West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini has been urged to sign Jack Wilshere by a former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder.
The 26-year-old is currently a free agent following his release from Arsenal last month and has been linked with a move to a number of clubs - including a surprise switch to Fenerbahce.
At one point this week it had been reported that Wilshere had reached an agreement in principle with Turkish Super Lig outfit and was set to sign a lucrative contract.
However, it would appear that the Hammers have made a last ditch attempt to convince the midfielder to remain in the capital instead of moving abroad.
According to the Daily Mail, Wilshere has held face-to-face talks with Pellegrini over a potential move to the London Stadium.
The report states that the ex-Gunners midfielder discussed how he would fit into the Chilean tactician's plans and is now deliberating his next move.
It's understood that Wilshere's decision will not be purely a financial one with his family settled in London and remaining in the Premier League would give enables him to stay on the radar of England manager Gareth Southgate as he aims for a recall to the international fold next season.
One person who thinks a move to West Ham for Wilshere would be good for both parties is ex-Spurs midfielder Ryan Mason.
"Yes (West Ham would be a good fit for Wilshere)," Mason told Sky Sports News. "He's the type of player that suits the Premier League.
"He goes into every game wanting to win, you can tell he's passionate and when he's on his game and on his day he's a fantastic player to watch.
"Obviously the priority for him is to get back to his best and if he can get back to his best then I'm sure he'll be in that England squad because on his day he's a fantastic player.
"There was talk of him going abroad but I think sometimes it's out of sight out of mind in terms of the England setup.
"I think if Jack could go to West Ham he'll be in front of the eyes of the England staff watching and if he can get back to his best I'm sure he'll be confident of getting back into that squad."


While pulling outfits a couple weekends ago, I was reminded by Tiffany that I'd see a post by Maegan where she cut her sweater in half to make a cardigan. I had this bat-wing-boat-neck sweater that I hadn't worn in a couple years (yes, really) and get this: I have two (of the exact same sweater – I guess I loved it that much… ) so I figured no harm, even if it didn't turn out as I would still have one left. Fortunately it did turn out and I loved the end result! An instant cardigan, with some good length. Since then, I've been rummaging through my closet to see what else I can cut in half.


If you have a keen interest and enthusiasm for Art in the disciplines of painting, drawing, printmaking, 3D ceramics, mixed media and lens-based image making, you should consider this creative option. You will be able to experiment with ideas and techniques in at least one of the above areas of study.
You will be making Art via projects that involve both traditional and experimental exploration of materials and concepts. The challenge set by the Art GCSE course requires the students to develop key skills such as creativity, imagination, problem solving, culture awareness, communication and knowledge.
Unit 1: Your Personal Portfolio (or coursework) is internally set and marked; it will be assessed through controlled assessment (worth 60% of the qualification) and is to be completed by January of Year 11.
Unit 2: Your Externally Set Assignment (or exam) is an externally set theme and internally marked (worth 40% of the qualification).
Your work will be marked in relation to the 4 assessment objectives: develop ideas, refine & experiment, record ideas and present a personal response. Both units are internally marked but externally moderated by the exam board.
You will explore ideas and concepts behind the work that you will produce when specialising in drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramic, textile and digital photography/Photoshop.
You will have the opportunity to visit galleries, and attend exhibitions and workshops. This will enable you to learn from the work of others and make connections with your own work and past/contemporary practices.
Studying will help you to develop the key skills employers are looking for… Whilst GCSE Art provides a worthwhile educational experience in itself, it also equips students with the tools to tackle and solve problems, to think critically and confidently, to express opinions - all attributes that a UK employer is looking for.


I knew that you'd be bad for me but instead of taming the demons inside of me, I chose to be oblivious and danced with yours.
For so long I suppressed my demons. I built up a wall especially for you. But you were too cunning and managed to ease your way to obliterate every inch of my defense.
I knew that you'd be bad for me but instead of taming the demons inside of me, I chose to be oblivious and danced with yours. I have to admit, we made a hell of a storm. We made each other's negatives into positives. We loved with no restraint.
Little did we know that the love we had for each other would deliberately destroy us. That both of us were not that compatible. Realizing that, you let go. You left me with nothing to hold on. You ruined all of my senses.
And when I thought that I can live without you, that's when you decided to come back. Then when you felt that you had me all over your fingers— again, you decided to disappear.. to say that I'm broken is an understatement. I'm shattered. You destroyed me beyond repair.
Now, I am building a much stronger, firmer wall. I caged up my demons. Because I know I need to protect myself from you —the thief who still have my heart. But I know, in the depths of my being that I'm just fooling myself because I know that once I'll look at your eyes, inevitably I'll be the one to destroy my wall and let you devour me again. Because I'm a fool for you.
Sent in by Mary Ann Dellosa. Got your own story to tell? Drop us an email at candymagazine @gmail.com! We'd love to hear what you have to say. If you're lucky, you just might get published in this space, too! Please indicate if you want to remain anonymous. We're also looking for artwork and illustrations to use with the stories, so please send some in if you want to be featured!


FEATURING : Megan Bowser, Fiona Dawson, Sarah Dawson, Angel Dozier, Amy Godfrey, Kari Hill, Luna Padilla-Font, Aya Shabu, Funmi Shabu, Nnedinma Umeadi, Joyce Ventimiglia, Sofia Ventimiglia, and Dale Wolf.
"Good Luck America" Video, using process work from SOAPBOX.
SOAPBOX was a site-specific public performance that took place as part of downtown Durham's Third Friday, October 19, 2018.
Process and performance elements were featured in "Good Luck America", a video that debuted in November 2018.
MANY THANKS to all who participated in and supported SOAPBOX! Thanks for coming to the show, following us around downtown Durham, buying and/or sponsoring a T-shirt, donating, and spreading the word!
This was an important step in the longer process of bringing to life both SOAPBOX and its mother-ship performance project, TULAROSA: AN AMERICAN DREAMTIME.
THANKS to all who made this possible, including Downtown Durham Inc., Awesome Foundation Raleigh-Durham, and the cast, crew and designers who invested all their beautiful creative energies into this production.
SOAPBOX is a group public performance taking place in downtown Durham on October 19, 2018, Third Friday. The work will feature orations by actors standing atop a soapbox, an all-female chorus, and scenic installations. Community processions will take place between oratory performances at public spaces in downtown Durham, including Central Park, Durham Convention Center Plaza, CCB Plaza, and Black Wall Street Gardens.
Text and imagery will zero in on "American Archetypes" as the basis for each oration, presenting a dynamic snapshot from inside the boiling pot of viewpoints in our country and local community.
SOAPBOX will be an engaging, cacophonous, beautiful, pulsating group "organism", a festive and thought-provoking spectacle, where each audience member will see and hear a different message, based upon their own perspective and individual movement. This energetic portrait of the local community's— and America's— varying perspectives, is intended to encourage us to listen to one another, and to tolerate and even celebrate our differences during this period of communal change.
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO FILL OUT THE SOAPBOX FEEDBACK FORM and tell us your thoughts and experience about the production. Your honest feedback is appreciated, anonymously if you wish!
Which location/performance did you feel was the most engaging for you?
How did the performances effect you? Any specific feelings that came up, or thoughts about what the performances were trying to convey?
What questions do you think SOAPBOX was asking? What questions came up for you when viewing the work?
I was directly invited by a performer to participate.
As an audience member, I felt uncomfortable to participate.
As an audience member, I felt unclear about whether I was being invited and should participate.
I wanted to see more performer interaction with the audience and wished they had invited more participation.
I wanted to see less performer interaction with the audience.
Please share anything you wish to add about your experience of SOAPBOX.


text:
Time to achieve remission determines time to be in remission
Arthritis Res Ther. 2010;12(3):R97. doi: 10.1186/ar3027. Epub 2010 May 20.
Lydia G Schipper 1 , Jaap Fransen, Alfons A den Broeder, Piet L C M Van Riel
1 Department of Rheumatology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Geert Grooteplein 8, Nijmegen, 6500 HB, The Netherlands. lschipper@reuma.umcn.nl
DOI: 10.1186/ar3027
Introduction: Though remission is currently a treatment goal in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the number of patients who achieve and sustain remission in daily practice is still small. It is suggested that early remission will be associated with sustainability of remission. The aim was to study the association between time-to-remission and sustainability of remission in a cohort of early RA patients treated according to daily practice.
Methods: For this study, three-year follow-up data were used from the Nijmegen RA Inception Cohort of patients included between 1985 and 2005 (N=753). Patients were included upon diagnosis (ACR criteria), were systematically evaluated at three-monthly visits and treated according to daily practice. Remission was defined according to the Disease Activity Score (DAS)<1.6 and the ACR remission criteria. Remission of at least 6 months duration was regarded as sustained remission. Predictors for time-to-remission were identified by Cox-regression analyses. The relation between time-to-remission and sustained remission was analyzed using longitudinal binary regression.
Results: N=398 (52%) patients achieved remission with a median time-to-remission of 12 months. Male gender, younger age and low DAS at baseline were predictive to reach remission rapidly. There were n=142 (36%) patients experiencing sustained remission, which was determined by a shorter time-to-remission only. The relationship between time-to-remission and sustained remission was described by a significant odds ratio (1.11) (1.10 to 1.12-95% CI) that was constant over the whole period 1985 to 2005. Results obtained with the ACR remission criteria were similar.
Conclusions: A shorter time-to-remission is related to sustainability of remission, supporting striving for early remission in patients with RA.
Antirheumatic Agents / therapeutic use*
Arthritis, Rheumatoid / diagnosis*
Arthritis, Rheumatoid / drug therapy*
Cohort Studies
Predictive Value of Tests
Remission Induction
Time Factors
Antirheumatic Agents

