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Week in Politics
Madhesis among us
Once again, ultra-nationalists turn against their own citizens
DOVAN RAI October 5, 2015
These mornings my computer screen is infested with threats to ban Indian TV channels, anti-India slogans, and the vilification of Madhesis for bringing on this blockade. As media and social media outlets are plastered with these slogans and sentiments of ultra-nationalism, my feelings range from bemusement and sadness to indignation and apprehension.
While I sit there judgmental, I am reminded of 2001, when residents of Kathmandu came out on the streets with anti-Indian fervor over a Bollywood actor's statement that he "hated" Nepal, a rumor that turned out to be false. I was one of the kids on the street shouting those nationalistic slogans. At the time, I was proud that I had done my patriotic duty. It was a self-congratulatory thrill of the moment. I was a teenager in high school then; I had yet to learn my lessons and, more importantly, a lot of lessons to unlearn.
During the demonstration, Madhesis were attacked in Kathmandu and they had to flee or hide indoors. The misleading ultra-nationalistic fervor was the fuel that led people to attack their fellow Nepali citizens. We were taught that to qualify as a proper nationalistic Nepali was to hate India. But we were not taught what a nation is or how to recognize our fellow nationals. Instead, we were taught to identify the "dhoti-clad" southerners as non-Nepali Indians, a reminder of Indian intrusion.
Years later, besides guilt and embarrassment, I felt a deep sense of betrayal toward our establishment that had implanted faulty ideals in young impressionable minds. While the string of nationalism is still tightly entwined with my identity, I am alarmed whenever I see the snake of ultra-nationalism. It alarms me now that I am seeing this infestation once again taking root.
It might be tempting to take an optimistic stance and wait for people to outgrow their jingoism. But this is 2015, not 2001. In these 14 years, a lot has changed. Nepal has gone through profound upheavals. Through blood and ink we have dismantled monarchy and other bastions of perceived supremacies. We have dissected our constitution, curriculum, customs, and costumes. Minorities and marginalized have fought together across the country. Activists and intellectuals have worked ceaselessly to express their collective agonies and explain their demands.
I wish I could expect Kathmandu residents, educated and informed, to be aware of Madhesi issues through and through by now—after all, they haven't changed for decades. But what we see is too many Kathmanduites who remain silent in apathy when Madhesis are protesting and dodging bullets day after day for weeks on end. When India steps in in response to this apathy, the same demographic starts to growl and squeal with a fury soaked in ultra-nationalism, taking up prime time slots and bandwidth. The establishment media that dismissed the nationwide Madhes revolution as a footnote, now zooms in on each pamphlet that encourages cycle rides and carpooling.
One could argue that people are more likely to raise a voice when it is "their" issue under threat and not that of "others." But I refuse to accept that the issues of the Madhes are not Kathmandu issues. Madhesis are among us. The domination and humiliation borne by them are evident to us all. We have either directly participated in it or been silent witnesses all along. Each of us knows the street vendors and shopkeepers disrespected by our sisters and aunts or bullied by our brothers and uncles. If you did not have that boy in school from Rautahat that everyone picked on, you must have met him in college—he was the one out of place amid the slurs of "bloody dhotis." Even if we cannot feel their alienation, we know by heart the symbols and songs of nationalism that push Madhesis away as the "other," and wall us safely in.
This new constitution was a chance to fix these age-old injustices and indignities. But what we got is one that structurally solidifies pahade prejudice. According to the new constitution, children of Nepali women and foreign men will be second-class citizens, barred from high government office. This constitutional clause—that is a slap in the face of all women—is designed to soothe the establishment's deep suspicion of Madhesis who marry across the Indian border, by barring their children from having equal rights in this country.
This is what happens when the dominant group is insecure and uses the dominated group to alleviate their fears. As if subjugation was not enough, they externalize their insecurities over the dominated group. Madhesis are used as the base on which the shape of Indian imperialism is carved. Whenever the shadow surfaces, Madhesis are the easy and accessible target. Madhesis, who are denied entrance to the pahade state, are now asked to prove their nationality. They are asked to prove their loyalty through statements such as: "If you are a Nepali, then . . ." This is a nauseating double standard.
I ask all ultra-nationalist Nepalis: If it boils your blood to think of the dominance of our neighbor India in our sovereign state, how can you demand that Madhesis calmly accept pahade dominance in their own home? If it hurts your dignity to be on the unfair side of a lopsided relationship, how must it feel for Madhesis whose votes and lives are deemed second class? Some acknowledgement of our injustices and some empathy would have made our nationalism more inclusive.
If empathy is too much to ask, let's talk about our own aspirations to be world citizens in the twenty-first century. The atrocious citizenship law that we have now would forbid even Barack Obama from being elected as president of the United States. The world is moving from territorial parochialism to universal values of diversity, inclusion, and integration. If our aspirations have risen to imagine unlimited possibilities in foreign lands, how then can we reconcile them with the limiting of fellow citizens in our own country?
This is no longer the era in which we had to hide under the sword of a Shah ruler from Gorkha to protect ourselves against English hawks. This is also not the era of the Cold War when we had to fear becoming the next Sikkim. Indian imperialism is real. But our irrational reactions only make us more vulnerable to it. Selfishly indulging in our ultra-nationalism, we are unable to hear Madhesi voices. We are losing our chance to create a fair and inclusive constitution that can be a base for our wholesome ideals of nationalism.
Cover photo: Villagers in Parsa assemble to protest the consitution. Kanchan Jha.
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Dovan Rai
Dovan Rai is a PhD student in educational technology. She works with Open Learning Exchange Nepal, a non-profit dedicated to making quality education accessible in Nepal.
The heart of the matter, part 2
SHRADHA GHALE
In marginalized communities, access to power makes all the difference
To be young and Madhesi in Kathmandu
PREETI A. KARNA
Four Kathmanduites share what it was like growing up Madhesi in the capital
Resist hierarchy, "ladies"
SEIRA TAMANG
Language used by Nepali men to refer to professional women and female counterparts is often infantilizing and show lack of respect.
Building back riskier
Victims of the 2015 earthquake in Dolakha have rebuilt their homes in areas where they could be decimated any day
Bunu Dhungana is fed up with patriarchal culture
AYUSHMA REGMI
Her photographs confront the culture of silence that surrounds women
Forgive me: I love Nepal
MANJUSHREE THAPA
On becoming and unbecoming a citizen
Don't ignore the epidemic
PRASIIT STHAPIT
Losing hajurma made me realize the human cost of dengue.
How a municipality in Kathmandu gave the landless a break
SABIN NINGLEKHU
In a recent chat over chiya, Pitamber Sharma, a geographer-planner by degree and a well-known public intellectual, described the slum as a "Janus-faced" place: on the one hand, the decrepit disorder that an onlooker observes from atop the bridge of the Bagmati—a makeshift settlement that looks out of place—and on the other, the rhythmic pattern […]
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Our app, Alphabetics, was just featured in Time Magazine. Thanks for the recommendation Jamie Martin! Alphabetics: Smaller kids get to practice their letters in multiple ways with this app. They can speak it, write it, hear it and pick it out of a group of other letters. Feels a little more like a game than Endless Alphabet, so they can be useful at different times.
Reading Often: Does It Change the Brain?


1. Visit the WAEC 2018 result checking portal at http://www.waecdirect.org.
3. Choose your Examination Year which is 2018.
4. Choose your Examination Type i.e. SCHOOL CANDIDATE RESULT.
5. Provide the Card Serial Number.
6. Provide the Card PIN.
7. Then you click on "Submit" button to get your 2017 WAEC Result.


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Can You Make More Than $100k/Year Selling Credit Card Processing?
IRIS CRM Blog
Independent sales organizations are third-party businesses that resell payment processing services from the major merchant services companies like Fiserv, TSYS, Worldpay, and many others. Independent agents work on behalf of the ISOs and do the sales work of bringing in new merchants to sign. When a merchant signs on with an ISO, their payments are processed through whichever processor the ISO is representing, and the ISO, in turn, earns a small commission on each and every transaction. In turn, if that merchant was brought in by an independent agent, the ISO then pays out a slice of that commission to the agent. Those commissions are known as residuals, and they belong to the ISO and agent for the lifetime of the relationship between the merchant and the payment processor. As a result, while the commissions earned on each transaction are tiny percentages, they can really add up over thousands or even millions of transactions across the lifetime of a merchant's operations.
Becoming an ISO or Independent Agent
The process of getting signed up as a registered independent sales organization is fairly complex and involves finding a payment processor to take you on, lengthy applications, obtaining necessary licenses, a long waiting period, and significant scrutiny from the major credit card companies. On the other hand, becoming an unregistered independent sales agent is much, much easier, and really only requires an agent to find an ISO willing to hire them. The primary difference between the two is that agents can't subcontract or hire out anyone below them. There are also differences in how agents can market themselves, but in general, the biggest deciding factor in whether or not to register is the earnings potential limitations agents work under and whether or not lifting them is worth going through the difficult registration process.
Earnings Potential for ISOs and Independent Agents
Since agents can't hire anyone to work underneath them, their earnings potential is limited to the residuals they can generate on their own. On the other hand, since ISOs can have as many independent agents as they'd like working for them, their earnings potential is much greater – but so are their costs and their exposure to risk. In either case, the key to generating earnings in excess of $100,000 per year is to build up as strong a residual portfolio as possible. While agents often earn signing fees or monthly bonuses for bringing in new merchants, it's the residuals that matter. The residual split between ISO and agent is generally 40/60, and there is no set commission paid out – each payment processor will payout differently. With that in mind, there is no way to calculate exactly how many merchants an ISO or agent must sign up in order to get to $100,000, but the average merchant account provides roughly $30 per month in residual income. That works out to roughly 277 total merchant signups to get to $100,000 per year. That might sound like a lot if you think of it in a single year, but it's important to remember residuals never stop coming in as long as a merchant sticks with their payment processor. So it'd require only four to five new merchants per month to go from zero to a residuals portfolio with over $100,000 per year!
Smart ISOs and agents looking to supercharge their ability to sign and board new merchants turn to customer resource management software to streamline and augment their operations. IRIS CRM is the world's leading payments CRM, providing ISOs and agents with the sales, marketing, and customer service tools they need to build and manage valuable residuals portfolios. For more information on how IRIS CRM can help you maximize your residuals, contact us today.


