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Quote of the Day
There is time for everything.
Thomas A. Edison
Just when all you thought you had to worry about was Greece, since mid-afternoon yesterday concerns over Spain have sent all risk asset markets lower and erased the small gains from Monday. Market participants are showing no confidence that the EU is going to resolve its major sovereign debt and banking issues anytime soon nor are they convinced that the global economy is going to move into a growth spurt in the near future. Greece and now Spain remain the number one short-term bearish price drivers for all markets as talk of contagion is starting to spread around the media airwaves. If market players are able to get over the growing EU issues they then have to face the fact that the global economy is slowing in all corners of the world with hardly a bright spot. Simply put the markets are in a risk-off pattern that is starting to last a lot longer than some participants had originally thought.
The euro is now trading at a two year low with the short-term and medium-term trend still pointing lower. The next major support area for the euro is around the 1.19 level hit back in May of 2010. As the euro falls, cash continues to flow into the US dollar with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index now trading at the highest level since August of 2010. The dollar remains the only place to hide at the moment as asset selling seems to be picking up momentum. A strong US dollar normally is bearish for commodities as well as most equity markets. The macro correlations are all in place and as the euro falls, US dollar rises while oil and the boarder commodity complex continues to tick lower.
As of this writing the spot WTI contract just breached the low made on May 23rd and if it remains below the $89.25/bbl level the next major technical support area is not until around $86/bbl or the price level the oil complex was trading at back in October of 2011. The spot Brent contract is on a path to test its next major technical support level of about $102/bbl. There is no geopolitical premium in the price of oil and prices are starting to reflect the likelihood of a slowing of oil demand growth as the global economy continues to slow further.
Global equity market are also under pressure as money is continuing to come out of most equity markets and moving into cash...especially the US dollar. The EMI Global Equity Index (table shown below) is now lower for the week resulting in the year to date loss widening to 1.1%. Since the US close yesterday all equity markets have moved into negative territory with US equity futures pointing to a strongly lower opening in a few hours. The market sentiment has changed significantly the last two months. In the middle of March the EMI Index was in a strong uptrend with the year to date gain at 15.2%. Since then the sentiment has turned decidedly negative and the Index has lost 16.3%. This is a very negative turnaround and one that clearly shows the market is expecting even further event issues as well as a no growth economic picture.
Aside from all of the macro issues sending oil prices lower, supply and demand are more than in balance with a bias toward the oversupplied side of the equation. Demand is waning in many places around the world but in particular in China the main oil demand growth engine of the world. With Saudi Arabia and OPEC in general producing at very high levels there has not been nor is there expected to be any shortfall of supply in the foreseeable future. The overall fundamentals for oil are biased to the bearish side.
This week's oil inventory reports will be released one day late. The API data will be released this afternoon while the EIA data will hit the media airwaves at 11 AM EST on Thursday. At the moment oil prices are still being mostly driven by the direction of the euro and the US dollar as well as by a view that the global economy is continuing to slow. The tensions evolving in the Middle East between Iran and the West have been easing as another meeting will take place in June. As such we may not see much of a reaction from market participants to this week's round of oil inventory data as the macro risk off momentum is currently the main concern of al market players. This week's oil inventory report will likely be a background price catalyst unless the actual outcome is significantly different from the market projections.
My projections for this week's inventory reports are summarized in the following table. I am expecting a build in crude oil and distillate fuel with a small decline in gasoline stocks. I am expecting a build in crude oil inventories and a build in distillate fuel stocks as the summer planting season is winding down (decreasing the demand for diesel fuel) while heating oil demand is over. I am expecting crude oil stocks to increase by about 0.7 million barrels. If the actual numbers are in sync with my projections the year over year surplus of crude oil will come in around 9.4 million barrels while the overhang versus the five year average for the same week will widen to around 32.4 million barrels.
I am also expecting a modest build in crude oil stocks in Cushing, Ok as the Seaway pipeline did start pumping but it was not at capacity during the inventory report period. This would be bullish for the Brent/WTI spread in the short term which is still trading around the $15.50/bbl premium to Brent level for the last few days. That said I am still of the view that the spread will begin the process of normalization over the next 3 to 6 months.
With refinery runs expected to increase by 0.2% I am expecting a small build in distillate stocks. Gasoline stocks are expected to decrease by just 0.2 million barrels which would result in the gasoline year over year deficit coming in around 11.5 million barrels while the deficit versus the five year average for the same week will come in around 33.9 million barrels.
Distillate fuel is projected to increase by 0.2 million barrels. If the actual EIA data is in sync with my distillate fuel projection inventories versus last year will likely now be about 20.4 million barrels below last year while the deficit versus the five year average will come in around 14.6 million barrels.
The following table compares my projections for this week's report (for the categories I am making projections) with the change in inventories for the same period last year. As you can see from the table last year inventories were mixed. As such if the actual data is in line with the projections there will be a modest change in the year over year comparisons for most of the complex.
I am keeping my view at cautiously bearish after oil broke down on all fronts once again as it has already tested the May 23rd low for WTI and dropped below the $105 level for Brent for the first time since December of 2011. but Oil is still solidly below the trading range it was in just a few weeks ago and well below several key support areas. WTI is still solidly trading in double digits with Brent slowly heading in that direction.
I am keeping my view at neutral and keeping my bias at neutral with an eye toward the upside now that Nat Gas has moved back to much more representative levels that are in sync with current fundamentals. The surplus is still narrowing in inventory versus both last year and the five year average but could lead to a premature filling of storage during the current injection season. However, I now believe that we may see other producers starting to signal a cut in production. We may still see lower prices (thus the basis for my bias) but I think the sellers are losing momentum.
As the June Nymex contract moved to expiration yesterday the newly annointed spot July contract has been under pressure for the last several trading sessions. As I have been discussing for the last few weeks the current fundamentals do not support prices up in the $2.70 to $2.80/mmbtu level which is one of the reasons why we have seen a downside correction which began after last Thursday's EIA inventory report was released.
As I discussed in Friday's newsletter coal to gas switching has been a major reason why injections this year have underperformed versus both last year and the five year average for the same timeframe. With Nat Gas prices falling strongly over the last three trading sessions the economics are now more solidly back in favor of continuing to burn Nat Gas for power generation rather than coal. Basis today's number the advantage is back to about to $0.38/mmbtu versus almost break even in the second half of last week. So for now we should not see the industry moving away from Nat Gas based on economics. Other reasons could force some coal burning like coal inventory containment issues but definitely not based on economics basis current prices for the July Nat Gas and Appalachian coal prices.
Currently markets are lower as shown in the following table.
Best regards,
Dominick A. Chirichella


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Questions concerning search and sharing of supplementary resources used in the process of language study: books, articles, links to Web sites, audio and video recordings, corpora, etc. See the help pages before asking for general lists of resources.
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TPR and Listen First lessons
I'm looking for Chinese audio online lessons which use TPR and Listen First approach. I did a google search and found nothing.
Are there any ones?

subset: commoncrawl


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I've recently upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 with XFCE4.
In my previous install a "updates available" icon would come up in the panel when they were available. Not so now.
I have made sure the Notificiations applet is active. Yes.
And I found something the web suggesting that I use gconf-editor to set (or unset) the update-notifier auto-launch. No differences found with this.
I should add that update-manager is running okay. If I select it from a menu it shows that updates have been dl'd and are ready to install. Just need a notification.
Last edited by Mellowbob (2012-05-08 17:52:05)
Try using gsettings (or dconf-editor) instead. I believe gconf is deprecated:
gsettings set com.ubuntu.update-notifier auto-launch false
Thanks. That fixes the problem.
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Want to check out some new music? Visit any library location for a large selection of music. The library has dozens of genres of music on thousands of compact discs, including ballet, big band, blues, classical, country, hip hop, folk/world, holiday, inspirational, jazz, marches, movies/musicals, new age, opera, patriotic, popular, sound effects and wedding. Click here to search for music CDs in the catalog.
Books on CD
Many unabridged works of fiction and non-fiction are available at all library locations. Some titles are available in the MP3-CD format. In addition to playing the MP3-CD audiobooks on MP3-CD players and computer CD drives, you may easily transfer files from a MP3-CD to an MP3 player like the Apple iPod or other devices.
The library has a wide variety of interactive multimedia programs for all ages. All are "Windows" titles; however, some are hybrids that may be used with DOS and/or Macintosh systems. This collection was initially made available through a Library Services and Construction Act-Title I Grant administered through the South Carolina State Library.
At Richland Library Main, Film & Sound offers all these items and more. Check it out!


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The Loft Look for Lots Less
When I first starting putting this article together, it was to show how people could get the popular "loft" look at home for less money. As I kept delving however, I realized there was a whole other way to look at it. The loft look itself can also cost a lot less overall than other popular design trends. I've broken things down into four major categories, each with supporting strategies and suggestions, that can save you money and move you further along your desired financial path.
I have to tell you, this article has taken longer to write than I ever expected. While I started out thinking I was writing a cool piece on loft style decorating advice, I quickly realized it was more than that. With multiple reasons for choosing the look, numerous categories of savings opportunities, and various power strategies for going forward with the purchase and design of a loft space . . . let's just say there was more to cover than I initially realized. And this doesn't even address the various decorating tips necessary for a loft, or the various choices within the category itself, such as industrial, architectural, modern, etc. Those will have to be covered in an entirely separate article.
