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Estimating Available Storage Space

Chrome 61, with more browsers to follow, now exposes an estimate of how much storage a web app is using and how much is available via:

if ('storage' in navigator && 'estimate' in {{usage, quota}) => {
    console.log(`Using ${usage} out of ${quota} bytes.`);

Modern web apps and data storage

When you think about the storage needs of a modern web application, it helps to break what's being stored into two categories: the core data needed to load the web application, and the data needed for meaningful user interaction once the application's loaded.

The first type of data, what's needed to load your web app, consists of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and perhaps some images. Service workers, along with the Cache Storage API, provide the needed infrastructure for saving those core resources and then using them later to quickly load your web app, ideally bypassing the network entirely. (Tools that integrate with your web app's build process, like the new Workbox libraries or the older sw-precache, can fully automate the process of storing, updating, and using this type of data.)

But what about the other type of data? These are resources that aren't needed to load your web app, but which might play a crucial role in your overall user experience. If you're writing an image editing web app, for instance, you may want to save one or more local copies of an image, allowing users to switch between revisions and undo their work. Or if you're developing an offline media playback experience, saving audio or video files locally would be a critical feature. Every web app that can be personalized ends up needing to save some sort of state information. How do you know how much space is available for this type of runtime storage, and what happens when you run out of room?

The past: window.webkitStorageInfo and navigator.webkitTemporaryStorage

Browsers have historically supported this type of introspection via prefixed interfaces, like the very old (and deprecated) window.webkitStorageInfo, and the not-quite-as-old, but still non-standard navigator.webkitTemporaryStorage. While these interfaces provided useful information, they don't have have a future as web standards.

That's where the WHATWG Storage Standard enters the picture.

The future:

As part of the ongoing work on the Storage Living Standard, a couple of useful APIs have made it to the StorageManager interface, which is exposed to browsers as Like many other newer web APIs, is only available on secure (served via HTTPS, or localhost) origins.

Last year, we introduced the method, which allows your web application to request that its storage be exempted from automatic cleanup.

It's now joined by the method, which serves as a modern replacement for navigator.webkitTemporaryStorage.queryUsageAndQuota(). estimate() returns similar information, but it exposes a promise-based interface, which is in keeping with other modern asynchronous APIs. The promise that estimate() returns resolves with an object containing two properties: usage, representing the number of bytes currently used, and quota, representing the maximum bytes that can be stored by the current origin. (Like everything else related to storage, quota is applied across an entire origin.)

If a web application attempts to store—using, for example, IndexedDB or the Cache Storage API—data that's large enough to bring a given origin over its available quota, the request will fail with a QuotaExceededError exception.

Storage estimates in action

Exactly how you use estimate() depends on the type of data your app needs to store. For example, you could update a control in your interface letting users know how much space is being used after each storage operation is complete. You'd ideally then provide an interface allowing users to manually clean up data that's no longer needed. You might write code along the lines of:

// For a primer on async/await, see
async function storeDataAndUpdateUI(dataUrl) {
  // Pro-tip: The Cache Storage API is available outside of service workers!
  // See
  const cache = await'data-cache');
  await cache.add(dataUrl);

  if ('storage' in navigator && 'estimate' in {
    const {usage, quota} = await;
    const percentUsed = Math.round(usage / quota * 100);
    const usageInMib = Math.round(usage / (1024 * 1024));
    const quotaInMib = Math.round(quota / (1024 * 1024));

    const details = `${usageInMib} out of ${quotaInMib} MiB used (${percentUsed}%)`;

    // This assumes there's a <span id="storageEstimate"> or similar on the page.
    document.querySelector('#storageEstimate').innerText = details;

How accurate is the estimate?

It's hard to miss the fact that the data you get back from the function is just an estimate of the space an origin is using. It's right there in the function name! Neither the usage nor the quota values are intended to be stable, so it's recommended that you take the following into account:

  • usage reflects how many bytes a given origin is effectively using for same-origin data, which in turn can be impacted by internal compression techniques, fixed-size allocation blocks that might include unused space, and the presence of "tombstone" records that might be created temporarily following a deletion. To prevent the leakage of exact size information, cross-origin, opaque resources saved locally may contribute additional padding bytes to the overall usage value.
  • quota reflects the amount of space currently reserved for an origin. The value depends on some constant factors like the overall storage size, but also a number of potentially volatile factors, including the amount of storage space that's currently unused. So as other applications on a device write or delete data, the amount of space that the browser is willing to devote to your web app's origin will likely change.

The present: feature detection and fallbacks

estimate() is enabled by default starting in Chrome 61. Firefox is experimenting with, but, as of August 2017, it's not turned on by default. You need to enable the dom.storageManager.enabled preference in order to test it.

When working with functionality that isn't yet supported in all browsers, feature detection is a must. You can combine feature detection along with a promise-based wrapper on top of the older navigator.webkitTemporaryStorage methods to provide a consistent interface along the lines of:

function storageEstimateWrapper() {
  if ('storage' in navigator && 'estimate' in {
    // We've got the real thing! Return its response.

  if ('webkitTemporaryStorage' in navigator &&
      'queryUsageAndQuota' in navigator.webkitTemporaryStorage) {
    // Return a promise-based wrapper that will follow the expected interface.
    return new Promise(function(resolve, reject) {
        function(usage, quota) {resolve({usage: usage, quota: quota})},

  // If we can't estimate the values, return a Promise that resolves with NaN.
  return Promise.resolve({usage: NaN, quota: NaN});


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Truncated: length

WARC-Type: response

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Hallowread, Part 2: Brian Keene’s Dead Sea.

It’s October! The spookiest month. And that means I get to read a bunch of horror novels. Woo?

Funny thing is, there’s at least three non-horror new releases coming out in October that I’ve been looking forward too for a couple of months … and yet I feel kinda obligated to read some messy horror novels in the meanwhile. So, uh, we’ll see how long I can stick with it. Doesn’t help that I finished this book a couple days ago, but haven’t had the chance to write out the review ’til now. (I may have been playing MGS5 a bit, too. Shhhh.).

But yeah, let’s take a look at Brian Keene’s Dead Sea.

The Zombie genre is an interesting one, as it’s the most modern (or arguably postmodern) horror monster out there. It all started with Romero, of course, but it’s still fun to muse over the origins of today’s zombie craze. Depending on how you want to look at it, the modern zombie plague either started with the first Resident Evil game in 1996, or possibly the Dawn of the Dead remake from 2004.

No matter where it started, you probably know the rules already. If a zombie bites you, you turn into a zombie. Aim for the head, it’s the only way to be sure. Everyone you meet is bound to be an asshole, and so on. Heck, just typing those tropes out kind of makes me want to go back and re-play The Last of Us yet again. Joel will end you.

Which brings us to the modern day. Zombie Apocalypse tropes have been pretty much established for years now, and they’re more wide spread than ever, thanks to shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead. As a result, a Zombie novel (or movie, or comic, or whatever) kind of needs to put its own spin on things, in order to stand out. Peter Clines combined zombies and superheroes, for example.

So Brian Keene took a more biblical spin on things. He uses the Dead Sea Scrolls to tie zombies into the story of Lazarus …

Just kidding! Dead Sea is about Zombies on a boat.

Cue lonely island.

That’s … about it. Dead Sea is a bog standard Zombie Apocalypse story. On a boat. At least it’s somewhat diverse, as Dead Sea is written from the perspective of Lamar Reed, a gay black man from Baltimore.

Okay, a DIFFERENT gay black man from Baltimore.

Funny thing is, the last four novels I’ve read and reviewed have all been from a first person P.O.V. Sadly, Lamar’s voice is the most generic amongst them. There’s no particular turns of phrase or frame of reference to really make him stand out as a narrator. Every now and again, Lamar goes on a slight tangent about how much of an outsider he is, since he’s both gay and black, but it doesn’t really influence how the novel plays out, apart from a few of the asshole characters calling him a fag. (Don’t worry, they get eaten first).

Maybe I’m a bit jaded as a reader, or maybe I’ve thought a little bit too much about this sort of thing, but a lot of stuff in Dead Sea doesn’t hold up once you think about it too hard. For example, the survivors hole up on a Coast Guard Museum Ship. Fair enough. It’s just that the class of ship that Keene uses had a crew compliment of 200 … and yet they manage to get the ship more or less running with only 20 people, of whom only two have ever really done boat stuff before. Kaaaay.

Or, on a different note, there’s a matter of timing. I get the feeling Keene hasn’t really thought out his zombie apocalypse. For example, early on in the book, Lamar scavenges a bunch of canned food from a grocery store. Except … civilization has been collapsed for a few weeks, at least long enough for all the milk to spoil and all the meat in the butcher’s department to go all rotten and maggoty. Considering how I’ve seen grocery shelves get stripped bare before a non-zombie emergency, it made me kinda wonder if Keene hadn’t thought the logistics through. Heck, the zombie plague itself seems like it’d burn out pretty quickly. See, the nasty thing about the plague in Dead Sea is that it can infect nearly anything: people, rats, dogs, and so on. It starts with a surge of zombie rats in New York, which has the potential to be absolutely terrifying- but considering a bite (or just coming into contact with infected fluids), is enough to kill and zombify you in a matter of hours, I can’t quite see how the plague would spread worldwide as quickly as it does. The nastiest diseases have a long incubation period– if they just kill a victim outright, they tend to ‘burn out,’ as they run out of uninfected people in the area.