On Thursday, September 2, 2010, Savor Pittsburgh will host its annual culinary competition for "Dish of the Year" to benefit the American Respiratory Alliance of Western Pennsylvania. I'll be there–and this time I won't be cooking! I'll be part of the panel of judges. It's an honor to be chosen and it will be a lot of fun. Some of the participants are: Bella Frutteto, Bistecca, Bistro 19, The Capital Grille, Cassis, Church Brew Works, Cioppino Restaurant and Cigar Bar, Donato's Fox Chapel, Elements, Grand Concourse Restaurant, India Palace, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, Mitchells Fish Market, Savoy, The Sonoma Grille, Spoon Restaurant, Steelhead Brasserie & Wine Bar, Tamari, Tree Tops Restaurant, Tusca Global Tapas, Walnut Grove Restaurant and Bar, and Willow. I look forward to a long relationship with Savor Pittsburgh. I can't wait to try all these great chefs' creations.
Thursday, September 2, 2010, 6:30 p.m.
Thank you Ramona–It should be a lot of fun. I miss hanging out with you guys. We should visit soon!


to help them fill several special orders.
38       Participated in an eventful date night.
39       Gathered a set of tiger's teeth for Kero the master skinner.
This page has been referenced 1706 times since last boot.


Isolated Heroes Aims to make the world a brighter place one Sassy Sequin at a time!
Isolated Heroes Provide luxury collections which are hand made in our studio in Scotland. Launched in 2012 Isolated Heroes Focuses on creating Luxury fashion collections which are accessible to a younger audience and are not defined by gender, sizes or seasons.
We are firm believers that clothing can enhance your mood and make you feel your BEST. Isolated Heroes aims to empower wearers with our Body Positive outlook, we believe EVERYONE should look and feel good whatever their size! We grade all of our patterns from a size UK 4 up to size 24. We are hoping with your kickstarter backing we can develop on our plus size range providing more choices within the collection and a wider size range.
We are extremely proud of all we have managed to achieve in the last three years of Business, from being a small start up to now being a living wage employer. We have created opportunity's for fashion and textile students to come and work alongside us and help develop our new collections. We hand sew every sequin, do all our own embroidery and up until now make ALL of our items that are available in our online store in house.
We are looking for you our followers and customers to back our Kickstarter project and help our business grow! I started Isolated Heroes straight outta Uni as a wild idea that slowly gained a huge customer following and developed into a business. We received zero funding from the start and had no private investors. Isolated Heroes is well on its way to becoming a self sustaining business with a strong growing customer base and a high turnover.
Right now we are faced with the challenge of funding our business growth. We are currently stocked on a number of AHMAZZING High profile International online retailers ... Dolls Kill, Shop Jeen, Wild Honey and NYLON. Not only do we manage our own online store making every single retail order we also manufacture our wholesale orders in house. This means if one of our favourite stores place an order we can be sewing up to 200 extra items within a six week turn around.
Now we are being approached by the big guns! The retailers we can only dream of working with on a regular basis .. Nasty Gal, ASOS and Topshop have all approached us to place orders in the last month. However the order sizes are far bigger than anything we can produce within our small studio.
We need you to help us raise £5000 for us to start outsourcing manufacture!
With £5000 we can start working with these new stockists and trial some of our samples in Factory's within the UK. Its extremely important for us to use ethical UK based manufacturers. By outsourcing the production for our wholesale orders it means Isolated Heroes will be available in more retailers worldwide. It will also free up our time and let us design even more collections per year bringing you fresh new stock on the regular!
We have created a range of Sassy Sequin Kickstarter prizes whatever your budget!
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We know how much you guys love the Mermaid Sequin Tears dress! It is our most popular item in our online store and with our stockists! With its super relaxed oversized fit and embellished sequin overlay the dress easily moves between day wear and night wear and can be worn with jeans for a chilled out look or own its own with a pair of Killer Heels.
We have created an exclusive RAINBOW sequin mermaid tears dress available only via Kickstarter in a limited run of 50 dresses. These will be available on our online store in December but at the price of £125. Receive yours a whole month before everyone else at the price of £50.
If you really feel like SPLASHIN' THE CASH three lucky backers who give £300 to our Kickstarter project will get the opportunity to come and work with the design team for the day creating your very own Isolated Heroes custom item!
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iSOLATED HEROES have always aimed to provide our customers with a digital design experience. Crowdfunding via Kickstarter seemed like the best way for us to keep our customers involved and up to date with our campaign.
We are confident that our product will be delivered in time, and the set time for production is organized. We will be providing a dedicated account manager and a follow up email to everyone who places orders for garments keeping you updated with production and time frames. For any sizing queries we have provided a size chart and please feel free to leave a Question under the FAQ section.
We are well prepared with our Kickstarter prizes and are confident in our production timescale aiming to have all items shipped by the 30th of November so you will have your items in time for Christmas.


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What's New | Greetings | Schedule | Members | Contact | Japanese
Welcome to Research Center for Applied Perceptual Science (ReCAPS), Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, home page
We started our activity on 1 April 2013.
ReCAPS has succeeded the spirit of the Center for Applied Perceptual Research, Kyushu University (CAPR; 1 September 2010 to 31 March 2012).
Annual Reports of the Center in PDF format are available from Kyushu University Library for free.
Copyright (c) 2013-2023 Research Center for Applied Perceptual Science, Kyushu University. All rights reserved.


The other day I got a parcel. Now, as any other book addict who buys more books than they've had hot meals knows, this isn't news. I could probably tell you the name of my postman's children I see him so often.
A signed copy of The Gorgon in the Gully by Melina Marchetta.
I have wanted this for sooo long, you have no idea. I was pleased as punch.
Wait… OK, I'm going to need to explain this one. To me reading and writing go hand in hand with music. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way. The ridiculously brilliant Noelle and Maggie over at Young Adult Anonymous have lots and lots and lots of posts where they do this and you should definitely check out Catie at The Readventurer's reviews because she picks a 'Perfect Musical Pairing' for each book she reads and they are always spot on.
So, I love finding out what my favourite authors listen to when they write my favourite books. I am also hopelessly in love with Thomas Mackee, too.
Bearing that information in mind, I probably don't need to tell you the sound that came out of me when I found this within the parcel.
Yes, that is the soundtrack for The Piper's Son, possibly my favourite of Double M's books [Though don't tell Froi], with the songs that Ms Marchetta listened to while she was writing it.
I took that picture on my phone and it's not the best quality but I've created the playlist on Grooveshark and you can stop, look and listen here.
2) Samson by Regina Spektor.
3) How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly.
"She picks a Waifs song- a good one for learning because it's just one or two chords and it's slow.
5) London Still by The Waifs.
6) The Blower's Daughter by Damien Rice.
7) Flame Trees by Cold Chisel.
8) Your Ex-Lover is Dead by Stars.
9) One Crowded Hour by Augie March.
11) Better Days by Pete Murray.
12) Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel.
13) Not Pretty Enough by Kasey Chambers.
15) Opportunity by Pete Murray.
In my review for The Piper's Son, I picked an entire album for Tom and the gang. Urban Hymns by The Verve is in my list of Jo's Top Ten Albums of All Time© so it's only natural that I would end up associating it with The Piper's Son which is in my Jo's Top Ten Books of All Time©.
So here's my contribution to Mackee's Music.
Lucky Man by The Verve.
I reckon Tom would approve… and then realise we're meant to be lovers and move to Manchester.
Do you associate music with books? Are there any songs you feel should be added to Mackee's Music?
This post is so, so amazing, Jo! Best mail ever!
I think this sums up my feelings nicely.
Er stupid gif didn't stupid work.
Ok, picture Stephen Cobert freaking out and going AAAHHHHH AHHHHH AAAHHHHHH a lot.
But you have to keep your hands to yourself. Mackee's mine. MINE ALL MINE.
That is SO awesome, Jo. Love it. Thanks for sharing. I didn't realise that was Pete Murray on TPS! So cool.
Ah! Jo! This is CRAZY!
I am sososososososso jealous, wow. And I'm in awe as you now have my two favourite things: MM and music! Thanks for sharing!!!!
HOLY S***. Did you faint when you open it? I probably would have fainted. Right there at the mail boxes. (Like I'd even make it upstairs before I opened it!) Amazing amazing amazing.
Wow! That is so exciting! I borrowed Gorgon from a friend ages ago but I still need to read it:) Point of contention: My boo Paul Simon doesn't sing Solsbury Hill–Peter Gabriel does. One time, Aileen's ex-boyfriend (he's from near Bournemouth) took her to see PG at Wembley and a bunch of his friends came. She was so, so excited and got them all excited too, though they didn't know too much about him. So they stood out in the rain for the entire festival day in the pouring rain. PG got up on stage…and then only sang his new mediation-type music. Her bf's friends were like, "Um, WTF is this?" He only sang In Your Eyes in the encore. ONE regular song. /random story.
I looove Regina Spektor too! I really like Sarah Blasko's cover of Flame Trees. It's wonderful!
I read the first two chapters of TPS yesterday at work because surprise, there are only a dozen or so people that visit a library on Easter Sunday.
I love that book so much…so poetic.
TPS is beautiful and yep, I completely agree, definitely poetic.
« Review x 2 : Feeling Sorry For Celia & Finding Cassie Crazy – Jaclyn Moriarty.


