1. Covid-19 Delhi latest figures- 224 new cases take capital’s total to 8,630, India tally at 59,662  Hindustan Times
2. Confusion over Delhi's Covid-19 toll as govt data, figures from hospitals don't match  Times of India
3. 3 More Private Hospitals To Treat COVID-19 Patients In Delhi  NDTV
4. Delhi Covid-19 tally tops 6,000 with 338 new cases in last 24 hours  Livemint
5. 100 rooms in Delhi's five-star hotels now hospitals  Times of India
6. View Full coverage on Google News

1. Shah slams Bengal govt for 'not allowing' migrant trains; Centre lying, says TMC  Times of India
2. Not Allowing Migrants' Trains "Injustice": Amit Shah To Mamata Banerjee  NDTV
3. TMC releases 'proof' after Centre alleges blockade of migrant transport in West Bengal  TIMES NOW
4. News updates from Hindustan Times: Have 7-stage plan to bring back migrants, says TMC on Amit Shah’s...  Hindustan Times
5. Bengal Says 8 Trains to Bring Back Migrant Workers Scheduled as Amit Shah Writes to Mamata on 'Injustice'  News18
6. View Full coverage on Google News

The transcript of Three Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Designing Languages, a talk given by Peter Alvaro somewhere or other, is up at Info Q.

Peter Alavaro's main research interest is in taming distributed systems. He starts his talk with the provocative thesis, "In the future, all radical new languages will be domain-specific languages." He talks of the evolution of his ideas about dealing with distributed systems:

1. Little interest by designers of programming-language designers in filling huge difficulty of debugging in context of distributed systems;
2. PLs often make handling of data somewhat implicit, even with functional programming, which he says is dangerous in distributed programming;
3. To talk about the flow of data properly, we need to talk about time;
4. Two things that influenced him as a grad student: Jeff Ullman's claim that encapsulation and declarativity are in tension, and Fagin's theorem (the existential fragment of second-order logic characterises NP);
5. Idea that distributed systems can be considered as protocols specified a bit like SQL or Datalog queries;
6. Triviality with query languages of characterising the idea of place in distributive systems: they are just another relation parameter;
7. Describing evolution of a system in time can be done with two other things: counters and negation, leading to Bertram Ludäscher's language Statelog. But this way of doing things leads to the kind of low-level overexpressive modelling he was trying to avoid;
8. "What is it about...protocols that they seem to require negation to express?” Turns out that if you drop negation, you characterise the protocols that deliver messages deterministically.

He summarises by saying the only good reason to design a programming language (I assume he means a radically novel language) is to shape your understanding of the problem. No regrets of being the only user of his first language, Datalist, because the point is that it shaped all his later thought in his research.

Let's talk about Blockchain. Goal is to use this forum topic to highlight its usefulness to programming language theory and practice. If you're familiar with existing research efforts, please share them here. In addition, feel free to generate ideas for how Blockchain could improve languages and developer productivity.

As one tasty example: Blockchain helps to formalize thinking about mutual knowledge and common knowledge, and potentially think about sharing intergalactic computing power through vast distributed computing fabrics. If we can design contracts in such a way that maximizes the usage of mutual knowledge while minimizing common knowledge to situations where you have to "prove your collateral", third-party transactions could eliminate a lot of back office burden. But, there might be benefits in other areas of computer science from such research, as well.

Some language researchers, like Mark S. Miller, have always dreamed of Agoric and the Decades-Long Quest for Secure Smart Contracts.

Some may also be aware that verification of smart contracts is an important research area, because of the notorious theft of purse via logic bug in an Ethereum smart contract.

Last Five Minutes of Fame

To what lengths does one have to go in order to achieve fame? It wasn’t until years later that by simply sucking on someone’s cock (Monica Lewinsky and Kim Kardashian) that the distance one had to go to achieve fame was not that far at all. The only distance they had to go...was down.

I Mean…What?!?

