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In these unprecedented times you may be wondering about the future of your agency—especially if you’re on the verge of retirement. How much is your agency worth? Who can you sell to? How can you ensure the sale is on your terms? If you are weighing your options, the Home Care Legacy Program can help.

The ICA Group is now providing FREE exit planning services to qualifying owners of independent home care agencies.

Click here to get in touch

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Consulting Services

Critical for a smooth transition—an exit plan will help you understand all of your options.

ICA Consultants can help you:

  • Identify a target exit date and selling price
  • Clarify your business and personal goals
  • Establishes a management succession plan
  • Lay out a timeline with key milestones for exiting the business
  • Calculate the likely value of your business with key value drivers, financial projections, and gaps between today’s value and the value you want to recoup from your business

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An Innovative Alternative

One exit option that you may have never considered is a sale to your employees. As word spreads, hundreds of business owners are exploring employee ownership. If you hope to:

  • secure a competitive return for your business
  • ensure the future of loyal employees
  • preserve your agency’s legacy in the community

A sale to your employees may be the right choice for you.

If you are interested in free technical assistance to help you assess all of your options, we invite you to apply to the Home Care Legacy Program to access up to 40 hours of free consulting services.

Apply Now

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Program Eligibility

  • Agencies must have been operational for at least the last three years (and be willing/able to show financial statements for the last three years).

  • Agencies must show a profit in the last three years (pre-COVID19). There is no minimum requirement for profit.

  • Agencies must have at least eight full-time employees.

  • Agencies led by POC, women, LGBTQI++, agencies located in rural areas and agencies accepting public pay are particularly encouraged to apply and will receive funding preference.

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Your Partner through an Ownership Transition

The ICA Group is a national nonprofit business consultancy, specializing in the development of employee-owned businesses. Our services and expertise in the home care industry include exit planning, business valuation, market research, strategic planning, capital access, and financial management.

Since 1977, we have supported the launch and growth of hundreds of employee-owned businesses and preserved over 10,000 local jobs. We start by assessing the operational and financial feasibility of the sale. From there, we employ our 5-step process, expertly refined through our 43 years of experience, to support business owners through a successful sale to their employees.

We specialize in working with businesses where employees have limited resources. With financing for a partial or full buyout, your employees will become the new generation of owners, while you secure a fair price for the sale of your business to support a dignified retirement.

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Resources on Employee Ownership in Home Care

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To apply for ICA’s Home Care Legacy Program, please fill out this simple application form. We estimate it will take less than 10 minutes to complete.

Apply Now

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We will contact you within 5 business days to discuss your eligibility.

Feel free to email us at homecarelegacy@icagroup.org with any questions.

The Home Care Legacy Program is being offered in collaboration with the UW Center for Cooperatives in Wisconsin, the Keystone Development Center in Pennsylvania, and the Cooperative Development Foundation.

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Strangers in the Night

Yesterday, at her Senate confirmation hearing, Senator Clinton faced a number of questions about Pakistan and Afghanistan. Her most detailed conversation was with Senator Kerry - who will head the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator Kerry spoke about his trip to South Asia, in the immediate aftermath of Mumbai attacks.

We do not live there. We don’t live in the community, in a hamlet, in a small town, pocket, whatever you want to call it. And so we’re not there often at night. They are. And the night often rules with the insurgencies.

It is a profoundly illuminating statement. The interplay of light and dark, day and night. The reference to hamlets and pockets. Insurgency - the lexical contribution of the Iraq War which continues to hold sway. They live there. We don’t. That language of globalization which rules the pages of Wall Street Journal and New York Times is distinctly absent. These are not interconnected communities that stretch across national borders, these are inwardly focused, pre-modern histories. To further explain, Senator Kerry mentioned that he has been doing a lot of reading recently - readings that impressed upon him the importance of “tribalism”, "We honored tribalism when we dealt with the Northern Alliance and initially went in to Afghanistan. We really haven’t adequately since." He recommended that Senator Clinton read Rory Stewart’s travelogue of walking across Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Places in Between. And also Janet Wallach’s biography of Gertrude Bell entitled Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Advisor to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia. Let that title wash all over you. Luxuriate in it.

Senator Clinton responded warmly to Kerry’s literary suggestions.
Sitting here today, when I think about my trips to Afghanistan, my flying over that terrain, my awareness of the history going back to Alexander the Great and certainly, the imperial British military and Rudyard Kipling’s memorable poems about Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, which put in more troops than we’re thinking about putting in — I mean, it calls for a large doze of humility about what it is we are trying to accomplish.

The historian in me is fascinated by these teleologies at display: Alexander to the British to the Soviets to US. A timelime of invaders and conquerors who, I assume, only abided the day, and not the night. There is the unapologetic emphasis on the romantic and the Orientalist - a vocabulary of time and space that does not mesh, at all, with our own. I do not know if our Senators realized that this is also, explicitly, a teleology of failed imperial enterprises. Not the precedent, I am sure, they'd want to invoke.

But the tribalism espoused by Senator Kerry is also part of this now-defunct mode. It stands for those "others" every colonial power has ever imagined into being. To fight their wars. The burden of tribalism is the burden of violence on colonial subjects – be they the Hindus and Muslims under British colonial rule in the early decades of the twentieth century, or the Sunnis and Shias in Baghdad under the surge. The colonial histories are written in that particular language of violence. These are the violent colonial solutions to political problems, to be exact.

Reading the US Press, Senator Kerry and Clinton, on Pakistan is to know that Pakistan does not exist as a coherent nation-state. It seems to comprise of undifferentiated security actors (Musharraf/Kayani, Karzai, Northern Alliance, Taliban, Pakistan military, ISI) operating in a volatile soup. It is constantly claimed that the state - whether civil or military - does not control its own western and south-western territories. A claim that enables US to conduct drone attacks, as well as military incursions into the country. In the first seven months of 2008, there were five drone strikes inside Pakistan. Since August, there have been over thirty. Some as deep as 25 miles into Pakistani territory and deadly - killing 50 people in four attacks in September, alone.

But Pakistan does have a history as a nation-state, in fact. And it is not the history of Alexander’s arrival to the Indus. Let me give you a brief recount. From 1999 - 2008, we supported the military dictatorship of General Pervez Musharraf - he was the devil we knew and liked. From 2002-2008, the same devil presided as vast swathes of his country converted into a war-zone. In 2005, to suppress the proto-nationalist uprising in Baluchistan, he used the same tactics that were being practiced across the border in Afghanistan: bombing over civilian enclaves, missile assassinations, heavy military foot-print. As he methodically destroyed the claimants for an engaged and equal partnership for Baluchistan in the federal regime, he created the political space for the emergence of new actors - the Mehsud tribe in Waziristan. As a result Pakistan, by the end of 2008, faces several civil wars - in the north-west, it faces the development of self-declared taliban regime which is hoping to enforce Shari’a. In the south-west, it faces the proliferation of both proto-nationalist and terrorist groups. In the city of Karachi, there is the systematic effort to expel Afghan/Pakhtun immigrants by the ethnic party, MQM.

Previously, we supported two other decade long military dictatorships, General Zia ul-Haq (1977-1988) during whose tenure we fought our hot Cold War in Afghanistan and during whose tenure we excused a rampant policy of Sunnification and militarization. And Field Marshal Ayub Khan (1958-1969) whose tenure saw the effective killing of democratic institutions and the highlighting of Kashmir as the central issue of Pakistan. We supported all three men. They came to our capital, spoke to the Congress, enjoyed days and nights as our esteemed friends. Overall, in the 61 years of existence, we supported 30 plus years of military rule in Pakistan. Let me restate this: The United States has consistently supported the elimination of any democratic development in Pakistan since 1947. During the civilian administrations, we routinely ignored Pakistan or imposed sanctions. If Pakistan lacks coherence as a nation-state to Senator Kerry and Clinton, they can look to these specific histories for explanation. Alexander the Great cannot help them.

In the aftermath of Mumbai attacks, the world has found yet another reason to doubt the sustainability of Pakistan, doubt the intentions of the people and the State, doubt their commitment to being a peaceful global citizens. These doubts, those proclamations, some of the harsh denouncements of the Indian media were heard loudly and clearly across Pakistan. The bellicosity - apparent even in the flyer for this panel - generated its own predictable response. The military, which had finally lost all credence, is slowly coming back in business. It is the protector. It is the sustainer of the national myths.

The Pakistanis are also attuned to the silences. They note that in the teleology of modern terror - NYC, Madrid, London, and now Mumbai - there is no mention of Lahore and Islamabad. The September 20th blast at the Marriott, Islamabad is a clear precursor to the tragedy at Taj, Mumbai. It, too, was a site where the local elite gathered for daily mingling. It, too, catered to the foreign visitors. It, too, was a sign of Pakistan's growing economy. Yet, while NYC and Mumbai are forever linked, the victims of Islamabad and Lahore find themselves on the other side of history.

