Alright, today we're going to cover some common questions you may have
about the Stage Shredded Status DVD's before
they sell out...

==> Click here to learn how this transformation went down...


If you've seen the video but have some questions before ordering:

Question: Is SSS a documentary of Vince Delmonte's transformation or is there an actual program included?

Answer: Yes, SSS includes an entire program (covered on 3 of the 8 disks) and it was filmed with former NFL lineman and NPC level bodybuilder Ryan Watson! They are both pretty jacked up in this workout so it's pretty motivating too!

What Vince is going to do for anyone who orders is send you the printable workout sheets of the Stage Shredded Status workout program! Just email him your receipt to the help desk for proof of purchase!

You'll love this program because it relies on a variance of rep ranges to target, specifically, the Type 11a & Type 1a muscle fibers which create the training effect of
hypertrophy and strength-endurance. The combos generate a lot of lactate to boost growth hormone levels to assist in fat loss. You don't do super heavy loads because heavy lifting does not involve enough mechanical stress to promote fat loss.
Plus, you would not normally lift super heavy when you get leaner because your joints have less fluid and fat to protect them from the bigger forces.

Question: What if I have more than 50 lbs to lose?

Answer: Heck, Vince had 30 lbs to lose so you're programming
is going to be no different than his. The only difference is that you have an extra 8-10 weeks to travel. Let's go!

==> Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!



Question: Is SSS for a complete beginner?

Answer: If Vince only cared about selling his DVD's I would say yes but if you have less than one year experience in his crazy fitness world, you'll probably find his approach a little too hardcore for now. Sit this one up unless you're absolutely intrigued to see how this goes down.

The weight training program is far too advanced and you would be better off learning the nutritional principles in No Nonsense Muscle Building, which focuses on a balanced approach to eating. You need to master a balanced
approach before implementing some of the more advanced things they did.

Question: I noticed you had an ENTIRE cupboard full of supplements.
Am I supposed to take all of those?!?!

Answer: When it comes to supplementation, that's a personal choice.

In the DVD's Vince explains WHY he takes what he takes and encourages you to just sit back and consider it an educational experience. Then, as you choose, start to add one new supplement a month and measure
the response. There are SO MANY supplements he's interested in trying himself but he likes to add one new thing at a time so he will get there when he gets there.

Question: What if I only have 10 lbs of fat to lose?

Answer: Again, the same principles apply and you'll learn how Vince adjusted his cardio intensity and frequency as he gets closer to the show to ensure he does not lose muscle the last few weeks.

You'll see EXACTLY how he changed his diet from phase to phase (He changed it three times throughout the 16 weeks) and you'll see some creative ways to switch around your macros and food sources
that assist with fat loss, WITHOUT dropping your calories.

==> Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!

Question: Is Ben Pakulski in any of the DVD's?

Answer: YES! The first 2 DVDs start off in Toronto when Vince is looking pretty bulky and they get 2 hours of coaching on the gym floor with Ben & Intentions! If you bought MI40 then you already have this footage but it's worth reviewing and owning it on hardcopy. I know that every time I watch this footage, I re learn something new and then BOOM, I have a better workout!

If you don't have this footage, heck, the first 2 hours is worth 3x the price of the DVDs because Ben bills $150 an hour! This is the kind of information that propelled him into the ranks of the top ten bodybuilders in the world this past month!

Question: How long are the DVDs on sale?

Answer: It depends... we have about 550 left in stock now and the $50 off sale ends Sunday night or whenever he sells out... Whatever comes first.

Trust that helps and THANK YOU for your interest in Vince's work. This is, by far, the best fat loss resource he's ever released. Grab it while you can!

Here is the $50 Off Discount link to get your DVDs shipped right now!

Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!


P.S. Vince ships all over the world!

No, I have never caught one. Besides, she wouldn't let me if I could. But those irritatingly chatty squirrels live in the tall trees just beyond and mock me from above. So, I feel it is my responsibility, no, it's my duty, to volunteer for squirrel patrol in case they all decide to climb down and invade my lawn!

Learn Astral Projection Easily-CLICK HERE!

1. What is Astral Projection?

Astral Projection or Out-of-body experience is a process through which our consciousness leaves our physical body and is free to travel anywhere, unrestricted by  our normal physical boundaries. We all unconsciously travel outside our bodies every night when we are asleep. But with the right guidance and practice, we can train ourselves to achieve this with 100% consciousness and awareness.

2. Is everyone able to do Astral Projection?

As I mentioned, everyone does Astral Traveling at night when they sleep. But since they are asleep, they are doing it unconsciously. And when they wake-up, their astral experiences get distorted and they feel they have just had a dream. But with training and guidance, almost anyone can have a conscious Astral Projection.

3. When one does Astral Traveling, what is it that "projects" out of his body?

We are made up of several bodies. The grossest and the densest body is our physical body. The next one is the etheric body or the astral body. This is much less dense compared to the physical body. So during Astral Traveling, it is the astral body that gets “projected”.   I should also mention that for each these bodies, there is a corresponding “plane”. So there is a physical plane, astral plane and so on. So during Astral Projection, the astral body is projected into the astral plane.

4. Should we be really doing Astral Projection?

When we are born on this physical plane, we all come with a specific purpose. That purpose may be different for different people. But as we grow older, we forget why we are here. So we wander aimlessly and often end up wasting our lives.
Astral Projection is one way to help us know why we are here in the first place. So I sincerely feel we all should learn this amazing art and give a positive direction to our lives.

5. How much does Astral Projection cost?

You would be surprised, but there were actually 4 people who asked me this question!
The answer is - Astral Projection doesn’t cost you anything in terms of money. It is not something that you purchase. It is an art that you learn. The only real cost  involved is your time, effort and dedication.

6. What is the best, easiest, infallible and fastest method that works for  everyone?

Everyone is different, with different personalities and beliefs. So unfortunately, there is no best and easiest method that works for everyone. There are hundreds of Astral Projection techniques available. You need to see which one suits you best.

7. What are the best visualization techniques for reaching the vibration stage quickly?

As I said earlier, there is no best technique that will help everyone to achieve the vibration stage. However, Robert Monroe’s vibration technique is the most popular since many people have reported great success with it.

8. How can I learn to project quickly without having to take herbs such as  Salvia
Divinorum?

I never recommend taking herbs or drugs to achieve Astral Projection. It is safest to practice without any external aids. Also, unfortunately, there is no “quick” way to achieve Astral Projection. You will require patience and dedication. But if you follow the right guidance, you can drastically cut down on your learning curve, and often see success in a few weeks instead of years. Also, I would recommend staying away from anyone who claims to teach you “techniques” that can help you  project “instantly”

9. How to get into a trance easily for intentional OBEs

A good way to get into a trance is to comfortably lie down at night, and watch yourself going to sleep. Try to relax your physical body, but at the same time, try not to  go to sleep. For the first few nights, you might end up sleeping. But with practice, you will learn how to control your mind and stay awake during the entire process.

10. Can Astral Projection actually be done?

Yes, Astral Projection is definitely possible, and can actually be done consciously. There are thousands and thousands of people who can do it at will.                  

