The punitive force bound for Village Baran!
Located on the borderline of human civilization, Rosenheim Kingdom was surrounded by monsters.
The kingdom fortified the walls and organized militias in frontier towns, but the annual feasts by goblins and Orcs that raided to pillage autumn harvests were still rampant, which gave the royal court a headache.
The mission of the punitive force assigned to Darius was a group quest to take over Village Baran that had fallen into the hands of the lizardmen. Those who joined the punitive force shared the same quest, and they, composed of three hundred users, would come to drive the lizardmen out of the village.
This topic had been rattling around the Citadel of Serabourg for the last few days. Even users from other kingdoms were pouring into the Citadel to join the quest, making it even more crowded.
A member who took part in the quest was given EXPs, not to mention fame, in recognition of his service to Rosenheim Kingdom. Everyone was talking about it, yet it had escaped Weed as he was busy carving statues at his street stall.
Weed agreed to meet his former teammates first. They were waiting downtown.
“Nice to see you again, Weed-nim.”
“Wow, long time no see!”
Surka and Irene welcomed Weed. Their outfits had changed greatly in his absence.
Surka wore a fine tunic, and Irene a snow-white clerical vestment. For Romuna the mage, it was a standard black robe.
They were surprised that Weed had still not changed his outfit.
“Weed-nim, where have you been?”
“It’s a long story…”
Before Weed could answer fully, Surka cut in and said,
“I understand. You haven’t signed in for weeks, right?”
“…”
“Oh, are you going to join the punitive force quest? Please come with us, Weed-nim!”
Romuna slipped her arm into Weed’s as if they were a couple.
Pale the ranger was watching them with a wounded look that sent a chill down Weed’s spine. He already sensed that Pale was secretly courting Romuna.
Slipping his hostage arm away from Romuna’s firm grip, Weed asked,
“What’s your level now?”
“I’m level forty-eight. I died five or six times in battles, so I’m the lowest among us,”
Surka said sheepishly.
“I’m fifty-one,” Irene said.
“Same here,” Romuna said.
“I’m level fifty-three,” Pale said still disturbed by the scene.
Weed learned that his teammates were all friends in reality, so they had always hunted monsters together, thus leveling up at an identical pace. Still, it was evident that they had been on serious hunting sprees because they had leveled up faster than other typical users.
They confided to Weed that they had withdrawn from college temporarily. Though they didn’t tell him more, he guessed that they had since played Royal Road almost non-stop, without sleep, caged in their dark rooms like isolated, socially reclusive individuals.
Pale soon established that Weed would come along with them to join the punitive force quest.
“They posted that the level requirement was thirty and above. This quest gives a premium on earned experience. You can also win some fame.”
The punitive force was scheduled to encounter numerous types of monsters. The main target was the lizardmen that occupied Baran Village, but chances were that they would face relatively less dangerous goblins.
“The mission is a little risky, but we can call for help from NPCs if there’s an emergency. I’m now sick and tired of spiders and bandits.” Pale made an appalled face.
While Weed was away, his teammates had hunted monsters in a nearby dungeon. It was the spider dungeon, where red spiders and poisonous arachnids were lurking behind every stalactite. Poison was taken care of by Irene, but Pale had been traumatized by being fastened to a sticky spider net, struggling pathetically against saliva-dripping giant spiders.
Weed nodded, understanding exactly what Pale had been through. He had had a tough time of his own crushing gigantic worms. “It wouldn’t be so bad to take part in the punitive force.”
“We welcome you, Weed-nim. By the way…”
“Yes?”
“Did you find the class?”
As far as the class was concerned, Weed had been undecided when he had been teamed with them in hunting sprees. They even had a private gamble on when he would get one.
“I got a class, but—”
“What class is it? Tell us.”
Irene, usually reserved, approached Weed with twinkling eyes. As a priestess in charge of healing and buffs that supported the other teammates, she was supposed to know every teammate’s class.
There are so many divisions for the warrior class alone, not to mention other branches of the combative classes that specialize in different weapons and styles of combat. Tanker types are heavy on defense and vitality, and deals damage types on attack power and strength.
In the case of Surka and Pale, they belonged to supportive classes with higher agility, but less strength and vitality compared to other melee fighters.
Furthermore, Paladins, nicknamed holy knights, can use divine power, including Healing Hand, for self-healing, thanks to their exclusive stat of faith.
Weed scratched his head. “I’m a sculptor.”
“Wow, cool! You chose an artist class.” Surka laughed brightly, but the rest looked less than delighted. The prejudice that associated a sculptor with weakness was deeply engraved in their subconscious.
In fact, the sculptor class is one of the craft classes that had nothing to do with combat skills, so it is deprived of any effects on strength and vitality.
Still, they embraced Weed as one of their own from the bottom of their hearts. They were not heartless enough to turn their backs on their former brother-in-arms just because he had converted to one of the least desirable classes.
“We were on our way to Sir Darius to join the punitive force. Come with us,” Pale said.
“But, you see, I’m a sculptor,” Weed said.
“Don’t worry. We can make up for what you’re missing. We should hurry before someone else fills the empty slot. The size of the punitive force is limited to three hundred users and two hundred NPC soldier participants in the order of arrival,” Pale said.
“Let’s go, Weed-nim,” Romuna said.
“If you think you aren’t qualified for a spot ‘cause you’re a sculptor, we will help you out. Please?” Surka said.
Now that Weed had disclosed his class, he was left without an excuse to say no.
The women felt so maternal toward Weed that they could not abandon him, even though they thought he was weak, and Pale almost begged him to join the punitive force quest to repay what he had done for them before.
Persuaded by their persistence, Weed headed for where Darius’s troops were stationed.
* * *
Duke Kanus held a regular meeting for the knights. All the knights who were within the Citadel, without exception, had been called to attend it. In the meeting, they discussed how to drive monsters out of Rosenheim, a conscription plan and other urgent military issues.
“You have done an excellent job, Lord Midvale, and the soldiers whom you were assigned are trained competently. I’m impressed that their levels all exceed fifty,” Duke Kanus said.
“That was not my doing, your Excellency,” Sir Midvale said.
“Huh? I personally entrusted this task to you. Tell me what happened,” Duke Kanus said.
“If you insist, Your Excellency,” Sir Midvale said. Lord Midvale then reported in detail the events that had taken place in the Lair of Litvart.
“Hmm… I see.” Duke Kanus said as he rubbed his well-groomed mustache.
Other knights also looked taken aback that a foreigner, other than a Versailles native, had done the job so well. The NPCs recognize themselves as locals born on the Versailles Continent, and that users are freedmen sent by Gaea the Holy Seer. They had emotions, spoke and acted like real people, thanks to programmed artificial intelligence.
“A fine man, indeed. Lord Midvale, why didn’t you recruit him to the Rosenheim Army?” Duke Kanus asked.
“I asked him to be a military officer twice, but he said he wanted to retain his liberty and slay monsters at his own will,” Sir Midvale said.
“A freedman, he is,” Duke Kanus said, impressed.
“Yes, Your Excellency. Though he does not belong to our Kingdom, it seems to me that he is a man who shall devote time again to Rosenheim,” Sir Midvale said.
“If you say so, we’ll see his sword by our side again someday,” Duke Kanus said and dropped the subject about the Lair of Litvart and moved on to the next one.
* * *
On the way to Darius, Weed stopped by a grocery store.
“Weed-nim, why do we stop here?”
“You’ll see.”
The grocery store was crowded with lots of customers. They were mostly delivery boys from restaurants in the Citadel.
A boy, clad in what resembled a messenger’s attire, yelled,
“I want fresh breasts!”
“Puhaha, you are at the wrong place, young tiger. A brothel is at the next corner down the street. Hope you’ve got a photo ID,” the shopkeeper said.
“Shoot. I want chicken breasts!”
The boy grimaced. But the shopkeeper, oily as a snake’s tongue, was only smiling.
“Only chicken breasts? Don’t you need eggs, too?”
“Oops, I forgot… I need eggs, too.”
“Stay put. I’ll give you eggs when hens lay them.”
“How about chickens?”
“When the eggs hatch, sir.”
Irene giggled at the exchange between the shopkeeper and the delivery boy.
“Funny kid.”
“I guess he got a job in a restaurant ‘cause he can’t leave the Citadel for the first four weeks.”
“Bad choice. Why did he decide to work at a restaurant where there’s nothing much to learn?”
In Pale’s eyes, it wasn’t wise to make a career in a restaurant.
Newbies are advised to take quests that pay well or, in the case of spell-casting wannabes, to read and learn many things in a library. This is so they can buy more advanced weapons and gear, hunt monsters more easily and level up faster in the long run.
Weed disagreed with Pale’s opinion, though. “If you work in a restaurant, you can learn the cooking skill. It pays off,” Weed said.
“I know, but what’s the point of learning a useless skill like cooking? If you buy rye bread that is processed by the food preservation spell, it will last for a month,” Pale said.
“He’s right. Why do we need to learn how to cook when we can raise the satisfaction factor easily?”
Surka asked.
 They underestimated the cooking skill just as much as they had looked down upon sculpture mastery, not knowing that what impact great meals could have on the stats.
‘These people don’t know what a poor life is like,’ he said to himself.
Weed’s eyes darkened. Those who actually have been through times of financial hardship don’t underestimate the significance of the cooking skill.
If you are a low-level newbie, running out of money, you will stand it because you have no alternative. But once your level reaches a point where you can afford to buy more delicious food, your tongue will automatically reject the rye bread.
In truth, even Pale didn’t always put rye bread where his mouth was. When it comes to the bottom line, people are the same. They have the same list of desires, and when they fulfill it, it grows longer by itself. In particular, the basic needs of housing, clothing and food are inseparable from life.
Moreover, the cooking skill works in real life. As the cooking skill matures, it gives you a list of available recipes based on the types of ingredients that you have now. You can try a new recipe in the virtual game, and it will stick in your head after you log out. If you master the cooking skill at least to the expert stage, you will never need to worry about getting a job because any restaurant will hire you with arms wide open.
Virtual reality. It means that reality is exactly realized as it is in an imaginary world. In other words, what is learned in the virtual game also works in reality. Royal Road is such a detailed and realistic game.
Of course, the majority of users who don’t bother learning craft skills as widely as Weed will never comprehend what it is really about until they experience it with their own hands.
‘I wonder if they will ever want to try it, anyway.’
Weed anticipated that the value of the cooking skill would get higher as users leveled up in their hundreds.

