text:
Verification and Empirical Validation
of Agent-Based Models
Last Updated:
28 March 2015
Site Maintained By:
Leigh Tesfatsion
Professor of Economics and Mathematics
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1070
tesfatsi AT iastate.edu
Online ACE Course (Self-Study eBook)
ACE Website
Table of Contents:
Key Issues
Introductory Materials on Model Verification
Introductory Materials on Empirical Validation
Additional Readings on Verification and Validation
Design of Computational Experiments
Iterative Participatory Modeling (IPM)
ey Issues
How to undertake
model verification
for a model, that is, how to ensure that such a model is carrying out operations in the way the modeler intends?
How to undertake
empirical validation
for a model, that is, how to ensure that such a model is consistent with empirical data?
Consider the following famous quote from G.E.P. Box (1979): "All models are wrong, but some are useful." This quote raises the following important question:
Must the intended purpose of a model be known before meaningful empirical validation can proceed?
One way to approach the empirical validation of a model of a real-world system is
descriptive output validation
, i.e., matching computationally generated output against already-acquired system data. Can this be done in a scientifically meaningful manner? If so, how?
A second way to approach the validation of a model of a real-world system is
predictive output validation
, i.e., matching model-generated output against yet-to-be-acquired system data. Can this be done in a scientifically meaningful manner? If so, how?
A third way to approach the validation of a model of a real-world system is
input validation
, i.e., ensuring that the structural conditions, institutional arrangements, and behavioral dispositions incorporated into the model capture the salient aspects of the actual system. Can this be done in a scientifically meaningful manner? If so, how?
Recently several researchers have advocated an
iterative participatory modeling approach
in which researchers join with stakeholders in a repeated looping through a four-stage modeling process: field study and data analysis; role-playing games; model development and implementation; and computational experiments. How might such an approach contribute to the empirical validation of models?
How can researchers provide
summary reporting of empirical validation results
to other researchers and to intended model users in an accurate, compelling, and clear manner? For example, it might be necessary to report distributions of possible outcomes rather than simple point predictions.
How can researchers ensure the
robustness of empirical validation findings
, i.e., how can they ensure that model outcomes reflect persistent (locally generic) aspects of the real-world system under study rather than a modeler's particular choice of parameter settings, initial conditions, or software/hardware platform implementations?
How to ensure the
accumulation of empirically supported findings
ntroductory Materials on Model Verification
Robert Axelrod,
"Advancing the Art of Simulation in the Social Sciences"
, University of Michigan, August 2003.
The author offers advice for doing social science simulation research, focusing on the programming of a simulation model, analyzing the results, and sharing the results with others.
Robert Axtell, Robert Axelrod, Joshua M. Epstein, and Michael D. Cohen,
Aligning Simulation Models: A Case Study and Results
Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory
, Vol. 1, Number 1, 1996, pp. 123-141.
This article develops the concepts and methods of an alignment process ("docking") for computational models. Alignment is used to determine whether two models can produce the same outcomes, which in turn is the basis for critical experiments and tests to determine whether one model can subsume the other. These concepts and methods are illustrated using a model of cultural transmission due to Robert Axelrod and the Sugarscape model developed by Epstein and Axtell.
Kent Beck,
Test-Driven Development: By Example
, Addison-Wesley Professional, MA, 240pp., 2002. ISBN: 0-321-14653-0.
This text discusses a software engineering methodology for code verification called
Test-Driven Development
that derives from the
Extreme Programming (XP)
approach to programming. The basic idea is to write short pieces of code ("unit tests") in parallel with segments of regular program code that tests these segments to ensure they are running properly. (One example discussed by Beck in the first section of his book is the JUnit facility for Java.) Each time the regular program code is modified, the unit tests are rerun to help ensure that the modification has not introduced bugs into the existing code. Unit testing would appear to be particularly important for the kind of iterative program development common in agent-based modeling due to the complexity of the systems under study.
José Manuel Galán, Luis R. Izquierdo, Segismundo S. Izquierdo, José Ignacio Santos, Ricardo del Olmo, Adolfo López-Paredes, and Bruce Edmonds,
Errors and Artefacts in Agent-Based Modelling
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
12(1)1, 2009.
"The objectives of this paper are to define and classify different types of errors and artefacts that can appear in the process of developing an agent-based model, and to propose activities aimed at avoiding them during the model construction and testing phases. To do this in a structured way, we review the main concepts of the process of developing such a model – establishing a general framework that summarises the process of designing, implementing, and using agent-based models. Within this framework we identify the various stages where different types of errors and artefacts may appear. Finally we propose activities that could be used to detect (and hence eliminate) each type of error or artefact."
Kenneth L. Judd,,
"Computationally Intensive Analyses in Economics"
, in Leigh Tesfatsion and Kenneth L. Judd (editors),
Handbook of Computational Economics, Vol. 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics
(Table of Contents & Abstracts)
, Handbooks in Economics Series, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 2006.
Computer technology presents economists with new tools, but also raises novel methodological issues. This essay discusses the challenges faced by computational researchers, and proposes some solutions.
J. Gary Polhill, Luis R. Izquierdo, and Nicholas M. Gotts,
"The Ghost in the Model (and Other Effects of Floating Point Arithmetic)"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS)
, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 31, 2005, electronic journal.
This paper explores the effects of errors in floating point arithmetic in two published agent-based models: the first a model of land use change (Polhill et al. 2001; Gotts et al. 2003), the second a model of the stock market (LeBaron et al. 1999). The first example demonstrates how branching statements with floating point operands of comparison operators create a high degree of nonlinearity, leading in this case to the creation of 'ghost' agents -- visible to some parts of the program but not to others. A potential solution to this problem is proposed. The second example shows how mathematical descriptions of models in the literature are insufficient to enable exact replication of work since mathematically equivalent implementations in terms of real number arithmetic are not equivalent in terms of floating point arithmetic.
Additional Remarks on Floating Point Arithmetic and Agent-Based Models:
When doing arithmetic on a computer, the uncountably infinite set of real numbers must somehow be squeezed into a discrete set of isolated numbers represented in binary floating-point format. The resulting floating-point errors can lead to some unpleasant surprises for the unwary. For example, floating-point addition does not obey the associative law, e.g., (0.1 + 0.2) + 0.3 can fail to equal 0.1 + (0.2 + 0.3). Moreover, summing 0.05 twenty times can yield a total that differs from 1. In both cases the problem can be traced to the fact that simple-looking base-10 numbers such as 0.1 are not exactly representable in binary floating-point format because they correspond to infinitely repeating binary numbers.
Researchers at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) in Aberdeen, Scotland, have been conducting a number of important and interesting studies to investigate the effects of floating-point errors in agent-based models implemented in FEARLUS. A summary of these efforts, with pointers to related papers and demos, can be accessed
. (See, also, the above paper by Polhill et al.) Based on their work to date, the MLURI researchers conclude that floating-point errors are not likely to be of major importance if a model does not perform many operations and if it does not contain branching statements. However, on a personal note, I would like to warn about the need to be careful also about imported utilities such as pseudo-random number generators. In my ISU electricity research group in 2005 we discovered that a major java source file (EmpiricalWalker.java) in the well-known and frequently imported cern.jet.random package is disastrously susceptible to floating-point addition errors.
Uri Wilenski and Willian Rand,
"Making Models Match: Replicating an Agent-Based Model"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
, Vol. 10, No. 4(2), 2007 (electronic journal).
The authors attempt to replicate a classic agent-based model from political science developed by R. Axelrod and R. A. Hammond (2003). They detail their effort to replicate this model and the challenges that arose in recreating the model and in determining if the replication was successful. They conclude by discussing issues for (1) researchers attempting to replicate models and (2) researchers developing models in order to facilitate the replication of their results.
ntroductory Materials on Empirical Validation
Ken Binmore and Avner Shaked,
"Experimental Economics: Where Next?"
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
73(1), January 2010, 87-100. See also the
reply by Fehr and Schmidt (139KB)
and the
reply by Eckels and Gintis (135KB)
Binmore and Shaked provide a controversial, scathing review of some well known human-subject experimental economics work by Ernst Fehr, Klaus Schmidt, and their collaborators. They conclude that experimental economists need to eliminate practices "that would be considered unscientific in other disciplines." Since researchers using agent-based modeling tools share many issues in common with human-subject experimenters (e.g., the need to construct rigorous informative experimental designs), it is strongly recommended that they carefully consider both the criticisms raised in this article and the rebuttal to these criticisms given by Fehr/Schmidt and Eckels/Gintis.
Kathleen M. Carley,
"Validating Computational Models"
(pdf, 105KB)
, Working Paper, Carnegie Mellon University, September 1996.
This paper provides many theoretical and practical insights regarding the empirical validation of computational models for social and organizational systems.
Catherine C. Eckel and J. Barkley Rosser, Jr. (Guest Editors),
"Issues in the Methodology of Experimental Economics"
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (JEBO)
Special Issue
, 73(1), January 2010.
Joshua Epstein,
"Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science"
, Vol. 4/No. 5, May/June 1999, 41-60. The published article is available from
Wiley Interscience
. A ppt presentation of this paper by J. Epstein is available
The author argues that the agent-based computational model is a new tool for empirical research. The scientific enterprise is, first and foremost,
, and the central contribution of agent-based modeling is the facilitation of
explanation. To explain an observed macroscopic social regularity, one must show how a population of cognitively plausible agents, interacting under plausible rules, could actually arrive at the pattern on time scales of interest. In short, "if you didn't grow it, you didn't explain it."
Giorgio Fagiolo, Christopher Birchenhall, and Paul Windrum (Eds.),
Special Issue on "Empirical Validation in Agent-Based Models"
Computational Economics
,Volume 30, Number 3, 2007.
The papers included in this special issue explore the empirical validation of agent-based models (ABMs). They demonstrate that this issue is far from settled and features many difficult but exciting challenges. Some are rooted in well-known and still-open problems of scientific methodology that concern empirical validation regardless of the particular family of models under scrutiny. Others are strongly related to aspects particular to ABMs.