Learn Astral Projection Easily-CLICK HERE!
11. How often should you project?
Once you learn how to Astral Project at will, you can project as often as you want to. But don’t forget that you have a life on the physical plane too. You need to  maintain a balance.
12. What is the real trigger to leave the body? Where it is located?
No one really knows where the real trigger to leave the body is located. But I believe that out of the seven major Energy Chakras in our spiritual body, the trigger lies in
the most active Chakra for that person. Most people report leaving through the Third-eye Charka, the Solar Plexus Chakra or the Heart Chakra
13. What can I do about my belief that I can only perceive through my physical senses?
Since our birth we have perceived everything through our physical senses. So it is very difficult to imagine that we can have other senses as well. The only way to shed that belief is to experience Astral Projection yourself. Once you are out of your body, you will realize that you can actually perceive your surrounding without the physical senses that we are so used to. Moreover, you will realize that your new set
of senses is much more enhanced and powerful.
14. While Astral Projecting are we able to use our senses? See in color, hear, feel cold or heat etc?
As mentioned in the answer to the previous question, in the astral plane, we do not use our physical senses. We can see, hear, and feel using our astral senses. I should also mention that we do not feel cold or hot in our astral body. If we do feel them, it is because our physical body is feeling hot or cold, and that feeling is  transferred to the astral body via the Silver Cord.
15. Can Astral Projection be done without being taught by some one specialized who knows what is going to happen?
Yes, Astral Projection can be done without being taught by someone. It might take you longer or you might do it the wrong way. But it can be done. There are many people who have done it alone consciously or unconsciously. But it always helps to have the right guidance.
16. What is the best time to practice Astral Projection? Day, night, or early in the
morning?
There is no best time to practice. But because of our busy lives, most people prefer to practice early in the morning or at night, before going to sleep. But if you have time, you can very well practice during the day.
17. Should I practice lying down or sitting cross-legged?
Astral Projection can be done in any position you are comfortable with. But I recommend the lying down posture, because this is the way we sleep, and it is very
natural. This position also distributes our weight throughout the body, and makes it easier for us to relax. But as I said, you can choose any position you want to. As long as you are comfortable                                   
18. I have heard of people who can Astral Project at will, like a normal daily activity. Can I do the same, whenever I command? If yes, when will I succeed?
Yes, there are many who can Astral Project at will. You can do it too. But to get to that stage, you have to project several times, get rid of your fears, get used to the astral environment, and you should have also learnt to control your thoughts.
19. Do I need to meditate first, enter a supportive state of mind to successfully Astral Project? If yes, for how long should I meditate?
For a proper, conscious out of body experience, you should be in a meditative state where your physical body is completely relaxed and your mind is completely clear of unwanted chattering. This will give you good control over your thoughts, and help you focus on Astral Projection.
20. What triggers Astral Projection? And when does it actually happen?
Your goal is to reach a stage where your physical body is completely  relaxed and your mind is completely awake. And then deepen that stage using visualization exercises. This is the magic moment where the separation of the Astral body from the physical body takes place.
21. How can I avoid being anchored to my body when I go into trance?
If you go into a deep trance, where your body is asleep and mind awake, your astral body WILL separate – either partially or fully. If it is a partial separation, you need to exercise a strong will power and visualization exercises so that you can achieve a full  separation.                                   

Please visit In Memoriam: Janet Reid for more about the late great Shark. 

REVIEW – 3D printing is fun and challenging. You can download countless free files from sites like Thingiverse and Printables, Cults 3D, and Thangs, or create your own using Fusion 360 TinkerCAD. It takes time, patience, and a love of tinkering, but it can be great fun. Many 3D printing enthusiasts will agree that incessant […]

We’ve had our eye on Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated since its debut in 2019 from Renegade Game Studios. In our house, we love legacy games and we own most of the other Clank! editions, so it seemed like a good fit.

Boy, was it ever! We finally got the game a couple of weeks ago, and immediately fell for it so hard during the first few minutes of the game that we played it nearly every day with our 11 year old twin sons, Max and Locke.

In Clank! Legacy: AI, designed by Andy Clautice and Paul Dennen, players take on the role of employees at a small organization. At the beginning of the legacy campaign, the organization is in the process of applying to become a franchise of Acquisitions Incorporated, a megacorp famed for its for-profit adventuring services. We loved the narrative and appreciated the touches of authenticity,  like the franchise charter agreement.  We’ve played through other legacy campaign games over the past year where the narrative fell flat at times (I’m looking at you Aeon’s End Legacy), but Clank! Legacy: AI doesn’t suffer from that problem. Every game session (mission) introduces new and compelling twists in the ongoing storyline and is able to hold our interests. And the gameplay - including choices, restrictions, and goals-  makes sense within the narrative universe Clautice and Dennen have constructed for us. We found that the narrative so captured our kids attention that they were better about staying in the game each mission long enough to explore the terrain to everyone’s satisfaction as compared to their more typical race to the finish behavior when playing the standard edition of Clank! .  I was very pleased with that aspect of this edition as I really enjoy exploring the far reaches of the board.

The game mechanisms here are based on those in the base game (primarily deck building and point to point movement), with players descending into lower depths on the central board, tasked with obtaining rewards and escaping to safety before the game ends. But the legacy edition of this midweight strategy game introduces additional non-player characters, rewards, perils, and side quests as play unfolds. Spaces on the board have narrative icons indicating passages, from the Book of Secrets, which are to be read when a player lands on the space for the first time. These passages will often direct players to apply stickers to the game board, cards, or the rule book.  They may also reveal new game components such as additional cards or tokens. Clank! Legacy: AI  also utilizes both sides of the central game board, providing a lot of real estate for legacy modifications.

I didn’t notice a lot of analysis paralysis during our plays of Clank! Legacy: AI. The requirement to play all cards each hand coupled with the movement restrictions on the board provided only a few reasonable options to choose from each turn in terms of movement. Occasional delays were seen when players selected cards to recruit using skill points, but even then, it was never more than a few moments of hesitation. Each game session wraps up in a couple hours or less.

The components (the central board, the cards, cardboard tokens, etc) are of average quality for the price point. Our franchise board (where you deposit clank, hold market items for purchase, track dragon rage, and track player damage) arrived slightly warped and seems to have warped further as it has sat out on our game table (we’ve had some wild temperature swings here in snowy Iowa), but otherwise everything arrived in and remains in excellent condition.

The artwork (implemented by a full team of artists, including Clay Brooks, Anita Burrell, Derek Herring, Raul Ramos, Nate Storm, and Alain Viesca) is on point. It reinforces the narrative, is kid-friendly, and is generally unobtrusive, which is just what I’m looking for in this price range. It also blends seamlessly with the artwork in the base game, so when the legacy campaign is finished and players want to mix components of this game with the base game, it works visually.

The rulebook was generally clear and we didn’t need to look up much online, although we did have a few questions about some of the language on the cards that we didn’t feel the rulebook addressed (and we also couldn’t find a clear answer online, so it might just have been a brain block unique to us).

Every aspect of Clank! Legacy: AI  has been well planned and executed by Clautice and Dennen. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing this edition with my family and I’m hoping they’ve got additional legacy campaign expansions in the works for this IP as I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Solid storytelling, from start to finish.

   -------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Players: 2-4 (We played with 4)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: deck building, point to point movement, legacy, campaign
Retail Price: $75-100

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

I had the opportunity to play a preview edition of Quests & Cannons: The Risen Islands  from Short Hop Games in advance of the game’s upcoming Kickstarter campaign. Designed by Eric and Shannon Geller, the preview edition arrived in a bright and colorful cover box that hinted at the beautiful artwork within.

We got it on the table for a family game straightaway. As we unpacked the contents of the box, I was impressed with the quality of the wooden components. Especially for a preview copy, everything was incredibly well made and sturdy, which speaks to the care and enthusiasm Eric and Shannon have put into the game. The illustrations on the components are just lovely! The artists (Lily Yao Lu, Tony Carter, Regis Torres, Sita Duncan, and Lilia Sitailo) did a really great job integrating the theme into the materials. 

Quests & Cannons  is very easy to setup and the rules are straightforward,  so you can get started playing pretty quickly; no one is going to be stuck spending an hour reviewing the rules upfront. The only thing you really need to work out is whether you want to play the game solo, cooperatively, free for all, or in teams.  Regardless of the mode you choose, you’ll sit down as a leader of a kingdom, tasked with bringing prosperity (i.e. victory points) to your people as you explore new islands that have suddenly cropped up in the sea. The revelation of the islands has coincided with devastating famine and drought hitting the kingdoms to varying degrees, so you’re also on a quest to find a way to reverse these plagues.

And since prosperity can be gained through attacking other leaders during explorations, you’ll need to be thinking about battle defense and offense.  My kids are teens, so they handled the attacks pretty well, but your mileage may vary with your youngsters, depending on their age and temperament.

The underlying mechanics of the game are pretty simple:

• Explore to gather resources across the islands and turn those resources in to complete quests (pick up and deliver)
• Follow explicit instructions on map clue cards to do X action at X location
• Attack rival ships

Players can do three actions on a turn, choosing freely between move, gather resources, and attack. 

All of the how-to and particulars governing these actions are detailed in the rulebook (and in video play-throughs online). Variability in movement rules, attack/defense power, and resource storage capacity is dictated for each player by the leader card they’ve chosen at the beginning of the game (each one comes with special powers and differing stats) and the upgrades performed on their ship.

