Monthly Archives: August 2017

IGG released a new features in the (Sept/Oct 2015) update, which enables Legendary 10 star Heroes to continue getting tougher and gain a new look.

Currently only Legendary Heroes can be evolved and although evolve, their HP per level does not.

AlsoHarpy Queen is subject to an anomalous drop in her HP base.

A Hero must fulfil all the evolutionary (evo) Hero requirements before a it can be evolved. When a Hero is ready to evolve it will appear in the Heroes Altar with the its Star Level shining and the Hero will have Evolve where you typically see the Upgrade button:

The initialmove speed will drop to the 4 Starspeed for evo1 and 5 Starspeed for evo2.

The returned books must be claimed from your mailbox within 7 days.

The following tables shows the minimum number of books that are returned for each level, what level these books can level a new hero to and for each level where the next 500k break starts on that level (add 500k steps to this number to find where the subsequent breaks start, ie for 183 the first break is 313,501 , so the next break will be at 313,501 + 500,000, the next at 313,501 + 2 x 500,000 etc).

Honor Badges are also used to increase the Star level of a hero, which raises it's maximum level capacity:

Use the "Base Evo Stats (Level Up)" shown in a Hero's "Info Box" (found at the top right of each Hero's page) to calculate a Hero's damage (DMG) and Hit/Health Points (HP) for a given HeroLevel:

Spirit Mage example withDamage: [669+] 378 (+13) andHitpoints:[10230+] 1680 (+90):

Evolved Heroes Star level evolve from level 1 with 3 +evolution generationStars.This means that the Hero's Stars will not increase until the evolved Hero reaches the relevant level to Star level, ie, level 80 to go above 4Stars, level 100 to goabove 5Stars.

EvolvedHeroesstill follow the standard stats formula with these exceptions:

This now means that calculating evolved stats includes theHero'sunique fixedbaseas well as newbase stats(be careful not to confusebasewithbase stats) which is typically shown in [x+] in theHero'sInfo Box" andStarswill not start to increase until theHeroreaches 4 or moreStars.

The evo1 heroes' stats have many advantages over their counterparts including starting out with a massive base making them up to around 3.0x - 1.88x HP and about 1.6x - 1.33x DMG than their counterparts. But this is partially offset byStarlevelingup increases not starting until theHeroreaches 5Stars.

Evo1 HP and Evo1 DMG are larger than its equivalent counterpart but the biggest increase is with HP with DMG being much smaller increase.

For HP, an evo1 hero at level 66e1-68e1 will typically be match the HP of its level 180 counterpart and 132e1-135e1 for DMG. But at 66e1-68e1 an evo1's hero DMG will still be well under will that of the level 180, but rather be close to that of level 104-110. It is not until an evo1 hero gets to level 132e1 that its DMG becomes a close match for its counterpart at level 180.

In battle simulations an evo1 level of between 100e1 and 120e1 typically matchesits level 180 counterpart. But this does vary from hero to hero with some heroes able to match at 100e1 and others only barely at 120e1.

- Hero must reach 10 Stars (at least level 180 )

- 1 Evolution Rune (can be obtained by spending 1000 Fame collected from Lost Battlefield)

- 1,000 Red Crystals

- 1 duplicate of the same Hero, you can provide the duplicate by 3 ways:

All Experience gained by the hero after reaching level 180 (10Stars)will be returned inBless Tome experience books (500,000 exp), typically rounded up to the nearest 500,000 exp.

- Hero must reach 10 Stars of the first Evolution system

- 5 Evolution Runes

- 2,000 Red Crystals

- 3 duplicates of the same Hero

If Hero has a higher level than 185, the Experience gained after reaching 185 will be returned in Bless Tome || experience books (500,000 exp).

Honor Badges aren't used for evolving heroes but they will be used to level them up.

Evolution Compare: Evo2 versus Evo1 @ level 185

Evo2 versus Evo1 at level 185: Comparing Evo2 (all levels) to Evo1 at level 185 to see differences in the evolution from evo1 level 185 to evo2.