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers
North Central CASC
FY 2020 Projects
The Impact of Future Changes in Climate on Breeding Waterfowl Pairs in the US Prairie Pothole Region
Approved Products
Limited shifts in the distribution of migratory bird breeding habitat density in response to future changes in climate
Owen P Mckenna, David M Mushet, Samuel (Contractor) R Kucia, and Elyssa C Mcculloch, 2021-07-21, Limited shifts in the distribution of migratory bird breeding habitat density in response to future changes in climate: Ecological Applications, iss. e02428.
Grasslands, and the depressional wetlands that exist throughout them, are endangered ecosystems that face both climate and land-use change pressures. Tens of millions of dollars are invested annually to manage the existing fragments of these ecosystems to serve as critical breeding habitat for migratory birds. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) contains millions of depressional wetlands that produce between 50% and 80% of the continent's waterfowl population. Previous modeling efforts suggested that climate change would result in a shift of suitable waterfowl breeding habitat from the central to the southeast portion of the PPR, an area where over half of the depressional wetlands have been drained. The implications of [...]
Grasslands, and the depressional wetlands that exist throughout them, are endangered ecosystems that face both climate and land-use change pressures. Tens of millions of dollars are invested annually to manage the existing fragments of these ecosystems to serve as critical breeding habitat for migratory birds. The North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) contains millions of depressional wetlands that produce between 50% and 80% of the continent's waterfowl population. Previous modeling efforts suggested that climate change would result in a shift of suitable waterfowl breeding habitat from the central to the southeast portion of the PPR, an area where over half of the depressional wetlands have been drained. The implications of these projections suggest a massive investment in wetland restoration in the southeastern PPR would be needed to sustain waterfowl populations at harvestable levels. We revisited these modeled results indicating how future climate may impact the distribution of waterfowl-breeding habitat using up-to-date climate model projections and a newly developed model for simulating prairie-pothole wetland hydrology. We also presented changes to the number of "May ponds," a metric used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to estimate waterfowl breeding populations and establish harvest regulations. Based on the output of 32 climate models and two emission scenarios, we found no evidence that the distribution of May ponds would shift in the future. However, our results projected a 12% decrease to 1% increase in May pond numbers when comparing the most recent climate period (1989–2018) to the end of the 21st century (2070–2099). When combined, our results suggest areas in the PPR that currently support the highest densities of intact wetland basins, and thus support the largest numbers of breeding-duck pairs, will likely also be the places most critical to maintaining continental waterfowl populations in an uncertain future.
Owen P Mckenna, David M Mushet, Samuel (Contractor) R Kucia, Elyssa C Mcculloch
Funding Agency :
McKenna et al. 2021; Ecological Applications https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eap.2428
Citation Extension
citationType
doi.org/10.1002/eap.2428


The tech e-retailer is planning to offer more than 5,000 deals between Nov. 20 and 30, making this its biggest Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale yet.
Heads up, deal hunters: If you missed tech e-retailer Newegg's early Black Friday sale last week, don't fret. The company is planning 11 days of savings around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and we just got all the details.
A number of other retailers plan to kick off their Black Friday sales a day early, on Thanksgiving, but Newegg is beating them to the punch. The company says it has "thousands of deals" slated to go live at 1 p.m. PT the Monday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 20. The company will then continue the Black Friday promotion through Nov. 25.
If you're too busy cooking and stuffing your face to shop during the week of Thanksgiving, you won't miss out on all the deals. Newegg is planning a five-day Cyber Monday sales event featuring "rock bottom prices" from Nov. 26 through 30.
The retailer said it's planning to offer more than 5,000 deals between Nov. 20 and 30, making this its biggest Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale yet. To peep all the deals for yourself, check out Newegg's Black Friday eFlyer.
Meanwhile, a number of other big retailers have shared details of their Black Friday promotions, including Walmart, Best Buy, Target, Costco, and Dell.


Premier Christy Clark promotes her government's balanced budget in Surrey.
Mar. 3, 2015 7:00 a.m.
Clark's 'get off the couch and get a job' message is now being translated into government policy. The B.C. government is using one of the few tools available to it to track down people who aren't paying off their student loans, by linking defaulted debt to driver's licence renewals.
There are "hardship" provisions for those who don't have a job. ICBC will only refuse to renew a driver's licence or vehicle plates for those who have let their student debt go for a year without making some effort to deal with it.
Student debt collection is a long-standing problem for the province, with about $185 million currently on the books as defaulted and unpaid. Students naturally move around after completing their studies, and once the six-month grace period for beginning to repay student loans expires, finding those who aren't paying becomes a costly effort.
Historically governments sent defaulted debt to collection agencies. Last year $17.3 million was collected.
How big is student debt these days? The subject was discussed briefly in the legislature last week.
In question period, NDP leader John Horgan reminded the government that tuition fees have doubled over the past decade, and cited a Bank of Montreal estimate that the average university student emerges from a four-year program owing $35,000 in student loans.
With his usual modesty and tact, Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson dismissed Horgan's accusation that he is indifferent to the plight of students. Wilkinson noted that the Bank of Montreal surveyed 602 students across Canada, and only 78 of them were in B.C.
"To clarify this, and to address the cackling chickens on the other side, we have 430,000 students in our system," Wilkinson said. "Some of them are part-time; some of them are on short courses. We have 180,000 students who are in the system full-time and eligible for student aid.
Whatever the amount owing is for an individual, it's a debt that will be more difficult to avoid paying. The province has long used the withholding of driving privileges to collect unpaid provincial court fines, and that was recently extended to those who are 90 days in arrears on $25 or more worth of Lower Mainland bridge tolls.
This student debt collection move follows efforts to match up post-secondary funding to areas of employment demand. In an era where misguided university professors use their positions to organize violent protests against job-creating projects, the messages are similar.
Variations of this productivity theme are being heard from governments across North America. The baby boomers are retiring. We are bringing in temporary foreign workers, not because of some right-wing plot, but because too many people growing up in our society refuse to do an increasing range of jobs.
We have an education system – and media – that encourages people to complain and make demands to get what they want. And we are seeing the results of all of this.


In accordance with Act Number 133, approved on 12/21/98, P.L. 1368, Number 542, All Prospective Bidders must submit a Certification of Bidder Form (PDF) signed by each purchaser and notarized. Pursuant to Section 619.1 of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law, 72 P.S. Should the Wayne County Tax Claim Bureau find that delinquent taxes are due, no deed will be issued until all taxes are paid in full.