Or hell, I’d think the zombie rat thing would be the worst part, considering how pervasive rats are in urban areas. I mean, it’s easy enough to blockade an area off against people-zombies, but tiny little rodents that can climb and wriggle through the smallest of gaps in your barricade and creep up on you in the night? You’d be screwed. And yet, multiple characters in Dead Sea are able to hold out in their respective hidey holes for weeks at a time without having to worry about zombie rats wriggling in. Huh.

I get the feeling Keene didn’t think all the implications of his zombie plague through; he’s more interested in the gooshy gory bits. As again, the zombie plague is ridiculously infectious. Keene certainly gets his mileage out of this. He has the sensibilities of a 7th grader who just got a subscription to Fangoria magazine: “blood and guts and gore and guts and blood! And exploding heads!” To be fair, I admit Keene doesn’t go for the full middle schooler mindset, as there’s a distinct lack of boobs in the book, now that I think about it.

The gore really is the point of the book. Keene takes every opportunity to trot out every kind of mutilated zombie he can think of, across a variety of species. This verges on the ridiculous when you start getting into stuff like zombie fish and zombie whales, though. Things kind of tighten up a little once Lamar and the rest of the cast (zombie movie cliches all, including Biker Dude, Scrappy Kid, Asshole Cop, and so on) get on the Coast Guard ship and away from the chaos of Baltimore- but again, this being a zombie novel, things invariably go to shit. Some people get eaten, some people get shot, and every little drop of oozing grey matter is described in loving detail. The emphasis on gore and action over a coherent narrative leads to little bits like an 8 year old head-shotting a zombie, from a rooftop, with a shotgun. This is another of those moments that made me go “wait, what?” That’s never a good thing for a book to do.

And, uh, that’s about all there is. Apart from a little tangent towards the middle in which an English professor who’s amongst the survivors goes on about Joseph Campbell’s mythological archetypes, and how Lamar fits as a “hero,” but this comes off more as filler than as an actual theme.

Dead Sea is at least a quick read, so it has that much going for it. But overall, I wasn’t that impressed with it. Maybe if you’ve run all out of Walking Dead episodes, and you really need something to scratch the proverbial zombie itch, you might enjoy Dead Sea, but there are better horror novels, and heck, probably even better Brian Keene novels to read.

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Monday, March 17 @Anthology Film Archives
Pawel Wojtasik, Ernst Karel & Dana Levy in person for a post-screening discussion
Flaherty NYC at Anthology Film Archives: 32 Second Ave. (@2nd St.)
Tickets on sale at the box office day of screening.

New Work From Directors: Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee & Ernst Karel

New Work From Directors: Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee & Ernst Karel

Like Emily Post’s famous edict on social decorum, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home,the works below present studies in logistics, in performance, and in how to look the other way.  Where are the boundaries of polite society drawn, of individual agency, and of the state?  How do we legislate what gets seen and unseen, what is sensed and unsensed, saved and discarded, and how do we punish transgressors?  Here, the boundaries of the state define statelessness, and what we deem to be waste contours the excesses of a material culture.

Director: Robert Russett (USA, 1967, 3 minutes, 16mm)

Restored print of Robert Russett’s 1967 short animation, courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

Directors: Wichanon Somumjarn and Anocha Suwichakornpong (Thailand, 2012, 16 minutes)

This short video is set in Mahachai, a town less than an hour away from Bangkok known for its seafood processing industry. The town, geographically situated by the river, is the site of many factories and has the highest number of Burmese workers outside of Burma. It is estimated that as many as 300,000 Burmese reside in Mahachai. Most of the Burmese are working, both legally and illegally, in these factories.  Just like any other day in Mahachai, Wawa Kai, a Burmese immigrant worker wakes up. She brushes her teeth and takes a cold shower. She goes to work at a factory where she grades squids and shrimps according to their sizes. But today she is not feeling well, and has to take the afternoon off.

Directors: Mary Mattingly and Dana Levy (USA, 2011, 3 minutes)

A very short meditation on the environmental impacts of consumption and its attendant justifications.

Directors: Wichanon Somumjarn (Thailand, 2009, 10 minutes)

One late afternoon at the rice paddies after the harvest, four boys turns a little shack into a recreation centre, complete with white whiskey, grilled mouse, and country music.

New Work From Directors: Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee & Ernst Karel
(Video, 2013, 23 minutes)

This video sheds light on this blind spot in our public consciousness through a meditative examination of waste. A visual and sonic exploration inside a recycling plant, the film makes visible a part of our material existence – the after-life of our waste – that usually goes unseen.

TRT:  60 minutes

Full Program List

Single Stream, by Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee & Ernst Karel

Single Stream, by Pawel Wojtasik, Toby Lee & Ernst Karel


text:
Video – Cars 2 Meet and Greet: Francesco Bernoulli

Meet Lightning McQueen’s biggest competition for the World Grand Prix…  Italiano Francesco Bernoulli.  Dubbed literally as the “#1” car, Bernoulli is the most successful race car in all of Europe.  This Italian piece of machinery has mastered the amateur circuit and has become an international Formula Racer Champion and is sure to give Lightning a run for his money in the upcoming Cars2 which is slated for release this summer.  I don’t know about you but I am “TEAM LIGHTNING!” Ka-Chow!

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Oeltjenbruns v. National Financial Systems, Inc.

Case Number: 3:2005cv02346
Filed: August 5, 2005
Court: Arizona District Court
Office: Prescott Division Office
Presiding Judge: Frederick J Martone
Nature of Suit: Consumer Credit
Cause of Action: 15:1692 Fair Debt Collection Act
Jury Demanded By: Defendant

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Search for this case: Oeltjenbruns v. National Financial Systems, Inc.
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text:
Arizona Landlords, et al v. Arizona, State of, et al

Case Number: 4:2004cv00683
Filed: December 10, 2004
Court: Arizona District Court
Office: Tucson Division Office
Presiding Judge: Jennifer C Guerin
Nature of Suit: Civil Rights: Other
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Civil Rights Act
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff

Access additional case information on PACER

Use the links below to access additional information about this case on the US Court's PACER system. A subscription to PACER is required.

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Search for this case: Arizona Landlords, et al v. Arizona, State of, et al
Search News [ Google News | Marketwatch | Wall Street Journal | Financial Times | New York Times ]
Search Web [ Legal Web | Google | Bing | Yahoo | Ask ]

Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.

Why Is My Information Online?


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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Three Turned Away

I celebrated Beltane with the Bakersfield Tribe.

There were two in need of healing. Both instinctually turned away before I could offer. I did not pursue.

There was one I would have offered blessing to. She turned away misinterpreting my approach.

I did not pursue. Perhaps they need their suffering. I can but offer. They chose to decline without knowing.  This is as it should be.

I feel of late that I am near to something, a break through. No specifics.

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text:
Like a Virgin…

Well I can only dream can’t I..? I wanted to look innocent today pure and go around gor like untouched women see how long this will last… I wanted also change my hair and well I don’t know if I should go Red and become one of the 50 shades of ginger like rest of Vydarr or to stay black dark mischievous Lotte and the pure innocent blonde or perhaps the party girl brunette ?

So going open the poll so please take time and vote what hair I should make my avi Red, Black, Brown or Blonde!! Vote vote Vote now my hair depends on it!!

“Our scars make us know that our past was for real”
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Lotte hair Poll

What Lotte Is Wearing….

Hair ~ pr!tty – Lily –

Dress ~Coquet. Pride Gown Peony @ Pride and Prejudice Event

Hat ~ *Tentacio* Jane hat beige @ Pride and Prejudice Event

4 thoughts on “Like a Virgin…

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Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy Stats and Records

Stats time!

PS4 Trophy#
Game 1 34%
Game 2 27%
Game 3 21%

Game Stats

Game 1 62% 0/26 Relics 0/26 Emeralds 0/2 Keys
Game 2 53% 1/42 Emeralds 0/27 Relics
Game 3 30% 25 Jewels 0 Emeralds 0 Keys 0/30 Relics

Ratchet and Clank Full Frontal Assault Stats and Records

Stats time!

PS3 Trophy% 25%
Skill Points 39/117
Medals 10/13
Rank: Legend
Weapon Pods 8

Level Stats

Markazia 3/3 Medals 0/5 Gold Bolts 2/7 Gears
Ebaro 2/3 Medals 2/5 Gold Bolts 1/7 Gears
Proteus VII 2/3 Medals 0/5 Gold Bolts 1/7 Gears
Ebaro (Snow Storm) 2/3 Medals 1/5 Gold Bolts 2/7 Gears
Zurgo’s Lair of Doom 1/3 Medals 0/2 Gears
Enemies Killed 886

Sly Cooper Thieves in Time Review

This game was on the backburner for many years, but I finally got around to completing it. The story takes a while to get good and honestly it is probably the weakest game in the series, but it was still pretty good overall. I just think that the game should have been a little less formulaic and should have gone for a more connected and changing story. It would have made the whole thing a lot more interesting and Ratchet and Clank is always adapting like this. It would have been simple enough for Sly to have copied that approach. Well, it is what it is.

Sly had finally gotten his happy ending after the third game. He pretended to lose his memories so he could live a peaceful life without having to force Carmelita to choose a side. Unfortunately, someone is messing with the timestream and Sly can’t just let this go unpunished. He must bring his thieving skills back to work with his old gang as they time hop to find the source of the problems. The trust that has been lost between him and Carmelita may be hard to repair so this case is going to be a very personal one. Is Sly up for the job?