It was also very important to me to show how incredibly powerful this strategy can be for freedom of lifestyle choice, money saving, maintenance issues and business development. This is more than just a fun look to try. Embracing lofts, even tangentially, can really help catapult you up your personal financial ladder. With all that said, let's take a look at the various categories of consideration.
Obviously, geographical location plays a huge role in the price of acquiring your dream loft. If New York City is out of your price range (hey, join the club), consider going with a more rural location with a less expensive property market. If you don't have the luxury of a career or income source not dependent upon an urban market, at least consider a city with a shorter commuting distance to the country side. You'll pay less for land here if you want to try out the shipping container design trend or custom build a more modern structure, and less for some of the alternative loft structures mentioned below.
- Another issue many fail to consider is the location within the actual home. By this, I mean that even a more traditional home could benefit from extra useable spaces in the basement, attic or over the garage. No realtor or design professional is going to recommend putting a modern industrial style loft right next to your formal Victorian dining room. Not exactly good for resale value, right? But consider the use of the loft look as a money saving strategy for the makeover of a basement into a work out space or an attic into a family game room or teen space. These areas don't really integrate with the rest of the house, and at least a more affordable rough finishing with track lighting, MDF board, or spray painted concrete foundation walls will get things started. You can always get more detailed later, if you want.
- The type of structure you choose can also save you major bucks compared to the traditional city loft locations. If you want to try the loft style of design and decorating, but prefer a more rural lifestyle, consider renovating a barn, old church, potato house, giant grain silo, antique school house or abandoned old time train station. Tug boats, barges and ferries also work well for those water loving nomads who want to eliminate overhead. Want to be a little closer to at least a smaller town? While an old fabric mill may be out of your financial range, many smaller towns have charming historic down town sections with brick row buildings for sale. As you'll see when I cover the hybrid use technique, even old gas stations and similar commercial properties can have major potential.
- The loft look is a great cash-stretching strategy for business start ups. Art galleries, bars, health clubs, wine cellars, design firms and coffee houses are all places I've seen use this look successfully.
- As a transitional strategy during renovation, building, or income property acquisition phases where you might want to live in the basement of your duplex while renting out the top two units. Even if this look isn't your dream design choice, you can always upgrade later and save the rolling industrial shelves for a workshop, pantry or future retail space.
- Consider this a way to make calculated long term cutbacks on maintenance costs. OK, if you are going with the recycled antique wood floors and historic salvaged pieces as part of your design theme, this may be slightly less effective. But consider the industrial elements that are often included in lofts such as steel stairways, cable railings, and factory style metal walkways. Pretty hard to beat those things up. Also, concrete tends to acquire more of an "urban chic patina" with high traffic and the inevitable extra abuse that comes with having children and pets in the house. Tired of having to rip into walls whenever you need plumbing and electrical work done? The exposed look popular with lofts eliminates this concern almost entirely!
- An unexpected choice in a more traditional style of home, the loft style can help you tap currently unused spaces for high traffic, high abuse, or hobby areas. I know I touched on this above under the "location within the actual home" section, but I feel it's important enough to mention again under the targeted strategies suggestion for numerous reasons. Not the least of which is unexpected family crisis situations or expansions. Sarah touched on a related issue in her recent article on stretching family monies to the max. If you have areas of your home available and untapped, this strategy can help accommodate an unexpected move in of a family member, surprise pregnancies (and possible multiple births), the need for physical therapy space for accident recuperation and more. Or, if you were planning a more elaborate basement or attic remodel and an unexpected situation comes up, this is a way to have your cake and eat it too. It's also a way to pursue other goals, hobbies, family priorities and dreams while still having a functional quality home that meets your needs.
- The loft look also allows rapid maximum use of hybrid real estate opportunities. Many buildings have multiple purposes and spaces which can allow you to pursue personal and business goals at the same time. For example, one of the coolest bars my husband and I have ever been to is this place in Bangkok called The Station. During the day, it isn't even open and basically looks like your typical urban gas station. However, at night this place really comes alive. It has tons of edgy urban atmosphere and had to have cost next to nothing to throw together. Large potted plants around the outside perimeter, metal chairs and card tables painted the same peeling yellow as the old station colors, steel bucket citronella candles, cool tunes and frozen drinks by the bucket for cheap. All of the stereo and cooler equipment get hauled out of a shipping container at night. The entire bar is outside. I can't help but think this would be a great seasonal business and living combo opportunity for those with semi-nomadic tendencies. Movie going Queen Latifa fans will already be familiar with garage and living area combo techniques. Picture an empty gas station with a great location and decent sized front area. If this building happens to be in a town with some decent summer tourist traffic, you can open in the evenings with minimal fuss and have a place to drive your car into and lock up while traveling for the winter. Got a chance to pick up a great three story brick building in the historic district of a great little town? Go for a wine bar in the basement, retail space at street level, apartments or offices on the second floor and carve out a cool penthouse with rooftop garden and conservatory for yourself. Need to do it on the cheap? Buy a distressed one, live in the basement for a while, and renovate from the ground up, grabbing tenants as you go.
By using the design flexibility this style has to offer, you can save major bucks. Because the eclectic look is basically expected with this design choice, you can feel free to make do with any affordable source of items you can find. Salvage yards, industrial sources, auctions and more can all be used to get you started with the design of your loft space. Raw, unfinished details and mismatched furniture are part of the game. Celebrate it and save yourself some cash. If it doesn't work for you long term, it can still be a way to get by until you are able to select the pieces and finishing details you want.
Go as vertical as possible, particularly with a smaller loft. Rolling library ladders are a really cool way to access items stored up high. Stylish too.
Consider incorporating clip frames and DIY art as part of your décor. Clip frames are dirt cheap (especially at Ikea) and really scream "loft". Fill with family photos and personal travel pics. DIY projects for larger modern art pieces are fun to try, and you can even make a party out of it. Another way to save money is through general DIY framing. We picked up several antique advertising and travel themed calendars and cut the sections out for matting and framing. I've seen my favorite beer elf and pasta clown prints at various mall stores for over a hundred dollars a piece. Our kitchen in Italy had a whole wall of these prints (very dramatic) for less than six bucks a piece, including framing costs. For one of the cheapest art display ideas I've ever seen, check this article on binder clip uses.
As simple as it sounds, don't underestimate the power of taking your time. Because this look is still chic with exposed pipes and temporary materials, you have all the time you need to make upgrades and purchases on a time table that suits your personal or family financial goals and situation. Technically, you have all the time you need anyway, but let's face it. In certain corporate circles, it's expected to entertain and how your home looks can be quite political in certain situations. It isn't fair or right, but is the case sometimes. If you are feeling the pressure of "the game", this is a way to make it work for you and not give in.
It's been covered before, but using oops paint and trying your own hand at custom painting techniques can be a significant money saver.
Place a priority on functional, multi purpose room dividers. The smaller your loft space, the more important this becomes. A wall of old repainted double level school lockers can make a great kitchen pantry or entry way with child-specific after school storage cubbies. Open clamp shelves (Ikea) between basement support jacks are another dirt cheap way to go and gain storage at the same time.
- You can get much more long term bang for your decorating buck if you combine quality investment pieces (love that Boltz furniture line) with pieces from thrift stores, salvage yards, dumpster diving and yard sales. I've seen crystal chandeliers and Persian carpets paired with torn sofas on castor wheels, and metal footlockers. This goes back to the design flexibility issue again. Since the combination of these items is expected to some degree, use it as a way to enjoy the functionality of a more beat up piece while you save for a more elaborate replacement or an updated heating system.
- Before you start, check out the literature and other resources on the market. Cruise the libraries and book stores for inspiration. You'll be amazed at the idea combinations out there, and it's not just us broke folks that are using them. One great resource I discovered over the past few years is Dwell Magazine. Check out some back issues to see if a subscription is for you, but I've seen some really cool ideas in there that were dirt cheap to implement and provided tons of style.
- Using an attic for a teen space. Finishing off the walls and floor with MDF and peg board, using denim furniture and including hanging industrial cage lights along with track lighting keep things sort of edgy and fun, sort of like Old Navy's retail design scheme. Throw in a pool table, a large dumpster found armoire turned TV cabinet you let the kids paint themselves, and a few bean bags. You'll have a cheap place for the kids to hang out with their friends while you hang on to your sanity in the main area of the house. We all need a break from the loud music and constant giggling at some point, and they need a break for worrying about every scratch on the table. If you're feeling overwhelmed, but want your kids to have the home option rather than hanging out on the street making inappropriate or dangerous choices, this might be the best of both worlds.
- How about a barn renovated into a rural health club or spa space for agricultural tourism? Picture an indoor pool on the downstairs level with locker rooms, sauna, hot tub and juice bar, and an upstairs level with bikes, treadmills and free weights.
- Consider a basement redo in the form of an industrial style wine cellar or dance studio. Spray painting the concrete walls and exposed ceiling / pipes in a bold uniform color, using track lighting, and incorporating raw edged mirrors on the wall for a dance studio, or rolling steel shelves for a wine bar, and you are in business. With the dance studio option, you may need to consider an upgraded flooring option, but that is really the most expensive element. With the wine bar, a stain and sealing treatment on the concrete floor should do it. Want a workshop instead? Peg boards, a few workbenches and some lighting should get you started with a place to organize your tools or artist supplies.
- Renovating an old church and its basement to have your own combination of a living space and independent entertainment venue. Think folk artists, traveling theater groups, modern dance troupes, etc.
