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Miscellaneous Sciences
Driverless Bus Hits the Streets in Finland
Thread: Driverless Bus Hits the Streets in Finland
Sunday, March 26th, 2017 #21
The Horned God
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Originally Posted by velvet
A lot of high-quality fotos are flying around for a place that allegedly cant be investigated
Photographs of dubious origin don't equal evidence.
Also Russia has been excluded from the investigation, while Ukraine was not.
Western satelite imagery and data stems from July 20, which is 3 days after the crash, while the Joint Investigation Team refused to even look at satelite data from Russian air controls from the actual day of the crash.
The Russian data didn't meet western standards so was useless to the investigators. It offered very late as well, on the eve of the reports publication in fact. A suspicious person might suspect it was tampered with or at least was an attempt at time wasting by the Russians.
The report is quite blown up with "information", but all relevant points and all those fine animations that are presented are all not actual data but "computer visualisations", visualising the guess work and the narrative of the west.
An expert opinion is valid in any court of law in the world. The official report represents the consensus opinions of an international team of experts, including some form Russia. It is good enough for Kremlin funded Russia Today, which almost everyone agrees is little more than Putins mouthpiece.Yet it's not good enough for you. Really, how strange?
Well, okay, they're that stupid that they confuse a 4 times larger, 2 times higher flying civil airplane with a smaller, lower flying bomber. These same stupid people are holding territory against Ukrainian/western forces for several years now. Okay.
If a plane is twice as high it's going to look half the size now isn't it? In the Heat of battle mistakes happen all the time. All.The.Time. I wouldn't be surprised it those guys shot down a few of their own planes as well, only it wasn't reported on.
Btw, these same stupid ppl ensured that the Dutch and the Joint Investigation Team could investigate the crash site in the first place.
They had no choice. If they refused to cooperate it would be tantamount to admitting guilt. Anyway you hardly think it was the numpties who fired the missile who were in charge of making the decision to cooperate with an international team of investigators do you? It was the higher ups of course. Most likely Putin himself made the decision.
The point is that the given evidence doesnt pin down the act to rebels either, and since a lot of data has been rejected by the Joint Investigation Team, the report is nothing but a theory, too.
Of course it pins it to the rebels. They were the only ones proven to be there and firing rockets. If you come home and your canary is missing out of its cage and your cat is belching feathers your don't try to put the blame next doors tabby, do you?
One entirely wrapped by the west, one that fits the western narrative of "evil, Ukraine-annexing Russia that threatens the west" and all that other bullshit. No one ever talked to the rebels, even though they made sure that the team can move about the place freely, no one looked at the actual satelite data from Russia.
As I say, the Russian data was adjudged to be of poor quality. But you don't believe that because you refuse to believe that doesn't suit your world view where the west is the enemy of freedom and Putins Russia is blameless of all crime.
In a criminal investigation you at least talk to the suspects. Not in this case.
You seriously believe the rebels would give up the perpetrators? What world are you living in?
Ah, wish I could, but what I can is to shred doubt upon the western tale, which is quite like a Swiss cheese, where actual data should be are only holes^^
The only thing you have managed to shed doubt on is your own objectivity. Even Russia Today accepts the reports findings for pity sake.
As said, it's a question that doesnt even come to their minds. Most likely they were not capable of doing it, in that you're right, but it's not their style anyway. It's quite a moot point to ponder.
The point I was making is that airplane autopilots have never yet been hacked my terrorists. From that I that it is probably because they are difficult or impossible to hack. Therefore it should be possible to make driver-less cars difficult or impossible to hack also.
Terrorists need the shock element, they will always prefer the suicide bomber over any kind of sophisticated technology.
It seems to me that the shock element is far greater if a plane can be caused to crash remotely. Because then no one on an airplane would ever know if they were safe until the plane had actually landed. The psychological effect of that could be devastating on air travelers.
And in turn, all sophisticated technology is not capable of stopping a suicide bomber, someone driving a truck into crowds, a handful people running with machine guns through Paris or stop freaks from hacking random people to pieces in trains.
Suicide attacks are very difficult to prevent, granted. But self-driving cars could make it a lot more difficult to carry out the kinds of attacks that took place in Berlin, Nice or just recently in London, because the terrorists couldn't simply jump into a self-driving car and drive into pedestrians.The systems autopilot would have to be completely bypassed and total manual control achieved first. In future self-driving cars may be made so that this is impossible, or at least a very lengthy, technical process.
How about the terrorist throws out the robot-pilot from the bus and takes over? How sophisticated needs a terrorists to be to do it? How is the robot-pilot capable to stop the terrorist from doing so?
That's not how self-driving cars will work. There won't be a "robot" at the wheel, there won't be a steering wheel at all in most cases and even where there is, it will be physically impossible to steer a driver-less car so that it runs pedestrians down because the cars obstacle avoidance mechanism will kick in. Simply put "monkeys" won't be allowed to drive cars for very much longer.
Close observation may result in feelings of horror, wonder and awe at world you find yourself inhabiting.
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Q: Page
A: The problem is that you cannot use {% block %} in a content file ... they can only be used in a file located in _includes.  Here is a version of your exmaple that does work ...
_includes/default.njk
This is your base layout from which all other layouts "extend"
<!DOCTYPE html>

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index.njk
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layout: simple.njk
title: Home
image: http://lorempixel.com/1200/300/sports/5
---

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A: You can try to put your specific styles into front matter data and then show it on the main template.
layout: default.njk
title: Home
style: ".container{background: red;}"

or if there are long styles then do component and pass the its name in the page header, so your template will include it on the render.

A: You should use the following block to output data in the head of the site

{% block head %}
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: How to close IStream? How can i close IStream in c++?

A: If you mean COM IStream, just call IUnknown::Release().

A: Check this reference.
// read a file into memory
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
using namespace std;

int main () {
  int length;
  char * buffer;

  ifstream is;
  is.open ("test.txt", ios::binary );

  // get length of file:
  is.seekg (0, ios::end);
  length = is.tellg();
  is.seekg (0, ios::beg);

  // allocate memory:
  buffer = new char [length];

  // read data as a block:
  is.read (buffer,length);
  is.close();

  cout.write (buffer,length);

  delete[] buffer;
  return 0;
}

A: You can close file iostreams with ifstream::close. closing a istream doesn't really make sense - should it close the shell the program is started from?
You can flush an iostream to ensure the output is written

A: There are two standard subclasses of std::istream, which are closeable. If you want to close them in a context, where you only see the base class, you first need to cast to the instantiated subclass.
std::istream& is ....

// close is
std::ifstream* ifs = dynamic_cast<std::ifstream*>(&is);
if (ifs!=0)
{
    ifs->close();
}
else
{
    std::fstream* fs = dynamic_cast<std::fstream*>(&is);
    if (fs!=0)
    {
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}