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Amended 'legacy lawsuit' reform bill HB618 receives unanimous vote in Senate
By Kyle Barnett | May 24, 2012
BATON ROUGE – An amended 'legacy lawsuit' bill has passed the Senate unanimously.
HB618 was held without being assigned to committee for three weeks before a compromise was announced on the issue by Governor Bobby Jindal's office.
Now, an amended HB618, sponsored by Representative Neil Abramson, D –New Orleans, along with SB555, sponsored by Senator Robert Adley, R–Benton, are being passed though as tandem legislation that will work together. Both bills passed the Senate unanimously this week.
HB618 will change the courtroom mechanism for hearing environmental pollution cases and SB555 will provide for the administrative function for developing an environmental remediation plan in the cases.
The bills together are said to accomplish the goals of allowing defendants to admit responsibility for environmental pollution due to drilling activities without admitting liability for private damages, allow for a pre-trial hearing to determine regulatory damages and provide for the most feasible cleanup plan.
Melissa Landry, Executive Director of Louisiana Lawsuit Abuse Watch Group, said the legislation looks like it is on its way into law.
"As I understand it, the compromise that was made last week is definitely holding," Landry said.
"The bills are really moving pretty rapidly through the process. The biggest hurdle for both the bills has been cleared.
"Of course it is never over until it is over, but at this point it is very, very strong. There is broad support for both bills in the legislature and it's clear that the leadership has really fast-tracked both the bills for final passage prior to the deadline, which is very good news."
Both bills are scheduled to be heard for a final vote on the House floor on May 31.
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Posts tagged 'Paul Bettner'
Age of Empires IV announced, plus remasters of Age II and III
The legacy of Ensemble Studios continues as this week we learn that Microsoft has announced a brand new Age of Empires game – Age of Empires IV, a continuation of the main series unlike some of the other games released in recent times. Relic Entertainment are set to carry the torch as developers on this new game. The Sega owned studio is similar to Creative Assembly, another Sega studio who worked on Halo Wars 2. There is no release date set for Age 4 just yet, there is however, a very awesome new teaser trailer! Read more
Zynga closes Dallas studios (Formerly Bonfire Studios and NewToy)
Yesterday Zynga announced the shocking news that it was closing its Zynga Dallas and Zynga With Friends studios. Prior to Zynga's acquisition of these teams they were known as Bonfire Studios and NewToy respectively. It was not long ago back in February 2013 that Zynga's Chief Operating Officer, David Ko announced that it was merging all of its Texas operations under a single office as part of cost cutting moves for the struggling company. Now it seems those cost cutting measures have gone even deeper resulting in the layoff of all staff from the studios formed by Ex Ensemble Studios members. Read more
Paul and David Bettner leave Zynga
Ex Ensembler's Paul and David Bettner who set about forming the hugely successful mobile studio NewToy have confirmed that they have now left the mobile gaming giant, Zynga. Paul and David Bettner joined Zynga after NewToy was acquired in December 2010. Back then the brothers commented that joining Zynga made perfect sense as both parties "share the same dream of building a social treasure". Since the acquisition the NewToy studio which was re-named "Zynga With Friends" have greatly expanded the "With Friends" series of games from the massively successful Words with Friends to including Hanging, Matching, and Gems with Friends. Read more
Zynga acquires NewToy
Paul Bettner of Newtoy also to speak at GDC Europe
Paul Bettner from iPhone developer NewToy is also going to be presenting at GDC Europe along with Bruce Shelley (these are separate presentations). Paul's talk is titled "Keys to Successful iPhone Game Marketing". The talk is likely to draw on things from the studio's expierence in generating highly successful iPhone games including the highly popular Words / Chess with Friends series. Here is the session description from the GDC Europe website:
Publishers and developers are constantly looking for ways to solve the biggest issue with creating games for iPhone, discovery. If people don't know about your app and can't find it, it's impossible to make money in the market. The participants of this session will discuss what you need to do to have success in today's iPhone market. From the effectiveness of advertising, to code giveaways and promotions, if you're creating a game for iPhone, this session will better prepare you for the task of marketing your game.
https://www.cmpevents.com/GDCE10/a.asp?option=G&V=3&id=642877
Paul Bettner responds to Ian Fischers open letter via Joystiq
The debate continues between Paul Bettner and Ian Fischer as Joystiq have managed to press a response from Paul in regards to Ian's recent open letter where he shed light on some flaws in Paul's speech including falsifying his position as a manager who had some oversight into the way the studio was run and his title a "Creative Director" of which there was no position at Ensemble.
One important point to highlight in the response is that Paul does believe Ensemble was a high quality studio that it was focused on delivering excellent games, and the studio did with each game selling millions of copies:
In my opinion, Ensemble was one of the greatest game developers in the world. I loved Ensemble. I owe so much to the friends I was privileged to work with there for so many years. I am extremely proud of what we accomplished together and I said so in my talk. Our shipped titles and their legacy in millions of sales and numerous awards are an undeniable testament to Ensemble's industry-leading focus on quality and fun.
Here is the full response:
"Ian and I did work together for over a decade. I value our relationship and I appreciate his letter. At Ensemble there were times where our individual philosophies on game development led us to different perspectives on how things should be run, as is evident in his response. When I read Ian's open letter, it seemed to me that he was actually supporting many of the points I made in my talk (the usage of crunch, for example), even though we obviously disagree on how and why these factors contributed to Ensemble's demise.
That said, there is a message that I tried to convey in my rant that has still not gotten enough coverage:
Ian points out:
'The truth of the matter is, Ensemble Studios, while certainly fond of numerous inefficient development practices, was no costlier or less efficient than any other developer of our caliber during this period of operation… yes, sometimes after we had steered hard left into the weeds, we needed to work long hours to get the car back on the road.'
This is the fact that is striking to me: Even at one of the highest caliber game development studios in the world, we still utilized these 'numerous inefficient development practices,' including the use of regular, recurring unpaid overtime. Yes we were way better about this than some. We scheduled it in advance. We catered meals and had family nights when spouses and children would come to visit their busy loved ones. We viewed crunch as a management failure.
But we still did it. On a regular basis.
I hope that my rant shines a light on the quality of life issues that were present even at one of this industry's greatest studios. I don't think we should accept these practices as a necessary evil of game development. I think we can do better. I can do better. This is a call to action: our industry-wide reliance on mandatory unpaid overtime needs to stop."
I hope that now as independent studios groups like Robot, Bonfire, Windstorm, NewToy and Fuzzycube can operate with much less crunching – or in NewToy's case, where lead by Paul Better, no crunching at all.
Source: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/18/ex-ensemble-studios-lead-designer-responds-to-bettner-rant/
Ian Fischer responds to Paul Bettner in open letter
Ian Fischer ex Lead Designer at Ensemble Studios and now working in the same role at Robot Entertainment has responded to Paul Bettners rant at the GDC where Paul claimed the studio was expensive, in efficient with low staff morale. As I discussed before these are only one mans views and do not reflect the whole studio. Many ES employees were very happy with the management of ES and followed ex ES leaders such as Tony Goodman into Robot Entertainment and David Rippy into Bonfire Studios. If staff wernt happy they simply would not have formed these new studios.
However, Ian Fischer has taken the time to respond to each of Paul Bettners points at the GDC in an open letter on his personal blog. You can read the whole letter below however I recommend checking out the full posting on Ian's website for comments.
An open letter to Paul Bettner
You and I worked together at Ensemble Studios for more than a decade. I respect your right to your own opinion and your right to state it. However, I take issue with the manner you have decided to speak about your displeasure with "crunch culture" at the 2010 GDC.
In several email exchanges, you seem to indicate that your comments are being taken out of context but you need only visit any of the summaries regarding your talk to see the message you have given people:
Escapist – Ensemble Studio Member Blames Crunch For Failure
Eurogamer – Crunch Culture Killed Ensemble Studios
Edge – Crunch Brought Down Ensemble
Industry Gamers - Halo Wars Developer Talks About How 'Crunch' Destroyed Ensemble
Devlop Online – Crunch Culture Killed Ensemble
Joystiq - Recently laid-off devs rant about being recently laid off
You have given people the impression that Ensemble was inefficient and expensive.
It is true that each of our games cost more to make than the last. This was not unique to Ensemble and had nothing to do with a "crunch culture". Between Age of Empires in 1997 and Halo Wars in 2009, game development budgets, team sizes, and schedules increased across the board. This was primarily fueled by the maturation of 3D and publishers adopting portfolio strategies focused on big-ticket "blockbuster" games.
Ensemble danced to this tune and shipped five major titles (each of which gained membership into the million+ club) and four expansion packs (five if you count the one developed by Big Huge Games) during this period. I invite you to compare that to our peers — take a look at the number of games put out by Valve or Blizzard or Epic during the same time and speak with the people we know at these studios about their budgets and teams. The truth of the matter is, Ensemble Studios, while certainly fond of numerous inefficient development practices, was no costlier or less efficient than any other developer of our caliber during this period of operation.
You have given people the impression that Ensemble burned out our best people.
Your comments include statements regarding chasing people out of the industry, destroying "precious artists", wrecking families, and causing people to "sacrifice their youth".
Ensemble enjoyed a reputation as a place you didn't leave. Our retention rates, including people who did not exit the company voluntarily, were in the vicinity of 90%. You will find few developers who can claim this at all and you will find none amongst the ones who actually "wreck families" or ask people to "sacrifice their youth".
Of the people who were once in the studio, the vast majority are still in the games business. Of the people who worked at other developers prior to Ensemble, the most common complaint was that the studio was too lax, that we allowed our people too much freedom and did not hammer individuals for playing games or not being at their desks by the official start of the workday. There were certainly people at Ensemble who did not like working long hours for extended periods (all of them, in fact) but your implication that it was a place that used people up is wholly untrue and contrary to all evidence.
You have given people the impression that Ensemble accepted crunch.
The leadership of Ensemble Studios saw crunch as a failure. While it was certainly used, it was never "institutionalized" or accepted. Tony Goodman, Harter Ryan, Chris Rippy, and David Pottinger, in particular, worked to eliminate or at least reduce it constantly and we improved this with each game.
Prior to Halo Wars, which required what it did for the circumstances surrounding the closure of the studio, we had crunches that were scheduled in advance, typically for two weeks in duration, with extra hours (usually 10 until 10) four days a week, normal Fridays and weekends off, with chefs who came in to cook meals for the team twice a day, usually a family night during one of the weeks, with a month or so of extra paid vacation after a game shipped. That was a far cry from the do-or-die conditions during Age of Empires and the leadership was still upset about having to ask people to do it.
You have given people the impression that the closure of Ensemble was somehow a "fiscally responsible decision" and that Ensemble is to blame for the closure.
Every single game Ensemble Studios made, across more than a decade, paid for it's development and made a profit. Microsoft had it's reasons for closing the studio but to imply that it was because we cost too much is fiction. ES enjoyed a long relationship with Microsoft (as many ex-Studios people now at Robot or Bonfire still do), first as a partner and then as part of the corporation after 2001 – if, at any point, the leadership in Redmond wanted to reduce the cost of making games in Dallas, they could have done so with a phone call.
You have given people the impression that you speak with authority.
By apologising for your inactions "as a manager", you suggest that you were a manager and therefore imply that you have some insight into the operation of the studio or into the justifications for our closing. You were never a member of the management team at Ensemble Studios. For that matter, neither you, nor anyone else, was "Creative Director" at our studio. You were in no way involved in any of the conversations between Ensemble's and Microsoft's leadership regarding the closure of the studio.
As I said, I respect your right to have and state your opinion. I would request that you not suggest or allow people to assume that you speak from a position that you did not hold.
Since we're on the topic of looking back on mistakes we made, I will leave you with this:
All of us knew what Ensemble was and we signed on for it willingly (including Microsoft, who purchased us in the middle of developing our third game with them and who knew what we were like). Of the "old timers", none of us wanted to work at a factory, beholden to a rigid schedule, cranking out mediocre games to keep the lights on and we did our best to attract like-minded individuals. We wanted the freedom to try things, to experiment, and to set our sights on unreasonable goals (an attitude very similar to the "65% of the impossible is better than 100% of the ordinary" espoused by Google).
We exercised that freedom and certainly valued it far more than efficiency. With that independence came the responsibility to actually get things done on occasion so, yes, sometimes after we had steered hard left into the weeds, we needed to work long hours to get the car back on the road.
If you want to find mistakes with what we did, I'd suggest that those trips into the weeds, looking for new territory, with a partner who wasn't fond of being there, was more our error. Had we decided to crank out RTS after RTS instead of chasing after the MMOs and FPSs and RPGs and RTS-differents we constantly had in prototype, I'm sure we would have been a more efficient studio that could have operated with zero crunch.
The vast majority of us didn't want to do this. I'm glad for that.
Ian M. Fischer
Certainly a very insightful response into the runnings of Ensemble Studios. Sadly its a shame that comments in this letter is unlikely to make it into gaming news websites and the reputation of Ensemble may well have been damaged with the recent press. I hope that fans of the studio can draw there own conclusions from the facts above.
See the full post on Ian's blog
Paul Bettner of NewToy says Ensemble demise due to company culture
News is spreading around that Paul Bettner an ex Ensemble programmer has had a bit of a "rant" at the GDC explaining that Ensemble Studios should not of blamed Microsoft for the studios closure and should instead look at failings with the company culture at Ensemble Studios. In what has proven to be such a shock read from an ex-Ensemble employee which certainly damages the excellent working environment Ensemble was credited for he says:
"The reality is that every single game we shipped took twice as long as we said it was going to take, and cost twice as much to make.
"Microsoft is a public company, they answer to their shareholders, and we were simply too expensive."
But wait, theres more:
"Ensemble had a company culture where everyone was a workaholic, developers worked late and slept at the office, and were addicted to the rush of success of the Age of Empires series.
I watched this happen and I did almost nothing to stop it. As an employee, and later as a manager, I didn't take a stand. I just kept hoping for that next high"
"This is a horrible vicious cycle. We burn out all our best people. We destroy these precious artists, we wreck their families and we sacrifice their youth. So they leave, and they take all their experience with them."
Some pretty shocking comments there which resulted in huge applause from the GDC audience, perhaps with other developers agreeing that there is way too much pressure in the industry with these "crunching" hours.
This is the first time we have had an Ensemble Studios employee almost attack the way the company was managed but we must remember on the other end of the scale that alot of people stuck with Ensemble once the studio was told it would be closed down and ironically Dave and Paul Bettner were one of the first employees to leave and start NewToy before Halo Wars was completed.
These are one mans comments and do not reflect the thoughts of the whole studio. 45 employees followed Tony Goodman to start up Robot Entertainment so there must of been confidence in the highest management. Perhaps lessons have been learnt about crunching hours and the new Ensemble startups are paying closer attention to how staff are looked after and how studios are run to ensure talent does not leave whilst at the same time balancing budget and hitting milestones. Now with studios like Robot and Bonfire being fully independent there may be less pressure to meet publisher demands, hopefully.
Source: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/crunch-culture-killed-ensemble-studios
It should also be noted that Robot Entertainment sponsor the International Game Developers Association and therefore stands by the values and principles behind the IGDA "Quality of Life" white paper. If there were any issues at Ensemble these should now have been addressed with the management at Robot Entertainment. Robot Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Hudson comments on the IGDA website:
Robot Entertainment is proud to support the IGDA in its ongoing mission to make the game development community a better environment for all of us.
This comment is not related or a response to the Paul Bettner discussion and has been present on the IGDA website for quite some time prior.
Paul Bettner: Newtoy to become a "Nintendo of the iPhone"
NewToy's Paul Bettner an ex programmer at Ensemble Studios was one of the first to start up a new games company out of Ensemble's ashes. Paul is now talking to Gamasutra about the new start up company and how he in-visages the companies future. Paul hopes that NewToy can appeal to the unique iPhone market taking into account the platforms easy connectivity and user interaction. The Gamasutra article explains how well the "Chess with Friends" application has been doing since launch, although missing out on the Top 100 the game has had some excellent download numbers:
Chess With Friends came from that philosophy. The game got good support from Apple, which featured the game prominently on the App Store as Pick of the Week in March. The vote of confidence led to a nice jump in sales.
But it still didn't break the top 100 Apps on the sales ranking list on the App Store, meaning visibility for the game would be low. For iPhone developers, making the top 100 is a crucial requisite for having a successful game.
Bettner said he didn't pack up and go home. There is a life outside of the Top 100, and it involves sustained growth of a game's sales and good consumer retention, two things possessed by Chess With Friends and its Scrabble-style counterpart, Words With Friends, he said.
Combined, Chess and Words, which both have ad-supported free and paid versions, have been downloaded 500 million times so far. They draw 50,000 active users daily, and are tracking 200,000 for September, Bettner said. The ratio of free to paid versions is 5:1.
Check out the full article on Gamasutura.
As NewToy continue development on new and exciting applications such as the much awaited "World War Robot" with acclaimed artist Ashley Wood.
Good luck NewToy!
Dave Pottingers Lego mission is complete + NewToy launch new iPhone game "Words with Friends"
Kicking off today's ex Ensemble Studios members updates is Dave Pottinger who has updated his blog over on the Robot Entertainment with the final installment of the Lego Robot Logo design. With a bunch of new pictures and text discussing how the board came to be mounted proudly on the wall of Robot Entertainment can be found on the website.
Carrying the Logo
In case you were wondering from the last blog what the mini lego adventures were on each letter of the logo I can reveal from the blog that the list is as follows:
• Star Wars for the 'r'
• Indy for the first 'o'
• Medieval for the 'b' (hey, we did do Age2 after all!)
• Pirates for the second 'o'
• Batman for the 't'
And here's what they look like:
Mission Complete!
But of course all this wouldnt of been possible with out Mr "Lead Designer" Dave Pottinger and his family!
Standing proud with the family… away from the Bad Guys!
But thats not all!
Its been a little while but it looks like NewToy one of the iPhone development companies that formed out of Ensemble has released thier new game titled "Words with Friends" the game follows in the "With friends" series with NewToy's last game, "Chess with friends" proving to be a real hit on the Apple App Store. NewToy is lead by the Bettner Brothers of Ensemble Studios. You can download thier latest game right now from the App Store!
Be sure to read all about it on the New Toy website!