I did find a few issues with the mechanics for the Geller team to address before the final version is distributed:

• Explain in the rulebook what should be done if the map clue drawn cannot possibly be used
• Add a 0 space to the action point track on each player’s ship to track the exhaustion of the final action point
• Implement monsters or other descriptive elements with differing effects into the treacherous sea spaces to add more complexity

Outside of these issues, I recommend Quests & Cannons as a family game for gateway gamers (i.e. new to the hobby) or those who gravitate toward light strategy games. It’s kid-friendly and there isn’t any analysis paralysis inherent in the game.  It plays in under 90 minutes, gives kids exposure to different play modes within the same game, tackles conflict resolution, and comes with a variety of board layouts to keep things interesting over multiple plays. Note that this is not a game I’d recommend for players who prefer deeper strategy. Highly experienced gamers drawn to seafaring themes and beautiful artwork can find similar mechanisms with a bit more depth and complexity in other games such as Islebound (designed by Ryan Laukat from Red Raven Games).

-------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Short Hop Games
Players: 1-6 (We played with 4 and 5)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): about 90 minutes per game
Game type: pick-up and deliver,hand management, action points, kid-friendly, solo

Rating for Gateway Gamers: 

Rating for Advanced Board Gamers:                                          

Rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

I briefly interrupt this parade of elephants and bears (not usually a wise thing to do) to bring you news of a new project of mine. 

It's a murder mystery. But really, it's a set of very difficult, interconnected puzzles. But really... it's a box of one hundred picture postcards. I mean, if that's all you need to hear, by all means go straight here to buy it. But for a little more explanation, read on.

In 2020, I spent some of my lockdown trying to solve the newly republished murder mystery / puzzle Cain's Jawbone, written by the famous cryptic crossword setter Torquemada in 1934. The puzzle consisted of a box of one hundred pages of a novel, in a random order. The solver had to work out the correct order of the pages, and then interpret the strange and allusive narrative so as to deduce the killers and victims in the six murders in the story. It turned out to be ridiculously difficult, as it was meant to be; but if the spring of 2020 was good for anything, it was for spending far too long on almost impossible puzzles. Eventually, I submitted a solution, which to my enormous surprise turned out not only to be right, but also the only correct one submitted.  I won a thousand pounds, bought a piano, and thought that was that.  

But then, two things happened. The first was, thanks in part to TikTok, Cain's Jawbone took off in a surprisingly big way. And the second was, I found I missed it. I really wanted to try solving another puzzle in that style. But Torquemada never wrote another one, and nor did anyone else. So it seemed the only thing to do was to try to create one myself.

So this year Unbound, the publishers of Cain's Jawbone, are publishing a new mystery puzzle box by me, the title of which is still secret for now. This time, solvers will receive a box of one hundred picture postcards. As with Cain's Jawbone, they will need to arrange the text sides in the correct order, and understand the story told there, in order to identify the killer and victim in a series of ten murders; as well as a certain crucial address. But in order to do this, they will also need to solve the various puzzles presented by the picture sides.

The picture side puzzles allow me to do two things: firstly, compensate for the arrival of the internet since 1934. You may now be able to google an obscure Walt Whitman quotation, but you can't google 'How on earth is this picture of a tree a puzzle?' Secondly, if Cain's Jawbone had a flaw (which I don't admit) it's that it's a little off-putting and seemingly impenetrable until you make a certain breakthrough. I think a lot of people had a brief look through the cards, thought 'Well, that's impossible' and gave up. I certainly did, before lockdown came along and invited me to have another go. So the picture puzzles - which are also, to be clear, ridiculously difficult - give the solver something they can immediately get their teeth into, while they're grappling with the madness on the other side.

Lastly, they're there because they have to be. There is, within the story, a reason why these cards exist, why they have puzzles embedded in them... and why one of the murderers now keeps them safely locked in a drawer. I hope you enjoy trying to work out what it is. 

For more information, to pre-order a copy, and to gaze in wonder at some exhilaratingly expensive pencils... step this way.  

Oh, and the postcards shown here are not solvable with the information given, so don't torture yourself. Yet. 

 

Alt Text: Two dog walkers, walking two dogs. (It looks as if I've whimsically made it look like one of the dogs is interested in a butcher's signboard advertising sausages, but actually it wasn't me who did that. It was the dog.)

I’m thrilled to announce new ebook editions of my Hugo Award-winning novel Hominids, its Hugo Award-nominated sequel Humans, and the bestselling final volume Hybrids. Together, they are the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, which won the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Award (“the Aurora”) for best work of the entire decade. The trilogy tells of a parallel […]

As a result of the devastating earthquake in Japan early this morning, National Geographic has received requests for maps that show the impacted region. Below is a complete list of titles that are currently available:

1. Japan and Korea Wall Map

2. World Ocean Floor Wall Map

3. Hawaii State Wall Map

4. Alaska State Wall Map

4. World Classic Pacific Centered

5. Oregon State Wall Map

6. California State Wall Map

7. Washington State Wall Map

As this event further unfolds, we shall update the map resources list accordingly.

1. Trailer: "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy"  Dark Horizons
2. Trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy released  The Guardian
3. ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy’ Trailer: Renée Zellweger Falls for Leo Woodall in Final Installment of Rom-Com Franchise  Variety
4. What's happening in entertainment news today  TODAY Show
5. ‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’ Trailer Released By Peacock  Forbes

1. Outback Queensland residents spend thousands on flights, grapple with Qantas service changes  ABC News
2. Airlines that love competition: Do you see pigs fly?  Sydney Morning Herald
3. Predictably, domestic airfares surged after the collapse of Rex. There aren’t many good solutions  The Conversation
4. Report finds just how much airfares spiked since end of Rex. One route doubled  The Canberra Times
5. Qantas’ single excuse for fare price hike  news.com.au

1. Legitimacy of two Victorian local government elections in question after duplicate votes detected  ABC News
2. Victorian council election results 2024 LIVE updates: Suspected postal vote tampering in council elections  Sydney Morning Herald
3. VEC investigates potential vote tampering in two Melbourne councils  The Age

Call center technology is constantly improving. Most modern call-centers record at least some portion of the conversations they initiate. Who listens to these recordings. And what eventually happens to them?

What does this mean for charitable solicitations?

A typical call for me starts something like this;

Me: Hello I'm Henry calling from XXX organization on behalf of the Save the Giant Sequoia Tree foundation. Hows it going today Mr X?

Mr X: Fine, how are you today?

Me; I'm good thanks for asking, not a lot of people do. (this gets a chuckle as often as not, and its true.)

Me: Mr X, I'm going to try to keep things quick today but first I do need to know that this call could be monitored and is recorded for my quality.

Mr X: Ah go ahead the damn government is recording everything we say anyway....


Conversations can go into anywhere from a mild rant against the Bush administration to an all out call for violence made in jest, typical stuff you might hear on The Bill Mahr show. But what the Donor may not realize is that that conversation doesn't necessarily go away, ever.

Ive done fundraising for organizations like the Democratic National Committee, The A.C.L.U and the Human Rights Campaign. At the start of each call we inform donors that their call could be recorded to ensure quality control.

A.C.L.U donors are the most likely to hang up the phone at that point caring too much about their right to privacy to allow themselves to be recorded.

But what about the callers who don't hang up? Ive spoken to extremely opinionated people who
have pulled no punches when it come to their opinion on the current presidential administration, the war on terror, and other highly charged issued.

Politicians have been cursed threats have been made as well as off color jokes.

Could this information be used against a person?

With the warrant-less wiretapping that we know is going on in this country,how smart is it for organizations to save recordings of people?

Donors tend to say anything to an anonymous fundraiser on over the phone. But is it really anonymous. Do the donors have a right to know what becomes of their voice recordings.

I think that call-centers, especially in the fundraising industry, should have a published policy on what they will and will not do with Donor's information, including voice recordings.


Technology and political realities have raced beyond past practices. Its time for call-centers to catch up.

What I can tell you as a professional fundraiser is that.

• You have the right to end the conversation at any time, although I and your organization wish you wouldn't.
• You have the right to request more information about where I'm calling from and what my particular call-center will do with any of your information, including recordings of your voice. ( If your the curious type this might be fun to do anyway)
• The Front-line people who call you, me, have no control over when or why you are called; its all done by computer.
• The national no call-list has little bearing on non-profits, or their agents, (me). Call-centers that do fundraising have their own internal do-not-call lists; ask to be on it and we are obligated to put you on it. You should also let your charities know, by phone, or in writing, that you don't want to be called, or to have your name sold or traded to other organizations.
• Reputable fundraisers charge a flat fee per call. Yes or no, we get the same amount for making the call. It doesn't have to be this way however, Some fundraising agents can keep 80% (or more!) of the revenue a solicitation campaign generates. You have the right to know just what those percentages are; if the person you are speaking to doesn't know, ask for a supervisor.
• Some states also have laws that obligate fundraising groups to send a written copy of this information to any donor that asks, you'll need to contact your attorney general's office to see if your state is one.
• Last note; Federal law prohibits us from recording your credit card information, this is the one part of the call that isn't recorded.