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While connecting to my application (running on a jetty server), I am able to properly connect and and run queries over Teiid when I use the SocketConnection (using URL format: jdbc:teiid:Portfolio@mm://localhost:31000). But when I try to create an EmbeddedConnection instead (using the jdbc:teiid:Portfolio) inside the same JVM, I am not able to create a connection in my setup. The driver.connect() call fails giving me 2 kinds of exceptions.
While debugging I noticed at the point where the exception comes up, that the current classloader has both the Modules, WstxEventFactory classes available.
Could you please suggest on why this issue would be coming up/ is this an issue in general?
You need to get connected as "EmbeddedServer.getDriver().connect(...)"
Hey Ramesh, thanks for the response.
I have used "EmbeddedServer.getDriver().connect(...)" before and seen that work fine for creation of an Embedded connection.
In my current use case I want to create an Embedded conn using the JDBC driver from a standard code like the one below.
Is there no way to create a local/embedded (non-socket) connection while connecting through the JDBC driver using the standard JDBC API construct ?
The issue is getting access to the EmbeddedServer in the VM, since embedded does not use any kind of injection frameworks like Guice, or Spring one must provide access to it. In the WidFly environment, we use JNDI services to get to the EmbeddedServer instance.
Thanks for that clarification Ramesh. I'll see how I can wire such a setup to pass on EmbeddedServer instance at the right place.
One more question, since I am down the embedded path, is there a difference in the further code flow between when we go via Socket vs embedded connection? (specially on how multi-threading comes into the picture while processing queries and returning results).
No, once you get the JDBC connection access is same. However in embedded case there are special cases where you can use the calling thread to use do more processing than just waiting around. Also, there are ways to pass the security around from existing context.
Thanks for the response earlier on. I was able to get things running by somehow providing the driver from the Embedded server instance to my client end of the app.
> there are special cases where you can use the calling thread to use do more processing than just waiting around.
I see that useCallingThread variable is set to true by default. What's the exact idea behind this flag's functionality? Does that mean Teiid would use this one extra thread in addition to the ones that are initialized by the TeiidExecutor/WorkManager, and hence should show a perf imporvement OR is this thread used for something else?
For testing purposes I created a wrapper driver which handles whether it should fetch the driver from EmbeddedServer or create a socket connection (similar to what Teiid already does for itself). While testing I noted a good bit of perf gap between when I ran with embedded connection vs socket connection. The socket one was much faster to my surprise. I tried setting the useCallingThread flag to true/false - which showed no effect on the numbers.
For a dataset of 16 cols, 3Mn rows, where the socket conn is taking ~26 secs to read, whereas embedded takes ~2mins for the same.
Could you suggest whether this behavior is expected or am I doing something in my usage of embedded connection?
>What's the exact idea behind this flag's functionality? Does that mean Teiid would use this one extra thread in addition to the ones that are initialized by the TeiidExecutor/WorkManager, and hence should show a perf imporvement OR is this thread used for something else?
In embedded scenario, since it is in single VM, the thread which is making the JDBC query instead of waiting for the response, the same thread will be used for part of the processing as JDBC is blocking protocol.
Your findings surprise me, in embedded case, there is no marshaling of results over the network so that should be much faster. I suggest you can do profiling of the app to see where the time is being taken. A tool like VisualVM should be able to help this regard.
Thanks Ramesh. I was taking note of the thread activity in socket vs embedded connection. I noticed that while running on socket I saw that all the initialized Workers (Teiid threads) were used simultaneously whereas in the case of embedded connection I noticed that only one thread was getting used for the same amount of data, and the same config of the querying application. Attached screenshots should help you understand what I am talking about.
These screenshots provides good the reason for perf gap. I tried toggling the useCallingThread flag too just to try out, but that didnt show any noticeable improvement here. So is there some extra configuration/tweaking that I am missing here that I am seeing this single threaded behavior?
Are you using a single JDBC connection to submit multiple queries? I am asking the reason for multiple processing threads in socket scenario? Typically there may one active processing thread query in either scenario. When useCallingThread=true is used, that thread becomes the processing thread. Also, useCallingThread=false should restore to same thread activity minus the marshaling part in embedded connection vs socket connection. If the behavior is same, I suspect this flag is being overwritten somewhere.
Thanks again for the explanation on the useCallingThread flag.
Yes its a single connection made on top of the VDB for one query run - one connection made using the embedded url, and other using the longer socket URL to establish a socket conn. Its a simple select statement to a single table -> SELECT * FROM "sourceModel"."tableName".
I ran the same scenario again- I see Teiid making all the 4 worker threads active (green in the screenshot) the moment query is run over socket. Only 1 worker thread becomes 'green' for when I run the embedded query. The same client reader code (in the same JVM) is used to query this deployed VDB.
Though I understand the fact the query processing, especially reading from a single table of a single source should be in a single thread (can't guess how this read can be multithreaded), but looking at the thread heat map, it seems like some multithreading activity on Teiid workers is making the socket code work faster. Not able to figure out the reason for difference yet, will look into it. But do you not see this behavior/activity at all when you run this scenario?
Not really, but we have not checked in recent days. As per having 4 threads, the engine may be initializing threadpool but using just one thread. Single query can be multi-threaded, where Teiid engine is using effectively one thread (it will context switch across available thread), the connector layer uses another thread(s). Connector layer uses another because if that is using another blocking call, the main thread is not blocked.
I tried creating a sample app from scratch with just starting Teiid embedded server without any other configuration done on it, and running queries on a created model. I was able to see the expected behavior there, embedded being faster. I can't find any reason yet for my environment being different with respect to Teiid, but I'll keep looking more to see whats happening differently.