Antilichamen in uw bloed zijn geen belofte dat u veilig bent  Het Belang van LimburgHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Waasland-Beveren dropt bom, Club Brugge dreigt titel te verliezen  Voetbal24.be
2. Waasland-Beveren wil niet zakken: "1A met 18 is logische oplossing"  sporza.be
3. Waasland-Beveren heeft uitstekend nieuws voor Beerschot en OHL  VoetbalNieuws.be
4. Waasland-Beveren-voorzitter Dirk Huyck over de strijd om in 1A te blijven - Voetbalnieuws  Voetbalkrant.com
5. Voorzitter Waasland-Beveren: “Wij zullen nooit akkoord gaan met degradatie”  Het Laatste Nieuws
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Remco Evenepoel: "Vandaag had een heel belangrijke dag moeten zijn"  sporza.be
2. Remco Evenepoel verkiest Giro boven Luik-Bastenaken-Luik | Wielrennen | Sport  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Contador over 20 minuten-test Evenepoel: “Als die klopt, kan hij nu al de Giro winnen”  WielerFlits.be
4. Patrick Lefevere bevestigt dat Remco Evenepoel de Giro gaat rijden  Wielerkrant.be
5. Remco Evenepoel rijdt Giro in het najaar: "Intriest dat hij Luik niet kan rijden"  sporza.be
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Het laatste woord is nog niet gezegd: "Niet ondenkbaar dat KBVB en clubs zich burgerlijke partij stellen in strafonderzoek naar Moeskroen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. Peter Vandenbempt over Moeskroen: "Het failliet van de licenties"  sporza.be
3. BAS-arbiter die Moeskroen laat gaan was debutant  Het Nieuwsblad
4. Belgische voetbalbond: “Principieel oneens met beslissing BAS om Moeskroen licentie toe te kennen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. Verbazing alom over licentie voor Moeskroen: “Hier laat Westerlo het niet bij, de strijd barst nu écht los”  Gazet van Antwerpen
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. TV-bazen over de impact van corona - DEEL 2. Davy Parmentier van VTM: “Hoe het straks verder moet, weet vandaag nog niemand”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. 'Een vrijscène met 1,5 meter afstand, hoe doe je dat?'  De Tijd
3. TV-bazen over de impact van corona - DEEL 1. Olivier Goris van VRT: “Ik hou er rekening mee dat we de komende zes maanden geen seconde fictie draaien”  Het Laatste Nieuws
4. Zomer vol herhalingen, en herhalingen van herhalingen: coronacrisis is opdoffer voor alle tv-zenders, en vooral voor VRT  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. 'Temptation'-verleidster Eline verrast: “Vriendinnen met Elke, géén contact meer met Arda”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. 'Kk hadt naaien', een slappe worst en een ongeziene belediging: dit viel onze 'Temptation'-watcher op  Het Nieuwsblad
3. Eline uit Temptation Island doet pikante uitspraken: 'Elke moet mij dankbaar zijn'  Nieuws365
4. Een erg straffe Elke, harde levenslessen en vreemde kronkels: dit was aflevering 12 van 'Temptation Island'  Het Laatste Nieuws
5. Zach over zijn gedrag in 'Temptation Island': “Ik wou een psychologisch spelletje spelen met Romee”  Het Nieuwsblad
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Valerie De Booser deelt uitdagende foto op Instagram vanuit haar kot  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. China lanceert nieuwe herbruikbare capsule voor vluchten met taikonauten  Tweakers
2. Chinees ruimteschip landt succesvol terug op aarde | Wetenschap & Planeet  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. China zet succesvolle stap richting eigen ruimtestation  Het Nieuwsblad
4. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Muzikanten brengen ultiem eerbetoon aan alle 'heroes' vanop het dak van het Jessa Ziekenhuis  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. Flip Kowlier en Isolde Lasoen filmen cover van Heroes op dak van Jessa  Het Belang van Limburg
3. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Smartphones aan spotprijzen, ze bestaan nog: onze gadget inspector test er twee  Het Belang van Limburg
2. GETEST. Spotgoedkope smartphones van minder dan 100 euro  Het Nieuwsblad
3. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Samsonite Oudenaarde stevent af op collectief ontslag  De Standaard
2. Samsonite plant ontslagronde in Oudenaarde  De Tijd
3. Corona kost banen bij reiskofferfabrikant Samsonite: “Het gi... (Oudenaarde)  Het Nieuwsblad
4. Mogelijke ontslagen bij Samsonite Oudenaarde door coronacrisis: “Niemand wil een reiskoffer kopen”  VRT NWS
5. Samsonite Oudenaarde kondigt ontslagen aan (Oudenaarde)  Het Nieuwsblad
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Minister Muylle wil tijdelijke werkloosheid verlengen tot 1 ...  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering liet ons aan ons lot over. We hebben twee maanden op ons terras moeten doorbrengen”  Het Laatste Nieuws
2. 173 gestrande Belgen eindelijk thuis na quarantaine in Tenerife: “Regering heeft te weinig gedaan!”  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Na quarantaine in Tenerife: 173 Belgen eindelijk weer thuis  De Morgen
4. Belgen die vastzaten op Tenerife charterden zelf vliegtuig naar huis  De Standaard
5. West-Vlaming regelt repatriëring gestrande Belgen  Focus en WTV
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Turkse recepten tegen virus laten meer vrijheid toe  De Standaard

