As mentioned in my previous posts on the subject (you can read part 1 and part 2 ), around 1984 I finally discovered fantasy games, in the guise of Warhammer 1st edition.
Fall of 1984 was also the year I enrolled as a freshman at the university (after some gruelling entry exams to get into the School of Engineering, oh, the memories of that event ;-)), so it meant I was ready for new things, and that meant fantasy roleplaying! It happened that that year, a Dutch FRP game was published, "Oog Des Meesters", a translation from the German "Das Schwarze Auge". D&D at the time was something I had heard about, but never had seen myself, so a Dutch roleplaying game was definitely a big sensation for my club of gaming friends.
During my years at the university I mostly played fantasy, not only roleplaying, but also miniature fantasy battles. By 1987 or so, GW had published their 3rd edition of Warhammer, and it was this version we were most addicted to. Warhammer 40K also was published during that period, and I slowly but surely was turning into a GW fanboy. I also bought my first blister pack of miniatures then, "Undead Orcs" from Grenadiers (I bought them in Rudi Geudens' shop). Those 3 skeletal Orcs are still part of my undead miniature army, and occupy a base of 4 figures, the 4th figure being a skeleton painted by Bart Vetters, which he donated to me because he "wasn't into fantasy".
In 1988 I met a couple of other gaming addicts in Leuven, which meant even more gaming! We quickly formed a gaming group, and the core of this group basically is still the same group of people I play many games with today. Anyway, I was much impressed by these guys, because they actually went to London to buy GW stuff! So quickly, I joined them on shopping sprees towards London, leaving with a small backpack, and returning with a kitbbag full of orders for the home crowd. This might look pretty silly now, but apart from the "Tin Soldier" in Sint-Niklaas (run by renowned veteran wargamer Rudi Geudens, Hi Rudi!, full story of the shop and a piece of Belgian wargaming history here), there wasn't really any gaming shop known to us, and London was the place to be to get all the newest roleplaying games, miniatures, accessories, etc.
That same year (1988), there was also a (first?) fantasy gaming convention run in Antwerp by Peter T'Sas, who was then just starting his shop in Antwerp "The Lonely Mountain". It was memorable for another reason, because at that convention, "Schimmen & Schaduwen", another Dutch roleplaying game, was first presented to the public. I wasn't involved in the development of S&S at that point, but three Leuven gamers were, under the name of "The Wise Tree". S&S was very much inspired by Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but since it was the first effort in Belgium for a Dutch FRP after OdM, it created a bit of a stir.
In any case, those were exciting times for me. I still don't know whether it was because gaming started to grow big in Belgium, and we were in the middle of it and experiencing it all, or whether gaming had been there all along, and we were just discovering it.
And it was a nice reunion when I discovered the figure in my forces in the Te Wapen game (see this entry. I'm also happy to report that I'm now quite a bit more into fantasy, being the owner of a (albeit 15mm) dwarven army for HoTT.


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Home/Digital Gaming/Rise Of The Tomb Raider: The review
Rise Of The Tomb Raider: The review
direcowNovember 9, 2015
(Photo: Xbox Singapore)
Lara Croft is back, this time in Rise Of The Tomb Raider, the sequel to the 2013 reboot. That was extremely well received – and with just two and a half years between games, have developers Crystal Dynamics done enough to to make us want to adventure once again with the tomb raider herself, and maybe even buy an Xbox One just to do so?
Set a year after the events in Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is back after a mysterious organsiation known as Trinity has covered up the events in the first game. Lara, obviously, knows the truth, and sets out to clear her name as well as her father's. To do so she must head deep into Siberia (pretty cold, this time of the year) to find the legendary city of Kitezh and find a mythical item known as the Divine Source, and Trinity will be there to stop her.
This time around, Lara's now older, wiser, and just plain better. And because she's just more experienced – there's less of that sense of helplessness in a lot of situations. The rebooted Tomb Raider was Lara's origin story, so she was put through moments that were out of her depth, but at points what she had to endure felt almost exploitative. This time around, things also get out of hand, but it doesn't feel like Lara's about to curl up into a little ball and give up any time soon. The confidence, a bit more swagger – makes this Lara just more enjoyable to play with. Also gone are a lot of the extremely visual, almost torture-porn-esque death scenes – thankfully.
And while some parts of the game can still get a tad irritating when you can't figure out your next move, death scenes go by quickly and reloads are quick. That takes a lot of the sting of death away, leaving you alive and playing longer just so you can find the next tomb. And just like in the first Tomb Raider, you'll still have to go through the motions of upgrading your gear, because as tomb raiders are wont to do, they will lose their gear (and then get it back and it's awesome anyway).
Visually speaking, Rise Of The Tomb Raider just looks amazing. Staring at amazing vistas, ancient ruins or even looking close up at the cave environments – it's clear that Crystal Dynamics has managed to squeeze out as much as possible from the Xbox One. It's not clear how much better it'll look on PC or PS4 (which are out later), but even then, the Xbox 360 (based on screenshots) aren't that bad either. Still, for awesome visual fidelity, the Xbox One is where you'll want to be.
And of course, the characters, including Lara Croft herself, look amazing. The way they move, they animate – even the animals – this is a great visual experience wherever the game takes you.
Even as Lara matures, here the gameplay does so too. It is a lot more streamlined, while still adding to the options we've seen in the previous game. It's a lot more polished and a lot less frustrating – the moments I got stuck were more of a failure of me as a gamer rather than bad game design. But where the game really sings is in its action sequences – when Lara has to jump from cliff's edge to cliff's edge while dodging collapsing rocks – the choreographed madness is pure poetry.
There's also a large, semi-open world to explore, full of secrets that can distract you from the main quest, but it never feels like you're wasting your time. Tomb raiding, thankfully, also gets a boost – complete a tomb and you'll get to unlock special skills that can aid you in your quest. Still, puzzles aren't extremely difficult, but there's still a great sense of pleasure when you figure it out. Tomb Raider, after all, should be about tomb raiding, and it's good to know that all the good-old archaeological stereotypes – ancient ships, stories of prophets – are back, without being laden with cliche.
A lot of that is thanks to the story by Rhianna Pratchett, who has crafted a tale that's as engaging as the gameplay, urging you on from mission to mission just so that you can figure out what's next. Some of the twists are telegraphed from pretty far away, but you won't fault the game for it – there's a forward momentum in the game that really makes you want to keep finding new places.
It's amazing that in just a few weeks various games have come out swinging as Game Of The Year contenders – Tales From The Borderlands and Life Is Strange (also published by Square Enix). Rise Of The Tomb Raider isn't perfect enough to make it an instant shoo-in for a nomination, but yet, there are moment when the game just wants to be played, grabbing you by the hand to show you its next neat trick. With that, it's in with a shout for me.
Still, the big question remains – is Rise Of The Tomb Raider enough to sell Xbox Ones? Shortly put – it's still hard to justify a few-hundred dollar purchase just for a single game, especially since the Xbox One doesn't perform as well as the PlayStation 4 in terms of rendering. For those who are willing to wait, the game will be released on Windows in Q1 2016, and on the PS4 at the end of next year. That said, Rise Of The Tomb Raider is such a polished experience that grabs you – it'll be a pity if you don't get to experience it soon, even if it means borrowing an Xbox One from someone. Who wants to rent mine?
Lara Croft is back!
Amazing graphics, polished gameplay and enthralling adventures make this an amazing outing for Tomb Raider.
Crystal Dynamics Lara Croft Rise Of The Tomb Raider Square Enix
New Japanese Star Wars trailer has tons of cool new stuff
WWE 2K16: The review
Why Assassin's Creed Odyssey should be on your Christmas list (if you haven't picked it up yet)
The Geek Seek: the week in geek TV ending 20 June 2010
Green Hornet: The Reviewgitation
Pete's Dragon: The review

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We operate completely on donated time, money, and materials. Workshops are open to anyone who is interested, regardless of skill.
Your donation allows us to keep our 20 tons of contraptions running safely and encourages new freaky futuristic ideas to take shape.
Tell your friends and family about what a sharp looking T-shirt they can buy. Tell your auntie to come to a workshop in non-flammable clothing. Tell your children to wear safeties & ear protection.


A hydrofoil service operates between Budapest, Vienna between Juni and September. After the hydrofoil trip, which takes you through scenic areas of Hungary (such as the beautiful Danube Bend), you arrive in the heart of Budapest.
Information about Mahart PassNave Ltd. services is available on (+36-1) 484-4013.


Online registration for participants Free one-day bus passes will be available for this event. Call 258-2702 or email [email protected] request bus pass(es). One minute you may be sad, the next minute angry, at another time you may feel listless and at other times guilty. Your pet was a very important part of your life and thus your emotions are bound to be equally as powerful.With time if you do not find yourself recovering from your grief you may want to verbalize your emotions or feelings with someone you trust.Recovery-World, AA Medallions,12 Step Recovery Gifts,12 Step Recovery Medallions, Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon,12 Step Recovery Books,12 Step Recovery Jewelry,12 Step Recovery Greeting Cards, Recovery Chat Rooms,12 Step Recovery E-Cards AA Medallions Al-Anon Medallions Address Books Bears Book Covers Books Bookmarks Bumper Sticker Cassettes CDs Certificates Chains Drink Holders DVD's Flash Cards Flowers Gift Boxes Gifts God Boxes Greeting Cards Hats Hypnosis Jewelry Journals Keepsake Boxes Keychains Magnets Medallions Medallion Holders Mouse Pads Movies Mugs Music NA Medallions Pendants Pins Posters Prints Recovery Medallions CENTRAL OFFICE OF NORTH IDAHO 118 N 7th ST.SUITE B5 COEUR D'ALENE ID 83814-2759 208 667-4633 NO. Sensory-friendly Movies – "Sensory-friendly" means some lights are left on, the sound is turned down, and attendees are free to move around the theater.
Listings include resources for autism-related services and supports.
When we lose one of them the emotions of grief will be just as strong and just as variable as if we have lost a beloved human friend or relative.
The emotions of grief can be a roller coaster ride. Don't underestimate how strong the human-animal bond can be.
Below we have provided some resources which may help you through this difficult time.
Some provide chat rooms or on-line grief resource classes.Senior citizens, join us for a free exercise program to increase your strength and balance.


