Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and HD Deve Gowda are among the Opposition leaders who will address the public meeting.
The Aam Aadmi Party is set to organise a grand Opposition rally at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday, The Indian Express reported. This comes a month after the Trinamool Congress organised a massive Opposition unity rally in Kolkata.
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will attend the rally. Naidu has been camping in Delhi since Monday, when he held a one-day hunger strike demanding special category status for his state.
Several Opposition leaders and Bharatiya Janata Party ally Shiv Sena had extended their support to Naidu's "Dharma Porata Deeksha", or protest for justice.
"All Opposition leaders will attend this rally against the Modi government," PTI quoted AAP leader Gopal Rai as saying. "It will be attended by all those who had attended Mamata Banerjee's Kolkata rally last month." Though Congress President Rahul Gandhi has also been invited, Congress leaders are unlikely to attend the public meeting.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar will also be in attendance. Leaders from the Samajwadi Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Lok Dal and other parties will also address the rally, Rai added.


The safety and security of our guests is a top priority here at LEGOLAND New York. Interact with our guests as you patrol the park and ensure a safe environment at all times. Typical duties involve overseeing Park entrances, reuniting lost parents with their children, responding to emergencies, and helping our First Aid staff. Because of these responsibilities, Park Rangers must be at least 18 years old.


By Minette B. Navarrete Minette B. Navarrete - President at Kickstart Ventures Inc.
What happens when you bring startup culture - hackers, hipsters & hustlers - into a large enterprise?
Globe Telecom (Philippines' #2 telco with 42% share) incorporated Kickstart Ventures Inc. to break down barriers to disruptive innovation that couldn't survive inside an established telco. The mandate: spur innovation by supporting startups with funding, access to telco facilities, mentoring programs and market access (ie business network introductions).
Most enterprises, esp telcos, approach corporate incubation as they do all things: as large, corporate entities with entrenched processes, formal channels and big budgets. Globe's Kickstart Ventures turns the corporate incubation model on its head by going grassroots and operating as a startup itself: independent, experimental, disruptive, personal. Kickstart's different processes, metrics, tools and small, unorthodox team (no one from the core telco business) goes beyond breaking down barriers between the corporation and startups: Kickstart builds bridges that enable effective collaboration between these disparate organisations.
Kickstart's grassroots approach is helping build a robust startup ecosystem in the Philippines. And it's disrupting Globe from the inside: and people in Globe are beginning to understand that that can be a very good thing.
Large enterprises are good at driving innovation through factory-like processes: innovation projects are approved based on scale, certainty and profitability; and configured for efficiency. Projects go through standard processes with standard milestones in a one-directional funnel, and success is measured with the same metrics used for the core business. This innovation model works well with "known knowns" and "known unknowns," when growth is infrastructure-driven, innovation can be controlled and evolutionary, and there are established playbooks to refer to.
It is much less successful for the frontier areas of industry, where there are higher, often unquantifiable degrees of uncertainty and risk; where disruption is bound to appear from the fringes rather than from traditional competitors; and where the innovation development process requires experimentation and rapid iteration. These innovation frontiers could look interesting to large enterprises, but interest quickly dissipates when a business case can't be made to justify exploring an innovative idea.
It doesn't look too good from the fringes either: often, corporates are seen as dinosaurs unable to adapt to a changing environment or work with startups that are small, iconoclastic, and fleet of foot. Whilst startups can benefit from the resources of a large corporation -- especially in an age where innovation cycles are shorter and the race to scale brings constraints in not just capital but also, crucially, market access -- they are well aware that enterprise processes can be slow and cumbersome, ultimately draining away a startup's time and energy, and killing creativity with control and compromises.
These barriers between large enterprises and agile startups represent a huge opportunity cost: much more economic value could be created by and for both types of organisations, if only they could learn to work with each other without tripping each other up. Equally important, the barriers prevent the rise of robust innovation ecosystems within markets, making innovation a "one-off" fortuitous event rather than an intrinsic and repeatable process that constantly stimulates customer behaviour.
Kickstart's Corporate Incubation formula: acknowledge the Innovator's Dilemma (Clayton Christensen) and work with it!
STRATEGIC STRUCTURE: Create a two-pronged approach for driving innovation within large enterprises, accepting that innovation from the core and innovation from the fringes are equally important for the long-term health of the enterprise, but are fundamentally different in nature - requiring different skills, processes, governance, metrics. Both structures report to the CEO, ensuring coordination where needed whilst avoiding swamping/throttling inovation from the fringes with the mass of the core business.
Innovation from the Fringes - Corporate Incubation requires a dedicated team with different skill sets; develop different processes and metrics to measure success, accepting a different risk/time profile for incubated projects. This is the focus of this hack.
Independent organisation: separate incorporation allows differing governance requirements for the investments that need to be made, often with less time and less information available, especially for never-before and first-in-market initiatives. Build a diverse team based on skill sets that thrive in this environment; avoid merely transferring "the usual suspects" ie executives who have been successful in the core business, but have no experience with startups. In Kickstart's case, we have someone who has been CEO in both a multinational company and startup environment; a former VC; a former SAP/CAS tech person; a CSR expert.
Small, but separate fund: avoid the deprioritisation and mid-year corporate budget slash issues by operating on a small budget, and keeping this separate from core business. Keep approval processes appropriate by using investment threshholds.
Portfolio approach: make a number of investments across the focus areas (in Kickstart's case, infra-light digital technology products/services, and technology-empowered traditional sectors). Balance these investments across categories and customers (B2B, B2C), and an investment size range.
Incubation metrics: acknowledge higher levels of risk, and longer incubation periods. Year One metrics are focused on Sourcing Innovation (how many startups we find), Innovation Relevance (how many startups we introduce to Globe and affiliate companies, who are deemed relevant by Globe/affiliate companies), Investment implementation (fund deployment), Investee satisfaction (survey feedback) and speed. These metrics will evolve over time, incorporating more strategic milestones and financial metrics as the investment portfolio and processes mature.
Operating philosophies: Given the infra-light focus, we espouse Lean Startup principles (Eric Ries) and use the Lean Canvas (Ash Maurya). We coach investees to articulate their problem and purpose clearly; and understand that customer and product development take experimentation, rapid iteration, rigorous discipline around results measurement, and potentially a lot of failures! We discuss each investee startup's results based on the Lean Dashboard (Pollenizer); and we encourage them to participate in the Startup Genome Project.
Community philosophies: We are building the larger startup community, and therefore co-organise community events (eg Startup Weekend; Kickstart Startup Mixers) to stimulate interaction and collaboration. We bring in partners - large and small, domestic and overseas - to build up expertise. We encourage collaboration and intelligent risk-taking.
Kickstart character: authenticity (integrity, simplicity, personal involvement), authoritativeness (competence, expertise, use of data as well as judgment), accessibility (grassroots/community/ startup-centric approach, responsiveness and speed, openness to genuine partnerships).
Capital - seed funding for startups, in exchange for equity (minority stake) or via a convertible note.
Mentoring - weekly discussions at early stage/monthly discussions at later stage. Structured discussions focused on hypotheses, experiments run and results obtained. We also bring in expert speakers for the community at large, and fund training workshops for our investee companies.
Market access - we open doors for startups by organising introductions to affiliate companies as well as other business contacts. When needed, we monitor the interaction to help "translate" between startup and enterprise language. To help ease this interaction, we also host workshops and briefing sessions for executives of affiliate companies and business contacts -- to help them better understand and work effectively with startups (this is especially helpful given most executives are only experienced with dealing with companies of a similar size or maturity).
The COMMUNITY initiatives (Startup Weekend, Kickstart Startup Mixers) stimulate conversations amongst different community members -- Startup Weekend organisers and teams that pitch; large corporates who are potential sponsors or customers or suppliers; investors; government and non-government organisations. For example, we have had representatives from Google, Amazon, the US Embassy, and Innosight participating and taking questions from startup founders. We are building creative, collaborative communities of trust based upon personal experiences.
The COMMUNICATIONS initiatives -- Kickstart presence in hackathons and pitching competitions, publicity and PR, media efforts -- help create a better broad public understanding of startups, technopreneurship and disruptive innovation. In an Asian context, where social and familial expectations often pressure individuals to seek employment in stable corporations and conglomerates, these media efforts are necessary to re-shape attitudes and perceptions to make technopreneurship an acceptable, equally valid career choice.
StartUp Weekend Manila from Moki Magpantay on Vimeo.
The EDUCATION initiatives -- targeted at startup founders as well as corporate executives -- build a foundation for more effective cooperation: collaboration build on comprehension of each other's contributions, and more robust executional competence. We are developing more skills, more mature thought, and more disciplined execution -- this mitigates market adoption risk common to innovation projects.
The INVESTMENT initiatives give startups a faster start and a better trajectory. The investment of time and personal networks, in addition to funding, better aligns the interests of the startup founders and Kickstart. We are creating what we believe will be the case studies that help more people understand what drives innovation in emerging markets such as the Philippines (we cannot replicate Silicon Valley, but must build our own innovation community appropriate to the characteristics and capabilities of the Philippines). More importantly, we believe that we are building success stories that will inspire future generations -- founders and corporates alike -- to collaborate for mutual gain.
21 well-attended community events -- Startup Weekend, Kickstart Startup Mixers, #raidthefridge -- that offer networking opportunities and initiate deeper conversations, sparked by speakers like Braden Kelley, Scott Anthony, Amazon CTO Dr. Werner Vogels, Scan.me founder Garrett Gee, National Competitiveness Council's Bill Luz, Pollenizer's Phil Morle, the US State Department's Robin Diallo, and local startup founders like Kalibrr's Dexter Ligot-Gordon.
USD7.9 Million in third-party funding attracted after our initial investments (Kickstart is typically the first institutional investor for our startups).
We look to yielding a financial return on the investments in 5 years or so. Ultimately, the measurable economic value -- whether in shareholder dividends, firm value, succeeding funding rounds or a liquidity event; or macroeconomic measures such as companies started, revenue generated and employment created -- will demonstrate that Kickstart's corporate incubation is driving innovation, that in turn creates value for the Philippines as a whole, as well as for Globe and Kickstart Ventures.
Kickstart itself is the result of a series of experiments!
Co-organise Startup Weekend in your community. This isn't just about "sponsoring" it, ie handing a cheque; this actually requires rolling up sleeves and immersing in all the activities, talking to as many startup founders and aspiring founders or team members, as possible.
Build a view of your market (external) conditions: what are the key drivers for innovation; which elements of an innovation culture/ecosystem are present, and which are not. What are prevailing attitudes of the different members of the ecosystem; who are the community leaders; where are the leverage points? Understand what the true limiting factors are (most people say "capital" but often that is just the tip of the iceberg).
Take stock of your company's (internal) resources and attitudes: what capabilities are present; what do you need to acquire or develop or partner for?
Build a hypothesis, and pitch the idea internally. In Kickstart's case, we pitched for -- and got approval for -- a small investment fund (US$2.4Mn), a small team (4-5 person), and an unusual degree of latitude (a separate company, a higher degree of risk-taking, and a different investment approval process). These were in view of an unusual degree of honesty in the pitch: we spelt out the risks involved, and offered no guarantees or misleading facts. And we promised to share information.
For the first year, we set out modest targets, focused on building capability and external relationships, and worked with internal sponsors who "got it" in parallel to doing more educational/evangelical work around disruptive innovation and startups, to broaden support. We are measuring and sharing findings -- these early results, indicating the promise of innovation as well as more specific drivers/needs, are generating greater support for what was originally seen as a radical and disruptive (in a bad sense) proposal.
The hackers, hipsters and hustlers are in the house -- and it's beginning to look like a good thing. In everyone's eyes.
The Kickstart founding team -- Dan Siazon, Christian Besler, Ruth Canillas -- who joined me when I said we'd pitch to do Incubation and Open Innovation.
Globe's CEO, Ernest Cu, and CFO, Albert de Larrazabal -- who understood intuitively why this is a good thing for Globe Telecom, who created the space to make this possible, and who continue to support Kickstart's initiatives.
Globe's Board of Directors -- who accepted the candour and honesty of our pitch with an amazing degree of equanimity, openness and support.
Hackers in the house: how an UnCorporate Incubator drives disruptive innovation from the inside.