The Obama administration will need to stop reading Rudyard Kipling and start reading even the wide-circulation daily Urdu and English press from Pakistan. It is quite easy, they are all online. It will have to know Pakistan’s hopes lie with civilian institutions, civic bodies which protect women and minorities, elementary and secondary education for all, strengthening the judiciary, invoking land reform. It will have to know that the military is the largest land-owning entity, one of the biggest business entity and the greatest consumer of US AID. The Obama administration needs to focus on the people of Pakistan, in the PRESENT and not in some distant past surrounded in unknown terrain, if it hopes to combat escalating extremism in the region. Collectively, there are over 200 million inhabitants in Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are mega-cities like Karachi with populations over 19 million. We are not dealing with hamlets and pockets. And the global context is certainly clear to the terrorists in Mumbai. In the violence they spread, over three days, and their targets and their statements, they drew upon this language of political violence. Nariman house to Gaza, Kashmir to Taj Hotel are not teleologies of tribalism and we make a grave error if we read them wrongly.

Ironically, 2008 began with one of the greatest moments in the history of this nation. After a year-long civic protest, led by the Lawyers Movement, the people of Pakistan democratically voted out this military dictator. The February elections in Pakistan were a resounding dismissal of a decade of military dominance, as well as the religious parties. Yet, we failed to engage with this flowering of democracy. And we need to engage with the civilian government of Zardari – however flawed that particular person is.

There are no military solutions to a decades old political problem. Because military solutions mandate that the language of political violence be the only language left (be it in Kashmir or Islamabad or Mumbai).

x-posted at Chapati Mystery

Anonymous said...

Remember, we must all cheer the 30,000 American soldiers Obama is sending to Afghanistan. How long is the guess till the bombing of Pakistan begins again?

Anonymous said...

Great article -- thank you.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it a giggle that the domestic opposition to a foreign occupation is called an "insurgency."

And east is west and west is east and never the twain shall meet.

Anonymous said...

Well said! Let this serve as a reminder that while military force may be necessary, absent cultural understanding and an intimate knowledge of history it will eventually revert to futile imperialism, and end up shooting off its own feet.

Long live well-researched expertise!

Ian said...

thank you, very informative, would you be able to list some of your prefered pakistan online papers, i was able to locate,

Anand said...

I would point out that 87% of Afghans support the ANA. As long as NATO is seen as supporting the popular ANA, NATO will be welcomed by the Afghans. This is Afghanistan's war against the Taliban and AQ linked networks (Haqqani, Hekmatyur.) They will fight this war whether we (the world) help them or don't.

We should be careful to be respectful of the ANA and Afghanistan's elected leaders. This is the best single piece of advice we can follow.

Rojo said...

Anonymous asked: "How long is the guess till the bombing of Pakistan begins again?"

We now have the answer. Jan 23, three days into Obama's presidency.

Anonymous said...

Out of the other ethnicities, the Baloch people have suffered the most under an administration dominated by Punjabis.

The region of Balochistan is mostly waste land covered by deserts and uncultivable land. However this area is also rich in mineral reserves such as natural gas and petroleum.

In fact, 90% of Pakistan’s energy requirements are met by the natural reserves of the province of Balochistan.

But the irony is that this province does not even get 5% of the electricity produced from the land in this region. So much for Islamic/Pakistani brotherhood!

The per capita income of Balochistan is next to zilch when compared to Punjab.

Balochistan has hardly any schools or colleges except in the capital city of Quetta. The Baloch people have to travel great distances even to get basic necessities such as water and food supplies.
There are hardly any roads or major railway links in Balochistan. Most Baloch people have to work as migrant labourers in the more developed cities of Karachi and Islamabad.

The Pakistani Army rape women and young girls, kill non-combatants; in general terms, they spread misery amongst the Baloch population.

It is not as if the Civil or Military Administration is unaware of these facts. On the other hand, the Administration fully supports these cruel techniques used by the Pakistani Army to subdue the Baloch.

This is actually a return gift from the Pakistani Administration for the audacity of asking for the basic human rights by the Baloch.

There are no technical institutions where people from Balochistan can pursue education, which would enable them to achieve a respectable status. All the work in the various military or civilians are assigned to non-local labour.

This is not done because the Baloch people are lazy or unable to do work. Rather this is being done to add to the depravity of the already suffering people of Balochistan.

The Baloch people who are not so religious, but are however fiercely independent in spirit were ultimately fed up with the Punjabi-led administration decided to rebel against it.

Even though there is a long history of rebellion of the Baloch people against the evil Pakistani Administration, I will confine myself to a recent event that has become epoch in the history of Balochistan.

I will tell you the short story of Nawab Akbar Bughti. He was a man who once believed in the nation of Pakistan and even occupied several important positions in the Pakistani administration unlike most of his Baloch brothers who were not so lucky.

When he came back to his native place, he was really appalled to see the barbarity with which the Pakistani army treated the Baloch people. He could no longer tolerate the injustice and decided to fight the oppression.

He fought, to secure basic Human rights for his people. The Pakistani Administration decided that this impudent Baloch, who had the guts to ask for equal rights, should also be given a return gift. He was bombed in his house, which was actually a cave, in the middle of night.

This was a warning for the rest of the Baloch people to shut up or suffer similar consequences.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now the Pakistani administration has found a new way of subduing the Baloch. They have started colonising the Baloch land in bits and pieces to establish colonies of Punjabi ex-army men in order to destabilize the ethnic balance of the area.

To add to the woes of the Baloch, Afghan refugees have also been provided habitations in the Baloch land. This was hardly done out of compassion for the refugees, why not house them in Punjab?

The real reason was to turn the native population of Balochistan into minorities. This way, they are being gradually subdued with ease.

While the Western Media chooses to cherry pick the events in Pakistan, we seldom get to hear the moans and cries of these unfortunate people, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

As I write this article, there might be a Baloch woman being molested by the Army of Pakistan, a child being beaten up for being who he is.

Nobody will ever be able to assess the exact extent of the atrocities the Pakistani Administration has committed upon the Baloch people.

I really don’t understand why the media of the free world chooses to ignore a Human tragedy which occurs everyday in a country as well known as Pakistan.

I also wonder why the Western leaders don’t ask the Pakistani administration as to why these people are suffering so much even after the billions of dollars in Aid.

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Its a nice article about Senator Kerry and his efforts to eliminate the terrorism and sharing of all matters Senator Kerry dealt with.

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Father of the Year 2016
2016 recipient Jon Lang

While every father is special, some are just extraordinary in their willingness to help their families and others. If your dad or another man in your community is deserving of this honor, nominate him. Tell us in 500 words about that special dad, what he does and why he deserves to win the title.

Just go to our website at www.icl.coop to fill out an entry and email your essay to cbradford@aiec.coop. Be sure to include the information from the form below. Or, complete the following form and send it along with your essay.

Rules: The contest is open to any father served by an Illinois electric cooperative. No purchase is necessary. The winner will be selected by committee, and featured in the June edition of Illinois Country Living magazine.

All nomination letters submitted will be published on Illinois Country Living’s website at www.icl.coop.

What will the Illinois Country Father of the Year win?
$100 gift certificate and other prizes

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT: Entries must be emailed or postmarked by March 9, 2018
Colten Bradford, Illinois Country Living, P.O. Box 3787, Springfield, IL 62708-3787, cbradford@aiec.coop

Nomination Form

We would contact him only if he wins


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Tree Squirrel Biology

Identification | Biology | Damage ID | Management | Resources

Fox and gray squirrels first breed when they are about a year old. They breed in mid-December or early January, and a small percentage breeds again in June. Young squirrels may breed only once in their first year. The gestation period is 42 to 45 days.

During the breeding season, noisy mating chases take place when 1 or more males pursue a female through the trees. Tree squirrels have about 3 young per litter. At birth, they are hairless, blind, and their ears are closed. Young weigh about ½ ounce at birth and 3 to 4 ounces at 5 weeks. At weaning they are about half of their adult weight. Young begin to explore outside the nest about the time they are weaned at 10 to 12 weeks. Typically, about half of the squirrels in a population die each year. In the wild, squirrels over 4 years old are rare while individuals may live 10 years in captivity.

The biology of other North American squirrels is similar to that of fox and gray squirrels, although most other species have just 1 breeding season per year. Flying squirrels are active at night. All other species are active primarily during the day.

Nesting/Denning Cover

Squirrels are cavity dwellers, preferring hollow trees and buildings (Figure 4a). Large leafy nests (Figure 4b) also are constructed particularly in the summer, as they are cooler.

Tree squirrels nest in tree cavities, human-made squirrel boxes, or leaf nests. Leaf nests, called dreys, are constructed with a frame of sticks filled with dry leaves and lined with leaves, strips of bark, corn husks, or other materials. Survival of young in cavities is higher than in leaf nests, making cavities preferred sites for nests.

Figure 4a. A pile of leafy debris serves as the nest of a gray squirrel in a building soffit. Photo by Jim Beucher of Beucher & Son.
Figure 4b. Nest of a fox squirrel.
Photo by Stephen M. Vantassel.

Individual home ranges vary from 1 to 100 acres, depending on the season and availability of food. Squirrels move within their range according to the availability of food. They often seek mast-bearing forests and corn fields in the fall and tender buds of maple trees are favored in the spring. During fall, squirrels may travel 50 miles or more in search of better habitat. Populations of squirrels fluctuate regularly. When population numbers are high, squirrels, especially gray squirrels, may go on mass emigrations where many individuals die.