Marco Janssen organized a workshop on
Empirically-Based Agent-Based Models
at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), held June 2-4, 2005.
The purpose of this workshop was to bring together a group of researchers who are using agent-based models (ABMs) to study empirically a variety of social-ecological and economic systems. A major goal was to derive a state-of-the-art synthesis of the various approaches currently being used to test ABMs. Another goal of the workshop was to examine the use of experimental and survey techniques for validating the assumptions made by ABM researchers regarding the internal learning and decision-making behavior of computationally modeled agents. Presentation slides for all workshop presentations can be freely accessed at the above workshop site.
See, in particular, the guest editorial of the same title by Marco A. Janssen and Elinor Ostrom subsequently published in
Ecology and Society
11(2), 2006, also available at the above site.
Charles M. Macal,
"On Validating Multi-Agent System Applications"
, Keynote Address, MABS 2013, 14th International Workshop on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, May 7, 2013.
This tutorial addresses three questions: (1) How should we
think about
model validation? (2) How should we
model validation? (3) What should we
do about
model validation?
Robert E. Marks,
"Validating Simulation Models: A General Framework and Four Applied Examples"
Computational Economics
30(3), 2007, 265-290.
This paper provides a framework for discussing the empirical validation of simulation models of market phenomena, in particular of agent-based computational economics models. Such validation is difficult, perhaps because of their complexity; moreover, simulations can prove existence, but not in general necessity. The paper highlights the Energy Modeling Forum's benchmarking studies as an exemplar for simulators. A market of competing coffee brands is used to discuss the purposes and practices of simulation, including explanation. The paper discusses measures of complexity, and derives the functional complexity of an implementation of Schelling's segregation model. Finally, the paper discusses how courts might be convinced to trust simulation results, especially in merger policy.
Robert E. Marks,
"Analysis and Synthesis: Multi-Agent Systems in the Social Sciences
Knowledge Engineering Review
, 27(1), 2012.
Although they flow from a common source, the uses of multi-agent systems (or "agent-based computational systems") vary between the social sciences and computer science. The distinction can be broadly summarised as analysis versus synthesis, or explanation versus design. I compare and contrast these uses, and discuss sufficiency and necessity in simulations in general and in multi-agent systems in particular, with a computer science audience in mind.
Robert E. Marks,
"Tutorial: Validating Simulation Models, and Multi-Agent Systems in the Social Sciences"
, CIFEr Singapore, IEEE SSCI 2013, April 19, 2013.
This tutorial presentation discusses a number of key issues raised in the author's
op. cit.
Robert E. Marks,
"Validation and Model Selection: Three Similarity Measures Compared"
Complexity Economics
, 2013, to appear.
"There are two types of simulation models: Demonstration models, essentially existence proofs for phenomena of interest, and Descriptive models, that attempt to track dynamic historical phenomena. Both types require verification. Descriptive models require validation against historical data as well. More broadly, we can think of a process of choosing the "best" of several models. This paper examines three measures of the similarity of two sets of vectors, here time series. The best known but flawed is the Kullback-Leibler information-theoretic construct. A second measure is what I have called the State Similarity Measure. The third measure is a set-theoretic measure of similarity, the Generalized Hartley Metric. For illustration, we use data from a dynamic simulation model of historical brand rivalry."
Klaus G. Troitzsch,
"Validating Simulation Models"
Proceedings of the 18th European Simulation Multiconference
, SCS Europe, 2004.
This paper discusses aspects of validating simulation models designed to describe, explain, and predict real-world phenomena.
Tamás Vicsek,
"Complexity: The Bigger Picture"
, Vol. 418, 11 July 2002, p. 131.
In this short essay, Vicsek describes how computer simulation fits into the scientific enterprise. The goal is to "capture the principal laws behind the exciting variety of new phenomena that become apparent when the many units of a complex system interact."
Paul Windrum, Giorgio Fagiolo, and Alessio Moneta,
Empirical Validation of Agent-Based Models: Alternatives and Prospects
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
, Vol. 10, no. 2,8, March 31, 2007.
This paper addresses a set of methodological problems arising in the empirical validation of agent-based (AB) economics models and discusses how these are currently being tackled. These problems are generic for all those enaged in AB modelling, not just economists. The discussion is therefore of direct relevance to JASSS readers. The paper has two objectives. The first objective is the identification of a set of issues that are common to all modellers engaged in empirical validation. This gives rise to a novel taxonomy that captures the relevant dimensions along which AB modellers differ. The second objective is a focused discussion of three alternative methodological approaches being developed in AB economics -- indirect calibration, the Werker-Brenner approach, and the history-friendly approach -- and a set of (as yet) unresolved issues for empirical validation that require future research.
dditional Readings on Verification and Validation
Simone Alfarano, Friedrich Wagner, and Thomas Lux,
"Estimation of Agent-Based Models: The Case of an Asymmetric Herding Model"
Computational Economics
, Vol. 26, 2005, 19-49.
The authors introduce a simple agent-based model of herding behavior in financial markets in which the ubiquitous stylized facts of financial returns (fat tails, volatility clustering) are emergent properties of the interaction among the traders. The simplicity of the model permits the authors to estimate the underlying parameters, since it is possible to derive a closed form solution for the distribution of returns.
Osman Balci,
"Verification, Validation, Verification, and Testing"
, Chapter 10 in J. Banks (Ed.),
The Handbook of Simulation
, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1998, 335-393.
The purpose of this chapter is to present principles and techniques for the assessment of accuracy throughout the life cycle of a simulation study. The accuracy quality characteristic is assessed by conducting verification, validation and testing.
Osman Balci,
"Verification, Validation, and Accreditation"
, in D.J. Medeiros, E.F. Watson, J.S. Carson, and M.S. Manivannan (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 1998 Winter Simulation Conference
, 41-48.
"This paper presents guidelines for conducting verification, validation, and accreditation (VV&A) of modeling and simulation (M&S) applications. Fifteen guiding principles are introduced to help the researchers, practitioners and managers better comprehend what VV&A is all about. The VV&A activities are described in two M&S life cycles. Applicability of 77 V&V techniques is shown for the major stages of the two M&S life cycles. A methodology for accreditation of M&S applications is briefly introduced."
Federico E. Bert, Santiago L. Rovere, Charles M. Macal, Michael J. North, Guillermo P. Podest´a;,
Lessons from a Comprehensive Validation of an Agent-Based Model: The Experience of the Pampas Model of Argentinean Agricultural Systems"
Ecological Modeling
273 (2014), 284-298.
"There are few published examples of comprehensively validated large-scale land-use agent-based models (ABMs). We present guidelines for doing so, and provide an example in the context of the Pampas Model (PM), an ABM aimed to explore the dynamics of structural and land use changes in the agricultural systems of the Argentine Pampas. Many complementary strategies are proposed for validation of ABM's. We adopted a validation framework that relies on two main streams: (a) validation of model processes and components during model development, which involved a literature survey, design based on similar models, involvement of stakeholders, and focused test scenarios; and (b) empirical validation, which involved comparisons of model outputs from multiple realistic simulations against real world data."
Carlo Bianchi, Pasquale Cirillo, Mauro Gallegati, and Pietro A. Vagliasindi,
"Validation and Calibration in ACE Models: An Investigation of the CATS Model"
, Working Paper, Universitá di Parma, Italy, May 1, 2005.
This paper discusses validation experiments performed with the CATS model proposed by Gallegati et al. (2003,2004), a model of a dynamic economy comprising many firms and banks. Staring from a sample of Italian firms included in the AIDA database, the authors perform several ex-post validation experiments for the CATS model over the simulation period 1996-2001. The simulation findings are then ex-post validated against actual data using several alternative validation techniques, with results the authors conclude are quite promising.
H. Peter Boswijk, Cars H. Hommes, and Sebastiano Manzan,
Behavioral Heterogeneity in Stock Prices
, CeNDEF Working Paper 05-12, University of Amsterdam, 2005.
The authors estimate a dynamic asset pricing model characterized by heterogenous boundedly rational agents using US stock price data from 1871 until 2003. The estimation results support the existence of two expectations regimes: a "fundamentalist regime" in which agents believe in mean reversion of stock prices towards the benchmark fundamental value, and a "chartist trend-following regime" in which agents expect the deviations from the fundamental to trend.
Daniel G. Brown, Scott Page, Rick Riolo, Moira Zellner, and William Rand,
"Path Dependence and the Validation of Agent-Based Spatial Models of Land Use"
(pdf, 570KB)
International Journal of Geographical Information Science
, Vol. 19, No. 2, February 2005, 153-174. A related
slide presentation
can be viewed
here (pdf,253KB)
The authors identify two distinct notions of accuracy of land-use models -- predictive (output) accuracy and process (input) accuracy -- and highlight the tension between them. To balance these two potentially conflicting motivations, they introduce the concepts of an
invariant region
(where land-use type is almost certain and thus path independent) and a
variant region
(where land-use depends on a particular series of events and is therefore path dependent). They demonstrate their methods using an agent-based land-use model based on multi-temporal land-use data collected for Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA. They conclude that their methods can help researchers improve their ability to communicate how well their models perform, the situations or instances in which their models do not perform well, and the cases in which their models are unlikely to predict well due to either path dependence or stochastic uncertainty.
Joanna J. Bryson, Yasushi Ando, and Hagen Lehmann
"Agent-Based Modelling as Scientific Method: A Case Study Analysing Primate Social Behaviour"
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B -- Biology
, 362(1485):1685-1698, Sept 2007.
For a methodology to be useful to science, it should provide two things: first, a means of explanation, and second, a mechanism for improving that explanation. Agent Based Modeling (ABMB) is a method that facilitates exploring the collective effects of individual action selection. The explanatory force of the model is the extent to which an observed meta-level phenomenon can be accounted for by the behaviour of its micro-level actors. This article demonstrates this methodology can be applied to the biological sciences, that agent-based models like any scientific hypotheses can be tested, critiqued, generalised, or specified. We review the state of the art for ABM as a methodology for biology. We then present a case study based on the most widely-published agent-based model in the biological sciences: Hemelrijk's DomWorld, a model of primate social behaviour.
