text:
Louisiana residents, especially those in Terrebonne, Lafourche and other coastal parishes, are being asked to apply now for disaster food stamps as hurricane season begins.
Louisiana residents, especially those in Terrebonne, Lafourche and other coastal parishes, are being asked to pre-apply now for disaster food stamps as hurricane season begins.
The Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides free food, paid for by taxpayers, for eligible households that do not receive regular food stamps and need help buying groceries due to lost income after a storm.
"The pre-application process does not guarantee benefits but is designed to save time, prevent long waits and make it easier for applicants to provide the required income information," said Suzy Sonnier, head of the state Department of Children and Family Services. "We encourage all residents to be proactive this hurricane season by completing the pre-application in advance."
If you applied for or received disaster food stamps last year for Hurricane Isaac, you do not have to reapply now. But if your financial or household information has changed, you should update that information online or by phone, Sonnier said.
You can pre-apply or update your information by visiting www.dcfs.la.gov/preapply and www.getagameplan.org or by calling 1-888-LA-HELPU (1-888-524-3578).
About 20,500 families in Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes received a combined $8.8 million in disaster food aid following Hurricane Isaac in late August, state statistics show. Terrebonne families recieved $4.6 million; Lafourche $4.2 million.
An estimated 60,000 local homes and businesses reported power outages after Isaac. It took crews more than a week to restore all power. Many families lost medicines and food that required refrigeration.
The state agency issued about $104 million worth of disaster food stamps to more than 263,000 residents in the 21 parishes approved for assistance after Isaac.
Residents qualify based on income and the resources they have available, such as insurance, to cover storm losses. If a disaster is declared, and you have pre-applied, you'll need to visit a DSNAP site in your home parish to verify your information and identity, determine final eligibility and receive your benefit card. Exact eligibility requirements and DSNAP issuance sites will be announced only after a disaster is declared.
Hurricane season begins today and continues through Nov. 30.


