possibly to have an excuse to make more sooner rather than later), she only made half of each recipe at a time.
When I cook I never cook half of anything! I go for bigger recipes often in the hopes that whatever I make will go some distance. This recipe is one for a large slice tin (25 x 36 cm) and is quite rich (as many of Annie's recipes are) so you can cut it into smaller bars.
Melt butter and marmalade together. While butter mixture is melting, combine dry ingredients together and mix well. Pour butter mixture over dry indredients and mix until it forms a sticky dough. Pour into slice tin lined with baking paper and spread evenly over the tin. Bake at 170 C until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Once cool, ice with thin layer of vanilla icing and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
Beat all ingredients til icing is light and fluffy.


Zack and I are having a baby and it's a girl!!! We have actually known for quite some time and we are expecting soon so we are making our big announcement on the blog! Paisley Allyn Ashcraft is due to make her big arrival February 6, 2012!
She is a growing girl and completely healthy! We have been so blessed with great health so far and cannot explain how thankful we are for such a little miracle!
I am in Love with Paisley and I haven't even met her yet! I am gonna spoil her rotten!
OMG IM SO HAPPY FOR YALL!!!
AWESOME!!!!! congratulations! my bf in MI has a 2 yr. old girl named Paisley Fern….precious name! Blessings to you all!
We thought so too! :) Thank you so much!!!


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State Street Provisions Responds to Boston Globe Review
The Grafton Group is standing by its newest member
by Dana Hatic@DanaHatic Jul 14, 2016, 10:30am EDT
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In May, The Boston Globe reviewed State Street Provisions, a new presence in Boston's restaurant world and part of the Grafton Group, finding "not enough to like," as the headline of the article read. The review described a disturbance in the restaurant and took issue with management's response.
A response came this week, in the form of a letter to the editor that owner and Grafton Group founder Patrick Lee penned after reaching out the Globe to address the night in question.
"Grafton Group is a 20-year veteran of Boston's restaurant industry, and we owe our success to the unwaveringly earnest care and hospitality of our staff," the letter read, in part. It went on to detail how the staff elected to handle the situation, noting that the owners were in the restaurant at the time and observed no such disturbance as large as what was detailed in the Globe's review.
"We realize that guests are constantly judging how we handle situations, and our goal is to be as responsible and respectful to both the guests directly involved in the situation as well as the uninformed parties looking on. Mistakes happen: an overly indulgent afternoon does not denote a problem guest and our efforts to handle such things delicately help to build the trust and respect that bolster our relationships within the community."
Ultimately, Lee wrote of the Globe's article, "To print a hyperbolic four paragraph account of a so-called 'performance' and then blatantly call the management out without taking the time to see if the issues were being handled subtly denotes a grave underestimation of the complexity of the hospitality worker's role."
Founded by Patrick Lee, his brother Peter, and their business partners Sean Kennedy and Gerry Sheerin, the Grafton Group includes Park Restaurant and Bar, Grafton Street Pub & Grill, Temple Bar, and Russell House Tavern, along with a forthcoming oyster bar, all of which are located in or near Harvard Square. State Street Provisions is the group's first foray into Boston proper, and by various measures, it has been well-received so far, with average ratings of four or more stars out of five on Yelp, OpenTable, TripAdvisor, and Foursquare.
Not enough to like at State Street Provisions [BG]
Shanghai Fresh and State Street Provisions: Reviewed [EBOS]
State Street Provisions
255 State St., Boston, MA 02109
Some Boston-Area Restaurants and Music Venues Are Requiring Proof of Vaccination In the absence of statewide COVID mandates, cities, towns, and businesses can make their own rules as omicron variant cases are on the rise