John Duffy,
"Agent-Based Models and Human-Subject Experiments"
, in Leigh Tesfatsion and Kenneth L. Judd (editors),
Handbook of Computational Economics, Vol. 2: Agent-Based Computational Economics
(Table of Contents & Abstracts)
, Handbooks in Economics Series, North-Holland/Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2006.
This chapter examines the relationship between agent-based modeling and economic decision-making experiments with human subjects. Both approaches exploit controlled "laboratory" conditions as a means of isolating the sources of aggregate phenomena. Research findings from laboratory studies of human subject behavior have inspired studies using artificial agents in "computational laboratories" and vice versa. In certain cases, both methods have been used to examine the same phenomenon. The focus of this chapter is on the empirical validity of agent-based modeling approaches in terms of explaining data from human subject experiments. We also point out synergies between the two methodologies that have been exploited as well as promising new possibilities.
"Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS)
, Volume 8, Issue 4, October 2005.
The eight articles in this JASSS special section were originally presented at a workshop of the same title held in July 2004 at the University of Koblenz. A number of the articles address the empirical validation of computer simulation models, including, in particular, the empirical validation of agent-based computer simulations. The contribution by Küppers and Lenhard seems particularly useful in clarifying the differences and common grounds between computer simulation validation in the social and natural sciences.
Manfred Gilli and Peter Winker,
"A Global Optimization Heuristic for Estimating Agent-Based Models"
Computational Statistics and Data Analysis
, Vol. 42, 2003, 299-312. See also the
Talk Slides (pdf,359KB)
by Winker, Gilli, and Jeleskovic titled "An Objective Function for Simulation Based Inference on Exchange Rate Data," presented at CEF'06, Limassol, Cyprus, June 23, 2006.
The authors introduce a global optimization algorithm for a "goodness of fit" objective function arising from the simulation-based indirect estimation of the parameters of agent-based financial market models. As an illustration of the algorithm, the authors report parameter estimation results for a specific agent-based model of the DM/US-$ foreign exchange market.
Jakob Grazzini and Matteo Richiardi,
"Consistent Estimation of Agent-Based Models by Minimum Distance"
, Working Paper No. 130, Laboratorio R. Revelli, Collegio Carlo Alberto, March 2013.
Two difficulties arise in the estimation of AB (Agent-Based) models: (i) the criterion function has no simple analytical expression, and (ii) the aggregate properties of the model cannot be analytically understood. The first one calls for simulation-based estimation techniques; the second requires additional statistical testing in order to ensure that the simulated quantities are consistent estimators of the theoretical quantities. The possibly high number of parameters involved and the non-linearities in the theoretical quantities used for estimation add to the complexity of the problem. As these difficulties are also shared, though to a different extent, by DSGE models, we first look at the lessons that can be learned from this literature. We identify simulated minimum distance (SMD) as a practical approach to estimation of AB models, and we discuss the conditions which ensure consistency of SMD estimators in AB models."
Volker Grimm and others,
"Pattern-Oriented Modeling of Agent-Based Complex Systems: Lessons from Ecology"
, 11 November 2005, Vol. 310, No. 5750, pp. 987-991. Published article accessible
Agent-based complex systems are dynamic networks of many interacting agents; examples include ecosystems, financial markets, and cities. The search for general principles underlying the internal organization of such systems often uses bottom-up simulation models such as cellular automata and agent-based models. No general framework for designing, testing, and analyzing bottom-up models has yet been established, but recent advances in ecological modeling have come together in a general strategy we call pattern-oriented modeling. This strategy provides a unifying framework for decoding the internal organization of agent-based complex systems and may lead toward unifying algorithmic theories of the relation between adaptive behavior and system complexity.
Dominique Gross and Roger Strand,
"Can Agent-Based Models Assist Decisions on Large-Scale Practical Problems? A Philosophical Analysis"
, Vol. 5/No. 6, July/August 2000, 26-33. Published article available from
Wiley Interscience
Nicholas R. Jennings,
"On Agent-Based Software Engineering"
Artificial Intelligence
117 (2000), 277-296, copyright © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
"Agent-based computing represents an exciting new synthesis both for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and, more generally, Computer Science. It has the potential to significantly improve the theory and the practice of modeling, designing, and implementing computer systems... The standpoint of this analysis is the role of agent-based software in solving complex, real-world problems. In particular, it will be argued that the development of robust and scalable software systems requires autonomous agents that can complete their objectives while situated in a dynamic and uncertain environment, that can engage in rich, high-level social interactions, and that can operate within flexible organizational structures."
Jack P.C. Kleijnen,
"Verification and Validation of Simulation Models"
European Journal of Operational Research
82, 1995, 145-162.
"This paper surveys verification and validation of models, especially simulation models in operations research. ... A biography with 61 references is included."
George B. Kleindorfer and Ram Ganeshan,
"The Philosophy of Science and Validation in Simulation"
, in G.W. Evans, M. Mollaghasemi, E.C. Russell, and W.E. Biles (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 1993 Winter Simulation Conference
, 50-57.
This study examines various relevant positions regarding validation for computer simulation models.
Stephen Lansing and James N. Kremer (1993),
"Emergent Properties of Balinese Water Temple Networks: Coadaptation on a Rugged Fitness Landscape"
American Anthropologist
, Vol. 95, pp. 97-114. Published article available at
Over hundreds of years, Balinese farmers have developed an intricate hierarchical network of "water temples" dedicated to agricultural deities in parallel with physical transformations of their island deliberately undertaken to make it more suitable for growing irrigated rice. The water temple network plays an instrumental role in the coordination of activities related to rice production. Representatives of different water temple congregations meet regularly to decide cropping patterns, planting times, and water usage, thus helping to synchronize harvests and control pest populations. Lansing and Kremer develop an ecological simulation model to illuminate the system-level effects of the water temple network, both social and ecological. Their anthropological study illustrates many important agent-based modeling concepts, including emergent properties, fitness landscapes, co-adaptation, and the effects of different institutional designs.
For an analysis and critique of this article, see Marco Janssen (2007),
"Coordination in Irrigation Systems: An Analysis of the Lansing-Kremer Model of Bali"
Agricultural Systems
93: 170-190.
Averill M. Law (2007),
Simulation Modelling and Analysis
, Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Abstract (From the Publisher):
"This thoroughly up-to-date guide addresses all aspects of a simulation study, including modeling, simulation languages, validation, input probability distribution, and analysis of simulation output data. Full scale treatments of manufacturing systems simulation, simulation software, and animation are also included along with useful and instructive case studies."
Roberto Leombruni, Matteo Richiardi, Nicole J. Saam, and Michele Sonnessa,
"A Common Protocol for Agent-Based Social Simulation"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
9(1), 2006. The published article is available
Traditional (i.e. analytical) modelling practices in the social sciences rely on a very well established, although implicit, methodological protocol, both with respect to the way models are presented and to the kinds of analysis that are performed. Unfortunately, computer-simulated models often lack such a reference to an accepted methodological standard. This is one of the main reasons for the scepticism among mainstream social scientists that results in low acceptance of papers with agent-based methodology in top journals. We identify some methodological pitfalls that, according to us, are common in papers employing agent-based simulations, and propose appropriate solutions. We discuss each issue with reference to a general characterization of dynamic micro models, which encompasses both analytical and simulation models. Along the way, we also clarify some confusing terminology. We then propose a three-stage process that could lead to the establishment of methodological standards in social and economic simulation.
Franco Malerba, Richard R. Nelson, Luigi Orsenigo, and Sidney G. Winter,
"`History-Friendly' Models of Industry Evolution: The Computer Industry"
(html, abstract/URL)
Industrial and Corporate Change
, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1999), 3-41.
"The model presented in this paper is the first of a new generation of evolutionary economic models: `history-friendly' models. History-friendly models are formal models that aim to capture, in stylized form, qualitative and `appreciative' theories about the mechanisms and factors affecting industry evolution, technological advance, and institutional change put forth by empirical scholars of industrial economics, technological change, business organization and strategy, and other social scientists. In this paper we have analyzed the long-term evolution of the computer industry... ."
David Midgley, Robert E. Marks, and Dinesh Kunchamwar,
"The Building and Assurance of Agent-Based Models: An Example and Challenge to the Field"
Journal of Business Research
, Special Issue: Complexities in Markets, Vol. 60 (2007), 884-893.
"The assurance - the verification and validation - of agent-based models is difficult, because of the heterogeneity of the agents, and the possibility of the emergence of new patterns of macro behavior as a result of the interactions of agents at the micro level. We use an agent-based model of the complex interactions among consumers, retailers, and manufacturers to explore issues of model assurance. Our explorations indicate two challenges for the agent-based models field. The first challenge is to address the critical issue of software verification. The second challenge is to overcome the many methodological challenges that exist in empirically validating these models, some of which we will outline in our paper. We will also propose a method based on the Genetic Algrorithm to address both these challenges, but our experiments, and the lack of good data for many kinds of agents, suggest a minimalist approach to building and assuring agent-based models in general."
Tuncer I. Oren,
"Concepts and Criteria to Assess Acceptability of Simulation Studies: A Frame of Reference"
Communications of the ACM
, Special Issue: Simulation Modeling and Statistical Computing, Guest Edited by N. Adam, Vol. 24, No. 4, April 1981, 180-189.
This study provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of the concepts and criteria related to the assessment of the acceptability of simulation studies.
Hassan Qudrat-Ullah,
"Structural Validation of System Dynamics and Agent-Based Simulation Models"
, in Y. Merkuryev, R. Zobel, and E. Kerckhoffs (eds.),
, 19th European Conference on Modelling and Simulation (ECMS), 2005.