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Home News LIQUIBOX
LIQUIBOX
Acquisition of DS Smith's plastics business is complete
Private equity group Olympus Partners (Stamford, Connecticut / USA; www.olympuspartners.com) has completed the purchase of DS Smith's (London / UK; www.dssmith.com) plastics division through its portfolio company Liquibox (Richmond, Virginia / USA; www.liquibox.com).
"AkyPak" containers are part of the portfolio of Corplex (Photo: Corplex)
It announced the division's flexible packaging and Worldwide Dispensers businesses would be consolidated into the Liquibox brand, a global leader in liquid packaging and dispensing. The division's rigid businesses for extruded, injection-moulded and foam products will be broken up into three newly branded and independently operated businesses to be known, respectively, as Corplex, DW Reusables and Engineered Foam Products. Each of these three business units will execute on new growth plans under the new ownership structure.
Olympus Partners acquired the plastics division for an enterprise value of around EUR 517m – see Plasteurope.com of 07.03.2019. Liquibox also sold its UK bag-in-box business to Peak Packaging (Ilkeston, Derbyshire / UK; www.peakpackaging.co.uk) to comply with UK anti-trust requirements – see Plasteurope.com of 21.10.2019.
Corplex is a specialist in extruded plastic products for automotive, pharmaceutical, retail, reusable and other segments. It operates out of seven sales and manufacturing facilities in France, Slovakia, Spain, the UK and the US. Olympus said it would continue to invest in Corplex and consolidate the latter's position to be a market leader for fluted plastic extruded products.
09.03.2020 Plasteurope.com [244689-0]
German version of this article...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Planned Parenthood believes in absolute equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people everywhere. Unfortunately, in Pennsylvania, LGBTQ individuals face discrimination in housing, employment, businesses and health care. We can and must do better. We have been staunch supporters of non-discrimination bills and will work with legislators to continue championing this issue.
To learn more about sexual orientation and gender, visit Planned Parenthood's website.
For more information about health care services that Planned Parenthood provides, please visit our LGBTQ services page.


text:
President Donald Trump boasted about his administration's environmental record on Monday, saying America can lead the world in fighting pollution at the same time it is promoting fossil fuels, in a speech green groups derided as "utter fantasy."
The future of Obamacare could be at stake on Tuesday when a coalition of Democratic-led states and House of Representatives urge a federal appeals court to overturn a Texas judge's ruling that the U.S. healthcare reform law is unconstitutional.
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Britain and the European Union said on Tuesday that they were concerned about Iran scaling up its uranium enrichment and urged Tehran to revert to upholding the 2015 nuclear deal.
Italy's government plans to throw more resources into its fight against boat migrants, an official said on Tuesday, as the number of new arrivals gathers speed, putting pressure on Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
Seven members of a family were killed in an air strike in the northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan, the Afghan ministry of defense said in a statement.
European regulators have ordered inspections on some older Airbus A380 superjumbo airplanes after some cracks were detected in wings on the world's largest passenger aircraft.
Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday the extradition bill that sparked the Chinese-ruled city's biggest crisis in decades is dead and that government work on the legislation had been a "total failure", but critics accused her of playing with words.
The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan wound up on Tuesday the seventh round of talks he has held with the Taliban in Qatar, after signs of progress in efforts to end the longest war the United States has ever fought.
France will introduce a tax on airlines flying from its airports to help support the environment, the transport minister said on Tuesday, in a move expected to raise around $202 million from 2020.
The United States and China are set to relaunch trade talks this week after a two-month hiatus, but a year after their trade war began there is little sign their differences have narrowed.
British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans a stock market listing by the end of the year, becoming the first space tourism firm to tap public markets for funding.
The U.S. State Department has approved the possible sale to Taiwan of M1A2T Abrams tanks, Stinger missiles and related equipment at an estimated value of $2.2 billion, the Pentagon said on Monday, despite Chinese criticism of the deal.
Mexican officials using a large X-ray scanner at a checkpoint in the central state of Zacatecas found 51 Central American migrants in hidden compartments inside a truck.
Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ken Cuccinelli announces operations will begin to remove illegal immigrants who have been lawfully ordered to leave the country.
Two junior Indian antitrust research associates and a law school student were behind a complaint that sparked a probe into Google's alleged anti-competitive practices in the country, in what has become another regulatory challenge for the U.S. firm.
SunTrust Banks, the lender merging with BB&T Corp., said it won't provide future financing to companies that manage private prisons and immigration holding facilities. SunTrust's decision follows similar moves by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase. and Wells Fargo.
Authorities seized about $3.7 million in undeclared U.S. currency after searching an abandoned boat on the coast of Puerto Rico on Sunday.
Iran's decision to further challenge the United States by boosting its uranium enrichment beyond limits in its 2015 nuclear deal has deepened fears among Iranians that their country will remain in crisis mode over the long term.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation opening up the possibility for Congress to access Donald Trump's state tax returns through the Empire State's government. The bill was signed into law on Monday, and would allow New York officials to release the tax returns of public officials, if the records were requested by "congressional tax-related committees" citing "specified and legitimate legislative purpose" for the files.
Apple is apparently considering doubling down on biometric authentication, as 9to5Mac reports that iOS 13, iPadOS 13, and macOS Catalina beta testers have been given the option to sign in to their iCloud.com accounts using either Face ID or Touch ID, depending on which device they're using to access the site.
Israel's military on Monday shot down a drone that crossed into its territory from the Gaza Strip and discovered an attack tunnel running under the Gaza perimeter fence. The military said it recovered the downed drone and took it in for examination.
A migrant center on the Italian island of Sicily which had been one of the largest of its kind in Europe, which at its peak housed more than 4,000 people, has been officially shut down.
Over the past few months, bricks of cocaine with a street value of millions have been washing up in eastern coastal provinces in the Philippines.
A motorbike ban aimed at curbing crime has come into effect in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
At least 100 men, women and children have been incinerated in a "well-targeted attack" on Christians by jihadists in central Mali, according to reports.
An all-ages, drag queen show in Denver on Sunday drew protesters, who were kept behind a fence with a strong police presence. About a dozen people participated in the show. The show has taken place the first Saturday of the month for the past six months.


The U.S. Geological Survey said it was centered in Oaxaca.
MEXICO CITY — A strong new earthquake shook Mexico on Saturday, toppling already damaged homes and a highway bridge and causing new alarm in a country reeling from two even more powerful quakes this month that together have killed nearly 400 people.
There was some damage in Oaxaca but no immediate reports of new deaths. The Federal Police agency posted images online showing a collapsed bridge that it said had already been closed due to damage after the Sept. 7 quake.
Buildings swayed in Mexico City, where nerves are still raw from Tuesday's magnitude 7.1 temblor that has killed at least 295 across the region. Many residents and visitors fled homes, hotels and businesses, some in tears.
At the Xoco General Hospital, which is treating the largest number of quake victims, workers ordered visitors to evacuate when seismic alarms began to blare.
At the site of an office building that collapsed Tuesday and where an around-the-clock search for survivors was still ongoing, rescuers briefly evacuated from atop the pile of rubble after the morning quake before returning to work.
As rescue operations stretched into Day 5, residents throughout the capital have held out hope that dozens still missing might be found alive. More than half the dead – 157 – perished in the capital, while another 73 died in the state of Morelos, 45 in Puebla, 13 in Mexico State, six in Guerrero and one in Oaxaca.
Families have been sleeping in tents, accepting food and coffee from strangers, people have organized to present a united front to authorities, who they pressed ceaselessly for information.


text:
Окръг Косцюшко () е окръг в щата Индиана, Съединени американски щати. Площта му е 1435 km², а населението - 74 057 души (2000). Административен център е град Уорсо.