The ecological overlap of fox and gray squirrels varies somewhat by region. In the Southeastern US, fox squirrels often are associated with mature pine forests of longleaf and loblolly, while gray squirrels occupy any habitat with sufficient mast-producing hardwoods. In the Midwest, fox squirrels tend to be more associated with agricultural woodlots, while gray squirrels tend to use larger forest blocks. In other regions, one species may tend to occupy bottomland forests and the other upland areas. Gray squirrels often are found in great numbers in cities, especially in and around parks. The presence of mature hardwoods often is important to both species. Flying squirrels, being more arboreal (tree-dwelling), are restricted to areas of large, mature hardwoods.

Food Habits

It is important to distinguish the types of food storage used by squirrels. Large squirrels, such as gray and fox squirrels, scatter cache, which means they store individual acorns or other seeds (mast) in different areas around their home range. Smaller squirrels, such as red squirrels, store food in 1 place. It is not uncommon to find trash-bag-sized piles of pine cones inside attics or gutters, brought there by red squirrels.

Fox and gray squirrels have similar food habits. They eat a variety of native foods and adapt quickly to unusual sources of food. Typically, they feed on mast (wild tree fruits and nuts) in fall and early winter. Acorns, hickory nuts, walnuts, and Osage orange fruits are favorite fall foods. Fox squirrels feed heavily on pine cones; gray squirrels will as well in spring. Nuts often are cached for later use. In late winter and early spring, both species prefer tree buds. In summer, they eat fruits, berries, and succulent plant materials. Fungi, corn, and cultivated fruits are taken when available. Squirrels chew bark from a variety of trees.

The food habits of flying squirrels generally are similar to those of other squirrels, though they are the most carnivorous of all tree squirrels. They eat bird eggs and nestlings, insects, and other animal matter when available. Flying squirrels often occupy bird houses.


text:
House Bill 641 - Colleges & universities

House Bill 641 - Colleges & universities

Fred Birnbaum
March 16, 2020
Fred Birnbaum
March 16, 2020

Bill description: Colleges & Universities, Appropriation, Fiscal Year 2021

Rating: -1

This is the second attempt at a budget for colleges and universities. This budget proposal is, in some ways, worse than House Bill 603, which received only 32 votes and failed on the House floor. The objections that we voiced in reviewing the earlier bill remain, administrative bloat and social justice spending.

After House member rejected House Bill 603, JFAC developed three motions. The governor’s recommendation was the most fiscally conservative of the three. Sadly, JFAC approved the highest cost budget on a narrow 11-9 vote. One would think with the rejection of House Bill 603, that JFAC would have gotten the message and stuck with the governor’s recommendation.

This budget surpasses the governor’s budget by $1.3 million, using dedicated funds as a fund shift gimmick. While slightly less than the $1.7 million of padding in House Bill 603, it still sends the wrong message to higher education. The right message is that a course correction is needed now.

Idaho Freedom Foundation
802 W. Bannock Street, Suite 405, Boise, Idaho 83702
p 208.258.2280 | e [email protected]
COPYRIGHT © 2021 Idaho freedom Foundation
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Product Idea |

BTTF - Locomotive 131

We don't sell minifigures and builts about BTTF on Amazon, ebay and so on.
We know our copy on sale in some online shops, but it's NOT our products.
More detail is here.

Hi, everyone! I'm Masashi, a founder of Team BTTF. I present, for your consideration, Locomotive 131. This MOC and Minifigures were built by Sakuretsu.

Locomotive 131 is a Central Pacific Railroad passenger and freight train that ran a one-way circuit on a single track, stopping along its westbound route at the Hill Valley Railroad Station, with San Francisco, California at the end of the line. This Project features:
- Conforms to LEGO Trains Rail system
- Supports LEGO Power Functions
- Included Minifigs: Marty, Doc Brown and Clara in western costume
- Included hover board and gunpowder

If you like this, please support this project!

Masashi, Founder of Team BTTF

All BTTF Product List
- DeLorean Time Machine
- Ultimate Collector's Series (UCS) DeLorean Time Machine
- Hill Valley Courthouse
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NEW - Griff's Hover BMW

Marty, Doc Brown and Clara in western costume

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You wanna see a sample movie? Check

This is heavy!

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1,000 Supporters - 19th Feb 2014
500 Supporters - 24th Nov 2013
50 Supporters - 16th Oct 2013
0 Supporters - 16th Oct 2013

Marketing & PR by Masashi Togami, Samples built by Sakuretsu


text:
The COVID-19 pandemic represents a global challenge whose ramifications are serious and difficult to accurately predict. Communities targeted by the "war on drugs", living in situations of vulnerability, experiencing exclusion, stigmatisation and criminalisation, will bear a differentiated and disproportionate burden of the negative consequences associated with the pandemic. Below, you will find a thematic list of information and guidance resources that we will continue to update in the coming weeks as a means to promote resilience and solidarity.

Versions of this page are also available in Spanish and French.

General Information

Rolling updates and guidance on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)
World Health Organisation

Coronavirus response
European Commission

COVID-19 resource centre
The Lancet

How to self isolate / How to self monitor symptoms
Public Health Ontario

COVID-19 Stories of Substance archive

Civic space and COVID-19: Guidance

People who use drugs

COVID-19 harm reduction for people who use drugs
International Network of People who Use Drugs, in collaboration with TalkingDrugs | The Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs has shared this poster-infographic by COVID-for-PWUD with the recommendations.

COVID 19: Advice for People who Use Drugs leaflet
European Network of People who Use Drugs (EuroNPUD) | Available in many languages

Safer drug use during the COVID-19 outbreak
Harm Reduction Coalition

Statement by the UN expert on the right to health* on the protection of people who use drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic
UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mentalhealth

COVID-19 - HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people who use drugs and people in prison
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)

The implications of COVID-19 for people who use drugs (PWUD) and drug service providers
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

Coronavirus harm reduction advice

Contingency planning for people who use drugs and COVID-19
Scottish Drugs Forum

Party and drugs in times of coronavirus
Energy Control

COVID-19 disease - A message for Young People Who Use Drugs
Youth RISE

Message from the President of the INCB on the COVID-19 pandemic

In the time of COVID-19: Civil Society Statement on COVID-19 and People who use Drugs

COVID-19 and people who use drugs
Pompidou Group

Harm reduction and health services

COVID-19 Guidance for people who use drugs and harm reduction programs
Harm Reduction Coalition

How harm reducers cope with COVID-19
Rights Reporter Foundation

Harm reduction must go on: Position of European harm reduction networks on COVID-19
Correlation - European Harm Reduction Network, Eurasian Harm Reduction Association (EHRA) and Rights Reporter Foundation.

Harm reduction responses to COVID-19 in Europe
Rights Reporter Foundation

Syringe services and harm reduction provider operations during COVID-19
Harm Reduction Coalition

Coronavirus and drug harm reduction

Drug treatment and COVID-19

Guidance on Managing Heroin Dependence during COVID-19 & Lockdowns

Practicing harm reduction in the COVID-19 outbreak
Vital Strategies

Human rights

COVID-19 and human rights
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights | The piece highlights important statements made by UN Special Procedures with regard to a range of issues, including racism and xenophobia, housing and disabilities.

Rights in the time of COVID-19: Lessons from HIV for an effective, community-led response

Practical guide to inclusive rights-focused responses to COVID-19 in the Americas
Organization of American States (OAS)

Human rights dimensions of COVID-19 response
Human Rights Watch

COVID-19: Governments must promote and protect access to and free flow of information during pandemic – International experts
Statement by UN human rights monitors, the IACHR and the Representative on Freedom of the Media of the OSCE

COVID-19: States should not abuse emergency measures to suppress human rights – UN experts
Statement by UN human rights experts

No exceptions with COVID-19: “Everyone has the right to life-saving interventions” – UN experts say
Statement by UN human rights experts

Press Statement: UNAIDS condemns misuse and abuse of emergency powers to target marginalized and vulnerable populations

Prison settings and people deprived of liberty

Coronavirus: Healthcare and human rights of people in prisons
Penal Reform International

Position Paper: COVID-19 preparedness and responses in prisons

Interim Guidance - COVID-19: Focus on Persons Deprived of Their Liberty
Inter-Agency Standing Committee, OHCHR & WHO

UNODC, WHO, UNAIDS, OHCHR joint statement on COVID-19 in prisons and other closed settings

COVID-19: Prisons and detention in Southeast Asia
International Drug Policy Consortium (IDPC)

AFEW International asks international organisations to take immediate action
AFEW International

Urgent action needed to prevent COVID-19 “rampaging through places of detention” – Bachelet

IACHR urges States to guarantee the health and integrity of persons deprived of liberty and their families in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)

COVID-19 and persons deprived of liberty information hub
Association for Prevention of Torture

Prevention of arbitrary deprivation of liberty in the context of public health emergencies
UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

COVID-19, Prisons and Drug Policy: Global Scan March-June 2020
Harm Reduction International

Rough sleeping, homelessness, shelters

Guidance for hostel or daycare providers of services for people experiencing rough sleeping
Public Health England

Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance for substance misuse and homelessness services
Welsh Government

COVID-19 & the Health Care for the Homeless Community: Needed Policy Responses for a High-Risk Group
National Health Care for the Homeless Council