As the the seasons change, the wildlife of the Sauk takes front stage. The salmon runs provide a long awaited feast, and the rains rejuvenate the river environment. The "recreation" season comes to an end with cool, unpredictable weather. Although most are unprepared to meet the backcountry in these conditions, Adventure Cascades can take you there in comfort and safety.
We challenge you to join us in our pursuit to showcase the best the Darrington area has to offer in every season, rain or shine.
Just pick a date below, and we will help you prepare.
Local river enthusiast have a secret that is not widely known. The river season doesn't end in the fall, it begins.
River trips in the the wet season offer adventurers new challenges. Unpredictable weather requires thoughtful preparation and the ability to adapt to changing conditions. Exposure to cold is our biggest risk, and our entire trip is planned around managing that risk.
We will set you up for success, from the moment you book your trip until you are packed up and ready to leave. We meet you in the morning with coffee from Mt. Loop Books and Coffee and pastries from the Whitehorse Farmers Market. For wet days, we have ponchos for sale, and the warmth of our small shop make your final preparation an enjoyable experience.
This section of the Sauk is mild, however the scenery is second to none and the complex river channels will keep you guessing where your boat is going next. Your guide knows the clear paths though, and the slower water provides time to discuss all the outstandingly remarkable qualities that give the Sauk its Wild and Scenic designation.
While adhering to Leave No Trace, we have created a designated lunch camp with a fire, seating and cover from the elements. We have a hearty lunch supplied by the Whitehorse Farmers Market and designed to showcase local businesses. The predetermined location and unhurried pace of your trip make this a great time to explore the river environment by foot.
When the river portion of the trip comes to an end, your van will be waiting. It's just a quick drive back to the shop where dry clothes and warmth can always be found.
This full day trip on the Sauk is perfect for all ages and ability levels or for the adventurer looking for a laid-back pace with plenty of scenic photo opportunities and local information.
Adventure Cascades DOES NOT provide base layers or insulation. We recommend you bring synthetic base layers for cooler day. Gloves, knit hats and wool socks are also recommended for cooler days. All guides travel with drybags to store your extra clothing.


A perseid meteor shower will be visible on the evening of 12 August in Thailand if the sky is clear, according to the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT).
NARIT director of astronomical academic services department Suparerk Karuehanon said the annual perseid meteor shower will be visible during the nights of 12-13 August.
The phenomenon can be observed with the naked eye over the northeastern sky from anywhere in Thailand starting at midnight to dawn, only if the sky is clear and free of clouds.
People are recommended to pick an open spot free of interfering lights, lie down on the ground or on a recliner, in order to optimally observe the natural phenomenon.
However, the current rainy season might obstruct the spectacular viewing.


I told the boys they could fall asleep in our bed tonight, and we'd wake them at 10 for the eclipse. 10:01 on the nose, Dave and I walk upstairs to get the boys (who had been excited to see an "orange moon).
"Ben, Ben" I said, gently rubbing his shoulder. "Do you want to see the eclipse?"
He stares at me -- no, through me -- as if he is still asleep.
At least he was polite about it all, I guess.
We did carry him downstairs and propped him up at the window to see it. I think he saw it for .345 seconds before closing his eyes again.
Happy Valentine's Day!! Here's a picture of the kid's Valentine bags and cards for the kids in our gym class; we're having a little Valentine party tomorrow after gym. Aren't they cute? Oh, sorry, can't say cute with the boys around. Aren't they, uh, umm, great?
And happy end of the week. Ben didn't have ski lessons this week (it was a planned off week because of the winter breaks here in New England), and I enjoyed the taste of "normal" homeschooling without him being gone for a whole day. I know I've said this ad nauseum, but I am just amazed at what we can accomplish with our new homeschooling plan. I am really enjoying Core 3. We finished Pedro's Journal, which was a great historical fiction account of what it might have been like on Columbus' first voyage. I was one of those who grew up in the protective shell of the midwest and we just thought Columbus must've been great -- not ever really learning much about his relations with the natives beyond catchin' a bad cold or something.
I think I've finally gotten into a groove with our language arts -- FLL 3 is going very smoothly right now, and I can see that Ben has learned a great deal about diagramming sentences. I still have to cue him about adjectives and adverbs, but that isn't really a big deal; FLL has you walk the child through each step of diagramming, so that the teacher is still providing alot of support to the child with parts of speech. We're in the mid 40s for lessons, and are about half way through.
All About Spelling is just great. Marie has added a new feature to analyze a word or two at the beginning of each lesson; this analysis helps to integrate the phonograms and key card "spelling rules" the children have been quizzed. I think this is a fanastic way to review the concepts in a practical situation and I can see that Ben's internalized the rules much more by going through his process.
Math is also progressing swimmingly. He's easily adding and subtracting 4-digit numbers, and the speed at which he's completing his computations really shows great improvements. We're working on speed and accuracy with x5 facts, and he's doing amazing with it. We'll soon be moving into mastering the rest of the multiplication facts, and I'm going to begin to have him do some copywork of these facts to get prepared.
We're also trying out a one-month free subscription to ALEKS, which Ben has really enjoyed. I look at it as a supplement for all those math skills that don't fall into the Singapore Math scope and sequence at this stage. There was one thing that Ben knew how to do, but SM doesn't use the same terminology as seen on ALEKS. For example, it asked him to use expanded notation for 9,347. Ben was clueless as to what expanded notation was, but once he saw an example of it, he recalled just using that a couple weeks or so ago in our math program (9,000 + 300 + 40 + 7).
I just really feel on top of all his skill subjects right now-- praise God. Life is calm in nearly all other areas of my life, and I feel like I've got time to prepare for school, teach the necessary skills, and really maintain a pretty good flow for our days.
Kindergarten: Luke's kindergarten skill subjects are moving along. I've decided to bag Sonlight K LA program. Even for Luke it is too slow. I guess I could speed it up, but instead I'm going to use one of my phonics programs with him. I'm trying Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons right now, and I've also got Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading to pull out if need be. I'm not totally sold on either of them, because I think Luke might need something more hands-on, but I'll give what I have a try for a little while.
For "social studies," I've decided to fuse What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know & Galloping the Globe. WYKNTK will be our guide, and I'll use some of GTG's material to flesh out 1 or 2 country studies for each continent that is introduced. Since my mom was on an Asian cruise in the fall, we'll do both China and Japan for Asia. And, I'll pick a couple of animals to study from the lists in GTG to flesh out some science, too I think that and our spring/ summer garden and lots of library books will work out great for him. Plus he'll be learning American History by osmosis with Ben's Core 3 studies.
We're also using his Singapore Math 1B book, which is going well now that I've reaquainted myself with the S and S of it. (Can't say enough about teacher prep!) And, we're just working through on additional workbook program at a time -- right now it is Visual Perceptual Skill Building book 1. When we finish that, I'd like to return to the Developing the Early Learner books to continue to develop Luke's perceptual skills. I certainly have enough to work on with him for the next year and a half!
Off to cuddle with my Valentine.
This is my baby boy, Levi. I have yet to let Daddy at him with the clippers for the traditional buzz cut that our boys loves (no need to comb the hair!). He's now 2+ years, and I suspect that this is the year that he'll get his first buzz. Sigh.
I so admire hsing moms like Jessica at Trivium Academy who can sit down and write out a beautiful grid which fleshes out their desired curriculum plath for their child's K-4th grade years. The number of times I've tried to do that -- I can't even begin to count. I've done it on paper, graph paper (I love graph paper), Excel spreadsheets, napkins, you name it.
My most recent Excel spreadsheet is called "Long Range Planning," in which I attemtped to plot out how the Neo-Classical/WTM history rotations would look with my four boys, who are each 3+ years apart chronologically and roughly 4 years apart academically. It's obvious to me that I haven't really looked at this grid in a while, since it doesn't take into account that we're now using Sonlight Core 3 for the 2nd half of 3rd grade and into 4th as well.
I have no idea what type of learner Luke will turn out to be. Ben and Luke have different personalities, and trying to flesh out curriculums like math & language arts for him seems like a waste of time. My first choice will be using curriculums I already have that I enjoyed using with Ben. But will these be effective for Luke? Will they capture his learning styles? Will he connect with them? And, will I enjoy using them a second time?
I'm just not sure how Luke's grammar level program will line up with Ben's logic level skills in 5th-8th grade. I can plan for them to line up and I can plan for them to not line up, but I do also like to consider the boys' interests (most noteably in science) when deciding what to do with them.
Now, our side-track back to SL has been a welcome change to our homeschooling, and I am really, really enjoying the freedome it is giving us to spend time on other assignments, work on extra math practice, explore some interesting websites, and just not spend all day until 4pm doing paper-pencil school work. I hadn't really planned for this to happen -- for me to like it so much -- and as the next year and a half plays out, that will determine the direction for Luke's 1-4th grade years for history/ geography.
I love creating forms to use. I love checking things off lists. When I've had time in my life, I've made up lists of "Things To Do" -- which included recently completed things I did -- and checked them off so I could see what I had accomplished and what still needed work. These days, I don't have much time to revel in what I've already done, so I just keep pushing forward on what is still undone.
Last year or so, I made up a great menu planning/ shopping list/ cleaning schedule to organize the home management component of my life. It looks so cool; I had three of them, because we had certainly recipes that I had selected to use and I just rotated them through -- brainless menu planning. It is my cup of tea.
Life has changed and I haven't really been using the pre-planned menu rotation in about 2 or 3 months, and it is stressing me out to plan well balanced, varied meals through the week. So in the next week or so, I'm going to re-collect our favorite recipes -- some new ones we've discovered that everyone from 2 yo on up likes --and plug them into our grid to balance out our red meat, poultry, pork and fish intake. I even discovered that the boys like --gasp! -- red beans and rice. Who knew?
Here's the form I use for weekly and monthly cleaning and menu planning. I used to print the shopping list on the reverse side, but I've stopped doing that.
What I like about this is that I can start it at any point in the week; I don't have to think about what the kids can eat for lunch or breakfast, and there is built in variety. For example, this week we're going to have baked chicken fingers for dinner, so we won't have frozen chicken nuggets for lunch -- we've got turkey sandwiches instead.
I haven't been consistent in enforcing the weekly cleaning plan, but all those chores usually seem to get done weekly -- or so.
And, I like that I've included the few lines for outings/ trips/ appointments, because when I fully use this form to its potential it helps to remind me of what is going to happen this week, and writing it down helps to reinforce it for me in my feeble memory.
My next plan is to list off the recipes that we've nearly all agreed to eat without too much whining. Then, I'll plugg these into the form, and hopefully we have 3+ weeks of menus to eat from.
Praise God! I am just loving Sonlight's Core 3 -- we just finished Walk the World's Rim read-aloud, and I'm just so appreciative of these cuddles we're enjoying. Sonlight is giving me a clear framework upon which I can add other "little" supplements -- like notebooking and illustrating -- without feeling bogged down with just one subject, as I often did when we were working through SOTW 1 & 2 and the Activity Guide. History Scribe is offering a big 50% sale for the month of February (coupon word is sweetheart), so I used some Paypal money to purchase several of their products to supplement our notebooking. I'm excited to encorporate them into our lessons!
Math: I'm really pleased with all Ben is doing in math right now. We're working on 4-digit addition with regrouping, memorizing x2, x3, and x4 math facts with copywork, Flashmaster and MUS online drill. Ben is often quite competitive and tries to best is online drill time. For x3, his fastest time was 33.5 sec for 20 problems (I only accept 100% accuracy); x4 best is now 36.8 sec. Next week, we're going to finish off our review/ mastery of x5 using the same tools as this week.
Latin: This week, Ben picked out a Latin name. The author of Lively Latin admits this is her sneaky way of getting kids to practice pronunciation. Ben chose Marcus and he practiced his ecclesiastical pronunciation [which is what we learned in Prima Latina]. Next week, I'm going to have him listen to the audio download 3 times each week to continue to practice pronunication.
Language Arts: We started All About Spelling level 3 this week, and I'm pleased to say Ben's really remembered a lot of the key card spelling rules -- even more pleased that in lesson 1 he had the opportunity to review them through word analysis, which has now been incorporated into all the lessons at this level. We are also continuing on with grammar in FLL3 -- he diagrammed sentences like, "The heavy loader plows the white snow often." I know I learned how to diagram sentences in 8th grade (I can picture the location of my English classroom, even where I sat in the room), but until this "redo" of 3rd grade, I wouldn't have been able to tell you what a complete predicate was, nor a predicate nominative.* We're also reviewing poems right now, but continuing on in our memorization of Bible verses. He presented to daddy this week, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro, throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him." 2 Chronicles 16:9 and is now working on "There is therefore no condemnation for thos who are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit" Romans 8:1.
Science: We're studying about oxygen this week, and replicated an experiment similar to the one used by Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier in their discovery of oxygen. We added yeast to hydrogen peroxide and allowed bubbles to rise (oxygen). Then, we lit a paint stirer on fire, burnt it out, and quickly put it in the jar of bubbles -- it re-ignited into a small flame! How cool is that. "Mom lets me make fire!" lol!
Ben's ski lesson was cancelled this week because of poor road conditions, but (thank you, God!) both missed lessons will be made up in March. Yipee!
Just today Luke finally got his new Flexon glasses (also known as "Levi-proof"). Next week, we can return to our kindergarten lessons. I've gone ahead and borrowed a friends MUS Primer to decide if I'd rather use this with Luke right now or not. I'm now remembering that I didn't totally like Singapore's Earlybird mathematics program. We're also almost done with Dr. Doolittle, which has been a great read aloud. Jessica at Trivium Academy reminded me that I have Galloping the Globe and had wanted to use that at some point with the boys; I'm going to pull it out and see if I should use that Luke's K year. I think it would make much more sense than SL's K program, which has some great books, but since we're following a classical rotation, we don't really need disjointed studies of Egypt, Rome and Greece.
*In case you want to know, a complete predicate is the verb and all the words that tell us about the subject. A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun in the complete predicate that renames the subject.
For the past month (since ski lessons started), Dave's work schedule has been changed to 4 10-hour days. What a bust this was for us. We are just not 5:00 am-type people. And, to some extent, our evening family time was suffering. Dave would come home at 5:30, we'd eat dinner and before we knew it, it was time for Levi's bedtime routine (he goes to sleep at 7:00, the older boys are in bed at 8:00). I'm very thankful Dave's boss was willing to let Dave try this schedule -- and even more thankful that his boss is letting him go back to a regular 5-day-a-week schedule.