As always, this Sly game is a 3D platformer. You use stealth for most of the game as you get from point A to point while getting past obstacles. You can also fight enemies and take them out easily enough, but it’s usually faster to slip past them or use the one hit KO stealth attack. Each area is very large so you have a lot of room to maneuver and you can also use that time to grab some extra collectibles. They’ll all come in handy by the end if you want to earn the shiny Platinum to add to your collection. You can never have too many trophies right? This is the only Sly game that I have not Platinum’d yet so I aim to fix that at some point in the future.

Aside from playing as Sly, you get to play as a lot of other characters this time around. That’s because one of the gimmicks in this game is that you finally get to meet Sly’s ancestors. Each era in time has a Cooper and they all have their own special abilities. One can climb walls and another has a gun. This results in some new twists that are added to the usual gameplay and that’s a good way to make the gameplay more diverse which was good. Bentley also gets his own minigames as one is like an overhead version of Tron and another is a 2D shooter. His minigames were always fun so I was glad to have them around. Murray’s is probably the least exciting as you just go around punching people. Finally, we can’t forget the short driving levels as you play in the mini car. Those were a nice change of pace as well, but in the end, the classic Sly gameplay is still the best.

As always, the gameplay is handled really well and the controls are very smooth. It makes the cases fun and going around the city is so streamlines that it makes the grind for all of the collectibles very manageable. The quick time event bosses were always handled well and they always feel great no matter how many games use them. Final Fantasy XIII-2 still did the best job out of all the games, but it’s a little hard to match the level of epicness that title was able to attain.

Graphically, Sly looks good. It may not stand out the same way that something like Super Smash does, but it holds up well on the good ole PS3. When it comes to the soundtrack, that part is a little more bland. You aren’t likely going to remember a lot of the tunes once you’re done. They’re passable, but just aren’t anything all that grand when you really get down to it.

There is a good amount of replay value here as you can go back to all of the chapters to grab treasure, collectibles, and open the safes. Buying everything from the shop will take some time as well and each story level is roughly an hour or longer. It’s certainly a game that gives you a lot of content for the money that you paid, which sounds good to me. It’s not artificial length like some other games either as you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment as you go through.

I do want to take a second to say that all of the past Coopers were annoying. I felt like the game wasn’t even trying with them as they were all super gimmicky. The cave man Cooper was the most annoying as you couldn’t understand what he was saying and he just wasn’t that smart. All of the Coopers had a lot of attitude, but it wasn’t deserved as we had to save them all from the villains. None of the Coopers were able to do anything on their own so you have to question how they got such a famous legacy. Evidently, Sly is the only cooper who can hold his own. It just makes you wonder.

Sadly, the classic banter that we had in the previous games is gone in this one between Sly and Carmelita. It’s an unfortunate side effect of their dynamic completely changing thanks to the third game. I’ll definitely miss it since the Sly games had the strongest dialogue from the three main Naughty Dog series for a while. The writing’s still good, but it’s just not as clever. Sly’s still a good main character even if he made a lot of the wrong decisions. Carmelita’s also good as the tough rival who is always making threats although this is not her best portrayal. Murray and Bentley are around as usual. I can’t say that they’re my favorite characters though. The villains are all right I suppose, but while they all technically have personality and character thanks to their origin stories, I never got too attached to any of them. The main villain is also a Skunk who is comic relief so he isn’t meant to be taken seriously either.

Overall, Sly Thieves in Time is a good installment to the series, but it’s not the game that I want to be known as the final in the series. It’s certainly a step down from the other games and that’s partially why it took me so long to complete it. I was never able to play the game with the same gusto that I tackled other titles with. It was a good throwback since a game hadn’t come out in a very long time for this series, but the plot did hold it back quite a bit. The supporting cast just weren’t all that good and this game lacked the impact that the first three did. It really survives on the gameplay alone because every other part of the game was either not that great or simply could have been better. To be fair, gameplay still is the most important quality in a game so that is enough to justify a good score. The cliffhanger for the game is pretty intense although to fully see it you better get that Platinum Trophy ready. It does make you wonder about some things though. All those months…what was Sly doing? It depends on how you interpret the ending I suppose, but another game would clear that up. This is certainly a must buy for Sly fans and generally, I think any platformer fan will be able to appreciate this title.

Overall 7/10

The Sly Collection Review

This is a fairly large game time wise and it’s also a memorable one. It was the final game that I got to complete on the old PS3 (Game 1) and then I finally got to go back to it on the newer one. Three whole video games in a single package is a very good deal and the price was right. I enjoy the Ratchet and Clank series as well as the Jak titles so I was sure that Sly would be fun. As expected, it was an enjoyable experience.

The first game is Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. We are introduces to Sly, Bentley, and Murray as they make a pretty solid team. They’ve been friends for many years and are known for stealing artifacts and having fun on vacations. Now, they’ve uncovered a lead onto the gang that took out Sly’s parents and stole the Thievius Raccoonus. The trio decides to recover the chapters from the respective gang members and take down the leader. It will be tough, as a special agent by the name of Carmelita Fox is hunting them and she won’t stop until Sly’s behind bars. Looks like Sly Cooper is in for a rough ride!

The first game’s gameplay is unique as the next two games go for a more traditional route. In this game, you have to avoid detection as you make it to the goal. One hit will essentially finish Sly off so you have to be careful about how you handle it. The stealth part is pretty interesting and it’s like playing as Spiderman Noir in Shattered Dimensions, but without all of the athletics and webbing. That’s not to say that Sly isn’t athletic though. You will have to use his skills to jump from place to place and hang on to a ledge when needed.

It is pretty novel gameplay, but I am glad that they ended up switching it. I believe that stealth works best when you have it for a few levels as opposed to the entire game. Having to re do an entire section because you were spotted can be pretty rough. The game was a solid start to the series and Clockwerk made for a powerful adversary. The story is good and the banter between Sly and Carmelita was in top form. The replay value for the game isn’t incredibly high, but getting the Platinum and finding all of the bottles/clues will take a little extra time.

The second game’s plot picks up from the first since someone has stolen the parts to Clockwerk. Sly remembers how dangerous that foe can be and the gang must quickly get ready so they can find the culprits and stop Clockwerk from being revived. Will they be able to do this? Meanwhile, a new face joins the police force by the name of Constable Neyla. Together with Carmelita…they may finally be able to take out the Cooper gang!

This is where the gameplay becomes finalized for the franchise. There is still a lot of stealth involved, but not as much since you can afford to just tackle your opponents. It’s not really advisable for large groups, but it’s still an option. Sly now has a health bar and it feels a lot like the original Jak game. No guns, it’s just classic hand to hand combat with some athletics. I’m a fan of the gameplay and it’s good to see how the series has progressed. Of course, I would love a laser gun, but it’s not completely necessary.

The third game takes place after a long time has passed since the previous installment. The gang has parted ways and things had been going slowly. Then Sly finds the ancient base of his ancestors and a villain by the name of Dr. M is heading there to get the treasure. Sly will need to bring his old partners back to the team while also recruiting a few new (and old) faces to help with the task. It’ll be the toughest mission yet, but Sly is ready! Carmelita isn’t far behind and she’s ready to take Sly down for the count.

This one experimented with a lot of concepts. We got to control a pirate ship and board other ships to steal a lot of money. This is great for when you need some money to buy everything in the shop. The gameplay could be a little on the tricky side for this mode, but it was pretty fun. There are also airplane battles, which are handled very well and car battles, which are just as exciting. You also get to play as the Panda King and shoot fireworks at the opponents. Dimitri gets his own level where you scuba dive and get to see some action. The Guru’s gameplay involves possessing the enemies and causing them to ram into something or get corralled somewhere.

Carmelita also gets her own gameplay where the game becomes a third person shooter. It’s naturally not as well developed as PN03 or Star Fox, but the gameplay is still fun. Beyond that, we still have the usual Bentley programming game and the Murray smashing part. Sly’s gameplay is also true to form and there is one boss fight that suddenly transforms the game into DBZ. You get to charge with immense speed at the boss and blows are exchanged. It was a very entertaining boss fight and maybe the best (Or top 3 anyway) in the trilogy.

Aside from the three games, we also have a few minigames. They weren’t very memorable and I only gave them a quick try so I could snag the trophies. (Well, I would have played them anyway, but only once a piece) They are relatively basic and you should have no trouble getting solid scores on them. They’re entertaining enough, but they don’t add to the replay value because you won’t really find yourself replaying them. One or two shots per game is typically enough to feel satisfied.

Sly is the protagonist of the Sly Collection and he’s actually pretty cool. See, he actually does flirt with Carmelita and some of the other characters, but he’s always classy about it. It’s more of a game to him and he never goes too far. It’s just light banter and both parties know it. So, instead of having a forced romance subplot or a James Bond character, we get a very interesting hero. He is a thief, but he (typically) only steals from those who have already stolen something. Calling him a hero may be a stretch, but he does bring many criminals to justice Batman style. He always has a few comebacks at the ready and he basically made the series. I can safely say that the trilogy wouldn’t have been half as good without him as the lead character.

He continues to improve throughout the trilogy and he’s essentially a master by the second game. He may have been a little nerfed in the third game since he couldn’t take out the giant mech, but it happens. I didn’t care for his decision at the end of the third game since it was almost a bit of a betrayal to his friends. One scene cannot negate a whole trilogy of solid acts so Sly is still one of the better protagonists in gaming. He’s an example of a romantic who doesn’t let it bog him down. The Cooper Gang is his creation and they shall go far.