text:
The Handbook of Heroes
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Ugly Sweater Cloakers
Happy Holidays from Handbook-World! Or at the very least, I hope yours are happier than Team Bounty Hunter's. Getting mauled by ugly sweater cloakers is not my idea of a good time. Then again, this is exactly what the people wanted. Asked to vote for an appropriately festive encounter, our Quest Givers over on Patreon settled for these monstrosities. Better luck next year to all the nutcracker golems, black figgy puddings, Christmas treants, present mimics, and wendigos that didn't make the cut. Also better luck next year to Team Bounty Hunter. They just can't seem to get the hang of Yule.
Of course, this entire situation could have been avoided if Magus was a little more willing to metagame. I guess she gets points for sticking to the oblivious catgirl shtick, but come on! Your partymates are dying! Maybe assume that you made your Notice Stuff check and help them!
If we're being fair though, it isn't always so easy. That's because the player isn't necessarily the one who gets to decide what they notice. Just consider the situation at hand. A couple of creepy crawlies have popped out of the wrapping paper and thrown themselves at our beloved bounty hunters. Clearly, the unsuspecting adventurers getting attacked know exactly what's going on. But what about the character sitting five feet away? Maybe Magus just thinks that Inquisitor and Ranger really, really hate the pattern. Maybe their cries of alarm are just cries of revulsion from a pair of hard-to-shop-for heroines. These shenanigans make a nice gag in a comic, but it has the potential to be obnoxious in a game.
This is exactly the sort of situation where GMs ought to be careful. Asking for a Perception or a Sense Motive here is redundant. If animated knitwear wants a piece of me, I'm guessing that my buddies will understand I'm not performing a sudden and violent piece of improv puppetry with my new pullover. I'm being friggin' attacked! The same logic applies to invisible enemies, mental attacks, and spotting McGuffins in the midst of melee. Tacking on an extra roll to glean information about the environment may seem logical. But in these kinds of situations, it can just come off as arbitrary, especially since your allies can just explain what's going on. Worse, it really slows down the flow of play. Nobody likes being told that they don't get to act for the round because they're suddenly, inexplicably oblivious. What I'm saying is that surprise rounds can be a lot of fun, but only when they're uses responsibly.
Question of the day then! Have you ever been victimized by an unnecessary Notice Stuff check? What was the very-obvious information in question? Tell us all about those irksome unneeded Perception checks down in the comments!
ADD SOME NSFW TO YOUR FANTASY! If you've ever been curious about that Handbook of Erotic Fantasy banner down at the bottom of the page, then you should check out the "Quest Giver" reward level over on The Handbook of Heroes Patreon. Twice a month you'll get to see what the Handbook cast get up to when the lights go out. Adults only, 18+ years of age, etc. etc.
Zarhon
12/25/2020, 1:08 am	| # | Reply
Happy 555th comic! Because what else could one celebrate on this festive day? 😀
Colin Stricklin
12/26/2020, 2:36 pm	| # | Reply
Well in that case, it's traditional to get comic writes expensive and highly-fungible gifts on the occasion of a 555th comic. I shall wait beside my post box. >_>
Ahh, this made me laugh. ^_^
Thank you, Laurel and Colin.
And Merry Christmas, everyone.
I think the Quest Givers chose wisely on this won. And Merry Christmas back atcha.
Merry Christmas and other December celebrations and holidays everyone! May you be spared a visit from Dragon Claus. He sees you with his blindsight, you'll know when he's awake. He cares not if you're bad or good, so just run for your lives sake!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oO2Nww
Dang. That's a good art.
I think this comic is an example of a fascinate effect being used on Magus. Sadly that effect would break from any obvious combat, making it one of the most useless abilities Bards and most monsters get unless you get a perfect situation where you need to distract someone or prevent someone attacking without the effect being broken by immediate combat.
I hated having to explain to my paladin buddy how Litany of Eloquence actually does.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/l/litany-of-eloquence/
Dude was extremely disappointed.
Don't worry Magus, the Holiday Spirit is waiting for you to go to sleep to start draining those levels from you to sustain it's unholy, incorporeal existence.
Holiday Spirit? Naw. That's just The Evil Party:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/christmas-spirits
Poor Ranger. She was hoping for a big present with airholes and chains. No pet Rust Monster, Aurumvorax or Disenchanter for her this year.
I should go back to her being an animal-lover, shouldn't I? It was cute the first time:
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/monster-adoption
Ima make a note.
Situational awareness has never been a thing with Magus…
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/betrayal
Tarkin.exe
Of course, the question now becomes: did the sweater cloakers mail themselves to Team Bounty Hunter… or did someone send them as a 'special present'?
Heck, maybe it was the Krampus-cosplayer Magus stabbed last year.
Do cloakers understand the nuances of the postal service?
Who knows? It can be surprisingly convenient at times, and employees are happy to hell a paying customer… Especially one who tips and listens attentively.
Help. They are happy to help a paying customer.
clcman
There's a reason one of the basic rules of good GMing is "never ask for a Perception check that you can't afford for the player to fail." If they need to spot the odd bloodstain indicating the secret door, flatly mention it to them. The Rule of Dice Rolling indicates that the players shalt always roll 1s on such a check, and then you're in a bind.
About the only time I actually have PCs roll a Perception where there's an actual number in my mind (as opposed to the "that sounds good enough" scale) is against enemy Stealth rolls, for surprise rounds, and against certain traps. If you've failed the surprise round check, it's not that you haven't noticed that your friend was just punched by a bugbear leaping out of a closet, it's that you were facing the wrong direction and need to stop thinking about whatever you were thinking about and get into combat mode. (Though even this can be annoying – I once got surprise rounded by a spectre, which hit me with a flat-footed touch attack that caused 2 negative levels, then it won initiative and hit me with ANOTHER flat-footed touch attack for 2 MORE negative levels. Total dick move, evil tortured spirit. Very bad manners.)
Though there was once a fun time when a PC got KO'd and dragged into the kitchen during a social sequence when the party was scattered about the building, and all the players knew but none of the PCs did. Fortunately(?), the enemy was just about ready to spring their trap to attack the rest of the PCs, so there wasn't too long they had to sit there and pretend everything was fine when they meta-knew it wasn't.
so there wasn't too long they had to sit there and pretend everything was fine when they meta-knew it wasn't.
We always talked about this business in our Firefly game. It was during social scenes rather than combat though. Two people would be having a private conversation on the ship, and somebody would just drop into the scene as if they were supposed to be there.
When called out on the sudden intrusion, the running gag became, "I ascend back up to the ceiling on wires," thus returning to the stealth ninja point of origin and letting the conversation resume its proper course.
GreatWyrmGold
12/26/2020, 10:29 pm	| # | Reply
Related note, "Never ask for a Deception check you're not prepared for the player to succeed." And for that matter, "Never attempt a Deception check you're not prepared to succeed at."
TL;DR: A player wanted to get the ball moving on the plot instead of spending two hours planning how to sneak in, so he walked in the front door and bluffed his face off. He rolled a twenty, and a second natural 20 when the DM declared disadvantage. For build reasons, this took two of our five PCs out of action (they didn't succeed well enough to be allowed unrestricted access to stuff), and a third committed stupicide shortly thereafter.
On the bright side, planning with only 40% of our resources gave us a much smaller possibility space to consider.
Happy holidays for you all. May your wishes come true and you get happiness and health. 😀
By the way, is obvious Magus know what happens and that she is in secret league with the Evil Party 😛
You aren't proposing that we try a party-swap, are you?
Dakkath
I still say Team Bounty Hunter needs that 4th member. Tough part is finding a so-far-unassigned partial caster to be the next member. Bard, Alchemist, and Summoner have already been done (and I wouldn't want ANY of them to join our trio here). Bloodrager, Hunter, Investigator, Skald, and Warpriest from the ACG haven't been done yet, to my knowledge. Medium, Mesmerist, Occultist, and Spiritualist from OA haven't been done either. Then again, we could always just add in our favorite female freelancers Pug and/or Street Samurai.
What about Gunslinger?
He'd be overjoyed to join, and he'd be incredibly loyal to any party that would have him.
Team BH, funnily enough, does have a fourth member in the Patreon version of the comic!
I could see Succubus infiltrating team Bounty Hunter for nefarious reasons, posing as Magus. And then getting ousted when she ends up being too competent/focused (or lacking her other handbook traits).
Meanwhile, Magus is either kidnapped (something she's not wholly against) or lied to stick around with tem Evil, where Magus proves to be far more competent / horrifying / destructive / lovable than Succubus ever was, making them want to keep her.
I've never fallen victim to any unnecessary "notice stuff" checks, but just recently fell victim to some very obvious schmuck bait in the form of three extremely cursed weapons and a haunted scroll. Still figuring out the fallout to that whole mess.
Well go on man. Tell us about the curses!
The first we came across was the haunted scroll. It was RIDICULOUSLY obvious that it was haunted and cursed (literal drops of blood popping into existence on it as my character approached), but I saw a scroll and went "OOH SHINY!" and grabbed it. It's only due to my character's exceptionally good will save that he's not literally crawling like a worm. The weapons we found about five minutes later after a fight with yet another horrible undead thing that nearly killed me with a pain based attack and absolutely would have if one of my fellow players hadn't taken a pain nullifying spell for flavor ages ago. After beating the undead thing, we found what appeared to be a +2 "berserking" greatsword that seemed great for our bloodrager (it gives the benefits and drawbacks of rage in combat without consuming rounds of rage), a +2 spiked chain, and a +2 shortspear. I handed over the greatsword and held onto the other weapons as we'd expended most of our resources for the day over several difficult fights. Bloodrager takes a practice swing with the sword and… it turns out that a berserking weapon makes the wielder go into a rage and attack the nearest creatures until they're all dead or the wielder is. Not ideal. Made worse in that when my character went to draw his sword, he drew the spiked chain instead, which is apparently cursed to force the carrier to grab that instead of any other weapon they're carrying if they go into combat. Oh, and it's not a +2 spiked chain. It's a -2 spiked chain. Joy. Finally, the short spear has a chance of stabbing you if you screw up an attack. We're gonna see how combat goes against our bloodrager in permanent rage mode this Tuesday. It's gonna be fun.
