text:
We have a limited quantity of BCRF Inspire Tees left! Mizuno will continue to donate $5.00 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for every BCRF Inspire Tee purchased, and support #ProjectZero
The goal of #ProjectZero is simple, yet incredibly difficult: to completely eliminate breast cancer, so that no one else will have to face this struggle. Partnering with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and Fleet Feet Sports, Mizuno is committed to beating breast cancer, one drive, one pitch, one sprint at a time.
Key Features:
- Moisture wicking
- Raglan Sleeve: For improved range of motion.
- Silver Grey reflective Mizuno Runbird logo
- Limited edition BCRF design: 5 dollars given back to the BCRF Foundation with every purchase.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Every once in while you stumble across the book that you feel you should have written. Or at least, that's what I thought when I saw the cover and title of Chris Seay's latest effort, The Gospel According to LOST, which happens to be about my all-time favorite television series and the Christian themes therein.
Then I was fortunate enough to read the book and speak to Chris about it, and let me assure you, he knows his stuff. Seay mines every nugget of redemptive gold from the annals of this show as it approaches its final season, and helps the reader understand that while LOST may not be a "Christian program," it's certainly a well-written, exquisitely-crafted piece of culture that explores what it means to be saved, to be redeemed, to be home, to be forgiven, to be in community... even to sometimes not know what on Earth is going on.
CW: In a nutshell, what is the Gospel as LOST records it?
Chris Seay: For Christians, we have to make two distinctions. It is The Gospel According to LOST, so these are the spiritual truths as told in this unbelieveable series. And sometimes they line up very clearly with Jesus the Liberating King. And other places they do not. So my job isn't to make all of it conform, it's to reflect on it and ultimately to believe what Jesus said: those that seek will find. So that's what I love about this show - it gets people seeking, asking questions, and hopefully finding. It isn't an endorsement of everything that happens in the show.
From time to time people pick up the book and tell me, "I thought this was gonna be just like reading the Bible." And I think, "For that, you would read the Bible." For this, you would engage people in conversations about a show that they're already watching. Having said that, I think that The Gospel According to LOST is about the yearning for redemption. There's not a full understanding of where redemption comes from, although, clearly with all the biblical metaphors in the show - the biblical narrative being woven in - there's so much there that alludes to [the Gospel], that seems to be hungry for it, but at the end of the day, [the story's about] the most broken people you can find.
In the book I compare it to another show that I watched growing up that took place on an island, where they picked very stereotypical people that you would want to be. We still use that: "Are you a Mary Ann or a Ginger kind of a guy? Are you a Professor or a Skipper? Who are you?" And you take these people that were basically very normal, beautiful, remarkable people in their own vein. LOST does the exact opposite, right? So at a time we're at war in Iraq, it includes an Iraqi soldier, plus a surgeon who's an alcoholic, and a woman who murders her father, and a mass murderer, and a man who had, I think, the most broken relationship with his father in John Locke that any of us have probably ever encountered. You just get these really deeply broken people, and clearly the ultimate story of it all is: can these people be redeemed? And for me, a person who believes that that's what Jesus came to do, believing that he came to bring shalom to all of creation, I feel like we have the answer to that. So that's a conversation I always want to be a part of.
CW: With all these diverse, broken characters thrown together, can you compare what it means to be "lost" in a scriptural sense to what you think it means on the show?
Seay: Where we find most of the term "lost" in the Scriptures is in Luke 15. Jesus tells these "lost" stories: the woman who loses a coin and turns the house upside-down to find it; the shepherd who loses a sheep and leaves the 99 behind to go and find it; the father whose son leaves and is lost as lost can be and ultimately finds his way home, broken but searching for redemption. In those "lost" stories (and you can't summarize scripture too simply, but) clearly it is about God seeking out and pursuing those that are lost and the joy of being reunited with that which God loves.
I think it is pretty similar in this story. It's not about necessarily coming home to a location, or a place, but about finding home. These people are searching for home, and maybe what they don't realize is that their very Creator is also searching after them. So I think that there are a lot of parallels there in the meaning and the way that we identify with them. The book shows that this isn't about them being geographically lost, though they clearly are, they're on an island. It's about them really searching for a spiritual home to lay their head.
CW: You mentioned earlier that LOST isn't a Christian show per se, but that there are obviously many Christian themes in the show. Of those, what do you think are the most prevalent?
Seay: Well, with every character it's different. So you have these dialogues that go on about salvation, and what that means, and whether it comes through Christ. You have characters like Eko - these broken characters - he was a drug lord who becomes a faux-Catholic priest, but still clearly doesn't understand that much about the Gospel. You've got topics like violence and others that come up repeatedly in the Scriptures. So it's hard to say; it's all there.
What I'm most curious about right now are some of the direct biblical names and the way that the story is being woven in. In the last episode of the last season we have this massive statue of an Egyptian god with these other figures like Jacob playing out in the middle of it. I think we have a story of exodus that's preparing to take place, so I'm always curious - how much does that parallel THE story of THE Exodus? I'm not really sure, but I'm excited to find out!
CW: Forgiveness is also a big theme in LOST, and in your book you talk about how some of the characters deal with the problem of guilt. What do you think LOST tells us about the role of guilt, and of being able to forgive oneself, as part of the whole process of forgiveness, absolution, and redemption?
Seay: This is one of the very basic questions that comes up at the beginning of Faith. I had a young man who's a friend who I introduced to Christ recently, invited to church; he came his first week on Easter Sunday. He comes from a very prominent, internationally-known family. He's been around church people all his life but never really heard or understood the Gospel. And one of his first questions was, "What do I do about my guilt?" He comes from a couple perspectives. One I think is, "This guilt is plaguing me, it's killing me in these sordid little ways." And so a part of me thinks, "That's gotta be bad," you want to run from it, and avoid it. Instead, part of what I have to be able to tell him is we have to face that guilt, embrace it, and then realize what Jesus has done on our behalf.
I think with all these characters what we see is them trying to deal with the guilt on their own, and it can't happen. When they can't deal with it, they run from it. So there has to be a salvation that comes in a larger form. Something bigger, something transcendent. Those of us who are followers of Christ, we know apart from a fictional story what we think that looks like. But all of these characters are looking for a real saving moment. And the struggle with guilt and the past is a big part of what drives that for all of them.
CW: In your chapter, "Life as Backgammon," you say that you see LOST on a basic level as a story about the struggle between good and evil, similar to Narnia or The Lord of the Rings. How do you explain the difficulty in LOST of sorting out good from evil? In those other stories, there's usually a pretty obvious line between them.
Seay: It's a question I purposely don't answer in the book because I'm not sure I have the answer. It's a whole lot easier to know, yeah alright, the queen who makes it always winter and never Christmas, obviously that's evil. There's no doubt about it. LOST is a lot more like our lives. Sometimes we don't know evil until we have to stare it in the face. Sometimes what we thought was evil is not so evil. It's just not quite as black-and-white, as gnostic in some ways, as we'd like to make it. That's one of the great heresies of the Christian faith, to think, "Let's just simplify the world into two categories, and we'll let the flesh be evil and the spiritual be good." Like all of us - we see this in our own hearts - even when I'm doing the right thing, I'm not always doing it for the right reasons, my motives have to be broken down. And I find that even in the good I do, there's evil present. That's what Paul talks about so much in Romans.
That's a hard thing for us to grapple with; it's not as clear-cut or as easy, it's not as easily embraced by children, for example. I'm not recommending that you get your pre-teens together and watch LOST. It will be utterly confusing for them. But I think part of entering into a stage of spiritual maturity means we begin to have the ability to grapple with these areas of gray and mystery, and try to find beauty and try to seek out good and evil where it's not quite as clear or dualistic. So I'm not sure if that's an answer or not, but that's the grand struggle of it. It's part of what I enjoy and frustrates me about the show. It's part of what I enjoy and frustrates me about my life. Sometimes I can spot evil miles away, and other times it creeps up on me and wraps me up from behind.
CW: You spend much of your book concentrating each chapter on a different character and figuring out how he or she is the "patron saint" of a different group of people. Which one was your favorite to examine?
Seay: If you would have asked me while I was writing it, almost without exception, when I was writing the chapter on that character, they were my favorite character. You just fall in love with the complexity of each one of them. Pulling away from it, hands-down the characters that I identify with the most are Jack and Eko.
Of the beautiful, remarkable paintings [of characters] that we have in the book - my friend Scott Erickson painted all those, and we've got a gallery show going up this week in our gallery here in Houston of all the paintings - I got my pick of which painting I want. Which really, it tests this question. Which character do I want staring at me in my office for the rest of my life? And for me it's Eko.
The reason I also identify with Jack so much is I think he epitomizes what it means to be the Wounded Healer, which is my favorite book of Henri Nouwen's, in terms of understanding how we heal a lot of our own woundedness. In Jack you have this great surgeon, this great healer who's also an alcoholic and is deeply broken, so I'm very drawn to Jack as well.
CW: Of the characters without chapters in your book, who is your favorite, the one you wish you'd had space to fit in? Charlie? Claire? Juliet? Miles? Widmore? Someone else?
Seay: Without a doubt it's Charlie. We just had space concerns. But for our gallery show we're going to have a painting of Charlie available as well.
CW: We've got Season Six coming up here in less than a month. What are you most looking forward to in the final season as the show ends? Is it a particular theme playing out? Is it finding out the answer to one of the mysteries we've desired the answer to for a long time? What do you most want to see?
Seay: All of it. At the end I'm like everybody - I want answers! I talk about in the book how I refuse to read spoiler websites because I don't want to be spoiled. J.J. Abrams said, "Literally the word 'spoil' means to ruin," right? I don't want to ruin the story for myself, but in due time I can't wait to know some answers. I want to know who 'Adam & Eve' are. I want to see these Egyptian parallels to the Exodus play out. I want to know if 'Esau' [a.k.a. The Man in Black] is Jacob's brother. I want to know if Kate and Sawyer end up together, what does Jack do, what happens to Aaron? Ultimately, is Ben a part of a redemptive story, or an evil plot? I could go on and on and on. All those things I can't wait to find out. I'm sure we won't find out every answer, but I'm encouraged by what the writers have said, that we can expect to have a lot of the big pieces put together for us.
Chris Seay is the pastor of Ecclesia, a progressive Christian community in Houston, Texas, recognized for exploring spiritual questions of culture and breaking new ground in art, music, and film. Chris is also the author of The Gospel According to Tony Soprano and The Gospel Reloaded. He lives in Houston with his wife, Lisa, and their four children.
To catch up with LOST or refresh your memory before the show enters its final season, check out our LOST in Translation blog at TheFish.com.