Protecting people experiencing homelessness from the coronavirus
St Mungo’s

People living with HIV

What people living with HIV need to know about HIV and COVID-19

COVID-19 and HIV
Frontline AIDS

Coronavirus information for people with blood-borne viruses
Penington Institute

Surveys and other data-collection instruments

Survey on COVID-19 - In English, Spanish and French

Global Drug Survey special edition on COVID-19
Global Drug Survey

Impact of Coronavirus on Drug Purchases Survey

Black LGBTQ Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact Survey
Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC)

COVID-19 Impact Survey
Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP)

COVID-19: Survey for networks of people living with HIV, women living with HIV, & young people living with HIV
GNP+, ICY and Y+

Drug markets during COVID-19

A Global Survey on Public Sector Capabilities and Responses to the Pandemic
Transnational Institute

#TELODICOIO consumi e cambiamento covid 19 (in Italian)
ItaNPUD, Itardd, HRI

Impact of COVID-19 on patterns of drug use, harms and drug services in the European Union
European Web Survey on Drugs (EWSD)

Measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on trans health & trans health care
Trans Care

Community-led responses in the time of COVID – UNAIDS global survey

EMCDDA: Impact of COVID-19 on people who use drugs and drug services in the European Prisons

Resource hubs by IDPC members, allies and public authorities

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (Canada)
Penington Institute (Australia)
Vital Strategies (USA)
Correlation Network (Europe)
Scottish Drugs Forum (Europe)


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Female MPs Call for Revision of Iran’s Gender-Biased Laws

A number of women lawmakers expressed their concerns and views about Iran’s gender-biased laws and a number of other issues in a meeting with Parliament Speaker.

In a meeting with Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani on Wednesday (April 5), women lawmakers called for extra efforts to revise some of the country’s laws discriminating unfairly against women. They also urged the Iranian Parliament’s further support for them to be able to contribute to this end.

According to a Farsi report by ICANA, in this session, they also asked for the removal of the country’s unpragmatic laws and replacing them with new rules and regulations.

In this brief meeting, the female parliamentarians also requested Larijani to help them gain the trust of other MPs to have a member in the Iranian Parliament’s Board of Directors to help provide further support for the Iranian women in the society.

Addressing the meeting, Larijani said the removal of the women MPs’ worries over women condition in the society greatly depends on their own efforts to this end.

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text:
Iran says ready to raise post-sanctions oil output

Iran has made the necessary preparations for raising crude oil output after international sanctions are lifted later this month, a senior official says.

A deputy head of National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC) said all Iranian oil fields have been evaluated in terms of readiness for enhancing output.

“The results [of the assessment] indicate correct planning for readiness to raise output according to plans as soon as the sanctions are lifted,” Saeed Kouti, NISOC deputy chief for production affairs, said.

The international sanctions against the Islamic Republic are expected to be lifted later this month as Iran’s historic nuclear agreement with six world powers, reached last July, takes effect.

NISOC, which operates most oil fields in Iran, is a main supplier of crude in Iran.

“There is nothing to worry about with regards to [production hike],” Kouti said.

He noted that all weak and strong points regarding planned oil production have been identified and “all systems are ready to make contribution” to the planned oil production hike.

Iran is expected to add 500,000 b/d to its oil exports after the sanctions are lifted. It will continue to raise exports to 1 mb/d six months after.

Iran exported 2.3 mb/d-2.5 mb/d of oil before US and European sanctions targeting its energy sector cut the sales by half in 2012. Saudi Arabia, Russia and Iraq ramped up production to replace the Iranian oil.

Iranian officials have urged member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to make room for Iranian oil when the country returns to the pre-sanction export levels.

North Yaran oil field as well as South Yaran, Yadavaran, South Azadegan, and North Azadegan oil fields, are five major fields that are located in Iran’s southwestern province of Khuzestan close to border with Iraq and are shared with Iran’s western neighbor. These fields are all run by NISOC.

North Yaran oil field is located approximately 130 kilometers west of the provincial capital city of Ahvaz. When the first phase of the field’s development is completely finished, it will produce 30,000 b/d of crude oil with an API between 16 and 18.

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10 Hilarious Pictures Of Dogs That Are Scared Of Cats

Credit Reddit: E-P-I-C-K – Credit Reddit: shinypup – Credit Reddit: yummie4mytummie

The lives of dogs and cats in a house can lead to many interesting situations that make their owners unable to stop laughing. Sometimes the big dogs are scared of kittens, and in some cases the cats are the rule-makers in the house. Here are 10 hilarious pictures of dogs that are scared of cats.

#1 – You were surrounded

Credit Reddit: koodie25

#2 – I need help! Kittens are scary!

Credit Reddit: yummie4mytummie

#3 – Hey dog! You should know who makes the rules in this house

Credit Reddit: E-P-I-C-K

#4 – Help me! This cat it is crazy

Credit Reddit: anya_anchan

#5 – Mommy! help me, i can’t move

Credit Instagram: @poohbear_slinkystreasure

#6 – The cat swatted the dog’s head one time

Credit Reddit: white_plum

#7 – Mom, where are you, I’m scared

Credit Reddit: Logic007

#8 – The expressions of both their faces said it all

Credit Reddit: shinypup

#9 – The cat made a rule in this house

Credit Reddit: haysalpj

#10 – I think I should go back down

Credit Instagram: @gusofthegrove

Related posts

15 Pictures of The Amazing Change Of Dogs After A Haircut

12 Amazing Pictures Of Dogs With Different Eyes

12 Funny Pictures Of Big Dogs But With The Soul Of A Puppy

12 Funny Dog Pictures Before And After A Bath

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Labourer arrested for raping minor girl: Police

·1-min read

Jaipur, Apr 13 (PTI) An eight-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a labourer in Jaipur.

The accused, however, was arrested within a few hours after the crime was reported on Tuesday, police said.

The mother of the girl lodged a complaint with the Shyam Nagar police station alleging that her daughter was raped by a labourer Mukesh.

“The woman along with her children lives in an under-construction building where the accused raped the girl on Monday,” DCP South Harendra Mahawar said.

He said the girl’s medical examination was conducted and different teams of 200 policemen in all were formed to search the accused who had left the place after the incident.

“One team spotted a suspicious man who had covered his face and was rushing toward a bus stand on the 200-feet bypass road. The policemen asked his name but he misled them. Since his face was matching with the accused, they further asked for more details following which he tried to escape but was caught,” he said.

The accused is being questioned further, he added. PTI SDA RAX RAX


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Blog Archives

7DTD: Alpha 16 Impressions

The experimental version of Alpha 16 for 7 Days to Die (7DTD) came out over the weekend, and I have sunk close to a dozen hours into it already. Much as I was hoping before, the changes have revitalized my interest in the game generally. However, some of the same changes exacerbate underlying design problems with character progression.

Character progression in 7DTD has never really been smooth. Starting from Stone tools, you eventually craft a bow, some arrows, and a wooden club for defense. From there, the next “tier” requires the creation of a Forge, which requires a Bellows, which requires Leather and a Short Iron Pipe. The Leather can be collected by skinning animals you kill or breaking down leather couches in buildings. The Short Iron Pipe though, is either found as random loot or crafted. In a Forge. That you are trying to build.

The game is actually riddled with these regressive, bootstrap requirements. The Workbench is a necessary structure to craft mid-to-late tier items, and requires a Wrench to be consumed in the construction. Meanwhile, the Wrench can only be constructed with Forged Steel, which is an endgame resource material that requires a high player level. Oh, and a Workbench. You need a Workbench to create a Wrench so you can craft a Workbench. But hey, sometimes you can find a Workbench out in the world, so you can dismantle it and place it back at your base… provided you have a Wrench.

[Fake Edit: Just kidding, Workbenches in the world can’t be dismantled anymore.]

These problems already existed in Alpha 15, but it’s kinda worse now. The devs introduced “Sleeper” zombies, which basically means they seeded every corner and basement of every building with zombies that can wake up while you’re trying to loot. This makes looting houses much more tense and exciting, for sure. However, they also reduced zombie loot without actually increasing it elsewhere. Ergo, you end up having to do more fighting with less rewards, while stuck with worse tools for longer.

Another example of regressive design? The devs reduced the amount of Wood gathered with Stone Axes, and eliminated the Last-Hit bonus (generally +20 Wood when a tree is finally felled). “Better tools result in better yields” makes sense, right? Sure, conceptually. The problem is that by the time you have a Forge up and running to craft an Iron Fireaxe, your need for Wood has considerably decreased. In fact, considering the rate that even a Stone Shovel gives you Small Stone and Clay, it’s actually easier to create a base out of Cobblestone than Wood.

Alpha is Alpha, of course. That said, I think there is a lot that the devs can do to bridge the progression gap and otherwise tighten up with the core gameplay loops. Some suggestions:

Introduce a Scrap Iron tier of weapons/tools.

The current progression path is Stone –> Forged Iron. That is quite the jump, especially with such considerable gaps in coverage in some areas. For example, your first knife is a Bone Shiv, and the next requires Forged Iron AND a Blueprint (Hunting Knife). You can craft Iron Arrowheads all day, no problem, but a sharp piece of a iron? Impossible.

I would also suggest making the Cooking Pot craftable with general Iron, rather than requiring a Forge. The Cooking Pot is just too integral to basic survival given that there are zero non-loot sources of fresh water in the game otherwise. Well, you can create Yucca Juice from harvesting cacti in a pinch, but you can’t cook/craft with that.