I hope this quick rundown of the issues stirs some discussion. Ill follow up with more on telephone fundraising in the coming days.

As most fundraisers know, building rapport with donors keeps them on the phone and listening to your request. Rapport isn't a clever trick; it is a means of showing donors that you are interested in them and that you have at least some small things in common. We build rapport in almost every conversation we have whether on or off of the phone. Building rapport with someone you've just called for the first time can be a little harder, but it is certainly possible.

One simple technique for rapport building is knowing the state nicknames or motto's of the states that you're dialing into. Asking a donor how things are going in the Equality State rather than simply how things are going, makes your question more intimate. Donors really do open up when you take a personal interest in them. Listed below are the state nicknames.

State	Nickname(s)
Alabama (No official nickname)[1]	Cotton Plantation State[2] Cotton State[3] Heart of Dixie[3][4][5] Lizard State[2] Yellowhammer State[3] Camellia State
Alaska	Great Land (previously used on license plates) Land of the Midnight Sun[6] Land of the Noonday Moon[6] The Last Frontier (presently used on license plates)[6][7] Seward's Folly (named after U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward)[6] Seward's Ice Box, Icebergia, Polaria, Walrussia, and Johnson's Polar Bear Garden were satirical names coined by members of theU.S. Congress during debate over the Alaska Purchase[6]
Arizona	Apache State[8] Aztec State[8] Baby State (during the 47 years that Arizona was the newest state in the Union)[8] Copper State[8] Grand Canyon State (currently used on license plates)[8][9] Italy of America[8] Sand Hill State[8] Sunset State[8] Sweetheart State[8] Valentine State (Arizona gained statehood on February 14, 1912)[8]
Arkansas	Bear State[10] Bowie State[10] Hot Springs State[10] Land of Opportunity (former official nickname; previously used on license plates)[10] The Natural State (currently used on license plates)[11][10] Razorback State[10] Toothpick State[10] Wonder State[10] Diamond State
California	El Dorado State The Golden State[12][13] (previously used on license plates) The Land of Sunshine and Opportunity Golden West Grape State Land of Milk and Honey Land of Fruits and Nuts Where Stars Are Buried The Cereal Bowl of the Nation The Eureka State [14] The Bear State (or Republic) The Sunshine State (in disuse) (c.f. FL)
Colorado	Buffalo Plains State[15] (in disuse) Centennial State[16] (previously used on license plates) Colorful Colorado[16] (previously used on license plates) Columbine State[17] Highest State[15] Lead State[15] (in disuse) Mother of Rivers[18] Rocky Mountain Empire[19] Rocky Mountain State[20] (in disuse) Silver State[15] (in disuse; see Nevada) Switzerland of America[21]
Connecticut	Constitution State Nutmeg State Charter Oak State
Delaware	Chemical Capital[22] Corporate Capital (due to the state's business-friendly laws)[22] Diamond State (allusion to the state flag)[22] Blue Hen State or Blue Hen Chicken State[23] The First State[24][22] (Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution; currently used on license plates) Home of Tax Free Shopping[22] New Sweden[22] Peach State[22] Small Wonder[22] Uncle Sam's Pocket Handkerchief[22]
District of Columbia	A Capital City (previously used on license plates) The Federal City The District[citation needed]
Florida	Alligator State[25] Citrus State[citation needed] Everglade State[25] Flower State[25] God's Waiting Room Gulf State[25] Hurricane State[citation needed] La Florida Manatee State[citation needed] Orange State[25] Peninsula State or Peninsular State[23] Sunshine State (currently used on license plates) Tropical State[Full Article advanced fund rasing techinques empathy ethical fundraising fundraising tips fundrasing rapport tele-marketing tips q What does it mean to "wane philosophical"? By languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu Published On :: Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:21:38 +0000 "To what extent is science a strong-link problem?", Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week, 10/30/2024 [emphasis added]: Here’s a fascinating and worrying news story in Science: a top US researcher apparently falsified a lot of images (at least) in papers that helped get experimental drugs on the market — papers that were published in top […] Full Article Words words words q NOTOCON Speaker F.AQ. By oto-usa.org Published On :: Fri, 28 Apr 2023 07:51:35 +0000 For potential speakers, a handy FAQ full of useful information is available here. Full Article NOTOCON q NOTOCON XV: The Crowned and Conquering Child By oto-usa.org Published On :: Wed, 03 Jul 2024 16:11:29 +0000 SAVE THE DATE for NOTOCON XV: The Crowned and Conquering Child to be hosted in Portland, Oregon from July 25 through the 27th, 2025 EV. The call for speaker proposals is now open and we are accepting Volunteer and Vending sign-ups. Registration and hotel reservations will be available in August 2024. Full Article NOTOCON q From now on, the title of the post is allowed to just be "January 2024" (only when it is January 2024, however) By radar.spacebar.org Published On :: Wed, 31 Jan 2024 22:08:59 -0500 Hello again, This month I've been plugging away on the project I mentioned in the previous post which involves among other things a PDF generator and now an implementation of ML (as in Standard ML, but also the other one). This is probably the 10th "compiler" I've written in my life, and it's kind of fun to revisit these problems that you've done many times and try out different approaches, although this time one of the approaches is "Use C++" (for reasons of making good on a joke, but also for reasons of mlton doesn't work on my computer any more). And although C++ is a fine tool for many applications, it does have some deficiencies for the task of writing a compiler (one of the most irritating: a very modest limit on the stack depth? Like my computer has 256 Gigabytes of RAM and 2^64 virtual addresses and somehow it can only manage 1 megabyte for the stack and there's no standard way to increase it? Get off my lawn). But then you can also experience new ways of struggling with C++, like: A middle of the night power failure wrecked my computer's GPT (as in GUID Partition Table, but also the other one) and I was deep in the depths of taking the computer apart to reset its parts, its BIOS (its Basic In/Out System, which is where it stores its biography) and its hard drives were everywhere on the floor, and it could not be saved, and this after I already broke my computer this year by trying to put the world's biggest video card in it, too hard. And I could not merely perform recovery because of Unknown Error, so I had to begin anew again and restore from backups. But when you restore from backup and you're in the mood of "why is this so complicated and I don't understand how computers work any more?" it occurs to you (me) to also change your underlying development environment instead of reinstalling the devil you know. So I ended my friendship with Cygwin64 and switched to new best friend MSYS2. Both of these things are different ways of wishing that you were using Linux while you're using Windows. The main reason I tried this new way of struggling is that Cygwin is very behind on its version of x86_64 clang (C++ compiler), which I wanted to try because it supports AddressSanitizer and clangd on Windows, and I wanted to give LSP in emacs a shot (it's finally good!). There were a few growing pains, but I think MSYS2 is what I would recommend now. One of the nice things they did was create multiple different environments depending on what you want to do (e.g. "I want to use clang to compile x86_64 code" or "I want to do 32-bit cross compilation for ARM") and in that environment, you just say "g++" and it invokes the compiler you want, instead of the weird contortions I've been doing for years with manually invoking x86_64-w64-mingw32-g++. I was also able to get clblast working before being too filled with rage to continue, so that is nice for the ML inference on the world's biggest graphics card. I made these graphics to help me tune the correct settings of GPU layers (y axis) and number of threads (x axis): tune-single tune-batch In some sense the results are obvious (more threads and more layers is faster) but it was interesting to me how the cliff of performance drops off at a different number of layers for single and batch mode (I guess because the batch needs some memory itself?) and how it's clearly better to use fewer threads than cores for