text:
N New England prepares for big storm; NH utility calling all customers to remind them to plan
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) � Utilities and emergency responders in northern New England are getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.
New Hampshire's largest utility is calling all of its customers this weekend to remind them to prepare for power outages that could accompany the hurricane early next week.
Public Service Company of New Hampshire made calls Friday to customers who are on medical support devices or are otherwise especially vulnerable when power outages occur. It planned to make similar calls to all customers over the weekend.
Maine Gov. Paul LePage has signed a limited emergency declaration that waives federal limits on hours utility workers can drive in order to expedite power restoration.
In Vermont, Green Mountain Power has tree and line crews on call from six states and Ontario to assist the utility in power restoration efforts.


text:
We know from the FAQ on self-promotion that it is accepted only in a limited way in answers and frowned upon if found to be spammy. We know from this question that it can be deleted at any time from comments if the comment is not relevant or spammy.
But what about the chat? This leaves chat to be the only legitimate place to promote products or services that the user is affiliated to (albeit in an ad-like way).
What is your opinion?


text:
By Lisa Loomis
Two local school food service programs received and served some of the beef recalled by the USDA this week, before getting notice to first quarantine and then destroy the meat.
The USDA recalled 143 million pounds of beef from a California slaughterhouse accused of animal abuse. Beef from the Westland/Hallmark Meat Company was sent to Vermont schools through a free food subsidy program.
Harwood Union and the Fayston Elementary School received shipments of the beef. The food service program at Fayston provides meals for the Waitsfield Elementary School as well.
At Harwood Union, chef and food service director Paul Morris said the school received eight 40-pound cases and had used 100 pounds of it before getting a warning to put the meat "on hold" on January 31.
The meat was used at Harwood on January 11, 14 and 28 in meat lasagna, tacos and chili, respectively.
"I saw the warning on the news and the next day we received the warning from the state telling us to put a hold on the meat. At that point we suspended its use immediately. We threw the rest of it out this week after we got confirmation from the state," Morris said.
Morris said this was the second time in this school year that the school had received beef from the federal subsidy program. He said the school also receives pasta, flour and fruit from the subsidy program, as well as other types of meat, such as pork and turkey.
At the Fayston school, Principal Chris Dodge said the school received a shipment of the beef between six weeks and two months ago.
"Three or four weeks ago we received notification from the government surplus folks and were told to put the beef on hold. At that point we disposed of the beef, thinking that if it's questionable enough to be put on hold, we don't want to put it out at all," Dodge said.
Then the school received notification this week that its beef was part of the recall. Fayston received about 70 pounds of the beef and had used 40 pounds of it when the meat was put on hold.
Andreas Lehner at the Warren Elementary School said Warren did not receive any of the meat.
(edit: last pgh removed from web version of story for accuracy)


text:
A visit to Bandung won't be complete without stopping by the Kawah Puteh (White Crater). Located on the southern part of Bandung, this place is apparently quite popular among wedding photographers. When we were approaching the crater, the smell of sulfur was evidently strong. From what I understand, the surface is filled with rocks and white sand which in turn made the water looks milky white (hence its name). In addition to the thick mist, the entire landscape was truly a sight to behold.
Kawah Puteh @ Bandung8 10 2010
Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: bandung, Kawah Puteh, White Crater
Categories : Holiday, Landscape


text:
Please feel free to leave a message for me.
Archived talk: 1
- 1 Question
- 2 Deathly Hallows Premiere Event Slideshow
- 3 Thanks Grunny!
- 4 Award
- 5 Facebook and Twitter
- 6 Monobook
- 8 Vandal IP's
- 9 Fix
- 10 FAN Locket
- 11 Checkin in!
- 12 Main page
- 13 Wotcher!
- 14 Assistance
- 15 Assistance
- 16 Rollback
- 17 I have a question
- 18 Hy Grunny
- 19 Wikia look
- 20 Userbox Please?
- 21 Admin Request
- 22 Can I have a moment of your time
- 23 You killer
- 24 Block
- 25 Wikia Community Council
- 26 Login issue for new user
- 27 Special:Upload in Wikia skin
- 28 CSS help
- 29 Wiki suggestions
- 30 MediaWiki:Wikia.js
- 31 Thank you
- 32 Affiliate
- 33 Lucius Malfoy
- 34 Rufus Scrimgeour
- 35 If you've got a minute or two...
- 36 Harry Potter Contest
- 37 Hi help needed
- 38 The things i need help with
- 39 Affiliate
- 40 Voting issues
- 41 new game hp wiki
- 42 Mediawiki error
- 43 Copyright
- 44 Hermione article
- 45 Cross-wiki vandal
- 46 MediaWiki admin colours
- 47 Range block
- 48 MediaWiki help, again. :)
- 49 HPW 6th Anniversary
- 50 HP Wiki logo
- 51 Chat
- 52 Administration
- 53 Forums
- 54 Thank you!!!
- 55 Pottermore information
- 56 Unusual vandalism
- 57 Revisiondelete
- 58 Thanks!
- 59 Conjuring / Manipulating Fire
- 60 Snape's Goatee
- 61 Affiliation?
- 62 Re:Rollback
- 63 chat policy
- 64 Please help
- 65 Chat Mod
- 66 RE:Categorising templates
- 67 Couple of things
- 68 Notability Policy Vote
- 69 Re: Rollback
- 70 html5
- 71 Spammer
- 72 Template:Title
- 73 Avatar
- 74 Admin request
- 75 Admin status
- 76 Technician Rights Request
- 77 Preload templates function
- 78 Israel Administartionsעריכה
- 79 Hey
- 80 Harry Potter page contents list
- 81 New Infobox Feature Beta Testing
- 82 Need a New Mod
Hello Grunny,
I've made two edits before I registered. Is it possible that to show them that I've made them? I've edited Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Obliteration Charm. I've added the third the third subject to known Obliteration Charm uses and I've just changed "the" to "that" in Salazar Slytherin's Locket that was used.
Enesquest 16:13, November 19, 2010 (UTC)
- Hi Enesquest. It's not possible to have those edits attributed to your account, but you can link to the contributions of the IP address you made them from on your user page. That is, if you're comfortable people knowing an IP address you have used. Hope that helps. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 10:12, November 20, 2010 (UTC)
Thanks.HermioneGranger123 11:19, November 20, 2010 (UTC)
Hi Grunny, I thought it would be a good idea to change Katie Bell's friend title to Leanne because I read in the half blood prince that that's what she's called. --Shannonisagryffindor 12:56, April 12, 2011 (UTC)
Deathly Hallows Premiere Event Slideshow
Hi Grunny, I wanted to let you know that I just realized that no one can add their own pictures to the event slideshow on my blog post because blog posts can only be edited by staff and admins. I've copied the slideshow over to the Deathly Hallows Premiere Event page so people can add their pics there and comment on them. Please don't delete their comments! I am completely fine with you moving/archiving this page at the end of the month if you have a problem with it, but let's leave it up while everyone is attending the premiere. Thanks!-- Kacie (talk) 01:16, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
Thanks Grunny!
I was worried that something was up when he didn't reply to my latest email. I'll make up the page and let you all change it to whatever design you want. I also don't want to mess with your main navigation so I will make a note when I email the affiliates that it will be getting updated soon. If you and the other admins agree and update the navigation let me know :) Thanks! Babyjabba 03:32, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Here is the page, feel free to reorganize/design away! http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_Wiki:Affiliates
- Looks Awesome! :)
- Thanks for dealing with the affiliates page, Grunny; the fuzz is only just starting to clear :P - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 15:21, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
- No worries, Cav :). Grunny (talk) 23:18, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Thanks for dealing with the affiliates page, Grunny; the fuzz is only just starting to clear :P - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 15:21, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Looks Awesome! :)
|Order of Merlin (Second Class)
|The Order of Merlin is awarded to you by Station7 for having over two-thousand edits on the Harry Potter Wiki.
Glad I'm the person who give this to you ;) --Station7 15:50, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
- Thanks, Station7 :). Grunny (talk) 23:17, November 21, 2010 (UTC)
Facebook and Twitter
Okay, our official Facebook fan page and Twitter feed are up! Any SysOps who want admin access to either should let me know through the email function; the FB can have admins, while I will provide the Twitter log-in details to you (it is set up on a separate HPW exclusive account). Links are on the main page as well. - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 12:36, November 22, 2010 (UTC)
Hey, quick question, you added the "create a page" to the side bar in monobook....how did you do that? I have my own Wikia I created for my recipes and I want to add it but i don't know how..... --BachLynn(Accio!) 14:07, November 22, 2010 (UTC)
- To change the sidebar in monobook, just create the page MediaWiki:Sidebar on your wiki, then edit it. When you create it, you will notice it will have default text which you can change. To add the create page link, I just added the line
** Special:CreatePage|Create an articleunder the navigation section. Hope that helps. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 23:00, November 22, 2010 (UTC)
Hey Grunny, not sure if you are on right now but just so you know I am about to do a major update to the main page. We really want to capitalize on the increased traffic from the premiere and the wizarding world contest so we are updating with more terms people are searching for. We are also testing out a slider if you all like it. Don't worry, I am not changing any of the templates and we are saving all of the old code.
I know that a lot of the material on the main page is voted on and if any users have concerns please let them know that this is only for a week, we still have all of the old info and will put it back to normal once some of the hubbub has died down.
I heard you all have been thinking about updating so hopefully this will give you a few ideas :) and not scare too many people. Shot me a message if you have any questions or concerns...Babyjabba 00:35, November 24, 2010 (UTC)
- btw If you are around you can check out the slider here: http://kaciesandbox.wikia.com/wiki/KacieSandbox_Wiki
Vandal IP's
There's been several incidents of vandalism recently from the following IP's:
It's obvious this is the same person. Each IP has already been blocked for 3 months, but they can simply change it slightly and start vandalizing again. What are our options? - Nick O'Demus 15:51, November 25, 2010 (UTC)
- I've rangeblocked the range they're using (126.96.36.199/16). It's school IPs. So now no IP in that range can edit for 3 months. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 23:27, November 25, 2010 (UTC)
I hope you can the category: Category:Death Eater defectors. Rubeus Hagrid appears as Lucius Malfoy and Neville Longbtoom appears Severus Snape. Another one: Category:Slytherins, Draco Malfoy appears as Lucius Malfoy, Category:Gryffindors, Lily Evans and James Potter appear as Albus Dumbledore. I hope you can fix it ;) --Station7 22:18, November 25, 2010 (UTC)
thank u u are so kind and nice i hope we can become friends on Wiki
FAN Locket
Hey Grunny,
I've been away for a couple of months, and I just saw you comments on the FAN for Salazar Slytherin's Locket. I will address them in the next couple of days. Thanks, --JKoch(Owl Me!) 22:09, November 30, 2010 (UTC)
- That's okay :). I'm going to be less active for the next two and a half weeks, so I might not see you've addressed it straight away, but I'll get to it as soon as I can :). Cheers, Grunny (talk) 04:37, December 1, 2010 (UTC)
Checkin in!