Bentley is the tactical member of the group and he makes all of the plans. He gets a small subplot where he starts to get a little jealous of Sly, but luckily he snaps out of it in time so I won’t count it as a negative. His voice is catchy and it’s the most memorable part of his character. He does get into a romance, which was pretty unnecessary and not very enjoyable. It definitely helped to drop him and this occurred during the third game. (Along with Murray’s drop) His gadgets are interesting, but he’s not not a very intriguing character. He just doesn’t have any traits that make him stand out (apart from the voice) and he could easily be replaced with any other genius. Sly is definitely the one carrying the group as far as personality goes.

The Murray started out as a solid character for the first two games and then he went downhill fast. He’s the opposite of Sly in that he’s not very smart or cunning and he never has a good comeback at the ready. He makes up for this with his fists and he’s the power hitter of the group. (I would easily take Sly in a fight against him though) He likes to refer to himself as The Murray and that’s why I liked him a lot. Then, he decided to abandon his fighting methods thanks to The Guru and he started a lot of meditation. So, most of his lines in the third game were pretty annoying since he wasn’t a convincing pacifist and most of his “wise” sayings just weren’t funny. He has a classic rage moment at one point where he turns back into the original “The Murray” but it came a little too late. He still beats Daxter, but Murray definitely dropped as far as characters go.

Carmelita is Sly’s biggest rival and they always get to share a lot of epic dialogue. She makes sure that the police are in top shape and she has risen to a very high position. Her skills with a blaster are definitely worth mentioning and she’s able to take down the bosses that even gave Sly’s gang a tough time. I do miss the days when capturing Sly was her only goal, but the ending is happy for her. A little too much romance if you ask me though. It’ll be interesting to see what her role is in the next game. She’s definitely an integral part of the franchise and her rivalry with Sly is what makes the banter so much fun.

Dimitri is easily one of the more unlikable villains, but it seems like he was well received by the fans so he got to return for the third game. It’s too bad because I just don’t see why he is supposed to be cool. He spends some time flirting in the third game, which isn’t cool and his only good scene that I can recall is the fact that he didn’t succumb to Sly’s black mailing attempts. Beyond that, he’s just another enemy who turns into a hero and then forgets to have any significant character development. I’m hoping that he won’t return for the next game.

The Guru is easily one of the most annoying characters in the trilogy. The fact that he only makes sounds and then everyone can understand him is a trend that I really don’t like. (Just look at Bumblebee) This way, the characters get to say things like “Whoa, impressive thinking Guru” or “I like the way you think Guru” It’s a cop out because we don’t know what he is actually saying and I just can’t root for him. He’s supposed to be immensely hardcore based on the reactions from the characters, but I need to hear it to believe it. His subplot just wasn’t enlightening and he prolonged the game just so that he could be at one with nature. Yeah….that’s a no go for me.
Penelope is one of the new members to join the gang in the third installment and she’s all right. She beats most of the other new recruits, but I couldn’t get myself to become a fan of hers. She’s also pretty smart and she has her remotely controlled vehicles, which makes for solid gameplay. That being said, I just can’t get behind the forced romance subplot between her and Bentley. It didn’t do wonders for any of them…that’s for sure.

The Panda King started out as one of the big villains in the first game. His boss fight was pretty fun and his flame attacks were brutal. He made for a solid villain and he was definitely one of the more memorable bosses. After that, he became a hero in the third game and changed his ways. That’s where he went downhill for me. His new meditation personality was too similar to Murray’s change and he just wasn’t believable. I have to agree with Sly that it’s a little hard to overlook his deeds from the original title. His mannerisms can also be a little tough and you just wait for his scenes to be over. In the end, I’m definitely not a fan of him anymore.

Clockwerk is the big boss from the first game and he shouldn’t be underestimated. The Cooper Clan has feared him for many generations and that’s because of his overwhelming power. The boss fight was pretty interesting and it was fun to test my metal (get it?) against his. His character is solid and he kind of reminded me of Unicron. Maybe it’s just his commanding demeanor, but he’s a solid villain and easily one of the most memorable ones in the franchise. It would be no stretch of the imagination to say that he is my favorite villain in the franchise and it will be reasonably difficult to pass him.

Muggshot is an example of a hardcore villain who stayed as a villain. He appears in the third game and I believe that he was in the original as well. He’s pretty hardcore and we get to witness a battle between him and Carmelita. He has a lot of muscle power while Carmelita is good from long range. I have to admire his raw power and there aren’t many fighters who could take him down for the count. He’s not an amazing villain, but he’s good enough and he has no annoying gimicks. He just works to pound his opponents with simple (yet effective) brute strength. That’s my kind of villain.

Constable Neyla is the new face on the police staff and she’s the only one to get any development aside from Carmelita. I can’t say that she’s very likable because she’s the reasonable, heroic officer. She doesn’t mind teaming up with Sly if it means that they will nab the culprit and she’s just not as fun as Carmelita. Her fighting skills aren’t quite up to par either and you have to wonder why she didn’t just grow up to be a nameless officer like the others. She also seems to be tricking Carmelita…could she have a secret agenda?

The Contessa is one of the bosses in the second game and she’s mainly memorable because she’s involved in a rather large (but expected) plot twist. She’s pretty crafty and she can also engage in classic fisticuffs when necessary. Her design was interesting and the boss fight was pretty good. There’s not much more to say about her, but the Contessa isn’t someone that you want to mess with. Her hypnotic machinery can be powerful and she takes no prisoners.

General Tsao isn’t a likable villain by any stretch of the imagination, but I really did like his boss battle so he deserved a mention. Dueling with him in the forest was good, but the battle on top of the forest was in a completely different league. That’s a battle that I won’t forget and the developers definitely had fun implementing the new gameplay. Personality wise, this guy definitely didn’t rank. He was likely a one shot character so I don’t need to worry about him appearing again.

Doctor M is the big villain from the third game, but he’s easily the most dull compared to the previous two final bosses. He just comes out of nowhere and I have to say that the evil scientist character is really getting old at this point. No…it is already old! He does have a mech to help him out, but the boss fight isn’t terribly fun and trying to finish it in a short time can be brutal. (But worth the trophy) I really could have done without him and he didn’t add anything to the franchise.

It’s also fun to see how the graphics have changed from game to game. The first game is very bright and definitely more cartoony than the other two. I actually think that it looked the best from the three and it’s just fun to look at. The second installment gets a little darker, but you can also see how much newer it is. The third one is basically as modern as it will get and the character models look solid. The graphics are technically “better” I suppose, but the first game still looks the best to me. I just won’t be forgetting that art style!

One bonus that occurs from older games getting to the PS3 is that we can get trophy support! The trophies for all three games are very reasonable and I obtained all three Platinums. I have to say that I’m pretty proud of this and the developers did a solid job. Some may say that the Platinums were too easy, but they were tough enough to present you with a mild challenge during the third game. The minigames also contain trophies, but no Platinum comes along with them. Ah well, you can’t win em all. Either way, this could be another incentive to buy the collection. Who doesn’t want to add three more Platinums to the collection?

The soundtrack for all three games is a little on the generic side. Sly’s main theme from the first game is pretty memorable, but that’s about it. Ratchet and Clank typically doesn’t have a lot of memorable tracks either so it may just be a company thing. (Although Jak’s was pretty solid) It could be argued that I was so into the game at that point that I couldn’t hear the music, but I’m sure that I would have remembered a dynamic boss theme. Well, at least the music isn’t bad.

I do have to say that the ending to the third game isn’t that good. One can definitely see how it didn’t get a sequel for so long, but it really feels like Sly gave his teammates the short end of the stick. It’s almost a tragic ending if you didn’t believe their happy stories at the end. I definitely wasn’t satisfied with such a conclusion, which is why I can’t wait for the next one. The Cooper Gang must never be allowed to split up!

The big question is…could the Sly series defeat Jak or Ratchet and Clank? Well, I would still take both of those series over this one, but they’re a little more out there and the guns advantage almost makes it unfair. Ratchet is the best main character from the three, but Sly’s partners beat the counterparts from the other series. It’s fun to compare the three series and it does appear that Sly has outlasted Jak. Maybe it’ll end up giving Ratchet and Clank a run for their money eventually. (The film is coming out soon for both series after all. Can’t wait to see them compete!)
Overall, this was a fun trilogy and it holds up well against the famous Mario Galaxy series. Completing all three games and getting the Platinum definitely means that you are getting a lot of value for your purchase. Replay value is not an issue and you’ll be glad that you purchased the game. The graphics are good and the banter between Sly and Carmelita can be pretty awesome. The rest of the dialogue is typically well done as well and the writers must have been very focused when working on it. The levels can get a little repetitive in the second and third games, but it’s really not bad and nothing compared to the DS Prince of Persia game. Bentley’s levels are scarce, but I love the Pac Man/Galaga levels where you have to destroy the viruses. The first game allows you to free roam through the levels and the third one has a lot of challenges that are fun since it is basically a way to replay any minigame or stage. Fans of the platforming genre should greatly enjoy the game and the writing is superb as well. All in all, you can’t help but give the collection a thumbs up!

Overall 7/10


text:
Work begins at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road fracking site

Cuadrilla announced this morning it was starting surface construction work at its shale gas exploration site at Preston New Road, near Little Plumpton in Lancashire.