As I hope you've seen, this design choice provides loads of options and the opportunity for numerous precision purchase choices to take control over your financial future. Mixing and matching is more than OK here, with decorating choices as well as targeted use strategies. Got a unique idea or resource for using the loft look to your financial advantage? Please share.


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"Scenes from The Nutcracker"
- When: Sunday, December 9, 2012, 2 p.m.
- Where: Hood River Middle School, Hood River
- Cost: Not available
- Age limit: Not available
- Categories: Activities: Holiday events, Children, Community, Community-Fundraiser, Dance performance
"Scenes from The Nutcracker," with two performances Saturday, 1 and 4 p.m., and one show Sunday, at 2 p.m., all at the Hood River Middle School Auditorium. The event is a gift to the community from Columbia Gorge Dance Academy and features dancers of all ages.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


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This thread is started as an apology to the thread "Question to German subscribers" which I somewhat threadjacked.
I immigrated to the U.S. in 1978 at age 11, Heathansson, from Germany. I got my U.S. citizenship in 1987. I don't consider myself a German any more, obviously. I think you pose an interesting question. The most influential thing on me growing up as a pre-teen in Germany was soccer. I played it, lived it, breathed it whenever possible. The other influential thing was the Wild West. I grew up watching German Westerns (Karl May--Old Shatterhand, Winnetou, go google it and be surprised) and we played a lot of Cowboys and Indians. I saw every episode of Bonanza in German...it was actually weird to hear Hoss' real voice the first time I saw it in English. We did play knights a lot as well....my grandfather made me a shield out of the back of an old TV and we used to beat the crud out of each other with broomsticks in the woods behind my house. There were a lot of medieval museums around--a castle near my hometown had a lot of armor and weapons on display and I enjoyed visiting the castles, but nothing was as cool as dreaming about the Wild West....Germany has a huge following of U.S. western culture--there's German country music, German trucker music and live Wild West plays conducted in huge outdoor amphitheaters. So, the assumption that European D&D players might have had a different influence on them growing up than U.S. gamers might not be as valid as you might think. I didn't really appreciate the incredible amount of historical treasures and museums in Germany until I got older, became American, and visited them when I went to vacation in Germany and visit family. It's certainly easier to visit places like that when they're right next door, but that doesn't mean you appreciate them more...I think that's an internal decision.
Thanks for creating a separate thread, Heathanson. ;-) So let me contribute to this one! I grew up in French-speaking Belgium and now live in Germany. For me, the big revelation that drew me into fantasy (and, indirectly, later on to RPG) was Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It is one of the rare books I can read over and over. I read it for the first time when I was ten and have re-read it many times since then, at different steps of my life. From there I read LotR (the French translation, as my English was still somewhat defficient) and moved on to the Hobbit and then Michael Moorcock (the whole Stormbringer saga and a couple of other books). My reading of Moorcock was intersped with Edgar Poe, Roald Dahl and H.P. Lovecraft. So it seems that, even though I grew up in a very "French" setting my interest for fantasy came through English-speaking authors. At the same time, I agree with Verminlord's comment that living in Europe means that you have a much more direct link to the medieval culture which is so important for most fantasy settings. Living in Belgium meant that I had direct access to medieval towns (e.g. Bruges, Hasselt) or castles (e.g. Bouillon) and beautiful pieces of gothic architecture. Last year we visited Krakow, in Poland, which is a stone-throw away from Berlin, and there you can see an amazing collection of medieval weapons and armors (it is in the old castle). You could spend hours and hours just comparing the different types of two-handed swords, halberds or crossbows. My girlfriend (who is less of a geek than I am) had to literally pull me outside!! Also, I don't know how history courses are given in the USA or anywhere over-sea, but here, since medieval history is integral part of our own history, it means that we had two full years of history classes dedicated to that period in high-school. On the other-hand we have no idea about the secession war in the US, but that's not "our" history, so it just gets mentioned and we move on to something else. :-) In my case, I think that this more direct contact to history (medieval or other) means that I am very picky about fantasy settings and books. I hate it when it is "historically wrong" or not realistic. I studied latin and ancient greek for seven years, so I get sick when I see "Hercules" or "Xenia" on TV. It is just so wrong. And, no, I can't accept that it's just for fun. It is just *too* wrong. That's why I prefer settings like the current D&D Three (Greyhawk, Faerûn or Eberron). They do not try to imitate or copy history, but are free inspirations. On the other hand, I have some problems with Warhammer's Old World. Bocklin
Oh, and Heathansson....calling non-U.S. gamers "foreign" might be offensive to some people. I know you don't mean it to be an insult...I've done it myself, but I try to just refer to non U.S. gamers as that...non U.S. gamers. I try very hard to not let the ugly American thing pop up...you know--the guy who goes to Mexico and wonders why there's some many "foreigners" there. The world is a great place, and pretty much equal on the Internet, and not necessarily centered on the U.S., although many people I know can never see it that way. Like I said, I know that you didn't mean it to be an insult and I don't think anyone is going to take it that way on these boards, but some people elsewhere might....I think the nature of your question shows a genuine curiosity about other cultures, which isn't necessarily a common quality and I find it commendable. It's a bit of a sensitive topic for me since I faced a lot of semi-discrimination when I came to the U.S. by people who assumed that all Germans were Nazis and hated people who weren't white. It really irked me back then....just the other day someone at work gave me a Nazi salute, thinking they were being cute and I went off on them. I apologize in advance, it's not my place to be the PC police here or anywhere else, but it's something that I feel rather strongly about. It could be argued that since Paizo is in the U.S. and D&D was invented in the U.S., anyone who's not an American gamer is a foreigner, but a 30 year old game that went global decades ago and is played around the world is no more an American game than say...Risk or Monopoly. I greatly admire all those non U.S. gamers who play D&D and might not be able to get all the books in their native language, so they learn English in order to play the game more readily. I don't think I would manage that....if Settlers of Catan was only available in German, how many people in the U.S. would play?
farewell2kings wrote:
Duly noted. I meant no insult. I guess that's a little cultural centralism showing through. I guess I should say people who come from different countries than the U. S. A.? In my defense, I did refer to my own country as the U. S. and not America which includes two continent's worth of countries.But, yeah. As an example, what Bocklin said: he likes FR/GH/EB better because they don't try to emulate a history that they do not understand fully. That's the type of insight I'm looking for here. Or Xena/Hercules. I must profess to a somewhat embarrassing enjoyment of these campy shows, even though they have no respect for time period or theological/mythological accuracy. Xena fights at the battle of Troy, then next week alongside Boudicia against the Romans. I get the jist, though; John Wayne as Genghis Khan, everybody riding thoroughbreds instead of steppe ponies, or Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas in The Vikings really just hurt me as wrong.
Even better, those German Westerns I talked about were filmed in Italy and Yugoslavia...and the main American Indian character was played by a French actor. Some of my friends just consider that to be very "wrong"....they also think that German country music is "wrong." They don't mean it in a nasty way, though, they're just amused ;)
farewell2kings wrote: Even better, those German Westerns I talked about were filmed in Italy and Yugoslavia...and the main American Indian character was played by a French actor. Some of my friends just consider that to be very "wrong"....they also think that German country music is "wrong." They don't mean it in a nasty way, though, they're just amused ;) Reminds me of the Clint Eastwood westerns shot in Italy... they were so bizarre, but the absurdity of it all gives you a peek into another realm entirely.
I like to chime in as another "foreigner" (no offence taken but it did strike me as really 'merkin). As another European (a Dutch one this time) I can only afirm the above reactions regarding the visibility of medeival history around me. I have visited many museums and castles in the Netherlands and abroad and many of the older cities around here have remnants of medeival buildings and in some of these cities the original layout of the cities is still apparent. Regarding foreign lands and languages closeby, this is especially true for the Netherlands. From where I live Germany is 2 hours away by car as is Belgium, Luxembourg and France are only about double the distance and Great Britain and Denmark aren't that far either. Basicly we are surrounded by "foreign" countries with foreign languages. The mythological background of D&D is largely european, 2 of the writers you mention (Tolkien and Moorcock) are British themselves. However I do disagree a bit with Bocklin as I tend to like the more historicaly european-like settings more, like Ars Magica, WoD Dark Ages and some described in some dutch, german, french and british roleplaying games or assesories. This as opposed to high fantasy settings. I do agree somewhat with Bocklin on Games Workshop's Old World as this setting is more an extreme caricature than an alternative magic Europe, although I do like the greyness of the setting. I totally abhor the manga-ised fantasy except for those that are rooted in japanese mythology. In all I think our sociological and mythical backgrounds aren't that much diferent as the main mythical background of the american (D&D) fantasy is largely european. I think it is safe to say that there is more interest, in the U.S.A, for european geology, history and mythology because of D&D and fantasy, the same way I've done research into the U.S.A. because of my playing and storytelling Vampire the Masquerade cronicles in New Orleans, Chicago and San Fransisco (I have a Rand McNally Road Atlas especially for this). Roleplaying games broadens your horizons and not just to elves and dragons but to history and foreign lands also.
I'm going to chime in on this thread, though I'm not a non-US gamer. However, I did live in Europe during some pretty formative years of my live (10-almost 15) and it did have a huge impact on my life. Though I did live in a country where I could understand the language (England), the sense of immediate history was always there. The Air Force base I lived on had a 1000-yr old monastery on it, which over time had been converted to a manor house. The trees in the back of the priory were brought back by Crusaders (they are cedars of Lebanon). Castles were usually no more than a couple hours drive away, not a sense of "over there" that I got when reading similar histories before moving to England. One thing that I think was an interesting thing on the part of the Department of Defense Dependent School Districts was a particular class called "Host Nations." A "native" teacher would teach local/national history to us American kids. Never had I had a more fun class - I learned cartography, heraldry, Britain before the Normans, Britain before the Romans, stuff that I never got in a American History class. When studying Shakespeare in English class, we had the option to go see plays at Avon-on-Straton. Anyways, my two copper pieces.