Continued here:

Evolution | Castle Clash Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

Over the past two decades, there have been a number of pivotal moments in which al-Qaedas ongoing war against the West has shifted the contours of global geopolitics. Most notably, the 9/11 attacks sent the war on terror into a whole new dimension first with the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, and then with the subsequent invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Despite intensive military counter-operations, western understanding of al-Qaeda has been severely limited, primarily because governments and intelligence agencies tend to control and simplify narratives. No longer. A new book discusses the history of al-Qaedas forces with an insiders perspective.

Written by British investigative journalists Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy, The Exile: The Stunning Inside Story of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda in Flight recounts the groups evolution through unique access to Osama bin Ladens inner circle.

The book documents the gradual formation of the Islamic State by bin Ladens lieutenants and captures bin Ladens rising paranoia in his final years in the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan where he was finally killed by US special forces in May 2011.

Frustrated this story was not being relayed in its totality, both Clark and Levy traveled to a host of countries in search of more information to tell what they feel is the real story of al-Qaeda as it evolved into a leading global brand of international jihadism.

Authors of The Exile Cathy Scott-Clark (right) and Adrian Levy (Caroline Forbes/Courtesy)

To this end, Clark and Levy held meetings with al-Qaeda insiders, as well as with relatives and friends of those associated with the organization, in places like Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait, the United States, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy (Courtesy)

Startling details emerge, such as how the Bush administration knew the whereabouts of bin Ladens family and al-Qaedas military and religious leaders, but rejected opportunities to capture them.

Details also surface relating to the development of the Central Intelligence Agencys (CIA) torture program in Cuba and Thailand, and the subsequent coining of the phrase forever prisoner, as does information relating to Irans secret shelter for bin Ladens family and al-Qaedas military council.

Its more than a fantasy the way the al-Qaeda narrative is constructed [in the west], says Levy, a senior correspondent at the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom. Its seen through a western-European-Caucasian police procedural, in the form of analysts, the CIA, or from European intelligence agencies.

I cant think of any other conflict where there is such an extraordinary act of control by western governments, the journalist adds.

Levy cites films like Zero Dark Thirty a slick blockbuster narrative that depicts the decade-long hunt for bin Laden as a perfect example of sanitized western propaganda at work.

Osama bin Ladens Abbottabad main house with front door visible. (Shaukat Qadir/courtesy)

What we are seeing is a Hollywood betrayal of this story, says Levy, which shows agents using torture successfully in an attempt to imbue the story with one single narrative.

This torture was conducted far away from US soil, often in secret locations, and thus was not obligated to human rights conventions or other international laws.

The book recalls, for instance, how on July 24, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft, who then served in the George W. Bush administration, verbally approved to the CIA the use of 10 interrogation techniques on terror suspects who were arrested without trial. These techniques included walling, cramped confinement, and the use of diapers.

The Exile pays special attention to the prison diaries of Abu Zubaydah.

Born Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn in Saudi Arabia, Zubaydah moved to the west Bank as a teenager. Rejecting his middle class upbringing, he shunned his parents dream of him becoming a doctor and instead traveled to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaeda recruits. He was captured in Faisalabad, Pakistan, on March 28, 2002, suffering severe bullet wounds in the process. And, he famously lost an eye while under CIA interrogation.

The interrogation techniques used on him by the CIA have included stress positions, sleep deprivation, and waterboarding, among other forms of torture.

Abu Zubaydah in 2017 with eye patch around his neck. (Courtesy)

As Levy recalls, the CIA has accused Zubaydah of being al-Qaedas number three, Osama bin Ladens lieutenant, and one of the main planners of 9/11.

The US government now admits that most of those allegations against Zubaydah remain unverified. Still, Zubaydah remains at Guantnamo Bay, in Cuba, without trial, where he is classed as a forever prisoner.

Zubaydahs lawyers managed to get hold of his torture diaries, Levy says, and its the first primary source by someone who has been through the capture rendition in the Guantnamo process. This is yet another example how this [controlled] narrative has been imposed on this very complex situation.

Its deeply frustrating with the recent attacks in Manchester and [London], that we now have less material available [about jihadis] than we did post 9/11, Levy adds.

Levy believes the key to really understanding jihadi fundamentalists like bin Laden and other al-Qaeda figures is not just to study their eschatological-fundamental-Islamic-vision of the world but to analyze their day-to-day domestic lives too.