Find the local channel numbers for TBS by visiting the LocateTV website, searching for TBS and inputting your cable provider and location. If you are still unable to find your local TBS station number, you can visit the Help Center of the TBS website.
The Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS, station is part of the Time Warner corporation and was first launched in December 1976. The Atlanta-based television network is available nationwide and has cycled through a number of names over the decades, including SuperStation WTBS and the TBS Superstation.
The TBS schedule is comprised of original shows, syndicated programs and sports such as college football and basketball, as well as NBA basketball and MLB baseball, especially highlighting Atlanta's professional sports teams, the Hawks and Braves.
Adopting the slogan "Very Funny" in 20014, the TBS brand has specifically centered itself around comedy programs, as of 2015. TBS's original comedy line-up has included the animated hit "American Dad!" (which moved to the network from FOX after its initial cancellation), as well as "Sullivan and Son" and late night talk show "Conan."
TBS also airs movies during the weekend as a weekly television event it calls "More Movies, Less Commercials," as of 2015. These movies come from major studios such as Warner Brothers Pictures, New Line Cinema and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.
Search Tv Guide For Cable Channels. Visit & Lookup Immediate Results Now.


Although I've traveled widely, I'm a Minnesota boy. I graduated from Murray High School in St. Paul, and from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I acquired a bachelor of arts in several subjects, including art, history, humanities, journalism, and television and radio. A wise man suggested that broad path with multiple majors and I have always been grateful for the suggestion.
After a stint in the United State Navy, I spent fifteen years working in public television, first in Minnesota and later in North Dakota after I attended graduate school at Michigan State University. During that time I wrote scripts and continuity and produced hundreds of educational, classroom and public television programs.
During this time my wife, Jean, and I raised two fine daughters, who are enjoying successful professional careers. Now living in the Twin Cities, I retired after almost twenty-five years as a faculty member and advisor for adult students at Metropolitan State University, in St. Paul.
Along the way I've also had some success as a Cable TV administrator, program producer and host, free-lance photographer, and playing a few roles in a number of community theater productions.
Writing, like reading, has been part of my life almost forever. First it was scripts and reports and articles. Novels came later. My first mystery, Inner Passages, published in 2001 by Top Publications, was followed in 2002 by A Superior Mystery, and Old Silver in 2005, also from Top. On September 2, 2005, the first in my new series was released. It is a hard cover noir about a private investigator named Sean NMI Sean. The novel, titled The Case of the Greedy Lawyers, is published by Five Star Mysteries. This new series is intended to be my homage to the crime fiction genre which has provided me with so much enjoyment over many years. The sequel, The Case of the Deceiving Don, was released in 2008.
I've always been a reader. Some of my fondest memories are sitting on our screened porch of a summer day with my mother, she with her book and me with mine. The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew were part of my scene then as was the series featuring the Swallows and the Amazons, by that fine English writer, Arthur Ransome.
Today I try to return some of the pleasure I always found in mysteries by reviewing books, at various times, for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Mystery Scene Magazine, ReviewingTheEvidence.com and Books n' Bytes. I am a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America (MWA). This year I was elected to the board of directors of the Midwest chapter of MWA. You can find me bouncing about the country attending various mystery conventions and touring with a fine collection of mystery writers called The Minnesota Crime Wave. And still sailing the lakes and waters of the world.


I see in the instructions where it says that fonts that start with the "@" are vertical, but I do not see any that start with that symbol. I am trying to fill in text inside of a box but can't seem to figure it out.
To fill text inside a shape--you have to make select the vector shape in which you want to place the text before pushing the "draw text-within a vector box" button.
As for vertical text...I don't have an @ symbol fonts in my software either. Though in their example the text is just rotated 90 degrees--which you could do with the rotation tool.
If you want the text to be arranged vertically with all the characters upright, you can draw a vertical line, select the "text on a curve" function and check the box for "keep text vertical". Also you could hit return after each character and use center justified.
almost the moment after I submitted that I found the "@" symbols were in the regular text area but not the "fill in the vector/box" option. I was wanting the letters to stay horozontal and just go down instead of across but have not figured that out yet.
and then two mins after I posted that I figured out the vertical writing. Well kinda.... I can't get it to do it with out overlapping a few letters.
Have you tried hitting the Enter key after each letter as you're entering the text?
> tter as you're entering the text?
Yes that does work. Not sure why I didn't think about it thanks again.


Uranus as imaged on 082515 at F10 2800mm on a Celestron C11 with a Hutech Canon 6D camera. Captured at ISO 3200 from a 3 second single exposure.
Neptune imaged in 2012. At the outer part of our Solar System. It is amazing I was able to image some of the northern pole of Neptune from this AVI. using a Canon T2i camera from this combined 5000 frame. Registax 6 processed the combined the best frames of 900 to bring out the details.
From a single image of Jupiter with its 4 moons and Venus all in the same frame from 063015 at Riverfront Park Sedro Woolley WA. This was imaged at ISO 200 1 second exposure using a Huetch Canon 6D camera at prime focal 2800mm F10 using a Celestron C11 telescope and a Losmandy G11 Gemini II Mount.


care services). ….. Starting January 1, 2018, Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance).
…… Some residents sleep on furniture other than a bed (for example, a recliner).
and. • Elderly patients with cardiovascular disease who are unable to tolerate.
individuals (for example, students, senior citizens, etc.) shall apply the …..
scooters, and …… She has some elderly family members who will.


A couple of weekends ago we went up to Phelps Creek Vineyard for wine tasting and to pickup up a few bottles of various spirits for drinking later. On the way back to Hood River, we drove part of the Fruit Loop Tour. While I'd been on this particular road before, I'd never been there while the Hood River Lavender Farm was open. So, we popped in for a bit of a visit.
Mt. Hood was a bit hidden that day. The clouds just wouldn't clear off at all, but it still turned out to be a pretty nice picture.
The farm, as one would expect, was positively lousy with lavender plants growing all over the place.
The gazebo would be the perfect place for a wedding or two.
Luckily, it's not just ugly old lavender all over the place. They manage to break it up with some other colors.
Sometimes, commuting to work is actually a joy.
Yesterday's sunrise was more spectacular then usual due to the number of forest fires in Eastern Oregon, and on the Southern flanks of Mt. Hood polluting the air.
But what makes it really good, is being able to take an early morning stroll through the Rose Gardens.
Even if it was a little wet due to early morning dew, and sprinklers.
Too bad it'll end soon as the seasons change.
But we make the best of it while we can.
Every year there is a huge flower display of some sort in Pioneer Square in Portland Oregon. Some artists take potted plants and arrange them into patterns across the middle of the Square. They stay there for a few days, and then the plants are sold off cheap and the money donated to charity. This year the design was a huge world map.
Unfortunately, due to the background and amount of people around, none of my pictures of the large piece turned out. But these two closeups both turned out very nice.


As we all know, lawyers are very busy people. They're always bombarded with a lot of legal works and duties to do daily.
Definitely, they are not able to handle that much work by themselves. To lighten the weight off their workload, lawyers opt to employ legal secretaries. Legal Assistants are hired to fulfill almost any kind of duty allocated to them by their designated bosses.
Also known as "legal secretaries," paralegals are highly-trained assistants trained to help lawyers in a number of legal aspects. These people are taught in subsidiary official affairs but are not entirely qualified to be called lawyers. Nonetheless, paralegals must also have understanding about the law and the procedures that are being followed in the legal structure.
Paralegal Today magazine's April/June 2011 issue, where The 19th Yearly Salary Survey was featured, presented some promising outcome. Attracting paralegal applicants around the nation, the study states that the national average pay for law firm assistants in 2010 was a 1.3% growth from 2009, while corporate legal secretary salaries obtained a 1.7% growth from the earlier year.
The legal job market is rapidly thriving, giving the paralegals a much greater salary than previous years. As their workload multiplies, their pays also continue to increase. Staying close to approximately $50,000 annually, the average paralegal salary is often smaller in comparison to what they get through bonuses and additional cash from overtime shifts.
The paralegal salary isn't as much as the salary of an attorney but it is still very good.
High Employment Demand Covering the biggest sector of legal career, choosing to become a paralegal is among the most popular career choices in the legal industry. The paralegal line of work has a faster employment growth, dubbing paralegals as among the fastest-growing jobs all over the United States. Because of the increasing demand for paralegal professionals, a number of educational institutions are now offering paralegal courses. The paralegal occupation continues to grow as legal departments and law firms employ more of these professionals to give the community more access to legal services.
To perform law, a lawyer must go through roughly seven to eight years of proper education and has to pass the bar exam. Legal assistants, on the other hand, do not have to study law to get a degree. Many online programs offer courses for aspiring paralegals that are hassle-free and more accessible for the ones who would choose independent study in the confines of their own home. A bachelor's degree in legal studies and a paralegal credential from an ABA-approved paralegal course are the prerequisites to better employment prospects.
Anyone with a talent for some mind-twisting or problem-solving is most probably bound to love working as a legal secretary. This job requires innovative thinking in order to succeed. Every day in this subject of study yields a new challenge for a paralegal to encounter. Expertise in investigation and drafting are also important for this job. An excellent legal secretary should also be updated with the latest legal trends and armed with the understanding of the law and its procedures.
Over the years, the social position of a legal secretary has been rising. Nowadays, paralegals are not anymore regarded as secretaries or assistants; they are seen as valued members of the legal department as well. These individuals are fully prepared to deal with a majority of the work that lawyer and solicitors do, therefore making work more effective and attaining better results. Legal assistants now have a wider variety of tasks to fulfill, leading to a higher, more respected position in the legal world.
Being one of the most in-demand careers in the nation, becoming a paralegal can be the dawn of a brighter future before you. Why not learn on becoming one now?
Check the salary of a paralegal. Although it may not be as good as a salary of a lawyer but it is still something you need to study.


Artificial straightening has been a hair styling trend for a while now, and it doesn't look like it's dying anytime soon. Even as we see decent number of consumers acquainting with the very idea of getting their hair straightened, there remains apprehensions around the same because of the chemicals hair experts put to use! To add to that, there are various ways in which we can get it done which adds to the whole confusion.
Fret not and read along to know the different types of hair straightening techniques and then decide for yourself.
Hair straighteners come to our rescue for last minute hair styling. While it's great for straightening hair on the go, it is temporary and its effects last till hair-wash.
One should not resort to this method frequently for it can damage hair quality. If not used with precision, the technique can also burn hair permanently.
As the name suggests, Rebounding is a technique where hair stylist re-bonds or re-arranges the hair bonds and then uses chemicals while straightening the hair. It is a long-lasting hair-straightening technique, but is subject to the kind of products used in the process. Schwarzkopf and Loreal are two of the best brands to opt while going for Rebounding.
Personally, the technique has not really worked well for me and resulted in dryness and brittle hair. To curb this, I had treated my hair with hair spas every month apart from regular oil massages at home.
Straight Therapy is much like Rebounding. The only difference in Straight Therapy is the fact that experts use lesser chemicals than used in the former. Like Rebounding, this is also a long-lasting technique however, like Rebounding it doesn't leave one's hair frizzy and dry.
It is my preferred hair straightening technique.
Celebrity style in your budget!


text:
Q: Referencing a resource from another repo as a data block, Terraform Azure I would like to deploy SQL Failover Group in Azure. The primary SQL Server will be in Central US and the Secondary will be in EU2. I have two different repos for resources in Central US and resources in EU2.
I have two different workspaces also in Terraform Enterprise catering to each region.
Now i would like to manage the secondary SQL DB in EU2 using terraform too.
So my code for creating the secondary SQL DB is provided below :
resource "azurerm_mssql_server" "secondary" {
  resource_group_name           = var.resource_group
  location                      = var.project.location
  name                          = module.names-mssql-server.location.mssql_server.name_unique
  tags                          = local.tags
  administrator_login           = local.mssql_admin_username
  administrator_login_password  = random_password.mssql_secondary.result
  public_network_access_enabled = false
  version                       = "12.0"
  azuread_administrator {
    login_username = data.azuread_group.sqladmin.display_name
    object_id      = data.azuread_group.sqladmin.id
  }
  identity { type = "SystemAssigned" }
}

resource "azurerm_mssql_database" "secondary" {
  name                        =
  server_id                   = azurerm_mssql_server.secondary.id
  create_mode                 = "Secondary"
  creation_source_database_id =
  sku_name                    = "BC_Gen5_2"

}

The problem i am having now is how do i specify the "creation_source_database_id" and the "name" as this ID should be the ID of the primary database and name should be the name of the primary database since the secondary will be created from the primary database as part of the failover group creation
All my code for primary is in another repo and connected to Central US workspace. So data block won't work here i guess , as it will refer to something which Terraform won't be able to find until and unless i explicitly give the name of the Database in the data block, which i would like to refrain from doing.
Any other way i can achieve this. Thanks

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


What can/should be tested with multi variable testing?
When using a multi variable testing application like Google's new Website Optimizer there are a number of different page segments and/or pages you cant test.
First you should select what type of page you want to test. You could choose to test a campaign landing page, your home page, a lead generation form or a page in your check out process. When trying to determine where you should start looking for your low hanging fruit take a quick look at your web site's analytics.
You web analytics software (such as Google Analytics or Omniture's SiteCatalyst) will be able to point you in the right direction with respect to identifying pages that are causing your users the most difficulty.
Use your analytics software to determine which pages have the highest bounce rate (defined as pages that a user enters and exits from without visiting any other pages on your website), or highest exit rate, or pages that you feel are key to your business (these could be homepage, lead generation form or pages in your checkout process).
Once you have identified which page you want to test you then need to determine what it is that you are going to test. When you look at your page you need to view it as if it was created in segments. These segments are areas of the page that you would like to try alternative creatives or text in.
You can even test adding new elements to the page, not just changing elements that are already there. An example of this would be to add case studies or testimonials to your pages to try and increase the level of trust that you are creating with your users. Other new elements that an ecommerce site could test would be merchandising or cross selling. In this case you would like to find out if your new cross selling efforts helped increase you average order size.
Certain multi variable tests that you will want to run will require more data tracking than you will find from using Google's website optimizer alone. If you were to test the impact of making your telephone number larger you would need to be able to measure the impact this has on your phone orders. This is something that Web Optimizer on its own won't measure. If running a test like this you would also want to compare what happens to your online orders. If the larger telephone number leads to an increase in phone orders and an equivalent decrease in online orders then all you've likely done is increase your operating costs for the same sales volume.
If you are a lead generating site you would likely want to test your lead generation forms. How does the quantity and quality of your leads vary when you ask for more or less information?
So many questions and so many things to improve upon. Now with analytics and multi variable testing you have the ability to continually test and improve your online presence.
Coming soon from VKI Studios – Hippo Tango – the total website optimization service. Challenge the status quo and strive for continuous improvement of you web property with the help of analytics, multi variable testing, web usability, design/branding and integrated online marketing campaigns.


text:
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning - Saddle Creek
Bright Eyes is the primary project of 24 year-old Connor Oberst, a singer-songwriter wunderkind from Omaha, Nebraska. Precocious beyond his youthfulness, Oberst's two new releases follow 2002's Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground. A truly brilliant, ambitious release that music critics tripped all over each other to use as the opportunity to pronounce Oberst as "Next Big Thing," the release was marred only by its self-indulgence.
It showcased such a unique talent, that it almost didn't matter, though.
Does Oberst live up to the hype? Absolutely. His indie-rock twenty-something charisma may be a bit pretentious for some and his calculated art-rock restfulness may be matched only by David Byrne, but Oberst is a visionary songwriter. Lyrically ambitious as Dylan seen through the legacious filter of bands like Pavement, the Pixies and Sebadoh, fans love him for his angst filled voice, his tortured ballads of love and torment, his deliberate woundedness, the way he wears his hair and his high cheek bones. Oberst's profile is surging. He appeared alongside with REM and Bruce Springsteen at Philadelphia's Vote For Change Concert. He has again captured the imagination of the music press with a cover story in a recent Sunday New York Times Arts & Leisure section. And in a recent Rolling Stone article they crown Oberst "the best young songwriter in America." That's a lot of weight to carry.
Two new albums from Oberst show completely different sides to his unique talent. Digital Ash In A Digital Urn is a collection of wondrously executed, self-conscious songs mired in ambience like Radiohead's Kid A and Brian Eno's Before And After Science. Both electric and electronica, Digital Urn is a lullabye of earnestness that's more Robert Smith of The Cure than it is Bob Dylan, a songwriter that Oberst has often been compared to. Digital Ash's initial iciness warms up a few songs in to the album with the songs "Down In A Rabbit Hole," "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" a collaboration with Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service, and "I Believe In Symmetry." With its quirky samples, 80's-like synth sounds and imaginative musical arrangements Digital Ash is Oberst's rock album that has the most potential to cross him over to new fans.
While Digital Ash is phenomenal, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is even better. A country flavored singer-songwriter album that eschews the traditional clichés of much of the "singer-songwriter" genre as we know it, you can't listen to this album and think that Oberst is not bringing something new to the genre. Wide Awake was recorded with guests Jim James, lead singer of My Morning Jacket, Jesse Harris (among other things, writer of Norah Jones's "Don't Know Why) on guitar, Emmylou Harris, and drummer Jason Boesel of Rilo Kiley. The album showcases Oberst's spellbinding brightness as a songwriter and his lyrical drive is virtually unmatched by any new songwriters out today. Songs like "Train Under Water," "Another Travelin' Song," and "Old Soul Song" are examples of Oberst's sharpest writing yet showcasing his recurring themes of self-doubt and love.
Written by Bruce Warren
Check out our other Featured Albums of the Week.
Visit Artist's Official Site.
I'm Wide Awake
It's Morning
Saddle Creek
Valerie June - Pushin Against A Stone
The Fleeting Ends - Our Eyes Are Peeled
Jason Isbell - Southeastern
More in this category: « Various Artists - Live at the World Cafe Volume 19 & Philly Local: Right On Track - World Cafe / XPN	Ani Difranco - Knuckle Down - Righteous Babe »


text:
Q: Breaking down a complex story at project start I'm trying to get to grips with agile project management (with Pivotal Tracker) but keep finding myself running into walls when trying to define the first few stories of a project. Take for example this very simple story:
"A user should be able to tag a product"
Assuming I've already defined "product" elsewhere, this story would possibly involve writing a polymorphic tagging system under the hood, on completion of that system id be able to finally add the ability to tag a product.
My problem is with the amount of work hidden in this story. I can define tasks to get the story done but stories as a whole are supposed to be 1-2 days work? I don't feel right about the story just revealing the tip of the iceberg but that's the only part that relates to the User.
How do you overcome this kind of thing? What are the best practices?
UPDATE 25/08 Thanks to everyone for your guidance, I've taken all advice onboard on how to define stories. I am now switching to Jira Grasshopper which has better support for tasks within stories (assignment, estimates etc) and tracking of development tasks once the sprint has began.

A: Stories are not supposed to be, "1-2 days work". Under Scrum stories are normally estimated using Story Points, a relative sizing system. If you use planning poker stories are given a points value - the time that story takes to implement depends on the velocity that your team has established.
If you feel the story is hiding complexity (you could call it an Epic story), you should break it up into smaller stories. Make sure that the new stories follow the INVEST criteria.
But you may be overengineering this; the XP principle of YAGNI applies here.  To be explicit you should not implement a, "polymorphic tagging system under the hood", unless you really need it. Even then, it should be designed by improving the existing system, that you have developed with a good suite of tests.
If you're certain you do need this complex tagging system, you should call out the complexity in separate stories. Mike Cohn describes the approach to design as, "Intentional, yet emergent"

A: If you need your stories to be 1 to 2 days of developer work each, perhaps you should break each story into specific user tasks that are 1 to 2 days of developer work.
Consider the following "user story:"

A user should be able to receive an invoice from a purchased product.

Think about what's involved just in the database design, in giving the user this capability.  You need a customer table, an invoice header table, and an invoice line items table, and we haven't even talked about accepting payments yet.
In reality, user stories are not this simple.  Complete user stories include a walkthrough of the user steps involved:

*

*User puts product in cart

*User specifies quantity

*User specifies shipping type

and so on.  In short, you need to break down your user stories into finer detail.

A: It seems that you are confusing stories and tasks.
User Story
A user story is a complete "feature", something that when added to the product, provides more value to the product.
A user story should not be larger than it can be implemented during a sprint. During the first part of sprint planning, you decide which user stories you want to work on during the sprint. The goal of the sprint is to complete these user stories, thus adding more value to the product.
Task
During second part of the planning phase of the sprint, developers divide the story into tasks. The tasks are development tasks. They could be stuff like "Add column to database", "Extend service x", etc. A task should not be larger than it can be completed in one day.
During the daily scrum you evaluate the progress of these tasks. If a task has been in progress for more than one daily scrum, it is taking too long, and you, as a team, has the responsibility of resolving that situation.
Remember, user stories represent business value for the stake holders. The stake holders should be interested in the completion of the user stories, not tasks.
The task division is a tool for the development team to manage the sprint, to monitor progress of the user stories during a sprint, and to visualize potential problems.
The stake holders should not concern themselves with these development tasks. Unfortunately, it is my experience that they often do, particularly for organizations new to agile development. Dealing with this situation is a different matter though.
Epic
If a user story is bigger than you think you can complete it in one sprint, it is called an epic. It needs to be divided into several smaller user stories before you as a team can start working on it.
Remember that a user story adds value to the end user, so splitting an epic into a "front-end" and a "back-end" story is not the right way. Adding the back-end for a new feature does not in itself provide value to the end users.
Dividing an epic into user stories manageable within the time frame of a sprint is not always easy when you are not experienced with doing so.
Using Pivotal Tracker
I think Pivotal Tracker is a great tool for tracking user stories. But it is not a scrum tool as such, and the way that scrum teaches to divide stories into tasks is not easily handled by pivotal tracker. You can enable the ability to add tasks to user stories. But if you are running a project using scrum, I would suggest using a white board and sticky notes to track the progress of tasks during a sprint.

A: Having a design goal of implementing a polymorphic tagging system is fine, but you should still focus on implementing features the customer wants. This might mean that, fine-grained-User-Story by fine-grained-User-Story, your system evolves into having a polymorphic tagging system over time. At any point on that journey however you should have system made up of lots of small and testable features, described by a collection of User Stories you've implemented.
In this case it sounds like "Tagging Products" in your system might be an Epic, i.e. something which is far bigger than a single User Story and can be broken down into several smaller stories with a little effort. Taking a fair amount of artistic licence, I can think of the following User Stories which might be roughly applicable to your requirements:

*

*As a system administrator I want to seed the system with some valid tags so that users have some values to choose from when first using the tagging feature.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to search for a product by name so that I can tag it later.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to read the description of a product so that I can decide what tags it should have.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to see a picture of the product so that I can decide what tags it should have.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to attach a single tag to a single product.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to remove a single tag from a single product.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to attach a single tag to multiple products.

*As a user of the system I want to be able to attach multiple tags to a single product.

*As a system administrator I want to see a distinct list of tags in use in the system so that I can decide if any of them are duplicates.

*As a system administrator I want to consolidate duplicated tags.

...and I could go on.
I doubt any of these will be so lifelike that you will use them, but hopefully they illustrate the sort of detail you can go to with your User Stories.
If a User Story really cannot be sub-divided into any smaller stories and you still deem it too large to attempt to implement in one go, then you can split it into vertical slices. This is a technique which means delivering only part of the feature under each User Story, but each part being a testable slice through all the relevant layers of the technology, e.g. for a website this might mean changing the database, application and UI layers. Avoid having one User Story for the database work, another for application and another for UI, as these won't be individually testable.
Taking even more artistic licence, I might split "As a user of the system I want to be able to attach a single tag to a single product." into the following vertical slices:

*

*As a user of the system looking at a single product I want to be able to look up a list of tags so that I can decide which one to apply.

*As a user of the system looking at a single product, having decided on a tag to apply to that product, I want to be able to apply it.

*As a user of the system looking at a single product, having applied a tag to that product, I want a confirmation message on screen telling me that it has saved successfully.

Each of those is testable - if not particularly valuable in their own right.

A: There are books written for the sole purpose of finding out the correct way to describe and break down your requirements. So it is not an easy task.
Often times I find development teams striving for complex solutions instead of the most simple ones. This could be due to the story itself or because the team wants to go for an overly complex solution that not only solves this story but lays the groundwork for stories x, y and z as well. This is good intention, but bloats scope where the same job can be done with less work. It is always hard to judge how much design has to go into a story to not ruin future stories by messing up the design. This decision is for the team to make.
As a product owner you can only influence this by breaking down stories into smaller pieces. You should ask yourself: Is the story the smallest solution that we can think of right now? Can we break it down into reduced feature sets that some day will become the "big flexible tagging system I have always wanted". You could start with a tag system for just a single tag, then extend it to include a list of preselected tags, and then let user define tags, etc.
For the dev team it boils down to: Can we find a simpler approach to realize the story, but still have a solid architecture that accomplishes the job today while not compromising future features.
If you are open to accept intermediate solutions and the development team also tries to offer the most simple, yet good solution then you will probably find the sweet spot in where the size of the stories you want to do is right (the smaller the better). This is not to say that you only have small stories. Some are bigger than others, this is just a fact that you need to accept, or if they are too big, then break down stories into smaller pieces.


text:
<?php

use Illuminate\Database\Seeder;
use App\Permission;
use App\Role;

class PermissionTableSeeder extends Seeder {

    /**
     * Run the database seeds.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function run() {
        $permission = [
            //Roles
            [
                'name' => 'role-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de papeis',
                'description' => 'Listar papeis'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'role-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar papel',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo papel'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'role-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar papel',
                'description' => 'Editar papel'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'role-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir papel',
                'description' => 'Excluir papel'
            ],
            // Usuários
            [
                'name' => 'gestao_usuario-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de usuários',
                'description' => 'Listar usuários'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'gestao_usuario-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar usuário',
                'description' => 'Cradastrar novo usuário'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'gestao_usuario-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar usuário',
                'description' => 'Editar usuário'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'gestao_usuario-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir usuário',
                'description' => 'Excluir usuário'
            ],
            //Especialidade
            ['name' => 'especialidade-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de especialidades',
                'description' => 'Listar especialidade'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'especialidade-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar especialidade',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova especialidade'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'especialidade-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar especialidade',
                'description' => 'Editar especialidade existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'especialidade-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir especialidade',
                'description' => 'Delete especialidade'
            ],
            //Forma farmacêutica
            ['name' => 'formafarmaceutica-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de forma farmacêutica',
                'description' => 'Listar forma farmacêutica'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'formafarmaceutica-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar forma farmacêutica',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova forma farmacêutica'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'formafarmaceutica-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar forma farmacêutica',
                'description' => 'Editar forma farmacêutica existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'formafarmaceutica-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir forma farmacêutica',
                'description' => 'Delete forma farmacêutica'
            ],
            //Clínicas
            ['name' => 'clinica-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de clínicas',
                'description' => 'Listar clínicas'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'clinica-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar clínica',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova clínica'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'clinica-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar clínica',
                'description' => 'Editar clínica existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'clinica-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir clínica',
                'description' => 'Excluir clínica'
            ],
            //Cid10
            ['name' => 'cid-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem cid10',
                'description' => 'Listar cid10'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'cid-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar cid10',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova cid10'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'cid-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar cid10',
                'description' => 'Editar cid10 existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'cid-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir cid10',
                'description' => 'Excluir cid10'
            ],
            //Leito
            ['name' => 'leito-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de leitos',
                'description' => 'Listar leitos'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'leito-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar leito',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo leito'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'leito-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar leito',
                'description' => 'Editar leito existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'leito-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir leito',
                'description' => 'Excluir leito'
            ],
            //Substancia ativa
            ['name' => 'substanciaativa-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de substância ativa',
                'description' => 'Listar substância ativa'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'substanciaativa-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar substância ativa',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova substância ativa'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'substanciaativa-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar substância ativa',
                'description' => 'Editar substância ativa existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'substanciaativa-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir substância ativa',
                'description' => 'Delete substância ativa'
            ],
            //Interação medicamentosa
            ['name' => 'interacaomedicamentosa-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de Interação medicamentosa',
                'description' => 'Listar Interação medicamentosa'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'interacaomedicamentosa-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar Interação medicamentosa',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova Interação medicamentosa'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'interacaomedicamentosa-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar Interação medicamentosa',
                'description' => 'Editar Interação medicamentosa existente'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'interacaomedicamentosa-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir Interação medicamentosa',
                'description' => 'Delete Interação medicamentosa'
            ],
            //Internacao
            ['name' => 'internacao-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de internações',
                'description' => 'Listar internação'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'internacao-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar internacao',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova internacao'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'internacao-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar internação',
                'description' => 'Editar internação'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'internacao-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir internação',
                'description' => 'Excluir internação'
            ],
            //Estoque
            ['name' => 'estoque-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de estoque',
                'description' => 'Listar estoque'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'estoque-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar estoque',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova estoque'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'estoque-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar estoque',
                'description' => 'Editar estoque'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'estoque-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir estoque',
                'description' => 'Excluir estoque'
            ],
            //Entrada
            ['name' => 'entrada-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de entrada',
                'description' => 'Listar entrada'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'entrada-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar entrada',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova entrada'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'entrada-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar entrada',
                'description' => 'Editar entrada'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'entrada-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir entrada',
                'description' => 'Excluir entrada'
            ],
            //Saida
            [
                'name' => 'saida-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de saida',
                'description' => 'Listar saida'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saida-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar saida',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova saida'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saida-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar saida',
                'description' => 'Editar saida'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saida-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir saida',
                'description' => 'Excluir saida'
            ],
            //Saida motivo
            [
                'name' => 'saidamotivo-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de saida por motivo',
                'description' => 'Listar saida por motivo'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saidamotivo-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar saida por motivo',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova saida por motivo'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saidamotivo-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar saida',
                'description' => 'Editar saida'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'saidamotivo-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir saida por motivo',
                'description' => 'Excluir saida por motivo'
            ],
            //Farmacia
            [ 'name' => 'farmacia-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de farmacia',
                'description' => 'Listar farmacia'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'farmacia-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar farmacia',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar nova farmacia'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'farmacia-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar farmacia',
                'description' => 'Editar farmacia'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'farmacia-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir farmacia',
                'description' => 'Excluir farmacia'
            ],
            //Pedidotranferencia
            [ 'name' => 'pedidotransferencia-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de Pedido de Transferência',
                'description' => 'Listar Pedido de Transferência'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'pedidotransferencia-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar Pedido de Transferência',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo Pedido de Transferência'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'pedidotransferencia-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar Pedido de Transferência',
                'description' => 'Editar Pedido de Transferência'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'pedidotransferencia-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir Pedido de Transferência',
                'description' => 'Excluir Pedido de Transferência'
            ],
            //Fornecedor
            [ 'name' => 'fornecedor-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de fornecedor',
                'description' => 'Listar fornecedor'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'fornecedor-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar fornecedor',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo fornecedor'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'fornecedor-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar fornecedor',
                'description' => 'Editar fornecedor'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'fornecedor-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir fornecedor',
                'description' => 'Excluir fornecedor'
            ],
            //Medicamento
            [ 'name' => 'medicamento-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de medicamento',
                'description' => 'Listar medicamento'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'medicamento-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar medicamento',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo medicamento'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'medicamento-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar medicamento',
                'description' => 'Editar medicamento'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'medicamento-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir medicamento',
                'description' => 'Excluir medicamento'
            ],
            //Prescrição
            [ 'name' => 'prescricao-list',
                'display_name' => 'Listagem de prescrição',
                'description' => 'Listar prescrição'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'prescricao-create',
                'display_name' => 'Cadastrar prescrição',
                'description' => 'Cadastrar novo prescrição'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'prescricao-edit',
                'display_name' => 'Editar prescrição',
                'description' => 'Editar prescrição'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'prescricao-delete',
                'display_name' => 'Excluir prescrição',
                'description' => 'Excluir prescrição'
            ],
            // Telas iniciais
            [
                'name' => 'administrador',
                'display_name' => 'Tela de administrador',
                'description' => 'Tela de administrador'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'medico',
                'display_name' => 'Tela de medico',
                'description' => 'Tela de medico'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'farmaceutico',
                'display_name' => 'Tela de farmaceutico',
                'description' => 'Tela de farmaceutico'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'enfermeiro',
                'display_name' => 'Tela de enfermeiro',
                'description' => 'Tela de enfermeiro'
            ],
        ];

        $role = [
            [
                'name' => 'admin',
                'display_name' => 'Administrador',
                'description' => 'Administrador do Sistema'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'farmaceutico',
                'display_name' => 'Farmacêutico',
                'description' => 'Gerencia Estoque e aprova prescrições'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'medico',
                'display_name' => 'Médico',
                'description' => 'Pode prescrever'
            ],
            [
                'name' => 'dentista',
                'display_name' => 'Dentista',
                'description' => 'Pode prescrever'
            ]
            ,
            [
                'name' => 'enfermeiro',
                'display_name' => 'Enfermeiro',
                'description' => 'Solicita medicamentos da farmacia central para as farmácias satélites'
            ],
        ];

        foreach ($permission as $key => $value) {
            Permission::create($value);
        }
        foreach ($role as $key => $value) {
            Role::create($value);
        }
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
myscience.org › news › News 2019 › Common scents don't always make the best perfumes, suggests mathematical study
Common scents don't always make the best perfumes, suggests mathematical study - 3.7.19
Common scents don't always make the best perfumes, suggests mathematical study
Perfumes that use the most popular scents do not always obtain the highest number of ratings, according to an analysis of online perfume reviews.
A study of 10,000 perfumes and their online ratings reveals which odours are likely to bring success, with some surprising combinations providing a boost to ratings.
It could be a beneficial tool for systematic ingredient selection and act as an artificial 'Nose' - a traditional craft-master of perfumery. Vaiva Vasiliauskaite
Perfumes are described in terms of 'notes', which can be single odour ingredients, such as vanilla, musk or jasmine, as well as more generic smells like 'floral notes'. Perfume smell is then described in terms of a combination of these notes. Combinations of several notes that are commonly used in perfumes are called 'accords'.
Now, Vaiva Vasiliauskaite and Dr Tim Evans from the Department of Physics at Imperial College London have used complex network analysis to determine the most popular notes and accords. They studied 1,000 notes in over 10,000 perfumes and their success in online shops. Their study is published today in the open-access journal PLOS ONE .
Successful scent combinations
They found that some notes and accords are 'over-represented' in the dataset, meaning they appear more often than by chance, but that these are not necessarily the ones that are present in perfumes with the highest number of ratings.
While some common accords, like lavender and geranium, are often present in 'successful' perfumes, some less-common notes and accords have an even stronger link with perfume popularity, for example jasmine plus mint, or musk plus vetiver and vanilla.
The researchers say this could be a new avenue for perfumers to discover scent combinations that are likely to be successful but are not yet widespread.
Vaiva said: "Our work provides insights into factors that play a role in the success of perfumes. It also sets up a framework for a statistical analysis of fragrances based on simple properties and customer reviews. It could be a beneficial tool for systematic ingredient selection and act as an artificial 'Nose' - a traditional craft-master of perfumery."
Ratings enhancers
The team acknowledge that brand influences perfume popularity but found no correlation between perfume price or time since release and success. The smell itself did have a large relation to perfume success.
Their mathematical analysis also allowed them to determine which notes had particularly high 'enhancement' effects - those that played a significant role in improving the rating of the accord they were added to. The best enhancers tended to be generic notes, such as `floral notes', or were well represented in the database, such as musk or vanilla.
Dr Evans and Vaiva are part of the Centre for Complexity Science at Imperial.
' Social success of perfumes ' by Vasiliauskaite V and Evans TS is published in PLOS ONE.
Article text (excluding photos or graphics) available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license.
Expert mathematicians stumped by simple subtractions - 10.07
Connecting fields: The Cluster of Excellence "Mathematics Münster" celebrates its official launch - 24.06
Cardiff University announces partnership with the Office for National Statistics - 05.06
Berkeley mathematics pries Gotti away from dancing and skydiving … and Cuba - 31.05
Nominations of EPFL professors - 23.05
3 inspiring Sydney women tell their mathematics story - 13.05


text:
Q: What does the following logic do in Python?   counts = defaultdict(int)
  for currChar in records['ABC'].values():
      counts[currChar] += 1
  ks = [ct for k,  ct in sorted(counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)]

Here I am not following the last line:
1) ct for k
What does this mean? What does k stand for?
This is also the first use of variable ct and k in the code.
Does ct represent count? What does k represent?
2) ct in sorted(counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)
What is the meaning of above syntax especially key=lambda x: x[1]
Again the code has not declared x variable anywhere in the codebase before its use here.

A: It is a so-called list-comprehension.
ks = [ct for k,  ct in sorted(counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)]

is the same as:
ks = []
for k,  ct in sorted(counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True):
    ks.append(ct)

ks = [ct for k,  ct in sorted(counts.items(), key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)]
*1    *2     *3        *4            *5       *6                  *7

 1. list that is created by the list comprehension
 2. expression of the elements of the new list
 3. Key(k) and value(ct) of the item that is currently iterated
 4. sorts the output
 5. List-comprehension iterates over items of dictionary counts. each step looks like (key, value). they are extracted by k, ct
 6. Sorts by value instead of key (default)
 7. Sorts reversed

You could write it shorter because the key isn't used
ks = []
for ct in sorted(counts.values(), reverse=True):
    ks.append(ct)


(BURLINGTON, ON) – Nickel Brook announced today that its annual collaboration with Sawdust City is an Imperial Sour with Soursop fruit, to be released on November 5. Known as 11.05, the beer has become a tradition between brewmasters and friends Ryan Morrow (Nickel Brook) and Sam Corbeil (Sawdust City), who share the November 5 birthday. As always, this year's batch will be released on Sunday November 5 through Nickel Brook's Bottle Shop and on-tap at the Sawdust City Saloon. Limited kegs will be tapped at better beer bars across Ontario the following week.
Previous incarnations of 11.05 have included an Imperial Saison, a Belgian Triple and a Triple IPA, each brewed to 11.05%. This year's batch will be released through the Nickel Brook Bottle Shop in Burlington in 375ml bottles and will retail for $4.50/bottle. Only 3000 bottles will be available.
Nickel Brook Brewing Co. was founded by John and Peter Romano in Burlington, Ontario in 2005. They expanded operations to Hamilton, Ontario when they co-opened the Arts and Sciences Brewery with Collective Arts Brewing, and are in the process of building a destination brewery in the Niagara Region. They are committed to using only the finest natural ingredients from around the world, and brew them in small batches for the highest standard of quality. Nickel Brook continues to be an award-winning Ontario craft brewery that constantly strives to push the boundaries of brewing culture.


text:
Austrian-Russian Pipeline Deal Undermines European Gas Policy
Austria and Russia circumvent the European Commission by signing a bilateral pipeline deal.
Nick Ottens May 4, 2014 November 23, 2021
European attempts to wane the bloc off Russian gas were set back last week when Austrian energy firm OMV agreed with Russia's Gazprom to bring the South Stream pipeline to the Alpine nation's Baumgarten gas hub, outmaneuvering Italy, which had wanted it to terminate there.
The European Commission had put the approval process for South Stream on hold after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March, saying it did not comply with its regulations on ownership and pipeline access. Austria and Russia circumvented this by signing a bilateral agreement.
Bulgaria, which imports almost all its natural gas from Russia, also backs South Stream.
Political project
It is estimated that Russia uses just 60 percent of its pipeline capacity while its European customers are actively looking for ways to reduce their dependence on Russian gas.
South Stream then is not so much a commercial as a political project, designed to enable Russia to put pressure on Ukraine by denying it gas while continuing to service its European customers.
The countries in the EU get roughly a quarter of their gas from Russia. Half of it flows through pipelines in Ukraine.
Most of the gas is used for heating, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where some countries are almost wholly dependent on Russia for imports.
Western European countries, like Germany and the Netherlands, use most of the imported gas to generate electricity.
Quiet German backing
Austria was motivated to push for the South Stream deal after it lost out to Italy in a competition last year for a separate pipeline: The Nabucco project, in which OMV was a partner, was dropped in favor of the rival Trans Adriatic Pipeline to bring gas from Azerbaijan to Italy.
Germany, by far Gazprom's biggest customer in Europe, is believed to be quietly backing Austria's move, despite official recriminations of Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
Its BASF, the world's largest chemicals company, is a partner in South Stream through its subsidiary Wintershall. Siemens is contracted to supply the pipeline's control systems.
Austria Central Europe Energy Europe Russia Russia and the West


text:
Q: PHPExcel number of row Issue I have the next php code:
$arraylicitaciones=json_decode($_POST['ids']);
$x=0;
$arraydatos=array();
while($x<count($arraylicitaciones))
{
    $id=$arraylicitaciones[$x];
    $tipo=$arraylicitaciones[$x+1];
    if($tipo=='X' || $tipo=='A')
    {
        $sql="SELECT
        T1.id AS COLUMNA_A,
        T1.Expediente AS COLUMNA_B,
        T1.Organo_Contratante AS COLUMNA_C,
        T1.tipo AS COLUMNA_D,
        T1.F_Publicacion AS COLUMNA_E,
        T1.F_Vencimiento AS COLUMNA_F,
        T2.Estado AS COLUMNA_G,
        T3.Total_Licitacion_Lote_sVat AS COLUMNA_H,
        T3.Importe_Total_Lote_sVat AS COLUMNA_I,
        T3.Nro_Orden AS COLUMNA_J,
        T3.Nombre_Lote AS COLUMNA_K,
        T3.Cotizable AS COLUMNA_L,
        T4.Referencia_Organo AS COLUMNA_M,
        T4.Denominacion_Organo AS COLUMNA_N,
        T4.Unidades_Total AS COLUMNA_O,
        T4.Precio_Licitacion_sVat AS COLUMNA_P,
        T4.Nombre_Comercial AS COLUMNA_Q,
        T4.Forma_Presentacion AS COLUMNA_R,
        T4.Referencia_Proveedor AS COLUMNA_S,
        T4.Precio_sVat_Unidad_Oferta AS COLUMNA_T,
        T4.Codigo_Nacional_Med AS COLUMNA_U,
        T4.Porcentaje_Vat AS COLUMNA_V,
        T4.adjudicado_competencia AS COLUMNA_W
        FROM tesera_expedientes AS T1,tesera_estados_expediente AS T2,tesera_lotes_productos_expedientes AS T3,tesera_productos_expediente AS T4
        WHERE T1.id=T3.IdExpediente
        AND T3.Id=T4.IdLoteProductos
        AND T2.Id=T1.Estado_Expediente
        AND T1.id=".$id;
    }
    if($tipo=='D')
    {
        $sql="SELECT
        CONCAT(T1.id_expediente,'.',T1.id) AS COLUMNA_A,
        T1.derivado AS COLUMNA_B,
        T1.nombre_cliente AS COLUMNA_C,
        'Derivado' AS COLUMNA_D,
        T1.fecha_solicitud AS COLUMNA_E,
        T1.fecha_vencimiento AS COLUMNA_F,
        T2.Estado AS COLUMNA_G,
        T3.total_licitacion_lote_sin_iva  AS COLUMNA_H,
        T3.total_lote_sin_iva AS COLUMNA_I,
        T3.nro_lote AS COLUMNA_J,
        T3.nombre_lote AS COLUMNA_K,
        T3.cotizable AS COLUMNA_L,
        T4.referencia_organo AS COLUMNA_M,
        T4.denominacion_organo AS COLUMNA_N,
        T4.unidades_oferta AS COLUMNA_O,
        T4.oferta_am_sin_iva AS COLUMNA_P,
        T4.nombre_comercial AS COLUMNA_Q,
        T4.forma_presentacion AS COLUMNA_R,
        T4.referencia_proveedor AS COLUMNA_S,
        T4.oferta_sin_iva AS COLUMNA_T,
        T4.codigo_nacional_medicamento AS COLUMNA_U,
        T4.tipo_iva AS COLUMNA_V,
        T4.adjudicado_competencia AS COLUMNA_W
        FROM tesera_derivados AS T1,tesera_estados_expediente AS T2,tesera_lotes_derivados AS T3,tesera_productos_derivados AS T4
        WHERE T1.id=T3.id_derivado
        AND T3.id=T4.id_lote
        AND T2.Id=T1.id_estado_derivado
        AND T1.id=".$id;
    }
    $result= mysql_query($sql);
    $lineasdevueltas=mysql_num_rows($result);
    if($lineasdevueltas>0)
    {
        while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result,MYSQL_ASSOC))
        {
            //Comprobaciones y ediciones de columnas
            if($row["COLUMNA_D"]==0)
            {
                 $tipoarray='Expediente';
            }
            if($row["COLUMNA_D"]==1)
            {
                $tipoarray='Acuerdo Marco';
            }
            $fechapubadate=date_create($row['COLUMNA_E']);
            $fechavenadate=date_create($row['COLUMNA_F']);
            $fechapublicacion=date_format($fechapubadate, "d/m/Y");
            $fechavencimiento=date_format($fechavenadate, "d/m/Y");
            if($row['COLUMNA_L']==0)
            {
                $cotiza='NO';
            }
            else
            {
                $cotiza='SI';
            }
            if($row['COLUMNA_W']==0)
            {
                $adjudicado='NO';
            }
            else
            {
                $adjudicado='SI';
            }
            array_push($arraydatos, array(
                "COLUMNA_A"     => $row["COLUMNA_A"],
                "COLUMNA_B"     => $row["COLUMNA_B"],
                "COLUMNA_C"     => $row["COLUMNA_C"],
                "COLUMNA_D"     => $tipoarray,
                "COLUMNA_E"     => $fechapublicacion,
                "COLUMNA_F"     => $fechavencimiento,
                "COLUMNA_G"     => $row["COLUMNA_G"],
                "COLUMNA_H"     => $row["COLUMNA_H"],
                "COLUMNA_I"     => $row["COLUMNA_I"],
                "COLUMNA_J"     => $row["COLUMNA_J"],
                "COLUMNA_K"     => $row["COLUMNA_K"],
                "COLUMNA_L"     => $cotiza,
                "COLUMNA_M"     => $row["COLUMNA_M"],
                "COLUMNA_N"     => $row["COLUMNA_N"],
                "COLUMNA_O"     => $row["COLUMNA_O"],
                "COLUMNA_P"     => $row["COLUMNA_P"],
                "COLUMNA_Q"     => $row["COLUMNA_Q"],
                "COLUMNA_R"     => $row["COLUMNA_R"],
                "COLUMNA_S"     => $row["COLUMNA_S"],
                "COLUMNA_T"     => $row["COLUMNA_T"],
                "COLUMNA_U"     => $row["COLUMNA_U"],
                "COLUMNA_V"     => $row["COLUMNA_V"],
                "COLUMNA_W"     => $adjudicado
            ));
        }
    }
    $x=$x+2;
}

require_once '../../PHPExcel/Classes/PHPExcel/IOFactory.php';
$objReader = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createReader('Excel5');
$plantilla = '../../template_excel/LicitproductdetalletemplateBIS.xls';
$objPHPExcel = $objReader->load($plantilla);
//------GENERACION EXCEL------//
$posicion=3;
$inicio=3;
$final=1650+2;
for($i=0;$i<1650;$i++)
{
    $objeto=$arraydatos[$i];
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()
    ->setCellValue('A'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_A])
    ->setCellValue('B'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_B])
    ->setCellValue('C'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_C])
    ->setCellValue('D'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_D])
    ->setCellValue('E'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_E])
    ->setCellValue('F'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_F])
    ->setCellValue('G'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_G])
    ->setCellValue('H'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_H])
    ->setCellValue('I'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_I])
    ->setCellValue('J'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_J])
    ->setCellValue('K'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_K])
    ->setCellValue('L'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_L])
    ->setCellValue('M'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_M])
    ->setCellValue('N'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_N])
    ->setCellValue('O'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_O])
    ->setCellValue('P'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_P])
    ->setCellValue('Q'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_Q])
    ->setCellValue('R'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_R])
    ->setCellValue('S'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_S])
    ->setCellValue('T'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_T])
    ->setCellValue('U'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_U])
    ->setCellValue('V'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_V])
    ->setCellValue('W'.$posicion, $objeto[COLUMNA_W]);
//------FORMATO SI/NO FINAL------//
if($objeto[COLUMNA_W]=='SI')
{
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('W'.$posicion)->getFill()
    ->applyFromArray(array('type' => PHPExcel_Style_Fill::FILL_SOLID,
            'startcolor' => array('rgb' => 'FFFF00')
    ));
}
else
{
    $objPHPExcel->getActiveSheet()->getStyle('W'.$posicion)->getFill()
    ->applyFromArray(array('type' => PHPExcel_Style_Fill::FILL_SOLID,
            'startcolor' => array('rgb' => 'FFFFCC')
    ));
}
//++++++FORMATO SI/NO FINAL++++++//
$posicion=$posicion+1;
}
//++++++GENERACION EXCEL++++++//
$objWriter = PHPExcel_IOFactory::createWriter($objPHPExcel, 'Excel5');
$file = '../../ficheros_excel/LicitProducDetalle.xls';
$objWriter->save($file);
$path_php=$_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER];
$path_xls=str_replace('js/Licitaciones.html','ficheros_excel/LicitProducDetalle.xls',$path_php);
 ?>
<script>
var control=0;
var control2=0;
ele=document.getElementsByTagName('div');
for (i=0;(i<ele.length)&&(control==0);i++){
    if((ele[i].style.width == '158px')&&(ele[i].class='x-shadow')){
        ele[i].style.display='none';
        control2=1;
    }
    if((ele[i].style.width == '150px')&&(control2==1)){
        ele[i].style.display='none';
        control=1;
    }
}
window.open('<?php echo $path_xls; ?>');
</script>

The query array generated after executing the query returns more than 5000 rows.I want to know,if someone can help,why if i only write 1640 rows with 23 columns each row,the phpexcel generates the .xls file but if I write 1650 rows with 23 columns too the server gives me an error 500(Internal Server Error)

A: Check the error logs, check for memory usage or timeout, consider using cell caching to reduce memory usage, or increasing PHPs time limit if you're getting timeouts.
Consider writing the database rows directly to PHPExcel rather than building a large array from the database rows and then iterating over that array to build the spreadsheet.... that is faster and it saves memory.

A: 1.) Edit: true.. seems not to be the case with the PHP implementation .. stay with xls
2.) PHPExcel is inefficient when it comes to memory usage. The standard PHP limit is only 100mb of memory - either try increasing the memory and see if it's good enough for you, or move on to other libraries.
consider https://github.com/mk-j/PHP_XLSXWriter for lower memory usage
It's incredibly fast and uses little memory - but has no styling support.
Another option is https://github.com/SystemDevil/PHP_XLSXWriter_plus
I've never used it but in theory it can support stying and is a fork of the other project, I would give it a go