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Wolfenstein: Youngblood's Microtransactions Aren't Even Worth Getting Mad At
Joshua Rivera
Jul 30, 2019, 11:00am
Image: MachineGames, Bethesda Softworks
Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a video game with microtransactions, which is another way of saying that there are some who will object to its existence out of principle. Some became so angry about microtransactions in the new game that they harassed one of its lead level designers, Mitja Roskaric, on Twitter, causing him to have to lock his account.
In response, developers across the industry tweeted out messages of support that also noted the ridiculousness of the situation, since level designers have almost no input in how games are monetized. Beyond that, the microtransactions in Youngblood aren't even that obtrusive.
Yes, the presence of microtransactions in Wolfenstein: Youngblood is disappointing when you consider the rebooted series' staunchly old-school leanings. The Wolfenstein games developed by MachineGames since 2014's Wolfenstein: The New Order, eschew everything that's become commonplace in first-person shooters: Call of Duty-esque on-rails spectacle, regenerating health, weapon loadout restrictions.
Instead, they were clever throwbacks with ridiculous guns, secret-filled levels, and kitschy-yet-difficult boss fights.
Prior to Youngblood, MachineGames' output had also resisted a number of controversial ideas, like microtransactions and live-service games, that are currently en vogue in big-budget development. Given Wolfenstein's direct lineage to id Software, the oldest of schools, these games felt like a rallying point for fans of a certain stripe, one that now seems to have been lost.
But the anger directed towards developers like Roskaric isn't just woefully mistargeted — it's overblown. Youngblood has what are perhaps the least intrusive microtransactions I've seen in some time.
There are 2 currencies in Youngblood: silver coins, which you find through gameplay, and gold bars, which you purchase with real money. Having played 8 hours of Wolfenstein: Youngblood — which breaks down to 57 per cent of the story and 14 per cent of the side quests — I have not once encountered even a tutorial for how to acquire gold bars.
Everything you can buy with silver coins is reasonably priced. Every level is littered with crates full of the coins and full of bonus objectives that will earn you more. You use them to upgrade weapons, acquire cosmetic skins for weapons and armour, and purchase boosters for in-game buffs.
Meanwhile, the gold bars you buy with real money can only be used for some cosmetics. What do I mean by "some?" Glad you asked! Every weapon has eight skins available to purchase. Five of them can be acquired with either silver or gold. One of them can only be bought with silver. And two can only be purchased with gold. The same holds true with armour skins—out of the dozen you can purchase, three options can only be purchased by gold bars.
You do not gain any gameplay benefits from microtransactions, just new cosmetic skins. (When the game launched, you could purchase ammo, armour and health boosters with gold, but that was patched out in a day-one update. If anyone is telling you otherwise, they're working with outdated information.)
The clockwork furor over microtransactions ignores the reality of video games in 2019, an industry that is insanely profitable but equally unsustainable, addicted to the long-tail revenue streams that microtransactions provide.
Are they a net good? No. But cars still run on gasoline, even as they kill the planet. That's not to suggest we should be ambivalent about any and all microtransactions, but there are better, more exploitative targets, and it feels counterproductive to single out a game that barely tells you it even has microtransactions.
The more specific purist disappointment in Wolfenstein: Youngblood also ignores what Youngblood actually is: Not a full-bore sequel to The New Order and The New Colossus, but something new for the series—a cooperative game, one designed from top to bottom for that feature.
Maybe, if there is a proper third entry in MachineGames' Wolfenstein saga, it will also incorporate these changes. Maybe it will revert back to the style of game we saw before. For now? Youngblood is a deliberate break from the games that came before it, and not all of its changes are going to land.
Regardless, it is never appropriate to harass developers for something that you might not like about a game, no matter how legitimate your grievance may seem. There are all manner of internet forums and comment sections for voicing your opinion respectfully, and if you don't want to buy games that implement any microtransactions, no matter how unobtrusive, that's a valid course of action too. Sometimes these things turn out ok. Other times, they do not.
arnna @arnna
People are such dickheads..
Camm @camm
I wouldn't abuse a singular person on twitter over it, but I do need to ask why we even needed MT in this in the first place.
sunsoar @sunsoar77
The writer puts a reasonable explanation as to why they believe they're in the game:
... an industry that is insanely profitable but equally unsustainable, addicted to the long-tail revenue streams that microtransactions provide.
Essentially, someone in the chain wants to have an alternative to the upfront revenue.
Alex Walker @Alex Walker
Rather, there isn't a current alternative to upfront revenue that the market (read: gamers) will accept, so they revert to an option that's currently accepted (which is microtransactions, based off buying behaviour).
drsleepless @drsleepless
Jul 30, 2019, 12:09pm
Valid point. But I think that means we should instead look at better alternatives for financial flows and stability. Evolve or change with the times instead of stagnation.
captain_fram @captain_fram
You mean like releasing a smaller, cheaper expansion-style game in between the larger AAA releases? One focused on a different aspect of gameplay than the main series while de-emphasising the more expensive story elements? Good idea!
Not every alternative is going to work. But I didn't mean it had to be what happened in this scenario, just that if the current model isn't working then try and find new ways. Evolve with the times.The general consensus seems to be that we don't like micro transactions so try something different. I think there have been some positive examples. Hitman's episodic content seemed to work quite well. I also enjoyed farcry new dawn as well. In saying that, the price needs to match the model as well. Or even what we have seen with Assassins creed (even though it still had micro transactions) where they keep supporting the game with quality dlc content long after the initial release.
zhyr @zhyr
Gamers complained that games like Far Cry Primal and New Dawn are asset flips.
I miss the days of expansion packs because they were pretty much a new game for half the price. DLC/Season passes generally don't give enough value for the money.
thyco @thyco
id also like to point out that the majority of the DLC that ive played for various games often doesnt pack the same punch and is often very jarring and feel like it been shoe horned in compared to the old expansion packs like broodwar, Zero Hour etc. I hate to bring it up but the only DLC ive played that really felt like it was made to continue the game was Blood and Wine, even heart of stone felt like it was shoe horned in a bit.
skrybe @skrybe
So why are they saying it's unsustainable? Are they implying that the production costs are too high compared to the sale price? Or do they believe that there are ongoing costs to support the game after it's initial release? Like multiplayer servers or patching and support staff.
I'd be curious what they think a "break even" price is on the game? $100, $200, $500? And obviously that number would slide depending on the units sold since the initial production costs are the massive portion of the cost. Duplicating and shipping more copies (or selling digital copies) is relatively cheap. I think it'd be very interesting to see some projections from these companies about the number of units the expect to ship, how many they need to break even, how many to make a profit target and what their profit target is.
As for the whole microtransaction argument. I hate the idea in general, but when it's not gameplay breaking I'm happy to let it slide. I'm also less annoyed if they are genuinely *micro* transactions. ie: a dollar or less. It's when they start becoming $15 for this skin, or $20 for this awesome weapon (that changes gameplay) that they really become gouging. Similarly, I'd give microtransactions more leniency if they keep the initial purchase price down.
Alex Walker @alexwalker
Yeah, that's been the common line from developers for a while. Mostly executive/investor level, although I remember the Skullgirls developers made a huge case about it when they launched on Kickstarter and tried to explain their budgets.
It would be super fascinating to know what a "break even" price for a game would be, but I've not met anyone who will openly talk about that yet. One day.
The good kickstarters which have detailed budgets are great for giving a little insight into production costs. The only problem is they're not really triple A products.
If Kotaku, ever manages to get in touch with a more forthcoming developer it'd be a really interesting article.
Nuka Girl @pookie101
According to an article you guys published in 2017 the cost for manpower alone is $10,000 USD per developer per month. one of the examples given was a Red Dead redemption level game. 400 developers, 36 months and a grand total of $144M and that's without marketing, etc.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/09/why-video-games-cost-so-much-to-make/
That wouldn't be including the cost of motion capture/voice acting sessions, casting sessions, time lost in development, delays in the process etc., so the RDR "level" game would be higher, I'd venture. But also the headcount fluctuates on a project over its lifetime too, so it can be difficult to gauge.
vaegrand @vaegrand
I am pretty sure Youngblood was likely thrown under the bus so Bethesda would fuck off and let ID make Eternal as close to their intentions as possible.
With 76, Rage 2 and Blades tanking its very likely that the Bethesda suits are pressuring all their studios to generate maximum revenue before the next shareholder meeting.
I excuse their mircotransaction store for Skyrim and Fallout 4 purely on the basis I like those games and development has stopped and it's the only official content we will ever get for them.
That said with the latest releases and especially Fallout 76 ($18 power armour skins anyone?) Bethesda and Zenimax are doubling down on money gouging. I half expect to turn around and find a Bethesda employee going through my wallet.
That said you can't beat EA and Rockstar. I expect this time in 2029 they will be offering a microtransaction where you pay them $50 so they don't send someone round to your house with a baseball bat
charlie_s123 @charlie_s123
Sounds like their original intentions to monetise the game through ammo and health buff micro transactions have resulted in enemies being bullet spongy if user reviews are anything to go by.
Or it's because there's 2 people which requires more health or number of NPCs to balance. The other games had reasonably spongy enemies.
This 1 just has 2 different types of armour which require different weapons to deplete efficiently.
Well if that is the case, sounds like they messed up that balance pretty badly!
having completed the game and put in 29hrs according to steam, playing both by my self with the ai or co-op with randoms. the only enemy i encounted that was a bullshit bullet sponge was the final boss in the final phase of the fight. none of the nazis or robots were any more spongy than those in TNO and TNC.
The only downside to the different armour types is that weapon swapping speed is too slow for it work properly and that there are more weapons for one type than there is for the other type
soldant @soldant
addicted to the long-tail revenue streams that microtransactions provide. Yeah, and that's not a good thing. Maybe the average price of games needs to rise with inflation, or maybe devs need to abandon the cash cow of microtransactions? They're awful.. but not to the point where people should harass a developer over Twitter (what the fuck?!).
Are they a net good? No. But cars still run on gasoline, even as they kill the planet. This is such a ridiculous comparison that I don't even know why it was made.
WhitePointer @whitepointer
Problem is that if game prices rise, people will be less likely to spend the money to purchase them, resulting in higher piracy rates. Catch 22.
The thing with microtransactions...as much as they are hated, is that many people are more than willing to part with a few dollars here and there. Asking them to spend $100 on a game is one thing, asking them to spend a couple of dollars inside a game (whether it's free or they paid money for it) is another. The fact is microtransactions wouldn't be a thing at all if it didn't make money.
I personally don't buy any microtransactions. I don't mind dropping money on DLC that adds to the base game's content if I enjoyed the game, like new characters, new missions or even a new story campaign (an expansion pack, essentially), but spending real money on stuff like a new outfit? Yeah nah. I don't mind the concept of players being able to spend money on cosmetic stuff like that if they want to, it's just not for me. I definitely draw the line at microtransactions that are the "pay to win" variety though, or the ones that basically force it upon you to make any meaningful progress.
PiratePete @piratepete
I have stopped buying games that have a fake currency for sale on their store pages.
Its great that the author thinks these arent that bad but when you let them get away with "Not that bad" the natural conclusion are games like NBA2K19 where the gameplay gets designed around you spending to progress.
gotoadgo @gotoadgo
Micro transactions apologist article, yeesh...
And the cars running on gasoline comparison? Are you daft?
lambomang @lambomann007
Micro-transactions only make sense in games as a service, games that continue to release content long after initial release. If game developers continue to give me stuff, I am more than glad to continue to give them money. I didn't think Young Bloods is supposed to be that kind of a game though, so why the heck would I buy micro-transactions in it?
ghostnerve @ghostnerve
Did I just read a comparison between micro transactions in videogames and cars running on gas? Wow..
Attacking anyone online is not ok for anything, especially in regards to a video game. Personally I vote with my wallet and refuse to buy any single player (or co op) games containing micro transactions.
micksy @micksy
From the Steam Store page:
Contains Gold Bars, an in-game currency used to acquire new power armor and weapon skins, gear, pep signals, and consumables to help you and your friends battle through Nazi occupied Paris.
Odds of the current limitations on what can be purchased with Gold Bars changing once the majority of reviews are in?
its all shit that isnt actually needed which makes it even worse because it means time was spent just add this crap in. and to be honest, when i first played the game what i saw was that is honestly looked like i needed the ingame currency (silver coins) AND gold bars to unlock other skins which honestly was not a good look
TheJagji @jagji
This headline is all I need to know about this article. Anyone saying that in a headline needs to re-think why they said that, and the work out how dumb that is to say.
Micros in ANY game at ANY level of implementation is shit. Saying one game implementation is 'ok' compared to the rest only gives them a newfound refacing to say 'Well, where just gonna do what this game did and a little more, then it will be fine' and in no time at all, we are back to Battlefront 2 Pay-To-Get-A-Chance-To-Win bullshit.
I'd disagree, case in point being Team Fortress. For that matter WoW has microtransactions in it (though they're not really micro!) and none of them are mandatory.
The only time microtransactions are absolutely wrong are when they are mandatory for gameplay. eg: more powerful weapons, better vehicles, crafting speed-ups, buying a bigger health-pool and similar.
As long as microtransactions are cosmetic then there's not a big problem since they remain a choice.
I get your point however for me personally if I'm paying full price for a single (or co op) game I don't want any of that rubbish in my game.
I don't disagree with you. I'd rather not have a ton of microtransactions in games because they are always a temptation. But if they're not mandatory for gameplay I can ignore them, or consider them a treat if I do buy one.
I think the ideal approach would be to have microtransactions that are purchased with an in-game currency that you can either earn in-game or buy for real money. That way you have the option to work towards getting the items purely by playing the game or purchase with real money. But again, they should remain cosmetic not game-changing.
djbear @djbear
I will get mad at microtransactions because they are cancer to the video game industry. Game makers proclaim they need them because their profit margins are so low yet they record billion-dollar profits each year.
I will not, however, direct my anger at devs. They are the shitty human beings implementing this shit. The publishers like EA and Activision are.
Hippy @hippy
"When the game launched, you could purchase ammo, armour and health boosters with gold, but that was patched out in a day-one update"
Annnnd that's why people hate this stuff, it's designed to screw over the player by creating a problem to sell the solution. Don't be a microtransaction apologist for a full price game. It has, and will always be, crap
MushaConvoy @mushaconvoy
I don't know about you, but when I look at the Xbox store, Youngblood is only $50. Given new games (especially Bethesda) are usually $100 digital / EB Games, that sure doesn't fit what I'd call a "full price game". Even retail pricing looks around the $70 mark and includes a guest pass to play with a friend.
If microtransactions like these are offsetting the base game price, I accept my MTX overlords.
Sorry but this is crap. Mircotractions should not be defended in shape or form. What started as just being mobile only, became pre-oder bonus, that morphed into retailer exclusive bonuses, that then again mutated into just being cosmetics, and finally into Either Loot boxes or ingame stores in full priced games.
Im at the point now where i dont even trust the industry to do mircotransactions for charity things like Pets and Mounts in warcraft because i can see companies like EA and Activison trying to exploit them as an option
Kasterix @kasterix
On the one hand, sure it's shitty that people are being abused for shit like this.
On the other hand... Part of me is disappointed that these rage mobs are always too stupid to pick a target that is even remotely responsible for the shit being complained about.
I mean... If you're going to be a dickhead, at least do it 'right'? I guess?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