Perform a general sanity check on existing Blueprints

I am hoping that the current Blueprint system is a placeholder that eventually gets revisited, because it really makes zero sense sometimes. For example, the general progression of clubs is Wood Club, Iron Reinforced Club, and Spiked Club. You can craft the first two without Blueprints (although the Iron Reinforced Club requires a whopping 100 Iron), but the Spiked Club requires both Forged Iron and a specific Blueprint. For a piece of wood with spikes on it.

What makes the Spiked Club even more ridiculous is that you can craft Barbed Wire with simple Iron right from the beginning of the game. And Barbed Wire Fence for that matter. Barbed Wire + Wood is fine, but Barbed Wire wrapped around a piece of wood is way too complicated. Or using the Claw Hammer and some Nails on a piece of wood.

Reduce the Bootstrap Gating

I mean, I kinda get the thought process here. In crafting games like Terraria, Minecraft, and others, the limiting factor that gets you out the door of your base is resources: you need that Platinum/Diamond/Magic Ore/etc. Resources are needed in 7DTD too, but the overwhelming impetus to scavenge is the simple fact that you can’t just slowly work your way up the crafting tree. You need Short Iron Pipes to craft the Forge that makes Short Iron Pipes, and you need a Wrench to build a Workbench that can make Wrenches.

At the same time, the difference between finding a Wrench/Cooking Pot/etc on Day 1 and not finding anything for 7+ in-game days is enormous. Random loot is exciting, and there is absolutely still a place for that. But I think there should at least be the possibility of a bridge between Nothing and Everything. Perhaps a Crude Wrench, or Makeshift Cooking Pot. Make them have the chance for failure or ruined ingredients so that the Real Deal is still desirable, if no longer strictly required.

In any case, I still find the game to be quite entertaining, although I’m unlikely to derive the same 60+ hours of fun I did when everything was new. Which is likely good news to the people more interested in my potential thoughts on the upcoming FFXIV and Guild Wars 2 expansions.

Survival Survival: The Forest

Short version: Survival Horror, with more of an emphasis on Survival.

Really nailed down the forest bit.

Right from the start, I just have to say that the Forest is one of the most visually impressive games I have played, and it’s still in Alpha. Specifically, I played Alpha version 0.52

The game starts with you on an airplane with your son. The plane crashes on an island, you see a dude in red paint and loincloth take your son away, and… action. Loot some airplane food for sustenance, grab the emergency hand axe from the body of a flight attendant, and you are in the middle of the forest. Good luck.

While The Forest initially plays out like your standard Survival game, it diverges in interesting ways. For example, most Survival games limit the amount of items you can pick up either by weight, or fitting into grid, or something like that. In this game, you are limited by type. For example, you can only carry 8 sticks… but can also carry 8 rocks, 20+ arrows, a half dozen medicinal herbs, four melee weapons, a few bombs, a bunch of animal skins, and so on.

Sometimes you gotta stop and smell the storage containers.

The other interesting bit comes in the form of logs. Logs are the basic building component for pretty much any structure, but they are much too large to carry around in your inventory. So… you carry them on your shoulders, one at a time. You can craft a “Log Sled” pretty easily, which allows you to store and easily move up to 8 logs, but the physicality of it all adds an unexpectedly potent bit of immersion.

Also, dude must be ripped and/or a lumberjack.

The main hostile force in the game are the cannibals. While I have not spent a whole lot of time testing things, the cannibals are absolutely not the sort of mindless enemy that traditional Survival games utilize. Sometimes they rush at you and attack. Sometimes they rush forward and stop when you don’t make some move to retaliate or run away. Sometimes they just get on their knees and worship you a bit.

As time goes on – and as you destroy the forest around you building tree houses – the cannibals get more hostile. And that’s when you start building traps, walls, and stocking up on armor made of lizard skin and leaves. Or perhaps you chop the cannibal corpses into pieces, and construct a burning effigy to establish your dominance.

It was around hour 10 when I descended into a cannibal cave, confident I had enough supplies and arrows to face what was down there. That’s when I saw it, while I was dangling off the end of 50 feet of rope:

Nope, nope, nope.

That’s enough Forest for me, for now. I’ll… yeah, I’ll wait for Beta. Or release.

Or the heat death of the universe.

Since that last screenshot is too dark, here is what the creature looks like via an in-game photograph:

Can’t quite tell if it is supposed to be two women fused together, or three. Probably three.

Survival Survival: 7 Days to Die

In short: zombie Minecraft.

Fortress of Mostly Solitude.

7 Days to Die (7DTD) is a fairly robust post-apocalyptic survival sandbox game that features deformable terrain, zombies, and the titular over-the-top weekly attempt on your life. I played version 15.1, and the game itself has been in alpha since December 2013. I just purchased it in the recent Steam Winter Sale for $10.

As with most survival games, you start out mostly naked with limited supplies. Run around, punch some trees, craft a Stone Axe that will be your primary tool for most of the game. The nice thing is that just about every single thing in the game world is able to be manipulated or destroyed. Craft a Stone Shovel early on and you can pretty much dig to bedrock. Or just dig a large moat around your future fortress. Then fill it with wooden spikes.

The zombies in this game are fairly standard walkers and runners, at least as far as I have seen. There is supposedly a “heat” system in place that determines whether the zombies will be attracted to your location, and the zombies themselves apparently can hear you (including the noise you make opening your inventory). Oh, and smell you too, if you happen to be carrying any meat. In practice, there will basically be zombies around at night no matter what you do.

Further back shot of home.

Speaking of zombies, there is an interesting interaction with them and the game world. Everything is destructible, remember? That also means by zombies. While they can certainly try to break their way through windows and doors, there is nothing stopping them from literally banging their way through the walls either. Even elevated positions are not immune, as zombies with readily take their rage out at anything near your location, including any sort of support structures.

Oh, and have I mentioned that there are (rudimentary) physics in the game? Alpha is alpha, so there are some goofiness like floating candles and such, but buildings can absolutely come tumbling down if enough supports are destroyed. (Cue ominous foreshadowing.)

Mechanically, the game is… in an interesting place. The early game feels fantastic. Looting feels extremely rewarding, as you can get some rather extreme rewards from any random pile of garbage. Things get weird in the mid-game though, around the Iron stage of crafting. At that point you are going to need a standard, defensible base to craft a forge, and then start harvesting a ton of resources. If you haven’t looted some critical tools before the Forge though – such as a Cooking Pot – you almost might be better off resetting the game. You can craft such things, but it is so far along the “tech” tree that most of the benefit is moot.

It’s always nice to have choices.

Speaking of tech trees, there is a rudimentary leveling system in the game, somewhat similar to Ark. Honestly, the implementation needs some considerable iteration, as it is not intuitive at all. There are some “big” skills that cost 10 points per rank, and grant you thinks like faster Stamina regeneration or bonus damage to blunt weapons. There are also skills that only cost 1 point each, such as Mining, which are naturally raised by performing the skill in-game, but can be purchased outright. Then there are other ones, such as Leather, which just straight-up grants you the ability to create leather. But there are also schematics in the game that are required before you can craft certain items.

Like I said, the Skill/Leveling system needs some work. It feels good seeing your crafting skills naturally improving, but you also run into the Oblivion problem of incentivizing, say, crafting a hundred wood clubs to power-level your way to the next unlock. It also irks me a bit that Iron and Steel take the same materials, with the latter just being kinda arbitrarily locked behind “Construction Tools X.” Some kind of progression system is good, but I’m not sure this one is the right one.

Overall though, I am both impressed and pleased with 7 Days to Die thus far. I put in around 10 hours in two days, and will probably be stopping here. On my second character, I built a sort of wood treehouse on the roof of a gas station, and survived the 7th Day horde attack with relative ease. As I started digging a moat around the perimeter in anticipation of the next one, it occurred to me that playing any further was likely to result in me extracting all of the fun out of the game before it is fully implemented/tweaked.

Alpha Impression: Sir, You Are Being Hunted

I have been spoiled by other games’ betas. That is clear to me now.

This part is okay.

This part is okay.

Sir, You Are Being Hunted is a game I mentioned being excited about back in May, then promptly forgot about. Recently, it was up on Steam Early Access at a discounted rate, and I decided to take the plunge. A few hours of gameplay later, and I feel thoroughly soaked.

The problem I have with the game is that it is basically a sandbox without any sand. When you start playing, you are introduced to the core gameplay – find pieces of the Device, plug them into Standing Stone – given some binoculars and food, and sent on your way. As a veteran of Don’t Starve, this opening felt perfectly fine. What became readily apparent however, is that the game utterly lacks interactivity in its present state. Alpha is alpha is alpha, yes. But when I rummage through three entire villages and am armed with 3 alarm clocks, one bear trap, and two empty bottles against robots with shotgun sniper rifles, things feel lame.

Now, of course, the name of the game is to be, well, hunted. But the present AI behavior reminds me of the delicate, high-wire act that all stealth games must perform. If you have enemies patrol in a set pattern, it turns stealth gameplay into a sort puzzle game with logical, measured moves. It might feel less “realistic” to have the guard always look to the left for three seconds when he walks to the balcony, but as a game mechanic it is grokkable and feels “right.” Alternatively, you could have enemies who basically follow no pattern whatsoever, looking randomly in any direction at any time. More realistic? Sure. More frustrating? Absolutely.