batch as well. I was not surprised to see performance drop off for >32 threads (everybody knows that hyper-threads kinda suck) but I was very surprised to see performance pick up again when it gets back up to 64? And only for single mode? I wish I understood that better. But mostly I'm a sucker for the custom visualizations. Right but when writing this compiler I realized that I wanted to use some Greek letters, and I can't handle it when some characters are in a different font in my source code, so I finally made some space for those in my programming font FixederSys. These certainly still need some tweaks, but it's already better than just being in some other weird font: {{{caption}}} You can also see that I have been adding some "useful" emoji at the top. It is an interesting puzzle to try to make these things recognizable (especially for the 1x version, whose charboxes are 8x16 pixels). I am pretty sure I will not try to do all of the emoji (like, the flags are totally hopeless at 8x16), but it is tempting to round out the Unicode support somewhat. Like I was trying to make a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ today and had to settle for ~\_( :) )_/~ which is pretty much (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻. Also: Adam revived our old game jam game Headcat, which I described in post 927, now over 16 years ago. You can play it online at Headcat.org. It is harder than I remember, perhaps explaining why it did not reach #1 on the One Appstore Per Child charts. Also: I started and finished (true ending, but just with one character) Slay the Spire. Good game, but you don't need me to tell you that. Same for Alwa's Legacy, which is the sequel to Alwa's Awakening. Both of these are very true-to-form "8-bit" and "16-bit" platformers that I enjoyed and would recommend for genre fans, though I did not try to 100% them. The graphics are the highlight and I thought it was very cute how these could easily have been a pair of games from the NES and SNES. The good old days. And speaking of good-old days, I am now playing Katamari Damacy, which I had played at a friend's house many years ago, and always wanted to spend more time with. It totally holds up (aside from stuff like: You have to play through the tutorial and first level before you can access the menus at all, like to make the game fullscreen?) and it's honestly inspiring how unhinged the game design and writing are, and how fun it manages to be. What an accomplishment! Full Article q "April" 2024 By radar.spacebar.org Published On :: Tue, 30 Apr 2024 23:59:58 -0400 Oops! Usually when I fail to post on time and then illegally backdate the post, yielding a penalty of -1,000 points, it's shortly after midnight. Like, as I'm trying to fall asleep (which of course involves and involuntary inventory of everything I may have failed to do), I'm struck with a panic and then get back out of bed to write some dumb pro-forma apology post. This time I just went to bed and actually fell asleep and now here I am noticing that it is May 1. Still, the whole point of doing this every month is to make the grid of months line up nicely, so the post is backdated by 9 hours and nets -1,000 points. Speaking of lining up nicely: I did get my SIGBOVIK papers in on time and gave a lightning talk at the conference. SIGBOVIK was very popular this year, with our longest-ever proceedings (see SIGBOVIK 2024 PDF or bound volume). This year my project is a paper about a new typesetting system that I wrote to produce the paper (and the talk's slides). That system is called BoVeX and the paper is called Badness 0, which you can read as Badness 0 (Knuth's version) and/or Badness 0 (Epsom's version). You can also maybe find a recorded livestream of the breakneck 5 min presentation, but I would wait for the proper video (in progress now!), which is the same content with much better pacing and details. Speaking of details: I also presented at An Evening of Unnecessary Detail, which is one of Matt Parker ("Standup Maths")'s live shows. Other than the part where I tried to pack a dense months-long technical project about details into 12 minutes, this was a blast! Lots of cool, interesting people. This took place in a proper comedy club in Brooklyn, like with posters of people that I watch on TV (e.g. Taskmaster legend Fern Brady is performing there in a few weeks, so it seems I'm a mere 5 or 6 steps away from my dream of being a contestant on Taskmaster now), and was sold out (due exclusively to the eminence of others, since it was sold out before I even joined the bill). I finally hung out with Grant Sanderson ("3blue1brown") and told him about math. The audience was amazingly attentive and wholesome, and quite a few of them recognized me and wanted to talk after the show, which is fun. (I do not envy the queue that Matt and Grant endured, though!) Enjoy my technically deficient vacation photography: I'm photobombing, but Matt is so used to this act that he is reflexively crouching down so as not to appear twice my height Speaking of technically deficient photography: An additional reason why my video is not done yet (or indeed, why it currently has status Filming 0) is that I finally pulled the shutter release on a new video camera. After much deliberation (and visiting the B&H showroom while in NY, etc.), including on far more ridiculous options, I settled on the Canon R5C. After a complex week-long courtship ritual with the FedEx guy, that finally arrived last night, at which point I immediately realized that I need further accessories. But I'm excited to shoot on this thing and to make my computer suffer with 8k video. It seems to have gotten too complacent with "Full HD." Finally, I think the main reason I failed to post on time last night was that I was up late playing Balatro. This game is all over the place so you probably don't need me to tell you about it, but it is indeed a good (and addictive) deck-building game that I am enjoying instead of sleep. I am not interested in 100%ing this one, but there are still lots of appealing challenges left for me to do. I'd recommend it if you have the self control to avoid firing it up "for a quick game" when you should be working on your projects or sleeping. Full Article q Money, Money, Money (or private affluence and public squalor) By magistratesblog.blogspot.com Published On :: Tue, 25 Oct 2016 21:23:00 +0000 I sat in my crumbling courthouse a couple of months ago, having edged past the permanently-stuck gate on the justices' car park, and made my way up the nearly-new lift to the assembly room. It is a handsome room, built in 1907 but has sadly not seen a lick of paint in the last decade-and-a-half and more. Everywhere are signs of decay and neglect - but no matter. I understand the desperate need for the government to bring expenditure under control, even if that means denying resources to the public service that I have served unpaid these thirty years. There are still biscuits (amazingly) and most of the lights come on when you press a switch. There is some mysterious  kit that we think might be for use in the new all-electronic courthouse. It still bears the protective film that we see on expensive audio visual stuff to protect it on its long journey from a Chinese sweatshop. I have recently received an email from  www.gov.uk/annual-tax-summary setting out the tax that I paid in the last fiscal year setting out the tax that I paid (direct tax only, so forget the taxes on consumption such as liquor duties and Council Tax (fifty quid a week on my modest Thames Valley bungalow). Much more interesting is the breakdown of where it went, revealing how little our fellow citizens know of what is done with the country's collective cash. Not that much goes on the justice system. Full Article q Your impact: September equinox 2024 By www.planetary.org Published On :: Mon, 09 Sep 2024 06:56:00 -0700 Exploring Europa and defending Earth. Full Article q 2026 Cadillac Vistiq Electric SUV By uncrate.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:00:00 -0500 Full Article SUVs & Trucks q Signed and personalized at request! By maryannemohanraj.com Published On :: Mon, 11 Nov 2024 18:12:00 +0000 We just made the decision to ship the remaining copies of Feast to us. There are about 800 left, out of the original 2000 copy print run. Which is a lot of copies, but given that we were originally scheduled to launch March 2020, and had to cancel an entire summer’s worth of scheduled bookstore […] Full Article Serendib Kitchen q Halfords Mat Lacquer By iron-mitten.