Окръзи в Индиана

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Declaring he was ready to bear his share of the "pain" in an era of budget cutting, Mayor David Dinkins Monday took a 5 percent pay cut and ordered nearly 700 top administration officials and bureaucrats to do the same.
Dinkins urged all top city officials to follow his lead for themselves and their staffs, including Council Speaker Peter Vallone, Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman, Council President Andrew Stein, Schools Chancellor Joseph Fernandez, the five borough presidents and the district attorneys."We have no choice but to make our local government fit the size of our local economy," the mayor said. "We must all bear our share of the pain."
Council Speaker Peter Vallone and Council President Andrew Stein quickly accepted the mayor's challenge.
Dinkins said he had been ready to order an even bigger pay cut - 10 percent - but decided against it at the last minute.


text:
Rape charges: British women imprisoned for 'inconsistent' claims
HUNDREDS of vulnerable women have been sent to prison in the United Kingdom for lying about rape, according to an investigation.
The report found that UK authorities are "exceptionally aggressive" in pursuing women for lying about rape, prosecuting hundreds over the past decade.
At least 200 women have been prosecuted for fake rape cases in that time, according to a BuzzFeed News analysis of press reports.
Most of the women were sent to prison, with dozens of them facing sentences of more than two years.
They said they found prosecutors went after women who were teenagers, reportedly had mental health issues, had experienced past physical and sexual assault, or were grappling with drug and alcohol addiction.
Last month a student revealed he is suing a woman for $6 million, claiming her false rape accusation at a frat party has destroyed his life.
The investigation also revealed women were prosecuted even when they reportedly went to police only under pressure, quickly recanted, or never named their attacker at all.
Yvette Cooper, Labour MP and chair of the influential home affairs select committee, said the investigation was "very troubling".
She called on the CPS to make sure the guidance was followed so that "victims are not deterred from coming forward" and "vulnerable women are not inappropriately prosecuted".
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/uk-investigation-reveals-200-women-prosecuted-for-fake-rape-claims-in-past-decade/news-story/f22d75116c60e3843131ae07baee01b3
Author fem4admin39Posted on July 9, 2018 Categories Global, Sexual Violence
Previous Previous post: Revealed: how US sex traffickers recruit jailed women for prostitution
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Q: Criteria Restriction by date field I have 2 tables, Partner and Visit. A partner can have many visits, also various in same day.
I need to create a Criteria restriction to know how many days the Partner has visits since a given date. So, 2 or more visits in same date must be only one.
Can this be done only by Criteria and Restrictions??
I can get all visits from a date with a criteria like:
Criteria criteria = buildCriteria();
criteria.add(Restrictions.eq(DBConstants.VISIT_COL_VISITOR, partnerVisitor));
criteria.add(Restrictions.ge(DBConstants.VISIT_COL_DATE, startDate));

But now, to filter repeated days, I need something like:
criteria.add(Restrictions.unique(DBConstants.VISIT_COL_DATE));

Any idea?
EDIT: @user23123412 @netik
Visit.java

private Integer id;
private Date date;
private Partner visitor;

// getters + setters

Visit table rows related to partner 1:

ID
VISITOR
DATE

1
1
10/10/2014 16:20

20
1
10/10/2014 18:00

45
1
12/10/2014 16:20

71
1
12/10/2014 19:40

89
1
16/10/2014 11:20

The answer I need after the query is a Visit count in different days since a given date.
I.E.: If i launch a query with visitor = 1 and startDate = 12/10/2014 the result MUST be 2, cause row id = 45 and id = 71 have different visits in a same day, so it's only ONE day.

A: You have three options:
1) If you are not pinned to Critera api, I recommend to use HQL instead of Criteria API
Date d =  new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse("2014-10-12");
Query query = session.createQuery("select count(*) from Visit v where trunc(v.date)=:date and v.visitor.id=:visitorId");
query.setParameter("date", d);
query.setParameter("visitorId", 1L);
Long count =  (Long) query.uniqueResult();

2) If you want to use Criteria API, it's possible to apply sqlRestriction. Unfortunately you will lock to specific database.
This example works on HSQLDB
Date d =  new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse("2014-10-12");
Long count = (Long) session.createCriteria(Visit.class)
           .setProjection(Projections.rowCount())
           .add(Restrictions.eq("visitor.id", 1L))
           .add(Restrictions.sqlRestriction("trunc(date)=?", d, org.hibernate.type.StandardBasicTypes.DATE))
           .uniqueResult()  ;

3) It's also possible to use pure criteria API, but date restriction must be a little bit hacked (using between restriction)
Date d =  new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy-MM-dd").parse("2014-10-12");
Date maxDate = new Date(d.getTime() + TimeUnit.DAYS.toMillis(1));
Long count = (Long) session.createCriteria(Visit.class)
                .setProjection(Projections.rowCount())
                .add(Restrictions.eq("visitor.id", 1L))
                .add(Restrictions.between("date", d, maxDate))
                .uniqueResult();

A: Well... finally, after almost getting crazy, I've found solution to my query using @netik first solution with some modifications: I've found out problem was mysql was not supporting trunc . No matter hql does.
So finally the query method after data processing is like that:
public Integer getPartnerVisitDatesSinceDate(Date startDate, Long partnerId) {
    Query query = getSession().createQuery("select count(distinct visit.date) from Visit visit where date(visit.date) >= :date and visit.visitor.id = :visitorId");
    query.setDate("date", startDate);
    query.setParameter("visitorId", partnerId);
    return (Integer) query.uniqueResult();
}

Thanks @netik!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Mary Alice Haney has always been good at figuring out what she does well and stick to that. This SS18 collection is no different in that sense. Haney produces a set of clothes perfect for the evening and utterly imperfect for anything before that (unless you are on vacation in Mykonos and haven't been back to the hotel since last night). Such clarity of purpose and being able to stick to a singular narrative that fits a specific time frame in a woman's life is what makes this collection not only worth of praise but also worthy of investment. Beautiful prints, shimmering blouses, and dresses to die for are the staple of this collection and we are happy to buy into Haney specially after 5pm.


I am really looking forward to this concert, as it has some talented artists like Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Jasraj, Shrinivas Joshi performing in it. Moreover, late Pandit CR Vyas, who initiated this classical music event, was like an uncle figure to my husband, Dilshad and me. I feel that classical music is simply divine. It has the power to heal your soul. As an artist, it's my responsibility to give 100 per cent at a concert, and I will look at doing the same here. I haven't zeroed down on the ragas or khayals that I will do only after gauging the audience's pulse at the event (smiles).
Well, it's a blessing to be married to someone like Ustad Dilshad Khan. Initially, we shared a teacher- student relationship that later blossomed into a romantic one. While training under him, I understood that he was the perfect 'mental match' for me. Even now, he is a very strict guru in our music room, who wants no interruptions during riyaaz. But I'm the boss at home (laughs out loud). After my father Ikramul Mazid, he has been my biggest support. It is not easy for a married woman with a child to actively pursue a career in music world, where you have to train and travel constantly. But my husband has never complained about anything. He is my best friend. We have been together for 36 years, which is no mean feat in today's world (laughs out loud).
Like every Assamese, I too was deeply saddened by the death of Bhupen Hazarika. He was like a father figure to me, and a source of great inspiration. When I was growing up in Assam, the state was a neglected one. I remember travelling to Kolkata every now and then for my music lessons. But I must tell you that people from the North East love music. There is a lot of folk music and western classical music in places like Meghalaya and Mizoram. The choirs of Shillong are also very famous, as are some of the rock bands. So you see, music is an inseparable part of our lives.


Freight Forwarding in Otwell, Indiana - Freight Forwarding in Otwell, IN: Yellow Pages Directory Inc.
Below is a list of businesses which provide Freight Forwarding services. If you do not see your business in the list, you can submit it for addition to this list. Adding your business will feature your listing above Standard listings.
Freight forwarding, in Otwell, denotes the act of organizing shipments for individuals or companies. The carriers used in the process include airplanes, trucks, ships and railroads.
Freight forwarding typically deals in moving cargo to an international destination. Commercial invoice, shipper's export declaration, bill of lading and other documents required by the carrier or country of export, import, or transshipment are some of the typical information reviewed during freight forwarding. Freight forwarding is generally of two types- Domestic & International. However, in some countries, no such distinction prevails.


I would like to use this place for some feedback.
I am a owner of the Multiface II with the PCIe HDSPe. I am very happy for many years now with the interface. I have used it exclusively with Linux since day 0.
Now I need another interface and as it looks like the Multiface II is not available anymore (at least not at my reseller) I looked into the market of professional audio interfaces.
The UFX Series would have been very promising but as a Linux user I would only have access to a very limited set of functions. Of course there are many lowcost audio interfaces with USB class compliance but I do not feel comfortable using them directly with my hifi power amp (no additional volume limits).
I found the Motu AVB series which also operates in usb class compliant mode. BUT the whole mixing and control part with all effects, etc is controlled via IP and HTML. This means, that ALL functionality that is available for windows users is available for Linux users as well.
It performs without a hassle.
As a german I'm a bit disappointed that I have to buy foreign products only because I use the linux operating system.
I'd like to make sure that my intention for this post is not trolling but to give you some ideas how a professional audio interface can be designed to work completely with Linux (and all other systems like Android, etc) as well.
I hope that in the future RME takes a more flexible and portable way (they don't even have to support linux officially, just implement a standard-conform implementation).
I hope you understand, that I'm really happy with my current RME product but I'm disappointed with the current situation and that I was forced to buy a 1248 Motu.
I've just given up using an RME AES32 in favour of a Lynx Hilo. During my 18 months ownership of the AES32, RME has never offered any assistance. I wonder if RME has noticed the growing market for Raspberry Pi audio players - if JRiver can embrace Linux, why can't RME?
I'm also a owner of the Multiface II with the PCIe HDSPe and very happy for many years now with the interface. I have also used it exclusively with Linux since day 0.
I'm also need another card, unfortunately after several searches on the RME side I do not see anything interesting for my Gnu-Linux OS.
And I'm certainly not going to pay for an audio card if I only have access to a very limited set of functions. I'm not german but I'm also a bit disappointed and astonished that in 2016 RME has still not taken seriously the Gnu-Linux OS as a pro audio workstation. It may not be too late for RME to wakes up before Christmas ?


allows for easy and quick removal to respond to emergencies.
is clear of any objects, such as chairs or tables, that may be used to climb over it.
contain an automatic reset feature and deactivation that cannot be located by children.
Have a safe summer and if you're ready to dive into selling your home, give me a call!