Preston New Road Action Group, which opposes the development, said on Twitter that residents had not been informed that work had begun.

Lancashire Police has confirmed

“We have been made aware that road works will be commencing today on the A583 with temporary traffic lights near the Plumpton site”

A statement from the Cuadrilla said:

“Planning consent was granted in October 2016 and Lancashire County Council recently discharged the planning conditions and approved Cuadrilla’s associated management plans for the works.”

Two legal challenges have been submitted against the consent by the Communities Secretary, Sajid Javid, but no date for any hearings has been confirmed.

Cuadrilla said the Preston New Road site would take approximately three months to build and prepare before drilling can commence.

The statement added:

“These early works will include a new site entrance, access road and well pad. The top soil on the well pad will be cleared so a protective membrane can be installed to create an impermeable barrier underneath the site.

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla said:

“The start of work on our new shale gas exploration site is an important milestone for Lancashire, bringing new economic growth and jobs for the County. The work will be undertaken to the highest safety and environmental standards. The operations are also underpinned by comprehensive site monitoring programmes undertaken separately by ourselves, regulators and independent academics. Twelve months from now we hope this work will prove the economic viability of this indigenous shale gas resource in Lancashire which will help improve energy security for the nation.”

Preston New Road Action Group said

“Cuadrilla have permission to start work on the road outside PNR site. Obviously ignoring any legal fracking challenges they are facing”

47 replies »

  1. PhilipP-I suggest there is absolutely no need for me to disprove claims by FOE. They have been INDEPENDLY examined by the ASA, who were in receipt of all data submitted (I am not) and their determination is quite clear. ASA are not a fracking support group, they look at all complaints against false advertising claims within many industries. I have worked in advertising and I know how they work and always took care to make certain not to fall into such a situation. Everything seems to be a conspiracy to you. Perhaps you should forget conspiracy and just try to make a valid argument, without trying to put falsehoods in the mouths of those you argue with. FOE obviously could not make a valid argument-how much more time did they need? If you make a claim in advertising, you should have the independent proof to support that immediately you are challenged. Otherwise you have lots of posters showing super models holding a branded drink, saying drink this and look like me!
    PhilipP-have a look at recent fracking in India, where they utilised the good experience out of the USA, and refined to the local circumstances. (I do admit a small shareholding in that venture, but the lesson there is to be wary of investing in overseas operations acting within India. I should have noted Vodaphone’s experience.) Absolutely no problems whatsoever (apart from a little delay because of machinery adjustment.) No contamination, all fluids fully recovered-they measured it in, they measured it out and it created no road jams to do so. Gas was produced in good volumes from an area where gas has been extremely difficult to extract previously, although it is determined large reserves are in place. Huge requirement for gas in India, growing at a fast rate, such progress could help to reduce deforestation, and how could that help control climate change. But, of course, the tiger population in India is under stress so I am sure you could manufacture a link to the risks of fracking on the tiger. Perhaps Janet could measure their pregnancies!

    Don’t assume others know nothing about fracking because they have a different view to yourself. My point to John about industrialisation is that alternative energy facilities are just as industrialised, and that existing land based oil and gas extraction within UK are pretty discrete. Why do you think vast numbers of sites would be developed if fracking in UK was a technical success? Prices for gas and oil are already pretty low, (largely due to the success of fracking in USA which has meant the worlds largest user is no longer a major importer, and just might be why their interest in the Middle East has suddenly evaporated) and over development would simply drop those prices below what the companies concerned would desire. Supply +demand=price. That is a formula which it is extremely difficult to counter, but it seems the antis just want to ignore it. There are pretty strong indications that some of the UK geology would yield much higher returns than in the USA, so the chances of thousands of huge sites, extracting very little are zero. Pipelines? I suppose north sea gas goes via the internet? There are more pipelines under the UK than many are aware of, but it doesn’t mean more could not be easily constructed-by English workers rather than Chinese making solar panels!

    I quite liked your rant. It probably demonstrated the level of ignorance in so many posts on this site. Do you really think that what might be done in the fracking sites in the USA in the past will be what is done in the UK? If you actually did a little unbiased research you would easily find that the technical aspects are determined by the geology underground. This is one of the key reasons that test wells are required in new areas. Not because the drilling companies are experimenting, but because they wish to produce the best effect, for all concerned. No, they are not saints, but they are not economically illiterate either. But, then if they only employed yourself they could avoid all of that and just follow your one size fits all approach, that you can acquire by cutting and posting.

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text:
Towards Understanding Ourselves as a Christian

The Bible exhorts us to "take heed" to ourselves; to "sanctify" ourselves; to "examine" ourselves; and to "keep" ourselves. We are also reminded that when we were born again and believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we were given an "understanding", This "understanding" God desires to "open", so we might be "filled" with "spiritual understanding,"

This study is designed to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in majoring on the Biblical material relevant to "understanding ourselves" as a Christian — so we may more fully love, obey, and honor the True and Living God.


text:
Over a million developers have joined DZone.

Data Protection Using Erasure Codes

DZone's Guide to

Data Protection Using Erasure Codes

Erasure coding is a an alternative option for replication to ensure data redundancy. It's a method in which data is broken into fragments and some parity data is added to the actual data and stored across different locations. Read on to learn more about it.

· Cloud Zone
Free Resource

Are you joining the containers revolution? Start leveraging container management using Platform9's ultimate guide to Kubernetes deployment.

With the increase in digitization of devices, the digital data produced has exploded! A lot of this generated data, if not all, is preferred to be stored for future reference and to leverage analytics. How happy does a consumer feel when he is prompted with the history of the relevant items he has purchased in the past while he is trying to buy something?

Digital data is estimated to be doubling in size every two years and is expected to reach 44 zettabytes (44 trillion gigabytes) by 2020. (Source – IDC 2014). And, this is expected to increase exponentially with technologies like Internet of Things maturing!

Hence, enterprises are constantly reviewing their storage capacity and trying to scale for future. But, along with scaling, they are also trying to ensure that existing storage is being used optimally and efficiently.

A significant amount of storage space is reserved for redundancy, where copies of data are stored to ensure that data is always available in case of hardware and other failures. It is always a tradeoff between the number of copies of data (depending on the importance of data) vs. storage capacity. Many times, the capacity used to store replicas is more than the capacity to store the original files (more than 1 copy).

Hence, the industry has started looking for alternative options for replication to ensure data redundancy! One alternative specifically is in cloud storage, where a user is given the impression of infinite storage and continuous availability of data!

Erasure coding (EC) is one such option that many users are evaluating (some have already evaluated and implemented).

Erasure coding is a method in which data is broken into fragments and some parity data is added to the actual data and stored across different locations.

Image title

Parity data is calculated via some mathematical functions such that data can be recovered if any of the data fragments is lost.

A simple example of parity calculation is as follows:

  • a = 2 (data)
  • b = 5 (data)
  • a + b = 7 (parity)
  • 2a + b = 9 (parity)

Hence, if "a=2" is lost, it can be reconstructed using the remaining equations. Even if both data bits are lost: "a=2" and "b=5", both can be reconstructed.

Now, the number of fragments and parity bits is defined by Erasure coding configuration parameter (m:n). For instance, EC configuration of 6:3 implies 6 data fragments and 3 parity fragments, where data loss of up to 3 fragments can be tolerated. Data can be reconstructed using any 6 fragments. This configuration can be decided by the user based upon the importance of data. It is a tradeoff between storage and accepted number of fragment loss.

Erasure coding consumes less storage as compared to mirroring but can be more CPU-intensive.

The below table provides a sample comparison between Erasure coding and Tri-Replication:

Image title

Some of the common traditional erasure coding techniques are:

  • Reed-Solomon Coding
  • Cauchy Reed-Solomon Codes
  • EVENODD Coding

Erasure coding is more suitable for scenarios involving huge data sets, archiving, object storage, cloud, etc.

Lack of knowledge and confidence are the major barriers in acceptance of erasure coding. People are more confident with replicas as reconstruction, which simply involves copying the replica, unlike in erasure coding, where data is being split and the user depends on mathematical calculations for reconstruction. Windows Azure, Cleversafe, and Atmos are various commercial products available in the market that implement erasure coding. Hence, erasure coding is picking up especially with the cloud market boom.

Using Containers? Read our Kubernetes Comparison eBook to learn the positives and negatives of Kubernetes, Mesos, Docker Swarm and EC2 Container Services.

cloud storage ,data protection ,erasure coding

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

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text:
Hanoi Bang Bang VIII: Eating was an art - VnExpress International

Part 8

Eating was an art

What two wars and economic reformation did to the capital's cuisine.

Years of serious eating at home and on Hanoi's streets left Vu Bang with the notion that rigorous cooking could turn a pedestrian dish into a delicacy.

“Hanoi's deliciousness is both intricate and fussy,” he wrote in the final chapter. “What would porridge be without dill, peanut cabbage soup without lettuce, or a bowl of bun thang without mam tom?

“Hanoi's deliciousness is both intricate and fussy” – Vu Bang.

According to Bang, Hanoi was bursting with passionate eaters in 1952, the kind who vigorously debated the merits of pho and pondered the relevance of the new banh cuon in town—one stuffed with a controversial hash of shrimp, pork and everything in between. Vu Bang himself, spent days trying to divine rules for the proper preperation of bun cha, while dismissing the memory of his estranged wife’s cha ca as a failure.