‘I’m sure even a happily married couple would kill each other to taste a crumb of it.’
Not only the taste of food, but also the supplementary bonus would be spectacular.
Hard, flavorless rye bread worth three copper vs. French cuisine that tastes like heaven and increases various stats! The contest is over before it begins.
Weed imagined that meals prepared by a top chef would claim a stack of gold.
He thought that the value of statues would remain superficial, but that the cooking skill, as long as it was an integral part of life, would never diminish in its influence on daily life.
The rankers would long for the best food that they could find, and the value of a professional cook would hit the ceiling.
‘Well, some people might have foreseen this before. Cooks are amongst the most zealous professionals in guarding their secrets. They must be formulating their own recipes and improving their cooking skill.’
Weed turned to his teammates with a serious face and said, “I can’t deny you are looking down on the craft skills as a whole. The combat skills are important. But I think that the craft skills could end up being the most necessary skills in the future. All the craft skills have something in common, and they help an avatar’s combat ability as well. I suggest you learn the cooking skill. It’s essential to your daily life.”
“…”
“I’m sorry,” Surka said in a small voice.
“I forgot you were a sculptor, and I was thoughtless to speak ill of the crafters. I am really sorry,” Pale said.
Surka, Pale and Irene were red with embarrassment.
They thought that Weed was angry because they had belittled the cooking skill, one of the craft skills, right to his face.
‘That wasn’t what I meant. You got me wrong.’Weed shook his head.
No matter how hard he showed it to them, they would not see it until they felt the need to see it.
The grocery store had an amiable atmosphere as it largely entertained regular customers.
Weed thrust through them and walked to the register.
“Hello,” Weed said.
“Hello. I just heard you. You have the right idea about the cooking skill!” the shopkeeper said.
“Thank you.”
“Your face looks familiar to me…”
“Yup. I came here for grocery shopping a few days ago.”
When Weed improved his sculpture mastery and cooking skill at the same time, he had visited only this store to buy foodstuff in bulk—for a simple reason: the low price.
The easiest way to maximize profits is always to minimize costs by buying a large amount of materials at a time at a discount. Weed had always used the store for his purchases, yet it was the first time that he had ever spoken to the shopkeeper.
“Alright. Thank you for visiting my store. By the way, are you taking the path of a cook now?”
“No. My primary class is not a cook, but I know the value of the cooking skill.”
“Nice. So what can I do for you?” The shopkeeper’s eyes shone brightly, sizing up Weed.
He had already gathered from the conversation with the delivery boy that the shopkeeper was a user.
“Spices and sauces,” Weed said.
“Hmm, we have many different kinds of spices,”
the shopkeeper said.
“There are salt, sugar and pepper, and I can show you extraordinary local specialties, such as spices from the land of the Elves, and bottles of sap squeezed out of some plants in the north.”
On the vast continent, plenty of items with distinctive tastes are harvested by local farmers and traded through caravans.
“I don’t need extraordinary spices. Only basic ones.”
“Great. Only fools who want to impress others look for something special. How about the quality?”
“Of course, I want the best.”
“How much?”
Weed counted how much money he had in his pockets. He had not sold various types of ore yet, except for the silver he had collected from the queen worms.
He was saving them for future use, when he improved his repair skill enough to enable him to reduce the ores.
“I have twenty-seven gold now. I want to buy as much,” Weed said.
“Okay. I’ll give you some extra,” the shopkeeper said.
When Weed’s teammates overheard the conversation between him and the shopkeeper, they sensed a mutual understanding and respect flowing in between as if the old drinking buddies had been reunited.
In fact, the shopkeeper was a user who had already taken the path of the cooking skill. When he saw Weed, he realized that a strong rival in the latest wave had showed up.
Weed also recognized the shopkeeper as a forerunner in the field of cooking, so they hardly needed a word. Eye contact alone told them enough.
He packed the spices and sauces he had bought from the grocery store in the backpacks.
Once he was satisfied that he was fully prepared for a new journey, he headed for the camp of Darius’ punitive force with his teammates.
* * *
The punitive force bound to Baran Village was already the talk of the town, so there were many users who were eager to join the quest.
Darius sat down on a tiny chair, as he interviewed applicants for the quest, “Next, please.”
“Hello, I am Cochran. Level 68 archer. I’m good at Multiple Shot, and my weapon is Lasante’s Bow.”
“Passed.”
The next in line was Weed’s party with Pale in the foreground, who walked to Darius anxiously.
Pale spoke as the representative of his party. “We are all in the same party. Level fifties. A priestess, a battle mage in the fire element, a ranger, a monk, and…”
Pale stammered before he introduced Weed because he was afraid that when it was mentioned that Weed was a sculptor, Darius would be upset and reject them altogether.
“Hmm, you have a balanced party. Great. And he is…” Darius spotted Weed and asked Pale, “Is he part of your party, too?”
“Yes.”
“Five total. It fits exactly the empty slots left in my army.”
“Then…”
“Will you join the quest to take back Baran Village?”
Darius asked, and a message window emerged in front of Weed’s eyes.
|
Punitive Force to Baran Village Beyond the border of Rosenheim Kingdom was a wilderness of monsters. Walls were built, and troops were dispatched in order to keep out the monsters that annually invaded the motherland, but there was an opening. Through the opening, a wave of monsters surged in and occupied Baran Village With Rosenheim soldiers, save Baran Village from calamity, and destroy the monsters. Difficulty Level: D |
Pale said with a big grin,
“Sure.”
“I want to join it, too.”
“Same here.”
“Thank you for your invitation to the quest.”
“Yup.”
Weed was the last one to accept the quest.
|
You have accepted the quest. |
“Okay. Let’s move now.”
Darius sprang to his feet and cried,
“Everyone in the punitive force quest, please come over here! We have enough people, so we’re leaving now!”
* * *
There was no ceremony for punitive force bound for Baran Village. Only a handful of people who were friends of some troops waved goodbye.
Three hundred users, colorfully attired, marched out of the South Gate and toward the Southern Province—the destination was Baran Village. They intended to take back the village that had been lost to the lizardmen.
“Hehe. I haven’t been this far away from the Citadel before. It’s like we’re on a field trip!” Romuna said.
“I think I should have brought lunchboxes,” Irene said.
The two girls were chitchatting pleasantly.
Fresh air and a sunny day! It was a perfect day for a field trip. Lions and wolves, terrified by the size of the troops, were cleared of the path, ensuring the safety of the trip.
While Weed’s teammates were walking lightly, enjoying idle talk, Weed was checking out the other troops, the way they dressed and what they were equipped with.
‘The average level of users in the force is between forty and sixty. I heard that Darius’ level was a hundred and forty-something.’
Darius had five teammates; three sword warriors, a thief, and a plain warrior.
‘I’d better assume that they have almost the same levels.’
Weed concluded that Darius had packed his battalion with anyone who ran up to accept the quest, just to meet the requirement of three hundred users involved.
This suspicion had arisen in Weed when Pale applied for this quest, and Darius was very lax in accepting his party. In the case of Weed, Darius had not even bothered asking his class and level.
‘I guess he wants to get this punitive force quest done as soon as possible. A lot of rewards are at stake.’
A sense of alarm was creeping into Weed’s mind. He had done his own research on Darius, the leader of this punitive force, right after Pale whispered to him to bring up this quest.
Darius had a bad reputation. It was an established fact that he would do anything if it advanced his own interest.
“Everyone, listen,” Weed said in a low voice.
“Huh?” Surka said.
“When we arrive at Baran Village, we should not trust anyone easily,” Weed said.
“What do you mean by that?” Romuna asked.
“I’m saying we’re on our own now,” Weed said.
Pale looked around as though awakened by Weed’s words. Then, he agreed with Weed, “I see your point, Weed-nim.”
“What is it? I don’t get it,” Surka said.
Weed frowned at her.
“Do we know any other member in the punitive force?”
“No,” Surka said.
“Are you trying to say if a good item is dropped, someone else might kill us to take it?” Irene asked.
The question she raised quickly froze everyone in her party. Surka and Romuna even looked scared.
“That’s not what I implied. Of course, it could happen. But I don’t think there will be anyone who is bold enough to overstretch his limit in front of many witnesses in the punitive force.  Also, Darius will not let it happen, because it could endanger his authority.”
“What is disturbing you, then?” Romuna asked.
“We have no one else to count on. That’s our problem,” Weed said.
Weed led his teammates a little away from the marching troops to avoid eavesdropping, and added, “Despite our low levels, we will fight a great number of monsters.”
“Exactly! Isn’t it why they assembled three hundred users for the quest, and borrowed another two hundred soldiers from Rosenheim Army? When we finish it, we will gain a lot of experience and fame,” Surka said.
“Here comes a question. How will you fight when a battle starts?” Weed asked. “Yes, we have a lot of people, but we are just a bunch of strangers who don’t know anything about one another. We don’t know what skills a ranger over there has. We don’t know if a mage-like man next to him is really a mage or just an imposter in disguise. Imagine if the lizardmen take us by surprise, how will you react to them? How can we stay together and fight back?”
“But what’s wrong with that? The raids are supposed to be like this, aren’t they?” Irene asked.
When Irene raised another question, Pale shook his head. “Most raid quests are about killing a certain number of monsters or clearing some area on a limited scale. I haven’t heard much about large-size battles against an army of monsters on an open field like this quest. We have three hundred users and two hundred soldiers here, but when a battle begins, we will get stuck to our own teammates and break up into segments,” Pale said.
“That means…”
“Irene-nim, numbers always lie. Three hundred users and two hundred soldiers don’t guarantee that the party will be as strong as the sum of their strength. If we overwhelm the monsters, it will be fine. But if we encounter an unexpected turn of events, we will crumble like a house of cards. We should be careful,” Weed said.
Darius had been too impatient and too obsessed with creating a swift victory.
Since there were plenty of users who were eager to join the quest, he could have accepted high-level users to lower the risk of going astray in an emergency—though Weed’s party could not have joined in that case.
However, Darius was determined to have all public service points, so he had rejected any user at level above a hundred. Instead, he had loaded the slots with low-level ones.
He had also ordered the Rosenheim soldiers to stay behind and follow the main body at a little distance.
‘I bet he was worried that the soldiers might pick up some EXPs and fame that would belong to them.’
If Weed had been the leader of the troops for the quest, he would have done exactly the opposite. He would have left out three hundred users, and instead, made good use of the Rosenheim soldiers.