The Undergraduate Qualifying Program (UQP) prepares international students for undergraduate study in the arts, business, tourism and hospitality, accounting, information technology or engineering. It assists students to develop the skills necessary for success at the undergraduate level.
Students who successfully complete the Undergraduate Qualifying Program will meet the academic and English language requirements for the following undergraduate degrees: Diploma of Business, Associate Degree of Business, Bachelor of Business, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Business in Tourism and Hospitality Management, Bachelor of Information Technology, Bachelor of Digital Business, Diploma of Science, Bachelor of Arts or the Bachelor of Digital Media and Communications.
Students who successfully complete the UQP will be granted two units of credit towards these courses.
A specialised pathway into nursing and allied health (occupational therapy and podiatry only) degrees is available for students with an English language score comparable to Academic IELTS 6.5, with no band less than 6.0. Graduates of the UQP in this stream qualify for direct entry into the Bachelor of Nursing, Bachelor of Occupational Therapy and the Bachelor of Podiatry at Southern Cross University. No advanced standing is included in this pathway.
Please note: the nursing and allied health stream is only available in session 3 at Lismore campus.
See major areas of study below for information on when and where other streams are offered.
English Language Proficiency (General English + English for Academic Purposes) and two units from a selection of undergraduate degrees.
An education qualification recognised as equivalent to having successfully completed Australian Year 11; and, be a minimum of 18 years old at the start of the program.
Students must successfully complete both core units and one elective unit concurrently.
In this program, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) classes are held every weekday, Monday to Friday throughout the session. EDU10010 and elective award units are typically after the EAP classes in the same session.