This fresh and low fat appetizer is easy to make and taste so light. Only cooked shrimp, low fat creme cheese, yogurt for a skinny and tasty dip.
It is a healthy addition to your family meals if you plan to incorporate fish to your diet.
Your favorite crackers, toasts or bread.
Combine crème cheese and yogurt until smooth.
Add onion, garlic, lemon zest, jus and Tabasco. Mix well.
Add shrimp and season with oregano, salt and pepper to taste. Continue mixing until all ingredients are incorporated. Add more crème cheese or yogurt if needed.
Refrigerate at least 1 hour and serve with chives. I used home made whole wheat bread wedges.
I also left you a comment on your post (I am not on diet).


Imagine Science Film Festival's Nature Scientific Merit Award went to Magnetic Movie, a 4-minute, 47-second short by Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Semiconductor Films. Theirs was one of 50 films representing 9 countries and selected from over 250 submissions.
Here's the link to this mysterious work of art, possibly about science and possibly not. More about that in a moment.
The British artists spent five months at the NASA's Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley under a fellowship from England's Arts Council. The film is intriguing both because of its subject and the techniques used to glean information, interpret it, and represent it.


text:
Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II
By Roger Moorhouse. 432 pp.
Basic Books, 2020. $32.
WHEN HITLER LAUNCHED HIS ATTACK on Poland on September 1, 1939, igniting World War II, the disparity between invader and defender could not have been greater. The Germans enjoyed a 5-1 advantage in aircraft and a 3-1 advantage in artillery and tanks; plus, Polish hardware was hardly comparable. My father, a Polish cadet officer at the time, led a platoon equipped with castoff World War I Renault tanks. They had no chance against the Panzers that quickly overwhelmed them.
But it wasn't just Germany's superior firepower that doomed Poland to defeat, explains British historian Roger Moorhouse in his compelling account of Germany's September campaign against the first country that dared to fight rather than submit. Britain and France had vowed to defend Poland; yet aside from formally declaring war on Germany on September 3, they largely stood by and watched their ally get crushed. Whatever hopes the Poles still had for survival swiftly evaporated when Red Army troops invaded from the east on September 17, carving up the country as agreed under the terms of the German-Soviet Pact signed less than a month earlier.
Although often scattershot and poorly coordinated, the Polish defense was far more valiant—and inflicted more casualties—than their invaders expected. After one battle, a German 7th Army Corps report acknowledged: "Brave lads, these Poles." An SS officer also praised their enemy's courage, pointing out that they "proved repeatedly they know how to die."
Such tributes, however, did nothing to lessen the invaders' savagery in what they saw as a race war. German forces viewed Poles and other Slavs as Untermenschen: subhumans who could be slaughtered at will. Any pretext was good enough to justify mass executions and destroyed villages.
While Jews were often singled out by Hitler's troops, the Holocaust had yet to begin in earnest. But as Moorhouse illustrates, everything that happened during this opening act of the war—including the terrors simultaneously experienced by Poles in Soviet-occupied territory— offered a preview of larger horrors to come. ✯
—Andrew Nagorski is the author, most recently, of 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War (2019).
This article is published in the October 2020 issue of World War II magazine.