There are over 100,000 species of arachnids in the world. These include spiders, scorpions, harvestmen, ticks and mites. The word arachnid is from the Greek word arachne meaning spider. Arachnids are not insects, but they are related. Arachnids and insects are both arthropods. It is easy to tell the difference between an arachnid and an insect. Arachnids have eight legs and insects have only six legs. Another difference is that arachnids don't have antennae or wings like insects. Check out these videos to learn more about arachnids of North America and other parts of the world.


text:
Q: $\|\gamma(t)\|=c$ iff $\gamma(t)\cdot\gamma'(t)=0$ Let $\gamma:I\subset\mathbb R\to\mathbb R^n$ differentiable. Show that $\|\gamma(t)\|$ is constant iff $\gamma(t)\cdot\gamma'(t)=0$ for all $t\in I$.
This is my proof:
$\implies]$ Let $\gamma:I\subset\mathbb R\to\mathbb R^n$ differentiable and  suppose that there is $k\in\mathbb R^+$ such that $\|\gamma(t)\|=k$ for all $t\in I$. Then,
$$\gamma(t)\cdot\gamma(t)=\|\gamma(t)\|=k^2$$
$$\implies\gamma'(t)\cdot\gamma(t)+\gamma(t)\cdot\gamma'(t)=0$$
$$\implies2\gamma'(t)\cdot\gamma(t)=0$$
$$\implies \gamma'(t)\cdot\gamma(t)=0,$$
for all $t\in I$.
$\impliedby]$ ?
I don't know if these steps are invertible to prove the other implication. I want to be a little formal, but I need help to see why I can integrate. Thank you. :)

A: For the other direction, suppose that $\gamma(t) \cdot \gamma'(t) = 0$ for all $t \in I$. In order to show that $\lVert \gamma(t) \rVert$ is constant, show that its square is constant, which you can do by showing that its derivative vanishes:
\begin{align*}
\tfrac{d}{dt} \lVert \gamma(t) \rVert^2
&= \tfrac{d}{dt} \bigl[ \gamma(t) \cdot \gamma(t) \bigr] \\
&= 2 \, \gamma(t) \cdot \gamma'(t) \\
&= 0,
\end{align*}
where the last expression is zero by hypothesis.
Thus, $\lVert \gamma(t) \rVert^2 = c \geq 0$. Let $k = c^{1/2}$ so that $k^2 = c$. Then,
$$
\lVert \gamma(t) \rVert = k.
$$


Cutted Shape:Round, Strip,Cube,Rectangular,Moon shape, etc.
Feature:Automatic cutting dough into different shape with same size ,same thickness according to requirement.Through change different shape cut knife,One unit cutter to get various shape . The size could adjust as need. Economic Multi-purpose cutter is idea equipment for snack production.


text:
Obama and Clinton: It's complicated
The relationship between Obama and Clinton has grown complicated.
By Maggie Haberman
Updated: 09/24/2014 12:19 PM EDT
Just over a year ago, at the request of the White House, Hillary Clinton worked the phones with about a half-dozen senators, trying to sell Congress on authorizing military strikes against Syria. Weeks later, at the Clinton Global Initiative, the former secretary of state defended President Barack Obama against Republicans' efforts to defund his health care overhaul.
Since then, the relationship has become more complicated: During her summer book tour, Clinton pointedly highlighted differences with her former boss over how the early stages of the Syrian civil war were handled.
On Tuesday, Clinton and Obama were together again at the Clinton Global Initiative in midtown Manhattan, the seventh time the sitting president has attended the glitzy charity-meets-ideas event. Former President Bill Clinton praised Obama, and the president offered kind words for both Clintons. The joint appearance highlighted a reality for the current president and his former secretary of state: Her political needs aren't always in sync with his, but more often than not their interests do align.
Hillary Clinton needs to keep Obama's supporters behind her if she runs for president in 2016. After Clinton was quoted in The Atlantic last month knocking Obama's foreign policy mantra — "'Don't do stupid stuff' is not an organizing principle," she said — she issued a statement a few days later declaring her deep support for the president and insisting she wasn't trying to attack him.
( PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton starts her book tour)
Some Obama advisers, meanwhile, see Clinton as a lifeline — the best chance the lame-duck Democrat has to preserve his legacy, particularly Obamacare, after the open-seat election in 2016.
Whether Obama himself views the situation that way is unclear. But so far, a number of former Obama aides have made an effort to show unity between the two sides.
And so it was all compliments between Obama and the Clintons onstage Tuesday.
"It's a testimony I think to any leader not just what they themselves do, but the degree to which they inspire actions from others," Obama told the audience. "Bill Clinton has continued to exert extraordinary global leadership for decades."
( PHOTOS: Hillary Clinton's 50 influentials)
As for Hillary Clinton, sitting in the audience at a table at the Sheraton New York, Obama said, "I think one of the best decisions I ever made as president was to have Hillary Clinton serve as our secretary of state. … I'll always be grateful for her extraordinary leadership … around the world."
At another point, Obama talked about his foreign policy and described Clinton as someone who "helped champion our efforts" from her position at the State Department.
Obama also joked about lending the Clintons' very pregnant daughter his motorcade to get to the hospital and made an offhand aside about his feelings of guilt at sending Hillary Clinton so many miles around the world, away from her husband, for a four-year stretch. Looking weary, Obama quipped that Hillary Clinton has the out-of-office "glow."
There was no mention of the current crisis in Syria, where Obama ordered airstrikes to combat the fast-growing terror group known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant the night before. In an interview on CNBC earlier Tuesday, Bill Clinton said he thinks the U.S. military engagement will be extensive but will not result in a land war. Hillary Clinton did not comment on what's happening in the Mideast.
( Also on POLITICO: Obama invokes Iraq war authorization)
The CGI event is intended to be apolitical, and Bill Clinton has invited Republicans as featured speakers in the past. But the sense that the Democrats' balance of political power is about to shift to Clinton was palpable all over the Sheraton. Longtime Clinton donors roamed the lobby along with people like Buffy Wicks, a former Obama aide who is currently executive director of Priorities USA Action, the pro-Obama super PAC that has been rebranded as a pro-Clinton effort for 2016.
Another change since last year's CGI event: Donors then were excited about the prospect of Hillary Clinton running again but thought they had to persuade her to. This year, it is viewed as a foregone conclusion, even though Clinton says she hasn't made up her mind and won't announce a decision until after the new year.
Bill Clinton, as ever, was probed for his political views throughout the event. In an interview with Charlie Rose taped Monday, he was asked the five things the next president will need to tackle in the first 100 days.
He ticked off a few items, such as infrastructure and continuing to work on health care. But Bill Clinton led with reversing economic stagnation in the country.
The main concern is the "recovery of our capacity to provide a society that offers equal opportunity and the possibility of shared prosperity," Bill Clinton said. "An expanding middle class where poor people have the chance to work their way into it."
It's a message his wife is likely to focus on over the next two years — by reminding voters that her husband's White House was notable for just that type of prosperity.
Syria,
ISIL,
ISIS,
Barack Obama,
Hillary Clinton,