"Simulation models are becoming increasingly popular in the analysis of important policy issues including global warming, population dynamics, energy systems, and urban planning. The usefulness of these models is predicated on their ability to link observable patterns of behavior of a system to micro-level structures. This paper argues that structural validity of a simulation model - right behavior for the right reasons - is a stringent measure to build confidence in a simulation model regardless of how well the model passes behavior validation tests. That leads to an outline of formal structural validity procedures available but less explored in the system dynamics `repertoire.' An illustration of a set of six tests for structural validity of both system dynamics and agent-based simulation models follows."
Juliette Rouchier,
"Data Gathering to Build and Validate Small-Scale Social Models for Simulation. Two Ways: Strict Control and Stake-Holders Involvement"
, Working Paper, GREQAM, Marseille, October 13, 2005.
Currently in agent-based modeling (ABMB) it has become the norm to assess results against actual data and to build hypotheses by offering some empirical facts to justify the model construction. In this paper the author discusses two distinct approaches that researchers are taking to validate ABM representations of small-scale interaction settings: quantitative statistical validation through controlled human-subject experiments; and an iterative participatory modeling approach called "companion modeling" that engages stakeholders and researchers in repeated rounds of field study and data gathering, role-playing games, agent-based model development and implementation, and computational experiments.
Robert G. Sargent,
"Some Approaches and Paradigms for Verifying and Validating Simulation Models"
, in B.A. Peters, J.S. Smith, D.J. Medeiros, and M.W. Rohrer (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 2001 Winter Simulation Conference
, 106-114.
"In this paper we discuss verification and validation of simulation models. The different approaches to deciding model validity are described, two different paradigms that relate verification and validation to the model development process are presented, the use of graphical data statistical references for operational validity is discussed, and a recommended procedure for model validation is given."
Alexander Smajgl and Olivier Barreteau (Eds.),
Empirical Agent-Based Modelling -- Challenges and Solutions: Volume 1, the Characterisation and Parameterisation of Empirical Agent-Based Models
(JASSS Book Review, HTML)
, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2014.
This book poses the following challenge: How to develop large-scale complex models that are informed by empirical data both in the definition and the calibration phases? To address this challenge, the authors propose a
Characterisation and Parametrisation (CAP)
framework, i.e., a context-independent description of the key characterisation and parameterisation steps and decisions that modelers are confronted with while developing empirically-based agent-based models.
D.E. Stevenson,
"A Critical Look at Quality in Large-Scale Simulations"
Computing in Science and Engineering
, 1(3), IEEE Computer Society, May-June 1999, 53-63.
"The role of management and science in simulation development must be changed. Software engineering is meant to produce software by a manufacturing paradigm, but this paradigm simply cannot deal with the scientific issues. This article examines the successes and failures of software engineering. I conclude that process does not develop software, people and their tools do. Second, software metrics are not meaningful when the software's purpose is to guarantee the world's safety in the nuclear era. Finally, the quality of simulations must be based on the quality of insights gained from the revealed science. Aristotle talked about it 2,300 years ago; it is time to listen. I propose a category-theory definition of validation."
Claudia Werker and Thomas Brenner,
"An Advanced Methodology for Heterodox Simulation Models Based on Critical Realism"
, Working Paper 0401, Papers on Economics & Evolution, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group, Jena, Germany, 2004.
This paper develops an advanced methodology that makes the results of simulation models in heterodox economics more reliable and acceptable. This methodology copes with the specific characteristics of simulation models in heterodox economics, in particular with inherent uncertainty. The methodology is based on critical realism, because it treats inherent uncertainty by categorizing empirical events into underlying structural driving forces. Data is center-stage in the methodology, because it is used to infer assumptions and implications. Illustrative examples inlude the development of industries in different countries.
Claudia Werker and Thomas Brenner,
"A Practical Guide to Inference in Simulation Models"
, Working Paper 0602, Papers on Economics & Evolution, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Evolutionary Economics Group, Jena, Germany, 2006.
This paper introduces a categorization of simulation models. It provides an explicit overview of the steps that lead to a simulation model. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages of various simulation approaches by examining how they advocate different ways of constructing simulation moels. To this end, the paper discusses a number of relevant methodological issues, such as how realistic simulation models are obtained and which kinds of inference can be used in a simulation approach. Finally, the paper presents a practical guide on how simulation should and can be conducted.
esign of Computational Experiments
Bart Husslage, Gijs Rennen, Edwin R. van Dam, and Dick den Hertog,
Space-Filling Latin Hupercube Designs for Computer Experiments
, Working Paper No. 2006-18, ISSN 0924-7815, Department of Econometrics and Operations Research, Tilburg University, March 2006.
In the area of computer simulation, Latin hypercube designs play an important role. In this paper the class of maximin Latin hypercube designs is considered. Up to now only several two-dimensional designs and designs for some small number of points are known for this class. Using periodic designs and simulated annealing, we extend the known results and construct approximate maximin Latin hypercube designs for up to ten dimensions and for up to 100 design points. All of these designs can be downloaded
Jack P.C. Kleijnen,
"An Overview of the Design and Analysis of Simulation Experiments for Sensitivity Analysis"
European Journal of Operational Research
164(2), September 2005, 826-834.
"This review surveys `classic' and `modern' designs for experiments with simulation models. Classic designs...assume `a few' factors (not more than 10 factors with only `a few' values per factor (no more than five values. ... Modern designs...allow `many factors' (more than 100), each with either a few or `many' (more than 100) values."
Jack P.C. Kleijnen,
Design and Analysis of Simulation Experiments
, Springer, 1998, 216pp.
Slides by the author for Chapters 1-6 of this book are available
Daniel Kornhauser, Uri Wilensky, and William Rand,
"Design Guidelines for Agent Based Model Visualization"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
, Vol. 12, No. 2 1, March 2009.
This paper provides agent-based modeling visualization design guidelines in order to improve visual design with ABM toolkits. The guidelines are illustrated using a simple redesign of a NetLogo agent-based modeling visualization.
I. Salle, M. Yildizoglu,
"Efficient Sampling and Metamodeling for Computational Economic Models"
, Cahiers du GREThA, 2012-18.
"Extensive exploration of simulation models comes at a high computational cost, all the more when the model involves a lot of parameters. Economists usually rely on random explorations, such as Monte Carlo simulations, and basic econometric modelling to approximate the properties of computational models. This paper aims at providing guidelines for the use of a much more parsimonious method, based on an efficient sampling of the parameters space - a design of experiments (DOE), associated with a well-suited metamodel - kriging. We analyze two simple economic models using this approach to illustrate the possibilities offered by it. Our appendix gives a sample of the R-project code that can be used to apply this method on other models."
Thomas J. Santner, Brian J. Williams, and William I. Notz,
The Design and Analysis of Computer Experiments
, Springer Series in Statistics, 2003, 283pp. ISBN: 978-0-387-95420-2.
This book describes methods for designing and analyzing experiments conducted using computer code in lieu of a physical experiment. It discusses how to select the values of the factors at which to run the code (the design of the computer experiment) in light of the research objectives of the experimenter. It also provides techniques for analyzing the resulting data so as to achieve these research goals. It illustrates these methods with code made available to the reader.
Leigh Tesfatsion,
Experimental Design: Basic Concepts and Terminology
. These brief notes were prepared for an undergraduate class on agent-based computational economics with no previous exposure to running computational experiments.
terative Participatory Modeling
Olivier Barreteau et al.,
"Our Companion Modelling Approach"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS)
, Vol. 6, No. 1, 31 March 2003 (electronic journal).
This article discusses an iterative participatory approach to the modeling of complex systems, referred to as "companion modeling." The companion modeling approach envisions multidisciplinary researchers and stakeholders engaging together in repeated looping through a four-stage cycle: field study and data analysis; role-playing games; agent-based model design and implementation; and intensive computational experiments. The new aspect of companion modeling relative to other participatory modeling approaches is the emphasis on modeling as an
collaborative learning process. The modeling objective is to help stakeholders manage complex problems over time through a continuous learning process rather than to attempt the delivery of a definitive problem solution.
O. Barreteau, Abrami G., Daré W., Garin P., Souchčre V., Werey C.,
"Collaborative modelling as a boundary institution to handle institutional complexities in water management"
, in H. Karl et al. (eds.)
Restoring Lands – Coordinating Science, Politics and Action
, Springer, 2012.
O. Barreteau, P. W. G. Bots, and K. A. Daniell,
"A framework for clarifying `participation' in participatory research to prevent its rejection for the wrong reasons"
Ecology and Society
15(2):1, 2010. Available online
O. Barreteau, Bousquet, F., Etienne, M., Souchčre, V., d' Aquino, P.,
"Companion modelling: a method of adaptive and participatory research"
, in: Etienne, M. (Ed.),
Companion Modelling. A Participatory Approach to Support Sustainable Development
. QUAE, Versailles, France, 2011, pp. 21-44.
O. Barreteau, Bots, P. W. G., Daniell, K. A., Etienne, M., Perez, P., Barnaud, C., Bazile, D., Becu, N., Castella, J.-C., Daré, W., and Trebuil, G.,
"Participatory approaches and simulation of social complexity"
, in Edmonds, B., and Meyer, R. (Eds.),
A Handbook on: Simulating Social Complexity
. Springer, 2013.
O. Barreteau, Le Page, C., Perez, P.,
"Contribution of simulation and gaming to natural resource management issues: an introduction"
Simulation and Gaming
38 (2007), 185-194
Pierre Bommel et al.,
"A Further Step Towards Participatory Modeling: Fostering Stakeholder Involvement in Designing Models by Using Executable UML"
Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation
, 17 (1) 6, published online 31 January 2014.
M. Etienne (ed.),
Companion Modelling. A Participatory Approach to Support Sustainable Development
, QUAE, Versailles, France, 2011.
Alexey Voinov and Francois Bousquet,
"Modelling with Stakeholders"
Environmental Modelling & Software
25 (2010), 1268-1281.