text:
Children need toys that get them running around
by Joey York
The following op-ed article was written for Dr. Susannah Stern's Children and the Media class (COMM 482), and published by the Contra Costa Times.
Children need toys that get them running around
by Joey York
If you watch the CrossFit Games on ESPN2 in July, you may be surprised to encounter a toy commercial. WOD Toys will advertise its line of mini Crossfit products that help promote a healthy and fit lifestyle. The company has the right idea.
Major toy companies should follow suit. When you watch a toy commercial, what kinds of toys do you generally see? Toys that promote a physically active lifestyle for children? No. Most TV-advertised toys require no form of physical activity. For example, dolls, action figures, Legos, silly putty, board games, and castles all remain stationary. Some will argue that these toys spark children's creative and critical-thinking juices. I agree. However, children sit on the floor with those kinds of toys doing the same thing over and over. I see my 5-year-old niece doing this for hours as she plays with her princesses. (Full Article)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
So I'm supposed to pay a monthly fee so someone can lock my documents up in a cloud somewhere where I may or may not be able to get to them one day? I know there is a free version but it is just a teaser for anyone who does real research or information hoarding.
if you want a low-tech approach, just install a wiki. Mediawiki is full featured while MoinMoin is easy to install and configure (no separate database needed). I haven't used any others.
This implies a painfully manual process of copy-pasting quotes, references, etc. While a wiki system would be a good repository a front end system is needed to open the documents, select the text and attach a comment to it.
Mendeley is designed primarily as a local application: you store files on your own desktop, it just takes care of indexing them. Online syncing is an added bonus, from that point of view. They're not in the business of giving out huge amounts of free fileserver space.
Does jabref suit your purpose : http://jabref.sourceforge.net/
You left out the version control system, access controls, expandability, and design for collaboration. It already embeds documents in the Waves, including video and audio (lab recordings). The only problem is getting decent documentation on setting up your own server. It's still so new, and under heavy development, that the documentation is lagging. Big Time.
I've been searching for something similar for a while but can't really find anything to fit the bill.
What I'm looking for is a system that will allow you to highlight a particular quote in a PDF and attach a comment to it. When I finish my review I would like to have all my comments organized in a tabular format. The table should have the quote, page number (ideally also chapter and paragraph but this is asking too much) and my comment.
This way I can attach my comment sheet to the top of the document and in
I use Papers. It does not do everything you want, but it is a nice management tool. It is still growing in features, and the support staff is very responsive. (They provided me, same day, a new NIB file that allowed me to use it on my small hackintoshed Dell Mini 9 screen.)
The link is here: http://mekentosj.com/papers/ [mekentosj.com]
Otherwise, Endnote works well. I know many who use it. There are a few others that are also out there.
Good luck with it.
Dell Mini 9
That's a small screen for manipulating documentation. How do you OS X on the DM9?
How do you like OS X on the DM9?
There, fixed that for me.
I like it a lot. It makes me sad that Apple is forcing me to install another OS sooner rather than later. Right now I have OS X Tiger, but won't update it further.
As for docs, I mainly use it for viewing purposes. That's why I got it: a way to carry all my PDFs in a form factor larger than an iPhone. (I had an iPhone, but found it a pain to read and manage my collection on it. 4-hour reading sessions on the small text of the iPhone screen is not ideal.)
With the iPad coming, I'll probably work to switch
I like it a lot. It makes me sad that Apple is forcing me to install another OS sooner rather than later. Right now I have OS X Tiger, but won't update it further.
Is this because the Mini can't run Leopard?
With the iPad coming, I'll probably work to switch to that. I'm confident the Papers folk with have an edition for iPad.
I had been excited about the iPad before it was announced, but the product disappointed me, personally. I think a netbook is a better all-round companion device.
Ack, I'm not keeping track of my OS X versions. I have Leopard on it, but not Snow Leopard. Also, I can't update Leopard. Apple's new Kernel no longer supports Atom processors. There are probably hacks, but I'm too lazy.
As for the iPad versus Netbooks, I don't know where I fall. I want to see a camera, and then I'd gladly give up my Hakcintoshed Netbook.
And I was underwhelmed by the iPad, but I think it will serve a good purpose. If for no other reason than getting Papers on a larger, easier read scre
+1 Make sure to go to the actual Zotero.org site and install the beta, version 2. It has a whole more features than the version available from the Firefox addons site.
I've been using Zotero for a year and love it. The new version (2.0) is a godsend.
Is there something like Zotero that *isn't* a cloud service? I'm really getting tired of the whole "give us all your data" services floating around. I'd love to use something like Zotero, if and only if I can control the server that the data lives on.
The market seems hypnotized by the "cloud" BS, which makes me sad.
Huh...interesting. I read this from their docs:
The first step to syncing your Zotero 2.0 library is to create a zotero.org account.
and took that to mean that it's primarily a cloud service with some outside storage allowed. Basically it looks like they're making a distinction between "data sync" and "file sync." The data sync is the interesting part, since it's the really hard part of all this...is there some other way to do the data sync they're talking about without a Zotero account?
I use Zotero (but version 1). I just put my zotero data directory inside my Dropbox folder. Then when I change computers I reload firefox and it is all synced. I do not have a Zotero account. This however wont work for multiple users at once. If version 2 has something where it will reload the data files for you before performing any change to the data, then this might work (although you would have to deal with the ensuing race conditions with multiple users, and may have to use locks and semaphores an
Is there something like Zotero that *isn't* a cloud service?
Well, you could always use it without the sync feature: giving them your data is very much optional. For most users, their institution is likely only aware of Endnote, and won't set up a server for them, so Zotero's hosting the server themselves makes sense.
I'm not sure that it really meets the OP's needs, though. It fits how I work brilliantly--it's designed for indexing web pages, like a highly structured bookmark manager. But the OP specifically talks about a collection of local files, which Zotero handl
Zotero [zotero.org] might be worth a look. It's a Firefox plugin (open-source), mainly designed for keeping track of a collection of academic litterature. It allows you to organize the papers in folders, tag, annotate, and share the papers and annotations with others, all easily available in the FF gui. You can export lists of references to Word/OpenOffice/TeX when writing papers, they can be autoformatted to a wide range of citation styles.
It works really well (with full-text search) for storing web pages/pdfs. I don't know how well it works for
If you already have it installed, iTunes may be a simple solution.
http://lifehacker.com/software/pdf/geek-to-live--organize-your-pdf-library-with-itunes-240447.php [lifehacker.com]
About a year ago I needed a piece of software that matches your requirements. I wanted to be able to do my research from anywhere and keep track of notes and annotations in a very simple but searchable way.
Zotero is the closest thing. It's not perfect, far from it, but none of the competition came even close.
Zotero is a Firefox plugin that allows you to link or store information, be it webpages, pdf's or anything else you may see online. It's possible to group & tag your documents in various ways and there are various options for taking notes and adding annotations.
All of it is stored online so you don't need to carry anything with you. Just install the firefox plugin, enter your credentials and off you go.
Wikindx3 [sourceforge.net] is a full-fledged bibliographic database that can manage *any* type of document, and permits annotations. As an added bonus, you can export the biblio info in any number of formats (including my favorite,
I've had good success with OpenDocMan [opendocman.com] as well, but I'm not sure if that application permits annotation (at least I've never used that feature set).
OWL [sourceforge.net] is a nice setup in that it will automatically index all your PDF/RTF/whatever files. Its UI is a bit clunky, and documentation is sparse, but if you have the patience, it might be worth your time.
I use all three of these apps (see parent also) in various capacities. Which, as you have discovered, indicates that there really doesn't seem to be a "killer" F/OSS app out there that handles everything for a full-fledged document management system.
Zotero is brilliant. I could go on about how I use it every day at work and it makes everything a hell of a lot easier, but instead, just check it out.
Versioning of documents it doesn't do - but that's what Mercurial is for I guess.
Desktop client that syncs with online account. Keeps track of all kinds of documents. I use it for research (at university). For me, it works great for keeping track of journal articles, you can add them by title, DOI, arXiv, and it will look up all the details automatically. Entries can be linked to files, PDFs, etc. You can also just add PDFs and it will usually pull out the metadata (can also monitor folders for new documents to track).
And of course, it syncs, so it's with you eve
Microsoft Office SharePoint includes the capabilities you mentioned (version control, archiving, document permission/ownership and search/indexing) and is on par price-wise with KnowledgeTree (though not free). They also have a hosted model, SharePoint Online.
The capabilities you list actually needing--index, search, collaborate and keep and share notes--might be better fit by Microsoft OneNote. It doesn't do version control and document permission/ownership, but it does what you described doing. At my place of business, there are two categories of people: those who love OneNote and those who haven't tried it.
Actually from what I understand, Windows SharePoint Services is free and provides a lot of functionality on its own. I'm sure it would cost a lot to get set up and running though.
I use OneNote. Generally, I really like the concept behind the program. However, it has one fatal flaw for a academic environment: its poor ability to handle pdf's. Given that OneNote is a Microsoft program, I have little hope this flaw will ever be fixed.
Currently, I insert pdf's into OneNote as print outs. This makes OneNote deal with each page as a separate image. While the images can be viewed, it is impossible to attach notes or highlights to an image. Markups can be placed over the image of the
For a basic, low-tech solution I'd suggest TagTeam (http://www.andrew-quinney.com/tagteam.html). It's a basic file tagging utility that makes use of filesystem metadata (PC and Mac), so any changes you make to a given file are immediately visible to others with access to the same file. It also includes a powerful searching language.
PageCenterX can store and organise your PDFs including full-text search, indexing and page-level annotation which can be kept private or shared at a user or group level. Advanced import allows rule-based decollation and routing of documents if required.
Full Disclosure: I am employed by LRS
I use a git repository containing a bibtex file that tells me where the documents are with an annote field containing information. documents are put in the git repository. If I need to annotate them on the paper for not forgeting something about it, I use xournal. And I push everything in the git repository.
It implies that people update the repository which is in my opinion not really a problem.
I'm interested in your method as I use something similar but I'm a bit confused. I assume you use Xournal for your handwritten annotation ( perhaps on a TabletPC) but then do you replicate that annotation on the relevant bibtex field?
I use xournal to keep "personal explanation" or ideas on the document. I write a sumup of what is important in the bibtex file. Typically, what I would write in a "related works" section of an article. I also use a keyword field in my bibtex that I write mannualy as well. It allows me to search my whole bibtex file using bibtool.
Try Evernote. It lets you markup everything and make notes on images, documents and everything else. It is multiplatform too.
Good luck.
I was researching the same thing the other day. I came across a scribd demo where they are associating comments with individual pages and bookmarks with the entire document. So when you click on a bookmark, the viewer takes you to the relevant page. Each time you scroll to a new page, it displays the relevant comment for the page.
Of course their demo has hardcoded bookmarks and comments, but their data structures are clear, the code is readable, and it takes little imagination on how to provide a dynamic
You're looking for a reference management system, not a document management system. (although, they might not deal with all of the stuff that you mentioned that a document management system will)
Zotero should work for a single person, but if you're trying to do this for an office, you might want to take a look at Aigaion.
If you want to look at others to see what best fits your needs, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_reference_management_software [wikipedia.org]
And , if you still can't find anything -- try asking on the Code4Lib mailing list, as you might need one of the 'integrated' library solutions.
This is exactly the area I've been feeling pain for years, and recently have been working to address. My key innovations are around interface / visualization methods, automation, and collaboration. Please email me at email@example.com if you have a wish / idea list, pointers to interesting related ideas / technology, or want to be a beta tester.
Someone else mentioned Zotero, which looks really good and I'm meaning to try it, once I've cleared out over due projects.
What I have used for quite some time, with great results, is the Firefox extension called Scrapbook. Just select the HTML you want to keep from a web page, and you're nearly done. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/427 [mozilla.org]
I use Bibdesk on the mac, and I like it. Specifically, I like that it organizes all my PDFs into folders and stores all the data in a Bibtex file. The only problem I have with it, is that it stores the paths and macosx aliases and so instead of getting a nice pathname, you get 1500+ characters long hash. I'd really like a way to convert those back to paths so I could migrate in the future if I need to.
I used Mendeley for about 10 minutes, but I was impressed. It looked really good. It's cross platform,
On OS X, check out Papers (already mentioned in response to OP), Skim (free) for awesomely marking up and notating PDFs, and DEVONthink Pro (optionally, the DEVONthink Pro Office version for OCR and added functionality). I don't think these will provide you with all the functionality you mentioned (version control, however. But Skim and Papers play nicely together.
Jabref? http://jabref.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net] It's open source & cross platform (java). I use it to manage about 1500 articles and related academic texts in a mix of pdf, odt, and doc. You can add notes about files. It can operate as a standalone or can be connected to a shared mysql database (to allow sharing of the files, their cites, and any notes you add). The one thing it can't do directly is annotate the original documents, but you could presumably annotate them using something else before replacing
Abiword can sufficiently handle most all of the documents you want to manage (pdf support is better but could still use improvement) and you can mark them up and collaborate via abicollab.net. The best part about abiword is that is portable to a large number of platforms including handheld devices (maemo), portableapps.com (for win32 on usb), mac and most *-nix as a package
http://abicollab.net/ [abicollab.net]
http://abisource.com/ [abisource.com]
Just because nobody seems to have mentioned. Okular the default kde4 document viewer allows you to annotate any doc it opens, stick post-its on things and add marker highlighting. Presumably this also links in with the document search system which includes tagging via the dolphin file manager. The bit it doesn't appear to do is collaboration but it certainly seems that they're taking it that direction if indeed it isn't just a feature I've not found. Don't really know much about it.
Try http://abicollab.net./ [abicollab.net.]
Clicking "open" on the doc automatically loads the doc into abiword, which you can annotate as you like. Clicking "save" in abiword sends it back to http://abocollab.net./ [abocollab.net.]
You can easily share and collaborate in real-time. You can tag your docs, share then amongst groups of people etc.
I guess it's not quite what you're after but it's collaboration features might make it work better than you expect.
EMC has a great product but it may be overkill. ApplicationXTender, in its most basic form, can do everything you are looking for. It is not cheap but it can handle any document type (although the built in viewer works only for PDF, TIFF, and MS Office documents to my knowledge). ApplicationXTender can also intgrate with any ODMA compatible application to allow new documents to be indexed and stored within the document management system. It can integrate with many other applications using an Integration mo
Do they have a page in English? I couldn't see one.
Experience varies directly with equipment ruined.