Making an informed purchase will ensure that youare happy with your new rug for many years to come. There are a number of things to consider.
A true "Oriental" rug is one that is produced in Asia. It can be from one of a number of countries. There are many regional styles and then there is the "Persian" style.
True Persian rugs are made in Iran, once known as Persia. Many consider these to be the finest rugs. Persian-style rugs are made in other countries, including India, Pakistan and China. Common patterns include traditional garden or floral designs, often with a central medallion. Other rugs have a geometric design or look like a painting.
Nomadic tribes in Afghanistan made rugs in a different style. Rugs are also made in the area between the Caspian and Black Seas, called Caucasian rugs, and are from Egypt, Morocco and Turkey. Many rugs made in these countries have distinctive styles, but many are also made from Persian designs.
How Will The Rug Be Used?
If you are buying a rug to use as the centerpiece of your living room, you'll have a different approach than you would if you were buying a runner for a high traffic hall or stairway. Consider how much traffic there is in the area, the amount of direct sunlight that will hit the rug and the size of the area.
Placement of the rug is important in choosing a design as well. If the center of the rug is going to be covered by a table or bed, choose a design that is geometric or repetitive and has detailed borders. On the other hand, a rug that will be placed where the center is visible should have a highlight in the center, such as a medallion.
Make sure you measure the area where the rug will go! You don't want to get a rug that is too large or too small. That's why it is important to measure the area where you intend to put the rug. It is helpful to measure the layout of the room and take photos. That way, our experts can help you fit the rug properly to the space you have available.
If you are putting the rug in a room that is already furnished, bring samples to the store when you shop. If you can't bring samples, a good photograph will help. Pictures, pillows and paint swatches can help us ensure sure your rug will exist in harmony with your furniture and walls.
Natural fibers like wool, cotton and silk are usually more durable than synthetic fibers. They are less likely to cause allergies or release chemical fumes, but they are more expensive. Again, the placement of the rug and the way it will be used are important factors in deciding what material should be used in your rug.
Throughout history, high quality rugs have been colored with all natural vegetable dyes. Rug experts prefer vegetable dyes to synthetics, but man-made dyes are common in lower priced machine-made rugs.
Many rugs are made by machine, others are hand-tufted or hand-knotted. Rugs made by hand are more expensive than machine-made. If you are buying a hand-knotted rug, some experts believe the number of knots per inch are test of the rug's quality — superior craftsmen tie smaller knots yielding more knots per inch. Other experts disagree, saying the quality of the wool or silk and the dyes that are used are more important indicators of quality if the weave is regular and tight.
There is disagreement among experts about the importance of a rug's country of origin, as well. Some purists believe Persian design rugs that are made anywhere other than Iran, once known as Persia, are inferior. Others contend that the quality of Persian design rugs made in India, Pakistan, China, Tibet and Nepal can be last for a long time, as well.
The most important consideration before you buy is your budget. How much can you afford to spend on a new rug? Budgetary limits may prevent you from getting the most expensive rug in the showroom, but you can still buy a beautiful, well-made rug. Rugs by Reza has rugs in a wide price range for just this reason.


Hello Friends and Family, we need your support. Please take a moment and review the video. Please pray and let us hear from you. Thanks and God bless you!
In House of Hope I learned that a disinterested and genuine hug from a child is the perfect medicine for stress. Living there it broke my individualism and I understood, (because knowing and understanding are things totally different) just like Jesus we are here to serve. Apart from finding wonderful friends, talented and overcomers in life, I could say something special from each one of them.
My life was blessed when I was in Casa Esperanza, I learned a bunch and they help me alot. Overall, I meet wonderful children, from them I know, that with the help of God they will get far and for that reason, there is people willing to love and guide them in the right path, which pray with and for them. Living in La Pintana does not make you worst person but brings the best version of yourself, who live and work in House of Hope know it best.
Happy birthday to Casa Esperanza/ House of Hope. Eight amazing years of faithful service to young women in Chile who do desperately need to experience the love of Christ in their practical and spiritual lives.
Not only that, but trusting in God, the ministry has been expanded to help children and families in the community as well. We look forward to see what God will do through Casa Esperanza before the ninth birthday celebration.
It's 3:25 in the morning, the doorbell rings. "Hello, hello, hello, Uncle Danny, Aunt Stephanie!!!" Shouts from the street. Who is this 15 year-old teen-child covered in a blanket, shivering from the cold, asking for help because she couldn't be with the person she was living with any more due to very complex situations. "I didn't know where to go. Let me live with you. Please, I do not want to return to the home or live in the street." We met this young woman 2 years ago because she lived in a children's home close to us and attended the community hope program as well as classes in the community center. She was my student in drums but was frustrated because she said she couldn't get the rhythm, yet she ended up playing a song at the end of the year in front of 100 people. She was also an English student of Stephanie in a nearby school where we help and was able to pass the course. She now lives with us and we hope to be able to make an integral contribution to her short life.
Prayer: God, help us to be able to open the doors of our house and our hearts to the people who need it through us.