text:
Sean Wilentz/ January 25, 2010
The Return of Ulysses
No great American has suffered more cruelly and undeservedly at the hands of historians than Ulysses S. Grant. The dominating influence of pro-Southern historians early in the twentieth century—an influence that tainted scholarship on the Civil War for decades—helps to explain Grant's abysmal reputation. But it does not explain Grant's fate in full, nor why the vilification of the man has continued into our own time.
Grant is caricatured both as a drunken military brute and the heavy, venal presidential overseer of what Mark Twain, in the satiric novel he wrote with Charles Dudley Warner, called the Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. In fact, Grant's presidency, far more than his generalship, has been the chief reason why condemnation of him has proved so enduring and so nearly universal. And therein lies a paradox—for Twain, who named the age, was also one of Grant's closest friends in his later life, the man who arranged for the publication of Grant's Personal Memoirs, a genuinely great book, and whose admiration for Grant led to the general's initials appearing in the dedication of Huckleberry Finn. By the lights of the received wisdom, the combination makes no sense. Yet Twain is still remembered as Twain, whereas Grant is remembered as the sort of figure Twain should have ridiculed.
Grant may be on the verge of finally receiving his due.
But Grant may be on the verge of finally receiving his due. Quietly, outside the view of most readers—including professional historians who do not specialize in the Civil War era—Grant's reputation, including his service in the White House, has enjoyed a friendly revision over the past fifteen years. A handful of unconventional scholars, including Richard N. Current, Brooks D. Simpson, Jean Edward Smith, and Josiah Bunting III, have attempted to vindicate Grant from some of the worst accusations against him. Joan Waugh's engrossing new book advances that salutary revision by examining Grant's public reputation during and after his lifetime, and exploring what it reveals about shifting intellectual trends.
As is well known, the study of collective memory has become a faddish subject inside the American academy, inspired largely by the work—pioneered in the 1980s—of French historian Pierre Nora. Given the centrality of the Civil War in American myth and remembrance, the memory of that war has, not surprisingly, been the subject of numerous recent books, notably David Blight's distinguished study, Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory. But none of these books has challenged views long accepted by historians as cogently—and as startlingly—as Waugh's fine volume does.
Waugh describes how the estimation of Grant, especially as a political leader, has itself had a curious and telling history. That his presidency has ranked so low for so long—his current, somewhat improved standing places him roughly on a par with Calvin Coolidge and Gerald Ford—says practically nothing about Grant's public reputation during, and especially just after, the Civil War. Immediately after Appomattox, Grant was of course hailed in the North as a savior; and then, following Lincoln's assassination, he became the greatest living hero of the war. The approval proved lasting. Grant won the presidency in 1868 with just under fifty-three percent of the popular vote, a larger margin than expected. Four years later, he crushed his opponent, Horace Greeley, in both the popular vote and the Electoral College.
Grant thereby became only the second president since Andrew Jackson to win re-election (Lincoln was the other); and he was the only president in the decades between Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson to serve two full consecutive terms. Allegations of scandal followed by Democratic resurgence at the polls marred his second term, but Grant was hailed as the most admired American on earth when he left office. "In stark contrast to what the literature might suggest," Waugh observes, "Grant retained much of his iconic status during his presidency and regained what had been lost in his postpresidential years." There were even serious efforts to nominate him for president on the Republican ticket in 1880.
During his presidency, to be sure, the Democratic press condemned Grant as at once feeble, conniving, and imperious—attacks similar to those that the Democrats had made on Lincoln. But even nastier rebukes came from members of Grant's own party, the so-called Liberal Republicans, including Charles Sumner and Carl Schurz, who for a combination of reasons—displeasure with Grant's executive appointments, disgust at his friendliness with party organization polls, opposition to his resolute Reconstruction policy, all of it colored by a snobbish hauteur—came to despise the president. The most famous slurs emanated from Henry Adams, who lived just across Lafayette Square, and who WASPishly joked that Grant's initials stood for "uniquely stupid." Many years later Adams observed that "the progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant, was alone enough to upset Darwin." The bien pensants at the Nation called Grant "an ignorant soldier, coarse in his taste and blunt in his perceptions, fond of money and material enjoyment and of low company." When Grant died in 1885, the New York Tribune praised his military career, but charged that "the greatest mistake of his life was the acceptance of the presidency."
But as Waugh shows, Grant's admirers greatly outnumbered his detractors, and his death brought a tidal wave of emotional eulogizing. On the very next day after Grant was laid to rest in New York City, his adopted home, talk began of replacing his temporary vault overlooking the Hudson River with a grand memorial. A dozen years later the gigantic domed edifice that is familiarly known as Grant's Tomb was dedicated—and for the succeeding two decades, the memorial was New York's most popular tourist site, attracting more than five hundred thousand people annually, far more than the Statue of Liberty did. Observers as astute as the Scots-born James Bryce, in his formidable The American Commonwealth, which appeared in 1888, asserted that although American presidents had not usually been the greatest men available, four of them did "belong to a front rank": Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Grant.
Grant's standing began to erode drastically after 1920 owing to several currents, cultural and intellectual, that emerged from diverse quarters. First, the rising racist, pro-Southern, so-called "revisionist," or "Lost Cause" school of American historians, pioneered at the turn of the century by William Dunning of Columbia University, portrayed Grant as a sociopathic killer during the war and a tyrant during Reconstruction. General Robert E. Lee, the man whom Grant had defeated on the battlefield, now became widely viewed as the war's supreme military genius, lionized in the South and respected in the North as the gentleman-soldier who supposedly embodied the courage and the gallantry of the doomed Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln became the true giant of the Union cause, regarded even by some in the South as the compassionate patriot who, had he lived, would have spared the country the folly and (for Southern whites) the humiliation of Reconstruction. But Grant, by contrast, seemed to possess not an ounce of decency or forgiveness. Demonized as an inept, even crooked president, he emerged from these accounts as the lowlife who presided over what Dunning crudely called the "blackout of honest government" during the Reconstruction years, and who personally ushered in the crimes and excesses of the Gilded Age.
The disillusionment among the American intelligentsia over World War I—and over the claims that waging war advanced democracy—further damaged Grant's image during the 1920s, a view later reinforced in the public mind with entertainment spectacles like the book and film versions of Gone With the Wind. The leftist climate of the 1930s led to renewed attacks on Grant's presidency as an emblem of Gilded Age dishonesty. And the rising historians of the 1940s and 1950s, even as they challenged both the Dunning School and Depression-era leftist simplicities, affirmed that Grant's political career was disastrous. Richard Hofstadter, among the most respected new historians, could write in 1948, without fear of contradiction, that "Grant's administrations are notorious for their corruption."
In 1962, in Patriotic Gore, his major study of the literature of the Civil War, Edmund Wilson revived Grant's reputation by praising his performance in battle and lauding the taut, sinewy prose of Grant's memoirs, completed just before his death. But Wilson, too, had nothing good to say about Grant's two presidential administrations, under which, he wrote, "there flapped through the national capital a whole phantasmagoria of insolent fraud, while a swarm of predatory adventurers was let loose on the helpless South."
The civil rights and Vietnam War era brought renewed sharp attacks on Grant, most skillfully in William S. McFeely's acclaimed work Grant: A Biography—as a vicious Union commander and, at best, a half-hearted defender of the ex-slaves during Reconstruction, whose unenlightened views on race led him to waver and finally to retreat from resisting the violent forces of white supremacy. Curiously, in the 1960s and 1970s, even after an outpouring of new scholarship had finally overturned the racist, anti-Grant interpretations of the Dunning School, Grant himself remained an object of contempt. "Sensitive intellectuals, then and since," the distinguished Civil War historian Charles Royster observed in 1992, "have looked at Grant's career and marveled that he could hold his head up without shame or remorse."
The revision of Grant's reputation would seem to be an uphill battle. Waugh devotes the second half of her book to reclaiming the honor accorded Grant during the years after he left the presidency, culminating in a fair-minded reading of his Personal Memoirs (composed while he was heavily drugged with palliatives for the agonizing throat cancer that finally killed him) and a detailed description of what she calls the "pageantry of woe"that accompanied Grant's grand state funeral. The decline of Grant's Tomb from a popular shrine through the 1920s into a nearly-forgotten, seedy, even dangerous refuge for homeless junkies fifty years later becomes a fitting symbol, for Waugh, of how Grant's reputation has crumbled.
But the poignancy and, finally, the outrage of that story become clear only because the first half of Waugh's book tells of how Grant rose from the social depths, overcame crushing adversity, and achieved all he did as general and as president. And in this part of her book Waugh's approach somewhat undermines her larger effort. Since she focuses on images of Grant—as the intrepid fighter, the magnanimous victor, the unifying president—Waugh relies largely on the work of her fellow revisionists to begin putting the lie to the calumnies that now encrust Grant's name. She is therefore not as full-throated as she might be in vindicating Grant from, for example, the charges that he deliberately and perversely caused needless death and suffering during the war, or that he sold out the freedmen, or that he either overlooked or indulged the corruption that was all around him during his presidency—none of which is true. Having provided an archeology of Grant's reputation, Waugh leaves it to others to advance what she calls the recent upswing in Grant's standing, which has included the renovation of Grant's Tomb in 1997 as well as a refreshingly fair-minded PBS documentary in 2002. The imminent Civil War sesquicentennial of 2011 to 2015 augurs a full recasting of popular as well as scholarly understanding of the war and its major figures, including, inevitably, Grant. Perhaps then, Waugh concludes, visitors to the tomb "may be able to see all the tangled, complicated, but ultimately inspiring dimensions of a man who truly is both an American hero and an American myth."
If indeed justice is done and truth is served, those visitors will be inspired by far more than certain particular dimensions of Grant. A superb modern general who, with Lincoln, finally unleashed the force required to crush the slaveholders' rebellion, Grant went on, as president, to press vigorously for the reunification of the severed nation, but on the terms of the victorious North and not of the defeated South. Given all that he was up against—not simply from Confederates and Southern white terrorists but, as president, from high-minded factional opponents and schismatics from his own Republican Party—it is quite remarkable that Grant sustained his commitment to the freedmen for as long and as hard as he did. The evidence clearly shows that he created the most auspicious record on racial equality and civil rights of any president from Lincoln to Lyndon B. Johnson. He also formulated some remarkably humane and advanced ideas on subjects ranging from federal Indian policy to public education. Given the limitations imposed on executive power by the Constitution, it is all the more remarkable that he acted as boldly as he did.
So Grant's full vindication—which will render him one of the greatest presidents of his era, if not of all American history—still awaits. But when it comes, we will better understand our complicated history, and historians and citizens will have Joan Waugh to thank for helping to make this belated illumination possible.