You can gain fame or EXPs in a number of different ways, but the charisma stat needs this sort of opportunity to rise quickly.
Weed once again reminded his teammates to watch out.
* * *
The troops stopped from time to time to take a rest and a meal. The users in the punitive force chewed on dried food they had brought, or set light meals. The Rosenheim soldiers kept to a timetable of three meals every day.
“How will we prepare meals?” Surka asked.
Pale and Surka shot a casual glance at Weed as they were talking about the upcoming mealtime. They knew, from the conversation that had taken place in the grocery store the other day that Weed was good at cooking.
Weed stepped up to display his cooking skill. “I will serve you meals. Pale-nim, can you go hunt rabbit or deer? At least two of each,” Weed said.
“Okay,” Pale said.
Pale took his bow, and before long, came back with three rabbits and two deer. As a ranger specializing in the bow, he could now fire an arrow at a rabbit without missing.
“Now I will prepare a delicious meal for you,” Weed said.
Weed set a bonfire, peeled the skins of the rabbits and deer, stuck skewers through them, and placed them right above the fire. Rotating them little by little, he salted and peppered them all over.
“Heeyah, it looks great,” Surka said.
“Can we eat now?” Irene asked.
Surka and Irene were slavering over the smell of the broiled meats—the temptation was irresistible.
Weed had already captivated the tongues and stomachs of Sir Midvale and his troops in the Lair of Litvart. They had eaten his beef stew like a pack of hungry wolves, and even scratched what little was left on the bottom of the pots.
Compared to those days, his intermediate handicraft skill now deepened the taste of his food, and the art stat was applied to make the rabbit meat look more appetizing.
Even the skewers poking through the deer’s mouth to its backside to keep it above the fire looked gorgeous.
“Please, help yourself” Weed said when he was certain that he’d taken enough time to torture his teammates with the sight of the food.
As the saying goes, hunger is the best seasoning.
Munch
As soon as Weed gave his teammates the go-ahead, they rushed to the barbecues and began tearing flesh from bones and tossing it into their mouths.
“Oh my, it is soooo good!” Surka cried.
“You’re the best, Weed-nim,” Romuna said, giving a thumbs-up with a greased hand. Her mouth was coated with yellow grease.
Apparently succumbing to gluttony of the seven sins, Irene the priestess was eating a rabbit whole, and Pale was busy grazing at a deer’s rear leg. They were even licking the bones.
“Thank you, Weed-nim.”
Gratified by the splendid food, they complimented Weed again and again.
“Not at all.”
Weed looked around, and found many other users had surrounded the little grill party without him noticing.
“Looks so good.”
“Really…”
“I’m envious that she’s enjoying the meat so much!”
Among the members in the punitive force, the bystanders’ appetite was stimulated even more by the sight of Irene and Romuna, who were having the time of their life.
“Do you mind if I have some of your meat?” a man asked.
Weed freely distributed his food to others. “Help yourself. But you should bring some meat next time.”
“Oh, thank you so much.” They received Weed’s food gratefully. But it ran out before more than a few had tasted it.
Weed began to work harder at the next mealtime because many users rushed to him with meat and asked him to cook it for them. In fact, some of them knew how to cook. They had been forced to prepare meals when they ran out of the dried food they had during a hunting mission. To put it bluntly, however, eighty percent of the troops were male.
They hated mundane kitchen chores, such as peeling potatoes and dicing onions. The same goes for the female users.
Even those who learned the cooking skill preferred gathering meat and giving it to Weed to cooking it themselves.
“I feel sorry for you. I really owe ya,” a man said on the second day of the journey.
“Not at all. You don’t need to say that. I am doing this for fun,” Weed said.
“But…”
“Are you really uncomfortable with it? Then, how about this? Let’s make a deal. If you want to pay back what you feel indebted to me for, you can pay for the meal. For spices and sauces, you know,” Weed said.
“I like that, works out. I’ll feel better that way.”
A great side job!
Weed began to collect a little fee for cooking. Of course, it was much larger than the real costs of sauces and spices, but nobody complained about it because they felt it was acceptable, nevertheless.
When the troops stopped by a town on the trip to Baran Village, Weed purchased a quantity of foodstuffs in a local grocery store.
He needed to update his recipes to improve his cooking skill at a faster pace. Plus, new types of menu that had never been tried before were always received favorably by his customers.
With the foodstuffs he had bought from the grocery store, he was busy working on them on the march and cooking them in mealtime.
Zahab’s Engraving Knife, besides its original use, it was perfect for peeling potatoes.
‘Well, carving statues and peeling potatoes are kind of the same.’
Meals prepared by Weed basically increased a diner’s life by five percent, and as his handicraft skill was in the intermediates stage, it gave off additional options.
Simply put, the intermediate handicraft skill supplements original effects by thirty percent for the sword mastery, and fifty percent for the cooking skill.
Therefore, the final effect on life was an increase of seven point five percent. It might sound trivial, but this difference could save a life in the middle of a chaotic battle where blind strikes were always lurking from behind.
Familiar faces approached Weed, who was immersed in cooking. They were wearing uniforms of the Rosenheim Army.
“Commander!”
Only a handful of NPCs would address Weed by the title. He stopped slicing the meat, lifted his head and saw faces he had seen before.
“You are…” Weed said.
“Salute! Greetings to the Commander!”
They were Becker, Hosram and Dale, the brothers-in-arms who had fought alongside Weed in the Lair of Litvart.
“How are you?” Weed asked.
“We are all promoted to denarion, Commander,” Becker said.
When the soldiers who had been thoroughly trained by Weed were promoted to denarion, they could not return to their original regiments. So, the military authorities had assigned them with raw recruits and a new mission.
“I guess they told you to join the punitive force bound to Baran Village,” Weed said.
“Yes, Commander,” Dale said. “Once the mission is complete, we will be stationed in the village to secure the surrounding area.”
A number of Weed’s former subordinates, including Buran, were taken under Sir Midvale’s wings, but the rest, now denarion, were currently serving in the punitive force.
It was Becker’s canine nose, that had smelled Weed’s cooking and tracked it down to find the former commander.
“Hehe,” Hosram said.
“I miss your cooking, Commander,” Becker said.
“I’m sorry that we are not going to serve you again, but why not show us that old comradeship never dies?”
The former subordinates said as they held empty stomachs.
“How does he know Rosenheim soldiers?”
“They’re not foot soldiers. They look like denarions.”
“They just called him Commander.”
Surka and Pale could not hide their surprise. A denarion was a rather weighty position, and the levels of those denarions were seemingly higher than theirs.
“Okay. Here”
Weed dished out what he was cooking to his former subordinates without reservation. Needless to say, all the supplies rationed to their platoons started to be smuggled to Weed from that moment on.
* * *
It took precisely ten days on foot for the troops to arrive at Baran Village.
Weed had intended to improve his cooking skill on the trip. To achieve the intermediate stage of the cooking skill, it required not only proficiency in the skill but also a humongous amount of physical labor.
Back in the days of the Lair of Litvart Weed had served thirty-two men three times a day, ninety-six servings on daily basis, and it totaled three thousand bowls of beef stew.
Then, he had set up an outdoor restaurant to prepare and sell meals in the Citadel. Now that he was feeding hundreds of mouths on the march, it was estimated that he had at least served ten thousand meals.
Provided that a man eats three times a day, it takes ninety servings for a month, around a thousand and eighty servings for the entire year.
Weed had done what amounted to ten years’ worth for a single man to accomplish the intermediate stage of the cooking skill, so if you still don’t get the picture, you’re seriously lost.
Cooking as a hobby isn’t comparable to preparing thousands of meals in order to gain an expertise rating for the cooking skill.
Though sculptural art was best to improve the handicraft skill, Weed was afraid to attract unwanted attention by carving statues on the march.
Cooking could pass more easily, making money and winning gratitude, if not respect, from others.
* * *
The troops were finally within the sight of Baran Village.
“We are almost there.”
“What kind of monsters do you think will be there? I can’t wait to fight them.”
Exchanging small talk complacently, Irene and Surka were walking down the path, while Weed, now finished cooking, and looked up at the sky.
There was nothing but white clouds were sailing in a blue sky.
‘I knew it. The City of Heaven was nothing but a myth.  Baran Village—the book said it was the last place with any connection to the City of Heaven. That’s why I joined this quest, but I was wrong.’ A faint gleam of hope was being dispelled.
When the troops marched near Baran Village, Darius cried, “Halt!”
Darius signaled to the entire complement to stop immediately. When Weed in the rear ranks walked to the front, he saw an old man in shabby clothes and dozens of children staggering toward the troops.
“What is your business?” Darius asked; he didn’t even get down from horseback—Darius and his minions were the only users on horseback.
“Greetings, Your Respectable Commander. We are the survivors of Baran Village,” the old man said. “I am Ghandilva, the elder of the village. I recently sent Jackson to break the sad news of my village’s calamity to His Highness and ask for help. I hope you are the ones to lift us from misery.”
“Yes,” Darius said.
Ghandilva was an elder of Baran Village, and the terrified children who were following him had escaped from the village with him when it was raided by the lizardmen.
“We will take back Baran Village very soon,” Darius said to Ghandilva. “So take comfort and wait a little longer for the good news.”
“I am glad to hear that, your respected commander. By the way, I have a personal request…”
Ghandilva said.
“What is it?”
“Please rescue my people who were captured by the despicable creatures. It is the last wish of this humble old man,”
Ghandilva pleaded amid tears.
Darius’ eyes glinted.
“Is this a quest?”
“Yes, it is the quest from my village, your respected commander,” Ghandilva said.
“What rewards can you give me?” Darius asked directly.
As a high-level user, Darius didn’t rush into any quest presented to him. There were too many quests around, and a lot of them only wasted time.
Ghandilva made a downcast face. “We don’t have anything of value to give you, sir. All I can give is this…” Ghandilva showed a plain-looking seed.
“I thought so. What rewards would I expect from an old man who lost his village to a band of lowly lizardmen? No treasures, no items,” Darius said.
Darius snickered coldly. He thought the old man had come to him to stir up trouble before he got down to driving the lizardmen out of the village.
“Then I will take over the village fast, and if we have free hands available after the battle, I will personally see to it that some troops will be sent to rescue the captives,” Darius said. “We cannot seriously expect that the hostages taken by the lizardmen are still alive by now. Don’t test my patience, old man.”
Darius trotted away from Ghandilva ruthlessly.
Some users in the punitive force called their leader names under their breath, but no one dared rise up to help the elder. Ghandilva was cast into despair. Then, someone grasped his wrinkled hands.
It was Weed.