Explore our library of global case studies to learn how Capstone microturbines are aligning with businesses across various markets to improve their energy consumption through on-site power production. Since 1988, Capstone has shipped thousands of clean-and-green microturbines to customers around the world, logging millions of cumulative operating hours in the field. After all, Capstone is committed to improving the efficiency of the world's energy infrastructure and reducing pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
When faced with a surplus of milk sugar, Gefu created an opportunity to generate onsite electricity and heat. Using 12 Capstone CR65 microturbines installed in a combined heat and power (CHP) application, Gefu converts waste milk sugar to generate about 6.5 Gigawatt Hours (GWh) of electricity. "We didn't know exactly what to do with the milk sugar. So, five years ago we decided to build a biogas plant to use the milk sugar as energy, and use the biogas in microgas turbines to produce electric energy. The main point behind this idea was to produce cattle feed without using or producing CO². We wouldn't have been able to do it if we hadn't built the biogas plant, and if we hadn't chosen the Capstone turbines, a new steamer, and hot air for spray drying plant. That gives us the efficiency, and that makes us the leader in producing cattle feed without CO²."


2255 E Main St is a single family residence located in Danville, IN 46122. Built in 1926, this property features 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 0.5 acres lot, and 960 sq ft of living space.
As of 03/2019, 5 properties were in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned in the zip code surrounding 2255 E Main St Danville Indiana 46122IF(5|, and 5 properties were in in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned in Danville. 2255 E Main St is in a state where 6,833 properties were in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned as of 03/2019, while there were 430,800 properties in some stage of foreclosure or bank-owned nationwide.


It is most popular in the countries, United States & United Kingdom.
Topics: Philosophy, Background, Clients, and Editorial.
The estimated 796 daily visitors, each view 2.30 pages on average.
Its 2 nameservers are ns1.namecity.com, and ns2.namecity.com. Iomart Hosting Glasgow (Scotland, Glasgow) is the location of the Microsoft-IIS/6 server. ASP.NET is its coding language environment.
Website load time is 1571 milliseconds, less than 68% of other measured websites.


