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There is no gain saying the fact that the more knowledgeable an individual is the more productive he/she is. Again, the more knowledgeable individuals an organization or society has the speedier its advancement which could also lead to its greatness. Indeed, there is always a positive correlation between highly knowledgeable (educated) societies and greatness. No wonder the rich and powerful countries in the world today are those with high levels of knowledge and education while those with lower levels of education are the poorest and weakest.
The Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a grouping of rich European countries, emphasized in a policy document put together in Paris in 1994, the fact that the economies of the OECD are increasingly based on knowledge and information". The document further asserted how knowledge is now recognized as the driver of productivity and economic growth.
Recognizing the values of knowledge and information, individuals, organizations and nations have, in various ways and over the centuries, taken various steps to create and expand facilities for information collection and storage: all in a bid to expand the frontiers of knowledge. Funds for this purpose are found in annual national budgets of countries while organizations worth their sorts also make yearly provisions for the facilitation of knowledge enhancement. It has been said that human kind is now in the knowledge or information age; having migrated from stages like pre-historic, agrarian, industrial and service ages. Information is therefore key to the survival and advancement of individuals, organizations and nations today. The explosion of information gathering, storage and dissemination gadgets like computers, laptops, Ipads, blackberries, etc., is a testimony to the need and realization for quick and easy access to information.
The Review on Impact of Interpersonal Skills and Capabilities of Leadership on Knowledge Based Organizations
Abstract: The role of leadership in the success of any organization is very much important. Although in Pakistan very little importance is given to this aspect of organizations inspite of this its importance cannot be denied. In other words, Leadership is the backbone of any knowledge centric organization. This research article shed light on the importance of effective leadership skills and ...
Quick and easy access to information is vital to the development of various fields of knowledge. In order to perform or achieve set targets, essential and relevant information need to be made available to professionals, researchers, and policy makers etc. who have urgent need for them. This is where the library comes in. A library in the strict sense of the term is a collection of materials organized for use. It is also a place or a room set apart for the keeping and use of documents which have been organized. It keeps books, journals, periodicals, magazines, etc. for the use of the community, be it a school, a college, a university, a corporate body or a neighborhood. A library can therefore be said to be a storehouse of knowledge. A well stocked library is an asset to the school, college, university or the society. Apart from the primary function of helping in the expansion of the frontiers of knowledge, libraries help to develop reading habits. They mould character and help in personal development.
An ordinary man may find it difficult to purchase a book or subscribe to a magazine. The library helps them. It offers them a variety of books under one roof at nominal fee or many a time for free. One can even borrow a book(s) for use. Notwithstanding these benefits of the libraries, public libraries in particular have borne the brunt of the effects of global recession since the 1980s. State and local authorities' allocations of resources to the libraries have seen consistent decline in almost every jurisdiction and Ghana is no exception. Among the earliest writers on this have been Colin Harris and Brian Clifford, who in an introduction to their work titled "Public Libraries-re-appraisal and re-structuring" published in 1985, wrote "Without doubt the two most important influences upon the recent development of the library services have been … and the severe financial restraints resulting from the current economic recession".
The Term Paper on Stupid White Men Moore Book Information
I. Synopsis In his most compelling and defensive book to date, Michael Moore returns to the world of politics to size up the new century. Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation attacks the big, ugly special-interest group that's laying waste to the world as we know it: stupid white men. In his book, Moore calls for the United Nations to take action against the "Bush ...
Paucity of resource allocations to public libraries have resulted in the inability of library managers to expand their scope of activities, stock the shelves with new volumes of literary materials and recruit or retain qualified staff. It is the recognition of the importance of libraries to the society that led to the establishment of Ghana Library Authority, a body to co-ordinate and oversee library activities in the country. The authority, formerly Ghana Library Board, was established in the 1950s in the quest to enhance information availability and usage. Alemna A.
A. (2000), documented how the colonial administration in Ghana had long before independence demonstrated the importance of information services within government departments by establishing government department libraries such as those of Food and Agriculture (1890), Supreme Court (1909), Geological Survey Department (1925), Lands Department (1925), Meteorological Services Department (1937), Ministry of Information (1944) and Statistical Service of Ghana (1948).
Expansion in literacy and library usage became evident after the establishment of the Ghana Library Authority and especially after independence. "The Accelerated Development Plan" as it was called and sustained efforts to educate the masses through adults' literacy programmes in order to produce literate population to boost economic growth. Alemna, again in the same article records how these efforts resulted in remarkable literacy growth of 9% to 20% within a decade. Objectives of the essay
This essay is an attempt at reviewing the activities of the Ghana Library Authority, the nation's main body charged with facilitating the provision and supervision of library facilities to enhance literacy and research. An attempt to determine when and how the Ghana Library Authority was born, its mandate, vision and mission as well as its structure is an important factor worth considering. Trying also to track its growth and evaluate its activities has been taken care of. In doing this, an attempt is made to examine challenges (if any) confronting the authority. Conclusion has been made by recommending some possible solutions to the identified challenges. Methodology
The Research paper on Donor services department
The Donor Services Department is an organization that seeks out sponsors to help with the funding of underprivileged families. They must do their best to maintain a constant flow of donors as well as keep track of their work. There are various components that keep this system at bay and it must be kept under control especially since they are planning on expanding. Prior to their expansion, the ...
In accomplishing my task, I relied on both primary and secondary sources to gather the necessary data or materials. I also consulted published books, articles, journals, newspapers and any other published work of relevance which I duly acknowledged. Additionally, I sought some materials from the web which have also been acknowledged. For my primary source materials, I conducted interviews at the offices of the Ghana Library Authority and some institutions and bodies associated with it.
Early History
Early in 1928, some attempts were made by a few pubic spirited persons to establish a form of public library. Notable among these persons was the Anglican bishop of Accra Diocese, late Rt. Rev. John Orfeur Anglionby. He built a small library at the bishop's house in Accra with books donated by church people in England for reading and borrowing by members. Following the persistence of the bishop for expansion of the library, the governor took up the task which eventually led to the formation of British Council Advisory Committee towards library development which worked with the Aglionby Library Management Committee. The work of the Committees resulted in the passing of the Gold Coast Library Board Ordinance Cap 118, in December, 1949, which became operational on January 1, 1950. The British Council handed over its Librarian, Miss E. J. A. Evans, and a stock of 27,000 books to start the public library service. This was a good compliment to the original library begun by Bishop Anglionby with the generous contribution of £1,000.The Ordinance was later re-enacted as Ghana Library Board Act 372, 1970.
The year 1950 was a significant one in the history of public library service in the country. The Gold Coast Library Ordinance which was passed in 1949 came into operation on 1st January, 1950. This legislation made the Gold Coast Library Board the second corporation in the country after Cocoa Marketing Board.
Growth and Consolidation
Following the legislative assembly election of 1953, which brought Kwame Nkrumah into government business, some radical reforms in Education were introduced. Among these was the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE).
The Essay on Edinburgh Napier library services
Edinburgh Napier University was established as a technical college in 1964 taking its name from famous inventor of logarithms, John Napier. Since 1971, the college has started to offer degree level educations. In 1992, the college was converted to university, and changed its name to Napier University. However, in 2009, the university changed its name to Edinburgh Napier University. To enhance high ...
The introduction of the FCUBE in 1952 gave a big boost to the demand for library services. The Accra Central Library was opened in May 17, 1956 by the then Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah. Unlike the situation in many other developing countries where library developments are supported considerably by foreign funding agencies, the service in Ghana has essentially been built from local resources. The British Council however played an initial role by providing assistance in the form of giving the Ghana Library Board books, staff and furniture. Assistance in minor forms also came from the United States government through the Federal Agency for Overseas Development.
Since its establishment, the Ghana Library Authority has strived to live its mandate. The Authority has managed to establish public libraries in all ten regional capitals. Apart from the ten regional libraries, there are about fifty three branch libraries across the country.
Over the years the GLA's mandate has been widened as it took charge of the specialized research library, George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs formerly the African Research Library. The GLA also established the Schools Library Department in 1961 and eleven years later (1972) established the Colleges Library Department. It has also had Mobile Library services where Mobile vans are used to bring library services to small towns and villages. The GLA also collaborates with communities, private citizens and NGOs to bring library services to the people in smaller rural communities.
Ghana Library Authority is a public institution that falls under the Ministry of Education. It is headquartered on Thorpe Road, between the Ghana Commercial Bank Limited (Head Office) and the Supreme Court buildings, off the High Street, Accra. It is the central administrative organ of the entire service. It is the central administrative organ of the entire service. It also coordinates the activities of the various departments and libraries under the Board and has regional and district offices. It has a Fourteen-member Board of Directors on whose shoulders the ultimate responsibility of the institution rests. The day to day activities are however run by the following departments/units:| |
The Term Paper on Online Library Management System Of ACLC College
Project Description: The library has been around for years; where ever we go we see books. Libraries are designed to give people a place where they can read books in a convenient way. By which we mean, when people are in the library they are given a variety of choices. But that was before the internet was created hence the availability of eBooks and PDFs not hindering people from reading books, ...
Acquisition and Cataloguing DepartmentIt is a centralized Department responsible for the selection, ordering, cataloguing, classification and distribution of books to all the 62 service points in the country.Bindery UnitThis unit is under the Acquisitions Department and is responsible for re-binding of worn-out books and binding of back issues of some periodicals and local newspapers for preservation.Work with Children's DepartmentThis department is responsible for the general development of all children's libraries under the Public Library System.
George Padmore Research Library on African AffairsThis is an African wing of the Ghana Library established as a memorial to George Padmore, a Pan Africanist and African Affairs Advisor to the then President of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. School and College Libraries DepartmentThe Department was established by the Ministry of Education and placed under the Ghana Library Board in 1972. It has the responsibility of ensuring an efficient library service in all second cycle institutions and the training colleges throughout the country.| Adults Lending Service
Under this service, every registered reader is permitted to take away three books and so long as no other reader needs those books, the borrower is allowed to renew the loan at will. If however another reader makes demand for the book, the renewal is rejected.| |
Adults' Reference ServiceThis is a service which provides quality reference materials such as Directories, Dictionaries, Almanac, Encyclopedia, Government publications, etc for quick and in-depth reference purposes. This service also ensures that all branches stock basic textbooks, local and foreign magazines.
Source: Data obtained from Ghana Library Authority's Head Office.Table One shows that there are a total of sixty three public libraries. This is made up of ten regional libraries, fifty-two district libraries and one special library. FundingThe Ghana Library Authority is a state institution and is thus funded by the governmentof Ghana as contained in the Ordinance which established it. Consequently, the bulk of financial responsibilities regarding emolument of staff as well as equipping the stock and other related matters are under the direct responsibility of the state. The Authority also generates some revenue from its own day-to-day activities.
Book Review On Public Administration
H. George Fredericksons The Spirit of Public Administration is an informative yet drab look at motivating public administrators. Frederickson discusses a wide variety of topics that would be useful to any public administrator, but the verbiage used is a bit difficult for an individual that may be entering into the service field The Spirit of Public Administration is broken down into three parts. ...
NB 2002 to 2007: Old cedis 2008: Ghana CedisSource: A. Apenteng: Financing and Sustaining Public Libraries (Ghana Library Board) in Perspective, A master's degree Dissertation presented at the Department of Information Studies.Apart from ministerial support, the authority generates some revenue from its day-to-day activities. In 2005 for example the authority was able to generate ȼ70,983,600 from its services as outlined below: ȼ 1. Membership dues-52,584,000.00 2. Photocopying services-14,304,000.00 3. Overdue fines- 873,000.00 4. Hiring of Exhibition Halls- 3,222,500.0070,983,600.00 This amount however is less than 1% of government's support to the authority.Overview of activitiesThe Unesco public library Manifesto declares the public library as a local gateway to knowledge.The Ghana Library Authority Act 327 (1970) sets out the following aims and objectives for the authority:
1. To promote education through the provision of reading materials such as books, periodicals and other non-book materials; 2. To act as a center for information dissemination for the general Public;3. To promote life-long learning by making ideas and information easily accessible and responsive to the people we serve. OR To offer service that are responsive to the needs of the people we serve on the basis of equity of access irrespective of age, sex, religion or social status. Following these objectives, the Ghana Library Authority has as its main activities: * Establishment of libraries in all regions * Equipping these libraries with books and other reading materials * Manage, organize and make accessible reading materials to the public * Ensuring that books and other reading materials are always available to usersOver the years the authority has strived to achieve its mandate, it maintains national public libraries in all regions. Beside 10 regional libraries (in all 10 regions of Ghana), 53 district and branch libraries belong to their core business.
Additionally, there is also in each case, a Mobile library, which visits smaller communities. Beyond these, there are numerous Community Libraries in smaller, rural municipalities, which partly are developed by self help initiatives of the citizens, NGOs or the communities. The activities of the Authority can better looked at through the various departments:. Acquisition and Cataloguing DepartmentIt is a centralized Department responsible for the selection, ordering, cataloguing, classification and distribution of books to all the 62 service points in the country. Cataloguing is one of the main activities of the GLA. A library catalogue provides clear and useful information for library users. It aids resource discovery; assists users to evaluate the object without necessarily having to access the object itself; enables users to check the object availability (to the user); and also enables allocation for the object to be determined.
