![]() I accidentally create two burrows in immediate succession. The only apparent action I can take is to make a burrow. I discover somewhere in the menus that I have a wagon. Now I worry he's not only useless, but possibly a vigilante who may be plotting my death. The expedition leader worships two gods but is only long-term acquaintances with his fellow dwarves. Then I stumble into a menu where I can see the relationships my dwarves have with others. I further doubt the utility of an expedition leader in this game. I realise I have an option for a military and worry that things could get serious. I start cleaning my keyboard with a piece of sticky-tack before I remember my one true purpose: build my fortress, with dwarves. I lose focus and manage to send a text message to my brother about a pregnant, mutual friend and send pictures of Claire Dane's crying face to another pal. Since our expedition has just ended, I make a mental note to eat him first if our winter preparations go awry. Looking at my list of residents, I see a couple of woodworkers, a couple who mainly deal with fish, and an "expedition leader". I now have an overwhelming number of options for modifying my fortress and directing my dwarf peons. So far the only narrative instructions in the game that I've gotten so far are the two words in the title.Ī collective of dwarves, in what I will eventually come to realise are sinister surroundings. Ah, I think I get it - I chose a location to dig a hole in the ground, and now, having dug a hole in the ground, I have a Dwarf Fortress. Now the map is punctuation marks, with a few happy faces scattered around. Possessing little knowledge of what that place is, how I will get there, or what I'll find upon arriving, I steel my nerves for the worst. I embark, and the game warns me to prepare carefully for the journey to "Atêkirth". Options have opened up to "embark" or "find desired location". ![]() It's not clear what they've done to deserve that adjective, but it's a morale high point, so far. Here there are no trees or vegetation but the surroundings are "mirthful". My HUD, so to speak, would have me believe they are the "badlands". I spot some square root signs in the "distance". Playing this game is, visually, not entirely unlike reading a quantum physics textbook. ![]() As far as I can see, I'm moving from one obscure symbol to the next. Our hero awakens in unfamiliar typographical surroundingsĪs my first playthrough begins, I find that I can move around the screen, but I'm not sure to what end. This is admittedly extreme, but I wanted to begin at the bottom to let the game be its most challenging, and then work up from there. There are instructions within the game, and without in the form of wikis and forums, but I wanted to begin at the most basic level, if only to come at the game from a recently trendy (if controversial) design paradigm on discoverability that's flowed from mobile apps to many new indie games: "if you see a UI walkthrough, they blew it". And I learned one thing well: Dwarf Fortress is not a game that will hold your hand.ĭisclaimer: Graphical skins and other such add-ons can make the game more palatable, but for the purposes of this piece, I attempted to play it in its original, stripped-down state. ![]() I'd experiment and explore, seeing what I could ascertain from the user interface and environment and making as much progress as I could by my wits alone. I set a goal of doing my legit best to avoid using external guides or hints and to hold off using internal explanations unless I felt lost. I decided to give the game ten hours of my life. It's a puzzle constructed in code, a throwback to games like Kroz. Its cast and environments are all rendered in coloured characters of ASCII symbols (apostrophes, letters, mathematical symbols). Not only is the game complex, with endless intricacies to the controls and systems, but it's incredibly archaic-looking, especially for a game released this millennium. In a profile of the game's co-creators, the New York Times described Dwarf Fortress as "a series of staggeringly elaborate challenges and devastating setbacks". This includes all the implied strategy and resource management: assigning jobs, collecting and storing goods, building and using structures, and eventually defending yourself against other civilisations. A short time later - kaboom.įirst devised by its two obsessive creators in 2002, Dwarf Fortress involves taking a band of dwarves and building them into a miniature civilisation. One of his many fortress death spirals began, as the downfalls of society often do, with an immigrant dwarf who suddenly succumbed to a "secretive mood". How complex? In the game's discussion forum, one player asserts that after 120 failed games, he can finally "get into the swing of things". Dwarf Fortress is one of the most complex computer games in the history of computer games.