So this is it. The last week of the Fall 2016 Sunday Long Run Season. Some ran marathons last week, others are out running the Chicago Marathon or the Mohawk Hudson Marathon this weekend, and a few have one more week to go before Baystate. For the latter, this week we run a short, easy 12 miler to keep those legs moving but not overtax them. This is your taper, a time to keep the feel of the pace but cut the mileage way back to let those muscles recover for the big day. I like to call it "Don't do anything stupid week". When you're about to do anything physical, pause and ask yourself "is this stupid".
Who: Lois will handle this weeks run because I'm heading back up to Maine. The rest of you will run it.
How: It's a simple route this week, you've done it a handful of times this season in one form or another. Head up past Ell Pond, ask Clarence DeMar for some marathoning mojo, turn left on Melrose Street, and left again to get onto the LynnFells Parkway. Follow that past Grimsby's onto the Fellsway East. Through the hills, and a right turn onto Highland will bring you to the first water stop.
Whether you're running short or long, this week everyone goes straight through the rotary and past Flynn Rink. Short will turn right at Pond Street, continue past Grimsby's on to West Wyoming, turn left on Main and finish up a 7 mile run. Longer runners will continue a counterclockwise loop around Spot Pond, past the zoo, cut left through the Straw Point parking lot, left onto the Fellsway West, around the back side of the pond, left on Elm Street and back up to the rotary near Flynn Rink. Turn right onto Highland and stop again for water.
Take a left onto East Border Road and a left at the lights back on to Fellsway East. When you get to Grimsby's turn right onto West Wyoming and then finish up with a left on Main Street and you are done. Fully prepared for Baystate.
Water Stops: One stop should do it, but if another helper comes along there's a little sip at Straw Point people might appreciate.
Also, keep your ears open for a post marathon season brunch. Sometimes we have them, sometimes we don't. If someone wants to host, let me know and I'll help coordinate it.
How (much) : $1 for short, $2 for long, plus $1/gu after your first.
What : About 15 for marathoners, 7 for halfers.
Where: Starting and ending at Brueggers.
How: You'll head up East Foster to the Melrose Common. Right on 6th Street, straight on to Swain's Pond Ave. Right at the stop sign by the ponds to stay on Swain's Pond. Right on Lebanon and a left at the lights on to Forest. Cross Main Street to the Citizens Bank parking lot for water stop 1.
After that you'll continue on to Winter Street, passing Oak Grove MBTA Station, and crossing straight through an intersection to Glenwood Street. Keep on moving through the twisty and turny hills until you come out to Highland Ave. Turn right and a few steps later another right to put you on to the Fellsway East. Take those hills to Grimsby's. If you're running short turn right onto West Wyoming, left on Main and finish for an easy recovery 7.1 miles. If you're running long keep on going straight past Grimsby's onto the LynnFells Parkway. You'll find a water stop at the knoll across from Melrose High School.
Continue on LynnFells Parkway past the lights at Main Street in Melrose, lights at Green Street, to the lights at Main Street in Saugus. Turn left there, and follow Main Street, which will become Farm Street until you come to Nahant Street, across from Wakefield High School. Turn left on Nahant and a mile later you'll be at Main Street in Wakefield. Stop at Nick's Pizza parking lot for another water stop.
Head down Main Street back into Melrose and finish up at Brueggers 15 miles closer to a marathon.
Water Stops: I'll be driving to Maine while you're out running so Lois will be coordinating water stops. Two people will get the job done: one at Citizens Bank then Nicks Pizza, the other at the Melrose High knoll stop. Who's helping?
Who: Let us know who's running so we'll have supplies for you. Roll Call!


Creating garlic-infused olive oil is a popular practice for many chefs who want some extra spice and nutrients in their recipes.
Garlic is one of the most popular herbs to add into any dish, both for its unique flavor and the wealth of nutrients and health benefits that it can provide. Thanks to its active ingredient, allicin, as well as other sulfuric compounds and nutrients, garlic is known for its antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunoprotective effects. Considering that olive oil is praised in its own right for its impact on heart health, cancer, and inflammation, combining garlic and olive oil seems like a logical choice.
Garlic-infused olive oil is an excellent ingredient in marinades and other sauces, while also making for a surprisingly flavorful salad dressing or another drizzle for vegetables and fruit. You can pour small amounts of this oil over French bread to make your own garlic bread, and many people even enjoy topping their pizza with this tangy homemade oil variety.
How to Make Garlic-Infused Olive Oil?
Before you make garlic-infused olive oil, it is important to be sure that you've chosen the right ingredients. You will want to use extra virgin olive oil, as this will possess the highest concentration of phenolic compounds and other antioxidants, as well as omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fats. The garlic bulbs you choose should also be undamaged and firm, showing that they have not begun to dry out or shrivel. Once you have the proper ingredients in hand, simply follow the steps below.
Pour 1/2 cup of olive oil into a saucepan.
Peel 4 garlic cloves and use a garlic press to crush the cloves before adding them to the oil in the saucepan.
Slowly heat the mixture, allowing the garlic to slowly become golden and brown, releasing its active ingredients.
Heat for 5-6 minutes, until the garlic becomes medium-brown.
Strain the resultant mixture, removing the mashed garlic.
Once you have made the oil, you will need to store it safely so it keeps as long as possible. One month is a safe estimate for the shelf life of this infused olive oil, even if you keep it in an airtight container. You can keep this oil at room temperature, but the risk of rancidity is higher, and the quality of the oil will diminish rapidly.