Alexey Voinov,
"Participatory Modeling: What, Why, and How?"
, ITC Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, University of Twente, March 2010.
Copyright © Leigh Tesfatsion. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Cosmos Hotel
TripAdvisor Reviews Cosmos Hotel Chisinau
Travel Blogs from Chisinau
BL #38: Find Svenborgia
... the stories I've heard firsthand about the level of service and apathy in some of these former Soviet Republics turned out to be true today, and the tour fell through. Apparently, the hostel had booked me the tour for 6 PM, but after I had taken a taxi the 20-odd km to Cricova, was interrogated "Who told you we have a tour today? There are none at 6 PM on Saturday!" I was given the option of joining a tour tomorrow, but they were only ...
Chisinau, Moldova
From Sighisoara, Romania, we took a train to our next country, Moldova and the capitol city, Chisinau. But first, a little backtracking. We're learning that Eastern European trains and buses sometimes don't go the most direct route, if they go at all. We had to return south to Bucharest in order to get a direct train north to Chisinau.
It was an early morning departure from Sighisoara. Arriving in Bucharest four hours later (11:30 AM), ...
30 Years Old and 100 Days In
Today, April 4, is my 30th birthday--and, coincidentally, also Day 100 of our round-the-world adventure. It's a very nice bit of birthday serendipity. Mostly, though, my birthday is special because we're staying this week with a very good friend, Michael, whom Dennis has known since elementary school and whom I first met in middle school. It's always wonderful to visit friends or family that you haven't seen for a while, but we appreciate ...
Wells, Weddings & Weirds
Okay, so Sighisoura was odd, but this place is genuinely weird. And backward too. In the two hours it took to drive from the border (we're now in Moldova) to the capital, we passed dozens of wells (all, by the way, decorated with exquisite care and adorned with a crucified Jesus Christ next to it) and peasants working the fields (always only with hand tools) or gathering at the side of the road to hail some transport. From what ...
Preparing by selling to have enough cash to start
... 1: consist of the commercial space and the garage/commercial storage
>>> 100.000€ <<< with a monthly rental return from 950€ brings 11,40%
2. Packet 2: consist of the 2 Cel Mare apartments, the website and the company
>>> 170.000€ <<< with a ...

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Topic: White House Chanukah party
It's Been Quite a Week for American Jewry
Jews, next to African Americans, have been Obama's most loyal supporters. Overwhelmingly Democratic, and liberal Democratic at that, they have swooned over health care, been delighted by the president's efforts to pass climate-control legislation, taken delight in his defense of abortion rights, and cheered his unabashed embrace of big government. But there has been the matter of Israel. Oh, that.
It stunned some to be told by Obama to go engage in "self-reflection" about Israel. It rankled to hear the Obami declare that we needed more "daylight" between the U.S. and Israel. And the failed settlement-freeze gambit set teeth gnashing. But most American Jews bided their time. They hoped that with all that access and all the campaign money that had sloshed into the Obama coffers from Jewish wallets, there would be some way to influence the administration. Maybe the Obama team was getting up to speed. They'd learn! Hey, there were some good lines in the Nobel Prize speech, you know. Maybe soon we'd get those sanctions! It was, sadly, an exercise in self-delusion.
Then came the Obami's verbal assault over apartment units in Israel's capital. That was finally a step too far. As the Obama administration's browbeatings of Israel mounted — Biden to Clinton to Axelrod — the fury in the Jewish community overflowed. And one by one, the major Jewish organizations, reflecting the outrage of their members (mostly Democratic, mind you), stepped forward not only to demand an end to the barrage but also to critique the entire premise of the Obami Middle East policy, namely that settlements were the root of the matter and that forced concessions were the way to unlock peace. And oh, by the way, could we get back to the existential threat to Israel's existence?
Beginning Sunday, AIPAC will hold its annual national conference, and thousands of pro-Israel activists will descend on Washington D.C. What will they say and how will they greet the administration's featured speaker, Hillary Clinton? This is a time to assess where the Jewish community has been and whether "access" — the prized off-the-record briefing and the ticket to the White House Chanukah party — has been valued too highly and candor too little. And then decisions will need to be made about the support for this president. A keen observer probes those who invested (financially and otherwise) so much in a president who has made mincemeat of foreign policy generally and the Middle East specifically:
A year has passed during which your chosen one has made worse than a hash of that: It's in deep disarray. It and he and all his dogsbodies have devalued us everywhere, pinballing reactively from crisis to disaster, and when they should be fighting withdrawing like snails into shells, leaving behind just the slime souvenir. And, worse, much worse, they've targeted our one true democratic friend and ally in the Middle East—a country whose existence you cherish—for censure and contempt, to your great shock and unhappiness. What do you do?
That's the question before American Jewry. As many prominent leaders and activists gather, we'll begin to find out their answer. But there is no denying it now — this was not the president many of them thought he was. If they wish to support him, despite his Israel policy (because the liberal agenda is so near and dear to them), they can do so. But there's no kidding themselves any longer that, in the process, they will be supporting the most anti-Israel president since — well, ever.
Flotsam and Jetsam
COMMENTARY contributor Noah Pollak makes the convincing case that Iran and Syria have largely prevailed in using asymmetric warfare with surrogates against Israel: "It allows Iran and Syria to take credit in the region for antagonizing Israel without risking retaliation on their soil; it detaches conflict from regime security, reducing the disincentive for war; and it forces battles into densely-populated civilian areas, undermining the IDF's military superiority and ensuring civilian destruction which today's media and NGOs — an increasingly meaningless distinction — blame on Israel, not on the terrorist groups who start the wars." The solution: take the fight to the source of the problem, using all available tools ("there is no reason why asymmetry cannot be countered with asymmetry, or new diplomatic and economic initiatives pursued").
Fox News has an ACORN scoop: it seems that in California, one step ahead of the state attorney general's investigation, the group tried to dump 20,000 documents that "point to illicit relationships between ACORN and a bank and a labor union — as well as confidential information that could put thousands at risk for identity theft."
Tevi Troy notes the downgrading of the White House Chanukah party.
It's not really 10.2 percent: "As experts debate the potential speed of the US recovery, one figure looms large but is often overlooked: nearly 1 in 5 Americans is either out of work or under-employed. According to the government's broadest measure of unemployment, some 17.5 percent are either without a job entirely or underemployed. The so-called U-6 number is at the highest rate since becoming an official labor statistic in 1994."
If you read nothing else on the KSM trial, read this interview with Bill Burck, former deputy counsel to President George W. Bush, who explains why Holder can't guarantee a result and why the trial is such a bad idea. A sample: "Attorney General Holder has gone on record that he believes waterboarding is torture; and it is now known that KSM was subject to enhanced interrogation techniques, including repeated use of waterboarding. KSM's lawyer will almost certainly ask the judge to throw out all the charges against him because he was allegedly tortured. How can the Department of Justice contest that KSM was tortured if the attorney general has gone on record that waterboarding is torture? They can't."
The Maryland Federation of College Republicans stand up to their Democratic counterparts, whose campaign director declared that "Israel is oppressing the Palestinian people."
Kirsten who? "Ten months after Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Governor David Paterson, the junior senator from New York has failed to become a household name among registered voters in New York State. 25% of the electorate thinks Gillibrand is doing either an excellent or good job in office, and 12% believes she is performing poorly. Perhaps, though, Gillibrand's bigger concern is that 24% of the electorate is unsure how to rate her."
One more time: "Sen. Joseph Lieberman, speaking in that trademark sonorous baritone, utters a simple statement that translates into real trouble for Democratic leaders: 'I'm going to be stubborn on this.' Stubborn, he means, in opposing any health-care overhaul that includes a 'public option,' or government-run health-insurance plan, as the current bill does. His opposition is strong enough that Mr. Lieberman says he won't vote to let a bill come to a final vote if a public option is included."
After spending like drunken sailors on a failed stimulus and a raft of domestic spending, Democrats now want to "pay as we go" — for the Afghanistan war.
Others have noticed that the mammography controversy raises an uncomfortable truth for ObamaCare backers: "The flap over breast cancer screening has provided a fascinating insight into the political future of ObamaCare. Specifically, the political left supports such medical rationing even as it disavows that any such thing is happening. … What's really going on here is that the left knows its designs will require political rationing of care, but it doesn't want the public to figure this out until ObamaCare passes. … Americans will simply have to accept that the price of government-run health care in the name of redistributive justice is that patients and their doctors must bow to the superior wisdom of HHS task forces."


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Cannobio | ||
Comune | ||
Comune di Cannobio | ||
Location of Cannobio in Italy | ||
Coordinates: 46°04′N 08°42′E / 46.067°N 8.700°E | ||
Country | Italy | |
Region | Piedmont | |
Province | Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (VB) | |
Frazioni | Campeglio, Carmine Inferiore, Carmine Superiore, Cinzago, Formine, Marchille, Piaggio Valmara, Pianoni, Ronco, San Bartolomeo Valmara, Sant'Agata, Socraggio, Socragno, Traffiume | |
Government | ||
• Mayor | Giandomenico Albertella (Centre-Right) | |
Area | ||
• Total | 51 km2 (20 sq mi) | |
Elevation | 214 m (702 ft) | |
Population (30 June 2009) | ||
• Total | 5,128 | |
• Density | 100/km2 (260/sq mi) | |
Demonym | Cannobiesi | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
Dialing code | 0323 | |
Patron saint | SS Pietà and St. Victor | |
Website | www.cannobio.net |
Cannobio is a town and comune on Lago Maggiore in Piedmont, Italy.
The local inhabitants probably became subject to Roman rule by the time of the emperor Augustus. Sarcophagi from the 2nd–3rd century CE have been found and conserved in the "Palazzo della Ragione".
The first documented mention of Cannobio dates to 909. During medieval times, the town became a center for wool and tanning industries, as well as the lumber trade. Cannobio was named as a village by 1207, and was granted administrative autonomy. The Palazzo della Ragione was constructed by 1291 under the government of the podestà Ugolino da Mandello.