Hey, hows it going? Its been pretty quiet...Just wanted to let you all know that we have a new slider (its easier for users to edit, Yay!) and I just switched it out. :) Babyjabba 00:03, December 3, 2010 (UTC)
Main page
Can we go ahead and switch back to our regular Features content now? - Nick O'Demus 11:42, December 3, 2010 (UTC)
- I'd ask Kacie/Babyjabba, to see if they're still running anything. About the page width changing in the new look, Wikia are regularly testing changes to the new look design by having people see some different changes, so that's probably why you saw a different width for a while. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 07:38, December 4, 2010 (UTC)
Hey, do you know what is going on with the "Read More" sections that are appearing below articles, they aren't editable (in case it matters I'm viewing in monobook). Also, I've noticed that the photo captions are appearing beside the photos instead of below them (in thumb nails)..... --BachLynn(Accio!) 15:58, December 6, 2010 (UTC)
- I'm not seeing this. Can you link me to articles where you are seeing it? Cheers, Grunny (talk) 07:53, December 8, 2010 (UTC)
Hi, user 184.108.40.206 has posed some pretty big discussions on the Killing Curse page and the Unidentified Curse that Bellatrix used against Sirius in the book, the talk pages are getting pretty heated. Also as much as this user seems to quote policies, I'd also like to note that so far this user has only made numerous edits to talk pages, which I don't need to tell you is also against policy as he has made no edits to actual articles. --BachLynn(Accio!) 17:18, December 8, 2010 (UTC)
Hi, user 22.214.171.124 has posed some pretty big discussions on the Killing Curse page and the Unidentified Curse that Bellatrix used against Sirius in the book, the talk pages are getting pretty heated. Also as much as this user seems to quote policies, I'd also like to note that so far this user has only made numerous edits to talk pages, which I don't need to tell you is also against policy as he has made no edits to actual articles. --BachLynn(Accio!) 17:22, December 8, 2010 (UTC)
Hi Grunny,
I just learned about the rollback ability granted to some users. I just had a few questions. What exactly is the difference between the rollback ability and just clicking undo in the page's recent history? And how does a user get granted this ability?
Thanks, Texthawm | To Click Here 22:16, December 21, 2010 (UTC)
- The difference between rollback and undo, is basically that with one click of the rollback button users with the rollback right are able to undo bad edits with one click. Whereas with undo, you have to click undo, then submit. Also, when viewing the most recent diff of a page, clicking undo will only restore to the previous revision. So if one user has made multiple bad faith edits (i.e. vandalism, spam, personal attacks, etc.), to undo it you would have to go to page history and revert back to the last good version of the page, but with rollback it reverts all those edits by a single user with one click. Note, that rollback should only be used on bad faith edits such as vandalism, spam and personal attacks.
- To request rollback rights, add your name under Harry Potter Wiki:Requests for permissions#Rollback with a statement as to why you think you should be granted the right, and if your edits show you are trustworthy enough to have the tool (we give it pretty freely here :-) ) then myself or another bureaucrat will grant you the rollback permission. Hope that helps, and let me know if you need any help. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 00:03, December 22, 2010 (UTC)
I have a question
What are some templates I can use? On a different wiki, I typed
{{Characterfan}} (Character refering to just any random character... You actually had to type in a name)
And a pic on my page popped up saying I was a fan of that character. I tried to do that here with Luna Lovegood, but it didn't work. Could you help me with this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by EpicDreamer2010 (talk • contribs).
- You can find our userboxes at Category:Userboxes, and I think the one you are looking for is {{User Luna Lovegood}}. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 05:58, December 22, 2010 (UTC)
Hy Grunny
--Roselyn 20:46, December 30, 2010 (UTC)How can I make that thing whit blood purity , died , born and rest of it , on my page ?
Wikia look
Hi, I was wondering if you had any idea what has been going on with wikia the last couple of days, I usually keep my preference set to the MonoBook look but today it's been randomly switching over to the new look and I was wondering if they were getting ready to do away with the monobook look or something. --BachLynn23 00:21, January 13, 2011 (UTC)
- Hi BachLynn, the issues come from an upgrade of Wikia Wikis to a newer version of the MediaWiki software. There has been an issue with people's preferences being reset during the upgrade, which we hope to get fixed. They will not be getting rid of monobook. Sorry for these issues. You can read more about it here. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 03:05, January 13, 2011 (UTC)
Dear Admins,
I don't know who is doing what and who is still active here so I am sending this to all of you. There are a few users, mainly BachLynn23 and Rodolphus that keep changing pages here with untrue facts. I have amended the Slytherin Quidditch Team page with the info that there are no female players, as Rowling states so a few times in her books and in several interviews, on the team. I also took out the spoof names in the list on the right hand side.
Two minutes later that Rodolphus changed it, I corrected it, the user changed it. It is not right that fans and those seeking correct information get mislead on here with names that were created in a fanfiction or the users own mind and may think it happened making a fool of themselves with other fans during discussions.
I have messaged the user and asked to please stop but they did not react and just amended it again. Even putting on some of the pages "Spoof only" but this has now been taken out by BachLynn23.
Maybe you can make sure the page is correct and then have it so that no one can edit it anymore, or do something about this? I am a Harry Potter expert and know every fact that is given us from the books and the great athors interviews therefore I don't really think it is nice to have false information and made up people on here.
I hope you can take care of this in one way or another as I won't continue editing as I am not in kindergarten or pre-school and most certainly those users appear to be as they re-edit true information with false and misleading information.
Dear Admins,
I don't know who is doing what and who is still active here so I am sending this to all of you. There are a few users, mainly BachLynn23 and Rodolphus that keep changing pages here with untrue facts. I have amended the Slytherin Quidditch Team page with the info that there are no female players, as Rowling states so a few times in her books and in several interviews, on the team. I also took out the spoof names in the list on the right hand side.
Two minutes later that Rodolphus changed it, I corrected it, the user changed it. It is not right that fans and those seeking correct information get mislead on here with names that were created in a fanfiction or the users own mind and may think it happened making a fool of themselves with other fans during discussions.
I have messaged the user and asked to please stop but they did not react and just amended it again. Even putting on some of the pages "Spoof only" but this has now been taken out by BachLynn23.
Maybe you can make sure the page is correct and then have it so that no one can edit it anymore, or do something about this? I am a Harry Potter expert and know every fact that is given us from the books and the great athors interviews therefore I don't really think it is nice to have false information and made up people on here.
I hope you can take care of this in one way or another as I won't continue editing as I am not in kindergarten or pre-school and most certainly those users appear to be as they re-edit true information with false and misleading information.
Userbox Please?
Nick says you know a lot about coding and templates. On Jokes Wiki, I created one userbox, but I'm not sure how to do this one. I am trying to make one that says "This user enjoys rap music", but I can't seem to get it right, so I deleted it. Could you possibly help me, and maybe add a picture of Eminem? Thanks!
Mace170 17:56, January 23, 2011 (UTC)
Admin Request
I really love the Harry Potter Wiki and was wondering if you could make me an Administrator.
Thank you,
Head.Boy.Hog 22:50, January 23, 2011 (UTC)
- Administrator rights are given only to trusted, long-term users who have made significant contributions to the Wiki. I'd suggest you stick around for a while and make good contributions to the Wiki to be considered. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 00:10, January 24, 2011 (UTC)
Can I have a moment of your time
I couldn't help but notice that the Tamplets on each section were designed in a very unique way. I also noticed similar styles on other wikipedia (Such as the StarWars Wiki.) uhm, http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Dark_wizard_infobox . By any chance do you know if this is unique only to certain wiki? Or is there a way to configure the biography the same on other wikis as well? Because when I tried to use it, other than it appearing as does on the other wikis the bottom half is configured as a 'Square' shape. Do you get what I am trying to say? Like so: —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lord Avernus (talk • contribs).
|Biographical information
|Physical information
|Family information
|Magical characteristics
- Hi. You need to style the infoboxes using CSS, which can be found in our Common.css. We also use the templates {{Rt}} and {{Rb}} to give the rounded parts of our templates, with Rb being used at the bottom of our infoboxes. I hope that helps. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 23:38, February 7, 2011 (UTC)
You killer
Ya deleted ma freinds page:( —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.127.116.11 (talk • contribs).
Hey, Grunny, can you please block 184.108.40.206? He just made a personal attack against Toon Ganondorf. Thanks. --Cubs Fan (Talk to me) 08:23, February 20, 2011 (UTC)
- Blocked. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 08:57, February 20, 2011 (UTC)
Wikia Community Council
So I just finished with the first Wikia Community Council meeting, and apparently, a small group of people have been chosen for it, it's to talk about changes, new things, problems, etc. We'll get to test new features as they come out. It's going to meet once a month, and will have a wikia page I'll be a part of to communicate between meetings. So, that being said, if there is anything you would like me to bring to a meeting, problems you've had, ideas, etc. Please let me know. They've started this as a trial, a way to communicate more with the members of wikia. --BachLynn(Accio!) 02:18, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
Login issue for new user
A new user left me this message about a login issue, but this isn't a problem I'm familiar with. I was hoping you could help. - Nick O'Demus 07:19, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
- i created an account on another wiki (yay!!). the problem is when i try to login onto this wiki with the same account (i am pretty sure a user can use an account on multiple wikis) i keep on getting the same error message: There seems to be a problem with your login session; this action has been canceled as a precaution against session hijacking. Go back to the previous page, reload that page and then try again. help me!! Jacob 184.108.40.206 02:26, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
- Hey Nick. It's an issue with the servers that ops are working to fix. So, hopefully they should stop having log in issues soon :-). Cheers, Grunny (talk) 08:40, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
- Thanks, I'll let them know. - Nick O'Demus 09:09, March 2, 2011 (UTC)
Special:Upload in Wikia skin
Hey Grunny; just looked at the Special:Upload page in the Wikia skin, and in my view, the summary box is extremely small and bunched into the corner. Any idea if there's a fix for this, or if its just a local server issue on my end? - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 15:08, March 7, 2011 (UTC)
- Hey Cav. Can you send me a screenshot of what it looks like? Also, check Firefox's error console to see if anything is erroring for you. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 07:45, March 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Grunny; screenshot is here. As for the error console, mistakes currently attributed to the Special:Upload screen are:
- Unexpected token in attribute selector: '!'.