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Q: Ruby: NoMethodError without naming the undefined method? I'm trying to implement my first program in Ruby but I keep getting a no method error:
undefined method ` ' for MyString:Class (NoMethodError) from assignment.rb:1:in `<main>

I can't work out why or find anything online to help me solve this. I'm sure its something simple I've missed but would really appreciate help on this, thank you. My code is below.
class MyString

  def initialize(txt1 = "Hello, World!")
    @str = txt1
    @letters = Hash.new
  end

  def str
    @str
  end

  def letters
    @letters
  end

  def frequency
    @str.downcase.each_char.with_object({}) { |c,h|
        (h[c] = h.fetch(c,0) + 1) if c =~ /[a-z]/ }
  end

  def histogram
    @str.downcase!
    freqs = {}
    freqs.default = ''
    @str.each_char { |char| freqs[char] += '*'}
    ("a".."z").each {|x| puts "#{x} : #{freqs[x]}" }
  end

end

A: Check your file for some invisible whitespace that is not a regular space .
Usually the same thing happens to me on a Mac with a german keyboard (I think on some modifier key + Space).
The easiest thing is to open all the files in an editor in the terminal like vim or just cat them, since the special chars are often displayed there (as some strange unicode sequence).

A:
NoMethodError without naming the undefined method?

The method is being named, it is right there in the error message between the quote marks:
undefined method ` ' for MyString:Class (NoMethodError) from assignment.rb:1:in `<main>
                  ↑

The name of the method you are trying to call is  , which is a Unicode U+AA00 non-breaking space.
You should get into the habit of reading error messages and warnings precisely. For example, you also missed copying the final single quote when you posted the error message here, it should say `<main>' instead of `<main>. You should also configure your editor / IDE to display whitespace.


Picture of @carlton_thekid and @davidgiftedhandz competed this weekend at the @mlbwestcoasttradeshow @majorleaguebarber battle!!!
kcutzPicture of @carlton_thekid and @davidgiftedhandz competed this weekend at the @mlbwestcoasttradeshow @majorleaguebarber battle!!!


Go on a wonderful journey around Kangerlussuaq looking for the astonishing Musk oxen as well as the huge reindeers that roam the area!
Kangerlussuaq is well known for its vast numbers of large mammals since the weather here is quite stable and large areas of land are untouched by the Inland ice sheet, making it a perfect place to find and see these animals in their natural habitat. The muskoxen can weigh up to 400 kg, and have the wonderful Greenlandic name of Umimmak, meaning the 'long bearded one'. The large bulls are a sight to see, especially with their families, but so are the reindeers as well and they're not the only animals, Polar foxes, Arctic hares and lots of birds such as eagles and falcons live here as well.
On this exciting tour, you will be driven in a 4DW vehicle with panoramic windows, driving through the incredible landscape of mountains and desert-like terrain. The guide on the tour will bring binoculars for better chances of spotting wildlife. Of course, going on a tour to look for specific animals is never predictable, the drive will however still be a breathtaking ride. And who knows, you might even be so lucky to get quite close to a herd of musk oxen, in any case, you will leave with some very incredible impressions and photographs.
Pickup time : 09:30, 10:30.
It is not guaranteed that you will see any musk oxen, but we will do our best to make sure you have a great trip.


Citation Information: JCI Insight. 2018;3(8):e97349. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.97349.
Etv2 is upregulated in tumor endothelial cells.
(A–D), Representative images for ETV2 (green) and CD31 (red) immunofluorescence of malignant and matched nonmalignant specimens from (A) lung, (B) breast, (C) colon, and (D) prostate cancer patients. DAPI (blue) is used to counterstain nuclei. Associated graphs show the quantification of ETV2-expressing CD31+ vessels in malignant versus nonmalignant tissues. Every cancer type had malignant and nonmalignant tissue specimen pairs collected from at least 3 patients; at least 3 sections from each patient were subjected to immunofluorescence. (E) qRT-PCR analysis of Etv2 expression in CD31+CD45– endothelial cells obtained from lung (LEC) and tumor (TAEC), 10 and 13 days after tumor cell transplantation (n = 3 LEC, 7 TAEC day 10, and 6 TAEC day 13). (F) Representative images for ETV2 (green) and CD31 (red) immunofluorescence of mouse tumor and lung sections, processed after 20 days of tumor transplantation. LLC-GFP cells (blue) and nuclei counterstained with DAPI (gray) are shown (n = 15 or more/group). Scale bars: 100 μm; 50 μm (higher-magnification images). Data are presented as mean with standard deviation for all measurements. Statistical significance was analyzed by either a 2-tailed Student's t test (A–D and F) or 1-way ANOVA with Dunnett's multiple-comparison test (E).