Since Canadians are 90% American anyhow, you probably don't mean me, but I did live in India as a child and a lot of my mythology is flavoured by the adventures of blue-skinned Rama, Lord Krishna and the other incarnations of Vishnu. Along with his buddy Hanuman the monkey-god he kicked demon/rakshasa butt and travelled to all kinds of exotic places.
Krypter wrote: Since Canadians are 90% American anyhow, you probably don't mean me, but I did live in India as a child and a lot of my mythology is flavoured by the adventures of blue-skinned Rama, Lord Krishna and the other incarnations of Vishnu. Along with his buddy Hanuman the monkey-god he kicked demon/rakshasa butt and travelled to all kinds of exotic places. Let me explain myself, what I am seeking here. Way back in college I took a Japanese Culture class. One of the little factoids that stuck in the back of my brain was ice cream. In Japan, apparently they have sweet potato-flavored ice cream. I doubt that, as a citizen of the U. S., with my sense of what goes with what, I could even conceive of sweet potato-flavored ice cream. And, laws of transitivity holding true, that HAS to apply to Dungeons and Dragons somehow. There MUST be something I am utterly incapable of thinking of, due to the strict blinders placed upon me by my own culture. I worked with a woman from India at my last job, and I must have drove her nuts trying to get her take on the whole "rakshasa" thing. The whole tiger-head-backwards-hands motif was news to her.But, yes, I mean you or anybody who might have even glimpsed the nebulous sweet potato-flavored ice cream. And Rush rocks!!!
I am Finnish gamer, currently living in Germany though...so I'll go from that point. As others have said, I guess Europeans have a bit better grasp on Medieval times...I'd think that at least most of us have visited some old castle as a school trip at least, and get taught those times in history (well, our culture moved from prehistory to history relatively late, in 12th century, so Middle Ages don't get that much coverage in our history as they probably do in UK or France...).
Of mentality, one thing I have noticed to be different is view to heroism. View of many US people I have discussed with about matters of popular culture seems to be that heroes are and should be these ideal unblemished beings standing on pedestals doing great things and in general being role models for us mere mortals...while Finns typically have love for the underdog, people who struggle and occasionally manage to do good things despite their inherent faults. I doubt many Finns could play a "straight" LG paladin as seen in PHB...and even our heroic epic Kalevala is full of heroes who err in judgement and commit acts of highly questionable morality.
Hi, I'm a French gamer, since 1981 and as I can see around me a lot of the older gamers came to rpg and d&d from reading and loving Heroic fantasy/SciFi books, now the younger come more from video game than from litterature.
magdalena thiriet wrote: I doubt many Finns could play a "straight" LG paladin as seen in PHB...and even our heroic epic Kalevala is full of heroes who err in judgement and commit acts of highly questionable morality. I think that goes for most Swedes as well. Besides, the Miko Miyazaki kind of paladin is so much more fun to play.
Speaking as a Brit, there are a number of factors at play, I guess. On the one hand, I was exposed to English-language media, much of which is actually American. As such, I am reasonably comfortable with American cultural references, a lot of the SF and fantasy I read was by American authors, and as such my interest in fantasy and D&D was triggered off by that reading. (To be honest, I didn't really differentiate between US and non-US stuff at the time, I just read what was available in the library.) I also think that the typical D&D-er doesn't really have the same attitude to history and mythology than the "typical" man in the street. I am very interested in medieval history (once you get to the Rennaissance I really lose interest) but that came AFTER, and was spurred by, my interest in RPGs (I remember it quite distinctly: I bought and ICE Vikings supplement for Rolemaster and it had an excellent "Further Reading" section: I found myself dipping into Nordic sagas, then general reading on Vikings, then stuff on Europe at the time, then the Holy Roman Empire, and.... Well, you get the picture). But if you look at the typical man in the street, he is more interested in Celebrity Big Brother and the Premiership than any of this. We do have a lot of heritage lying around in Europe, but it goes largely unremarked and the context is very little understood (at least in the UK). Ask the average Welshman about the Mabinogion, and he'll look at you blankly. That said, anyone vaguely educated has at least an appreciation that there is thousands of years of history, back to pre-Roman times, in Europe. Let's face it, we have Stonehenge just sitting there to remind us. I remember going there with my dad about 20 years ago - an American guy stood there and said, "Wow - that must be at least four hundred years old!" No, mate - about four thousand. That's not an anti-US dig, but more a symptom that for a country which only really came into existence about 250 years ago, four hundred years seems an incredible length of time. In Europe, we have a continuity of history, including documentary records, leading back to pre-Roman Athens about 2500 years ago (and if you count the Sumerian stuff from Iraq, maybe 4000 years ago). In human terms, that is very "deep time". Some of our celebrated heroes - Queen Elizabeth I, King Alfred the Great, crikey even King Arthur - are so much more ancient than the relatively brief span of European settlement in the Americas. And there are some cultural differences too - I have always struggled a little bit with the paladin "concept": a guy who kills people because they are evil. That has always struck me as a bit of moral absolutism which relects an American frontier spirit, a relaxed way with weapons of violence (i.e. guns) and even perhaps a rigid religious/moral code (Europe being much more secular than the US, by-and-large). (Certainly, Charlemagne's paladins were just his cronies, and his enforced "conversion" of the peoples of Europe to Christianity was a far from benign process). But overall, I think that the average D&D-er in the US probably has much more in common with his counterpart in Europe or elsewhere than differences - we are interested in stuff that leaves most of the population cold (history, mythology and so on). I think this unites us much more than anything else.
Well.. I'm from Brazil(w00t) and I moved to the U.S. last year(2005)....I think that we all have similar concepts as gamers and don't think your nationality influences your game, basically because we all get most of the RPG info from the U.S.
What an interesting discussion. I have been thinking about this a bit lately too. It's fascinating to read some other perspectives on this here, and hear about other people's experiences of roleplaying outside the US. I'm Scottish, but I've lived in Japan for coming on six years. My wife is Japanese, and I am considering introducing her to roleplaying. This brings up all sorts of interesting cultural differences, as I have to struggle from the very start with explaining the very European/Western archetypes used in D&D classes. Moreover, Japanese literature is quite far removed from Western literature; the Japanese translation of the Lord of the Rings is considered a very difficult read here, and very few people seem to have read it. And of course reading in general tends to be overshadowed by manga. So it's hard to know which parts of the picture she is familiar with at all. Regarding the sweet potato ice cream, I haven't come across that one, but I have tried soy sauce ice cream (lovely!), soba noodle ice cream (hmmm), spinach ice cream (yuck!), rice ice cream (not much of a flavour, interesting texture), sesame seed ice cream (another hmmm), and probably others I've forgotten about. But I have to say, I don't think you should take any of these strange and bizarre flavours as an indication of how different Japanese culture is; most Japanese people find the idea of these flavours just as strange as you and I. And there are strange cooks in all countries - consider the recipe for beef roasted in Coke I once read in my local newspaper back home. Nevertheless, the issue of cultural backgrounds is absolutely a real one, which for better and for worse I have to live with every day.
Thorf wrote:
I would really like to know more about it. I watch a lot of Anime, read Manga and few books about Japan. My picture is of course very distant from the reality, but I would be deligthed to hear about some typical differences, so that I can better understand.
Be warned: long, rambling post.
Considering ancient cultures, in the Rhine area, you have quite a lot remnants of the romans, dating back about 2000 years. A few years ago, one of the most important battle sites in northern Germany, where according to the various historical accounts the battle between three roman legions and several Germanic tribes ended with the complete and utter defeat of these three legions (the 17th ,18th and 19th), was found. This battle was decisive in ending the roman expansion to northern Germany. This battle was a nearly legendary occurrence, and until a few years ago, no one knew where it happened. The site is about two hours away by car from my home town. See this link. In my home town, there was roman silver found in the 19th century, which probably has some connection to this battle. It is thought that this may have been loot of this battle, buried here for unknown reasons. That is quite close to the "typical" RPG behaviour.)) (As an aside, the name of that place, Kalkriese, would translate as Chalkgiant )) I´m working for the city government and work to protect historical buildings and other monuments (but not directly the churches), so history is the base of my daily work. But that's far off-topic. What I wanted to say was that being surrounded by history and being interested in that topic lead in my case to intensive studies of historical sources, which has of course influenced my gaming. I did not try to make D&D more historical accurate, that point would be moot, but I´m interested in RPGs in historical settings.
I once started a Vampire: Dark Ages story set in Florence, and the first thing I did in preparation for that story was buying an Art Guide to the city to get the details right. (I visited Florence and Tuscany about ten years ago, it's a fantastic area steeped in history) I also love the Ars Magica game, and think that their sourcebooks are just great. As they say themselves, their books are not history textbooks, but they are well-researched. So, in my case, it is not so much the mythology that separates me from fellow gamers in the US (if it would, we would have serious problems communicating about the game), but the closeness of even ancient history that probably makes a difference.