Bang’s obsession with Hanoi cuisine took on all the urgency of his opium addiction, or more frequently, his reverence for women, which came through in metaphors that pepper his prose.

The image of a beautiful woman standing by the docks appears over and over again though the high points of his wife's cuisine—whether soft green-lentil cakes or doves stuffed with mushrooms and green rice—cause him to curse the affairs of his youth as frivolities.

Bang had a reverence for great cooks and lamented the power of his own pen to match their art. “Prose can only satisfy the mind,” he wrote. “But good food fills all five senses, making life, even for one not so well-off, worth living.”

Sitting in a cold, lonely room in Saigon, separated from his family by a war, Bang poignantly recalled a time when daily meals were embellished with condiments, sauces, appetizers, garnished herbs and humble desserts.

The beauty of the capital’s cuisine expressed itself in dishes as simple as fried morning glory with mam tom, he told us, and warned against conflating it with the sort of food you might find in a hack magazine article about it (pho, bun cha, banh cuon, etc.)

Though millions of curious eaters flock to Hanoi every year in search of food that's impossibly fresh, labor-intensive and delicious—one wonders what Bang might think of it today.

VnExpress International found it daunting to track down anything in modern Hanoi that met Vu Bang's standards: a pho, for example, free of MSG and clear enough to merit “two, three bowls at a time”, bun cha that lacked a trace of char, honest com and fresh ragworms.

Bang dedicated whole chapters to dishes that are no longer here today — banh Xuan Cau, hau lon and banh khoai— back in 1953.

Food historian, restauranteur and author Nguyen Phuong Hai has cataloged roughly 200 sophisticated recipes that have disappeared from the kitchens of northern family cooks.

“Modern life has gradually chipped away at Hanoi's willingness to spend days cooking and hours eating,” wrote Hai. “Hanoi’s devotion to food declines by the day.”

In other ways, the cuisine has grown more democratic—or pedestrian—depending on whom you ask.

Vu Bang described bun thang as a delicacy meant for Tet’s final feast—one in which cooks threaded the left-overs from the preceding feasts (spring rolls, chicken, omelet, dried shrimp, spiced pork floss and salted duck egg) over rice noodles and bone broth.

The dish is no longer limited to a holiday tradition; one can find a lesser version containing one or two of those ingredients on almost any street corner in the city.

At times, the accessibility of food was something Bang celebrated. In describing a bench at his favorite pho stall near Dong Xuan Market, he saw hope for the revolution that he'd spend the next two decades working toward.

“A worn ao dai sits next to a yellow felt scarf,” he wrote. “Everyone dines harmoniously together much like siblings.”

Before putting his pen down, Vu Bang dreamt of Reunification Day as a feast of Hanoi delicacies eaten from north to south.

In a way, that feast is being eaten at humble stalls throughout the country, every day. One wonders what Bang would make of the quality.

The end

Writer: Quynh Trang

Illustrator: Tien Thanh

Coder: Manh Cuong


text:
Just one day to go until we bring history to life in Nantwich!

We’re now just 24 hours away from taking to the field at Nantwich in Cheshire for the annual Holly Holy Day re-enactment – now in its 40th year!

It really is a spectacle for the whole family, with a massive parade through the streets, plus a battle and other events throughout the day. You can go here for more information, plus a map of the marchers’ route through the town.

So why is the battle for what was essentially a large village in Cheshire so important? For a little context, this is from the UK Battlefields Trust resource centre:

Fought on the 25th January, Nantwich was the first battle of 1644. It was a substantial victory for the Parliamentarians. Nantwich was relieved, the Royalist domination of Cheshire was over, Royalist artillery and the baggage train was captured and several senior Royalist officers taken prisoner. It marked the beginning of the recovery of the Parliamentarian cause in the North. For Fairfax himself it was an important step on the ladder which, by April 1645, would bring him command of Parliament’s New Model Army.

We can’t wait to get stuck in tomorrow, so come and join us for a great, family-friendly day as we mark 368 years of British history … and 40 years of re-enactment history!

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text:
The (Right) Medium Helps The Message

As we look for the best techniques to tell your stories, consider these 3 methods that require more creativity than budget:

RSA does whiteboard over narration to dramatize complex concepts:

Common Craft has set the mold for easy and clever.

Gamestorming practices what it preaches by combining low-tech items like post-its, whiteboards, and low-fi cameras for a video collage:

Check out this SME post for some nifty video production and marketing tips


text:
The Future of the Automobile

By Wooseong Yoo

Recently, many car manufacturing companies have produced and supplied electric cars in the market. It is true that having an electric car is still not easy. Customers do not have many choices to buy, and the charging infrastructure is not enough. In addition, although the government gives benefits to electric car drivers, the prices of the cars are relatively higher than conventional cars. However,  many companies are making the generation of electric cars possible. Currently, plug-in hybrid cars and pure electric cars are produced in the market.

Plug-in hybrid cars share the characteristics of both conventional internal combustion engine cars and electric cars. Different from hybrid cars, drivers can charge their cars with not only gasoline but also electricity. One example is BMW i8.

The i8 uses a three cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, with a 1.5liter capacity, in conjunction with an electric motor. The high-voltage battery can be recharged from a conventional household power socket or at a  public charging station. The battery can also be recharged via the electric motor on the overrun. The plug-in hybrid cars are between conventional gasoline cars and pure electric cars.

Pure electric cars, which is also called EVs, are only charged with electricity. They have electric motors, using rechargeable batteries instead of internal combustion engines. One of the significant features is that EVs are emission-free. With the current technology, most EVs cannot be driven long distance once it is charged. Therefore, they are mostly used in cities. I think that in mega cities, where air pollution is serious, EVs will help improve the environment. The BMW i3, Tesla Model X and S, and Volkswagen E-Golf are the examples.

Soon enough, there can be a time when everybody takes electric cars or even more innovative cars.1024px-Porsche_918_Spyder_IAA_2013


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The Roots of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, Part II

Bruce Bartlett held senior policy roles in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and served on the staffs of Representatives Jack Kemp and Ron Paul. He is the author of “The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform — Why We Need It and What It Will Take.”

Last week I discussed the roots of tax reform dating back to the 1960s. Until the late 1970s, it was a movement driven largely by liberals trying to close tax loopholes and make the rich pay their fair share. By the early 1980s, conservatives had joined the debate.

Today's Economist

Perspectives from expert contributors.

In my earlier post, I said that inflation was the most important factor that largely ended the liberal tax reform effort. People were more concerned with tax cuts and stimulating growth than they were with fairness, which was the principal liberal objective.

But there was a theoretical element as well. Liberals had a theory of the ideal tax system based on the notion that taxable income should consist of consumption plus the increase in net worth over the course of a year. This would include taxation on unrealized capital gains, which is a constitutional problem as well as a practical one. Liberals of that era were also strong in their support for “vertical equity,” which meant steeply progressive tax rates.

Conservatives did not really have a competing idea; they just opposed what the liberals were for. Treasury Secretary William E. Simon, who served from 1974 to 1977, thought the lack of a conservative alternative to the liberal idea of tax reform put conservatives at a disadvantage. He recruited the Princeton economist David Bradford to come up with an ideal conservative tax system.

Professor Bradford thought that a pure consumption tax was best from a conservative point of view, because it exempted the taxation of wealth and savings implicit in the liberal ideal. He worked through many important technical problems with a consumption-based tax system, and his report was published as “Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform,” issued by the Treasury just days before Jimmy Carter took office in 1977.

For the next several years, conservatives concentrated on reducing statutory tax rates, which Ronald Reagan accomplished in 1981. His tax cut reduced the top income tax rate to 50 percent from 70 percent and the bottom rate to 11 percent from 14 percent. Conservatives wanted to go further, but rising budget deficits precluded further tax cuts.

In December 1981, two Hoover Institution fellows, Robert E. Hall and Alvin Rabushka, put forward a tax reform plan that married Professor Bradford’s idea of a pure consumption base to a flat-rate tax system. In an op-ed article in The Wall Street Journal, they contended that their proposal was so simple that everyone could file their income taxes on a postcard and that a single rate of 19 percent, including a large personal exemption, would collect the same revenue as the existing income tax.

Conservatives were very excited to finally have an ideal tax system they could support. Moreover, it gave them a way to continue to talk about tax rate reduction in an era constrained by large budget deficits. Some conservatives, such as the economist David Hale, even asserted that the Hall-Rabushka plan would raise net revenue and reduce the deficit because it would expand economic activity.

By July 1982, Reagan said he was very interested in the idea of tax reform based on a flat rate. When asked about it, he said:

Let me just say, we support looking at that. It’s a very tempting thing, because let’s all of us admit that probably there is more resistance to the income tax in America today, not from the amount of it, but from the complexity of trying to figure out what the amount should be, that the people are pretty fed up with something so complex that even the government has to warn that their own agents cannot be depended on to give you sound advice as to what your tax burden should be. I can remember when you used to go in there to them and just hand it to them, and they’d tell you what you owed and that was it. They can’t even do it anymore. So, the flat rate does look tempting.

However, to the dismay of conservatives, Reagan did not endorse the Hall-Rabushka plan and, in fact, went in the other direction, supporting the largest peacetime tax increase in American history, the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which he signed into law on Sept. 3, 1982.