Oops!
%(message)s
%(traceback)s
Back to Picnik
%(status)s
Having problems?
Visit the Picnik Help Center!


Pro_Pack : General¶
ProPack general module for non-specific classes / functions
Main Classes
PlayblastTask (*args, **kws) |
class to handler for playblast calls |
BatchLogger ([batch_files, func, log_name, ...]) |
Logging class for batch processes |
-
ascii_sanitizer
(text)¶ from a given line of ascii text sanitise it back into standard text, replacing all custom text (utf-8) such as , .... This only creates a value ascii string by ignoring ascii encode errors
:param text
-
force_to_unicode
(text)¶ regardless of the encoding of the text passed in, force it to unicode for passing around, this was originally added to manage non-valid ascii characters in filepaths
-
attr_cache_create
(node, attrs=[])¶ from a given object cache all it’s user defined attrs, or just those attrs passed in. The cache returns a dict with all the current states of all attrs, including the general setup of the attr (type, hidden, lock, keyable, value) but also all the plugs to and from it. This is really useful when used with the attr_cache_rebuild if you want to rebuild those attrs on the fly, reorder them against a given new list, or build the same attrs with the same plugs and connections on other objects.
Parameters: - node – node to grab the attrs from
- attrs – if given only cache those, else cache all user-defined attrs
-
attr_cache_rebuild
(node, attrs=[], data=None, cast_connections=True)¶ for a given object rebuild the given attrs from the data cache if given, else we internally cache all attrs on the node and rebuild then against the given attrs[] list order, effectively re-ordering them
Parameters: - node – node we’re going to build the attrs onto
- attrs – list of attr names thats used to order the process
- data – a cache of attrs using the cache_attrdata() func above
- cast_connections – if True we allow the attrs cached to be pushed over to the new object including all connections
-
filedata_manage
(add={}, remove=[], ontimenode=False, onfile=True)¶ manage custom data stored to the maya file header, if not args are passed we print back the current fileInfo data
Parameters: - add – dict of data to add, must be simple key,value
- remove – simple list of keys to remove from the data set
- ontimenode – if True will stamp the data in the scene time node
- onfile – if True will stamp the data in the maya file header
-
filedata_get
(filepath=None, ontimenode=None)¶ get the file data block from a given Maya Ascii file and return as a dict for easy use without having to load the actual file ;)
-
timenodedata_get
()¶ get the file data block from file time node and return as a dict for easy use
-
get_soft_selection_weights
()¶ return a list of soft selection data as a dict {vertID: weight, ....}
-
redirect_stdout_output
(maya=True)¶ control where prints and logging gets sent. By default Maya sends them to the maya.utils.Output, printing in the scriptEditor. This lets you divert between the scriptEditor or the OutputWindow
-
class
PlayblastTask
(*args, **kws)¶ Bases:
object
class to handler for playblast calls
Main Playblast call within Red9
internal vars:
- self.filepath : the output path for the movie
- self.batchMode : True by default: render the movie offscreen and turn off the player
- self.playblast_settings__cam : camera shape to render from if given else we resolve it
- self.playblast_settings__cam_mrig : do we track individual mrigs or the scene in general?
- self.playblast_settings__cam_track : do we auto-track the scene contents from the resolved camera
- self.playblast_settings__cam_track_panning : if we’re tracking do we use a fixed panning camera or a full track
- self.playblast_settings__cam_frame_all : static frame all of the scene
- self.playblast_settings__compile_audio : compile all audio into a single temporary file to ensure all audio is rendered
- self.playblast_settings__respect_current : use the standard Maya playblast settings rather than any of the below
- self.playblast_settings__width : movie width
- self.playblast_settings__height : movie height
- self.playblast_settings__format : movie format, ‘qt’ or ‘avi’, default=’qt’
- self.playblast_settings__compression : compression used, default=’H.264’
- self.playblast_settings__quality : render quality
- self.playblast_settings__show_polys : show polys
- self.playblast_settings__show_nurbscurves show nurbsCurves
- self.playblast_settings__show_imagePlane : show imageplanes
- self.playblast_settings__isolate : isolate mRig renderMeshes if given
- self.playblast_settings__displayTextures = True
- self.playblast_settings__displayAppearance = ‘smoothShaded’
- self.playblast_settings__xray = False
- self.playblast_settings__jointXray = False
- self.playblast_settings__wireframeOnShaded = True
-
FRAME_SIZES
= [[640, 480], [1024, 768], [1280, 720], [1280, 1024], [1920, 1080]]¶
-
FORMATS
= {'qt': {'comp': 'H.264', 'ext': '.mov'}, 'avi': {'comp': 'none', 'ext': '.avi'}}¶
-
run_task
()¶ main run func
-
class
BatchLogger
(batch_files=None, func=None, log_name=None, log_file=None)¶ Bases:
object
Logging class for batch processes
Parameters: - batch_files – list of files to be process
- func – string batch function to be use
- log_name – string name for log file, “%Y-%m-%d-%H_%M_%S” will be append at the end of the name
- log_file – string path to log file to be use, if set, it will override log_log_name attr
-
write_log
()¶ write log_file in HD
-
fail_files
¶ Returns: list of files that fail the batch posses
-
done_files
¶ Returns: list of files that done successful in the batch posses
-
missing_files
¶ Returns: list of files that are not fail and are not done files that have not gone true the batch posses
-
log_fail
(file_path=None, **data)¶ add a fail entry in the log_file
Parameters: - file_path – string file path that has been process if not set it will use self.current_file_path
- data – **kwrds to be added to the log EX. info=’extra information about the file’, process_time=5.345
Returns: bool True if logged successfully False if logging fail
-
log_done
(file_path=None, **data)¶ add a done entry in the log_file
Parameters: - file_path – string file path that has been process if not set it will use self.current_file_path
- data – **kwrds to be added to the log EX. info=’extra information about the file’, process_time=5.345
Returns: bool True if logged successfully False if logging fail
-
remove_log
(status, file_path, write=True)¶
-
run
(files=None)¶ Run self.func in given files, if not given files it will run all files in self.batch_files :param files: list of files to be process :return: bool True if run successful, false if not