The GLA organizes its collections according to the Dewey Decimal Classification scheme. It uses both the author and subject catalogues. The cataloguing department does classification and cataloguing of documents for all its regional and branch libraries. Bindery UnitThis unit is under the Acquisitions Department and is responsible for re-binding of worn-out books and binding of back issues of some periodicals and local newspapers for preservation.Work with Children's DepartmentThis department is responsible for the general development of all children's libraries under the Public Library System. George Padmore Research Library on African AffairsThis is an African wing of the Ghana Library established as a memorial to George Padmore, a Pan Africanist and African Affairs Advisor to the then President of Ghana Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Ghana has no national library in its technical sense.
The George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs(GPRLAA) performs some functions of a national library namely;Serving as the repository of the country's literary output and making available for use by the present and future generations, a natural collection of ideas;.Complication of the Ghana National Bibliography (GNB);and.Serving as the National Agency for ISBD. Thus, it assigns the ISBN, ISSN, and the ISMN to Ghanaian publishers.Scholars and researches both foreign and local depend on the facility for data from the following special collections;
Letters of Dr.Kwame Nkrumah;.Noma Collection;.Bureau of African Affairs Collection;.Former Drama Studio Collection;.Local Language Publications;.Back Files of Periodicals and Newspapers, Microfilms and Microfiche Collection;.George Padmore's Personal Collection.School and College Libraries DepartmentThe Department was established by the Ministry of Education and placed under the Ghana Library Board in 1972. It has the responsibility of ensuring an efficient library service in all second cycle institutions and the training colleges throughout the country. Activities of this Department include: * Organizing in service training courses, seminars and workshops for school library assistants and tutor librarians; * Visiting schools periodically to inspect and ensure that staff in these libraries are performing to standards.|
Adults' Reference ServiceThis is a service which provides quality reference materials such as Directories, Dictionaries, Almanac, Encyclopedia, Government publications, etc for quick and in-depth reference purposes. This service also ensures that all branches stock basic textbooks, local and foreign magazines to allow browsing for materials.External Library ServiceThis is also known as the Mobile Van Unit and is aimed at providing not only reading materials to rural communities but also ICT facilities to enable the rural communities acquire the requisite skills and competences in ICT for life-long learning and personal development. The Regional Libraries operate Mobile Library Service to rural communities where the people have no access to local or community libraries. This facility was a great boost to the rural communities but had to be suspended for sometime due to budgetary consent. Its revival in recent times has been a great welcome to users.An important element of this programme is that the books are also available to registered individuals, organizations and schools to take away 25 or 50 books for a fee
BooksIn the pursuit of their core activities the Authority continues to procure books, journals, magazines and other literary materials for its libraries. For example, between 2000 and 2010, a total of 12,286 books were acquired for the children's libraries. The table below illustrates efforts in this direction.
Challenges Facing GLAInformation and Communication TechnologyInformation Communication Technology (ICT) is the fusion of computer and communications technologies for the creation, processing, dissemination and transmission of information. The implementation of ICT facilitates change, creativity, improved services, and the non-restrictive flow of information. It is the catalyst that is moving libraries into a new dimension. Libraries services today are relying greatly on equipment and gadgets such and computers, scanners, photocopiers and internet connectivity. The Ghana Library Authority lacks a good compliment of these facilities which could aid research and make use of the libraries more pleasurable. Patronage of the libraries could see great improvement with the provision of these facilities.
Inadequate FundingAgyen Gyasi et al note that "money plays a crucial role in the administration and development of libraries because the extent and quality of service rendered depends largely on funding available to them". Managers of public libraries such as the GLA are normally not oblivious of the needs of their facilities. Unfortunately, allocation of funds to the GLA has been so inadequate that not much can be done by way of new infrastructure as well as maintenance and repair of existing structures and equipment. The level of funds allocation has had direct impact on the general running of the Board.
The Ghana Library Authority is a state institution and is thus funded by the government of Ghana as contained in the Ordinance which established it. Consequently, all financial responsibilities regarding emolument of staff as well as equipping the stock and other related matters are under the direct responsibility of the state. Government's released funds as compared to the requests made by the authority between 2003 and 2008 show clearly the inadequacy of funds made available to the authority.
NB: 2002 to 2007 figures are in old Ghana Cedis.2008 figure is in new Ghana Cedis.Source: A. Apenteng: Financing and Sustaining Public Libraries (Ghana Library Board) in Perspective, A Master's degree Dissertation presented at the Department of Social Studies.Table 5 above shows how governments release of funds to the Authority budgetary requirements consistently fall short of its requirements. This gives an indication of why the Authority is unable to put up new infrastructure, recruit, train and retain skilled staff etc.Available records have it that the GLA could only manage an impress of a paltry GH¢300.00, an equivalent of about $15.70 per month to its Regional libraries. This works to GH¢3,600.00 or $188.40 each year and is meant for all administrative and operational expenses including maintenance of vehicles, cost of stationery and other consumables of the regional offices.
The situation has led to the apparent neglect or disregard for certain critical actions that could make the facilities more user friendly.The main items of 'trade' for the libraries are their books. The total addition to the book stock of Children's library for example between years 2000 to 2010 is 12,286. Records available at the GHLA's office show that the total additions to the book stock in 2009 were 3,492 and 890 in 2010. This shows 75 % fall in a single year.Agyen Gyesi et al again provide us with a vivid account about the GLA's difficulty with respect to book stock. They used data from Kumasi Regional Library, the first of their kind, buttressed the point being made. The data indicates that the Ashanti Regional Library which begun in 1954 started with 21,000 books. This was made up of 10,500 (50%) non-fiction, 6,000 (28.6%) fiction and 4,500 (21.4%) children books. By November 2009 the numbers in each category had drastically declined.Table 2. Total Stock of Ashanti Regional Library Department| Number of Books| Percentage| LendingReferenceChildren| 8,9991,4804,8778| 58.69.831.8| Total| 15,355| 100|
Source: Public Library Service in Ghana: The Ashanti Regional Library in Perspective, K. Agyen-Gyasi et alTable 2 above shows clearly the decline in the stock. Considering the fact that Ghana's population was just about 5 million at the time of establishment of the library and the fact that the population has grown fivefold, it is sorry to state that the book stock should rather decline. The table also shows that 58.6% of the total stock was in lending9.6% in children and 31.8%This means there is inadequate books available for use at the library.Staffing The importance of human resource in any given organization cannot be overstated. Drucker (2000) emphasized this thus "a manager achieves results through people".The GLA has staff Strength is about 600. Category of staff * Masters degree (and above) holders * Bachelors degree holders * Diploma holders * SSSCE/GCE holders * OthersThis may be regarded as inadequate for an institution with about 60 offices.
The low salaries offered in the public sector in Ghana contribute to the poor quality and quantity of the services offered by public libraries. As in other countries, the majority of public libraries, especially in rural areas, have become places for study used by school pupils. However, the low remuneration has been disincentive for quality service delivery.The Way ForwardIn spite of the significant role that the GLA is playing in the educational system, it is increasingly finding it difficult to attract the target youth to patronize its facilities. This is because most of the facilities like computers and the internet to attract the youth are either unavailable or insufficient. The youth of today are into entertainment and want to move with the times, they will always want to entertain themselves in every environment they find themselves including the use of the internet. With the advent of information and communication technology (ICT), the GLA needs to be innovative in solving the ICT deficiencies that confront the organization.
The Authority needs to create a data base of all books published in Ghana online.The Ghana Library Authority appears to have also been a victim of austerity that has been visited on a number of state funded institutions as a result of general economic difficulties facing most economies. The ordinance that established the Ghana Library Authority placed it under the Ministry of Education which appears to have much responsibility for its budgetary allocations.It is obvious that the myriad of problems facing the authority have to do with inadequate funding. Given the situation, the management or governing board of the Authority must find innovative ways in raising the needed funds to address the needs of the library from both governmental and non-governmental sources. Lobbying, advocacy and fund raising skills should be employed. Donor and partner funding should be sought and sourced through organizations, philanthropists and friends of the library. The current building housing the authority's headquarters requires major refurbishment to befit its status. This should involve re-painting of the whole edifice, re-furnishing, changing the lighting systems and provision of appropriate and more fixtures and fittings like book shelves furniture.
Alternatively, anew purpose built library should be built which should have a larger reading and discussion areas while the site serves as the visual centre. Stocking the refurbished or renovated edifice should be a next step. Funding is another issue that should be urgently looked at. New volumes of books, journals and magazines should be procured for the library. This should be done taking into account needs for the various departments, i.e. Children, Reference and lending.It is normally said that the greatest asset of any organization is its human resource. It is important that management takes the issue of recruitment of qualified staff very seriously. With the recent public sector pay policy-Single Spine Salary Scheme in place, it is believed that the issue of low remuneration which has affected the retention of skilled staff in public libraries would be addressed in a way. Management should also make the training of staff a priority so that the workers can perform at their best.In this era of fusion of libraries and information technology, staff recruitment and training should take into account the needs of the authority.
There is the urgent need to decentralize the activities of the Ghana Library Authority and toseparate the operations of the regional and district libraries, so that each unit could manage itsown finances. This would help these libraries to acquire the needed materials and equipmentsuch as books, furniture, and computers. The mobile library service provided by the Ghana Library Board through the Ashanti Regional Library should be expanded to reach out to people in the rural areas. The service was discontinued in 1983. However, it was reintroduced in 2008 and currently being operated on a pilot basis in the Amansie West and the Asante Akim South Districts respectively.The Regional Librarians must team up with the Regional and the District/Municipal/Metropolitan Directorate of Education to organize educational campaigns in schools and colleges in their various catchment areas to create more patronage of the public libraries.
They should also organize Library Week each year during which period the general public could visit the library. This would make them wary of the resources and challenges facing the library. Appeal for funds could be launched during the Library Week to raise funds for the purchase of books and other equipment needed for the efficient operation of the library.ConclusionPublic libraries are established for the systematic collection, development, organization, preservation and dissemination of knowledge and information to the community. The essay shown that the Ghana Library Authority which was established before independence has to a large extent lived up to expectation. It has managed to established regional and district libraries across the country The Authority continues to provide facilities for learning and research.
Its various departments such as Adults Reference, Lending, Work on Children, Bindery and Cataloguing continue to serve the public directly or indirectly. Its reference sections continue to serve the public while it allows for space in their facilities for reading for examinations, leisure and entertainment. The public is given the chance to borrow books for private use. Mobile library Service which was suspended has resumed albeit on a pilot basis in the Ashanti region. The only special library under the Authority, the George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs has also continued to be a unique research centre on African issues. Inadequate funding has been a bane for the Authority. Due the paucity of budgetary allocation, the authority has not been able to fully realize its goals. Its plan to expand into all corners of the country has largely remained on the drawing board. Related to this are its hiccups in the provision of mobile library service to rural areas. Currently the service is running only in the Ashanti Region.
Acquisition of new volumes of books and other literary materials has been a daunting challenge to the Authority. Until the implementation of the single spine salary policy, the salaries of workers of GLA have been another challenge for the managers. It is hoped that the new pay package be enough incentive to allow for the recruitment and retention of qualified professionals to man the libraries. GLA has not been move wish the times as far as ICT is concerned, The public libraries can boast of only few computers and almost non-existent internet connectivity. The rapid growth of population and ever expanding the number of schools, colleges and universities means an increasing need for public library services. However, it's been found that the number of libraries and the available facilities remain static. This is adversely affecting the role of the library. Public libraries in Ghana provide reading materials for both city and rural dwellers immediately after independence.
It must be emphasized that the government recognized the provision of library services as an essential element in the national scheme of educational advancement. Consequently, the indigenous government after independence made heavy budgetary allocations to the Ghana Library Board each year so that it could provide effective and efficient library services to its members, including educated rural dwellers, many of whom were teachers. The impressive educational standards achieved in Ghana especially immediately after independence could be credited to the efficient and effective public library services. The Government of Ghana and the Ministry of Education should do all that is required to re-kindle this educational advancement by taking a second look at the level of budgetary allocations to the Ghana Library Authority so it can again play its proper role.
Ghana Library Board (1975) Silver Jubilee 1950-1975. Accra: Arakan Press Limited, 115p.Drucker, Peter P. (1973).
Management: risks, responsibilities and practices, New York: Harper and Row, pp 30-35.Alemna A.A. (1991) Libraries as agents of research and scholarship in Ghana, African Research and Documentation, No. 5, pp 6-14.Agyen-Gyasi, Kwaku (1996) A study of public library facilities in the Ashanti Region of Ghana: the case study of the Ejura Public Library, Graduate Diploma Dissertation, Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, p18 (Unpublished).Unesco. (n.d) Unesco Public Library Manifesto. Available online:http://www.unesco.org/webworld/libraries/manifestos/libraman.html (Accessed: 5/12/12)Wikipedia (2009) Public library. Available online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public library (Accessed 5/12/12).Public library service in Ghana: The Ashanti Regional library in perspective – Available online: http.//search.myweb search.com. (Accessed 5/12/12)Ghana Library Board Portal http//www.Ghanalibrary Board.com.gh (accessed 5/12/12).Adjei O. S. Apenteng: Financing and Sustaining Public Library. (Ghana Library Board) in perspective.A Master's degree dissertation presented at the Department of Information Studies.Pg. 50-58. (Unpublished)Public Library: re-appraisal and re-structuring the contribution of research to management and adaptation/edited by Collin Harris and Brian Clifford. – London Rosendale and contributors, 1985.Libraries in Ghana:http:www.ghanayp.com/category/libraries (assessed05/12/12)| |