text:
Posts Tagged 'In the United States of Africa'
By luck, I'm able to teach the Africana literatures class this semester — a class I've always wanted to do but would be four or five back in the priority list in a normal semester. The theme (of course) is "Afrofuturism," and spends about a third of its time in America, about a third of its time in America thinking about Africa, and about a third of its time in Africa. I'm excited! Here's the description and schedule; full syllabus with policies and assignments here…
Greg Tate has said that "Black people live the estrangement that science fiction writers imagine." This course takes up the nexus of intersections between black history and the radical black imagination that is commonly called Afrofuturism, focusing in particular of figurations of Africa as a space of science fictional possibility from both sides of the Atlantic. If Afrofuturism has been, as Kodwo Eshun has said, "a program for recovering the histories of counter-futures created in a century hostile to Afrodiasporic projection," how does the rise of Africa as a global economic powerhouse in the twenty-first-century transform our understanding of black futurity? 2018's smash hit Black Panther is only the most vivid registration of the ongoing global importance of the Afrofuturist imagination; from comics to film and television to literature to music videos to social media we will trace Afrofuturism across the twenty-first century cultural landscape.
T Aug 28 FIRST DAY OF CLASS
What Is Afrofuturism?
film (in class): Sun Ra, Space Is the Place (1974) (excerpts)
Th Aug 30 Mark Bould, "The Ships Landed Long Ago" [D2L]
film (in class): John Akomfrah, The Last Angel of History(1996)
T Sep 4 Sable Elyse Smith, "Ordinary Violence" [museum]
MEET AT THE HAGGERTY
Th Sep 6 film (in-class): Get Out(2017)
T Sep 11 film: Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017) (discussion)
Th Sep 13 Get Out (2017)(discussion continues)
Steven Thrasher, Get Out thinkpiece #1 [Web]
Aisha Harris, Get Out thinkpiece #2 [Web]
T Sep 18 Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer (2018) (viewing and initial thoughts)
Th Sep 20 Janelle Monáe, Dirty Computer (2018) (extended discussion)
Aja Romano, "Janelle Monáe's body of work is a masterpiece of modern science fiction" [Web]
Brittany Spanos, "Janelle Monáe Frees Herself" [Web]
Christopher Lebron, "Janelle Monáe for President" [Web]
T Sep 25 film: Ryan Coogler, Black Panther (2018) (discussion)
Th Sep 27 Black Panther (2018) (discussion continues)
Gerry Canavan, "The Limits of Black Panther'sAfrofuturism" [Web]
FIRST PAPER MINI-WORKSHOP
T Oct 2 Ta-Nehisi Coates, Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet, vol. 1
Evan Narcisse, "Ta-Nehisi Coates Explains How He's Turning Black Panther into a Superhero Again" [web]
Th Oct 4 Ta-Nehisi Coates, Black Panther, A Nation Under Our Feet, vol. 2
FIRST PAPER DUE
T Oct 9 Ta-Nehisi Coates, Black Panther, A Nation Under Our Feet, vol. 3
Kodwo Eshun, "Further Considerations on Afrofuturism" [D2L]
Th Oct 11 Octavia E. Butler, Wild Seed, Book I ("Covenant, 1690")
T Oct 16 Octavia E. Butler, Wild Seed, Book II ("Lot's Children, 1741")
Th Oct 18 FALL BREAK—NO CLASS
T Oct 23 Octavia E. Butler, Wild Seed, Book III ("Canaan, 1840")
Th Oct 25 film: Wanuri Kahiu, "Pumzi" (2009) (in-class viewing and discussion)
SECOND PAPER MINI-WORKSHOP
T Oct 30 film (in class): District 9 (2009)
Th Nov 1 film: Neill Blomkamp, District 9 (2009) (in-class viewing continues and discussion)
SECOND PAPER DUE
T Nov 6 District 9 (2009) discussion continues
District 10 (forthcoming eventually?) discussion
Octavia E. Butler, "The Monophobic Response" [D2L]
Th Nov 8 Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Act I, first half)
T Nov 13 Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Act I, second half)
Th Nov 15 Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Act II)
T Nov 20 Nnedi Okorafor, Lagoon (Act III)
Th Nov 22 THANKSGIVING BREAK—NO CLASS
T Nov 27 Abdourahman Waberi, In the United States of Africa (part one)
Th Nov 29 Abdourahman Waberi, In the United States of Africa (whole book)
FINAL PROJECTS/PAPERS MINI-WORKSHOP
T Dec 4 Film: Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You(2018)
Chip Gibbons, "In the World of Film, We've Edited Out All Rebellion: An Interview with Boots Riley" [Web]
LAST DAY OF CLASS
Th Dec 6 CLASS CANCELLED DUE TO INSTRUCTOR TRAVEL
F Dec 14 FINAL PAPERS/PROJECTS DUE BY 5:30 PM VIA D2L DROPBOX
Tagged with Abdourahman Waberi, Afrofuturism, Black Panther, District 9, Get Out, In the United States of Africa, Janelle Monae, Lagoon, Marquette, my scholarly empire, Nnedi Okorafor, Octavia E. Butler, pedagogy, Ryan Coogler, science fiction, Sorry to Bother You, syllabi, Wild Seed
New Fall Syllabus #1: Alternate History!
I'm teaching three classes this semester, ENGLISH 4615/5615 ("Infinite Jest"), ENGLISH 2010 ("Alternate History"), and HOPR 1953 ("Video Game Culture") (one-credit, pass/fail, now with Pokémon Go!). I'm very excited about all three. The Infinite Jest course is one I've wanted to do for a very long time — I came up with the whole idea of adding the new 4615/5615 course number to the Marquette English just so I could do this course — and the alternate-history course has been puttering around in my brain as a pedagogical opportunity for just about as long.
I got a lot of help from folks on Twitter and Facebook with the alternate history novel course, both at the level of generating texts but also at the level of conceptualizing the course a little different so it could be more inclusive, and I'm really grateful for that. I was finally sold by Alexis Lothian on the idea that I was being silly by being resistant to stories like The Lathe of Heaven and "The Book of Martha," for instance, and that the practical effect of that resistance was to make the class much whiter and much maler than it really needed to be. Now, the course is still pretty white and very male, but the genre itself is, and somehow or another that's something I want to start to talk about as the semester progresses. The excellent suggestion of Karen Joy Fowler's story "Game Night at the Fox and Goose" will really help me make that pivot, I think, as will In the United States of Africa (a great novel I couldn't believe I forgot to include until it was pointed out to me I'd forgotten to include it, I think by Aaron Bady).
A few other things I was very sad to lose:
I was originally going to do "an alternate history of an alternate history" thing to end the semester, Superman: Red Son, but it just didn't make sense the way the course took shape. I held on to the idea way too long, and only cut the book two days ago. Sorry, bookstore!
The whole original point of all this was to use the course as an excuse to teach The Years of Rice and Salt, a book I love which seems just too long too teach in any other context. And it still seems too long to teach (at least at the sophomore level). I had to give it up, and wasn't able to include even any excerpts because I crammed in too much other stuff. Someday!
Another thing that fell out of the course was a group presentation structure in which individual groups researched the actual history of the hinge point of each divergence and reported on it. I realized that with the newer, more expansive idea of the course this wasn't going to work very well for at least half the books, and probably would have been reductive and overdetermined our conversations in practice, so it had to be abandoned as well.
I really, really wanted to include a Ted Chiang what-if-religion-were-empirically-verifiable story like "Hell Is The Absence of God," but, again, it seemed just a bit far too off the mark this time.
I am, indeed, doing literally just one page from The Plot Against America, fulfilling my perverse desire to do so.
There were many other great suggestions for books that I wasn't able to use. A few that I really struggled over:
Life After Life: a Replay-style reincarnation novel about World War I;
Replay itself, which is just too time-travel-ish for this (though I've always really liked it);
I likewise ruled out some other really good alternate-timeline stories because they were really time travel stories, from my puritanical perspective;
Something longer from Butler, perhaps Wild Seed (again, just too far afield generically for what I'm hoping to do);
Something truly ("merely") generic, like Turtledove or Bring the Jubilee;
Lion's Blood, Atomik Aztex, The Indians Won, The Bird Is Gone, The Heirs of Columbus, etc. I was so hung up on the idea of doing The Years of Rice and Salt that it crowded out this space for me (and then I added In the United States of Africa instead, to take on this question from a different direction). Next time.
Swastika Night, 1984, Handmaid's Tale, Battle Royale: all good suggestions but didn't hit the sense of "pastness" required by my conception of alternate history as a genre, as they were all future histories in their original moment of production;
District 9: only (re-)occurred to me at the last second because I was talking about it to somebody in another context, and didn't have time to do it because the syllabus was (again) too crammed with too much other stuff. Someone had suggested Born in Flames to me as well, which also would have been great.
I also really wanted to play some board games like Twilight Struggle, Risk, Axis and Allies, and Chrononauts, but it seemed like it would be unwieldy and pointless with 35 students in the room. I think Civilization could scratch the same itch, though…
All right, with all those caveats, apologies, and thanks, here's the week by week schedule (and full syllabus with all course procedures)! Three papers, the first two "traditionally scholarly," the third one with a creative option, as well as a few creative micro-assignments here and there. If there's anything more I should explain or you have any questions about the decisions I made, feel free to ask in the comments!
M Aug. 29 FIRST DAY OF CLASS
in-class writing exercise: "What If…"
W Aug. 31 class discussion: "What If…"
UNIT ONE: ALTERNATE WORLD WAR IIs
F Sep. 2 Kim Stanley Robinson, "The Lucky Strike"
M Sep. 5 LABOR DAY—NO CLASS
W Sep. 7 Kim Stanley Robinson, "A Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions"
F Sep. 9 FIRST PAPER GUIDELINES DISTRIBUTED
Star Trek: "The City on the Edge of Forever" (discussion only; watch it on your own!)
criticism: H. Bruce Franklin, "Star Trek in the Vietnam Era" [D2L]
M Sep. 12 Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, chapters 1-3
W Sep. 14 Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, chapters 4-6
F Sep. 16 Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, chapters 7-9
M Sep. 19 Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle, chapters 10-13
W Sep. 21 Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle (whole book)
F Sep. 23 The Man in the High Castle (2015 Amazon pilot) (discussion only; watch it on your own!)
M Sep. 26 Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (discussion only; optional screening date and time TBA)
W Sep. 28 Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds (discussion continues)
· review: Ben Waters, "Debating Inglourious Basterds" [Web]
· review: Michael Atkinson, "The Anti-Blockbuster" [Web]
· review: Lee Siegel, "Tarantino's Hollow Violence" [Web]
· review: Jeffrey Goldberg, "Hollywood's Jewish Avenger" [Web]
F Sep. 30 Lauren Davis, "Quentin Tarantino's Spin Through Alternate History" [io9.com]
creative writing: Draft a short flash fiction [500-1000 words] or create an artifact, document, or image set in the 2016 of the world of Inglourious Basterds
Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (excerpt) [D2L]
UNIT TWO: OTHER HISTORIES
M Oct. 3 FIRST PAPER WORKSHOP
Bring in at least your introductory paragraphs, main claim, and an outline of your paper.
W Oct. 5 Sid Meier's Civilization
videos: Civilization V timelapse gameplay videos [YouTube]
post: Trevor Owens, "Sid Meier's Colonization: Is It Offensive Enough?" [Web]
thread: Lycerius, "I've Been Playing the Same Game of Civilization for Almost Ten Years. This Is the Result" [Reddit]
F Oct. 7 Sid Meier's Civilization
criticism: Kacper Pobłocki, "Becoming-State: The Bio-Cultural Imperialism of Sid Meier's Civilization"
M Oct. 10 FIRST PAPER DUE
SECOND PAPER GUIDELINES DISTRIBUTED
Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" [D2L]
W Oct. 12 Karen Joy Fowler, "Game Night at the Fox and Goose" [D2L]
F Oct. 14 criticism: L. Timmel Duchamp, "Playing with the Big Boys: (Alternate) History in Karen Joy Fowler's 'Game Night at the Fox and Goose'" [Web]
M Oct. 17 Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
W Oct. 19 Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
thinkpiece: Jennifer Schuessler, "Hamilton and History: Are They in Sync?" [Web]
interview: Rebecca Onion and Lyra D. Monteiro, "A Hamilton Skeptic on Why the Show Isn't As Revolutionary As It Seems" [Web]
F Oct. 21 FALL BREAK—NO CLASS
M Oct. 24 Terry Bisson, Fire on the Mountain, pgs. 1-66
W Oct. 26 Terry Bisson, Fire on the Mountain, pgs. 67-119
F Oct. 28 Terry Bisson, Fire on the Mountain (whole book)
M Oct. 31 Abdourahman A. Waberi, In the United States of Africa (part one)
W Nov. 2 Abdourahman A. Waberi, In the United States of Africa (whole book)
criticism: Justin Izzo, "Historical Reversibility as Ethnographic Afrofuturism: Abdourahman Waberi's Alternative Africa"
F Nov. 4 CONFERENCES—CLASS CANCELLED
UNIT THREE: DREAMING OF DIFFERENCE
M Nov. 7 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 1-4)
W Nov. 9 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 5-6)
F Nov. 11 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 7-9)
M Nov. 14 SECOND PAPER DUE
FINAL PROJECT GUIDELINES DISTRIBUTED
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 10-13)
W Nov. 16 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 14-16)
F Nov. 18 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (chapters 17-19)
M Nov. 21 Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go (whole book)
Martin Puchner, "When We Were Clones" [D2L]
W Nov. 23 THANKSGIVING BREAK—NO CLASS
F Nov. 25 THANKSGIVING BREAK—NO CLASS
M Nov. 28 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (chapters 1-4)
W Nov. 30 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (chapters 5-8)
F Dec. 2 Ursula K. Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven (whole book)
M Dec. 5 Octavia E. Butler, "The Book of Martha"
creative writing: Imagine God comes to you with the same offer he/she/it brings to Martha. What one change would you make to the world, and why?
W Dec. 7 Octavia E. Butler, "The Book of Martha" (discussion continues)
creative writing: Draft a flash fiction [500-1000 words] or create an artifact, document, or image set in the world that exists sometime after the end of "The Book of Martha."
Octavia E. Butler, "Afterword to 'The Book of Martha'"
Gerry Canavan, Octavia E. Butler (excerpt) [D2L]
F Dec. 9 FINAL PROJECT WORKSHOP
F Dec. 16 FINAL ASSIGNMENT DUE BY 12:30 PM
Tagged with Abdourahman A. Waberi, alternate history, civilization, Fire on the Mountain, games, genre, In the United States of Africa, Inglourious Basterds, John Brown, Karen Joy Fowler, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kim Stanley Robinson, my scholarly empire, Never Let Me Go, Octavia Butler, Philip K. Dick, Quentin Tarantino, Sid Meier, Star Trek, Superman, Superman: Red Son, syllabi, The Book of Martha, The Lathe of Heaven, The Lucky Strike, The Years of Rice and Salt, Ursula K. Le Guin
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabris, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.
Weekend Mega-Links, Please Use Responsibly
Chart of the NIght


Unwind and flow while taking in a lovely sunset at the FOOD ROOF Farm with sweeping views of downtown St. Louis. This one-hour long yoga practice is appropriate for all levels and is led by an experienced instructor from Southtown Yoga. After you flow it out, Kit & Ace is providing rooftop yogis with juice and a pop-up shop!