- Error in parsing value for 'top'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'right'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'display'. Declaration dropped.
- Unknown property 'zoom'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'top'. Declaration dropped.
- Expected declaration but found '*'. Skipped to next declaration.
- Unknown property '-moz'opacity', Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'filter'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'too'. Declaration dropped.
- Error in parsing value for 'top'. Declaration dropped.
Any thoughts? - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 08:45, March 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Resolved on IRC. Grunny (talk) 08:54, March 8, 2011 (UTC)
CSS help
Wotcher! I was wondering how versed you are in .css? I'm somewhat familiar with it, but it's been awhile and I'm rusty, I've been helping User:*Luna with the Hogwarts Roleplay Wiki, and I'm trying to change the background colours in the infoboxes (not the headers, but the background colour behind where all the information gets filled in). Any ideas? --BachLynn(Accio!) 01:34, March 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Assuming they are set up with the same classes ours is:
.infobox td.infoboxlabel, .infobox td.infoboxcell { background-color: Blue; }
- Replacing "Blue" with whatever colour you want. Hope that helps. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 07:57, March 8, 2011 (UTC)
Wiki suggestions
HI Grunny, thanks for your message. With Harry Potter DH Part II coming out soon, we at wikia are interested in spotlighting the film on the main page and also, in general, we'd love to help you continue to grow the wiki and have some ideas to that affect. Among some of our internal suggestions are:
- Giving the main page a new background. Just to change things up a bit and keep the look fresh.
- Changing the Quote of the Week to a random quote generator that will automatically keep the quotes updated.
- Categorising the pages with no category. Making more use of the 1,000 photos that are not being used.
- Adding more content to the Daily Prophet News page (such as the recently released HP DH 2 online game).
- Reaching out to more affiliates to get more links set up which will help with Google ranks and bring more traffic to the wiki.
- While the site abounds with HP facts and knowledge, we think it could benefit from more interactive elements- like polls and areas where users can chat about their opinions on things- maybe creating a link page to promote more dialogue.
We hope you and the other admins (who I am contacting as well) will be receptive to some of our thoughts. Let me know.
Bchwood 00:46, March 9, 2011 (UTC)
Hi Grunny,
Thanks for your response. I get what Cav had to say about the social networking stuff, so happy to confine adjustments. Please let me know your thoughts on the following ideas:
-Using a random quote generator on the main page to make it's never blank.
-Main page slider changes. Featuring DH Part 2 with a link. Changing some or all of the other pictures/links. Maybe include the Battle of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, a look back at the original book. I'm happy to work on updating the slider if you all can give me some direction.
-New background image- how about putting an image of Voldemort on the left column and Harry on the right, in battle poses?
-Putting a movie countdown on the Deathly Hallows Part 2 page.
Bchwood 20:22, March 11, 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the quick response, it's much appreciated. I will get going on the items mentioned and will put up a blog to the community about ideas for the main slider.
Bchwood 20:08, March 12, 2011 (UTC)
Hi Grunny,
Have a look at the background image i am proposing at:
Let me know your thoughts.
Bchwood 21:48, March 12, 2011 (UTC)
Hi Grunny, Just wanted to check in and make sure the current changes are to your satisfaction. Also, in an effort to make more use of our Facebook forum, we are thinking it would be cool to post a trivia game with links to the respective page with the answer on the wiki (or just make people look for the answers on their own). This way we are taking advantage of the encyclopedic nature of the wiki.
Let me know. Thanks,
Bchwood 21:07, March 15, 2011 (UTC)
Hey Grunny; I saw you removed the code for the image upload redirection from the Wikia.js. What's the problem with it? I thought it was working okay? - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 01:40, March 19, 2011 (UTC)
- It was but it's breaking editing with the rich text editor in chrome. So, I've removed it until I fix it to work for users who use chrome and have the RTE enabled. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 06:52, March 19, 2011 (UTC)
Thank you
Thank you! :-) The only question I can think of right now is when it comes to blocking user's, how many warnings do they get first, how long do block periods last, that sort of thing. --BachLynn(Accio!) 14:20, March 30, 2011 (UTC)
It does thank you! :-) --BachLynn(Accio!) 14:50, March 31, 2011 (UTC)
I asked a question on the Wizengamot and directed it to admins. Could you please take a look at it? Thanks,
Head.Boy.Hog(Talk To Me) 15:40, April 2, 2011 (UTC)
Lucius Malfoy
Hey there, Grunny. Could you fix the page of lucius Malfoy for me and BachLynn23. We tried both to fix the infobox, but it didn't work. --Station7 18:10, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Fixed. Grunny (talk) 22:11, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Thank you Grunny :) --Station7 23:37, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
Rufus Scrimgeour
There's something wrong with the sections of Rufus Scrimgeour. Can you fix it? --Station7 12:46, April 9, 2011 (UTC)
- I don't see anything wrong with them. What are you referring to? Cheers, Grunny (talk) 13:47, April 9, 2011 (UTC)
- All the sections after Biography. They all look to the right and to me it looks not good ;) --Station7 14:53, April 11, 2011 (UTC)
If you've got a minute or two...
I've set up a Wizard's Chess game over at the Hogwarts Roleplay Wiki, and I was wondering if you could take a look at the templates I made. There are four House boards, but they're all set up exactly the same, except for the background colors. I've tried to make the templates and the instructions as user-friendly as possible, but if you know of any ways to improve or simplify them, I'd appreciate the input. - Nick O'Demus 08:51, April 10, 2011 (UTC)
- Looks good at a glance. I'll have a think if there's any easier way to do it and let you know if I come up with anything :). Grunny (talk) 13:08, April 11, 2011 (UTC)
- Alright, thanks. Also, the countdown clock on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 seems to be off by about 10 days, and I've got no idea how to fix it. - Nick O'Demus 01:34, April 15, 2011 (UTC)
- Should be fixed :). Cheers, Grunny (talk) 01:59, April 15, 2011 (UTC)
Harry Potter Contest
Hey Grunny, just wanted to let you know Wikia is running a new contest to give away the Harry Potter Years 1-7 Part 1 DVD Gift Set! Don't worry, we aren't going to mess with the site :P I just posted a blog about it here. If you want to enter just follow Harry Potter Wiki on Twitter or Like us on Facebook :) If you guys like the contest you can pop it on the main page but its not going to be a big thing. We are just trying to get you more of a following in time for Deathly Hallows: Part 2. If you have any questions/concerns just lemme know :) Babyjabba 23:10, April 13, 2011 (UTC)
PS. Thanks for helping out the kids on Glee with your bot :P
Hi help needed
Hey Grunny, I normally do stuff on the star wars wiki and I was blocked for assumed vandalism, but really I was just confused. My force power pages were considered bad, but really I have evidence for all of them. Could you help fix them? 126.96.36.199 19:54, April 15, 2011 (UTC)
The things i need help with
1)Midi-chlorian enhancement- This was what Palpatine did to artifically give his Dark Jedi force sensitivity in Dark Empire 2)Electronic manipulation, Predict natural disaster, contort/escape, Inflict Pain are all in Jedi Academy Sourcebook and Star wars roleplaying game second or first edition 3) Force steadfast, Force construct and Alter Friction are conjunctural title material but are all canon feats performed by Luke Skywlker 4)Implant Vision- In the irst chapter of the Rise and Fall of Darth Vader, Vader theroirzes that his dream could have been implated in his head by a skilled telepath 5) Nightsister enhancemnet ritual- check the clone wars monster episode guide on starwars.com 6)Sound mimic-This was seen in New Hope when Ben Kenobi imitated the roar of a Krayt Dragon to scare sand people from Luke 7) Force sedate-Used by Qui-Gon to calm a panicking jar jar but according to Obi-wan "overdid it" 8) Force induced sleep-Mentioned in the dewback entry as somrthing ben kenobi did to a Krayt Dragon tos ave Luke and Windy 9)Force sphere-one of Darth Maul's powers in Jedi Power Battles check gamefaqs.com, they are reliable please help thanks 22.214.171.124 20:23, April 15, 2011 (UTC)
Do I have permission to make a user blog inviting users to the Hogwarts RPG Wiki? Thanks,
Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 23:07, April 16, 2011 (UTC)
BachLynn23 and I both tried copying the code for the Template:USERNAME to the Hogwarts RPG Wiki and it didn't work. Is there a reason for that? Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 17:44, April 22, 2011 (UTC)
Voting issues
Voting is in progress for new infobox pics for Gellert Grindelwald and Fleur Delacour. There's only a couple days left before they both close, so be sure to weigh in for your favorite.
We're also WAY behind on some of our featured content, especially the QOTW's and DYK's, so if you've got a couple of minutes, drop in and voice your opinions on any you like or dislike, and maybe we can get some of the backlog cleared out.
Thanks. - Nick O'Demus 09:10, April 25, 2011 (UTC)
new game hp wiki
Hey someone from the new hp wiki for just the games messaged me on my talk page here about becoming an affiliate, http://hpgames.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_Games_Wiki, I wasn't entirely sure who made those decisions though, so I told them I would ask someone. --BachLynn(Send an Owl!) 14:59, May 3, 2011 (UTC)
Mediawiki error
This keeps popping up all over the place:
- MediaWiki 1.16.4
- Please set up the wiki first.