Ramsus
Best rollover text? Perhaps, who knows? Not me, my memory isn't that good. Still, cracked me up.
On today's topic, I'm not at all surprised that the concept of the idiot ball is just as annoying when you're being subjected to it by a person as it is when you're being subjected to it by your entertainment.
In my mind today's comic is happening at a good table and Magus' player is doing this intentionally and the rest of the team is laughing along with their character's struggles. Maybe it was even another player's suggestion.
Best rollover text? Perhaps, who knows?
Credit where it's due: I crowdsourced this one to my buddies when the poll was still live. A game with clever dudes. 🙂
In my mind today's comic is happening at a good table and Magus' player is doing this intentionally and the rest of the team is laughing along
I think that was more the case back in "Frickin Laser Beams."
https://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/frickin-laser-beams
Though I could definitely see it playing out like that here too. In my mind though, this is one of those obnoxious, "You were facing the wrong way. Make a Perception check at the start of each combat round to see if you notice," type situations.
In my experience, a deliberate idiot ball being held by a PC for humor's sake is a lot more palatable than when your friend holds an idiot ball personally. At least, in the moment—stupid decisions are often hilarious a couple years down the line.
12/26/2020, 12:19 am	| # | Reply
I actually fell victim to this in a seasonal one-shot, resulting in my second PC death in 5E, and my first TPK. (Two man party so it barely counts as the latter) We were going around Santa's village collecting thematic plot-devices to decorate a tree to seal Krampus away. We had tried to kill Krampus before that, but he retreated. While the Lore Bard was at the tree in the center of the village, my Githyanki Psi Warrior was spending his short rest eating the reindeer he slaughtered in the previous encounter. The Krampus invisibly attacked the Bard from behind, paralyzing him. Paralyzed creatures cannot scream for help. I sat there for an embarrassingly long time eating Dasher and Prancer before I made my perception check.
Critical piece of information: How far from the action were you?
Inside a stable (Where we fought the reindeer) where I didn't have line of sight. 60′ total movement away, so as soon as I made a perception check I rushed over.
Raggamoffyn attack!
Blame D&D for the pile-of-clothing construct that attempts to possess a host by wrapping around it.
I have a cordial hatred (and possibly some PTSD) from this bastard:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/constructs/animated-object/animated-object-medium/animated-straitjacket/
Merry Boxing Day!
I dunno what it says about my group that I find it easier to think of times when someone deliberately scuffed a roll for comedic effect than times when we've been unperceptive enough that we missed something serious. (Possibly that we just don't bother rolling to Notice Critical Stuff unless it'd be funny to fail.)
It says you've got a good GM for one thing. Also that you're a bunch of comedians.
Honestly though, I think the thing I'm warning against in this comic is relatively rare. It just happens that it can be pretty irksome when it does come up.
pharasmasword
I think the most surprising surprise round I've sprung on my players came in the form of a boss from Strange Aeons who had the dimensional assault feat line.
A ghast monk sitting on his throne, talking to the party, when out of the blue, he just appears in the center of the party and starts throwing hands. No one had any way to realize he was casting until it was already too late.
(For the uninitiated, the Dimensional Assault feat line lets you use the Dimension Door spell in place of the movement half of a Charge action, and at higher levels, lets you make your full turn of attacks out of it instead of just a single attack like a normal Charge would allow for.)
Though on the topic of unneeded perception checks… did my investigator tracking an ettercap really need a perception check to think to look up for webs? Did she really?
It used the wrong email on me, I didn't get my pharasma icon 🙁
I may have a comic coming up that plays on this. 😛
Antman537
I can't think of any perception checks to notice obvious stuff; but I always remember the perception check in the Carrion Crown to glimpse an eldritch horror and go mad.
Isn't that the one the made everyone go "let's maybe not use the madness system?"
To answer your question: One incident comes to mind. It was a game in which the DM unfortunately was trying to kill a PC. I don't know if he was targeting a specific PC, or just wanted a PC death without concern for which it was. The situation was that the PCs were staying in an Inn, and were attacked. The battle-area consisted of several rooms and the hallway that connected them. One of the PCs cast "Sickening Radiance" in the hallway – even though it hit several PCs, because it hit all (or nearly all) of the enemies, and then that PC retreated into his room – meaning that he no longer had a clear view of the hallway (nor all of the PCs that were in the AoE of his spell). My character was in the hallway, on one end, in melee combat. One of the PCs went unconscious – they were in a doorway between the hallway (at the far end) and a room. To be precise, their 5′ square ranged from the doorway threshold to 5′ into the room. When it came to my character's turn, I reasoned I could see that my buddy was laying on the floor, so I told the spellcaster to drop concentration. The DM intervened, and said that I could not see that the dude was unconscious/laying on the floor. Clearly, through the arcane art of 4th grade geometry, I could certainly see a small – but nonzero – portion of the unconscious dude's square. It was definitely much less than 50% – but how much would you have to see in order to see that a body was laying on the floor? I declined to argue the point with with DM. Thus the spellcaster kept Sickening Radiance going, and then eventually it came to the turn of the unfortunate unconscious PC. He had to make a death save, and also had to make a Con save vs the Sickening Radiance – failure would result in an auto-failed Death Save (which would put him a 3 fails, killing him). Well, this DM, being the utter cretin that he was, said that the PC would auto-fail the Con save because he was unconscious. Another player (not the player of the unconscious PC) protested – explaining to the DM that while Dex and Str save would be autofailed, Con saves would not be. The DM maintained his position. I spoke up and calmly told the DM that this situation was important enough for him to pause the game, look up the conditions in the back of the PHB, and see for himself that the Con save would most certainly not be auto-failed. The DM – apparently sensing his chance to kill a PC and not willing to relinquish it – still, in the face of a flat-out contradiction to the rules, refused to budge. The player of the now-dead PC was remarkably calm, polite and accepting of the situation. I think in his place – faced with such blatant abuse of power – I would have refused to allow the game to continue. But, since he accepted the obviously wrong ruling, I went along with it also.
It was around that time that I decided my participation in that game was likely going to end sooner or later, but I persisted for several reasons. One was I knew that DM was in the wrong, and it didn't seem right for me to quit because someone else was wrong. Another was that I did not want to throw away all the effort I had already put into that game. Still, the writing was on the wall – sooner or later, the DM would try to cheat me directly, and I was determined to stand up to him.
Anyway, I'm no longer in that game. Glad to be out of it. I'm convinced that DM had some sort of mental problem. I guess different people DM for different reasons. For a very few, its about control of others – a chance to do a more socially-acceptable version of pulling the wings off flies.
When life and death are on the line, I tend to call the close ones in the players' favor. This mess is why.
For my money, the bigger question about the unconscious PC is whether it should be obvious that they're merely unconscious or already dead from X feet away in combat and at a bad angle. Still, what with 5e being 5e and death saves being a thing, I wouldn't be too happy with that argument either.
GJ getting out of there.
I agree. When I DM, I'd much rather err on the side of being too nice to the players than err on the side of cheating them. Also, when I DM I try to give the players the biggest voice I can in the narrative – and I've never regretted that. That is, more than running their own characters, I also allow player-awarded inspiration, treasure points that players can use to select desired magic items, etc. The players & DM should be partners in crafting a cooperative narrative, not adversaries.
Regarding the merely unconscious vs already dead, either way – regardless of my character's certainty regarding that question, it would be quite sensible for him to call for the Sickening Radiance to be dropped. The game started at level 1, and at the time of this combat the party was level 8, and this was our first PC death. It wasn't that unusual for PCs to get knocked unconscious, but to this point we had avoided deaths by always looking out for each other, and doing whatever necessary to see to it that everyone survived every fight. Thus, I'd reason my character would have by default treated an uncertainty in whether the other party member was still alive as an imperative to take life-saving measures.
I enjoy the Handbook of Heroes – thanks to both of you for all the work you put into it, and have a happy New Year!
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text:
Q: How do i get myfirstapp to work on android studio? i am new to android studio and trying to get the my first app running. The hello world function works fine but the app closes whenever i press the send button in the second application.
The website tutorial i have based this off can be found here: https://developer.android.com/training/basics/firstapp/starting-activity
Here are my codes:
Mainactivity.java
package com.example.myfirstapp;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.widget.EditText;