#include <financialremovescreen.h>
◆ FinancialRemoveScreen()
| FinancialRemoveScreen::FinancialRemoveScreen |
( |
QWidget * |
parent = nullptr , |
|
|
QWidget * |
backScreen = nullptr , |
|
|
QWidget * |
loginScreen = nullptr , |
|
|
Farm * |
f = nullptr , |
|
|
std::string |
current_user = "" |
|
) |
| |
|
explicit |
This is the default constructor for the FinancialRemove.
◆ ~FinancialRemoveScreen()
| FinancialRemoveScreen::~FinancialRemoveScreen |
( |
| ) |
|
This is the default destructor for the FinancialRemove.
◆ getFarm()
| Farm * FinancialRemoveScreen::getFarm |
( |
| ) |
|
◆ on_backButton_clicked
| void FinancialRemoveScreen::on_backButton_clicked |
( |
| ) |
|
|
privateslot |
Function that performs the action of going back to the previous screen.
◆ on_okButton_clicked
| void FinancialRemoveScreen::on_okButton_clicked |
( |
| ) |
|
|
privateslot |
Function that performs the action of confirming the financial survey.
◆ on_removeButton_clicked
| void FinancialRemoveScreen::on_removeButton_clicked |
( |
| ) |
|
|
privateslot |
Function that performs the action of removing a record.
◆ TestFinancialRemoveScreenGUI
◆ back_screen_
| QWidget* FinancialRemoveScreen::back_screen_ |
|
private |
This attribute contains the reference of the back screen.
◆ current_user_
| std::string FinancialRemoveScreen::current_user_ |
|
private |
The nickname of the current user.
◆ farm_
| Farm* FinancialRemoveScreen::farm_ |
|
private |
This attribute contains the the Farm.
◆ login_screen_
| QWidget* FinancialRemoveScreen::login_screen_ |
|
private |
This attribute contains the reference of the login screen.
◆ ui_
This attribute contains the ui for the FinancialRemove.
The documentation for this class was generated from the following files:


--- title: Accessing Open COVID-19 Data via the COVIDcast Epidata API author: Kathryn Mazaitis and Alex Reinhart date: 2020-10-07 tags: - COVIDcast API - COVIDcast - R - Python authors: - kathryn - alex heroImage: blog-lg-img_Accessing Open COVID-19.jpg heroImageThumb: blog-thumb-img_Accessing Open COVID-19.jpg summary: | One of our primary initiatives at the Delphi COVIDcast project has been to curate a diverse set of COVID-related data streams, and to make them freely available through our COVIDcast Epidata API. These include both novel signals that we have collected and analyzed ourselves, such as our symptom survey distributed by Facebook to its users, Google's symptom survey whose results are delivered to us, the percentage of doctor's visits due to COVID-like illness, and results from Quidel's antigen tests; and also existing signals, such as the confirmed case counts and deaths reported by USA Facts and Johns Hopkins University. The COVIDcast API freely provides researchers and decision-makers with the data they need to conduct their work, and is conveniently accessible via easy-to-use Python and R packages. acknowledgements: | The COVIDcast API builds on the Epidata API, built by Delphi founding member David Farrow. Kathryn Mazaitis leads Delphi's engineering team, overseeing the COVIDcast API and all related operations. Brian Clark manages the API infrastructure, with significant help from Wael Al Saeed, Eu Jing Chua, Samuel Gratzl, and George Haff. Alex Reinhart maintains the COVIDcast API clients, with major contributions from Andrew Chin and Ryan Tibshirani. Ryan and Roni Rosenfeld secured many data partnerships, with key support from CMU's legal team. Last but not least, building the COVIDcast signals themselves was (and still is) a huge team effort: many Delphi members contributed code and expertise to ingest and serve data on the COVIDcast API, including Taylor Arnold, Logan Brooks, Eu Jing Chua, Addison Hu, Sangwon Hyun, Maria Jahja, Jimi Kim, Zachary Lipton, Natalia Lombardi de Oliveira, Lester Mackey, Pratik Patil, Samyak Rajanala, Roni Rosenfeld, Aaron Rumack, James Sharpnack, Noah Simon, Jingjing Tang, Robert Tibshirani, Ryan Tibshirani, Valérie Ventura, Larry Wasserman, and Jeremy Weiss. output: html_document: code_folding: hide blogdown::html_page: toc: true ---
One of our primary initiatives at the Delphi COVIDcast project ({{< reflink "2020-08-10-hello-world" "learn more about our organization here" >}}) has been to curate a diverse set of COVID-related data streams, and to make them freely available through our {{< apireflink "api/covidcast.html" "COVIDcast Epidata API" >}}. These include both novel signals that we have collected and analyzed ourselves, such as our symptom survey {{< reflink "2020-09-18-google-survey" "distributed by Facebook" >}} to its users, {{< reflink "2020-09-18-google-survey" "Google's symptom survey" >}} whose results are delivered to us, the percentage of doctor’s visits due to COVID-like illness, and results from Quidel’s antigen tests; and also existing signals, such as the confirmed case counts and deaths reported by USA Facts and Johns Hopkins University. The COVIDcast API freely provides researchers and decision-makers with the data they need to conduct their work, and is conveniently accessible via easy-to-use Python and R packages.
We have always made our code, data and estimates freely and publicly available, from the very beginning of our work on flu back in 2013, well before the COVID pandemic. Back in 2016, Delphi member David Farrow designed and implemented the {{< apireflink "/" "Epidata API" >}} to share data from our numerous surveillance streams for influenza and other diseases, and pioneered many of the API concepts discussed below. Now that COVID-19 is here, our collaborations with partner organizations in technology and healthcare enable us to include a number of exclusive signals which would not otherwise be publicly available. We have redoubled our commitment to open code and data in our COVID-19 response efforts with the launch of the COVIDcast Epidata API, providing researchers and decision-makers with the data they need to do their jobs effectively.
Making sense of the COVID-19 pandemic can be a frustratingly hard problem in part because no one signal can tell the whole story. Case counts are important, but different states use different reporting criteria and testing availability varies. Deaths are more accurately observed, but are a very lagging indicator of disease activity. We recognized early on that to make progress, we require a diversity of data sources. This recognition caused us to shift priorities. Before we could build forecasts and other statistical models, we needed to rapidly develop new relevant data streams. This effort grew into the COVIDcast project—see our {{< reflink "2020-08-10-hello-world" "introductory post" >}} for more about our efforts since March.
The data streams that we work with can be roughly mapped onto the epidemic severity pyramid, which follows the progression of disease:
Each level of the pyramid can be examined through many different data sources. For example, aggregated cell phone mobility data could address population behavior, while the volume of certain Google search queries might correlate with how many people have symptoms or have heightened anxiety or awareness of the disease. Levels 4 through 8 of the pyramid are medically attended, and can be examined using various medical records. Confirmed cases and deaths are reported through local and state health authorities, as are some aspects of hospitalization.
As we move from level 1 to level 8, the data become more specific, since it is based on more objective and specific criteria. The data also become less timely: level 1 can be a leading indicator of disease levels in the community, since behavior affects spread, whereas level 8 data only occurs after patients have already been infected and died. Only at level 5 and up do we actually gain data involving definite diagnoses—data before level 5 is behavioral or syndromic, meaning it only relates to behaviors and/or constellations of symptoms.
Data streams that are organized in this way can be used for many possible purposes, including:
Nowcasting. If the data can provide a clear picture of what’s happening in each community right now, that knowledge can be used to make more informed and responsive decisions about re-opening, closures, resource allocation, and so on.
Forecasting. Predicting the likely activity level of the pandemic in each community in the coming weeks can help guide local planning and preparations. For example, predicting the number of upcoming cases can help public health departments hire and train the necessary contact tracers. Predicting hospitalizations can help hospitals prepare adequate supplies of PPE, clear hospital beds, and ensure availability of appropriate staff.
Scenario projections. While forecasting predicts what is likely to happen if current circumstances continue unchanged, scenario projections can tell us how the pandemic is likely to unfold under different assumptions, such as changes in specific government policies (e.g. opening or closing schools or businesses), specific public behavior (stay-at-home, mask usage, social distancing), or changes in the properties of the virus or the environment. Scenario projections are most useful for contemplating various interventions.
Epidemiological research. The data may help us understand what behaviors are linked to spread, what symptoms commonly occur, and answer other important questions to better understand this and future pandemics and epidemics.
For each use case, researchers need quick access to relevant, reliable, geographically detailed and up-to-date data streams. The COVIDcast Epidata API was designed to provide that access.
Delphi has built on its connections and reputation in influenza forecasting to secure several sources of pandemic data that are not available anywhere else. Our partners provide us with de-identified data, and our agreements with them permit us to publish estimates and other aggregated statistics in our COVIDcast Epidata API (often informally called the COVIDcast API). These data sources cover most levels of the severity pyramid and include:
Additionally, we host the following more widely-available signals in our API for the convenience of the research community, and to provide revision tracking:
Nearly all our data streams are available at the county level across the United States. We also aggregate our signals to metropolitan statistical areas and states, and some signals to Hospital Referral Regions (HRRs). For a full list of all data streams, see our {{< apireflink "api/covidcast_signals.html" "COVIDcast signal documentation site" >}}. The software we’ve developed to obtain and aggregate this data is open-source, shared in our covidcast-indicators GitHub repository.
All the above data streams are made publicly available through our COVIDcast API—if you’re interested in using these signals for decision making, research, investigative journalism or simply to understand trends in your area, pulling the data is only a moment’s work. Let’s discuss how the data is stored and how you can get access.
Each record in our database is an observation covering a set of events aggregated by time and by geographic region. Most signals in the API are available at a daily resolution, but some are available only weekly, so we try to keep the definitions below general. Each record includes:
time_value
: The time period when the events occurred.geo_value
: The geographic region where the events occurred.value
: The estimated value.stderr
: The standard error of the estimate, usually referring to the sampling error.sample_size
: The number of events used in the estimation.For example, a number of COVID-19 antigen tests
were performed in the state of New York on August 1.
The time_value
would be August 1,
with geo_value
indicating the state of New York,
while the remaining fields would give the estimated test positivity rate
(the percentage of tests that were positive for COVID-19),
its standard error, and the number of tests used to calculate the estimate.
But crucially—and unlike most other sources of COVID-19 data—our API reports two additional fields with each record:
issue
: The time period when this observation was published.lag
: The time delay between when the events occurred and when this
observation was published.For example, results of COVID-19 antigen tests may take between four days and six weeks to reach us, depending on the technology and staff available at each testing site. We might publish our first estimate of August 1st’s test positivity rate on August 6th, giving an issue date of August 6 and a lag of five days.
But when more data about August 1st’s tests arrive the next day, we issue a second estimate with an issue date of August 7 and a lag of six days. Each record remains in the API, permitting users to see the changes and ask “What was known as of this date?” This is important because estimates can change for weeks as new data arrives:
library(covidcast)
library(dplyr)
query_date <- "2020-08-01"
covidcast_signal(
data_source = "quidel",
signal = "covid_ag_raw_pct_positive",
start_day = query_date,
end_day = query_date,
geo_type = "state",
geo_value = "ny",
issues = c(query_date, "2020-09-04")) %>%
select(time_value, value, sample_size, issue, lag) %>%
distinct(value, .keep_all=TRUE) %>%
knitr::kable("html", digits = 2,
col.names = c("Test date", "Positivity rate (%)", "Sample size",
"Issued on", "Lag (days)"))
| Test date | Positivity rate (%) | Sample size | Issued on | Lag (days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-08-01 | 1.01 | 198 | 2020-08-06 | 5 |
| 2020-08-01 | 0.97 | 206 | 2020-08-07 | 6 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.41 | 284 | 2020-08-10 | 9 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.38 | 290 | 2020-08-12 | 11 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.33 | 377 | 2020-08-16 | 15 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.53 | 459 | 2020-08-19 | 18 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.47 | 477 | 2020-08-20 | 19 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.46 | 479 | 2020-08-26 | 25 |
| 2020-08-01 | 1.36 | 513 | 2020-08-30 | 29 |
Many data sources are subject to revisions:
An accurate revision log is crucial for researchers building forecasts of COVID-19 cases or outcomes. A forecast that is made today can only rely on information we have access to today. Forecasting models are often developed by building them to predict cases using historical data—but to do so, the model should use only data that was available on the forecast date, not the updates that would arrive later.
Our engineering team has worked to enable revision tracking for all data sources we ingest, including from third parties who do not track revisions themselves. This ensures users can always request the data as it was known on a specific date, and preserves the history of changes for future analysis.
A massive database of COVID-19 data is, of course, of no use if nobody can access it. We provide several ways to access COVIDcast data.
First, the {{< reflink "covidcast" "public COVIDcast map" >}} provides a selection of our signals, and includes an “Export Data” tab that can pull a selected signal and download it as a CSV. Browse the map to choose which signal you are interested in, then use Export Data to obtain the data for further analysis.
For more advanced users, we provide R and Python packages to make data access easy for anyone conducting data analysis in either language.
The first step of using the packages to acquire the data is to identify the
source and signal name for the data you want to analyze. Suppose, for example,
that you browse the {{< apireflink "api/covidcast_signals.html" "COVIDcast signal documentation" >}}
and decide you would like to conduct an analysis of a hospital admissions
signal. According to {{< apireflink "api/covidcast-signals/hospital-admissions.html" "its documentation page" >}},
this source is called hospital-admissions
, and there are several available
signals to choose from. Reviewing the technical details, you decide
smoothed_adj_covid19
fits your needs best, because it removes day-of-week
effects.
With the source and signal names in hand, you can quickly pull the data.
An R user can install our R covidcast package and then quickly plot the percentage of hospital admissions that are due to COVID-19 in several states. (Click the “Code” button to see the R code used to produce this example.)
library(covidcast)
hosp <- covidcast_signal(
data_source = "hospital-admissions", signal = "smoothed_adj_covid19_from_claims",
start_day = "2020-03-01", end_day = "2020-08-30",
geo_type = "state", geo_values = c("pa", "ny", "tx")
)
plot(hosp, plot_type = "line",
title = "% of hospital admissions due to COVID-19")
Since the packages also support mapping, we can examine the percentage of outpatient doctor’s visits due to COVID-Like-Illness (CLI) in the South.
library(gridExtra)
dv <- covidcast_signal(
data_source = "doctor-visits", signal = "smoothed_adj_cli",
start_day = "2020-07-15", end_day = "2020-08-24")
south <- c("md", "de", "va", "wv", "ky", "tn", "nc", "sc", "fl", "ga", "al",
"ms", "la", "ar", "tx", "ok")
g1 <- plot(dv, time_value = "2020-07-15", include = south,
title = "% of doctor's visits due to CLI on July 15")
g2 <- plot(dv, time_value = "2020-08-24", include = south,
title = "% of doctor's visits due to CLI on August 24")
grid.arrange(g1, g2, nrow = 1)
In Python, fetching data requires the
Python covidcast package,
which can quickly produce a Pandas data frame.
For example, here we fetch the estimated percentage
of people in each state who know someone who is sick,
based on Delphi’s {{< reflink "2020-08-26-fb-survey" "symptom surveys" >}}.
According to the {{< apireflink "api/covidcast-signals/fb-survey.html" "relevant documentation page" >}},
this is the fb-survey
data source’s smoothed_hh_cmnty_cli
signal.
(Click the “Code” button to see the Python code used to produce this example.)
import covidcast
from datetime import date
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
data = covidcast.signal("fb-survey", "smoothed_hh_cmnty_cli",
date(2020, 9, 8), date(2020, 9, 8),
geo_type="state")
covidcast.plot_choropleth(data, figsize=(7, 5))
plt.title("% who know someone who is sick, Sept 8, 2020")
Each package’s documentation gives numerous other examples of pulling, plotting, and mapping data from our API. (Note that the Export Data feature in the map can also show you example R or Python code to download any signal from the map.) Both packages support querying the latest version of data—as shown above—but can also fetch prior revisions or only the information that was available on a certain date.
Finally, R and Python are not required for access to our data; users can also
make HTTP requests to the API directly and receive data back in JSON format. By
setting data_source
, signal
, time_type
, geo_type
, time_values
, and
geo_value
parameters in the query URL, you can select the specific data source you
want and the regions and times you want it for. For example, the URL
https://api.covidcast.cmu.edu/epidata/api.php?source=covidcast&data_source=fb-survey&signal=raw_cli&time_type=day&geo_type=county&time_values=20200406-20200410&geo_value=06001
fetches the raw_cli
signal from the fb-survey
source—representing the
estimated percent of people with COVID-Like Illness based on our symptom
surveys—for one county in the United States between April 6 and April
10, 2020. That county is Alameda County, CA, which has the FIPS code 06001.
Query syntax is defined on our {{< apireflink "api/covidcast.html" "API documentation site" >}}, and you can use any programming language that supports making HTTP requests—which is most programming languages—to fetch up-to-date data.
The {{< apireflink "api/covidcast.html" "COVIDcast API" >}} provides unified access to numerous COVID data streams, which can be browsed through our {{< reflink "covidcast" "interactive map" >}} and easily accessed through our {{< apireflink "api/covidcast_clients.html" "R and Python packages" >}}. Unlike most other sources of COVID data, it tracks the complete revision history of every signal, allowing historical reconstructions of what information was available at specific times. Additionally, many of our data streams simply aren’t available anywhere else.
We invite you to put the API to use for your own purposes. Building a dashboard for your community? Testing out forecasting methods? Studying how the pandemic evolves? We might have the data you’re looking for.
Many of our data streams are already being used to inform decision-making. For example, COVID Exit Strategy tracks the pandemic and whether states are ready to reopen, using symptom survey data from the COVIDcast API as a key data source. Anthem’s C19 Explorer presents a comprehensive community picture of the pandemic, including outpatient doctor’s visit data from COVIDcast. Aledade’s COVID-19 Interactive Map applies scan statistics algorithms to COVIDcast survey data to detect statistically significant clusters.
We hope to see you join this list soon!