Nick O'Demus 11:10, May 5, 2011 (UTC)
- Yes, it's a known issue that should be fixed. Cheers, Grunny (talk)
- Um...That was an issue on the Hogwarts RPG Wiki but it cleared up. Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 13:42, May 7, 2011 (UTC)
Hi Grunny, This Wiki is using logos from other websites in the affiliates section and we're doing it on the Hogwarts RPG Wiki (for other Wikia Wikis only) and we were going to use the logo for Wordle as we use that website for our art class sometimes. Can we use the logo legally? Thanks, Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 13:42, May 7, 2011 (UTC)
- Our affiliates here have agreed to affiliate with us, so the logos are generally used with their permission. I'd suggest taking a look at the Wordle website and seeing if they have any information on how they license various things. If not, you can make a decision whether use of the logo falls under Fair use, which most of the time it will. Cheers, Grunny (talk) 13:24, May 8, 2011 (UTC)
- I think it does fall under fair use as we do write a couple of words about each of our affiliates and that is close to, if not commentary. But you were wrong about the fact that this wiki asks all of their "affiliates" since we, at the Hogwarts RPG didn't even know we were affiliates with this wiki until BachLynn23 was reading the main page and told us. Thanks, Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 17:56, May 8, 2011 (UTC)
- But that was done by a staff member for another Wikia Wiki, so we didn't need to. External sites are generally asked (or ask) to be affiliates first. Grunny (talk) 23:45, May 8, 2011 (UTC)
- Can we keep using the website without listing it as an affiliate, then? Head.Boy.Hog (Talk To Me) 22:12, May 10, 2011 (UTC)
- I don't see any reason why not. 06:34, May 11, 2011 (UTC)
Hermione article
Hey, Grunny, Hermionegrangerfan moved the Hermione article to her married name, and the redirect left behind prevents me from moving it back. Can you delete the redirect and move it for me? Thanks. --Cubs Fan (Talk to me) 03:19, May 11, 2011 (UTC)
- Looks like Nick and I got to it at the same time :P. Done. Grunny (talk) 06:34, May 11, 2011 (UTC)
Cross-wiki vandal
Meepsheep* - uploading very offensive images, I've deleted it and blocked them here, but they also hit the HP Fanon wiki, and none of their admins seem to be active. Special:EditCount indicates they've probably hit a few other wikis too, but I can't tell which. - Nick O'Demus 05:23, May 14, 2011 (UTC)
- They hit a few. I've blocked wikia-wide and deleted their stuff on the wikis they hit. Thanks for letting me know. :) Cheers, Grunny (talk) 10:59, May 14, 2011 (UTC)
MediaWiki admin colours
Hey. I'm an administrator from another wiki, and I'd like to know how you made the admin colour changes in recent changes work. I have tried copying and customising the code, but it does not work. Could you help me out please? --ThatDevilGuy(Administrator) 09:43, May 27, 2011 (UTC)
- It worked, but does not show in the Recent Changes... --ThatDevilGuy(Administrator) 07:21, May 28, 2011 (UTC)
- It has worked! Thank you, Grunny! :) --ThatDevilGuy(Administrator) 07:33, May 30, 2011 (UTC)
Range block
How do you range block IP's? 184.108.40.206 vandalized several pages, and no sooner had I blocked them and reverted their edits, they started up again as 184.108.40.206. I blocked that one too, but I'm concerned they'll just change it slightly again, and I can't stay here all night. - Nick O'Demus 03:37, June 3, 2011 (UTC)
- You can read about range blocks at MediaWiki's help page. Basically you find the range the IPs fall into and block that. I've blocked 126.96.36.199/16 for a week to stop the abuse. This is the range of the NSW Department of Education and Training which is what those IPs fall under. You can find information on IPs by using a WHOIS tool and there are also range block calculators. Note, IP ranges should only rarely be blocked for a long time. The range that I just blocked for a week, 220.127.116.11/16, affects 65,536 IPs so it is very easy for it to block good intentioned users. The only ranges that should be blocked for longer periods of time are proxy ranges. If you are unsure of what range to block, just ask me and I'm happy to help :). Cheers, Grunny (talk) 04:31, June 3, 2011 (UTC)
I edited the page for Hermione's parents because I have some 'differences from the book' differences for Deathly Hallows part 1 that aren't listed, and I read I need to make 20 edits before I can edit that page, however my edit was deleted, please could you explain why?
MediaWiki help, again. :)
Hello again! I copied the admin colour codes exactly as they were on that wiki you helped me put them on to this wiki, and it does not work. Could you help me out again? Thanks. :) --TDG (Talk) 07:01, July 1, 2011 (UTC)
HPW 6th Anniversary
Forum:HP Wiki 6th Anniversary - Nick O'Demus 09:29, July 4, 2011 (UTC)
HP Wiki logo
Greetings Grunny,
Many apologies if this has been brought up before and/or is an idiotic idea, but wouldn't it be best for the HP Wiki logo to look more like the real HP logo seen on the films(I mean like 99% like what is seen in the films)? If we need it, I did happen across this one from the Portugese version of HP Wiki. Again, if this has been discussed before, I apologize for the inconvenience. -- Black Pearl, HMS Interceptor, Queen Anne's Revenge 20:08, July 5, 2011 (UTC)
- Sure, I can do that. No problem. So just decide between the current logo(except without the "anniversary" bits lol), and the logo I'm suggesting, right? -- Black Pearl, HMS Interceptor, Queen Anne's Revenge 23:59, July 5, 2011 (UTC)
- Ok, one last thing. Should I just post the link of the images or post the images themselves? Because I don't know whether I should upload the Portuguese HP Wiki logo or not. -- Black Pearl, HMS Interceptor, Queen Anne's Revenge 00:18, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
Hi Grunny,
We'd like to enable the new CHAT feature on the main page of HP.
Please confirm that this is desired. Thanks!
Bchwood 00:14, July 7, 2011 (UTC)
I would like to become an admin on the Diagon-Alley Wiki (the - makes a difference)
Lilly Lovegood(2) 10:40, August 4, 2011 (UTC)
- Hi. You should ask on that wiki to become an admin, or if the wiki is inactive on the adoptions page. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 10:45, August 4, 2011 (UTC)
When you've got a moment, please take a look at the following discussions:
We could really use your input. Thanks, Nick O'Demus 07:20, August 8, 2011 (UTC)
Thank you!!!
Hi grunny thanks for leaving a message please leave a message again :)
Pottermore information
Alright, with the early opening beta of Pottermore underway, new information is starting to dribble onto the site: case in point - Ollivander's first name is revealed, and the name of McGonagall's mother. Now, with this being a closed beta, we're going to be hard pressed to verify this info unless at least one of us has entry to Pottermore. If we don't, we're going to have to trust the user base until we can verify it. I have been accepted myself for early entry, but am still waiting for access. So the question is, has anyone else applied for/ got early entry so we can effectively screen for fanon? - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 17:07, August 15, 2011 (UTC)
- {{Pottermore}} spoiler template for articles with Pottermore content. Acts as both a warning template to avoid spoilers and a maintenance one for admins. - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 08:15, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
Unusual vandalism
In the last day or so, there've been multiple vandalism edits of a similar nature, but from widely different IP addresses. Here are a few recent examples:
- Malfoy Manor
- Time Turner
- Godric Gryffindor's Sword
- Quidditch
- Quidditch (again)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Ambrose Swott
- Defence Against the Dark Arts Race Cup
- Hogwarts Express
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
These things just keep coming. They're averaging around twice an hour now. - Nick O'Demus 04:33, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
- That's crosswiki spam. The IPs will generally be proxies used to make multiple nonsense edits on a lot of wikis. I have passed these links on to active active VSTF members to cleanup and block Wikia-wide. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 21:16, August 16, 2011 (UTC)
Hey Grunny; do we have revisiondelete capabilities on HPW? If so, can you direct me to where they are? If not, is it possible to do a couple with your magic powers? :P Cheers - Cavalier One(Wizarding Wireless Network) 10:16, August 22, 2011 (UTC)
- Bureaucrats don't have revisiondelete here like on the Wook. I can do them for you though, if they're needed. I'll talk to you on IRC about it shortly. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 10:19, August 22, 2011 (UTC)
- And Done. grunny@talk:~$ 10:25, August 22, 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for giving me rollback, it'll help a lot. -HoboHunter28- (Leave me an owl!) 16:47, August 22, 2011 (UTC)
Conjuring / Manipulating Fire
I believe McGonagall conjured the fire from the torches in the Great Hall,to duel Snape.With that she attacked him and when they ended their duel, she moved her wand and the flames returned to the torches.If you look closely the duel scene you will notice that by the time Snape leaves Hogwarts the flames of the torches have deminished. 126.96.36.199 13:44, September 4, 2011 (UTC)
Snape's Goatee
Hey, Grunny, Andrea LoPiccolo has created the page Snape's Goatee numerous times. I've deleted after each recreation, but I can't figure out how to protect it (so they can't recreate it again) once I delete it. Do I need to protect it first and then delete it? Any help you can provide, thanks. --Cubs Fan (Talk to me) 17:09, September 4, 2011 (UTC)
- Hi Cubsfan. You need to delete, then protect for creation. However, there is currently a caching bug preventing protecting a page within an hour of it being deleted. So, you'd have to delete then try to protect the now deleted page, if it doesn't work and you're given an error, wait an hour after you deleted it and try again. The techs are working on resolving this bug, so hopefully we won't have to wait an hour after deletion for too long. When a page is deleted or doesn't exist, the protection form should have only one option for preventing creation. Also, if you protect before deleting, when the page is deleted, the protection is too. I hope that helps. :) Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 00:34, September 5, 2011 (UTC)
Hello Grunny, I wasn't sure who to contact about an affiliation request and I saw that you have a large presence on the wiki, so I hope it's okay if I ask you if the Harry Potter Wiki would like to affiliate with the Muggle Quidditch Wiki. It's a wiki for the sport of real-life Quidditch. I've just created it, so it's still a bit stark, but I hope to expand and attract new editors. Thanks, WarriorLoverInc 00:51, October 26, 2011 (UTC)
Hi, Grunny! Thank you for the rollback. I have a question hereto. Can you tell me when rollback is allowed and when it is better to only correct edits? Harry granger Talk contribs 08:47, December 1, 2011 (UTC)
Thank you for your information. That will help me to differentiate.
Harry granger Talk contribs 13:05, December 1, 2011 (UTC)
chat policy
I was asked today by User:Speedysnitch, if we had any chat policies, and if we don't if we could have one. Just wanted to see what the other admins/bcrats though. I know I rarely see many in chat, generally, Speedy mentioned that when people are in chat, sometimes people yell or get angry with each other, spamming and what not. --BachLynn(Send an Owl!) 21:38, December 5, 2011 (UTC)
Please help
Hey, grunny. Donmax here. I understand that i caused some problems on wookieepedia, and I really am sorry. I have information on 30 sith lords from star wars the old republic that I want to create, and i promise i've learned my lesson. I AM COMPLETELY unable to contact Grand Moff Tranner in any way to repeal my block, so could you please tell him what I told you, that my SOCK and block evasion were out of ignorance and frustration. That is to repeal Donmax's block. Thank-you.188.8.131.52 03:54, December 14, 2011 (UTC)
Chat Mod
Hey Grunny, I was wondering how long it takes to become a chat mod. I was nominated and so was Windsword7 on the same day. I see he is now a mod and I am not. Is there a reason or has it just not been done yet? Head of Ravenclaw | Send me an Owl! 21:15, January 17, 2012 (UTC)
RE:Categorising templates
Sorry, that I didn't know. I thought they would fit best in these categories. I did not know they should be uncategorised - or is there another category for these templates? I will think of it should I see such uncategorised templates again. Thank you for the advice. Harry granger Talk contribs 11:00, April 30, 2012 (UTC)
- Thank you for the information. That one must know. Yes, technic / computer software can be complicated. Harry granger Talk contribs 11:36, April 30, 2012 (UTC)
Couple of things
It's the 13th, and Speedy should have enough support for the admin nomination now.