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Use large stainless steel frying pan, med to med-high heat
Spinach, Pine nuts, String beans, Red Onions, Broccoli florets,
Sautéed in water 1/8 inch,Roasted garlic, Lemon 2 tspn, olive oil 2 tspn.
Optional: Chunked wild salmon, never use farm raised and always ask if they have injected coloring agents. They do not have to advertise the coloring agents but if you ask they are required to tell. At least in New Jersey.
Vegetable Recipes: Carrots, celery, tomato, arugula, string beans, watercress, With crushed macadamia nuts, water olive oil and garlic.
Escarole, chicory, asparagus, tomato, artichoke hearts, string beans, olive oil and garlic, Optional for non- diabetics or controlled diabetes with a1c below 6.0. Note: this recipe is good for the heart and can be used to slow down heart rate. Trace or arsenic in asparagus.
Enjoy with vim and vigor.
Ernest A Ehrhardt I.M.D. N.M.D.

subset: commoncrawl


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Ahhh, this is great! Variety reports that comedian and Upright Citizens Brigade alum Sasheer Zamata has officially joined the Saturday Night Live cast, the first black female cast member since Maya Rudolph left back in 2007.
Kenan Thompson's casually inflammatory statement about how there are very few black female comedians who are "ready" to be on the show struck a chord on the Internet and ended up getting back to showrunner Lorne Michaels and the NBC bigwigs. Last year, they announced that they were launching a search for black female castmembers specifically for the 2014 season.
Although all the women rumored to be in the running are talented and hilarious, there's no better choice than Zamata: For proof, watch the video above, which consistently makes me laugh my actual dick off. Yay! Maybe Kenan should talk out of his ass more often.
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text: We are honored to work alongside someone who has been featured in the Forbes "Most Powerful Women in the World" issue. Noor is an amazing person and is one rank ahead of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer on the "Women Changing the World: STEM" list. We are inspired by her dedication to making her country of Afghanistan a better place for women.