Undeterred, congressional conservatives went to work on their own tax reform plans. My former boss, Representative Jack Kemp of New York, and Senator Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, both Republicans, drafted a proposal that would have established a nominal 25 percent flat rate, although effective rates would vary. They proposed paying for this rate reduction with various reforms, including elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes, one of the biggest tax expenditures.

Simultaneously, Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey and Representative Richard Gephardt of Missouri, both Democrats, developed a tax reform plan with a top rate of 30 percent. It was also meant to be revenue-neutral and paid for rate cuts with base-broadening. One of the big revenue raisers in the Bradley-Gephardt plan was the inclusion of untaxed fringe benefits in taxable income.

People quickly noticed a lot of overlap between the Kemp-Kasten and Bradley-Gephardt plans. (See the Congressional Budget Office’s side-by-side comparison from October 1984.) This, more than anything else, persuaded members of Congress that bipartisan tax reform was doable. The fact that the Senate was under Republican control and the House under Democratic control was also important, I think, because each side knew its interests were protected.

On Nov. 1, 1984, the Treasury Department issued the tax reform study Reagan had asked for in his State of the Union address in January of that year. Although the plan was generally praised, some conservatives were highly critical of its impact on the cost of capital. The Treasury’s former assistant secretary for economic policy, Paul Craig Roberts, called for its rejection.

The White House reviewed the Treasury study, made some adjustments and sent a formal proposal to Congress in May 1985. There followed 18 months of intense congressional debate and negotiation, well reviewed in the 1988 book “Showdown at Gucci Gulch: Lawmakers, Lobbyists and the Unlikely Triumph of Tax Reform” by Alan Murray and Jeffrey Birnbaum, reporters at The Wall Street Journal. It is still considered the go-to source on the politics of tax reform.

In my view, the preconditions for tax reform that were present in the mid-1980s do not now exist. That effort built on 25 years of research on tax reform that resulted in two previous tax reforms, in 1969 and 1976, similar ideas among Republicans and Democrats, and strong leadership from the White House, Treasury Department and the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee.

I believe it will take several more years, at least until after the 2016 elections, before meaningful tax reform can move forward.


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ECRS2010 logo
22nd European Cosmic Ray Symposium in Turku, Finland

3 - 6 August 2010

Travelling to Turku

Turku can be reached by air via Helsinki (Finland) by Finnair and by Blue1, or via Stockholm (Sweden) or via Copenhagen (Denmark) by SAS and by Blue1, or via Riga (Latvia) by AirBaltic. From all cities there are several connecting flights per day to Turku. More information about airlines operating to/from Turku airport can be found from Wikipedia.

From Helsinki, Turku can also be reached by bus or by train. Buses leave from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. To get in a train, you first have to travel to the Helsinki railway station (bus or taxi). The duration of the trip to Turku by train is about 2 hours. The duration by bus is about 2 hours 40 minutes. Note that when leaving by bus from the Helsinki-Vantaa airport to Turku, you have to change the bus after a ride of about 30 minutes.

Train timetables can be found at

and bus timetables at

From Stockholm, Turku can also be reached by a ferry Silja Line or Viking Line. The duration of the trip is approximately one day or one night, and gives you the oppotunity to see the beautiful Turku archipelago.

Transport connections to/from Turku airport to Turku centre:

Distance of the airport from Turku centre is 8 km. Bus number 1 departs from airport every 20 min. Route: airport - bus station - town centre - harbour. Single adult fare 2,50 Euro.

Airport taxi, tel. 0400 919 940: Fixed fare eg. between airport and Turku hotels, 12 Euro/person.

Turku call-taxi, tel 02 10041: journey to Turku 20 min, fare approx. 17 Euro.

NOTE! You can order a taxi for free at the phone beside the front door in the entrance hall.

Turku 20011 Turku 2011,
Capital of
Space Research Laboratory, Department of Physics and Astronomy
FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland
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Fall camping

IMG_5618I’ve always wanted to go camping in the fall; always hoped for just one more outing with the trailer before winter hit. As teachers, it never happened. We were back in the classroom and up to our eyeballs in work by late August or the first week of September. Then, with retirement came several years of helping our friend, Louis, with harvest. I loved being out on the combine, but it meant that there was no time for camping in the fall.

Finally, this year it happened! We packed up the trailer last Wednesday morning and headed for Miquelon Lake Provincial Park, less than an hour and a half from home. Surrounded by the spectacular colours of the season, fall camping was everything I always thought it would be! Though we got caught in the rain while out geocaching on Wednesday afternoon, the clouds soon disappeared and for the remainder of our time the weather was glorious.

Here in Alberta, we don’t get the wide variety of fall colours that are found in eastern Canada, but everywhere I turned I was surrounded by beauty and I took dozens of pictures!

IMG_5594  IMG_5617

We found 14 geocaches within the park boundaries, but the highlight of our trip was definitely Friday’s hike. We left the trailhead late in the morning intending to hike 7.3 kilometres, but we’d completed all but 1.5 km of that by the time we stopped to eat lunch! Digging out our trail map, we quickly decided to add what we had originally thought might be a separate hike sometime in the future. In the end, we covered 13.2 km! Considering the fact that just a few months ago, I couldn’t walk more than two km without playing out, I was pretty stoked!

IMG_5608  IMG_5613

Those of you who’ve been reading my blog for very long know how much we enjoy exploring old abandoned houses that give us glimpses into life in days gone by. Imagine our surprise and delight when Richard spotted an old brick chimney rising out of the bush a short distance from the trail. Of course, we had to take a closer look! Although the girl manning the park office couldn’t give us any information about the house or its original inhabitants, it was easy to see that the two storey structure and its smaller outbuilding must have been there long before the park was established in 1958.

Though we didn’t see any of the larger wildlife, including deer, moose and elk, that live within the park, there was clear evidence of their presence along the trails. Plenty of fresh hoof prints and droppings told us they weren’t far off. What we did see were squirrels, muskrat, tiny frogs, a surprising number of garter snakes and an abundance of water fowl. As Miquelon Lake and the numerous wetland areas within the park are located within two of North America’s migratory flyways, flocks of migrating geese honked their way overhead and settled on the lake each evening.

Miquelon Lake is also part of the Beaver Hills Dark Sky Preserve, an an area that has been established to reduce the glare of artificial light and increase the visibility of the night sky. Each evening, as we sat around the fire in the crisp evening air, darkness settled around us and stars filled the sky. What could be more relaxing?

Dare I hope for one more camping trip before winter arrives?

3 thoughts on “Fall camping

  1. Nature can be so incredibly beautiful… especially in the colours of spring and fall… We are starting to experience it again here in the Uk… I love the abandoned building you photographed – the mind runs wild as to what happened there once upon a time… lovely post!

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This is not an excuse

Hi all.. I just want to update you all with my personal life as it has affected my blogging routine.

First of all… I have been blessed with two interesting courses this semester. Unfortunately, just like any other communication courses, it requires a lot of readings and research paper writing. One of the course I’m taking has an at leasst of 150-200 pages to read per week! *phew*. There goes all my attentions….. not!! =D

Second of all… I have been skipping my Korean rituals (reason for that: copy paste the paragraph above ^^ kkk) . I have not been updated with the latest K-POP news nor catching up with the Korean dramas I have started to watch in early June *holy molly*.. AND I have skipped my language clubs activities countless time. I’m still learning tho! Still go on chatting with my friends in Korea using my messy Korean and stuffs. But I have not been able to go to Korean places in Vancouver.  😉

On the bright side… Paper writing period is coming!! Knowing my self too well, I know that when I’m stuck with my research.. I’ll be updating my blog! =D So one or two will be posted up soon enough.

Well actually.. I’m writing this blog because I need to share this somehow:

My head has been filled with worries. At this very moment, as I’m writing this words by words, my dad is undergoing his second Chemotherapy. all this diagnosed, operation, and chemotherapy process happened too fast. My head and heart is filled with mixed emotions that could be running high on my days.

I’m glad that it was found quite early (although it has reached stage 3) and my dad still could be treated. But I’m super worry about my parents. Mom would have to go back and forth Jakarta-Singapore, or spend lonely nights at home. She has to take care of dad with smiles that cover her weary heart. Dad who forced himself to go to work and making sure that we are not worrying about his condition that much… *sigh* I hate that I could not be with them right there right now.

This and that, busy or not, stressful about one thing or the otherS, going out and having fun on each sunny day or not. This problem, that problem. This happened, that happened. That’s life! Sometimes it could make me to re-think my whole life and goal. It could veer me from my visions.

This is not an excuse for my lack of blog posts lately. But I just want to share that you may walk your dream but sometimes life can veer you away a little bit from the track. That’s OK. Don’t be panic. If it’s meant to be it will show its way back to you. Or at least I hope so! =)

Maybe you need a quality time with your heart and soul. Find a nice quite place to be on your own, untangling whatever knots you have in your head. A couple days ago, I went to Ambleside park. A beach in West Vancouver that took me an hour to get there. I had a solo picnic with Mc Donalds, David Choi’s songs, my loyal pen and book, and seagulls that never got tired trying to steal my fries! I had fun! The scenery and the breeze of sea *I ♥ the smell of the ocean!*, the alone time away from everything has helped me quite a bit! =) I hope after reading this you can find your own ways to talk to your honest heart! =)

With this said, I do hope that I can keep my promise and bring my focus back to my goals. I have no more spare times to think of any other things but family, school, and my oh-so-Korean goals (plus one project that is still a secret ^^)

People may not fully understand what is going on with your life. And that’s ok. Don’t forget to stand up tall for your self and for what you believe! No one ever said it’s going to be easy and not  after-all!