Also, Seth and I noticed something odd with several of the family tree templates. All the trees that use a certain format have a large empty space above them that we can't figure out how to get rid of. You can see it on the {{Grangerfamilytree}}, {{Malfoyfamilytree}}, {{McGonagallfamilytree}}, and {{Weasleyfamilytree}}.
Nick O'Demus 13:55, May 13, 2012 (UTC)
- Speedysnitch granted the rights. The second one I'll try to take a look at tomorrow (it's rather late here :)). Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 16:11, May 13, 2012 (UTC)
- Sorry to bug you again, but we still can't figure out how to get rid of that blank space on the family tree templates. - Nick O'Demus 18:27, July 23, 2012 (UTC)
- There's an IP range that's been adding fanon potion recipes for the last week. I'm trying to figure out how to do a range block, but I can't figure out what the start and end range should be. These are the IP's used so far:
- Would the block for this be 126.96.36.199/23? Or would that be too wide or too narrow a range? - Nick O'Demus 08:09, August 4, 2012 (UTC)
- Yep, that's the right range. You can find out using this tool. The range can be up to /16, but that's obviously not ideal unless it's a proxy range. Wider ranges are fine as long as the blocks are kept shorter than normal and only increase in block length if there is more vandalism from the range following the blocks expiry without editors with good intentions also being in the range. If you think good editors might be in the range, just ping me and I can check. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 08:14, August 4, 2012 (UTC)
- Okay, I'll go ahead with it then. I was only planning to block for a week or two anyway. Thanks for the link and the advice! - Nick O'Demus 08:22, August 4, 2012 (UTC)
- We still can't seem to get rid of that large blank space in the family tree templates. Can you take a look at it? - Nick O'Demus 17:32, August 26, 2012 (UTC)
- Fixed. They needed to have <noinclude> placed on the same line as the end of the table code in each template, otherwise a new line is inserted by each template call, leading to all that extra whitespace. :) Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 02:24, September 11, 2012 (UTC)
Notability Policy Vote
It's been a long time and it seems like the details of the proposed notability policy have been generally ironed out. As an admin and someone who has expressed interest in the policy in the past, would you be willing to join in the [[vote to pass the policy as is? Then we can finally get moving on this and start getting rid of all of these articles about random character wands that are barely mentioned in passing and various spectator characters, etc. ProfessorTofty 23:13, May 17, 2012 (UTC)
Hey grunny
You just left message on my talkpage.
I am Amujoshi11 Remember
Just i wanted to know that how can we modify our profiles
I want just like your one.
Amujoshi11 07:03, June 24, 2012 (UTC)Amujoshi11
Re: Rollback
Thanks! I'll make sure never to use it for evil! :D
P.S.: I wanted to edit the page to fix the formatting on the message above before leaving this message, but it wouldn't let me because of something about the spam filter. Apparently the username referenced in message 45 - "Cross-wiki vandal" gives the spam filter fits. ProfessorTofty 14:38, June 24, 2012 (UTC)
Any idea what we plan on doing here when the switch happens? I checked with http://html5.validator.nu/ and pretty much every template on this wiki will have issues when wiki switches.
BachLynn23 Send me an Owl! The worst failure, is the failure to try. 23:20,5/7/2012
- Well something's definitely gone wrong with our infobox templates. It seems to be affecting all of them, but only the infoboxes (at least, that I've noticed so far). - Nick O'Demus 21:36, July 10, 2012 (UTC)
- I've checked several other templates, but none of them seem to be affected, just the infoboxes. The only other thing I've noticed is that the admin names aren't in orange font on the Recent Changes page anymore. - Nick O'Demus 22:12, July 10, 2012 (UTC)
- Yea the weird thing, if you really dig into some of the pages that talk about the changes from html4 to html5, in theory there should be a lot more, but from what I've been hearing across wiki, there hasn't been as drastic changes as was first thought. BachLynn23 Send me an Owl! The worst failure, is the failure to try. 22:17,10/7/2012
- I'm currently on holiday so can't look at things in depth. However, the infobox and admin highlight issues were caused by these edits to MediaWiki:Wikia.css. The import must go first, otherwise it won't be loaded properly. I've fixed this. Refresh your cache multiple times and try purging a page and it should fix the infobox. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 23:14, July 10, 2012 (UTC)
- Yea I was told this wiki was switched to html5 like, a week go or something like that, and it doesn't appear to really have done much, but before hand they were saying things like all sorts of stuff was phased out of html4 and wouldn't work anymore. BachLynn23 Send me an Owl! The worst failure, is the failure to try. 00:18,11/7/2012
I'm trying to report a cross-wiki Spammer (Arlene.laura). I've already banned them and deleted their stuff here, but they've hit several other wikis too. The problem is, when I go to vstf.wikia.com/wiki/Report:Spam and click the Report Spam button, I get this:
- You do not have permission to edit this page, for the following reasons:
- The action you have requested is limited to users in one of the groups: Administrators, Wikia Staff, Wikia Helpers, VSTF, emailconfirmed.
- You do not have permission to edit pages
o_O ? Nick O'Demus 11:41, July 18, 2012 (UTC)
- You need to set an email in your preferences and confirm it to edit. It's an extra measure against spam and vandal accounts being made en masse and editing there. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 09:43, July 19, 2012 (UTC)
Hey, sorry to bother you, but I'm trying to get Template:Title working over at Brickipedia (http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Template:Title) and have added what I think is the .js (http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/MediaWiki:Common.js) but it doesn't seem to be working. (Although it may just be because our .js is apparently a mess :P) Thanks, ~ CJC 20:18, September 9, 2012 (UTC)
- Don't worry. ~ CJC 19:31, September 10, 2012 (UTC)
- Thank you so much for this info - I had tried the title template on a wiki that I manage and I couldn't get it to work, but that DISPLAYTITLE works like a charm. Or maybe it's a transfiguration, I'm not sure... ;) ProfessorTofty (talk) 11:55, September 11, 2012 (UTC)
Hello Grunny
I think I am still active and I will surely contact you Amujoshi11 (talk) 14:40, September 15, 2012 (UTC)
Hi, Grunny! Have you seen the avatar of this banned user? I find it's horrible. Can't it be deleted? That can trigger nightmares in younger individuals. Harry granger Talk contribs 21:00, October 8, 2012 (UTC)
- Should be gone. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 07:43, October 9, 2012 (UTC)
- Yes, it's away. Thank you! Harry granger Talk contribs 10:28, October 9, 2012 (UTC)
Admin request
Just a heads-up, I have put in a request for admin privileges. You can find the request in the usual place. ProfessorTofty (talk) 21:57, October 9, 2012 (UTC)
Admin status
Grunny, I applied for admin status over a week ago and the consensus was full support. Could you go ahead and enable that, please? ProfessorTofty (talk) 20:30, October 19, 2012 (UTC)
- Done. Congrats and let myself or any other admin know if you have any questions. :) Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 22:36, October 19, 2012 (UTC)
Seth Cooper has seven votes in support of promotion to Bureaucrat, with no opposition. Could you go ahead and make it official? - Nick O'Demus 01:04, January 26, 2013 (UTC)
- Done. :) Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 03:31, January 26, 2013 (UTC)
Technician Rights Request
Hey this Ḡwẵine Ḹٍٍkƨ Ĺiĸe Ͼềлȑềd, head design technician and admin on Survivor, Hey Arnold and Merlin Wiki.
To my eyes, I think this wiki could really do with some upgrades to it's design. There is plenty I have to offer and that is why I am requesting a 'technician' status. ~~user:Ḡwẵine Ḹٍٍkƨ Ĺiĸe Ͼềлȑềd~~
Preload templates function
Hi, I've imported the preload template function from this wiki, unfortunately there seem to be something wrong: the template list is correctly added in the editor, but clicking on a element doesn't add the code in the text area. When you are free, can you take a look please? Aside the JS page, here other two relevant pages: w:c:it.onepiece:MediaWiki:PreloadTemplates and w:c:it.onepiece:Template:Profilo personaggio/preload. Thank you.
leviathan_89 23:29, June 26, 2013 (UTC)
- Hi. I added the missing function needed to make it work, and it is now working for me. I hope that helps. :) Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 08:13, June 27, 2013 (UTC)
- Thank you. Is it possible to exclude noinclude tags from inclusion? So that I can categorize the preload pages... only if that's not too complicated.
leviathan_8912:07, June 27, 2013 (UTC)
- Thank you. Is it possible to exclude noinclude tags from inclusion? So that I can categorize the preload pages... only if that's not too complicated.
- Nevermind that, I'll ask in central if I have to. Thank you again.
leviathan_8915:27, June 27, 2013 (UTC)
- Nevermind that, I'll ask in central if I have to. Thank you again.
Sorry to bother you again, but I've noticed the code doesn't work if you have the visual editor enabled in your preferences and I cannot figure out why. Can you take another look?
leviathan_89 15:09, June 28, 2013 (UTC)
I gave up on trying to add the preload menu in the template module, I guess it has something to do with the fact the editor is "loaded". I'll stick with the standard version you are using here, though it would be nice to be able to add it in the template module of the editor (it's more fitting in my opinion). Bye.
leviathan_89 14:44, June 29, 2013 (UTC)
Hi again, I just noticed that the function that add the text at the cursor position doesn't work with the editor enabled (even here), just try it. Can you fix it?
leviathan_89 22:43, June 30, 2013 (UTC)
- Hi. I will have a look later. This particular piece of code originates on Wookieepedia where you can not enable the visual editor, so it wasn't a concern. You'd have to switch to source mode anyway, since the code it is loading is raw wikitext. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 09:37, July 1, 2013 (UTC)
- Thank you, I'm not using the visual editor so that doesn't concern me either, but it's an issue for standard users since it doesn't work in source mode. I'm looking forward to your fix.
leviathan_8914:46, July 1, 2013 (UTC)
- Thank you, I'm not using the visual editor so that doesn't concern me either, but it's an issue for standard users since it doesn't work in source mode. I'm looking forward to your fix.
- TK-999 solved the issue, here the fix, you may want to use it here too.
leviathan_8917:35, August 31, 2013 (UTC)
- TK-999 solved the issue, here the fix, you may want to use it here too.