One would have to emphasize the bin Laden family, the journalist posits. Primarily because its the story of an abusive father and a family in decay.

Osama bin Ladens son Omar and wife Zaina bin Laden while they were still together. (Courtesy)

Levy cites how a number of bin Ladens children, for example, were born autistic and with numerous other diseases which were essentially untreatable since the jihadi leader was against any kind of investment in medicine or science.

The journalist also explains how the eldest bin Laden daughter, Khadija, was married off in puberty to make pacts with other mujahed fighters. She then subsequently died in childbirth in Waziristan in 2007, despite the fact that she had been advised by doctors three years earlier to undergo a dilation procedure to cleanse her womb.

There is a real sense of [huge] human failings within the bin Laden family, says Levy.

The west, led by the United States, has attempted to purposely construct and control how bin Laden and the al-Qaeda story is portrayed in the mainstream media, but the narrative from the jihadi side has been just as carefully constructed.

Bin Laden understood the nature of digital terror, and was always shaping his image, explains Levy, whether it was the way he held his gun, the way he dressed, the shape of his beard, or the image of him as the messianic figure in the cave returning.

Osama bin Laden at Tora Bora, November, 1996. (Abdel Bari Atwan/courtesy)

One of the more intriguing narratives to emerge from Levy and Clarks book, however, is the revelation that the 9/11 plot to bring down the twin towers wasnt handed down through conventional means, by way of the al-Qaeda military or religious council.

[They] objected to the plans for 9/11 on the grounds that there would be too many civilian casualties, that it was an unjustified target, and that it would lead to the immediate dismantling of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan, says Levy.

Since 9/11 we in the west have seen this in the framework of an al-Qaeda plot. But that is not what happened, he adds.

The journalists also document in their book how the two George W. Bush administrations widely misunderstood various countries roles across the Middle East especially in relation to how certain states harbor terrorists.

Pakistan, for example a country that the Bush administration viewed as a strategic partner in combating terrorism is what Levy calls a jihad factory.

Al-Qaeda objected to the plans for 9/11 on the grounds that there would be too many civilian casualties

There are elements of the jihad factory [in Pakistan] which are controlled by the deep state and then elements that are well beyond its control, Levy adds.

The 2003 Iraq War, however, is absolutely pivotal and critical to understanding the wests conflict with jihadi terrorism over the last 15 years, Levy believes.

After all, it was Iran, not Iraq, Levy says, that was harboring al-Qaeda terrorists in its country before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The Iraq War set back the normalization of relations between the US and Iran massively, the journalist says.

General Qassem Suleimani (right) with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. (Courtesy)

Once Iran was named in George W. Bushs so called axis of evil speech, the country took a hardline approach to the west.

Iran was admitting that it had given finances, transit, and [support] to al-Qaeda, says Levy.

Its like a series of matryoshka dolls, and the echoes out from that are Syria and Libya

But because of the axis of evil speech, Iran went hardline. After this it chose not to hand over of the religious Shura, and the military and the religious council of al-Qaeda [to the west], Levy explains.

The Iraq War also upset the Shia-Sunni balance in Iraq, and subsequently led to the rise of IS.

Its like a series of matryoshka dolls, says Levy. And the echoes out from that are Syria and Libya. And that is how we have reached the point with the Manchester [and London attacks].

Throughout Clark and Levys book there are numerous quotes from al-Qaeda leaders about the need to constantly attack the Jewish state. Moreover, the United States and Israel are in many ways seen by fundamental jihadists almost as one single entity and viewed as the ultimate enemy together.

Still, while Israel is a target that al-Qaeda would gladly like to attack, there are subtle strands within this narrative that make sure its not that easy.

Illustrative: Salafi demonstrators in Gaza waving Islamic State flags during a demonstration that took place on January 19, 2015. (Courtesy MEMRI)

Levy argues, for instance, that much of the jihadi world that surrounds al-Qaeda is a hierarchy of nations.The Saudis and Egyptians are seen in this jihadi-worldview as the intellectuals. But the Palestinians, Levy explains, are not necessarily highly regarded in the jihadi world.