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In 2003, NASA may launch either a Mars scientific orbiter mission or a large scientific rover which will land using an airbag cocoon, like that used on the successful 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission. The two concepts were selected from dozens of options that had been under study. NASA will make a decision on the options, including whether or not to proceed to launch, in early July.
Two teams, one centered at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., and the other at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., will conduct separate, intensive two-month studies to further define the concepts. In the studies, the teams also will evaluate risk, cost, and readiness for flight, allowing 36 months of development leading to a May 2003 launch date.
The reports will be submitted for review to Mars Program Director Scott Hubbard at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters, will make the final decision of which mission -- if any -- to launch in the 2003 opportunity. If selected, the cost of the 2003 mission will be about the same as the successful 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission (adjusted for inflation).
"Our budget will support only one of these two outstanding missions for the 2003 launch opportunity, and it will be a very tough decision to make," said Weiler. "Following this decision, later in the year we will have a more complete overall Mars exploration program to present to the American public which will represent the most exciting, most scientifically rich program of exploration we have ever undertaken of the planet Mars."
"These two mission concepts embody the requirements we have learned through the hard lessons of two recent Mars mission failures, and either one will extend the tremendous scientific successes we have had with the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Pathfinder," said Hubbard.
The Mars Surveyor Orbiter is a multi-instrument spacecraft similar in size to the currently operating Mars Global Surveyor. It is designed to recapture all the lost science capability of the Mars Climate Orbiter mission as well as to seek new evidence of water-related materials. The orbiter's mission will be to study the Martian atmosphere and trace the signs of ancient and modern water. Its instruments potentially will include a very high-resolution imaging system, a moderate-to-wide-angle multicolor camera, an atmospheric infrared sounder, a visible-to- near-infrared imaging spectrometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer, and possibly a magnetometer and laser altimeter. Telecommunications relay equipment that could be used to support Mars missions for 10 years also would be included.
The rover is a based on the Athena rover design, which already has been operated in field tests and previously was considered for the canceled 2001 lander mission. The concept being proposed for the 2003 mission involves packaging the 130- kilogram (286-pound) rover in a system similar to the 1997 Mars Pathfinder structure, which would be cushioned on landing by airbags. Unlike the 1997 mission, however, the four-petal, self- righting enclosure would serve only as a means to deliver the rover to the surface and not function as a science or support station.
After landing, the Mars Mobile Lander would serve as a self- contained mission, communicating directly with Earth or with an orbiting spacecraft band as the rover traverses the Martian terrain. The rover would be capable of traveling up to 100 meters (109 yard) a day, providing unprecedented measurements of the mineralogy and geochemistry of the Martian surface, particularly of rocks, using a newly developed suite of instruments optimized to search for clues about ancient water on Mars. The mobile surface-laboratory will be able to gain access to a broad diversity of rocks and fine-scale materials for the first time on the surface of Mars, in its search for evidence of water-related materials. The rover's mission would last for at least 30 days on the surface.
"We are opening up a new frontier on the red planet, and we can't afford to overlook anything," Weiler added. "We have to make sure we plan it well, provide our people with the tools they need, and do whatever it takes to ensure the best possible chances for success."


How long can I borrow a book from the Servite Library?
Students may borrow a book from the Library for 2 weeks. If you need more time, you may renew an item by bringing it to library, where they will renew it for you.


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Rodea Speed Run Contest! | NIS America, Inc.
Home / Blog / Rodea Speed Run Contest!
This #RodeaRace is a North American contest that will put the best speed runners to the test. Who will be the ultimate flier? Who's the coolest sky soldier? Check out the rest of this post and then click here to enter the #RodeaRace!
We thought it would be fun to see how fast or adventurously all you awesome doods were able to complete the first level of Rodea the Sky Soldier, and what better way than by having a contest? Make sure to tag all your comments about the contest with #RodeaRace to keep up with the conversation. We're hoping to hear and see lots of awesome stuff!
The #RodeaRace ends December 31th, 2015 11:59 PM EST. Voting for the People's Choice Winner will close January 15, 2016. Winners will be announced on January 18th, 2016.
Entries may be recorded and archived on Twitch, or directly uploaded to YouTube.
If NIS America has sufficient proof that the speed run was not recorded on a legitimate version of Rodea the Sky Soldier, that the integrity of the video was compromised by editing, or that the user intentially exploited a bug, the entry may be disqualified.
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As a teacher, I try to find ways to incorporate personal finance instruction into my lessons. But I don't just talk the talk. At home with my three children, I also take whatever opportunities I see to make an impression about sound money management.
Create a mindset of scarcity that comes with spending your own money rather than the mindset of abundance that comes with spending OPM (other peoples' money).
Teach them to manage slack, which is a period of relative wealth experienced, say, on payday or after an unexpected windfall like from a bonus or a gift.
Help them develop comparison shopping strategies by searching for goods online and learning how to use certain comparison shopping apps.
Hope they don't fail but if they do stick to our guns and not bail them out because we want them to experience the consequences of mismanaging money.
Our exercise proved a wonderful success. With the prospect of keeping more money for themselves, each child looked for ways to cut costs and do without. Our 9th grader shopped at discounts sites online and bought his new threads at an outlet mall. He got everything he needed—and stuck a cool $150 in his savings account, to be spent on social outings like football games and movies.
Our 4th grader met the challenge with an impressive inquiry. "Can I just save it all?" she asked. That gave us a chance to discuss wants and needs. We asked her how she expected to get along without pencils and folders. Ultimately, she bought the supplies she would need but said no thanks to new shoes. The ones she had still had plenty of wear.
Our 5th grader was a different story. He too wanted to do without certain necessities, which of course is not the answer. But we learned our own lesson by waiting too long to talk to him. Opening day was upon us. We were short on time and stores were short on supplies. So, he had to make do with whatever we could scrounge from around the house. It turned out we already had just about everything he would need.
Our happiest moment? Chloe, our 4th grader, said she wanted to use some her savings to take a friend to the movies. We have long tried to show our kids the value of being generous; it is a kind of spending that brings intrinsic rewards and rightfully comes from its own bucket, which she had funded by doing without those new shoes.


JOSE ALEJANDRO ROMERO is a Idaho Board Of Cosmetology - Cosmetologist licensed to practice in Idaho. The address on file for JOSE ALEJANDRO ROMERO is POCATELLO ID 83201. This licensed professional license is current. The license was granted 10/17/2008 and expired on 07/29/2017.
Are you familiar with JOSE ALEJANDRO ROMERO's work?


text:
import { graphqlReduce, propToState } from "./utils";
import {
  GET_DISCOVER_START,
  GET_DISCOVER_SUCCESS,
  GET_DISCOVER_ERROR,
} from '../constants';

export default function reduce(state = {}, action) {

  switch (action.type) {

    case GET_DISCOVER_START:
    case GET_DISCOVER_SUCCESS:
    case GET_DISCOVER_ERROR:
      return graphqlReduce(
        state, action,
        {
          start: () => {
            return {
              ...state,
              loadingDiscover: !state.prevResultCount || state.prevResultCount > 0
            };
          },
          success: () => {
            const { discover, variables: { reset } } = action.payload;
            const stateDiscover = (state.discover && !reset) ? state.discover : { discoveries: [] };
            for (let i = 0; i < discover.discoveries.length; i++) {
              stateDiscover.discoveries.push(discover.discoveries[i]);
            }

            return {
              discover: stateDiscover,
              localityOffset: discover.localityOffset,
              countryOffset: discover.countryOffset,
              tagOffset: discover.tagOffset,
              tripOffset: discover.tripOffset,
              userOffset: discover.userOffset,
              offset: stateDiscover.discoveries.length,
              loadingDiscover: false,
              prevResultCount: discover.discoveries.length,
              discoverUpdated: new Date()
            };
          },
          error: () => ({
            discover: null,
            loadingDiscover: false
          })
        },
        GET_DISCOVER_START,
        GET_DISCOVER_SUCCESS,
        GET_DISCOVER_ERROR
      );

  }

  return propToState(action, 'discover', { ...state });

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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text:
Keely Hutton
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Samuel lived by three rules.
Never doubt Kony.
Stay alert.
And trust no one.
He didn't just follow the rules. He lived by them. He lived because of them.
Sitting in the shade on the low porch of a sprawling compound, he couldn't recall the traitorous thought that broke his first rule, but proof of the betrayal hid beneath the bloody bandage wrapped around his thigh. His captors promised the medicine was working, but he could feel the angry swelling beneath the stained wrapping covering the bullet wound where the infection had taken hold.
Samuel understood infection. In his eleven years, he had seen it burrow deep into the bodies of other children. Their feet. Their legs. Their chests. Their arms. Spreading like brush fire until it consumed them.
He picked at the frayed edge of his bandage and struggled to keep his thoughts from evaporating in the fog of painkillers dulling his senses. The drugs ate away at his second rule. He'd spent the last week swaying between fitful sleep and blurry consciousness, unable to form a clear understanding of where he was or what his captors wanted.
A peal of laughter nudged Samuel's attention away from his wound. His head lolled to the side as he watched a faded and worn soccer ball arc through the cloudless Ugandan sky before dropping into the midst of a group of excited children. It bounced off the forehead of the tallest, a teenage boy with legs like the gray crested crane, long and knobby-kneed. He sent it soaring across the dirt field to the waiting chest of a teammate. The huddle of children squealed with delight and scrambled after the ball, kicking up clouds of red dust with their bare feet.
Hard as he tried, Samuel couldn't fit together the images of the laughing children and the razor-wire fence trapping them within its boundaries. His eyes drooped closed from the effort as another numbing current of painkiller pulled him under. Splinters of a memory prickled beneath Samuel's muddied thoughts, and the joyful laughter on the field dissolved into terrified screams.
A sudden attack. Samuel and other panicked rebels grabbing their weapons. Government soldiers charging, guns raised. Explosions ripping into the earth, silencing screams and scattering bodies. A confusion of commands roaring above the smoke.
Bullets firing. Rebels falling. A terrible sharp pain in his leg. Blood gushing from the bullet wound. Samuel begging for help. Crying out for his mama.
Hands reaching for him. Taking his rifle. Taking his panga. Taking his bullets.
Leaving him wounded. Leaving him helpless. Leaving him.
"A powerful home is a place where people work hard," Ricky's mother said, handing him a basket. "You want us to have a powerful home, don't you?"
Ricky placed his school uniform in the basket and set it by the door. "Yes, but I promised I'd help my friends gather wood for the bonfire tonight."
"And you'll keep your promise," she said, "after you fetch me some cassava."
Ricky groaned. During the wet season, the sweet-potato tubers pushed deep into the earth, making them difficult to dig up in the dry season when the ground hardened. "How many do you need?" he asked.
"Fourteen. The whole village is gathering for the wangoo. I want to make sure I prepare enough."
Ricky groaned louder. "Can't Patrick do it? My friends are waiting."
"It won't kill them to wait a bit. Patrick is helping your father close up the school," she said, slicing a mango into bite-sized chunks. "And then he's promised to fix the radio for tonight, so I need your help preparing dinner."
While she wasn't looking, Ricky grabbed two chunks and popped them into his mouth. "What about the girls?" he asked, reaching for more. "Shouldn't they be helping?"
She swatted his hand away. "They are already outside gathering simsim."
Ricky's mouth watered at the thought of the sesame-and-honey treat he hoped his mother would make from the seeds his sisters were collecting. "Are you making candy?"
She smiled. "I thought it would be a nice treat to celebrate the end of another successful school year. Your father tells me you did well in your studies."
Ricky dug his big toe into the dirt floor. "Not as well as Patrick," he mumbled.
His mother looked up from her cutting. "Your brother has two more years of schooling than you. When you're fifteen, you'll be just as smart."
"When I'm fifteen, Patrick'll still be two years older and smarter than me."
She turned to fetch another mango. "Stop worrying about your brother's grades. Just worry about your own."
Ricky crammed another handful of fruit in his mouth before she returned to the table. He stopped chewing when she looked at him with one eyebrow raised and grabbed his swollen cheeks with her sticky fingers.
"And worry about what I am going to do to you if you don't stop eating my mango, Anywar."
Pulpy bits squished between Ricky's teeth as he smiled at her use of his Acholi name, a name reserved for special occasions or when he was trying her patience. "Sorry, Mama."
"You will be sorry if you don't get me some cassava." She delivered a playful swat to his backside. "Now, go! I have much to prepare before we leave for dinner."
Ricky swiped another chunk of mango and ran out the door.
As he made his way into the fields surrounding the family homestead, he tossed his hand hoe in the air. It somersaulted twice in the crisp blue sky before falling toward his waiting basket, where it bounced off the edge and landed in his father's beloved flower garden. Ricky stepped into the garden, and the familiar scent of night roses filled his lungs. A contented smile parted his lips, allowing a sigh to escape as he closed his eyes and breathed in his home.
The sprawling homestead had been in Ricky's family for generations. Tilled soil rolled in gentle waves with row upon row of maize, cassava, millet, simsim, and cotton, which grew in abundance on either side of the compound. A single-story, tin-roofed farmhouse and two thatch-roofed huts huddled together at the center of the property. Beyond the crops, herds of cattle dotted the fields that stretched out to the wild bush.
"Ricky!" his mother yelled. "Get me another mango to replace the one you've eaten!"
"Yes, Mama!"
Ricky jogged over to the tree he'd planted with his brother when he was nine and plucked two mangoes from its branches. Placing them in his basket, he headed down the rutted paths of the cassava field.
Once Ricky had delivered the mangoes and sweet potatoes, he sprinted to the village. Now that school was out for the holiday, the promise of long days spent fishing and hunting with his brother and friends lightened each step as he raced between huts. Nearing the fire pit, he dodged groups of mothers balancing large bowls of food on their heads and swaddled babies on their backs. The infants cooed and laughed from the security of their colorful obenos as Ricky ran past.
He found Thomas, Andrew, and John gathering small branches and dry twigs for the evening fire.
"We're hunting tomorrow, right?" Thomas asked, pulling on a tree branch.
"I don't know," Ricky said. "I have to ask my mother first."
Thomas yanked the branch free and tossed it to Ricky. "C'mon, boy. We're just hunting rats."
Thomas lived to hunt. At seventeen, he was the oldest of their group and Patrick's best friend. He was fearless, and Ricky loved to listen to him tell tales of his latest adventure in the bush. Unlike the elders of the village, who used only their voices to weave tales at the wangoo each night, Thomas told a story with his whole body. He stalked around the fire, leaping high above the flames and pouncing at children as he reenacted a lioness hunting an impala.
"What's your mama afraid is going to happen?" Thomas asked, breaking off another dead branch. "Does she think a rat will nibble your toes?"
"No. She thinks you take too many chances."
Thomas's mouth fell open in pretend shock. "Me? Put you in danger? When have I ever done that?"
Ricky, Andrew, and John stopped their work and laughed at him.
"What?" Thomas asked.
"Have you forgotten about the python?" Ricky asked. "Because my mother hasn't."
Thomas waved the question away. "You were never in any real danger. I knew what I was doing."
Andrew snorted. "No, you didn't. You were spearing fish. The python just swam in your way."
"I'll spear you if you don't shut up," Thomas said, chucking a branch at Andrew's head.
Andrew ducked away. At thirteen, Ricky's classmate barely passed for eleven, but what Andrew lacked in size, he made up for in nerve and speed. Before Thomas could grab another branch, Andrew retaliated with a clump of dirt. It exploded on Thomas's back, leaving behind a dusty scorch mark.
"Just wait until we get to the well tonight," Thomas said, shooting Ricky a mischievous smile. "We still owe you for yesterday."
"I think there's still a bit of dirt in your hair," Andrew said, throwing another clump at Thomas. "You'll want to wash carefully tonight."
Thomas jumped to the left, and the dirt hit John's backside.
Andrew erupted in another fit of laughter. "Beat you to the well!" he said, breaking into a sprint.
Thomas threw down his kindling. "Oh, I'll beat you, all right!"
"You've got to catch me first," Andrew yelled, darting between two women carrying pots of water and peeled cassava to the fire to be boiled for the communal dinner.
Thomas skidded to a stop before colliding with the women, who scolded him for not being more careful. Mumbling a quick apology, he skirted around them and continued his pursuit of Andrew.
With a shake of his head, John piled an armful of kindling in the fire pit and then dusted off the back of his shorts.
At fourteen, Thomas's younger brother was the peacemaker of their group, a role he played to perfection.
"I'd better get to the well and make sure Thomas doesn't kill Andrew," John said, picking up his brother's dropped kindling. "Are you coming?"
"I have to get Patrick first."
"Where is he, anyway? I thought he was going to help us with the fire."
"He had to do something for my father." Ricky tossed his last handful of twigs on the wangoo. "I'll get him and meet you at the well."
Ricky found Patrick in the thatch-roofed hut they shared, hunched over their family radio, the village's only receiver and its one connection to the world beyond its borders. He crossed the small room to grab his bathing bucket and a hollow gourd used for fetching water from the well, careful not to step on the pieces of villagers' disassembled tools, watches, and clocks littering the dirt floor. "It's time to get washed up for dinner," he said.
His brother looked up from the radio. "I need to finish this. Baba's counting on me having it fixed by dinner. It's been two weeks without any news from Kampala. People are getting nervous."
Ricky picked up a large block of dry soap from beside his bucket and rubbed it over his head until flakes of soap clung to his hair. "Do you think you can do it?" he asked, replacing the soap, which they weren't allowed to take to the well.
"Yes," Patrick said, turning his attention back to the radio.
"Mama and the girls are making a special meal to celebrate the school year ending. If we're late, we'll miss all the good food." Ricky stared down at the pieces of the radio still lying before Patrick. "How much longer is it going to take?"
"Not long. I think I've finally figured out what's wrong." He pointed to a small pair of tweezers lying near Ricky's feet. "Hand me those."
Ricky tossed him the tweezers. "Do you want me to wait with you?"
"No, you go ahead," Patrick said, not looking up from his work. "I'll meet you there soon."
When Ricky arrived at the well, he found dozens of children from his own and neighboring villages already waiting in line with their bathing buckets and gourds, but Thomas, Andrew, and John were not among them. One at a time, the children knelt down beside the small rectangular hole dug deep into the ground several meters from the watering hole used by local livestock. The children dipped their gourds in the clouded water and then poured the water into their bathing buckets. When the buckets were full, they carried them behind the tall grass or bushes surrounding the well for some privacy as they washed. As Ricky neared the well, he scanned the area to make certain his friends weren't hiding nearby, waiting to ambush him with clumps of dirt. When he was convinced they weren't, he got in line.
While he waited, he spotted Daniel, a young boy from his sister Margaret's class, approaching a group of teenagers chatting about their plans for school break.
"May I use one of your buckets?" Daniel asked in a small voice.
"Don't you have your own?" a girl asked.
Casting his eyes to the ground, Daniel shook his head.
Vincent, the tallest boy in the group, stepped forward. He didn't live in Ricky's village, but every kid in the region knew of his cruelty.
"You can use mine," he said, holding out his bucket, but when Daniel moved to take it, Vincent lifted the bucket higher. "If you can reach it," he added, smirking at his friends.
Daniel glanced around at the boys and girls, who were watching with amused interest, and his head sank in shame.
"Jump for it," Vincent said. "Your baba will have your hide if you go home smelling like you do. What were you harvesting today? Manure?"
Daniel jumped. His fingers grazed the bottom of the bucket, but Vincent lifted it higher. "You're going to have to do better than that."
Ricky's stomach burned with anger as the boy crouched lower, preparing to jump again. He'd witnessed Vincent's bullying before, and when he was younger, he'd been the target of it on more than one occasion. He stepped from the line and held out his bathing bucket. "You can borrow mine, Daniel."
Daniel wiped away his tears and reached for the bucket, but Vincent snatched it from Ricky's hand and pushed Ricky to the ground. A sharp breath burst from Ricky's mouth and gravel tore into his palms as he fell back on the dirt path.
"Wait your turn with the other babies," Vincent said. He then turned again to Daniel. "Now you have two buckets to jump for."
Tears slid down Daniel's round cheeks.
Ignoring the sting of cuts on his hands, Ricky pushed himself up from the ground. "Leave him alone."
Vincent laughed and shoved him again. Ricky stumbled back, but managed to stay on his feet. He drew in a shaky breath.
"Aw, what's the matter?" Vincent taunted. "Did I hurt your feelings, baby?"
Ricky felt children staring at him from all sides. The teens behind Vincent laughed and jeered.
"I think I see a tear!"
"Does the baby need his mama?"
The rest of the kids watched in silence. Humiliation and anger simmered behind Ricky's eyes, and his hands trembled in fear. He balled them into fists, hoping no one noticed.
"I'm not a baby." His voice wasn't as loud or strong as he'd hoped, but it was steady.
Vincent leaned in closer. "What was that, baby?"
"I'm not a baby," Ricky repeated, his voice gaining strength from his anger.
Vincent spread his arms wide and splayed his fingers in invitation. "Then what are you waiting for?"
Lifting his chin, Ricky stepped forward and tensed in anticipation of the first strike. Vincent laughed and moved to shove Ricky again, but Patrick stepped between them.
"I'm not a baby," Ricky's brother said, staring down the bully. "Why don't you try pushing me?"
Vincent stepped back at the threatening tone in Patrick's voice.
"Well," Patrick said, "what are you waiting for?"
Vincent glanced back at his friends, but they'd all moved away, so he dropped Ricky's bucket at Patrick's feet. "You're not worth it." Then, turning away, he stalked back toward his village.
With the excitement over, the children returned to the task of bathing.
"Thank you," Daniel sniffed, wiping the back of his hand under his nose.
Ricky gave him his bucket, and Daniel joined the children at the well.
"You all right?" Patrick asked when they were alone.
"Yes," Ricky said, wiping his hands against his thighs to clean the blood and calm the trembling. "Every night it's a new kid. You'd think he'd get bored."
"It makes him feel big."
"He is big. He's almost as tall as Baba."
"He may be big, but he obviously doesn't feel big." Patrick took Ricky's hands in his and flipped them over to inspect the cuts. With the same careful precision he used when fixing the villagers' broken possessions, he picked bits of gravel from the deeper scrapes on Ricky's palms. "He thinks acting like a jerk will make him powerful and earn him respect."
"No one respects Vincent," Ricky mumbled. "No one even likes him."
Patrick extracted the last piece of gravel from his brother's palms. "True, but they fear him."
"Not you. Did you see his face when you told him to try and push you? I thought he was going to have to take another bath."
The brothers laughed. As they neared the well, a clean and smiling Daniel handed Ricky his bucket before running back to their village.
"Vincent only picks fights when he knows it's a sure win for him," Patrick said, kneeling down to scoop up a gourdful of water from the well.
"Which is why he was picking one with me," Ricky said, holding the bathing bucket for Patrick to fill.
After several scoops, the bucket sloshed with water, and the brothers walked behind a bush to bathe. Standing on a flat rock, Patrick cupped water in his hands and poured it over his body before dousing his head. "I don't know. I think you surprised him. He's not used to kids standing up to him."
"I'm not a kid," Ricky said, rubbing water into his hair until the soap flakes blossomed into suds, tickling his scalp.
Patrick took another handful of water to rinse the soap from his hair and body. "You know what I mean."
Suds still clinging to his hair and face, Ricky stood as straight and tall as possible. With a long inhalation, he pulled back his bony shoulders and pushed out his chest. "I'm almost as big as you."
Patrick laughed as he stepped off the rock and picked up the gourd. "You sure you didn't hit your head when you fell?"
"I am," Ricky argued as his brother started on the path for home. "Someday I'll be bigger and you'll be my little big brother!"
Dumping the remaining water over his head, he grabbed the empty bucket and hurried to catch up for the twenty-minute walk back to the farm.
Text copyright © 2017 Keely Hutton