Ok, bored you all long enough now… Stefan
Great post, Stefan! Reading it reminded me that I completely blanked out on Wagner! But he is a key German fantasy author (ouch!). Well, he did not mean to be one, at least not in the sense of "fantasy author" as we mean it today, but his Nibelungen quadrilogy (is that a word?) is really a classical piece. I finished reading it last month and am still thinking of it a lot. You can't help wonder how much of this has influenced Tolkien. Just a hundred years (ca.) before LotR was written, you had a full opera saga with Dwarves/Gnomes (called "Kobold" in the original German version), Dragons, Giants, Heroes and a Ring of power that is coveted by all at the center. In terms of D&D rules (now the Wagner purist will crucify me for this), you also have Wild Shaping, Invisibility, uses of the Craft Magic Weapon Feat, a couple of crazy Half-Celestial Human female Fighters, etc. The Pantheon is also quite interesting and would make a great basis for a D&D Setting. That's definitely one non-US/non-anglo-saxon source for fantasy, that would deserve to be more read. Bocklin
Well, Wagner just used (some say abused) a much older story that was rediscovered around 1800.
It is well known that Tolkien knew much about northern european folklore, the names of his dwarves are taken straight out of the edda, the ring idea probably owes to the nibelungen, as Bocklin pointed out. Folktales are inspirations for many authors, so I think all "western" authors are somewhat influenced by these folktales. (With western, I mean an eurocentric world view, which has had the biggest influence on the US, I think.) It is a basic indoeuropean source of ideas, dating back to times immemorial. Just compare greek gods to northern gods, and you will find some parallels. AFAIK, Zeus has his parallels to the northern Tyr/Ziu (the latter being a more germanic spelling), who is reputed to have been the chief god before Odin/Woden/Wotan entered the scene. And I think the parallels between Thor and Heracles are pretty obvious. So, american authors cannot help but being influenced by these myths as well, but of course american culture developed differently from some point onward. The pioneer spirit probably is very much a part of the american culture, as far as I can tell. Only within the 19th century, the whole area of what is now the US was conquered and settled. Compare this to the ages-old kingdoms in europe at the time, being very much set in their ways, and it is nearly logical to assume that there is a difference in spirit. These differences continue to this day. Even if I open a can of worms now, but this pioneer spirit may be the cause for the insistence of the american populace regarding weapon laws. Sorry, but I just don´t buy the necessity of being able to defend yourself all the time. (It bears repeating, this is of course my point of view, which is probably skewed.) This might just be one of the reasons why there is a difference in the reception of violence in gaming. I have the impression that american RPGs are, very generally speaking, more given to violence than some european ones. I remember old adventures from the german "The Dark Eye" (or is it "Aventuria"?) that had right from the beginning more encounters where violence was no option, compared to D&D. Enough for now. Stefan
Re Tolkien, my understanding is that he was very much influenced by the folktales of ancient Europe, which informed a lot of the LotR. As a professional philologist, he was interested in the origins of language and words and read most of the great folktale epics as part of this. He also felt that us Brits rather lacked a "national epic" like the Kelevala (right spelling?) and the Ring Cycle/Volsungsaga (also possibly a dodgy spelling - apologies) of Finland and Germany respectively, and wanted to create something in a similar vein for Britain. (As an aside, an interesting comparison can be made between the Shire and the counties of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire where Tolkien grew up and worked - the Shire is essentially an idealised English Midlands rural landscape of, say the late 19th/early 20th centuries, with it's small villages, rolling hills dotted with woodland, and friendly (though rather short) locals. As a further aside, there are also some implicit assumptions concerning class and station that run through the relationship between Sam and Frodo that are very British, at least for the period but still in evidence to some extent today.) (As yet a further aside, I always enjoyed the interplay between the orcs and uruks who captured Merry and Pippin when they are discussing what to do. Tolkien was in the trenches in World War One and the way those orcs talk is pure British tommy and NCOs. I always felt disgruntled they left that out of the movie version of the Two Towers, especially when the shovelled so much crap in to that one, but I really am digressing a long way now.) I certainly think, on a further comment, that maybe there is a difference in the implicit attitude to violence between US and European players. I don't really have much to base this on, other than my observation about paladins in D&D. Again, I think that we are more similar than different, as certainly my group comprises computer guys and accountants, and who may therefore see the game as a release from our nerdiness and geekiness. I think we all get some enjoyment from the safe, and therefore empowering, "violence" that we can wreak in D&D, and I imagine that is the case whether we are from London, Berlin, Boston or Tokyo. What I think is interesting is why some of us prefer the mix of roleplaying v power-gaming that we do, and whether this has any impact depending on our culture. Any comments?
Aubrey the Malformed wrote: ...us Brits rather lacked a "national epic"... The Mabinogion wasn't epic enough? King Arthur? Cu Chulainn and the Tuatha de Danaan? Firbolgs? Giants? How much more epic can ya get? ;-) I've seen aforementioned Finnish epic spelled "Kalevala", for what it's worth. I know my group uses combat/violence in D&D to act out their frustrations in Real Life(tm), which I think is a better outlet. For me, if I don't have a game coming up, "gratuitous violence" helps, usually in the form of Doom, Diablo, Halo, games like that. Are we expressing a form of rebellion against the things we cannot change by vicariously living out a violent expression in a non-physically harmful media? Probably. I know that by the time I've blown up said Covenant Armada a few times, my anger has subsided to a manageable point. My players are more relaxed after they've battled the bad guys minions, decimating them with their skills and powers. Is it healthy? For us, yes. It's probably the same reason we all game (and for my group, why we're in the SCA) - it's an escape. We put on our garb, or pick up our character sheet and dice, and forget about Life, even for a few hours. By the time Real Life(tm) rolls back around we're ready to look at things from a different perspective and "git 'er done." Back to the subject at hand... When I lived in Bedfordshire, the immediacy of history did make a deep impression upon me. One of the very first family trips my dad took my brother and I on was to Belvoir Castle, where we got to go to the top of the tower and view the land around us. Really gives you the reason it was built on top of a hill. They also held a jousting tournament - talk about making an impression on a ten-year old mind! I also had a chance to go hawking when I was 14 - there is an odd sense of power when you're holding a bird of prey on your hand. You can feel their talons pressing into your hand, despite the thick leather glove you wear. I got to see a peregrine falcon in action - it dive bombed a rabbit. All the animal shows in the world cannot recreate that experience for me. I got to feed a barn owl. I could not even hear that owl approach from flight and land on my arm - the only sign I knew that bird had landed was the weight on my arm. Also got to see a golden eagle (named Shakespeare) do its magic. To this day, I would still love to have a bird like those I saw in England. Though I'm not a big fan of Tolkien, there is a really really good sign that the movies and his work have had a big effect. They are building a subdivision in my town called The Shire. The street names are Baggins Way, Ringbearer Court. The place looks absolutely amazing - I hope I can afford to live there!
Just an amusing fact about 'Wagnerism'. King Ludwig's most knewn castle Neuschwanstein (http://www.neuschwanstein.de/) was built after his wish to built a perfect setting for Wagners (fantasy) opera. He even let built a cave with lakes to be in his 'fantasy' world (http://www.linderhof.de/).
As a Norwegian who has lived in Belgium, Russia and the UK (and is currently living in the US), I'm less than entirely certain about which influences come from where, or whether they are meaningfully traceable to being European. Like everyone else, my first experience with fantasy was Tolkien about 20 years ago, but I also read a bunch of other fantasy stuff, like the Conan comics and Stephen King's "The Stand". Still, I DM very differently from the Americans I've met, so there might be something there... Also, I would like to strongly second the conceptual differences between heroism in the US and elsewhere; read the Older and Younger Edda (the Old Norse viking sagas), and there is little classical heroism involved. Instead, you get large amounts of shockingly messy violence, and a stoicism that is at times highly entertaining (In one memorable sequence, one guy comes out of a house with a poleaxe sticking out of his back. When asked if the house's owner was home, he answers "No, but his axe was" - and only then dies). Perhaps this lack of chivalric purity is why my groups rarely play paladins - and when they do, they are never actually likeable, but rather foam-at-the-mouth holy warriors? One of the paladins even owned thralls he had taken in combat. Even though he treated them well, that is quite a bit away from the Arthurian concept of the pious knight...
Um, coming to think of it, that same paladin who staffed his longhouse with battle-captives also rode a polar bear instead of a horse and wore a wolverine helmet over his walrus-skin cloak. I guess that last flourish might possibly be something of a Norwegian quirk.
Regarding chivalry, I think this was more of an romantic ideal than daily reality. A knight was basically a warrior out to kill his enemy, not a holy man happening to wear armor and carry a sword. Read accounts of historical battles (eg. from Osprey), and you will not find much chivalrous behaviour.
Oh yes, I remember reading some of the goriest stories ever in Edda...highly entertaining in macabre way.
Moving to differences in mentality, I don't know how much this applies to gamers but anyway...
Similarly, some have commented that Americans shouldn't be allowed to make wildlife documents since they tend to overdramatise them to point of silliness, finding danger and conflict even in places where there is none... I haven't played enough with US gamers to know if they are more likely to go for larger-than-life stories in dramas that are their (characters') lives than, say, European players.
Lilith wrote:
Point well made - perhaps I should clarify. An ENGLISH epic - the Mabinogion is Welsh and Cu Chulainn is Irish (and both writeen in "Celtic" languages, not English - I won't bore you with notions of nationhood within the various countries [England, Scotlan and Wales, plus the province of northern Ireland] that make up the UK, but the relevance is that they were very real separate entities until the medieval period and beyond [in the case of Scotland]). King Arthur wasn't really written down until the medieval period. And while we sort of have Beowulf, the action all happens in Sweden. (I don't really dispute your point, actually, just passing on a comment I read about Tolkien. It might not even be true - I haven't spoken to old JRR lately to confirm.)