Motorrijder uit Zottegem overleden na zwaar ongeval in Zwalm, bestuurster auto zwaargewond  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. 76 nieuwe overlijdens in de afgelopen 24 uur, evenveel ziekenhuisopnames  Het Belang van Limburg
2. OVERZICHT. Dalende curve zet zich voort. 76 overlijdens, 210 patiënten naar huis en 76 nieuwe opnames  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Coronavirus: 76 overlijdens, 210 patiënten ontslagen uit het ziekenhuis  newsmonkey
4. Minder patiënten in onze ziekenhuizen  Het Nieuwsblad
5. OVERZICHT. 76 nieuwe ziekenhuisopnames en overlijdens, 585 nieuwe besmettingen | Binnenland | Nieuws  Het Laatste Nieuws
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Noodnummer 1722 geactiveerd wegens slecht weer op zondag  Het NieuwsbladHele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Minister van Toerisme Demir wil toeristen in Vlaanderen spreiden  De Standaard
2. Minister van Toerisme Demir wil met druktebarometer toeristen in Vlaanderen spreiden  Het Laatste Nieuws
3. Minister Zuhal Demir licht toerismeplan voor de zomer toe: “Ik wil dat de mensen Vlaanderen herontdekken”  Het Nieuwsblad
4. Ziekenhuizen kust ongerust over komst toeristen  Focus en WTV
5. Minister van Toerisme Demir werkt aan plan om toeristen in Vlaanderen te spreiden  De Morgen
6. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

1. Betogers uit erg diverse hoeken protesteren tegen coronamaatregelen in Duitsland  VRT NWS
2. Duitsland demonstreert tegen coronamaatregelen  De Standaard
3. Duitse ME grijpt in bij protest tegen coronamaatregelen  Telegraaf.nl
4. Hele verhaal bekijken via Google Nieuws

Man die fietspad bezaait met prikkeldraad, spijkers en glas praat zichzelf aan de galg tegen visser die stiekem filmt  Het Laatste Nieuws

LIVE. De Wever over eventuele tweede piek: “Normale quarantaine is er een van zieken, niet van gezonde mensen”  Het Laatste Nieuws

Experts, economen en politici: iedereen is nu al bezig met een tweede coronagolf. “Zolang er geen vaccin is, zal het nieuwe normaal blijven bestaan”  Het Nieuwsblad

Flushed with the feeling of success that comes from having cleaned my office to such a degree that the rugs are now visible, I thought today that I would take on the problem of excess books. Surely there are some I don't actually need. So I chose a shelf at near-random (it was one of those actually accessible without moving the boxes of books stacked before it to another location), and started going through both rows (the shelves are double-stacked, of course) to see what they contained.

Only to discover that the shelf was stocked with books placed there at seeming random. Mr. Evelyn's diary lies cheek-to-jowl with Gertrude Stein's Picasso. Jeff Danziger's Teed Tales abuts, appropriately enough, a history of Vermont. There is a collection of stories by T. Corgahesson Boyle, Zora Neale Hurston's autobiography, a novel by Sean Stewart, and a collection of essays by Ursula K. Le Guin. These last two, by the way, are misfiled since I have a science fiction section arranged almost alphabetically by author and a designated place for stacks of SF criticism and related essays. Which is where Gwyneth Jones' Joanna Russ should be as well.