text:
|2013-03-28, 02:46
|Link #9521
~ Your Smile ~
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 32
Yes, I'm old, I'm graduating next year, saddled with a half-million worth of debt, and am currently terrible at my craft unless I do something non-surgical (which is what I'm really leaning towards atm.)
I feel damn old, alright. Not even after abandoning overthought settings and fears of "that isn't feasible/canon/believable" for just trying to even get ONE story done can make me feel any younger.
|2013-03-29, 12:17
|Link #9522
Just another Idiot
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Delusion world
This thread rose from the dead?!
*Age looked at the fics in his hand that is needed to be written and his new ideas which he haven't posted*
(Currently working on To-aru fic)
Well.... going to take a while before I start typing this.
The Big Bad Boss is an Ancient God who was sealed away many years ago but threatened to revive in the Modern Era because of Tomb thieves who stolen the Magic artifacts which seal the Wicked God.
Magical Familiars created in the past, awaken to seek out mages powerful enough to prevent the awaking of the God.
> Story take place in modern day Midchilda.
>The main heroine is a girl who can't use magic but gain the ability to use magic through a contract with a familiar.
> There is little to no Military stuff in it because it is focused more on Magical Girl (out of sheer irony, IN a magical city full of mages).
> Their mission is to seal away all the Ancient Artifacts.
> Magical girls doesn't learn magic like normal mages, they install it like programs.
> Their magic are referred as codes and level up the more they use it.
> The girls can install Programs (package of Codes) into them (think of it as Class change).
Simple plot and story. No mind-screw part.
|2013-04-08, 05:53
|Link #9524
OC Belka Scriptor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Germany
Age: 34
And I went back to the uniform drawing board! >_>
After a discussion about uniforms of the TSAB long ago I once changed Rinya's uniform from blue to white.
Spoiler for Rinya in White:
Thanks what we know today, we now know that all 3 characters were also Instructors of some kind. So of course they would wear the white Tactical Instructor uniform. Rinya should not wear it as she is an AAS officer.
Possible Solution: Make Rinya a Tactical Instructor of the Training Corps like Vita and Tiida.
Here we have Rinya in her old blue uniform.
Spoiler for It'sa me, blue! err.. okay >_>:
Signum, who (like Vita) is a confirmed AAS mage is wearing one of these in Force, of course it could also mean that SS6 is part of the Navy, like RS6 was part of the GAS.
Lastly I got this one:
Spoiler for What color is this!? ôo:
I got the inspiration for this one from Vita wearing her red Capital Air Force thing.
As it was said Vita never was in uniform but only in protective clothing, I took the liberty to apply the colors to a standart TSAB non GAS uniform.
Problem: We never saw one of those... this here is 100% original work.
And then there are Touma, Lily and Isis in Force...
I didn't really thought much about this at first, to be honest.
At first glance, we had Erio in a typical blue Fleet uniform and our three newcomer in brown GAS uniforms.
But then I realised... all three have white seams on thier sleeves and white belts. Also collar and buttons of the uniform jackets are more like the blue Fleet jackets.
And we should not forget, no a single male uniform ever in Nanoha before had a belt on it's jacket.
So here we have a type of uniform we never had before, of not confirmed color (thank you, black & white manga panels!).
Okay I don't want to get my hopes up here... but maybe I am on to something.
Well, of course, someone could go to Japan, grab Okuda Yasuhiro on the collar and shake him until he gives us all the designs we like to know about...
|2013-04-10, 09:32
|Link #9528
OC Belka Scriptor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Germany
Age: 34
You know? It's really good I revisited that place. Just seeing you guys post around makes me do stuff like this again:
Spoiler for Elric Thorn - 2013 (big pictures are big):
|2013-04-10, 09:40
|Link #9529
~ Your Smile ~
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 32
I can't believe that there are NINE distinct variations of Kha ever since I got involved with this thread.
Add one more original one and we'd have Journey through the DeKhade. >.>
Thank the Kaiser that he's finally been put out to pasture.
|2013-04-10, 10:31
|Link #9530
does whatever he wants.
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Atop a hill of words.
I don't remember that ever happening. Or it might just be your habit of leaving everything open-ended until the next wave of madness washes onto you
|2013-04-11, 04:10
|Link #9531
OC Belka Scriptor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Germany
Age: 34
With the damsel in distress cornered by the Alliance of Evil, in her desperateness, she screams one final legendary name...
And then all the windows, walls and the goldfish bowl burst open in a brilliant shower of debris. And there they jump through... all the Kha's of the Multiverse!
Kicking butts and taking names.
|2013-04-11, 07:27
|Link #9532
Just another Idiot
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Delusion world
The real Kha is actually a millennium old mage who existed in the Belkan Era.
In the ancient Belkan era, there once exist a blood-thirsty tribe who kill humans as part of their game but a might warrior rise and fought them for the sake of humanity.
After defeating the blood-thirsty tribe, he begin to realize that he does not have enough power to stop the endless war. In order to stop the war, he need to evolve into a higher being, so he created clones, each specialized in certain type of magic for him to absorb their power and knowledge to evolve.
Unfortunately, the clones suddenly gain self-awareness, they wanted to be the real Kha so they begin a battle, trying to absorb each other to become the one and only Kha.
One Kha managed to discover that by infecting other human beings, he can create new beings so he start infecting other mages to create his own personal army against other Khas.
Horrified by the action of Zombie-Kha, 4 Kha decide to grouped fight the Zombie-Horde only much to their horror, the Zombie can not be killed so they choose to seal them instead. They even make it into a game where the Victor who sealed the most Zombies get to absorb othe Khas.
One of the Kha realize since they are all technically the same person, their power level is about the same, the only way to break this limit and become stronger is to become Un-kha-like so he start learning music music from a demon-teacher.
One Kha learn the power of Time magic and start "Pwning them all".
Until One Kha travel back to the past and with the help of 4 demons, he managed prevented the the Time-Magic Kha from existing hence protected other Khas.
Eventually, the real Kha was defeated. One Kha managed to learn about his heritage from the Real Kha and decided to take up his mantle and stop this Kha madness once and for all.
He travelled to various worlds and slaughter the 8 above mentioned before him and become the king of Kha.
Two Khas rebelled against the King of Khas by combining into One being.
Meanwhile, a greedy Kha decide that he wanted to be more than just a king, he wanted to absorb the King Kha and become god. So he created 7 monsters but unfortunately he lose control over them whom eventually kill off some of the remaining Kha
As the result of the attack, one Kha lose his memory and went back to school.
Finally, refusing to giving into despair, one Kha gain hope and become his own individual, not as a Kha but as a Magician.
And it was the final Kha who become the template for the 9 Khas.
It's either that or Kha has multiple personality disorder caused by Time-traveling Kha demons. When a Kha demon possess him, he gain new ability and power!
Yea, I am a little crazier than Kha.
|2013-04-11, 08:46
|Link #9533
~ Your Smile ~
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 32
In the end, I got so sick I swore never to write Nanoha OCs again. I then moved on to Strike Witches, Hidan no Aria, a scattering of others, 40K Tau, Moretsu Pirates (which actually got published to FF.net) and currently I'm heavily into Star Trek Online.
Then last year, I was doing Google docs cleaning when I decided to sort them out once and for all.
And then, I found myself staring at 9 profiles completed to 50-90%.
Needless to say... I was quite humbled. So I decided to just put them into 10 google docs and slowly finish them, even if they were terrible and would remain sealed forever.
Decade was a hell of a Sue. I'd fear the monstrosity that would spawn if I actually made a DeKhade!!
Anyway, for your curiosity, here's a short list of who they are, each timeline named after the series Kha appears in:
1. AlternateS – The first one Kha der Kleriker was an innocent character created for SaintX when he was asking for submissions of characters to his compilation fanfic Nanoha AlternateS. No cheese, thick on mecha armor, and barely a couple of pages long.
2. OCT debut – The ridiculous 10 page debut of Kha der Kleriker in OCT was after some serious plotting and extrapolation of SaintX's incarnation into the modern StrikerS era. During the course of his writing, the idea of Precia's husband's role and how Alicia died became central to his backstory. However, we later learn of so many errors with that bad translation that this tore a hole in his background. So I went back and revised it. Which back then meant taking the original work and turning every crazy idea to the eleven...
Interestingly, this became my LAST version of Kha, as I later took this document in 2012 and completely did away with the whole history, leaving just the powers and armor. Kha was a happy boy born into a warrior family, became a knight errant to a clergyman named Book, and meets the Aces during a few missions as teenagers, dated Fate and maintains a simple long distance relationship. Simple, slice of life stuff. The PSP timeline has him ending up with the Star Destroyer Stern instead. It was then I discovered Star Trek Literary Challenges, and have never looked back since. From dusk to dawn, from ashes to ashes, the crack of der Kleriker would begin and end with the same Kha.
3. Codex Daemonjaeger – Now at 44 FULLY ILLUSTRATED PAGES, 10 PAGES OF POWERS, 5 PAGES OF DEVICES, ENOUGH BACKSTORY TO FILL A BIBLE, AND DAMN THE CODEX WAS WRITTEN AS ONE, the ultimate sue of the Bluecheesium arms race was born! Born out of wedlock to a nun and a washed out Enforcer? Check. Raised by the nun into a self-sacrificing cleric? Check. Turns into some sort of Messiah? Check. His justice is nigh unstoppable? Triple Check. BITCHSLAPS GARCIA FOR PULLING HER STRIKERS STUNT?! Hell yeah. Man, there's so much wrong with this character at the start and worse at how he eventually turned out that it started my downward spiral. It was around this time I failed a year, started an open war with Goose and Kagerou and the rest of the miltakus, and the setting up of rules and castling. Terrible terrible times. Trying to branch into timelines and canon pairings made it a hell lot worse. But it was around this time when I introduced the Make Your Own Kha lols which I think forever scarred Spacebro and Shebs...
4. Fate's Twist – Carrying on from the multiple timelines angle, this Kha came from the question, "what if Kha was taken by Jail when he was born?" since Kia, Touareg and Jail all have a role in his young life as seen in Codex Daemonjaeger. It coincided with Satashi's bold idea to kill off Nanoha and let Yuuno and Fate have make-up sex. The idea turned out pretty awesome: Kha was now a true cyborg and not a boy cosplaying as one; he had a friggin 3-round THERMONUCLEAR RAILGUN (:lol; was actually Serial Number Zero; could transform into a sublight fighter and back; Subaru and him had the same Advanced Inner Frame, was the skills database of all the Numbers that came after him; and had enough power to fight the Aces to a stalemate. Which again, pretty GODDAMN SUE. Even if all the Numbers get killed off by Satashi, leaving Jail and Kha on a lonely crusade through Ordered Space. Eventually, Satashi disappeared, and this timeline died with her, never to be concluded. I like this Kha not for the craziness, but for the amount of drama potential I had with him. It was the first time, that the character carried his own weight by performance and not technical spreadsheets. Still, Sheba hates this one to death for actually managing to sleep with Hayate in the epilogue. Hohum.
5. Fate Another Knight – This unfortunately titled FAK timeline comes from the question, "What if Kha was given to Touareg instead?" The end result was effectively, a clone of Fate Stay Night, as Kha summons the old Saint King Olivie as his familiar. It was also called Unlimited Bluecheesium Works because Kha ends up with Sophia/Anita. Nothing much else to say here except "hey this guy has got no magic! Is he a sue still?" Apparently, the answer was yes. In fact, it was around here I learned that no matter what I wrote, no one was going to read, comment or even see it. It would be panned, dismissed and exiled forever. So I left the OCT, only returning to hurl spite at everyone else.
6. 6th Division – Satashi's long-running series started a search for a desk clerk. In comes Kha again. Like FAK, Kha has no magic save the ability to build, overcharge and shoot devices drawn from a deck and mounted on a bow. He gains a superbike that has a sidecar and the bike can fly. Again, ran for a few chapters, got paired with Keroko (Satashi was the first to propose a Kha x Keroko ship after all) and later simply ended abruptly when Satashi vanished.
7. Magical Soldier Bhalkad -- Karlheim Shovon Touareg, Belka Meister, Celestial Being. The flames in OCT were dying down when Gundam 00 came to air. That led to a small revival in terms of myself, for I saw this question, "What if Kha has a bigger, sneakier sponsor during his vigilante days?" In came the Karlheim timeline, which notably had Tiida Lanster as Tieria Erde. This was just simply an exercise in epeen, trying to skirt the regulation that such a powerful mage shouldn't exist outside canon. Apart from a whole string of disjointed fights crossed with Tengen Toppa Guren Lagann, this was a recipe for epic disaster. Almost single-handed killed the thread.
8. In Loving Memory – With the OCT on the way to the morgue, I was left alone to my devices. Wandering the endless wastes of Chaos, I made one more attempt at rebuilding Kha into an original character in his own right. I abandoned his past entirely, and came up with a new one: boy soldier, recruited into the Brotherhood of Cain, captured by Celestial Being, Lonely Island Syndromes with Fate, is captured by Fate, fights for the Bureau, fights for the Saint Church, then attempts at living normally on Earth. During StrikerS, he revives Celestial Being, goes on a crusade, clashes with Riot 6, finds Stella and the Ou-Raiser, hunts Jail, then goes off into the Clone Wars where the Bureau is shattered by Jail's attack and has to use the armies of cyborgs recovered from raiding Jail's manufactorums to fight a war it has no resources to fight. This has a sub-timeline that would become BetrayerS. It is implied that Kha in this timeline dies some time thereafter, as Fate recounts all of this in a series of flashbacks and monologues during some downtime.
9. The Grey Knight – This is the ONLY Kha not created by me. Instead, it is by Shouryuu, and has all the hallmarks of a joke character: never gets anything right, has a thick layer of dust, and features an all-new power design mechanic. Also features the Esclarent, a device that would become the inspiration for all the ships my main characters would fly/drive/sail long after Nanoha passed on. This version was recently revived by Fate Zero's return to air, but again Shouryuu disappeared not long after. The OCT went back to its state of cold death again.
So... the DeKhade? The one who can transform into any of the 9 Khas, and himself?
Who the hell is that crazy? Oh wait, there was that Archer familiar from another timeline in Codex Daemonjaeger...
"What are you?"
"Just a passing-through original character, remember that!"
|2013-04-11, 08:58
|Link #9534
~ Your Smile ~
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 32
Magical Lyrical Vivid – Stella Takamachi and Vivio Takamachi may seem like ordinary magical girls living on a magitechnological society. But when a case comes knocking, Stella goes Detective, dragging Vivio along for a wild ride. Battling addicts to a new street drug made from Relics, Stella and Vivio call upon the Saint King's battle program and unite to form Vivid, the ultimate modern Magic Knight!
Magical Lyrical Innocence – Cayenne Porche loved cards, but he kept changing games and drifting because none would hold his attention for long. But when Hel of the Saint Church card team "House of Loki" recruits him, Cayenne soon finds his hands full. There's much more to kingly duties for the new Hero of the North!
Cayenne Porche is my new flagship character for Nanoha, both the Prime universe and the Innocent universe. Too bad I didn't even finish a profile for him. Everything goes straight to FF thread.
This belongs to the joke thread, not here.
But really, for the best, just let the zombie lie. The thread is dead. The past is gone. This monstrosity is no more. Its time we move on.
Until I publish Cayenne's profile, I'm not having any active OCs in this thread outside of the DeKhade parody.
|2013-04-11, 10:44
|Link #9535
OC Belka Scriptor
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Germany
Age: 34
|2013-04-11, 14:25
|Link #9539
Just another Idiot
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Delusion world
I will probably put up a more detailed version of the Magical Girl concept much later if I got time.
|2013-04-12, 09:28
|Link #9540
~ Your Smile ~
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: 346Pro
Age: 32
*hears moans and groans*
Now look what you've done!!
*shoots the slobbering zombie agex in the head*
Now with that settled, we can go back to posting cool stuff in this new and fully-operational thread.
|hayaurion, kaonland, keroland, khrack, original content
|Thread Tools