Cannobio was assigned to the archdiocese of Milan and from 1817 was under the authority of the bishop of Novara. Its "pieve" comprised the areas of Cannobina, Cannero, Brissago and several areas on the eastern side of the lake. The church of St. Vittore, already present in 1076, and with a bell tower from the 13th century, was completely rebuilt between 1733 and 1749. Autonomous rule for the community of Cannobio and its valley came about in 1342, with the spontaneous submission to Luchino and Giovanni Visconti, lords of Milan. From then on, its administration remained closely connected to that of the Duchy of Milan.
In 1522 a painting of the Virgin Mary allegedly started bleeding. Shortly after this apparition, a plague swept through the area devastating lakeside and valley towns and villages, but leaving Cannobio relatively unscathed. Religious minds linked these two events and Cardinal Charles Borromeo ordered a chapel to be built to hold the painting which is still there today.
The economy went through a renewal in the 15th and 16th centuries. The built-up area spread from the original nucleus (the village) down towards the lake. Large residences were built including the Omacini and Pironi palaces.
During the Risorgimento the town repelled an Austrian attack from the lake (27–28 May 1859) and was visited by Giuseppe Garibaldi in 1862. The opening of the lakeside road to the Swiss border in 1863 created favorable conditions for the arrival of factories, including silk mills.
In 1927 the territory of the comune of Cannobio was extended to incorporate some small villages in the vicinity (Traffiume, Sant'Agata, San Bartolomeo). During the Second World War the people of Cannobio rose up against the Nazi and fascist regime, from 2 to 9 September 1944, and proclaimed the Republic of the Ossola. Since the end of the war the community has undergone further changes. From 1995 the town has come within the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.
Main sights[edit]
The large lakefront piazza named after King Victor Emmanuel III was given a major refurbishment when in the winter of 2003–04 it was completely relaid in cobblestones and granite slabs. Also added was of a set of wide flagstone steps down to the lake, where people may sit and watch the lake steamers come and go from the landing stages nearby, and the sailing boats and wind-surfers skimming across the lake.
Some of the buildings both on the lakefront and further back in the old part of town date back over 600 years, from when Cannobio was a renowned smuggling town, and most of these have been restored in fine style.
From one, Giuseppe Garibaldi addressed the people of Cannobio in 1859, and on another stands a plaque celebrating an important event in Cannobio in 1627. Each building is painted a different colour, creating a traditional Italian port scene. To one side of the Piazza is Cannobio's old harbour, which houses the sailing, rowing and speedboats belonging to the locals.
The Santuario della Pietà church commemorates the events of 1522, when a painting of the Virgin Mary was believed to have bled. With its open dome it stands by the lakeside. The painting itself is now housed in another church in the town, and though it is not removed itself, a "Sacra Costa", representing the painting, is processed through the streets on the 7 January every year.
Cannobio has its own "Lido" at the north end of town with a large sandy beach. The beach has a European Union Blue Flag for its cleanliness and facilities.
External links[edit]
- http://www.cannobio.net/
- Official Tourism Gateway Lake Maggiore Official Tourism Gateway
- Cannobio - shore of Lake Maggiore
- Cannobio photographs
- Cannobio on Lake Maggiore - Information


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As far as the sounds go, most of the factory presets are average, so get yourself some 3rd party sounds. Or if you have the patience, do it yourself. The RE1 editor would surely make that task much easier. I've loaded mine up with some sounds from various cards and I love it! I also love the price I paid...a mere $200. You can't beat that. By the way, if the battery goes dead... CHANGE IT YOURSELF! It's a piece of cake.
The M3R fits in nicely with the rest of my gear: KORG 01W/FD KORG TRINITY KORG WAVESTATION EX KORG M3R KORG WAVESTATION SR KORG X3 KORG TR-RACK and a Yamaha PSR-48...for those times when I need a good laugh!!!
It's much better than using the display of the M3R and you can sit it next to the keyboard which is cool (mine on a music stand). The buttons are just like the ones on the M1. I'm glad I got it and would buy it again.
I haven't had any problems with mine.
Most of the presets are useless (like I'm personally not into combination of acoustic bass and electrical piano) but there are some incredible atmospheric and/or weird sounds which serve as a good starting point for your own combinations. I would say even the drums are OK (you get 4 drum kits) if you tweak the EQ and other parameters and add a little rythmic delay and reverb. You can really get some punchy kick drum sounds.
Piano sounds are complete waste.
There are two effect processors which can be used serially or in parallel. IMHO the effectors are good, and the reverbs, in particular, are quite convincing. Having an extra set of outputs is helpful for selective reverb with an outboard unit, very useful for hihats etc in the drum kit.
The synth uses prefabricated PCM wave samples which themselves present fairly complete sounds. In this regard, M3R is different from Kawai machines produced in mid-to late 80s (like K1), where there are dedicated attack portions and an assortment of harmonics for the sustained part. In this respect, you have less creative freedom, but the quality of sounds in M3R is extremely high. I still managed to get some interesting effects using the editor in SoundDiver.
If it dies, I will likely buy another one, mainly because it's an excellent value for the money.


text:
- Love in the Afternoon (17 pics) ... The Au Pair
Susan "Suze" E Randall (born 18 May 1946) is an English model, photographer, and pornographer. She has been one of the world's leading erotic photographers for more than 35 years.
Posted by greg fischer 1 year ago
Posted by Michael Wren 1 year ago


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04-21-2010, 12:40 PM | #1 (permalink) |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: ny
Posts: 146
How is Banff now?
My snowboard honeymoon is next week in Banff. So how are the snowboarding conditions up there now? I need some first hand reports since the resorts always paint a rosy picture of the conditions. I'm east coast so even a bad snowday at Banff is probably better than anything we get here.
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04-21-2010, 01:30 PM | #2 (permalink) |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Toronto
Posts: 296
No first hand experience but my buddy is in Calgary. Think 2 weeks ago Calgary had a snowstorm and it dumped a ton of fresh at SS and LL. He says the snows gone in Calgary...but its definitely still there in Banff. The mountains are huge there...so it'll definitely hold its snow beyond next week. Current conditions are 14ish...which is warm but you'll be amazed how snow holds up when its piled up in a mountain...heh. I was at stratton 3 weeks ago and it was 20 deg and really wet...but pretty dang fun...nothing like boarding in your t-shirt..ha.
04-22-2010, 12:44 PM | #3 (permalink) |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Banff, Alberta
Posts: 1,169
I was at Lake Louise and it was great. Really soft spring snow which I love. There are dirt patches starting to appear on the front side (sunny side) but its still really good. They have a forcast a little rain there today but it may fall as snow. Should get snow tonight though once it cools down a bit.
I was at Sunshine the week before and it was still great. They will have good spring conditions as well. They should also get some snow tonight. Norquay is closed. Hope that helps!? |
04-22-2010, 10:07 PM | #4 (permalink) |
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 179
snow is shit in the morning because its pretty much ice, good in the afternoon because it starts getting soft, and by the end of the day its all slush. at sunshine there are a couple dirt patches on the ski out, goats eye is pretty much done, and the rocks and dirt are starting to come back. if we keep getting the weather we have been getting the past couple of weeks, it will be real shit by next week.
04-26-2010, 10:48 AM | #6 (permalink) |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 154
I was at sunshine yesterday and it was amazing in the morning and got kinda slushy by about 2. They had a mini big air comp goin on at the base with some loud music which had a pretty good vibe. Congrats on the marriage!
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text:
Definition of remodeler in English:
North American A person who carries out structural alterations to an existing building, such as adding a new bathroom.
Example sentences
- For bathroom remodelers in search of the perfect faucet, surfing the Web is becoming a popular alternative to driving from store to store.
- It reminded me of the day when the remodelers presented their final plan for a proposed addition to the old house.
- While most states license electrical and plumbing contractors, only 36 states have some type of licensing and registration statutes affecting contractors, remodelers, and/or specialty contractors.
Definition of remodeler in:
- US English dictionary
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David Russell Logan
Position: WR
Height: 6-4 Weight: 219 lbs.
Born: February 2, 1954 in Fargo, ND
High School: Wheat Ridge
College: Colorado (school history) (Logan college stats)
Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 3rd round (65th overall) of the 1976 NFL Draft.
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 38 (2407th overall since 1950)
Other SR Links: College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Promote your website or business by sponsoring this page for $10 on Pro-Football-Reference.com. Your message will replace this ad.


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Home > Bangalore Fast Food Shops > South Bangalore > Jayanagar Fast Food Shops > Painted Platters
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great Desserts!
one of the better places for desserts (read that as Desserts annd not ice creams / sweets / cakes) in Bangalore
the place is pretty tiny but the ambiance is good and the have a nice collection of books and records (the old age music player) which you can enjoy with your dessert / coffee
you can have the record player at your table and enjoy some classics like Beatles etc.
The desserts themselves are very well presented and the menu used to be much more comprehensive till recently
The pricing is worth it...
The staff is knowledgeable and service is good
perfect place to spend a lazy afternoon / evening over a coffee or a late evening for dessert
The Choco mousse, Tiramisu, etc are very well done and the presentation is awesome and is certainly very inviting...!
do visit if you can appreciate good desserts!
Yummy desserts!
This place has not a lot of choice, but whatever they have, is very good, especially the chocolate stuff. A bunch of us went here, who had earlier frequented the place, when they used to be on CMH road. Ordered almost everything on the menu, and landed up tasting everything :-) good value for the money, most desserts are priced around Rs.90-Rs.110.
Desert at a price!
Hats off to the person who started this place. The dishes here are to die for. Prices may seem steep with an average of over a hundred bucks, but once you've dug in, money dont matter. Had their choc mousse, simply out of this world.
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Nowitzki leads Mavs over Rockets 111-104
Dirk Nowitzki scoffed at the notion that he's playing as well now as he did when he led the Dallas Mavericks to a title in 2011.