text:
Pteronycta hastifera är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Erich Martin Hering 1926. Pteronycta hastifera ingår i släktet Pteronycta och familjen nattflyn. Inga underarter finns listade.

Källor

Nattflyn
hastifera

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Black's total medical expenses were $188,700, which were paid by his worker's compensation insurance. Black returned to work, but he continued to have pain and restricted range of motion in his knee, which made necessary that he be given certain accommodations at his job.
Through his guardian, Black sued Cea alleging that he was negligent in moving the truck while the dumpster was still attached to it without first determining if anyone was standing near or by the dumpster.
Black also sued Royal Carting Service claiming that it was responsible under the theory of respondeat superior for Cea's negligence and another company that owned the truck. Respondeat superior is a Latin phrase used in the law that means that in certain circumstances or conditions, an employer is responsible for the acts or omissions of an employee when the employee is performing within the scope and course of employment.
Black was also seeking non-economic damages for past and future pain and suffering.
The defendants argued that Black was negligent himself in placing his foot on the dumpster when he should have realized that it was still attached to the Cea truck.
Before the beginning of the jury trial, the defendants settled for the policy limit of $1 million. The worker's compensation lien of approximately $223,600 was reduced to $110,100.
The attorney representing Richard Black was George M. Levy.
Dart v. Cea, No. 12707/09 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Orange County).
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ASPEN, Colo. — It's time to get creative about the X Games. With upwards of $600,000 this year plus whatever money the Aspen Skiing Co. throws into the kitty, Aspen has a contract to continue hosting the X Games for another five years.
The Aspen Daily News explains that Aspen grew the kitty even as seven other communities bid to host the event. The ski company absorbed the "lion's share" of costs associated with hosting the event, although the broader community benefits. Lodges were 94 per cent full or even higher. Last year, the event drew an all-time record of 114,500 spectators.
ESPN and Aspen Skiing representatives said the extended commitment will allow them to experiment with new ways to grow the X Games. Already, the Games have launched the big air, halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines of skiing and snowboarding to new heights since the inaugural event in 1997 in Big Bear Lake, California.
After being staged at Big Bear for two years, it enjoyed two years in Crested Butte before finding a home in Aspen in 2002.
"There are a bunch of things we're considering that we've been looking at for a while now," said Scott Guglielmino, ESPN's senior vice president.
One option: extending the three-day event to four.
John Rigney, vice president of sales and events for the Aspen Skiing Co., said that "spectator experience and lifestyle elements" of the X Games are likely to get more attention.
KETCHUM, Idaho — With a $28,000 grant from the city government, a "business incubator" building is being leased in Ketchum for budding entrepreneurs.
"Really, it's a mindset to get companies that are looking for much more than just cheap office space," explained Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corp.
"They don't want to just work at home or in an office. They want to work around like-minded people to foster creativity and energy," he told the Idaho Mountain Express.
He further explained that tenants of the incubator space are expected to have "a flexible business plan and a scalable business model. Also, we have a real desire to collaborate and help other entrepreneurs along with venture capital funding."
Rich LeFaivre, former vice president of advanced technologies at Apple, also voiced support for the incubator. "Over the last 15 years as a venture incubator, I've seen the power of what happens if this is done right," he said.
LeFaivre said he sees the incubator as an opportunity to attract more aspiring young business professionals to the area.
Another group, Sustain Blaine, has also worked on putting together a local investment strategy and mentor list.
EAGLE, Colo. — Something of a cannabis mall is being proposed in Eagle, the town 48 kilometres west of Vail.
There, Rocky Mountain Pure proposes to build a retail store along with an indoor cultivation facility and a 4,180-square-metre greenhouse, which would be for cannabis that would be exported to other buyers.
Also among the plans is a 341-square-metre "prohibition museum," designed to extol the wonders of cannabis and also to air out aspects of the last 90 years when it has been essentially prohibited in the United States.
The Eagle Valley Enterprise explains that the local planning commission approved the uses, but left the hard question of size to the town board.


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"Shift Happens" won the World's Best Presentation Contest organized by Slideshare which i had blogged earlier. Its probably the best powerpoint presentation that i had seen for a long time. Its message and information are really powerful giving facts about individuality, growth of the human population, life long learning, growth of information and knowledge, computation power, transmission speeds, etc.
Check this video out as it has been improvised with great background music that will certainly trigger some interesting thoughts.