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Enterprise Connect Orlando 2013 Announces Best of Enterprise Connect Award Finalists
Over 40 Submissions Received, Demonstrating Accelerating Innovation Reshaping the Enterprise Communications & Collaboration Industry
By: PR Newswire
Feb. 12, 2013 01:00 PM
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Enterprise Connect Orlando, produced by UBM Tech, today announced the six finalists for the Best of Enterprise Connect award, which recognizes exhibitors who have made significant technological advancements within the enterprise communications and collaboration industry. A panel of industry-leading judges chose the finalists and will select the winner, which will be announced during Enterprise Connect Orlando on March 20, 2013 from the event main stage. For more information on Best of Enterprise Connect, visit: http://www.enterpriseconnect.com/bestofenterpriseconnect/.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130212/SF58917LOGO)
The six finalists selected from over 40 submissions include:
"The Best of Enterprise Connect finalists demonstrate the most innovative solutions shaping the enterprise communications industry today," said Eric Krapf, Enterprise Connect Co-Chair. "This year's crop of finalists range from innovative solutions in mobility to cloud-based video services, to multimedia communications functionality designed to enhance meeting experiences. We are excited to showcase and honor Enterprise Connect exhibitors who are leading the industry with the latest technological advancements."
The judging panel of industry experts for the Best of Enterprise Connect includes:
About Enterprise Connect
Enterprise Connect (formerly VoiceCon) is the leading conference and exhibition for enterprise IP Telephony, Converged Networks and Unified Communications in North America. Enterprise Connect® brings corporate IT decision makers together with the industry's vendors, analysts and consultants to focus on the issues central to enterprise networks and communications. Enterprise Connect® owns and produces No Jitter, (http://www.nojitter.com/), providing daily blogging and analysis of enterprise communications, and it also serves the community with a weekly email newsletter, a Webinar Series and Virtual Events. For more information, visit http://enterpriseconnect.com/.
About UBM Tech
UBM Tech is a global media business that provides information, events, training, data services, and marketing solutions for the technology industry. Its media brands and information services inform, educate and inspire decision makers across the entire technology market—serving engineers and design professionals, software and game developers, solutions providers and integrators, networking and communications executives, and business technology professionals. UBM Tech's industry-leading media brands include EE Times, Interop, Black Hat, InformationWeek, Game Developer Conference, Byte, CRN, and DesignCon. The company's information products include research, education, training, and data services that accelerate decision making for technology buyers. UBM Tech also offers a full range of marketing services based on its content and technology market expertise, including custom events, content marketing solutions, community development and demand generation programs designed to help vendors identify and participate in technology buying decisions. UBM Tech is a part of UBM (UBM.L), a global provider of media and information services with a market capitalization of more than $2.5 billion.
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Quarrel Deluxe Review
Word games have garnered the spotlight lately, largely thanks to the explosive popularity of Words with Friends, so it's natural to expect to see a flood of me-too and wannabe games hitting the App Store. So far, none of them are like Quarrel. Available in two flavors– the basic free version and the $5 Deluxe edition– Quarrel is a masterfully creative combination of Scrabble and Risk.
Mixing word smithing with land conquering might seem like an odd formula, but it works amazingly well. Quarrel matches take place on relatively small maps divided into smaller territories, and support up to four competitors. Each side picks a specific tribe– ranging from cavemen and ninjas to robots and aliens– and the board is divided up among the players.
The game randomly decides the order of the players, and then it's off to spelling warfare. Each space can have between one and six units on it. The overall strategy in Quarrel is keeping your troop levels up in vulnerable areas while taking advantage of an enemy's weakness. Tap on one of your territories and then an adjoining enemy's space and the game shifts to the word battle screen.
You're outnumbered, Biff.
The battle screen shows the troops of both sides, and your eight-letter selection at the bottom of the screen. Each letter is worth a certain amount of points, just like in Scrabble. The crux of these battles is that your word length is limited by the amount of units you have on that territory. So if there are only three soldiers on a square, you can only spell a three-letter word.
This facet of the game makes it imperative to use your turn wisely. It's entirely possible to attack multiple territories during a turn, but this is a sure strategy for defeat. Since winning a new square only leaves one soldier there after the battle, using an action to transfer troops from a more populated adjoining square to the new conquest is vital. New troops are supplied between turns as well, and the game manages to keep up surprising momentum and challenge.
When the other players are battling each other, you won't be twiddling your thumbs. During these moments, you'll have the opportunity to earn extra points by spelling a word based on their available letters (which are randomly determined each battle). The ultimate goal is to use all eight letters by spelling an anagram for massive point and personal pride value.
Conquer that territory.
Quarrel's visuals have a fantastic looking, cartoonish quality, full of bright primary colors and humorous touches. The landscapes are just detailed enough, but still simplistic overall, and the characters are detailed and fun to watch. The animated player icons are expressive as well, and react to the action on the screen. The free version only sports a few competitors to select from and one backdrop. The Deluxe version offers a wide variety of AI players and an expansive collection of maps to battle on.
The tutorial is lengthy, if dogged in its insistence that you spell only the word it instructs you to, but is worth going through once. The AI players are skilled and varied– allowing players to adjust the game to their desired challenge level– and Quarrel does a good job of making these competitors seem realistic. They'll make mistakes, attack each other, and their expressive animation adds to their authenticity.
That said, as great a game as Quarrel is, it has one huge oversight. There's no multiplayer whatsoever. For a game so completely suited for both pass-around and online play in a genre geared toward multiplayer, this is a major shortcoming. As it is, Quarrel is a superb, creative, and expertly designed and presented game. It's fun, smart, and offers tons of challenge, but without the ability to play against other humans it's still one step shy of being a true classic.