He will, however, concede that at age 35 he's having a pretty good season.
Nowitzki scored 31 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Mavericks to a 111-104 win over the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
He joked that his big night was simply luck before getting serious and discussing the work he puts in off the court.
''Hopefully I can light it up a couple of more years and then slowly fade away,'' he said, breaking into a huge smile.
Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isn't surprised at what Nowitzki, who is averaging 21.5 points a game, is doing for his team this season.
''He's the great Dirk Nowitzki,'' Carlisle said. ''He's one of the great players in the history of the game.''
Nowitzki missed the first 27 games of last season after knee surgery and the Mavericks missed the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. He feels like his game is good now and his injury is behind him, but he wants to do more.
''The driving the ball is what's missing a little now,'' he said. ''I do a lot of one or two dribble and then up, but I want to get back to driving some more to the basket and get to the foul line. I don't think I'm in `11 shape, but compared to the last two years I feel a lot better. The right knee is great and I feel better.''
Nowitzki's performance on Monday night gave him 25,629 career points, which moved him past Alex English for 13th place in scoring in NBA history.
Houston cut the lead to six after a 3-pointer by Aaron Brooks with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but Nowitzki knocked down consecutive baskets to push the Mavericks lead to 107-97.
Houston coach Kevin McHale was frustrated that his team was unable to slow Nowitzki down.
''We tried a bunch of different stuff,'' McHale said. ''We tried showing and coming back. We tried staying on there. We tried running at him. Nothing seemed to work.''
Dwight Howard had 29 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who were playing their second straight game without leading scorer James Harden, who was out with a sprained left ankle.
Dallas started the final period by using a 9-4 run powered by three 3-pointers, including two from Jae Crowder, to push the lead to 95-82.
Jeremy Lin, who has been out since Dec. 13 because of back spasms, scored 20 and Chandler Parsons had 21 for Houston.
Dallas outscored Houston 17-10 over the last five minutes of the third quarter to stretch a one-point lead into an 86-78 advantage entering the fourth quarter. Vince Carter scored seven points during that time and Crowder added five.
Monta Ellis had 18 points for Dallas, Carter had 16 and Jose Calderon added 15 points with five assists.
With the speedy Harden out, the Rockets relied on their inside game and outscored the Mavericks 60-32 in the paint. But the Mavericks had the advantage from 3-point range, where they made 11 to Houston's seven 3-pointers.
''They hit a lot of tough shots tonight, especially in the second half,'' Howard said. ''They shot great the whole game. When a team is shooting that good they are tough to beat.''
A 15-1 spurt by Dallas to open that second half erased a seven-point halftime deficit and gave the Mavericks a 65-58 lead with eight minutes left in the third quarter. Nowitzki led the way in that stretch, making seven points including a 3-pointer. The Rockets came out flat to start the third, missing six shots and turning the ball over twice in the first few minutes of the quarter.
The Rockets finally snapped out of their offensive slump after that, using a 10-4 run to get within 69-68 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. Parsons made four quick points near the end of it before Howard put an exclamation point on the run with a nifty sideways alley-oop dunk.
Houston led by one point about six minutes before halftime and used an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to extend its lead to 52-42. Howard got things going in that span by scoring six straight points and capped the run with a free throw.
The Rockets led 57-50 at halftime.
NOTES: Houston announced during the game that guard Patrick Beverley had surgery on Monday to repair a fracture in his right hand and will be out 4-6 weeks. ... Calderon has scored more than 10 points in 18 of his last 20 games. ... Houston has scored at least 60 points in the paint in three of its last four games.
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Western Animation: The Alvin Show
animated series from the early 1960s, based on the highly successful "David Seville and the Chipmunks" records by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., produced in association Format Films for Bagdasarian Film Corporation. It is the first animated series to feature Alvin and the Chipmunks.It follows the lives and shenanigans of the Chipmunks (in this series, they were further developed as a trio of rambunctious kids) as they often cause mischief towards their high-tempered human father figure and manager Dave Seville, who was based on the series' creator, Ross Bagdasarian, (Sr.). Bagdasarian provided the speaking and signing to the three rodents as well as voicing the hapless bachelor Dave.Aside from the seven-minute Chipmunk segments, the show also had segments featuring the misadventures of bumbling inventor Clyde Crashcup voiced by Shepard Menken who essentially re-invented various items and took credit for dreaming it up in the first place. His creations often backfired on him until his silent hyper competent assistant Leonardo saves him from any further self-destruction.Twenty six episodes were produced for the "Chipmunks" and "Clyde Crashcup" segments along with fifty-two musical segments. It used a Three Shorts format with the "Clyde Crashcup" segments sandwiched in between.Despite being drawn in color, the show was played in black-and-white format in primetime against the hit Wagon Train though it didn't fare well in prime time and was cancelled after the first season. Though the characters themselves proved to be enormously popular with young viewers the show popped in in repeats on CBS Saturday morning in 1962, airing to widespread success for three seasons.The series later was revived on NBC-TV, being promoted under the title Alvin and the Chipmunks Saturday morning between March 10, 1979 and September 1, 1979.Viacom Enterprises distributed reruns of The Alvin Show to local stations to coincide with its successor, Alvin and the Chipmunks.Sometimes in 1994, Nickelodeon picked up broadcast rights for the show and ran the episodes daily until early 1995. During that time as well as sometime afterwards, the individual cartoons and musical segments were inserted into episodes of Weinerville. The show ultimately vanished from the airways.NOTE: Tropes under here are specifically for the '60s cartoon series.
The Alvin Show is a short-lived primetime - Tropes exclusive to the whole franchise go in Franchise.Alvin and the Chipmunks;
- Tropes exclusive to the '80s cartoon series go in WesternAnimation.Alvin and the Chipmunks;
- Tropes exclusive to the 1987 animated film go in The Chipmunk Adventure;
- Tropes exclusive to the Direct-to-Video movies go either in:
- Tropes exclusive to the live action/CGI movies go in Film.Alvin and the Chipmunks.
The Alvin Show provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Misnaming: Mrs. Frumpington, their neighbor, can never get Dave or Alvin's name right no matter how many times they correct her.
- Acrophobic Bird: In "Stanley the Eagle", the Chipmunks take care of an eagle named Stanley who's scared of flying and they help him face his fears.
- A Day in the Limelight: Theodore in "Theodore's Dog."
- In a way, the episode "Haunted House" seem to focus little more on JP Lester (the bedsheet ghost) and his exploits on trying to scare Dave and the Chipmunks who are fixing up the Chesley Estate.
- Adult Fear:
- In the episode, "Stanley the Eagle", when Dave finally sees the eagle* , he starts freaking out. Now picture a parent seeing any kind of wild/deadly animal (snake, wolf or even a bear) getting in their back yard were their kid(s) are playing...
- Another example is in the episode "Sam Valiant Real Estate", a tree topples over Theodore but he thankfully slips through the hole. Imagine a tree toppling over a child?
- Or the episode "Camping Trip", the thought of a bear mauling your own kid?
- Although they were on a set and the train was a fake, but seeing a train coming right at your own kid(s) from the musical segment "Working on the Railroad".
- Agony of the Feet: At the beginning of "Working on the Railroad", Simon (of all people) does this to Dave with a sledgehammer.
- Air-Vent Passageway: Done by Theodore and Alexander (the dog he brought home with him) in "Theodore's Dog".
- All Just a Dream: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" musical segment in which the stage where Dave gets annoyed by the chipmunks goofing up the song doesn't happen for real. Dave wakes up in bed with his hand in the air at the end.
- Apathetic Citizens: See quicksand sucks below.
- Art Initiates Life: Clyde Crashcup was an inventor who "invented" common things that have been around forever, using a Magic Crayon to create them.
- Attack of the Political Ad: "Alvin for President"
- Balloonacy: In one of the teaser openings, Alvin buys a bunch of balloons and hands them to Dave, sending him floating away to the sky.
- Banging Pots and Pans: Theodore does this in "Theodore's Dog", after the basset hound Theodore got made a loud noise in which Dave ask what that sound was, in order to make up a ruse on the fact he just shoved said basset hound through the basement's window.
- Bears Are Bad News: Subverted in "Camping Trip".
- Beatnik: In the musical segment for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", Alvin dresses as one in order to attempt a rock and roll version of the song (much to Dave's annoyance).
- Bedsheet Ghost: J. P. Lester, an actual ghost, haunting Chesley Estate in "Haunted House".
- Bedsheet Ladder: Alvin uses one to get out of his house in "Alvin's Alter Ego".
- Bungling Inventor: Clyde Crashcup.
- By Tree That Is Holey: Theodor is asked to swing on a rope, which is tied to a very old tree with a gaping hole. When Theodore tugs at the rope, the tree topples over but Theodore is unharmed because he slipped through said hole.
- Cassandra Truth: Dave called the cops about Stanley the Eagle. When the cops arrived, Stanley isn't there but high above the air, flying in circle and the cops (who think Dave spends too much time composing music) drag him to jail or wherever
- Characterization Marches On: Simon and Theodore lack their distinctive personalities that fans of the later medias are used to, usually little more than more well behaved counterparts to Alvin. Dave is also noticeably more of a comedic hot head here.
- Crossword Puzzle: Simon is seen working on one in "Theodore's Dog".
- The Dark Age of Animation
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: There's the musical segment for "Pop Goes the Weasel" where we have Alvin walking into "Sam Merlin's Magic Shop" and Sam Merlin himself is this big, creepy guy with this... voice. The man starts asking Alvin if he likes magic as well as... mm, yeah we need a little help explaining this one...
- The Door Slams You: Happens to Dave in "Squares" and the ghost in "Haunted House".
- Double Take
- In "Alvin for President":Dave: Hey Simon, Theodore, what's he doing?
Simon: He's running for President.
Theodore: (giggles) Yeah, President.
Dave: Really? Well isn't that— (gibberish) PRESIDENT?! - At the end of "Lovesick Dave", the Chipmunks do this when Dave cancelled his plans on having a pool installed in the backyard.