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Microsoft Corp. today announced the beta release of Automated Deployment Services (ADS) for Windows® Server 2003, a powerful new server provisioning and administration tool that delivers key technology for the company's new Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI). This initiative unifies hardware, software and service vendors around a software architecture, which enables customers to harness the power of industry-standard hardware and brings simplicity, automation and flexibility to IT operations. ADS helps customers reduce the complexity and high cost associated with managing today's modern datacenter by uniquely employing a subset of the System Definition Model (SDM) specifically for server provisioning (see related release). It enables customers to rapidly and automatically deploy hundreds of highly customized Microsoft® Windows Server system images across their environments in a matter of minutes, instead of days or weeks as is currently required.
"ADS delivers rapid deployment and centralized administration of large, scale-out systems," said Bill Veghte, corporate vice president of the Windows Server Group at Microsoft. "Customers are clearly saying they require solutions to improve IT infrastructure productivity and reduce costs associated with server deployments. We are excited about delivering a solution that significantly automates and simplifies customers' IT operations."
The ADS beta is available this week to early adopter customers [Not avaliable for public download -Ed] and final code is expected to be broadly available in the second quarter of 2003
Download: Automated Deployment Services Technical Overview Document (.doc)
View: Microsoft Delivers Automated Deployment Services Beta Press Release
View: Windows Adds Automated Server Provisioning and Administration
News source: In-House


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You Can Take Dive Tour Of Titanic Wreckage Soon And The Pics Look Haunting
It's been over a century since the RMS Titanic split in two and sank to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet here we are in 2017, continuing to be fascinated by the history of the ship's wreckage, which took the lives of over 1,500 people in 1912.
While the film adaptation was enough for some people, there's still so much more to learn about the doomed ship.
Well, if you're willing to dive two miles under the sea, you could experience the entirety of the wreckage with your very own eyes.
Starting in May 2018, London-based tour operator Blue Marble Private will run eight-day expeditions to the location of the sunken Titanic ship.
The journey to the final site is a long one.
First, you have to fly via helicopter from Newfoundland to the expedition's support yacht in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic.
After two days aboard the yacht, tourists on the trip will hop onto a special "submersible" designed to endure the five-hour dive down to the site of the Titanic's remains.
Accompanied by deep ocean experts, you'll be able to see the Titanic up close and personal, in all its glory.
You may even get to glimpse the famous grand staircase.
There's one pretty major drawback though.
The tickets are ridiculously expensive, at a whopping $105,129 per person.
But, fun fact: Taking inflation into account, that six-figure price is what it would cost today to purchase a first-class ticket to board the Titanic.
Unless, of course, you're Jack Dawson, and you win your first-class ticket in a lucky game of poker.
It may seem exorbitant, but it is the most iconic vessel in the history of basically ever.
OceanGate's CEO Stockton Rush told Forbes,
Since her sinking 105 years ago, fewer than 200 people have visited the wreck, less than have flown to space or climbed Mt. Everest, so this is an incredible opportunity. We recognize that the entire site is a memorial, and we undertake our mission with great respect for those who lost their lives in the sinking.
The first dive will take place next May, and a second is already planned for the summer of 2019.
Citations: Now you can take a two-mile-deep tour of the Titanic - so long as you can afford $100,000 a ticket (The Daily Mail), After A Dozen Years, Firm Offers Tourists A Chance To Dive To Titanic Wreck -- For $105,000 A Person (Forbes)


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Yedidia, A.B.
Co Author Listing * Inferring Light Fields from Shadows
* Turning Corners into Cameras: Principles and Methods
* Using Unknown Occluders to Recover Hidden Scenes
Includes: Yedidia, A.B. Yedidia, A.B.[Adam B.]
Yedidia, J.
Co Author Listing * Bethe free energy, Kikuchi approximations, and belief propagation algorithms
Yedidia, J.S.[Jonathan S.]
Co Author Listing * Feature transformation of biometric templates for secure biometric systems based on error correcting codes
Yedidya, T.
Co Author Listing * Automatic Detection of Pre-ocular Tear Film Break-Up Sequence in Dry Eyes
* Tracking of Blood Vessels in Retinal Images Using Kalman Filter
Index for "y"


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How To Select The Right Care Taker For Your Parent
Finding someone who can take good care of the elderly is an important task. Careful selection has to be made in order to ensure proper and professional care. There are many institutions that specialise in geriatric care and have professionally qualified individuals that are able to meet your specific requirements. Finding the right individual who will meet your specific requirements is key. Research well, talk to the doctors and other health care providers in order to make the best decision. Here are a few key aspects to consider.
List down your needs
Before you can start interviewing candidates for a home nurse, it's best to start listing down the daily activities involved for your parent. From bath times, meals, exercise and any out door activities like shopping, walking or visiting any one should be taken into consideration. This way you will be able to determine the job role for the person you are to hire. Look for someone who is willing to cater to all the requirements with out any issues.
Specify any special needs
Perhaps your parent need aided exercise and specific meal plans. Look for a professionally trained individual who are certified to provide home physiotherapy service. The professional should be able to handle the individual properly. They themselves should be healthy and fit in order to execute such physically straining tasks. Or if they are able to prepare meals to specific requirements. Look into these aspects to employ the best candidate.
Patience and love is needed
In taking care of less abled individuals, tons of patience is needed. Especially when they can be fussy and stubborn. Hire an individual who has the passion for the job. Such a person will handle the task easier. They will also be able to handle the emotional ups and downs of the both the patient and family involved.
The actual interview should be two way
When you sit down to discuss details with your candidates, be open and specific to your requirements. Once who have successfully established the basic details and are satisfied with their qualification and experience, ask for reference. It's is also good to meet or have a conversation with previous employees. Most times for jobs like these paper qualification will not cut it. Recommendations from past jobs will have a lot to say. Once you are satisfied with all these aspects, make arrangements for a meet up with the parents. Let them have a chat if possible. It is also important that they be able to connect well. That's the only way they can move forward daily.


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We're really glad that you've got to this part of our website. Perhaps you are nearly ready to make a reservation?
If you have any questions at all, please use this box on the right to send us a message.
Alternatively, feel free to telephone us. We always respond to messages left in our voicemail.
If your reservation is not complicated, why not book direct at our Rooms & Rates page?
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Exploring the Pan Am Archives in Miami
By Rebecca Snider Sprecher with Dian Groh
After writing a novel about Pan Am flight crews and giving a number of history presentations on our airline for various community organizations, I was anxious to visit the Pan Am archives at the University of Miami's Richter Library. I'd read many books on the history of Pan Am, but I wanted to actually lay my hands on the source documents and touch them. In addition, former flight attendant Terry Haeger Webber and author Jamie Dodson are currently putting together a book on the flying boats and wondered if I would help gather some information. Terry connected me with Dian Groh and Tori Werner, two other flight attendants who had expressed an interest in coming along. The three of us met early in the morning after the World Wings convention last October in Savannah, all slightly bleary-eyed from four days of revelry. We loaded up on coffee, piled into my car and cruised off together down I-95, telling stories the whole way.
But I had more than just perusing the archives and researching the flying boats in mind. I grew up with some wildly entertaining cousins who have often spoken of a distant relative named Bill Winston who was a pilot for Pan Am during World War II. They knew little about him, and I had not seen his name mentioned in any of the books I'd read. Maybe I could find some material on him in the archives, gain a sense of his personality, and report back to the family. Most likely he was a calm, cerebral type like my uncle, a lawyer and Civil War scholar. These boys on the other hand, were cut from a different cloth. We spent our summer vacations together in Wilmington, North Carolina in a boisterous delirium, learning how to swear and play cards and dance, and they grew up to be expert seamen and rapscallions, tooting off on Bourbon-soaked fishing trips and coming home in gale force winds.
Two months prior to our arrival, Dian had requested that forty boxes be made available for our review. They were trucked in from a climate-controlled warehouse to Special Collections on the eighth floor of the Richter Library. Jay Sylvestre, Special Collections Librarian, instructed us on how to inspect the contents of the boxes, and to wear cotton gloves if we handled photographs. Then Dian and I sat down and got to work. The excitement we felt was palpable. Finally, we were going to see our history, up close and personal!
I got lucky with Winston early. One of the first files I picked up contained an article from the Long Beach Sun dated Dec. 15, 1942. It was about an experience a Flight Engineer named Sylvester Tunis had on board the Pacific Clipper, the same Boeing 314 that Capt. Bob Ford had taken around the world in reverse after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. According to the article, as the Clipper was taxiing toward her mooring (presumably at Fisherman's Lake, Liberia) "a sudden gust of wind drove the ship against an uncharted reef, where she grounded hard." Sounded interesting, I thought, preparing to slip the article back into the folder.
Then a name jumped out at me in the next paragraph. "Captain William A. Winston finally wormed the 84,000-pound plane off the reef and taxied her to the shelter of shore." The hull was ripped and two compartments flooded. To make a long story short, they improvised diving equipment with a five-gallon can of flour, cut a round hole in it for viewing, then fastened a pane of glass over the hole. Air was supplied through a hose borrowed from the station's welding equipment, and pumped in with two hand-operated air pumps taken from station trucks. The divers worked in mud seven feet below the surface, slipping a tarpaulin under the keel and pumping the compartments dry. Using a light from one of the trucks to illuminate their work area, mechanics drilled 1000 screw holes by hand from the inside so they could attach plates to the hull. Next they poured 1500 pounds of concrete into the damaged compartments, bracing them with two-by-fours made of African timber. About a week later, the concrete-bellied Clipper made the 6,000-mile journey to New York safely.
What an excellent adventure! Once I had Winston's complete name and the equipment he was on, the Special Collections staff was able to do a computer search and find another box containing files with more information. It turns out that Winston was a superb card player and knew many tricks (including how to deal himself four aces), which he often performed to entertain the passengers. Horace Brock wrote in his book, Flying the Oceans, that he didn't much like him until Winston began to regale him with stories and play the piano on a layover at the Estoril Palace Hotel near Lisbon, Portugal. Another file revealed that Winston was in command of the Atlantic Clipper on July 5, 1939 for Pan Am's second Atlantic crossing using the Southern Route through the Azores and Lisbon. Also in the file was a copy of the piece Vogue Magazine's Betsy Schaefer wrote about the experience, as well as the menu for breakfast, the crew list, and a newspaper photograph of the departure.
Over the course of the next two days, we opened boxes and files containing other treasures: the Navigator's Log of the China Clipper; Ed Musick's personal scrapbook; compilations of all the Allied commanders, dignitaries and press people who flew on the flying boats during World War II; the text from a speech on the design of the 314 by Boeing engineer Wellwood Beall; the program for the launch of the Yankee Clipper; original letters written by Charles Lindbergh to Juan Trippe, and on and on. At dinner the last night with Dian and Tori, I expressed my profound gratitude that these materials had been preserved, both for historical research and the enjoyment of future generations.
For I can now tell my cousins—all of whom are card sharks, accomplished raconteurs and capable of keeping a boat afloat on any ocean—that they did not come by these talents at random. Their relative, Bill Winston, was not only a colorful individual who had some excellent adventures during his career, but he also made a vital contribution to the war effort during a crucially important time in the history of the world. Thanks to the documents contained in the Pan Am archives, they will know more about him, thereby gaining a greater understanding of themselves. Pan Am is now part of their family history from this generation going forward. You can't put a price on that, both for the families and for those of us who were employees; it is how Pan Am will stay alive.
Sprecher is the co-author with Paula Helfrich of Flying: A Novel. She flew for six years out of JFK and HNL. Groh flew for 17 years our of MIA, JFK, HNL and LAX. She served as a purser, recruiter, training instructor and grooming supervisor.
The records of Pan American World Airways Inc. are open and available to the public. Please contact Special Collections at least a week in advance about viewing Pan Am records to ensure retrieval from offsite storage.