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text:
History of Pamlico County
Pamlico County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina.
As of 2006, the population is 13,097 . Its county seat is Bayboro.
Pamlico County is part of the New Bern, North Carolina, Micropolitan
Statistical Area.
The county was formed in 1872 from parts of Beaufort County and Craven
County. It was named for Pamlico Sound, which adjoins it. Pamlico County
remains rural in character and flavor, although the last decade has brought
a good deal of residential development, largely the result of northern
retirees and investors attracted to the many miles of waterfront property.
The county is anchored on the east by the Town of Oriental, a popular
waystation for boaters traveling the Intracoastal Waterway, the
unincorporated community of Olympia on the west and unincorporated Lowland
on the east. New Bern, across the county line in Craven County to the west,
is the primary trade area for Pamlico County.
Pamlico County is governed by an elected, seven-member Board of Commissioners.
The county is a member of the regional Eastern Carolina Council of
Governments.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 566
square miles (1,470 km2), of which, 337 square miles (870 km2) of it is
land and 229 square miles (590 km2) of it (40.49%) is water.
The county is divided into five townships, which are numbered but not named.
Beaufort County, North Carolina - north
Hyde County, North Carolina - northeast (across Pamlico Sound)
Carteret County, North Carolina - southeast (across the Neuse River estuary)
Craven County, North Carolina - southwest (across the Neuse River estuary)
and west
As of the census of 2000, there were 12,934 people, 5,178 households, and
3,717 families residing in the county. The population density was 38 people
per square mile (15/km²). There were 6,781 housing units at an average
density of 20 per square mile (8/km²). The racial makeup of the county was
73.17% White, 24.57% Black or African American, 0.53% Native American,
0.38% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.59% from other races, and 0.74%
from two or more races. 1.32% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of
any race.
There were 5,178 households out of which 25.20% had children under the age
of 18 living with them, 56.60% were married couples living together,
11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.20% were
non-families. 25.00% of all households were made up of individuals and
12.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The
average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.81.
In the county the population was spread out with 21.10% under the age of
18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 25.80% from 25 to 44, 28.00% from 45 to 64, and
18.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years.
For every 100 females there were 101.40 males. For every 100 females age
18 and over, there were 99.80 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $34,084, and the median
income for a family was $41,659. Males had a median income of $31,806
versus $21,344 for females. The per capita income for the county was
$18,005. About 11.80% of families and 15.30% of the population were below
the poverty line, including 24.20% of those under age 18 and 13.40% of
those age 65 or over.
Pamlico County was first settled by the Europeans in the early 1700's.
The area was already inhabited by the Pampticoe Indians.  These Indians
call Pamlico "TaTaku" which means where the land and the sea meet the
sky.  After the Tuscarora war in 1711, Scots and English colonist came
to the area.  Settlement was slow, however, because the county is on an
isolated peninsula.  The earliest settlements were at the heads of rivers,
creeks and bays.  The interior of the county was settled as the road system
was developed.  What is now known as Pamlico County was formed from
part of Craven County in 1872 and from parts of Beaufort County in 1874
Pamlico County is a rich environment of land (213,400 acres) and water
(151,000 acres).  A variety of habitats are found throughout the county,
including open sound water, marshlands, and mixed pine and hardwood forests.
This setting provides an extensive natural resource base for agriculture,
forestry, fishing, and recreation.  A large portion of the county's
economic base is directly tied to farming, fishing, forestry and tourism,
with the recreation and retirement industry becoming a more important part
of the economy.  Thus, the economic base of the county is very closely
tied to the natural environment.
The county is largely bordered by water: Goose Creek and Pamlico River
on the north, the Upper Broad Creek forms the county's western
boundary with Craven County: Pamlico Sound lies to the east;
and the Neuse River to the south.  The mixture of farmlands, trees,
marshes and open waters makes Pamlico County and attractive place
to live, work and visit.
Pamlico was formed in 1872 from Craven and Beaufort counties. It was named
after the sound of the same name. Pamlico was the name of an Indian tribe
in eastern North Carolina. There was a Pamptecough Precinct in North
Carolina as early as 1705, but it was changed to Beaufort about 1712. It
is in the eastern section of the state and is bounded by Pamlico Sound,
Neuse River and Craven and Beaufort counties. The present area is 336.94
square miles and the 2000 population was 12,934. Court was held at an old
store in Vandimere until 1876. In that year, an act was passed authorizing
the commissioners to submit to a vote of the people the question of moving
the county seat from Vandimere to some other place. Bayboro was made the
county seat. It was incorporated in 1881.
Pamlico County was formed from part of Craven County in 1872, and from
parts of Beaufort County in 1874 and 1875. The first permanent European
settlers arrived in the early 1700s. The area was inhabited by the
Pampticoe Indians, part of the Algonquin Indian Nation, from whom Pamlico
got its name. These Indians referred to the area as "TaTakua," or where
the land and sea meet the sky. After the Tuscarora War in 1711, Scots-Irish
and English colonists came tot he area. Settlement was slow, however,
because the county is on an isolated peninsula. the earliest settlements
were at the heads of the rivers, creeks, and bays. The interior of the
county was settled as the road system was developed.
Pamlico County, North Carolina reflects the many diverse aspects of this
rural eastern North Carolina county. When people say coastal North Carolina
there is a tendency to think of the Outer Banks, Cape Hatteras, Ocracoke,
and Atlantic Beach. This is just the "tip" of eastern North Carolina.
Pamlico County with its population of around twelve thousand people offers
a wide cross-section of interests, backgrounds, and talents.
Pamlico County is essentially a peninsula surrounded by the Neuse River,
Pamlico Sound, the Bay River, and the Pamlico River. Exactly how much
shoreline the county has may be subject to debate but there is no denying
that there is a lot of waterfront property. Protected by the Outer Banks
and surrounding counties of Carteret, Craven, and Beaufort, Pamlico County
boasts of miles and miles of pristine estuarial waters. They are the
perfect environment for fish, waterfowl, marshland, and people that enjoy
such a habitat. There are towns in Pamlico County that have more sailboats
than people. Oriental, North Carolina is known as the "Sailing Capital of
North Carolina." Sailing is not just a pastime here, it's a way of life.
Pamlico County has a rich history. Indian artifacts testify to the county's
early inhabitants. Land records date grants from the King of England to
colonial farmers and many residents can trace their family's genealogy to
these times. Add the spice of pirate lore, including the famous Edward
Teach or Blackbeard as he was known, and you start to get the flavor of
this special place.
Until more recent times Pamlico County was focused primarily on farming
and fishing. Traveling through the county you pass farms and timberland
on your way to the many quaint fishing villages nestled among the creeks,
forests, and farmland. Here time seems to pass a little slower and you
have to accustom yourself to return the wave of friends you haven't met
yet. No wonder Pamlico County has become such a popular destination for
tourists, hunters, fishermen, sailors and retirement.
Pamlico County was named for Pamlico Sound, which in turn was named for an
Indian tribe that once inhabited the northern fringes of the county.
Perhaps four to five hundred Indians occupied the area during the time of
exploration and early settlement. Belonging mainly to the Algonquians, the
tribes were the Pamlico, Neuse, Bay River, Coree, and possibly the
Tuscarora and Woccon. Until the smallpox hit them around 1686, the Pamlico
were the most numerous.
At Nottingham Point near Arapahoe, the earliest known gravestone in the
county is dated 1745. But historians know the area was settled long before
that. In fact, some have theorized that the ships of Sir Walter Raleigh's
first expedition may have touched Pamlico's shores in 1584 or 1585. In any
case, scores of settlers were living at the mouths of rivers and creeks
and along the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers (in what is now Pamlico County) by
the time the Tuscarora Indian War broke out in 1711. After it ended in
1713, all Indians soon left the area.
Settled in 1890s and named for the Farmers Alliance Movement.
Alliance, a 2-square-mile town on either side of N.C. 55, is the
municipality between Grantsboro and the Pamlico County seat of Bayboro.
The town, incorporated in 1965, has a mile-long stretch of retail
businesses, restaurants and shops lining N.C. 55 and a main street running
parallel to the highway, but hidden from its view. Taking the fork left,
just after passing the Pamlico Square shopping mall brings the driver
coming from New Bern over a one-lane bridge and along broad fields, gently
into the old residential and service area of the town. There are homes,
churches, barber and beauty shops, the busy Senior Service Center and the
Human Services complex along the way to a curving exit back to the highway.
Alliance was named for the Farmers Alliance Movement. Several decades ago,
it was the central site for most of the utilities in Pamlico County and as
a result of a stockpile of funds from franchise taxes it received, the town
does not have a property tax for its nearly 800 residents. The town
provides residents with streetlights and maintains its own roads. Fire
service is provided through the Triangle Voluntary Fire Department.
The town has a unique form of electing town leaders. Five board seats are
open and the highest vote-getter in each election assumes the job of mayor,
a position currently held by Ed Riggs.
According to the Pamlico County Historical Association, what is now the
town of Alliance was once (1880s) two school districts – Oak Grove and
Logger Head, which later became the community of Camperville. The postal
service has operated in the community since 1890 when Albin B. Campen was
appointed the first postmaster. Years later when farmers united and formed
the Farmers Alliance, the people from the two school districts came
together and named the community Alliance.
Though the town has a business district, farming has historically been the
chief industry, and today, agricultural fields are still prevalent inside
the town limits and on lands bordering Alliance.
Arapahoe has long had a strong sense of community, and when consolidation
closed the town's elementary school in the mid-1990s, residents came
together to build the Arapahoe Charter School.
The school has consistently ranked among the top charter schools in the
state since its inception in 1997. The school provides kindergarten
through middle school for nearly 400 students, in small classes.
Charter schools are in the public school system, although under state
charter guidelines they are self-governed on the local level.
Legend has it Arapahoe was first known as "Cross Roads," with several
versions of how it became Arapahoe. One is it was named for Indians in the
area, who traveled a sand ridge trail south to the river that later became
the footprint for N.C. 306. Another story is the town was named for a
racehorse owned by a prominent citizen. Either way, the town was settled
early in the eighteenth century. A post office was established in 1886 and
the town was incorporated in 1920.
Because N.C. 306 and the old Indian trail follow the sand ridge left by
Silurian Period oceans, Arapahoe and Grantsboro are among the highest
points in the 350 square miles of Pamlico County, at 39 feet above sea level.
Bayboro
Bayboro is the county seat of rural Pamlico County, one of nine
municipalities spread throughout a 350-square-mile county of farmlands,
forests, creeks and river shorelines. The town is centrally located in the
county, within about 1.5 square miles bordered by Bay river and the town
of Alliance, woods, farm fields and swampland. The town businesses include
restaurants, a hotel catering to hunters, a coffee shop, some convenience
stores, farm  and marine supply stores, banks and a bookstore.
The town of more than 700 residents, named for the Bay River, was settled
in the 1800s, and incorporated in 1881.
At the intersection of Pamlico's two main highways, N.C. 55 and N.C. 306,
the town of Grantsboro is 15 miles from Oriental to the east and from New
Bern to the west. It was incorporated in 1998, mainly as a response to
rumored annexation plans by the adjacent town of Alliance. The town has
had but one mayor in its 22-year history, Clifton Stowe, who presides over
a five-person town board for the population of nearly 800 people. Perched
on a sand ridge, Grantsboro shares with Arapahoe claim to being the highest
point in the county. Being 39 feet above sea level is a distinct advantage
both for staying dry during hurricane and Nor'wester and for insurance
According to the Pamlico County Historical Association, Grantsboro was
named for William Grant, a New York bachelor who came as a peddler to the
area with his "pack upon his back." He built two store buildings, bringing
his clientele to him, and the community of Grantsboro was on its way to
commercial development.
Hobucken & Lowland
"Goose Creek Island" was formerly part of Beaufort County. In 1874,
Hobucken and Lowland citizens voted to become part of Pamlico County.
Around 1900, a post office was established for the area. The island is a
magnet for fishermen and duck hunters and is home to a unit of the U.S.
Coast Guard, which is located on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Developed as resort area on Neuse River by the Hardison family after World
War I, the town's name is derived from an Indian word said to mean, "land
of sky and blue water." Older visitors remember it as a resort community
that flourished on the shores of the Neuse in the 1920s. Today, younger
visitors come to one of several summer camps established along the river.
Oriental is nestled amid five creeks along the Neuse River and connected
to the Intracoastal Waterway via a ten-foot deep channel. Settled in 1870,
residents wanted to establish a post office when they found the town first
needed an official name. One resident recalled seeing the nameplate from
the steamship "Oriental" at a friend's house in Manteo; the steamer had
wrecked off the coast of Cape Hatteras in 1862 while under the commission
of the Union Army. The town of Oriental was officially incorporated in
1899. Today, with more power and sailboats in residence than people, it
has earned its reputation as being "The Sailing Capitol of North Carolina."
Reelsboro
No one seems to know how Reeslboro got its name, but it seems likely that
it was named for the Reel families. Reelsboro is situated in a very sandy
area. Before the hard surfaced roads were built, cars had to wind (or
perhaps "reel") around to keep from getting stuck in it. When the railroad
came to Pamlico County, one of the stops was named "Reelsboro." Its post
office was established in 1891.
Stonewall was incorporated in 1870 when it was still part of Craven County.
Citizens first wished to name the town "Jackson" for the owner of a local
mill. But since there was already a town with that name in North Carolina,
"Stonewall" was selected - presumably in honor of General T. J.
"Stonewall" Jackson. It was home to Pamlico County's first post office,
which was established after the Civil War, and the original site of the
county courthouse before it was moved to Bayboro.
At one time, the Indian village of "Secotan" was located here. Later, it
was renamed by the wife of a former Union Army surgeon who settled here in
the 1870s. Its new name was derived from the words "van" (the German word
for "village") and De Mere" (French for "by the sea"). Vandemere is
situated on a point where Vandemere Creek flows into the Bay River. It was
incorporated in 1874 and was the county seat from 1872 (when Pamlico
County was formed) to 1876.
A growing government and cultural complex greets visitors entering the
county from the New Bern area. It includes the town post office,
Grantsboro's new town hall and the Pamlico County Heritage and Visitors
Center. The museum project has been the successful work of the Pamlico
County Historical Association, which has raised more than $800,000 through
donations, grants and fund-raisers to build a 6,000-square foot museum
showcasing the county's history of forestry, farming and fishing. In
addition to the main structure, plans call for development of a Heritage
Village, complete with a 1900s farmhouse and school house, a blacksmith
shop and a grain mill along with a fish house and a fishing trawler.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia and other sources.
Back to Pamlico County Page
Diane Siniard