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Robert E. Patton, 66, of Medford, Ore., passed away in his sleep in the early morning hours of Friday, July 12, 2013. He was born March 1, 1947 to L.E. and Jean Patton who both preceded him in death as well as two brothers.
He is survived by three sisters, Linda Gossman, of Medford, Ore., Sharon Yeager (Harry), of La Pine, Ore., and Candy Olhauser, of Albany, Ore.; two brothers, David Patton (Dana), of Waldport and Randy Patton (Eva), of Reno, Nev.; and several nieces and nephews who he loved dearly.
No services are planned at this time.
Donations may be made in his name to the American Diabetes Association.


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Quoted from Lola
oooooopsvoted, sorry :X
Quoted from Victoria
There wasn't a choice for me.4 and sometimes 5 days a week. I eat lamb with lunch and fish with dinner. 2 days a week, I eat beans/quinoa with lunch and fish with dinner.One day a week, I eat turkey with lunch and a big vegetable/nut meal for dinner.
Quoted from san j
How did you come up with this schedule?
Quoted from Mother
Do you mind if as an O I ask approx how many ounces or actual grams of protein everyones eating?
Quoted from ruthiegirl
The general rule is that a protein portion should be about the size of the palm of your hand.
Quoted from Mother
Thanks, I should have added - do you eat animal protein at all three meals and/or snacks or do you eat vegetarian meals as well? I eat about 2 ounces of animal protein 3x a day. snacks would be perhaps some nuts and veggies I'm trying to determine if I'm getting enough protein. I do very low carb (all green veggies) I think moderate protein (about 40-45g ) and higher fat. This combo does miracles for my blood sugar but I want to make sure I get enough animal protein. I appreciate your replies


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Avactis Shopping Cart is an online store software. It can be customized for any design with no programming skills, and is easy to integrate with an existing Web site through a unique tag-based technology. It is SEO optimized, secure, and easy to upgrade. One of the major advantages of Avactis is the use of unique technologies that, unlike other shopping cart software, provide for fast and easy integration of an on-line store into an existing Web site, thus minimizing the time-to-market for our customers and partners. The software has no logical limitations on the number of products. The code is optimized for smooth performance with up to 35,000 products and more. A free version is available. Special discounts are given for developers and Web designers.
Google Checkout Module for OXID is a payment module for OXID eSales shops to use the Google Checkout payment system. Shop owners collecting online payments using Google Checkout can benefit from this module if using OXID for their e-commerce sites. To make the button immediately visible, it features a checkout button in the order summary. Customer credit-card processing is performed by Google, so merchants don't have to deal with consumer privacy issues. Customers can checkout from the shop without going through the cumbersome process of setting up a customer account on the online shop. Online buyers are returned to the shop after successful completion of payment.
flexi cart is a shopping cart library for CodeIgniter. While CodeIgniter comes with its own cart library, the library is quite basic in functionality and is only aimed at creating simple e-commerce stores. The flexi cart library includes the following features: shipping, taxes, localisation, discounts and reward points/vouchers, multiple currencies, item stock control, surcharges, saving/loading of incomplete carts for later shopping, multilingual custom status and error messages, and currency and weight conversion tools.
A simple WebDAV 1.0 server.
An OpenGL library for image-based CSG rendering.


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There are no items in your cart at this time.
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Does your favorite set of shoes lack the structural support your arches require? Instead of tossing them aside entirely, simply order an orthotic replacement insole from Footwear etc. Chosen from trusted wellness manufacturers like Merrell, Naot, Ecco, UGG Australia, Mephisto, Spenco and SAS, our selection of high quality replacement insoles for men and women run the gamut from sheepskin-topped to metatarsal supports. Compatible with an array of shoe styles and sizes, you'll even find cork, foam and gel insoles that mold to the specific contours of your foot.
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©2018 Footwear etc.. All Rights Reserved. For any questions or assistance call 1-800-720-0572.