Here's T. H. White's wonderful collection of mythical animals from medieval bestiaries, The Book of Beasts. The Return of Fursey! Mosses from an Old Manse. Flann O'Brien's The Best of Myles reappears from hiding; after I've obsessively reread it a few times,  I'll have to hide it somewhere else among my books, if I'm ever to read anything else. Oh, but there's also John McPhee's The Pine Barrens, which some of us persist in thinking his best book. Though it has competition. And here is a battered but charming old hardcover of Charles Fort's The Book of the Damned. I have a biography of Fort around here somewhere, though I doubt I'll find it today. Some few of these I haven't read--Fishing from Earliest Times is one example, though I'm sure I'll get to it soon. But I've read every story in The Corrector of Destinies, Melville Davidson Post's extremely odd collection of detective fiction (sort of), and I'll have to blog about it here someday.

There are thirty shelves of books on one wall of my office and my first attack upon the one provided me with nothing to cull,  And I've put aside a short stack of books to read or reacquaint myself with. Not have I done much to organize it--but wait! Here, just one shelf below is Damon Knight's Charles Fort. Up it goes, alongside The Book of the Damned, so nobody could say the last hour was wasted. Though it came close.

Nor was I able to impose a theme upon the shelf, other than Books I Am Delighted to Possess. But maybe that's enough.

In any case, it will have to do.


Above: For technical reasons, I'm having difficulty uploading a picture of the wall of books in my office. So here's a pic of part of the wall of books in my bedroom. 

The mayor's list of ideas to alleviate crowding offers little relief in the short term.

Mayor John Tory announced a ten-point plan to fight congestion and delays on the TTC at a press conference just before Toronto Council began its final debates on the 2018 budget. Through the entire budget process, starting with Tory’s cohort on the TTC Board and continuing through the City Budget and Executive committees, transit has […]

The post A Last Minute Ten, Nine, Eight … Point Transit Plan appeared first on Torontoist.

As his parting gift to Toronto Council, City Manager Peter Wallace spells out the effect of years of promised new services and infrastructure unmatched by revenue to build and operate our dream city.

Toronto Council is good at making promises, voting for better services, new transit lines, a revitalized expressway, but too many of these promises depend on money the city does not have. At budget time, city staff work their magic and trim spending to fit the available dollars. Programs are stretched to make do with less […]

The post Toronto’s Long-Term Financial Plan: The Bill is Due appeared first on Torontoist.

Keesmaat’s Next Venture, Shitty Architecture Men, Mod Squad, Presto Problemo, Bench Press, and more in this debut edition.

Another Glass Box is a weekly roundup of urban design news in Toronto (and occasionally beyond), in bite-size pieces. It’s curated by Dan Seljak, who’s done marketing and communications work for architecture and construction companies for the last seven years—and who still loves this city enough to line up for brunch.  Content warning: some of the […]

The post Introducing: Another Glass Box, a new weekly architecture feature appeared first on Torontoist.

Mayoral foibles, Google's urban charm offensive, finalists for George Brown's new wood building, and how many avocado toasts will you need to give up?

1 Please don’t poke the mayor – Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson found himself criticized in light of calling George Bemi’s award-winning Ottawa Library a “Stalin-ist bunker”. Watson’s rebuke wasn’t so elegant, but the following debate explored how contemporary ideas of wellness and accessibility requires real investment in restoration and renovation. Here in Toronto, Mayor John […]

The post Another Glass Box: The Stalinist “Bunker” Edition appeared first on Torontoist.

Unable to stage its big fundraiser because of the pandemic, Figure Skating in Harlem is going from the ice to the internet

Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh penned a two-page open letter advocating flexibility for college athletes looking to enter the NFL Draft.

A while back I bought a copy of ‘Bonnie Blue Flag’ from Cavalier books and I have to say I really liked what I saw. The rules seem to give me everything I was looking for in a ACW rule set, I decided then even though I must have 15 plus ACW rule sets, this was going to be the one for me. I became a Kevin Calder fanboy over night and quickly snapped up his other Sudan rule set too. I constantly patrol Cavalier books looking out for any other variants of the rule set that may of been released. Although, the rules are so adaptable that you could use them for a multitude of other eras.