Beginning on May 1, 2013, this blog joined The Daily Progress, Charlottesville Tomorrow and many other blogs by withholding reader comments containing personal attacks.
Comments containing personal attacks, degrading or other disrespectful remarks directed at any individual will not be posted. This blog does not accept anonymous comments.
Thank you to everyone for adhering to this policy.


text:
The Game That's Keeping Me Up All Night
Last Tuesday, I went to bed at around 10:30pm, hoping to get a decent amount of sleep. Maybe I'd wake up early, go for a run before breakfast. You know, try to be a human being.
Then I started Virtue's Last Reward.
By 3am, I was shivering under the covers, jabbing my thumb at my Vita's touchscreen and debating whether to call in sick so I could just spend the next 24 hours reading and piecing together the game's morbid mysteries. It's that kind of game.
Virtue's Last Reward, which you may recognize as the sequel to 2010's wonderful Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, is a Japanese adventure game that's sort of a cross between a horror movie, an Escape the Room game, and a choose-your-own-adventure novel. It's well-written, delightfully addictive, and totally unsettling.
2010's Best Adventure Game Is On Sale For Under $20
I don't know how Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors slipped under so many peoples' radars.…
You get to play a dude named Sigma, who wakes up in a locked room and finds himself trapped in a big facility with eight other people. You're all greeted by a demonic AI that looks like a bunny rabbit and told you have to play something called the Nonary Game in order to escape. If you don't play, you die. You know how it is.
To play this Nonary Game, the nine of you are split up, forced to solve puzzles, and then dropped against one another in a version of the Prisoner's Dilemma that asks you to choose whether to betray or ally your partner. The results of your decisions determine the outcome of the game.
If you both ally, you both get two points.
If you ally and your partner betrays, you lose two points and they get three.
If you betray and your partner allies, you get three points and they lose two.
If you both betray, you both get nothing.
You each start with three points. Whoever gets nine first wins, and gets to leave the facility. Whoever goes below 0 loses. And dies.
So as you progress, you'll have to make quite a few decisions, most of which involve choosing whether or not to trust your partner. As you make these decisions, you'll travel down one potential timeline out of quite a few. It's a little... think of it like a big chart—mostly because it's shown to you, in the game, as a big chart. Not unlike Radiant Historia, there are nodes and branches, and every time you're faced with a decision, you'll go down a certain branch. And you can hop between nodes at any time.
In other words, when you're done seeing the outcome of one decision, you can jump right back up and see what would happen if you chose something else. As the game goes on, you notice some strange connections between the different timeline branches that could hint at... well, now we're getting into spoileriffic territory. But to experience the whole story, you'll have to play through just about every possibility.
If you have played 999, you likely had a few complaints. I certainly did. I hated having to solve the same puzzles multiple times, and I absolutely couldn't stand some of the long, over-the-top prose fed to you between scenes. I am happy to report that you don't have to solve the same puzzles multiple times and that the prose is mostly gone, replaced by sharp, witty dialogue (with some solid voice acting!) and a whole lot of rabbit puns. You'll get used to the rabbit puns.
My clock right now says I've been playing for 14 hours, and I'm still not even close to unraveling all of the many intricate mysteries wound around Virtue's Last Reward. I am intentionally not talking about any of these mysteries. You should discover them for yourself. Just don't start playing if you want to get some sleep.
If you've got a Vita, you can check out the demo for Virtue's Last Reward right now. It'll be out on both Vita and 3DS this Tuesday.


Ottawa is set to push ahead with a plan to dramatically increase the use of grain-based ethanol, despite growing controversy over the greenhouse gas emissions that result from agricultural practices used to grow the feedstock grains.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice has won cabinet approval to proceed with regulations requiring refiners to include at least 5 per cent ethanol in their gasoline by September, 2010, sources say. A spokesman for Mr. Prentice's office said the Minister had "nothing to announce" on the issue of ethanol regulations.
The department has invited the industry to a briefing this week in which officials will outline how the government intends to proceed.
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