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- Parent Category: News
I-65 traffic stop leads to drug bust in Indiana
Marijuana with an estimated street value of $420,000 was confiscated by authorities in Indiana (Thursday) during a traffic stop on I-65.
Salvador Sesaydo (Suh-say-doe) is jailed in Jasper County. Sheriff's Police said Sesaydo is a Mexican-National.
The stop was made near Route 114. Five bales of marijuana, weighing 28 pounds each, were found in the SUV.
94.1 fm, wgfa


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BLOOMINGTON — Three local golfers qualified for the championship flight of the 81st Illinois Women's State Amateur golf tournament Tuesday at Crestwicke Country Club.
Belvidere's Hui Chong Dofflemyer and recent NIC-10 champions Cynthia Bounleutay and Melissa VanSistine reached the final 32.
Dofflemyer and Bounleutay, a 2012 Jefferson grad, tied for sixth with a 78, four strokes behind medalist Alexandra Harkins of Crystal Lake and one stroke out of a tie for second. VanSistine, a 2013 Boylan graduate, tied for 19th with an 82.
Bounleutay will play NIU senior Taylor Ellett (83) at 9:22 a.m. today in the match play round of 32. Ellett is a four-time state qualifier from Hampshire who is a three-year varsity veteran at NIU. Dofflemyer plays at 8:50 against Char McLear of McHenry (83). McLear is a three-time State Senior champion. VanSistine plays Abigail Luchtenburg of Geneva (78) at 7:46.
Allison Graceffa and Madasyn Pettersen of Rockford qualified in the third flight, and Arisa Thammavongsa for the fourth flight. Pettersen (90) plays Morgan Savage of Rochester (89) in the match-play quarterfinals at 11:06 a.m., and Graceffa (91) plays Angie Kim of Schaumburg (89) at 10:42. Thammavongsa (97) plays Paula Smith of Champaign (95) at 11:38.


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Today Texworld has become more than a place where people meet to do business. Texworld's aim was to develop a new approach, a different way of exploring the aisles and discovering the trends, creating a true call to the senses. Indeed, the show looks to suffuse its visitors and exhibitors with the latest trends, to have them touch and feel the materials, for an ever-more-lively visit.
About 950 fabrics manufacturers from 27 countries
Cotton, Denim, Embroidery, Lace, Functional fabrics, Knitted fabrics, Linen, Hemp, Prints, Shirting, Silk, Silky aspect, Wool, wool blends.
Green Textiles: Fabrics that care!
About a hundred eco-friendly certified exhibitors in September 2012, 135 last February (GOTS, Organic Exchange, FLO-cert Oeko-Tex...), a special map to find them easily, special conference program... Texworld is the place to go green!
And not to forget : Trims & accessories!
Texworld is the worldwide meeting place for fabrics, but also for trims and accessories! Discover at Texworld those "little things" which will make your collections uniques!


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The lights are on
Power Member - Level 7
Yesterday, I was lucky enough (thanks, state tax refund!) to walk into the tattoo shop where my amazing artist works and walk out 3.5 hours later with a finally finished Deku Scrub tattoo and a pair of Mass Effect Paragon/Renegade symbol tattoos on my back.
My Deku Scrub is sort of two-years-old, sort of brand new. In April of 2011, I went in for my first ever tattoo session. I planned on getting the entire Deku Scrub done that day, but passed out about halfway through (I have low blood sugar), which made me nauseous. I had to cancel the rest of the appointment, but promised I'd be back in a couple weeks. A couple weeks, a couple years…what's the difference, really? The tattoo's significance: one of my family's favorite pastimes was gaming together, and a lot of my bonding moments with my mom happened as a result of playing and watching each other play Zelda games. I spent probably hundreds of hours reading the Ocarina of Time player's guide and exploring the game's map, which seemed enormous to me as a kid. As an adult academic, one of my first major research projects (which I was finally able to present nationally in March) was on archetypes of femininity in the Zelda series, specifically Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess. Needless to say, my experiences with the Zelda games are very meaningful to me. Not to mention, Deku Scrubs are just so darn cute. By the way, "Twenty-three is number one" is the hint the traitor Deku Scrub gives to Link in Ocarina of Time's Deku Tree. Do you remember that part?
Note: The blue rings are actually just stencil marks my tattoo artist used as reference points. They'll wash off in a couple days. The significance of my Mass Effect tattoos? Despite not yet being done with all three games (I'm only a few hours into ME3), the series has touched me in a way I haven't experienced since playing through the first few Kingdom Hearts games back in high school. I feel like a giddy, fourteen-year-old fangirl, and I love it. There are a lot of specific reasons I feel impacted by the series, but those reasons are still mostly personal. The symbols, specifically, speak to me as a relativist. The Paragon symbol represents a perfect hero; the Renegade symbol represents a perfect badass/meanie. I put one symbol on each shoulder because my heart is in the middle. I believe there is no black and white in the world – no pure evil or pure good. We are all grey. Er, purple.What do you think? Do you have any game-related ink? If not, would you like some? What do you want to get?
(Remember to avoid Mass Effect spoilers! I don't know how the game ends yet)
Ali is a former Game Informer editorial intern and is currently a
master's student at the University of Minnesota, where she studies
games, virtual communities, manga, and other nerdy crap. Follow her on Twitter or Tumblr.


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Theatre: Udderbelly
Jubilee Gardens, Belvedere Road
Directions: (5 mins) Take Concert Hall Approach toward the Thames, and turn left at Belvedere Road. Take the first road on your right, and you will see the purple Udderbelly tent.
Running Time: 1 hour
Prices from: £20.00 to £20.00
The science comedy phenomenon returns , and this time they're off the chart. Join acclaimed stand-up mathematician Matt Parker, experiments maestro Steve 'Danger' Mould and geek songstress Helen Arney for gragh-a-minute fun on an unprecidented scale. Last years smash hit ' Full Frontal Nerdity' was 'great, funny, clever. even the heckles at this terrific show are smart' **** (Scotsman). Since then the Nerds have appeared accross TV, Radio and the Internet, at the Hammersmith Apollo and in their own peer – reviewed DVD – recorded at Londons Bloomsbury Theatre. Watch as they Excel themselvevs in a brand new show filled with live experiments, songs, statistically significant laughter and graphs on fire. Will they stay on trend, or lose the plot completely?
Book Your Tickets Here


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Hi! Have you seen the DOMO Videos on Onrpg?
DOMO Video
- An exciting tale within Dream of Mirror online, of a warrior defending his love.
DOMOVideo 2
- A grand attack in the world of Dream of Mirror Online (DOMO). This really funny video shows all the aspects of gameplay and combat styles. It's part 2 of a miniseries about DOMO. Can anyone rescue them? Find out soon!


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Pontiac school officials and teachers are anxiously waiting to see whether $6.624 million in budget cuts. including union ooncessions. submitted to the state Friday will be enough to save the Pontiac school district from an emergency manager.
Superintendent Kelley Williams submitted a tentative amended budget of major reductions to the state Treasury Friday that included $1.97 million in concessions proposed in the Pontiac Educatio Association's last, best offer at the bargaining table last week.
Since then, district officials made public the fact that the deficit has increased from $37.7 to $51.7 million despite major reductions in expenditures and staffing.
State-appointed consultant Don Weatherspoon did not approve the amended budget submitted by Williams because it did not include enough union concessions, Williams said to queries by Trustee Mattie Hatchett.
Terry Stanton, spokesman for the state Treasury, said the district's amended budget is being reviewed. "Based on materials received by the department, it appears the district's deficit has grown. We are working with the district to determine specific causes," Stanton said.
Pontiac and Oakland Schools officials said at a special meeting Monday night that the deficit increased mostly because of decline in enrollment, cuts in state aid and almost $7 million in tax revenute that has to be paid back because of appeals to the Michigan Tax Tribunal.
On Friday, Williams submitted the new concessions in a combined budget amendment and deficit elimination plan in informal documents to the state Treasury and Michigan Department of Educaiton with the help of Oakland Schools intermediate district (ISD). which was only recently contracted by Pontiac schools to take over business operations.
The district's audit was being completed at the same time.
"You are attempting to eliminate a deficit at the same time you have declining enrollment and reductions in state aid," said Oakland Schools Superintendent Vicki Markavitch, who was at Monday night's board meeting
"This all adds up to a perfect storm," she told the board and audience.
Williams said that she wouldn't ask the board for its approval of the proposed amended budget until she has a response from the Treasury and knows whether it will be acceptable under the consent agreement. The goal was to reach close to $10 million in reductions.
The additional $1.97 million in tentative concessions proposed by the teachers union would be implemented over the next six months.
Williams said what was presented to the state was the best and most reasonable budget that could be put together as of Friday's deadline to serve the district's students for the next six months.
ISD Deputy Superintendent Moore is optimistic the district can come up with a viable plan and turn the district around and keep it under local control with the help of Oakland Schools.
Moore said a five-year financial and operating plan is due to the state Treasury and Education departments Dec. 15.
The combined deficit elimination plan and amended budget includes an estimated $72 million in revenue that counts on a $10 million emergency loan that could be paid backover a periof of 20-30 years. It would include $68 million in expenditures, which means the deficit could be reduced by $4 million.
The plan required under the consent agreement must be at least 5 year but could be as long as 5 to 10 years to reduce such a major deficit.which Moore said is the higher deficit in Michigan.
One issue that affected the district last school year is that millions in federal grant dollars were unobtainable because the district had no cash flow to pay the costs up front so they could be reimbursed by the grants. That is expected to change with improved cash flow, officials said. The grant dollars will help the district pay for teachers to reduce class size that has grown to an average of 42 per teacher because of budget cuts.