The only down side though is that because they are a small rule set by Cavalier Books there doesn’t seem to be much support for them. This lead me to do my own research to clean details, however small, from the internet to help outline some of the rules in the book. A big break through came when I found Kevins blog ‘The Iron Brigade’. This was full of nice pictures of his games which gave loads of extra details into the system. I have created this post on here so I can dump any relevant information to save me trolling around in the future. Other like minded souls had made the same connection and had gone to the Facebook site to ask questions, these were not answered though. So here I have gathered images from various games Kevin has done and each one is a wealth of extra information and details for the rule set.



A Crazed stalker raids the internet for more information.
 It’s interesting to see here the use of skirmishers. They are kept on the table and placed around the parent unit at all times, unless destroyed. This wasn’t made very clear in the rule book, I thought you just took them off once they rejoined their regiment.

 It’s also good to see the mini dice in play. I think pictures like this would of been a better choice rather than the stock Cavalier book ACW illustrations in the rule book. It would of really helped define things. Also, Cavalier Books released another set of ACW rules and included the same illustrations... a bit poor I thought.
 This is interesting, dismounted cavalry on 40mm round bases. This shows their looser structure on the field. This is a nice touch and gave me some good ideas about basing units of sharpshooters. Everybody knows the green clad Berdan’s sharpshooters, but by basing up a Confederate unit of marksman in this way would really help define them from the other units.

 A photo taken from a Napoleonic battle hosted by Kevin, it again shows that with a few minor weapon range tweaks, these rules can be used for most horse and musket periods. I also noticed in one of these games that skirmishers could be based two to a base rather than singly. This is quite helpful to me as single figures are quite hard to store and keep safe. Two figures on a 40mm base are a lot more stable and also give the chance of a diorama.
Also interesting that this small unit of sharpshooters only has one skirmisher rather than three to reflect its small size. I will tag this post and keep adding to it, if and when I find out anything new. These rules are great and well worth a look.

Below is a great picture showing the game in process. Note that some skirmishers have been based as units of ‘comrades in arms’, multiple figures in groups of skirmishers, loading and firing to maintain a constant fire. This is an idea I will play with for sure.

The 1996 Ig Nobel Prize for biology was awarded to Anders Barheim and Hogne Sandvik of the University of Bergen, Norway, for their tasty and tasteful report, “Effect of Ale, Garlic, and Soured Cream on the Appetite of Leeches.” Recently, Bradley Allff, writing in Atlas Obscura, looked at the role medical leeches sometimes play in medicine in the USA. […]

Vi Hart, adept at mathematics, music, and explaining things, made this video that explains the point (and the lack of point, too) of 12-tone music:

A new comic strip—in Russian and in English—about some of the curious characters who have won Ig Nobel Prizes. The series appears on Instagram.

Ewan Spence, "Apple Leak Reveals Radical New MacBook Pro", Forbes 5/4/2020: Apple may finally be getting round to updating the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Intel's tenth generation processors. The good news is that the MacOS powered laptop going to get a bucketload of extra power.[…] This laptop is loaded to bear in terms of memory […]

Valerie Hansen has a new book just out: THE YEAR 1000: When Explorers Connected the World — and Globalization Began.  New York:  Scribner, 2020. A NYT review of Hansen's landmark volume is copied below, but let's first look at some interesting language notes concerning the background of the word for "slave" (Chapter 4 is on […]

My friends, you did it.  You worked hard and chased the Darkness away.  Special thanks to my friend Denver and Toki who wrote a really good poem/cheer.   He is right, we have to stop the hacking – no more stealing passwords. I will be calling a Celebration Party.  Everyone is welcome.  Watch the What’s New […]

Oh, did you think we were going to eat it? Haven't you heard, wasting food is the manliest game! ~Not-So-Handy Andy

This is the last video I created using Windows Movie Maker before switching over to Adobe Premier Pro CS3. It's the first Terminator fan video I created where I used all four Terminator movies

When I made this Mad Max tribute video I made it to only 1 and 2. I've always thought of Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome as a seperate movie all unto itself, I like the third movie, but it lacks the same feel as the first two

About a week ago I rented this movie, now if you’ve been watching any new movies over the last couple of months you’ve probably seen the trailer for this movie. If your like me you probably thought to yourself “Hey this looks pretty sweet, it looks like there’s going to be lots of hacking and slashing and all that fun stuff”

Today I watched two movies The Last Exorcism and Case 39. Here are my thoughts and review of both movies.