Levy recalls how Abdullah Yusuf Azzam, a Palestinian, who was known as the Godfather of Jihad in the Afghan conflict, ended up being up killed in a car bomb in 1989. Many suspect that he was killed by bin Laden.

Palestine and Palestinian politics arent given a lot of status within the mujahid and jihad world

Palestine and Palestinian politics arent given a lot of status within the mujahid and jihad world, Levy explains. And al-Qaeda have chosen different causes that were dictated by the ethnic makeup of the movement.

Levy also points out that al-Qaeda usually tend to carry out their operations in failed or failing states, such as Algeria, Libya, Syria, Iraq, as well as a host of other failed states across Africa, where fundamental Islam is growing all of the time.

So in that sense Israel could not be a worse location for al-Qaeda, says Levy. Its a small locked down country with a militarized zone with a hugely successful domestic and foreign intelligence force. And it would be spectacularly more difficult for al-Qaeda to set off something on the scale of 9/11 within Israel than it would be in, say, the United States.

Smoke rises in Egypts northern Sinai, as seen from the border of the Gaza Strip, amid fierce clashes between government forces and Islamic State-affiliated gunmen on July 1, 2015. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Levy claims that a number of journalists within Israel have written about the so-called al-Qaeda-ization of the Palestinian cause. But he believes this is a misguided view.

There is not yet an al-Qaeda brand within the Palestinian national liberation struggle, Levy explains. If one is to talk about al-Qaeda in Israel, the key question to ask is who would the local partners be?

It is true, Levy concedes, that in Sinai al-Qaeda are relatively successful primarily because they have local partners in Egypt. And in Jordan the group has had some level of success, garnering some support.

If one is to talk about al-Qaeda in Israel, the key question to ask is who would the local partners be?

But having no partners, no history, the wrong rhetoric, and a fear of the military intelligence apparatus in Israel, makes it enormously difficult for al-Qaeda to carry out an attack in Israel, Levy says.

Its far more profitable for them to be in Manchester, Birmingham and London, Levy adds. They are sprawling cities with different rules. They have lots of local partners and huge diasporas. And it makes much more sense than Jerusalem does.

Clark and Levys book concludes just as bin Laden gets assassinated in 2011 by US special forces in Pakistan. However, the journalists are keen to point out that al-Qaedas narrative has not ended there.

While IS is certainly pervasive, the geographic reach of the organization has diminished, says Levy. Moreover, he adds, IS depends on the contagious nature of its idea. He says the main problem with IS is that it has no structure.

Armed police patrol near Manchester Arena following a deadly terror attack in Manchester, northwest England on May 23, 2017. (AFP/Oli SCARFF)

With the politics of the Middle East in complete free fall, its hard to say what direction all of this is going in, Levy posits.

Still, Al Qaeda is blossoming and is massively resurgent, he says, pointing out that the jihadi world has moved on from bin Laden.

Al-Qaeda is far more ambitious, in complete resurgence and a massive force to be considered, Levy concludes.

Children of al-Qaeda members in Tora Bora, 1996. (Abdel Bari Atwan/Courtesy)

Read more:

As told by friends and family, an insider's dissection of the evolution of al-Qaeda - The Times of Israel

Garrett Sorenson as Steve Wozniak and Edward Parks as Steve Jobs in Santa Fe Opera's The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.( KEN HOWARD FOR SANTA FE OPERA )

SANTA FE, N.M.Many of us want to change the world. Steve Jobs did. Or so, plausibly, claims the brochure for this seasons Santa Fe Opera, which has just premiered a full-length, one-act opera titled The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

The creative entrepreneur who gave the world Apple hardware and software, yanking even the most reluctant of us into the computer age, may not seem the likeliest of subjects for tenors and sopranos. But Santa Fe Opera, currently under the direction of Charles MacKay, is no ordinary opera company.

Housed in a strikingly modern, mostly outdoor facility, nestled literally in the desert outside New Mexicos centuries-old capital city, this innovative enterprise has been, for decades, an incubator for emerging as well as established operatic talent.

Read more: Opera in New Mexico desert draws Canadian musicians

Igor Stravinsky turned up for its first season in 1957 to attend a production of his only full-length operatic work, The Rakes Progress. And as recently as two years ago, every seat was sold for its entire run before the curtain went up on the premiere of Jennifer Higdons Cold Mountain.

Even so, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs represented a particular challenge, a first opera by an American composer who (like Higdon) is known largely for his instrumental music, based on the life of a recently deceased (2011) global superstar.

Although Mason Bates and his librettist Mark Campbell insisted that they were not about to produce a documentary theirs is an interpretation of the life and character of Jobs, without the co-operation of their subjects family or of his company neither can it be called a work of fiction.

The story begins in the garage of the Jobs family home in Los Altos, Calif., when Paul Jobs presents his son with a work bench for his 10th birthday.

Thereafter, the libretto moves forward and back through time, visiting pivotal moments in the grown-up boys career, all within Vita Tzykuns unit set, whose walls expand and contract to provide projection surfaces for changing locales.

The libretto is hardly hagiography. The Steve Jobs we meet appears driven, self-centred and only almost likeable when he finally faces his own mortality. In the title role, baritone Edward Parks may not even sound Jobs-like (the real person apparently spoke in a rather high-pitched tenor), but his characterization, complete with an Issey Miyake black turtleneck and Levis 510 jeans, is certainly credible.

Those who know the actual Jobs story, whether by reading Walter Isaacsons monumental biography or through the various other attempts to pin the butterfly, will recognize the cast of characters, from the girlfriend and child he abandoned to the best friend and partner (Steve Wozniak) he cruelly offended, all of whom are portrayed sympathetically under Kevin Newburys direction.

But of course, what matters most in an opera is its music and the music of Bates has turned out to be a clever amalgam of the live and the electronic (whirring electronica, in the composers own words), with Bates himself sitting at a console in the pit next to conductor Michael Christie.

This takes us back to the days of Haydn and Mozart, when composers routinely participated in performances of their own operas, yet it is no mere nostalgic stunt. Bates has sought to give his characters not identifying leitmotifs, in the Wagnerian manner, but individual sound worlds, using samples of what he calls Mac gear. To characterize Jobs spiritual adviser, a Buddhist monk, he even incorporates Tibetan prayer bowls and Chinese gongs.

The music is accessible and sufficiently transparent in its scoring that the words come through with surprising clarity (something that did not happen in the score for Cold Mountain). A major opera? Perhaps not but surely an effective one, with the power to bring an entire audience to its feet. An extra performance has already been added to its run.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is running this season in repertory with four other, more traditional works: Handels Alcina, Donizettis Lucia di Lammermoor, Rimsky-Korsakovs The Golden Cockerel and Strausss Die Fledermaus. I attended performances of two of them.

Lucia di Lammermoor offered in the American soprano Brenda Rae one of the finest vocal actresses I have yet witnessed in the operas famous mad scene. And The Golden Cockerel sported a set by Gary McCann marvellously evocative of the constructivist designs to come out of post-Revolutionary Russia.

Reasons enough for a trip into the New Mexico desert? You bet.

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More:

Santa Fe Opera thinks different with The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs - Toronto Star

Health experts say the recent spike in flu cases is nothing out of the ordinary.

Three times as many people went to hospitals with a winter illness in July compared to the year before.

Public health physician Dr Jill Sherwood told Newshub the virus is changing, and catching people off-guard - but it appears worse than it really is.

"Although it seems bad they're three times higher, we've actually still only got what we would term low seasonal activity - last year we had unusually low activity."

The flu virus that was circulating last year had not changed much in several years, she said.

"We had a lot of people who, either from vaccination or from having the illness in previous years, were immune."

District Health Boards are advising people to visit their general practitioners in the first instance.

Dr Sherwood advises people to wash their hands often, and stay home if unwell.

Newshub.

Read the rest here:

Virus evolution behind spike in flu cases - Newshub

Yakima Herald-Republic

The evolution on the hop grower/craft brewer relationship Yakima Herald-Republic The evolution on the hop grower/craft brewer relationship. Aug 4, 2017 Updated 7 hrs ago; () Steve Dresler, retired brewmaster of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., talks about how the relationship between hop growers and craft brewers have changed over time. and more »

More here:

The evolution on the hop grower/craft brewer relationship - Yakima Herald-Republic