Israel Administartionsעריכה
hey, my name is Alma I'm from Israel, we have our own harry potter wiki, we call it
the thing is, it's abandoned. im the only one who edits and improves, i translate (quit good actually) from the wiki here...
anyway, i need to become an admin because the are many pages that need to be deleted....
and i already messaged the wiki admin but as i said, its abondoned....
maybe you can make me an admin? or tell me what i need to do beacuse our wiki looks terrible comparing to this wiki....
thanks a lot,
Hi grunny ! I am really happy to talk to you ! I was wonderingi if you could come in IRC Chat of wookieepedia ? O do have some questiosn to ask to you if it does not bother you !Emperor Jarjarkine (talk) 15:24, April 5, 2014 (UTC)
Hey, I read on your main page that you can look up things for me. I cant find a better person to contact than you, especially that your a top admin and a staff on this wiki. Anyways, I want to know more about this actress (EXTRA) from the first Harry Potter film. She played a so called "Pansy Parkinson" in the original film. She is seen at the start of the movie at the sorting hat scene. I can't find any sources which link to her or the character she plays. I want to know her real name and the character she played. I also want to more about this actress. I can't find anything about her on "this" wiki. Thats why I turned to you. I been searching up for that individual for a month now and I can't found much about her. I even tried to contact Warner Bros but no luck! That is why I turned to you, as a last choice. Can you please help me? Here is an image of here: http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/pansy-parkinson/images/22405320/title/pansy-parkinson-photo
Thanks Kabilan29 (talk) 21:58, November 12, 2014 (UTC)
Harry Potter page contents list
It's been a while, but I was hoping you could help with a bit of a technical issue. On the Harry Potter article, the collapsible "Contents" box at the top cuts off after "Possessions", leaving out everything from "Relationships" on down. This is the only article I've seen that has this problem. I suspect it may have something to do with the size of the page, as it's the largest article on the wiki by far.
Another user tried putting several sections into collapsible boxes, but that didn't fix the issue. I tried removing the "Relationships" section entirely, intending to place it into a sub-page instead, but that didn't fix it either. I'm drawing a blank at what else we could try here. - Nick O'Demus 08:33, January 25, 2015 (UTC)
- Nevermind, Jack "BTR" Saxon found the problem (a misplaced quote template in the "Possessions" section). - Nick O'Demus 10:42, January 26, 2015 (UTC)
- Cool, glad it's resolved. The length of a page shouldn't affect the table of contents, so yeah, it's usually a parsing error of some type. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 16:27, January 30, 2015 (UTC)
New Infobox Feature Beta Testing
Apparently, Wikia wants us to help test out a new reworking of the infobox structure to make them more compatible with viewing on mobile devices. I'm no expert on coding, so I can't say how this will play out. You know a lot more about this sort of thing than I'd do, so I'd really appreciate getting your 2 cents on it. You can read more about the proposal here and here. - Nick O'Demus 00:33, June 20, 2015 (UTC)
- Hi Nick. Yep, I'm aware of the feature, and I think it might make a lot of sense here as the infoboxes are fairly straightforward and don't have anything particularly complex in them. I can take a look at converting an infobox (as a draft) so others can take a look and make sure nothing breaks as a result. The main thing will be styling and so forth. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 08:01, June 21, 2015 (UTC)
- Quick example for other admins to see so they can consider it and comment on it: User:Grunny/character. You can edit it to look at the syntax of the new infoboxes. Cheers, grunny@talk:~$ 08:49, June 21, 2015 (UTC)
how about a question
I'm new here and i'm trying to figure things out and i was hoping you can help me with that. Heres my question how do you get the templates for individuals. If you don't know what I mean let me explain you know how you go to a person,place or thing on this wiki and it says all their information like when they were born how do you get that on your profile page. If you still don't understand look at this page http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hermione_Granger and look under her picture wher it says Hermione Jean Granger in purple ten all her information how do i get that on my profile page. Hope you can help Dracomalfoyisawsome9.
Need a New Mod
Sorry to bother you with this but Seth hasn't been around since the 6th.
Since Jay has resigned from her Mod position we need a little extra help to keep the Discussions running smoothly. We have done a lot of research and consideration and us current Mods have all come to the conclusion that http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/User:Nylinajatii is the best choice for an additional Mod. She's very kind, helpful and clear, if you could promote her as soon as you can that would be great! Thanks! --TheOriginalDoctor (talk) 19:20, April 22, 2017 (UTC)


text:
Written by Kyle Ash, crossposted from Greenpeace International.
Many people have given up hope that President Obama will take the lead on climate. This is a massive disappointment, given the hope we all had after the departure of Bush and his denial of climate change, and Obama's 2008 campaign promise to take action. Apparently, Obama was just trying to woo us.
Here at the Durban climate talks, President Obama's team has begun actively denying the urgency of global climate change. This is just another form of climate denialism.
Here's an excerpt from an article in today's ECO, the conference daily paper published by Climate Action International, the alliance of over 700 organizations including Greenpeace:
"...science says climate change is happening due to human activity, and it's urgent. The US received a Fossil of the Day award for statements about the science of climate change by Jonathan Pershing, the US Deputy Special Envoy, in his first press briefing here in Durban. Pershing is a scientist himself, and was involved with the IPCC, but he implausibly said current collective mitigation targets are sufficient to avoid going over 2 degrees. His overall message was that the US stands on its position that avoiding runaway global warming is not urgent enough to expend much political capital on commitments in the UNFCCC.
...By saying the US is only really concerned with post-2020 commitments, the Obama Administration's negotiators are saying their boss doesn't need to deal with this issue, since Obama won't be in office after 2016 (assuming he wins another 4 year term). In his 2008 campaign, however, President Obama promised to be a leader on global climate disruption. But expectations have now fallen so low that all we can ask is for the US to agree some very reasonable steps forward in the negotiations – for example, on a mandate to package commitments into a legally binding agreement by 2015. That would give the world four more years, in addition to the Bali Action Plan, agreed by the Bush administration, which gave the world two. The climate may not wait. The world certainly cannot be dragged down by another US administration in denial."
When the Obama administration says the President is making climate change a priority, it is a claim with no foundation. The perfect example is the US pollution target, which is less than half target agreed by the US in Kyoto. By acting in 2009 as if the US had never signed onto anything, Obama followed the lead of President Bush who was probably the first leader in modern history to un-sign a treaty.
More importantly, the US climate pollution target is so weak that it may already have been accomplished without any new national policies aimed at reducing climate pollution. Adding up reduced CO2 from new car efficiency rules, plus closing defunct coal-fired power plants may be enough as even analysts from Shell Oil argue can happen with a recovery from the recession. Although it's worth mentioning that the recession resulted in a reduction of emissions almost equal to half of the Obama administration goal.
Mitt Romney many believe to be Obama's likeliest contender in next year's bid for the presidency. People are recalling that Romney has a record of crafting, signing into law, and implementing climate policy. And one of the best Obama appointees, who is in fact in charge of developing EPA greenhouse gas policy, previously worked in Romney's government. Despite the crazy rhetoric by Republican candidates on climate, Obama will have a very hard time arguing he has a better record than Romney.


text:
Monday, 07 April 2014 02:12 PM
A proposed settlement that would end the legal fight over Rhode Island's 2011 landmark pension overhaul, which has been a model for other states looking to rein in runaway pension costs, was rejected by one of the groups voting on it, officials announced Monday. The parties were ordered back into mediation.
Police union members, the smallest of the six groups that had to approve the proposal, rejected it, said Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for the plaintiffs. Sixty-one percent of police union members voted against the settlement.
Crafted during more than a year of closed-door, court-ordered talks, the proposal overwhelmingly won approval from all of the other groups, including teachers, retirees and firefighters.
But according to the agreement, if more than half of any one of the groups rejected the proposal, the settlement process would end and the original lawsuits would proceed. A trial is scheduled for September.
Because it was rejected by the smallest group, police union members made up less than 2 percent of those eligible to vote in the first round, the judge "ordered both sides back into mediation to explore whether a settlement can still be reached," according to a statement from the plaintiffs.
Even if the parties reach an agreement that is acceptable to the police unions, the proposed settlement still would have to clear a second vote by a much wider pool of people covered under it. The General Assembly would also have to sign off on it.
The proposal, announced in February, was an attempt to resolve lawsuits filed by public-sector unions and retirees over the state's 2011 pension overhaul. The deal offers retirees a modest pension increase of $500 with the promise of additional increases sooner than the current law calls for. But most of the other sweeping changes approved by lawmakers are preserved.
The overhaul was designed to save Rhode Island $4 billion over the next 20 years.
The outcome marks a defeat for Gov. Lincoln Chafee and Treasurer Gina Raimondo, who argued it was a good deal for all parties and preferable to continued costly litigation.
Spokeswomen for Chafee and Raimondo said in a joint statement that the governor and treasurer participated in good faith in the mediation that led to the settlement agreement and will continue to do so.
Richard Licht, the director of administration, had no immediate comment Monday after the parties had an in-chambers conference with the judge in Kent Superior Court in Warwick.
According to the plaintiffs, there were 417 police union members eligible to vote in the first round; 254 ballots were received, and 61 percent voted to reject.
The vote to reject was 34 percent for state workers; 31 percent for teachers; 27 percent for firefighters; 26 percent for retirees; and 15 percent for municipal workers.
The total number of ballots mailed out was 23,624. Those that were not returned were counted as votes in favor of the proposed settlement.
A group of 50 retired state workers and teachers covered under the proposed deal filed a new suit last week challenging the pension law and objecting to their inclusion in any class-action settlement. They want to proceed with their own legal challenges.
© Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Newsmax Comment Policy
Keep discussions on topic, avoid personal attacks and threats of any kind. Links will not be permitted.
Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.


text:
UK Christian Hip Hop: Then and Now
Nowadays, it's hard to imagine life without iPods and CD's talk less of a day spent without Facebook and Twitter and other social mediums, the basic tools many artists in this day and age use to aid in their pursuit of conveying the message within their music. Such means were non-existent back in the 90's, the era that UK Christian Hip Hop burst onto the scene. With founding fathers such as Paul Servier (better known as DJ Royal Priest), Gifted, Blessed Man and a group named MOD and End Dayz, who later went on to release the UK's first Christian Hip Hop Album.
The Beginnings:
Christian Hip Hop artists were a rare find, many of them believing they were the only ones sharing the Gospel through the medium of rap music. Unlike Gospel Link Live (GL Live – the UK's premier Urban Gospel event today), back then the church simply provided the people with choir shows. Christian Hip Hop was seen as 'just for the youth'. The church was not receptive to this style of music, with many discrediting this genre of ministry and pastors preaching against it, believing that the Gospel could not be shared through Hip Hop. Many of the artists felt as though this style of music would reach those of their own kind from a similar background, but also the availability of this genre of music was limited. So they decided to record mixtapes, back when it was better known as 'Rhyming over Dubs'. Through being invited to other churches and church events they were able to hand out these tapes and also go on to discover that there were other Christians spreading their message through rap as well.