?PLANTS
OF
THE
DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC
Vicinity
of
S&ncbez,
Samanii
Peninsula;
sea
level
to
300
meters
altitude
.
No.
JJJ(if
ff.L,
ABBOTT,
Collector
-Jnn
28
......It.
irn
SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION
From
THE
UNITED
STATES
NATIONAL
HERBARIUM
01500403
Legend -
Level of confidence that token is an accurately-transcribed word
extremely low
very low
low
undetermined
medium
high
very high


RazorBee, a Bangalore based fast growing company, provides sharp-edge solutions for all types of software development and software products and IT services that enhances a business worldwide prosperity.Having the experience of more than fifteen years, it is consistently recognised for its fresh and innovative ideas and applications. It has two wings based on its activities Services and Products
Razorbee mainly focused on quality, innovation, & speed. We utilized technology to bring results to grow our clients businesses. We pride ourselves in great work ethic, integrity, and end-results. Throughout the years Razorbee has been able to create stunning, award winning designs in multiple verticals while allowing our clients to obtain an overall better web presence.
Our company philosophy is to create the kind of website that most businesses want: easy to find, stylish and appealing, quick loading, mobile responsive and easy to buy from.
We’ve designed our entire process and products around providing everything a small businesses needs when they’re starting out – ensuring that working with us is always a quick, easy and hassle-free experience. We give our clients full control of their website without a ridiculous price tag, and our friendly team offers their expertise even after your website is live.
One of the best things you can do to improve customer experience is to keep them entertained. A digital screen gives them something to do-it’s a lot less annoying to wait in line if you’ve got something to watch. As a result, perceived wait time drops.
Breakfast ads during breakfast if you’re a restaurant franchise, for example. Alternatively, if you have a retail clothing franchise, you might run ads featuring rain gear on rainy days and sunglasses on sunny ones.
With a display network at the hands of every patient, visitor or medical attendant, it is a lot easier to inform them about the services offered in your organization, in particular when you can match the message to the location.
“DigiDarpan DigitalSignage signs have helped us eliminate the need for printing, hence reducing the cost of printing materials like brochures, menu boards, traditional billboards and large posters and improve our average growth financially.”
Dennis Stupka
Administrator
Monrow Marketing Ltd.
“Helped us in promoting the facilities provided by our Hospital,timing of various checkup , timings of Doctors and Different working sectors along with there locative information was displayed which was appreciated by the visitors and OPD's .”
Jeff Steiner
Practicing Administrator
Global Health Care.
Check out the companies we have transformed below or contact us to learn more.
Get in touch for a free demo!


Obyek Wisata
Promo
Status
-
Taman Safari Prigen
Pengunjung :
This is a wider card with supporting text below as a natural lead-in to additional content.
Check Ticket
Taman Safari Prigen
Pengunjung :
This is a wider card with supporting text below as a natural lead-in to additional content.
Check Ticket


Hi, I'm
Claire Jiang.
This is a portfolio of my work.
Graphic Design
Graphic Translations
Posted on March 3rd, 2017
2D Tools
Learning the Basics (Part II)
Posted on February 5th, 2017
2D Fundamentals
Learning the Basics (Part I)
Posted on February 4th, 2017


{% extends "base_generic.html" %} {% load static %} {% block content %}
Welcome to Empathy Lab, a very basic Django website developed as a Lab Jornal and Log site.
This is Django skeleton website and application, define URL mappings, views (including Generic List and Detail Views), models and templates.
An UML diagram of the site's Django model structure is shown below.
The EmoLab shell has the following record counts:
You have visited this page {{ num_visits }} times.


Medical Question Configuration
Question:
Select type of field:
Text
Radio Buttons
Checked Boxes
Menu
Toggle
Number of fields to use:
Select Number
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Cancel
Footer


#!/usr/bin/env bash
#/ command: docker:clean-all: "Clean everything (docker containers, images, and vfs files)"
#/ usage: rerun docker:clean-all [options]
#/ rerun-variables: RERUN, RERUN_VERSION, RERUN_MODULES, RERUN_MODULE_DIR
#/ option-variables:
. $RERUN_MODULE_DIR/lib/functions.sh clean-all || {
echo >&2 "Failed loading function library." ; exit 1 ;
}
set -o nounset -o pipefail
rerun_options_parse "$@"
Put the command implementation here.
rerun_log info "Cleaning up docker (based on http://blog.yohanliyanage.com/2015/05/docker-clean-up-after-yourself/)"
rerun docker: clean-containers
rerun docker: clean-images
docker volume rm $(docker volume ls -qf dangling=true)
if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
rerun_log info "If you are running docker earlier than 1.9, that may have caused this error. If so, you can manually run:"
rerun_log "docker run -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock -v /var/lib/docker:/var/lib/docker --rm martin/docker-cleanup-volumes"
fi
Done. Exit with last command exit status.
exit $?


Criminal Birdbags
Another one from the archives…
Historians of crime have long been fascinated by the Birdbag family, whose exploits were regularly recorded in the penny dreadfuls of their day. Seldom has such purple prose been so apt, for their deeds were truly the last word in scampishness and mischief. To rekindle the memories of older readers, and to introduce a new generation to this dastardly clan, here is a brief guide.
Corky Birdbag, the fiend who pushed a knock-kneed unfortunate into a lake, and stole his bus ticket.
Polly Birdbag, whose forgery of Selected Poems by Walter Pater fooled a docent at the University of Ack.
Old Ma Birdbag, whose tunnels were so expertly dug that the police thought moles were responsible.
Venkad Birdbag, the so-called “Cardboard Hooter Man”, who hooted through a cardboard funnel.
Loopy Birdbag, the woman who sent consignments of boiled sweets to Stalin and Barbara Stanwyck at whim.
Fontella Bass-Birdbag, the queasy maven of sabotage who did dark deeds with a whisk and a pin-cushion.
Park Fang Birdbag, desperate banjo player who often stood next to nondescript ponds for no purpose but evil.


EEx v1.3.4 EEx.Engine behaviour
Basic EEx engine that ships with Elixir.
An engine needs to implement three functions:
init(opts)
- returns the initial bufferhandle_body(quoted)
- receives the final built quoted expression, should do final post-processing and return a quoted expression.handle_text(buffer, text)
- it receives the buffer, the text and must return a new quoted expression.handle_expr(buffer, marker, expr)
- it receives the buffer, the marker, the expr and must return a new quoted expression.The marker is what follows exactly after
<%
. For example,<% foo %>
has an empty marker, but<%= foo %>
has"="
as marker. The allowed markers so far are:""
and"="
.Read
handle_expr/3
below for more information about the markers implemented by default by this engine.
EEx.Engine
can be used directly if one desires to use the
default implementations for the functions above.
Summary
Functions
Handles assigns in quoted expressions
The default implementation simply returns the given expression
Implements expressions according to the markers
The default implementation simply concatenates text to the buffer
Returns an empty string as initial buffer
Functions
Handles assigns in quoted expressions.
A warning will be printed on missing assigns. Future versions will raise.
This can be added to any custom engine by invoking
handle_assign/1
with Macro.prewalk/2
:
def handle_expr(buffer, token, expr) do
expr = Macro.prewalk(expr, &EEx.Engine.handle_assign/1)
EEx.Engine.handle_expr(buffer, token, expr)
end
Implements expressions according to the markers.
<% Elixir expression - inline with output %>
<%= Elixir expression - replace with result %>
All other markers are not implemented by this engine.