Should your heart be weary… should you want to be strong… should you want to keep moving forward… Just kneel down and pray. There you’ll find the strength to carry on and to crawl back up. Or at least that’s how I find help! =D

until then

One thought on “This is not an excuse

  1. Kevin

    keep your goals in front of you. i know you are so hardworking and dedicated. even though you have things distracting you in every direction, you always complete your tasks. learn to enjoy it.

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Sunday, May 18, 2014

Dan Kirsch

Dan Kirsch

Dan Kirsch, USA, Secondary, ICT

Greetings, I am a middle school ICT instructor. I teach students in the grades 6-8. My interests include, social media, digital citizenship, internet safety, and content curation.

Mr. Kirsch's ICT Blog - currently offline
This is my ICT class blog. This blog consists of information curated by myself as well as displaying students knowledge of ICT.

Theme: edblog, digcit, esafety, edchat


text:
My Creative Process (#5) : The Love Letter Which Never Reached Its Destination…

Me and my Mexican Lady... a photoshopped picture of a dream which never came to be...

Me and my Mexican Lady… a photoshopped picture of a dream that never came to be…

It took me a long time to decide I was ready to write this post, so bear with me while I wring my heart of the remaining tears this one might bring out.

Every one (about the three of you, I guess) who has read the Author’s Note of my second book, Eco Station One, knows the main story about the gorilla surfing the Internet which inspired most of this crazy and bizarre book.

But there’s another side that almost no one is aware about. While I was writing Eco Station, I met this wacky, sensational and smart woman online. As many of you must know by now, women cease to communicate with me right after they find out that I live in the middle of a rainforest, so for some time I did my best to find love online… without any results.

Women were either too young or completely neurotic. And the ones in my age bracket… well, let’s not get into that…

Reasonably, I gave up after a while. But, without a warning, I stumbled upon this woman from Mexico in a chat room. She was trying to learn how to use the emoticons of that place. As a pro in there, I found this amusing and I spent the next few hours teaching her how to make smileys, sad faces and angry scowls with the least necessary keypresses as possible. She seemed to enjoy the process and, what’s more important, she seemed to enjoy my wacky sense of humor…

We met regularly in that chat room, and things evolved to the point when we switched to Messenger to continue chatting. This lasted for eighteen months. And it got really interesting when she was the one that proposed me to get involved emotionally with each other. Since I like slightly aggressive and forward females, well, it was obvious I was completely pleased and flattered by this. Our meetings became daily sessions, always around 1 PM, when she was just going out of the beauty school where she was taking a few courses. She was very insistent over the fact that we saw each other through the webcam (I suspect she liked the reassurance that I didn’t have horns growing out from my forehead; I was likewise pleased to find out that she was as pretty as the picture she sent me… and that she didn’t have three sets of eyes or something like that… She even asked that I photoshopped our separate online portraits together into one, as shown above… and we looked great as a couple, mind you.)

But during that same time I was well into writing Eco Station One… and my Mexican Lady was slowly turning into the Marina character that became so pivotal to the plot. The adventures that Eduardo Sinnombre and Marina, his paramour, were having together were an expression of my daily daydreaming whenever I was chatting around with this nice girl.

The novel had become my love letter to my Mexican Lady, in a fashion.

Things reached the point when I was more than ready to board the plane to Mexico and meet her in person. But then disaster struck, fatefully. The Venezuelan government suddenly devaluated the exchange rate of the Bolivar, the local currency, from 2.15 to 4.30 per US dollar. My plans collapsed, since the cost of the air tickets literally doubled overnight; Mexico, which was a rather affordable 2,500.oo Bolivares away, unexpectedly became a goal impossible to reach at the tune of 5,250.oo VEF. And that didn’t include lodging, food and transport. I had to cancel the reservations.

But there was a sliver of hope still glinting between the shards resulting of all this mess. A few people owed me a lot of favors; I could cash in a few of these, and then someone I know would see that she boarded the next plane to Caracas at just a fraction of the cost of my ticket to Mexico… And I had a few friends who would be quite glad to give her bed and board, just to wipe out the debt they had with me. She would be safe with them.

When I met her next, proposed her this reversal of plans. She suddenly muted, and thought it over. She shook her head sadly. Nope, no go. I worked very hard the next few weeks to convince her to come, since it was more feasible in economic terms, but she never yielded.

All the while, Eco Station was finally taking form, reaching the zany climax at its end. I kept telling her that maybe this thing would sell enough copies that I may resume our original plans of meeting at her home country. But as weeks passed, she just began to stare at me through the image of her webcam, not really paying attention to whay I wrote onscreen. She seemed to have lost a vital, vibrant spark, which started to show in our conversations. One day, she simply said to me: “Well, Edwin, seems that you’re only my unreachable daydream.” And she cut the connection. The image on the Messenger tiny screen became black as night.

Her words floored me. Our chats began to space increasingly from each other; our daily sessions became one each other day, then twice a week, then weekly: something had broken between us. I knew that I had lost her. One day, I found she had eliminated her mail account and that she had also deactivated her Facebook profile. She was gone from my life forever…

I was also just a couple of pages away from finishing Eco Station One, and I briefly considered the idea of deleting the file. But something forced me to keep going, and this crazy book managed, somehow, to get completed. Editing it was a veritable nightmare, since each line I read made me relive the dream; that I finally had found my dream girl… and that an event beyond my control made me lose her.

That was three years ago. Took me this long to finally tell the tale as it really happened. As you can see, Eco Station was a love letter that never found its way home. It was the most soul-wrenching book I ever wrote, since I had I had invested so much into it, on an emotional basis…

And that was also my last attempt to find love.

Never more, quoth the raven…

Edwin Stark

Signing Off

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Risks of IPO Investing

stock Market

Stock Market

There was a day when any kind of IPO investment in the technological world was all but guaranteed a huge profit. Some investors grabbed up public stock in companies like VA Linux and had some great first day gains. Those who invested and then sold did very well and made investing look like a very easy process. But investors were disappointed in the long run as they watched values plummet.

Risk Factors

It is important to realize that there is no investment that is a guaranteed, sure thing. There will always be risks associated with investing. Companies like Effi Enterprises are aware of the risk factors and carefully consider the high tech companies that they offer venture capital or private investing options to. The biggest lesson many investors have learned is that the IPO market leveled out and there are not the same extreme gains to be had simply from flipping stocks. IPO’s have a huge set of very unique risks which makes them different from trading in average stock. A good example right now is the Facebook IPO. Many people grabbed up public shares and invested in the top social networking company. Stocks have risen somewhat from their initial drop but they are still about 13 percent down from where they were a short time ago. That’s not actually a bad drop compared to many companies such as Zeltiq Aesthetics who is sitting on a 65 percent decline from its initial IPO price.

Facebook’s IPO

People thought they could buy up some Facebook shares and watch the prices soar immediately. Basically, they took a risk and lost. IPO’s are not the best option for most investors. When a company goes public one of the main risk factors is that there has not been a trading history and so there are no analytical reports to examine. Trying to obtain information on a company that is going public is going to be difficult. Most of the time companies have traded publically and so there are lots of analysts which have done their homework. These reports can at least reveal some of the problems they have encountered.

Purpose of an Underwriter

Many times a company which is going public does not have a strong underwriter. This of course, does not mean that investment banks never produce a dud, but generally quality brokerages will be bringing only quality companies public. It is very risky to choose companies who are represented by smaller brokerages because they are many times willing to underwrite any company at all. A larger investment firm can be more selective about which companies it underwrites than a small underwriter can. However, the smaller broker can make it a lot easier for private investing since it’s much easier to purchase IPO shares.

Read the Prospectus

It is important to read a company’s prospectus. But keep in mind that this is not done by an outside party, it is written from within the company so it is not necessarily as reliable as a third party analysis. You will need to note the risks and opportunities as they are presented by the company. You will want to know why they are going IPO. If the money raised by IPO is going to repay loans or to buy equity from private investing, stay clear. However, if it is going toward marketing, expansions or research it is usually a good sign.

This does not mean that IPOs are all bad. There have been many success stories over the years. There are some very successful companies that go public every single month, however, it can be very difficult to sift through it all and find the investment opportunities with the most potential. Efraim Landa works with companies who are going public to help ensure each party’s success.

About Efraim Landa

My name is Efraim Landa I am an entrepreneur and an expert in venture capital. I am the co founder of Effi Enterprises, a venture capital firm as well as the co founder and CEO of Gluco Vista, a company that is in the process of developing a non invasive glucose meter for those with diabetes.

Posted on June 23, 2012, in Business financing, investing, IPO and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.

  1. ideasexplorer

    Great post and good to know that your company takes into account the risks in any investment. That is perhaps even more important than the return they can get, given that most investors are risk averse. Of course, then a right balance between return and risk should be achieved.
    In the case of an IPO, many other factors also influence the result of the ulterior share price. One of them is the valuation that underlies the price of the share for the IPO. In the Facebook case, as Prof. Damodaran says, the valuation was assuming that it could perform to the perfection. Any news less than perfect is negative news.

  2. Great post. You had some great points that are worth keeping in mind when deciding whether or not to invest. The fact that the prospectus is not written by a third party, but from within the company itself is important to keep in mind, and so is the fact that when companies go public, there are no analytical reports to look at.

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