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CLEVELAND, Ohio - "The Power of Rock Experience" film showing at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's new Connor Theater isn't so much a movie as it is a religious experience.
Welcome to the church of rock and roll, where gods and goddesses have names like Bruce, Mick, Aretha, Ozzy and Jerry Lee. Heck, there's even a Prince on hand to totally blow your mind.
"The Power of Rock Experience" cherry picks great moments from more than 30 years of induction ceremonies and condenses them into one 12-minute visual adventure. It's hard to comprehend how much time late director Jonathan Demme spent on the film, which opens to the general public on Saturday.
An Oscar winner for "The Silence of the Lambs," Demme also directed "Stop Making Sense." The 1984 documentary of live performances by Talking Heads is widely considered one of the greatest concert movies of all time.
Demme appropriately begins "The Power of Rock Experience" with Ruth Brown singing "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean," a 65-year-old song that brings you back to music's roots.
From there, artists like Stevie Wonder and John Legend join forces to showcase how the inductions connect different generations of music fans. The same goes for Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, Emmylou Harris and Carrie Underwood paying tribute to Linda Ronstadt in 2014.
The Connor Theater's flashing lights, stunning speaker setup and vibrating seats are an integral part of the show. A large movie screen expands and retracts throughout, capturing thrilling moments like Metallica rocking out with Ozzy Osbourne or Johnny Cash holding the audience in the palm of his hand.
Demme's ability to know what performances to feature and which portions to highlight is a true art. Fittingly, each section of "The Power of Experience" showcases a different aspect of what makes the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductions so great.
The members of Green Day are in full punk rock mode as they honor their heroes The Ramones in 2002. The pure joy on the faces of guitar gods Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Jeff Beck, Ron Wood and Kirk Hammett as they trade guitar riffs in 2009 is something to marvel at.
The film also mixes in a few performances from the 1995 Concert for the Hall of Fame in Cleveland, including Chuck Berry and Bruce Springsteen playing side by side, and Aretha Franklin and Al Green belting out soulful vocals.
"The Power of Rock Experience" gets even more exciting during its second half. Hip-hop shines via Run-DMC celebrating Robert Johnson and Grandmaster Flash putting on a turntable showcase. Elsewhere, the Talking Heads reunite for a memorable performance, while St. Vincent joins Nirvana on stage to sing "Lithium."
Of all the Springsteen performances to pick from, "Backstreets" from the 1999 ceremony was the right choice. The Boss puts every piece of his soul into the song's grand chorus.
Springsteen, a regular at early ceremonies, gets a lot of screen time. But even he can't compare to the spotlight placed on Prince, whose entire "My Guitar Gently Weeps" guitar solo from George Harrison's 2004 induction ends the film.
Maybe it's the freshness of Prince's passing. But his awe-inspiring work feels like the appropriate conclusion to the Rock Hall's new live event. It's a timeless masterpiece.


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CLASSROOM SCHEDULES: Your child's academic schedule varies according to his or her grade level; however, all students participate in math and language arts classes daily as well as social studies and science on most days. Students also have two thirty-minute periods of music and physical education each week and one forty-five minute period of art each week. Students also use the library/media center and computer labs to learn research and computer skills as well as to practice academic skills.
RECESS: Students in grades K-5 will have recess daily. Weather permitting, students will have recess outdoors. When the temperature is below 30 degrees or if there is precipitation, students will have recess indoors. Be sure to send your child to school with a warm jacket, gloves, and a hat from the late fall through the winter months. If there is snow on the ground, please be sure your child wears boots.
LUNCH: All students will eat in the cafeteria. They may bring a bagged lunch from home or may purchase a hot lunch at school for $2.75. A la cart items such as sandwiches, wraps, luncheon salads, yogurt, and desserts are available for varying prices. While you may send cash to school with your child, we encourage you to either set up a SNAP account or enroll online @MyLunchMoney.com. Once money has been deposited in either of these accounts, your child uses a PIN number when purchasing lunch. No cash is necessary. Deposits may be made at any time to a student's SNAP account by sending in a check made out to Trumbull Food Services with his/her SNAP account number clearly marked on it or you can use your credit card to deposit money online @MyLunchMoney.com. SNAP deposit slips are included in this mailing and on our website. You can indicate on the deposit slip if you want your child to purchase hot lunches only or if he or she may purchase a la cart items as well. Students who qualify may receive free or reduced price hot lunches. You will receive the forms to complete for free/reduced lunches the first week of school. You will find additional information regarding our lunch program on www.trumbullps.org.
|11:10 – 11:40
|2:45 – 3:15
|Grade 1
|11:45 – 12:15
|Grade 5
|12:20 – 12:50
|12:50- 1:10
|Grade 2
|12:50 – 1:20
|1:20- 1:40
|Grade 3
|1:10 – 1:40
|1:40- 2:00
|Grade 4
|1:20 – 1:50
|1:50- 2:10
SNACKS: Teachers will provide time for snack each day. Since snack time is limited, please send only one healthy food item such as cheese, vegetables or fruit and a small drink, preferably water.


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Two unrelated reptiles
evolved similar morphologies, Arizonasaurus and Spinosaurus (Fig. 1), a long rostrum filled with sharp teeth, a bipedal configuration and enormous neural spine arising from the dorsal vertebrae. One was a giant. The other about waist high. Seen here together for the first time…
Spinosaurus is a famous giant theropod dinosaur. Arizonasaurus is none of these things. It's a member of a clade that has no name, but arose from basal rauisuchids, like Venjukovia. It was a sister to Ticinosuchus + Aetosaurs and Yarasuchus + Qianosuchus, none of which have much of a sail back. I thought comparing these two might provide clues to their convergent looks.
Arizonasaurus comes from the Middle Triassic Moenkoepi Formation, which included fresh water and a diverse fauna. Earlier we looked at the possibility that this predator was bipedal, based on the very small pectoral girdle and very deep (for its time) pelvic girdle, almost like that of T-rex, but more gracile. Relatives include fish eaters, like long-necked Yarasuchus and plant eaters, like aetosaurs. So this is already a diverse clade that no doubt will provide many surprising morphologies in the future. Originally described as a prestosuchid rauisuchian, Brusatte et al. (2010) nested it with poposaurs. In the large reptile tree poposaurs nest a little closer to dinosaurs and basal crocs.
Spinosaurus comes from the Middle Cretaceous of northern Africa, which, at the time included tidal flats, mangrove forests and several other giant theropods. Only a few other dinosaurs had such long neural spines. The question is, where they more like sails, and aid in thermoregulation? Or did they support a buffalo-like hump of fat? Spinosaur relatives, all smaller, did not sport much of a sail back. So whatever its utility was, it was unique.
Sail backs seem to spring up occasionally and quickly around the reptile family tree. They never seem to last.
Moving on
to those long jaws, Spinosaurus was considered a quick-strike artist, feeding on everything from fish to small dinosaurs, but with that size it could have taken on any prey. No such claims have been made for Arizonasaurus, perhaps because not much of the skull is known. But the teeth were sharp
My take
I have no expertise and no stake in the hump vs. sail argument. Since these sails seem to come and go rather quickly, my opinion is they are literally a flash in the pan, thus they have no real utility and are only for show… secondary sexual traits. Popular one day, not so popular the next. The blessing probably becomes a curse over time, as the sail gets bigger, so the trait and the animal disappears. The neural spines are broad because they have "roots" that are broad, unlike Dimetrodon and like Sphenacodon.
Bailey JB 1997. Neural spine elongation in dinosaurs: sailbacks or buffalo-backs?. Journal of Paleontology 71 (6): 1124–1146.
Butler RJ, Brusatte SL, Reich M, Nesbitt SJ, Schoch RR, et al. 2011. The Sail-Backed Reptile Ctenosauriscus from the Latest Early Triassic of Germany and the Timing and Biogeography of the Early Archosaur Radiation. PLoS ONE 6(10): e25693. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025693 Plos One paper
Nesbitt SJ 2003. Arizonasaurus and its implications for archosaur divergence. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London B (Suppl.) 270, S234–S237. DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0066
Nesbitt SJ, Liu J and Li C 2010. A sail-backed suchian from the Heshanggou Formation (Early Triassic: Olenekian) of China. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 101 (Special Issue 3-4):271-284.
Welles SP 1947 Vertebrates from the Upper Moenkopi Formation of the Northern Arizona. Univ. California Publ. Geol. Sci. 27, 241–294.
Wu X-C 1981. The discovery of a new thecodont from north east Shanxi. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 19: 122–132.