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And then make it all right.
This Thursday 9th May is a very special Yoga For Healing class. Metta for Mother's day honours the compassionate feminine spirit, our mothers and their's, in a circle of healing. There are a couple of spots remaining, text me on 0430 222 274 to reserve your space. Please bring a small candle in a container to light for our mamas.


Herdade da Malhadinha Nova, Alentejo, Portugal, stock photography samples, by Per Karlsson, BKWine.
Herdade da Malhadinha Nova in the Alentejo region in Portugal is located some two hours' drive from Lisbon. It is run by the two brothers Joao and Paulo Soares together with their families. The Soares family bought a run down old farm house but became so enthused by the region that the decided to restore it and the vineyards to a perfect state. The Malhadinha Nova vineyard is primarily on schist soil planted with Portuguese grape varieties: touriga naciional, aragones, trincadeira, alicante bouschet, alfrocheiro, arinto, roupeiro antao vaz, as well as international varieties: syrah, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay. They make a range of wines under different labels: Malhadinha, Monte Beceguina, Pequeno Joao, Marias da Malhadinha as well as varietal labels. At the vineyard they also have a restaurant serving local specialities, e.g. dry cured ham from the black Alentejo pig and traditional local stews. They have also built a small luxury hotel on the grounds.


text:
Sep 8 2017 7:19 am
broadway block
Updated Renderings Revealed for $195M 'Broadway Block' Development in Long Beach (and Yes, Acres Of Books Will Be Incorporated)
Brian Addison
Love looking at renderings of upcoming developments in the city? Click here for our full archive.
Renderings courtesy of Ratkovich Properties.
Right next to the very uninspiring lofts being built at the northwest corner of Broadway and Elm in DTLB, a much (much) larger neighboring project has revealed updated renderings.
The $195M Broadway Block project (previously at a price tag of $154M) takes up the eastern edge of Long Beach Blvd. between Broadway and 3rd Street. In this space sits the revered-but-shuttered Acres of Books, which developer Cliff Ratkovich of Ratkovich Properties said would not only be adaptively reused for the project but also brought into the project "to create a one-of-a-kind culture and spirit." The other part of the 50,000 sq. ft. space was mainly used as a parking lot.
Ratkovich boasts that the adaptive reuse of Acres of Books will prove to be the "first of its kind in DTLB." Judging from renderings, the Art Deco-style building will be a key component of its entry way along Long Beach Blvd.
The property was transferred to Broadway Block LLC for $7.8M in an unanimous vote during the Long Beach City Council meeting in July of last year. The development, a partnership between Ratkovich Properties LLC, Urbana LLC, and The Owl Companies.
The 3rd Street portion will have a 21-story residential while the Broadway stretch will have a seven-story structure. Combined, the project will bring 392 residential units to the Downtown area (previously 375), 5,773 square feet of creative office space, 3,873 square feet of flex space, 6,012 square feet of loft space, 1,311 square feet of ArtExchange space and 3,200 square feet of university space.
Even more, the project garnered attention last year for the fact that it would build affordable units for Cal State Long Beach graduate students in the structure aligned for Broadway. However, updated information only includes that "performing arts space" for the university will be included. It is unclear if, following the proposed addition of CSULB housing at the former City Place development, that this project will move forward with student housing.
Updated renderings show the geometric rooftop of the pyramid-like façade of the southwest corner, mirrored squares that permit the plebeians to look up toward swimmers with jealousy and a sense of voyeurism, and a sea of mostly white folks. (Please work on that, renderers.)
Total parking requirements for the site are 511 spaces but 524 spaces are included in the current proposal.
Construction was expected to begin summer of 2018 but has now been pushed to the beginning of 2019.
Brian Addison has been a writer, editor and photographer for more than a decade, covering everything from food to politics to urban transportation and housing. In 2015, he was named Journalist of the Year by the Los Angeles Press Club and has since garnered 12 nominations and an additional win for Best Political Commentary. Born in Big Bear, he has lived in Long Beach since college. Brian currently serves as a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post.