Stebehil wrote:
I think the notion of chivalry arose with the troubadour tradition in medieval France, where courtliness and romance were elevated by the troubadour poets (I am far from an expert in this subject by the way, but then again it has never stopped me opining before - I saw a interesting documentary that suggested in passing that the troubadours may have been influenced by Moorish poetic traditions, so in fact our nights in shining armour have an islamic antecedence). While these notions became fairly widespread as an ideal and were celebreated in such medieval works as Morte d'Arthur (spelling?), the Song of Roland and so on (and attached to the D&D paladins), it is quite true that they had very little bearing on actual medieval warfare. Consider, for example, Henry V's (supposedly a hero king, at least if you are English [apologies to any French readers]) execution of the French nobles captured after Agincourt becuase they had to many to hold and ransom and nowhere to put them. Certainly, the Nordic sagas don't have much in the way of chivalry - battle for them was about killing the other guys and getting out alive. And the motivations were almost gangsterish.
Lilith wrote: Though I'm not a big fan of Tolkien, there is a really really good sign that the movies and his work have had a big effect. They are building a subdivision in my town called The Shire. The street names are Baggins Way, Ringbearer Court. The place looks absolutely amazing - I hope I can afford to live there! I hate to say it, that sounds almost unbearably twee - maybe another difference between UK and US sensibilities? ;-) While I agree that the LotR movies probably have given the hobby a big kickstart, I always had some problems with the settings in NZ. They never looked quite right to my imagination, I guess, as I was probably seeing more quintessentialy English settings. Cosidering the aforementioned Shire, the rendition of that always looked a bit wrong to me in the film. As I say, it reads as very English to me - I think the vegetation and so on just made it look alien. (I am not a huge fan of Peter Jackson's trilogy, though I respect his breadth of vision. I just think that, as a non-Brit, mybe he didn't "get" it as much as he thought. Or maybe I'm just an old bigot.)
This has been an interesting thread--my sense is that Europeans and Americans have a lot more in common than we think we do, despite the strange combination of religious righteousness with violence that is a bit more prevalent in the U.S. (This, of course, ultimately derives from Europe as well--blame Cromwell, Cortez, and all of those fine kings, nobles, and princes of the church who got their dynastic ambitions mixed up with their religious convictions, and then blame Cotton Mather, Woodrow Wilson, W, Pat Robertson and whoever else for carrying on the tradition here and getting "American democratic values" mixed up with the bible.) One earlier poster mentioned trying to get a Japanese wife to play, and I'm rather curious if there are any other gamers on this board who have had any experience playing FRPGs in Asia or Africa, or with people who grew up in Asian or African cultures. My experience has been playing a game in China where the DM was trying to include his Chinese girlfriend in the game, and trying to include a Chinese girlfriend in a game here in the states. Neither girlfriend developed much of an interest, although his girlfriend at least was sporting about it. I think part of this experience was just a matter of people who don't really have the escapist streak that most of us gamers have (amen to Lillith), or at least people who are in the habit of using other ways of escaping reality. Although Chinese culture has a long and very interesting history of fantasy, on the mainland today the culture seems really focused on material realities and competition over them (both among rich and poor). And also the college examination grind (common to all of East Asia) gives teenagers very little time to develop any hobbies or interests at all--for most of us, I think this is the time of our lives when we developed this hobby, and if we hadn't done it then, we probably wouldn't be very much into it now. That said, there is a ton of material in Asian cultures (and I'm sure African as well) that could be used in an FRPG setting. Oriental Adventures and related material are a start, but it's kind of limited (very Japan-centric), and, well, "orientalist" (i.e. reflecting a Eurocentric idealization of "Eastern" cultures). So I'm not sure that what's available would have the same kind of cultural resonance for the hypothetical Asian gamer that the standard RPGs like D&D have for an audience with a European background. It seems to me there is a huge potential market for pen and paper roleplaying games in Asia today, but it would probably require an enterprising person with both gaming expertise and a good knowledge of the Asian counterparts of the folklore and fiction that influenced the founding fathers of the FRPG world over here.
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote: One earlier poster mentioned trying to get a Japanese wife to play, and I'm rather curious if there are any other gamers on this board who have had any experience playing FRPGs in Asia or Africa, or with people who grew up in Asian or African cultures. I have very little insight into African culture, but I have been out with some Asian girls and can make some very hesitant comparisons based on that (though I never tried to play an RPG with them). I think one of the primary requirements for an interest in fantasy is probably living in an industialised society. This allows you to idealise a bucolic past (let's face it, life as a medieval peasant was sh!t - you waded through the stuff most of the time) and gives you a sort of nostalgic, romantic, "pastoral" image of ancient times (there is an interesting essay by Prof Tom Shippey in the Penguin Book of Fantasy Stories along those lines). Most Asian cultures are busy industialising but there is also a big rural sector - in other words, they haven't travelled as far down the road to obliterating a rural, pastoral heritage, they still have one and know that it isn't quite so sweet and lovely. Also, and connected to this to some extent, Asian culture tends to be quite materialistic (though also see below). A trip to Singapore was very interesting in that everything was geared to making money. I am an arch-capitalist (I didn't get where I am today without crushing a few of the proletariat along the way) but there was very little allowance made for, well, culture. Yes, they have a big arts centre, yes, they have big libraries: but the concentration is not on airy-fairy "arts" but on their application in a business environment (the girl I was seeing was a graphic designer, but she saw it in business terms, not as an artistic calling). And the government wasn't very interested in the heritage of the place - Chinatown was turned into a sort of gaudy theme park cum bar area, and virtually none of the buildings on the island are more than 20 years old. (A couple of caveats - the history of the Malay penninsular is strained, and politics a tricky subject in Singapore, which may explain a preference for looking at the here-and-now in Singapore in particular that may not be so prevalent elsewhere in Asia. Also, I wasn't there that long, so maybe missed a lot. But these were my impressions.) I also think that playing D&D requires you to have a certain detatchment, i.e. the magic and stuff is just a game element, not real (irrespective of what a certain film with Tom Hanks in may suggest). Asian culture, however, is deeply superstitious. Even supposed aetheists do weird stuff (like the girl I knew in Singapore, who changed her name because it was more likely to net her a good husband - heh, and then she met me....) for good karma. A couple of Thai girls of my acquaintance were both deeply religious (little statues of the Buddha, praying and jossticks) and completely ruthless in their personal lives (a very curious mixture, if you are not used to the culture). While Buddhism is quite different from Christianity, we all know the aggro that some in the Christian community feel towards our hobby because they think Summon Monster I really is trying to summon a monster from the netherworld. I think that if the "spirit world" surrounds you all the time, you don't really feel the need to play with little figures to conjure up an imaginary magic universe. I suspect these coments may be more particular to Southeast Asia, which has been my particular Asian stamping ground. I suspect it applies less to mainland China (a supposedly strictly atheistic society, though also very materialistic) and very little to Japan (an advanced industrialised society, with a thriving Manga (sci-fi and fantasy) and computer gaming scene. Also, as a counter argument to all, this, I expect we all heard about the Krean guy who managed to kill himself by playing a MMORPG for 72 hours straight. But then again, maybe not - the computer game experience is very different to "traditional" paper and pencil RPGs - much more competitive (and materialistic?).
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
A very interesting point, and well made. I'm certainly not aware of any "authentically" Asian settings. The WotC Oriental Adventures source book was written by an American, and presumably the others were too. And I also can't recall anything arriving in Dungeon from an Asian author. Asia may be the next big area for RPG, but it is possible that the entrenchment of computer gaming and MMORPGs (a huge phenomenon in Asia) may muscle D&D out of the way (D&D Online does appear to be having teething troubles, to say the least, because it is more of an attempt to creat a pen and paper experience in a computer game).
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
I had my Japanese wife play D&D a few times, as well as playing with other Japanese friends in Japan. There was no problem with the material, they had played games like Dragonquest since '86 (which was based heavily on D&D monsters and themes) and continue to do so, but the pen and paper never really picked up there. So, the only problem I found was with the concept of P&P or tabletop games. The statement Aubrey the Malformed made about industrialized societies is very true, but in Japan's case it equated to having access to game systems and PCs. I can't say how players from rural China or LDCs in SE Asia would approach the setting culturally, but in Japan it's a non-issue, everyone has grown up with the idyllic D&D medieval setting. There are also more 'Asian' style RPGs, most based on Chinese or Japanese medieval times, but they generally focus on warfare and battle tactics. That being said the Japanese RPGs usually mix a little Asian influence by including ninjas, samurai, monks, but unlike D&D they don't bother separating the campaign setting. I think that may be a reflection of the way Japan is adept at adopting and melding foreign influences into their domestic culture almost subconsciously now. Either way it's pretty comfortable for North American and Europeans from my experience (Canadian working with Europeans in advertising). And, regarding Dragon editors being Asian, I found Anime and Asian Studies students from North America were more versed in Japanese and Chinese myths and folklore than the average person on the street (the monks and priests still knew more). The Japanese constitution has a very strict separation of state and religion (unlike some who only pay lipservice to the idea) and this may be why Buddhist and Shinto folklore isn't taught, not sure how the Chinese schools approach the issue. Finally, I would love to see more African influence in RPGs, as I know virtually nothing about it, but hope to do a trek there in the next few years.
