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Interesting. It seems like Goering going to get some fairly good press in the West. This may only help to bring his foreign policy platform to fulfillment. The coming purge of the SS might influence this but as long as Nazi hardliners get to be the victims it is not likely going to be bad publicity.
Finnish submission to Soviet demands is another interesting butterfly. No Winter War means that the flaws of the Red Army that it revealed shall remain unknown and uncorrected, but the Soviet military shall be thought of as more powerful than it actually is.
Stalin has peacefully won what IOTL took a war to accomplish, a receipt for greater boldness and confidence. If I understand it correcty, the USSR already moved to occupy the Baltic countries (the update made reference to Latvia and Estonia, I'd expect Lithuania too gets swallowed, since after the post-Poland revision of the M-R Pact it was included in the Soviet sphere of influence).
I'd therefore expect that Stalin turns soon to acquire the other gains awarded him by the M-R Pact. As it concerns Finland, before the fiasco of early Winter War, the original Soviet objective was occupation and annexation or Sovietization of the country. So it is actually quite possible that despite Finnish acquiescence to initial Soviet demands, the USSR actually still tries to escalate the crisis and occupy Finland with one pretext or another.
The other possible objective is Bessarabia, and Stalin may soon send an ultimatum to Romania for it if he leaves cowed Finland alone. There was an Entente guarantee on Romania, and Germany is dependent on its oil (less so after the peace, of course), but neither side can do much to defend Romania against the Soviets till the peace treaty is finalized. It might be an interesting butterfly if Finland does not fight, but Romania does.
Last edited by Eurofed; October 12th, 2011 at 07:32 PM..
A bigger problem is the possible hit Finnish national morale has taken. After the Winter War most people realized that the heavy peace had to be made to retain independence, now many will think that the government just chickened out, lost face and betrayed the people. The parliament as well as popular opinion were heavily against accepting the Soviet demands.
Finland would look to Germany for help. And Sweden, of course, even if to no avail. Like during OTL's Interim Peace, the Finnish government will feverishly buy any weapons from anyone willing to sell them. Some of these deals would be made even as the negotiations with the Soviets were still ongoing, for example Italy would most likely sell planes to Finland regardless of the war. IOTL, Hitler blocked their transport through Germany.
What would Göring do with Finland? IOTL, he acted as one of the first avatars of future German help, already during the Winter War.
Lost in a new world,
In Chapter Ten of The Drive - A StarReach Tale.
Last edited by DrakonFin; October 12th, 2011 at 07:02 PM..
Well, Goering is going to have to lay low with Stalin and stick to the M-R Pact as long as the war with the Entente continues and some time afterwards. As soon as a peace treaty can be signed, we may expect him to gradualy switch back to anti-Communism and Soviet containtment, the sooner and more decisively the more and swifter he can entrench a detente with the West. He did fear a war with the USSR as much as he did the one with the Entente, so he would not seek a war with the Soviets unless he has secured an alliance with Britain and France.
Therefore, it much depends on how quickly Germany and the Entente can go back to friendly terms. I dunno whether in the near future Stalin is going to focus on applying the methods used on the Baltics to Finland, turn his attention to Romania, or try and do both at the same time. We may expect that the swifter the Entente and the Germans can disentangle from theri clash, they can turn their energies back to contain Soviet expansionism, which is going to stiffen the spine of and provide some help to the Finns and the Romanians at least somewhat.
November 18th, 1118, Rome, Pallazio Il Duce
Mussolini was sitting in his spacious office, lost in thought. 'It seems that this entire war is winding down. Just as well, considering the report Badoglio gave me on the 'mighty machine of war' he presents me on paper. All I can see here is his wishful thinking!' he thought. Grabbing the red pen, he scribbled '200.000 regular troops?!?! Unacceptable' on the margins of the report. After careful study of the report he realised that Italian Army was not ready for war. They lacked almost all forms of modern equipment. The artillery has barely moved away from the Great War technology. Airforce was even worse. 'At this time and age we are condemned to using biplane fighters? Even Poland was able to field more modern airforce.' raged Mussolini inwardly. The only area he could be reasonably happy with was Regia Marina. The navy boasted 6 capital ships, of which 4 were among most modern in the World. In addition 19 cruisers, 59 destroyers and more than 100 submarines could be counted on. However impressive, these numbers were almost totally overwhelmed by French and British Mediterranian fleets. Also, Italy lacked any aircraft carriers, of which one was under construction. Position of Italy was exasperated further by the fact that sea was its natural medium of attack and defense. Numerous ports and entire coast of Italian penninsula were at once her strength and weakness. They could base their navy almost anywhere down the length of Italian boot, but also enemy might strike at any point outnumbering anything Italy could put to sea. If Britain and France were both to join the war against Italy, it would be mad to try anything against them. Further complication for Italian situation was its ambiguous relation with Germany. While Hitler was at helm, Mussolini could rely that Germany was Italian friend. Even then, he was frequently kept in dark as to the real intentions of his northern neighbour. He played his part in capture of Austria, feeling indebted for support received during the Ethiopian crisis. He helped settle Czech affair peacefully. His attempts to mediate Polish affairs were brushed off by Hitler and Allies alike. German request to join the war in 1939 caught him entirely by surprise. After all the discussions with his fellow dictator, during which war was planned for 1942, Hitler just blundered into the war.
The day he was killed during that foolish ceremony, Mussolini was still angry with him. He allowed his rage to vent aloud to Ciano and Badoglio. He ordered mobilization without really knowing what to do or whom to attack. Now, having seen the state of Italian forces he was sure that no action from Italy will come this year. Instead, he will try to improve Italian forces and prepare the invasion of Yugoslavia on spring. The country to his east was ripe for picking. It was a conglomerate of nationalities under domination of Serbia. Though friendly with French, it was by no means guaranteed by them or Britain. Mussolini had the means to destabilize the country from within and to break it up from outside. He decided to send Ciano to Hungary to try and get their help to dismember the country. Bulgaria was one of the other candidates whose help Italy could enlist. Both countries fostered teritorial ambitions toward Yugoslavia, had reasonably strong military and could be expected to cooperate with Italy given some diplomatic foreplay. Italy herself had established bridgeheads on the coast, as cities of Fiume and Zara belonged to Italy giving Italian forces two supply ports for advances up and down the coast, as well in hinterland. The only problem with the plan, aside the fact that Yugoslavia having military force large enough to present a significant challenge in the difficult terrain (a problem Mussolini hoped to address by fostering internal division), was that France and Britain seemed to be closing down their hostilities with Germany. If the war on the west is over, they would have ample time and forces to take care with any unwanted disturbance in Europe. Mussolini hoped that internal unrest might disuade them from interfering in the conflict, presented to them as indigenous. Anyway, as decision time was long and before the commiting to the policy irretriveably there were many bridges to be crossed, Mussolini decided to take chances and began writing memos to his subordinates immediately. Once preparations were complete, he will stop and carefully reconsider the idea again. In the meantime he will follow aged maxima of Romans "Divide et Impera."
Last edited by Shaby; October 14th, 2011 at 07:35 AM.. Reason: The date was wrong, 17th instead of 18th
OK. Changed to better reflect reality. I choose somewhat clumsy way to convey my thoughts.
Yes, given the new international situation, Yugoslavia is pretty much the only way Mussolini can do some expansion. Neither Goering nor the Entente are going to mind much. And for various reasons (the is the war the Italian army has been preparing for a long time; no logistic bottleneck and strategic contiguity to Italy; no British support; Hungarian and Bulgarian intervention) Italy is going to fare much better in this war than in OTL Greece.
November 18th, 2025, Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof
Konstantin von Neurath got off the train that brought him from Prague to Berlin. That morning he received an order to report to Reichspraesident next morning. He hastily organized the trip, and eight hours after boarding train he arrived to Berlin. The trip, which normally took 6 hours at most was delayed by numerous troop transports as train approached Berlin. Having finally arrived and exhausted by trip, he proceded to the Kaiserhof, to get a good night sleep. As one of the most capable diplomats in Germany, Neurath had a general idea why he was invited to Berlin in such haste. He knew that negotiations were about to start and he guessed he'd have prominent role in the peace process. Neurath, through his contacts at foreing ministry has gathered that, after disposing of Ribbentrop few days earlier, Goering took over Foreign affairs ministry personally.
November 19th, 0900
Neurath came to the office of the Praesident. The guards inspected him and his briefcase rather thoroughly and he was allowed to proceed inside. Goering greeted him cordially "Good morning Herr Neurath. I hope you were able to catch some rest." Neurath nodded, saying "Yes herr Prasident, I caught some sleep. Berlin is a lot more peaceful than Prague in the last couple of days." "I heard about the demonstrations, herr Neurath. Good job in dispersing the crowd. I just hope you took precautions to stop the news spreading to the outside world. It would be embarassing if information on this leaked out at this moment." observed Goering and continued "I presume you guess the reason I invited you over. As you know, I have decided to try and end this conflict in diplomatic manner. We are alone here--- Oh, don't pay attention to Konrad. Nothing we say will get out of this room. We will talk openly and as frankly as possible. You must know as much as I do in order to negotiate successfuly. My conclusion after reviewing entire situation is that present war exposes our country to an extreme danger. On the battlefield our forces face numerically equal if not somewhat superior forces. Technologically we are more or less on equal terms with the enemy. We were able to overcome Poland, but I am afraid this success is more due to Polish failings than our own prowess. After action report I received from General staff paint a bleak image in some aspects of our forces. I am not at all confident in the posibility of overcoming French and English forces. However, our greatest failing so far is on economic front. Germany is simply not able to undertake a prolonged, large scale war which is necessarry to defeat French army. Late Fuehrer never understood economic facts, although I tried to convey to him that waiting just a few years would enable us to confidently tackle any power in Europe. Fortunately, it seems our enemies are just as unwilling to fight us and we have started negotiations. Predictably, their starting terms are harsh, but not on the scale of November 1918. I have decided to appoint you as German Plenipotentiary at the Peace convention. Next session is in two days, and in this time you are to pick your staff. I expect you to be ready to leave to The Hague early on the 20th. I will authorize you to negotiate in the name of Greater German Reich. You must make it clear that maximum concessions we will accept is creation of independent Poland, demilitarized zone up to 5 kilometers wide on both sides of Franco-German frontier. Any reduction of Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine is acceptable only in case equal restrictions are enforced to English and French. We will not accept unilateral control of German armed forces. We seek recognition and guarantee of final borders of Reich by all involved powers. We will in turn sign non-agression treaties with all neighbouring countries. Do you have any questions, herr Neurath?"
Neurath was surprised with Goerings monologue. He knew that Reichs foreign policy was changing, but this... Neurath inability to make Hitler moderate his ambition was exactly the thing that caused the gap between them to rise. More compliant Ribbentrop was placed on his place, and the current disaster ensued. He immediately asked "Herr Praesident, will I have full freedom in negotiations?" "Naturally herr Neurath!" was the answer. "Well, I would like to have herr Pappen on my staff if it is possible and herr Weizsaecker as well. As for, negotiations, I cannot make any plan now, until I hear demands of the enemies. Then, we will plan our negotiation tactic." concluded Neurath. "Herr Praesident, I will need to talk to her von Welczek. I will need to gain some insight in thinking of the enemies prior to the conflagration."
Last edited by Shaby; October 14th, 2011 at 03:41 PM.. Reason: Correction thanks to my friend
About Dirksen, I don't see why he would e a good person to ask for advice, because of his previous advice about Poland..
Definitely enjoying your timeline Shaby. I find everything in it to be reasonably plausible.
The only specific thing I would take issue with is the overly smooth transition to a new sort of governement. I'd think that there would have been more chaos and disorder.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks. Keep reading.
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text: 'Me And You' Pillowcase by Karin Åkesson Design £12.50$24.08€16.09$19.15 13 customer reviews(13) In stock £7.25$13.96€9.33$11.11 delivery to China Receive this item 5-10 working days from dispatch International delivery available quantity by Karin Åkesson Design Location: London, GB read seller's profile see seller's complete range more items from this seller 'You Are All I Ever Dream About' Pillowcase by Karin Åkesson Design £12.50$24.08€16.09$19.15 Set Of Two Bird Quote Pillowcases by Karin Åkesson Design £25$48.16€32.18$38.31 'Love Is The Best Medicine' Print by Karin Åkesson Design £25$48.16€32.18$38.31 'You Look Amazing' Print by Karin Åkesson Design £25$48.16€32.18$38.31 'Beyoutiful' Pillowcase by Karin Åkesson Design £12.50$24.08€16.09$19.15 'We Go Together Like Bees & Honey' Pillowcase by Karin Åkesson Design £12.50$24.08€16.09$19.15 view all you may also like PRODUCT DETAILS CUSTOMER REVIEWS DELIVERY RETURNS Made in Britain ask seller a question save for later A single pillowcase featuring a hand drawn message in dark grey ink. This pillowcase design is a perfect way to show your loved one what they mean to you in a humorous way. The design lists a range of familiar duos, like salt & pepper and fish & chips, and then the list ends with 'You & Me'. The hand written message is screen printed at the bottom right corner of the pillowcase. A much appreciated gift for a wedding or anniversary. UK postage and packing for this item is free! There are four different designs in the same series so you can select your favourite two designs to make up the perfect pillowcase set! Please see my full range. made from: Screen printed with grey ink onto 100% cotton white pillowcase. Hand printed in England. Machine washable at 40 degrees. dimensions: Standard UK size: 50 x 70cm. product code: 227860 13 customer reviews Thu 18 Dec 2014 Great product and very prompt delivery. Came exactly as described. Sun 21 Sep 2014 Bought as a wedding gift. Really nicely presented, a lovely 'traditional' gift, but with a twist. Very pleased with them. Tue 17 Jun 2014 Sent as a gift so haven't seen myself. Looked great on line though. Thu 27 Mar 2014 No comment supplied. Sat 08 Feb 2014 Lovely gift for the modern bride ,NOT ON THE HIGH STREET always produce something different ,thank you for helping me to choose a gifts with a quirky touch !! Sun 05 Jan 2014 Fine Fri 22 Nov 2013 Excellent gift...well made Fri 06 Sep 2013 Very nice item, speedy efficient service, thank you! Tue 13 Aug 2013 I love the look of the pillowcases. They are a wedding present for a friend who I know will love them. Sun 11 Aug 2013 Thoughtfully packaged, lovely design and excellent quality. Mixed with you are all I ever dreamed about pillowcase for a brilliant gift.... well chuffed Fri 21 Jun 2013 Perfect for my cousin's wedding gift! Sat 25 May 2013 No comment supplied. Tue 14 May 2013 The print on the pillow was not as big as I thought it was going to be online. see all customer reviews hide some customer reviews read about our product rating system ratings guide trusted independent customer feedbackforum excellent bad good poor This product is dispatched to you by Karin Åkesson Design. MAINLAND UK order now and receive this item by price Free Delivery Wednesday 4 May FREEFREEFREEFREE Tracked Next Day 1pm Delivery Wednesday 4 May £6.95$13.38€8.94$10.65 Saturday Delivery Saturday 7 May £12.95$24.94€16.66$19.84 NON-MAINLAND UK estimated delivery price Highlands & Islands of Scotland 2-5 working daysfrom dispatch FREEFREEFREEFREE Northern Ireland 2-5 working daysfrom dispatch FREEFREEFREEFREE Other UK Islands 2-5 working daysfrom dispatch FREEFREEFREEFREE INTERNATIONAL DELIVERY estimated delivery price Western Europe 2-5 working daysfrom dispatch £5.00$9.63€6.43$7.66 Rest of Europe 5-10 working daysfrom dispatch £5.00$9.63€6.43$7.66 USA & Canada 5-10 working daysfrom dispatch £6.95$13.38€8.94$10.65 Asia & Australasia 5-10 working daysfrom dispatch £7.25$13.96€9.33$11.11 Rest of the world 5-14 working daysfrom dispatch £7.25$13.96€9.33$11.11 You have 28 days, from receipt of cancellable goods, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item. Please note: goods that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements, perishable products and personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken are non-refundable, unless faulty. Read more about our returns policy.Should you choose to return or exchange your order you will need to deliver the item(s) to the UK, where this seller is based. Karin Åkesson Design's return policy Please see notonthehighstreet.com's returns policy.

subset: commoncrawl


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'Full Figured Felines' in need of homes at Placer SPCABy: Michelle Carl, Managing Editor
Need a buddy to help keep your New Year's weight loss plans on track? How about a cat?
The Placer SPCA in Roseville is waiving adoption fees for "Full Figured Felines" now through Feb. 1.
These cats aged six month and older tip the scales at 12 pounds or more — that's a whole lot to love.
"Sometimes our more voluptuous felines are overlooked, usually because they're older," said Leilani Fratis, CEO of the Placer SPCA. "Generally, it's not the younger ones that tend to have the middle-age spread, if you will."
The tubby tabbies would do better in a healthy home environment, where loving owners can supervise them on a "Biggest Loser"-style plan for weight loss, Fratis said.
Plus, you know these guys and gals will never judge you for cheating on your New Year's resolution.
The Full Figured Felines adoption special is available at all Placer SPCA adoption locations, including Roseville, Auburn and Pet Food Express.
All adoptions from the Placer SPCA include spay or neuter surgery, microchip, vaccinations and a voucher for a free veterinary exam. Visit www.placerspca.org for more information, or call (916) 782-7722 or (530) 885-7387.


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Green Your Kid: Halloween! (Last Minute Tips)
Source: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/10/green_halloween_tips.html
- The 'Step by Steps' of the LED Green Light Grant Program
- Sustainable Upholstery
- Future Fashion: Eco-conscious Style
- LED Saving Solutions launches $10 Million Green Light Grant Program for the 2010 Holiday Season
- Beyond Bottles: A Better Way to Hydrate
- Greener Rockefeller Christmas
- Green Your Kid: Thanksgiving Fun for the Family
- In the Market for a New TV? Check out NRDC's Holiday Shopping Guide
- Update: Zero Emissions Race
- Leilani Returns to Racing: New Partnership Brings Together Racing, Veterans for Clean Energy
I love this time of year. Besides hustling for the school bus in the morning and the magic of birthdays for two of my kids, autumn in the Northeast brings the gorgeous spectrum of turning leaves and the appeal of crisp fresh apples. But most exciting of all is the big thrill of things that go bump in the night: Halloween!
What's really scary, though, is how easy it is for this season to take a toll on our wallets and the environment. But fear not -- I've discovered some easy ways to have a great and green Halloween!
DIY Costumes
Skip the smelly Halloween store and make some great memories together. A black eye pencil turns little faces into black cats; striped mismatched socks recall Pippy Longstocking; and a red cloth turns them into Superman. Or get really creative with a teasing comb, some flour and an old pair of glasses -- voila, you've got a little Einstein!
Pumpkin Snacks
Creepy jack-o'-lanterns aren't the only result of pumpkin carving. When they're done with their masterpieces, kids can also help make a healthy grab-n-go snack. Simply rinse pumpkin seeds in running water to remove the pulp. Toss with a teaspoonful of olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and roast at 400 F for 12 minutes. Yum!
A Better Treat
Depending on how old your kids are, you may or may not be able to control what they sink their teeth into this time of year. But you do have choices about what your household will hand out to eager trick-or-treaters. We love natural and organic lollipops. Fruit leathers and dark chocolate are also healthy choices that will still satisfy a sweet tooth.
Kids Helping Kids
As wild as things get during this exciting time, Halloween is also an opportunity to make the world a better place for less fortunate children -- while teaching our own kids something about compassion and responsibility. Encourage kids of any age to collect for UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund. A mere 7 cents provides 50 kids with safe drinking water for a day.
Lynda Fassa is the founder of Green Babies, an organic-cotton baby clothing company, and the author of two books (Green Babies, Sage Moms and Green Kids, Sage Families). She is a frequent blogger for sites like Grist.org, ParentsConnect.com, Treehugger.com and PlanetGreen.com. Lynda has also appeared in People, The New York Times, Parents and Parenting, and on the "Today" show, "Planet Green," "Fox News Happy Hour," "CBS Sunday Morning," "ABC News" and more.
This independant editorial content is brought to you by: Managing Editor Marisa Belger


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Jn 1:1-18 Happy New Year!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Thank God we measure time. Thank God we invited "years". Thank God they come to an end. Of course we all know that time and years are based on God's creation. But the fact that we celebrate the end of one year and the start of another is of our doing, and so it is a great excuse to reflect and meditate on life, our life, and what we have done (or failed to do) with it over the past "year".
How did it go? I know I have a lot of reflecting to do.
Who am I? This is a good question. It is open to discussion. Yet, the only person, other than God, that can give the most honest answer is the one that asks it. Only I know myself from the inside out. No one else does.
In Victor Hugo's classic, Les Miserables, Jean Valjean asks this very question. He could easily (and correctly) have answered it by stating the obvious; that he was a poor convict, a thief and a felon. But one day, a holy man, a bishop, changed everything in an exchange for silver and freedom. He purchased Jean Valjean's soul and gave it God. He commanded Valjean to live an honest life, and from that moment on, the thief and felon ceased to be, and a new man, born from above, came to be, who vowed to God to be an honest man.
God, and only God, can create and recreate man. How? By accepting him.
"To those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. And the Word became flesh…"
Have you sold your soul to the Lord? Have you given it to Him? Although his own people did not accept him, you can! I DID. I accepted Him into my life, and He gave me a new identity, a new birth, a new family and a new beginning.
Have you accepted the Lord into your life? Have you vowed yourself to the Lord?
When a couple gets married they take vows. When a priest gets ordained he takes vows. But vows are not made to a bishop, nor are they made to another human being. Above all, they are made to God. Those who vow themselves before God make vows to God.
Jean Valjean made a vow, and that vow directed his entire life. He was limited because of it. He was restricted because of it. He was forced to do things he never would have done all because of it. He became the man he did because of it. He became a saint.
At the end of this year, let us renew our commitment to our God. Let us vow our lives once again to the Lord. Let's live our vows faithfully at the start of a brand new year, a year dedicated to faith.
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Codesnippet: Poor man's benchmark, or quickly timing things in C#
For a project I'm working on I had to do some quick timing. Now manually working with DateTimes and TimeSpans isn't hard but I had to do a lot (e.g. more than 3) timings inside a bigger process and I wanted to know both the time the entire process took as the time parts of the process ate up. For this I created a handy StopWatch class which uses a stack to store different date times so you can easily do nested timing with very little code. This is nothing revolutionary but I thought I'd share it anyway. Its those little things that safe some time that are the nicest!
/// <summary> /// Always accesible timing apparatus /// </summary> public static class StopWatch { private static Stack<DateTime> timers; static StopWatch() { timers = new Stack<DateTime>(0); } /// <summary> /// Pushes the current DateTime onto the stack of timers /// </summary> public static void Push() { timers.Push(DateTime.Now); } /// <summary> /// Pops the top DateTime from the stack of timers, /// returns the TimeSpan between when the last Push and now /// </summary> public static TimeSpan Pop() { if(timers.Count > 0) { DateTime start = timers.Pop(); return DateTime.Now - start; } else { throw new Exception("Trying to pop while the stack is empty"); } } /// <summary> /// Calls Pop(), then prints the text "StopWatch: {totalSeconds} \n" /// directly to console. /// </summary> public static void PopAndPrint() { Console.Out.WriteLine("StopWatch: " + Pop().TotalSeconds); } /// <summary> /// Returns the TimeSpan between the last Push and now /// without popping the TimeSpan from the stack of timers /// </summary> public static TimeSpan Peek() { if(timers.Count > 0) { DateTime start = timers.Peek(); return DateTime.Now - start; } else { throw new Exception("Trying to peek while the stack is empty"); } }
static void Main(string[] args) { // Measure the entire process StopWatch.Push(); { // Measure subtask StopWatch.Push(); // Subtask took: StopWatch.PopAndPrint(); } // Entire process took: StopWatch.PopAndPrint(); }
StopWatch: 0.0010001 StopWatch: 0.0020001
C# Asynchronous sockets revisited
Three years ago I wrote a quick code snippet explaining asynchronous sockets. Recently someone found a rather large bug in that code so I decided to rewrite the tutorial (it's one of my more popular articles and people have long been asking for the source code, which I lost a few years ago. So this way I kill a bug and give people the source code all at once).
I would like to thank stackoverflow user Polity for notifying me of the problems.
The client
Let's first start with the client. For this example I created a small console application. It reads lines from the console until it sees an empty line. The text is then converted to a byte[] using the UTF8-Encoding schema. Meanwhile I create a socket and call the BeginConnect method to start the process of creating an asynchronous connection. Asynchronous in this regards means that the entire program can keep crushing while a separate thread setups up the connection and sends the data. To guide the setup and the sending of the data while the program is running several callbacks are used. One to finish the connection setup and one to send the actual data. Before the actual message is sent I first send 4 bytes to tell how long the message is going to be. (Not doing this caused a subtle bug in the previous version which assumed a message was done once the receive buffer of the server was not entirely filled).
The server
The server is also simple. There is one socket continuously accepting new connections. So in contrary to the previous version this version accepts multiple concurrent connections. Once a connection has been made a separate thread is spawned, implicitly, by using the asynchronous BeginAccept method. In a callback the connecting is accepted using a new socket so the server can keep listing for more connections on the old socket. For each connection a small state object is kept to do the bookkeeping. It stores the active socket, the buffer, and fields with information about the amount of data we expect to receive and how much data we have indeed received. In the read callback the first 4 bytes are extracted so that we know how much data to accept. After that we keep using BeginReceive until all data has made it's way to the server. Only then we reconstruct the message.
Note that I use the TCP protocol for the sockets so I know that the data will be complete and in-order.
The source code
I've created a Visual Studio 2012 solution with the above two projects in them. Everything is compiled using the .NET 4.5 framework. The example will probably also compile in .NET3.5 but I noticed some methods that I previously used were deprecated in .NET4.5, so I've used alternatives that might no be available in .NET3.5 (should be trivial to fix).
You can find the source code here
Farseer physics 3.3.1 and XNA: Joints
In the previous tutorial, which you can find here, we created static and dynamic bodies. In this second tutorial we are going to take a look at joints. Simply said a joint is used to make a connection between two bodies or a body and the background. The place where a joint is attached is called the anchor. Usually a joint has two anchors. One placed on the first body and one placed on a second body or on the world itself. Farseer uses the following naming convention for this. If a joint is 'fixed' it provides a joint between a body and the background/world. If a joint is not fixed it is used to connect two separate bodies to each other. So a RevoluteJoint connects two bodies and a FixedRevoluteJoint connects a body and the background/world.
Overview of joints
There are quite a few types of joints in Farseer:
Standard joints
Angle joints
Keeps a body at a fixed angle from another body or the world.
Distance joints
Keeps a body at a fixed distance from another body or from an anchor in the world.
Friction joints
Applies translational and angular friction to a body.
Line joints
A line joint can best be seen as a spring. It linearly connects to bodies (or a body and the background) together and tries to keep them at a fixed distance. It does not limit relative rotations but it does limit translation over one axis. They can be a bit tricky to place since the mass of the bodies themselves already affects the distance between the two bodies so setting the 'at rest' state is a bit of trial and error. Note that Line Joints are a new addition to Farseer and are not available in Box2D.
Prismatic joints
Enforces that two bodies can only slide in a linear motion (one degree of freedom) with respect to each other. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prismatic_joint
Revolute joints
The most standard joints. Allows a body to rotate around an implicit axis coming from the screen (Z-Axis). Can be used to connect a body to the background or to another body. Can be motorized.
Slider joints
A sort of prismatic joint that doesn't limit the bodies to just linear motion. Best described as a combination of a revolute joint and a prismatic joint. Note that Slider Joints are also not available in Box2D.
Weld joints
Connects two bodies together disallowing any form of relative rotation/translation.
More complex joints
Gear joints
Connects two revolute joints or a revolute joint and a prismatic joint. Simulates that they are connected by gears so if the body on the first revolute joint rotates the body on the second revolute joint will rotate in the opposite direction.
Pulley joints
Used to create a pulley system. (Two bodies both connected to a rope that runs over a pulley). Can be used to create sophisticated elevators.
If you would like to know more about the joints Farseer offers you can check the Box2D documentation here (Farseer is a C# implementation of Box2D, and although it's growing slowly to become more than that the best place for documentation is still the Box2D website).
Refactoring last week's example
After doing some coding I found that I need access to the world-to-screen and screen-to-world conversion methods for the joints and they are currently members of the DrawablePhysicsObject class. So before we start creating or own joints we must first refactor last week's example.
Create this new helper class:
public static class CoordinateHelper { // Because Farseer uses 1 unit = 1 meter we need to convert // between pixel coordinates and physics coordinates. // I've chosen to use the rule that 100 pixels is one meter. // We have to take care to convert between these two // coordinate-sets wherever we mix them! public const float unitToPixel = 100.0f; public const float pixelToUnit = 1 / unitToPixel; public static Vector2 ToScreen(Vector2 worldCoordinates) { return worldCoordinates * unitToPixel; } public static Vector2 ToWorld(Vector2 screenCoordinates) { return screenCoordinates * pixelToUnit; } }
And then update the DrawablePhysicsObject class to use the helper class.
Some setup
Last week we added a list to store all the boxes that we randomly spawn. This week we're going to create 'paddles' connected by joints. To store the paddles we're going to need another list. So open Game1.cs and add the following field:
List paddles;
Then add the following three lines to draw the paddles:
foreach (DrawablePhysicsObject paddle in paddles) { paddle.Draw(spriteBatch); }
I've also added another image to the content project called 'Paddle.png'.
Adding some bodies and joints
Now to demonstrate how to use joints I'm going to create three paddles. The first paddle will just be a simple body connected with revolute joint to the background. This means that it can spin freely. The second paddle is almost the same, but it will be motorized, adding some interaction to the scene. Finally we combine two line joints to create a trampoline. After this you should have a basic understanding on how joints work in Farseer.
A simple revolute joint
Add the end of the LoadContent method initialize the list we use to store the paddles. Then after that add the following code to create the first paddle:
// Create a simple paddle which center is anchored // in the background. It can rotate freely DrawablePhysicsObject simplePaddle = new DrawablePhysicsObject ( world, Content.Load("Paddle"), new Vector2(128, 16), 10 ); JointFactory.CreateFixedRevoluteJoint ( world, simplePaddle.body, CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(new Vector2(0, 0)), CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(new Vector2(GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width / 2.0f - 150, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height - 300)) ); paddles.Add(simplePaddle);
As you can see we first create a simple body, just as in the previous tutorial. The body is 128 pixels wide and 16 pixels high (note that the constructor of the DrawablePhysicsObject converts these units to world coordinates). It has a mass of 10KG. Note that we don't have to set the position of the body. This is implicitly done by the joint, which fixes the body on the background at the anchor positions.
Next we create the joint. The first argument is our physics simulation and is used to register our joint to the simulation. We then pass the body this joint should be applied to. Since this is a Fixed joint we don't need to pass a second body. The joint will connect the first body to the world. We then have to give some coordinates. We pass the center of the body (0,0) and somewhere in our world. Note that we use the conversion methods to go from pixel to world coordinates. Also don't forget the last line, where we add the paddle to our list of paddles, else it won't show up for drawing.
You can now run the simulation. Again press space to drop crate, you will see that we've create a small paddle that rotates freely when hit by a crate.
A motorized joint
The motorized joint is very similar:
// Creates a motorized paddle which left side is anchored in the background // it will rotate slowly but the motor is not set soo strong that // it can push everything away. DrawablePhysicsObject motorPaddle = new DrawablePhysicsObject ( world, Content.Load("Paddle"), new Vector2(128, 16), 10 ); var j = JointFactory.CreateFixedRevoluteJoint ( world, motorPaddle.body, CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(new Vector2(-48, 0)), CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(new Vector2(GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Width / 2.0f, GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Height - 280)) ); // rotate 1/4 of a circle per second j.MotorSpeed = MathHelper.PiOver2; // have little torque (power) so it can push away a few blocks j.MotorTorque = 3; j.MotorEnabled = true; j.MaxMotorTorque = 10; paddles.Add(motorPaddle);
Again we create a body and a Fixed Revolute Joint. But this time we store the joint created by the joint factory in the variable j so that we can access the properties of the joint. The revolute joint exposes a few interesting properties. The most interesting one is to motorize it. We've set a motor speed of pi/2. This means that the every second the joint will rotate the connected body by pi/2 radians, or a 1/4 of a circle. We also have to set the torque to give the motor enough power to rotate the body and to keep rotating even when a few crates are blocking the paddle. We also set the max motor torque and enable the motor. Again in the last line we add the paddle to our list of paddles so that it will be drawn.
A trampoline
To create a trampoline we will use two Line Joints (a sort of springs) to connect a paddle to the ground. This way we create some sort of trampoline. Add the following code:
// Use two line joints (a sort of springs) to create a trampoline DrawablePhysicsObject trampolinePaddle = new DrawablePhysicsObject ( world, Content.Load("Paddle"), new Vector2(128, 16), 10 ); trampolinePaddle.Position = new Vector2(600, floor.Position.Y - 175); var l = JointFactory.CreateLineJoint ( floor.body, trampolinePaddle.body, CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(trampolinePaddle.Position - new Vector2(64, 0)), Vector2.UnitY ); l.CollideConnected = true; l.Frequency = 2.0f; l.DampingRatio = 0.05f; var r = JointFactory.CreateLineJoint ( floor.body, trampolinePaddle.body, CoordinateHelper.ToWorld(trampolinePaddle.Position + new Vector2(64, 0)), Vector2.UnitY ); r.CollideConnected = true; r.Frequency = 2.0f; r.DampingRatio = 0.05f; world.AddJoint(l); world.AddJoint(r); paddles.Add(trampolinePaddle);
Now the creation of the body should look really familiar now. Note that this time we do have to set the position of the body. The line joint will try to keep the paddle and the ground at roughly the same position as the starting position from each other so it needs some initial position.
We create two joints, they are exactly the same, except for where they connect to the paddle. One is anchored on the left side of the paddle and one on the right side. So I will only explain the first line joint.
We start by passing the body of the first body the line joint should connect to, the floor. We then pass the body of the paddle. We tell the line joint to connect to the paddle at the given relative coordinates. We then give the axis of freedom the line joint should offer. In our case the Y-Axis.
We also set some properties, CollideConnected means that the paddle and the floor can collide with each other. Handy now but for a wheel inside a car you might want to keep this at the default, turned off, state. We also set a nice frequency and damping ratio. Finally we add the joints to the world. Don't forget this step! Only Fixed joints are automatically added to the world. We also add the paddle to our list of paddles to draw.
You can now run the simulation again. Try to drop a few crates on the trampoline, you will see that it behaves quite nicely.
Joints in Farseer are fairly easy to use and can add a dynamicity lot to your scene. Try playing around with all different joints to get a feel from them. All joints in Farseer are created using a way similar as shown in this tutorial. In the next tutorial we will add a controllable character and create a small platformer.
Using JavaScript as a script engine in XNA/C#
A scripting engine is a useful component in any game-engine. It allows you to execute modified code (aka scripts) in real time while your game is running. This gives you immediate feedback, allows for easy debugging of scripts and gives you true rapid prototyping abilities.
Scripting engines are also easier to work with than a full blown programming language, an error in a script is easy to recover from and because the scripts aren't compiled it's easy for the script interpreter to give helpful debug information. Even better: you don't have to compile the script and the game keeps running so immediately after you fix the bug in your script you can see the result.
Script engines gives opportunities for 'other'-programmers (gameplay, leveldesign, animator, etc..), they might not wish to delve into the intricacies of the programming language and frameworks you're using for the game engine but they will be more than willing to write some script to modify the behavior of that new enemy.
So, why write a scripting engine for XNA? Well after reading the article 'Embracing Dynamism' by Niklas Frykholm on #AltDevBlogADay I got interested again in scripting engines. Shortly after that I heard that someone wrote a full JavaScript interpreter for C# called JINT , well 1 + 1 = 2 so I started working on integrating JINT into XNA and see if I could set up an external IDE in WPF that, while the game is running, could load, modify and execute script code. After a few tries I finally succeeded and I'm pretty proud of the result.
All the wrapping and magic happens in the JintXNA project. The code, as it is now, works fine on Windows but Windows Phone and Xbox 360 support isn't there yet out of the box since JINT is targeted at the full .NET 4.0 framework. However there is a port of JINT which targets the .NET Compact Framework which should run on WP7 and the 360, I haven't tried this yet though.
You can download the full source code of JintXNA here this package includes the JintXNA project, the IDE and a sample project and script as seen in the video.
Another faster version of A* (2D+3D) in C#
As you might know I once wrote an A* sample for C# more than 2 years ago. The first version worked but was very slow because of a bug. The second version was faster, and a third version (made by one of the readers of this blog) was even faster.
Btw did you know that the excellent game Dysomnia shipped with (a modified) version of my C#/A* code? Ok it's just a few lines to get people started but it's really cool to see how people use this little start for their cool projects!
Anyway, back on topic: during my internship at Nixxes an interested co-worker (thanks Marcel!) tweaked the heuristic, removed some unnecessary checks, and added a faster way to check if a tile was processed yet.
There is not much else to say, it's still A*, it supports 2D and 3D, it uses a MinHeap and is faster than ever! (Note: this is a pure C# solution, so it doesn't require XNA, but it will work nicely with XNA even on WP7 and the Xbox360).
Download the latest version here
Older relevant blog posts about A* (from older to newer)
Nixxes internship post-mortem
I tried to do a weekly update during my internship at Nixxes, but I never got around to finish a single post. However since Post-Mortems are hip these days I decided to write a simple post-mortem about my internship.
Let's start with the beginning. In the first week my mentor at Nixxes was still on vacation so a co-worker set me up with a new computer (a shiny i7) and helped me set-up the development environment. I was handed a few drafts from another co-worker who a few years back wrote a proposal for the tool I was to build. So I tried to arm myself with knowledge and put my education to the task by writing things like inception documents and prototype proposals. Although this was a bit formal for the team (they only do a light scrum + two person commits) it helped me get a good overview of what I had to do. I also played a lot with their technology (trying to give good old Lara Croft green hair in a test-level of TR:Legend).
The tool I was to build had a simple enough goal and had to do with their automatic shader generation. I had to make a tool that gave artists insight in how different settings on materials would create different shader configurations. It was not to give technical insight inside the shaders (you wouldn't want to bore artists with that) . But to let them reduce the number of actual shaders by simplifying material.
In the next few weeks I started searching for existing tech, testing and prototyping. I needed tools to show large complex graphs with a lot of cross-nodes. So I started searching for layout algorithms (In the end I combined two layout techniques and wrote code myself, but it's always good to check if you're not reinventing the wheel, and it gave me some great insights).
I also had to familiarize myself with WPF, which I really enjoyed (the learning curve for WPF is much shorter than for WinForms and the performance and 'nice-ity' of WPF greatly outclasses WinForms).
After a few prototypes we decided on a work-flow for the program and refined the core questions the program had to solve. It's really helpful to write those down because a goal might be too abstract/far away so these core questions help you refine your way to do the goal and give you some work flow hints. (It's also good to have these in your help file).
Because of the limited time there was only one week of feedback from real artists but of course I was surrounded by techies to help fill this void.
In the end we refined the work flow once more and tied in the program with existing tools. (Up until now I was just parsing raw data). I hooked into a content-service using C++/CLI. This C++/CLI program also hosted my C#/WPF frontend, and to my surprise this worked really well and was easy to do!
In the end I left behind a well document and finished product and because we had a week to spare there was even quite some polish (the last week was used to add in some background workers and nicer progress bar, I also added cancellation support to the layout algorithm).
During my internship I also experienced the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, of which the tech and pc-port was done by Nixxes, so it was really great to see the game get an 8,9 on meta-critic!
The end-talk with my mentor was relaxed and pleasant. I knew I had done pretty well but I was quite surprised when he gave me a final grade of 9 out of 10! Yay!
All in all I had a great time, and I've learned a lot of new techniques (C++/CLI, WPF, Graph Layout Algorithms, Data Binding). I also finally got to experience a real hands-on approach where everything gets prioritized because resources are finite. On the university it's really a rare thing to experience this, so this was really an eye opener. I feel like I learned more valuable skills in these two months than I would have doing 3 more courses (Thanks to a helpful dean I could replace 3 courses with this intern shop)
I would like to thank everyone at Nixxes for a great time!
One of my co-workers again sped up my A* code after peeking at my blog. I have his code and am trying to add a nice visualizer to it this time before posting it, so expect it up soon.
Internship at Nixxes (cooperating with Ubisoft Montreal)
This summer I'll be doing an internship at Nixxes Software in Utrecht, the Netherlands. They are a group of highly experienced game technology programmers who are independent but work mostly for Ubisoft Montreal. Their latest projects includes work on "Lara Croft and the guardian of light", "Deus Ex: Human Revolution", and "Kane & Lynch 2". They mostly develop on the engine used for these games, and tooling. It's not yet sure what I'll be doing but it will probably be a tool that too measure where performance can be increased, it will probably written in C# with interop-ed with C++/CLI.
I'm not yet sure if I'll be working under an NDA (probably) and how much info I can release on what I've been doing, but I'd like to write a sort of development diary here. I'll probably not be writing tutorials for the coming 2 months because I won't have much free time.
Anyway I'll be back after 2 months, so stay tuned and enjoy your summer vacation (I hope it will be more of an actual vacation for most people 😉 ).
Traversal algorithms using yield
So two days ago I wrote a an article on traversal algorithms using delegates. One of the commenters (I'm looking at you Mart) mentioned a different approach using the yield keyword, which generates a state machine underneath.
I had heard of the yield keyword before, but I've never used it so far. I was thrilled to work out his comment, to find out how it works, et voila ,this blog-post was written.
I first wrote this generic Node class which allowed me to build a tree like structure.
public class Node<T> { public Node(T self, List<Node<T>> children) { this.self = self; this.children = children; } public T self; public List<Node<T>> children; }
Depth first traversal of this tree is easily done using yield.
public static IEnumerable<T> Traverse<T>(Node<T> root) { Stack<Node<T>> stack = new Stack<Node<T>>(); stack.Push(root); while (stack.Count > 0) { Node<T> n = stack.Pop(); yield return n.self; foreach (Node<T> child in n.children) { stack.Push(child); } } }
When compiled, this piece of code generates a thread-safe state machine (very nifty) but thanks to the abstraction that yield gives us we don't have to worry about. We can just interact with this method as if the result is an IEnumerable
foreach (int i in DepthFirstTraversal.Traverse<int>(rootNode)) { //DoSomethingWith(i); }
But what are the performance implications of this hidden state machine? To test this I've adapted the previous post's traversal algorithm to be as similar as possible:
public static void Traverse<T>(Node<T> root, Action<T> action) { Stack<Node<T>> stack = new Stack<Node<T>>(); stack.Push(root); while (stack.Count > 0) { Node<T> n = stack.Pop(); action(n.self); foreach (Node<T> child in n.children) { stack.Push(child); } } }
Performing a given action for each item in our tree (depth first) is done like this:
DepthFirstTraversal.Traverse<int>(rootNode, (i) => DoSomethingWith(i));
Using a recursive algorithm I constructed a tree (of ints) with a depth of 10, where each node has 2 child nodes. I then benchmarked how long it took to add each item in the tree to a list like this:
List<int> results = new List<int>(41); //Yield approach foreach (int i in DepthFirstTraversal.Traverse<int>(rootNode)) { results.Add(i); } //Action approach DepthFirstTraversal.Traverse<int>(rootNode, (i) => results.Add(i));
After 100.000 iterations the result was the following:
Average milliseconds for yield approach: 0.01265 Average milliseconds for delegate/Action<> approach 0.00578
So the yield approach is more then two times as slow as the delegate approach to a depth first traversal, which isn't surprising since we're talking state machine vs method+virtual lookup. Still it was interesting to see how yield works. For more in depth info about yield see this article by Jon Skeet.
See the code for this benchmark here
Traversal algorithms using generics, generic constraints (where), and Action
As many of you I enjoy solving a very complex problem, however sometimes it's finding new ways todo simple things that really excites me! This happened again today, I was working on a simple Depth-First-Search traversal algorithm when it suddenly doomed to me that I was duplicating a lot of code because I had to do DFS multiple times, with the only difference the action to take at each node.
Pondering about this for a few minutes and I thought about using a delegate as a sort of method pointer to tell the DFS algorithm what action to take for each node. I wrote a quick delegate and named it Action, but then I remembered that C# has the built in Action
With these techniques in mind I quickly wrote the following code:
public void DFS<T>(T node, Action<T> action) where T : IHasChildren<T> { Stack<T> stack = new Stack<T>(); action(node); stack.PushMany<T>(node.Children); while (stack.Count > 0) { T n = stack.Pop(); action(n); stack.PushMany<T>(n.Children); } } public interface IHasChildren<T> { List<T> Children; }
This way you can use DFS on any type of node as long as it implements IHasChildren, and you can use any Action
Stack.PushMany is my own extension method that allows a list to be put on a stack (just a simple for each).
Wrapping effect files into proper classes
In XNA shaders are processed into Effect objects by the content pipeline. These effect objects are not really 'first class citizens' because, contrarily to most C# classes, these classes have a lot of loosely-typed features. To remedy this I'm going to show you how I wrap these effect objects into their own wrapper, when we see the differences I'll explain the pros and cons of my approach.
For this tutorial we're going to use a part of a shader I use for deferred rendering:
float4x4 World : WORLD;
float specularIntensity = 0.8f;
texture Texture : TEXTURE;
As said, the content processor wraps this nicely into an Effect object. Now if we'd like to draw something with this effect it would probably be done something like this:
Effect effect = Content.Load<Effect>("myEffect"); //Draw: effect.Parameters.GetParameterBySemantic("World") = Matrix.Identity; effect.Parameters["specularIntensity"] = 0.5f; effect.Parameters["texture"] = 56; effect.Techniques["technique1"].Passes[0].Apply();
Given the rest of the code is correct this will compile nicely, however during runtime we will receive an exception. Because we set the effect parameter "texture" to 56, which is not a proper texture value. Due to the loose typing this error could not be detected by the compiler, so it could sneak up on us. Also it's a bit hard to remember all the parameters an effect has, because we cant see that without opening the .fx file, I'd argue that the effect class is not a proper class as we know other classes to be in C#. And it can't be, because it has to be compatible with so many different shaders. Therefor I push forward my approach.
For the above shader I would write the following class:
public class MyEffect { public MyEffect(Effect effect) { worldMatrix = effect.Parameters.GetParameterBySemantic("World"); texture = effect.Parameters.GetParameterBySemantic("Texture"); specularIntensity = effect.Parameters["specularIntensity"]; technique1 = effect.Techniques["Technique1"]; } public void Apply() { technique1.passes[0].Apply(); } #region FieldsAndProperties private EffectTechnique technique1; private EffectParameter worldMatrix; public Matrix WorldMatrix { set { worldMatrix.SetValue(value); } } private EffectParameter texture; public Texture2D Texture { set { texture.SetValue(value); } } private EffectParameter specularIntensity; public Texture2D SpecularIntensity { set { specularIntensity.SetValue(value); } } #endregion }
Using this code drawing an object would look like this:
MyEffect effect = new MyEffect(Content.Load<Effect>("myEffect")); //Draw: effect.World = Matrix.Identity; effect.SpecularIntensity = 0.5f; effect.Texture = 56; effect.Apply();
In my opinion this is a lot more readable and we now get an error while compiling that 56 does not match the type "Texture" also the new wrapper is more of an interface for the effect file. If we change one of the variable names in the effect file, we now only have to make a change at one place in our code base, even if we change the type of a parameter using some logic in the property we might still not have to change all the code. And if we really have to we will get a lot of helpful compiler warnings. We can now also find all references to a specific parameter. However the big downside is that Effect works for all effects (well you still have to remember the parameters and techniques which differ per shader), and this approach requires you to write a class per shader.
Anyway this is my approach, I'd love to know how other people handle this problem, and if you have any comments.
Update 7-2-2011:
After discussing alternative approaches (thanks Flashed!) I would like to give everybody a tip to try an extend this system. How about have a content pipeline project that automatically matches an effect file with an effect wrapper? You can use metadata in the .fx files todo this!


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Greensboro, NC -- Greensboro College wants its shepherd figure back. The figure was stolen from the college's Nativity scene Thursday morning.
A campus officer said the theft happened around 12:45am. He said he was watching the display when he saw a man acting suspiciously near the corner of West Market Street and College Place.
When he approached the man, two others came out from behind the manger, grabbed the shepherd figure and ran east toward downtown. Two security officers chased the men but were unable to find them
"The first thing I thought was, 'Really? Steal a Nativity figure?' and I then I thought, 'Again?" said Lex Alexander, Director of External Relations for Greensboro College.
In 2007, the original Nativity scene was destroyed by vandals. That set had been a gift from Jefferson-Pilot and had been on their Sedgefield property since 1937. It had been on Greensboro College's campus since 1990.
Theater Professor John Saari created a replacement set that was built and first displayed in 2008. Since that time, campus security has kept watch while it is on display.
"It was a labor of love," said Saari. "When you put that much time and effort into the pieces, you'd like to have them be there for the community."
"It was a projection of a shepherd as a good shepherd holding a baby lamb, actually, in his arms, so it's kind of a unique piece," Saari said about the stolen piece.
The stolen figure is valued at about $2,500.
"It's frustrating and exasperating and sort of makes you wonder where some people's Christmas spirit is," said Alexander. "We would just very much like to have the figure back."
The suspicious individual that was first spotted is described as a white male in his late teens or early 20s, about 5 feet 6 inches tall, weighing about 130 pounds, wearing a black pants, a black, hooded jacket, and sneakers of unknown color. No description of the other two men was available.
If you have any information, call Calvin Gilmore, Director of Campus Security and Safety at (336) 272-7102 ext. 245.
Greensboro College/WFMY


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Monday Jan 02 2012
Vista warming up as league play approaches
By: Matt Long/Telegraph Sports Editor
After starting the season with 10 straight losses, Vista del Lago's varsity boys' basketball team has won four of five games to gain some respect and even more importantly, confidence. At the Dixon Ram Jam Tournament held last week, the Eagles placed third by winning two of three games. Drew McPherson and Patrick Lowman made the all-tournament team. Vista opened the tournament with a 77-56 win over Winters, thanks to a huge second quarter which saw them outscore their opponent 25-6. "We really executed our game plan and went on a big run," Vista coach Matt von Tillow said. "We got stops, got rebounds and we had a lot of people making shots and scoring." Despite playing their best defensive game of the season, according to von Tillow, in the team's next game against Orland, Vista lost 54-49. "I was very happy with their defensive effort, as what we've been working on all season came together, but we just didn't make as many shots as we normally do." Vista rebounded, however, with a 75-47 win over River City, a team they'll face twice during play in the Sierra Valley Conference. "That was our most complete game of the season," said von Tillow. "We put together a good defensive effort and were also able to get our offense going. We started clicking and that was good because we were able to send a message to a league opponent." McPherson scored 59 points during the three tournament games, while Lowman finished with 53 points. "Drew has really picked it up," von Tillow said. "He's always been capable of scoring and I'm very happy to see that he's been doing a lot better lately. Pat just does whatever it is we need him to do. Jake Duenkel also had a good tournament, finding open guys and just getting us going offensively." After opening league play on Tuesday at El Dorado, Vista's next game is Jan. 10 at home against Cosumnes Oaks.


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The C++ String Toolkit Library (StrTk) consists of robust, optimized and
portable string processing algorithms and procedures for the C++ language
The C++ Mathematical Expression Library (ExprTk) is a simple to use, easy to
integrate and extremely efficient mathematical expression parsing and evaluation
A possible solution to the problem of creating call backs within C++ by using
a simple template pattern. The solution isn't fully complete but is a good guide
for how one can begin producing a call back framework within the object oriented
context of the C++ language.
The General Purpose Hash Function Algorithms Library has implementations
for a mix of both additive and rotative general purpose string hashing
The C++ Bitmap Library consists of simple, robust, optimized and portable
24-bit bitmap image processing algorithms for the C++ language.
The C++ TCP Proxy server is a simple and portable utility used for
proxying connections between external clients and a server.
The C++ DSV Filter Library is a simple to use, easy to integrate and
extremely efficient and fast CSV/DSV in-memory data store processing
The C++ Vector Expression Template Library is a simple expression template based vector library.
Simple C++ Lexer Toolkit Library (LexerTk) is a simple to use, easy
to integrate and extremely fast lexicographical generator
A simple tool for monitoring registry activity more specifically the
activity that occurs within registry keys and their respective sub-keys.
Wykobi is an extremly efficient, robust and simple to use C++ 2D/3D oriented
computational geometry library.
Schifra is a very robust, highly optimized and extremely configurable
Reed-Solomon error correcting code library for both software and IP
core based applications with implementations in C++ and VHDL.
The C++ Date And Time Parsing Utilities library is comprised of a set of
extremely fast and efficient parsing routines for common date and time
The C++ Logging Toolkit library is a simple to use, low overhead no frills logging
library designed to be used within a multi-threaded context.
The C++ Summation Toolkit library is a simple library designed for
summing lists of homogeneous Real values comprised of types such as
double and float.
A C++ class used for string parsing, similar to the Java string tokenizer class.


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Tag Archives: clay mask
ceramic art for your walls
Recently there was a Call to Artists in Sarasota that several of my friends answered. The call, like many others, was limited to art that can hang on a wall, meaning no 3 dimensional art. As someone whose pretty dedicated to clay, I didn't want to create new work on paper or canvas. It got me thinking about how versatile clay is as a medium and that I should consider making some wall art out of clay. I decided to start with some masks and this sock monkey is the first of many.
The mask measures around 7.5 inches from chin to pom pom and another 7.5 inches from ear to ear. At its thickest point, it's approximately 2 inches thick. The piece is hollow with a lip at the top of the back for easy wall hanging on a nail or a picture hanger. You can purchase this piece online through my etsy store.
For the sock monkey obsessed, you can also find sock monkey dishes like these in my etsy store.
Posted in My Art Also tagged ceramacist, ceramic art, ceramic artist, ceramic wall art, cool ceramics, home decor, sock monkey art, sock monkey mask, sock monkey sculpture Leave a comment


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Welcome to Stoken Photography. I hope you enjoy your time with me. Please check back frequently for more photos.
Photos in this slide show are the latest Iowa landscapes taken within this fall season. More photos are featured in my gallery - Midwest Scenes - Iowa Scenes. Visit my new website devoted exclusively to Iowa: www.Beautiful-Iowa.com. Enjoy
Come visit my store on CafePress!
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Egypt's president offers nothing to defuse crisis
CAIRO – An angry Mohammed Morsi refused Thursday to call off a referendum on a disputed constitution that has sparked Egypt's worst political crisis in two years, drawing chants of "topple the regime!" from protesters who waved their shoes in contempt.
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Macau world heritage city, Asia Las Vegas, an hour ferry from HK Island
Apartment , near the river with 2 bedrooms , sleeps 3 , 2 bathroom(s) , floor area of 60 m2 (645 sq.ft) , NO smoking, air-conditioning , including internet , number of travellers: 3
Exchange dates
We are open for all dates, mail us.
Where we want to go
1) Cambodia
Description of our house
My 2 bedroom apartment is located in Macau and Macau is 45 minutes ferry to Hong Kong Island. I live on the 9th floor in a very nice community building with 24 hr security and free shuttle to the historic center of Macau. It's very bright with windows in every room, a double bed and a sofa bed in the adjacent room. There is one bathroom in the living room and the other bathroom inside the bedroom is turned into a storage but you can still use the sink in the bathroom.
Accommodation and facilities
Stereo / hifi, tv / cable, sofa
Kitchen and washing:
Freezer, fridge, washing machine
Local activities:
Local places to go:
Fine restaurants, good shopping, nightlife
Languages spoken:
Nearest major airport:
Other information:
No smoking, including internet, hospitality considered
marks the location of this home
Our neighborhood
Macau is 45 minutes ferry from Hong Kong island and from Hong Kong international airport.
Something about ourselves
I'm a design lecturer in a University, single, 39 who like arts, design, architecture and exploring other cultures. I may travel with my mom and dad or with my other family members in my home exchange as I want them to see the world with me. My exchange period needs to be non-simultaneous as my only long holiday is from June - end of August.
Contact details
4 Other members have written a recommendation about this member's past home exchange. Click here to read this feedback.


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This job posting is no longer available on Indeed.
Find similar jobs:Web Application Library Developer jobs
- Oculus Info jobs
Oculus is a creative, dynamic group specializing in tailored visual analytics software research, design and development for key clients in government and industry. We are world leaders in design and implementation of high end visualization applications utilizing 2D and 3D graphics with advanced user interface concepts. Ongoing projects at Oculus include design and development for a variety of mobile platforms, large interactive displays, mapping and GIS, desktop software, and interactive web applications. Our software is used all over the world and has won numerous awards including five IEEE Visual Analytics Science and Technology (VAST) contests since 2006.
We are seeking several talented software developers with a passion for creating excellent user-facing software. You should bring creativity and vision to the projects you work on and be able to act independently or as part of a small agile team of similarly skilled individuals. While an eye for design is important, it is not a requirement. By joining Oculus you will be working out of our downtown Toronto loft-style office with a team of results driven people on all kinds of interesting challenges.
A successful candidate should meet the following requirements:
Job Duties:
Required Skills and Experience:
The compensation for this role is competitive. We thank all applicants for their interest; however only those selected for an interview will be contacted. You must be able to meet Security Clearance Requirements including a police background check.
For more information about Oculus, visit our website at http://www.oculusinfo.com/


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The Reason Ashley Hebert Was Picked to Be the Next Bachelorette!Sunny Chanel
Not only was it announced who got the final rose on the 2011 edition of The Bachelor, but then next single who is ready to mingle in The Bachelorette franchise was also announced. Brad Womack's third runner up, and Bachelor hopeful Ashley Hebert will be the next woman looking for love. And there is one good reason why she was picked…
Because Chantal O'Brien already went out and met somebody! After the Bachelor finished filming, Chantal said she went back to Seattle to "sulk," but when she was least expecting it, she met somebody. But she must have had to keep that new boyfriend of hers totally on the down low. One snapshot of her making out with a man in Pioneer Square and the jig would be up. So although many thought Chantal would be the next Bachelorette, the girl is busy.
Instead the woman who came in third will get the job, the dentist in training, perky and French speaking Ashley Herbert.
What do you think of the choice?


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AIIMS Entrance Exam 2013 Study Materials,Sample paper
AIIMS Entrance Exam 2013- AIIMS, stands for All India Institute of Medical Sciences. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi conducts the AIIMS entrance exam for providing admission to undergraduate & postgraduate courses. The application forms for AIIMS starts in the mid of January and lasts till the end of March. The score of AIIMS is valid for 1 year only. In this section, you will find details on AIIMS Entrance Exam Syllabus 2013, Study Material for AIIMS, Sample Papers of AIIMS in Pdf format for download.
AIIMS Previous question paper
Questions are based on Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Apart from these subjects, some questions in the entrance test are also asked to check the general awareness of the candidates. AIIMS Entrance exam consists of questions related to both academics and general knowledge. The students, who are forward for AIIMS Entrance exam 2013, should follow study material of Higher Secondary Level Education thoroughly.
Click download AIIMS study material
aiims study material free download


text: AdChoices Terms of Use Privacy Policy Hide GALLERIES Owen Wilson Owen Wilson Picture 13 13/28 Owen Wilson AskMen Editors November 13, 2007 Share Tweet 0 Shares Starring in a string of respectable box-office smashes and a few cultish hits, Owen Wilson can proudly pencil in Meet the Parents (and a bit part in its sequel, Meet the Fockers), Zoolander, Starsky & Hutch, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wedding Crashers, You, Me and Dupree, and Drillbit Taylor onto his resume. Continue reading Owen Wilson's profile. Next Slide gallery news Comments Share your opinion Your name Post a comment More Like This Celeb Galleries Bar Paly Read More Celeb Galleries Fearne Cotton Read More Celeb Galleries Holly Willoughby Read More Celeb Galleries Adele Read More Celeb Galleries Alesha Dixon Read More Celeb Galleries Jayde Nicole Read More Around the Web Special Features Mother's Day Gift Guide These Mother's Day Gifts Will Win You 'Best Son Ever' Status Read More


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Like Vintage Mixer on Facebook
This year a few curly green plants popped up in the back side of my garden and I totally forgot what they were. After letting them grow a bit and trying to rack my brain to recall if I had planted anything there last fall, I remembered that we in fact did plant some garlic. After a little more research (you can tell I'm still fairly new to gardening) I found out that they were garlic scapes.
These tall hard-necked green stems pop up out of your garden in the spring allowing for an exciting early harvest. I supplemented them with a few more garlic scapes from Liberty Heights Fresh and began experimenting. First I just chopped a little up and threw it into an omelet, then I was given a recipe for Garlic Scape and Almond Pesto, one I knew I had to try!
We fashioned it into a garlic pesto pasta with straight-from-the-market, zucchini and squash, and topped it all off with crumbled bacon. It was enjoyed on a warm summer evening served cold alongslide my friend Annalise's tasty bruchetta and cherry tart.
It was the kind of evening summers should be filled with- sipping wine, corralling kids and dogs, the grill on, and dishes being passed around the table as we catch up on each others lives. It's evenings like these that remind me that I have all I need and should not be in want of all
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of the other things I sometimes think I need in life.
As for the food… the pesto, let me just tell you, is potent, to say the least. You only need a tad to brighten up a pasta dish or eggs. The almonds take the edge off the pungency but this is a flavor for garlic lovers. We found that the garlic draws out the fresh flavors of the vegetables, and heightens the quality of a simple summer pasta dish. Try finding garlic scapes at your local market this summer and enjoy it on a warm summer evening with friends!
A recipe for garlic scape pesto that can be used with pasta and fresh vegetables or any way you normally use pesto
- *6-8 garlic scapes
- 1/3 grated Parmesan
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds (you could toast them lightly, if you'd like)
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- sea salt
- Put the scapes, Parmesan, almonds, and half the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor (or use a blender or a mortar and pestle). Pulse to chop and blend all the ingredients and then add the remainder of the oil and, if you want, more cheese. If you like the texture, stop; if you'd like it a little thinner, add some more oil. Season with salt.
- If you're not going to use the pesto immediately, press a piece of plastic against the surface to keep it from oxidizing. The pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days or packed airtight and frozen for a couple of months, by which time tomatoes should be at their juciest.
- Serve in eggs, spread onto toast, in pasta, mixed with fresh vegetables or however you'd like. This can be used in the same way you use basil pesto.
for a more pungent pesto use 8 scapes but for a milder garlic flavor use 6
For more recipes from our lovely summer backyard dinner, visit CompletelyDelicious.com
Also, you must MUST try this pearly semolina pasta from Liberty Heights Fresh. It was my first taste of it and we loved the nutty flavor and cracker like texture! I imagine it would be good with any fresh vegetable that you pick up this summer with a light sauce, like this pesto, or even simply with olive oil with salt, pepper and cheese.


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Our Mission...
To promote, protect & enhance the trails in Anne Arundel County.
Registration forms require Adobe Acrobat click the link below to download Acrobat reader
Maps of the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail Park, the BWI Trail Park and WB&A Trail Park
New Detailed Maps of your Trails, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Department of Recreation and Parks
Below is a map of the B&A and the BWI Trail. The map is from the East Coast Greenway project. The BWI trail, the B&A trail, the Colonial Maritime trail and the WB&A trail are all part of the East Coast Greenway. For more information on the EastCoast Greenway, click on the logo for a link.
Map is courtesy of the East Coast Greenway


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Packs of Chihuahuas are scaring children and others in Phoenix, Ariz., according to an animal facility there and multiple media reports.
The packs consist of up to 12 Chihuahuas -- and they're not usually happy.
"Yeah a lot of them they are out here chasing kids or going yard to yard ... anywhere in groups of eight to twelve just running around," Ray Rios, a resident of Phoenix's Maryvale neighborhood, told the local Fox affiliate there.
Photos: Ugliest Dog Contenders
Another resident, Frank Garcia, told Fox, "Well the last time I seen six or seven Chihuahuas… and big dogs running with the Chihuahua's in a pack running every single day."
Even though the dogs are tiny, most people would likely be startled to see multiple Chihuahuas come yapping and running toward them, and not in a friendly manner. It's no wonder kids are chased away.
Maricopa County Animal Care and Control reported that in 2013, it received 6,000 calls for service from Maryvale residents who were bothered by Chihuahuas and other dogs running loose. Who let the dogs out? Apparently a lot of people in Phoenix did.
Maricopa County Animal Control spokesperson Melissa Gable said that "obviously you have the deal with feces and (it) is unsanitary and all these strays everyone is at risk for dog bites."
"Part of it is these animals aren't spayed or neutered, so they're out looking for a mate and are having babies, which also contributes to the problem," Gable told ABC News, adding that residents are encouraged to call Animal Control if they see the stray dogs.
The facility is now neutering male Chihuahuas for free in response to the problem.
The history of these tiny dogs is somewhat of a mystery, although canine experts suspect Chihuahuas are descended from a small dog known to Mexico's Toltec civilization. Socialized dogs make fantastic pets, but without proper care and training, the dogs can be easily provoked.
The British Chihuahua Club notes that Chihuahuas also can be "clannish," preferring the company of other Chihuahuas or Chihuahua mixes.
If you happen to visit Phoenix then, watch out for the Chihuahua gangs there and perhaps consider adopting one. They are fiercely loyal to their humans and will yap like an alarm when intruders are around. Because they are small, their barks usually aren't loud enough to disturb neighbors, but they will alert you.
Photo: Douglas Muth, Flickr


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Crash.Net MotoGP News
Moto2: Rookie Kent makes steady progress
22 March 2013
Tech 3 Racing's Danny Kent can take heart from his performance in the final pre-season test at Jerez, where the British rider was fractionally slower than fellow Moto2 rookie and inaugural Moto3 world champion Sandro Cortese.
Kent's fastest lap overall of 1m 44.350s was less than a second adrift of the top six and a marginal 0.074s behind Cortese as he strives to familiarise himself with the Mistral 610 machine, which is designed and developed exclusively by the French-based squad.
He was 20th quickest overall after the four-day test in Spain, which was held in a mixture of weather conditions.
"Overall it was a good test and I think the final day was definitely the best one as I set my fastest lap time despite the windy conditions making it very difficult and unpredictable on track," said Kent, who replaces Bradley Smith in Herve Poncharal's team.
"We found a good setting with the suspension today that gave me some confidence and I am sure if I could have found that feeling earlier we could have been even faster.
"But testing is all about experimenting to be in the best possible shape for the season and overall I'm happy with the job we've done.
"Now I just want to kick off the season in Qatar hoping to take home my first points in Moto2 and start 2013 on a high level," he added.
"This is an incredibly difficult class but the Tech 3 Racing Team and I are highly motivated and ready for the challenge."
His team-mate, French rider Louis Rossi, concluded the test in 28 position but was confident he could have climbed the leaderboard if he had not spent the final day focusing on completing a race simulation.
"Today was really interesting for me as I did my first race simulation and that made it difficult to improve our lap time from yesterday," said Rossi, whose best lap was 1m 45.181s.
"We just wanted to do 27 consistent laps to show me how it feels like to ride in a full race situation with this bike.
"Honestly it was really long. But I learned a lot during the simulation and I'm quite happy about the test because after the difficult start we finished in not such a bad situation.
"I am convinced my potential is higher than my final position here and now we can be confident and really looking forward to the first race in Qatar."


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We live streamed two hummingbird nests as Anna's Hummingbird Nest channel on ustream.tv in April and May 2013.
The hummingbird nest cam showed that it is tough for these little birds to safely raise chicks. Since then, we have watched several Anna's Hummingbird nests fledge one or two chicks. Young hummingbirds continue to come through the yard, trying out flowers and feeders.
But here's what happened in 2013.
First Anna's Hummingbird Nest cam – April 2013
With the first Anna's Hummingbird Nest cam, the mother hummingbird reused an old nest in our yard. Two sets of two chicks had fledged from that nest in 2012. But in 2013, she arrived to rebuild the nest after a pair of Curve-billed Thrashers (native desert birds) had built their new nest in the same Texas Ebony tree.
Our bird books and Wikipedia list Curve-billed Thrashers as eating insects and seeds; these Thrashers taught us that they also take nestlings. The Thrashers eventually tore apart the nest and took the hummingbird babies. The mother hummingbird defended the nest, but she was many times smaller than the big birds. (Thrashers are smaller than crows but larger than Mockingbirds.)
The mother hummingbird abandoned the nest. Within hours, she was collecting spiderwebs in the yard and flying away. She visited the backyard feeder many times, so we think she started over nearby.
Second Anna's Hummingbird Nest cam – May 2013
With the second Anna's Hummingbird Nest cam, a different Anna's Hummingbird built her nest in a neighbor's Juniper tree.
When the babies were two weeks old, the mother hummingbird did not return. This was very unusual for a hummingbird and a bad sign. The chicks began to call in distress, something they do not normally do from the nest. Viewers on the nest cam alerted us to the situation. We contacted wildlife rescue organizations and followed their directions: emergency fed the babies, waited hours for mother's return, cut down the branch with the nest, and delivered the branch, nest, and babies to rescue.
Here is a video showing the hummingbird babies' arrival at Wildwing Rehabilitation.
We watched for the mother but she never returned. Kestrels come through our neighborhood and roost on the same Juniper tree. But we do not know what happened to her.
Wildwing Rehabilitation raised the hummingbird babies and released them in July 2013, near the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.
For a more complete description of the events, including videos and pictures, see our Facebook Page: Arizona Hummingbird Nest Cam.
Many thanks to Phoebe Allens for the inspiration, to Wildwing Rehabilitation for raising the babies, to Sheri Williamson for the coaching, to our neighbor and to Lakeshia at ustream.tv for their help and generosity. Most of all, thank you to the viewers/fans/followers of Anna's Hummingbird Nest cam on ustream.tv and Arizona Hummingbird Nest Cam Facebook Page for their interest and kindness.
We are now back to our original focus: hummingbird photos, video and sounds of hummingbirds found in the U.S. and Canada. Please take a look around the site. And thank you for coming by.
Back to hummingbird pictures or nesting posts or home.


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Environmental Studies
New School >
Environmental Studies > Internships > Tishman Environmental Scholars Program
Apply Online
Tishman Environmental Merit Scholars Program
For more information, contact:
Tishman Merit Scholars Program Coordinator66 Fifth Ave, Suite 401
New York, NY 10011Email
Several Environmental Studies students are selected annually to participate in this program. Together with a select group of students from across the country, the Tishman Environmental Merit Scholars engage in conservation research, develop environmental education programs, work on grassroots campaigns to advance pro-environment policies, and support programs to foster sustainable development in communities throughout the state. Tishman Merit Scholars receive
This program is co-sponsored by The New School and the Alaska Conservation Foundation. The sponsored internships are with major organizations dedicated to protecting the natural resources and cultural heritage of America's last great wilderness. In past years, Lang students have worked for the Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF), the National Wildlife Federation, and the Alaska Conservation Alliance, among others.
Support in Alaska: The Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) manages and operates the summer internships and supports Tishman Scholars by conducting an orientation for interns upon arrival in Alaska, serving as a liaison and resource for the interns and host organizations, and arranging opportunities for interns to meet each other and Alaskans. Host organizations arrange comfortable and convenient housing for their interns (specific amenities may vary depending on location).
Tishman Scholars' Responsibilities: If selected for this honor you commit yourself to 1) A one-credit independent study course in the spring semester prior to the internship, involving a series of readings directed by the Tishman Merit Scholars Program coordinator; 2) The 12-week internship in Alaska; 3) A one-credit independent study course in the fall semester following the internship, in which you will research, write, and present an academic paper based on your internship; 4) Three approved Environmental Studies courses (12 credits) to be taken in the semester before and/or the year after the internship.
Tishman Scholarship Prerequisites: some background in environmental studies, conservation advocacy, or a related field, including at least two previous Environmental Studies courses completed with grades of B or better; cumulative current GPA of at least 3.0, with no transcript grades of F, WF, or Incomplete.


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ITT Technical Institute en
ITT Technical Institute, is a for-profit technical institute with over 130 campuses in 38 states of the United States. ITT Tech is owned and operated by ITT Educational Services, Inc., a publicly traded company headquartered in Carmel, Indiana. ITT Educational Services, Inc. was spun off by ITT Corporation through an initial public offering in 1994, with parent company ITT as an 83% shareholder. ITT Tech licenses the "ITT" name from ITT Corporation, which originates from the latter company's original name "International Telephone & Telegraph". ITT announced in a federal tax filing that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has informed them that the CFPB's enforcement office may urge legal action. In its statement, ITT said that the consumer bureau had notified it about the potential legal action on Dec. 23, 2013. The agency's notice said its enforcement staff plans to allege that the company violated the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Truth in Lending Act, and other financial regulations, and that the staff "expects to recommend seeking remedies and penalties to the fullest extent of the law." [ - ]


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Nitrites... after the cycle?
Uummm... is it normal for nitrites to start climbing again after the cycle is completed? :shock: I have been monitoring the tank weekly since the cycle finished (2 months ago) and ammonia and nitrites are always '0'... except for today. They are low (0.1 mg/L) but why are they even there is what I'd like to know!!!! Is this normal? Can adding plants to a tank spike up the Nitrites (seems unlikely to me)? Can me cleaning my filter with aquarium water cause this? Can adding substrate cause this?
To start from the beginning here, yesterday I added 2 KG of substrate to my 32g, as well as some plants. The day before that I had done the weekly maintenance (20% wc, syphon gravel, etc.).
As many of us have written, once a tank is established the readings for ammonia and nitrite should remain at zero unless something occurs to alter the nitrification bacteria/cycle. This is in a non-planted tank, which includes a tank with too few plants to handle the ammonia and nitrite. In a fairly-heavily planted and biologically balanced tank, one should never experience ammonia or nitrite above zero.
Adding plants will not increase nitrites; quite the opposite if nitrite is present. However, both cleaning the filter and/or changing the substrate can cause a mini-cycle--in a non-planted tank. If you removed the former substrate, then you removed an incredible colony of bacteria with it. I suspect this is the reason, since you mention cleaning the filter with tank water which should not have removed too much of the bacteria. If the tank was well planted previously and the plants went back in, there would have been no mini-cycle from doing either or both of these things. The nitrification bacteria colony in a plante3d tank is minimal since the plants do the majority of nitrification and are faster at grabbing the ammonia than are the bacteria.
"Messing" with your filter would do that. From the sounds of it you're doing too much cleaning there with your filter IMO and in doing so you're destroying the beneficial bacteria. So quit messing with the tank :-)
And/ or only having few plants and maybe (you only can know that not me) you're also feeding your fish too much > Too much left overs > Too much food - Too little w/c in comparison to the waste....that's all factors that'll do it.
All right... looks like I'll need to watch out for a few things in the future. And here I thought I was an expert b/c my tank cycled without any hiccups the first time arounf! ;-)
Thanks a bunch!
Less is more in the tank world :-)
Less foods, less man-made 'fussing around' in there, less fish....you see where I'm getting at :-)
How does this saying go..."Let well enough be!?"
In my own tanks,(no plants) I try to space out the maint so as not to do too much at one time.
One week, I will vaccum the substrate perhaps one third while doing a water change. The next week another one third, and so on. The next week, I will service the filter ,( have two on all tanks). The next week I will service the other filter and this prevents me from going hog wild with cleaning, and destroying too much bacteria at one time. I am near anal about water quality and if I don't exercise some control.. I tend to clean a little too much at once.:roll:
OK so mini-cycle finished! Nitrites never went higher than 0.1 mg/L and Nitrates never higher than 10 mg/L. All I ever did was do the regular 32% w/c and that was it. I say YAY to plants! :-)
So what you learn from this....leave your fingers off your filter & gravel - If you have a cleaning addition....work on your house instead :-)
Glad to hear really nothing major happened!!!
Hehe ;-)
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- Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building - http://inhabitat.com -
VIDEO: Inhabitat's Green Tour of BKLYN Designs
Posted By Mike Chino On July 12, 2011 @ 12:00 am In BKLYN Designs,Design,Environment,Green Talks,Interviews,New York Design Week 2009,Video | 1 Comment
It's hard to capture all of the excitement and inspiration of the work of BKLYN Designs [1] in words and photos [2] alone – which is why we're thrilled to bring you a video tour of our favorite green design picks from one of their shows! Follow Inhabitat founder Jill Fehrenbacher [3] and crew as they scout out hot products and get exclusive interviews with the designers that created them. You can also check out more coverage of the collective's stellar show here! [4]
Article printed from Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building: http://inhabitat.com
URL to article: http://inhabitat.com/video-inhabitats-bklyn-designs-walking-tour/
URLs in this post:
[1] BKLYN Designs: http://inhabitat.com/category/bklyn-designs
[2] photos: http://www.inhabitat.com/wp-content/plugins/falbum/wp/album.php?album=72157617789854795
[3] Jill Fehrenbacher: http://www.inhabitat.com/author/jill/
[4] here!: http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/05/09/bklyn-designs-highlights-inhabitat-2009/
Click here to print.
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