import static android.provider.AlarmClock.EXTRA_MESSAGE;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
    public static final String EXTRA_MESSAGE = "com.example.myfirstapp.MESSAGE";
    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
    }

    /** Called when the user taps the Send button */
    public void sendMessage(View view) {
        Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
        EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
        String message = editText.getText().toString();
        intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
        startActivity(intent);
    }
}

DisplayMessageActivity.java
package com.example.myfirstapp;

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;

import android.content.Intent;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.widget.TextView;

public class DisplayMessageActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_display_message);

        // Get the Intent that started this activity and extract the string
        Intent intent = getIntent();
        String message = intent.getStringExtra(MainActivity.EXTRA_MESSAGE);

        // Capture the layout's TextView and set the string as its text
        TextView textView = findViewById(R.id.textView);
        textView.setText(message);
    }
}

AndroidManifest.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.example.myfirstapp">

    <application
        android:allowBackup="true"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
        android:supportsRtl="true"
        android:theme="@style/Theme.MyFirstApp">
        <activity android:name=".DisplayMessageActivity"
            android:parentActivityName=".MainActivity">
            <!-- The meta-data tag is required if you support API level 15 and lower -->
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.support.PARENT_ACTIVITY"
                android:value=".MainActivity" />
        </activity>
        <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
    </application>

</manifest>

Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks
Josh
EDIT
Here is the error in logcat
2021-06-22 13:36:31.716 6345-6345/com.example.myfirstapp E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: com.example.myfirstapp, PID: 6345
    java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not execute method for android:onClick
        at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:414)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:7352)
        at android.widget.TextView.performClick(TextView.java:14230)
        at com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton.performClick(MaterialButton.java:992)
        at android.view.View.performClickInternal(View.java:7318)
        at android.view.View.access$3200(View.java:846)
        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:27800)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:873)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7050)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:494)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:965)
     Caused by: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:409)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:7352)
        at android.widget.TextView.performClick(TextView.java:14230)
        at com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton.performClick(MaterialButton.java:992)
        at android.view.View.performClickInternal(View.java:7318)
        at android.view.View.access$3200(View.java:846)
        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:27800)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:873)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7050)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:494)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:965)
     Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'android.text.Editable android.widget.EditText.getText()' on a null object reference
        at com.example.myfirstapp.MainActivity.sendMessage(MainActivity.java:24)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatViewInflater$DeclaredOnClickListener.onClick(AppCompatViewInflater.java:409)
        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:7352)
        at android.widget.TextView.performClick(TextView.java:14230)
        at com.google.android.material.button.MaterialButton.performClick(MaterialButton.java:992)
        at android.view.View.performClickInternal(View.java:7318)
        at android.view.View.access$3200(View.java:846)
        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:27800)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:873)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7050)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:494)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:965)
2021-06-22 13:36:31.777 6345-6345/com.example.myfirstapp I/Process: Sending signal. PID: 6345 SIG: 9

activity_main.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <EditText
        android:id="@+id/editTextTextPersonName"
        android:layout_width="0dp"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:ems="10"
        android:hint="@string/edit_message"
        android:inputType="textPersonName"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

    <Button
        android:id="@+id/button"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
        android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
        android:layout_marginEnd="16dp"
        android:layout_marginRight="16dp"
        android:onClick="sendMessage"
        android:text="@string/button_send"
        app:layout_constraintBaseline_toBaselineOf="@+id/editTextTextPersonName"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toEndOf="@+id/editTextTextPersonName" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Activity_display_message.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    tools:context=".DisplayMessageActivity">

    <TextView
        android:id="@+id/textView"
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
        android:fontFamily="casual"
        android:text="TextView"
        android:textAppearance="@style/TextAppearance.AppCompat.Large"
        android:textColor="#00BCD4"
        app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
        app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />
</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

A: Cannot say causes the app to close without the logcat
but it could be because of it could not find the Edittext in the sendMessage method.
The id need to be the same in the xml and java files. In your case the edittext id edit_message
 /** Called when the user taps the Send button */
public void sendMessage(View view) {
    Intent intent = new Intent(this, DisplayMessageActivity.class);
    EditText editText = (EditText) findViewById(R.id.edit_message);
    String message = editText.getText().toString();
    intent.putExtra(EXTRA_MESSAGE, message);
    startActivity(intent);
}

<EditText
    android:id="@+id/edit_message"
    android:layout_width="0dp"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:layout_marginStart="16dp"
    android:layout_marginLeft="16dp"
    android:layout_marginTop="16dp"
    android:ems="10"
    android:hint="@string/edit_message"
    android:inputType="textPersonName"
    app:layout_constraintEnd_toStartOf="@+id/button"
    app:layout_constraintHorizontal_bias="0.5"
    app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"
    app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />

A: There is your xml layout file.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


My husband has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and I'm worried about how his future will unfold. I dread him having more pain. Could you inform me about Parkinson's disease?
Parkinson's disease is not completely understood, and yet it's the focus of intense investigation. The main features of Parkinson's disease are the onset of tremor—which is present at rest—slowing of movement, increased muscle rigidity, and a decline in the reflexes that govern posture. Pain is not usually a significant feature, although it may be present in the later stages.
In most cases, however, the disease progresses very slowly, taking many years to reach full expression. So we would suggest that you not worry about the "maybes" and focus on enjoying the life you have with your husband now. To be informative to you and your husband, though, and to give you some hope, we will say more.
As Parkinson's disease progresses, it affects the control of muscles, so there may be some symptoms beyond tremor and alteration in walking. Speech may become very hesitant and slow, and swallowing can become more difficult. Sometimes a person with Parkinson's has difficulty with control of the mouth, tongue, and swallowing, and may drool a little. The later stages may involve a shuffling gait with small steps, which at times is interrupted by "stops" that the patient cannot control. The facial features also become more frozen, so spontaneous emotions may not flicker across the face as they used to.
Parkinson's disease can be confused with other neurological diseases, so consultation with a neurologist is strongly recommended.
There may be several causes of Parkinson's disease, but all causes are not known. Genetic markers that are causally associated with the familial form of Parkinson's disease have been identified.* It is the accumulation in the brain cells of the midbrain's "substantia nigra" of materials called alpha synuclein and ubiquitin that is typical of Parkinson's. These intracellular substances are clumped in deposits called "Lewy bodies," and it's believed that they are an accumulation of damaged cell materials that trigger the death of the brain cells in which they are accumulating.
The brain cells in this part of the brain are very important regulators of movement. Normally they produce chemicals that regulate the interaction between the cells. One of these chemicals is called dopamine.
No infectious agent has been identified as causing Parkinson's, but in animals some toxins, such as pesticides, have been shown to produce similar symptoms, although not always with the accumulation of Lewy bodies.
Some anti-inflammatory agents have been shown in some cases to beneficially modify Parkinson's. Not all of them work, however, and it seems that the special group called COX inhibitors are required.
Treatment with a medicine called Levodopa helps with Parkinson's. There also are multiple medications used to affect muscle rigidity, tremor, and so forth, but these only control symptoms.
Currently there is a lot of interest in stem-cell therapy. Stem-cell treatments carry many unknown possibilities, and in animal models of Parkinson's, improvements with stem cells have occurred. Such work fits with the theory of an autoimmune mechanism being at work in Parkinson's.
While there is not yet a cure for Parkinson's, a huge amount of study is going on, and one never knows when a real breakthrough may come.
Keep your faith and courage strong, for it is not only in this world that we have hope. We trust Jesus, who promised to come again and take us to a heavenly home where there will be no more sickness.
* J. Simón-Sánchez, C. Schulte, J. M. Bras, "Genome-wide Association Study Reveals Genetic Risk Underlying Parkinson's Disease," Nature Genetics 41, no. 12 (2009): 1308-1312 (online:www.Nature.com); W. Satake et al., "Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Common Variants at Four Loci as Genetic Risk Factors for Parkinson's Disease," Nature Genetics 41, no. 12 (2009): 1303-1307 (online: www.Nature.com).


AEC, Inc. has been involved with structural, mechanical, electrical and fire protection engineering requirements for many early 1800's barn and mill renovation projects over the last two decades for noted Main Line architects. Dave Brandt and AEC, Inc. were the engineers of record for four local projects, which converted barns into residences. Two of these conversions are in Radnor Township close to the Inverary residential development off of Church Road, one is in Delaware County and the other is in Chester County.
AEC, Inc. provided structural and MEP engineering for each of these barn conversion and restoration projects. Each barn was wood framed with partial stone exterior walls and partial exposed wood finishes. All were two-story with lofts having approximately 4,000 square feet of living areas. The major interior wood framing and some wood decks were left exposed along with interior stone in the exterior walls. The mechanical systems were concealed except in the two story open areas where circular spiral ducts were painted and exposed.
AEC, Inc. was the engineer of record for the Waynesborough County Club maintenance facility, which included shop areas, offices and storage requirements for the golf course maintenance. The project included the total conversion of an early 1800's barn of about 4,000 square feet, which included a number of structural requirements along with a complete new heating and air condition system and new electrical service.
The new office headquarters for American Infrastructure was created in a three level, 5,000 square foot early 1800's barn in Worchester Township. The structure was modified to create some upper level open office facilities, to add an ADA elevator for complete accessibility, and to create opening for new windows on three of the exterior walls. AEC, Inc. completed all of the structural, mechanical, electrical and fire protection requirements for this new office facility.
AEC, Inc. provided civil, structural, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection design services for the renovation of a turn of the century six-story office building in Wilmington, Delaware for ING Direct. The MEP systems were completely replaced and the building was internally upgraded to provide a contemporary business environment, while maintaining the historical integrity of the building exterior features.
AEC, Inc. documented the civil and structural requirements for the restoration of this late 1700's mill facility in Milford, NJ on the Delaware River. This restoration included the complete re-building of the building foundation system and all main framing members. Because of the extensive below water line modifications, AEC, Inc. had to obtain a Delaware River Basin Encroachment Permit.
AEC, Inc. provided civil, structural, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection for the relocation of a 6,200 square foot, three-story, early 1800's stone house used as a Jesuit Monk residence on the Villanova University Campus. The residence was relocated to make room for new dormitories, and then renovated with new systems, while maintaining the original appearance and feel of the residence.
AEC, Inc. provided civil, structural, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and fire protection for the renovation and restoration of an existing farmhouse and barn. The systems were completely replaced and much care was taken to preserve the charm of this late 1700/early 1800's farmhouse. The original portion of the home was a log cabin dating to the 1700's, while an early 1800's stone structure was added on all sides to encapsulate the original log cabin.
The 1800's stone barn was restored and converted into garages and an apartment on the lower level. The upper level consisted of the second floor of the apartment and locker rooms, bathrooms, kitchen and bar, and a mechanical room all serving the upper level outside pool area.