Mutations: Deliberately Rare, actively bred out.
Genetic Advantage: Psionic Affinity – Humans of the Meurlain may purchase the Advantages: Empathy for 2 fewer character points and Novice Psionics or Initiate Psionics for 2 fewer character points.
At first appearance, the Meurlain seem to be a faith based esoteric order of philosophers and scholars seeking enlightenment through deep meditation and ritual. In fact, they are not just spiritualists but physicists and scientists as well. They believe the universe and everything within it are bound together by a universal energy called Shiak'tian. It is believed that the furthering of mental discipline along with scientific study makes one closer to this universal energy, thus ensuring rebirth and eventual enlightenment. This belief is based on not only faith but on quantum mechanics and entanglement theory; everything and everyone is interconnected on a subatomic level. Energy is eternal and consciousness and observation fundamentally alter reality.
The Meurlain are also very adept at Psionics and many are either Ba'Tul or Ka'Tul wielders. Meurlain typically dress in robes and tunics from the simple to the ornate with broad leather belts or woven sashes from which to hang their finely wrought weaponry. The Meurlain do not take to violence lightly. They do not take to violence lightly, but they also accept that fighting and suffering are part of the world. To deny or ignore either is to deny existence.
These monkish scientists occupied a strange place within galactic politics before the move of Eclipse. Their zen-philosophical natures and general apathy towards politics made them ideal negotiators and impartial adjudicators. Their mastery of the Web Gates made them needed to maintain trade and alliances due to the fact that no other culture in the known galaxy breeds as many children with an affinity for the Ways. As a result, the Meurlain rarely needed to maintain their independence with military might. It was not wise to attack those who maintained your roads.
They were active in the civil disputes of the Empire in the years before the Machine invasion, taking sides in the conflict in a way they had never done before. This unprecedented choice led to much chaos and confusion in turn when Meurlain Web Guides began being forbidden to assist in charges their nation was not allied with. When the Thinking Machine invasion began, governments toppled and the Meurlain were turned upside down as members of their ruling council began being declared dead, traitors, or worse. This shaky ground prevented the Meurlain as a whole from participating much in the war once they had wrested the situation into a controlled state.
Many of the Meurlain did make it to Eclipse though, politics aside. Some came to research the unusual findings there while others came with the intent to make a difference in the outcome of the war despite the lack of strong participation within their nation.


text:
V363 Возничего () — двойная новоподобная катаклизмическая переменная звезда (NL), затменная переменная звезда (E) в созвездии Возничего на расстоянии приблизительно 2868 световых лет (около 879 парсеков) от Солнца. Видимая звёздная величина звезды — от +15m до +14,23m. Орбитальный период — около 0,3212 суток (7,7098 часов).

Характеристики
Первый компонент — аккрецирующий белый карлик спектрального класса pec(e) или WD. Масса — около 0,86 солнечной.

Второй компонент — жёлтый карлик спектрального класса G5-9V или G7. Масса — около 0,77 солнечной, радиус — около 0,83 солнечного.

Примечания


text:
Q: addEventListener(load) Error Assigning load eventListener to an id on another page (javascript, no jquery)
Hello,
I am recieving the following error. "Cannot read property 'addEventListener' of null". I have one javascript file that is being used by two pages. One of the pages has a "load" eventListener attached to it. However, everytime I open the intitial page I get an error that states "Cannot read property 'addEventListener' of null".
I am going to assume that the reason I get this error is because the id (provisioningPages) is not on the current page. How do I assign the "load" event listener to an id outside of the current page?
So basically this:
2 html pages share 1 javascript file
page 1 = no load function
page 2 = has a load function
Every time i open page 1 it throws the above mentioned error. How do I assign the addEventListener to the id on Page 2 without it firing when opening page 1.
This is the code I am currently using
.document.getElementById("provisioningPages").addEventListener("load", loadStoredInforamtionOnToPage());
It seems that upon opening page 1 it looks for "provisioningPages" and since it cannot find it it throws the error. How do I prevent that?
Thanks a bunch.

A: To prevent the error, you can simply check if the element exists in DOM.
var elem = document.getElementById("provisioningPages");
if (elem != null) {
    elem.addEventListener("load", loadStoredInforamtionOnToPage());
}


text:
Carlos Alberto Saco (* Callao, 1894-Lima, 1935) fue un reconocido músico y compositor criollo peruano.

Biografía
Carlos A. Saco nació el 25 de febrero de 1894, en la calle Paz Soldán del Callao. De joven, Saco trabajó como mandadero en la botica «La Misión» situada en la calle José Gálvez, y al fallecer el propietario de esta farmacia decide residir en Lima y alquilar un cuartito en la calle las Cómodas (jirón Chiclayo) del antiguo distrito de Rímac. Busca trabajo y entra a laborar en la cervecería Backus y Johnston (hoy Corporación Backus).

Saco era pelotero, gran aficionado al fútbol y también un consumado billarista. Logra trabar amistad con un guitarrista español que se le conocía como el «tuerto Chalao», quien había abandonado la empresa artística española que lo trajo al Perú, la compañía «Conchita Carracedo» por asuntos sentimentales de un amor no correspondido. El español le propone a Saco permutar sus habilidades, quedando establecido y concertado que a cambio de que le enseñe a jugar billar, él le enseñaría a tocar la guitarra. En poco tiempo logra conocer los secretos de la guitarra que le impartió su eximio maestro, su dedicación a tiempo le valió convertirse en un excelente alumno y en futuro buen guitarrista. Luego de dominar el arte de tocar la guitarra, Saco decide regresar al Callao querido para demostrar a sus amigos de las calles Marco Polo; Loreto y América sus nuevas habilidades. En la calle limeña del Tigre del jirón Junín, existía una Academia de baile y música, y que Saco también decide ser pianista y es así que practicando cada vez más y con el transcurrir del tiempo que logra dominar el piano.

Luego Saco es contratado por un vecino del barrio de Monserrate, el señor Roberto Cox, quien había llegado de Francia y lo anima a que sea profesor de su Academia de baile que quedaba en la calle Comesebo; de esta forma logra ganarse algunos recursos económicos y empieza a ser conocido también como pianista, y pasa a demostrar su arte a todos los bohemios limeños de antaño.

Saco comienza a ponerles música a los temas de otros compositores, como «Rosa Elvira» (de la autoría del rey de las polcas, Pedro Espinel Torres); a «Las Cautivas»; a «El Elegante», entre otros. Creó su tema «Cuando el indio llora» en tiempo de fox. Es autor de las composiciones: «Cecilia», «Suspiros», «El quita-sueños» y «El Zorzal».

En 1925, llamado para inaugurar las primera estación radial del Estado, «Radio Nacional», por esa época pesaba un poco más de 110kg y se le hacía dificultoso el andar.

Cuando regresando de una fiesta realizada en la hacienda «La Molina», empezó a convulsionar, a padecer de fiebres altas y a sentirse mal, Fallece el 18 de febrero de 1935 a la edad de 40años, víctima de una severa neumonía aguda. Su cuerpo fue enterrado en el Cementerio Presbítero Matías Maestro.

Véase también
 Música criolla y afroperuana
 Felipe Pinglo Alva
 Pedro Bocanegra

Referencias
 Fallece el compositor Carlos Alberto Saco; en deperu.com.

Músicos del Callao
Compositores de música criolla de Perú
Músicos de Perú


Acute knockdown of GABARAP by siRNA in cultured neurons has revealed a role of GABARAP in rapid NMDA-induced functional plasticity of inhibitory synapses (Marsden et al., 2007). NMDA receptor-mediated Ca2+ influx following moderate stimulation of neurons with NMDA leads to a rapid increase in the number of postsynaptic GABAAR clusters and mIPSC amplitudes (see also further below and Figure 5C). In addition to GABARAP this mechanism involves Ca2+ calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII), the vesicular trafficking factor N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive click here factor (NSF), and glutamate receptor interacting protein (GRIP).
the somatodendritic plasma membrane. However, a more general role of GABARAP in exocytosis of GABAARs is difficult Acyl CoA dehydrogenase to reconcile with other findings. First, GABARAP has been proposed to contribute to rebound potentiation, a neural activity-induced postsynaptic form of long-term potentiation (LTP) of inhibitory synapses on Purkinje cell neurons (Kawaguchi and Hirano, 2007). Using electrical stimulation of cultured Purkinje cells to mimic rebound potentiation, the authors found evidence that this form of plasticity is critically dependent on a CaMKII-dependent conformational alteration of GABARAP. However, LTP of GABAergic synapses occurred without measurable changes in the cellular distribution and cell surface expression of GABAARs. Given that GABARAP is absent at synapses (Kneussel et al., 2000 and Kittler et al., 2001), the exact role of GABARAP in this form of plasticity requires further clarification. Second, the aforementioned PE conjugation of GABARAP is critically involved in autophagy, an evolutionarily conserved form of bulk transport of membranes and cytoplasm to lysosomes for protein degradation (Tanida et al., 2004). Consistent with a role of GABARAP in autophagy, there is evidence that GABAARs are subject to autophagy in worms. Body wall muscle cells of C.