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Frank Paul Salamid was born Francisco Paolo Salamido in the town of Monopoli, way down in the heel of Italy, on 23 October 1881. Family lore has it that he was in town for the 1906 earthquake and was a barber at the time. However, his name first appeared in the 1900 directory, in the classifieds as a cement contractor. Then and thereafter, his address was on Manila Avenue.
I've documented the triangular Frank Salamid stamp from 1909 to 1949, one of Oakland's longest records. From the start, his marks always varied. Here are three different examples from 1909.
Although the stamps read "Frank Salamid & Co.," in 1911 and 1912 he started wiping out the "& Co." part. My only clue about this is that in the 1910 directory he used the address 619 47th Street. I surmise that he started a proper company at that address and soon thought better of it, reverting to a one-man practice or a small team based out of his home.
Frank's brother Angelo (1896-1997) came to America in 1914, working first in Pennsylvania and then in Oakland with Frank. Angelo Salamid first appeared in the 1917 directory at the same address as Frank, 5348 Manila Avenue. They and their respective families seem to have lived together, or at least within a few homes of each other, into the 1940s.
I haven't found a mark from 1920, but in 1921 Frank appeared to have lost one of his most important numerals.
After that he acquired a new set of smaller numerals that allowed him to customize his marks even more capriciously — sometimes with months and days, sometimes inside the triangle instead of out. I've always thought this example from 23 December 1929 was poignant, coming as it did after the October stock-market crash and just two days before Christmas, when every extra dollar must have meant a lot.
The 1930s were good for Frank and Angelo. Their work is integral to the Idora Park development, the remarkable 3700 block of Elston Avenue, and elsewhere. In this period he got lax about wiping away the "& Co."
The latest really good date I have is 1948.
Soon thereafter (the family source puts it at 1951), Frank sold the business to Angelo, retired to Glenn County and that was it. The family home for most of their time was at 5350 Manila, but the sidewalk there is blank.
Frank died in December 1969. Angelo and his son Anthony (Tony) carried on with the ubiquitous "A Salamid" stamp from 1951 into the 1970s, although none of their marks were dated.
Angelo lived to the age of 100. Tony, now retired, lives in Pleasant Hill, and other descendants live in the East Bay. My thanks to Patrick Salamid for the family stories.


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Madison County Emergency Medical District
In collaboration with Madison County Hospital, Madison County Emergency Medical District offers interfacility transports from the Emergency Room to hospitals in other areas. These transports range from patients with active heart attacks that require immediate cardiac catheterization, a stroke that requires rapid intervention, or a trauma that requires transport to a trauma center capable of emergency surgery.
This service is provided for patients that have time sensitive emergencies that require immediate transport for lifesaving procedures. The time saved by MCEMD transporting these patients, instead of waiting for a transport company out of another area, could make the difference in life or death, or long term disability.


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The Church of Sant'Alessandro Maggiore in Lucca was mentioned for the first time in the year 893. In 1071, Alexander II, pope and Bishop of Lucca, moved the body of St. Alexander I from Rome to Lucca, and for the occasion, the now-filled-in crypt was built. The decision to move the body attested to the tight bond that the pope had maintained with the city and the consideration that he held for his historic predecessor, from whom he took his papal name.
The extraordinary architectural peculiarities of the building have aroused interest from critics, who consider it one of the architectural precursors of the 11th century. In the 1200s, the church was given a role of great civic importance, hosting the Curia dei Foretani, that is, the court for Lucca tasked with judging debates between the townsfolk and farmers.
In the 16th century, the building was covered with a rib vault, the crypt was filled in and the body of St. Alexander was moved to the high altar, while wider windows were opened in the naves. In 1840, the church underwent an important restoration commissioned by Duke Carlo Lodovico: the interventions were expertly led by Lorenzo Nottolini, while Michele Ridolfi painted the apse, using the hot wax technique.


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In order to ensure compatibility between each software component in the extensible algorithms system, careful use of versioning must be enforced. The goals are twofold; first, to ensure that the version of each software module is visible, and second, to ensure that incompatible plugins are detected and prevented from running. The software modules particular to extensible algorithms - the Masking Plugin API and Masking Algorithm SDK, use a version number in the following format: Major.Minor.Micro, with an option -TEXT notation.
Version information for the plugin, including the plugin version and the version of the Masking Plugin API it was built against, are embedded in the plugin JAR file as metadata.
Table of Versioned Objects¶
The following table explains how each software module is versioned, and what enforcement takes place:
|Software Module
|Example Values
|Delphix Masking Engine
|None, however the Masking Algorithm API version is fixed for each particular Delphix Masking Engine release.
|Masking Plugin API
|The version of the Masking Plugin API used to build a plugin must be embedded in each Plugin. This is done automatically when plugins are built using the Masking Algorithm SDK. Currently, as only one version of the Masking Plugin API exists, the only enforcement in place ensures that a valid version has been been embedded in the plugin metadata. In the future, should it be necessary to make backward incompatible changes to the Masking Plugin API, a support matrix will be established and enforced.
|Masking Algorithm SDK
|Each version of the Masking Algorithm SDK will have a maximum version of the Masking Plugin API it can handle, and will refuse to work with future versions. This is not currently enforced.
|Author defined
|No enforcement. The plugin version will be visible using the Masking API GET operation on the Plugin endpoint.
Ensuring Plugin Compatibility¶
As the implementation of a plugin evolves, it's natural for the software to change. Changes like bug fixes, performance improvements, etc. can typically be made transparently, without endangering backward compatibility. Challenges can arise when it is necessary to change the configuration schema for a framework within a plugin or remove certain algorithm frameworks or instances from a plugin. This section will detail some best practices for maximizing backward compatibility in each case.
In this case, backward compatibility means that it is possible to upgrade the plugin to a new version on the masking engine without removing the previous version of the plugin. While it is always possible to replace a plugin by removing the old plugin and installing a new one, this requires manual reconstruction of any inventory that references the algorithms based on the old plugin, which can be very labor-intensive.
Schema Changes¶
A schema change means altering the set of configuration parameters exposed by an algorithm framework. For example, this might be done to add a case-insensitive flag to an algorithm that processes Strings. In order to make this kind of change while preserving backward compatibility, the following rules must be followed:
- Existing configurable variables cannot be removed or modified. These are the class fields with to which the @JsonProperty annotation has been applied.
- New configurable variables may be added, but they must have a default value, so that applying a JSON document lacking a value for the new field results in a valid instance.
If changes must be made that do not meet these requirements, it may be preferable to expose the new or modified functionality as a new algorithm framework, rather than changing the existing one.
Component Removal¶
Component removal means removing an algorithm framework or a built-in instance provided by an existing framework. When this happens, updating to the new version of the plugin will be blocked if any of the removed objects are in use by the Delphix Masking Engine. This includes references in Inventory, Domains, and any File Formats. In addition, the presence of any user-created algorithms based on a framework which is removed in the new plugin version will block updating.
Plugin Naming¶
One last compatibility concern is the potential for a plugin name to clash with the name of plugins delivered by the Delphix Masking Engine product. Such a clash would make it impossible to upgrade the engine to a new version without first removing the conflicting user installed plugin. To avoid this concern, avoid embedding any default plugin name beginning with the string "dlpx".