- In "Alvin for President":
- Dream Sequence: Dave has a bitter one during the "Alvin's Harmonica" episode. While talking in his sleep.
- The Eponymous Show
- The Everyman: Theodore and Simon.
- Evil Chuckle: The ghost, J. P. Lester, in "Haunted House" dons one when he prepares to scare Alvin via popping out of the fireplace. He fails.
- Eye Glasses: Simon dons these.
- Fantasy Sequence: "Sir Alvin"
- Follow the Bouncing Ball: The Alvin and the Chipmunks Sing Along videos in 1994, which only consist of sing-along versions of the 1960s Chipmunks musical cartoons. Invoked by the videos' theme song with the lyric "Let's all sing with the Chipmunks, follow the bouncing ball!"
- The Generic Guy: Theodore and especially Simon.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: "Alvin's Alter Ego"
- Face Palm: Simon does this when Dave trips over his ball he forgot to put away in "Lovesick Dave".
- Hat Damage: Sam Valiant's hat in "Sam Valiant: Real Estate" wounds up with arrows.
- Haunted House: The "Chesley Estate". Heck, the title of the episode is called "Haunted House"!
- Henpecked Husband: In one of the Clyde Crashcup shorts, "Crashcup Invents a Wife" named Pictorial. Their relationship turns out like this, and Clyde eventually reaches the breaking point:Clyde: Now look here, Pictorial, my patience is wearing thin. I am a scientist, not a chambermaid. Leonardo is my able assistant, and I demand that you release him this instant. Your presence is this household has become unbearable! Do I make myself clear??
Pictorial: ...You all through?
Clyde: ...Yes, Pictorial, sweetheart.
- At the end, Crashcup throws Pictorial out of the house and promises the fourth wall, "I'll be back next week, a bachelor at work."
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Clyde Crashcup gets stuck in a chimney once in an episode where he's doing a lecture on "Do It Yourself". After Leonardo frees him, he begins a lecture on help.
- Horrible Camping Trip: Well, "Camping Trip".
- Hypocrite: Look below.
- Hypocritical Humor: In the episode "Theodore's Dog", when the chipmunks are in bed after a long day of Theodore hiding the dog in house and bugging Dave about wanting one, this happens:Dave: Tomorrow, we hit the road boys, so get a good night sleep!
Theodore: I could sleep better if I had a dog guarding me.
Dave: Theodore! And Alvin! Take off your cap!note
Alvin: {to Theodore) Why do you always make Dave mad!?
(Theodore gives him a quick dirty look) - I Am Not Weasel: In the Chipmunks segment "Oh Gondoliero!", the Gondoliero mistakes the Chipmunks for mice and they try to correct him by telling him "We're not mice, we're chipmunks!" Then they kick-start a song for him with "Oh, Gondoliero, we are not mice, we're singing chipmunks, we told you twice!"
- If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: Dave gives Theodore medication after said chipmunk fakes eating himself sick in "Theodore's Dog".* "Dave: (to Theodore) You can't have a dog, so you eat yourself sick! And when you eat yourself sick, what do you do? You take something bitter! Right Theodore?
Theodore: (eyes squeezed shut) Right Dave. (takes spoonful of medicine, face showing disgust) - Ink-Suit Actor: As drawn, Clyde Crashcup somewhat resembles the physical appearance of his voice actor, Stephen Menken.
- Irony: When driving to the Chesley Estate Dave inherited in "Haunted House", he describes the old place as "Magnificent structure, those stately white pillars, that beautiful landscaping, those formal garden..." When we the viewer see the place, it's anything but that. The house is in shambles both inside and out, the garden is a sight for sore eyes... well he got the white pillars right...
- In "Sam Valiant Real Estate", after seeing a vulture perch itself on a sign reading "Vachaua (?) Estates", which Sam Valiant called "Bird of Paradise", he says "Look at the enjoyed faces of those youngsters!" We cut to Alvin, Simon and Theodore, who were previously outside standing next to Dave, peeping out of the window inside the car looking anything but enjoyed.
- Ironic Nursery Rhyme: One episode has Alvin, Simon and Theodore singing "Alouette" in French. Then this occurs:Dave: I'm sorry, but I can't understand what you're saying. Can you please sing it in English?
Alvin, Simon and Theodore: Can we sing it in English? (start singing) "If you love me, tell me that you love me, if you don't please tell me that you do! Tell me that you love me true, tell me that you really do! Do do do, love me true, aaaah!" - It's Been Done: Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo tried to invent the chair, baseball, jokes, the bed and dozens of other things, and seldom got it right.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Crashcup claiming to have invented inventions that already existed, or being the first to discover things already discovered.
- Large Ham: Clyde Crashcup.
- Last Note Nightmare: "Rock-A-Bye Baby" in the Crashcup segments, namely the ones where he invents the bed and the baby. Played at the end of the episode — normally the first time around, then as things go awry for good it repeats — but speeds up and slows down like a warped record.
- Laugh Track: Averted. Bagdasarian insisted that the show skip the addition of a laugh track, against the wishes of the network. Though there was the sound of clapping that could be from a machine in "Wild, Irish Rose".
- Limited Animation
- Mad Scientist: Clyde Crashcup, again.
- Medium Awareness: The musical segments of the show.Dave: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! As we all know, the community that sings together, sings together, so come on all you happy people. Open and let's sing and swing together.
- The Nose Knows: Subversion: A few episodes feature "Sam Valiant, Private Nose." He thinks his enormous schnoz solves mysteries, but he's always way off.
- Oh, Crap
- At the end of "Yankee Doodle" musical segment, Alvin sends a whole bunch of bowling balls that substituted as canons toward Dave, who's in the orchestra pit. Dave probably had to be in the hospital for... at least 100 days.
- Midway toward the end of "Working on the Railroad" musical segment, Dave is pushing the tram on the train tracks the boys are on, trying to out run the train. Turns out it was just a prop and the four are actually on a set, filming.
- At the end of "Lovesick Dave", the boys do a double take after Dave just cancelled about constructing a pool in the backyard for them.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Not only is J.P. Lester an actual bedsheet ghost but he's solid enough that Dave's able to pick him up and hold him, not to mention being able to fit into tight places like in a can.
- Out of Character: In-universe at the beginning of "Lovesick Dave", where Alvin breaks the lamp with his paddle ball and shatters it. Instead of yelling at Alvin, Dave asks if he's all right. Dave doesn't even yell at Theodore when zooming by him wearing roller skates or at Simon when he tripped over the bespectacled chipmunks' ball, which the Chipmunks to suspect something is up, though it appeared Simon noticed Dave's strange behavior before the episode started.
- Painted Tunnel, Real Train: Clyde Crashcup "invents" by drawing things in midair.
- Playing Sick: Theodore in "Theodore's Dog". See if it tastes bad it must be good for you example for more elaboration.
- Prime Time Cartoon
- Quicksand Sucks: In "Sam Valiant Real Estate", when showing the Chipmunks the "sand pile", he's too busy talking that he doesn't notice he's sinking and all the while, Alvin, Simon and Theodore are standing right there in front of him! Fortunately, Dave pulls the idiot out in a nick of time.
- Scooby Stack: Alvin, Simon and Theodore in "Lovesick Dave".
- Shout-Out: See the main shout out page for the franchise.
- Show Within a Show
- At one point, the Chipmunks are watching a Clyde Crashcup segment.
- The chipmunks appeared in some parody reality show in the "Chipmunk Fun" musical segment.
- In "Ostrich", Dave tells the boys there will be no TV for two weeks unless they remove the ostrich from the top of their car (which the ostrich thinks is an egg):
Alvin: You mean I can't even watch me?? - Signature Laugh: Theodore's "huhuhuhuhuhuh!" giggle.
- The Silent Bob: Clyde Crashcup's assistant Leonardo, who only speaks when he whispers something in Clyde's ear.
- Sleepwalking: Theodore fakes one in "Theodore's Dog".
- Special Effect Failure: In-Universe with a film set in "Working on the Railroad" musical segment.
- The Teaser
- There Is Only One Bed: Dave and the boys share one in "Haunted House".
- There Was a Door: Often done in "Good Neighbor" with door or wall smashing.
- Third-Person Person: The ghost in "Haunted House" refers to himself by name: "J. P." sometimes adding "Lester".
- Three Shorts: Followed the A-B-A format, with Clyde Crashcup as the middle segment.
- Totem Pole Trench: Seen in "Disk Jockey," when the Chipmunks do this to try and get a radio station to play their new record (wearing a long coat, with Alvin on top wearing a hat and wig), and they probably would have succeeded if Theodore hadn't poked his head out of the disguise and said, "You're welcome!" among being thanked by the DJ.
- Unexpected Inheritance: Supposedly Dave in "Haunted House", since the episode opens up with him saying "I still can't believe it! Me inheriting the Chesley Estate!"
- The Unintelligible: Leonardo's only speech is whispering to Clyde Crashcup's ears.
- He only speaks audibly once, when upset, in an angry whimper like a Pekingese trying to talk.
- The Unfavorite / Out of Focus: To a lesser degree, Simon didn't have one episode focused on him whilst all the episodes focus on Alvin* and Theodore had one episode based solely on him.
- Variety Show
- Voice Actor
- Watch Out for That Lamppost!: One of the cold opens has Dave driving a car and waving at us, only to thud into a lamppost. Then comes the Chipmunks dressed as paramedics as Simon and Theodore try to take the damaged car to the ambulance, but Alvin corrects them and they decide to take Dave instead.
- What Happened to the Mouse?
- What happened to Alexander the basset hound in "Theodore's Dog"?
- Speaking of dogs, where did that puppy go the Chipmunks and Dave were looking for in the "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?" musical segment?
- Not to mention Theodore's pet parakeet, George?
- Wingding Eyes: Dave gets swirly ones in his Oh, Crap moment at the end of the "Yankee Doodle" number.
- Wraparound Background