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A new hard-hitting video by Andy Fackrell and Sam Coleman is shedding light on how drone surveillance can combat poaching.
Over & Above Africa, an LA-based charity, is dedicated to fighting the poaching battle on all fronts and have teamed up with Giant Films to direct and produce The Guardian. The aim of the project is to raise funds to supply drones to wildlife reserves.
The film was made by an international team of creatives led by Fackrell who is currently based in Amsterdam, with Coleman from Cape Town-based Giant Films taking the lead in the director's chair.
The 90-second documentary was released earlier this month and points out that "all of Africa's animal groups are threatened by poaching," but explained that drone surveillance could increase their chances of survival by 80%.
Drones were used to shoot the short expressive docu-film and include aerial shots of animals along with their collective nouns – a dazzle of zebras, a wobble of ostriches, a pride of lions, and so forth. The footage then shows a "gang of poachers," calling them a plague, and branding what they do as a slaughter.
With the help of drone surveillance, Africa's animals can be protected, and poachers can be brought to justice. Poaching is rampant through most of Africa and with the rhino population numbers dwindling, severe measures are needed to guard against extinction.
While the numbers are decreasing, approximately 1030 rhinos were killed during 2017 and elephant numbers dropped by 9%. It is without a doubt a scourge on the world and is systematically forcing many animals to the brink of extinction, all in the name of profit.
Animals are killed for their pelts and tusks, and when it comes to rhino poaching, poachers torture and kill these animals to get their horns. The horns are sold on the black market and ivory rakes in enormous profits. In some instances, it is even valued more than gold.
We reached out to the creative team for insight into the creation of the film and the impact and awareness they hope to generate with the Guardian project.
Understanding that this must have been a tiny budget, can you give some insight as to what role you played in bringing this film to life?
Sam Coleman: Projects for these kinds of causes of course tend to be on the low budget side and absolutely rely on the goodwill of others. The wellbeing and future of our animals' hit's a nerve with people and everybody clambered on board to help, from my DOP and often-time collaborator Devin Toselli, to my amazing post partners at Strangelove and Priest.
What kind of difference do you hope to make and how do you think this film will affect change?
SC: As long as it raises awareness, and ultimately donations to Over & Above African it's doing it's job. It's ultimately a tech war between poachers and the rangers on the ground, so the more we can help the rangers the better equipped they will be to fight the war.
What do feel the role of creative is in affecting positive change in the world?
SC: Ultimately, in todays divided world we are also seeing creativity becoming being more politically active and aware to fight all kinds of injustice which is a great thing. We shouldn't, and don't, exist in a vacuum for our own entertainment, there's too much at stake.
What is the role as a creative when it comes to projects like these?
Andy Fackrell: I always try to find an emotional trigger that's not expected. Collective nouns, something that romanticises animals provided that hook.
It was an ambitious idea that required everything be treated with great sensitivity; the edit, the music, the grade. It was important to present the poachers and dead elephants in a very matter of fact manner, not in a sensationalist way.
We have been informed that Over & Above Africa was shortlisted for the prestigious Ciclope Festival. The festival kicks off on 8 November in Berlin.
A Guardian – Over and Above Africa from GIANT FILMS on Vimeo.


September 2, 2015 /0 Comments/in Cerebral Palsy /by Reiter & Walsh, P.C.
May We Help is a Cincinnati-based organization made up of volunteers who "design and create unique, custom solutions for individuals with special needs to engage in and pursue their passions." Their latest endeavor, coming from their Columbus, Ohio group, was building a flotation device for Caleb Hall, a child with cerebral palsy. The device allows Caleb to float in a pool without assistance from his parents or therapists.
Russ Abrams, a May We help volunteer, explains, "We fill the gap between their disability and what the activity requires." Abrams and the rest of the volunteers built two other buoyant prototypes that were ultimately flawed in their designs. Addressing necessary alterations brought on by Caleb's cerebral palsy, such as the need for head support and limited muscle control, the team settled on a design made up of a reinforced life vest, foam padding, and a pool noodle.
"For him to have this freedom in the water is unbelievable," explained Jennifer Hall, Caleb's mother. Caleb was able to try the device over the weekend at the Hilliard Family Aquatic Center in Hilliard, Ohio. He broke into a smile as he floated on his own for the first time.
Cerebral palsy is a group of movement disorders caused by injury to a child's developing brain. A common cause of brain injury in babies is oxygen deprivation during the labor and delivery process. When a baby doesn't receive enough oxygen to the brain, it can result in hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE).
There are several types of treatments and therapies available that can improve the life of a child with cerebral palsy. Research shows that children with cerebral palsy benefit greatly from exercise and physical therapy and that these activities can improve their life expectancy. There are also many devices that can provide important support for children with cerebral palsy. These devices can improve quality of life by enhancing social interactions and functional abilities.
If your child has cerebral palsy caused by a birth injury that could have been prevented, it is important to choose a lawyer and firm that focus solely on birth injury cases. The birth trauma attorneys at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers have over three decades of experience with cases involving children who were injured due to medical malpractice. Their knowledge and hard work has paid off for their clients, earning them millions in settlements to help pay for medical bills, as well as the many expenses that come from a lifelong disability. The attorneys at Reiter & Walsh ABC Law Centers are advocates for children and families affected by birth injuries caused by the negligence of doctors and medical professionals.
Our nationally recognized birth trauma attorneys are available to speak with you 24/7 and will provide you with a free legal consultation.


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text:
The village of Swanston is situated on the lower slopes of the Pentland Hills only 5 miles due south of Edinburgh Castle and lies entirely within the city boundaries. The first mention of Svienn'ston goes away back to 1214
The village of Swanston is about 600 feet above sea-level, grew up in the early eighteenth century around the farm and originally consisted of ten thatched cottages.
The thatched cottages still remain but when renovated in about 1960 the outer walls were retained but the ten cottages were made into seven.
In 1761 Swanston Cottage was built. Robert Louis Stevenson's parents, Thomas and Margaret neé Balfour leased Swanston Cottage for a dozen years or so, for the period of their only son's late teens and twenties, 1867 to 1880.
Further details of the History, Village, Robert Louis Stevenson and activities in the area can be viewed at our main Swanston website.
Email: [email protected]k