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 08 Nov 2024 16:29:00 +0000 I thought I'd give this a go as I had heard good things about it. I thought the scenic rock pools would be the perfect test subject, as if they dried glossy it wouldn't matter. The results were good. I sprayed the models after I had added some flock, I thought the lacquer would help seal it. After the scenic pieces I thought I'd try it on the new Irish figures. I consider this a tough, hard coat. Another layer of super mat varnish will be added with a brush when this first coat is dry. The rock pools got a layer of flock really nail the realistic look.  The flock and paint work is all sprayed with the new lacquer, seems to be a winner. Full Article Hobby Window Hobby Window. q Quicklisp news: October 2024 Quicklisp dist update now available By blog.quicklisp.org Published On :: Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:16:00 GMT  New projects:  adp-github — ADP extension to generate github markdown files. — MIT adp-plain — Add Documentation, Please... using plain text. An extension of ADP to generate files with barely additional features. — MIT allioli — Alliolification — MIT alternate-asdf-system-connections — Allows for ASDF system to be connected so that auto-loading may occur. This is a fork of asdf-system-connections and incorporates a load-system-driven mechanism for loading dependencies and also loads the dependencies of the connections. — MIT cbor — CBOR encoder/decoder — MIT charje.documentation — Documentation is an opinionated yet customizable docstring parsing library. — AGPL V3 or any later version chipi — House automation bus in Common Lisp — Apache-2 cl-aseprite — Aseprite file format parser — GPLv3 cl-astar — A heavily optimized yet flexible A* pathfinding algorithm implementation — MIT cl-ceigen-lite — A Common Lisp wrapper around CEIGEN-LITE - which is itself a C wrapper around the C++ Eigen library. — MIT cl-cf — Computations using continued fractions — GPL-3 cl-concord — CONCORD implementation based on Common Lisp — LGPL cl-duckdb — CFFI wrapper around the DuckDB C API — MIT License cl-fastcgi — FastCGI wrapper for Common Lisp — BSD License cl-flx — Rewrite emacs-flx in Common Lisp — MIT cl-frugal-uuid — Common Lisp UUID library with zero dependencies — MIT License cl-gog-galaxy — A wrapper for the GOG Galaxy SDK — zlib cl-lc — List comprehensions — MIT cl-naive-ptrees — Functions to make it easier to work with plist(s) and plist trees. Works with plist(s) pairs as units and not as individual list items. — MIT cl-qoa — An implementation of the Quite Okay Audio format. — zlib cl-reddit — Reddit client api library — BSD cl-resvg — An up-to-date bindings library for the resvg SVG rendering library — zlib cl-trivial-clock — Common Lisp library to get accurate wall-clock times on multiple platforms — MIT License clack-cors — A Clack middleware to set CORS related HTTP headers. — Unlicense clack-prometheus — Clack middleware to serve stats in Prometheus format. — Unlicense clith — Common Lisp wITH macro. A general WITH macro. — MIT clj-arrows — Implements Clojure-styled threading/transformation macros. — MIT clos-encounters — A collection of OOP patterns benefiting from the CLOS MOP. — Unlicense coalton — An efficient, statically typed functional programming language that supercharges Common Lisp. — MIT cocoas — A toolkit library to help deal with CoreFoundation, Cocoa, and objc — zlib com.danielkeogh.graph — A fast an reliable graph library. — MIT fast-mpsc-queue — Multi-Producer Single-Consumer queue implementation. — MIT file-finder — File finder. Enable rapid file search, inspection and manipulation. — GPL3+ golden-utils — A utility library. — MIT hiccl — HTML generator for Common Lisp — MIT hsx — Hypertext S-expression — MIT hunchentoot-stuck-connection-monitor — Monitors hunchentoot connections and logs the connections stuck in the same state for a long time (due to slow or inactive clients and network stream timeouts that hunchentoot tries to utilize not working properly). Offers an option to shutdown the stuck connections sockets manually or automatically, thus unblocking the connection threads and preventing thread and socket leak. See https://github.com/edicl/hunchentoot/issues/189 — BSD-2-Clause incless — A portable and extensible Common Lisp printer implementation (core) — BSD inravina — A portable and extensible Common Lisp pretty printer. — MIT invistra — A portable and extensible Common Lisp FORMAT implementation — BSD knx-conn — KNXnet/IP implementation in Common Lisp — GNU GPL, version 3 machine-state — Retrieve machine state information about CPU time, memory usage, etc. — zlib myweb — simple web server written in common lisp for educational reasons — LGPLv3 noisy — Perlin noise for arbitrary numbers of dimensions. — MIT nontrivial-gray-streams — A compatibility layer for Gray streams including extensions — MIT open-with — Open a file in a suitable external program — zlib openai-openapi-client — Openai API client — AGPLv3+ openrpc — CI for Common Lisp OpenRPC library. — BSD parse-number-range — Parses LOOP's convenient "for-as-arithmetic" syntax into 5 simple values: from, to, limit-kind (:inclusive, :exclusive or nil if unbounded), by (step) and direction (+ or -)). Further related utilities are provided. Intended for easy implementation of analogous functionality in other constructs. — Public Domain precise-time — Precise time measurements — zlib pregexp — Portable regular expressions for Common Lisp — MIT-like progressons — Display a progress bar on one line. — MIT quaviver — A portable and extensible floating point string library — MIT quilc — A CLI front-end for the Quil compiler — Apache License 2.0 (See LICENSE.txt) qvm — An implementation of the Quantum Abstract Machine. — Apache License 2.0 (See LICENSE.txt) random-sampling — Functions to generate random samples with various distributions — zlib rs-dlx — Knuth's Algorithm X with dancing links. — Modified BSD License scrapycl — The web scraping framework for writing crawlers in Common Lisp. — Unlicense smoothers — Statistical methods to create approximating functions that attempt to capture important patterns in the data, while leaving out noise or other fine-scale structures/rapid phenomena. — MS-PL trivial-adjust-simple-array — A tiny utility to change array size ensuring it is simple. — MIT trivial-system-loader — A system installation/loading abstraction for Common Lisp — MIT trivial-toplevel-commands — Trivial Toplevel Commands allows to define toplevel commands available on most implementations in a portable fashion. — BSD-3 Clause trivial-toplevel-prompt — Portability library to customize REPL prompts. — BSD-3 Clause utf8-input-stream — A UTF-8 string input stream over a binary stream for Common Lisp — MIT whereiseveryone.command-line-args — Automatically create a command-line-argument parser for a given Common Lisp function definition. — AGPL v3 or any later version Updated projects: 3b-bmfont, 3bgl-shader, 3bmd, 3d-math, 3d-spaces, 40ants-asdf-system, 40ants-slynk, access, acclimation, action-list, adhoc, adopt, adp, agnostic-lizard, alexandria, alexandria-plus, anatevka, anypool, april, arc-compat, architecture.builder-protocol, array-utils, arrow-macros, assoc-utils, async-process, atomics, auto-restart, aws-sdk-lisp, babel, bdef, bike, binary-structures, binding-arrows, birch, blackbird, bordeaux-threads, calm, carrier, caveman, ccldoc, cephes.cl, cepl, cerberus, cffi, cffi-object, cffi-ops, chanl, chunga, ci, ci-utils, ciao, cl-6502, cl-algebraic-data-type, cl-all, cl-ansi-term, cl-async, cl-atelier, cl-autowrap, cl-base32, cl-bmas, cl-bmp, cl-bnf, cl-brewer, cl-buchberger, cl-cmark, cl-collider, cl-colors2, cl-confidence, cl-containers, cl-cookie, cl-csv, cl-custom-hash-table, cl-cxx-jit, cl-data-structures, cl-dbi, cl-digraph, cl-dot, cl-enchant, cl-environments, cl-fast-ecs, cl-fbx, cl-fluent-logger, cl-form-types, cl-forms, cl-freetype2, cl-gamepad, cl-github-v3, cl-gltf, cl-gobject-introspection, cl-graph, cl-grip, cl-gserver, cl-hamcrest, cl-hash-util, cl-html-readme, cl-i18n, cl-info, cl-ini, cl-ipfs-api2, cl-kanren, cl-lib-helper, cl-liballegro, cl-liballegro-nuklear, cl-log, cl-markless, cl-marshal, cl-migratum, cl-mixed, cl-modio, cl-mount-info, cl-mpg123, cl-mssql, cl-mustache, cl-mysql, cl-neovim, cl-netpbm, cl-oju, cl-opengl, cl-opensearch-query-builder, cl-opus, cl-patterns, cl-plus-ssl-osx-fix, cl-ppcre, cl-project, cl-protobufs, cl-pslib, cl-pslib-barcode, cl-rashell, cl-readline, cl-sat.minisat, cl-sdl2-image, cl-sdl2-mixer, cl-sdl2-ttf, cl-sendgrid, cl-sentry-client, cl-skkserv, cl-smtp, cl-ssh-keys, cl-steamworks, cl-str, cl-svg, cl-telegram-bot, cl-threadpool, cl-tiled, cl-torrents, cl-tqdm, cl-transducers, cl-transit, cl-unicode, cl-unification, cl-unix-sockets, cl-utils, cl-vectors, cl-vorbis, cl-wavefront, cl-webdriver-client, cl-webkit, cl-webmachine, cl-who, clack, clack-pretend, clad, classimp, clast, clath, clavier, clazy, clerk, clgplot, climacs, clingon, clip, clj-con, clj-re, clobber, clog, clog-ace, clog-collection, clog-plotly, clog-terminal, clohost, closer-mop, clss, cluffer, clunit2, clx, cmd, codata-recommended-values, codex, coleslaw, collectors, colored, com-on, common-lisp-jupyter, commondoc-markdown, compiler-macro-notes, conduit-packages, consfigurator, contextl, croatoan, ctype, cytoscape-clj, damn-fast-priority-queue, dartscluuid, data-frame, data-lens, datafly, dbus, decompress, defenum, definer, definitions, deflate, defmain, deploy, depot, deptree, dexador, dissect, djula, dns-client, doc, docs-builder, dsm, dufy, easter-gauss, easy-audio, easy-macros, easy-routes, eclector, equals, erjoalgo-webutil, erudite, esrap, event-emitter, external-program, external-symbol-not-found, fare-csv, fare-scripts, fast-http, fast-websocket, file-attributes, file-notify, file-select, filesystem-utils, fiveam, fiveam-matchers, flexi-streams, float-features, flow, fn, fset, functional-trees, fuzzy-dates, gadgets, generic-cl, github-api-cl, glfw, glsl-toolkit, harmony, hashtrie, helambdap, http2, hunchentoot, imago, in-nomine, inferior-shell, introspect-environment, ironclad, jose, js, json-mop, jsonrpc, jzon, khazern, lack, lass, lemmy-api, letv, lichat-protocol, lichat-tcp-client, linear-programming, lisp-binary, lisp-chat, lisp-critic, lisp-pay, lisp-stat, lispcord, lla, local-time, log4cl-extras, logging, lru-cache, magicl, maiden, maidenhead, manifolds, math, mcclim, memory-regions, messagebox, method-combination-utilities, mgl-pax, misc-extensions, mito, mk-defsystem, mmap, mnas-package, mnas-string, moira, multiposter, mutility, mutils, named-closure, ndebug, neural-classifier, new-op, nibbles, nibbles-streams, ningle, nodgui, north, numerical-utilities, nytpu.lisp-utils, omglib, ook, open-location-code, openapi-generator, orizuru-orm, overlord, papyrus, parachute, parse-number, pathname-utils, petalisp, phos, picl, plot, plump, plump-sexp, pngload, policy-cond, polymorphic-functions, postmodern, ppath, prometheus-gc, psychiq, purgatory, py4cl, py4cl2, py4cl2-cffi, qlot, qoi, query-fs, quick-patch, quickhull, quri, random-state, reblocks, reblocks-auth, reblocks-file-server, reblocks-lass, reblocks-navigation-widget, reblocks-parenscript, reblocks-prometheus, reblocks-typeahead, reblocks-ui, reblocks-websocket, rove, s-dot2, sandalphon.lambda-list, sb-fastcgi, sc-extensions, sel, select, serapeum, shasht, shop3, si-kanren, sketch, slime, slite, sly, snooze, spinneret, staple, static-vectors, statistics, stepster, stmx, stripe, swank-crew, swank-protocol, sxql, symath, system-locale, taglib, teddy, ten, testiere, tfeb-lisp-hax, tfm, tiny-routes, tooter, trivia, trivial-arguments, trivial-clipboard, trivial-file-size, trivial-gray-streams, trivial-main-thread, trivial-octet-streams, trivial-package-locks, trivial-package-manager, trivial-sanitize, trivial-shell, type-templates, typo, uax-15, uiop, usocket, vellum, vellum-binary, vellum-csv, vellum-postmodern, verbose, vernacular, vom, websocket-driver, winhttp, with-branching, with-contexts, woo, xhtmlambda, xml-emitter, yason, zippy, zpb-ttf. Removed projects: abstract-arrays, ahungry-fleece, cl-cheshire-cat, cl-darksky, cl-epoch, cl-naive-store, convolution-kernel, dense-arrays, extensible-compound-types, extensible-optimizing-coerce, fast-generic-functions, flac-metadata, freebsd-ffi, listoflist, luckless, one-more-re-nightmare, postmodern-localtime, stumpwm-dynamic-float, stumpwm-sndioctl, unicly. To get this update, use:  (ql:update-dist "quicklisp") Sorry this update took so long. My goal is to resume monthly releases. Enjoy! Full Article q "Dragons of Paris" and the Role of Time in the Mongolian Wizard Series By floggingbabel.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 18 Oct 2024 23:20:00 +0000  . The kind people at Reactor Magazine have posted my two latest Mongolian Wizard stories, one yesterday and the other today. Thursday's "Halcyon Afternoon" took place during a rare moment of peace for Franz-Karl Ritter. But in today's "Dragons of Paris," it's warfare as usual.  Time has always been a little tricky in this series. The first story was clearly set in the Nineteenth Century but, though only a few years have passed, the series has now reached what is recognizably World War I. Mostly this occurred for reasons explained in "The Phantom in the Maze" and "Murder in the Spook House." (And which I anticipate giving me increasing difficulties in writing the next ten stories.) But also, in a more literary background sense, I wanted to cover the transition from a way of life now alien to us to something more modern, if not contemporary.  So time may get a bit more slippery in the future. That's if, of course, the stories go in the direction I intend. Sometimes the fiction has its own ideas where it wants to go and the author can only follow along meekly in its wake. You can read the story here. Or just go to the ezine and poke around. It's a good place to poke around. Above: The illustration is by Dave Palumbo. I'm grateful for that. * Full Article q My Halloween Season Story, "Unquiet Graves," in CLARKESWORLD By floggingbabel.blogspot.com Published On :: Fri, 01 Nov 2024 20:24:00 +0000  .   I am always happiest when a story of mine comes into print. Today, I have the joy of introducing you to "Unquiet Graves," a seasonal tale of graveyard misbehavior and betrayal. Oh, and there's nothing supernatural about it at all. You can read the story here. But if you're like me, you'll just go to Clarkesworld, look over the table of contents, and decide which story you want to read first. Mine by preference, but follow your whim.   And for those who like trivia . . . I came up with the handheld's app many long years ago and it took forever to come up with a story for it. You'll notice that it is left unnamed in the story. That's because its secret name was "The Graveyard Reader." Which is the title of a well-known story by Theodore Sturgeon.  While I was writing the story, I thought of it as "The New Graveyard Reader." But Sturgeon's story and mine go off in totally different directions, and giving mine (or even the app) a title suggesting there was some implicit connection between the two would only cause confusion. The title I finally came up with was derived from "The Unquiet Grave" by that most prolific of all poets, Anonymous. If you look it up, I suggest you do so after reading my story. It gives away some of the plot. *   Full Article q Who owns Greenland rsquo s island By satwcomic.com Published On :: Who owns Greenland rsquo s island View Comic! Full Article q When you hate your friend rsquo s new friend By satwcomic.com Published On :: When you hate your friend rsquo s new friend View Comic! Full Article q Peter Vandenbempt neemt praktijk op de korrel die steeds meer aan populariteit wint: "Gewoon geel geven, en een paar keer na elkaar" - Voetbalkrant.com By news.google.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:40:00 GMT Peter Vandenbempt neemt praktijk op de korrel die steeds meer aan populariteit wint: "Gewoon geel geven, en een paar keer na elkaar"  Voetbalkrant.com "Je lacht gewoon iedereen uit": Peter Vandenbempt hekelt "blessures bij doelmannen" en komt met oplossing  sporza.be Delanghe onder vuur na acteren tegen RSC Anderlecht: “Lacht iedereen uit”  VoetbalPrimeur.be Alle middelen zijn goed: de 'gouden' truc die Cercle Brugge toepaste tegen RSC Anderlecht krijgt (voorlopig) geen staartje  Voetbalkrant.com Loopje met de sportiviteit, Delanghe faket blessure tegen Anderlecht  VoetbalPrimeur.be Full Article q Een Franse "alleskunner" boezemt iedereen angst in op Gentse Zesdaagse: "Zelfs als renner kijk je naar hem op" - sporza.be By news.google.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:12:00 GMT Een Franse "alleskunner" boezemt iedereen angst in op Gentse Zesdaagse: "Zelfs als renner kijk je naar hem op"  sporza.be De Vylder en Ghys sluiten als leiders de eerste dag van Gentse Zesdaagse af  sporza.be Minder volks, minder spektakel, maar sneller dan ooit: hoe de Zesdaagse van Gent echt specialistenwerk is geworden  De Standaard Lindsay De Vylder, wereldkampioen op ontdekkingstocht: “Ik ga dringend beter moeten leren onderhandelen”  Het Laatste Nieuws Koen Crucke geeft al zingend het startschot van 6 dagen volksfeest en wielerspektakel in ’t Kuipke  Het Nieuwsblad Full Article q Prijsstijging energie-eiland voor kust kan huishoudens jaarlijks "20 euro" extra kosten - VRT.be By news.google.com Published On :: Tue, 12 Nov 2024 16:50:46 GMT Prijsstijging energie-eiland voor kust kan huishoudens jaarlijks "20 euro" extra kosten  VRT.be Kosten energie-eiland in Noordzee lopen op tot 630 miljoen euro per jaar  De Tijd Kamerleden willen uitstel van miljardencontract voor energie-eiland  De Standaard Kamerleden willen uitstel voor toewijzing duur contract energie-eiland  Knack.be Van der Straeten: “Voorbarig om stekker uit energie-eiland te trekken”  Het Belang van Limburg Full Article q Petra De Sutter is geen kandidaat-voorzitter Groen: "Partij heeft nu iemand nodig die tanden laat zien" - VRT.be By news.google.