I'm so glad so many people like this thread. It's like having a gazillion penpals all at once.
Heathansson wrote:
Y'know, "merkin" has a double meaning...
I hadn't really thought about the whole thing of computer/video games beating pen & paper RPGs into the market in most of Asia. Many of us grew up before video games were fun, absorbing, and affordable, and thus developed a strange, relatively low tech hobby that we're passing on to the next generation, culturally speaking. Video games are certainly huge throughout East Asia--but it's not necessarily a natural transition from video games to something that requires one to visualize stuff in different ways. I'm not sure I agree that fantasy requires an "individualist" orientation (or even that "Asians" aren't individualistic--they can be quite individualistic in certain ways--it's just that social pressures for conformity tend to be stronger and last until retirement in many cases.) Fantasy does tend to appeal to a "modern" audience, though--in many ways the fantasy movement as a literary genre is both an outgrowth of modernity and a rebellion against it. To people who retain some element of actual belief in the magical and spiritual elements that we moderns play with like toys to make our fantasy, those elements are instead folklore--they help people to interpret observed phenomena rather than to think about human problems in the abstract. But in China and Japan, enough people are distanced enough from old superstition to fuel genuine fantasy literature and film. And there is also enough antiquarianism (especially in film and TV) to fuel what we might call the SCA side of people's imaginations. So, it might be difficult to compete with videogames (it is here), but if you've seen Princess Mononoke or the Seven Samurai or watched any of the bazillion martial arts soap operas and mini-series available on Chinese TV, you've got to believe the potential is there for people to enjoy roleplaying. The big problems, I think (besides competing with videogames) are that people don't develop hobbies until adulthood (due to the "examination hell" of the college entrance tests), and that when they do develop hobbies there's a tendency toward group activities sanctioned by the culture at large. Neither of these is an insurmountable issue, but the marketing would have to be different. Jonnee Cow (sp?)--you mentioned that there are some Japanese RPGs out there--what are they like?
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
I'm gonna try to remember...way back in the day, when the NEC9800 was the PC of choice there was a Record of Lodoss War RPG, a bunch of no-named RPGs (bad imitations of Dragon Quest)... The newer ones included Resurrection of the Goddess (they actually made a US version of one of them...) - the coolest thing with this game was that you captured enemies into a bracelet, then by mixing certain types created new monsters. The coolest thing was that by the end of the game you had melded dozens of creatures to make the ultimate henchmen. You could make gods (Thor, Vishnu, Zeus, etc.) by the end and ultimately put Lucifer into your party and killed God!!! Which is why they didn't import that version... :)
Peruhain of Brithondy wrote:
Well, of course we have a lot in common. The cultural roots are basically the same, if you take the cultural mainstream in Europe and the US. Christian religion is a formative element, and as the settlement of North America was done mainly by western european forces, they brought their culture and religion with them. Even if modern countries of today are secular and have or more or less strict separation of religion from state matters, the christian basis cannot be denied. There are other influences in the US as well, as it was a attractive place for emigrants for centuries, who all brought their own cultures with them. You won´t find a Chinatown in most European cities, and that will make a difference. Stefan
farewell2kings wrote:
Thanks, that was interesting
Lol, I lived in Europe for a few years; I played rpgs with Europeans and it was great; different snacks; wierd stuff on sticks that were great, got a bit lost in the language sometimes, but hey. Being an American of Finnish decent; I have tried; tried hard to read; chant; sing the Kalevala, but I just cant do it; I dont know the beat or cantor; it is very very hard to read in English. For fun some of you Europeans might read my Gamers with Passports post as I am very much enjoying your guys input here.
Heathansson wrote:
Don't worry, we are all foreigners in most parts of the world. Sometimes I even think I am one in my own land... Anyway, this thread is fun to read!I am german and played with a lot of different people. It has always been nice to experience different ways to play the same game. I started using the german material when the red box has been available here - 1E.
More to come, my break at work is over and I have to go back to my screen... Talk,err...write to you later!


text:
w6.1 Immigration
soc1a06-c01 - Section C01 - w6.1 Immigration - McMaster University > Courses > SOC1A06 Introduction to Sociology > Section C01 > w6.1 Immigration
12.102 Environmental Earth Science (MIT)
The geologic record demonstrates that our environment has changed over a variety of time scales from seconds to billions of years. This course explores the many ways in which geologic processes control and modify the Earth's environment and serves as an introduction to Environmental Earth Science Field Course (12.120), which addresses field applications of these principles in the American Southwest.
6.864 Advanced Natural Language Processing (MIT)
This course is a graduate introduction to natural language processing - the study of human language from a computational perspective. It covers syntactic, semantic and discourse processing models, emphasizing machine learning or corpus-based methods and algorithms. It also covers applications of these methods and models in syntactic parsing, information extraction, statistical machine translation, dialogue systems, and summarization. The subject qualifies as an Artificial Intelligence and Applic
HST.410J Projects in Microscale Engineering for the Life Sciences (MIT)
This course is a project-based introduction to manipulating and characterizing cells and biological molecules using microfabricated tools. It is designed for first year undergraduate students. In the first half of the term, students perform laboratory exercises designed to introduce (1) the design, manufacture, and use of microfluidic channels, (2) techniques for sorting and manipulating cells and biomolecules, and (3) making quantitative measurements using optical detection and fluorescent labe
8.231 Physics of Solids I (MIT)
This course offers an introduction to the basic concepts of the quantum theory of solids.
ESD.04J Frameworks and Models in Engineering Systems / Engineering System Design (MIT)
This class provides an introduction to quantitative models and qualitative frameworks for studying complex engineering systems. Also taught is the art of abstracting a complex system into a model for purposes of analysis and design while dealing with complexity, emergent behavior, stochasticity, non-linearities and the requirements of many stakeholders with divergent objectives. The successful completion of the class requires a semester-long class project that deals with critical contemporary is
2.003J Dynamics and Control I (MIT)
This class is an introduction to the dynamics and vibrations of lumped-parameter models of mechanical systems. Topics include kinematics; force-momentum formulation for systems of particles and rigid bodies in planar motion; work-energy concepts; virtual displacements and virtual work; Lagrange's equations for systems of particles and rigid bodies in planar motion; linearization of equations of motion; linear stability analysis of mechanical systems; free and forced vibration of linear multi-deg
12.425 Extrasolar Planets: Physics and Detection Techniques (MIT)
This course covers the basic principles of planet atmospheres and interiors applied to the study of extrasolar planets (exoplanets). We focus on fundamental physical processes related to observable exoplanet properties. We also provide a quantitative overview of detection techniques and an introduction to the feasibility of the search for Earth-like planets, biosignatures and habitable conditions on exoplanets.
15.963 Management Accounting and Control (MIT)
This course is an introduction to the use of accounting information by managers for decision making, performance evaluation and control. The course should be useful for those who intend to work as management consultants, for LFM (Leaders for Manufacturing) students, and in general, for those who will become senior managers.
12.815 Atmospheric Radiation (MIT)
This is an introduction to the physics of atmospheric radiation and remote sensing including use of computer codes. Subjects covered include: radiative transfer equation including emission and scattering, spectroscopy, Mie theory, and numerical solutions. We examine the solution of inverse problems in remote sensing of atmospheric temperature and composition.
21L.011 The Film Experience (MIT)
This course is an introduction to narrative film, emphasizing the unique properties of the movie house and the motion picture camera, the historical evolution of the film medium, and the intrinsic artistic qualities of individual films. The primary focus is on American cinema, but secondary attention is paid to works drawn from other great national traditions, such as France, Italy, and Japan. The syllabus includes such directors as Griffith, Keaton, Chaplin, Renoir, Ford, Hitchcock, Altman, De
6.080 Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science (MIT)
This course provides a challenging introduction to some of the central ideas of theoretical computer science. It attempts to present a vision of "computer science beyond computers": that is, CS as a set of mathematical tools for understanding complex systems such as universes and minds. Beginning in antiquity—with Euclid's algorithm and other ancient examples of computational thinking—the course will progress rapidly through propositional logic, Turing machines and computability, fin
11.958 Getting Things Implemented: Strategy, People, Performance, and Leadership (MIT)
An old saying holds that "there are many more good ideas in the world than good ideas implemented." This is a case based introduction to the fundamentals of effective implementation. Developed with the needs and interests of planners—but also with broad potential application—in mind, this course is a fast paced, case driven introduction to developing strategy for organizations and projects, managing operations, recruiting and developing talent, taking calculated risks, measuring resu
18.336 Numerical Methods for Partial Differential Equations (MIT)
This graduate-level course is an advanced introduction to applications and theory of numerical methods for solution of differential equations. In particular, the course focuses on physically-arising partial differential equations, with emphasis on the fundamental ideas underlying various methods.
14.452 Economic Growth (MIT)
This half semester class presents an introduction to macroeconomic modeling, focusing on the theory of economic growth and some of its applications. It will introduce a number of models of non-stochastic and stochastic macroeconomic equilibrium. It will use these models to shed light both on the process of economic growth at the world level and on sources of income and growth differences across countries.