text:
Category: email
MailShot Update 8.5: Attack Of The Clones*
The new version of MailShot and MailShot Pro addresses something only discovered recently, which is that some providers do not accept any email with an address repeated. Error messages from the providers never really explained the problem, and it was only detective work by a user which revealed it.
This could happen if, for example, a couple use the same email address with different names.
Mailshot already takes steps to prevent you adding an email address again, but there was a way you could add them both at once using the Contact Checklist.
The new update prevents you adding the same address in this way, and scans your groups to fix any cases where this has already happened.
* Yes, this is a Star Wars reference
Author Soluble AppsPosted on December 5, 2019 January 5, 2020 Categories App Store, email, iPad, iPhone, MailShot1 Comment on MailShot Update 8.5: Attack Of The Clones*
Do more with MailShot
An update is being released for MailShot users this week, containing a number of new features to make life easier for our users. Here is a little about them, and how you might make use of them.
Place the group's name in the subject line
Say your golf group is called "St. Margarets U20's" that name will be placed in the subject line of any email sent to the group, so your contacts can see what the email concerns (you can still edit the title further, if you wish).
Enable "Group Name", in Settings > Mailshot.
Add a text string at the bottom of each group email.
This text will be added above the signature line on every email you send through MailShot. This is useful to add something like "unsubscribe" instructions, or anything else you don't want to include in your personal email signature.
Enter the text to use in "Text", in Settings > Mailshot. To ask the app to interpret this as HTML (for web links, or formatting) enable "Add as HTML" on Settings > Mailshot.
Place an address in To: when you place a group in Bcc:.
Mailshot can automatically place your own address in the To line of Bcc emails, so it is not left blank (which causes "Undisclosed Recipients" to appear on some email readers.)
Enter your address in "To:" on Settings > Mailshot.
You can also omit contact names (With a change coming in the following update, this will allow you to also forward email from Outlook). And you can change which character is used between addresses, and to surround email addresses, and whether or not to include a carriage return when copying to clipboard. These tweaks are mainly for rare compatibility cases.
I hope you find these new features useful.
Author Soluble AppsPosted on May 25, 2018 May 25, 2018 Categories App Store, email, MailShot, SolubleLeave a comment on Do more with MailShot
FAQ Email Composer 2.0 released
FAQ Email composer easily creates customer support emails for iPhone and iPad. Available now on the App Store.
We are proud to announce the release of version 2.0 of "FAQ Email Composer", our unique app that helps you to easily create the perfect email.
The update provides a massive graphical refresh, with a much cleaner layout, and full compatibility with iOS 8.3. it also adds support for the larger screens of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus.
FAQ is ideal if you handle customer support, or provide information to a group of students, parents, sports teams. It works by holding all the blocks of text you may want to use to open and close emails and answer questions. Just select a couple of the blocks with checkmarks, and the email is created for you.
The new app is also available in a Markdown-optimised version, "FAQ: Markdown Email Composer", now updated to feature a shortcut bar above the keyboard, for entering Markdown more quickly.
FAQ is an undiscovered gem, that always gets fantastic reviews from those who have tried it.
FAQ Email Composer works with iPhone 6+, 6, 5S, 5c, 5, 4s and 4, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini, running iOS 7.0 and above, and is available now on the App Store.
"FAQ Markdown Email Composer" works with iPhone 6+, 6, 5S, 5c, 5, 4s and 4, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini, running iOS 7.0 and above, and is available now on the App Store .
Author Soluble AppsPosted on April 9, 2015 July 10, 2015 Categories App Store, email, FAQTags AppStore, clipboard manager, Customer support, Email, faq, iPad, iPhone, markdownLeave a comment on FAQ Email Composer 2.0 released
MailShot 3.7 Released
Today we released a new version of our popular MailShot Pro and MailShot apps on the App Store.
This update:
Fixes a rare issue, reported by around 20 of our 250,000 users, which identified group names as being a valid email address incorrectly.
Fixes the "Share" button pop-up on iPads (broken by changes Apple introduced in iOS 8.1.)
Adds a preview video for the App Store.
You can view the new video here, too:
As always, if you have any questions or issues you can usually find the answers in our User Guide or on the Support page.
If you enjoy using MailShot, it is always really appreciated if you could write or update a review on the App Store, as that helps others find out about the app. If you need any further assistance, please email us from the "Support" button on the title page of the app, and we will do our best to help.
MailShot Pro works with iPhone 6+, 6, 5S, 5c, 5, 4s, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini, and is available now on the App Store.
MailShot works with iPhone 6+, 6, 5S, 5c, 5, 4s, iPod touch, iPad and iPad mini, and is available now on the App Store as a free download that can create up to 3 groups with up to 5 contacts per group. An in-app purchase removes those restrictions. No recurring subscription is necessary.
Author Soluble AppsPosted on December 9, 2014 February 6, 2015 Categories App Store, email, iPad, iPhone, Site MenuLeave a comment on MailShot 3.7 Released
Mailshot 3.5- Bigger and better!
We have just released updates for our popular MailShot Pro and MailShot group email apps on the App Store.
The updates include:
NEW Optimisations for iOS 8, including 64 bit support.
NEW Support for the larger screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus.
NEW List or Print a group (see below)
NEW Case-insensitive comparison of email addresses- (i.e. "support@email.com" is now regarded as the same as "Support@email.com")
NEW Prevent users creating blank groups, with no members
NEW Help message about the checklist feature, if a user adds more than 5 addresses by hand at once.
NEW Help message if user uses an email address as a group name.
FIX A rare bug if you exit the rename screen for a group without changing anything.
Occasionally we get asked for a way to send or print a list of people in a group, so we have added this (as an experimental feature.) Enabling a switch marked "Email Sharing Button" on the MailShot page in Settings, adds a share button to the menu bar of the group members page. Tapping that button creates an email containing the names and addresses of your group. You can then easily send, print, or copy and paste it.
The release was delayed a few weeks while we struggled to identify an issue introduced by iOS 8 that we now know only affects users using certain non-english characters in contact names, on devices set to non-english languages. We worked around the problem, but we see that Apple have also now fixed their bug with iOS 8.1.
We hope you enjoy the update. As always, you can find help on the Support page and in the User Guide. I that doesn't solve your problem, please drop us a line from the Support button on the title page of the app if you have any problems and we will be happy to help.
Author Soluble AppsPosted on October 30, 2014 October 30, 2014 Categories App Store, email, iPad, iPhone, Site MenuTags App Store, Group, group email, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Site MenuLeave a comment on Mailshot 3.5- Bigger and better!
MailShot Celebrates A Milestone With A New Update
To celebrate gaining over a quarter of a million users for our MailShot apps, we are proud to announce a new update to version 3.2 of MailShot Pro and MailShot, bringing enhancements for iOS7 and a new Automatic Sort feature.
To all those of you who have rated and reviewed the app, or spread the word to others about it. Thank you so much, we love you all, and if you find MailShot useful, we would really appreciate it if you could update your rating or review, so they can more easily be seen by people searching on the App Store.
UPDATE: An issue with restoring upgrade status in the new release, and a less-critical issue with sorting, were both fixed by a rapid update, 2 days later. Please ensure you have the latest version- 3.2.4
Here's what has changed with this update…
The title page, icon and graphics have now been updated for iOS7, bringing a fresh, clean look to the app.
Group Naming
In the previous versions, email sent from the first person in a MailShot group might appear to have been sent from the group in iOS7 Mail.
This is now solved in the update. After updating the app, just tap the "UPDATE" button on each group.
Automatic Sort
We have now added an Automatic Sort feature, which sorts your group whenever you add a contact. This feature is enabled on the "MailShot" page of the "Settings" app.
We added this feature because we were surprised how many users contacted us after we moved the sort button in a previous update.
Thanks again. As usual you can find help in the User Guide and on our Support Page, should you need any further assistance, please drop us a line from the 'Support' button in the app itself, as that will tell us a little about how your device is configured, which will enable us to help you more efficiently.
Author Soluble AppsPosted on December 12, 2013 January 13, 2014 Categories App Store, email, iPad, iPhone, Site Menu, SupportLeave a comment on MailShot Celebrates A Milestone With A New Update
MailShot 3.0 Brings A Fresh New Look.
We are delighted to announce the release of MailShot Pro 3 and MailShot 3, which brings a fresh new lick of paint and some exciting features that our users have asked for to the world-beating Group Email app, now used by over 230,000 people.
As usual, this will be a free update for our existing users.
We now have a new cleaner, flatter look, designed to fit with iOS7 (although you don't require iOS7 to run it.)
A fantastic new feature is the ability to rapidly add a list of contacts, by pasting a string of addresses and contacts into the app.
You can read more about how to use this feature here in the User Guide, and you can also find a number of helpful hints and tips on how to extract email addresses as strings from received email, spreadsheets etc. here on our Support Page.
You can now easily duplicate a group. Tap "Edit" on the page where your groups are listed, then use the icons that appear on the right to drag a group onto the red bar at the bottom of the list to duplicate it.
And there are a couple of other changes that it may be useful for our existing users to know about…
Context sensitive buttons. To simplify things for new users, buttons for selecting and deselecting multiple contacts, and entering edit mode, are now only shown when relevant. Note that the automatic "sort" function IS still available, just tap the the "Edit" button on the contacts page to access it.
Manually-added contacts are no longer highlighted in red. This had obviously been confusing people, as we received a number of support questions about it. Now a contact will only appear in red if it was originally added from your address book, but is no longer found there.
A new search bar on the contact checklist lets you search on first name or email address, and only shows matching contacts. (we will add a search on company name in the next update, after requests)
The size of each group is displayed more simply on the groups page. It now shows just the size of the group, and will only show two numbers (such as "14 of 16") when some members of a group are deselected.
There were also a number of other improvements:
• More tutorial information links within the app.
• Improved diagnostic information in the support request email.
• New share options to tell your Twitter and Facebook friends about the app.
• Updated to ARC and Modern Objective C standards.
We hope you enjoy the new features. Please let me know of any issues you spot, and we'll do our best to help. If you wish to get in touch, please use the "Support" button on the title page of MailShot. Our Support Page and User Guide are also there, as always, to help.
MailShot Pro works with iPhone 5s thru 3GS, iPod touch and iPad mini, and is available now on the App Store.
MailShot works with iPhone 5s thru 3GS, iPod touch and iPads and is available as a free download that creates up to 3 groups with up to 5 contacts per group. An in-app purchase removes all restrictions.
Author Soluble AppsPosted on September 12, 2013 October 15, 2013 Categories App Store, email, iPad, iPhone, Site Menu, SolubleTags App Store, Distribution List, group email, groups, iPad, iPhone, send, Site MenuLeave a comment on MailShot 3.0 Brings A Fresh New Look.


Often, it is hard to let God take his course, when an individual won't let go. I am the type of individual who likes to have complete control over my life. I believe this is human nature to do so. I however, am trying to let God in and let go, which is something very hard to do. There are many different situations that are surrounding me and I need to let him do what he is going to do. I need to trust that he has full control over the situation. For the next month, I am going to allow him to work in my life, learn to stay at home and relax and enjoy a months vacation... I am excited for Mackinaw and Disney World... These are much need excursions.... I plan on going on to camp this week and seeing my friends.. I have two big projects let for my two classes and then I am done! Praise the Lord!
and i hope things work out for you for the best.


Armstrong Meats are wholesale suppliers of beef, pork, lamb, poultry and game to the retail and catering trade.
A family run business supplying local produce to customers all over Ireland. We supply the needs of our customers from a purpose built factory in Castlereagh which conforms to full EEC standards, all delivered in our fleet of refrigerated vans.
Also supplying the public with the same local quality produce from our two retail shops COFFEYS HIGH CLASS BUTCHERS based on the Lisburn Road and Finaghy.


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Q: char comparison in EL expression I want to do something like this:
<c:if test="${somestring.charAt(0)=='1'}">
tadaaaam
</c:if>

when somestring is "11011" but it doesn't work. I can print it with
${somestring.charAt(0)}

and it is '1' but comparison above fails. The following comparison:
if(somestring.charAt(0)=='1')

worx (condition is true) in pure Java.
Any ideas?

A: EL seems to have trouble with char.  Here is the only way I could make it work.
<c:if test="${somestring.charAt(0)  == '1'.charAt(0)}" >
     tadaaaam
</c:if>

A: The behaviour is exactly as expected and as required by the EL specification. If you take version 2.2 of the EL specification, you need to look at section 1.8.2 which provides the rules for the '==' operator.
The operands in this case are somestring.charAt(0) which is a char and '1' which is a String (NOT a char) since Strings may be delimited by either single or double quotes in EL.
Given we have Character == String, then the sixth bullet of 1.8.2 applies and both are coerced to Long values. The character will be coerced to 49 (the ASCII code for 1) and 1 is coerced to 1. These aren't equal hence the result you see.
I appreciate that this isn't what you would expect but it is the behaviour that is required by the specification and is triggered by the fact that single quotes in EL delimit Strings not chars.

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