Right now, Sir basically has the worst of all possible stealth worlds. The world is procedurally-generated and I’m not really certain one of the procedures is to place the Device pieces near cover. I basically spent the last 40 minutes trying, futilely, to grab a Device piece in the middle of a field where two robots were “patrolling.” And by “patrolling,” I mean they walked in random, jerking movements in a 3-meter radius around said Device. Tenchu, Dishonored, and Deus Ex this ain’t; the only possible solution is dropping an alarm clock, crab-walking as far away from it as possible, and grabbing the Device and running.

Of course, the robots run as fast as you do, are armed with shotgun sniper rifles as mentioned previously, and the only way to lose them is to be crouched in foliage. Which they immediately begin to search, because that’s the name of the game. But considering how you can’t really sneak through the foliage at any appreciable speed, they will find you immediately and GG.

98% of your gameplay time is this.

98% of your gameplay time is this.

Alpha is alpha is alpha. But right now, Sir You Are Being Hunted is basically a crouching simulator and not much else.

The City of Steam Alpha Preview for the Rest of Us

If your own blogroll is remotely similar to mine, you have probably heard quite enough about that City of Steam game. The alpha test was wrapping up this past weekend so the devs started handing out codes to just anyone… which would explain how I got one. The beta test will not start for another ~3 months give or take, and there isn’t even a target release date, so the question undoubtedly on your mind – as was on mine every time I read about the game elsewhere – is simple: why should I care about City of Steam?

Well, do you have a few minutes? If so, watch this:

Feel free to expand that into 1080p full-screen, which is the resolution I played at.

In case you were not aware, City of Steam is a browser-based F2P indie MMO. And the above was from its alpha state.

With the exception of Glitch and Kingdom of Loathing, I tend to stay away from browser-based games for… well, no particular reason. I suppose I never thought of them being “for me,” where that is defined by nebulous double-standards like a willingness to pay for a discrete product as long as I don’t have to use a cash shop or spam my friends. Then there is the soft-spot in my cold, black heart for games with character progression deep enough to optimize the fun out it, as one might squeeze whey from cheese. Except, in this disgusting analogy, I eat the whey.

What were we talking about again? Ah, City of Steam.

I have read some descriptions comparing it to Diablo, but the gameplay is more akin to, well, a typical MMO. All the dungeons are instanced, there are some dungeons within dungeons (Dunception!), you can form traditional MMO parties of up to 5-people, guilds exist, the hub areas act as lobbies of sorts, there are daily and story quests, extensive crafting/modding system that alter actual weapon/armor appearance on your avatar, and… let’s stop here. It’s alpha.

While I had an indie MMO developer’s attention though, I just had to ask some (perhaps impertinent) questions:

Me: This is kind of a Bigger question, but… why browser based instead of stand-alone game? Was it easier to go with browser, or more accessible?
Me: I know I can’t be the first one amazed with the graphics. They are very, very well done and came at a complete surprise. Which is kind of why I ask.
Gabriel V. Laforge: It made it more accessible; we wanted to go on the idea that it’s a lightweight game that almost anyone can just jump on and play
GL: hence the short loading times and no massive client downloads
GL: Unity 3D and loads of our own in-house tools really helped optimize that, without sacrificing all that much in terms of graphics or content

Me: Have the more high-profile MMO news – like 38 Studios collapse, SWTOR going F2P, Funcom stock crashes – affected how you build or design the game? Has it complicated the seeking of outside investors (assuming you need any)?
GL: Yes and no…. the game started out as being something we just really wanted to do. Our lead designer, David Lindsay, wrote a series of Roleplaying books, (The New Epoch), upon which the game is based
GL: as for competitors, well, those are large downloads to play, so we don’t necessarily consider ourselves in the same league
GL: we have nowhere near the team or budget they do ;)
GL: as for investment, we have had funding from an investor who helped us get this far, so we’re set on that end
GL: from here, we still have to decide whether we’ll publish independently, or sign on with a publisher (we’ll only go with one who can share the same vision of making this game with integrity…. we REALLY don’t want to go with a pay-to-win model or any crap like that)

Me: A lot of us in the blog world are speculating on whether the MMO genre in general is contracting. Some have suggested that its widespread popularity was just a “fad.” Is that something you worry about as an indie developer? Or are you simply happy to be able to do a job you love? :P
GL: personally, I’m just happy making games
GL: as a company, we’re trying to present something different, and if it works, all the better
GL: if not, we gave it our best
GL: so far though, we’ve been having very positive feedback and reviews, so we’re optimistic

Me: Are there multiple instances of the hub world? If so, how many people can there generally be?
GL: Instances are private for now, for solo and groups of up to 5
GL: we plan to have publick instances for a lot more players later on (we were limited by the endgine before, but now we can make it)
Me: I mean The Refuge [ed: the first main area].
Me: I see a bunch of people running around, but I imagine there is some kind of cap, right?
GL: We havent’ reached (broken) it yet, and have gone up to 600 PCU so far
Me: haha
Me: I’m pretty sure that’s more than I’ve seen in WoW ;)
GL: Really…? Lucky us! :D

Me: I noticed the Mount slot… this is a vague question, but how big of a world will CoS be at launch?
GL: Pretty darn big; Nexus, the City of Steam, it a massive metropolis
GL: there will be enough places to explore to keep people very busy ;)
GL: right now, Alpha has about 150 difference levels
GL: at launch, we plan to have more like something in the upper hundreds, maybe a thousand or so, with more added with future updates
GL: might not be open world, but it will have plenty of flavour
Me: have you settled on a max level yet?
GL: 30 for Alpha, 40 for Beta, and from there, beyond :) (once higher level content is added)
Me: For my audience (such as it is), I have to ask: will there be a Looking-For-Group feature to facilitate grouping for the 5-player content?
GL: We plan to, given engine limitations on whether we can pull it off, but yes, is planned :)

Assuming you are still with me at this point, you might be wondering why I am devoting all this space to a browser-based indie MMO in its alpha state. The answer is quite simple: this may be the future of the genre.

Perhaps not City of Steam specifically, but here is an indie developer doing its best to craft an MMO on a shoestring budget in a world of AAA companies getting 38 Studio’d. And what is impressing me here is that the “nightmare scenarios” we tell ourselves in the blog world might not actually be that bleak. I no longer feel that it has to be $50+ million budgets or bust. Whether it is City of Steam or another indie offering, I am now convinced the possibility exists.


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QAMISHLI, Syria — When the international manhunt for Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, zoomed in on a village in northwestern Syria, the United States turned to its local allies to help track the world’s most-wanted terrorist.

The American allies, a Kurdish-led force that had partnered with the United States to fight ISIS, sent spies to watch his isolated villa. To confirm it was him, they stole a pair of Mr. al-Baghdadi’s underwear — long, white boxers — and obtained a blood sample, both for DNA testing, the force’s commander, Mazlum Abdi, said in a phone interview on Monday.

American officials would not discuss the specific intelligence provided by the Kurds, but said that their role in finding Mr. al-Baghdadi was essential — more so than all other countries combined, as one put it — contradicting President Trump’s assertion over the weekend that the United States “got very little help.”

Yet even as the Syrian Kurdish fighters were risking their lives in the hunt that led to Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death this weekend, Mr. Trump abruptly shattered America’s five-year partnership with them.

Opinion | Our Republic Is Under Attack From the President – By William H. McRaven – The New York Times

Admiral McRaven is a former commander of the United States Special Operations Command.

“But the most poignant recognition that evening was for a young female sailor who had been killed in Syria serving alongside our allies in the fight against ISIS. Her husband, a former Army Green Beret, accepted the award on her behalf. Like so many that came before her, she had answered the nation’s call and willingly put her life in harm’s way.

For everyone who ever served in uniform, or in the intelligence community, for those diplomats who voice the nation’s principles, for the first responders, for the tellers of truth and the millions of American citizens who were raised believing in American values — you would have seen your reflection in the faces of those we honored last week.

But, beneath the outward sense of hope and duty that I witnessed at these two events, there was an underlying current of frustration, humiliation, anger and fear that echoed across the sidelines. The America that they believed in was under attack, not from without, but from within.

These men and women, of all political persuasions, have seen the assaults on our institutions: on the intelligence and law enforcement community, the State Department and the press. They have seen our leaders stand beside despots and strongmen, preferring their government narrative to our own. They have seen us abandon our allies and have heard the shouts of betrayal from the battlefield. As I stood on the parade field at Fort Bragg, one retired four-star general, grabbed my arm, shook me and shouted, “I don’t like the Democrats, but Trump is destroying the Republic!”

Those words echoed with me throughout the week. It is easy to destroy an organization if you have no appreciation for what makes that organization great. We are not the most powerful nation in the world because of our aircraft carriers, our economy, or our seat at the United Nations Security Council. We are the most powerful nation in the world because we try to be the good guys. We are the most powerful nation in the world because our ideals of universal freedom and equality have been backed up by our belief that we were champions of justice, the protectors of the less fortunate.

But, if we don’t care about our values, if we don’t care about duty and honor, if we don’t help the weak and stand up against oppression and injustice — what will happen to the Kurds, the Iraqis, the Afghans, the Syrians, the Rohingyas, the South Sudanese and the millions of people under the boot of tyranny or left abandoned by their failing states?