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Every few months I get an email from my local mechanic reminding me that it's time to get my car's oil changed. I generally ignore these emails; it costs time and money to get this done (I'm sure I could do it myself, but the time it would cost is worth more than the money it would save) and I drive little enough — about 2000 km/year — that I'm not too worried about the consequences of going for a bit longer than nominally advised between oil changes. I do get oil changes done... but typically once every 8-12 months, rather than the recommended 4-6 months. From what I've seen, I don't think I'm alone in taking a somewhat lackadaisical approach to routine oil changes.
On the other hand, there's another type of notification which elicits more prompt attention: Safety recalls. There are two good reasons for this: First, whether for vehicles, food, or other products, the risk of ignoring a safety recall is not merely that the product will break, but rather that the product will be actively unsafe; and second, when there's a safety recall you don't have to pay for the replacement or fix — the cost is covered by the manufacturer.
I started thinking about this distinction — and more specifically the difference in user behaviour — in the aftermath of the "WannaCry" malware. While WannaCry attracted widespread attention for its "ransomware" nature, the more concerning aspect of this incident is how it propagated: By exploiting a vulnerability in SMB for which Microsoft issued patches two months earlier. As someone who works in computer security, I find this horrifying — and I was particularly concerned when I heard that the NHS was postponing surgeries because they couldn't access patient records. Think about it: If the NHS couldn't access patient records due to WannaCry, it suggests WannaCry infiltrated systems used to access patient records — meaning that someone else exploiting the same vulnerabilities could have accessed those records. The SMB subsystem in Windows was not merely broken; until patches were applied, it was actively unsafe.
I imagine that most people in my industry would agree that security patches should be treated in the same vein as safety recalls — unless you're certain that you're not affected, take care of them as a matter of urgency — but it seems that far more users instead treat security patches more like oil changes: something to be taken care of when convenient... or not at all, if not convenient. It's easy to say that such users are wrong; but as an industry it's time that we think about why they are wrong rather than merely blaming them for their problems.
There are a few factors which I think are major contributors to this problem. First, the number of updates: When critical patches occur frequently enough to become routine, alarm fatigue sets in and people cease to give the attention updates deserve, even if on a conscious level they still recognize the importance of applying updates. Easy problem to identify, hard problem to address: We need to start writing code with fewer security vulnerabilities.
Second, there is a long and sad history of patches breaking things. In a few cases this is because something only worked by accident — an example famous in the FreeBSD community is the SA-05:03.amd64 vulnerability, which accidentally made it possible to launch the X server while running as an unprivileged user — but more often it is simply the result of a mistake. While I appreciate that there is often an urgency to releasing patches, and limited personnel (especially for open source software), releasing broken patches is something which it is absolutely vital to avoid — because it doesn't only break systems, but also contributes to a lack of trust in software updates. During my time as FreeBSD Security Officer, regardless of who on the security team was taking responsibility for preparing a patch and writing the advisory, I refused to sign and release advisories until I was convinced that our patch both fixed the problem and didn't accidentally break anything else; in some cases this meant that our advisories went out a few hours later, but in far more cases it ensured that we released one advisory rather than a first advisory followed by a second "whoops, we broke something" follow-up a few days later. My target was always that our track record should be enough that FreeBSD users would be comfortable blindly downloading and installing updates on their production systems, without spending time looking at the code or deploying to test systems first — because some day there will be a security update which they don't have time to look over carefully before installing.
The problems of the large volume of patches and their reputation for breaking things is made worse by the fact that many systems use the same mechanism for distributing both security fixes and other changes — bug fixes and new features. This has become a common pattern largely in the name of user friendliness — why force users to learn two systems when we can do everything through a single update mechanism? — but I worry that it is ultimately counterproductive, in that presenting updates through the same channel tends to conflate them in the minds of users, with the result that critical security updates instead end up being given the lesser attention more appropriately due to a new feature update. Even if the underlying technology used for fetching and installing updates is the same, it may be that exposing different types of updates through different interfaces would result in better user behaviour. My bank sends me special offers in the mail but phones if my credit card usage trips fraud alarms; this is the sort of distinction in intrusiveness we should see for different types of software updates.
Finally, I think there is a problem with the mental model most people have of computer security. Movies portray attackers as geniuses who can break into any system in minutes; journalists routinely warn people that "nobody is safe"; and insurance companies offer insurance against "cyberattacks" in much the same way as they offer insurance against tornados. Faced with this wall of misinformation, it's not surprising that people get confused between 400 pound hackers sitting on beds and actual advanced persistent threats. Yes, if the NSA wants to break into your computer, they can probably do it — but most attackers are not the NSA, just like most burglars are not Ethan Hunt. You lock your front door, not because you think it will protect you from the most determined thieves, but because it's an easy step which dramatically reduces your risk from opportunistic attack; but users don't see applying security updates as the equivalent of locking their front door when they leave home.
Computer security is a mess; there's no denying that. Vendors publishing code with thousands of critical vulnerabilities and government agencies which stockpile these vulnerabilities rather than helping to fix them certainly do nothing to help. But WannaCry could have been completely prevented if users had taken the time to install the fixes provided by Microsoft — if they had seen the updates as being something critical rather than an annoyance to put off until the next convenient weekend.
As a community, it's time for computer security professionals to think about the complete lifecycle of software vulnerabilities. It's not enough for us to find vulnerabilities, figure out how to fix them, and make the updates available; we need to start thinking about the final step of how to ensure that end users actually install the updates we provide. Unless we manage to do that, there will be a lot more crying in the years to come.


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Click through to read the full review of Gary Lutz's STORIES IN THE WORST WAY, the fortieth in this full-press review of Calamari books.
In a recent year-in-review post about finances for Calamari Press, a wonderfully honest annual divulging from Derek White, I learned that Gary Lutz takes it upon himself to personally ship all copies of Divorcer that are directly purchased from Calamari Press – which I found to be an unexpected and beautiful revelation. Unexpected because Gary Lutz is the patron saint of indie lit, perfect evidence of a writer staying the "small" press route while simultaneously making a name for himself on the national literary radar; Beautiful because here is an author who wants to literally touch his words before they go out into another's hands.
Now I don't know if Lutz personally ships copies of his previous collection from Calamari Press, Stories in the Worst Way, but I do know that Stories in the Worst Way is in print for the third time (Knopf, 1996; 3rd Bed, 2002; Calamari Press, 2009) because of its magical linguistic properties – and if the magician himself is touching the copies to boot, well then, that would be just one more reason in a thousand to get a copy of this book.
I was midway through my shadowed, septic thirties. I had been hired as a generalist. What I taught was vague and interdisciplinary and unchallengeable. What I said, it was bound to be correct up to a point. My credentials were fraudulent. I'd awelessly faked my way through a Midwestern graduate school with a dissertation two hundred and eighty-seven clawing, suffixy pages long, all of it embezzled from leaky monographs. Since then, I'd taught myself to mooch off nobody but myself.
The effect here is two-fold.
First: I come to understand that Lutz takes time with his writing; He crafts, he molds, he shapes and forms – he works words and phrases and sentences and paragraphs and pages until they need no more work. He is a craftsman, an architect, an engineer, a designer. This is what makes his work so stunning and so full – the bright surprise of words.
Second: Lutz and his seemingly endless vocabulary is in the same Calamari Press catalog alongside Peter Markus, a writer best known for his use of simplistic and repetitive vocabulary – and yet Derek White was smart enough to acquire and publish both Lutz and Markus – understanding that there are boundless ways to posture words.
I blinked and swallowed, hoisted smiles, poked at and beveled the block of beef on my plate. When he excused himself to rush off for a one-o'clock class, I sought out the dining-room men's room, one that wasn't on any of my regular campus tours. Unlike the nookish, single-person-occupancy arrangements I frequented (their hollow-board doors securing me from corridoral traffic only by their flimsy expedient of a hook and an eyebolt), this was a vast, modern affair with a line of urinals and three stalls. One of the latter was unoccupied, so, taking a seat, I busied myself with some noodling and valving, the virtually noiseless preliminaries, until, emboldened by the whoosh of a neighbor's flush and satisfied that it would muffle the report of my own bowels, I splattered myself out.
This is not meant to pit Lutz against Markus, or even to make an aesthetic comparison between the two – in terms of skill, both Markus and Lutz completely amaze me – I merely want to point out that these are two vastly different approaches to literature printed by a single publishing house – a testament to the beauty of Calamari Press.
Purchase Gary Lutz's Stories in the Worst Way here.
Up next (& the final title in this full press review of Calamari Press): SLEEPINGFISH 8.


There are several recipes on the internet for this copycat recipe for Chicken Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang's. I used the recipe from Averie Cooks. David is trying to reduce carbohydrates in his diet so anything wrapped in a lettuce leaf is a winner in my book. Crispy butter (Boston) lettuce is the perfect vessel to hold this flavorful mixture.
The ground chicken is paired with hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and chili garlic sauce. Crunch is provided by water chestnuts. I served it with roasted butternut squash. It was a quick and easy meal.
Posted on January 22, 2019 at 1:03 pm.
With the holidays fast approaching, thoughts turn to warming comfort food. I would even consider this Beef and Bacon Stew a worthy meal for Christmas Eve or Day. It has been a challenging week. We were hit by a freak snowstorm that normally would not occur in North Carolina. Five days without power tested our coping capacity.
It was a test of our capacity to get along without things we all take for granted. We stayed warm because our home is well insulated and we have a gas fireplace and a wood burning fireplace. We stayed well fed because we have a gas stove and oven, plus the grill grate in the fireplace. We stayed hydrated with jugs of water and other drinks. The only thing missing was a shower. That's why we have friends. Thank you to Ron and Jackie for a much needed clean up and a delicious dinner. But next year we are getting a whole house generator. Weather in our area seems to have taken a more violent and unpredictable bent.
David is actually responsible for this delicious stew. Over the years he has been cooking more of our meals with creativity and elan. While I was finishing my wonderful new book in the series from Louis Penny, Kingdom of the Blind, he was chopping and assembling this flavorful dish. It did require a new ingredient. Miso Paste. I found it at Whole Foods in the refrigerator section near the cellophane boxed lettuces. Do not leave it out as it adds a great depth of flavor to the sauce.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I couldn't resist including this outtake of our Christmas card photo shoot.
Posted on December 19, 2018 at 9:06 am.


text:
Det islandske køkken omfatter både traditionelle retter og nyere retter baseret på traditionelle råvarer, som tilsammen udgør islandsk madkultur. Vigtige råvarer er lam, mælk, skaldyr og fisk, sidstnævnte især begrundet i de mange beboelser nær havet. Populære retter på Island er blandt andet tørret kød, røget lam, gravad fisk og blodbudding. Den afbildede buffet (Þorramatur) bliver traditionelt serveret under festligholdelsen af vintersolhverv, (Þorrablót), og indeholder et udvalg af kød- og fiskeprodukter, lagret på traditionel vis, serveret med mørkt rugbrød og brennivín, (en islandsk akvavit). Smagen er stærkt præget af de anvendte konserveringsmidler: syltning, saltning, tørring og røgning

Moderne islandske kokke lægger normalt vægt på de tilgængelige produkters kvalitet frem for traditionerne. Derfor har mange restauranter på Island specialiseret sig i "alt godt fra havet", og i den årlige kokkekonkurrence Mat og Moro (arrangeret siden 2004), kappes kokkene om at tilberede nye retter med ferske ingredienser fra Island. Kendetegnende er kvaliteten på lammekødet og de maritime retter. Andre lokale ingredienser som har en naturlig plads hos islandske kokke er svømmefugle (både kødet og æggene), laks og ørred, blåbær, rabarber, vildtimian, løvstikke og tørrede alger.