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![]() Slate is probably the most common natural stone in general use. Slate tiles are used not only for flooring, but also wall tiling, back splashes, stepping stones, roofing, and a variety of other uses. Slate is quarried around the world as well as domestically, but is mainly manufactured in Asia. Slate is quarried in large slabs, which are then cleaved, parallel to the foliation, into tiles of generally uniform size. It is often black, dark green, and gray, but can also include instances of red, purple, gold, and blue. Slate is a durable, finely foliated, and brittle stone, which comes in a wide range of colors, depending on the location and minerals of the slate in question. These are all then compressed over long periods of time by heat and pressure until they bond into a homogenous, finely grained stone, which we know as slate. These minerals and sediments include quartz, mica, muscovite, calcite, and often times biotite, chlorite, hematite, and pyrite, with occasional instances of apatite, graphite, kaolinite (the main mineral in ceramic clay), magnetite, zircon, and feldspar. Slate is a metamorphic rock, which (if you’ll recall your elementary school geology) simply means that it is formed over long periods of time out of other existing rock types. Slate is a natural stone flooring material that is quarried from out of the earth, usually from mountains. So our team decided that we would fill the gaps and give you this post with everything you ever wanted to know about slate tile flooring. Consider the benefits and drawbacks before shopping for the best product and a competent flooring contractor to install it.Slate tile flooring is a an exceptionally beautiful and durable natural stone flooring option offered by Floor Coverings International of Largo and Seminole, FL, but there’s not a whole lot of information on it. A slate flooring is more than just a house enhancement for many homeowners it’s an investment in the long future. Slate is the obvious choice for those seeking the best combination of beauty and durability. Individuals with joint or foot difficulties who require a softer standing surface are more likely to be affected by this. While walking across the smooth surface of slate is nice, standing in one spot for extended periods of time on an extra-hard flooring material like slate may be unpleasant. ![]() Is this something that the typical do-it-yourself person could tackle? In most circumstances, slate installation requires the skills of an expert flooring contractor. If the current installation surface isn’t absolutely flat, self-leveling concrete will be needed to create a bed for the slate. The floor must be precisely level in order for the slate tiles to be installed extremely flat. It is necessary to prepare the subfloor to handle that weight. The weight of slate tiles is crucial because the tile may shatter under its own weight if not laid on a level supporting sub-floor. This information has an impact on any installation complications that may emerge. Slate is not just a tough flooring material, but it’s also rather hefty. While slate is superior in terms of wear and tear and can sustain enormous weight, a sudden hit from a really large item might break a slate tile. Many highly hard, long-lasting stone materials, such as slate, can be fragile under specific conditions. Demerits of Slate Flooring Potential Damage ![]() However, it lacks features for converting between ebook formats, syncing with ebook readers, or reading any format other than. At the same time, Lucidor also has something of Calibre’s links to online sources for ebooks and online reading material, which Lucidor can convert easily into an ebook if necessary. As things are, Calibre’s interface can be forgiven for the sake of its feature set – but just barely.įigure 2: Calibre is full of features, but can be flaky in its frequent updates and has a poor interface.Īlthough farther along than Buka in development, Lucidor (Figure 3) shares some of Buka’s attention to interface design. If Calibre was not so full of features, its interface would be enough reason to avoid it altogether. ![]() Unfortunately, icons on the second row can be glimpsed, but close before you can click on them. It is navigated chiefly by a poorly organized toolbar that occupies two rows. Note, too, that Calibre’s interface is stuck somewhere in 1995. If you have a stable version of Calibre that does all that you want, consider sticking with it for as long as you can. For instance, I have known the Add Books feature to be broken for weeks at a time before it was functional again. In my experience, Calibre’s constant tweaking sometimes breaks as much as it fixes. Want to convert from one ebook format to another? Calibre does that, too – automatically for the most part, although you can also drop down to a text editor and manage the conversion by hand.Ĭalibre advises you to keep your copy of the project updated manually from the project’s website, but take that advice with a pinch of cynicism. If you are shopping for a new ebook or an online newspaper, Calibre has the most comprehensive list of online sources that I have seen, whether free or proprietary. However, that is not all that Calibre does. There is even a plugin for removing digital rights management (DRM) arrangements, although you didn’t hear that from me. You can also send files to external devices and keep devices synced with a click of an icon. In fact, for your convenience, you can edit file metadata to make material easy to find. At its most basic, Calibre organizes your online reading material and allows you to search for them by name and author, as well as any other metadata that happens to be attached to their files. In the best Linux tradition, Calibre (Figure 2) offers everything you might need in one place – and does so more completely than any other application. However, the lack of clutter makes Buka easy to navigate and definitely one to watch.