If our promises are meaningless, how will our allies ever trust us? If we can’t have faith in our nation’s principles, why would the men and women of this nation join the military? And if they don’t join, who will protect us? If we are not the champions of the good and the right, then who will follow us? And if no one follows us — where will the world end up?”

Pullback Leaves Green Berets Feeling ‘Ashamed,’ and Kurdish Allies Describing ‘Betrayal’ – The New York Times

“WASHINGTON — American commandos were working alongside Kurdish forces at an outpost in eastern Syria last year when they were attacked by columns of Syrian government tanks and hundreds of troops, including Russian mercenaries. In the next hours, the Americans threw the Pentagon’s arsenal at them, including B-52 strategic bombers. The attack was stopped.

That operation, in the middle of the American-led campaign against the Islamic State in Syria, showed the extent to which the United States military was willing to protect the Syrian Kurds, its main ally on the ground.

But now, with the White House revoking protection for these Kurdish fighters, some of the Special Forces officers who battled alongside the Kurds say they feel deep remorse at orders to abandon their allies.

“They trusted us and we broke that trust,” one Army officer who has worked alongside the Kurds in northern Syria said last week in a telephone interview. “It’s a stain on the American conscience.”

Military Leaders Fear They’ve Seen This Before. It Ended in the Iraq War. – By Helene Cooper – The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The last time the United States abandoned allies in the Middle East, military officials say, it helped lead to the Iraq war.

Now, almost 30 years later, President Trump has pulled American special forces and support troops away from Kurdish allies in northern Syria, easing the way for Turkey’s promised offensive, which began on Wednesday.

It is too soon to say with any certainty where Mr. Trump’s abandonment of the Kurdish fighters who did the heavy lifting in the fight against the Islamic State will lead. But already, anguished American military and national security officials are sounding alarms that clearing the way for Turkey to bomb the Kurds could have long-term repercussions, just as the desertion of allies did then.

“In the course of American history, when we have stuck with our allies in troubling circumstances, from the U.K. and Australia under attack in WWII to South Korea in the Korean War, things tend to work out to our benefit,” said James G. Stavridis, a retired admiral and former supreme allied commander for Europe. “When we walk away from loyal allies, as we did in Vietnam and are now threatening to do in Afghanistan and Syria, the wheels come off.”

Opinion | The Safe Zone Northern Syria Needs – By Shervan Derwish – The New York Times

By Shervan Derwish
Mr. Derwish is a spokesman for the Manbij Military Council.

Jan. 23, 2019

A soccer match in Manbij, Syria, which was freed from Islamic State control by Kurdish fighters in 2016.CreditCreditEPA, via Shutterstock
MANBIJ, Syria — Whether the United States and the international coalition against the Islamic State will protect Manbij and areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria from an unknown future is a significant test of their credibility.

I am writing from Manbij, a city of 700,000 people in northern Syria governed by a civilian administration made up of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Circassians. Thanks to the Kurdish fighters who liberated Manbij in 2016, we have been able to enjoy freedoms unimaginable under either the Islamic State or the Syrian government.

In Manbij, where women were once bought and sold as slaves by the Islamic State terrorists, now they run economic cooperatives, serve in the Manbij Military Council and have equal representation in elected councils.

For the first time in Syrian history, we have held free local elections. We have reopened or built several hospitals and 350 schools attended by 120,000 students. We have given 2,000 licenses to factories and flour mills. The physical reconstruction of our city has been slow but steady. Most important, people are living without fear.

via Opinion | The Safe Zone Northern Syria Needs – The New York Times

We Fought for Our Democracy. Now Turkey Wants to Destroy It. – By NUJIN DERIK – NYT

“AFRIN, Syria — For more than a week, my home in northwestern Syria has been under a full-scale assault by the Turkish Army and thousands of Turkish-aligned Islamist jihadists.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been threatening this invasion for a very long time. The Turkish Army has been targeting our villages with mortars and artillery for many months now.

I and my fellow members of the Kurdish Women’s and People’s Protection Units, often known as the Y.P.J. and Y.P.G., have fought hard for years to keep the Islamic State out of this autonomous region of Syria known as Rojava. We endured Turkey’s barrages and avoided returning fire, even after civilian casualties, so as not to provide a pretext for this invasion.

But Mr. Erdogan has nevertheless unleashed airstrikes, tanks and troops on this area that was once a relative island of peace in this war-torn country.

One would imagine the international community and especially the United States, which has been more than happy to partner with us in the fight against the Islamic State, would firmly oppose such an unprovoked attack executed in the name of racial hatred — Mr. Erdogan has stated his intention to commit ethnic cleansing of Afrin’s Kurdish population, or, as he says, to give the region to its “real owners” — but instead, it has been greeted largely with silence, and therefore tacitly condoned.”

via We Fought for Our Democracy. Now Turkey Wants to Destroy It. – The New York Times

The US should protect our major ally in the region, who has done the bulk of our fighting.


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InDaily InDaily

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Adelaide Fringe

The show will go on – but 2021 Fringe faces major challenges

Adelaide Fringe

Adelaide Fringe’s annual review released today shows it generated a record amount of spending in its 60th anniversary year, but director and CEO Heather Croall says it will need a big boost in government funding for 2021 to help attract artists post-COVID.

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Croall acknowledged that Fringe would face some major challenges in a post-COVID world.

She said this morning that a survey carried out by the open-access festival showed the top request from artists and venues was that it lower fees so it was cheaper for them to take part in next year’s event, because most have had no income since the pandemic shutdown began.

Fringe is currently in talks with the State Government about the challenges faced, and is seeking almost $1 million in additional funding to help it meet the request to lower fees.

“The model of the Fringe is that you register to participate – so you pay to play, it’s open access, which means that everyone who jumps onto the Fringe platform is paying fees in different ways,” Croall told InDaily.

“It attracts people who have that creative entrepreneurial spirit as well as being able to put on shows, but the nature of the creative entrepreneurial spirit is facing challenging times… artists and venues will not have had an opportunity to make money since Fringe 2020.”

Adelaide Fringe already receives $2 million annually in State Government funding.

Its annual review states that in 2020 the 31-day festival delivered a record $96.7 million in total gross economic expenditure in South Australia, and generated $41.6 million in “visitor-related new money to the state”.

As previously announced, box office revenue grew by 8 per cent, with a record 853,419 tickets sold.

Beyond the financial impact, Croall said Adelaide Fringe also boosted creativity in the state, lifted people’s morale and was “good for our health and wellbeing” – something that “cannot be taken for granted in the current environment”.

“Obviously the results for 2020 are amazing, given we had catastrophic bushfires and then Coronavirus hitting towards the end of Fringe… it’s the biggest Fringe we’ve ever had, but of course everyone is saying, ‘What about next year?’.”

She said the organisation was looking forward to returning in 2021 and would operate within whatever government guidelines are in place. It is preparing for a month-long Fringe, from February 19 to March 21.

While it is still unknown when international travel restrictions will ease, Croall said that most years about 80 per cent of Fringe acts were Australian, so it should still have a strong program. Some larger international artists may also be willing to pay the costs of quarantining if necessary.

“We have to adapt to whatever is happening – it’s changing all the time.”

2020 Adelaide Fringe show L.I.A.R. (Life Is A Rehearsal). Photo: Tony Virgo

A $250 million national support package was announced last week by the Federal Government to help the arts and entertainment sector recover from the pandemic restrictions, and Croall said Adelaide Fringe was still waiting for details to see if any of that money might come its way.

“Obviously the festival sector is a huge part of the arts and an income generator for artists, a great stimulus for the economy and great for morale, so we would hope that festivals across the nation, including Adelaide Fringe, would be eligible for support.”

Adelaide Festival released its 2020 economic assessment report last week, showing that it generated an estimated gross expenditure of just over $70 million for the state, with 17,105 visitors travelling from interstate or overseas for the Festival.

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Python XML for Real Men Cheat Sheet

Howdy again,

Now let’s do some serious XML output in Python using cElementTree.

# this is included in Python 2.5+
from xml.etree.cElementTree import ElementTree, Element, dump

# let's create the root element
root = Element("teabag")

# give it a child with an attribute
child1 = Element("spam")
child1.attrib["name"] = "value"

# and a child with text content
child2 = Element("eggs")
child2.text = "spam and eggs"

# print the whole thing to stdout

# or to a file

See the author’s website for downloads and usage information of cElementTree.

Using this API, I was able to create a 47 Mb XML file in a few minutes, burning roughly 300 Mb of heap space. This XML file represents a graph of graphs, namely the control flow graph of each function of IDA Pro. Here are some screenshots, using yEd for the visualization part:


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Lime Snakeskin Seamless Leggings

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* Please note: Various leggings have different fits so please refer to the size chart customized for each legging to assist with sizing.

Product Features
90% Nylon and 10% Spandex
Ultra 4 Way Stretch
Odour resistant
Fully breathable
Compression qualities

Wash Care
Wash at low temperature
Do not bleach
Do not tumble dry
Do not iron

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⚠ COVID-19 (Coronavirus) ⚠

Please be aware that during these very testing times for everyone it is important that you know that Independent Fire and Security is open for business.