Da animalske produkter dominerer det islandske køkken er det næsten umuligt at leve som vegetar på Island uden at anvende dyrere, importerede varer. Den almindelige smag, især bandt de yngre generationer, har alligevel nærmet sig den europæiske norm, og både produktionen og brugen af grøntsager er øget voldsomt de seneste årtier. Der produceredes næsten 30 000 ton i år 2007. I denne sammenhæng er det en fördel, at det kølige klima går ukrudtsbekæmpelse unødvendig. Grøntsagerne må om foråret udvikles i drivhus og kan siden plantes ud.

Eksterne links
 Islandsk mad, opskrifter og madkultur .

 islandske køkken, Det

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Science Bots: A Model for the Future of Scientific Computation?
As a response to the trends of the increasing importance of computational approaches and the accelerating pace in science, I propose in this position paper to establish the concept of "science bots" that autonomously perform programmed tasks on input data they encounter and immediately publish the results. We can let such bots participate in a reputation system together with human users, meaning that bots and humans get positive or negative feedback by other participants. Positive reputation given to these bots would also shine on their owners, motivating them to contribute to this system, while negative reputation will allow us to filter out low-quality data, which is inevitable in an open and decentralized system.
As datasets become increasingly important in all branches of science, many have proposed methods and tools to publish data . Nanopublications are an approach to bundle atomic data snippets (in RDF) in small packages together with their provenance and metadata. Such nanopublications can be manually created by scientists and linked to their articles, but they can also be automatically extracted from existing datasets or be directly created by programs that implement scientific methods.
In general, computer programs form a third kind of scientific contribution, besides narrative articles and datasets. While many such programs are openly available, there are no conventions or standards of how to reliably link data to the software that produced it, including the version of the software and the input it received. Moreover, due to the focus of the scientific life cycle on the publication of articles, scientific software is typically applied only to the data available at the time of writing a paper. It is often not the case that new output data is made public when new input data becomes available. To tackle these problems, I argue that we can encapsulate certain types of scientific algorithms as small independent agents that take inputs of a given type and produce, for example, nanopublications, and they could do this in a real-time and automatic manner as new input data becomes available.
I borrow the term "bot" from Wikipedia, where bots are applied, for example, to revert edits that are the results of vandalism . A prominent example is a bot that has created around 454 000 articles for the Swedish Wikipedia . The fact that bots can be powerful also in a negative sense has become apparent with the rise of botnets , and with the increasing problem of "social bots" that pretend to be humans . I argue here that the power of bots could also be harnessed in a positive way for scientific computation. In contrast to the agents in the original Semantic Web paper , such bots would not propose or make decisions as a kind of personal assistant, but they would only publish data snippets and they would do that without any further interaction with humans.
In previous work, I showed how the concept of nanopublications can be extended and I mentioned the possible use of bots to create them . I also presented an approach to attach cryptographic hash values to nanopublication identifiers to make them verifiable and immutable . Based on that work, I have started to establish a nanopublication server network, with which nanopublications can be published, retrieved, and archived in a reliable, trustworthy, and decentralized manner , which could serve as the basis for the communication for bots.
In this position paper, I propose bots as a general concept for scientific computation. For example, a bot could apply text mining to extract relations from the abstracts of the constantly growing PubMed database, another bot could regularly measure the temperature at a given location and publish the results, and yet another one could infer new facts from existing nanopublications by applying specified rules or heuristics (e.g. if disease X is related to gene Y, which is targeted by drug Z then Z might help to treat X). Importantly, these bots can automatically publish the obtained data without double-checking or direct supervision by their creators, and these data can be made immediately accessible to everybody (including other bots).
In a system that treats bots as first-class citizens, we have to expect that some bots (and humans for that matter) will produce low-quality contributions, and we have to make sure that this does not affect the reliability and trustworthiness of the system. I argue that we can achieve that without introducing a central authority, without making concessions with respect to the openness of the system, and without delaying the publishing of results. We simply need a sufficiently accurate automatic method to discern good contributions from bad ones, which can be achieved by a reputation system. We can let scientists and bots participate in the same reputation system, where they would increase their reputation by receiving positive feedback by other participants on the usefulness and quality of their contributions. Positive reputation of a bot, in turn, would give credit and reputation to the scientist who created it.
To arrive at a simple exemplary model to explain the approach, we can define a relation "is contributed by", where bots can occur on either side: They are contributions, as they were programmed and created by somebody, but they are also contributors, as they can create new digital entities on their own. We can define a second type of relation to represent assessments. For the sake of simplicity, we model here only positive assessments and strip them of all granularity and detail, and we can call the resulting relation "gives positive assessment for".
A simple example of a graph of contributors and contributions with edges for creatorship and assessments.
shows a simple example of such a graph with two kinds of edges, representing creatorship and assessments. To determine the reputation or importance of the nodes, we can in the simplest case treat the two types of edges identically and rank the nodes by applying a network measure such as Eigenvector centrality (which is closely related to Google's PageRank algorithm to rank websites), as shown by the red numbers. The person at the top-left has a high reputation because he is endorsed by the person in the middle. The latter has a high reputation because her direct and indirect contributions were positively assessed by others (even though she has not received a direct assessment herself). The third person to the right, however, has not contributed anything that was positively assessed by others (only by his own bot), and therefore his reputation is low. Of course, there are many possible variations and extensions, such as bidirectional contribution edges for the Eigenvector calculation, as indicated by the gray numbers. In general, as one cannot influence incoming links from the part of the network that is not under one's control, there is no way to efficiently game the system. The scalability of such algorithms in open and decentralized systems is demonstrated by their successful application by search engines and peer-to-peer systems .
Bots could free scientists from routine tasks and therefore allow them to focus on the interesting questions. Furthermore, this approach could increase the value and appreciation of datasets and software as research products, and give due credit to their creators. With appropriate reputation mechanisms, this can be achieved in a fully open and decentralized environment.
Tobias Kuhn and Michel Dumontier. Trusty URIs: Verifiable, Immutable, and Permanent Digital Artifacts for Linked Data. ESWC 2014.
Aaron Halfaker and John Riedl. Bots and Cyborgs: Wikipedia's Immune System. Social Computing 45:3. 2012.
Thomas Steiner. Bots vs. Wikipedians, Anons vs. Logged-Ins. WWW Companion 2014.
Moheeb Abu Rajab, Jay Zarfoss, Fabian Monrose, and Andreas Terzis. A multifaceted approach to understanding the botnet phenomenon. IMC 2006.
Emilio Ferrara, Onur Varol, Clayton Davis, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Flammini. The Rise of Social Bots. arXiv preprint 1407.5225, 2014.
Paul Groth, Andrew Gibson, and Jan Velterop. The anatomy of a nanopublication. Information Services and Use 30:1, 2010.
Tobias Kuhn, Paolo Emilio Barbano, Mate Levente Nagy, and Michael Krauthammer. Broadening the Scope of Nanopublications. ESWC 2013.
Tobias Kuhn, Christine Chichester, Michel Dumontier, and Michael Krauthammer. Publishing without Publishers: a Decentralized Approach to Dissemination, Retrieval, and Archiving of Data. arXiv preprint 1411.2749, 2014.
Mark A. Parsons, Ruth Duerr, and Jean-Bernard Minster. Data Citation and Peer Review. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union 91:34, 2010.
Jan Brase. DataCite - A global registration agency for research data. COINFO 2009.
Sean Bechhofer, David De Roure, Matthew Gamble, Carole Goble, and Iain Buchan. Research objects: Towards exchange and reuse of digital knowledge. FWCS 2010.
Lennart Guldbrandsson. Swedish Wikipedia surpasses 1 million articles with aid of article creation bot. Wikimedia blog, 17 June 2013.
Sepandar D. Kamvar, Mario T. Schlosser, and Hector Garcia-Molina. The EigenTrust algorithm for reputation management in P2P networks. WWW 2003.
Tim Berners-Lee, James Hendler, and Ora Lassila. The Semantic Web . Scientific American 284:5.