- getAbsoluteBoundingBox() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the absolute bounding box
- getCollection() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.ComplexGraphicObject3D
-
Accessor for the underlying collection of sub-parts
- getColor() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the color
- getFrame() - Method in class facemapping.FaceDetector
-
Returns the current camera frame as a PImage
- getHeight() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Accesses the height of the bounding box.
- getLength() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Accesses the length of the bounding box.
- getMaxX() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the maximum x coordinate of the bounding box.
- getMaxY() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the maximum y coordinate of the bounding box.
- getMaxZ() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the maximum z coordinate of the bounding box.
- getMinX() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the minimum x coordinate of the bounding box.
- getMinY() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the minimum y coordinate of the bounding box.
- getMinZ() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Returns the minimum z coordinate of the bounding box.
- getNormalVectors() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the normal vectors of the cube object
- getParent() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the parent of the cube object
- getParent() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Always returns null since the world has no rotation
- getParent() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the current parent.
- getRelativeBoundingBox() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the relative bounding box of the cube
- getRotationMatrix() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
- getRotationX() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotation in the X direction
- getRotationX() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getRotationX() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the current rotation about the x-axis (relative to the reference
frame of the parent).
- getRotationY() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotation in the Y direction
- getRotationY() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getRotationY() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the current rotation about the y-axis (relative to the reference
frame of the parent).
- getRotationZ() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotation in the Z direction
- getRotationZ() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getRotationZ() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the current rotation about the z-axis (relative to the reference
frame of the parent).
- getTransformationMatrix() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the transformation matrix from the parent's reference frame to
this object's reference frame.
- getTranslationX() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translation in the X direction
- getTranslationX() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getTranslationX() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the translation along the x-axis (in world units).
- getTranslationY() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translation in the Y direction
- getTranslationY() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getTranslationY() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the translation along the y-axis (in world units).
- getTranslationZ() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translation in the Z direction
- getTranslationZ() - Method in class scene3D.World
-
Returns 0 since the World is defined in the world reference frame.
- getTranslationZ() - Method in class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-
Returns the translation along the z-axis (in world units).
- getVertices() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Returns a list of the eight vertices in world coordinates
- getWidth() - Method in class scene3D.BoundingBox3D
-
Accesses the width of the bounding box.
- getXRotationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotational velocity in the X direction
- getXTranslationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translation in the X direction
- getYRotationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotational velocity in the Y direction
- getYTranslationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translational velocity in the Y direction
- getZRotationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the rotational velocity in the Z direction
- getZTranslationalVelocity() - Method in class scene3D.Cube
-
Gets the translational velocity in the Z direction
- GraphicObject3D - Class in scene3Dabstract
-
Specifies the operations of an abstract GraphicObject3D, which: - optionally
has a reference to some other GraphicObject3D which is called the parent
here.
- GraphicObject3D() - Constructor for class scene3Dabstract.GraphicObject3D
-


| Created: 12 March 2018 | Last updated: 15 March 2019 |
Shakespeare Week runs from 12 - 18 March. These new versions of classic Shakespeare texts show you’re never too young to meet the Bard.
Shakespeare Stories and Shakespeare Stories II, by Leon Garfield & Michael Foreman
Twelve and nine tellings, respectively, of Shakespeare’s most memorable dramas in narrative form.
Tales of Shakespeare, by Marcia Williams
“Much-loved author/illustrator Marcia Williams retells fourteen of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, with full-colour illustrations throughout. From the heartbreaking tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to Puck’s hilarious escapades in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marcia brings Shakespeare’s stories vividly to life. A witty, accessible introduction to Shakespeare’s plays.”
Shakespeare Stories and More Shakespeare Stories
“This series offers an excellent introduction to Shakespeare for younger readers. The tales have been retold using accessible language and each of the plays is vividly brought to life for a whole new audience.”
These retellings are also available individually.
Terry Deary’s Best Ever Shakespeare Tales, by Terry Deary
“Terry Deary tells you more than what happens in everyone’s favourite Shakespeare plays - he tells you the stories behind them too. Find out how the plays were originally staged and what Shakespeare himself might have thought of his work being taught in schools.”
Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles & Mary Lamb & Arthur Rackham
The classic re-telling of 20 of the tales first published in 1807. This edition has pen-and-ink illustrations by Arthur Rackham.
To Wee or Not To Wee!, by Pamela Butchart & Thomas Flintham
“When Izzy (star of the Baby Aliens series) is asked to tell her friends some exciting stories, she thinks of Macbeth – there are battles, loads of gore, excellent witches and even walking trees!
“Soon her friends want more, so she moves on to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (a man with a donkey’s head called Bottom!), Romeo and Juliet (kissing – eew!) and Hamlet (who left that skull lying about?) and now everyone wants to know more about the Bard!”
A Stage Full of Shakespeare Stories, by Angela McAllister & Alice Lindstrom
“Step on to a stage full of stories with this beautiful anthology of 12 stories from Shakespeare, rewritten to be accessible to children aged 7+. Including favourites such as The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello, each story is stunningly illustrated by collage artist Alice Lindstrom.”
Twelfth Night and Hamlet by Timothy Knapman & Yaniv Shimony and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Caroline Plaisted & Yaniv Shimony
“The titles in the ‘Tales From Shakespeare’ series retell some of Shakespeare’s most popular and well-known plays. Clear and contemporary language makes these stories easily accessible to young readers.”
Other titles in this series are available.
Much Ado About Nothing and Romeo and Juliet by Anna Claybourne & Tom Morgan-Jones
“The age-appropriate text in ‘Short, Sharp Shakespeare Stories’ introduces readers to the play by re-telling the story in modern English. It’s an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for children of 9 and above.”
Other titles in this series are available.
Older children may enjoy Richard Appignanesi’s graphic novel adaptations, in conjunction with various Manga artists, including King Lear, Othello, The Tempest and Macbeth.


Provides classes and static methods that make object and primitive-type I/O easier and faster.
Classes in this package provide very efficient, unsynchronised buffered input and output stream (with support for repositioning, too) and fast streams based on byte arrays. Static containers provide instead a wealth of methods that can be used to serialize/deserialize very easily objects and arrays.


fwdmsa performs the Forward Search for Mokken scale analysis. It detects outliers, it produces several types of diagnostic plots.
| Version: | 0.2 |
| Depends: | R (≥ 2.10.0) |
| Published: | 2011-07-27 |
| Author: | Wobbe P. Zijlstra |
| Maintainer: | Wobbe P. Zijlstra <w.p.zijlstra at uvt.nl> |
| License: | GPL-2 | GPL-3 [expanded from: GPL (≥ 2)] |
| URL: | http://www.tilburguniversity.edu/webwijs/show/?uid=w.p.zijlstra |
| NeedsCompilation: | no |
| In views: | Psychometrics |
| CRAN checks: | fwdmsa results |
| Reference manual: | fwdmsa.pdf |
| Package source: | fwdmsa_0.2.tar.gz |
| Windows binaries: | r-devel: fwdmsa_0.2.zip, r-release: fwdmsa_0.2.zip, r-oldrel: fwdmsa_0.2.zip |
| OS X binaries: | r-release: fwdmsa_0.2.tgz, r-oldrel: fwdmsa_0.2.tgz |
| Old sources: | fwdmsa archive |
Please use the canonical form https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=fwdmsa to link to this page.


The goal for this project was to create Artificial Intelligence pilots who use Fuzzy Logic to make decisions as to what actions should be taken in order to safely land an airplane.
The application uses a web worker for each pilot/aircraft. The web worker is used to compute the fuzzy logic, so the UI can remain responsive. The current state of the air traffic is drawn using a canvas element. Each pilot knows only where they want to go next, and what aircraft are nearby. With this information, each pilot uses fuzzy logic to determine how it's heading, airspeed and altitude need to be adjusted.
With traditional logic, we can have an answer of only 1 or 0 (True or False), but with fuzzy logic, we can have an answer anywhere from 1 to 0 (Somewhat True, Very False, etc...). With fuzzy logic, we can input various factors, and instead of getting a fixed answer, we get a fuzzy answer.
Example 1: need to descend (descend) + aircraft underneath (climb) = maintain current altitude.
Since we use fuzzy logic, the distances will have an impact:
Example 2: need to descend very much (descend very much) + aircraft far underneath (climb a little) = descend a little.


If you have been given this url, I hope you can provide some early feedback for an article that is work in progress. I may also link to an incomplete page (to help me not forget), so apologies if you've arrived here by accident.
{% if page.date %}This draft was published: {{ page.date | date: "%B %e, %Y" }}
{% endif %}