The FIA (Fire Industry Association) issued the news yesterday that fire alarm technicians are considered key workers, when they are responding to alarms or system failures. The safety of our employees, customers and partners is paramount and so each enquiry will be individually risk assessed and addressed accordingly. Our office will be closed with an administrator working from home in order to monitor calls and we will continue to operate our 24 hour emergency call out.

Where possible our engineers will try to deal with calls over the phone and may use video calling or Whats App in an attempt to enable customers to deal with the issue themselves. We appreciate your custom and continued support during these difficult times and hope everyone keeps safe and well.

Independent service you can depend on.

Specialists in design, supply, installation and maintenance of fire alarms and security systems for North Devon and South West England.

Independent Fire and Security, with a head office in Barnstaple, is a locally owned and operated company with knowledge and experience of the fire and security industries spanning 50 years. We cover the south and west of England and, as our trading name suggests, are an independent privately owned company. We provide fire and security solutions for your home or business from an initial security survey to the design and installation of a tailor made system.

Independent Fire and Security is SSIAB (Security System and Alarm Inspection Board) accredited. Approved by police and insurers the SSAIB recognises and promotes high standards within electronic security, fire systems and guarding security services in the UK.


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Find cars

2005 Maruti Suzuki Alto MT for sale in Jamshedpur

Product: Maruti Suzuki Alto > Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur | Updated on Sep 13

The listing has expired
Rs. 73,000 Inr
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Taking the Mask Off

Ite lads! Cheers for the 90% positive reaction to my last post. Means the bloody world. The 10% negative reaction comes from insecure people and promotions that continue to book offenders and second-rate Adam Blampieds, so to be fair I’d be mad if some little ginger gal could expose my business too.

I wish I knew how to start, and I wish I could write about more positive stuff, but there’s just so much negativity I need to speak up on because no one else will. I’ve been editing this blog for DAYS, adding more and taking bits out and just trying to find a core subject to focus on, alas I cannot so this blog is pure word vomit and rambling; you have been warned. It’s mainly about abuse in the wrestling industry and how people form opinions on it and how we should/could handle it.

Let’s start with my own personal experience. At some point last year I was introduced to a man, a fan with a podcast. As a pretty shy person I didn’t really speak to him but then myself and other females started to receive creepy responses on our tweets. He kept posting really terrible tweets about female talent and statutory rape amongst things which made me extremely uncomfortable, especially at shows. Anyway this shit goes on for months and months and people keep calling him out but nothing’s done and then he goes and publicly tweets that he’s raped people. I made a fuss out of it because.. yeah and although other fans picked up on it, it was ignored by everyone who actually had any power or influence. I keep attending shows but I keep having panic attacks because of his presence and because of other people allowed there like him. It all got too much and I reached out to my partner at the time who works for a promotion, but he always brushed it off and made excuses. I think the last thing he said to me about it was “sorry you feel that way”. Really makes you feel like your safety is not of importance and it’s horrible. I then reached out to an organisation within wrestling that claims they make sure fans are “safe, comfortable and happy”. Although I did get a few responses, my messages ended up being ignored and it turns out that the people who run it are friends with the offender in question. I was then in turn blocked when I moaned about not getting a response. I have since had others say they have had similar experiences in regards to not getting a response. Again, felt totally disregarded but onwards and upwards, right?! So my next step was to directly email promotions. I emailed 4 promotions that I attend regularly/occasionally. One London-based female promotion ignored all messages. A Midlands company were super fast and responding and very understanding but I am still waiting for an outcome over a month later. A very large popular company were blunt and tried to tell me this person hadn’t attended a show in over a year; however I knew this wasn’t true. Obviously someone else was buying the tickets for him but when I proved this I was then ignored. A South West company were originally understanding but told me I should report to police and there was nothing they could do. Now, I haven’t named names as I’m not one that likes “slagging people off” as such, but as you can imagine these responses were disappointing and myself and others do not feel any safer at shows. I’m not really doing this to bash anyone; I’m doing it to give people a kick up the arse. So if you think this appeals to you, SORT IT OUT PLS AND THANKS. This has also been done by close friends of mine, some that are trainees, because they have been affected by inappropriate behaviour by another trainee or wrestler in some way. This could be by inappropriate messages, jokes, photos, touching etc and they’ve not really gotten anywhere with it. Sure some of it has gone to the police and I cannot ignore that but going to the police isn’t always the right thing to do. I’ve also been affected by inappropriate behaviour by a wrestler, which includes him purposely looking out for me at shows and involving me in spots, but I’ve always just gotten “he’s a massive dick” response. Multiple people including myself have blocked him and he just finds new targets to pick on. Not very nice when grown men suddenly touch you but I guess you have to keep booking him because he’s one of the boys, right? *sigh* He’s already been named publicly in the past few weeks so people ARE aware. It’s not right to continue booking a human being that makes people so uncomfortable they have to leave the room or hide in the toilet. Tick tock…

Shout outs to IPW and Hope though. I’ve never attended their shows (due to distance) but they’re the only companies who have reached out to me in some way. We should also note IPW put a statement out condemning recent behaviour, which is more than any other company I’ve seen do. Attack! ring announcer Jim Lee did briefly touch on it at the end of a show, which I love him for, but I feel something should have been said during the actual show OR by the actual company on social media, since some of the behaviour by certain members of the roster is god damn awful. I am aware that Progress FINALLY issued a statement, but they issued it to a podcast; why? Feels like total PR to get listens to the podcast for me. If your audience meant that much to you why not issue it publicly on social media or at a show? Just feels so off. I really don’t think it’s too much to ask for a company to sit down for a couple of hours and put together a statement or action plan for their fans and talent. I hope places start pulling their finger out because it’s needed. I popped a few safety ideas on my previous blog Chapter 3: The Good, The Bad and The Grappling if you were interested.

Anyway, how do we handle these fuckers? The first thing that comes to mind is a certain wrestler who was dropped from NXT and then many indy promotions because of a domestic violence case, in which later the charges were dropped. Some people hate him and some places have completely black balled him but there’s a tonne of people who will still book him and stick up for him. Now don’t kill me but: I get both sides. When I was 14, I entered an abusive relationship. Obviously I didn’t know this at the time; it was my first ever proper relationship and he was so lovely, caring and funny. My point being nobody would get with or trust an abuser if they didn’t come across this way. This is why people stick up for him; they don’t see through his facade, they see him as one of the lads and they don’t want to see him bashed because they’re his friends. I’ve been through it so I know how it feels to have it turned on its side and I can see through their bullshit. On the flip side, he admitted to putting his hands on someone and being a dick in locker rooms – this is public knowledge. People with this sort of behaviour do not and should not be in a position of power and be a possible role model. Everyone of course is entitled to their own opinion, but I believe in educating people and I don’t think everyone should be so harsh on people and friends that can’t see through certain people’s bullshit. It sounds dumb but Religious Education taught me SO much in school. It taught me about different opinions and outlooks and the reasons why people think that way and have those beliefs and I try to take that with me into every day life. I believe everyone deserves a second chance and help to change, but before being given their full responsibilities and opportunities they need to prove themselves. I also think if you have a platform and a position of power you should use it positively and responsibly and speak out. That’s all. I hope none of you think I’m a twat and that you can kinda get this educated outlook and opinions I have.

So here I am sat here making more action plans and list of people I want to contact. But obviously PLEASE reach out to me if you have feedback and ideas because one thing I’m a bit stuck on is how to protect vulnerable trainees from other trainees. Look; I’m a nobody but like I’ve said before when my day is done and it’s time to be cremated, I wanna be able to say I spoke up and I did the right thing in the right way. There’s so many bad fucking eggs in wrestling right now and let’s fucking get rid. If we act up and stick together I reckon we can do this, mind. Then we can focus on other things like the poor treatment and booking of female wrestlers because GOD KNOWS they get treated just as bad as female fans. Like the said person in the above paragraph has made comments about pimping out a 17-year-old girl? and this shit is just accepted? C’mon internet wrestling community, let’s get sickening!!!!! *death drops*. No but for real let’s sort it out. Stick up for those who don’t have a voice. Stick up for those who are vulnerable. Don’t hand out passes to people because they’re good in ring or they’re your friend or a veteran. Stop booking toss pots on your shows just because their bad behaviour isn’t necessarily illegal. Have somewhere safe for your fans to be. For your talent to be. Have multiple people to turn to that can help. Run background checks. Be an ally. LET’S DO THIS!

I suppose I should end this on a positive note, which for me was the WWE women’s royal rumble this weekend. God I was brought to tears. There wasn’t for me one jobber/filler entrant. Lita coming out made me pop so loud I woke my family up and I MAY have cried. Also all the pops for Trish Stratus, Brie Bella and Michelle McCool cos they still got it! It was a great match with a worthy winner and it’s a damn shame Asuka got her spotlight taken away by Fighty McFightface at the end. But HELL YES I TOTALLY BELIEVE 2018 IS THE YEAR OF THE WOMEN. FUCK THE YEAR OF THE DOG (although puppers are great).

A wise man once said “they’ll always hit you and hurt you, defend and attack, there’s only one way to beat them; get round the back”. (Should have won this year’s CBB imo. Who’s your most iconic Big Brother housemate and why? Let me know via social media because god knows I love reality TV).

Em/Dizz x

One thought on “Taking the Mask Off

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