įigure 1: Although relatively new, Buka is a well-designed ebook manager. A particularly interesting feature is a built-in translator.įor now, Buka supports only PDF format. Select a listed item, and it opens in an interface reminiscent of Okular, KDE’s general document viewer. Right now, you can use Buka to create lists of publications that are searchable, as well as displayed by author. It features a streamlined interface with controls that are only visible when the cursor passes over them and that are easy to learn as you need them. Bukaīuka (Figure 1) is an application that is stable, but still relatively early in its development. Which one is right for you depends mostly on whether you just want to organize your online library, or whether you are looking to use other functions, such as searching for new reading material online or converting from one ebook format to another. For the time being, the three main ebook managers available on Linux are Buka, Lucidor, and Calibre. Similarly, as I write, at least two projects are receiving a lot of advance notice, although both are too early in their development to recommend. ![]() For example, a couple of years ago, CoolReader was widely praised as an up and coming ebook manager – today, its Linux development seems to have been abandoned, and you are unlikely to get it to compile while using a recent kernel. ![]() In fact, another mark of online reading’s popularity is how quickly ebook managers seem to come and go. Many, however, use a specialized manager to organize their books, newspapers, and articles online. Some readers prefer to trust to Google Books or Library Thing to organize their reading when online editions are available others use a general collection manager, although many, like Tellico, are designed for physical objects rather than electronic ones. With all this reading material comes an increased need to manage it. In 2017, over 266 million ebooks were released in the United States alone, and the numbers have increased every year since 2003. Today, many people read online from their everyday computers – and in ever-increasing numbers. However, e-readers have become a niche market. If you are reading on a screen, nothing beats the resolution and glare controls of an e-reader. ![]() Who can forget the scene as the group cleans up and dances to the sounds of The Temptations? Utterly divine soundtrack making. "The Big Chill" is a film that we imagine strongly reflected the thoughts and feelings of the Baby Boom generation.Īll of this drama and comedy is set against a backdrop of one of the most impressive and memorable classic rock and r&b soundtracks in movie history. Though this group is without a doubt filled with deep-seeded hatred and long-held resentments, unspoken love and uncovered secrets, they still remain friends though the trials and tribulations of life. This will resonate with most viewers because we have all changed at least a little bit from when we were younger, showing us that our young ideals of how we imagine things will be when we leave school and go out into the "real world" will rarely if ever line up to how things actually become as adults. As is the case any time friends get together after a long period of not seeing each other, they reminisce about the times that have past and lament over their transformations from 60's political hippies into full blown 80's yuppies and/or wealthy suburbanites. What a cast of characters! After the suicide of one of their friends, these seven college friends come together for the funeral and then spend the weekend together at the home of Harold and Sarah Cooper, played by Kline and Close. ![]() It stars Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, Tom Berenger, Mary Kay Place, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Tilly, William Hurt, and JoBeth Williams. The Academy Award nominated "The Big Chill" brings together an ensemble cast in this very personal dramedy about love, loss, and friendship, written by "Star Wars" co-writer Lawrence Kasdan. A group of old college friends reunite for a weekend after the funeral for one of their friends who committed suicide. Tokyo Metropolitan Route 302 ( Shokuan-Dōri ( 職安通り), on the north).Tokyo Metropolitan Route 305 ( Meiji-Dōri ( 明治通り), on the east).After several large hotels opened in the district, the Kabukicho Concierge Association was formed to recommend businesses that would be safe for foreign patrons, as the area is notorious for the practice known as bottakuri, where some businesses add exorbitant hidden fees to bring the final bill well beyond the initial advertised prices. Recently, tourism from China and Korea is on the rise, and so, many tourists can be seen in Kabukichō even during daytime. Although referred here as a "red light district", there are no red lights in the literal sense with prostitutes in the windows as in Amsterdam. Īt present, the 36 ha (89 acres 0.14 sq mi) Kabukichō district has transformed from a residential area to a world-famous red-light district housing over three thousand bars, nightclubs, love hotels, massage parlours, hostess clubs and the like. ![]() Kabukichō leaders attributed the change in enforcement to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and the Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. However, starting