1997 saw great unity amongst the UK artists. A significant monthly event called 'Worship & Warriors' hosted by Paul Servier took place and became an instrumental turning point in the UK Christian Hip Hop scene. The goal of this event was simple; to bring all the ministers together to pray, worship and fellowship. These events continued for a further 3 years varying between the North & South of London.
Through various events and shows many doors opened up for the artists, such as GreenJade being offered their own 'float' in 1998 at the UK's well known Notting Hill Carnival, being the first Urban Gospel music ministry in the Carnival. This had great influence. 1999 saw many new acts emerge from different parts of the UK such as Ebony Soldiers from Luton.
20th Century:
Some of the UK's most well known Christian Hip Hop artist were birthed out of the most influential collective of our day. Started up by Jahaziel, his vision was to see rappers coming together and doing something collectively. A meeting was called, and shortly after ZionNoiz was formed. ZionNoiz, comprising a number of groups and individuals with diverse talents such as Jahaziel, GreenJade, Royal Priesthood, Dwayne Tryumf and many more came together in 2001. Meeting up on a regular basis, ZionNoiz collected beats and worked on the album 'Many Sounds, One Noiz' which was released in 2004.
The success of their first single 'The Anthem: And What' open doors as far as Christian Hip Hop being taken seriously in the UK mainstream. With the video appearing on one of the most popular UK urban music channels at the time, Channel U, 2005 saw the song appear on the Channel U album compilation and ZionNoiz perform at the UMA's (Urban Music Awards), sharing the same stage as Jay-Z. This was a huge milestone for UK Christian Hip Hop.
Shortly after the album was released, the members of ZionNoiz decided to take an individual focus from the collective and hone in on their own separate paths. With Dwayne Tryumf going on to release 2 albums and feature on Lecrae's lead single 'Don't Waste Your Life', which was voted the #1 Christian Rap song of 2009.
With ZionNoiz having gone their separate ways UK Christian Hip Hop took a dip, but barriers were still being broken with GreenJade (watch "Gunz Down" here) being the first Hip Hop act to perform at the annual Greenbelt Festival. Nevertheless, the silence was noticeable until mid-2006 when PreacherBoy Entertainment was launched. Starting out as a record label founded by Charisse Beaumont and Robert Oyediwura, they signed their first artist; Jahaziel. Introducing a new model in promotion and marketing in the UK, many emerging artists and groups such as G-Force followed that model and found success, making full use of the now popular social networking site MySpace.com which allowed artists to go straight to their audience, allowing music to be accessible to all with just a click of a button.
Having Christian Hip Hop so accessible to the public and technology so affordable, this resulted in industry insiders' waking up to what was going on, causing the first award show in Europe to celebrate urban music (The prestigious MOBO awards) to re-open their Gospel section in 2006. G-Force were the first UK Christian Hip Hop act to win the award in 2007, setting a trend of Christian Hip Hop acts winning the award for the past 5 years, most recently won by Triple O in 2011. This shows that recognition for the underground is steadily growing and has the potential to cross over to the mainstream.
With known favourites such as Guvna B who recently released an album named 'Next Ting 140' which was a compilation of the finest UK Christian Hip Hop/Grime MC's today such as Tru2DaName, Forever Christ, Jay Dolph, Presha J, etc. This reached #2 in the iTunes Christian & Gospel chart and #18 in the Amazon Hip Hop & Rap charts.
This year saw boundaries being broken with S.O and Jahaziel being signed to LampMode Recordings and Xist Music respectively, showing that the U.S. is quickly beginning to take notice of what the UK has to offer.
There are now a growing number of artists, collectives, and labels emerging from the UK, many of which do not experience the same obstacles and restrictions that our pioneers once faced. Being able to record music from their own bedrooms, the amount of material released by UK Christian Hip Hop artists is at its peak. Having collectively released 15 projects this year, Christian Hip Hop, Rap and Grime have become the forerunners of Gospel music as a whole here in the UK.


text:
Compare cheap flights from Cairns to Colombo
When is the cheapest time to fly to Colombo?
What to do in Colombo
Colombo is the largest city in Sri Lanka. This exciting city blends the modern and new, and it's home to most of the country's restaurants and entertainment venues. Travellers can choose from historic, leisure, and religious places to visit, so you'll get your Sri Lankan Rupee's worth during your entire trip.
Relive the history of Colombo by hopping on a bus and heading to the National Museum of Colombo, Colombo Dutch Museum, and the stunning Kelaniya Raja Maha Vihara Buddhist temple.
The city also has great galleries for you to spend time in, like the Sapumal Foundation, Lionel Wendt Memorial Art Centre, and Casa Serena Art Gallery. Want to see Mother Nature's handiwork? Get a break from the concrete jungle and stop by Attidiya Bird Sanctuary, National Zoological Gardens, and Victoria Park.
If you're looking for the beach, you can't go wrong with the popular Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. You can also go on a food run here because the beach is chockfull of restaurants for all budgets, plus there's a good deal of nightlife too.
Colombo is also a great place for shopaholics, plus it's a great way for you to see the city like a local. Take your pick and spend your Sri Lankan Rupee at Barefoot, Lakpahana, Lakmedura and the Pettah Market. You can also join Colombo's best events and get your fill of the city's culture. Don't miss the grand elephant processions of Navam Perahera in February and the dazzling lanterns of Vesak (Buddha's Birthday).
A lovely way for your Colombo story to come to a close is by visiting Galle Face Green. This massive promenade area is a lovely place for you to spend some time with your friends, loved ones, and kids. But it's also a perfect place for solo travellers to observe the locals and watch the sunset over the ocean.
There's more to the city that you should explore, just read Nerd Nomads' 10 cool things to do in Colombo for more travel inspiration!
When to visit Colombo
The best time to visit Colombo is during November to April when you can enjoy pleasant weather and also attend the city's best events.
You can fly to Sri Lanka and visit Colombo for 30 days after you secure your tourist visa. Check out Smartraveller for more info.
Travelling to and around Colombo
After flying in to Bandaranaike International Airport, get to the city by bus, taxi, and train. Start wandering the city of Colombo by taxi, bus, train, and tri-shaw.
It's time you go to Colombo! Pack your bags, get your passport and book your Colombo flights now with Skiddoo.
Temperature average in December
Rainfall average in December
23.6 mm
Cheapest time to fly to Colombo (CMB)
All prices refer to return flights to Colombo and include taxes and charges.
Our experiences customer support team is there to help you every step of the way.
With the Skiddoo Price Promise, if you find a cheaper price online we'll match it!


text:
As expected, DREAM will return in September, but it will look a little different when it does.
At a Wednesday press conference, DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara officially announced that DREAM.17 will take place Sept. 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
But contrary to previous events, DREAM will use the card to launch a new rule change: the use of three, five-minute rounds.
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) previously reported, DREAM.17 is expected to feature the opening-round bouts of the company's bantamweight world grand prix.
Prior to Wednesday's announcement, DREAM bouts featured an opening 10-minute round followed by a second, five-minute round. Title fights saw an additional five-minute frame.
The change will allow DREAM fights to more closely resemble those fought under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts – though fights are still expected to be judged as a whole rather than on a round-by-round basis.
One matchup for the card was also announced, as Takeshi Inoue (20-5 MMA, 1-1 DREAM) meets Caol Uno (26-14-5 MMA, 2-1 DREAM) in a featherweight matchup.
A longtime Shoot vet, Inoue is riding a two-fight win streak that includes back-to-back TKO victories over Koichiro Matsumoto and Talki Tsuchiya. The two impressive wins followed consecutive decision losses to Kazuyuki Miyata and Hatsu Hioki.
Meanwhile, Uno looks to build on the strength of a much-needed win over Akiyo Nishiura at this past May's "DREAM: Fight for Japan" event. Prior to the win, Uno struggled through a 0-4-1 stretch that included UFC bouts against lightweights Gleison Tibau, Fabricio Camoes and Spencer Fisher.
Television plans (both in Japan and the U.S.) for the event remain unclear. The promotion's most recent event, "DREAM: Japan GP Final," took place on July 16 and makes its U.S. debut on HDNet on Aug. 5.
For more on DREAM.17, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Keiichi Sasahara)


text:
Your identity is your most precious possession. Protect it.ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
Remember the bad guys on those shows you used to watch on Saturday morning? Well, these guys are not like those guys. They won't exercise restraint because you're children. They- will- kill- you if they get the chance. Do not give them that chance.ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
Island approach, India-Golf Niner-Niner checking in, VFR on top, over. Island Tower, this is India-Golf Niner-Niner, requesting vectors to the initial, over.ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
India-Golf Niner-Niner, transmitting in the blind guard ó disengage, repeat, disengage! Disengage, repeat dis-en-gage! Friendlies at two-zero miles south-southwest of your position, angels 10, track east, over!ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
Mayday! Mayday! India-Golf Niner-Niner is buddyspiked! Abort-abort, there are children aboard this airplane! Abort-abort-abort! Abort-abort!!ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
Shhh. It isn't your fault. It wasn't fair for me to suddenly ask so much of you. But things are different now. And doubt is a luxury we can't afford anymore, sweetie. You have more power than you realize. Don't. Think. And don't worry! If the time comes, you'll know what to do. It's in your blood.ElastiGirl (Helen Parr)
Super-ladies, they're always trying to tell you their secret identity. Think it'll strengthen the relationship or something like that. I say, "Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.Frozone (Lucius Best)
To tell you the truth, I'd rather go bowling. Look - what if we actually did what our wives think we're doing? Just to shake things up.Frozone (Lucius Best)
I don't see anyone from the old days, Bob. Just you. And we're pushing our luck as it is.Frozone (Lucius Best)
Aw - now... that ain't right.Frozone (Lucius Best)
We look like bad guys! Incompetent bad guys!Frozone (Lucius Best)
I'm thirsty. I'm just getting a drink.Frozone (Lucius Best)
I know, I know. Freeze!Frozone (Lucius Best)
I wanted to go bowling!Frozone (Lucius Best)
Where's my super-suit?Frozone (Lucius Best)


text:
Plan Description
Plan Specifications:
Please note that this plan is not drawn to local specifications. If your building locality requires that the plan is stamped, you will need to find a local architect or engineer to modify and stamp the plan for local codes.
Plan Notes:
The overall dimensions have not been added yet.
|Plan Pricing:
|PDF of Plan C0208
|Study Set of Plan C0208