text:
RIM co-founder Jim Balsillie guiding creation of lobby group for Canada's growing tech sector
Jim Balsillie says there's a major policy gap when it comes to nurturing Canada's budding high-tech firms, and he has a plan to fix it
Tyler Anderson / National Post, file
FP Tech Desk
OTTAWA — Jim Balsillie says there's a major policy gap when it comes to nurturing Canada's budding high-tech firms, and he has a plan to fix it.
With an eye on missed opportunities in the Pacific Rim trade talks and the federal election campaign, the former co-chief executive of Research In Motion is helping entrepreneurs in the sector set up a made-in-Canada lobby group.
"It's a bizarrely missing piece . . . The discourse in the country is dominated by people who have never done it," Balsillie said in an interview.
"The game is won and lost substantially by how the rules are shaped — and they're shaped and changed dozens of times every day.
"And this idea of being passive and thinking the rules are going to work for you is naive."
Balsillie has credited persistent lobbying efforts with governments — not only in Canada, but in the United States and beyond — for helping his old company grow into a $20-billion global player.
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In the interview, Balsillie recalled how he personally pressed for RIM's interests in Washington once a month, in Brussels once every three months and in Ottawa every couple of months.
He described lobbying as a critical ingredient for a sector based on developing ideas that will generate economic value — an area he said is often misunderstood by policy makers because it differs from traditional industries like manufacturing.
The lobby group, which will create a single voice for some dozens of CEOs and founders of indigenous Canadian technology businesses, should be operating in the weeks following the Oct. 19 election.
It means that before long the next federal government will have a new organization knocking on its door.
Balsillie said up until now only multinational companies from the innovation industry — big players like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon — have been regularly securing face time with Canadian politicians. He said they've brought their "very sophisticated" lobby efforts to meetings in Ottawa on an almost-weekly basis over the past two years.
By contrast, he said Canadian tech firms have been slow to grasp the importance of actively pushing the public-policy discussion, which will help forge the all-important regulations that govern their industry.
"You have to start taking matters into your own hand and tell the policy makers what, specifically, you need," said Balsillie, who added it's not that politicians don't want to do the right thing, it's that no one is talking to them.
He acknowledged the lobby group's creation will come too late for negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive, 12-country trade deal signed by Ottawa earlier this week.
Dairy and auto-sector lobby groups were aggressive in the lead-up to the TPP, a pact that also includes areas of interest to the tech sector, including intellectual property.
With less than two weeks before the federal election, the lobby group will also miss out on providing input to campaigning political parties.
The organization, which has already obtained office space, will also promote the Canadian industry's interests abroad.
This aspect is crucial to companies like D2L Corp., which develops online learning platforms and has offices in Canada, the U.S., Europe, Australia, Brazil and Singapore.
John Baker, D2L's president and CEO, said the company was tied up in litigation in the U.S. for three and a half years with one of their competitors over intellectual property.
D2L prevailed after a "long and hard road," he said, but the situation might have been avoided if the company had voiced its position beforehand with the local government.
"If we're not having that dialogue and, even worse if our competitors are, then it puts us at a very big disadvantage as we go to compete both in our country as well as globally," Baker said in an interview.
He said Balsillie inspired CEOs like himself to form the group.
"He's actually climbed the mountain," Baker said of Balsillie. "He's built a $20-billion company."
John Ruffolo, CEO of one of the country's biggest venture-capital firms, said Canada's innovation sector wasn't quite ready to create a lobby group in the past because it had been struggling until about four years ago.
Its future now looks bright, added Ruffolo, the head of OMERS Ventures.
"But one thing is violently clear — there's almost universal consensus of 'Yes, you're right, we need to have a single voice,' " Ruffolo said.
Balsillie argues the country's prosperity will depend on the success of commercialization ideas, which will also affect innovation in traditional industries such as manufacturing and natural resources.
He said the innovation economy has shown zero growth for three decades and has a considerable productivity gap with the U.S. despite billions of dollars of government assistance.
An internal government memo, dated from last October and obtained by The Canadian Press, said billions of public dollars spent over two decades did little to reverse Canada's long decline in business innovation.
On the campaign trail, Balsillie said political parties have continued to pitch similar tweaks for the sector, such as tax credits, cash for basic research and investments for incubators.
"But none of them has a strategy," said Balsillie, who aims to help these companies provide input to policy makers.
"It's the definition of insanity by Einstein, which is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome."
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Have you ever been working hard on a goal – only to fail? I'm sure you've experienced this at least once in your life. But, I'd venture to guess that more often than not, these failures are tied to not having enough accountability to help you stay on track.
Truthfully, accountability is the single biggest factor that separates success from failure. This is true for all types of goals, including health and weight loss, as well as financial success.
If you're not exactly sure what accountability is, that's ok! The simplest way to explain accountability is to be responsible for all of your actions, good and bad. Successes and failures. It also means being honest with yourself and others instead of making excuses for your actions.
There are lots of ways you can start being accountable for your goals and finances. For me, I started a blog so that I could be honest about my experiences and financial goals.
Some people also hire a financial coach or planner. This person is usually paid to help you create a plan with actionable steps to reach your goals. The coach will review progress with you at each appointment and assess what worked and what didn't. A good coach will also provide you with tough love when you need it to help you get back on track, because, let's face it: we all get off track sometimes.
Finally, you might decide to enlist an accountability buddy to work with you on improving your finances. For many people, this is the easiest and most affordable accountability option.
No matter if you're single, co-habiting, or married, having an accountability buddy who isn't in your immediate family can be helpful. In my case, my accountability buddy helped me make big progress at paying off my debt.
For those of you who are single like me, an accountability buddy can help eliminate the "It's my money and I'll use it how I want" mentality.
If you're married, you may think turning to your spouse for accountability is the best option. Yet, I recommend choosing another accountability buddy who can provide an unbiased opinion. This way it doesn't always turn into a he said, she said argument.
Once you've decided to find an accountability buddy to help you with your financial goals, make sure you've put some thought into your goals and who can best help you achieve them. An ideal accountability buddy is someone who is on the same path as you, even if the two of you aren't at the exact same point in your journeys.
For example, my accountability buddy and I are both working to pay off debt. But, we don't have the exact same amount of debt left to pay off. If my accountability buddy had never been in debt and was working on other goals, like investing, she may not be so effective in understanding me and offering up ideas for my debt payoff journey.
Secondly, it works well to find an accountability buddy who perhaps has some different life goals than you. If your lives are too similar, for example, you may end up in an echo chamber. With a new perspective, however, your accountability buddy can help you come up with different ideas that can help you with your money matters.
In my case, I live on my own and I'm in my 20's. My accountability buddy is married and in her 40's. She can give me advice since she's already experienced her 20's and has lived to tell the tale. Meanwhile, I can help her by providing new ideas that she may not have heard of yet as I tend to keep up better with modern banking features, tools, and more.
Keep in mind that regardless of who you choose, having a financial accountability buddy should be beneficial for both parties. Once you find the right buddy to help you with your goals, you can then work on achieving success. Are you ready to buddy up?