in 2003, joint citizen and police patrols began enforcing business licensing, and the 1948 Businesses Affecting Public Morals Regulation Act was more strictly enforced as well starting in April 2004, forcing adult-themed businesses to start removing customers at midnight in preparation to close by 1 AM. īy 1999, the area had been named "Asia's largest adult entertainment district", and tabloids were regularly running candid photographs of drunken Kabukichō patrons fighting and being arrested. In 1971, Takeshi Aida, a former mattress salesman, opened "Club Ai", the first host club in Kabukichō at its peak, Aida's company reported ¥2.7 billion in annual revenue. Katsumi had apprenticed to a portrait studio in Tokyo shortly after moving there in 1962 he took his street photography portraits at night using a strobe as a side job. Watanabe Katsumi, a freelance portrait photographer who took pictures and sold prints back to his subjects for a modest ¥200, documented the citizens of Kabukichō during this transition period in the 1960s and 1970s. The rise of home video entertainment decreased the demand for live performances and film theaters, and Kabukichō became home to a number of video arcades, discos, and fuzoku (businesses offering sexual services). In 2002, it was estimated that 70% of the land in Kabukichō was owned by foreign-born Japanese residents and their descendants. The "three most renowned overseas Chinese of Kabukicho" include the founder of Humax, Lin Yi-wen, who started his business with a cabaret Lin Tsai-wang, who built the Fūrin Kaikan and Lee Ho-chu, owner of the Tokyo Hotel Chinese restaurant. Kabuki-chō was quickly redeveloped after the war, mainly due to the efforts of the overseas Chinese in Japan who bought land left unused after the expos and greatly developed them. ![]() The Tokyu Cultural Hall (to the south, in Shibuya), Tokyu Milano-za movie theater, Tokyo Ice Skating Rink, and Shinjuku Koma Theater were all completed in 1956, cementing the area's reputation as an entertainment center. Although the theatre was cancelled due to financial problems, the name remained. As a result, Hideaki Ishikawa, a regional planner, dubbed the town Kabuki-chō, which was adopted on April 1, 1948. After the war, Kihei Suzuki from the Association of Readjustment and Reconstruction of Shinjuku worked with the major landowner, Mohei Minejima to draw up plans for Kiku-za, a kabuki theatre, in the area they believed that performers from the Kabuki-za theatre in Ginza would accept their invitation to perform at Kiku-za. ĭuring the war, a bombing raid on April 13, 1945, razed the area to the ground. Prior to World War II, the district was one of the areas open to foreign-born property owners (primarily from Taiwan and Korea), who mainly operated tsurekomi yado, predecessors to today's love hotels. In 1920, a girls' school was built there, and the surroundings were developed into a residential area. As the Yodobashi Purification Plant was built in 1893, the ponds were filled in. After the Meiji Period, the area became a duck sanctuary. Originally, the area was known as Tsunohazu ( 角筈) and was a swamp. ![]() He then walks by the golfer and says, “That’s what I play.” There’s a commercial that takes place at a PGA Tour Superstore and a golfer is looking at balls and says to himself, “So many choices.” Suddenly a box of TaylorMade TP5x balls falls off the shelf and there appear Higgs’ smiling face because he has pushed the box forward with a stick. I don’t know of any other PGA Tour player who hasn’t won an event in North America and has commercials and sponsors. It’s not just because of his weight, it’s also his demeanour. He is currently playing in his fourth season on the PGA Tour and has quite a following. Perhaps it’s only fitting he won an event sponsored by Diners Club. ![]() Higgs has recorded two professional wins, one of which is the Diners Club Peru Open on the PGA Latinoamerica Tour. There are others such as Craig’s son, Kevin Stadler (Srixon Z Star XV), Jason Dufner (Titleist Pro V1x) and Jason Kokrak (Titleist Pro V1). Higgs isn’t the only current PGA Tour player with a big girth. Think of former full-time PGA Tour players such as John Daly and Craig Stadler and you have the image of which I am speaking, but they could pack a punch with their paunch – which is to say they could win. He carries added weight, to be exact, around his belly. He also resembles what some pro golfers used to look like physically before physical fitness took over the sport. The man affectionally known as Big Rigg embodies a spirit and personality that makes him hard not to like. I have but one golf wish for the holidays – that that the golfing gods spread their love toward Harry Higgs (TaylorMade TP5x) and gift him with a PGA tournament win, preferably sooner rather than later. ![]() In fact, in OBS and other software, both the Logitech StreamCam and Logitech Capture appear as separate video sources, so you can choose between using the raw video feed from the camera or the processed feed from Logitech Capture. Logitech realized this would be a likely use case, so Logitech Capture appears as its own active video feed when running, treating whatever scene you set up as just like a webcam. More importantly, Logitech Capture also enables several helpful features on the StreamCam, which is why you'll most likely use both it and