6.701 Introduction to Nanoelectronics (MIT)
Traditionally, progress in electronics has been driven by miniaturization. But as electronic devices approach the molecular scale, classical models for device behavior must be abandoned. To prepare for the next generation of electronic devices, this class teaches the theory of current, voltage and resistance from atoms up. To describe electrons at the nanoscale, we will begin with an introduction to the principles of quantum mechanics, including quantization, the wave-particle duality, wavefunct
Geometry - Grade 11
Rory Adams,
Free High School Science Texts Project,
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Receive the samples and prepare for testing - Perform Non-Instrumental Tests/Procedures
An introduction to procedures in scientific and medical
testing laboratories for conducting non-instrumental tests on samples. Covers
procedures to correctly receive a sand sample with a certificate of
Introduction to drama
This is a module framework. It can be viewed online or downloaded as a zip file.
As taught in Autumn Semester 2010.
This module is designed to provide an introduction to the analysis and performance of drama. It has three main aims:
1) To provide an introduction to the analysis of drama;
2) To give a taste of the wide range of performance convention in history, from Ancient Greek tragedy to nineteenth-century naturalism;
3) To foreground drama as a performance medium rather than a form of lit
Tensile test on annealed copper
Full tensile test of annealed copper at 20 times actual speed, showing plastic deformation, necking and failure. From TLP: Introduction to mechanical testing, http://www.msm.cam.ac.uk/doitpoms/tlplib/mechanical-testing/results2.php


text:
When I posted about The Disco Song from Student of the Year, MissMalini reader Namrata made a comment saying that she wondered whether Alia Bhatt's look was inspired by Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl. I'm a huge Blair fan, so I was kicking myself for not having made the connection earlier. Anyhow, I immediately saw the similarity, so I delved a little deeper and I found three things that Alia Bhatt's character and Blair Waldorf have in common. One, of course, is the pricey private school education in an extravagant school, and the corresponding uniform. Here are the other two!
Blair Waldorf is nothing without her snark, and from the pictures alone, I can sense this in Alia's character as well. There's something about that extremely self-important way with which Alia carries herself that just screams Blair Waldorf – I'm willing to bet she's the Queen Bee of her school as well!
Perhaps the most important of them all: Blair is famous for her headbands, and Alia seems to be wearing one almost permanently. "Wear headbands all the time" is number one on my "How to Be Like Blair Waldorf" list (I mean… no, of course I don't keep such a list… *shifty eyes*), so it's easy to see why headbands is the most immediate connection between the two.
What do you think – see the similarity?
Alia BhattAlia Bhatt Blair Waldorf similarityblair waldorfGossip GirlStudent of the YearPingback: Karan Johar & Cast at 'Student of the Year' Music Launch! | MissMalini
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text: Best Hostess Gifts 15 Hostess Gifts That Will Get You Invited Back Every Time December 16, 2012 Share This link Best Hostess Gifts 5 / 18 by Brittney Stephens 0 Save 0 Favorite 0 Charm the baking beauty with Miette: Recipes From San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop ($28). Previous 5 / 18 Next by Brittney Stephens 0 What's Your Reaction? 0 0 0 0 0 0 Charm the baking beauty with Miette: Recipes From San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop ($28). ‹ Back to Homepage Save 0 Favorite 0 Follow POPSUGAR Fashion Pinterest Twitter Google + Instagram Featured Partners Kate Middleton's Temperley Repeat Is 10 Times Better With 3D Glasses (PHOTOS) Kourtney Kardashian: 'I've Been Thinking About How I'll Define Beauty' To My Daughter What Every New Mom Needs To Know About Makeup Chanel's Native American Headdress On Runway Raises Eyebrows (PHOTOS) More News at HuffPost Style Tracy Anderson and Gwyneth Paltrow Take Their Diet Show to a 'Major Network' Study: Narrowing Wage Gap Still a Major Bummer Office Stress Is Contagious Lizzy Caplan Got Drunk on the True Blood Set, Sexually Harassed Co-workers More News at The Cut You Asked, We Found: Emmy's Necklaces and More Fashion Faceoff: Adriana vs. Sandra Obsessed or Hot Mess? Vote on These Daring Looks I Really Love My: Keira's Wedding Dress and More! More News at PEOPLE.com/stylewatch popsugar live! NOW Watch POPSUGAR LIVE! Now NOW Watch POPSUGAR LIVE! Now Sponsored Links Subscribe to POPSUGAR Subscribe now to get instantly addictive email delivered to your inbox! Daily Sales & Arrivals Celebrity & Entertainment Featured Shops Fitness Fashion & Beauty Living Must Have ShopStyle Search Top Brands7 For All MankindVinceBCBGenerationSkechersEstee LauderArmaniCurrent/ElliottNicole Miller Top Searchesdogearedorthaheelmichael starscolorful bootsplatinum ringaerosoleseileen fisherash


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25 CFR 173.16 - Reserved area, Coolidge Dam.
§ 173.16
Reserved area, Coolidge Dam.
No permit for any commercial business or other activity (except boating concessions confined to the Soda Spring Canyon) shall be issued to any applicant to operate within a radius of three-fourths of a mile from the center of the Coolidge Dam, Arizona.
Title 25 published on 2011-04-01
no entries appear in the Federal Register after this date.
This is a list of United States Code sections, Statutes at Large, Public Laws, and Presidential Documents, which provide rulemaking authority for this CFR Part.
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Illinois Senate overrides Quinn's prison cuts
The Associated Press November 28, 2012 1:52PM
Updated: December 30, 2012 3:45PM
SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate has voted to restore money that Gov. Pat Quinn cut from the budget to force the closure of prisons, including Illinois Youth Center-Joliet, and other state facilities.
The Senate voted 35-16 to reject cuts of $56 million to fund the Tamms high-security prison, the Dwight women's lockup and other sites.
The measure moves to the House. If the House approves it, Quinn wouldn't be forced to spend the money on the facilities.
But it would prohibit the Democratic governor from spending the cash on anything else.
Quinn opposed the override. He wants to improve child-protection program funding. His administration has argued that Tamms and some juvenile detention centers are underutilized and that developmentally disabled residents in state institutions would do better in community settings.


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Welcome to the World Evangelization Conference 2013! The World Evangelization Conference (WEC) is DTS' annual missions conference which exists to bring glory to God by spurring students on toward the mission of God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a week-long campus-wide event entirely designed and coordinated by students for students and guests – it is open to the public!
Conference presenters include pastors, professors, missionaries, and field experts who will speak in Chapels, Breakout Seminars, Workshops, and Special Events. Additionally, students will have the chance to learn about short term, long term, and career ministry opportunities from over 40 global organizations who will join us as conference exhibitors. At the end of the day, our hope is that students will be more exposed to global realities, be more equipped to minister globally, and ultimately, more compelled to participate in God's world-wide redemptive mission.
We invite you to check out the conference schedule and look forward to seeing you in March! The World Evangelization Conference (WEC) is a campus-wide event focused on helping students serve Christ in a global context. Dallas Theological Seminary annually sets aside an entire week to focus the entire campus on WEC. Regular classes are canceled, and students serve as the main mobilizers of and participants in the conference. WEC also has active involvement from the missions community, attracting dozens of representatives from agencies representing all parts of the globe.
The WEC Team
March 11-15, 2013
Main Schedule
- 7:10-7:50am – Prayer (CAC 102)
- 8:00-8:50am – World Focus Chapel (Chafer)
- 8:15-8:45am – Kids' Konference Sign-in (2nd Floor of Campbell)
- 9:00-9:55am – Seminars (See seminar page)
- 10:00-11:00am – Global Café and Expo (Lamb Auditorium)
- 11:00-12:30pm – Plenary Session (Chafer)
- 12:30pm – Kids' Konference Ends
- 12:45-2:00pm – Exhibitor Workshops (See exhibitor sign-ups in Campbell Lobby)
- 9:00-9:45pm – Evening Prayer (CAC 102)
Special Events
7:00pm – Kick-Off Chapel (Mabee Lounge in Walvoord)
- 7:45pm – International Dessert (Mitchell Dining Hall)
- 6:00-8:00pm – Creativity Café (Mabee Lounge in Walvoord)
- 6:30-8:00pm – Free Dinner and Q&A (Mitchell Dining Hall)
- 12:45-2:30pm – Women's Luncheon (Mitchell Dining Hall)
- Evening - Dinner with Professors


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Climb the Ladder, Savor the Flavor
As infants, we wean on mother's milk. Upon our demise, it's back to pablum. But, oh, those year's in the middle! We develop our palates over a lifetime, and breadth of experience is key here. With wine, everyone starts with lighter, sweeter, simpler wines. Then, if they're lucky enough to have caught the wine bug, […]
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category with duals (list of them)
dualizable object (what they have)
ribbon category, a.k.a. tortile category
monoidal dagger-category?
A -compact category is a category which is a
and a
in a compatible way. So, notably, it is a monoidal category in which
every object has a dual;
every morphism has an -adjoint.
(Hence a -compact category is similar in flavor to an -category with all adjoints in the sense of On the Classification of Topological Field Theories .)
A category that is equipped with the structure of a symmetric monoidal †-category and is compact closed is -compact if the dagger-operation takes units of dual objects to counits in that for every object of we have
For a category with finite limits the category whose morphisms are spans in is -compact. The operation is that of relabeling the legs of a span as source and target. The tensor product is defined using the cartesian product in . Every object is dual to itself with the unit and counit given by the span . See
Large parts of quantum mechanics and quantum computation are naturally formulated as the theory of -compact categories.
For more on this see
The category of Hilbert spaces (over the complex numbers) with finite dimension is a standard example of a -compact category. This example is complete? for equations in the language of -compact categories; see Selinger 2012.
The concept was introduced in
See also:
For completeness of finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces:


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