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Symbio Wildlife Park staff are preparing for the arrival of lions, cheetahs, zebras, more koalas and reptiles within 18 months after receiving funding to start building three new exhibits.
But the Radnidge family only had time to celebrate briefly before getting busy finalising plans for the African savannah, reptile and interactive koala breeding exhibits.
Visitor numbers to the rapidly growing family-run zoo at Helensburgh have bucked regional tourism trends by growing 20 per cent per annum in recent years.
But that could now explode further as plans move forward for the arrival of more big cats and African wildlife by mid-2014.
The family is also planning to double the size of its workforce to meet the growing visitor demand and service the three new exhibits it can now build as a result of federal and state government funding in the second round of the Illawarra Region Innovation and Investment Fund.
When Federal Minister for Industry and Innovation Greg Combet, NSW Deputy Premier Andrew Stoner and BlueScope Steel general manager of steelmaking John Nowlan announced $17.2 million in funding for 25 businesses yesterday to help diversify and create sustainable jobs in the region, John and Matt Radnidge thought all their Christmases had come at once.
But the celebration only lasted minutes before they began finalising plans to spend $1.54 million on three major new exhibits and facility upgrades.
"It will allow us to introduce lions and cheetahs and probably zebras," John Radnidge said.
"We would like to introduce behind-the-scenes encounters with big cats. The interactive koala breeding sanctuary will allow us to have more koalas and introduce new bloodlines in our breeding program, which is pretty important."
Mr Radnidge believed the size of the grant recognised the standard Symbio had set in building quality, award-winning exhibits with previous funding.
"This also represents a significant investment by us as we match the funding [$770,000] dollar for dollar," he said.
"It is the biggest thing to happen in the history of the park. It is massive for a small organisation like us but I think it is recognition of the big commitment we have to saving endangered species."
The family is now trying to finalise designs before Christmas so staff can turn the first sod on each of the new exhibits early in 2013, with a view to completing them by mid-2014.
He expected many flow-on benefits for other local businesses during and after construction.
'This will allow us to grow our conservation programs and increase employment and career opportunities and develop future leaders in the industry. We have built our profile and integrity in the industry and have set a high standard and work ethic."
The funding is expected to result in 15 new jobs at Symbio.


text: Chiefs coach Todd Haley hasn't made a decision on quarterback Matt Cassel's status for Sunday's home opener against Oakland, but the coach did say Wednesday that the injured passer's sprained left knee appeared to have progressed since last week. "To my eye, he was improved some," Haley said. "The player is doing everything under his power to be ready, which is usually a good thing."


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CNN's Piers Morgan on North American football: 'It's girly'
CNN anchor Piers Morgan knows how to get under peoples' skin. (REUTERS)
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CNN anchor Piers Morgan has irritated scores of viewers during his short time at Larry King's former desk.
His latest comments regarding false football likely won't change peoples' opinions.
In a tongue-in-cheek interview with TMZ this week, the British news pundit took aim at American and Canadian football, calling it a "girly" game.
Morgan, a noted Arsenal fan, appeared to be joking. However, a bit of the smugness that eventually pushed him off the air seeped through.
"You have to learn proper football, the real (sport) with the round ball," he told the gossip site when asked to compare the U.S. to Britain. "And no girly padding or helmets."
He refused to call it soccer.
"The British football, which like all things is where it all started ... Football: No padding, no helmets.
Asked if that made soccer a tougher sport, Morgan quipped: "You do the math."
CNN has decided to end the marquee prime-time talk show hosted by veteran British journalist Piers Morgan, the cable news network said on Sunday.
A date for the final broadcast of Piers Morgan Live on CNN had not been determined and a spokeswoman did not immediately say if Morgan would remain at the network in any other role.
-With files from Reuters
Which sport is more manly:
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Well, here we go again - promises, promises.
Citizens should know that it is not the function of the president to create jobs. That is the job of the free market and it has been that way since our country was founded.
What the president should be doing is using his influence to undo the many unnecessary taxes that are dragging down our economy, doing everything in his power to stop these unnecessary wars, convince congress to de-fang the Federal Reserve System and return our country to a sound money system.
Frank St George
East Rockaway


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I was asked recently for photographic evidence of my son Tennyson's snacks in the dugout that radically differ from traditional standards. It wasn't easy to capture boys sitting together eating (since they are usually PLAYING), and this isn't the greatest photo, but here ya go.
I love baseball, but I don't love blue PowerAde and Red Vines and salted sunflower seeds that you see my son's teammates eating.
I do love apple pie–the LaraBar kind! (It's a raw-food snack widely available now, even at Costco.) And green smoothies. Here you see Tennyson, who Coach tells me leads the team in all categories, with both.
No, my high-school junior doesn't take Mom's healthy stuff in the dugout any more. That's okay–I give it to him at home before the game.


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Square dance: The Old-Time Square Dance will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday in the Denton Civic Center on West Salisbury Street. The dance features regional old-time and bluegrass bands with an experienced caller. There are opportunities for other dances such as waltzes, two-steps, flat footing and clogging in addition to the called dances. Those who just want to listen to the music are always welcome. Providing music for the November dance will be local bluegrass band The Oak Tree Boys with dances called by Buddy Sexton.
Adult admission is $5, and children aged 12 and under are admitted free of charge. In order to protect the dance floor and provide good listening for all, dancers are asked not to wear taps on their shoes. Refreshments are available. This is a family-oriented event, and no alcohol is permitted. For information call 472-2802 or view the website at www.dentondance.net.
Songwriting series: Songcraft Live is monthly songwriter performance series held at High Rock Outfitters music venue, South Main Street, Lexington. Featuring national masters in the craft of songwriting, each showcase spotlights featured songwriters and has one-on-one conversational interviews to share knowledge and celebrate the art of songwriting. It is hosted by N.C. singer/songwriter Daniel Justin Smith. Laurelyn Dossett and Doug and Telisha Williams will be the guests Nov. 29. Details and tickets are at www.songcraftlive.com.
Holiday House: The Charity League of Lexington will hold its annual Holiday House on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. "Holiday at the Homestead" will take place at the home of Arlin and Norma Buttke, 408 S. Main St. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 and 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dec. 1. The Holiday House Shoppes will be held at the J. Smith Young YMCA, 119 W. Third Ave., from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 30 and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 1. Tickets are $10 and available from Charity League members and at Lanier True Value Hardware, 218 S. Main St., and Tastings Wine & Beer, 312 E. Center St.
'Welcome to December': The Lexington Choral Society will present its annual Welcome to December concert at 5 p.m. Dec. 1 at First Baptist Church, 201 W. Third Ave. The choral society, under the direction of Phil Rector, with Melonie Rector, assistant director, and Jennifer Klim, accompanist, will be joined by an orchestra and the Lexington High School Choral Ensemble. The program features soloists from the choral society and includes Handel's "For Unto Us a Child Is Born," "And the Glory of the Lord," along with "Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow," "Christmas Flourish" and other best-loved sacred and secular Christmas music. Admission is free and open to the public. A goodwill offering will be accepted to benefit future concerts and the society's vocal scholarships. The Lexington Choral Society is funded in part by Arts United for Davidson County with support from the North Carolina Arts Council with funding from the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Community Candlelight Service: The Community Candlelight Choir will present its annual performance at 3 p.m. Dec. 2 at the Edward C. Smith Civic Center on South Main Street. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to bring a canned food item for distribution to local charities.
The LeBeaus Christmas Concert: The Southern Gospel duo will present their annual Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 4. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to bring a canned food item for distribution to local charities.
"The Nutcracker": The High Point Ballet will present "The Nutcracker" at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 and 2 p.m. Dec. 16 at the Edward C. Smith Civic Center on South Main Street. At 10 a.m. Dec. 15, the ballet will present "Land of the Sweets," an abbreviated version of "The Nutcracker" that is geared toward a younger audience. Doors open at 10 a.m. for a "Parade of Characters" in the civic center ballroom where attendees can meet and take pictures with the characters.
Music and arts festival: Barefoot Manner, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, The New Familiars, The Broadcast, Big Daddy Love and more bands will play at High Rock Outfitters' first North Carolina Music and Arts Festival on Dec. 28 and 29. Concerts will take place at the Edward C. Smith Civic Center and High Rock Outfitters. Tickets are $30 for the two-day event. You can buy tickets and keep up with band announcements at www.ncmusicfest.com.
Symphony: The N.C. Symphony will perform March 23, 2013, at the Edward C. Smith Civic Center, 217 S. Main St. with resident conductor William Henry Curry. For tickets, call 242-2783.
Holiday celebration: Candle Tea, regarded by many as the opening event of the Christmas season in Winston-Salem, begins Nov. 29 at the Single Brothers' House on Salem Square in Old Salem. Volunteer hosts dressed in early Moravian attire greet and guide Candle Tea visitors through the historic house. Guests learn about Moravian history and traditions and experience the sounds, sights and smells of Advent and Christmas in early Salem, which was founded in 1766. Admission is $5 for adults and $1 for children 12 and under. School and scout groups may reserve times in the mornings, beginning Nov. 28. More information, including a Google map, is available at homemoravian.org/candletea or by calling 749-9463. The schedule is: 1-8:30 p.m. Nov. 29-30; 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Dec. 1; 1-8:30 p.m. Dec. 6-7; 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Dec. 8.
Mandolin: An evening with mandolin master Mike Compton will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Underground Theatre at The Community Arts Caf�, 411 W. Fourth St., Winston-Salem. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. For tickets, call 793-8000 or visit communityartscafe.com. Compton has earned a worldwide reputation as one of the modern masters of bluegrass mandolin and is especially known for his personal take on the fiercely hard-driven, rhythmically intense style developed by the master of the genre, Bill Monroe.


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Sophomore right-hander Adam Warren tossed a career-best seven innings of shutout ball as the No. 4 North Carolina Tarheels snapped No. 25 East Carolina's seven-game winning streak Tuesday night at Boshamer Stadium by the scored of 9-0.
Warren, who improved to 8-0 on the season, allowed three hits, walked two and struck out five. The three Pirate (28-13) hits tied a season-low in a start (Elon-3/13 and Duke-4/14) for Warren. Tyler Trice came on in the eighth to preserve the shutout pitching two innings of scoreless relief.
Freshman starter Mike Anderson (1-1) didn't make it out of the second inning has he gave up five runs (four earned) on six hits in just 1 2/3 innings of work before being replaced by Jeff Ostrander. Ostrander lasted two-thirds of an inning allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits with one punch-out. Jason Neitz (3.1 IP, one hit, two walks), Bailey Daniels (1.1 IP) and Josh Ruhlman (1.0 IP, one run) all saw action coming out of the bullpen.
Carolina (34-9) wasted little time in getting on the board as they scored five runs in the bottom of the second thanks to five consecutive hits and two Pirate errors to take a 5-0 lead. With one out, Chad Flack doubled down the left field line and then scored on Benji Johnson's two-out single through the left side. Tim Fedroff followed with another single to right that plated Johnson before Reid Fronk singled again to right putting runners on first and second. Seth Williams drove in two runs on double to right-center and then advanced to third on a Harrison Eldridge fielding error scoring Fedroff and Fronk ahead of him. The final run of the frame came when Dustin Ackley singled up the middle scoring Williams.
The Tarheels continued to score at will in the third inning putting four more runs on the board taking a commanding 9-0 lead. Josh Horton led off with a single up the middle, moved over to third on Flack's single to center then scored along with Flack and Johnson, who walked to load the bases, n Fedroff's triple to right-center. After another Pirate pitching change, Williams reached on a Dale Mollenhauer throwing error and Fedroff trotted home to cap the scoring.
Bryan Steed added another run in the bottom of the eighth with his second pinch-hit home run of the season to left field pushing the score to 10-0.
ECU could only muster three hits on the night (Ryan Wood, Drew Schieber and Stephen Batts) while two other batters drew walks (Jamie Ray and Mollenhauer).
Offensively for the Tarheels they collected 12 hits with Williams, Flack and Fedroff each getting two. Fedroff also drove in a career-high four runs.
The Pirates will be back in action at home this weekend when they resume Conference USA play against Southern Miss with a first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m. (EDT) Friday night.


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i don't know if this option is available to the admins of the forum or not. if it isn't then disregard is it possible to make a dropdown of page numbers if a thread gets longer than 20 pages? sometimes i see threads that are up to 100 pages and what i get at the top is this"1 ... 31 32 33 34 35 [36] 37 38 39 40 41 ... 102"pretend i posted on page 60 and came back later in a really active thread that got to 200 pages. i have to click the 41. then the 51. then the 61. or i have to click the 200 and go backwards. it can be very time consuming.a dropdown menu of pages 1 to 200 or the highest page number of the thread would help a lot.i apologize if this isn't possible and feel free to say 'cassie mind your own beeswax' thank you for your time.
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Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
People in WWE are being tight-lipped about the Randy Orton suspension. One source who did comment believes that Orton tested positive due to a tainted supplement. As noted before, the SuperLucha reports that Orton tested positive for Dianabol are not confirmed.
SuperLuchas and PWInsider also reported a meeting between Orton and WWE officials to discuss his future last weekend. SuperLuchas named Vince McMahon, Kevin Dunn and Triple H as the officials who met with Orton. According to The Wrestling Observer, one source says that Dunn would not have been part of the meeting as it's not his department.
Vince McMahon is said to be going back and forth on Orton's future but the feeling is that in the end, they can't and won't get rid of Orton due mainly to depth issues. There is said to be a small, vocal pocket of people that is growing more outspoken about cutting Orton.
Orton's 60 day suspension will reportedly end July 29th, meaning he will miss the 1000th RAW in his hometown of St. Louis on July 23rd, but would be eligible to return on the July 30th RAW, in time for the SummerSlam pay-per-view. The talk is that WWE may keep Orton out after his suspension is over, to teach him a lesson and have him miss the annual SummerSlam payday. Orton being gone for 60 days will cost him around $200,000. If he's not booked for SummerSlam and kept off TV for a few weeks longer after the suspension, then he will lose somewhere around $275,000.
Subscribe to The Wrestling Observer by clicking here. Each issue has coverage and analysis of all the major news, plus history pieces. New subscribers can also receive free classic issues.
Got a news tip or correction? Send it to us by clicking here.


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Thanks for bringing cheer to Lake Placid nursing home
To the editor:
Thanks to the generous actions of our community, this year's holiday season was even more special for the residents of Uihlein Living Center in Lake Placid.
Several community members and organizations graciously stepped forward to donate gifts or their personal time to those who make a home at the Living Center. We cannot fully express how much this lifted the spirits of our residents, especially those who may not have friends or family in the area.
There is never a better time to share one's time or a simple act of kindness with our nursing home residents than right now. Visitors and community groups are always welcome at the Uihlein and Mercy Living Centers in Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. Our loyal corps of volunteers work in a variety of roles, so whether you're able to volunteer your time or share a gift, you can brighten a resident's day with the smallest gesture.
We look forward to seeing you and especially thank the following individuals and groups who were so giving of themselves during the holiday season as well as those who volunteer year-round.
Joey, Anna, Elizabeth and Jesse Izzo - sang for residents on Christmas Eve
Kiwanis of Lake Placid - poinsettias and gifts
Shirley Hosler - gifts for residents
American Management Association - gifts for
Northwood School - fleece blankets for residents
Betsy Sankosky - gifts for residents.
Marc Walker
Chief senior services officer
Adirondack Health
Lake Placid