your recording and streaming software of choice. You can also use Logitech's own Logitech Capture software, which lacks the comprehensive power and configurability of OBS or XSplit for recording or streaming, but is much easier to use and still provides plenty of flexibility. You can use the recording and streaming software of your choice, like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) and XSplit, with the StreamCam. The StreamCam adjusts automatically depending on how it's mounted. Rotating the camera counterclockwise 90 degrees and placing it back on the mount puts the logo on the right side, and lets it record 1080p60 video in landscape orientation. With the Logitech logo on the bottom of the front of the camera, it records in portrait orientation at up to 1,920 by 1,080 resolution and 60 frames per second. The StreamCam detaches completely from either mount, not only so you can switch between them, but so you can use the camera in your choice or orientation. The other mount is a small tabletop tripod that lets you set up the StreamCam on any flat surface. The small lip keeps the camera steady on the top bezel of your screen, while the arm and foot brace against the back. One mount is designed for monitors and laptop screens, with a plastic lip on the front and a flip-out arm on a stiff hinge with a smaller foot that flips out at the bottom. The camera fits on either of two included mounts with U-shaped brackets that hold it snugly by small protrusions near the back of the device. Read our editorial mission (Opens in a new window) & see how we test (Opens in a new window). ![]() Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. The front of the camera features a fabric cover with the Logitech logo on the bottom and an indicator LED behind the fabric in the upper right corner. The StreamCam is a boxy camera in a black or light gray that measures 2.3 inches high, 1.9 inches wide, and 2.4 inches deep, with a five-foot cable terminating in a USB-C plug. With the ability to record up to 1080p video at 60 frames per second in portrait, landscape, or square orientations, included screen and tripod stands, and a capable software package that lets you easily tweak your video feed before you go live, it's a powerful tool for streamers that earns our Editors' Choice. ![]() With that in mind, the Logitech StreamCam provides everything you need for top-notch livestreaming for $169.99. These won't give you the crisp, smooth video you need to bolster your livestreaming career, however. They're built into nearly every laptop and tablet, and if you need a dedicated one, plenty of inexpensive options are available. Webcams are usually seen as an afterthought. Logitech Capture software doesn't stream.How to Set Up Two-Factor Authentication.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill.How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad.How to Block Robotexts and Spam Messages. ![]() Color: Choose a new color for the object.Change the setting here if you would like the object to appear in the Algebra View ![]() Loci and points in Regular Polygons are automatically designated as auxiliary objects. Auxiliary objects do not appear in the Algebra View in GeoGebra, and are generally Dependent Objects.Select Fix Object to prevent the object from being moved from its current location.The Caption can be used as alternate label in the Graphics view, without having to change the name of the actual object. If you wrap the entire caption in single $ signs, it will format the caption as LaTeX Math! Note: you’ll also have to change “Show Label:” to “Caption” to see such a LaTeX caption.The Definition text appearing in the above example is the text command that can be used to generate the object if you were to use the Input bar at the bottom of the GeoGebra Window.Basic: Many of the properties in this tab you have already seen, so we note some new properties on this tab.Here is a brief description of a few tabs: The tabs that appear depend on what type of object you select. Note that there are several tabs that can be accessed to change different properties. Alternatively, select one of the object types on the left to select all objects of that type. This window displays all objects created so far, and allows the user to modify the properties of the selected object. (Object Properties can also be accessed by going to “Edit > Object Properties”) Experiment with the remaining options, and open Object Properties when you are finished. The second line will change how the object appears in the Algebra View (if an alternate style is available, otherwise this line will not appear). ![]() The first line describes the type of Object, its name, and how it was defined (if applicable). Right-clicking on the center point or the circle will display the following properties and options: Basic properties of any object can be accessed by right-clicking (for Mac users, hold Ctrl and click) on an object.Ĭreate a circle using the Circle with Center through Point tool. When an object such as a point or line is created, there are several pieces of information stored with that object, describing how the object is defined and how to display the object. We will then cover some of the way you can share what you’ve made in GeoGebra with others. The goal of this lesson is to gain insight on how to change the appearance of GeoGebra and the objects within it. |