text:
Campaign Settings / Modules / Monsters & NPCs / Old-school modules / Reviews
Lands of Lunacy Setting Guide (OSR)
by Thilo Graf · Published August 7, 2019 · Updated August 8, 2019
This supplement clocks in at roughly 27 pages if you take away editorial, ToC, etc. – why "roughly"? Page Zero contains an etymological definition of "Lunacy" that blends actual fact with some fantastic tidbits, and the final page has only approximately half a page of text, so it comes out at this page-count.
If the title wasn't ample clue, this supplement does deal with madness to a degree and starts with a proper disclaimer. Personally, I consider it laudable, yet also a bit sad that nowadays, our elfgame-supplements, particularly ones like this, need such a disclaimer. To contextualize this: The supplement is probably as PG-13 as can be. This is not a horror or dark fantasy supplement, it is thoroughly classic fantasy.
There is one more thing to mention: I own the softcover version of the OSR-iteration of this supplement, but not the pdf-version. I do, however, own the pdf-version of the 5e-iteration of the supplement, so I'm extrapolating the properties of softcover and pdf to the other respective edition, since in my experience it's pretty rare to encounter significant deviations between such versions regarding formal properties. Should I err here, please do let me know and I'll immediately rectify any errors made as a result of this assumption.
Okay, this out of the way, what is this booklet? I can summarize it in one sentence for grognards: It's an application of the original pre-consistent setting Ravenloft concept, clothed in a fantasy context that hearkens closer to Planescape. If that didn't means anything to you, let me explain: Ravenloft at one point was a "Halloween"-game; the mists would creep in, abduct the PCs, and they'd suddenly be faced with a horror module in these strange lands. These early sojourns often required the death of the master of the domain they found themselves in to escape. It took a ridiculous time until the authors realized that this killing off of the big baddies would ultimately hurt the integrity of the notion of a concise setting, thus transforming the setting. This also, of course, led to conflict, when suddenly PCs were supposed to act like…you know, mortals, instead of ridiculous superhero murder-hobos.
Lands of Lunacy is cognizant of this fact in an admirable manner – it doesn't try to provide a meta-setting that intrudes into the campaign; instead, it embraces the sidetrek nature that was at the core of the original Ravenloft iteration. The notion is simple: Without a disruption, you can easily enter a sidetrek pretty much any time, any place. Need all players for a climactic battle, and the key-player for a story-twist is simply not here? Guess what, the mutability of the Lands of Lunacy may have the PCs transported there, adventure, and return – all in the blink of an eye, and all without breaking the immersion or established in-game logic. Theme-wise, the adjacency to Ravenloft is founded in the justification for the existence of these intrusive domains: There is the Chaos Void, overseen by entities called "drexol", and from it, pocket-dimensions ceaselessly spawn. A ruling power (often an individual) stabilizes this, and there are those that hop from dimension to dimension. As such, in another nod towards Planescape, there is a slang-term for those not touched by the Lands of Lunacy – "banals." Means of egress to the pocket dimensions are so-called Lunar Gates, which is a clever linguistic tie-in that generates a sense of underlying consistency by tying lunacy, as per its etymology, and the lands, together. Like the good ole' Domain-borders, we do have barriers and boundaries.
There are also a couple of unique mechanical tweaks for adventurers traversing the Lands of Lunacy: On the more flavor-centric side of things, we have afflictions, which may vary from domain to domain, and include delusions of grandeur, thinking you're a velociraptor, getting an imaginary friend or changing genders – these obviously are intended as roleplaying facilitators first. Two 15-entries-strong tables are included for arcane and divine magic, providing basically chaos magic effects for spellcasting based on a 2d10 roll. To nitpick: Why not go for the full 1d20 table here? Anyhow, the effects range from "Dr. Banner" (gaining Strength 18/00 [that's ogre-level, for people who never played 1st edition]) to allowing all targets in the vicinity to cast a single magic missile at the utterance of a word, provided this happens within 1d4 turns. You could also end up wanting to eat insects. (As an aside – I can relate. Insect protein is not only healthy, it can be rather delicious, by I digress…) On a formal level, spell-references are not formatted properly here, and they also sometimes use the wrong names, which can be somewhat annoying – there is no Fae Fire spell in OSRIC; that's supposed to be faerie fire. I am also not 100% sure what "Wraith Form" should be, but I assume some sort of incorporeity.
Now, the drexol as a monster is statted, coming in 4 age categories that range from infant to elder. These hidden masters can establish a link to those within their domains, slowly draining their XP and sanity. They also have a magic absorbing attack and a means to employ a mana burn AoE attack. Solid critter, though personally, I think I'll rather use the concept for similar beings used in the Stonehell mega-dungeon and relegate the drexol to being the pawns of the hidden masters.
The supplement also presents a Sanity-engine: You have your Wisdom score sanity points, +3 per character level. Sanity points restore themselves at the same rate as hit points, provided you have a quiet and calm environment to rest. That is, unless your sanity points drop below 2, at which point, you suffer a temporary insanity. At a sanity score pf -1 to -8, you start getting an indeterminate lingering insanity, and getting rid of it no longer just happens – it needs calm, counseling, etc. and is predicated on saves. At -9 to -16 sanity, you instead suffer from permanent insanity. This may not be cured sans quests and the like; below that, starting at -17 sanity, the character is well and truly lost. Each of the 3 sanity-levels comes with a 10-entry-long table of sample suggestions for respective insanities, which, as befitting of OSR-gameplay, focus on the roleplaying aspects for the most part.
And that's it as far as the core engine is concerned! The second part of this booklet is devoted to the module "A Witch's Trial", which is intended for 4-6 level 2 – 3 characters and can be seen as a kind of introductory module. Boxed read-aloud text is provided for the adventure, and difficulty-wise, it is dangerous, but not overtly so, sitting at a comfortable low to mid tier regarding what it demands of the players. The module does come with a nice, hand-drawn map of a complex, but unfortunately, no player-friendly iteration sans labels has been provided.
All right, this is as far as I can go without diving into SPOILERS. Potential players should jump ahead to the conclusion.
All right, only GMs around? Great! The PCs are cast into a domain that sprang up when a witch called Maggris was about to be executed by ignorant folks. The witch has since then managed to eke out a living, warding her hut, and that is good news for the PCs, for when they arrive, they are quickly assaulted by wolf-sized berserker rats – and endless tide, it seems, and worse, PCs start having a chance of incurring Lands of Lunacy afflictions. After a few rounds of combat, the witch opens the door and asks the PCs to escape inside – just in time, it turns out, as a horse-sized, rather deadly berserker rat come crashing forward. Really nice: The read-aloud text for these encounters does not replace nice descriptions regarding the approach to the hut.
Resting in Maggris' well-warded house, however, will definitely afflict them with lunacy – but thankfully, the kind woman does have an idea where the answer to the plague of insanity scouring them may lie – an old wizard's hold. She does offer an item to help the most stricken PC – the stone of order, which does fortify against the effects of the Lands of Lunacy. At one point, the witch had a relationship with the wizard that once laired there, and a long-dead cat, Mittens, hanging as a charm from her house, is actually the former familiar of the wizard – it brought the stone to Maggris.
The dungeon begins with a somewhat unfortunate first room, where plenty of marked Xs provide one of 8 different and pretty deadly effects. There is no better way to grind the playing experience to a horrid halt than to litter barely perceptible "cross an invisible line and take damage" pseudo-traps sans any kind of telegraphing at the start of a module. It'll just result in paranoid players checking every damn square. Not fun. This is particularly jarring, for apart from this snafu, we have a classic magic mouth riddle, we have a surprisingly detailed library (with a book-title generator) and a subtle hazard, a greenhouse powered by magic (actually pretty neat!), and finally, the PCs may find the details about the old relationship and the drexol seeking to drive them insane. Defeating the entity allows the PCs to escape – and there may be a somber note, for leaving her stone of order to the players – madness has seized her, and it'll take the help of the PCs to get her out and back to sanity, but it is, at least, possible. I like this. It's a chance for heroes to be, well, heroes. I also enjoy that, brevity notwithstanding, the complex actually isn't strictly linear, which is definitely a plus.
Editing and formatting are good on a formal and rules-language level – while there are some deviations from formatting conventions to be found here, and while some snafus pertaining rules may also be found, as a whole, this is a solid offering. Layout adheres to a two-column b/w-standard, and the softcover booklet I own is a nice offering. The art, as pretty much always for Fail Squad Games, deserves special mentioning: Lloyd Metcalf's original b/w-drawings are amazing and surprisingly plentiful within. The pdf-version of the 5e-iteration doesn't have any bookmarks, which is a big comfort-no-go. As mentioned before, I only have the dead-tree version of the OSR-version, but I assume the same to be the case here. The cartography provided for the complex in the module is b/w and nice, but could have really used a player-friendly, unlabeled map.
Lloyd Metcalf's "Lands of Lunacy" would be an example for the rarest of setting books, of roleplaying books: A booklet that doesn't reinvent the wheels, and one that arguably doesn't fare too well regarding its rules-integrity, but that still manages to remain inspiring – courtesy of the deliberate care that went into thinking about the concept. From the development of the etymology-angle to the way in which the surprisingly efficient cross-over idea between Ravenloft and Planescape has been implemented, this setting guide provides a nice tool for the GM's arsenal, has its primary value situated in this elusive animal called "idea" – and for that, I like it more than I expected to. If anything, it's probably not the relative brevity of the booklet, but the fact that it could have used some more tables and afflictions, more room on the setting guide side of things, that could have used improvement, at least as far as I'm concerned. Still, this is a supplement worth checking out. My final verdict will clock in at 4 stars.
You can get this cool little book here on OBS!
You can get the print version here in Fail Squad Games' shop!
Please consider supporting my reviews here on patreon, or by leaving a direct donation. Thank you.
Tags: 4/5campaign settingFail Squad GamesLands of Lunacy-compatiblelevel 2 - 3Lloyd MetcalfmodulesMonstersMonsters & NPCsold-school modulesOSR
EZG reviews New Paths: The Expanded White Necromancer
by Thilo Graf · Published September 20, 2013
Creature Components – Tome of Beasts (5e)
by Thilo Graf · Published June 26, 2018 · Last modified August 16, 2019
GM's Miscellany: Village Backdrops I (5e)
Next story Village Backdrop: Laewas (system neutral)
Previous story Lands of Lunacy Setting Guide (5e)


text:
Q: Rayshader, how to prevent that plot_gg displays edges of polygons I want to map the amount of inhabitants of the Netherlands in 500x500 m squares with plot_gg from the Rayshader package. Plotting 2D with ggplot works fine but plot_gg shows the edges of every 500x500 m polygon and I cannot find  a way to disable/hide (not show) that. I think I have tried all arguments of plot_gg but to no success.
This is my (hopefully) reproducible code:
library(ggplot2)
library(rayshader)
library(sf)

temp <- tempfile()
download.file("https://www.cbs.nl/-/media/cbs/dossiers/nederland-regionaal/vierkanten/500/2022-cbs_vk500_2021_v1.zip", temp)
NLD <- read_sf(utils::unzip(temp, "cbs_vk500_2021_v1.gpkg"))

NLD <- NLD[-c(99:nrow(NLD)),]                # for testing (faster)

NLD$aantal_inwoners <- ifelse(NLD$aantal_inwoners < 0, 1, NLD$aantal_inwoners)

kaart <- ggplot(NLD)+
  geom_sf(aes(fill=aantal_inwoners), colour=NA) +
  scale_fill_gradient(high="deeppink", low="black") +
  theme_void() +
  theme(legend.position = "none")

#This second part is required to keep a white background in plot_gg (otherwise it is black).
kaart <- kaart + theme(panel.background = element_rect(fill="white", color="white"),
                       plot.background = element_rect(fill = "white", color="white"))

kaart

plot_gg(kaart, width = 3, height = 3, multicore = TRUE,
        zoom = .7, theta = 0, phi = 90, windowsize = c(800, 800))

This is what I get from ggplot:

And this is what plot_gg shows, I dont want the squares to be displayed:

Those polygons do touch according to st_touches(NLD$geom) so I don't expect that to be the problem.
Output of SessionInfo():
R version 4.2.2 (2022-10-31 ucrt)
Platform: x86_64-w64-mingw32/x64 (64-bit)
Running under: Windows 10 x64 (build 22621)

Matrix products: default

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_Netherlands.utf8  LC_CTYPE=English_Netherlands.utf8    LC_MONETARY=English_Netherlands.utf8
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C                         LC_TIME=English_Netherlands.utf8

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base

other attached packages:
[1] filesstrings_3.2.3 stringr_1.5.0      sf_1.0-9           rayshader_0.32.7   ggplot2_3.4.0

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
 [1] rgl_0.110.2        Rcpp_1.0.9         prettyunits_1.1.1  png_0.1-8          class_7.3-20       assertthat_0.2.1   digest_0.6.31
 [8] foreach_1.5.2      utf8_1.2.2         R6_2.5.1           e1071_1.7-12       pillar_1.8.1       rlang_1.0.6        progress_1.2.2
[15] rstudioapi_0.14    extrafontdb_1.0    magick_2.7.3       textshaping_0.3.6  extrafont_0.18     htmlwidgets_1.6.1  munsell_0.5.0
[22] proxy_0.4-27       compiler_4.2.2     xfun_0.36          pkgconfig_2.0.3    systemfonts_1.0.4  base64enc_0.1-3    htmltools_0.5.4
[29] tidyselect_1.2.0   tibble_3.1.8       rayrender_0.29.0   codetools_0.2-18   fansi_1.0.3        crayon_1.5.2       dplyr_1.0.10
[36] withr_2.5.0        grid_4.2.2         jsonlite_1.8.4     Rttf2pt1_1.3.11    gtable_0.3.1       lifecycle_1.0.3    DBI_1.1.3
[43] magrittr_2.0.3     units_0.8-1        scales_1.2.1       KernSmooth_2.23-20 cli_3.4.1          stringi_1.7.8      farver_2.1.1
[50] doParallel_1.0.17  terrainmeshr_0.1.0 ellipsis_0.3.2     ragg_1.2.5         generics_0.1.3     vctrs_0.5.1        iterators_1.0.14
[57] tools_4.2.2        glue_1.6.2         rayimage_0.7.4     purrr_1.0.1        hms_1.1.2          parallel_4.2.2     fastmap_1.1.0
[64] colorspace_2.0-3   strex_1.4.4        classInt_0.4-8     knitr_1.41

For completeness, this is the output of the entire dataset (for inhabitants (inwoners in Dutch)). In plot_gg I get that ugly raster over it: