Nowadays, we are hearing a great deal about the sorry state of affairs in our public education system. There is a hue and cry for a weeding out of the bad apples in the teaching ranks. The question arises as to what it is that is the issue of consideration. There is a difference between being incompetent and poor performance.

It seems to me that incompetency would show up within the first three years of the teaching experience. Poor performance may develop later in a teacher’s career. Both of these terms need explicit clarification. Who is responsible for determining the competency or lack thereof, or the performance of a teacher or administrator, or of a board of education? Legal issues abound.

Even though I have written several articles about the type of supervision in the school environment, I have not addressed the specifics of evaluation. To begin with, teacher evaluation needs to be more than a mere check list of do’s and don’ts. Such things as the following do have their place in the overall evaluation of a teacher, but they are not what is significant: Can students easily hear the teacher? Does the teacher speak clearly. Does the teacher stand or remain seated while giving instruction.? Are the bulletin boards attractive? Do bulletin boards reflect the lesson?

As a former chair of an English department with fourteen teachers, I visited each teacher every semester. These are some of the things I looked for: Does the teacher have good eye contact with the students? Does the teacher use her or his voice to stimulate student interest? Does the teacher call upon students by name? Does the teacher’s use of student names reflect an attitude toward the student(s)? Does the teacher use encouraging language and tone? Do the teacher’s questions reflect the answer he or she wants? Does the teacher show a general feeling of warmth for the students? Does the teacher demonstrate lesson preparedness? There are several other criteria that come into the evaluation. One is sufficient to illustrate the point: Does the teacher greet his or her students when they enter the classroom?

After the official observation, I met with the teacher, discussed my observation, and provided opportunity for teacher feedback. This is crucial in maintaining effective staff rapport and development. Teachers should receive copies of the written evaluation. They should provide space for the teacher to make a formal response. Open communication raises the bar of excellence.

Norman W Wilson, PhD

When you are sitting for another player’s account, you may be tempted to push their excess resources to your village. It certainly would make sense since you’re spending time making sure things are alright in the player’s account. Why not a little reward, right? Even if you follow the pushing rules, you’ll still be violating something.

The Travian rules state that if one or two players are sitting each other they must trade resources on a 1-to-1 basis. For instance, if Bob is sitting Jon’s account, Bob can go into Jon’s account and send himself 10,000 clay, but only if within the next 24 hours he sends 10,000 clay/wood/crop/iron from his own account to Jon’s.

This rule also applies within the marketplace, so be careful. If you’re browsing offers that are on a 1:2 trade basis or 1:1.5 basis, you need to make sure that the player you are sitting for is not the one making the resource offer on the market.

The multihunter has a screen within his/her account that calculates the resource transfers between sitters. If there is a discrepancy greater than 1:1 between two accounts, the overflowing balance will show up in bright red.

If you are ever unsure of the resources you have transferred with your sitter, send the MultiHunter a message and ask him to look up your account – I wouldn’t recommend doing this if you’re running multiple accounts unless you want to get banned for a completely different reason.

A wise nation nurtures potentials and aggregates the potentials for higher contribution towards nation building. Honest dealings motivate the spirit to perform. When the individual is motivated, the spirit to perform will lead to higher contribution. A nation that ignores this concept will practice nepotism, red tapism and corruption. It will ignore the truth that to kill the spirit is a crime as much as it is to take away life. Life without spirit is life without hope.

Without hope, there is no purpose of life. In the end, a nation that indulges in unethical dealings is bound to sustain huge liabilities arising from mismanagement of its precious human resource. It will also waste huge resources in attempting to subside the increasing frustration manifested in all kinds of anti establishment activities. The individual case from a diary evidences that something terribly wrong has been done. When something is wrong, it is important to find out the root cause to understand why a problem has surfaced in this manner.

The Evidence: A game in nexus of operation like a mafia gang set my posting matter in doldrum since my returned from study abroad in September, 2007. I was kept on waitlist for three months although vacancies were available. Then I was rolled into selected ministers within a span of three months in 2008. On promotion, I was allocated Ministry for Development of North-eastern Region in 2008 based on my ethnic background while my batch mates were given sectors of their choices. In a very strange and unusual way, I was denied assignment for seven months. I sat at home writing articles on policy strategy to improve service delivery. In view of this strange position imposed on me, I pleaded to the then Secretary, Personnel for reconsideration of my posting to another ministry.

The then Cabinet Minister for Development of North-eastern Region had also requested the then Minister, Personnel in December, 2008 to resolve my posting matter. The Minister, Personnel verbally assured the Cabinet Minister that he would take corrective action. Based on this promise, the Cabinet Minister relieved me from his Ministry on 31st December, 2008 in the hope of another sector allocation. The HR Department did not respond to the relieve order and did not take action to allocate me another ministry. I was kept in a very peculiar situation without ministry allocation for seven long months from December 2008 to August, 2009 with no reason.

When the hostage period ended due to intervention of the Cabinet Minister, the release was implemented with another program to defunct me further. Despite non availability of vacancy in Ministry of Defence and despite availability of several vacancies in other ministries, the HR Department deliberately chose Ministry of Defence as my future career homeland. In order to create the vacancy in this ministry, an officer who barely worked for one year was pulled out to enable them to post me in his place. I took the challenge positively but the improved delivery in my assignments visibly seen by others soon became an eyesore. While I was on leave for few days in September, 2010, I was transferred to a defunct post. My predecessor, who is now a retiree, informed that the only assigned duty of this defunct post is to accompany the army officers in the tour which I diligently adhered to while I used my spare time in writing and publishing articles.

The Facts: The evidences revealed that I had been utilized only for 8 months out of 42 months from October, 2007 till March, 2011. The loss of national exchequer by providing salary to someone without job for 34 months is a critical issue. It also implies that a viable asset has been turned into an NPA by constant imposition of joblessness and defunct position for 34 months within three and half years. The defunct condition has produced several adverse conditions of life at prime stage of career that completely negates the professed policy of protection of well being of citizens.

Conclusion: The root cause of the problem lies in the deeply entrenched social psychic aggravated by mediocre minds trapped in feudalism. An imprisoned mind is veiled with bias thinking and lacks vision. The imprisoned mind has no capacity to accept potentials and competencies or to expand the vision to be inclusive in approach. It begs the question: how can imprisoned minds be credible, reliable and transparent and how can mediocre minds allow the nation to achieve the expected super power status?

There are so many strategy games for both on line and for game consoles. In today’s games, there isn’t a need to set the setting of the strategy games for half an hour as the programmers had already figured out what actually the gamer needs and had already been programmed into the game.

Most of the strategy games I played needed lots of planning and speed to play well in the strategy games. These games can be those defense games where you need to build towers at strategic areas or points to fight off an invasion effectively or if you are those kind of offensive players, you can be the one building units to crush the computer’s defense.

There is a saying:” Attack is my defense, defense is my attack”. It really depends on how you want to play it.

6 Simple Strategy Techniques For Playing Strategy Games

1) Knowing in depth of the different kinds of units or races in the game. Normally it isn’t going to be more than 10.

2) Follow the basic rules of the strategy game. Some basics strategies are: Use the melee fighters upfront in the front lines as “meat shield” while the ranged soldiers stand behind the melee fighters to support them.

3) When you have gained enough money, do plan some of it for upgrades of your soldiers, towers etc… Normally starting of the game, it can be quite hard to plan but plan out a strategy of your own.

4) Pick up some air units to support your ground troops. It is a must! Next go get a good siege weapon to destroy building more effectively and faster. Siege weapons are a double edged weapon where it can be used for base defense too. By understanding what does what, you will be in a better position to really deploy them well and avoid stupid mistakes.

5) Pay attention to powered attacks too. It is normally in the form of artillery strike with a huge amount of ground troops charging at you, distracting you and using the siege weapons clearing out your base buildings. Use your air units to flank the siege weapons, counter attack them and surprise your enemy.

6) Last tip is to make sure that you don’t save necessary money that is not necessary. This is a common mistake that new gamers make. There is no point in saving so much money in the game and lose in the end and to prove nothing. But if you are going to build massive or very grand, then just do it. Strike a good balance point between having some savings for defense when needed. You will have to learn this in regards to each specific game.

1)When an FBI agent talks about “OC,” what does it mean?

a.Ocean City

b.Organized Crime

c.Oscar Carmine

d.Other Criminals

2)What does “Va fa Napole!” mean in Soprano-speak?

a.”Go to hell!”

b.”I love you!”

c.”Watch out, cops!”

d.”Shut up!”

3)Which “retirement community” Livia Soprano is checked into?

a.Green Acres

b.Green Haven

c.Green Paradise

d.Green Grove

4)Which part of Italy most Sopranos come from?

a.Rome

b.Tuscany

c.Naples

d.Sicily

5)What is the name of Soprano’s pork store?

a.Pork ‘N Beef

b.Bueno Mariale

c.Tony’s Butchery

d.Satriale’s

6)What is the last name of Herman “Hesh”?

a.Rabbilovsky

b.Rabkin

c.Ramstein

d.Rookheim

7)What is Carmela’s maiden name?

a.DeAngelis

b.Tipiari

c.Coromio

d.Sintialis

8)What was Tony’s father’s nick name?

a.Baby Johnny

b.Sympathico

c.Johnny Artista

d.Johnny Boy

9)Which town in Italy do Tony’s ancestors come from?

a.Torino

b.Avellino

c.Corleon

d.Piza

10)How many uncles do Tony have?

a.One

b.Two

c.Three

d.Four

11 ) Who speaks the very first words in the First Episode of the Sopranos?

a.Dr. Melfi

b.Tony Soprano

c.Carmela Soprano

d.Jimmy the Rat

12) Who is the first person to die in The Sopranos series?

a.Mikey Palmice

b.Emil Kolar

c.Hector Anthony

d.Big Mikey

13) What does “Mortadella” mean in Soprano-speak?

a.A made guy

b.A young girl

c.A non-Italian

d.A loser

14) What does “LCN” mean in FBI-speak?

a.La Casa Nostra

b.Heroine

c.Russian mafia

d.Last Criminal Nabbed

15) What is a “Moe Green Special”?

a.A Roman pizza

b.Loan with a very high interest rate

c.To win the lottery

d.Getting killed with a shot in the eye

ANSWERS:

1b, 2a, 3d, 4c, 5d, 6b, 7a, 8d, 9b, 10b, 11a, 12b, 13d, 14a, 15d

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The increasing affordability, accessibility and standard of internet in India is drawing people into looking for entertainment and engagement online.

2009 saw the internet user base in India reaching 71 million, a 42% growth over the previous year, according to a study by market research agency IMRB and Internet and Mobile Association of India. According to Forrester Research, India is expected to have the third largest Internet user base in 2013 with China and USA at numbers one and two, respectively.

Online gaming has benefitted from this growth and enterprising entrepreneurs have been quick to identify the country’s two favorite past times: Bollywood and Cricket as the major draw to online gaming. From the days of playing Prince of Persia to playing chess online with your buddies and later massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG); online gaming in India has come a long way. Social media portals such as Facebook are thriving on the popularity of online games by building a fan following and reaching new audiences. Games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars and Mob Wars have reached iconic proportions and are incredibly popular. Even Twitter has decided to join the bandwagon with online games of its own!

While online gaming is a broad term, it can be divided into various subgenres. One of the popular subgenres is Fantasy Sports. Fantasy Sport Gaming is a $4.5 billion industry in the US and Canada alone. Nearly 60 million people are actively involved in various fantasy sports worldwide. Fantasy Sports is the next big revolution in gaming that could put India on the world gaming map. Fantasy Cricket has already taken roots in India under the aegis of Cricket and the incredible following that the gentlemen’s game enjoys.

Fantasy Cricket challenges players on a higher level than regular gaming. It takes more than the click of a mouse button to score in fantasy cricket; it is a game which puts the player in a managerial role. Users create their own cricket team with cricketers from all the teams playing in an actual scheduled tournament. The fantasy team earns points based on the performances of those cricketers in real life matches and the highest scorers at the end of a tournament stand to win grand prizes for free.

It is highly addictive and capable of keeping users engaged for months depending on the duration of a tournament. With the amount of International and T20 Cricket being played, India’s cricket crazy population has an infinite supply of fantasy cricket, which is where it scores over any other form of gaming.

Fantasy Cricket gives the common man or the so called ‘pseudo cricket expert’ a way to substantiate his arguments by providing him a chance to create his own cricket team and measure it’s progress against teams made by his friends and other cricket fans from across the world.

Fantasy Cricket just like any other Fantasy Sports subgenre is part of the global sports entertainment industry. The industry is well established worldwide and is about time it is taken seriously in India. Fantasy Cricket may well help establish sports entertainment in the country. After all cricket is a religion in India and Fantasy Cricket could achieve a cult status in India sooner than you think.

If there is one thing always associated with computers and technology, it is games. Games have patrons of all ages. A lot of people have gotten rich from doing game-based businesses. An online games business has a lot of avenues for income. Remember that income from online gaming is not only on the provider’s side; even the players can profit from each other.

One way you can earn money from gaming is by creating your own game and marketing it online. This step is more for the technically gifted, of course. Even the simplest games can give you profit. Examples of simple games that generate profit are Lemonade Tycoon, Bejeweled and Facebook applications like Mafia Wars and FarmVille. Developers give people a taste of the games and get them hooked. When this happens, they will market the games for a small price and this is where income comes in. Of course, there are gamers who settle with the trial version of the games, and there are those who get the games illegally, but there are still those who legitimately buy them.

The above mentioned online business is, of course, only for those who have a good grip of the game development and programming. For people who are more interested in just the business aspect of it, there is still an online games business you can go for− sell bulk online games. In this sense, you will be riding on the popularity of the different games available in the market. You do not have to be the developer of the game to sell the game itself, and more importantly, you do not have to worry about marketing of the game. You can just pick up games that are currently popular, reproduce them and then sell them online for a lower price. This works best with newer games as older games tend to be already available online for free. The legitimacy of this business venture is often questioned, but without a doubt, this brings in the money.

Of all the gaming business ventures, this has to be the most interesting. This is because the business goes one between gamers themselves. A very popular online game today is World of Warcraft (WoW). It is the most famous and successful massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) to date. A phenomenon that has gone one in the WoW community is how in-transactions get paid in real money. Players pay other players for services like enchantments or dungeon runs. Accounts with high-leveled and well-developed characters are sold to the highest bidder. There are also sites where the in-game money can be exchanged for real money. This is done not only in WoW but other MMORPGs as well. If you are a good gamer, you can certainly make some money.

You can start an online games business effortlessly and at your own leisure. Because games are so multi-facted, there are so many ways to earn money from them. Choose the type of business you like best.

Do you really make yourselves believe you are governed by a democracy? If that were the case, as we have been made to believe over the years, why is that candidates – both democrats and republicans – spend billions of dollars to win elections? You know, it’s interesting how we think we are better than others, when that is not the truth. Three books to read if you love politics: 12 Hour Work Days-Helicopter Parents-Serving One Purpose and Abandoning the Other, Why It Is Easy To Control People When They Are Afraid – Trump’s Motivation of Power and His Admiration of Putin, The Numbers Game.

We cannot celebrate our freedoms if we can’t afford a slice of bread, work our fingers to the bone for a single meal, while the United States members of congress, house of representatives go on a rampage, running billion dollar campaigns, and behave as though they are under no obligation to raise minimum wage, vote to confirm Merrick Garland, etc, that is a problem. Democracy cannot be bought with any amount of money, no matter how small. Democracy must be free, and citizens get to decide who leads them.

What happens when there’s so much money involved in the political process is that the very concept of democracy, true democracy, is diminished. Those that spend their money on financing their candidates get the final say, whether or not it is in the best interest of the middle-class.

The working-poor were written-off before they ever got here. Every country across the globe – big and small – are corrupt and ineffective. Their leaders care nothing of their citizens, but themselves. Thinking of some countries as civilized… others not… buys you into their narrative of corrupt governing methods where whoever is with the most money has the loudest voice.

It is through putting and end to private campaign donations will genuine change take root. Nothing will change if we keep tolerating greed, corrupt campaigns, loud-mouthed politicians, tough talk, partisan politics, no oversight of any sort, and etc.

Democracy is when each person casts one vote for a candidate they believe is highly qualified, not duped into casting a vote for a candidate whose spending methods are shady, dubious, and mafia-like. It doesn’t make sense to cast a vote for a gangster-like government, where the safety and well-being of the citizens is a non-starter. Trump and Clinton, really? What an embarrassment! Then there’s Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, both with Alzheimer s-like symptoms! Are you freaking kidding me?

I don’t understand why our voice does not account for anything any more. This year’s election’s broken records in terms of polarization, hate, division, discrimination, and etc. That must change; let’s get back to the basics – respect, discipline.

Visitor-management-system based on face recognition is a modern technology. It enables the operator to know how many visitors visited the premises, what was the time spent by each visitor inside, whether they are still inside the premises or not, and other such details. Schools, hospitals, shopping malls, airports, railway stations and other places have many visitors daily. It is an easy target for terrorists, mafia and similar anti-social elements. Visitor management solutions will check all the people coming and going and store biometric details of them in the database for future reference.

A Biometric visitor-management-system based on face recognition is placed at the reception desk or any other spot. The face of the people visiting the premises is captured by the camera and software. If the visitor has visited the office for the first time, he is enrolled into the database. If he has visited before, his details are detected in the database; he is allowed access if he is not a blacklisted visitor. A visitor ID card is created based on the authentication done by the system operator. The ID is stored in the system for future reference.

The advocates of civil liberties oppose the use of face recognition visitor-management solutions. They argue that the stored information can be misused. Besides, it is a blow to the privacy of an individual. People may not wish their details to be preserved by outsiders. The stored information can be stolen by imposters and misused. This is true to some extent. Identity theft is a possibility with a face recognition visitor management system.

However, it is worth compromising privacy for security. Biometrics has evolved as a reliable mode of security. Installing a visitor-management-system will make it less prone to terrorist attacks. Any suspicious individual can be blocked entry. An individual having a prior record of misconduct can be denied access. Modern age has revolutionized everything, even crime! Extremists use technologically advanced method to further their cause. In such a scenario, clinging to primitive security means for the sake of privacy makes no sense. A face recognition visitor management system is the need of the day.

The issue of privacy is not completely ignored. An individual’s private affairs may be interfered with; embarrassing information about the individual may be shared or his identity may be used for personal gains. Government is considering the privacy issues in biometrics. International laws for the protection of personal information have been framed. Companies and organizations using visitor management systems take utmost care to not share the biometric information of individuals without consent. Those caught violating the privacy policies associated with visitor-management solutions are subjected to harsh punishments.

Sacrificing an efficient mode of safety for privacy is no intelligence. Every tool has its own advantages and disadvantages. A visitor management system is no exception! Besides, its advantages over disadvantages are more. Preventing its growing use would be like cutting the bud before the flower blossoms. This innovative technology is setting new standards in security industry. Its growing use is advisable.

Noise is the voice of the chaos gods. In noise all possible sounds are present albeit in a kaleidoscopic non-hierarchy. Noise doesn’t allow our expectations that order will materialize to come to fruition. It trumps us and our plans, leaving us vulnerable, stunned. Don’t let this fool you however, noise is music. From early recordings of DADA and Futurist artists such as Hugo Ball and Luigi Russolo on into Musique Concrete to the sirens and crackles of Public Enemy’s “The Bomb Squad” and up to current aural assaults by SunnO))), noise is music. Noise is also our world. Think of the soundscape you move through each day. All of the alarms and sirens and microwave bleeps and computer blaps and Doppler effects of cars and bits of conversation and jackhammers and helicopters and horns and laughter and static and doors opening and doors closing and insects and birds and ocean waves and bed springs and all of it, all of it. We are adrift in a sea of noise.

Japan is apparently crazy for noise. Since the late 1960’s the Japanese underground has produced some of the scariest, overblown and sublime sounds the world has ever known. Two early purveyors, Keiji Haino and Les Razilles Denudes were simply devastating. Move on a bit to Zeni Geva, Merzbow and Masonna and you’re into some serious schizo territory.

Current purveyors such as Acid Mother’s Temple and Ghost are furthering the range and impact of the eternal noise theatre. What is it about Japan specifically? Could it be the legacy of being the only country ever bombed with nuclear weapons? That certainly seems to have contributed to the stream of atomic monster movies produced over the last 40 years in Japan. Mothra, Gammara and of course Godzilla all seemed to involve variations on the theme of nuclear bombs and accidents. is it the vibrant and heightened drama of Kabuki and Noh Theatres? is it the wildly colorful youth street culture? The full body tattoos of the Japanese Mafia? The religious response to nature so prevalent in Shinto? I guess it’s no one thing in particular. It’s more likely just an accumulation of a rich and colorful heritage combined with some very creative souls.

Oddly enough not all noise is particularly noisy. In fact some of the more interesting uses of noise can be in smaller and quiet sound event.

There is an entire record label called lowercase that explores some of these more tranquil noise events. Other noise can be quite melancholy. Think of the band “The Birthday Party” or even some of Tom Waits on ‘Swordfishtrombones’ or “Heart Attack and Vine”. Noise can be used subtly to convey sadness or strategically to highlight an explosive moment. This is the realm in which we find LSD March and their latest reissued release, “Empty Rubious Red” (aRCHIVE).

As stated above this disc is a reissue of a previously (and microscopically available) independent release. It has a couple additional tracks and some great new art work by Joe DeNardo of the band “Growing”.

Where as some of the aforementioned noise merchants come out of the box swinging, LSD March tends to take a bit more time. Songs start out with odd and quiet tinklings. They sound like springs popping and marbles rolling through a piano. LSD March main man Shinsuke Michishita is a master of restraint. But when things finally let loose, watch out! The music on this disc is actually a nice range. There are quiet and melancholy moments. At times (“As Many A Stars In The Sky” and “Nude and Bizarre”) he drifts into a scorched and parched folk music. The ethereal songs serve as a nice counter-point to the monstrously thundering jams such as “Empty Rubious Red”. LSD March are perhaps not as steeped in pure noise as say The Boredoms. THey are more psychedelic, folksy and drone based. As with many great Japanese bands they are synthesists. This is great music to listen to while starring out at the vast ocean on a clear day from a tall cliff. It represents the quieter and more expansive possibilities of the noise equation.

This album is sold out at aRCHIVE but you can download the entire album from the Lotushouse Records mp3 shopzone [http://www.lotushouserecords.com/shop].