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Romans 8:28 may be one of the most famous verses in Scripture. The Apostle Paul encourages his readers:
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
This verse causes many to name, claim and expect God to make earthly lemonade out of lemons. If one has sufficient faith, God will heal them. If two or more agree in faith, God will enrich them. If one uses the tongue and speaks forth his desired reality, God will grant them the promotion and popularity for which they pant. For such Prosperity Theologians, Job is the ultimate example of one who had a dream, sowed the seed of faith, and enjoyed the harvest provided by God:
And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold. And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. And Job died, an old man, and full of days. (Job 42:10-17)
There is no doubt that the Lord harmed Job. However, following "all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him," (vs. 11) God prospered him with health, wealth, prosperity, progeny and popularity. God restored the fortunes of his faithful servant and allowed him to die as an old, respected, wealthy, and happy great-grandfather. For faithful Job, "all things worked together for good" during his days on this planet.
However, what about Job's children and servants? The last thing Job's servants saw was the prosperity of the satanically induced raiding hordes. The earthly story of Job's children ended as they were buried alive under a pile of rubble. They never received their miracle. All things did not work together for their temporal good while on earth.
Therefore, how ought one to rightly reconcile the story of Job, the story of Job's servants and children, and Romans 8:28? The wise student of Scripture will understand and apply Romans 8:28 from an exclusive and eternal perspective, and not from an exhaustive and earthly one.
Romans 8:28 is exclusive and not exhaustive. All things do not providentially work out for the good of all beings. In the end, all things do not work out well for Satan, demons, and rebels who will stand before the Judgment Seat of God. While they might enjoy a vapor of prosperity on this earth, they will eternally be separated from the good God who is enjoying his good worshipers in his good paradise. Ultimately, Romans 8:28 applies to those who are called or regenerated. It applies to those who find themselves to be lovers of God.
Romans 8:28 is eternal and not earthly. While it is true that some receive undeserved blessings on this side of death (I.e. Job, Joseph, Ruth, David), most only receive health, wealth and prosperity on the other side of the Heavenly Jordan. Job's sons, daughters and servants did not see bliss on the earth. Neither did Jesus, Stephen, the Apostles, or the early Christian community. Romans 8:28 is an eternal verse of Scripture. Prosperity is promised to all of Christ's friends, but it is promised after one has been foreknown, predestined, called, justified, sanctified and GLORIFIED. (Romans 8:29-30)
Friends, Prosperity Theologians are correct in theory. God will make all things new. Health, wealth and prosperity await all who make it to the New Heavens and the New Earth. Job's bliss is promised to all who are co-heirs with Jesus Christ. Mansions of glory, streets of gold, perfect bodies, crown jewels, and festal banquets are characteristic of Paradise. However, while our TBN friends are correct in theory, they are errant in timing. True, God may grant one the lifestyle of the rich and famous here on earth, but he may not. Perhaps his will is for his children to suffer like Joni Ereackson Tada and be paralyzed for life. Perhaps his will is for his church to be tortured and executed as Christians were recently in North Korea. Romans 8:28 is truth, but it must be understood and applied properly. Do not fall for the lie of Satan. Do not fall for the lies of Prosperity Theologians on TV. Do not disbelieve in God because your bank account is empty. Do not turn away from the faith because your loved one is not miraculously healed. Do not reject the faith because God sends evil your way. Do not doubt your faithfulness if God does not make earthly lemonade out of your lemons. In the end, he will always make it right. In the end, all Christians will glorify God for what he has done. In the end, all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. This is Romans 8:28, as understood by Job, his children, his servants and the sinful pagans who took their lives.


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Do low profile tires tend to hydroplane more than regular tires?
A: Hydroplaning is a function of tire footprint, all other things being equal, a tire with a wider footprint will tend to hydroplane more. If the low-profile tire is wider, it will indeed hydroplane more easily. If the tire is low-profile, but has the same tread width, no.


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The Eagles had a rare opportunity to clinch from the couch last night. Unfortunately, the Washington Redskins weren't up to the task of knocking off a reeling Dallas Cowboys team. Dallas withstood a brief injury scare for Dak Prescott and went on to punish the Redskins, 38-14.
The Eagles, however, can wrap up the NFC East with a win over the Seahawks on Sunday night. In many ways, it will be more satisfying for the Birds and their fans to see the team win its first division crown since 2013 on their own merits, rather than having the Redskins lock it up for them.
The real prize is home-field. Entering Week 13, there are still six teams within striking distance of Philadelphia for that right. The 10-1 Eagles can knock off two birds with one stone Sunday night by pushing the 7-4 Seahawks to five losses — ensuring they could do no better than tie Philadelphia's final record.
Four of the other five teams trying to overtake the Birds will face one another in Week 13. Here's a look at those matchups and a rundown of their implications on the hunt for home-field advantage:
Minnesota Vikings (9-2, No. 2 seed) @ Atlanta Falcons (7-4, No. 6 seed)
The Vikings are Philadelphia's closest competitor for the No. 1 seed. Backup quarterback Case Keenum has propelled their offense into the top 10 in scoring. However, Minnesota's real strength is on defense, where it'll need to contain both the Falcons' running game and All-Pro wideout Julio Jones. An Atlanta loss would give every .500 team in the conference new life heading into the final month of play.
Los Angeles Rams (8-3, No. 3) @ Arizona Cardinals (5-6, No. 12)
While the Rams benefit regardless of who wins the Eagles-Seahawks game, they need to focus on a stubborn Cardinals team that's refusing to roll over and play dead. These two division rivals have taken turns blowing each other out, with Los Angeles beating the Cardinals 33-0 in Week 7, while Arizona stomped the Rams 44-6 to close out the 2016 season.
Carolina Panthers (8-3, No. 5) @ New Orleans Saints (8-3, No. 4)
New Orleans owns a slight edge over the Panthers in the NFC South standings by virtue of its 2-0 division record. Carolina dropped its Week 3 meeting with the Saints in Charlotte, 34-13. Still, the winner of this grudge match gains total control of its fate in the race for a playoff berth.
The formula for the Eagles is simple. They can become the first team in the NFL to clinch a playoff berth with a win over Seattle on Sunday night.
The 9-2 Vikings are the closest team to Philadelphia in the standings. So any combination of five Eagles wins and Minnesota losses over the final five weeks of the season will ensure the Birds don't have to leave Lincoln Financial Field for the postseason.
That number falls to a combination of four wins and losses between Philadelphia and the Rams, or the Saints, who are both 8-3. And just three combined wins and losses will ensure 8-3 Carolina cannot surpass the Eagles, with the Birds holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Panthers thanks to their Week 6 win in Charlotte. Let the games begin.


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One of my favorite ways to be a conscious consumer and ecological shopper is to buy vintage. I can't tell you how much I hate running into someone who has the exact same J. Crew top on. (Don't get me wrong, I love the Crew, but so do a lot of people and that's the problem.) Etsy.com has some of the best and most reasonably priced vintage collections. I came across a pearl of a vintage shop the other day and must share.
Good Vintage is just that - in fact I'd have named it Fantastic Vintage. These shoes are 8s so too big for me. But I can dream.
Isn't this just the prettiest little nightie? I would spend all summer in it.
I would love to add this to my dessert plate collection, but it would really go perfectly in my parent's 50's modern home.
This little condiment caddy would be so cute in the middle of my kitchen table.
All photos are curtesy of the Good Vintage Etsy site.


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Comparison Chart
Big Secrets
Advantages of Foreign Women
"The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth."
- H. L. Mencken
Checklist - Are you the Happier Abroad type?
Do most or all of the following statements apply to you?
You don't fit into America and always felt that you didn't vibe with the mainstream population or conformed with it in thought.
You feel perpetually fragmented and disconnected in America, both inner and outer, which makes you insecure, weak and feeling unworthy. Thus, depression and void are always waiting around the corner, waiting for you to sink into it.
Your romantic, social and psychological needs are unmet or deprived in America, which you feel has a dysfunctional social culture and environment.
You do not live only to work and consume, as the US media and culture says you should and will lead to your happiness an fulfillment.
You feel perpetually lonely, dateless and sexless in America, and most of your relief from it is only short term or temporary, despite your best efforts. And you are a decent nice guy who is not a jerk, asshole or abuser.
You feel that the US dating scene for men is a total nightmare rifed with insane problems and gross inequities.
You want to have CHOICES among quality attractive available women rather than being a victim and having to accept whatever's given to you.
In order to have CHOICES, you are willing to pursue dating on a GLOBAL scale rather than limit yourself to only local options, and you are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that.
You require companionship with beautiful women or a great sex life to be fulfilled, but you rarely obtain them.
You are open minded enough to try alternative solutions even if they are unconventional, unpopular or look shameful to your peers. You don't care what others think as long as you are happy.
You do not seem to make true, quality or deep connections with others in the US, but you want to. You dislike superficial fleeting friendships and relations in the US.
You hate cliques and the pretentiousness and fakeness that goes along with them in US culture, particularly along the coast.
You do not "live to work" like most Americans but "work to live" and are not a workaholic. You live to enjoy life, and to have adventures and rich experiences.
You do not feel bored or guilty if you have free time or a long vacation from work.
You do not view competing in the "rat race" as the ideal life that gives you purpose and meaning.
You do not have a completely materialistic mentality, nor do you judge others by materialistic standards.
You feel like a fish out of water in America and are wondering if you belong somewhere else, despite all your best efforts to ???fit in??? or find a niche.
In school your peers and classmates believed that the primary purpose in life was to study hard so they could make lots of money and retire wealthy. Yet you felt that there was something wrong with that, but you never dared speak out about it due to the fear of being seen as weird or a freak.
You don???t share the societal belief in America that life is all about having a career and being a workaholic until you retire in your 50???s or 60???s past your prime.
You not believe consumerism culture which teaches that buying more and more things leads to happiness.
You seem to relate and connect best with freespirits, artists, actors, writers, intellectuals and travelers, or New Age progressive types, finding very little in common with average Americans who merely live to make money and consume, lacking the capacity to question things.
You fit in neither the US workaholic camp or the hippie counterculture camp that does drugs and is a bit delusional, but are caught somewhere in between.
You are a nonconformist, freespirit, and live a Bohemian lifestyle (and I don???t mean that of a drug using hippie), and wonder if you would be better accepted by some culture/society outside the US.
You are a freespirit, freethinker or counter-culturalist, but not a hippie who uses such views as an excuse to smoke pot and parade around to stupid concerts with other hippies.
You don???t feel that your soul clicks or fits in American culture and society. You are drawn to or attracted to foreign cultures, as if your soul belongs elsewhere.
You find American pop culture and lifestyle to be boring, unintellectual, pointless, and unfulfilling.
You feel that there is something wrong with the people, culture, society, and mentality in America but can???t quite put your finger on it and are afraid to voice it due to fear of condemnation.
You feel like a misfit in America or feel discontent but are afraid to complain or talk about it openly due to fear of being seen as a freak or loser.
You are perpetually dissatisfied with social life, dating scene, and the anti-social paranoid mentality in America.
You often feel like you???re in a sci fi movie or the Twilight Zone, where everyone around you is infected with some kind of anti-social disease and don???t like to interact or meet people, while you seem to be the only one immune.
You are a nice, outgoing, sociable, interesting, positive person in America but has few or no good friends or dates, and can???t understand why, but deep in your heart you know the problem isn???t you.
You find it hard to vibe with the average American, finding little in common with them, and you find the conversations at parties to be shallow, trite, and dull.
You feel that people and their conversations/communication styles in the US are fake and unnatural, and you are tired of ???acting fake??? to go along with the flow of it.
You feel excluded from the dating scene in America, but believe that your love life can and should be fun, happy, and natural like portrayed in movies. You are ready to listen to someone who can show and prove to you that it not only can be as what you see in Hollywood fantasies, but even better.
You are a decent man who finds that despite what Hollywood portrays, in real life, few normal decent single women are available and almost none make themselves available.
You are a lonely sexually frustrated man in the US who has tried everything, from attitude/image changes to dating guides/gurus, but are still disappointed.
You are wild, uninhibited, or have strong desires of some sort that are condemned in the states. Thus, acting on your desires is inappropriate or ???out-of-bounds??? in the US. Simply put, you can???t be ???who you really are??? in the US without feeling like a creep or condemned freak. Therefore, you feel suffocated.
You like to have fun, meet great people, and date great people but aren???t having any luck breaking into the right ???social cliques??? and find it unnatural and awkward to even try.
You are such a sociable, outgoing, people person at heart that you talk to strangers as if you already know them. However, you feel awkward about it due to the barrier of ???breaking the ice??? with strangers in America as well as the inappropriateness of socializing outside of closed cliques.
You didn???t break into a good social clique early on in life, find it difficult to break into cliques around you, lack connections, and thus feel out of luck since most people in America limit their social life to people within the cliques they grew up with.
You find Americans in general to not be friendly or sociable, despite what anti-social Americans claim, and you are sure the problem is not you.
You are bothered that everyone is an ???island??? in America, in their own ???bubble or force field??? (polite but distant and noninclusive) and see that as not normal.
You believe that due to corrupt US foreign policy, worsening economic conditions, peak oil crisis, etc. that America is going down. So you wish to live or raise your family elsewhere as a backup or safety net in case things go downhill, but aren???t sure where is best for you.
You ???discovered yourself??? on an overseas trip, and found that you somehow evolved or grown in a special, phenomenal way that wouldn???t have been possible in America. You are trying to make sense out of it and integrate it into your being, but are afraid of sharing the experience with those around you who can???t relate.
You are a perpetual traveler or want to be one and haven???t bought into the US media???s misportrayal that the world outside the US is nothing but terrible and dangerous.
You are unhappy in America and you KNOW that seeking help from therapy/counseling or changing your attitude through self-help/New Age books/programs, however well-meaning, will not give you what you need, and that a bigger change is needed.
If you answered yes to most or all of the above, then you MAY very well be
You've come the right place! Read on!
Comparison Chart of Key Dating/Social Differences Abroad
Benefits and Advantages of Foreign Women
Secrets the US media never tells you about
Motivational Messages from our Expat Advisor
Why you feel alone and insecure in America
Executive Summary
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85 minutes – Drama
Language: English
Release date: October 13, 2006
Canadian distributor: Reaction Releasing
Kardia tells the story of a pathologist named Hope (Mimi Kyzyk) who seeks the truth of her past. Her story begins when her heart stops. With a photograph as her only artifact, she sets out to unravel the mystery of her past, which is of course, the mystery of her life. Moving between the near-present and the past, Kardia weaves together Hope's work in the science lab with the bittersweet tale of her childhood. As a young girl with a colourful imagination, Hope constructs an enchanting world for herself, her war pilot Dad, and her Scottish caregiver Florrie. This world is much more bearable for Hope than the reality she ultimately faces. As an adult working in a modern day laboratory, Hope explores the inner workings of the human heart, as well as its more mythical associations. The lab is also the place of a tenuous love story between two young people that Hope observes from a distance. Hope comes to understand that the heart surgery she underwent as a child has inexplicably linked her life with another – and it is the outcome of this operation that unlocks the secret of her past. Her journey is an enigmatic one that is only fully understood in its final moments, when Hope reconciles what she believes, with the truth she discovers.
Also see: Northernstars reviews Kardia.


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Impressions: The Long Dark
I first played The Long Dark ages ago back when it was in Early Access. It was back then, and still is today, a survival game of another kind: a true Player versus Environment. Your primary foe is hunger, thirst, and a cold Canadian wilderness hostile to your continued existence.
Having played it for a dozen or more hours now, I can safely say that I am pining for some zombies.
When I said your primary opponent is the environment, I meant it. Outside of the story mode (broken down into Episodes), there are no NPCs. Fauna consists of rabbits, deer, wolves, and bears. I have heard there might be moose involved, and I guess you can technically fish up, er, fish. But that's really it. While you can eventually craft a bow or loot a rifle, this is not an action survival game by any means.
Given the above, the fundamental gameplay tension is food and warmth. The Canadian tundra is cold, the windchill is colder, and blizzards are colder still. Keeping warm is a challenge, and just finding shelter is not necessarily good enough. That's when The Long Dark's thumbscrews come out.
See, picking up sticks is easy. Come across a branch that can be broken down into sticks? That's going to take 10 minutes by hand. Which the game fast-forwards through, but your warmth meter is depleting rapidly all the while (depending on weather and your gear), and now you're at risk for hypothermia. And those three sticks you got from breaking said branch? That's maybe 22 minutes of heat in the campfire, which might not be long enough to regain the Warmth you lost breaking the branch outside, nevermind the other firestarting materials. Oh, and it took 42 calories.
The Long Dark takes counting calories to a whole new level. Sleeping takes 75 calories per hour. Breaking down a crate for wood for a fire takes ~62 calories. Walking around for an hour takes 270 calories. Harvesting meat from an animal, so you can cook it to regain calories, takes X calories. Hopefully less than the amount it took you to kill said animal, but not always.
What ends up happening is that you never really feel safe, anywhere. Sure, finding a sufficiently warm shelter is nice. But necessity will drive you from that place eventually. Water is abundant, but needs fire to be produced. Which needs fuel to be collected. Which needs calories to burned. Which needs food to be scavenged or hunted. Which needs you to be outside, in the cold, taking risks.
Being naturally driven from your comfort zone in a quest for survival is brilliant game design. But it is also dissatisfying. Instead of feeling like I have agency, I instead feel despondent. In 7 Days to Die, I forage for supplies so that I can construct defenses capable of outlasting next week's Blood Moon. In The Long Dark, I forage supplies so I can… stave off the inevitable for another 24 hours. Technically they might be the same in principle, but one feels a hell of a lot better than the other.
Having said all that, I am currently working through Episode 2 of the Story mode and having a plot to follow makes things a bit better. Plus, the locations where the story NPCs live have a fire going 24/7, which makes things considerably easier. Not having the ability to unlock schematics and such as one does in the regular Sandbox version can be a bit stifling (e.g. not being able to craft a bow), but the overall experience is quite good, if a bit linear and directed.
Posted on March 1, 2018, in Impressions and tagged 7 Days to Die, PvE, Roguelike, Survival, The Long Dark. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.


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Filed under: architecture, architecture for humanity, cameron sinclair, clear ink
The Porchdog project (link) we built on Architecture Island for Cameron Sinclair's debut appearance in Second Life just showed up in Wired (link to article). Original machinima HERE.
"So far, the Porchdog house is the only one that has been replicated — at least digitally. Clear Ink, a digital marketing company, found the Porchdog design on OAN, and asked Blackwell if they could create a 3D rendering of the plans in the online community Second Life. The result provides a sense of the finished home's scale and gives exposure to the project. Clear Ink also set up a virtual donation center to allow Second Life users to support the project; the money is real, even if the house isn't."
Filed under: architect, architecture for humanity, cameron sinclair, clear ink, collaborative, collaborative design, design like you give a damn, machinima, rl architecture, sustainable, virtual architecture
Machinima showing Cameron Sinclair and John Gage discussing virtual collaboration and Open Architecture Network in Second Life.
Sponsored by Sun Professional Services, coordinated by Clear Ink, machinima by Kiwini Oe.
Filed under: architect, architecture, architecture for humanity, cameron sinclair, clear ink, collaborative, collaborative design, design like you give a damn, green, open architecture network, rl architecture, sustainable, TED conference
Cameron Sinclair, 2006 TED Prize winner, Executive Director of Architecture for Humanity, co-editor of the book 'Design Like You Give A Damn' and contributing writer for Worldchanging.com will be joined by Sun Microsystems founder John Gage in a live audio discussion in Second Life.
They will discuss collaboration and participation in 3D environments, as well as the newly launched 'Open Architecture Network' – which represents the fulfillment of Cameron's 2006 TED wish. The event will feature a virtual version of the 'Porchdog' and the Global Village Shelters – both of which are contributions to the Open Architecture Network.
The event will be held on Clear Ink's Allston sim HERE (SLurl) on Tuesday, April 24th at 10:00 am PST (SL-time). Installations and live audio stream will also be available at the University Project sim (SLurl), and the live audio can also be heard on Clear Ink Island (SLurl).
Sponsored by Sun Professional Services, coordinated by Clear Ink.