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 04:25:41 GMT Petra De Sutter is geen kandidaat-voorzitter Groen: "Partij heeft nu iemand nodig die tanden laat zien"  VRT.be Petra De Sutter geen kandidaat-voorzitter voor Groen - Musk gaat onder Trump ministerie voor ‘overheidsefficiëntie’ leiden  De Standaard “Andere partijen zijn geoliede machines, wij vergaderen ons dood”: Groen snakt naar nieuwe voorzitter en heeft topfavoriet, maar wil Petra De Sutter ook?  Het Nieuwsblad Neen, Petra De Sutter wordt geen voorzitter van Groen. In dit interview legt ze uit waarom  De Morgen Full Article q Trump breidt ‘dreamteam’ uit en benoemt Elon Musk tot hoofd “ministerie voor overheidsefficiëntie": “Dit zal schokgolven sturen door het systeem” - Het Laatste Nieuws By news.google.com Published On :: Wed, 13 Nov 2024 07:18:00 GMT Trump breidt ‘dreamteam’ uit en benoemt Elon Musk tot hoofd “ministerie voor overheidsefficiëntie": “Dit zal schokgolven sturen door het systeem”  Het Laatste Nieuws Trump wijst oude bekende Ratcliffe aan als hoofd CIA | Presidentsverkiezingen VS  Het Laatste Nieuws Trump plaatst Elon Musk mee aan hoofd van nieuw ministerie: “Dit gaat schokgolven door het systeem jagen”  Het Nieuwsblad Miljardairs Elon Musk en Vivek Ramaswamy aan hoofd van Trumps nieuwe ministerie van ‘overheidsefficiëntie’  De Standaard Trump benoemt Musk tot 'minister van overheidsefficiëntie'  De Tijd Full Article q One Item Doesn't Quite Fit Here By cheezburger.com Published On :: Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:00:00 -0700 When I need to replace a swing on my swing set, I don't often come to the conclusion that a helicopter chassis would be better suited for the task, but hey, I'm not everybody I guess. Full Article helicopter playground swing swingset q When You Can't Stand Up, You Should Probably Quit Drinking By cheezburger.com Published On :: Sat, 03 Dec 2011 06:00:00 -0800 Or at least switch to 12oz cans to delay the inevitable. ~NSHA Full Article beer beer cans construction home improvement q Quigley stars in Fermanagh win By www.bbc.co.uk Published On :: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 15:20:26 GMT Fermanagh trounce Leitrim in their National Football League Division Four game at Brewster Park. Full Article Northern Ireland q ANTIQUES ROADSHOW By cheezburger.com Published On :: Wed, 20 Jun 2012 17:30:00 -0700 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW carbonite Han Job $14,000-$20,000 Full Article boba fett Han Solo hilarious star wars q The Queen of England Wore a Bright Green Outfit So, Naturally, the Internet Treated It Like a Green Screen By cheezburger.com Published On :: Sat, 31 Aug 2019 19:00:00 -0700 Queen Elizabeth wore a neon green outfit to her 90th birthday party. What could go wrong? Oh right, the internet... Full Article queen list photoshop image q How employers can address increased gender inequality due to Working From Home By www.diversityjobs.com Published On :: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 19:34:21 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the nature of work as we know it. Between flexible work arrangements, part-time contracts, and side gigs, it’s been difficult to gauge just how many people are working from home as a result. But according to Stanford’s research, 42% of the U.S. labor force was working from home full time […] The post How employers can address increased gender inequality due to Working From Home appeared first on DiversityJobs.com. Full Article Diversity Statistics Workplace Diversity q Can AI help us create a more diverse workforce or will it reinforce the status quo? By www.diversityjobs.com Published On :: Mon, 16 Nov 2020 15:00:39 +0000 If you’ve applied for a job at a large company in the last few years, there’s a good chance that an algorithm sorted your resume before a human being even saw it. Companies that make AI hiring algorithms are out to disrupt recruiting and hiring by making it faster and easier to find the “right” […] The post Can AI help us create a more diverse workforce or will it reinforce the status quo? appeared first on DiversityJobs.com. Full Article Artificial Intelligence Career Advice Workplace Diversity q Race, Gender, and LGBTQ+ wage gaps are real – and they end up costing us all By www.diversityjobs.com Published On :: Thu, 03 Dec 2020 13:15:19 +0000 White males make up the largest sector of the U.S. workforce and have, on average, always made the highest salaries. If we compare their salaries to those of women, ethnic minorities, the differently-abled, and LGBTQ+ persons, we see a large disparity between the wages of similarly-qualified candidates in the same fields. The gap is glaring, […] The post Race, Gender, and LGBTQ+ wage gaps are real – and they end up costing us all appeared first on DiversityJobs.com. Full Article Diversity Statistics Workplace Diversity q Diversity in the NSA Workplace: ‘Your Unique Voice and Skillset will be an Asset’ By www.diversityjobs.com Published On :: Mon, 29 Mar 2021 15:44:32 +0000 How inclusive is NSA in terms of diversity? Recently, two employees answered that question and more. Let’s go straight to the source. Michelle E. Prior to joining the National Security Agency (NSA) as a recruiter, Michelle E., pictured life at the agency like many of us do. “Whenever thinking about NSA, I always thought of […] The post Diversity in the NSA Workplace: ‘Your Unique Voice and Skillset will be an Asset’ appeared first on DiversityJobs.com. Full Article Diversity Career Stories q Mike Fu’s Book Notes music playlist for his novel Masquerade By largeheartedboy.com Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:53:24 +0000 "Every song is a portal into the past, a chance to connect with countless mundane moments from before: where you were, what you felt, who you were with when you happened to be listening to the same thing." Full Article Author Playlists books Mike Fu music playlists q A Quick Look at the CC Strategic Workshop on Open Heritage By creativecommons.org Published On :: Fri, 07 Jun 2024 15:00:21 +0000 One year after Creative Commons (CC) hosted an exploratory Open Culture Roundtable, in Lisbon, Portugal, which initiated the Towards a Recommendation on Open Culture (TAROC) global initiative, nearly 50 stakeholders from all continents gathered again for a strategic workshop, in Lisbon in May 2024. In this blog post, we share a snapshot of key highlights. The post A Quick Look at the CC Strategic Workshop on Open Heritage appeared first on Creative Commons. Full Article Open Culture q Questions for Consideration on AI & the Commons By creativecommons.org Published On :: Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:24:08 +0000 “Eight eyes. Engraving after C. Le Brun” by Charles Le Brun is licensed via CC0. The intersection of AI, copyright, creativity, and the commons has been a focal point of conversations within our community for the past couple of years. We’ve hosted intimate roundtables, organized workshops at conferences, and run public events, digging into the… The post Questions for Consideration on AI & the Commons appeared first on Creative Commons. Full Article About CC Licenses & Tools Policy AI AI & the Commons AI and Creativity AI in Public Interest Recent Trending The Finish Line: FAQ's About EIFS Part 1 The Finish Line: Earthquakes and EIFS American Industrial Partners to Acquire PPG’s Architectural Coatings Business Reclaimé Collection by Quick-Step includes new White Washed Oak look Two Weddings and Two Mini-Moons (SQ/EK F ; XJ/BR J ; AA/UA Domestic F; UA/UO Y) Lakeview Farms to Acquire noosa from Campbell Soup Company New Marie Equi Day Center Offers Unhoused LGBTQ+ Portlanders Resources and Hope House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries discusses "The ABCs of Democracy" Basic Black: Thomas Menino's Imprint on the "New Boston" Basic Black News of the Week: On-Screen Families and the Vaccination Question Exquisite bird fossil provides clues to the evolution of avian brains How to take a quantum approach to finding love When Private Equity Acquires Firms Expecting Them to Grow How Taurus and Aquarius Compatibility Can Thrive Despite Differences ‘Killer Questions’ Excluded from 2025 College Entrance Exam Subscribe To Our Newsletter